Chapter 305: Eating Tribulation

Crackling and popping!

After a series of charred explosions, the air filled with the savory aroma of roasted flesh. The Spirit-Devouring Gu, brought from Ten Thousand Demon Mountain by the Soul-Parasitic Gu, were being annihilated by the Tribulation Lightning like overcooked popcorn, dropping one after another. In the blink of an eye, more than half the swarm had perished.

Sensing imminent death, the remaining insects desperately resisted the Soul-Parasitic Gu’s control. Some even seized the opportunity to devour the corpses of their fallen brethren. Within moments, the once massive swarm had dwindled to just over a dozen survivors, all Gu Insects that had evolved by consuming the bodies of their companions. Their bodies now gleamed with a dark, metallic sheen. Lightning arcs no longer killed them outright; instead, they would crash to the ground, twitch briefly, then flutter back into the air.

The Life-Stealing Mite and Soul-Parasitic Gu fared the worst. Neither insect was suited for direct combat, and the Heavenly Tribulation relentlessly bombarded them, trails of smoke rising from their charred bodies no matter where they fled. Yet despite their suffering, these two Strange Insects held high positions on the Rare Insect Ranking. The First Nine Heavenly Tribulation’s lightning, though brutal, failed to harm their fundamental essence. Instead, the thunderous onslaught spurred subtle transformations, their auras growing steadily stronger.

Boom!

The eighth bolt of Tribulation Lightning erupted with full force.

The area influenced by the Gu Insects remained too small, and the vast majority of the Thunder Tribulation struck Chen Luo directly. The eighth wave of lightning surged relentlessly, its power causing the newly acquired Bone Patterns within his body to glow ever brighter. The Demon Bone at his chest surfaced, and his body transformed into a black hole, greedily devouring the Heavenly Tribulation’s energy.

In just a short time, he was nearly satiated. The “points” of spiritual energy within his body had increased from seven to eight. This rapid growth astonished the Immortal Sect Leader and the Cave of White Immortal disciples within his External Brain. According to their understanding, condensing spiritual energy “points” after Core Formation was an arduous task, typically requiring centuries of accumulation.

Advancing through the Core Formation Stage was even more difficult, consuming even longer periods of time. Many Blood Pill cultivators died after exhausting their thousand-year lifespans, having only managed to accumulate two or three spiritual energy “points.” Yet Chen Luo, fresh from Tribulation Transcendence, had already gathered eight. The gap between Perfect Golden Core cultivators and those with Blood Pills or Crimson Pills was widening dramatically.

The ninth wave of Thunder Tribulation is the cumulative power of the previous eight.

Just as Chen Luo finished absorbing the eighth wave and prepared to repeat the process for the ninth, a chilling thought emerged from the Mummified Brain within his External Brain.

The thought stopped Chen Luo in his tracks.

None of his External Brains, including the Demonic Heart Ancestor’s, had ever experienced the ninth wave of the Thunder Tribulation. They had no idea the tribulation would undergo such a dramatic transformation at this final stage.

“The Chessboard!”

Without hesitation, Chen Luo retrieved his last trump card: the Chessboard, a treasured artifact of the Millennial Ancient Kingdom. The moment it materialized, it instantly erected a barrier against the Thunder Tribulation, cleanly bisecting the tribulation clouds in the sky and the ground below.

The tribulation clouds ceased expanding and began to contract.

The vast expanse that had once blanketed the entire valley gradually shrank into a small cloud cluster roughly three meters in diameter. The compressed lightning within transitioned from a pure white glow to a blinding point of light, then darkened until it coalesced into a thumb-sized bolt of black lightning that slowly descended from the cloud.

Crack!

Before the lightning could even approach, dozens of Spirit-Devouring Gu, fattened by mutual cannibalism, were instantly charred to a crisp and fell to the ground, their fate uncertain. Smoke curled from the Life-Stealing Mite and Soul-Parasitic Gu. Most shockingly, a visible crack appeared on the surface of the Chessboard, Chen Luo’s ultimate hidden weapon.

The gap previously carved into the Chessboard by Patriarch Guhe of the Great Void had widened slightly.

At the center of the divided Chessboard, where the Heavenly Origin position should have been, a black hole appeared. Tribulation Lightning surged through it, wreaking havoc on the Chessboard’s spatial fabric.

For the first time, Chen Luo sensed genuine danger.

He swiftly channeled the surrounding Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, forming hand seals. A colossal tornado erupted from his palms, expanding dramatically as it interacted with the ambient energy, swelling to dozens of meters in diameter. The spiraling vortex spun horizontally, its upper end morphing into a pale azure dragon’s head that lunged toward the descending Thunder Tribulation. In the Five Elements System, water extinguishes fire, fire melts wind, wind disperses lightning, lightning shatters earth, and earth absorbs water. Chen Luo was utilizing an External Brain perfectly suited for wielding the Five Spirits’ divine abilities.

The wind dragon collided with the Thunder Tribulation. The descending lightning faltered momentarily before cleaving through the vortex, continuing its descent toward Chen Luo.

Chen Luo swiftly contracted the Chessboard’s area, simultaneously gathering the scattered remnants of the tornado. Transforming the Chessboard into the dragon’s head once more, he sent it crashing upward to meet the lightning again.

BOOM!!

This time, the collision unleashed a cataclysmic explosion that shook the heavens and earth.

The instant the chessboard touched the Thunder Tribulation, it erupted with power comparable to the Nascent Soul Realm. Normally, such a formidable assault would have easily withstood the ninth tribulation, allowing Chen Luo to successfully transcend it. However, his earlier reckless dive into the tribulation clouds had multiplied the difficulty of the Thunder Tribulation several times over.

The chessboard, now a chaotic vortex of wind dragons and lightning, crashed into the Thunder Tribulation, yet failed to shatter the celestial punishment. Instead, the chessboard was blasted aside, and the wind dragons detonated a second time. The remaining lightning bolts relentlessly streaked toward Chen Luo’s head.

“Corpse King!”

At the critical moment, Chen Luo unleashed his ultimate trump card, a method he had painstakingly refined over years of cultivation.

The Silver Carapace Corpse King roared, raising its fist and smashing it into the Thunder Tribulation.

Demonic Cultivation Realm.

Border Region.

In the area where the Yinsha Forest once stood, a surge of demonic energy descended from the sky, carrying seven shadowy figures.

“Where are the Life-in-This-World Inn and the Earth Dragon Essence?!”

The seven Spider Women Spirits stared into the massive crater, a growing unease creeping into their hearts. The two Demon-Monsters, who were supposed to be slumbering like their Eldest Brother, had awakened prematurely and fled.

“They seem to have gone that way.”

The Eldest Sister Spider Demon observed the edge of the crater for a moment before tracing a trail along the mountain range leading northeast. That direction pointed toward the Seven Kingdoms Region, a land even more desolate in spiritual energy. For the Southern Heaven Domain, the Seven Kingdoms were a forgotten realm, a battlefield relic. The devastating war three thousand years prior had left its deepest scars on this desolate region.

Rumor had it that the source of the Fallen Realm lay within the Seven Kingdoms Region, though this had never been confirmed. Instead, there was ample evidence of demonic cultivation activity, most notably at the Life-in-This-World Inn and the Earth Dragon Marsh. Ten Thousand Demon Mountain could also be considered a site, but the Thousand-Eyed Centipede and his forces had descended for unrelated reasons and didn’t factor into this.

“What now?”

“Let’s investigate.”

Having come this far, the seven Spider Demons couldn’t possibly turn back.

The group activated their Magic Artifacts and traversed the mountain range into the Seven Kingdoms. The moment they entered the region, they sensed something was amiss.

The gateway to the city stood desolate, shrouded in a deathly gray miasma.

As their Divine Sense swept over the area, they detected Ghost Cultivators lurking within the gateway. A frigid aura permeated the land, stretching toward the horizon. In the distance, a translucent Ghost Temple seemed poised to cross the boundaries of the realm.

“A Ghost Temple?! This is far more serious than we thought!”

They hadn’t found the Life-in-This-World Inn or the Earth Dragon Marsh, but they had uncovered the secret of the Ghost Temple. Judging by the state of the Seven Kingdoms Region, the Ghost Temple’s invasion had clearly been underway for some time. If the entire region was consumed by the temple, the enemy they would eventually face wouldn’t just be the Four Great Immortal Sects, but a fully awakened Ghost Temple itself.

“We must return and inform Eldest Brother immediately,” the Eldest Sister Spider Demon decided instantly.

The seven Spider Demons dared not venture any further. Their figures transformed into streaks of light as they retreated at full speed. Below them, Shan City, once a bustling metropolis, now lay in ruins, utterly silent. Only indistinct, ashen shadows flickered eerily through the mist.

Chen Luo retrieved his Soul-Parasitic Gu and Life-Stealing Mite, which were on the verge of being charred to cinders.

The devastation was complete. The ninth Thunder Tribulation was fundamentally different from the previous eight. The number nine symbolized completion, and Chen Luo’s pursuit of perfect Foundation Establishment had been following the path outlined by the Mummified Brain. He didn’t know what foundation this was forging, but its difficulty far exceeded his expectations.

The Silver Carapace Corpse King remained suspended in mid-air, roaring defiantly against the thunderbolts. The dense malevolent aura surrounding it was gradually being shattered and purified. Black smoke billowed from its body, exposing fragments of bone. This Corpse King, comparable to a Core Formation cultivator, had been reduced to an incomplete husk by the ninth Thunder Tribulation. Yet the surviving portions had become even more resilient, showing faint signs of further evolution.

All of this hinged on whether the Silver Carapace Corpse King could withstand the final Heavenly Thunder without being reduced to ashes.

Chen Luo extended his palm.

Nine Second-Tier Magic Swords he had forged himself materialized around him. The swords soared into the air, forming an intricate sword formation that helped disperse the Tribulation Lightning’s power. Inside Chen Luo, the Demonic Heart Ancestor’s brain continued its relentless calculations, while the Mummified Brain rapidly absorbed the stray energy from the Thunder Tribulation. It then combined this power with the second Bone Pattern Chen Luo had just acquired, further solidifying his foundation.

The Yinmu Sword Formation unfurled, instantly dividing the Tribulation Lightning’s force into nine streams. The pressure on the Silver Carapace Corpse King’s body lessened significantly, slowing the disintegration of its corpse.

Seizing the opportunity, Chen Luo soared into the sky, activating the second Bone Pattern from the Demon Bone Array Sigil Art. This pattern, related to Thunder Tribulation, could mitigate its pressure when harnessed.

As Chen Luo ascended, the power of the Bone Pattern radiated from his body. He extended his right hand and grasped a stray bolt of Heavenly Thunder. Others sought to transcend or evade the Tribulation;

He intended to devour it!

Just as Chen Luo prepared to “consume” the final strike of Thunder Tribulation…

On Ten Thousand Demon Mountain, the Thousand-Eyed Centipede, which had been constantly sensing the power of the Heavenly Tribulation with its antennae, suddenly stirred. Its antennae trembled violently, and then a dozen of its eyes snapped open, while the remaining eyes began to twitch. With great effort, one eye after another opened until a hundred glowed.

This represented one-tenth of the Thousand-Eyed Centipede’s full power in its prime.

A golden light radiated from the opened eyes, coalescing into a concentrated beam of golden energy. Piercing through the Demonic Qi barrier surrounding Ten Thousand Demon Mountain, the beam struck the distant tribulation clouds with pinpoint accuracy.

Buzz!

The golden beam collided with the tribulation clouds, creating a ring of grayish-white mist. The mist expanded rapidly, engulfing both Chen Luo, who was undergoing Tribulation Transcendence below, and the tribulation clouds themselves.

“It’s done! As long as those two make their move, I’ll have my chance,” the Thousand-Eyed Centipede muttered to itself.

It was confident that the two entities would strike, especially the Life-in-This-World Inn, whose proprietor had enemies in the Upper Realm and would never miss this opportunity.

All that remained was to wait for the perfect moment for both parties to make their move.

As the Thousand-Eyed Centipede plotted its escape, seven figures flew back toward the mountain—the seven Spider Demons it had previously dispatched.