Li Dalong began frantically circulating the spiritual power within his body and brought out his defensive artifact and his top-grade spirit sword, the Azure Cloud Sword. He had prepared all of these to face the trial of the heavenly tribulation.
Suddenly, the lightning in the sky began gathering into an enormous vortex. Li Dalong knew the heavenly tribulation was about to descend. He watched the lightning converge into a massive bolt, like a whip of light, its immense pressure filling even his soul with fear and unease. But he knew that only by passing the heavenly tribulation's trial could he attain greater power and a higher realm.
When the lightning amassed by the heavenly tribulation reached its peak, it struck at Li Dalong in an instant. He poured spiritual power into the Azure Cloud Sword and slashed upward to meet the tribulation lightning. When the powerful sword light collided with it, the sword light only made it pause, draining a tiny fraction of its power before being swallowed. Then the lightning continued hurtling toward Li Dalong.
The first line of defense he had prepared was breached just like that. Sensing danger, Li Dalong immediately poured spiritual power into his defensive artifact. He could only withstand it head-on now. The tribulation lightning struck the defensive artifact a moment later, sending a shudder through his body. Fortunately, the artifact withstood this strike of the heavenly tribulation. A heavenly tribulation at the Tribulation Transcendence Realm generally delivered nine strikes, nine being the ultimate number. The first eight tested the cultivator and tempered the body, while the ninth bestowed its rewards upon the cultivator's body.
The heavenly tribulation in the sky was gathering power for its second bolt of tribulation lightning. Li Dalong seized the time to absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, replenishing the spiritual power he had just expended. Then the second bolt plunged straight down. Once again, he sent the Azure Cloud Sword's sword light against the tribulation lightning to weaken it, after which his defensive artifact bore the clash. After withstanding three successive bolts, Li Dalong knew his defensive artifact could no longer endure the next one. Each strike of the heavenly tribulation was stronger than the last. When the time came, he could only withstand it with his body.
The fourth bolt of tribulation lightning arrived as expected. The Azure Cloud Sword rose to meet it, and the defensive artifact disintegrated in the clash. When the tribulation lightning struck his body, he felt himself engulfed by a mighty force. His body was being torn apart, and his soul struggled and trembled in agony. Li Dalong circulated his spiritual power to its utmost limit, resisting the damage the heavenly tribulation inflicted on his body. Though the tearing sensation was excruciating, he could not give up. He knew he could survive only by enduring to the end.
With each baptism of the heavenly tribulation, the body and soul of the person undergoing Tribulation Transcendence were greatly tempered and strengthened.
Eight strikes. He had exhausted every means at his disposal and consumed plenty of pills for healing and restoring his cultivation. During the last two strikes in particular, he had swallowed pills by the handful as though they cost nothing, heedless of whether they might make him burst. He endured strike after strike, his body riddled with wounds under the heavenly tribulation's assault.
When the ninth bolt of tribulation lightning began brewing in the sky, Li Dalong finally breathed a sigh of relief. Tribulation transcendence truly meant nine chances of death against one chance of life! The ninth and final strike held no danger. Instead, it would bring the greatest benefits. The tribulation lightning in the sky turned from blue and white to purple, staining the entire sky purple. Li Dalong sat cross-legged with his back straight, ready to receive it. A pillar of purple lightning as thick as a bucket poured down from the sky, entering through the top of his head, while the excess lightning enveloped his entire body. As the lightning entered him, vast yet gentle energy began repairing his wounded body and replenishing his parched dantian. The heavenly Dao aura contained in the lightning also nourished and strengthened his divine sense.
After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the purple lightning began slowly fading, and the tribulation lightning in the sky gradually dispersed. The instant the heavenly tribulation ended, Li Dalong felt as though his body and soul had been reborn. He felt he was no longer the man he had been before. He had attained greater power and a higher realm, though he also faintly sensed this world rejecting him. The Tribulation Transcendence Realm! In the mere decades since transmigrating, with the system's help, I've gone from a useless man whose dantian could not be opened to a cultivator at the Tribulation Transcendence Realm. Nothing like this has ever happened throughout all the ages. And as long as I keep a low enough profile and avoid provoking those stronger powers, I'll go even further with the system's help!
After entering the Tribulation Transcendence Realm, not only had his cultivation increased, but his divine sense had also grown considerably stronger. Its reach now extended twenty thousand li. After carefully reflecting for a while on the changes brought by his new realm, Li Dalong lingered no longer. He retrieved his formation and vanished from the island. Peace returned to the island and the surrounding sea.
Not long after Zhou Xue returned to the Righteous Qi Sect to cultivate, she successfully formed her golden core and broke through to the Golden Core Realm, becoming the sect's youngest Golden Core Realm disciple. Since cultivating under Li Dalong, and as she had grown older, her temperament had changed considerably. She had become well-behaved and sensible. Beautiful and the sect master's daughter to boot, she was beloved throughout the Righteous Qi Sect. The young male disciples in particular wished they could spend all day hovering around her.
Ten years passed in the blink of an eye. Zhou Xue spent them cultivating and venturing out with her senior brothers and sisters to gain experience. She also regularly visited her martial uncle Li Dalong to ask for guidance and see him. With his instruction and the cultivation resources he provided, her cultivation had quietly advanced to the early Nascent Soul Realm. An early Nascent Soul Realm cultivator at nineteen-the elders of the Righteous Qi Sect treasured her beyond measure.
A few days earlier, Zhou Xue had accepted a sect mission to lead a group of Golden Core Realm and Foundation Establishment Realm disciples from the Righteous Qi Sect into the Demon Beast Forest to gain experience.
Within the Demon Beast Forest, the Righteous Qi Sect disciples advanced cautiously, keeping a vigilant watch on their surroundings. They had already passed beyond the outskirts and entered the more dangerous depths. As the group's leader, Zhou Xue remained alert at all times, her gaze firm and decisive. This was not her first visit to the Demon Beast Forest, but it was her first time entering its depths. They had gone at least thirty li farther than on her previous visits. Elsewhere on the continent, Zhou Xue, already in the Nascent Soul Realm, could cover thirty li in the blink of an eye. Inside the Demon Beast Forest, however, things were entirely different.
Most people did not dare fly in the Demon Beast Forest; they could only keep obediently to the ground. Flying there without cultivation at the Spirit Transformation Realm or above was courting death. The flying demon beasts would tear them to pieces. Not only were those beasts powerful, but more importantly, they lived in flocks. A person might handle one or two, but when demon beasts came swarming across the sky, even Spirit Transformation Realm cultivators had to flee for their lives. Deeper in the forest, the demon beasts were even more dangerous.
It was precisely because Zhou Xue understood how dangerous the Demon Beast Forest was that she proceeded so cautiously. Yet just as they were suppressing their auras and advancing with care, an enormous demon beast suddenly appeared before them.
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