559 Espi’s breakthrough (part 2)
Unlike the previous lightning that looked illusory, despite obviously being fully real, the second lightning that descended from the sky, had not only a different color but a completely different sensation overall.
Which is quite a rare sight considering the fact that normally the punishment lightning that descends whenever a tribulation is ongoing, goes along with the attribute of the one who is being tested.
That is the origin of the increase on the quality/quantity of the spirit energy of the specific element that the cultivator that advances, in the planet where the process took part.
In the four Heavenly Quadrants, not much is known about punishment lightning, because no one dares to mess up with the heavenly law.
Interferrnig with other people's tribulation to help, is one of the most dangerous things to do, but it isn't a guaranteed death, depending on the one who is advancing, the tribulation might be mild enough for a strong cultivator to intervene if necessary.
But participating and observing is different than messing up with it, evil cultivators specialize in using others as guinea pigs and so there are records, of people being forced into other's tribulations, to try and study the punishment lightning, or even storing some of it in a special spirit treasure.
As you can imagine the result was an instant but horribly painful death for both the perpetrator and the one who was in the process of advancing, that being said, if the consequence was only the death of the guinea pigs, evil cultivators would have had obtained what they wanted.
But everyone involved in the "offense" received the punishment of the heavenly law, to the point that even galaxies away, on the planet with the clearest sky, hidden with formations and other things, those who ordered the experiment were struck by lightning out of the blue, some died on the spot, others suffered deviation, others were never able to advance again and their realms even regressed, and others died in mysterious ways.
Even those related to the perpetrators, often had bad luck and faced many hardships as a result of what their relatives did.
So, one of the few things in which even those crazy psychos agreed with the righteous cultivators, was "Never mess up with a tribulation", in comparison slaughtering non cultivators, using them as resources and other messed up things, would only stain one's existence, but there were a lot of flaws that could be exploited.
For example, evil dual cultivators who used drugs or other underhanded methods, to get the "consent" of the other party, guaranteed that they wouldn't be on the scope of the heavenly law, it was quite inconsistent.
Anyway, the lack of information regarding punishment lightning isn't limited to mortal planes, even Eris and Mylene who come from a Divine Firmament, only knew that those lightnings are in fact formed by around 90% percent the same energy that the cultivator has and 10% of the real punishment lightning, after all is a trial not an execution.
In comparison, the lightning casted upon those who offended the heavenly law, can go up to around 50% of real punishment lightning, which means death regardless of one's realm, that knowledge has been passed down from ancient times, as even in a Divine Firmament, messing with the heavenly law is a taboo.
This time the lightning landed on the part of Espi's body which had the piece of yang radiated wood attached to it, surprisingly the impact didn't seem to have hurt the little wyrm.
But then the wood lit up in yellow flames, and Espi couldn't help but slightly twist its lower body, the flames were obviously burning it, luckily it didn't last long before its scales absorbed it.
The air nearby that part of Espi's body, looked blurry as a proof of the heat it was affected by it, also there were some slight burn marks on those scales, but soon they were cured, as the scales cooled down.
Despite the still lingering pain, the little wyrm bravely looked at the sky, waiting for the next round of lightning, normally during a tribulation one is free to move, you can even avoid being hit by initial strike of the lightning, if you are skilled enough, but apparently one of the conditions of Espi's tribulation was to take all the hits directly.
Something seen from time to time in the tribulations of those who are only body path cultivators, at the moment of their advance, which are most of the time those who either have really low talent in the other paths or lack resources, so they have to focus on one path, to earn money for their secondary, which means losing time to cultivate.
"Heh, I originally thought that only one of your two godmothers was going to be interested in that little wyrm, but it seems I was wrong, one of those two was crazy enough to purposedly only cultivate the body until reaching the Transcending realms, while telling all the other members of the young generation of her family "I'm giving you all an advantage, so that you are convinced that I'm better than you", which she proceeded to prove right, as she beat the crap out of them, while being a single path cultivator", said Lilia with a nostalgic voice.
"…"
"As expected of mom's friends…", mumbled Aster, to then look at the third lightning that was about to descend on Espi, this one took more time to form, but it was for a good reason, which is the fact that not only the cloud had two different colors, but the amount of electricity that gathered there was around the double.
Without any warning, two different colored lightning descended this time, one was black colored and carried an ominous chilling sensation, at it aimed at the yin core of the snake from the group of leading spirit beasts.
The other lightning had a semi-transparent and white tone, and it refracted the light, gaining a multicolored glow, that one was aiming at the piece of the diamond that was obtained from the place where the Diamond Bone Orchid grew.
The two different lightnings impacted the little wyrm at the same time, making it bent its body, both the core and diamond exploded into many shards that incrusted into Espi's scales, making it bleed for the first time since the tribulation started.
Instead of worrying, Aster who felt Kana's grip tightening once again, smiled and then said.
"Don't worry, this part was meant to be like this, look Espi isn't in pain anymore, the shards are being absorbed by its flesh instead of the scales this time".
Kana's eyes sparkled as she saw the shards of the core and the diamond, sink into Espi's body, before the wounds closed and the scales that were fractured by the lightning repaired on the spot.
Others might think that the process was random, but those four were the materials Aster and the girls thought were the ones that would benefit Espi the most.
strong blazing property which was balanced by the yin core, last but not least the diamond increased 09:22
the defense and nurtured the body.
And the little wyrm agreed, that's why it chose those four to be the first ones, the lavender mist core made Espi's scales gain a cushion like texture, the yang radiated wood stimulated vitality but had a strong blazing property which was balanced by the yin core, last but not least the diamond increased the defense and nurtured the body.
Everything for the next round that seemed to be the roughest, in terms of pain at least, as the giant cloud that was condensing suggested.
This time, electricity of four colors was crackling on the sky above, there was a green viscous one, a fiery orange tone, a gray with light green tone and lastly there was a deep brown tone that looked especially fierce.
Separated they would be more or less on par with the previous lightnings, but when they mixed, the sensation they gave off was quite dangerous, which made Kana bit her lip, not understanding why Espi had to take four of them at the same time.
"The first four were prepared for defense, the next ones will be used for offensive, that little wyrm is quite bold, it chose to take them on at the same time because that will increase its proficiency regarding them, its setting the bases to obtain the best possible result within the Transcending realms", explained Mira.
Aster raised an eyebrow before saying.
"If the first four were defense and the next four are offense, what will the last two represent?".
"If it is following the method, I think it is, the last ones will refer to regulation and… life, that being said the last one is more of a metaphoric kind of thing, it's like a promise made to oneself, that being said I never heard of a spirit beast literally absorbing the properties of the materials used, normally they will be just used as a baptism, so the result might be different to what I know", answered the ligress girl.
The cloud above Espi had just finished gathering its attack, Espi turned to see Aster and the others and nodded at them, which made Aster chuckle, the little wyrm was being quite daring, but it was its own decision, so no one was in the position to object, besides Aster firmly believed everything will be fine.
The cloud rumbled before the nearby sky was illuminated in four different colors, as the four lightnings descended upon the little wyrm, with a never seen intensity, their size was more than double the previous ones.
So, it was as if a multicolored pillar of light showered Espi, luckily, they were behind the barrier Lilia created, because the moment the little wyrm was engulfed by that pillar of lightnings, a huge shockwave was released followed by a loud thunder.
"Boooom!", the ground of the valley trembled a bit, and while the thunder covered it, Aster as well as the girls with the sharpest senses, could hear the pained hisses coming from within the pillar of electricity, that lasted for a couple of seconds, before the cloud dispersed.
As the dust settled down, the figure of Espi laying down on the ground was revealed, four materials had disappeared, as they were absorbed by its body, but that wasn't everything, many of its scales were gone, and there were some burnt patches ad well as small threads of blood pouring out from the small separations between the scales on most of its body.
"Hisss…", the little wyrm was hissing in pain due to the remaining lingering electricity that crackled around its body from time to time, aggravating the wounds.
Seeing the pitiful state in which the little wyrm was, Aster felt a deep burning sensation filling his heart, his blood started circulating at a faster rhythm and without him noticing his golden pupils had become vertical, like the ones of a dragon.
But as angry as he felt, he didn't allow himself to lose his cool, the one that was the most affected by the scene wasn't him, but Kana, whose pretty blue eyes were letting out little diamond-like tears.
So, Aster took a deep breath and suppressed the rage that was invading him, as he controlled his dragon instincts, making his eyes return to normal.
He then caressed the little girl's hair, Sarina who was holding her daughter's hand, then helped her wipe her tears.
"It's okay sweetie, Espi is still fighting, you have to smile and cheer it up", softly said Sarina, she knew her daughter better than anyone, so she was aware of how bad she felt seeing someone she held dear be in such pain, as Kana had that same expression sometimes, when she thought Sarina was sleeping, back when she was sick.
And then Aster jumped into action, to cheer up the little girl.
"Espi should be able to stay in a smaller size as much as it wants after advancing, so we can let it stay with us from time to time, what do you think".
"Mm thanks big brother!", Kana cheered up quite fast, though the little wyrm could change its size, there was a time limit and the smaller the harder it was for it to maintain it, which is why Espi never entered the mansion, but that will change now, in fact it was needed for Aster to improve his bond with Espi as his contracted spirit beast, similar to how he wanted Mira to spend more time with Aria.
Espi could feel the cheering gazes of Aster and the others and though pained, it slowly got up, the tribulation didn't wait, it has been charging the ninth lightning, which wasn't as fierce as the previous ones, but had to be endured with all the damage from the four offensive ones.
This lightning was of a royal blue color, and it came up with a small rain that fell upon the little wyrm, normally that would have caused quite a lot of damage, but surprisingly the ninth lightning was a soft one, there was no pain caused by the impact nor the absorption of the material, which was a light blue liquid that coursed through the spaces between Espi's scales, washing away the blood.
That being said, while the lightning itself didn't cause any pain, Espi hissed quite loud, the sensation it was experiencing was like pouring alcohol on an open wound.
"Hisssss!", Espi's body retorted as the wounds were slowly healed, until the little wyrm had returned to normal, with the exception that it had an extremely tired expression.
To Aster's surprise the clouds above dispelled, though lightning didn't seem to be coming again, the tribulation hadn't ended, this meant that the last part of the trial wasn't a physical one.
But a mental one, similar to what soul path cultivators tend to experience, in fact Espi seemed to be in a trance, as it remained quite with an absent-minded expression.
Though the whole previous process seemed to last too much, it all happened in a matter of minutes, in comparison the last part of the tribulation actually had lasted more than ten hours, as the sky that had started to darken suggested.
Aster and the others didn't move an inch and kept observing the little wyrm from afar, Espi stayed still like a statue, if it wasn't for the fact that it was breathing, one would think it had passed.
"Aster, someone is coming this way, they are trying to get rid of the illusion formation, and had started to pinpoint the nodes, it's that woman again", said Eris.
With that woman, Eris referred to the Supreme Elder from the Blacksmith peak, as to why it was coming this way, she probably just wanted to cause troubles, because the formation covered not only the valley but the nearby area.
Julian previously was taken by surprise, at the murderous aura which Aster was radiating back when the wounded image of Espi was revealed, so he directly interfered.
"Ahem, you stay here, I'll go take care of it", he said, to which Aster nodded without stopping looking at the little wyrm, right now he couldn't care less about those clowns.
Julian used his authority to leave and go confront those who were approaching the area, and no even a few minutes later, Aster got a message from Julian.
"Most had left, only the Supreme Elder and some other elders from the Blacksmith peak are demanding to be allowed to pass through the area", the moment Julian's words finished Aster casually said.
"If they have a complain they can send their disciples to the life and death arena to fight against me, otherwise tell them to piss off".
The message was delivered by Aster without Julian having to interfere, because he didn't send a written message, but actually called him through the communication talisman.
After that he cut off the connection just in time to see something finally happening, unlike the other nine materials, the tenth one which was Aster's blood, didn't attach to Espi's scales.
It remained unaffected until now, the mix of blood and red liquid floated out of the container and integrated with the area where Espi's heart was placed, as well as its forehead.
"Crack!", the next second, all the presents were in awe at the sight of Espi's body crumbling apart, turning into a pile of white dust.
"B-Big brother…", Kana's eyes widened but before she could make any assumptions, Aster patted her head and said.
"Look above".
Everyone raised their heads and were amazed at the pretty spectacle of different colored lights, illuminating the sky, making small light particles to fall on the whole area, it was a phenomenon caused by Espi's advance, it caused one just like Sarina, Camila and Felicia did.
With a flashy rain of multicolored
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