Chapter 60

The sky was as black as ink, and the golden blood mist that gushed out had not yet dissipated in the lightning, and the second nine-sky divine thunder had already descended!

This thunder is several times more ferocious than the previous one.

It was no longer a simple flash of lightning, but a living being condensed from the wrath of the Nine Heavens. Its entire body was wrapped with Dao patterns that symbolized destruction. It swooped down from the endless heights, its fangs bared and claws bared, its target aimed directly at the lone figure hanging in the air, its breath still not yet calmed.

At this moment, Yan Bujian had just survived the first level of thunder tribulation with his physical body. His condition was miserable: the spiritual energy that had been flowing smoothly in his dantian qi sea was now boiling and exploding, madly colliding with the meridian barriers, bringing bursts of dull tearing pain; and the bone-cutting wound on his back, about three feet long, was torn open by an invisible hand under the pressure of the heavenly power and the agitation of his own qi. The new scab broke, and the flesh and blood opened again. The piercing pain spread all the way along the spinal nerves, almost taking away his mind.

Golden blood, brimming with life force, flowed continuously down his upright, yet now slightly trembling, spine, dripping into the swirling mist beneath his feet, creating shocking circles of pale golden streaks. He didn't even have time to circulate his spiritual energy through a full cycle to regulate his breathing. The death-threatening thunderbolt was already within reach, forcing him to forcibly gather his remaining energy, gather the chaotic spiritual energy in his palms, spread his five fingers, and unpretentiously meet it upwards.

"boom!!!"

The moment his palm violently collided with the destructive lightning column, it was as if two stars collided, and a violent air wave suddenly exploded in a circular shape!

The wave swept across the vast expanse, and the clouds that had been floating in the sky for thousands of years were instantly shattered and cleared away, revealing the vast land below. In the ancient mountains, the huge trees that required several people to hug fell down like grass under this pressure.

Indescribable pain rippled through the meridians of his arm, as if billions of red-hot steel needles were frantically piercing and stirring his veins. A sudden sweetness clung to his throat, and blood foam, no longer suppressed, flowed from the corners of his tightly pursed lips. Then, the power of the heavens contained within the lightning pillar sent him flying backwards like a kite with its string cut, hundreds of feet away!

His clothes rustled in the strong wind, and he uttered a whine of exhaustion. Before Yan Bujian could steady himself from the backflip, before he even had time to wipe the blood from his lips, the third divine thunderbolt followed, leaving him no chance to breathe!

This time, the brilliant and violent purple lightning didn't condense into a pillar. Instead, it suddenly spread out in the air, transforming into a vast lightning net that stretched across the sky and earth! Countless electric snakes, as fine as hairs but gleaming with dazzling white light, intertwined and darted frantically within it, emitting a numbing sizzling sound as they descended with unerring precision towards his head, vowing to crush his shattered body and the struggling soul within it into dust.

Yan Bujian looked up, and a trace of ruthlessness, like a lone wolf who was forced into a desperate situation, suddenly flashed across the depths of his eyes.

Then he gritted his teeth, turned his hand, and slapped his chest hard with his fingers like knives!

"puff--"

A mouthful of his lifeblood, which was deep red with a light golden sheen, gushed out of his mouth.

As soon as the blood mist came out, it quickly condensed in front of him, swirling and surging, and transformed into a solid red sword shadow about three feet long! On the sword body, there were faintly fine, bone-like texture runes.

This was a life-and-death attack that he had forcibly squeezed out of the remaining power of the sword bone in his body!

The next moment, the red sword shadow let out a mournful clang, and against the sky full of thunder, it rushed towards the net of destruction!

“Clang!”

The sword shadow and the lightning net collided violently, and the harsh sound of metal friction and cutting was heard. The lightning net that seemed indestructible was actually torn into a long and narrow crack by this blow that condensed the essence of the sword bone!

At the same time, the sword shadow also exhausted all its strength, and after a mournful cry, it disintegrated into flickering spots of light in the sky.

But the next moment, Yan Bujian's pupils suddenly shrank, and a flash of purple-gold light appeared in the depths of his eyes. Then, a tremendous force of wind and thunder erupted beside him! The wind howled, the thunder roared, and the two forces intertwined and entangled, transforming in front of him into a giant palm composed of wind blades and lightning, covering a radius of a hundred feet. It carried his unwavering determination.

He struck hard at the fourth divine thunder that followed the lightning net and was silently approaching him!

"Long——!!!"

The loud noise shook the universe again, and the space seemed to be slightly distorted in this collision.

Yan Bujian groaned as a tooth-aching sound of bones breaking emanated from his left arm, followed by the burning pain of flesh being instantly vaporized. He lowered his eyes to see that the sleeve of his left arm had already turned to ash, and the flesh beneath it was also annihilated inch by inch in the lightning, revealing the eerie white bones beneath.

His vision went dark, and a strong sense of weakness and severe pain surged like a tide, madly devouring his will.

He could no longer maintain his levitation, and his body froze, like a lone crane that had been shot down with broken wings, falling straight down towards the vast earth below!

There was the whistling wind in my ears and the outlines of the mountains were getting closer and closer below me.

However, just as he was falling, he suddenly turned over and was suspended in the air again. He tried his best to gather the almost dried-up spiritual energy in his Dantian Qi Sea, and condensed it in front of him into a jade-white light shield that looked solid and heavy, but was actually at the end of its strength.

"Bang!"

Almost at the moment when the light shield was formed, another lightning pillar came closely and smashed down on it!

The surface of the light shield cracked, countless fine cracks spreading rapidly like a spider web, and it seemed on the verge of complete collapse. His body also trembled violently under this impact. Golden blood no longer only flowed from his back, but also continuously seeped out from all his orifices, staining his pale face with a mournful look.

But he still gritted his teeth tightly, blood seeping from the roots of his teeth. His bloodstained eyes, which could barely see the road ahead, stared fixedly at the lightning pillar in front of him, refusing to take a single step back.

Can't retreat!

Once he falls, it will not only mean that all the hard work of a hundred years will be in vain, but even more terrifying is that the fairyland hanging above the Three Thousand Continents, where his life is intertwined, will also lose control and fall from the sky!

At that time, the devastating force of the Immortal Realm's collapse will sweep across the entire Three Thousand Continents, destroying billions of lives, reducing mountains and rivers to scorched earth, and everything will return to nothingness. And what will become of his only concern in this life, the person he has hidden in the deepest part of the Cloud Mountain, in a quiet valley where flowers bloom and fall silently?

He didn't dare to think about it, nor could he think about it!

This thought, like a spark thrown into the cold and dead ashes, suddenly ignited his last bit of strength.

"roar--!"

A ferocious light almost like a beast flashed in his blood-stained eyes, and then he actually let out a roar as if he wanted to roar out his soul - he saw him put his fingers together like swords, and the wind and thunder swirling around him suddenly exploded without hesitation, and all the remaining strength, all the unwillingness, and all the obsession were all condensed at the fingertips. Then, he slashed fiercely at the thunder that had already shown some signs of fatigue and its light had slightly dimmed!

A sharp sword intent that was condensed to the extreme and seemed to be able to cut through light and darkness rose against the sky in the dark sky!

The thunder finally let out an unwilling wail under this sword, and then was completely annihilated, scattering into lightning fragments floating in the sky.

However, the might of heaven is still not stopping!

The sixth, seventh, eighth...the divine thunders were like a violent storm, one faster and more fierce than the other, striking down one after another!

The color of the lightning became deeper and deeper, from the initial light purple to dark purple, and finally to inky black!

The destructive force contained within was enough to cause mountains to collapse and rivers to flow backwards. Under this divine might, most of Yan Bujian's clothes had already been reduced to ash in the thunder and fire, and his body had long since been shattered. Only the scarlet-golden immortal mist that emanated from his body still stubbornly lingered around his body, performing a futile attempt to repair and resist.

He was no longer able to muster any complex moves and could only rely on this battered body to withstand the thunder tribulation again and again.

With each lightning tribulation, his body would explode into a mournful golden-red mist, and his figure would continue to fall under the immense force. However, every time he was on the verge of collapse, the near-insane obsession deep in his soul would reignite, forcing out the last shred of his potential, forcing him to stabilize his body, once again suspended between heaven and earth, defying the laws of nature.

Finally, when the power of the eighth thunder tribulation, which was like a black dragon descending to the world, completely dissipated, he was hanging in the air, almost breathing.

There wasn't a single inch of intact flesh on his body, and his entire body was drenched in blood, turning him into a bloody mess. The red-gold light in his eyes, once as bright as stars, was now dim like a candle in the wind, ready to go out at any moment.

The spiritual power was exhausted, and the remaining power of the sword bone dissipated. Only the immortal spiritual light of the soul deep in the sea of ​​consciousness remained, still emitting a faint but firm light, supporting this dilapidated body that should have collapsed long ago.

——At this moment, the last and ultimate divine thunder that would determine his life or death on the road quietly descended.

It wasn't as earth-shattering as expected, nor did it have the violent roar of any of the previous thunder tribulations. But that lightning flash was completely different from all the previous ones.

It was pure and transparent, as if it was made of the purest glass.

It quietly lingered at the center of the highest and most distant vortex of tribulation clouds, deep and tranquil, like a piece of ancient jade etched in a pool of eons, emanating a mysterious and majestic aura. Its presence did not bring with it a further, more terrifying divine might; instead, it caused the previously seething, raging spiritual pressure of heaven and earth around it to suddenly subside. Then, a deeper, more palpitating sense of oppression permeated the air.

The next moment, it moved.

The golden lightning slowly but with the irresistible will of heaven, fell towards Yan Bujian.

Yan Bujian's heart sank. He forced himself to hold on to the last bit of clarity, gritted his teeth and drew out the spiritual light that remained in the center of his spiritual platform, which was originally used to protect his soul. He transformed it into a solid and heavy jade-white light shield with a halo in front of him. He was no longer able to fight back. This was the last defense he could make.

However, what happened next was beyond his understanding.

The golden and translucent divine thunder did not even cause a ripple the moment it touched the light shield!

There was no anticipated earth-shattering impact, no violent explosion of energy collision, not even the slightest sound. The seemingly unstoppable light shield that had condensed his last hope was nothing before the golden divine thunder—it simply "flowed" silently, like a drop of water merging into a river, like a phantom passing through a solid object.

How is that possible?!

Yan Bujian's pupils suddenly shrank. He felt an unprecedented sense of crisis, like a thousand feet of ice water, which instantly poured over his whole body, almost freezing his soul!

He subconsciously tried to dodge, to struggle, but his soul felt as if it were held in place by countless invisible, incomparably strong shackles. Even moving his mind became incredibly difficult. He could only watch helplessly as the golden, gentle, fateful lightning slowly and steadily struck his brow.

"Buzz..."

Deep in the sea of ​​consciousness, it seemed as if there was an ancient bell that had been sealed for eons and covered in thick dust, and it was gently struck by an invisible force.

All the colors before my eyes—the golden blood splattered when the flesh disintegrated, the dark black of the sky, the deep purple when the lightning exploded... everything faded rapidly at this moment, like a faded painting, and then turned into an absolute nothingness without any light or shadow.

The excruciating pain that had burned his bones and heart and nearly tore his flesh apart disappeared completely at this moment, like the receding tide.

The five senses were taken away, and the body seemed to no longer exist.

Only a voice, seemingly emanating from the immemorial wilderness, aloof and immeasurable, devoid of any emotion, resounded from the deepest depths of his sea of ​​consciousness. Every word, like a hammer weighing a million tons, carried the power to torture his soul, pounding the deepest part of his heart, the fragile place that even he had never truly faced.

"What does the common people mean to you?"

Yan Bujian heard the sound and his body shook violently -

He never expected that this last and most dangerous divine thunder would not destroy his body, but go straight to his heart. It was the legendary calamity of "examination of conscience"!

——The question of “examination of the heart” is extremely mysterious and not every cultivator will encounter it.

According to ancient records, it often appears more often at the critical moment when a cultivator breaks through from the Qi Integration Stage to the Spirit Transformation Stage, and it tests the cultivator's understanding of himself, the world, and the way of all living beings.

Relying on the heaven-defying fate that he had with an immortal in the depths of Yunshan Mountain, he refined the "Jade Rain" for a hundred years and came out of seclusion. His cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds, and he went from the Golden Core Realm all the way to the peak of Return to Void Realm. After a series of breakthroughs, he did not encounter any thunder tribulation. Because of this, he also believed deep in his heart that the rumored "questioning the heart" tribulation that specifically inquired about whether the cultivator's heart of Tao was perfect would never happen to him.

Whether recorded in classics or passed down orally, those who had overcome tribulations before them all relied on supreme magical power or sturdy bodies tempered to the utmost, bravely withstanding the might of the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder. Therefore, although the first eight thunder tribulations, each more ferocious than the last, nearly shattered his body and left him in a state of disarray, they were always within his expectations and range of response. This, in turn, reinforced his belief that he had accumulated sufficient strength to withstand this final test.

——But he never expected that this ninth thunder tribulation would not strike his body which was riddled with holes at this time, but his Dao heart which seemed indestructible but had never been truly perfected!

The level of cultivation can be forcibly raised by relying on the opportunity of becoming an immortal; however, the obstacle of the heart of Tao is like a cancer attached to the bone, which is the accumulation of time, experience, and understanding. How can it be easily resolved by relying on external forces?

In the mountains and clouds, the remaining will of the Immortal Lord seemed to know all his secrets, and the sighing warnings were still ringing in his ears.

At that time, he felt that he was capable of controlling this surging cultivation, and thus decided to put the warning behind him; but now, with the sound of that ancient judgment, the crack deep in his heart, though subtle, but never truly healed, was actually struck by this golden divine thunder with incredible precision!

A crisp sound like ice breaking quietly exploded deep in the soul.

Then, the last bit of concentration in his eyes completely dissipated.

All the struggles, all the strength, all the thoughts, at this moment, collapsed like a tower of sand, instantly collapsing.

The broken body suspended in the air finally lost its last bit of support, and like a puppet with its strings cut, it fell from the endless sky towards the vast earth below.