Facing Heaven's Might Alone

Lu Chen's first heavenly punishment took the form of a Lightning Lion forged from thunder.

Wrapped in astonishing tribulation lightning, it pounced down from the sky.

Its boundless ferocious might crashed down, sinking the ground three meters.

The three clones simultaneously unleashed their Qi and Blood Domains, slowing it for a moment, while Lu Chen drove a blade of light into its head.

But at the same time, he was sent flying by a swipe of its claw.

By the time he scrambled back up, the Lightning Lion had already dispersed, forcibly smashed apart by the three clones' furnaces.

Vigorous energy flowed back to him, and Lu Chen returned to his peak state after only a few breaths.

Suddenly, his heart jolted.

He discovered that his heavenly punishment tribulation clouds had abruptly grown several times denser, as though they were about to crush him alive.

The same was true for Blood Owl, Xue Chou, and Ji Wujue.

The heavenly tribulations of the other cultivators who had been killed had not dissipated; they had stacked onto the four of them.

"We've played this too big!" Lu Chen's expression grew increasingly grave.

"Lu Chen, fuck your mother! Aaaah..."

Ji Wujue howled, looking utterly crazed.

Blood Owl and Xue Chou kept stuffing blood pearls into their mouths, hastily recovering their depleted strength.

As the second bolt of lightning descended, all three of their faces changed in horror.

Ji Wujue's Bronze Chariot cracked inch by inch, and the Spiritual Light protecting his body was torn apart like thin paper.

His eyes nearly split open with rage. He crushed the life-saving Blood Talisman bestowed by King Yanbei, and a phantom King's Shadow rose from the ground, only to shatter with a thunderous crash beneath the Lightning Beast's trampling.

"Lu Chen! Even if I become a ghost, I will..." Before he could finish his curse, lightning swallowed his figure.

Blood Owl fared even worse. The Blood Devouring Banner was blasted into fragments, and before his Natal Essence Blood could finish burning, his body turned to charcoal, then exploded with a bang.

As for Xue Chou, he did not even put up a proper resistance before being blasted into pulp.

All three died beneath the second layer of heavenly tribulation.

Meanwhile, Lu Chen faced a hundred-zhang Lightning Beast.

It resembled a Kui Ox, standing on one leg in the void. Every roar shook mountains and rivers apart. Lu Chen's strength surged, and his right fist fiercely met it head-on.

Boom!

Fist aura collided with the Lightning Beast, and the shockwave peeled up ten miles of rock strata.

The flesh on both of Lu Chen's arms was shattered, exposing white bone, but in the next instant, the Qi and Blood replenished by the Blood Marrow he had placed in his mouth beforehand made up for the expenditure.

His arms recovered completely within a few breaths.

Yet everyone's heavenly tribulations had all stacked onto his heavenly punishment.

The sky above was dark and oppressive, as if it would shatter heaven and earth.

Lu Chen let out a long roar. The furnace hung upside down, madly devouring the scattered power of the lightning tribulation.

At this moment, he alone remained between heaven and earth, facing heaven's might.

Dozens of layers of tribulation clouds completely merged. Within the abyss-black vortex of clouds, Lightning Beasts manifested one after another—Vermilion Bird spread its wings and burned the heavens, Azure Dragon swept its tail and shattered mountains, Black Tortoise bore mountains and subdued seas...

Ancient ferocious beasts descended with world-destroying might.

The fused heavenly punishment unleashed everything at once.

Lu Chen was bathed in blood. The Myriad Manifestations Furnace burned ever more fiercely, while phantoms of bronze pillars and an ancient demon's mutilated corpse appeared upon its body.

"Refine!" he roared, and the Myriad Manifestations Furnace completely refined the ancient demon's Essence Blood.

A primordial power awakened from the depths of his bloodline. Behind him, the Demon Emperor Phantom raised its head and roared at the sky. Though only one head had solidified, its pressure already shook the nine heavens.

Lu Chen threw his right fist again, its imprint wrapped in boundless Qi and Blood power, blasting the Vermilion Bird Lightning Beast apart in midair!

"Earth Shattering Collapse Fist, break for me!"

Like a mad demon, he charged upward against the lightning.

The Azure Dragon Lightning Beast was caught around its vital spot by furnace chains, while the Black Tortoise was punched straight through.

With every Lightning Beast he defeated, the tribulation clouds dimmed another fraction, while his fist intent grew ever more condensed.

At last, he punched toward the core of the cloud vortex. Wherever the fist aura passed, space shattered like a mirror.

The tribulation clouds froze for an instant, then exploded with a thunderous crash.

A thousand miles away, Han Qingxue's fingertips had turned white from how tightly she clenched them.

She had watched Lu Chen's flesh shatter and regenerate, watched him tear open crack after crack within the sea of lightning.

When that figure pierced the tribulation clouds with a single punch and crushed the last trace of lightning in his palm, the frost in her eyes melted away entirely, and the corners of her lips unconsciously lifted.

"This bastard... really did it."

The tribulation clouds dispersed, and daylight broke.

The Blood Fiend Battlefield was deathly silent.

Everyone had been cowed by that terrifying heavenly might, and news of Lu Chen's tribulation had rapidly spread from the Blood Fiend Battlefield.

Such a tribulation had never been seen before, and the key was that Lu Chen had survived.

Lu Chen raised his head to look at the sky, his wounds healing at a visible pace.

The furnace in his sea of qi transformed into the True Martial Furnace. A small world formed within it, and the white sphere at its center became ever more condensed.

Waves of aura radiated from it.

Pure aura—the evolved form of Qi and Blood Protective Aura, True Martial Aura.

It possessed greater resilience and greater power.

Once he transformed all the Qi and Blood Protective Aura in his body into True Martial Aura and condensed the True Martial Armor, he could advance from the first level of True Martial to the second.

He suddenly turned his head toward a figure shooting over, then smiled faintly.

Han Qingxue!

Her face was still pale.

"Were you that worried about me?"

When she reached him, Lu Chen unceremoniously wrapped an arm around her waist.

Han Qingxue was furious and about to struggle when a sweetness suddenly filled her mouth. Lu Chen had poured a small bottle of mysterious liquid into it.

"Consider it repayment for saving my life last time!" Lu Chen smiled faintly.

The tips of Han Qingxue's ears reddened. She snorted coldly and tried to break free and leave, but suddenly let out a muffled groan and hurriedly sat down cross-legged.

A precious liquid that restored the divine soul.

During her recovery, Lu Chen gave her another small bottle, continuing until she had fully recovered.

"Thank you!" Han Qingxue opened her eyes and said gratefully.

Lu Chen gave a bitter smile. "You were saving me too. There's no need to be so polite!"

As he spoke, he held out his hand.

Han Qingxue's face reddened, and she placed her hand in his.

But Lu Chen smacked it away and said, caught between laughter and tears, "Your Ice Soul Sword!"

"Ah, ah?" Han Qingxue froze, her face instantly turning as red as an apple. She wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

She had thought Lu Chen wanted to pull her up.

"W-what do you need my sword for?" Suppressing her embarrassment, Han Qingxue still handed over the Ice Soul Sword.

"To leave you a memento, so you won't forget me!"

Han Qingxue: ...

But then her eyes widened, and she nearly popped her eyeballs out in shock.

Lu Chen took out an unknown item and directly fused it into her Ice Soul Sword. Then... then it advanced.

The Mid-grade Spirit Artifact Ice Soul Sword.

But it was not over yet. He took out a section of Corpse Bone and infused it with a ball of Essence Blood. As surging Qi and Blood energy poured in, it actually transformed into an exquisite little black furnace.

He then fused in another mysterious fragment, erased his divine soul imprint, and handed it over.

Seeing the pained look on his face, Han Qingxue stammered:

"If... if you can't bear to part with it, forget it. I won't force you!"

"I..." Lu Chen nearly choked to death.

He really did feel a little pained.

It had been refined from an ancient demon's Corpse Bone.

At its peak, it had definitely been a terrifying existence beyond the fourth rank.

The furnace refined from it was a Top-grade Spirit Artifact.

It was superior to the other three external furnaces.

But the ancient demon's Corpse Bone and that bronze pillar had not been fully refined, and even the chains remained.

The Myriad Manifestations Furnace had yet to awaken to the point where it could refine them.

"How about you marry me to repay it?" Lu Chen teased.

"In your dreams!" Han Qingxue snatched the furnace away.

"I'll take that as your agreement!"

"The one I want to marry is a peerless hero. Unfortunately, you aren't one. Hmph, hmph, hmph!"

"Give it back!" Lu Chen glared.

"Can you act like a man? You have the nerve to ask for something back after giving it away? No!"

With that, she bit her finger and dripped blood onto it to refine it.

The moment she sensed its quality, Han Qingxue lost her composure.