Invincible Divine Lightning

"Fairy, do you know what's going on here?" Lu Yang asked the ancient immortal uneasily. The Immortal Fairy shook her head like a rattle drum. "I have no idea! When this immortal reached the Soul Formation stage back then, I didn't undergo any heavenly tribulation." Lu Yang recalled that during ancient times, breaking through from the Nascent Soul stage to the Soul Formation stage did not require undergoing a heavenly tribulation. It was only after Immortal Ying Tian attained immortality that such a rule had been instituted. *Damn it, Immortal Ying Tian, couldn't you do something useful for once?* According to Immortal Ying Tian's theory, requiring cultivators to undergo heavenly tribulations was meant to test the steadfastness of their Dao hearts. If one could pass the trial of the heavenly tribulation, they would obtain immense benefits. Lu Yang raised his head and gazed up at the oppressive, pitch-black sky, where flashes of lightning flickered faintly, held in reserve without striking, as though gathering strength. Lu Yang felt that whether he could survive this heavenly tribulation had very little to do with how steadfast his Dao heart was. It mostly came down to whether his life was tough enough. *** "Strange. Just what kind of heavenly tribulation has Junior Brother Lu Yang summoned?" A Void Refining senior brother frowned in deep thought. He had never heard of any lightning tribulation that began by clearing the area with Xuanji Divine Lightning. They stood on other peaks, far away from Tianmen Peak. Furthermore, Xuanji Divine Lightning flickered erratically around Tianmen Peak, preventing them from clearly seeing what was happening at the epicenter of the heavenly tribulation. "Even with the number-one ranked Sanqing Heavenly Lightning Tribulation that Eldest Senior Sister faced back then, nothing like this ever occurred." "A heavenly tribulation that has never appeared before... Could Junior Brother Lu Yang have drawn down an unprecedented tribulation?" "A completely new heavenly tribulation?" "Not necessarily brand-new. It could also be one that someone once faced but failed to survive, leaving no record in history!" Regardless of which case it was, it was enough to prove that the heavenly tribulation Lu Yang faced would possess utterly terrifying power! "Look, the real lightning tribulation has appeared!" the junior brothers and junior sisters cried out, pointing toward Tianmen Peak in the distance. "It truly is a lightning tribulation never seen before!" the Void Refining senior brother said with absolute certainty. Even from such a distance, they could sense the faint electric charge permeating the air and the tremors in space itself. It was difficult to imagine what Lu Yang was experiencing at the center of it all. "Is it just my imagination, or does this feel even a few notches stronger than the Sanqing Heavenly Lightning Tribulation?" Sensing the anomaly on Tianmen Peak, Eldest Senior Sister left Prison Peak and stood atop Pill Cauldron Peak, gazing toward Tianmen Peak with a slight furrow of her brow. *** *Crack—* Purplish-blue heavenly lightning descended, resplendent and majestic, resembling a plunging sun so blinding that none could look upon it directly. This was a divine lightning that had never before appeared in history! The instant the divine lightning manifested, Lu Yang's hairs stood on end. He felt an extreme sense of danger; this was definitely not something he could withstand alone! "Invincible Nascent Soul!" The Invincible Nascent Soul appeared, its little face solemn. It showed no intention of fleeing, standing beside Lu Yang to confront the divine lightning together! Ordinary cultivators would never dare use their Nascent Soul to share the burden of a lightning tribulation. Nascent Souls were fragile; the slightest misstep would obliterate them within the lightning, leaving no chance to ever transform the Nascent Soul into a Primordial Spirit. Yet the Invincible Nascent Soul was different. Lu Yang had long experienced its terrifying strength; merely shouldering half the pressure of the lightning tribulation would not harm it. Furthermore, the fact that the Invincible Nascent Soul had no desire to flee proved that it could endure it! Lu Yang had tested this before: even after being subjugated, the Invincible Nascent Soul would still instinctively try to flee whenever it encountered danger, except Lu Yang could now order it not to run. The purplish-blue divine lightning split into two bolts, crashing down onto Lu Yang and the Invincible Nascent Soul respectively. Gritting his teeth, Lu Yang resisted with pure physical might. The agony was excruciating; his clothes were shredded, and his flesh split open. He felt as though his very bones and blood were tingling with numbness, thoroughly soaked in lightning. *Boom— Boom— Boom—* Bolts of purplish-blue divine lightning crashed down in relentless succession. The entirety of Tianmen Peak was shrouded in divine lightning, trembling faintly. This was heavenly might, not something a mountain could withstand. "Strange, why does this heavenly tribulation look like the Invincible Divine Lightning?" the Immortal Fairy mumbled softly within his spiritual space. No matter how quietly she muttered, Lu Yang could hear her with crystal clarity. "What do you mean, Invincible Divine Lightning?" Taking advantage of the brief lull as a wave of divine lightning concluded, Lu Yang hurriedly swallowed medicinal pills, allowing himself and the Invincible Nascent Soul to recover rapidly. "Back when Immortal Ying Tian was creating lightning tribulations, he said he wanted to design one that only cultivators who possessed an Invincible Nascent Soul could survive, while no one else could pass it. He asked this immortal for some advice." "And what did you say to him back then, Fairy?" "This immortal told him: the more powerful, the better." Lu Yang: "..." *Fairy, could you please leave me a way out alive?!* No wonder this lightning tribulation had never appeared in history—it turned out to be a tribulation designed specifically to strike only those with an Invincible Nascent Soul! *Immortal Ying Tian, if you have a problem with the Invincible Nascent Soul, go take it out on the Immortal Fairy! What kind of skill is it to bully me?!* "Then what is the name of this lightning tribulation?" "Immortal Ying Tian called this tribulation something like the Supreme Sky-Opening Golden Palace Divine Lightning. At the time, this immortal said the name was too long and hard to remember, so it would be better to call it the Invincible Divine Lightning—simple, pleasant, and rolls right off the tongue." After nine waves of divine lightning, Lu Yang had been charred black, coughing out puffs of dark smoke. The Invincible Nascent Soul was in no better shape, heavily wounded. Seeing this, Lu Yang hastily had the Invincible Nascent Soul return to his dantian to rest. The residual might of the Invincible Divine Lightning flowed across Lu Yang's skin, slowly tempering and strengthening both his soul and his physical body. *** "Nine waves of divine lightning have descended; that should mean it's over, right?" Gu Junye said earnestly. Among his peers, he had studied heavenly tribulations the most. Nine was the ultimate number; a lightning tribulation would only descend nine times, never a tenth. "It ought to be so... Wait, why is there another lightning tribulation?" Just as the Void Refining senior brother was about to agree, he saw a new lightning tribulation actually brewing above Tianmen Peak! "How is this possible?!" "That's the Qiantian Lightning Tribulation!" "The Qiantian Lightning Tribulation? Isn't that a tribulation only encountered when advancing from the Soul Formation stage to the Void Refining stage, and the number-one ranked tribulation at that?!" "Heaven only knows what is going on." Everyone fell silent, seized by worry for Lu Yang's safety. For a Nascent Soul cultivator to survive the Qiantian Lightning Tribulation—was that even possible? *** The moment Lu Yang laid eyes on the Qiantian Lightning Tribulation, his heart sank halfway to the ground. He wondered whether it was still in time to write a will. *Isn't this lightning tribulation a bit too far beyond the syllabus?!* "Fairy, what do we do?" "Uh, how about this immortal steps outside to show my face and tell the heavenly tribulation to leave?" The Immortal Fairy felt that the heavenly tribulation probably just had poor eyesight and had failed to recognize her. If she went out, it would surely give her some face and depart. Lu Yang was hesitant. The Immortal Fairy's existence was a secret, and he could not be certain whether the Xuanji Divine Lightning would conceal the traces of the fairy stepping in. If the senior brothers and senior sisters caught sight of her, the consequences would be dire. Sensing the Qiantian Lightning Tribulation that had already locked onto him, Lu Yang suddenly spoke up: "There is no need to trouble you to intervene just yet, Fairy. I have an idea that I can test out right here. If it doesn't work, it won't be too late for you to step in." "What idea?" Lu Yang smiled without answering. *** Gazing at the Qiantian Lightning Tribulation that seemed to carry world-ending might, Gu Junye and the others were filled with deep dread. "Do you think Senior Brother Lu Yin can survive this?"