The battle around the Lightning Tribulation quickly entered a white-hot stage.
However, Li Mu had no time for anything else, focusing all his attention on assisting the Seven Absolutes Dao Pill in Undergoing Tribulation.
The third wave of Lightning Tribulation was about to descend, with nine purple Violet Cloud Lightning bolts hidden within the thunderclouds, like nine Dragons of destruction, carrying an aura of annihilation.
A solemn look flashed in Li Mu's eyes, and he suddenly activated the Hun Dun True Essence within his body, assisting the Seven Absolutes Dao Pill as he lowed, "Dao patterns of creation, reshape the universe!"
The Dao patterns on the surface of the Seven Absolutes Dao Pill changed dramatically, and the Infinite Dao patterns suddenly lit up, forming a five-colored light screen.
"Crack!"
The first Violet Cloud Lightning bolt tore through the air like an enraged Dragon, fiercely striking the five-colored light screen, instantly, lightning and Dao patterns intertwined, erupting in a deafening roar, and the entire world seemed to tremble at this moment.
Immediately after, the second, third, and… ninth Violet Cloud Lightning bolts struck one after another, like a Heavenly Punishment, with astonishing power.
"Good! Seven Absolutes Dao Pill, you have successfully passed this third Lightning Tribulation!"
Li Mu was overjoyed, his mind relaxed slightly, and he diverted some of his Divine Sense to the battlefields outside the Lightning Tribulation, confirming the battle situation of Xue'er and the others.
He saw that in the battlefield hundreds of miles to the northwest, Xue'er was fighting an Azure-Clad Sword Cultivator in the Combined Body Realm.
Xue'er's jade feet stepped on the Void Realm, creating spiderweb-like ice cracks, which were the unique freezing domain of her Natal Dao Artifact—the Nine Yin Cold Domain, devouring the vitality of outsiders.
The Azure-Clad Sword Cultivator carried seven Qingyu sword cases on his back, with the Big Dipper constellation engraved on their surfaces, and starlight collided with the cold moonlight, sparking dazzling flashes.
"Azure Abyss Sword Domain, open!" The Azure-Clad Sword Cultivator wiped his eyelids, his pupils turning into silver-white sword light, and hundreds of Sword Qi whistled out from his sleeves, actually condensing into eighteen roaring Frost Sword Dragons in mid-air, shattering the floating icebergs formed by the Nine Yin Cold Domain within ten miles.
Xue'er lightly tapped the ice steps with her bare feet, and her nine fox tails suddenly unfurled, each tail tip condensing mysterious ice patterns, connecting into a nine-layered circular formation in the Void Realm. The Nine Yin Cold Pearl on her forehead emitted a deep blue glow, and the fragments of the tribulation clouds torn apart by the Sword Dragons instantly froze, turning into millions of sharp, hexagonal ice crystals.
"Frost Realm · Thousand Tribulations!"
Xue'er let out a clear cry, and the ice crystal cluster suddenly refracted thousands of distorted light rays, causing the Frost Sword Dragons unleashed by the Azure-Clad Sword Cultivator to be backlashed by his own Sword Qi, their Dragon heads disintegrating layer by layer in the brilliant glow.
The Azure-Clad Sword Cultivator retreated three hundred zhang, and the third compartment of the sword case on his back "clanged" open, a completely black ancient sword soaring into the sky, carrying the momentum of star annihilation. The dark golden inscriptions flowing on the sword body were precisely the "Star Shattering Art" lost from the ancient Sword Tomb.
"Break!" Where the ancient sword pointed, space peeled off like a fragile glass curtain, revealing the boiling Chaos Void Realm behind it.
Xue'er's fox ears trembled slightly, and her nine tails suddenly intertwined into a lotus seat. A phantom of the extreme northern cold abyss appeared at the core of the Nine Yin Cold Pearl, and the Nine Nether Nether Qi sealed within the pearl materialized—it was a thousand-zhang-long "Profound Nether Ice Flood Dragon"!
The Ice Flood Dragon's inverted scales bristled, and it opened its mouth to spew out a "Permafrost Breath" that spanned the heavens and earth. Wherever it passed, even the shattered spatial fragments condensed into floating ice sculptures.
The moment the sword light collided with the breath, the flow of time in the entire Nine Yin Cold Domain drastically slowed down tenfold.
He saw sparks splattering from the Shattered Star Sword slowly spiraling downwards, each spark blossoming into a miniature sword formation in the air; while the Nether Qi frozen in the Ice Flood Dragon's breath condensed into countless ice generals holding halberds, advancing in layers in a battle formation.
"Sword Twenty-Three · Meteorite Realm!" The Azure-Clad Sword Cultivator bit his tongue, and his essence blood wrote burning sword talismans in the Void Realm.
The seven Qingyu sword cases exploded simultaneously, and tens of thousands of sword soul fragments reorganized in the air, actually condensing into a "Grand Void Tribulation Sword" spanning the sky. Illusions of the birth and death of three thousand Small Worlds appeared on the sword's spine, and where the sword tip pointed, the eternal permafrost of the Nine Yin Cold Domain began to disintegrate and evaporate.
Ancient Bloodline spiritual patterns appeared at the base of Xue'er's nine tails, and she formed hand Seals. Nine hundred ice pillars entwined with frost fire suddenly rose from beneath her feet, instantly breaking through the air.
"Boom boom…!"
Three thousand Tribulation Swords and nine hundred ice pillars collided fiercely, and the entire space fell into absolute silence. After three breaths, an indescribable shockwave exploded in a ring, turning the floating icebergs within a thousand miles into dust, and cracks appeared simultaneously on the nine cold moons.
...
Both sides went back and forth, fighting fiercely.
In the southern battlefield, the Green-Eyed Golden Ape manifested its ape form and battled a snake demon.
The Azure Wave Demoness stepped on waves with her bare feet, each ripple underfoot blossoming into a thousand bone-corroding water lotuses. The moment she waved her water sleeves, dense formations of Profound Ice Blades appeared in the inverted river water—these were formed from the remains of ancient Cultivators submerged at the bottom of the river for thousands of years!
"Roar!!"
The Green-Eyed Golden Ape pounded its chest, shattering a hundred miles of rain, its golden fur erupting with lava-like fiery patterns. Its Natal Dao Artifact, the Jin Gang Dragon Snake Staff, swept across, its shadow splitting into nine roaring Flood Dragons. The Geng Metal Qi tore through the clouds, and wherever the snake head's poisonous mist passed, even the inverted river water corroded into foul-smelling blood rain.
The Azure Wave Demoness traced her finger across the Azure Abyss Pearl, and the roar of a deep-sea Vicious Beast emanated from within the pearl. A phantom of a Black Tortoise rising from the towering waves actually solidified, its tortoise shell covered with constellations, and its snake head opened its mouth to spit out annihilating black water.
The Geng Metal Qi collided with the black water, actually condensing into countless metal thorns in the Void Realm, coiling back towards the Golden Ape's main body!
"Petty tricks!" The Green-Eyed Golden Ape grinned, and the demon text on the ninth section of the Dragon Snake Staff suddenly glowed blood-red, tearing the Black Tortoise phantom to shreds.
The Azure Wave Demoness's hair came loose, her black hair instantly dyed deep blue. A crack appeared in the core of the Azure Abyss Pearl, spewing out the "Nine Nether Weak Water" that submerged the heavens and earth. Within the poisonous water that could even dissolve Divine Souls, she transformed into three thousand Clones as if in her element.
The Green-Eyed Golden Ape retreated thirty miles, and the Jin Gang Dragon Snake Staff's Dharma Idol suddenly merged, the Dragon head biting the snake tail to form an Ouroboros ring, and demon patterns coiled around its entire body like chains. He pounded his chest seven times, each pound doubling the gravity within a hundred-mile radius.
At the seventh pound, the Jin Gang Dragon Snake Staff pierced through the heavens and earth as a golden rainbow. Wherever it passed, even the Weak Water was forged into tens of thousands of golden needles!
The true body of the Azure Wave Demoness suddenly appeared from the Golden Ape's shadow, the Azure Abyss Pearl already transformed into a dagger aimed at his back.
The Green-Eyed Golden Ape suddenly turned around, his Jin Gang Dragon Snake Staff instantly enlarging a hundredfold, fiercely striking the true body of the Azure Wave Demoness.
The staff's shadow was like a collapsing mountain, carrying world-destroying power, tearing a black crack in the Void Realm. The Azure Wave Demoness's pupils contracted, and she hastily blocked with the Azure Abyss Pearl, only to hear a crisp "crack," and spiderweb-like cracks actually appeared on the pearl's body!
"Pfft!" The Azure Wave Demoness spat out a mouthful of deep blue essence blood, her figure retreating ten thousand zhang. She lowered her head to look at the damaged Azure Abyss Pearl in her hand, a trace of heartache flashing in her eyes, which then turned into towering rage: "You dare to harm my Natal Dao Artifact!"
The Green-Eyed Golden Ape grinned, revealing its pale fangs: "A mere broken pearl, does it even deserve to be called a Natal Dao Artifact? Today, I'll show you what a true top-grade Dao Artifact is!"
Before he finished speaking, the Jin Gang Dragon Snake Staff in the Green-Eyed Golden Ape's hand suddenly vibrated violently, dense artifact patterns appearing on its body, finally converging into a golden rainbow that pierced through the heavens and earth. Within the rainbow, a golden giant Dragon and a black giant snake could vaguely be seen intertwining and coiling, emitting a heart-palpitating pressure.
Seeing the unfavorable situation, the Azure Wave Demoness used her water escape technique and fled for her life.
...
Li Mu's Divine Sense swept across the eastern battlefield, where the battle between the Crimson Refining Fire Phoenix and Chi Xiaozhi had also entered a white-hot stage.
The Crimson Refining Fire Phoenix held the Fire Feather Fan, suddenly unfurling a seven-colored sky curtain. Glazed Azure Flame, Profound Nether Purple Flame, and Gilded Crimson Fire flowed between her feathers, scorching spiderweb-like cracks in the Void Realm, and endless scorched Qi rose. Her crimson long hair was like burning flowing fire, and the phantom of fire seeds from all heavens and myriad worlds was reflected in the depths of her pupils. Beneath her feet, lava condensed into a twelve-grade Karma Red Lotus, and the heart of the lotus surged with the primitive fire essence from the beginning of Chaos.
Chi Xiaozhi formed fire Seals with his hands, and the Myriad Form Cauldron, spewing Chaos Qi, suddenly expanded dramatically. The ancient inscriptions on the cauldron's body lit up one after another, and three Samadhi Fire Dragons soared into the sky from the cauldron's mouth, their Dragon horns entwined with burning winds that could melt stars. His crimson beard and hair bristled, and from the pores of his body surged the "Nine Revolutions Blazing Gang," a secret art of the Dan Ding Sect. Dense crimson Dao patterns appeared beneath his aged skin—this was the forbidden art "Burning Meridian Art," which refined his Natal Dan Fire into his Meridians!
The moment the two streams of fierce flames collided, the entire firmament shattered like a glazed lamp. The Crimson Refining Fire Phoenix suddenly tossed the Fire Feather Fan high into the sky, and three thousand fire feathers transformed into a prairie-fire-like rain of arrows, each arrow trailing Dao marks capable of burning the heavens and boiling the seas.
Chi Xiaozhi's beard and hair were completely burned, yet he grinned, biting his tongue. His essence blood wrote burning Dan formulas in the Void Realm: "All fires return to the ruins, cauldron suppresses the eight wastes!"
The Myriad Form Cauldron inverted with a rumble, a black hole-like vortex appearing at its mouth, actually swallowing all the fire feathers in the sky. Dark red Serum oozed from the cracks in the cauldron's body—that was the Origin of the Strange Fire forcibly refined.
Chi Xiaozhi bled from his seven orifices but laughed wildly: "This old man has refined three thousand Strange Fire, your meager Dao cultivation..."
Before he finished speaking, an unexpected change occurred!
That incandescent Heaven-Burning Seed suddenly exploded within the cauldron's belly. Eighty-four thousand fire patterns actually carved Heavenly Tribulation lightning patterns on the inner wall of the cauldron, and the Taotie patterns on the cauldron's ears emitted a mournful wail. The bronze cauldron's body began to emit a lava-like crimson glow.
Chi Xiaozhi discovered in horror that his Divine Sense connection with the Myriad Form Cauldron was being corroded by some more ancient fire Dao Law.
"Do you think my fire seed is that easy to refine?"
The Crimson Refining Fire Phoenix laughed mockingly, scoffing, "My true meaning of the Dao of Fire, savor it well!"
Before she finished speaking, the Myriad Form Cauldron suddenly let out a mournful cry like a primeval Vicious Beast. A pillar of fire that pierced through the heavens erupted from the cauldron's mouth. Chi Xiaozhi frantically formed Seals, trying to retrieve his Natal Dao Artifact, but he saw dense crimson-gold cracks appearing on the cauldron's body.
"No!!!" Chi Xiaozhi's eyes were about to burst, watching helplessly as the Myriad Form Cauldron exploded with a rumble. The shattered bronze fragments, carrying Chaos fire essence, rolled back, burning through his protective Blazing Gang.
...
Seeing this scene, Li Mu smiled in satisfaction. The Crimson Refining Fire Phoenix indeed did not disappoint him. Not only did she successfully resist the opponent's fierce offensive, but she also counterattacked with her unique true meaning of the Dao of Fire, making him pay a heavy price.
Li Mu's Divine Thought shifted, 'looking' at the western battlefield.
He saw the Ink Jade Rock Lizard revealing its true form, its bloodied mouth agape, letting out an earth-shattering roar. The Black Rock Square Seal beneath its feet suddenly expanded a hundredfold, transforming into a mountain-like behemoth that crashed down with a rumble. Dao patterns surged with immeasurable earth Spiritual Qi, and tens of thousands of rock prisms broke through the earth from the ley lines, turning the ten-mile radius into a hell of sharp spikes.
Innumerable jagged stone pillars had Innatel Dao patterns appearing on their surfaces, actually condensing into eighty-one Profound Yellow Rock Spears filled with Evil Qi in the Void Realm, piercing through the sky with the might to collapse mountains and split the earth.
Withered Wood Senior's robes billowed like surging azure waves, and the tip of his Eternal Azure Staff burst forth with dazzling azure light. The annual rings inscribed on the staff spun wildly, and seven gnarled ancient trees suddenly drilled out of the ground beneath his feet, their leaf veins flowing with Origin vitality.
Emerald roots like Flood Dragons crushed the incoming rock spears, and the shattered earth Spiritual Qi fragments actually took root and sprouted in mid-air, transforming into a sky-obscuring emerald vine net that counter-attacked downwards. Where the two Dao Domains violently collided, the ground collapsed into a ten-thousand-zhang deep pit.
The Ink Jade Rock Lizard's eyes shot out profound light, and the entire rock layer Creep and reorganized like a living creature, condensing into three hundred and sixty stone warrior statues clad in bone armor, holding giant shields and forming an ancient battle formation, pressing closer step by step.
Withered Wood Senior tapped the staff with his finger, and one hundred thousand azure leaves drifted down from nothingness. Innumerable leaves transformed into three-foot azure blades, and the sword formation, as it circulated, ground the stone statues into dust.
When a low roar like that of a primeval Vicious Beast came from deep within the rock layer, nine Profound Rock Earth Dragons entwined with Chaos Evil Qi broke through the earth, each scale imprinted with Dao marks that suppressed all things.
Withered Wood Senior suddenly plunged his staff into his heart, and the moment his blood stained the staff's head, the Azure Sky River, containing the vitality of creation, descended from the Nine Heavens. Innate wood spirits from the time of creation floated and sank in the waves, engaging in a life-and-death struggle of Devour with the Earth Dragons.
In the center of the battlefield, two colors of Spiritual Qi, earthy yellow and azure green, writhed and tore at each other like two ancient Azure Dragons. The square Seal beneath the Ink Jade Rock Lizard's feet revealed the true form of the Great Mountain, and behind Withered Wood Senior, the Dharma Idol of the Jianmu Connecting Heaven appeared. The moment the two supreme Dao Rhythms collided, a dazzling aurora erupted simultaneously across a hundred miles of mountains and rivers, leaving even the Void Realm with broken cracks that would never heal.
...
Seeing that Xue'er, the Green-Eyed Golden Ape, and the others' battles had entered such a stalemate, and that they had all gained the upper hand, Li Mu relaxed slightly, immediately collected his thoughts, and fully concentrated on assisting the Seven Absolutes Dao Pill, preparing to welcome the upcoming fourth wave of Lightning Tribulation.
At this moment, the premonition of the fourth wave of Lightning Tribulation had already begun to manifest. Thunderclouds rolled in the sky, with lightning flashing and thunder rumbling. Compared to the previous Lightning Tribulations, this wave was clearly more ferocious. The purple lightning rapidly transformed into golden arcs, like the wrath of Heavenly Punishment, about to pour down.
This fourth wave of Lightning Tribulation was the "Spirit Slaughtering Golden Lightning Tribulation!"
Li Mu's expression was solemn, and he formed hand Seals. The Chaos True Essence within his body surged like a river, continuously pouring into the Seven Absolutes Dao Pill.
The Dao patterns on the surface of the Seven Absolutes Dao Pill changed again. The Infinite Dao patterns and the Dao patterns of creation intertwined, forming a mysterious taiji diagram. The Yin and Yang Qi flowed ceaselessly, attempting to resist the destructive power that was about to descend.
"Boom—!"
The first bolt of Lightning Tribulation finally descended. It was not ordinary lightning, but a golden lightning pillar that pierced through the heavens and earth. Within the lightning pillar, countless phantom lightning beasts could vaguely be seen roaring, carrying the power to destroy the heavens and earth.
Before the lightning pillar arrived, the Void Realm had already begun to collapse, and the Spiritual Qi within a thousand-mile radius was instantly drained, forming a vacuum zone.
Facing this "Spirit Slaughtering Golden Lightning Tribulation" that was enough to shake the heavens and earth, Li Mu's mind was stretched to the limit. This strike was no small matter; a slight mistake would not only turn the Seven Absolutes Dao Pill into nothing.
"Power of creation, reverse the universe!" Li Mu roared, pushing the taiji diagram suspended on the surface of the Seven Absolutes Dao Pill to its limit. The Yin and Yang Qi spun faster and faster, forming a powerful protective shield that tightly enveloped the Seven Absolutes Dao Pill.
"Bang!" The first golden lightning pillar fiercely struck the taiji diagram. The moment the Spirit Slaughtering Golden Lightning touched the taiji diagram, the Yin and Yang fish reversed and shattered, and the Dao patterns were actually split with spiderweb-like cracks. (End of this chapter)
