182: Chapter 182 Heavenly Tribulation? I think it's Heavenly Punishment

"Boom!"

Gu Yan had just raised his middle finger, and the firmament seemed to have suffered a great insult.

The blood-colored funnel that had been coiled above Qingyun Peak suddenly collapsed, replaced by a dense, impenetrable layer of purple-black clouds.

The clouds pressed down very low, almost touching the mountain peak. Inside the clouds, there were no ordinary snakes of electricity slithering about; there was only a dull, crushing sound, as if countless enormous millstones were slowly turning within the clouds, intending to grind this world into powder.

Before this pressure even descended, the dome of the secret chamber emitted a teeth-grinding "crack-crack" sound, and then—

Bang.

The hard, ten-thousand-year cold jade ceiling shattered directly.

Before the debris could hit the ground, it was ground into grayish-white powder by the omnipresent electrostatic field, drifting down in a scatter.

Gu Yan stood in the center of the ruins, looking up at that suffocating purple.

"Purple Heaven Lightning?"

He narrowed his eyes.

He had seen this kind of Heavenly Tribulation in ancient texts; it specifically struck peerless Prodigies or... peerless Devil Heads.

Ordinary Golden Core Heavenly Tribulations were "Three-Nine Heavenly Tribulations," which meant twenty-seven green lightning bolts.

But this Purple Heaven Lightning meant life-or-death from the very start.

"It seems even Heaven thinks I look like a Devil Head."

Gu Yan reached out to wipe the stone dust off his face. The asura armguard on his left arm seemed to sense a fatal threat, emitting a low whine as its dark golden scales stood on end, digging deeply into Gu Yan's flesh.

"Woo—"

Just then, the first lightning bolt came down.

No testing, no prelude.

A purple beam of light as thick as a water bucket pierced straight through the heavens and earth, slamming heavily onto the protective mountain array that had just risen above Qingyun Peak.

"Snap."

That improved version of the Four Symbols Heaven-Locking Array, which could trap and kill Little Sword God Ye Gucheng and block Saint Son Li Tianxing's attacks not long ago, was as fragile as a soap bubble at this moment.

It didn't even hold for a single breath.

The light screen shattered, and the Formation Plate exploded.

The thirty-six Formation Flags responsible for controlling the array burned simultaneously, turning into ashes.

The purple beam of light did not lose momentum; it smashed through the array, collapsed the main hall, and finally struck Gu Yan squarely on the head.

BOOM!!!

The entire Qingyun Peak sank downwards violently.

Rocks on the mountainside cracked and crumbled, with rolling stones crashing towards the foot of the mountain.

...

Fifty miles outside the mountain gate.

Elder Su Ming, who was responsible for sealing off the scene, had a tremor in his hands. The wine gourd he regarded as his life "clattered" to the ground, and the wine spilled everywhere.

"This... what the hell is this?!"

Elder Su Ming's eyes widened as he looked at that purple light connecting heaven and earth, his old face turning pale: "Purple Heaven Anti-Demon Tribulation?! What kind of heinous thing did that brat do? Heaven is trying to wipe him out, body and soul!"

He moved, instinctively wanting to rush inside.

Gu Yan, who had just advanced, absolutely could not withstand this level of Heavenly Tribulation; someone had to help share the burden.

"Stop."

A hand pressed onto Elder Su Ming's shoulder.

Sect Master Ye Guyun appeared behind him, his expression as grave as iron.

He watched those rolling purple clouds, a deep sense of dread hidden in the depths of his eyes.

"Sect Master! That is Purple Heaven Lightning! Gu Yan, he..."

"Are you going to throw your life away?"

Sect Master Ye Guyun interrupted him, his voice pained: "Under the Purple Heaven Lightning, no living person should approach. If you go in now, not only will you be unable to save him, but you will also be judged by the Heavenly Dao as an accomplice, and the power of the Heavenly Tribulation will instantly double. By then, the entire Yunlan Sect will be buried with him."

"Then what do we do? Just watch him die?" Elder Su Ming stomped his feet in anxiety.

"That is his Tribulation."

Sect Master Ye Guyun withdrew his hand and clasped it behind his back, though his fists were clenched white: "From the moment he chose to swallow the blood river bead, this path was destined to be a single-plank bridge. If he crosses it, he will be a dragon among men; if he falls, he will be destroyed forever."

"We cannot help."

...

In the center of the ruins.

The purple light dissipated.

The originally level floor of the secret chamber had disappeared, replaced by a scorched black pit a zhang deep.

At the bottom of the pit, Gu Yan knelt on one knee.

His bare upper body was covered in scorched cracks, looking like a piece of porcelain about to shatter.

Wisps of black smoke rose from his wounds, emitting the burnt smell of roasted meat.

Pain.

A bone-deep numbness made it difficult for him to even move a finger.

That purple lightning power had not disappeared; instead, like countless tiny poisonous snakes, it burrowed into his Meridians, frantically destroying his vitality.

"Cough..."

Gu Yan opened his mouth and spat out a puff of black smoke crackling with electric arcs.

"Got some kick."

He propped himself up on his knees and stood up shakily.

As he moved, the layer of scorched dead skin on his body fell off in rustles, revealing the newly grown skin beneath.

It was dark gold.

The Wild Tyrant Body was reborn in destruction, and the Blood River Battle Body was absorbing nutrients from the thunder.

The blood river bead within his body was spinning frantically at this moment.

Although it was a supreme treasure of the Demonic Path and naturally feared thunder, inside the body of a madman like Gu Yan, it had nowhere to run and was forced to work, releasing massive amounts of life essence to repair the tissues damaged by the lightning.

Destruction, repair.

Destruction again, repair again.

With every cycle, Gu Yan's Physical Body strength increased by a fraction.

"Is this the so-called Anti-Demon Tribulation?"

Gu Yan looked up, watching the purple clouds in the sky brewing the second wave of attacks.

He did not take out any defensive Magic Treasure; he even put the soul-shattering knuckles into his palm instead of wearing them on his hands.

He wanted to use this body to take it head-on.

"System, turn off pain suppression."

[Host, are you sure? The upcoming Heavenly Tribulation might cause you to go into shock from the pain.]

"Turn it off."

Gu Yan grinned, revealing a mouthful of stark white teeth: "This kind of opportunity to be tempered by the Laws of Heaven and Earth might only happen once in a lifetime. I want to remember this feeling."

[Pain suppression turned off.]

[Wish you... a pleasant meal.]

Rumble—

The second lightning bolt descended.

It was thicker and purpler than the first, carrying a heaven-destroying and earth-shattering might.

Gu Yan did not dodge.

He bent his legs slightly and exerted force violently, his entire body like a black cannonball, rushing up to meet that lightning bolt.

"Come!!!"

He spread his arms in mid-air, making a gesture of embrace.

Boom!

The thunder entered his body.

In that instant, Gu Yan felt as if he had been thrown into a meat grinder.

Every inch of muscle was torn, every bone was crushed, and his internal organs nearly melted under the high temperature.

But he did not die.

His spinal Dragon roared in golden light within the thunder, like a waking true Dragon, locking onto his last breath of life.

"Refine for me!"

Gu Yan was in the air, bathed in blood, yet he was frantically circulating the Cultivation Technique of the Wild Tyrant Body.

He guided the lightning into his bones.

He wanted to turn this Purple Heaven Divine Lightning, which represented Heaven's Punishment, into the final fire for forging his Golden Core.

Inside his Dantian.

The dark golden liquid core, which had been slowly spinning, suddenly contracted under the pressure of this external lightning.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.

Impurities were removed, and the Yin-Sha was purified.

A golden, round Golden Core, its surface wreathed in eerie blood patterns and purple lightning patterns, was slowly taking shape.

"Come again!"

Gu Yan fell from the air, slammed into the ground, but immediately sprang back up.

The third bolt.

The fourth bolt.

...

Above Qingyun Peak, thunder rolled, and purple lightning was like a dragon.

Each lightning strike caused the hearts of everyone watching from afar to tremble.

But the figure drifting in the sea of thunder never fell.

He was like a stubborn anvil; no matter how the giant hammer of Heavenly Lightning struck, the only sound emitted was the increasingly loud and crisp clanging of metal on metal.

Until the ninth Heavenly Tribulation was brewing.

Gu Yan stood on the scorched earth; there was not a single piece of good flesh left on his entire body, and even ghastly white bones were exposed.

But the aura on his body had reached an appalling level of power.

He raised his left hand; the asura armguard, under the baptism of the lightning, had changed from dark gold to purple-gold, and the eyes of the beast head seemed to have gained sentience, staring fixedly at the firmament.

He raised his right hand again; the spikes on the soul-shattering knuckles were no longer black, but flowing with purple electric arcs.

"This is the last one."

Gu Yan looked at the black cloud that had almost pressed down onto his head; inside it, a purple lightning Dragon was gestating.

"Don't disappoint me."

He took a deep breath, and the embryonic Golden Core within his body emitted a yearning hum.

Fight!