Metal is the choice of material for a killing tool, forged into needles thin as hairs of bull.
You feel no pain when your heart runs cool, no suffering before falling into hell’s rule.
Doctors press acupuncture points and save lives with metal needles of all kinds. Some are thick as a finger, clumsy and forceful, while others are short and thin as an ox’s hair. Certain vicious scoundrels found a different, cruel use for those thin needles. They did not hurt when they pierced the human body. When used properly, they could sever the meridians and kill a person without them noticing anything.
The third lightning dominion, Lightning of the Soul-Severing Ox Hair, was named after this incredibly thin needle. Every lightning bolt was as thin as ox hair, striking into the deepest part of the human body!
Some people claim that heavenly tribulations were a series of trials; survive them and you will be able to enjoy heaven’s blessings: stronger organs and a tempered body.
However, there was never such intention behind the tribulations. The biggest reason heavenly tribulations were unleashed on a person was to punish them. You could treat these tribulations as a test. You could survive and earn the right to advance to a higher realm if you were powerful enough.
If you couldn’t survive, it was because you were too weak and were unworthy of greater powers.
“It’s coming,” shouted Old Lei. Wun Fan’s face immediately turned solemn when he heard this. He composed himself and prepared to deal with the lightning bolts.
Rain suddenly descended from the skies, unfurling a shadowy veil across the sky.
However, if anyone were to take a closer look, they would realize that this was a rain of lightning.
Tens of thousands of lightning needles poured towards the ground, easily piercing the cage of thundercalling wood to assault Wun Fan’s body. The lightning needles penetrated Wun Fan’s muscles, meridians and veins, finding their way into every inch of his body.
The lightning needles went into the body, but did not go through!
Shocking power erupted from the lightning needles once they had entered Wun Fan’s body. The electricity mercilessly ravaged every tissue and every organ. After the initial wave of intense agony, Wun Fan even stopped feeling any sensation from certain parts of his body. Even his nerves had been pierced by the lightning needles.
“Ah…..!” Wun Fan screamed loudly, his body trembling uncontrollably as he knelt on his knees. However, the rain of lightning did not let up. It continued to bombard the earth and assault Wun Fan’s body.
The thundercalling wood had no effect at all.
Despite the lack of any visible injury, Wun Fan’s blood was seeping out of his skin and flowing along his body down towards the ground. It was a horrifying sight!
The Spiritstartler Ring seemed to have been alerted by Wun Fan’s wounds. It started to unleash its power, releasing surges of aether that had been previously stored in it back into its owner’s body to help him recover.
“Aaaaah!”
Wun Fan’s pained cries gripped Wun Ching Yeung and the great elder’s hearts. Their every breath was filled with anxiety, worrying if Wun Fan would be able to survive this ordeal.
Just a few seconds earlier, the great elder had explained the Seven Lightning Dominions in simple terms to Wun Ching Yeung and the third elder. Both of them were horrified to learn what it was. They couldn’t understand what Wun Fan had done to invite such a terrible lightning tribulation.
However, they could only sit by and watch as the tribulation continued. They didn’t know how they could help Wun Fan at all. They felt even more ashamed when they saw Old Lei waving his fishing rod around. They knew that any help they tried to give would only result in more trouble and that it was better to stand aside.
Thus, Wun Ching Yeung gave out the only order he could, “Shadow guards, guard the entrances and exits to the mountain. No one is allowed to step within the mountain without my permission. The enforcers waiting at the bottom of the mountain are to withdraw, regardless of the second elder’s orders.”
“Understood,” the twenty-one guards replied in unison and vanished from the spot the very next moment. Only the great elder, Wun Ching Yeung and the third elder were left standing quietly, staring at the lightning storm above. Their fists were clenched so tightly that their nails dug into their palms.
“Huff,huff…huff…” Wun Fan’s breathing was erratic. Many of his internal organs were badly injured. He would not have survived this wave of lightning if it wasn’t for the Spiritstartler Ring’s help.
“This is the Seven Lightning Dominions?” Wun Fan recalled what Old Lei had said earlier. The first three waves of lightning were already so ridiculously powerful. How much more terrifying were the next four waves? If it wasn’t for the Spiritstartler Ring, Wun Fan might have died from the first two lightning dominions already.
Truly, the Seven Lightning Dominions was a calamity meant to extinguish those who defied heaven’s will!
“The fourth wave!” Old Lei reminded Wun Fan once again. The green flames in his hand continued to surge into the ground. A few more mind-cleansing herbs and reinvigoration flowers grew out around Wun Fan. They could only help Wun Fan to recover his soul energy very slightly, but it was better than nothing.
The Spiritstartler Ring continued to provide Wun Fan with aether and he was doing his best to digest it to replenish his soul energy. Wun Fan incidentally discovered a strange little phenomenon during this process. The Spiritstartler Ring would generate a small attractive force when he was injured, absorbing the lightning power into the right half of his body. This lightened the burden on him to some extent. Wun Fan even noticed that the attractive force from the Ring would increase in strength the more injured he was, taking away even more of the lightning power.
Should he pull a little trick and let himself get even more injured to force out the Spiritstartler’s true potential?
A devastating, soul-crushing aura suddenly emanated from the thunderclouds. Everyone present could feel a pounding pain in their heads. In particular, Old Lei clasped his chest tightly and buckled over weakly, as if he had been wounded grievously.
This was the Fourth Lightning Domain: Lightning of Forbidden Vanquishment
Behind heavy gates and forbidden city the sovereign reigns, villains everywhere fear him as their bane.
A thousand miles away his enemies are slain, prodigies and virtuousos alike strive but fall in vain.
The dark lightning of the nine heavens rests lofty in the skies above, like a sovereign hidden behind heavy city gates. They point at the enemy far away and their deadly sword falls, vanquishing enemies and villains across the four corners of the world. All who are blessed by heavens, all who are born with gifts, all who could threaten the emperor are slain in vain before they have the chance to pose a threat.
That was heavens’ will and nature’s law. An unreasonable, overbearing force.
The heavens’ was simply unkind. All of creation was nothing more than dogs before their eyes. In truth, this was not cruelty, but impartiality: none, without exception, could be allowed to threaten the heavens.
The lightning already radiated an unstoppable aura even as it brewed in the skies. All the martial artists felt like their heads were splitting apart. The great elder and Wun Ching Yeung were clasping their heads with both hands, their faces pale as a sheet. Old Lei, who had easily been able to defeat the two of them, was also bent over and clasping his chest from the discomfort. his silhouette was becoming increasingly translucent.
While Old Lei’s weakened state could be attributed to his excessive use of soul energy, it was also true that the aura coming from the purple lightning above was exhausting him even further.
Old Lei clung onto the last vestiges of his consciousness and projected one last message to Wun Fan’s ears, “This lightning is no lightning. It attacks not the body but the soul!”
Wun Fan was still resting inside the formation of thundercalling wood, yet to have recovered from the effects of the previous wave of lightning. Blood froth was seeping uncontrollably out of his body everywhere. He was panting laboriously and became even more confused when Old Lei’s voice rang by his ear. He couldn’t regulate his body’s functions at all. The Spiritstartler Ring became even more active then. Waves of pure aether quickly surged all over Wun Fan’s body, rapidly mixing with his soul energy to mend his wounds.
Rumble! The purple lightning kicked the palace doors open violently and stepped out of heavens’ gates, as if armed with the emperor’s imperial decree, setting off to unleash the death sentence upon the humans. The bolt of purple lightning was only as thick as one arm. It flew straight at Wun Fan the moment it emerged from the clouds, forcefully pushing aside the thundercalling wood to reveal Wun Fan’s figure.
Wun Fan could only stare blankly at the skies. A purple lightning appeared in the blink of an eye, crashing into his body. Strangely enough, it did not harm Wun Fan’s body at all. In fact, it even seemed to be releasing a trace of completely pure aether that was rapidly assimilated by Wun Fan’s body and used to replenish his soul energy.
By the time Wun Fan had recovered a bit more of his senses, the purple lightning had already pierced through several of his vital points. It was making its way to where Wun Fan’s mental energy resided: his mind.
Boom!
The purple lightning quickly erupted once it reached its destination. The scattering purple energy ruthlessly attacked Wun Fan’s innate mental energy.
“Ughyaaa….” Wun Fan let out a strange and hoarse sound, the pain distorting his face into an ugly sight. A few seconds later, he had crumpled to his knees, his head tilting up and facing the skies as his hand hung limply from the sides. His eyes were rolled into the back of his head and his mouth hung wide-open. His twitching, blood-stained body was covered in lightning burn marks. He seemed to have lost all consciousness. It was a worrying sight.
This tribulation was the most painful thing Wun Fan had experienced in both his lives!
If Wun Fan were to look inside his body, he would find the purple lightning battling with his innate mental energy. The innate mental energy was fighting back valiantly, taking full advantage of the fact that Wun Fan’s mind was its home territory. The innate mental energy was twisted together like cotton, constantly wearing away at the purple lightning’s power with as little damage to itself as possible.
When the purple lightning finally pierced its way into the deepest spot of Wun Fan’s mind, the mark of the Spiritstartler Ring that rested there could no longer tolerate this infringement of its territory. It was finally about to unleash its true power.
Imperial throne assumed, the heavens part in fright!
Even the heavens were wary of the twenty-one Imperial Zeniths. The Spiritstartler Ring was only one of twenty-one Zeniths. It did not have the power to fight back against the heavens, but even alone, it was not something a mere lightning bolt could hope to challenge!
A world on every pebble and every sand; nine heavens ten earths hide the band. There was nothing that the Spiritstartler Ring could not contain!
Suddenly, an unexpected twist occurred. The Spiritstartler Ring inside Wun Fan’s thumb connected with the brand in Wun Fan’s mind. An unprecedentedly powerful force of attraction emanated from the Ring. The purple lightning had successfully provoked the Spiritstartler Ring’s fury. The Ring would defend the dignity of the Imperial Zeniths to the best of its abilities, exhausting all of its powers if needed!
The purple lightning in Wun Fan’s mind was quickly pulled away by a strange force, drawn towards the Spiritstartler ring. Strangely enough, all of the purple lightning’s destructive power seemed to have been restricted as it was pulled away. Only pure aether was left inside Wun Fan’s mind and meridians. This aether was slowly assimilated by what soul energy remained.
All of the purple lightning’s powers were absorbed by the Spiritstartler Ring, allowing Wun Fan’s mind to fully recover. His innate mental energy had even increased in volume.
The Spiritstartler Ring, in particular, enjoyed a sumptuous feast.
However, the fifth lightning dominion was once again brewing in the skies. It seemed like the tribulation was finally getting serious now.285Please respect copyright.PENANAqopMtWIvUH