A corner of the southern primeval forest.
Spiritual energy flowed ceaselessly in from every direction, gathering in one place to form layers of tribulation clouds flickering with arcs of electricity. In the blink of an eye, a huge silvery-white patch of lightning formed.
Beneath the tribulation clouds, a handsome youth stood bare-chested, forming finger seals as he gazed at the sky and muttered.
"Three tribulation clouds! It's actually three tribulation clouds! I've made it this time!!!"
The tribulation clouds continued to gather. Lin Qian struggled to calm himself and prepare for his breakthrough.
An ordinary tribulation involved only one or two tribulation clouds and four or five bolts of heavenly lightning. The Heavenly Dao would send down a heavenly tribulation of varying power according to the cultivator's aptitude and potential. The more bolts of tribulation lightning there were, the greater that person's potential, and the harder their path to immortality would be that day, as would the difficulty of surviving the immortal tribulation.
The youth reviewed the methods in his memory. Three tribulation clouds meant there would be no fewer than six bolts of tribulation lightning. His foundation this time could be called perfect. His would surely be a high-grade nascent soul.
Rumble-
The tribulation clouds began to tremble incessantly, and the patch of lightning grew increasingly distinct. The instant it reached a certain threshold, it transformed into a dazzling pillar of lightning and crashed straight down at Lin Qian's head!
As the heavenly lightning emerged, even heaven and earth lost their color!
This embodiment of the Heavenly Dao's wrath seemed intent on utterly erasing the creature undergoing the tribulation. Accompanied by the laws of the Great Dao that embodied the ultimate truths of heaven and earth, it smashed down at Lin Qian, sparing not a single living creature within a ten-li radius.
Crack!
Sizzle!
Lin Qian grunted. His entire body had been scorched black, and wisps of black smoke rose from the corners of his mouth. White bone could faintly be seen in places, a shocking sight.
"This Daoist has made it! I've made it!!!"
Lin Qian took out the beast meat and spirit plants he had prepared long ago, frantically replenishing the energy depleted from his body. "Damn it! Those Holy Land geniuses never had this much trouble undergoing their tribulations when I watched them before. Thank goodness I found this treasure of a place, or I really might not have pulled through."
This was already his second time cultivating and his third life as a human. In his previous life, he had transmigrated to a cultivation world and entered a secret realm as an unaffiliated cultivator.
But just as he was about to obtain the secret manual's legacy, he unexpectedly encountered a demonic cultivator. Unable to dodge in time, he could only tumble into a deep ravine with the secret manual's legacy. When he woke again, he discovered that he had been born in a remote village.
Perhaps this place was simply too remote. Lin Qian had lived in the village for three or four years, yet he had failed to learn anything at all about immortals or cultivation.
Fortunately, the demonic beasts and spirit plants here contained considerable spiritual energy. Some demonic beasts were comparable to the spirit pills of his previous life, which saved Lin Qian quite a bit of effort. He left the village early on and entered the forest to devote himself to cultivation.
He had thought this malnourished body would need several more years of nurturing, but in the end, it took only one year to break through to the peak of foundation establishment.
Lin Qian had seen quite a few hunters and cultivators enter the forest in groups. Some could breathe fire, discharge electricity, or form ice. Carrying a secret treasure and worried it would be discovered, Lin Qian had only watched from afar, never approaching.
He was only twelve now, yet he had already broken through to the nascent soul stage.
As far as Lin Qian knew, not even the Holy Land geniuses and Saint Sons of his previous life could accomplish what he had.
Once he emerged from seclusion this time, he could find a Holy Land and enjoy being treated as a Saint Son, surrounded like the moon amid a host of stars.
Lin Qian exhaled deeply and belched in satisfaction. Demonic beast skeletons lay all around him. As for the spirit plants, he tossed them into a pot, mixed them all together, and drank them down in one gulp.
Most of the injuries the lightning tribulation had inflicted on his body then healed.
Star Dou Great Forest.
The gloomy sky was a mass of gray, as though someone had deliberately draped a thin veil before their eyes. Clouds piled upon clouds, with brilliant white flashes of lightning appearing now and then, accompanied by rumbling thunder.
"Chrysanthemum Douluo, are we still going farther in?"
The speaker was a girl who looked fifteen or sixteen, with a graceful figure and a distinctive allure.
"Something is wrong in Star Dou Forest. Perhaps it has something to do with this strange phenomenon. Come, let's go take a look." Chrysanthemum Douluo frowned and gazed into the distance. Five days had already passed since they entered Star Dou Great Forest.
He had originally been responsible for secretly protecting Hu Liena as she hunted soul beasts and absorbed a soul ring, while also assessing whether she was qualified to become Spirit Hall's next Holy Maiden.
Yet ever since Hu Liena entered Star Dou Great Forest, their entire journey had been terrifyingly quiet.
Never mind soul beasts suitable for soul rings; there was not even a single soul beast foraging or running about as they usually did. They had found neither thousand-year nor ten-thousand-year soul beasts, nor even hundred-year or ten-year soul beasts.
It was as though some creature had preyed on them all.
Unable to carry out the assessment, he had no choice but to reveal himself and lead Hu Liena deeper into Star Dou Great Forest to see whether there were any suitable soul beasts.
The closer they drew to the center of the thunderstorm, the thicker and heavier the clouds overhead became. Here and there around them, they could make out bloodstains that had yet to dry and the leftover skeletons of soul beasts that had been eaten.
Chrysanthemum Douluo took a look. Among them were quite a few powerful beast species from Star Dou Forest.
"Hu Liena, retrace your steps back to Spirit Hall now. Tell the Supreme Pontiff that a new hundred-thousand-year soul beast may have appeared in Star Dou Great Forest." Excitement showed in Chrysanthemum Douluo's eyes. Unable to contain himself, he licked the corner of his mouth, his eyes shining.
Although he was already a Titled Douluo with a full set of soul rings, the soul bone of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast still held considerable appeal for him.
"A hundred-thousand-year soul beast?" Hu Liena froze.
"That's right!" Chrysanthemum Douluo said with certainty. "This must be a savage, aggressive soul beast. We haven't seen a single soul beast along the way, and now Star Dou Forest's environment has undergone this strange change. It must have been caused by this soul beast's breakthrough. He has only just broken through and is at his weakest. We can't let this opportunity slip!"
With that, Chrysanthemum Douluo lingered no longer. He shot into the lightning zone in a single burst, and a youth came into view.
He was sitting cross-legged in the center of a clearing, bare-chested and covered in filthy bloodstains, the very image of a wild man.
Where was the hundred-thousand-year soul beast? Why was there only some greenhorn kid here?
Could a hundred-thousand-year soul beast have cultivated a human body?
No! This boy smelled human.
Spirit Hall had hunted down no small number of hundred-thousand-year soul beasts, and there had also been soul beasts that had taken human form. Moreover, he, Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan, had been a principal participant in those hunts.
Thus, he could be certain that the boy before him was human.
The next second, white light filled his entire field of vision. Electricity flooded the Titled Douluo's whole body, its power far exceeding that of any Limit Douluo on the Douluo Continent. Chrysanthemum Douluo's vision went black, and he fell from the sky.
"Holy crap! A woman fell out of the sky... No, wait, looks like a man."
Chrysanthemum Douluo's consciousness was hazy. He had been struck hard, and with those hurtful words on top of it, anger surged into his heart, and he passed out completely.