“Boom!” A deafening explosion echoed as a colossal arc of lightning, resembling a towering sword, shot out from the depths of the dark clouds and struck the apex of the demonic wind.
A flash of silver light followed, and the grayish-white demonic wind trembled violently before being cleanly split down the middle. Both the wind and the lightning vanished into the void simultaneously.
Below, hovering in the low sky, emerged the figure of a monstrous beast with the head of an ox and the body of a flood dragon.
At this moment, its lower body was coiled into a tight spiral, but its form had changed slightly from before. A pair of purple fleshy wings and two thick, powerful green arms had sprouted from either side of its torso.
Han Li scrutinized it for a long while but couldn’t match it to any legendary spiritual beast he had heard of.
The Tianlan Sacred Beast, meanwhile, fixed its gaze on the faintly visible arcs of lightning high above. Its newly grown wings fluttered gently, and with each flap, clusters of grayish-white demonic energy surged around it, swiftly enveloping the creature entirely.
The thunder in the sky finally reached an unbearable crescendo. Amid the deafening peals, arcs of lightning, each about a foot long, rained down one after another from the electrified net above, blanketing an area of over ten miles in a storm of lightning. Even Han Li, who had been observing from the side, was caught within the tempest.
With a soft sigh, Han Li formed a hand seal, and a low rumble of thunder emanated from his body.
A layer of golden lightning net mysteriously appeared, rapidly expanding outward before transforming into a massive golden web that shielded him beneath it.
When the lightning arcs struck the golden net, bursts of silver and gold sparks erupted before vanishing instantly. The golden net trembled slightly but remained intact.
However, Han Li paid little attention to the lightning around him. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and focused on the swirling mass of grayish-white demonic energy not far away.
Though he had been caught in the storm, the majority of the lightning was still targeting the Tianlan Sacred Beast at the center of the formation. The density of silver arcs falling in that small area was several times greater than what Han Li faced.
Using his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, Han Li could only see the grayish-white demonic energy being drowned in a sea of silver light, the thunderclaps as relentless as a downpour, leaving no room for evasion.
Han Li’s face remained expressionless, but inwardly, he was surprised.
He had witnessed a demonic beast undergoing a Heavenly Tribulation once before in the Chaotic Star Seas. However, the turtle demon he had slain back then hadn’t faced such a terrifying onslaught. Moreover, that turtle demon had been in the final stages of its tribulation, while this Tianlan Beast was already enduring such intensity from the very beginning. If this was only the start, how unimaginably powerful would the final stages be?
Could it be that each demonic beast’s Heavenly Tribulation was entirely different?
Truth be told, human records rarely mentioned the secrets of demonic tribulations. Even if they did, it was usually in passing. This wasn’t surprising—Heavenly Tribulations were unique to demonic beasts and held little relevance to human cultivators, so naturally, human texts seldom documented them.
Even if some cultivators were curious, how many ordinary humans ever had the chance to witness a high-level demonic beast undergoing tribulation? Moreover, after enduring the tribulation, a demonic beast would be at its weakest, making it highly unlikely to allow human cultivators to observe nearby.
Though Han Li found it peculiar, he didn’t dwell on it. After all, such tribulation lightning posed little threat to his current abilities.
The foot-long lightning arcs continued to fall for the duration of a meal before the thunder finally subsided, granting a brief respite.
Han Li focused his gaze once more and saw that the grayish-white demonic energy in the formation had already dissipated, leaving only a thin layer. Inside, the Tianlan Sacred Beast seized the moment to catch its breath, forming hand seals while its wings flapped wildly. Simultaneously, it opened its mouth and spewed forth a misty gray demonic energy.
In the blink of an eye, a new layer of demonic energy, twice as dense as before, formed around it, shielding the beast once more.
The Tianlan Sacred Beast’s gaze remained calm and composed, showing no signs of panic, as if it had long anticipated the ferocity of the tribulation.
Seeing this, Han Li smiled faintly.
It seemed this beast truly could withstand the initial stages of the tribulation on its own, as it had claimed. There was no need for him to intervene prematurely.
However, the benefits it had promised would be invaluable to him in the future, so he couldn’t afford to let this opportunity slip.
With this in mind, Han Li tapped his storage pouch, and several magical tools of varying colors shot out, lining up neatly on the ground before him.
They were a deep-yellow gourd, a pristine white bowl, and a cyan jade bottle—three container-type magical tools.
At that moment, the thunder roared again, and the second wave of lightning descended from the sky.
This time, the lightning was noticeably denser, and the arcs were larger, making the spectacle even more awe-inspiring.
Having retrieved these tools, Han Li no longer paid attention to the Tianlan Beast’s tribulation. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes, and appeared to be conserving his energy.
Over the next hour, the Tianlan Sacred Beast endured six waves of lightning, each more terrifying than the last. By the third wave, the arcs had grown to half a zhang in length, resembling silver rainbows crashing down from the sky. Even the barriers Han Li had set up around the area were destroyed by the relentless strikes.
Only the golden net formed by Han Li’s Evil-Warding Divine Lightning remained unscathed, steadfastly protecting him.
From the fourth wave onward, the Tianlan Sacred Beast could no longer maintain its composure. It began to enlarge its form, its body swelling to over ten zhang in size. The demonic energy it exhaled also changed—no longer grayish-white, it had transformed into a silvery hue similar to the lightning itself.
This silvery demonic energy was bizarre. Upon contact with the lightning arcs, it emitted metallic clanging sounds, deflecting most of the strikes while absorbing only a fraction.
This strange phenomenon even made Han Li, who had been meditating with his eyes closed, open them in surprise and study the scene intently.
He noticed that the silvery demonic energy shimmered with a piercing glow yet exuded an icy, bone-chilling aura.
“Hmm, this seems related to the Frost Marrow it gave me. Could it have already refined it in such a short time?” Han Li mused silently.
With this peculiar demonic energy now shielding it, the Tianlan Sacred Beast appeared much more at ease, effortlessly enduring several more waves of lightning.
However, as the seventh wave began, the beast’s expression turned grave, and tension gripped its form.
The oppressive sky suddenly boiled over, the dark clouds churning violently. The massive lightning nets suspended beneath the clouds began descending in their entirety, turning the heavens into a blinding expanse of silver. The thunder drowned out all other sounds, as if the world had been reduced to nothing but lightning.
“Fellow Daoist Han, this human realm’s Heavenly Tribulation seems fiercer than I anticipated. I can only withstand two more waves. For the final three, I may truly require your assistance,” the Tianlan Sacred Beast’s voice whispered into Han Li’s ear.
“Rest assured, Fellow Daoist. I will intervene when the time comes,” Han Li replied calmly with a faint smile.
“Then I shall be deeply grateful. I will not forget your kindness,” the Tianlan Sacred Beast said, visibly relieved.
With a great cultivator like Han Li guarding it, even if the tribulation grew more severe, it should still pass safely.
One after another, the silver lightning nets descended, completely enveloping the beast. Countless arcs leaped from the nets, relentlessly striking the silvery demonic energy. Though most were deflected, the sheer number of remaining arcs was staggering.
The silvery demonic energy visibly diminished under the onslaught. By the time the seventh wave ended, it had already lost a third of its volume.
Strangely, the beast didn’t replenish it immediately. Only after the seventh wave did it exhale another layer of grayish-white demonic energy, wrapping it around the remaining silvery barrier.
Then, the eighth wave began without pause.
This time, the lightning nets were nearly twice as large as before, crashing down with overwhelming force.
The thunder was earth-shattering, and the demonic energy’s surface was instantly dyed silver. The very ground trembled under the deafening roar.
Han Li, seated outside the formation, frowned slightly at the spectacle but quickly regained his composure.
However, he now rose slowly to his feet, scanning the sky intently as if searching for something.
Suddenly, his expression shifted, and he lowered his gaze sharply toward a distant patch of ground, his eyes glinting with curiosity.
“Oh? This is interesting. I didn’t expect such a creature to exist in Tiannan,” Han Li murmured to himself.
Without hesitation, he flicked his fingers toward the ground. With a series of soft pops, ten slender crimson threads shot forth, vanishing into the earth in a flash.
Han Li stared at the spot, a cold smirk playing on his lips.
Suddenly, the ground there convulsed violently, and a spine-chilling shriek erupted from below. A massive plume of dirt erupted into the air as a colossal figure, dozens of zhang in size, burst from the earth.
Amid the swirling dust, the upper half of the creature’s enormous body was entangled in fiery red threads, their flames scorching its hide and eliciting agonized howls.
These were the ten mysterious Fire Spirit Threads Han Li had recently refined.
Seizing the moment, Han Li took in the creature’s full appearance.
It resembled an enormous, bloated earthworm, its body a deep yellow hue. However, its upper half was covered in countless writhing tendrils of varying sizes, and atop its head stood a single golden horn, gleaming brilliantly.
Strangely, as the lightning nets descended toward the beast, its horn flickered wildly, and all the lightning arcs were inexplicably drawn toward it, vanishing upon contact.
“A Unicorn Earthworm? But why is it so large? If I recall correctly, their horns should be white,” Han Li muttered, eyeing the enraged monstrosity with puzzlement.
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