An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

A colossal thunderbolt as thick as a water barrel came crashing down at unimaginable speed. It was only at that moment that Luo Chen finally opened his eyes. His hands broke apart from the seal they had been holding—one hand shaping a lotus seal and the other a phoenix seal. Spirit light flared within his eyes as he watched the enormous bolt bear down on him. He drew a deep breath, but not the slightest trace of fear disturbed his expression.

On Dragon Abyss Island, Heavenjade could no longer hold back her panic. "MASTER! USE SOMETHING TO PROTECT YOURSELF!"

Beside her, Sang Jinghe could only stare, completely lost as to what Luo Chen was doing.

Atop Rosy Hill, however, Han Zhan sensed something in Luo Chen's string of unusual actions. A mix of doubt and astonishment flickered across his face, along with a trace of disbelief. But the moment Luo Chen separated his hands and formed two distinct seals, he finally confirmed his suspicion. "What... No fucking way..."

Crack!

The massive thunderbolt slammed into Luo Chen and shattered the composure he had maintained until now. He let out a low grunt and forcefully suppressed the restless Withering-Flourishing True Fire raging within him. Instead of calling upon an enchanted treasure or raising any form of defense, he chose to take on the strike directly, with his own body.

The lotus seal in his left hand shifted as his fingers flowed smoothly from one seal to the next. In the midst of a life-and-death tribulation, he was actually mobilizing his origin energy to guide the lightning's power through his entire body. The sensation stirred a memory etched deep within him—Heavenly Lightning Physique Tempering!

Luo Chen had undergone the same process before, in the pocket world left behind by Bai Ye, the Ascendant of the Lightning Dao. The remnant lightning he had faced there, however, was nothing compared to the might of a lightning tribulation. At the same time, of course, he was no longer the young cultivator who had only reached the second realm of Physique Refinement, and his body had long since grown far beyond what it had been in those days.

This was the plan he had spent so long preparing for crossing the tribulation. The lightning tribulation was not merely a calamity that accompanied the formation of a Nascent Soul; it was also the sole opportunity for a yin soul to transform into a yang spirit. Since he had to endure it regardless, he intended to seize the opportunity hidden within the danger and use the tribulation's power to move further along a path that had otherwise reached a bottleneck.

When Luo Chen first created Myriad Path Convergence, he had incorporated the principle of tempering the body with lightning. Although the art had later returned to a more ordinary path, bringing that aspect back only required a few subtle adjustments.

At the same time, carrying out the plan demanded an extraordinary degree of control. Luo Chen had to maintain the Nascent Embryo's communion with heaven and earth while simultaneously directing the heavenly lightning through every part of his body. Under ordinary circumstances, such a feat would have been impossible, but the medicinal power of the top-grade Nascent Soul Pill had elevated him into a wondrous state in which his control over himself was nearly flawless.

From the looks of it, his seemingly reckless plan was working. After he forcibly endured the heavenly lightning, he spread his origin energy through his body and drove most of it into the lightning-dragon-like spine that had lain dormant for over a century. The moment the lightning reached it, the spine seemed to awaken and began greedily devouring the countless threads of lightning coursing through his flesh. Within the dazzling radiance surrounding him, a streak of lightning shaped like a great dragon slowly stirred along his spine. As the energy settled and his control deepened, the dragon-like current gradually synchronized with the rhythm of his breathing.

Yet surviving a single strike was nowhere near enough to satisfy him. Luo Chen raised his head and peered through the churning black clouds, watching the next wave of tribulation lightning gather power above him. He licked his lips in anticipation, then pressed his thumb firmly against his chest.

"Grow!"

As he growled, his body began to expand. In a single breath, a nine-zhang giant appeared beneath the heavens with his wings spreading wide. Then, Luo Chen's gaze sharpened as he pressed his left hand to the center of his brow. Origin energy surged through every part of him, casting off the final restraints upon his flesh and allowing his body to expand even more. Ten zhang, twenty zhang... until, at last, he reached a full hundred zhang!

Now no smaller than Black King, Luo Chen stood between heaven and earth like a Titan Beast of old, his feet hanging above the island and his head reaching toward the clouds. At the same time, one hand maintained the seal of the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture, while the other reached toward the roiling wind and clouds above. Azure-golden flames surged up from his sea of qi and rolled across his body as lightning rippled along his spine, while the Profound Dust Armor flowed over his immense frame until it sealed him from head to toe.

Yet even the black armor could not hide the sharply defined muscles beneath its surface or the explosive strength concentrated within them. Luo Chen had repaired the Profound Dust Armor long ago, restoring its original ability to mend itself before restoring it with the rare ores he had obtained from the Land of Fallen Devils. Its defensive power now far surpassed what it had once been, and together with the strength of his physique, it had allowed him to emerge from the first two strikes completely unharmed.

He knew, however, that the tribulation had barely begun.

Sure enough, after witnessing him assume his gigantic form, heaven and earth grew thoroughly enraged. The dark clouds thickened until they blotted out the sky, and lightning rolled ceaselessly through their depths. The sea answered that celestial phenomenon in kind. Its surface churned as though boiling, and one towering wave after another rose from the surrounding waters and swept toward Dragon Abyss Island.

Black King, who stood guard in the nearby waters, shifted his body and prepared to intercept them. Before he could move, however, a voice transmission rang through his mind. "Every cultivator has to face their own tribulation. If someone else interferes, it'll only anger the Heavenly Dao and make the lightning tribulation even stronger. Don't do anything reckless!"

Black King cast a glance toward Rosy Hill, then reluctantly forced himself to remain where he was.

With nothing to obstruct them, the waves crashed over the shore and swallowed the ground around Luo Chen's feet. Yet he did not spare the rising water so much as a glance. He simply remained fixed on the turbulent heart of the clouds as he prepared himself for the next attack.

BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM!!

Five thunderbolts descended at once. They spread across several li before converging on Luo Chen from everywhere and sealing off every possible avenue of escape. The attack came far too quickly to dodge, but he had never intended to do so. Instead, crimson origin energy surged around his hundred-zhang body as he braced himself and endured the full force of the bombardment.

When the lightning finally faded, the mountain-like giant was still standing proudly between heaven and earth. But he had not emerged unscathed. Most of the Profound Dust Armor had been blasted apart, leaving only scorched and shattered fragments clinging to his body. Bloody craters riddled his enormous frame, and the force of the impact had driven both his feet deep into the rock beneath him. Even his hair had caught fire. Massive sea waves now reached his feet, while the overwhelming aura he had radiated only moments earlier had weakened considerably.

Watching from atop Rosy Hill, Han Zhan felt shock and distress twist together in his chest. Yet neither could suppress the admiration rising within him. When cultivators underwent heavenly tribulations, they invariably relied on external aid. They would use enchanted treasures or formations if they had them, and if they didn't, they would at least cast spells to weaken the lightning tribulation. Few would dare to meet it head-on, and hardly any would attempt to draw it into their bodies and use its destructive power for tempering. He did not know whether those true inheritors of the Holy Lands faced their tribulations this way, but he had certainly never seen anyone as bold as Luo Chen.

Still, the most dangerous stage still lay ahead. According to records, a cultivator would face only three great lightning tribulations in their lifetime: the first upon entering the Nascent Soul Realm, the second upon reaching the Dao Integration Realm, and the last upon reaching the Tribulation Realm. Each tribulation consisted of three rounds, making nine rounds in total, which was why they were collectively known as the Three-Nine Heavenly Tribulations. The earlier probing strikes were little more than a warm-up, not part of the true count. Now, having endured two full rounds, he stood on the brink of the third—the final and most terrifying stage.

Han Zhan's expression grew grave as he studied the thunderclouds. For an ordinary cultivator, five bolts striking at once was the very limit of a lightning tribulation, and such a phenomenon would normally appear only in the final round. Ice Torrent had regrettably fallen to precisely such a strike during her own third round. Yet Luo Chen had already drawn down that level of punishment in the second round. He could scarcely imagine what the heavens were gathering for the last.

Everything hinged on that final round. If Luo Chen could not withstand it, his body would be destroyed, and his pursuit of the Great Dao would come to an end. Even if he somehow survived, he would likely be left clinging to life. And if he succeeded, he would break through to the Nascent Soul Realm and become a Sage himself.

Han Zhan pressed his lips into a thin line while unconsciously clasping his hands before his chest.

***

Is this the final round?

Amid the flooded expanse of Dragon Abyss Island, Luo Chen pulled his feet free from the shattered rock and stripped the damaged Profound Dust Armor from his body. Threads of lightning still crawled over the armor and seeped into the metal. Despite its appearance, however, the artifact had not truly been destroyed. Luo Chen had used no small amount of millennial Lightning Essence during the crafting process, which had granted the armor a natural resistance to lightning as well as the ability to absorb part of its power. Once it had refined the heavenly lightning trapped within it, he could nourish it with Nascent Soul mana, and given enough time, it even had a chance of advancing into a True Artifact.

For now, though, the armor had reached its limit and could no longer shield him. Therefore, he casually stored it away and turned his focus back to the tribulation. Under the steady mending of his origin energy, his body began to heal, and the wounds from the previous round were closing bit by bit. With the abundant life force of the Flesh Ganoderma supporting him, his flesh recovered at a rate visible to the naked eye.

After steadying himself, Luo Chen let out a breath and rose into the air. The transformation had already advanced to a critical point, and fine cracks were creeping across his Golden Core. Normally, cultivators would wait until after surviving the tribulation and rely on heaven and earth's blessings before completing the formation of their Nascent Soul. Luo Chen, however, was different. While tempering his body with the tribulation lightning, he was also allowing his Golden Core to shatter and his Nascent Soul to take shape.

Still, no matter how extraordinary the undertaking was, it would mean nothing if he failed to survive the final round. He had prepared for this moment long ago, and now that it had arrived, there was no trace of fear in him. Now floating above the island, he stretched his limbs and guided his origin energy through his body until it converged around his fists, then lifted his gaze to the thunderclouds.

The whole point of a lightning tribulation was to test an Adept that had reached Perfected Mastery, yet Luo Chen's physique had already reached the middle stage of the fourth-tier by archaic beast standards. Even if his repeated provocations had angered the heavens and intensified the tribulation, there had to be a limit to how far the tribulation could escalate. Precisely because of that, he was confident he could withstand whatever came next.

As Luo Chen gathered his origin energy, he activated his Spirit Eyes and peered into the depths of the thunderclouds. Nine white arcs, each as thick as a water barrel, twisted through the darkness.

Nine bolts of lightning?

At first, the increase in number did not trouble him. Yet before that confidence could settle, the nine bolts began to twist around one another. The bright white arcs dimmed and deepened in color until they turned completely black, and the confidence in Luo Chen's expression gave way to vigilance.

Crack!

A massive black hoof pushed through the clouds, followed by the rest of the beast as it gradually took shape from the fused strands of heavenly lightning.

Luo Chen swallowed as he stared at it. What the... It's actually taking form!

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