Chapter 1 The First Wave of Heavenly Tribulation
The first wave of heavenly tribulation passed, leaving eight of the original nine lightning dragons. Yet, these eight lightning dragons continued to expand, as did the energy contained within them.
Roar…
One lightning dragon, its massive eyes fixed on Ye Yun, let out a furious roar. Then, its entire body transformed into lightning, surging towards him.
Ye Yun watched the sweeping lightning dragon with a slight smile in his eyes. With a flash, he appeared behind the dragon and was instantly engulfed by the wild lightning it emanated.
Great Annihilation Technique!
Ye Yun's true essence surged. His original flames turned gray. Two immense vortexes formed in his hands, which he then pressed directly into the lightning dragon's body.
The vortexes quickly generated a terrifying suction force, rapidly devouring the energy from the lightning dragon. This energy was then transformed into pale gray true essence and channeled into Ye Yun's dantian!
Boom…
The golden core, already a meter in size within his dantian, instantly detonated. An infant, sitting cross-legged, materialized above his dantian sea. Its eyes were slightly closed, rapidly absorbing the energy stored within the sea after overcoming the heavenly tribulation.
As it rapidly absorbed energy, its body, initially less than half a meter, began to grow at a visible rate! In mere moments, it reached Ye Yun's own size.
Nascent Soul stage, is this the perfected Nascent Soul stage?
Although his own strength far surpassed his current realm, he had to admit that the breakthrough of each stage brought Ye Yun an increase in power and a new understanding.
Bang…
The infant, now adult-sized, suddenly developed several terrifying cracks across its body. Then, its entire form disintegrated, dissolving into nothingness.
Ye Yun instantly felt his divine sense, which had reached the second level, break through a certain barrier and directly advance to the third level of divine sense, reaching the stage where divine sense could manifest into tangible form! Moreover, Ye Yun felt that the area within a hundred thousand miles was encompassed by his divine sense, and this range would continue to expand as his strength grew!
With one thought, ten thousand swords are born; with one thought, fire is eternal!
Void Refinement Realm!
Ye Yun looked up. The vortexes he had imprinted on the lightning dragons instantly multiplied in size, detaching from the dragon's back and growing into two small black holes, each exceeding a kilometer in diameter!
The spirit swords drifting in the void could no longer withstand the more violent control exerted by Ye Yun's surging power. Cracks began to appear on their blades, and soon, under Ye Yun's divine sense, they shattered and vanished.
Roar…
The ten-thousand-zhang lightning dragon let out a low roar. The second strike of the heavenly tribulation's manifestation was firmly held by Ye Yun's black holes. The energy within it drained at a terrifying speed, transforming into the purest true essence in Ye Yun's dantian.
Ye Yun looked at the remaining seven colossal lightning dragons in the sky, a cold smile gracing his lips. At this moment, his aura surged again, and his realm broke through once more!
Dao Integration Realm!
True Man Realm!
Mahayana Realm!
Each realm was a sublimation of the self. With each realm advancement, Ye Yun gained new insights into the nature of that stage. This pure energy not only propelled his strength and realm forward but, more importantly, supplemented the deficiencies in Ye Yun's physical defense.
He couldn't help it; among the five attributes in 'Heavenly Dao,' his defense was the lowest. Although the remaining tens of millions of attribute points from his first reinforcement method were randomly assigned by Heavenly Dao to the five attributes, Ye Yun still felt that his defense lagged behind the other three.
The energy of the heavenly tribulation was largely directed towards nourishing Ye Yun's physical body, constantly tearing apart his cells, only to rebuild them into stronger ones.
This sensation was utterly addictive.
Ye Yun gazed at the remaining seven lightning dragons in the sky. Invisible vortexes formed around him, transforming into a multitude of transparent giant swords that attacked the remaining dragons!
The third stage of divine sense, manifesting the void into reality!
Ye Yun's actions completely enraged the remaining seven lightning dragons. They moved their colossal bodies, encircling Ye Yun from all directions, occasionally swishing their tails or unleashing bolts of lightning spanning thousands of zhang towards him.
At this point, the longest of these lightning dragons had already exceeded two hundred thousand zhang and continued to expand rapidly.
Tens of thousands of sharp swords spun around Ye Yun, repelling the lightning dragons' repeated attacks and occasionally hacking off chunks of their energy.
However, with each parry of the lightning dragons' attacks, Ye Yun's brow furrowed deeper.
These sharp swords were manifestations of Ye Yun's divine sense, so their strength was directly tied to his own divine sense. Yet, Ye Yun discovered that after each resistance to a lightning dragon's attack, thousands of his divine sense-formed swords were annihilated by the dragons' onslaught.
"Since defense is insufficient, let's go for something more drastic."
Ye Yun looked at the several lightning dragons forming a cage around him. With a flick of his finger, a torrent of true essence surged forth, and a black hole spanning nearly a thousand miles instantly materialized. The immense suction force began to pull lightning dragons hundreds of miles away towards Ye Yun.
Ye Yun looked at the black hole before him, a wry smile on his face. This single strike had consumed a full fifth of the true essence in his dantian!
"Heavenly Fire Rain!"
Bang…
In the void a hundred miles above Ye Yun's head, the space suddenly exploded. Countless meteors, wreathed in blazing fire, rained down upon the lightning dragons! Before these dragons could react, they were ensnared by a suddenly appearing net of fire, and Ye Yun yanked them into the massive black hole!
Boom…
A terrifying aura erupted from Ye Yun once more, forming a cosmic storm. Within the storm, Ye Yun's momentum continuously climbed!
Heavenly Venerate Realm!
Great Power!
Star Realm! Moon Realm! Sun Realm!
Until a certain moment, Ye Yun's entire aura reached its zenith!
Boom…
Saint Realm!
A profound celestial resonance echoed, and myriad colorful auspicious signs appeared in the void within ten thousand miles of Ye Yun.
However, it was not yet over. Ye Yun could feel the energy feeding back from his enormous black hole was even more immense than before, indicating that the energy of those few lightning dragons had not yet been even half-refined.