One strike ended, the second descended, its power even greater, its roar even more deafening...
Mountains and rivers crumbled, yet the two remained unscathed.
Third,
Fourth,
Fifth,
Sixth.
Seventh...
In the far north, the thousands of miles of land surrounding the thousand-mile abyss had been reduced to a wasteland of scorched earth.
As the lightning fell, the heat from the impacts melted ice and snow that had persisted for ten thousand years.
The snow-capped mountains lost their white peaks, and the ravines overflowed with torrential floods.
The powerhouses watched, their hearts hanging by a thread.
Silent observation.
Seven bolts of heavenly thunder.
Seven whole bolts.
No one knew what was happening inside, but judging by the situation, there was hope...
Xu Xian might actually be on the verge of becoming an immortal.
However, fate is fickle, and fortune is fleeting. When the seventh strike gradually faded, the anticipated eighth strike did not fall as expected.
At first, the onlookers thought Xu Xian was dead.
Dead within the seventh strike.
Before they could even process whether this was good or bad, streaks of crimson lightning suddenly darted out from the thousand-mile lightning sea in the sky.
They grew from sparse to dense, from few to many.
First, the thunderclouds turned blood-red, and then the entire world was bathed in a deep crimson.
People knew then that Xu Xian wasn't dead. The lightning tribulation was still ongoing, but it seemed to have mutated.
It had become a blood lightning tribulation.
Eyes widened even further, and faces that had long since gone numb began to twitch.
“Blood lightning?”
“There’s no record of this in any book!”
“What happened?”
“It seems to have become even more terrifying...”
“You can drop the ‘seems’...”
The deep red lightning sea grew even more violent, and pillars of blood-red lightning crashed down upon the mortal world without warning.
Like an abyssal beast, it let out a roar of fury.
The world was turned a stark, solid crimson.
Ripples distorted space and warped the boundaries, a sight that struck fear into the souls of all who saw it.
From Xu Xian’s perspective, this eighth strike of blood-red heavenly thunder nearly filled the entire abyss.
The prison.
None were spared.
The Twilight Emperor’s massive body was completely swallowed by it.
Xu Xian remained hidden beneath the Twilight Emperor, yet he could still feel the difference in this strike.
This was no longer just his Immortal Tribulation.
Fanzhou's Heavenly Dao had mistaken the Twilight Emperor for protecting Xu Xian and interfering with the tribulation, thus descending a heavenly punishment.
Even though the Twilight Emperor’s body bore the brunt of the heavenly might, Xu Xian still endured the devastation of immense pressure.
His body was tense.
His spiritual qi circulated at full power.
Yet the corners of his mouth curled upward, revealing a triumphant smile.
He had gotten what he was waiting for.
The Twilight Emperor was no longer as composed as before. His giant blood-red eyes turned an even deeper shade of scarlet under the reflection of the blood lightning.
Gloom,
Pain,
Both surfaced in alternation.
Heavy breaths were punctuated by low groans.
Seeing this, Xu Xian did not miss the chance to provoke him. “Laugh. Why aren’t you laughing anymore?”
The Twilight Emperor said nothing, gritting his teeth as he endured.
The iron chains rattled even more violently, and cracks began to appear on some of the stone pillars...
The power of the lightning did not vanish upon impact but continued to rage.
Amidst the booming thunder,
Some of the stone pillars snapped.
In the violent lightning,
The Twilight Emperor’s body cracked open.
The crimson lightning was like sharp blades, carving through his hardened shell strike by strike.
Within the bloody haze and dust, a golden liquid slowly seeped out.
Xu Xian was also suffering; his internal organs were under immense pressure, yet compared to the Twilight Emperor, he was faring much better.
Thus,
He was in pain, yet he was happy...
The eighth strike lasted longer than the previous seven, but it still inevitably reached its waning phase at a certain point...
After the continuous decline,
The ninth strike was slow to fall. The blood-red thunderclouds became even more explosive, even more frenzied.
They were expanding,
Expanding without end.
Rapidly swelling from nothing.
It was a thousand miles.
In the blink of an eye, it was two thousand.
In a moment, it was three thousand.
A full three thousand miles—more than triple its original size. The entire far north was a sea of blood-red. Looking up was like seeing an abyssal pit of blood in the sky, ready to swallow the entire mortal world.
Not only the saints saw it.
Ordinary beings in the Northern Borders, the East Desolation, the North Sea, and even some in the Demon Abyss saw it too.
The clear day suddenly turned red as blood-colored light soared into the sky, dyeing the entire firmament.
It looked as if a great disaster was descending upon the world.
Confusion,
Panic,
Fear,
Emotions intensified with every passing second...
“What is that?”
“A phenomenon of heaven and earth... blood lightning has descended upon the world...”
“Something has happened in the far north!”
The common people were in chaos; mortal souls were terrified.
In the far north, where heavenly might permeated and blood lightning raged, the hidden powerhouses retreated again and again, fearing they would be caught in the crossfire.
Some were silent,
Some were shocked into speechlessness,
Others couldn't stop complaining.
“What a freak!”
“This is madness...”
“No human would do this...”
Some were absolutely certain.
“He’s finished. That kid is definitely going to die.”
“I knew it wouldn't be that simple...”
Of course,
Most felt despair. For those saints, it was pure hopelessness.
If
Becoming an immortal required facing such a terrifying reckoning, they knew they had no hope of ever succeeding.
A three-thousand-mile blood lightning sea?
Before it even fell,
It had already disrupted the laws of an entire world.
How could they possibly transcend it?
If it actually struck, what would the scene be like?
They knew for a fact
That they could not survive such a lightning tribulation.
There was no chance of victory.
Even that freak Xu Xian would have to die.
The only ones who did not retreat
Were Jiang Wanyin and the other four from the Wendao Sword Sect.
Of course,
Not retreating
Did not mean they weren't afraid. It was simply because they had made a promise to their Little Junior Brother.
So they could not retreat.
Besides, even from nearly ten thousand miles away, their hearts were trembling uncontrollably. Their Little Junior Brother's situation could only be worse.
Since their Little Junior Brother had not flinched, how could they?
However,
The five of them had also lost their confidence.
Could their Little Junior Brother truly endure this?
Lei Yunche even whispered softly, “Little Junior Brother was still a bit too hasty...”
He was only five hundred years old!
Fearlessness,
Worry,
Anxiety...
Aside from praying, they had no other choice. There was nothing they could do.
The lightning was still brewing, gathering for its final, most powerful strike.
Astral winds, carrying the weight of heavenly might, crashed down into the ten-thousand-mile abyss ahead of the lightning.
Beneath the abyss, the prison that had endured eight strikes of blood lightning was now a ruin. Broken chains and collapsed stone pillars were everywhere.
The void ground was pockmarked and covered in scorched black patches.
The prison still existed, but it was broken.
Yet the Twilight Emperor showed no intention of seizing the chance to break free. Instead, he lay there, dying and exhausted.
Heavy, buzzing gasps echoed through the space.
Golden blood dripped, sizzling as it burned the ground.
He was undying, his body indestructible.
Yet,
Under this baptism of heavenly thunder, he was still wounded.
His aura was in disarray.
Xu Xian was also faring poorly. His hair was disheveled, his clothes were torn in many places, and his face was marked with lightning scars.
He looked a bit like a scruffy cat, quite disheveled!
He licked his dry, cracked lips and felt the heavenly might, which was even more violent than before. With a triumphant look in his eyes, he croaked, “So, was it comfortable?”
“Huff... huff... huff!”
The Twilight Emperor offered a silent protest.
Xu Xian continued his verbal provocation. “There’s one more strike. Can you still take it?”
For the first time, the Twilight Emperor bared his teeth, revealing fangs stained with golden liquid.
He sneered, “You should ask yourself... can you survive this final strike?”
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