96: The King Returns, the Heavenly Tribulation Descends

Deep within that desolate, uninhabited cave in the Forbidden Ground of Qingyun Sect's Rear Mountain.

This was Lin Gou's most secret, and last, resurrection anchor point.

A speck of dust clinging to the rock wall vibrated slightly, without any warning.

The next instant.

A faint, almost imperceptible spatial fluctuation appeared out of thin air in the void.

It was like an invisible stone dropped into a perfectly still lake.

One ripple.

Then another.

Invisible ripples slowly began to spread outwards.

This fluctuation was extremely subtle, so much so that even the Sect's grand formation guarding the Forbidden Ground did not detect the slightest trace.

However.

Far away, on the Main Peak Plaza.

The three sitting women, their bodies, all trembled violently at the same instant!

It was as if an invisible current, crossing space, had fiercely struck their Souls!

Zhao Linger, who had been sitting as still as a stone statue, suddenly leaned forward.

Her eyes, which had been dim for three full days, suddenly burst forth with an incredulous light, tearing through the darkness!

The Storage Ring in her arms, personally refined by Lin Gou, was burning hot!

It was a scorching heat that burned the Soul! It was the resonance of his unique Soul imprint!

Li Hanyue, who had been guarding like an ice mountain, suddenly opened her eyes, which had been tightly closed for three days!

In her Sea of Consciousness, the 'Demon-Slaying' Sword Intent, which had just been ignited by Lin Gou's true meaning, was wildly pulsating, letting out cheers and excitement from the depths of her Soul!

Far away on the roof of the palace, Su Meier's blood-colored communication Jade Slip shattered with a 'snap' as she accidentally crushed it into powder!

She suddenly stood up, her fiery red skirt swirling wildly in the evening breeze, her captivating peach blossom eyes fixed on the direction of the Rear Mountain, her face filled with extreme shock and ecstasy!

That familiar... unique to that man... an aura they would recognize even if it turned to ash... had appeared!

Boom!

Almost at the same instant, three figures, without any order, transformed into three streaks of light of different colors, rushing towards the Forbidden Ground of the Rear Mountain like mad, with a desperate posture that almost burned their lives!

"Ling'er!"

"Hanyue!"

The acting Sect Master and several Elders, who had just recovered from their grief and were directing reconstruction, were utterly shocked by this sudden scene.

They didn't even have time to react.

An even more terrifying anomaly occurred.

Centered around the Forbidden Ground of the Rear Mountain, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi within a hundred-mile radius, as if summoned by some irresistible monarch, began to riot wildly!

The Spiritual Qi transformed into visible white streams of air, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, like ten thousand Dragons bowing in worship, being frantically sucked away and devoured by an invisible black hole!

The entire Qingyun Sect's mountain-protecting formation hummed, and the Spiritual Veins beneath the Sect let out an unbearable wail.

Above the sky, a massive Spiritual Qi vortex, covering the sky and obscuring the sun, was rapidly forming.

That sight was a hundred times more terrifying than when the Demonic Lord descended before!

"What... what is that?!"

"Oh my god! Spiritual Qi! Our Sect's Spiritual Qi is going to be sucked dry!"

Countless surviving Disciples looked up in horror, the relief of having survived a disaster that had just appeared on their faces instantly replaced by a new, unknown fear.

On the high platform, the Grand Elder, who was already at his wit's end, suddenly opened his cloudy eyes, staring intently at the center of that Spiritual Qi vortex, his shriveled lips trembling violently.

"This... this speed of devouring..."

"It's not a demon! Nor is it a monster!"

"This aura... is pure, human aura!"

He seemed to have thought of some possibility, and his face, covered in Death Qi, showed extreme horror and incomprehension.

He disregarded his own collapsing body and exchanged glances with a few Elders, also transforming into streaks of light, following closely behind the three graceful figures, and rushing towards the Rear Mountain.

Whether it was a blessing or a curse, today, Qingyun Sect was likely to experience another upheaval!

At the entrance to the Forbidden Ground of the Rear Mountain.

Zhao Linger was the first to land, her clothes disheveled, her hair flying, her gentle face now filled with a reckless madness.

She completely ignored the 'Those who enter without permission shall die' stone tablet in front of the Forbidden Ground and was about to rush in!

Li Hanyue, who followed closely behind, grabbed her wrist.

Her hand was cold, yet unusually steady.

"Don't rush."

Li Hanyue's voice was still cold, but in the depths of her icy eyes, a flame capable of melting ten thousand years of profound ice was also burning.

Su Meier's graceful figure landed on the other side, she licked her crimson lips, her eyes almost overflowing with excitement and possessiveness.

"It seems we all made the right bet."

"That little liar, as expected, wasn't that easy to die."

Zhao Linger turned back and looked at them.

One's gaze was as firm as a sword, the other's smile was like a flower but with an undeniable fanaticism.

Her frantic heart, miraculously, settled down a little.

Yes.

He's back.

This thought was no longer a vague fantasy, but a reality that was about to appear before her eyes!

Just at this moment.

Deep inside the cave.

Lin Gou's consciousness awoke from a state of Chaos.

He 'saw' his body rapidly reconstructing from countless specks of light.

At the same time, an indescribably vast and pure energy, like a bursting Heavenly River, surged wildly from the System's Void Realm into his newly formed body!

[Reward One: Cultivation Infusion (No Upper Limit)].

The Origin of all spirits devoured by the Demonic Lord throughout his life.

The endless Demonic Energy contained within that Demonic Sea.

Everything had been perfectly transformed by the System into the purest, most unadulterated torrent of Spiritual Qi!

His Dao foundation was being reshaped.

His Meridians were being widened.

His cultivation was skyrocketing at a speed that would drive any immortal cultivator mad!

Early Foundation Establishment!

Middle Stage Foundation Establishment!

Late Stage Foundation Establishment!

Foundation Establishment Great Perfection!

There was almost no pause.

That indestructible Golden Core barrier, which had trapped countless Prodigies, was as fragile as a window paper in front of this torrent of Spiritual Qi, which was akin to cheating.

Pop!

A soft sound.

It didn't ring inside his body, but between Heaven and Earth!

His aura instantly broke through that invisible threshold, officially stepping into a whole new Realm!

Golden Core Realm!

However, the infusion did not stop!

That torrent of energy continued to pour in, pushing his Realm to continue ascending!

Early Golden Core Stage!

Middle Stage Golden Core!

Late Golden Core Stage!

...Outside.

Above the sky, the gigantic Spiritual Qi vortex, at this moment, suddenly changed color!

It was no longer purely white.

Instead, it transformed into a deep, heart-palpitating, ink-black Lightning Tribulation cloud!

Within the Lightning Tribulation cloud, three colors of lightning were wildly rolling and roaring!

One was a sacred, incomparably pure white divine lightning, filled with the majestic power of Heaven's might!

One was an eerie, mysterious purple demonic lightning, as if from the Nine Nether Demonic Abyss!

The last one was an overbearing, unparalleled golden Lightning Tribulation, containing an aura of ultimate destruction!

Three distinctly different, even mutually opposing, terrifying lightning types, so strangely, fused within the same Lightning Tribulation cloud!

The pressure of Heaven and Earth reached its peak at this moment!

The Grand Elder, who had just arrived, was struck by lightning the moment he saw that three-colored Lightning Tribulation cloud, letting out a shocked cry, his voice completely changed!

"Three... Three-colored Chaos Divine Lightning Tribulation!"

"This is impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"

He pointed at the sky, his fingers trembling like falling leaves in the autumn wind.

"This is a legendary Heavenly Tribulation, only sporadically recorded in the most ancient texts!"

"It's a world-destroying Tribulation specifically used to obliterate those... those Heaven-Defying children who violated the taboos of Heaven and Earth, whom even the Heavenly Dao cannot tolerate!"

"Who?! Who on earth attracted such a thing! Is Heaven trying to destroy my Qingyun Sect?!"

His roar was filled with boundless fear and despair.

All the Elders and Disciples who heard these words turned pale and felt cold all over.

Even the pseudo-Nascent Soul Demonic Lord failed to annihilate Qingyun Sect.

Were they, in the end, going to die within their own Sect, under this inexplicable Heavenly Tribulation?

Zhao Linger, Li Hanyue, and Su Meier also felt that terrifying Heavenly might that could freeze their Divine Souls.

But their gazes were not directed at the sky.

Instead, they were fixed, unblinkingly, on that dark, rapidly devouring Spiritual Qi cave entrance.

The more terrifying the Heavenly Tribulation.

The more it proved how... Heaven-Defying the person undergoing the transformation inside was!

Their hearts were in their throats.

Worry, anticipation, fear, ecstasy... countless complex emotions intertwined and surged in their chests, almost tearing them apart!

Just in this moment of widespread attention and widespread horror.

At the moment when everyone's hearts almost stopped beating.

From that deep cave entrance.

A figure slowly emerged.

His clothes, long since tattered and barely covering his body from the rush of energy, were now in shreds.

His steps were slow, even a little unsteady, as if he was still adapting to this brand new body.

But his back was straight.

Like a sharp sword piercing the sky, carrying a keenness that disregarded Heaven and Earth and disdained all things!

It was Lin Gou!

He looked up, seemingly unaccustomed to the outside light, and squinted slightly.

His gaze swept over the horrified Elders, over the stunned Disciples.

Finally, it pierced through the crowded mass of people, landing with pinpoint accuracy on the slender yet stubborn figure at the very front.

It landed on Zhao Linger's tear-streaked face, which instantly bloomed with endless radiance.

Time, at this moment, seemed to stand still.

Space, too, seemed to solidify.

The raging thunderclouds in Heaven and Earth, that destructive pressure, at this moment, all seemed to become a faded backdrop.

In Lin Gou's eyes, there was only that tear-streaked girl.

In Zhao Linger's eyes, there was also only that man, though disheveled, who truly existed.

Their eyes met.

Crossing life and death.

Crossing despair and hope.

"Mmm..."

Zhao Linger desperately covered her mouth, trying not to cry out.

But the tears that had accumulated for three days, like a mountain collapse and a tsunami, could no longer be suppressed.

Like a bursting flood, they surged out, instantly soaking the back of her hand, dripping through her fingers, one by one, falling onto the dust at her feet.

He's alive.

He's really alive.

He didn't lie to her.

He... came home.

This realization, like the warmest torrent, instantly washed away all her strength, and also washed away all her fear and sorrow.

Only a pure joy, so overflowing it almost suffocated her, remained.

Li Hanyue stood by, watching this scene.

Her hand, tightly gripping the hilt of her sword, had knuckles slightly white from the effort.

She could feel that her Sword Heart, which had just been re-bonded by the true meaning of Law, was trembling with unprecedented intensity the moment she saw that man appear.

A strange, bittersweet, yet slightly warm feeling quietly spread in her heart.

So, this was... the feeling of being alive.

Su Meier, on the other hand, made no attempt to hide her emotions.

Her captivating peach blossom eyes were now astonishingly bright, staring unblinkingly at Lin Gou, as if she wanted to see through him, from the inside out, once more.

This man.

This madman.

Every time, he could turn the impossible into possible.

Every time, he could overturn all her understanding of this world.

Truly a... most perfect plaything that one couldn't get enough of.

Lin Gou's gaze slowly moved from Zhao Linger's face, then swept over Li Hanyue and Su Meier's faces one by one.

Finally, he looked up at the dark, oppressive, three-colored Lightning Tribulation cloud above his head, which exuded a world-destroying aura.

That terrifying Heavenly might was enough to make any Golden Core Immortal Master, or even Nascent Soul Old Monsters, have their Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

But on his face, there was no fear at all.

Instead, he grinned.

Revealing a set of teeth, dazzlingly white in the sunlight.

He spoke to the dumbfounded, blank-minded crowd.

Especially to the three women who had worried for him and cried their eyes out for him, in a relaxed, almost teasing tone, uttering words that almost made their Dao Heart collapse on the spot.

"Don't be afraid."

"I'm just a little hungry."

"Heaven is quite thoughtful, specially sending me a big nourishing snack."