Ch. 301 - Heavenly Tribulation

The Wooden-faced Daoist was charred all over, nearly reduced to ashes! Purple lightning bolts, each as thick as a water tank, surged from the heavens, tearing across the skies and crashing down from the firmament. The terrifying thunderbolts scorched earth and stone black.

The Wooden-faced Daoist’s expression changed drastically. This was the Purple Heaven Lightning, the bane of his very existence, capable of destroying his Nine Tribulation Body. Without his heavenly art reaching full perfection, he could never withstand it.

The thunder roared, and he was like a fragile sapling in a storm, ready to snap at any moment. His Daoist robe had already turned to ash, his body marred with dreadful scorch marks.

“You damned dog, your nose really is sharp! I haven’t even settled our last account!” the Wooden-faced Daoist roared. He and Duan De were one and the same, inseparable.

“Damn cow-nose, last time I didn’t finish you off, and it still irks me. Today I’ve come to make you my human pet!” the big black dog bellowed arrogantly. Controlling the lightning, he made heaven and earth quake, thunder raging everywhere.

A dog declaring he would take him as a pet, how could the never-suffering Daoist Duan endure such humiliation? His fingers trembled with fury. He wanted nothing more than to skin that mutt alive, throw it into a pot, and devour dog meat stew with the bones and broth together.

“You wicked dog demon, I will suppress you!”

“Human pet, mind your manners before this Emperor, or I’ll train you slowly later,” the black dog taunted, swaggering like a wolf with a wagging tail.

“Boundless… Heavenly Lord!” Duan De intoned, his body emitting waves of divine light.

“Pointless! I know you cultivate the Heavenly Tribulation Crossing Art. Everything here was prepared just for you.”

The black dog sneered cunningly. On the mountaintop, Dao Runes covered the land, sealing everything completely. He controlled the Purple Heavenly Lightning, bolts crashing down one after another, turning the place into a sea of thunder.

Though Duan De’s cultivation was profound, he could not escape this sealed domain. Lightning struck him relentlessly, one bolt after another, making his body tremble, blackened and nearly destroyed.

From afar, the many cultivators could not see clearly what was happening. All they could witness was thunder rolling across the nine heavens.

The Black Emperor’s etched Dao Runes were mysterious, isolating the mountain from the outside. Only the thunder from above could be seen.

“Dog fiend, we have no grievance between us. Why must you do this? What do you want?” the Wooden-faced Daoist demanded.

“Hand over your source, and I’ll keep you as my pet.” The black dog lifted his bald tail proudly as he answered.

“Damn it!” Duan De raged. “Boundless Heavenly Lord! You damned mutt, too devious by far. Today, even if I burn my cultivation, I will suppress you!”

Beside them, Ye Fan chuckled, divine light shimmering in his hands. He had already prepared the platform. Their plan was about to succeed.

Tu Fei chimed in with a grin: “Dog, if you really can make him your pet, I’ll truly respect you.”

“Woof!” A bolt of purple lightning nearly struck Tu Fei’s head. He quickly shut his mouth, no longer daring to add fuel to the fire. In this forbidden domain, the black dog reigned supreme.

“Nine Heavens and Nine Earths… temper the undying body!” Duan De chanted softly.

But his words were cut off as the black dog roared: “Heavenly Tribulation!”

Myriad bolts of lightning fell, merging into one ocean of purple light. Misty violet energy spread everywhere, radiant and dazzling. The world became one of thunder and lightning, each inch of space saturated with annihilating force, enough to destroy everything.

“The tribulation within the Nine Tribulation Rune, a Heavenly Tribulation?!” the Wooden-faced Daoist exclaimed in horror.

Boom!

This was no longer mere lightning but a true sea of thunder. Endless purple radiance converged, crashing down. The shameless Daoist’s God-Spirit cracked, on the verge of shattering.

Though he was a body of godpower, not flesh and blood, he still felt a pain like knives piercing his bones. He cried out: “You’ve mastered an ancient Dao art?!”

“The Emperor knows many things! Now submit as my pet!” barked the great black dog.

“Damn it, Boundless Heavenly Lord!” Duan De nearly had his nose crooked in rage, yet he was helpless before such overwhelming force.

Boom!

Endless lightning fell, making his body blur, divine power scattering, almost annihilated.

“Kneel, human pet! I shall grant you supreme glory!” the black dog cried with fervor, like Duan De himself not long ago, when he had stood in purple robes berating the sacred lands.

“Boundless motherfucking Heavenly Lord! You dead dog, don’t get cocky!” Duan De gritted his teeth, seeking a way to break free.

Boom!

The sea of thunder pressed down, driving him deep into the earth, filling his mouth with dirt.

“Tremble, human pet! Your daddy’s wrath shall shake the nine heavens!” The black dog spoke with solemn grandeur, like a divine being beyond mortal reach.

Tu Fei gaped in shock. “Damn, is this mutt trying to steal Duan De’s act? He wants to pose as the one looking down on all creation too?”

Boom!

Thousands of lightning bolts intertwined, dazzling like the sun, blasting Duan De until his eyes rolled back.

“Repent, human pet! Kneel before me, and I will forgive your sins!” The black dog’s head was lifted high, like an untouchable deity.

Even Ye Fan was speechless. This dog had truly gotten into character, taking himself for a god, more so than Duan De himself ever had.

“Return from your misguided path, my pet! This Emperor withholds nothing from you. Walk by my side and I shall lead you back to my eternal throne!” The black dog shone with divine majesty, entirely condescending.

Boom!

Lightning shattered Duan De’s arms. Though his God-Spirit could regenerate, the pain made him curse furiously.

“Damn it!” Duan De’s face turned utterly green. He had never suffered such humiliation, looked down on by a dog, being called someone’s pet. He wanted to vomit blood.

“Dead dog, what will it take for you to stop?” Duan De was barely holding on. The God-Spirit born from his Dao Palace could not be lost, for he needed this avatar to save his true body.

“Black Emperor, make him hand over his source first!” Ye Fan shouted. The damned mutt was too caught up in his role, forgetting the real business.

“Kneel, human pet! This Emperor forgives your ignorance!” the black dog intoned with divine gravitas, summoning purple lightning to cut him off.

“Pray, human pet, this Emperor…”

“Bow, human pet, this Emperor…”

The black dog had truly lost himself in the act. His lofty declarations thundered endlessly, as lightning lashed down. Duan De nearly spat blood from rage.

“You dumbass, just take the source already!” Ye Fan finally snapped. This mutt was torturing him too long.

“From now on, kneel before this Emperor! Glory shall be yours! Immortality shall be yours! My pet, prostrate yourself before me!” The black dog finally delivered his last pompous lines.

His acting was exhausting, even Ye Fan and Tu Fei could hardly stand it, let alone the pitiful Duan De.

Duan De was scorched, smoking, barely clinging to life. Half his body gone, lying like a dead dog, yet still cursing bitterly:

“Dead dog… damn you… black dog meat… I’ll boil you alive…”

“Human pet, do you submit or not?” the Black Emperor roared, head held high.

“Fine! Take the source, just undo the barrier!” Duan De waved his hand, and a mountain of glittering source appeared.

Ye Fan did not step forward. “That’s only five thousand kilos. Far from enough.”

“One mustn’t be too greedy,” Duan De said darkly.

“Then no deal. Black Emperor, continue the thunder!” Ye Fan sneered.

“You think you can kill me?” The Wooden-faced Daoist’s body suddenly blurred, dissolving into nothing.

“The Heavenly Tribulation Crossing Art! The God-Spirit cannot die, omnipresent, difficult to destroy,” the black dog’s eyes gleamed. “But against this Emperor, bad luck! You think dissolving yourself lets you escape?”

Boom!

Lightning filled every inch of space, the mountain drowned in thunder.

“This is the Nine Tribulation Rune. No matter what form you take, as long as you live, you must endure it!”

“You!” Duan De screamed from the void.

“Hand over the source! No more talk. If you don’t give thirty thousand kilos, you’ll be ashes today!” Tu Fei shouted.

“My pet, don’t defy me, or I’ll show no mercy,” the black dog threatened.

“Fine, you’re ruthless. I’ll give everything I have!” Duan De panicked, if his true body outside was destroyed, it would be disastrous.

The skies rained glittering source blocks, dazzling five-colored brilliance cascading down. The mountain top glowed with resplendent radiance, the air saturated with energy that made one’s mind drift.

“So much source…” Ye Fan’s eyes gleamed. “Black Emperor, keep him contained, I’ll collect them.”

It went smoothly. With a sweep of his sleeve, Ye Fan gathered more than twenty-five thousand kilos of source. Together with his own twelve and a half thousand and the Godsource, he now had enough to break through to the fourth level of Dao Palace.

Boom!

Suddenly, the mountain shook violently. All Dao Runes cracked, the lightning vanished.

“What happened?!” Tu Fei cried in shock.

“Trouble! Someone powerful shattered it all with sheer force!” The black dog’s heart trembled.

Without hesitation, Ye Fan summoned the Profound Jade Platform, leapt on it with Tu Fei, and swept the Black Emperor into his sleeve to avoid exposure.

Boom!

A second tremor shook heaven and earth. The seals broke, the world returned to clarity, everything revealed.

The real Duan De appeared, bloody, hair disheveled, miserable. He had fled here, leading countless cultivators to blast open the mountain.

Plop!

The Wooden-faced Daoist’s charred body fell from the sky, last swept by Purple Lightning.

Duan De, sensing his connection with that incarnation, immediately understood. His rage nearly burst his heart.

“Damn you all!” He pointed trembling at Ye Fan and Tu Fei atop the jade platform. After all his efforts, nearly dying, everything had been stolen by them.

The cultivators nearby were baffled. Why was this purple-clad youth Ye Fan, who they had just been chasing and spitting blood, suddenly so triumphant?

“Something’s wrong!” In the distance, Ji Haoyue’s face changed. As a born God Physique, he had a special resonance with the Sacred Physique. He sensed something strange.

Ye Fan, with his back to the crowd, waved with elegance, mimicking Duan De’s earlier flamboyance, but with results completely opposite.

At the last moment, Duan De had fallen from heaven into hell, while Ye Fan successfully began crossing the void.

Duan De nearly convulsed in rage, stomach, liver, lungs, teeth… his whole body hurt.

With a flash of light, formation patterns activated. Ye Fan, Tu Fei, and the black dog disappeared into the void.

“Stop them! Don’t let them cross the void!” Ji Haoyue shouted.

But even before his cry, Xia Jiuyou had already acted, nine strands of draconic might beneath his feet weaving rainbow bridges across the sky, flying forward.

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