Chen Mu had long since grown used to the ever-increasing speed of his breakthroughs. It no longer surprised him.
He simply had not expected his cultivation to have reached the Grandmaster realm before he even realized it!
Unlike his previous breakthroughs, the gap between an Innate Martial Master and a Grandmaster marked a watershed.
It meant gaining the potential to become a Human Immortal, which was precisely why a Heavenly Tribulation appeared.
Endure it, and his future would be boundless.
Fail to endure it, and his cultivation would regress!
Could he break through again? It was not entirely hopeless, but the chances would become considerably slimmer.
It would prove that his prospects were limited.
He wondered silently, I wonder whether I can withstand this lightning tribulation.
[Signing in...] [Sign-in successful! Congratulations, host! You have obtained the Myriad Thunder Dao Body!]
Myriad Thunder Dao Body?
As Chen Mu puzzled over it, the system immediately explained, [Host, the Myriad Thunder Dao Body is a sacred physique ranked twenty-eighth in the Physique Rankings. It can withstand the might of countless bolts of lightning and turn it to your own use, rapidly increasing your cultivation!]
[Combined with your Heaven-Rank Supreme Thunder Spirit Root, its effectiveness will double!]
How thoughtful of you.
So Chen Mu thought.
The system replied, [Not at all. Serving the host wholeheartedly is this system's sole purpose and mission!]
Chen Mu dearly wanted to retort, If you had a better attitude and stopped pulling so many flashy stunts, I wouldn't have to go through all this.
Having some Holy Son or Saintess with ulterior motives come knocking...
Instead, I could lie in the courtyard and quietly enjoy the sunshine.
But even if he said any of that, the system? There was no need to guess. It would definitely go in one ear and out the other, dismissed like wind brushing past its ears, as though it had heard nothing.
When it came to playing dumb, Chen Mu privately believed that if the system claimed second place, no one in the world would dare claim first.
Since things had already come to this, Chen Mu could only go with the flow.
It was a little troublesome, but at least there was no harm in it. Everything benefited him.
"Everyone, please move back a little. I'm about to break through, and I don't want to hurt you by accident," Chen Mu kindly warned them.
Glancing up, he could already clearly see thunderclouds gathering from every direction, threatening to blot out the sky and sun.
Only then did Zhao Yuhao and Zhao Yueling notice that the sky had grown much darker than before.
Following Chen Mu's gaze upward, they saw vast banks of pitch-black thunderclouds churning violently as they rolled in!
"A Heavenly Tribulation! Doesn't that only happen when someone breaks through a major realm after reaching the Grandmaster realm?!" Zhao Yueling's face drained of color.
She instinctively backed away.
Getting struck by this Heavenly Thunder would be no laughing matter!
Zhao Yuhao's gaze snapped back to Chen Mu.
His eyes widened like bronze bells.
Shock surged through his heart.
H-he actually has Grandmaster cultivation?!
Not long ago, Zhao Yuhao had heard that when Chen Mu awakened his talent, his strength had only been at the Martial Student realm.
How little time had passed, and he was already about to break through to Grandmaster?
Was this really not a joke?
Rumble!
A deafening thunderclap gave Zhao Yuhao a definite answer.
It was no joke!
"Everyone, leave the residence at once, lest the lightning tribulation injure you," Elder Mo warned them again.
"All right!" Zhao Yuhao signaled Zhao Yueling and the others with a glance.
Together, they retreated beyond the courtyard gates of Qingyun Prefecture.
"Elder Mo, this Heavenly Thunder looks quite formidable. Aren't you going to protect Young Master Chen?" Zhao Yuhao asked curiously.
"If you'd had the good fortune to witness the sword strike the young master unleashed yesterday, you wouldn't think that way." Elder Mo shook his head, his bitter smile full of self-mockery.
That sword strike?
After a moment of confusion, Zhao Yuhao suddenly pieced it together.
Zhao Yuhao was no stranger to Mo Changyuan. Before Zhao Yuhao was even born, the man had already broken through to the Human Immortal Realm. His spear arts had reached a miraculous level, earning him the title of Spear Saint in the Great Wu Dynasty.
From the expression on Mo Changyuan's face, Zhao Yuhao saw admiration, anticipation... and fear!
Spear Saint Mo Changyuan was actually afraid of someone from the younger generation?!
So what if he had seen it with his own eyes?
Zhao Yuhao still could not help wondering whether he was hallucinating.
Could it be?!
His gaze darted back to Chen Mu.
Was the Human Immortal Realm expert whom the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion reported had been cowed by a single sword strike from the Tianyuan Young Master... Spear Saint Mo Changyuan?!!
"Gulp!" At that thought, Zhao Yuhao could not help swallowing.
The Tianyuan Young Master was far, far more monstrous than he had imagined!
Rumble!
Just then, another thunderclap rang out—no, another bolt descended!
A bolt of Heavenly Thunder several meters thick plunged straight down from ten thousand meters above.
Its roar was so loud, its shock waves so far-reaching, that even the earth beneath their feet trembled.
Zhao Yuhao had heard that the stronger a person was, the stronger the lightning tribulation they had to face when breaking through.
What he saw today confirmed that understanding perfectly.
Looking at it another way, if this Heavenly Thunder struck him, what would his Martial Master Realm cultivation matter?
He would still turn to ashes in an instant!
Yet when it struck Chen Mu?
It had no effect whatsoever.
Watching Chen Mu completely enveloped in lightning, without so much as a furrow in his brow, as though nothing had happened—
Zhao Yuhao was dumbstruck.
"..." Zhao Yueling and the others were hardly any better.
Their slack-jawed expressions looked as though they had been cast from the same mold.
Mo Changyuan was equally astonished. He had expected Chen Mu to pass the lightning tribulation easily, but he had never imagined it would be this easy.
The Heavenly Tribulation striking him did not even... qualify as scratching an itch.
The first bolt of the Heavenly Tribulation ended!
The thunderclouds showed no sign of dispersing. At their center, lightning flashed incessantly.
The second bolt of the Heavenly Tribulation was gathering power.
Rumble!
Soon, the second bolt of Heavenly Thunder descended.
Its might had visibly increased!
Yet it still could not inflict even the slightest injury on Chen Mu.
Chen Mu felt nothing. Knowing that the Heavenly Tribulation would not end so soon, he simply lay back down in his chair.
His relaxed, leisurely demeanor and the overwhelmingly domineering, eye-shaking power of the Heavenly Tribulation before him belonged to two completely different pictures.
It made them wonder: was this really how someone should look while undergoing a tribulation?
Wasn't he taking it far too easily?!
"..." Looking at Chen Mu, then recalling all the suffering he himself had endured when breaking through to the Grandmaster realm, even nearly losing half his life—
Mo Changyuan could only think, I've tarnished the word "genius" and dragged it down.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble...
The third! The fourth! The fifth...
More than a dozen bolts of Heavenly Thunder descended in succession.
"..." Chen Mu could not shake the feeling that there were far too many.
Could it be that I'm acting too casually, and the heavens can't stand it? Must they hurt me a little before they're satisfied?
Are they really that fragile?
He was speechless. Utterly speechless.
Ignoring the pale-faced group outside Qingyun Prefecture—
Chen Mu finally took action and stood up.
He decided that this could not continue. It was interfering with his rest.
After learning a little about the Myriad Thunder Dao Body, he came up with a way to handle it.
Activate the sacred physique and absorb the Heavenly Thunder!
With the support of his Heaven-Rank Supreme Thunder Spirit Root, spiritual energy seethed! His cultivation soared!
However much Heavenly Tribulation lightning struck him, Chen Mu absorbed it all.
With his Infinite Dantian, there was no need to worry that he would be unable to withstand so much spiritual energy from heaven and earth, causing his dantian to explode.
"If I'm not seeing things, the Tianyuan Young Master is... absorbing the Heavenly Tribulation?"
"Wait! Th-that's! A sacred physique?!"
Before you continue