Chapter 132: The Thunder Tribulation

The force of the storm was terrifying to the extreme, sucking in clouds and mists from a radius of nearly a thousand miles.

Such a massive celestial phenomenon also awakened a vast number of cultivators. The spiritual wave generated by the convergence of so much spiritual energy shocked countless practitioners.

Faced with such an immense spectacle, these cultivators naturally assumed it was the birth sign of some heaven-sent supreme treasure.

The primary reason was that they had never witnessed such a terrifying heavenly tribulation.

The most recent breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage had happened at least a hundred years ago.

Across the entire Yue State, the seven major sects combined had only a little over ten Nascent Soul cultivators. Moreover, these dozen-odd experts were those who had survived the cruel weeding out of the great waves, climbing up step by step.

To become a Nascent Soul cultivator required more than just exceptional talent; it demanded destiny, opportunity, and relentless effort, none of which could be omitted.

Although the total population of cultivators in the Yue State was relatively small, numbering only around one or two hundred thousand.

Yet from these one or two hundred thousand cultivators, only a dozen or so Nascent Soul masters could emerge.

Now, such a colossal phenomenon drove countless immortal cultivators to constantly gather around the Cloud-Broken Mountain Range.

By this time, the sea of thunder had been brewing for nearly three days and three nights, and the peak of the entire Cloud-Broken Mountain Range had turned into a purple ocean.

Lin Yang looked up at the terrifying, tangible lightning flowing and churning in the sky.

"It seems I have no choice but to bring out my ultimate trump cards."

Such a horrifying thunder tribulation still made Lin Yang feel a slight flutter of unease.

With a flip of his hand, he summoned the Demonic Blade. Upon injecting spiritual energy, the blade immediately emitted a dazzling, chilling glare.

The Demonic Blade kept spinning around him, moving at an extreme speed yet producing not the slightest sound.

As the blade revolved, it carved white cracks into the void around him. A single glance at these white cracks revealed them to be tears in space itself.

Once space was sliced open, the absolute nothingness of the void was exposed in the gaps.

Although the space of the mortal realm was fragile, its self-repairing capability was exceedingly strong.

In a fraction of a second, the fractured space seamlessly mended itself once more.

However, this was hardly the time to study the Demonic Blade and spatial rifts; the sea of thunder in the heavens was gradually forming a roaring, gaping maw.

As this gigantic maw took shape, it began to reveal its true form.

The sudden apparition of this ferocious beast was immense in size, standing hundreds of meters tall just in height, resembling a mountain planted right in the sky.

At the same time, its appearance was extremely bizarre. At a rough glance, it looked somewhat like a tiger, yet it possessed a pair of wings.

Looking closer, this was none other than Qiongqi, the legendary ancient fierce beast.

Qiongqi looked like a tiger, grew to the size of an ox, possessed a pair of wings, loved to eat humans, and would invariably start feeding from the victim's head downwards.

Rumor had it that since the primordial era, it had always been the chief among the Four Great Fierce Beasts, appearing back when fierce beasts ran amok during the creation of heaven and earth.

In the very beginning, it was one of the Four Great Fierce Beasts under the command of the Beast Emperor Shenni. Later, during the great calamity, it committed monstrous sins, and legend has it that due to heavy karmic retribution, it could only dwell within the Yellow Springs of the Netherworld.

Gazing at the terrifying fierce beast, Lin Yang first produced four battle flags and reactivated the Four Poles Array of the Cloud-Broken Mountain Range.

On the peaks located at the four highest cardinal points of the Cloud-Broken Mountain Range, a vast amount of golden light suddenly erupted.

In an instant, all the golden light converged, forming a golden protective dome that draped over the entire mountain range.

At this moment, Lin Yang also took out various defensive magical artifacts he had refined in ordinary times, none of which were overly precious.

Most of these artifacts took the form of mirrors, large bells, or tortoise shells.

They hovered above the array formation, continuously expanding and unfurling.

In the end, over a dozen magical artifacts transformed into more than a dozen layers of barriers, blocking the sky above.

"Extravagant, truly extravagant."

By now, the outer perimeter of the Cloud-Broken Mountain Range was packed with all sorts of cultivators.

Though they did not dare to approach closely, they still dared to watch from afar in the sky.

The protective barriers formed by the magical artifacts Lin Yang produced were clearly visible to everyone even from a distance of ten miles.

A Qi Refining stage rogue cultivator, stepping on a flying sword in mid-air, looked at so many high-grade magical artifacts appearing in piles like mere trash.

A deep sense of envious emotion welled up in his heart.

"That is the legendary Pill King!"

"Rumor has it that his alchemy skills are the best in the entire continent. Even cultivators from the legendary Great Jin Dynasty come to see him."

Another cultivator nearby chimed in.

"I'm just saying... I'm so damn envious."

"I heard the Pill King is only a few decades, or maybe a hundred years old."

"How can someone be such a genius?!"

The rogue cultivator gazed at Lin Yang with envy. When you are just slightly better than others, they will feel jealousy; when you surpass them by more than a mere realm, they will feel envy, and eventually, worship.

"To be precise, he seems to be around seventy or eighty years old."

"And rumor has it that the Pill King even possesses the pseudo-spiritual roots of all five elements."

The cultivator beside him spoke with an air of absolute certainty.

"Really? You'd better watch what you say and not spout nonsense."

The Qi Refining cultivator who had just been sighing stared speechlessly at the speaker.

"Bullshit, I'm telling the truth."

"However, rumor also has it that this Pill King possesses a legendary special physique."

"And as far as I know, the Immortal Pavilion in our Yue State seems to be the Pill King's own chamber of commerce."

"Word is that the Pill King's wife also advanced to become a legendary Core Formation cultivator a few years ago."

Hearing the other person's retort, he clearly grew a bit agitated, rattling off a long string of claims in one breath.

Meanwhile, amidst the continuous chatter of thousands upon thousands of people gathered at the perimeter, Lin Yang finally noticed signs of an impending attack from the thunder beast above.

At this moment, the gigantic beast in the sky had closed its massive mouth, its eyes glowing with a fierce, sharp brilliance.

It had even lowered its body, crouching as it stared intently at the tiny figure of Lin Yang.

Lin Yang also poured his full power into the grand array, causing the entire formation to flash with an overwhelming golden brilliance.

The golden radiance illuminated everything within a ten-mile radius as bright as day.

The Qiongqi instantly lunged forward, leaving a trail of purple light flashing across the sky like a streak of lightning.

Covering a vertical distance of a full ten thousand meters, it plunged downward in the span of just a dozen breaths.

Traversing such a vast distance, the Qiongqi transformed into a purple beam and slammed directly into the outer defensive barrier of magical artifacts.

The Azure Essence Mirror, which formed the very first layer of defense, shattered instantly, turning into fine dust amid the powerful onslaught.

Following that, the purple beam plunged downward with its momentum completely unchecked, piercing through the paper-thin defenses like an arrow.

Finally, it was halted at the seventh layer of defense, a massive tortoise shell.

Under the resistance of the preceding layers of defense, the Qiongqi had largely exhausted its energy.

It had shrunk considerably, now only several dozen meters in height, and clamped its massive jaws fiercely onto the tortoise shell.

Exerting its final burst of energy, the Qiongqi blasted the tortoise shell of the final layer into pieces.

This tortoise shell had been left behind by a Nascent Soul stage demonic beast after its death, boasting exceptionally high defense.

Yet under the final force of the Qiongqi, it was shattered into pieces, and then blasted into dust in the ensuing explosion.

The large bell forming the eighth layer was also shaken to pieces, riddling its surface with countless cracks.

"Phew."

Seeing the first major attack successfully blocked, everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief. Every single one of them had been extremely tense, as if they themselves were the ones suffering the heavenly tribulation.