Pengluo Awakens! Breaking Through to Rank Eight!

Li Guanqi was taken aback for a moment. Hearing that cheeky voice, the corners of his mouth couldn't help curving slightly upward. A big white radish whose appearance had changed drastically perched on his shoulder. With green leaves sprouting from its head, it was plump and several sizes rounder than before. Mysterious purple markings covered its body, forming an arcane, enigmatic totem across its chest. Looking at the newly cute Pengluo, Li Guanqi felt a bit unaccustomed. In the past, Pengluo had just looked like an ordinary radish spirit. Now... how did it even carry a hint of a sacred aura? Its round, chubby body made it look quite endearing. "So this is... a Divine Pattern Heavenly Radish?" Perhaps noticing the skepticism in Li Guanqi's eyes, Pengluo snapped petulantly, "I only just awakened! Just awakened, okay?!" As it spoke, Pengluo extended a fair white finger and tapped the formation's radiance. Instantly, the light stabilized significantly. Pengluo sidled up to Li Guanqi with a cheeky expression, scratching its head with an awkward, sheepish look. "Uh... let me break through first..." Right at that moment, thunder and lightning gathered in the sky above—clearly a breakthrough heavenly tribulation! And an extraordinarily rare Obliteration Heavenly Tribulation at that! Looking at the spirit creature before him, Dugu Chongming couldn't help swallowing hard. This was a spirit creature breaking through to rank eight! Li Guanqi caught the exhaustion in Pengluo's eyes, and a twinge of heartache flashed through him. Immediately after, though, he shrugged. It seemed nearly impossible to keep their situation here from being noticed now. With a wave of his hand, he forced out the cold poison within his body, tightened his grip on Red Lotus, and murmured softly, "Everyone, a brutal battle is likely ahead. Brace yourselves." Rumble! A terrifying blood-red heavenly tribulation converged over the Xuan clan estate, blanketing a perimeter of several thousand zhang. The sight shocked the combatants into breaking apart. This tribulation clearly carried the kind of overwhelming might seen only when someone broke through to the Mahayana realm. The boundless heavenly might seemed poised to obliterate everyone present, frightening the crowd into beating a hasty retreat! Xuan Zhen was drenched in blood, his disheveled hair giving him a rather wretched appearance. Holding his sword, he said coldly, "Xuan Zhèn! Even this trick won't work—only I can enter the Inheritance Realm!" A chilling gleam flashed in his eyes. He was convinced this power was Xuan Zhèn's doing—sneaking someone into the Xuan clan to force everyone back with the heavenly tribulation while that person seized the inheritance. Yet at this moment, the grim-faced Xuan Zhèn's eyes were flickering as well. Judging from Xuan Zhen's expression, the reaction didn't seem feigned! Xuan Zhèn's eyes darted. He knew his elder brother's character all too well. Even if Xuan Zhen put on a flawless performance that left no room for doubt, that very perfection put Xuan Zhèn on high alert! He even suspected this was Xuan Zhen's own contingency plan, designed to stall for time and completely snuff out Xuan Zhèn's hopes of seizing the inheritance. "Heh, my hypocritical brother, what a fine act of crying thief to catch a thief!" "Strike! Kill them!" "Find a way to help Xuan Ji claim the inheritance!" With those words, the crowd behind Xuan Zhèn drew their swords and charged again! A woman with long blue hair wore an expression as frigid as frost. Her arched brows and eyelashes were light blue, and her eyes were a deep, dark blue like ten-thousand-year glaciers. Her skin was fair as snow, her figure graceful, yet her brow and gaze brimmed with ferocious hostility. From her crimson lips, the breath she exhaled turned into a streak of white rainbow. Though only at the early Mahayana realm, she did not fall into a disadvantage in the slightest when facing mid Mahayana realm cultivators. And she was none other than the enchantress of the Xuan clan, Xuan Ji! Hailed as the person most likely to claim the divine-grade ice spiritual root and become the Ice Lord! Seeing this, Xuan Zhen assumed Xuan Zhèn was merely putting up a facade, charging forward now solely to pin him down! A flare of nameless fury rose in his chest, and he raised his arm, shouting loudly, "Hmph! Xuan clan, hear my command!" "Today, our orthodox Xuan clan lineage shall annihilate this treacherous branch!" "Whoever kills Xuan Ji shall receive the complete Bingqi Divine Art! Ascension is within reach!" At those words, the cultivators of the Northern Branch instantly fell into a frenzy. Perhaps they had previously believed in Xuan Ji's potential. Until that woman's arrival a few years ago... Proud, powerful, looking down upon all living beings! That proud, cold woman had defeated Xuan Ji in mere moments—in the time it took to drink a cup of tea. That was what made them realize she was far more likely to be the true Ice Lord! Most crucially... the Xuan clan's incomplete scroll of the Bingqi Divine Art seemed as though it had belonged to that woman all along. In less time than it took an incense stick to burn, she had cultivated it to perfection, and her strength had soared by leaps and bounds. Rumble! The heavenly tribulation thunderclouds churning violently in the firmament suddenly hurled down a thick bolt of blood-red lightning! When Xuan Zhen saw the direction the lightning struck, his heart lurched violently! "I knew it!" Swinging his sword in a ferocious reverse strike that forced Xuan Zhèn back, he charged inward, completely ignoring the tribulation overhead. Seeing this, Xuan Zhèn narrowed his eyes. Xuan Zhen clearly knew something! Without another word, he broke away and followed in pursuit! Sensing the presence of two late Mahayana realm cultivators, the blood-red thunderclouds grew several times heavier in pressure, as if utterly incensed! Terrifying bolts of lightning a zhang thick crashed down relentlessly toward the two of them! Meanwhile, Pengluo's entire body glowed with frightening purple light. Its eyes half-closed, it opened its mouth wide toward the falling lightning! As lightning poured into its body, Pengluo forced the lightning down into its belly, swallowing it whole! In an instant, the purple markings on Pengluo's chest flared with an even more blinding brilliance. Pfft~ A wisp of black smoke shot out from behind Pengluo's rear. Pengluo sheepishly covered it with a hand and gave an awkward chuckle. "Uh... just awakened, not quite used to it yet..." Burp~ Li Guanqi had sent the others into his domain space, while he stood behind Pengluo with his aura concealed beneath the sword coffin. Naturally, he sensed Xuan Zhen and Xuan Zhèn's presence, and a somber expression settled across his face. "Hurry it up. I can't take on those two old fellows yet." Pengluo chuckled smugly, the cheeky expression on its face exactly the same as before. "Don't worry, Master! If those old farts dare to barge in, shouldn't I give them a proper welcome?" With that, Pengluo's body expanded rapidly, ballooning to ten zhang tall in the blink of an eye. It then threw open its arms and began shouting curses, constantly surging its aura to provoke the heavenly tribulation. As the purple markings spread, Li Guanqi suddenly frowned. "Good grief... nourishing itself by devouring tribulation lightning—what kind of thing is Pengluo, really?" Goaded by Pengluo, the tribulation lightning struck in relentless waves, as if determined to obliterate it. Yet having awakened its racial bloodline, Pengluo harbored no fear whatsoever. To it, this blood-red lightning was pure tonic. Opening its wide mouth, it welcomed every last bolt. Xuan Zhèn and Xuan Zhen, however, were not so fortunate... Having flown barely eight hundred zhang, they were already charred black from head to toe, their hair completely scorched away. On top of that, each had to guard against a sneak attack from the other, which tied their hands even further. Looking up at the deluge of lightning crashing down from the heavens, the two had no choice but to retreat out of the tribulation's range, eyeing each other with wary vigilance.