The Six-Nine Tribulation

Diancai was standing on the ground, raising his head to look at the swirling thundercloud vortex in the sky. The five black-colored Plowshares Immortal flying swords were orbiting around him. When the first bolt of heavenly lightning struck down from above…

“Go!” Diancai Immortal pointed into the distance, and one of the five floating Plowshares Immortal swords shot into the sky. This single Plowshares Immortal sword faintly transformed into a massive mountain peak, carrying an immensely heavy momentum as it met the bolt of lightning.

Boom!

Accompanied by a thunderous roar, the Plowshares Immortal sword, which had been as steady as a mountain, merely trembled in midair. The bolt of heavenly lightning completely dissipated.

“The first bolt of heavenly lightning is the weakest in power. Even an ordinary returned-to-vacuity Earth Immortal can withstand it. Given Junior Disciple-Brother Diancai’s strength, and with his five top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords, I imagine he’ll only start to feel true pressure starting from the twenty-seventh bolt.” Wufeng Immortal said.

“Mn.” Ji Ning nodded in agreement. Back then, Wufeng Immortal had fallen to the twenty-fifth bolt of heavenly lightning. If Wufeng Immortal had possessed top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords back then, he likely could have weathered the twenty-seventh.

Heavenly lightning came in sets of nine as a major level.

The first nine bolts were the weakest; the second set of nine were weaker; then came the third set of nine and the fourth set of nine… Every set of nine represented a major qualitative leap. The legendary eighty-one bolts of heavenly lightning were enough to make one shudder just thinking about it.

Boom! Boom!…

The heavenly lightning was savage.

One bolt struck after another, and Diancai Immortal, merely using a single top-grade Immortal-ranked flying sword, managed to withstand a full eighteen bolts in a single breath. This caused a hint of joy to appear on Diancai Immortal’s face. Although he had long known that top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords were formidable, it was only when he actually faced the terrifying ‘Heavenly Tribulation’ that he realized just how enormous a help these top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords were to him!

Boom! The nineteenth bolt of heavenly lightning was even more ferocious, its speed greater, carrying an aura of utter annihilation, clearly having soared to a new level compared to the previous bolts.

That one Plowshares Immortal sword once again shot up to meet it, like a great mountain welcoming the strike.

Bang!

The illusory mountain peak dissipated. The Plowshares Immortal sword was also blasted downwards. The remaining lightning continued to strike towards Diancai Immortal, but Diancai Immortal remained unflustered. With just a single low growl, three of the other four Immortal swords floating around him shot out, manifesting three colors: Gold, Water, and Earth-Yellow.

The three Plowshares Immortal swords formed a Three Talents Formation, easily cleaving the residual lightning bolt.

“Your master is using the Three Talents Sword Formation,” Wufeng Immortal said. “Back then, your master’s talents were extremely high. When he first entered the sect, he had already comprehended the ‘Dao Domain’ of three Daos simultaneously at an early age. Moreover, he had embarked on the path of the Sword Immortal. He originally used three flying swords, and his most common tactic was the Three Talents Sword Formation. But after all these years of training, he has gained even more insights and created his ‘Five Elements Sword Technique’.”

Ji Ning nodded slightly.

Indeed.

After his master began using three flying swords, his power immediately skyrocketed. He withstood one bolt of lightning after another, even enduring the twenty-fifth bolt which had once defeated Wufeng Immortal, all the way up to the twenty-seventh.

“It’s going to increase again.” Wufeng Immortal said worriedly.

Twenty-seven bolts of heavenly lightning counted as three sets of nine.

Thirty-six would be four sets of nine!

When the twenty-eighth bolt of heavenly lightning struck down, the three Talents flying swords also sank heavily. But still, they held. However, with the twenty-ninth, the thirtieth… the power of the heavenly lightning steadily increased. The three flying swords grew more and more strained, and by the time the thirty-sixth bolt struck down, Diancai Immortal let out a low roar. Instantly, all five Plowshares Immortal swords shot up to meet it.

RUMBLE!

The five Plowshares Immortal swords soared into the sky. Above, the illusory forms of five great mountains appeared. These five mountains, however, were of five different colors. In that instant, the power of the five swords combined, becoming immensely heavy and solid. The thirty-sixth bolt of heavenly lightning was easily blocked.

“Excellent treasures, excellent sword arts!” Wufeng Immortal said excitedly.

“He even blocked the thirty-sixth bolt of heavenly lightning.” Ji Ning’s face also lit up with joy. But then his expression changed, because the swirling thundercloud vortex in the sky sent down another bolt of heavenly lightning, even more terrifying than the last.

“What… Could your master’s tribulation have forty-five bolts of heavenly lightning?” Wufeng Immortal said, astonished.

Ji Ning’s expression also became solemn.

A Ki Refiner undergoing the tribulation could not afford the slightest carelessness. Even a small amount of residual lightning was enough to blast a cultivator into dust! In contrast, a Fiendgod Body Refining practitioner could generally rely on their divine body to withstand a small amount of residual lightning.

Thus, thirty-six bolts of lightning was a threshold. Thirty-six bolts of heavenly lightning was considered a ‘Four-Nine Tribulation’. Within a Four-Nine Tribulation, a Ki Refiner still had hope.

But if it went beyond that, hope was slim!

…

The power of the thirty-seventh bolt of heavenly lightning was clearly even more terrifying. Just by watching from afar, Ji Ning could feel the formless pressure. This single bolt of lightning had already reached the level of a Celestial Immortal’s attack!

BANG! The five illusory mountain peaks hung in midair as the five flying swords forcibly blocked this bolt of lightning, but they were violently pushed downwards.

“So strong!” Diancai Immortal’s own expression changed, but his face remained cold, his eyes filled with determination.

There would be no retreat.

Boom!

The thirty-eighth bolt of heavenly lightning struck down. Diancai Immortal once again manipulated the five top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords to meet it, forcibly withstanding this strike once more. But this time, the five illusory mountain peaks on the surface of the five flying swords trembled, nearly collapsing.

“This is bad.” Wufeng Immortal, watching from afar, saw this and his expression changed drastically. “A forty-five bolt heavenly tribulation… whether your master can survive it is looking dangerous.”

Ji Ning said nothing. He just watched intently.

He could see it clearly, of course!

The thirty-eighth bolt of lightning had already nearly caused his master’s sword technique to collapse. It was hard to say if he could hold out to the forty-fifth. Back then, Wufeng Immortal hadn’t even reached the checkpoint of the ‘twenty-seventh bolt’, falling instead to the twenty-fifth.

Boom!

The swirling thundercloud vortex in the sky sent down an even more ferocious thirty-ninth bolt of heavenly lightning.

“Hold!” Diancai Immortal let out a roar. The five Plowshares Immortal swords, like fish swimming upstream, carried the massive illusory forms of five mountains to meet that bolt of lightning. Under the impact, all five flying swords were knocked directly to the ground, but that bolt of heavenly lightning had also completely dissipated.

“He can’t hold on!” Wufeng Immortal said anxiously.

“Master, Master!” Ji Ning was also frantic with worry.

“I must hold on!” Diancai Immortal’s face suddenly flushed red, and his aura surged dramatically; he had clearly activated a forbidden technique.

Wufeng Immortal’s eyes were filled with tension: “Your master is using a forbidden technique to burn his Golden Lotus Primal, hoping to push through by relying on the forbidden art. He must hold on. He cannot fail. He cannot fail.” He had seen too many of his fellow disciples fail before. One after another, they fell to the Heavenly Tribulation. He had failed. His master had failed. His senior disciple-brother had failed. His junior disciple-brother had failed…

One after another, they fell before the Heavenly Tribulation.

Diancai Immortal was the most promising, and he even had the help of five top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords.

“He must hold on.” Wufeng Immortal murmured.

“Master, Master.” Ji Ning’s heart was in his throat, even more worried than when he himself faced life-or-death peril. Even though he had long known how terrifying the Heavenly Tribulation was, watching bolt after bolt of lightning, each more powerful than the last, strike down, Ji Ning was terrified that the lightning would strike his master’s physical body! If it struck just once, it would all be over!

…

The fortieth bolt of heavenly lightning, the forty-first, the forty-second…

Under the effects of the forbidden technique, the power of the five flying swords surged greatly, and Diancai Immortal withstood several more bolts in succession.

Boom!

The forty-fourth bolt of heavenly lightning!

Diancai Immortal’s features were somewhat twisted, his eyes filled with madness. The five flying swords once again shot up to meet the strike. The five illusory mountain peaks in the sky seemed to suppress the entire small world. But before that annihilating bolt of heavenly lightning, the five illusory mountain peaks collapsed, and the five flying swords were blasted down.

“He blocked it. There’s just one last bolt of heavenly lightning left.” Wufeng Immortal said anxiously.

“Master.” Ji Ning was so anxious he wanted to charge up there himself.

Tiny beads of blood were seeping from the surface of Diancai Immortal’s skin; this was all from the forbidden technique, the violent elemental energy forcing blood out of his body.

Boom!

The forty-fifth bolt of heavenly lightning!

“Block it again!” Diancai Immortal was like a man possessed. The five Plowshares Immortal flying swords also met the strike madly, as if erupting with even greater power in their desperate situation. The five illusory mountain peaks became more perfectly aligned with each other, their power increasing slightly.

Boom!

That bolt of heavenly lightning, representing utter annihilation, struck down.

RIIIIIP!

The five flying swords were blasted down, and a small amount of residual lightning flew straight towards Diancai Immortal.

“NO!” Ji Ning’s eyes nearly split with fury, turning red as he screamed in desperation.

“NO!” Wufeng Immortal was also filled with terror.

Diancai Immortal, however, let out a mad roar. Above him, five more flying swords abruptly appeared—the five flying swords he had originally been using regularly! These five flying swords only had time to transform into five streaks of colored light before the residual lightning struck them.

Pfft! One of the flying swords, sent flying back, pierced through Diancai Immortal’s chest, gouging out a hole. The other swords were also sent flying. But the residual lightning had finally been completely dissipated.

“Hahaha, hahaha…” Diancai Immortal began to laugh. Clutching the wound on his chest, he threw his head back and laughed.

Ji Ning and Wufeng Immortal were both stunned for a moment, then they were ecstatic.

“He blocked it.”

“Master blocked it.” This success born from despair caused Ji Ning and Wufeng Immortal’s emotions to swing wildly.

“Why…” Wufeng Immortal looked up at the swirling thundercloud vortex in the sky, his eyes filled with despair and terror. “Why, why hasn’t it…”

“Why hasn’t it, why hasn’t it dissipated?” Ji Ning also felt a chill running from the top of his head all the way down to his feet.

The thundercloud in the sky continued to swirl, an even greater power building up.

Diancai Immortal, who had been laughing while clutching his chest, suddenly froze. He stared blankly at the thundercloud in the sky, a look of fury and despair spreading across his face as he let out a mad howl: “Why, why is there more, WHY IS THERE STILL MORE!!!”

“Six sets of nine, six sets of nine…” Wufeng Immortal’s eyes were filled with utter despair. “A Six-Nine Tribulation. My junior disciple-brother isn’t a disciple of a Daofather, he’s not even a disciple of a Celestial Immortal. Why would a Six-Nine Tribulation appear, why…”

“Damned Heavens!” Ji Ning abruptly raised his head and let out a grief-stricken roar, two streams of tears flowing down his face. “Master, Master! My master!”

BOOM!

A single massive bolt of lightning was born directly within the thundercloud vortex in the sky and struck downwards!