Chapter 377: The Angry Heavens
Time passed quickly and soon enough; the exit of the Nine Treasures secret realm opened.
As expected, many masters were waiting at the exit.
"Let’s go." Jiang Yue said.
As he spoke, he activated his last teleportation formation disk.
At the same time, someone noticed his actions and shouted to stop them.
However, Jiang Yue was too fast and six people soon disappeared from the exit.
A moment later, they reappeared at the edge of a small town.
The town was covered in snow but it was bustling, and no one seemed to mind the bad weather.
"We should still be in the Ice Palace sect region." Xuan Ke observed.
"We can’t stay here." Li Futian said and looked at the sky.
Seeing his actions, the others also looked up.
In the few breaths, since they arrived, dark clouds had begun to gather in the sky.
The clouds were densely packed and exuded an extremely dangerous aura.
"We need to find a secluded place to cross the tribulation." Jiang Yue spoke urgently.
"We can’t be together." Yu Nianzhen reminded.
If they stood together, their tribulation clouds would gather together and echo each other, becoming more dangerous.
At that time, they may not be able to survive the calamity.
"Seniors, brothers, I will see you later." Xuan Ke said and hurried away.
"I will also go." Li Futian said and flew in another direction.
"You too..." Yang Xu started and then stopped.
He looked a little thoughtful but eventually didn’t say anything serious.
"Your mistress and I are leaving. Take care of yourselves."
"We know, master." Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue said and bowed to Yang Xu and Bing Lan.
"It’s good if you know." Yang Xu sighed and pulled his wife to fly away.
"We should also find a place to cross the tribulation." Yu Nianzhen said with a worried look on his face.
In the time they took to say goodbye, more clouds had gathered in the sky.
If they still didn’t move, they would have to cross the catastrophe at the edge of the town.
However, this was not a good option.
Since they didn’t have someone to protect their safety, crossing the catastrophe at the edge of the town could only lead to death or worse.
"Good." Jiang Yue agreed and the two hurried away from the edge of the town.
Unfortunately, the dark clouds in the sky had already attracted some cultivators in the town.
When Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen were leaving, they felt several eyes on them and they couldn’t help but frown in displeasure.
"Azhen, let’s use teleportation talismans." Jiang Yue suggested.
He didn’t want to be followed but he didn’t have time to play cat-and-mouse games with the pursuant.
"I will use the golden talisman to come to you when my catastrophe ends." Yu Nianzhen said.
"Good."
With that, Jiang Yue stole a quick kiss before activating his teleportation talisman.
A moment later, Yu Nianzhen did the same and was teleported one thousand kilometres away.
When his feet landed on the ground, he immediately released his divine sense.
Although he teleported to what looked like a forest clearing, Yu Nianzhen didn’t dare to be careless.
Before he could rest assured, he had to make sure there was no one around.
’There are some demonic beasts but no human cultivators within fifty kilometres.’ He thought and frowned.
The demonic beats weren’t powerful but Yu Nianzhen couldn’t help but hesitate.
After all, demonic beasts also knew how to take advantage.
If he was too injured in the catastrophe, there was no guarantee he would survive the attack of a class two demonic beast.
"However,..." He muttered and looked at the sky.
When he arrived in the forest clearing, the tribulation clouds began to gather.
Unfortunately, the heavens seemed to have been angered by his frequent movements.
As if to express their anger, the dark clouds gathered faster and more densely.
Looking at them, Yu Nianzhen knew he couldn’t afford to run again. Otherwise, he would surely incur a heavier punishment.
’I have enough pills and Tree of Life leaves.’ He thought and couldn’t help but worry about the others.
Counting from when they left the Nine Treasures secret realm, he evaded the tribulation two times.
If the others were lucky, they should also have evaded two times.
However, if they were unlucky enough to end up in crowded places, they would need to evade a few more times.
Considering that no one except Jiang Yue had Tree of Life leaves, Yu Nianzhen felt uneasy.
He regretted that he didn’t give them Tree of Life leaves but soon put the matter to the back of his mind.
After all, his master, mistress, and two sworn brothers were ambitious cultivators.
They all wanted to pursue their own ways and achieve the peak of the dao.
In that case, it was impossible for them to continuously rely on other people.
"I wish you the best." Yu Nianzhen said with a resolute look in his eyes.
Soon after, he sat cross-legged and began to adjust his breath.
In the days before leaving the secret realm, he and the others spent a lot of time adjusting their conditions.
At this time, he only adjusted a little and was soon back to peak condition.
When he opened his eyes, he had a sword in his hand and his demeanour was more determined.
"Come." He shouted.
As if to answer his taunt, four strips of lightning fell from the sky.
Each strip was thirty centimetres thick and exuded a terrifying sense of destruction.
With a frown on his face, Yu Nianzhen raised his sword and met the light strikes.
Shanjiang easily split the lightning and thin strands scattered all over the forest clearing, scorching the grass and flowers.
However, Yu Nianzhen was not happy to see this.
Initially, he thought Shanjiang would be able to absorb all the lightning from the first strike.
Unfortunately, the sword could only absorb half while the rest scattered.
’It’s more powerful than I thought.’ He thought but didn’t panic.
Although Shanjiang couldn’t absorb most of the tribulation lightning, using it to defend was not meaningless.
Tribulation lightning could remove some of the impurities in the sword; making the sword sharper and more powerful.
As Yu Nianzhen was thinking, the second wave fell.
Compared to the first wave, the number of lightning strips was the same.
However, the power contained in the strikes was vastly different.
"It’s two times more powerful." He said and worry flashed in his eyes.
This time, Shanjiang could only absorb twenty per cent of the lightning while the rest scattered.
Although Yu Nianzhen was not injured, his clothes were scorched and his hair was burnt.
With a sigh, he waited for the third strike and barely managed to survive with a few injuries.
Fourth strike...
Fifth strike...
Sixth strike...
Seventh strike...
When the eighth strike arrived, Yu Nianzhen was in a bad state.
As early as the fourth strike, he had begun refining the leaves of the Tree of Life.
However, his speed of healing could not keep up with the speed of injury.
After the sixth strike, his body was covered in bone-deep cuts which were made deeper by the seventh strike.
"I thought I prepared enough." He spoke through gritted teeth.
Yu Nianzhen had never relaxed his body cultivation and had pushed himself to the fifth level.
Under normal circumstances, he would have easily survived the thunder catastrophe.
However, his situation was not ordinary.
Yu Nianzhen had not only angered the heavens but had also experienced thunder catastrophes since he broke through to the origin tempering realm.
Each tribulation was more powerful than the previous and this time was no different.
Compared to ordinary core formation realm catastrophe, Yu Nianzhen’s tribulation was similar to or more powerful than the nascent soul realm tribulation.
"XiaoYue should also be having a hard time." He muttered and frowned.
With that thought, he felt a little more urgent and couldn’t wait to get done with his tribulation.
[Master...] A voice suddenly appeared in his mind.
[Shanjiang?] Yu Nianzhen called back.
It was rare for his sword spirit to communicate with him and he was a little surprised.
[Master..., I am afraid I can’t take any more.] The sword spirit continued and Yu Nianzhen detected a bit of grievance in its tone.
[You have gained a lot this time. Go back to assimilate them.]
[But...]
[There is only one wave left. I should be able to carry it.]
After saying that, Yu Nianzhen took the sword into his dantian.
However, he was not as confident as he sounded.
For some reason, the last strike was taking an incredibly long time to brew and he always felt it would be different than the previous eight.
"All I need to do is survive." He muttered and his eyes hardened with determination.
A few breaths later, a loud cracking filled the surroundings.
The cracking was accompanied by an oppressive aura and Yu Nianzhen couldn’t help but tremble a little.
