Chapter 366: Breakthrough to Nascent Soul [5]
That dark gray Lightning of Annihilation, carrying a scent of deathly silence, was just about to strike Fang Hao’s crown!
At this critical juncture, the mass of Chaos Origin in Fang Hao’s Dantian, which had remained motionless all along, seemed to be thoroughly provoked by this "End" Aura and suddenly exploded!
Vast and pure power surged out unreasonably, instantly rushing through his entire body.
Beneath his skin, those faint golden patterns, previously struck out by the Lightning Tribulation and barely visible, suddenly lit up with a hum, like famished wolves seeing meat!
The golden light was blinding and carried an indescribable sense of heaviness, as if his entire person had been coated with a metal shell from the inside out.
It was the "Lightning Induction Body Tempering" of the Hundred Refinements Golden Body Art running wildly!
"Damn it... is it trying to use me as Artifact Refining Materials and take this last hammer strike head-on?" Fang Hao’s mind was left with only this one thought.
No sooner said than done, the silent, dark gray thunderbolt struck his glowing body solidly!
"Boom!" There was no sound, but Fang Hao felt as if his soul was about to be shattered.
That feeling was more sinister than all the previous Lightning Tribulations combined!
It wasn’t just physical pain; it was a sense of "death" seeping from the cracks in his bones and the depths of every cell, threatening to erase his life force from the roots.
His skin, flesh, and bones—wherever they touched the lightning—instantly lost their color, turning gray and withered, like ancient tree bark left for centuries, crumbling at the slightest touch.
Yet, as this "death" Aura spread, the golden light produced by the Hundred Refinements Golden Body Art running to its limit, along with the Chaos Spiritual Power rampaging inside his body, rushed madly toward those gray, withered areas.
Destruction and repair, withering and Rebirth—a most tragic tug-of-war unfolded on his battered body.
"Arghhhhh!!!" Fang Hao made hoarse, strange sounds in his throat, unable to even scream to Perfection.
His eyes were wide open, bloodshot, and his body twitched violently and uncontrollably.
He could clearly "feel" that the annihilating lightning power was like countless cold little files, drilling into every corner of his body, intent on "filing" everything into dust.
Meanwhile, the golden light and Chaos Spiritual Power of the Hundred Refinements Golden Body Art were like red-hot branding irons, chasing desperately from behind, trying their best to re-smelt, hammer, and fuse the areas that had been "filed."
Pain! Unimaginable pain!
But within this pain, there was a trace of an extremely faint, yet incomparably clear, feeling of "getting stronger."
He saw a patch of skin on his arm rapidly turning gray and losing sensation; under the shroud of golden light, the grayness faded, and the new skin that grew underneath carried a faint, restrained dark golden luster, tougher than before, and even giving the subtle illusion that it could isolate that "death" Aura.
Although this new skin was soon eroded by the subsequent annihilating lightning power, the speed of erosion was clearly a fraction slower.
It was this tiny fraction that allowed Fang Hao to grasp a lifeline amidst the boundless pain.
"Body Tempering... this is Body Tempering! This damn Lightning Tribulation is both a poison and a potent tonic!" A flash of realization crossed his mind.
"The ultimate goal of the ’Lightning Induction Body Tempering’ Chapter of the Hundred Refinements Golden Body Art is to draw in the most yin, most evil, strongest, and fiercest exotic lightning power to forge the Physical Body, remove the dross, and achieve an Impervious Golden Body!
Isn’t this annihilating lightning the fiercest and most evil ’exotic lightning’?"
Once the thought connected, he became ruthless.
Instead of passively waiting to be ground to death by this lightning, why not take the initiative!
"Give it to me... absorb!"
He desperately concentrated the sliver of consciousness that hadn’t yet dissipated, no longer merely resisting the erosion of the annihilating lightning power, but instead trying to use the method of the Hundred Refinements Golden Body Art to actively guide and capture the wisps of dark gray lightning light invading his body, forcibly pulling them to the relatively intact parts of his body, especially deep within his bones and internal organs, and then driving the golden light and Chaos Spiritual Power to frantically forge and fuse them!
This process was ten times more painful than before!
It was like taking a red-hot knife and scraping his own bones!
But he gritted his teeth, relying on the ruthless tenacity that hadn’t been worn away since he climbed up from a menial laborer, and forcefully endured it.
One wisp, two wisps... more and more annihilating lightning power was forcibly "kidnapped" by this ruthless drive and integrated into his flesh and bones.
The speed at which his body was turning gray slowed down visibly.
Replacing it was a slow but firm "transformation."
The newly born flesh and bones grew darker in color, shifting from light gold to dark gold, finally settling into a primitive, dull golden color that seemed to have been polished by countless years, no longer having dazzling luster, but only a heavy, indestructible texture.
The magnificent golden patterns that had previously covered his body surface also gradually retracted and disappeared, as if all the power had completely settled into the deepest parts of his body.
Who knows how long it had been—it could have been an instant, or a century.
The power of the thirteenth Lightning of Annihilation finally slowly dissipated.
Fang Hao lay paralyzed on the ground like a dead dog, unable to move even a finger.
His body surface was covered with a thick, hard shell mixed with charred black and dark gold, like a pottery figurine that had been broken and roughly glued back together.
But from the cracks in the hard shell, what faintly leaked out was vibrant life force and an indescribable sense of solidity.
Hundred Refinements Golden Body Art "Lightning Induction Body Tempering," Major Achievement!
He lay on the ground, only his eyeballs able to move with difficulty.
There was no more pain in his eyes, only a nearly numb calmness, along with a trace of... exhaustion from surviving the disaster, and a little bit of unbelievable joy.
He could feel that his body was filled with an unprecedented sense of power; although he couldn’t move now, this body was many times stronger than before Undergoing Tribulation!
Especially his resistance to that "destruction" and "end" Concept had greatly increased.
He breathed heavily, gathering strength for a long time, before trembling and raising his relatively intact left hand to reach for the Storage bag close to his body.
His movements were as stiff as if rusted, and it took several tries before he managed to fish out the cold jade bottle.
He used his teeth to bite off the stopper and poured the last nascent soul forming pill inside into his mouth.
The Medicinal Pill turned into a warm current; the feeling this time was completely different!
Wherever the medicinal power passed, that hard, charred black shell cracked and fell off with a "clack-clack" sound, revealing the reborn body underneath.
The skin was a healthy wheat color, with a faint, extremely subtle layer of dark golden luster flowing, which one wouldn’t notice without looking closely.
The muscle lines were not exaggerated but full of fluid explosive power.
More importantly, inside his body, the Meridians and internal organs that had been messed up by the Lightning Tribulation and the annihilating lightning were healing and strengthening at an astonishing speed under the dual effect of this medicinal power and the foundation of his Major Achievement Golden Body.
His bones even emitted a low hum, truly taking on a metallic texture.
In his Dantian, the inch-high Nascent Soul phantom, although it hadn’t received direct nourishment from the annihilating lightning power (it was all eaten by his body), was also rapidly solidifying under the effects of Fang Hao’s Physical Body Breakthrough, the feedback of his blood and Qi, and the medicinal power of the nascent soul forming pill, with clear features, sitting cross-legged above the Qi Sea, emitting a stable spiritual light.
"Ha... haha..." Fang Hao felt the surging power within him and that unbelievably tough body, unable to help but chuckle, which ended up aggravating his internal injuries, causing him to cough up two mouthfuls of stagnant blood, but the smile on his face didn’t diminish.
"Damn it... almost got struck to death, didn’t expect... a blessing in disguise!"
He struggled, supporting the ground with both hands, and surprisingly, shakily, sat up again!
Although every movement made his whole body ache as if falling apart, his bones were hard enough to hold up!
Just at this moment, the fourteenth Lightning Tribulation, completely disregarding martial virtue, followed immediately and smashed down!
This lightning was gray and hazy, like a hodgepodge, feeling as if it had rolled up all the remnants and dregs of the previous lightning; it looked less powerful than the deadly Lightning of Annihilation from before, but its Aura was mixed and chaotic, making one feel even more uneasy.
Fang Hao looked up at the gray, hazy lightning and narrowed his eyes.
He tentatively raised his newly born arm, clenched his fist, and felt the mountain-like, condensed power beneath his skin.
"Let’s test this new body... just how hard it is!"
He didn’t use any fancy techniques, nor did he mobilize too much spiritual power; he simply puffed out his chest, struck a basic Body Tempering pose from the Hundred Refinements Golden Body Art, and the extremely faint dark golden luster around his body brightened slightly.
"Boom!" The gray, hazy lightning smashed fiercely onto his body.
Electric light ran wild, and various mixed lightning powers tried to erode and destroy.
Fang Hao’s body sank suddenly, his feet sinking half a foot into the ground, his chest felt stuffy, and his throat tasted of blood.
But he... held on!
On the surface of his body, the dark golden luster flickered rapidly, roughly blocking most of the invading mixed lightning power outside, while the few that managed to sneak in were quickly worn down and absorbed by his formidable Physical Body and the internal Cultivation Technique, converting into a sliver of nourishment for tempering his body.
Although it was still painful and uncomfortable, compared to the terrifying feeling of his life force being stripped away just now, it was like heaven and earth.
"Satisfying!" Fang Hao spat out a breath of turbid air laced with electric light and actually grinned.
Although he looked disheveled, his eyes were frighteningly bright.
This Major Achievement Golden Body was even more powerful than he had anticipated!
As if provoked by his attitude, the tribulation cloud in the sky churned even more violently, its color as black as ink, and the electric light within turned into a chilling dark purple.
The fifteenth and sixteenth Lightning Tribulations didn’t give him any chance to breathe at all, almost one after another, striking down in succession!
The fifteenth one was half blindingly scorching white, extremely Yang and rigid; half dark blue and cold, extremely Yin and frigid.
Two diametrically opposed forces were entangled together, colliding and stirring each other, producing even more terrifying power.
Yin and Yang Tribulation Lightning!
The sixteenth one was earth-yellow, as heavy as a mountain, wrapped within was the peerlessly sharp Geng Metal Qi; hidden within the heaviness was extreme sharpness, with suppression and piercing coexisting.
Gold-Earth Tribulation Lightning!
The two lightning strikes, their attributes even complementing each other, clearly intended to take him out with a combo!
"Well come!" Fang Hao was not surprised but delighted, his Battle Intent boiling in his chest.
His newly achieved body was in need of such a "whetstone"!
He let out a low roar, no longer passively enduring.
His feet stomped hard on the ground, and instead of retreating, he advanced, actually charging actively towards the striking lightning!
Under the reflection of the lightning, his dark golden body looked like a War God defying the Heavens.
"Hundred Refinements Golden Body, open for me!"
He drove his Cultivation Technique to the limit, the dark golden light beneath his skin became obvious, and his whole person seemed to be plated with a faint layer of dark gold.
Without dodging or avoiding, he crossed his arms to protect his head, and directly used the hardest part of his body to fiercely collide with the Yin and Yang Tribulation Lightning!
"Bang! Boom!" Blinding light exploded, and Fang Hao was smashed down at a speed faster than he had rushed up, plowing a deep trench in the ground.
His arms were torn and bloody, revealing the dark golden bones underneath, with electric light wrapped around them.
But he scrambled up immediately, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, yet he laughed wildly: "Satisfying! Come again!"
He didn’t stop, his figure slightly staggering, but his Aura didn’t diminish, and he threw himself at the Gold-Earth Tribulation Lightning that followed closely behind.
This time he changed his fist into a palm, the edge of his palm glowing with a dark golden luster, carrying an incomparably heavy Aura, and he actually actively slapped towards that heavy and sharp lightning!
"Clang!" A loud sound resembling metal striking metal.
Fang Hao was smashed away again, his arms shaking violently, the webs between his thumbs and forefingers split, and blood dripping.
But after landing, he just swayed and stood firm again.
Although the wounds on his body were hideous, they were all stopping bleeding and shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The dark golden bones were looming beneath the damaged flesh, completely unharmed.
Two terrifying Lightning Tribulations were actually endured by him using this newly achieved Physical Body, combined with his tenacious will!
Although his injuries were not light, his Aura did not wither; on the contrary, under the forging of the Lightning Tribulation, that layer of dark golden luster seemed to have become a fraction more solid.
"Hoo... hoo..." Fang Hao knelt on one knee, breathing heavily, using a charred piece of wood to support his body so he wouldn’t fall.
There wasn’t much good flesh left on his whole body, everywhere was charred black and wounded, like a broken rag doll.
But he raised his head, looking at the tribulation cloud in the sky that seemed to be accumulating the final strike, like thick ink, and the terrifying dark purple electric snakes wandering within it, grinned, revealing teeth stained red with blood, his smile ferocious and enjoyable.
"Sixteen strikes now... you thieving Heaven, only the last two left, right?
Whatever junk you have left, just smash it down!
I... am waiting!"
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