Heavenly tribulation!
Rumor had it that a cultivator had to undergo three heavenly tribulations throughout their lifetime.
Each consisted of three rounds, totaling nine rounds, hence known as the Three-Nine Heavenly Tribulation.
For any cultivator, each heavenly tribulation was the most perilous trial along their path of cultivation.
Pass it, and the sky was wide open for the bird to soar; one's realm and strength would undergo an earth-shattering transformation!
Fail to pass it, and one would sink like a fish into the abyss, never to rise again.
Yet for the demon race, the horror of heavenly tribulation was far more terrifying.
Human cultivators often commanded myriad methods, skillfully employing the diverse arts of immortal cultivation to strengthen themselves and facing tribulations with relative composure.
The demon race, however, prior to taking human form, developed spiritual wisdom late and was constrained by beastly bodies, meaning they often had no choice but to withstand tribulations through sheer endurance.
Thus, even many demon beasts who had achieved the status of fourth-rank Demon Sovereign for years still harbored a bone-deep terror of heavenly tribulations.
At this moment, facing the heavenly tribulation Luo Chen had abruptly summoned, Huang Man and Bi Zheng were both stunned.
How could a mere mortal summon the wrathful punishment of heaven and earth through personal power alone?
Hesitation gripped their hearts, yet their hands moved once more.
Toward the Hunyuan Cauldron spinning rapidly in midair, each launched an attack.
Neither was a fool; they quickly deduced that Luo Chen's method of summoning the tribulation likely relied on that little gray cauldron. Thus, this strike was intended both to test the tribulation's power and to eliminate the Hunyuan Cauldron.
Crackle!
Crackle!
Midway through the air, both attacks were intercepted by black arcs of lightning.
Yet after only a brief standoff, the two attacks punched through the lightning's power and slammed against the Hunyuan Cauldron itself.
Thud, thud!
Shaken by the impacts, the Hunyuan Cauldron wobbled again.
Formidable though the magic treasure's foundation was, it still fell slightly short before the onslaught of two Great Demon Sovereigns.
Tiny hairline fractures even opened across its patterned outer walls.
Rumble!
With a deafening roar, the Hunyuan Cauldron shuddered violently, and an elk-like strange beast clambered out from within its mouth.
Down in the river, Luo Chen lay on his back, staring up at the elk thunder beast, a grin spreading across his face.
This thunder beast originated from the final round of heavenly tribulation he had summoned when forming his Nascent Soul all those years ago.
For all these years, it had remained suppressed within the Hunyuan Cauldron.
He had once explored ways of utilizing the tribulation lightning's power: tempering his divine soul with it proved too overpowering for his body to endure.
Using it to refine treasures had produced the True Artifact Dust-Karma Immortal Mirror, but when he tried to replicate the feat, his other treasures lacked the mirror's foundation and could not withstand the lightning's force either.
Today, he would release it to slay his great foes!
"Still, it's not quite enough. I need to add to it!"
Taking a deep breath, Luo Chen struck the surging river with one palm.
Using the counterforce, he soared skyward once more, blood sword in hand as he hurtled straight toward Bi Zheng.
Having just tested the heavenly tribulation and witnessed its lightning power, the two Great Demon Sovereigns breathed an inward sigh of relief.
"This tribulation is potent, but it cannot threaten us directly."
"Tricks and bluster. Kill Luo Chen first!"
Exchanging a glance, the two demons chose to ignore the tribulation hanging high in the heavens for now.
After all, having assumed human form so many years ago, why would they fear the heavenly thunder summoned during a mere Golden Core cultivator's breakthrough?
Facing Luo Chen's renewed charge, Bi Zheng grinned savagely.
"Taking me for a soft persimmon? Trying to break through on my side?"
Amidst his sinister laughter, the black scimitar morphed once more into myriad forms, resembling crescent moons scattered across several li around them.
Luo Chen slashed out arcs of sword light, cleaving through the crescent blades. Yet his forward momentum dwindled steadily, until, only several paces from Bi Zheng, his force was nearly spent.
He threw a palm forward!
Bi Zheng met it with a palm of his own.
Boom!
Tremendous forces collided, and Bi Zheng floated lightly backward through the air.
Luo Chen moved to press his advantage, but the scattered blade lights converged once again.
Watching this unfold, Bi Zheng shook his slightly numbed left hand. He marvelled at Luo Chen's immense physical strength, while finding the man truly difficult to handle.
Frowning, he looked toward Huang Man.
"Fellow Daoist, why did you stop?"
It turned out that while they had just agreed to strike together, Huang Man had flown halfway and then abruptly ground to a halt.
Huang Man's face was clouded with suspicion and uncertainty as he pointed upward.
Bi Zheng looked up, and his expression shifted slightly.
After the elk thunder beast emerged, perhaps wary of the two demons, it had not attacked directly. Instead, it was galloping across the sky.
With every leap and bound it took, the dark clouds gathered thicker and heavier, and the arcs of lightning flickering within flashed with greater frequency.
The heavenly tribulation's power was steadily climbing!
The two Great Demon Sovereigns exchanged a look, reaching an instant consensus.
"Destroy this tribulation first!"
"Do not let it grow any further!"
This time, the two demons refrained from testing and unleashed their ultimate techniques.
Huang Man laid the stone club horizontally across his forearms, pressed his palms together, and then slowly spread them apart, revealing a square opening.
"Go!"
The next instant, a thick pillar of yellow light shot like an arrow into the thunderclouds.
Having retreated several li to distance himself temporarily from Luo Chen, Bi Zheng exhaled a puff of black radiance toward the thunderclouds.
Faced with the incoming earthen-yellow beam and pitch-black light, the thunder beast clearly realized it could grow no further.
With a thunderous roar, it galloped downward on all four hooves.
Myriad arcs of electric fire followed close behind like flowing silk ribbons.
The three forces collided.
Boom!
After an earth-shattering boom, the entire world plunged into momentary darkness.
Countless streaks of silver-white lightning danced within like silver serpents, terrifying to behold.
Bi Zheng waved his hand to retrieve the dark radiance, which turned out to be a sharp scale.
Faint arcs of electricity still crackled across its surface.
Bi Zheng frowned. This treasure was refined from a material he had obtained by chance from the carcass of a desolate beast in the barren wilds, and he had only recently completed its refinement.
"Fortunately, it wasn't damaged. Now that the tribulation is broken, next..."
His gaze turned toward Luo Chen, who was hemmed in by Bi Zheng's own natal True Artifact.
Just then, Luo Chen looked back at him.
Holding the blood sword, his expression was placid, his left hand hanging low beneath his sleeve.
"Now..."
"Wither-Bloom!"
A soft murmur broke the air, and Luo Chen pointed a finger toward him from afar.
In that split second, Bi Zheng felt his soul nearly leap out of his skin, and he retreated frantically.
Yet no matter where he retreated, that hazy azure light clung to him, as if he could not evade this strike without fleeing this entire corner of heaven and earth.
"It's a divine ability!" Bi Zheng roared internally, the corners of his eyes nearly tearing open.
Only a great divine ability capable of manipulating the worldly origin qi could produce such a sensation.
With no time left to flee, Bi Zheng halted abruptly and tapped a finger against his own body.
Vigorous magic power erupted like a raging tide, enveloping his entire form in protection.
The hazy azure light finally made contact with his body.
In an instant, it transformed into a bleak, corpse-white glow.
This pale radiance relentlessly eroded Bi Zheng's protective magic power, seeping step by step into his flesh.
Gradually, Bi Zheng's jet-black hair began to turn streaked with gray.
In the distance, having unleashed this divine ability, Luo Chen still felt it was not enough, and he raised the Yuan Tu blood sword high toward Bi Zheng.
Unlike before, strands of crimson sword qi began swirling around Yuan Tu.
Crimson Firmament Sword Qi!
There were not many strands—only a dozen or so in total.
Yet under the enhancement of Yuan Tu, they carried an aura that felt capable of sundering all things.
"Slash!"
Luo Chen barked a low cry, and Yuan Tu swept down.
The Crimson Firmament Sword Qi he had painstakingly cultivated for so many years was poured out all at once.
Rip!
In a single instant, a breach was torn in Bi Zheng's protective magic power, and a faint sword scar appeared on his shoulder.
Though it was merely a hairline mark, the power of the Wither-Bloom Dao Finger was still at work. Following the breach, it burrowed straight into that sword wound.
Bi Zheng's face changed completely!
He gave Luo Chen a profound look, recalled his black scimitar, and shot away without looking back.
Faced with this outcome, Luo Chen had no time to rejoice.
Huang Man's attack had already arrived.
Bereft of defensive power, Luo Chen could only watch helplessly as the terrifying stone club came crashing down.
Black King roared and lunged to intercept it, but a single blow smashed his body in half, showering blood mist everywhere.
Blood drops splattered across Luo Chen's face.
He simply raised a hand to block!
A flash of deep blue light flared and vanished, leaving Luo Chen completely unscathed.
Huang Man froze, then flew into a violent rage!
"It's that old bastard Heize's technique!"
Luo Chen sighed. Between his brows, the blue waterdrop pattern was no longer concealed, beginning to flicker.
With his current strength, he could perhaps fight a great cultivator head-on.
Against Great Demon Sovereigns whose methods were relatively limited, he even enjoyed the advantage of having versatile techniques.
Yet the sheer, direct suppression of a Great Demon Sovereign's raw power was something no amount of versatile methods could entirely bypass.
Had that club blow landed true just now, he would have been severely wounded.
Driven to desperation, he had been forced to trigger the protective divine ability Ancestor Heize had left upon him—Heaven-Born Prime Water.
Yet he did not dare use this art too often.
It was not a limit on uses, but rather a premonition that relying on this divine ability too much would leave him increasingly influenced by Ancestor Heize.
Still, for now, it was enough!
*Bi Zheng's intent to kill me was never firm; in the end, he was only acting to give Ao Kuang an explanation.*
*Using him as my breakthrough point, I feigned an assault with the tribulation to buy the chance to execute the Wither-Bloom Dao Finger and release the Crimson Firmament Sword Qi, finally driving him off.*
*Now, I only need to deal with Huang Man alone.*
Luo Chen beckoned with his hand, and the dimmed Hunyuan Cauldron flew back to him.
Having reconstituted his body, Black King crawled onto Luo Chen's shoulder in terror.
In the distance, the mountain of white bones still loomed high, skeletal remains rising and falling within it, while the flowing rotation of the nine-colored river of light grew slower and slower.
Luo Chen gripped his sword hilt tightly and looked toward Huang Man.
"There is no mortal grudge between us. Why must you press me so hard?"
Huang Man laughed out of sheer fury. "When you enslaved my younger brother, did you ever foresee this day?"
Luo Chen shook his head. "He was the one who provoked me first. Not killing him was already an act of mercy on my part."
Huang Man glared venomously at Luo Chen. "Not only were you invited to join the Mingyuan Sect, but you even carry a protective divine ability personally bestowed by Heize. It seems the Mingyuan Sect truly values you! In that case, I must kill you all the more!"
Forget it, then!
In the end, it still had to be decided by life and death!
Luo Chen ceased his war of words and charged forward once more, brandishing Yuan Tu.
On Huang Man's side, freed from the hindrance of the tribulation and no longer needing to coordinate with Bi Zheng, he was actually more at ease.
That stone club treasure of his, crafted from some unknown material, was extraordinarily durable. Even the razor-sharp Yuan Tu could only leave faint scratches upon it, unable to sever it in one blow.
The battle between the two instantly escalated to a white-hot pitch.
Magical treasures clashed, and spells and demon arts were cast at will.
The two figures fought from the heavens to the earth, plunged from underground into the great river, and then soared straight back into the high sky.
The vast Medicine King Domain had completely become their battlefield.
Mountains collapsed, rivers were severed, and apocalyptic scenes played out as though the end of days had arrived.
"Roar!"
With a savage roar, an immense tiger descended amidst the mountain ranges, pounding the earth with all four paws as it charged wildly toward Luo Chen.
"Roar!"
Luo Chen showed no sign of weakness, expanding his form as well, transforming into a giant of five hundred zhang to catch the pouncing tiger claw with bare hands.
Colossal force pushed his body backward step after step.
Wherever he passed, mountain ridges crumbled like tofu, pulverized to dust.
Seeing his master fall into a disadvantage, Black King no longer sat idle.
Slithering along Luo Chen's body, he snapped his jaws around Huang Man's true form, sinking his fangs firmly into the demon's arm.
Under this clash of titans, Luo Chen's side finally gained the upper hand.
He raised a foot and kicked out, creating thousands of afterimages that finally converged into a single devastating blow.
Boom!
Huang Man's colossal body took the heavy impact and stumbled backward.
Once the demon was forced away, Luo Chen could not help panting heavily in ragged gasps.
Such an intense clash took an unimaginable toll on his magic power and origin power.
Above all!
He felt a piercing gaze at his back, watching him with insatiable greed.
*Who is it?*
*Who else is spying in the shadows?*
With no time to ponder, Huang Man pounced forward once more.
Not only that, but a club swept across the sky, crashing down straight at his head.
Luo Chen raised his sword horizontally to parry the stone club, yet his massive physique could not dodge Huang Man's charging momentum and was knocked backward once more.
"Today, you shall surely die!"
Having gained the upper hand, Huang Man threw his head back and howled.
Within his gaping maw, a dense earthen-yellow glow converged, rapidly taking the shape of a sphere of light.
Luo Chen was thoroughly alarmed. How similar was this technique to the one Huang Man had used earlier to blast the tribulation?
Driven by fury, its power was even multiplied several times over.
In his current state, he feared he could not withstand it.
"You forced my hand!"
Luo Chen bellowed, intending both to slay this formidable enemy and to intimidate the watcher lurking in the shadows.
Without making any elaborate gesture, he simply opened his mouth and spat.
A wisp of azure-white flame drifted out slowly.
The Wither-Bloom Divine Fire returned to the mortal realm!
The fire spirit seemed to have been suppressed for far too long; the moment it emerged, it became exceedingly lively.
The vast spirit qi that Luo Chen had replenished from his deep draught of Golden Wind and Jade Dew was instantly sucked dry by the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire.
Had Luo Chen not clamped down tightly on the barriers of his purple mansion, even the pure magic power sustaining his Nascent Soul might have been drained away.
In truth, this was precisely why Luo Chen rarely used a lethal weapon like this fifth-rank divine fire against enemies over the years.
This flame was his source true fire; fueling it required nourishment from his magic power.
To drive it with full force consumed an unimaginable amount of magic power.
At best, it resulted in depleted magic power; at worst, it could cause his Nascent Soul to collapse.
Yet at this juncture, he could afford no such hesitation!
Even his natal magic treasure had suffered severe damage, and he had already broken his self-imposed ban against drawing on worldly origin qi to cast the Wither-Bloom Dao Finger—why hold back now?
Deprived of further magic power support, the Wither-Bloom fire spirit remained unsatisfied.
It unfurled its branches, revealing the physical form of a fiery tree that drew in massive amounts of worldly origin qi to replenish itself.
Facing Huang Man's oncoming strike, the Wither-Bloom fire spirit flashed with white light.
Sizzle...
That terrifying sphere of light was extinguished instantly.
Huang Man froze, as if unable to believe his eyes.
Only when a scorching heat spread across his flesh did he realize something was terribly wrong.
Boom!
The divine fire flared violently, incinerating the void.
An azure-white fire tree took root upon Huang Man's massive body of several hundred zhang and began to blaze furiously.
Agonized shrieks echoed outward; across the vast Medicine King Domain, countless living beings seemed to hear them.
A Nascent Soul escaped from the yellow tiger's body, attempting to flee in panic.
Yet a single sweep of the fire tree's branches burned it to ashes, converting it into pure spirit qi that made the Wither-Bloom Divine Fire burn all the brighter.
...
High in the void.
Shenhuo watched this scene unfold, his eyes filled with shock and terror.
His lips trembled as he muttered repeatedly,
"It's that fire... It really is that fire! Back then, Old Ghost Motian's Motian Cliff was refined in an instant by that very fire!"
At this moment, Perfected Shenyuan was simultaneously shocked and thrilled.
He was horrified that Luo Chen still possessed such a terrifying lethal technique, yet delighted that Luo Chen's physical body was even stronger than he had envisioned.
"Such a physical body is fully capable of carrying my entire lifetime's cultivation!"
"Especially since he originally possessed a five-element spirit root body, making him even more aligned with my Great Dao."
"Reverse-refining the Primordial Fetal Dao Body was ultimately a pipe dream, but if I obtain this physical body, the Soul Formation realm will no longer be an illusion!"
Murmuring to himself, Perfected Shenyuan had already set into motion.
Now was Luo Chen's weakest moment!
His treasure was damaged, his magic power was completely spent, and even his formidable physical frame showed signs of exhaustion.
Even if Ancestor Heize of the Mingyuan Sect had placed a protective divine ability upon him, Perfected Shenyuan had bound himself excessively close to heaven and earth over these years, giving him some measure of confidence in breaking that protective technique.
"Now is my chance!"
Perfected Shenyuan swooped down without the slightest hesitation.
Upon the earth, Luo Chen jerked his head up, staring at the incoming meteor.
"Here it comes!"
Suddenly, the meteor seemed to suffer a heavy impact, halting dead in midair.
After a split-second deadlock, it hurtled backward at a speed far greater than its advance.
This dizzyingly swift reversal caught Luo Chen completely off guard.
Puzzled, Luo Chen swept his pale-gold eyes across the surroundings.
Within a hollow strewn with jagged white bones, Sovereign Jiuling lay on the ground, his aura feeble.
The Great Demon Sovereign Niugui knelt on one knee in the distance, leaning on his bone staff and gasping for breath.
Yet faced with the gravely wounded Sovereign Jiuling, Niugui showed no intention of making a move.
All because before Sovereign Jiuling stood a tall, slender woman, bending down to pluck the little white flower from him.
"What a pity. It hasn't fully matured yet."
The woman sighed and tucked the white flower into her sleeve.
Curiously enough, the Void-Accumulating Flower, which could not be placed inside ordinary storage spaces, was slipped away by her with effortless ease.
Yet Luo Chen was not the least bit unfamiliar with such a method.
Universe in the Sleeve, Qingshuang of Cangwu!
The demon woman paid no heed to the grievously injured Sovereign Jiuling, nor did she look at Niugui retreating step by step. She did not even spare a single glance for Perfected Shenyuan, who had arrived with ferocious momentum only to flee in panic.
Instead, she looked directly into Luo Chen's eyes.
Their gazes met.
The giant of several hundred zhang took a step backward purely by instinct.
Chapter 881