Transformative Heavenly Tribulation

The newly built cave dwelling naturally included a dedicated refining chamber. After setting up a secret formation within it, Han Li brought the refining crystal and the bottle of ten-thousand-year spirit liquid inside.

Once he entered, the stone door of the chamber closed tightly. A full year passed without it opening again.

The rest of the cave dwelling’s operations were handled entirely by the several giant ape puppets left stationed outside the chamber.

In this manner, the cave dwelling ran smoothly and without incident.

But on this particular day, an unexpected event occurred.

A rumbling noise suddenly came from outside. Without any warning, the ground began to shake. Even the chamber walls trembled continuously. At the same time, the faint sound of thunder and crashing waves could be heard from outside, growing louder and louder, as if the entire island was caught in a violent storm.

With a muffled bang, the stone door of the refining chamber was pushed open.

A flash of light, and Han Li shot out from inside, his expression cold. But his eyes held a hint of suspicion and unease.

He tilted his head, listening to the rumbling outside the cave dwelling, then pressed a hand against his storage pouch. A yellow light shot out, circled once, and landed in his hand.

It was a pale yellow formation banner, embroidered with some runic characters, about two or three feet long.

Without a second thought, Han Li opened his mouth and sprayed a breath of azure qi onto the banner’s shaft.

The yellow light flared brightly. A cold gleam flashed in Han Li’s eyes as he flicked his wrist.

A streak of yellow light shot straight toward the ground. The banner sank into the earth and vanished without a trace.

A low, rhythmic incantation began to flow from Han Li’s mouth.

A remarkable scene unfolded.

All the ground and walls began to glow with a brilliant golden light, as if they had turned to pure gold. At the same time, the trembling, shaking, and the heart-shaking sound of thunder instantly subsided.

Everything returned to normal.

Seeing this, Han Li’s expression relaxed slightly. But the suspicion in his eyes had not diminished in the slightest. He suddenly transformed into a streak of azure light and shot toward the cave dwelling’s entrance.

Moments later, Han Li, enveloped in azure light, appeared above the island. Although a layer of mist shrouded the area below, the formation was of his own design, so it could not block his gaze in the slightest.

But the scene before him caused his expression to shift several times.

Due to the activation of the formation’s restrictions, the mountain range where his cave dwelling was located remained as steady as Mount Tai. But the area outside the formation’s reach was trembling in misery.

On some of the hills and slopes, mud and rocks were tumbling down. On the ground itself, huge fissures several zhang wide were beginning to appear due to the violent tremors. Trees and grass were being overturned and flattened in an instant.

But this alone would not have caused Han Li to lose his composure.

What shocked him even more was the sight of raging waves on the sea surface at one side of the island.

Towering waves, over a hundred zhang high, crashed against that side of the island again and again, washing over everything. Nearly half of the island had already been transformed into lakes and marshland.

From the direction the great waves were coming, beyond the thick sea mist, a low, strange roar was added to the sound of thunder, as if some fierce beast was in a furious rage. With each loud roar, the thunder and waves grew even more intense.

“Could a high-grade demon beast be stirring up trouble on the nearby sea?” Han Li pondered, gazing in the direction of the waves.

Given this level of power, it was definitely a demon beast of considerable size; nothing smaller could possibly create such a display.

With this thought, Han Li’s curiosity was greatly aroused.

After a moment of hesitation, a flash of light flickered around his body, and he plunged into the sea of mist, flying straight toward the direction from which the roar was coming.

To be cautious, Han Li restrained his aura, dimming his flying light until it was barely visible. In an instant, his entire person vanished without a trace.

Once he flew out of the sea mist, Han Li didn’t need to search at all; he spotted the target immediately.

Just as he had guessed, a demon beast was indeed stirring up waves on the sea surface not far away.

But its size was too enormous!

Although he had anticipated it to some degree, Han Li still gasped in shock at its sheer bulk.

It was a turtle-type demon beast he had never seen before. Its body was nearly a thousand zhang in size, floating on the sea surface like a mountain.

A pitch-black hard shell. A cyan head like a flood dragon’s, raised to the sky as it roared. Limbs as thick as giant pillars. A silver tail several dozen zhang long, sweeping across the nearby sea. Waves and white demonic winds swirled around the turtle with every roar, plunging the entire sea area into chaos.

But what alarmed Han Li the most was not this. In the sky above the turtle’s raised head, dark clouds stretched for ten thousand li. Lightning bolts as thick as arms descended from the rolling clouds, crisscrossing to form a horrifying net of thunder and lightning that struck the beast relentlessly.

The giant turtle used its own waves and demonic wind to endure these heavenly thunder strikes without harm. But this only made it more irritable, and its originally green eyes began to turn red.

“Transformative Heavenly Tribulation,” Han Li murmured, a strange expression on his face, his gaze flickering.

The so-called “Transformative Heavenly Tribulation” referred to the necessary heavenly tribulation a grade-seven demon beast must undergo when advancing to grade eight. Only after passing this tribulation could the beast shed its form and transform part of its body into human shape. As its cultivation deepened, the degree of transformation would also differ.

It was said that grade-ten demon beasts could become completely indistinguishable from humans.

Although Han Li had read many records about the Transformative Heavenly Tribulation in various texts, witnessing it in person today left him unsure whether to call it luck or misfortune.

Lucky, because the appearance of this beast confirmed that grade-eight demon beasts truly existed in the sea around Qiyuan Island. His quest for Thousand-Leaf Dew was not without hope.

Unfortunate, because if this giant turtle was undergoing its tribulation here, its lair was very likely in this same sea area.

Han Li had no interest in being neighbors with a grade-eight demon beast!

Even a newly advanced grade-eight beast was something he would do his best to avoid.

At the moment, this demon turtle was still a grade-seven beast and naturally could not detect the existence of his cave dwelling. But once it advanced to grade eight, Han Li was not confident he could hide from its spiritual sense.

Who knew if, one day while he was in seclusion cultivating, this turtle might come knocking. High-grade demon beasts had an extremely strong sense of territory.

“Could it be that I have to abandon the cave dwelling I just established?” Han Li felt a surge of irritation, and the flying swords inside his body stirred restlessly.

When he had come out of the chamber, the seventy-two Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had already been refined.

The difficulty of refining the crystal had far exceeded his expectations. He had originally thought half a year would be enough, but it had taken nearly a full year to finish.

During the remaining time, Han Li had taken the opportunity to enter seclusion and focus on nurturing his flying swords.

If not for this demon beast’s disturbance, he would likely have remained in seclusion for a few more months.

“What if I take advantage of the beast’s weakened state after its tribulation and launch a surprise attack? If I can eliminate it, all’s well that ends well. If not, I can leave the island immediately and find another place.” The moment this thought arose, Han Li’s heart tightened. But after a moment, he shook his head and dismissed it on his own.

Even a severely weakened grade-eight demon beast was not something he could handle alone.

How powerful a grade-eight beast was, Han Li did not know. But he had personally witnessed the abilities of Nascent Soul-stage cultivators.

The risk was too great. He would rather relocate his cave dwelling.

It was a pity that the Gold Devourer Beetles had finished their devouring and laid new eggs. If he had brought them with him, he might have considered making an attempt.

Han Li looked at the scene of lightning dancing across the giant turtle’s body, sighed softly, and prepared to return to his cave dwelling.

He had no desire to be discovered spying by this demon beast once it finished its tribulation and invite trouble upon himself.

But just as Han Li turned around, a sharp whistling sound came from the distant sky, followed by flashes of golden light on the horizon.

From the opposite direction, a pleasant phoenix cry rang out, and a patch of fiery red light also flew toward this location.

Han Li was momentarily startled, but before he could react…

On the sea surface not far from the giant turtle, a fierce wind suddenly rose. Dozens of thick water pillars shot into the air. Then the seawater rapidly swelled and bulged, as if some enormous creature was about to emerge from the depths.

Startled, Han Li hastily retreated a distance while maintaining his concealment, staring at the scene in astonishment.

A flash of blue light. A massive, bright red beast burst out of the sea. As it surfaced, it let out a strange roar like a horse’s neigh, which rang out so loudly that Han Li’s ears buzzed.

Startled, Han Li nearly fell from the sky. He quickly raised his magic power and steadied himself.

The Great Derivative Art flowed rapidly through his body. His face pale, Han Li stared at the beast, a look of utter shock on his face.