“Elder Huo, which senior is undergoing the heavenly tribulation here? Can you discern what kind of tribulation it is? It doesn’t seem like a minor tribulation—could it be a senior at the Void Refinement stage hiding in the mountains?” A handsome young man in a yellow robe, seemingly the leader of the group, descended beside the old man and asked with respectful yet barely concealed excitement.
This was hardly surprising. Even in the Spirit Realm, cultivators at the Void Refinement stage and above were rarely encountered.
“It’s not the Great Heavenly Tribulation. I’ve witnessed the real one before—its lightning was entirely violet-gold, far more devastating than this,” the old man shook his head with certainty.
“But the lightning of a minor tribulation isn’t gold and silver either. It should be cyan. We’ve seen our sect elders undergo it multiple times—there’s no mistake,” the yellow-robed youth said with a strange expression.
“This tribulation seems far more violent than a typical minor one, and it can’t be a demon beast’s transformation tribulation either. Those always manifest as silver-white lightning,” the old man muttered gravely, seemingly unable to determine its nature.
Seeing Elder Huo’s uncertainty, the group of Core Formation cultivators couldn’t help but show disappointment.
By now, the hurricane in the sky had intensified, engulfing the entire mountain range in a tempest. The oppressive dark clouds made it impossible for ordinary people to even stand steady on the ground.
After a brief hesitation, Elder Huo ordered the convoy to form a defensive circle and wait for the unknown cultivator to finish their tribulation before proceeding.
From the distance, thunder roared, and arcs of gold and silver lightning erupted from the churning clouds. At first, they fell one by one, but soon they cascaded like a torrential downpour.
A bizarre scene unfolded—silver lightning struck the mountaintop, exploding into blinding flashes that sheared off a massive chunk of the peak. Meanwhile, the golden arcs vanished into the mountain as if intangible.
Then, deep within the mountain, thunderous explosions erupted, even more violent than those on the surface.
Elder Huo and the Core Formation cultivators were stunned. The golden lightning seemed to bypass all obstacles, targeting the tribulation-taker directly—a phenomenon typically seen only in the violet-gold lightning of the Great Heavenly Tribulation.
Could this be an entirely new kind of tribulation?
As they speculated, a dazzling cyan light shot out from the mountain and hovered mid-air near the mountainside, revealing a faint human silhouette.
Elder Huo and the others immediately understood—this was the formidable cultivator enduring the tribulation.
Had the golden lightning forced them out of the mountain, or did they believe an open space would better suit their resistance?
The gold and silver lightning, as if sentient, shifted direction and pursued the cyan figure relentlessly.
A long cry echoed from within the cyan light, and a massive cauldron materialized above the figure. Its lid opened, releasing countless cyan threads that blotted out half the sky.
The silver lightning was swiftly absorbed into the cauldron, but the golden arcs passed through the threads unimpeded, striking directly at the figure below.
“Good, good, good!” The figure within the cyan light seemed startled but laughed instead of panicking.
Suddenly, they rubbed their hands together and flung them upward. Two thick golden arcs erupted, splitting into a vast net of lightning above them.
The two golden forces collided, exploding in a dazzling display before dissipating into nothingness.
Elder Huo and the others were dumbfounded.
While thunder-based cultivation techniques weren’t unheard of in the Spirit Realm, ordinary lightning couldn’t resist heavenly tribulation lightning—it would only be absorbed, backfiring on the user.
Yet this cultivator not only wielded lightning identical to the tribulation’s but dared to counter it directly—something almost unheard of.
However, the gold and silver arcs continued falling endlessly, growing thicker and more terrifying. What had been thumb-sized soon swelled to the width of an arm.
The cyan figure’s expression darkened. The cauldron above them was reaching its limit—fewer threads emerged, and their absorption slowed.
More silver lightning slipped through, overwhelming the golden net below.
The Core Formation cultivators exchanged uneasy glances. The yellow-robed youth muttered, “This is no ordinary minor tribulation. Even the tribulation after reaching the peak of the Nascent Soul stage couldn’t compare!”
“Wait… I think I’ve heard of this kind of tribulation before,” Elder Huo suddenly said.
“Really?” The youth turned eagerly.
“Yes, but it was so long ago, the details escape me,” the old man frowned, deep in thought.
As a mortal, his memory wasn’t as sharp as a cultivator’s.
The Core Formation cultivators grew impatient but dared not rush him—Elder Huo was a top-tier body cultivator, comparable to a Nascent Soul expert.
“Look! That senior can’t hold on!” one of them suddenly cried out.
Everyone turned in alarm, including Elder Huo.
The gold and silver lightning had transformed—no longer arcs, but massive, head-sized orbs raining down like celestial blossoms.
These orbs were far more destructive. The cauldron trembled, let out a mournful hum, and shrank to fist-size before vanishing into the figure below, clearly damaged.
Though the figure continued unleashing golden arcs, the net was collapsing under the onslaught.
Just as it seemed the cultivator would perish, a bone-chilling snort echoed. The figure touched the back of their head, releasing a vast gray mist, then spat out a tiny black mountain.
The mist swept upward, freezing the falling orbs mid-air, suspending them as if held by an invisible force.
Though the mist couldn’t destroy them, it trapped each new orb that fell. Soon, the space was packed with hovering orbs.
The figure then formed a hand seal. The tiny mountain expanded to over thirty feet tall.
With a chant, gray rings pulsed from the mountain, sweeping through the suspended orbs.
At first, nothing happened. Then, the gray mist rippled like disturbed water, destabilizing the orbs.
They collided, erupting into dazzling explosions, but the gray rings guided the resulting arcs into the black mountain, absorbing them entirely.
The figure repeated this process, seemingly effortless, but inwardly, they were struggling.
Even with the miraculous power of their Magnetic Divine Light, controlling so many heavenly thunderbolts with the Magnetic Mountain drained their spiritual energy at an alarming rate.
This figure was none other than Han Li, who had secluded himself in the mountain for over a century.
During this time, he had mastered the Vajra Arts and, with the aid of spiritual medicine, reformed his Spirit Infant.
Yet he never expected that the moment his infant solidified, the Spirit Realm’s heavenly tribulation would descend.
Caught unprepared, Han Li had no choice but to endure it head-on.
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