111: Physical breakthrough, Core Formation tribulation, the consequences of arrogance

At the foot of the mountain, Jiang Yan stood upon a giant boulder. At this moment, he no longer suppressed the qi-blood power within his body. Waves of blood-red, golden-tinged aura instantly surged outward.

The giant boulder beneath his feet, unable to withstand this golden aura, instantly turned to dust.

"Ah..."

Jiang Yan let out a hysterical roar, as if a primordial ferocious beast was tearing its way out from within him.

"Boom!"

A wave of golden-red energy erupted from Jiang Yan's entire body, shooting straight into the clouds. It actually shattered all the mountain rocks and trees within a radius of several dozen zhang into powder!

His muscle fibers writhed like dragons and snakes, his bones emitted thunderous cracking sounds, and ancient crimson dao patterns surfaced on his skin. This was the mark of a Body Cultivator who had cultivated to Major Achievement!

"Divine Power Realm... achieved!"

He suddenly clenched his fist, the air compressing with a sonic boom. The sheer force of the power wave caused the earth beneath his feet to collapse into a massive crater. Suspended at the bottom of the pit, every inch of Jiang Yan's skin now shimmered with a dark golden luster.

Even more terrifying, the crimson dao seed within his body was resonating with his golden body. The pupil of his left eye transformed into a vertical slit of crimson-gold, while his right eye turned into an abyss-like black. Behind him, the faint silhouette of a demonic god materialized!

"Not enough yet..."

The power suppressed within his body made him understand what it meant now that his physical strength had broken through eighty points.

Tearing open his upper garment, he revealed his chest. The formation diagram of the self-rotating dao seed became visible.

The formation diagram spun wildly, actually beginning to draw in the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi from a hundred li radius!

This Origin Qi was extremely violent and chaotic, yet looking at him, he seemed completely unfazed, as if nothing was wrong.

Jiang Yan revealed an intoxicated expression. He could feel that he had touched upon a certain forbidden Domain.

From the entry level of the Divine Power Realm, he directly leaped to the Middle Stage of the Divine Power Realm.

He now dared to say that even a Core Formation Lightning Tribulation, he would dare to withstand it head-on!

"Is this the feeling of having an invincible Physical Body?"

His current state was exceptionally good. With each breath, he felt like a primordial ferocious beast.

Taking out his Spirit Treasure spear, he slashed it hard against his own left hand.

Seeing that it didn't even break the surface of his skin, only leaving a white mark, he immediately burst into loud laughter.

"I've made it! I, your grandpa, finally don't have to fear Spirit Treasures anymore!"

Glancing at the surrounding environment, he thought, taking advantage of this abandoned terrain, why not directly form his Golden Core? After all, he had over ten Spiritual Artifacts, Spirit Treasures, and other treasures to withstand the Lightning Tribulation.

As the character panel was opened, Jiang Yan decisively selected the Breakthrough interface.

After pressing the Breakthrough button, the aura within his body instantly swelled. Immediately after, he felt a Golden Core beginning to condense upon the Foundation Establishment platform within him.

'Damn, so fast?'

Jiang Yan hurriedly took out various Magic Treasures, Spiritual Artifacts, and Spirit Treasures to resist the Lightning Tribulation.

Just as he finished arranging these items, thunderclouds had already begun to gather in the sky above this area.

"Rumble..."

In the sky above, thunderclouds churned like ink-black waves, covering a hundred li radius in the blink of an eye.

This was no ordinary Golden Core Lightning Tribulation. The crimson lightning interwoven within the clouds was clearly a sign of the Heavenly Dao's wrath!

'What's wrong with this Lightning Tribulation?'

Jiang Yan had a feeling this Lightning Tribulation was completely different from the ones he had seen before, even more terrifying than that mutated tribulation.

'Damn it, why does it change nature the moment it's my turn!'

Jiang Yan had no time to complain and hurriedly concentrated on mobilizing the treasures to resist the heavenly punishment.

At this moment, twelve protective treasures hovered before him: the Profound Tortoise Shell Shield automatically unfolded into a formation, the Nine-Revolutions Exquisite Pagoda draped down with seven-colored radiant light. At the very center, the "Sky-Dodging Hairpin" even began to tremble autonomously—this Spirit Treasure was actually afraid of the impending heavenly punishment!

"Crack!"

When the first Lightning Tribulation bolt struck, the entire valley lit up as bright as day. The crimson lightning split into nine lightning serpents mid-air, blasting towards Jiang Yan from different angles. The Profound Tortoise Shell Shield met them first, but instantly became covered in cracks upon contact!

Feeling the residual power of the heavenly lightning striking his body, which actually felt like tempering, his eyes lit up.

"Come at me!"

He formed hand seals with both hands, the dao seed within his body spinning frantically.

When the second Lightning Tribulation descended, he did something that would leave all Cultivators wide-eyed: he actively withdrew three defensive Magic Treasures and used his Physical Body to directly withstand the heavenly lightning!

"Crack!"

A massive crimson thunderbolt, like a giant python, directly pierced into his body from the crown of his head.

"Pfft!"

The excruciating pain of the crimson lightning coursing through his body made him spit out a mouthful of golden blood, but he immediately revealed ecstatic joy.

"Haha... It actually works!"

Those lightning bolts were actually being devoured by the dao seed, condensing into the embryonic form of a lightning-patterned Golden Core within his Dantian!

The thunderclouds in the sky suddenly stilled, as if angered, and began to compress.

When the clouds condensed to a ten-li range, a pure black thunder pillar crashed down with a roar. This was the legendary "Annihilation Divine Thunder" that only appeared during the promotion from Nascent Soul to Virtual God!

Jiang Yan didn't understand this. He only felt that the previous lightning strike had been incredibly satisfying.

"Come on, let the storm rage even more fiercely!"

Jiang Yan crushed a jade vial in his embrace. A drop of black, viscous, unknown spiritual liquid shot straight towards the thunder pillar.

At the moment of their collision, he summoned two protective Spiritual Artifacts. These two artifacts were treasures Fang Yu had saved up for a long time, his ultimate reserves.

"Sizzle..."

An unbelievable scene unfolded. Upon contact with the black spiritual liquid, the Annihilation Divine Thunder transformed into three black lightning bolts. Two of them were intercepted by the Spiritual Artifacts, while the final one headed straight for Jiang Yan.

Sensing its residual power, Jiang Yan decisively chose to withstand it with his Physical Body.

"Pfft!"

Another mouthful of golden blood was spat out, the pain making him grimace. He had thought it wouldn't be a big deal, but this power truly made him afraid.

But the next moment, he was shocked to discover that the surface of his Golden Core was now covered in profound black dao patterns.

'Damn, didn't they say Golden Cores are divided into nine grades? Then what grade is my Golden Core?'

Now, an unprecedented Golden Core floated before him... The left half shone with brilliant golden light like a great sun, the right half was pitch-black and deep as eternal night, and a crimson dao pattern ran through its center from end to end!

"Rumble..."

The Lightning Tribulation had not yet dispersed. Jiang Yan hurriedly brought out the three Magical Artifacts again. This time, he dared not receive the lightning with his body, as he certainly didn't want to die during the tribulation.

As for this Golden Core... he'd consider it once he was safe.

"Boom! Crack!"

As if enraged, the thunderclouds churned once more. A purple-black Lightning Tribulation tore through the firmament, its power several times greater than before!

Jiang Yan's eyelids twitched wildly. He wouldn't dare be overconfident this time: "Profound Heaven Umbrella! Open!"

The first defensive Spirit Treasure instantly opened. The umbrella's surface revealed a pattern of stars and rivers.

The Lightning Tribulation struck the umbrella's surface, exploding into myriad starlights. The umbrella ribs emitted a groaning sound of strain.

"Nine-Revolutions Blood Lotus! Appear!"

The second Magical Artifact transformed into a crimson lotus platform, lifting Jiang Yan up. The lotus petals bloomed layer by layer, each petal engraved with crimson rune arrays, forming a second barrier.

"Blood Dragon's Reverse Scale Armor!"

The final life-saving Spirit Treasure directly merged with his skin, transforming into crimson dragon scales covering his entire body. Although this armor bore the name 'Blood Dragon', compared to a true dragon's scale armor, it was a mere imitation. It was forged only from the scales of a Fourth Realm Demonic Beast, the Blood-Scaled Python.

"Boom!"

The Lightning Tribulation successively pierced through the Profound Heaven Umbrella and the Nine-Revolutions Golden Lotus, finally striking the dragon scale armor.

Jiang Yan was smashed over a dozen zhang deep into the ground. More than half of the dragon scales on his body shattered, but a look of wild joy appeared on his face.

The residual power of the Lightning Tribulation was actually actively absorbed by the strange Golden Core within his body, making the black dao patterns even clearer!

"Damn, could it be..."

He suddenly realized that this mutated Golden Core didn't need the traditional nine-grade classification at all.

The left half of the Golden Core frantically devoured the power of the heavenly thunder, while the right half converted it into pure spiritual energy to nourish his own body. This was fundamentally a Heaven-Defying existence that formed its own world!

"More!"

Jiang Yan tore off the tattered dragon scale armor, pointed a single finger at the sky, and used only the remaining power of the Profound Heaven Umbrella to guide the Lightning Tribulation.

When the ninth Lightning Tribulation descended upon him, he made a shocking move!

He summoned his Golden Core outside his body and directly slammed it into the Lightning Tribulation!

"Sizzle!"

The moment the Golden Core collided with the heavenly thunder, the entire world fell silent. Then, the light that erupted temporarily blinded all Cultivators out at night within twenty li.

When their vision recovered, everyone within twenty li witnessed a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives:

That bizarre Golden Core, gold on the left and black on the right, now entwined with purple lightning patterns, slowly rotated above Jiang Yan's head. And the thunderclouds in the sky... were actually trembling slightly as they dissipated!

"Haha... I, your grandpa, have made it!"

Jiang Yan laughed triumphantly, pointing at the dissipating thunderclouds in the sky: "Look! When I was weak, you kept scaring me. Now that I, your grandpa, am strong, even you are afraid, aren't you!"

Just as Jiang Yan's words fell, the dissipating thunderclouds seemed to understand. Thunderous rumbles sounded in succession, and then, as if about to gather once more.

"Holy shit!"

Seeing the thunderclouds reforming, Jiang Yan hurriedly bowed and apologized: "Grandfather Heavenly Dao, your grandson was wrong. I was just joking with you."

Just as he finished apologizing, a slender, silent, golden lightning bolt instantly streaked across the night sky.

Immediately after, that golden lightning bolt shot straight towards Jiang Yan.

"Ah..."

A miserable scream pierced the night sky as he was directly smashed from the air into a deep pit.