by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
The original buildings had been destroyed now, so everyone could only live in tents. Within a certain tent, Zhou Kun lay on the ground, his eyes closed and blood pouring out of his seven orifices. His face was an unhealthy yellow color, and his aura was incredibly weak.
“Long Chen, can you save the district chief? If this continues, he might die!” The elder who had once threatened Long Chen begged him for help now.
This elder was bewildered. Zhou Kun’s cultivation base was the highest here, but then why was he the one to receive the heaviest injuries now?
“I could.” Long Chen rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“Really? Great! Hurry and heal him!”
“The problem is, why should I save him?”
The elder almost died from rage. “We’re all members of the same sect here! How can you just watch as someone dies?”
“How can I just watch as someone dies? I really have to admire you. Just how did you manage to make your skin so thick? When we were facing those Corrupt enemies, you all just hid in here like tortoises. Why didn’t you think of such sanctimony at that time?” snorted Long Chen.
“That was…”
The elder was speechless. At this time, Meng Qi suddenly sighed, “Long Chen, let it go. After all, we’re all members of the same sect. At this time, we should be united against outer enemies.”
“Right, right, this lady’s words are entirely correct. We should be united!” cried the elder.
Long Chen sneered and didn’t say anything. Meng Qi walked over and examined Zhou Kun. “The district chief’s cultivation base is high, but his Spiritual Strength is too weak. He definitely must have tried using his Spiritual Strength to examine the battle, and as a result, he didn’t retract his spiritual energy in time and received a backlash to his soul.”
The elder’s heart shook. Meng Qi was correct. The Zhou family didn’t have any talent when it came to Spiritual Strength. As for Zhou Kun, his Spiritual Strength was famed for being weak.
He didn’t question her words at all. However, he couldn’t understand why Zhou Kun would use his Spiritual Strength that way. Perhaps only he knew.
“But then how can you save him?” asked the elder. After all, Zhou Kun was their leader. They had to rely on him for everything.
Although the elder was also a member of the Zhou family, he hadn’t been given knowledge about many things. Also, Zhou Kun hadn’t passed anything to him, so it was all too easy for him to mess up. That was why he was so anxious now.
“Ah, fine. I’ll sacrifice a portion of my Spiritual Strength to help heal his soul,” sighed Meng Qi.
“What?! Who do you think he is? He’s not worthy of you sacrificing your Spiritual Strength. Have you gone stupid?!” Long Chen raged, his expression completely changing.
“Long Chen, you have to pay more attention to the big picture. Temporarily put down this enmity of yours,” said Meng Qi.
Long Chen snorted with rage and left.
Seeing this, Meng Qi said to the elder, “Help protect me. Don’t let anyone disturb me. I’ll heal the district chief’s injuries.”
Two hours later, Meng Qi left Zhou Kun’s tent. When she returned to the Dragonblood Legion’s area, Long Chen was already laughing, coming out of his tent. His previous anger had disappeared.
“How was it? Did you get it?” he asked.
“You really are a scoundrel. That act of yours was so real that I even thought you got angry,” said Meng Qi.
“Hehe, quick, get in. Tell me, what are they up to?”
Long Chen pulled Meng Qi into his tent. Tang Wan-er was also present. After resting for a while, Tang Wan-er was no longer as pale as before.
“This Zhou Kun really did have a plot. Long Chen, you really were smart. You even thought of such a plan.” Meng Qi looked at Long Chen and sighed.
“Hehe, overpraise, overpraise!” Long Chen laughed mischievously. When it came to handling bad people, he always had many cons.
Zhou Kun had truly been schemed against by Long Chen. When the shockwaves from Tang Wan-er and the Corrupt Celestial’s attacks had reached him, Long Chen had directly used his Spiritual Strength to force Zhou Kun into a slumber.
But Long Chen hadn’t expected Zhou Kun’s Spiritual Strength to be so weak. This move of his had almost dispersed his soul.
Luckily, bad people always had the protection of the heavens. He hadn’t died. So Long Chen had come up with an act with Meng Qi, having Meng Qi go save him.
Yes, she was to save him. But at the same time, Meng Qi had used a secret technique to rifle through Zhou Kun’s memories.
This was different from soulsearch. It required the target to not have the slightest bit of resistance at all and a comparatively long time to do. That was why Meng Qi had wasted two hours in order to obtain the information that she wanted.
At the same time, she had implanted some memories in him, memories that said that back then, he had used his Spiritual Strength to probe Tang Wan-er and the Corrupt Celestial’s battle. As a result, he had been heavily injured.
As for why he would do something so stupid, that was his own problem. In any case, once he woke up, he would definitely remember that he had done that stupid thing, which had resulted in this. That was enough.
“Long Chen, perhaps we’ve really fallen into a huge trap this time,” said Meng Qi worriedly.
“It’s fine. I was aware of that. But to raise the Dragonblood Legion, we had no choice but to enter the trap. Otherwise, the Dragonblood Legion would require a long time to stabilize their foundations, and only then could they advance. But we don’t have enough time for that,” said Long Chen helplessly.
How could he not know this was a trap? But he had no choice.
“The Zhou family intentionally leaked the information that you’ve come to the chaos region to the Corrupt path. From Zhou Kun’s memories, I also learned that their attacks won’t stop here, nor will that Celestial today be the only one. In fact, the attack today was entirely not within their plans. They were supposed to gather multiple groups before giving us a thunderous strike.
“Furthermore, behind this matter is also the Pill Tower. Although Zhou Kun isn’t aware of the whole plan, he has had interactions with the Zhou family’s experts, and they implied their intentions. The Zhou family originally had enmity with you. Now they can even get a favor from the Pill Tower’s Huo family, and they are using the blades of the Corrupt path. They don’t even have to get their own hands dirty to cut you down.
“Then when the time comes, they’ll announce that the mine was sneak attacked, and all the ore in the mine was stolen. Then that ‘stolen’ black gold ore will enter the Zhou family’s pockets. It is truly a marvelous scheme,” sighed Meng Qi. She was extremely shocked by this plot.
But Long Chen’s expression was extremely calm. He wasn’t at all surprised by this kind of trap. He asked, “How much did Zhou Kun know?”
“He doesn’t have much information about the Corrupt path. All he knew was that they won’t just send one Celestial. They want to kill us in one, sudden strike. However, according to his expectations, the attack should have come between half a month to a month from now. As for these fellows today, they were a complete accident,” said Meng Qi.
“Not just one? Half a month to a month from now? Hehe, not bad, not bad. They’re giving us a lot of valuable time.” Long Chen smiled. “Two days from now, I’ll bring all the members of the Dragonblood Legion away from here. As for Meng Qi, you focus on refining the Heavenly Dao Fruit, and Wan-er will protect you.”
“You’re going to leave? Could it be…?”
“Yes. You’ve also seen that the Dragonblood warriors have already steadied their auras after this battle. In truth, they’ve long since reached the peak of Meridian Opening. I had them suppress their cultivation bases, not letting them advance, but now I’m prepared to give them the Heaven Advancing Pills. They’ll be able to advance perfectly to the Xiantian realm. In other words, once we return… hehe, we
’ll give those Corrupt experts a nice surprise.” Long Chen laughed.
Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er looked at each other. If all the Dragonblood Legion advanced to the Xiantian realm, then they would be a pack of wolves and tigers. Who could possibly defeat them?
Chapter 634 Collective Tribulation
Five days later, two huge Violet Phoenix Sparrows that were carrying all the Dragonblood warriors arrived at an extremely barren place. This place was a whole day’s travel from the chaos region.
“This is a good place for everyone to undergo tribulation.” Long Chen looked around and saw the ground here was all hard rock.
“Boss, you really want us to go through tribulation together?” asked Guo Ran.
“What? Now that you have money, you’ve become afraid of dying?” Long Chen laughed. After destroying that Corrupt army, they had obtained over three hundred spatial rings. Unfortunately, the rest had been destroyed in the battle or destroyed by their owners on the verge of death.
But even though it was just three hundred rings, there were over fifty thousand middle grade spirit stones in them. Of course, those spirit stones all ended up in Guo Ran’s possession. So Guo Ran had immediately become a rich person.
“Boss, the tribulation will set its power according to the strongest one of us! With Gu Yang’s terrifying physical body, once the tribulation is set according to his level, I won’t be able to survive!” cried Guo Ran. Just one of Gu Yang’s arms was already about the same width as his leg. The difference was too big.
“Don’t worry, your tribulations are focused mostly on baptism, not destruction. The only ones who ever died to tribulations were just too weak.
“Heavenly tribulation is extremely beneficial to the physical body. I’m confident in all of you, so I’m sure you can survive group tribulation. You’ll be profiting from Gu Yang; the more powerful tribulation lightning will temper your body even better.
“Once you’ve gone through the tribulation, let alone the fact that your cultivation base will have advanced, just the strength of your physical body will make you feel like you’re dreaming.
“Of course, in this world, there’s no free fruit. In a bit, you’ll all be very miserable. But don’t worry, I will properly record your plaintive looks with a photographic jade.” Long Chen laughed.
“Boss, you’re too evil! You should go through tribulation with us! That’s the only way it’s fair!” said Gu Yang.
“Go through tribulation with you?”
Long Chen laughed. If he underwent his tribulation with them, this world would no longer have a Dragonblood Legion.
“Alright, everyone stop complaining. Prepare yourselves. You have all reached the peak of Meridian Opening a long time ago. If you hadn’t suppressed your cultivation bases, some of you would have already broken through.
“After going through that baptism of blood and fire, your realms have completely stabilized. In a bit, I’ll leave, and you’ll all consume the Heaven Advancing Pills at the same time. This medicinal pill can allow you to advance perfectly to the Xiantian realm without leaving any flaw in your foundation.
“Once you’ve advanced, you’ll have to face heavenly tribulation. The baptism of heavenly tribulation is now just a test to the physical body. It is also a kind of tempering to your will. When the tribulation comes down, you must take advantage of the opportunity. Use the power of the tribulation to expel the impurities in your bodies.
“The Xiantian realm is the true start of cultivation. It’s extremely important. A flawless body will allow you to cultivate twice as fast with half the effort in the future.
“Alright, I won’t say any more. Prepare the Heaven Advancing Pills. As soon as I leave, consume them.”
Long Chen brought Little Snow away. When Long Chen was standing at the peak of a barren mountain a hundred miles away, everyone consumed their Heaven Advancing Pills.
As soon as the pills entered their mouths, they dissolved. They felt their spiritual qi slowly rising. Everyone relaxed as best as they could, not making any movements. They simply allowed the medicinal pill to do its work.
Their spiritual qi continued to rise, circulating through their bones, then their flesh, then converging in their Dantians. A huge whirlpool formed in their Dantians.
The whirlpool began to spin faster and faster. In the end, a loud rumbling came from their bodies. Their qi, blood, tendons, bones, and meridians all reached their peak states.
The rumbling grew louder, and their powerful auras exploded from their bodies. They had broken through the barrier.
If it was before the Xiantian realm, they would have already advanced. But now it was different. They had to undergo the baptism of heavenly tribulation. Only after that would their spiritual qi transform from Houtian qi to Xiantian qi, and only then would they be true Xiantian experts.
There were only two possibilities once you broke through the barrier. One was to succeed in withstanding the lightning tribulation, while the other was failing and being turned to dust by the tribulation.
Everyone broke through at the same time. Over three hundred pillars of qi soared into the sky, causing space to shake. Endless black clouds filled the sky.
“It’s this small?”
Long Chen couldn’t help being dumbfounded. The black clouds only covered a hundred miles.
Buzz.
A tempest of lightning rained down, crashing down on the Dragonblood Legion.
“AHH!”
Quite a few of them let out startled screams. They had no experience with tribulation lightning, and in this first attack, they turned numb and unable to move.
“What are you shouting for? This little drizzle is nothing. It’s fine if you can’t move. Draw the thunderforce into your bodies to temper your flesh,” shouted Long Chen. The panicking Dragonblood warriors immediately calmed down a great deal.
This was heavenly tribulation, and it contained the might of the heavens. To say that they weren’t afraid would be a lie. In front of the heavens’ might, the human race was as minute as ants.
But Long Chen’s shout told them that he was watching from nearby, and it gave them an indescribable comfort. It was as if as long as Long Chen was present, there was nothing to fear.
They hastily acted according to what he said, slowly drawing that thunderforce into them to temper their bodies. They had trained in a high Heaven class cultivation technique, so their physical bodies were extremely powerful.
But even so, they had to block over ninety percent of the thunderforce outside their bodies. Some of them had been too panicked and had drawn in too much thunderforce, causing them to let out miserable screams.
However, in less than a minute, everyone had gotten used to it. They drew the thunderforce in in accordance with the strength of their physical bodies.
“Fuck, as expected, it really is different. This counts as heavenly tribulation? How discriminatory.” Long Chen had never felt that heavenly tribulation could be so gentle.
The heavenly tribulation was coming down gently and slowly, like a maiden gently caressing their faces.
But his heavenly tribulation was like an explosive Magical Beast attacking him with all its power. The difference was truly too great.
“Aowu!” Little Snow let out a quiet growl.
“Bear with it for now. Wait for them to finish, and then you can undergo your tribulation,” said Long Chen.
Little Snow had also sensed that his tribulation was about to come. In the past few days, he had been extremely anxious, unable to stay still. Just now, he told Long Chen his heavenly tribulation was about to arrive.
Tribulations were different for Magical Beasts. The tribulation came first, and only then would they advance. It was the opposite of how humans advanced first and then had to face tribulation.
However, Long Chen still had to keep an eye on the Dragonblood Legion as they faced their tribulation. Little Snow had to endure it for a bit longer.
An incense stick’s worth of tim
e later, the black clouds in the sky began to lighten, a sign they were about to dissipate.
Originally, for a Meridian Opening expert facing their Xiantian tribulation, the tribulation would not last more than five breaths’ time. The reason the Dragonblood Legion had such a long tribulation was because they had undergone it together.
The lightning tribulation had been extremely gentle, never releasing any furious power on them. That allowed the Dragonblood warriors to temper their bodies easily. The Dragonblood warriors were now drenched; their skin was covered in black stains that emitted a disgusting smell. Those were the impurities that had been in their bodies. Within those impurities were also pill toxins.
However, the Dragonblood warriors were all incredibly excited. They felt like their physical bodies had strengthened by over ten times.
Furthermore, their spiritual qi had already started to gradually transform from a gaseous state to a liquid state. In the future, the spiritual qi in their bodies would no longer be called spiritual qi, but spiritual yuan.
Spiritual qi and spiritual yuan were qualitatively different. They were simply not on the same level. It could be said that only after undergoing their tribulation could they count as true Xiantian experts. Each wave of their hands could draw on natural energy. They felt like their whole bodies were brimming with power.
“Gu Yang, release your full aura to provoke the heavenly tribulation.”
Suddenly, a shout rang out that caused everyone to turn dumbfounded. Long Chen wanted Gu Yang to provoke the tribulation? Wasn’t that just courting death?
“Don’t hesitate. If you still don’t attack, the tribulation will dissipate,” shouted Long Chen.
Gu Yang’s face was green. To release your aura like this in a tribulation was sending yourself to your death. That was common knowledge, but he couldn’t ignore Long Chen’s orders. Clenching his teeth, his powerful aura soared straight into the sky.
RUMBLE…!
The black clouds seemed to become furious. Heaven and earth shook. The black clouds instantly spread further than before.
