Chapter 65: The Second Demigod, Tempering the Sword with Tribulation Lightning
Just as Du Busi successfully forged a divine body and stepped into the realm of a demigod at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well through The Innate Secret Method, adding a towering pillar to the pinnacle of human combat strength, the strongest among the Soul Beasts on the other side of the Douluo Plane also welcomed a crucial breakthrough.
Deep within the Eternal Ice Palace, at the heart of the Far North Land.
Xue Di sat cross-legged upon a bed of cold jade marrow, the aura emanating from her having already reached a critical point.
Her originally peerlessly beautiful and aloof countenance now carried an added touch of divinity and majesty. Her ice-blue hair moved without wind, each strand seemingly condensed from the purest Ultimate Ice, flowing with a faint, luminous glow.
After nearly a year of relentless, arduous cultivation, and having refined a full eighteen pieces of Ten Thousand Years of Mysterious Ice Marrow, her already vast cultivation base of 800,000 years had finally accumulated the immense foundation necessary to charge towards the nine hundred thousand year barrier.
"Ahead lies the chasm of 900,000 years..." Xue Di slowly opened her eyes, a flicker of determination flashing within her ice-blue pupils.
For ordinary Soul Beasts, the nine hundred thousand year bottleneck could be called hopeless. Even the one hailed as the Beast God, Di Tian, had not yet reached this step.
But she was different. She not only possessed the uniquely gifted bloodline of Ultimate Ice but also had resources bestowed by the Plane Master, resources capable of defying fate—the Ten Thousand Years of Mysterious Ice Marrow.
Relying on such a supreme treasure of heaven and earth, bottlenecks in her cultivation advancement were almost non-existent. She only needed to methodically refine and accumulate, progressing steadily at the terrifying speed of increasing her cultivation by nearly ten thousand years per month.
Breaking through to 900,000 years was, for her, not a question of success or failure, but an inevitable outcome that would come naturally when conditions were ripe.
With her mind made up, Xue Di hesitated no longer.
She took out a new piece of Ten Thousand Years of Mysterious Ice Marrow, formed hand seals with both hands, and the pure, vast ice-attribute energy surged into her body like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.
Her aura, already at its peak, began to launch a final assault against that intangible barrier under the impetus of this newborn power.
"Boom!"
As if a river frozen for ten thousand years was shattered by a spring thunderclap, a deep yet clear sound of shattering came from within Xue Di's body.
In that instant, a pressure far more vast and colder than at 800,000 years erupted with her at the center!
The entire Ice Palace trembled violently. The eternal ice covering the palace groaned under unbearable weight, even developing fine cracks.
900,000 years! A watershed in Soul Beast cultivation, symbolizing truly stepping into the demigod domain.
However, almost the instant Xue Di succeeded in her breakthrough, a sudden change occurred in the sky above the Far North Land.
The originally grayish horizon gathered heart-palpitating, lead-gray clouds at a visible speed.
These were no ordinary rain clouds. Their color was ink-black, so thick they seemed to press down the entire firmament. Within the clouds, purple-red lightning danced wildly like dragons and serpents, emitting low, terrifying rumbles. A destructive, heavenly pressure abruptly descended, locking onto Xue Di below, who had just broken through.
The intensity of this pressure far surpassed the heavenly tribulation she experienced at 800,000 years. It even sent a bone-chilling shiver from the depths of her soul to Xue Di, who had just confidently stepped into the demigod level!
"Is this... the heavenly tribulation of 900,000 years?" Xue Di looked up at the sky, unprecedented gravity appearing for the first time on her peerlessly beautiful face.
She could clearly sense that the energy level condensed within those tribulation clouds had completely transcended the mortal realm, reaching the true—divine level!
This was not strange. It was the embodiment of the most brutal law on the Soul Beast cultivation path.
The heavenly tribulation of Soul Beasts was fundamentally different from the test-like tribulations other beings might attract, which could contain a sliver of life. It was a pure, malicious mechanism of destruction.
Its sole purpose was to obliterate any Soul Beast attempting to defy the heavens and challenge the limits of life.
Precisely because of this, the power of a Soul Beast's heavenly tribulation would always far exceed the Soul Beast's actual current cultivation level.
When a Soul Beast possessed the strength of a Super Douluo, the heavenly tribulation would have the might of a Limit Douluo.
When a Soul Beast reached the level of a Limit Douluo, the heavenly tribulation would escalate to the demigod level.
And once a Soul Beast, like Xue Di, successfully advanced into the demigod domain, then the descending heavenly tribulation would, without exception, reach the divine energy level, ensuring complete annihilation!
With Xue Di's strength as a newly-advanced demigod, facing a heavenly might that had reached the divine level, the outcome was almost certain—complete destruction of body and soul, with no chance of survival!
Just as Xue Di's mind was taut, preparing for a desperate fight, a calm and gentle voice quietly sounded beside her:
"No need to be tense. Just calmly stabilize your realm."
The voice was not loud, yet it seemed to carry a strange magic, instantly calming the raging storm of fear in Xue Di's heart.
She turned her head abruptly to see Lei Chen had somehow quietly appeared within the Ice Palace. He stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the divine-level tribulation clouds constantly brewing and radiating destructive aura in the sky.
"Senior!" Xue Di's heart settled greatly, and she hurriedly bowed in greeting.
With the Plane Master here, she need not worry, be it a divine-level heavenly tribulation or an even greater calamity.
Lei Chen gave a slight nod, his gaze still fixed on the tribulation clouds above, as if appreciating a rare work of art.
"The Soul Beast heavenly tribulation, the killing intent of the Heavenly Dao, truly lives up to its reputation. Such pure destructive lightning is the best nourishment for tempering a sharp weapon."
Before his words faded, the tribulation clouds high in the sky seemed to have finished gathering.
"BOOM-CRACK——!!!"
A terrifying Tribulation Lightning, over twenty meters in diameter and resembling a purple-gold divine dragon, tore through the dark sky. Carrying the majestic divine might to annihilate all, it fiercely struck down towards the Ice Palace!
Where it passed, space twisted, leaving behind shocking black cracks that took a long time to heal.
Such was the might of a divine-level heavenly tribulation!
Facing this destructive thunder dragon, formidable enough to make an ordinary divine-level expert take it seriously, Lei Chen merely calmly raised his right hand.
In the next moment, the purple-gold lightning pattern between his eyebrows suddenly lit up. A broad-bladed heavy sword, entirely purple-gold and wreathed in electric light, materialized out of thin air—it was the Nine Heavens Thunderstrike Sword!
"Go."
Lei Chen uttered a soft command. The Nine Heavens Thunderstrike Sword emitted a clear, pleasant sword hum, transforming into a purple lightning dragon. Instead of avoiding it, it actively charged towards that violent Tribulation Lightning!
A bizarre scene occurred. The divine-level Tribulation Lightning, capable of destroying heaven and earth, did not cause a world-shaking explosion upon contacting the sword's body. Instead, it was greedily devoured and absorbed by the countless intricate, dense lightning patterns on the sword's surface, like mud oxen entering the sea!
"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle..."
Subtle yet dense sounds of electric current arose. The Nine Heavens Thunderstrike Sword, like a bottomless pit, completely absorbed that thick purple-gold thunder dragon from head to tail!
The lightning radiance on the sword's body suddenly blazed intensely, its flow speed increased, and the sharp aura it emitted climbed at a perceptible rate!
One strike, devoured!
Immediately after, the second, the third... As if enraged, the Tribulation Lightning strikes came, each thicker and deeper in color than the last, shifting from purple-gold to dark gold, and finally even carrying faint threads of chaotic color, their power escalating layer by layer.
However, no matter how the Tribulation Lightning changed, the outcome remained exactly the same.
Under Lei Chen's control, the Nine Heavens Thunderstrike Sword was like an elegant dancer, weaving through the thunderstorm. Wherever the sword passed, all Tribulation Lightning was devoured and refined, becoming nourishment to nurture itself.
Watching from below, Xue Di was dazzled, her heart filled with incomparable shock.
This was hardly undergoing a tribulation! It was clearly the Plane Master using the power of the heavenly tribulation to feed his own divine artifact!
When the final dark-black Tribulation Lightning strike, with power comparable to a full-force blow from a divine-level expert, was completely devoured by the Nine Heavens Thunderstrike Sword, the thick, leaden tribulation clouds high in the sky seemed to have exhausted all their power and began to dissipate slowly, unwillingly.
The Nine Heavens Thunderstrike Sword flew back into Lei Chen's hand. The sword's body remained simple and unadorned, but upon careful perception, one could discover that the thunder origin energy contained within had doubled!
At the sword's edge, subtle black lines hinting at spatial severance flickered briefly. Its power had clearly begun to exceed that of an ordinary divine artifact, not far from the higher-grade "great divine artifact" level.
Lei Chen gently stroked the sword's body, feeling the surging power within, and nodded with satisfaction.
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