“What… what’s wrong with me?” The fatty looked absolutely confused. He suddenly felt extremely powerful. He was a new man. He had never felt so comfortable and at ease, yet he had no idea where this feeling was coming from. He had no choice but to look to the three seniors in confusion.

　　“Fatty…” Lonemoon did not know what else to say. Upon closer inspection, Lonemoon found that his maimed spirit root had indeed fully recovered, and it had become even thicker than it was before. Unsurprisingly, it was a Five-Elemental Spirit Root, just like Yun Heng’s. He had a body type that would allow him to ascend to immortality just by lying down and doing nothing. “You… you’ve formed a nascent soul.”

　　“What?” Hui Ze paused, looking more confused. He opened his mouth to say something. Disbelief was written clearly all over his face. “Formed… formed a nascent soul?” He had spent so many years in a cultivation sect afterall. It was only natural that he understood what it meant to form a nascent soul. He had even seen many people form their own nascent souls with his own eyes. Each one of them had gone through many trials and tribulations. Even with his flesh, they had to go through the same thing. But why didn’t he have to? Why was it that he had formed his own nascent soul just by taking a deep breath after the array in his consciousness was undone?

　　“Your situation…” Lonemoon began to explain, but saw that the sky had already darkened. Spirit Qi was gushing toward Hui Ze once again. Faintly, they could feel the presence of the lightning’s spirit Qi coming toward them. “Shit, your lightning tribulation is coming.” That was way too fast!

　　Lonemoon watched as the tribulation’s clouds gathered in the sky. He grabbed the fatty by the collar and flew out, stopping at a plain piece of land. He conjured a seal and left some instructions. “Fatty, you’ve just flown through four major stages in just one breath. The lightning tribulation is going to feel beyond your powers. It’s very possible that this tribulation is for both your Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages. Hang in there. Try your best to stay conscious.”

　　“Huh? Oh… Alright… Alright!” The fatty had not gotten his thoughts together yet, but he was already being pressed down onto the ground by Lonemoon. The next thing he knew, the array around him was all lit up. There were layers and layers of arrays which kept him firmly where he was.

　　It was only then that Lonemoon retreated. He looked worriedly at the fast darkening sky. The number of clouds gathering above their heads was frightening. Even from far away, they could feel the impending aura of lightning. The layers of clouds looked ominous and were so thick that they looked highly threatening. It was not the ordinary kind of lightning tribulation that Nascent Soul cultivators went through. In fact, it looked not much different from the divine tribulation.

　　“An immortal array?” Yi Qing asked as he studied the arrays around the fatty. With one look, he could tell that the arrays did not belong in this lower realm. He looked suspiciously at Father Niu.

　　“Fatty has never trained before,” Lonemoon explained. Although he formed a Nascent Soul out of nowhere, he was nothing but an empty shell. Lonemoon was willing to guess that this man did not even know how to regulate the spirit Qi in his own body. Any ordinary lightning could easily kill him, much less the lightning tribulation. He had no choice but to set up these arrays. “What’s more, lightning tribulations that people who have skipped stages have to go through are often more threatening than ordinary lightning tribulations.” Needless to say, the fatty was in for a ride – he skipped through four stages. Lonemoon turned and scanned Chef from head to toe with contempt in his eyes. “Aren’t you very familiar with these things?” You would also skip stages from time to time, you pervert!

　　Lonemoon’s contemptuous look shut Yi Qing up. He was right – the lightning tribulation that people who skipped several stages would have to go through are often much worse than normal. He, of all people, understood. Therefore, he said nothing. Instead, he turned back to look worriedly at the fatty in the middle of all the arrays.

　　The fatty looked extremely nervous. He looked on the brink of panic, and his eyes were still clouded with confusion. He did not have enough time to process what was happening to him. He had no idea how he turned from a completely useless block of wood to a Nascent Soul cultivator undergoing the lightning tribulation in just a matter of minutes. Still, he understood what he was about to go through. Therefore, he tried to keep what Lonemoon said firmly in his own mind. He sat down where he was and curled himself up into a ball, not even daring to move.

　　The next moment, everything became pitch-black. Above the clouds, there was a white glow. It looked like something was brewing. Finally, they heard the sound of thunder. A thick bolt of lightning struck the ground.

　　“It’s here!” Lonemoon’s expression darkened. This lightning was even more frightening than he imagined. Even Yi Qing was stunned into silence. They did not move. The array around the fatty glowed even brighter.

　　The lightning was coming closer and closer, so that it looked like fatty was going to be struck head on. Suddenly, there was a swoosh – the sound of fire being put out. There was a lightning bolt as thick as a stream of water that flashed in the sky, but something seemed to weaken it. It became thinner and thinner, thinner and thinner… Finally, the soft sound of thunder was heard. The bolt of lightning disappeared, just short of the fatty’s head.

　　Striking aside – the bolt of lightning did not even touch the fatty. Instead, it disappeared mid-way through the sky.

　　Huh?

　　(⊙_⊙)

　　What was going on?

　　The two people who were keeping their eyes on the array looked absolutely confused. Wasn’t this lightning tribulation supposed to be much worse than usual? The arrays were all in place – and this was what happened!

　　That was not the end. The exact same thing happened for the next ten bolts of lightning. When they first appeared in the sky, each one looked even more frightening than the previous one. However, each one also disappeared quicker than the last. It was almost like the skies were playing a trick on them.

　　Less than 20 bolts later, the lightning tribulation seemed to give up. It stopped sending bolts of lightning down toward them. The thick, gray clouds rolled away and the surroundings became brighter.

　　Lonemoon: “…”

　　Yi Qing: “…”

　　Was this fatty the illegitimate son of the Heavenly Dao?

　　Shen Ying, who had been chewing on fruits the entire time, narrowed her eyes and tilted her head.

　　“Hey…”

　　The next moment, the sun shone down brightly from the sky. The spirit Qi from the surroundings once again began to charge toward the fatty, gathering close to his body. His shaky Nascent Soul firmed up.

　　A phenomenon appeared in the skies once again. It looked slightly different from the one they saw in Imperial Sacred Sect earlier. At that moment, there was a figure of a dragon in the sky. Immediately, it was replaced with a phoenix. Then, it was replaced by a Qilin, then a black turtle, then Bai Ze, et cetera. It was like the sky was playing a montage of every divine being that ever walked the realms. The montage played on and on for several minutes.

　　Lonemoon pursed his lips and could not help but look up into the sky to scold whoever was playing that montage. “Hey, are you about done?” The skies did not seem that happy when he himself ascended to become a Young Emperor. Could they be clear about who exactly they were working for?

　　It was only then that the montage in the sky hesitantly faded away. Just before the images completely faded away, beams of light shone down onto the still-confused fatty, pushing him into the late stages of Nascent Soul.

　　“…”

　　Lonemoon’s mind was filled with many curses – he had to spit them out!

　　Yi Qing beside him seemed to feel something as well. He stepped forward and looked up into the sky.

　　“What’s the matter?” Lonemoon asked.

　　“The realm gate… was shaken.”

　　Lonemoon paused and looked up at the realm gate. Indeed, the tight lock on the realm gate seemed to have loosened. Although it was not yet completely undone, the nomological force formed from many rules around them seemed to have reduced significantly.

　　What was going on?

　　He turned to the fatty in the middle of the array who was still absorbing all the spirit Qi. Lonemoon studied his body closely and found the remnants of a fast-disappearing nomological force. It looked just like the kind that Lonemoon had seen in the divine realm – the force that had been surrounding the small realms.

　　The realm gate was coming unlocked because of fatty?! His increasing cultivation had lessened the nomological force’s restraints?

　　“Shen Ying, what exactly-” Lonemoon was going to clarify this matter with the foodie, but found that she was no longer standing there. “Eh?”

　　He looked around. Shen Ying was already beside the fatty. She was gnawing on her fruit and studying the man who was still seated obediently within the arrays, not daring to move. She raised her hand to greet him.

　　“Hey, it’s been a long time since we met!”

　　“Lady… Lady Shen.” The fatty still looked extremely confused, but he also looked like he had just struck a great bargain. Weakly, he asked “Is the lightning tribulation over?” Could he move now?

　　“You can come out now,” Lonemoon walked over as well and glared at him, envious of his good luck. He undid the arrays around the man. Pui! These cheating dogs!

　　The fatty was overjoyed. He quickly got to his feet and started to thank them, but then he sensed a familiar aura getting closer and closer to them. The color drained from his face. He turned back quickly and said, “I think… someone is after us.”