Gu Hong looked radiant, his eyes like golden lamps. Clearly, he too had reaped tremendous benefits.
"Hahaha." He Xian greeted him with a smile. "Elder Supreme, we can catch up later. I'll be back after facing a heavenly tribulation."
He could no longer suppress the turmoil within his body and stepped outside the Gu Clan Ancestral Land.
Undergoing a tribulation in the Gu Clan Ancestral Land would be deeply disrespectful. He Xian was overbearing, not arrogant.
With an Immortal King's aura drawing the tribulation, he would never survive this Escape One tribulation.
The world did not know that the old Gu of the Gu Clan had become an Immortal King, but he did.
Immortal Kings, Undying Kings-at that level, merely calling their names with sincere devotion would summon a manifestation of their dharma bodies. Their world-overwhelming pressure was simply beyond comprehension.
"Lightning, come!" He Xian threw back his head and roared.
In this epoch, advancing into the Escape One Realm did not ordinarily bring a lightning tribulation in the Foreign Realm. Only a handful of heaven-defying prodigies could summon one to temper themselves.
He Xian happened to be one of those few, and the overlord among them at that.
"A lightning tribulation! He actually summoned a lightning tribulation. Truly extraordinary." In the Gu Clan Ancestral Land, the old Supreme of the Gu Clan wore a thoughtful expression, though no one knew what he was thinking.
In the Foreign Realm, summoning a lightning tribulation below the Supreme Realm was exceedingly difficult. Only a heaven-defying prodigy could do it.
Rumble!
Lightning flashed and thunder roared. In a single instant, it erupted outside the Gu Clan Ancestral Land!
All at once, every creature nearby trembled, their hearts gripped by dread, as though calamity loomed and the end of the world had come. It was like a sharp sword hanging above their heads, like a great mountain sinking into their hearts.
This was the sensation of a heavenly tribulation descending, a terror engraved into the very nature of living beings, a fear they could scarcely face.
"Look up! What's that in the sky?" someone cried.
"A lightning tribulation! That's a lightning tribulation! Who's up there?"
"He Sky-Supporting!" The people raised their heads, feeling only those two glittering golden words searing their souls.
Such was a bestowed title: it meant attention, it meant standing at the center of everything.
"Heavens! He's summoned a lightning tribulation at merely the Escape One Realm! He's defying heaven! Look, his body gleams like gold, like glazed crystal. Did he temper it in the Gu Clan Ancestral Land?" Countless people gazed up at the heavens. The fluctuations of this lightning tribulation reached across a vast area!
Many old monsters paled as well. In this realm, it was their first time seeing someone in the Self-Slaying Realm draw down a lightning tribulation.
Boom!
The boundless heavens had been empty, but now a vast ocean appeared. It was a divine sea formed of lightning, thick with dark clouds and crushing pressure!
Rumble!
The next moment, silver lightning serpents danced, fierce as flood dragons within the pitch-black clouds. They tore open the heavens, releasing an aura that made people tremble. The nearby creatures instinctively wanted to retreat.
This lightning tribulation covered a vast stretch of sky, drawing the eyes of thousands!
"The lightning tribulation finally came." Without surviving a few of these, he could hardly call himself an outstanding talent.
He Xian looked up at the sky without the slightest trace of fear. He had long since ground away that instinctive dread of living beings. All he possessed was boundless, unbridled dominance and the conviction that he alone reigned supreme.
Crack!
In an instant, the heavens darkened. Enormous bolts of lightning, thick as rivers and seas, struck his body one after another, leaving trails of electricity.
"Not enough! Come at me harder!"
He Xian roared, bathing in the lightning, his hair flying loose as he faced the vast heavenly tribulation alone. His supremely powerful body shone as he used the tribulation's power to cleanse his flesh and primordial spirit once more. He would never pass up an opportunity to temper his body.
Sizzle!
A tingling numbness spread through him. Soon, black lightning swallowed him, and he rose and fell within it without offering the slightest resistance, relying entirely on his flesh.
"Nourishment! It's all nourishment!" He Xian laughed heartily.
Every inch of his skin blazed dazzlingly, and every pore swallowed and released lightning, refining his magical power. His flesh, blood, sinews, bones, and membranes vibrated like crashing thunder, shattering mountain after mountain with boundless terror.
"He's using the lightning tribulation to temper his body! Truly worthy of being our realm's foremost talent!" Everyone shuddered. He Xian's performance was far too frightening.
"Charge! Too slow!" He Xian actually found this pace of bodily tempering too slow and charged straight into the depths of the lightning tribulation.
Rumble!
The heavenly tribulation seemed to have been enraged.
Lightning raged and thunder boomed without pause, seemingly without end. All manner of terrifying lightning tribulations appeared, pouring down across the sky and engulfing He Xian. Everything there became a boundless expanse of blazing, world-destroying lightning.
He Xian punched through the sea of lightning, tearing apart hundreds upon thousands of leaping arcs. The undying golden radiance flowing over his body grew ever richer, as though undergoing a transformation, becoming deeper still.
His gaze was sharp and intimidating. Two golden beams tore straight through ten thousand miles of tribulation clouds, piercing their deepest reaches.
"Not enough! A heavenly tribulation like this isn't worthy of my breakthrough!" He Xian roared!
Heaven and earth seemed to sense his words, and the atmosphere grew ever more oppressive.
As a terrifying aura emerged, the hearts of every creature looking up convulsed, towering waves of horror surging within them. They all froze.
Within that dreadful lightning, one figure after another gradually manifested and walked forward, step by step, as though mighty beings were returning to life.
"Human-shaped lightning! Human-shaped lightning!" someone shouted.
That aura was far too horrifying, peerlessly powerful, making every person tremble.
According to legend, heaven and earth would only send down such a calamity when they did not want a being to survive the tribulation.
Especially in the Foreign Realm, just how monstrous and terrifying must a being have been for the will of heaven and earth to engrave their likeness and have them fight on heaven's behalf!
At that moment, even the older generation was stunned. They discerned a certain aura, trembling all over as they sensed what had happened.
Those phantoms emerged from the billowing black clouds, each bearing down upon the universe and looking disdainfully across eternity. Leaving all else aside, their sheer presence alone made heaven and earth tremble instinctively!
Kings! Were those Kings?!
"The heavenly tribulation has manifested the forms of Kings! Is the Crane Ancestor's son truly this heaven-defying?" At this moment, even those of the older generation were won over, their bodies trembling and shaking!
Deep within the Foreign Realm, even the Undying were stirred, sensing this transcendent aura with absolute clarity.
This was far too heaven-defying, utterly beyond reason, like a dream. The figures of Kings manifested from the heavenly tribulation one after another, descending into the world.
How could anyone possibly survive this!
In the void, those figures bore awe-inspiring divine majesty. Each looked down upon the world, gazing disdainfully across eternity. All carried the bearing of one invincible above and below the heavens, each a supreme among Supremes.
Now, they approached one after another with steady steps, as though trampling apart the blue heavens of eternity!
One held a great halberd, another gripped a golden spear, and yet another cradled a small crimson furnace in one hand.
"Kings! They truly are the revered progenitors!" At this moment, even the ancestral lands of the Emperor Clans were stirred. Peerless Emperor Clan experts awakened, sensing something in their hearts.
"Can anyone truly survive such a terrifying lightning tribulation?" Some people began praying for He Xian, shaking uncontrollably, for even standing to the side, they felt as though that aura would tear their bodies apart.
"Has he truly become so astonishing that a lightning tribulation like this must descend to temper him?" Others went so far as to voice such wonder.