Chapter 67 A full-force attack from the Mahayana stage – strong, healthy, and incredibly awesome…
Giant pillars of lightning relentlessly tore through the clouds and crashed down on the earth. The remaining, brimming silver light rolled and shimmered in the sky, pressing heavily on the dark clouds like the booming of a giant drum.
The ground shook and trembled upon being struck, sending ripples of air outwards. The resulting gale-force winds howled towards the observation platform suspended in the air, causing the seats to sway violently like floating ribbons.
The ten cultivators of the Dao Sect had long ago made thorough preparations for any unexpected events that might occur during the spiritual cultivation competition. To prevent the participating disciples' spells from harming the audience, various protective spells and talismans were set up on the viewing platform, which was sufficient to deal with such situations.
The cultivators who came to observe the test were no ordinary people either. Disciples from various sects and families, as well as independent cultivators, sat calmly and composed in their seats. Those cultivators with lower cultivation levels took the opportunity to close their eyes and absorb the scattered spiritual energy overflowing from the heavenly lightning.
The others were either eagerly awaiting their turn to compete or searching around to find out who was undergoing the tribulation of lightning.
Not long ago, they were amazed that everyone in the Dingsheng Sect had passed the Cloud Platform Competition, and even the most inconspicuous little ancestor had defeated the Foundation Establishment disciple of Xiaosu Pavilion and successfully advanced. They were also lamenting that the Shen family, who had cultivated ten cultivators in the Dao Sect, was quite incompetent.
Unexpectedly, a disciple of the Shen family advanced to a higher level, and the heavenly lightning that struck down was earth-shattering and caused quite a commotion. Judging from this, the person who advanced was no ordinary person.
"Elder Ziyan, our disciples saw the Shen family being chased by the heavenly lightning, it was quite amusing. They were meditating when the person undergoing tribulation suddenly ran over to their side, attracting the heavenly lightning as well. The leader of the Shen family was furious, but there was nothing he could do; the heavenly lightning had already struck. To protect their disciples, several elders of the Shen family endured three strikes of heavenly lightning, and escaped with the other disciples when the first strike landed."
“Three…” Master Ziyan pondered, his gaze falling on the muffled thunder hidden behind the clouds. “The rest will be even more difficult to deal with.”
The tribulations cultivators undergo during their advancement become increasingly powerful as they progress. The number of tribulations experienced by cultivators during the Foundation Establishment advancement also varies, with each tribulation becoming more and more powerful than the last. The final tribulation is on a completely different level from the first one.
During this tribulation, the five Nascent Soul cultivators of the Shen family barely managed to deal with the first three bolts of heavenly lightning. They even had to flee with their disciples before the fourth bolt struck.
Its power was extraordinary; Heaven was deliberately trying to prevent this person from advancing.
"Can you see clearly who is undergoing tribulation?" Ziyan asked.
“I couldn’t see clearly.” The Hehuan Sect disciple shook his head regretfully. “When that tribulation seeker approached the Shen family, he had already been struck by two heavenly lightning bolts and turned into a charcoal-like black. Moreover, he was elusive and even managed to pounce on the Shen family disciples before the third heavenly lightning bolt struck, taking them all with him. At that speed, it was really impossible to see his appearance.”
"Has already been hit twice?" This surprised not only Master Ziyan, but also all the team leaders present, who looked up in shock and gazed at the dark clouds in the sky.
Before the tribulation seeker arrived at the Shen family, he had already withstood two heavenly lightning bolts. Combined with the three that the Shen family had withstood, this brought the total to five.
But hidden behind the clouds, there were clearly more than two bolts of lightning!
Cultivating the Dao is inherently defying the heavens, but not everyone who advances to the Foundation Establishment stage will experience a tribulation of lightning. After all, Foundation Establishment is merely the completion of spiritual energy accumulation, and compared to Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Mahayana, it is only the beginning and will not attract the attention of the Heavenly Dao.
However, a few individuals, either due to exceptional talent or karmic obstacles, attract the attention of Heaven in advance, resulting in divine punishment that prevents their progress. Over the years, however, such cultivators have only experienced three to six heavenly lightning strikes during their Foundation Establishment and Tribulation Transcendence stages, with the majority experiencing three, and only a very few experiencing four or five.
As for the Six Paths... it was only a few hundred years ago. When that young prodigy from the Nameless Sect broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage, the Heavenly Dao foresaw his future demonic fall and unleashed an unprecedented Six Paths Heavenly Thunder, a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Now, someone is about to encounter nine bolts of heavenly lightning.
Who on earth is it that would make Heaven defy the laws of nature and send down more heavenly lightning to sever this person's path to immortality?!
******
The former Shen family disciples who participated in the examination, whose homes were reduced to ruins by lightning, rested ten miles away.
Smoke rose from the cracked, scorched earth, and a thin, black charcoal stood alone among it, gazing silently at the oppressive, seemingly within reach, dark thunderclouds.
I counted and counted again.
Something's not right! Ji Mingran thought to herself. She was about to frown subconsciously, but her skin was brittle from being struck by lightning, and even the slightest movement was excruciatingly painful. She had no choice but to keep her expression stable and blank.
Breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage would involve encountering a tribulation of lightning, and even going through the Six Paths of Reincarnation, which was something she had anticipated.
Senior Brother Sanyang told her that with her talent in formations, it was normal for her to encounter a tribulation lightning during her breakthrough to Foundation Establishment. In addition, with the 100,000 units of inherited power contained in her sea of consciousness, such an unusual event would definitely arouse the Heavenly Dao's vigilance, and no fewer than three tribulations lightning would descend, possibly even six.
She prepared for this day and night, constantly practicing and reinforcing the Vajra Formation and the Domain Blessing Formation.
When she encountered the first two bolts, Ji Mingran sensed something was wrong; the power of these heavenly lightning bolts far exceeded what her senior brother Sanyang had told her.
So she mustered all her strength and rushed towards the Shen family disciple before the third bolt of lightning struck, not only to avenge Shen Qingluo but also to shift the blame, forcing the Shen family elder to intervene and block two bolts of lightning for her.
Logically, there should only be one thundercloud remaining. However, the thunderclouds overhead are still lingering, which doesn't seem like there's only one left.
The sect's jade tablet transmitted Shen Qingluo's anxious voice: "Mingran, where are you? The heavenly lightning hasn't finished striking yet, I'll come and shield you!"
"No way." Ji Mingran thought to himself, "If you get involved in this mess and get injured, how will you participate in the upcoming spiritual cultivation competition?"
With a thought, Ji Mingran's figure flashed several times at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, and then teleported to a distance of more than a hundred miles away from Shen Ju's residence.
The moment she landed, a feeling of weightlessness washed over her, and she quickly pulled back several steps. Several pebbles rolled and fell into the air, plummeting towards the vast, dark green pool.
She found herself atop a desolate cliff, surrounded by emptiness and vastness. Thunderclouds hung close overhead, their oppressive force intensifying, making it hard to breathe and causing her spiritual veins to throb and bulge.
The lightning, which had been brewing behind the dark clouds, finally came together, tearing open a gap and shining down.
It was as if she was the only one left in the world, the only one bearing the thunderous wrath of the heavens.
A massive bolt of lightning struck down, making the solitary, slender figure on the cliff appear as insignificant as an ant in comparison.
Regardless of how many more heavenly lightning bolts were yet to come, Ji Mingran's eyes were ruthless. He decided to get through the sixth lightning tribulation first!
Golden light shone brightly from beneath his feet, and the Vajra Formation rapidly expanded under the blessing of the Domain Blessing Formation, instantly touching the descending heavenly lightning.
The Vajra Formation collapsed instantly, and Ji Mingran tasted rust in her throat, but the powerful lightning did not strike her.
A faint, almost imperceptible sigh gently fell beside her ear.
Just before the lightning struck, someone pulled her into their arms.
But there was clearly no one around.
Ji Mingran suddenly looked up.
A familiar, jet-black sword blade was held above her head, blocking the massive pillar of lightning that was about to strike her.
"Yu Tianxing!" Ji Mingran instinctively clutched the unseen figure tightly. "Is it you?"
The voice that reached my ears was as gentle as ever, but it revealed a hint of helplessness: "I may have to wait a little longer to see you."
The image of Yu Tianxing, riddled with bloody holes and on the verge of death, flashed through Ji Mingran's mind. He shouted, "You're about to die, don't worry about me. I have a trump card, I won't die!"
A deafening roar completely drowned out her voice. The seventh bolt of heavenly lightning struck!
Ji Mingran rapidly formed hand seals, and layers of pale golden light accumulated and expanded rapidly, the semicircle instantly leveling with the black sword.
However, the black sword, which carried the immense power of thunder, suddenly trembled and rose inch by inch. With a long howl, the black sword actually resisted the sixth bolt of heavenly lightning and swiftly crashed into the falling seventh bolt.
The pale golden halo accelerated without hesitation to catch up, and boom! The moment the heavenly lightning collided, several cracks appeared on the dark and mysterious sword body. Just then, the Vajra Formation expanded and covered the sword body, blocking the heavenly lightning, and the cracks on the sword body stopped spreading.
Blood trickled down her lips, and Ji Mingran clearly heard the unseen person cough softly, comforting her, "It's okay, I'll be fine, you don't need to worry."
As he spoke, the black sword stood upright beneath the eighth lightning claw, its blade piercing straight towards the sky. The point where the sword intent collided with the lightning burst forth with dazzling light!
In an instant, the world fell silent. The next moment, a boundless sword intent swept across the sky, and a thousand bolts of lightning shattered and disintegrated into thousands upon thousands of fragmented lightning bolts that drifted down into the sky and then vanished powerlessly in a flash.
If it happened again, the black sword would really break!
Without a doubt, it is Yu Tianxing's life-saving sword. What will happen to Yu Tianxing if it breaks?
"Yu Tianxing, take care of yourself first!" Ji Mingran urged anxiously, but his words vanished as soon as they left his mouth.
The surroundings were deathly silent. The impending ninth heavenly lightning bolt compressed the space around her to its limit, making it impossible for sound to travel.
On the observation platform, the cultivators stood up and looked up at the vast thunderbolt that seemed to shoot out from the sky.
The thunder was so terrifying that no one noticed a barely perceptible point of light rising from the ground.
Beneath the sky, a colossal thunderbolt shattered and crumbled into dust. The scattered spiritual energy was swept into an unparalleled, oppressive blue wave, surging irresistibly in all directions, towards the observation platform a thousand miles away.
Sitting at the head of the table, Chongjue's eyes were sharp. In an instant, he appeared dozens of miles away from the observation platform. With a wave of his sleeve, another wave of invisible pressure surged forward, colliding with Bilang, and the two disappeared without a trace.
Chong Jue was pushed a hundred feet away by the aftershocks of the azure waves. His gaze was cold and fixed on the spot where the lightning had dissipated. "Hong Yan..."
The Mahayana cultivator unleashed more than one strike, but the final strike was particularly powerful and undisguised.
******
On the solitary cliff, the dark clouds dispersed, revealing a clear blue sky.
Green shoots sprouted from the charred soil, growing at an extraordinary speed. Birds poked their heads out of the charred remains, flapping their wings towards the sky.
After the tribulation of lightning, life reappeared.
Ji Mingran looked down at the charred sect robes and the charred legs and feet beneath them, and shuddered.
Pieces of coke fell off, revealing delicate, pinkish-white new skin.
Lift your left foot, slowly twist it to the left once, then slowly twist it to the right once. Lift and press down, and your joints will be flexible without any stiffness or pain.
"Yu Tianxing." The black sword had long since vanished, and the sensation of being embraced had also disappeared. Ji Mingran didn't care whether he could hear her or not. She opened her arms, raised the corners of her lips, and laughed heartily: "My leg is healed! You don't need to desperately search for medicine for me anymore."
The Foundation Establishment Tribulation cleansed her marrow and tempered her body. Boss Jiang was right. Her limp was completely healed!
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