Li Yan stared at the sky, his expression growing grave. He knew the tribulation had only now truly begun.
This blade was formed from the rules of wind. Not only could it sever mountains and split seas, but what was more terrifying was that it might carry a trace of Astral Wind!
Astral Wind was something that was almost certainly fatal to any cultivator below the Nascent Soul realm. This was the first true life-and-death line that Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivators faced. Fortunately, the Astral Wind in the Nascent Soul Formation Heavenly Tribulation was very weak.
With a thought, the "Skywind Bamboo" on the ground shot up and shielded him from above, as if it too sensed the presence of its own kind. Without waiting for Li Yan's command, the tip of the "Skywind Bamboo" suddenly stood erect, like a cobra that had spotted its natural enemy. At the same time, a vortex appeared at the bamboo's tip, and in the blink of an eye, this vortex grew to the size of a funnel and was still expanding…
An incense stick's time later, three massive wind blades, each twice as tall as Li Yan, surrounded him. One slashed towards his neck, another chopped down fiercely from above his head, and the third spun horizontally, emitting a mournful whistle as it transformed into a huge silver wheel and sliced towards Li Yan's waist.
At this moment, Li Yan's robes were stained with blood on both his chest and back. Silver light flickered over numerous wounds, each like a baby's small mouth, as the flesh and blood squirmed incessantly. On his thigh, there was an even longer, slanted gash of blood, which had caused the side of his long robe to disappear from the waist down, revealing blood-stained black trousers.
Li Yan's stark white leg bone was exposed. Blood could be faintly seen flowing through several thick blue veins, but it was enveloped by a layer of magical power, preventing any from spilling out. Within the wound, silver light continued to flash.
Even with a treasure to block it, there was still a trace of Astral Wind in the Wind Tribulation. Despite Li Yan's current physical toughness, he still couldn't block the invasion of the Astral Wind. Fortunately, not every wind tribulation carried Astral Wind. The recovery ability of the Undead Nether Phoenix couldn't heal such a huge wound quickly.
Li Yan's aura had also dropped significantly compared to before. He was currently holding a high-grade Spirit Stone in each hand, rapidly recovering his magical power.
Seeing the remaining attacks arriving simultaneously, Li Yan clenched his fists and swept his sleeves. A yellow cloth pouch appeared at the back of his neck. As soon as it appeared, it immediately expanded to about a foot in size, its body bulging as if filled with wind.
Its opening resembled a giant mouth, from which a large amount of yin qi spewed out, instantly causing the temperature of the space around Li Yan to plummet. The huge wind blade that was slashing diagonally towards his neck was hit head-on by the yin wind from the pouch's mouth. In an instant, a layer of gray coated the silver blade. The wind blade, as if covered by a layer of frost, immediately slowed down, as if trapped in a swamp.
This yellow cloth pouch was another one of the several magical treasures Li Yan had prepared in advance for his tribulation. This treasure was a one-time consumable called the "Ghost King Pouch." It was a supreme-yin wind-type magical treasure, and also an excellent counter to wind-type attacks. It was a single-use offensive magical treasure personally refined by a Nascent Soul cultivator. This treasure was crafted from the arm of a Xiao-demon over ten thousand years old and possessed the power of a peak Pseudo-Nascent Soul Realm cultivator's full-strength attack. When Li Yan first saw this magical treasure on the sect's list, he had hesitated for several days before finally spending an enormous sum of Spirit Stones to purchase it. The yin wind spewed by the "Ghost King Pouch" refined by a Nascent Soul cultivator could resist the Astral Wind to some extent, which was the most important thing.
After taking on the first ten wind tribulations, Li Yan already knew how terrifying the Wind Tribulation was. It was more than twice as powerful as the Rain Tribulation before it. Li Yan had already used about eighty percent of his strength, and the Heavenly Tribulation was only just past its halfway point.
Li Yan aimed the mouth of the "Ghost King Pouch" in one direction. As expected, the yin wind from the pouch emerged, and the huge wind blade slashing towards Li Yan's neck seemed to be trapped in a mire.
Meanwhile, the huge wind blade chopping down from above had reached less than a zhang from his head when it was blocked by a gray giant bamboo. The giant bamboo was twice as thick as Li Yan's waist; it was the "Skywind Bamboo" that had transformed and enlarged. At this moment, the "Skywind Bamboo" had lost all its green color and was covered in vertical, horizontal, and diagonal cracks, looking as if it would break at any moment.
The whistling sound from the "Skywind Bamboo" became even sharper, and its body seemed to be leaking air from all over. The massive silver wind blade instantly slashed into the "Skywind Bamboo's" waist. The already crack-riddled "Skywind Bamboo" was deeply dented downwards!
Ding ding ding...
A continuous series of sounds rang out as bamboo threads and strips snapped like breaking zither strings. As the silver blade cut into the bamboo, the giant bamboo seemed to become even more resilient. Using the downward momentum of the impact, it suddenly sprang back up, flinging the embedded silver blade away. Although it only bounced up by four or five inches, the silver blade indeed failed to cut through it.
Almost simultaneously, the silver wheel's blade edge, spinning rapidly as it sliced towards Li Yan's side, was like a meteor streaking across the sky. In a flash, it arrived at Li Yan's waist. While dealing with the other two wind blades, Li Yan had already sunk into a stance and twisted his waist. Using the force to twist his body, he dodged the sharp edge. His fists, hidden in his wide sleeves, smashed down from above.
The timing was perfect. Just as the silver wheel was about to cut into his robes, his fists solidly struck the flat of the blade, avoiding the edge that might carry Astral Wind.
Boom!
Specks of crystal light instantly exploded from between Li Yan's knuckles. It was the high-grade Spirit Stones he hadn't had time to fully absorb shattering. Under his almost full-powered strike, the Spirit Stones in his fists were also directly crushed.
Following that, the silver wheel let out a mournful cry and was shattered into a shower of tiny fragments by Li Yan's immense force, scattering in all directions.
Xiu xiu xiu... In a series of sharp whistles, even more fine cracks appeared on Li Yan's Spirit Treasure-grade robes. This was followed by a series of qiang qiang qiang... sounds. It was the sound of numerous small wind blades cutting through his robes and scraping against his skin, astonishingly producing a metallic cutting sound. However, the small wind blades that erupted from the blade's edge still left several long bloody marks on Li Yan's body. But this wind blade had been completely destroyed.
The three wind blades attacked almost simultaneously. Li Yan used two treasures to delay the other two tribulations. After shattering one wind blade, Li Yan didn't pause at all. His body blurred and slid outwards, arriving a thousand zhang away in an instant. At the same time, he once again activated his Divine Sense. The gray "Skywind Bamboo," which was already cut to the point of breaking, once again glowed with a green light.
With a muffled tong!, it exploded into a shower of bamboo spikes. Like a hedgehog with its quills raised, it instantly pierced through the giant wind blade that was slashing down again. The surface of the giant wind blade lit up with a blinding silver light, but it was still pierced through by countless tiny bamboo spikes. As each tiny bamboo spike passed through, it carried away a large amount of its wind-attribute power.
The silver wind blade descending from above immediately faded at a visible rate, and in the blink of an eye, only a faint glow remained. But it still didn't dissipate with the final disintegration of the "Skywind Bamboo." Instead, it shot out diagonally, continuing its slash towards Li Yan with a faint light.
This was the Heavenly Tribulation. No matter how far you fled, it would vow to kill you. After unleashing the final power of the "Skywind Bamboo," Li Yan waved a single hand, and a streak of black light flashed from his sleeve. He didn't even look at the giant, faintly glowing wind blade that continued to chase after him.
On the other side, the silver wind blade entangled with the "Ghost King Pouch" had erupted with a dazzling silver light, and the layer of frost on its surface was rapidly melting. This silver wind blade was now changing direction, trying bit by bit to break free from the yin wind of the "Ghost King Pouch," and its escape speed was gradually increasing.
The yin wind at the mouth of the "Ghost King Pouch" billowed endlessly. A shriveled arm covered in green hair was slowly being dragged out. It was a somewhat ethereal, shriveled arm. Its five fingers were unnaturally long, each one a verdant green, and tipped with curved, inches-long nails, resembling the arm of a legendary malevolent ghost. The most peculiar thing was that its five fingers were spread open, and in the center of its ethereal palm was a mouth, constantly spewing gusts of gray gas.
As the trapped giant silver wind blade struggled free bit by bit, a black tongue was slowly pulled out from that mouth... stretching longer and longer, a horrifying sight to behold. But any discerning eye could see that this was a sign of the "Ghost King Pouch" failing, forcing out its artifact spirit.
And just at this moment, the space suddenly distorted, and a long, thin streak of black light appeared at the side of the silver wind blade. It shot into the wind blade in a flash. Although it was affected by the yin wind along the way, its speed didn't decrease in the slightest as it pierced directly into the wind blade. The moment it pierced the wind blade, the long, thin streak of black light began to tumble erratically, either horizontally or diagonally, within the blade.
The silver wind blade's power was mostly focused on countering the suction of the "Ghost King Pouch." In the blink of an eye, it was thrown into disarray by the thin black streak stirring within it. The entire blade was like a deflating ball, leaking air from all over, its surface constantly flaking off with tiny collapsing wind blades.
On the other side, the faint wind blade that had broken through the explosion of the "Skywind Bamboo" had also reached about a zhang in front of Li Yan. Li Yan's eyes were still fixed on the wind blade contending with the "Ghost King Pouch," paying no mind to the tribulation that had reached him.
When the wind blade was less than four feet from Li Yan's body, it finally exhausted its power. With a pfft, it turned into countless points of light and completely dissipated in the air.
Almost at the same moment, the last silver wind blade, most of whose power was being held back by the "Ghost King Pouch," finally collapsed after being pierced back and forth by the thin black streak within it.
Only then did Li Yan's heart relax. He beckoned with his hand, and the streak of black light shot back into his sleeve as fast as lightning and disappeared. Then, the shriveled arm extending from the "Ghost King Pouch" also slowly retracted into the pouch's mouth. The "Ghost King Pouch" then flew back, shrinking continuously. By the time it landed in Li Yan's hand, it had shrunk to the size of his palm.
Li Yan's chest heaved violently. The final three consecutive strikes of the Wind Tribulation had not only cost him the "Skywind Bamboo," but the two continuous blows had also nearly exhausted all his magical power. His clothes were soaked as if they had been washed in water. Li Yan briefly sensed the "Ghost King Pouch" before immediately putting it away. The item's power had been depleted by about seventy percent. Although it hadn't completely blocked the tribulation strike for him, it had played a crucial role in delaying it.
Two high-grade Spirit Stones flew into Li Yan's palm. At the same time, a drop of "Rongsun" quietly appeared in his mouth.
'This is only the fourth stage, and I've already used the "Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike" and "Rongsun".'
Li Yan thought to himself, feeling the pressure multiply! Four stages, fifty-two heavenly tribulations, and he had already been forced to reveal his trump cards.
Only now did Li Yan truly understand that the records in the texts were not false. The number of cultivators who died under the Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation was about seventy percent. Less than twenty percent failed the tribulation but were fortunate enough to escape with their lives. In the end, only less than ten percent of cultivators could become Heaven's favored children.
In the sky, Wei Zhongran and Mo Qing had been staring into the distance.
"The silver light appearing on his body has such an incredible effect on healing wounds. What kind of ability of the 'Fragmented Poison Body' is this?" Mo Qing asked strangely, his gaze fixed on the silver light on Li Yan's wounds.