A Single Sword Shatters the Heavenly Tribulation!

Rumble! Rumble! A deafening roar echoed endlessly as the terrifying crimson heavenly tribulation descended from the firmament in two separate surges. Li Guanqi was covered from head to toe in purple dragon scales, divine patterns etched across his entire body. He stood quietly in midair, enduring the heavenly tribulation with the sheer strength of his physical body alone. Seeing this, numerous cultivators sucked in cold breaths. At the same time, many also noticed that Li Guanqi's cultivation realm had undergone yet another transformation. "Hiss! How long has it even been since he broke through to the Tribulation Transcendence realm? Why is it that even I can't see through him now?" "Indeed! Going by his current aura, he must have already reached the mid Tribulation Transcendence realm!" "Such talent is truly terrifying... To advance through the realms so swiftly, yet his aura remains as profound and steady as an abyss, without the slightest sign of instability." A middle-aged man who had fought for years in the Fifth Domain looked at Li Guanqi with an admiring gaze. Li Guanqi did not feel much about this. Having reached his present height, he had heard far too many such compliments. His entire focus remained squarely on Meng Wanshu. Meng Wanshu blurred into an afterimage, flickering through the sky. Chilling sword light crisscrossed through the void, freezing the terrifying crimson lightning completely mid-descent. Meng Wanshu then absorbed the frozen lightning into her body, causing her aura to grow increasingly formidable. Suddenly! A frightful presence erupted from within Meng Wanshu, and the power of laws instantly suffused the void. Seeing this, Li Guanqi finally exhaled in relief. Only at this moment did he dare ease his guard a little. He did not choose to remain beneath the heavenly tribulation to keep absorbing the lightning. For Li Guanqi now, the lightning of the Tribulation Transcendence heavenly tribulation still offered benefits, but they were quite limited... To put it plainly, the power level of the lightning from a Tribulation Transcendence tribulation could no longer satisfy him. Yet as Li Guanqi withdrew from the range of the tribulation, the churning thunderclouds above seemed unwilling to let him depart. A dreadful force of lightning and divine punishment filled the void, the blood-red lightning almost dyeing the entire firmament scarlet. A bolt of crimson lightning, thick as a zhang, surged straight toward Li Guanqi, intent on completely obliterating the one who had dared provoke the heavenly tribulation. Li Guanqi's eyes narrowed slightly, his expression instantly darkening. With a flick of his hand, a resonant sword chime rang out, and a streak of vivid crimson tore through the void of the firmament, flying straight into his grasp. Red Lotus slid into his palm. The instant Li Guanqi gripped the hilt, his aura and pressure unleashed in full. Lifting his hand, he struck—a blood-red sword beam flashed through the air and vanished in the blink of an eye! Fast. That strike was blindingly, unfathomably fast. The crowd could only catch the blur of a bloody afterimage streaking across the pitch-black void. Then, the crimson heavenly tribulation descending from the sky was cleaved clean in two by an inexplicable force! The shattered tribulation lightning crashed down, striking the Celestial Spirit Mountain Range. The dispersed remnants of lightning battered the Celestial Spirit Mountain Range, shattering sections of the mountain bathed in shimmering spiritual light. Yet such horrifying lightning had been severed and shattered by a single sword strike before the shocked gazes of the onlookers. Not only that, the remarkably condensed sword beam lost none of its momentum after shattering the lightning. In a single blow, it sliced clean through a full third of that colossal tribulation cloud! Radiant celestial light poured through the rift in the clouds, illuminating the earth as the pitch-black thunderclouds were cleanly severed! Witnessing this, the cultivators of the Immortal Burial Realm watching nearby felt their hearts leap into their throats, unconsciously taking a step back. That was a Tribulation Transcendence heavenly tribulation cloud! A single sword... A mere casual sword strike had shattered it beyond any hope of reforming. Just what terrifying level of power did that require?! Yet Li Guanqi commanded his power with effortless restraint, not a single wisp of energy leaking out unintentionally. While everyone remained immersed in the awe of Li Guanqi's sword strike, Meng Wanshu's heavenly tribulation drew to a close. Waves of profound heavenly pressure swept across heaven and earth. Glowing auroras filled the sky, and the bestowal of heaven and earth surged in tremendous abundance. Meng Wanshu's aura rose and fell violently, and the hand gripping her sword trembled faintly. It seemed this Tribulation Transcendence heavenly tribulation had not been as effortless to handle as it appeared on the surface. Raising her head toward the gradually dispersing tribulation clouds, Meng Wanshu finally let out a sigh of relief. Her beautiful eyes shimmered as she cast a gentle glance toward Li Guanqi, who stood nearby lost in thought, before slowly sitting down cross-legged in the void. Li Guanqi was indeed deep in thought... Because even he had not expected the power behind that sword strike to be so immense! His original intention had only been to shatter the falling bolt of lightning. Yet the power behind his swing had directly cleaved the entire heavenly tribulation apart! In that instant, the circulation of his primal energy had not hitched in the slightest. It had been so swift that even he had barely registered it. After his power had been compressed and refined, the might it could unleash vastly exceeded his imagination. *Is this the primal energy after being burned and purified by the Flame Spirit... How terrifying!* Not only that, the speed at which Li Guanqi swung his sword was entirely different from before. With just a casual strike, the strength of his physical body combined with his current mastery of the sword dao made his swing at least ten times faster than when he had been in the half-step Tribulation Transcendence realm! Li Guanqi could now unleash over a hundred strikes in a single breath with absolute ease! Lightning... A look of astonishment flickered across Li Guanqi's eyes. This was the first time he had truly experienced the might of lightning power; even his current movement speed was vastly quicker than in the past. If Li Guanqi were to engage in an all-out battle with a cultivator of the same realm right now, he was confident he could utterly overwhelm them in speed with absolute dominance. In fact, at his current speed, an opponent would not even be able to graze him in combat! Seeing Meng Wanshu successfully pass her heavenly tribulation, Meng Jiangchu felt as though a crushing weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Turning to look at the man, Li Guanqi suddenly realized that, without him noticing, Meng Jiangchu had also stepped into the half-step Tribulation Transcendence realm! On second thought, however, Li Guanqi understood. He had learned from Su Xuan that Meng Jiangchu had not forged artifacts for a very long time. He had dedicated all of his energy to cultivation, and his mastery over flames had grown far more refined. Thinking of the man's Five Yang Ghost Flame, a thought stirred in Li Guanqi's mind. "Flame Spirit, how is your comprehension of the laws of fire primal energy?" The voice of the Devouring Void Sacred Flame resounded in Li Guanqi's mind. "My master... have you forgotten something?" "I am... ahem... the very first wisp of flame born from primordial chaos, after all." "The laws of fire... what do you think?" Li Guanqi was momentarily taken aback. Put that way, it was indeed the truth. The corners of his mouth curved upward slightly, and he spoke softly through his mind. "Good. In that case... I will be troubling you in a while." Now that the Devouring Void Sacred Flame granted Li Guanqi's every request, it naturally did not refuse, even though it had no idea what Li Guanqi intended to do. Li Guanqi glanced out of the corner of his eye toward the Heavenly King Pagoda, which was on the verge of taking form, his gaze flickering thoughtfully. As glowing auroras poured into Meng Wanshu's body, the woman's aura gradually steadied into calm. Yet beneath that calm lay an astonishing pressure! A terrifying pressure belonging uniquely to a Tribulation Transcendence realm cultivator slowly rolled out from Meng Wanshu! Ripples of ice-blue radiance expanded in all directions, freezing every inch of space they touched! And Meng Wanshu's entire demeanor grew increasingly noble, pure, and aloof.