Chapter 363: Breakthrough to Nascent Soul [2]
Fang Hao had prepared well in advance. With a low shout, Chaos Spiritual Power surged wildly around his body, forming a thick, continuously flowing Chaos-colored protective barrier above his head.
At the same time, the "Small Four Symbols Lightning Defense Formation" he had set up was activated. Four illusory beast shadows (Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise) flashed past, forming a faint four-colored halo above the protective barrier.
"Boom!!" The Lightning Tribulation struck the protective barrier fiercely!
The Chaos protective barrier shook violently, its light dimming by more than half in an instant, and that layer of four-colored halo shattered like paper.
The violent lightning power penetrated the barrier and poured fiercely into Fang Hao’s body!
"Ugh!" Fang Hao’s whole body trembled, his hair stood on end, and countless tiny electric sparks darted across the surface of his skin, sending waves of numbness and stinging pain.
However, his Physical Body was formidable, and he managed to endure it. At the same time, he frantically circulated his Cultivation Technique, guiding this first strand of Lightning Tribulation power to temper the newly formed Nascent Soul phantom inside his Dantian!
Bathed in the lightning, the Nascent Soul phantom trembled slightly, seemingly in pain, but its form became a bit more solid within this destructive power, and its blurry features became a fraction clearer!
"Exhilarating!" Fang Hao wiped away the trace of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, Battle Intent rising in his eyes. This was only the first one!
Before he could catch his breath, the second Lightning Tribulation followed immediately! This one was a circle thicker than the first, its color was deeper, and its power had doubled!
"Break for me!" Fang Hao stood up tall, no longer defending passively. Instead, he faced the Lightning Tribulation and threw a punch! His fist was wrapped in dense Chaos Spiritual Power, faintly accompanied by the sound of wind and thunder!
"Boom!" The force of the punch collided with the Lightning Tribulation, producing a heaven-shaking roar. Fang Hao was shaken back several steps, his fist split open and dripping with blood, but the second Lightning Tribulation was also mostly dispersed by his punch, and the remaining lightning power was guided into his body to continue tempering the Nascent Soul!
The third and fourth Lightning Tribulations fell one after another, almost without distinction! Each was thicker and fiercer than the last! The third Lightning Tribulation carried a faint cyan color, while the fourth faintly shimmered with blue light, its power already reaching the level of the Early Nascent Soul Stage!
Fang Hao dared not take it head-on again. He fully urged the residual power of the "Small Four Symbols Lightning Defense Formation" while pushing his Physical Body strength to the limit. A faint golden luster appeared on his skin surface, and his Golden Body power automatically protected his body!
"Boom! Boom!" The two Lightning Tribulations struck one after another. The Formation Fang Hao had set up was completely shattered, and he himself was scorched black all over, his hair curled, blood spewing from his mouth, as he knelt on one knee, smashing a shallow pit into the ground.
The violent lightning power wantonly wreaked havoc inside his body, and the intense pain washed over him like a tide. However, the Nascent Soul phantom inside his Dantian, after withstanding the baptism of the four Lightning Tribulations, had instead become clearer and more solid, and the aura it emitted grew increasingly powerful and nimble!
The inch-tall little figure had brows and eyes that were already vaguely visible, bearing a seven or eight-point resemblance to Fang Hao. It sat cross-legged in the Chaos Qi Sea with its eyes tightly closed, and tiny electric arcs were actually coiling around its small body!
"Cough, cough... only four..." Fang Hao lifted his head with difficulty, looking at the rolling, increasingly violent tribulation clouds above his head, and grinned, revealing teeth that were illuminated snow-white by the lightning. "There are still fourteen more... Come on, let this young master see just how ruthless you, this thieving heaven, really are!"
He reached into his bosom and pulled out another cold jade bottle. Inside, there were still six nascent soul forming pills. He knew that the real test was only just beginning now!
Fang Hao knelt on one knee on the ground, smoke rising from his whole body, his hair standing on end and curled, looking like he had a bird’s nest on his head. His skin was scorched black, with many small cracks opening up, seeping blood droplets that were quickly dried by the residual lightning. There was a metallic taste in his mouth; that was the taste of blood.
His Dantian was in even greater turmoil. The Nascent Soul phantom had solidified quite a bit, but those four Lightning Tribulations pouring in were like four red-hot iron brushes scrubbing through his Meridians and Dantian several times over. That feeling, it was anything but "comfortable."
"Damn it, this is just the beginning..." Fang Hao spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, feeling as if his throat was on fire.
He looked up at the sky. The gap of the "line of sky" above his head was now completely blocked by the thick tribulation clouds. Silver snakes danced wildly within the clouds, the lightning light grew brighter and brighter, and the low rumbling sound grew louder and louder, as if countless giant drums were being beaten in the sky, shaking a person’s Qi and blood until they churned.
That sense of Heavenly Might pressed down heavily, even more intense than before, making one’s heart panic and their legs want to cramp.
He knew that the previous four were just appetizers, the tribulation clouds weighing his worth. What followed would be the hard nut to crack. Moreover, looking at the posture of these tribulation clouds, the longer they brewed, the more ruthless the things that struck down would be.
He could not wait, nor could he afford to wait. In his current state, trying to take the fifth one head-on would likely be too much.
Fang Hao’s eyes hardened. Without the slightest hesitation, he tremblingly (from the electric shocks) pulled out another cold jade bottle. As soon as the stopper was pulled, that strange medicinal fragrance that made one’s Soul tremble drifted out again.
Without even looking, he tilted his head back and poured the second nascent soul forming pill into his mouth, swallowing it whole.
As the Medicinal Pill entered his abdomen, the familiar heat flow surged up again. But this heat flow was subtly different from the feeling when he swallowed the first one. It was still vast and pure, but it seemed to have an extra trace of resilience, a trace of restorative power.
It was like sweet rain after a long drought, or like injecting a shot of adrenaline into a body that was about to fall apart.
Fang Hao’s spirits lifted. Daring not to be negligent, he immediately exerted his full strength to circulate the Chaos Derivation Art. The Cultivation Technique seemed to have received the most abundant fuel, and it began to circulate frantically at an unprecedented speed, greedily devouring and refining the massive amount of Spiritual Qi and power of creation provided by the nascent soul forming pill.
The shattered Meridians began to heal rapidly under the scouring and repair of this power, even becoming tougher and wider.
The scorched, damaged skin, flesh, and bones from the lightning strikes were also greedily absorbing the medicinal power. The Golden Body power automatically circulated, the dim golden luster on his skin surface became bright again, and the scorched dead skin fell off with a rustle, revealing the newborn, more lustrous skin underneath.
More importantly, the Dantian! The tiny Nascent Soul phantom, after being nourished by the second nascent soul forming pill, seemed to inflate, becoming a fraction more solid and larger! Its brows and eyes were clearer, and even those slightly furrowed brows bore a resemblance to Fang Hao’s expression while enduring the Lightning Tribulation.
Around the phantom, faint Chaos mist began to swirl, appearing mysterious and profound. A stronger life fluctuation, belonging to the Nascent Soul level, emanated from this small body.
Just as Fang Hao had finished digesting a portion of the medicinal power and his state had recovered quite a bit, even becoming a notch stronger than before he was struck — "Boom crack —!!!" The long-brewing fifth Lightning Tribulation finally struck down!
This one was no longer purely silver-white, but carried a blinding crimson, like a dragon of thunder and fire wrapped in raging flames! Its power was more than a notch stronger than the fourth!
Before the lightning arrived, that scorching, violent aura, which seemed to want to burn everything to nothing, had already scorched the air around Fang Hao until it twisted, and the dead leaves on the ground even ignited without fire!
"Crimson Flame Lightning!" Fang Hao’s pupils constricted. The form of the Lightning Tribulation had begun to change; it was no longer pure lightning, but had started to carry elemental damage!
"Well come!" Fang Hao advanced instead of retreating, suddenly standing straight. Under his scorched and tattered clothes, his muscles bulged. He did not use Spiritual Power to resist head-on again, but gave a low roar, pushing the Golden Body power he had just recovered to the limit, while circulating Chaos Spiritual Power all over his body, as if he were shrouded in a halo of intertwined Chaos-color and pale gold.
He was actually going to use his Physical Body to take this fifth Crimson Flame Lightning head-on, borrowing the power of the lightning and flames within it to further temper his physique and Nascent Soul!
"Bang!!!" The crimson thunder-fire dragon slammed solidly onto Fang Hao’s upraised arms! In an instant, Fang Hao was completely engulfed by the blinding lightning light and crimson flames!
"Sizzle sizzle —!" The violent lightning power drilled frantically into his body, wreaking havoc, while the crimson flames also attached to his skin surface, burning fiercely as if to burn him to ashes! Intense pain! Pain several times more intense than before came from every inch of his body; it was the dual torment of lightning tearing and flames burning!
Fang Hao gritted his teeth so hard that his gums bled, and a beast-like low roar emanated from his throat. He frantically circulated his Cultivation Technique, guiding this violent thunder-fire power, using part of it to impact and temper his Physical Body, and part of it to guide into his Dantian to baptize the tiny Nascent Soul phantom.
"Refine for me! Refine! Refine!" Roaring in his heart, Fang Hao held his ground against the thunder and fire, not taking a single step back!
The Chaos golden light on his skin surface flickered uncertainly in the thunder and fire, his flesh made "sizzling" sounds, and scorched Impurities were constantly being burned and forced out, with new, tougher flesh rapidly generating.
Inside the Dantian, the tiny Nascent Soul phantom floated in the thunder and fire, its body trembling slightly, but its face became increasingly clear and firm, and the Chaos mist on its body surface became even denser, as if it had attained some kind of sublimation in the thunder and fire.
After a full dozen breaths, the power of this Crimson Flame Lightning gradually dissipated. Fang Hao was scorched black all over, as if he had just been fished out of a coal mine. The flames on his skin had extinguished, but dark red burn marks remained on his skin, and in some places, one could even see the bright red flesh beneath the scorched black.
He gasped for breath, every breath carrying a scorching aura and a burnt smell. But he was still standing! Moreover, he felt that his Physical Body seemed to have become a notch stronger under this baptism of thunder and fire!
The Nascent Soul phantom inside his Dantian was more solid, and he could even faintly feel that it seemed to... open its eyes a sliver?
Before he could carefully experience it, the sixth Lightning Tribulation had already taken shape in the tribulation clouds! "Boom —!!!"
This time, the Lightning Tribulation that struck down was no longer fire-red, but turned into a heavy sheet of lightning light carrying an earthy yellow glow! When the thunder fell, it faintly carried a roar like a collapsing mountain, and the pressure was incomparably heavy, as if it were not a bolt of lightning, but a mountain of thunder smashing down!
"Wutu Divine Lightning!" Fang Hao’s heart sank. The Crimson Flame Lightning tested fire resistance and endurance, but this Wutu Divine Lightning tested defensive power and the solidity of one’s Foundation! If the Foundation were flimsy, one would likely be crushed and pulverized directly under this lightning!
"I can hold on!" The Chaos light in Fang Hao’s eyes flared brightly, and he no longer relied solely on his Physical Body to resist head-on. He stepped on the earth, his hands held in a hollow embrace, and Chaos Spiritual Power surged out madly, forming a rapidly rotating Chaos vortex above his head. Within the vortex, the two forces of Yin and Yang faintly swirled, carrying a Concept of neutralizing and dissolving all things.
"Chaos Millstone!" This was a defensive technique he had comprehended himself based on the characteristics of the Chaos Derivation Art, aiming to neutralize attacks with the inclusive and grinding characteristics of Chaos power.
"Dong!!!" The heavy Wutu Divine Lightning smashed into the Chaos vortex, producing a dull, thunderous roar like a beating drum. The vortex shook violently, its rotation speed slowed down, and the earthy yellow lightning light on its surface crazily entangled and ground against the Chaos Qi.
Fang Hao’s whole body shook violently, his legs sank suddenly, and his ankles sank into the soil! An incomparably heavy force was transmitted down through the vortex, pressing down until his bones creaked and his internal organs felt like they had shifted out of place.
But he supported it desperately. Although the Chaos vortex flickered uncertainly, it never collapsed, tenaciously grinding away the power of the Wutu Divine Lightning.
After a full twenty-plus breaths, this heavy thunderbolt was finally completely ground away. Fang Hao spat out a large mouthful of blood with a "wah," his face pale, and the Chaos vortex above his head also dissipated with a boom. He felt as if he had been smashed by a mountain, his whole body’s bones about to fall apart.
However, before he could catch his breath, the seventh Lightning Tribulation, carrying a sharp whistling sound, tore through the sky and arrived with a boom!
Comments