“Lightning Tribulation?” Taken aback, Shen Ying almost dropped her pastry. “Are you for real?”

　　“Don’t you believe me?” Lonemoon’s mouth twitched. “Why can’t I ascend? During the previous two days, I’ve achieved a breakthrough— I’m now past the Soul Formation stage and have perfected my cultivation. Immortal Ascension is only a matter of course.”

　　In fact, he had not thought it would be so fast. Ever since his epiphany, he found that his cultivation had been slowly rising. He had Bai Ze’s Black Spirit Blossom with him for a while and its special aura seemed to have been beneficial to his cultivation, resulting in him finally attaining the Perfected State.

　　Shen Ying pursed her lips. “Does it mean that you won’t be able to come down after your Immortal Ascension?”

　　“In the initial stage, yes.” He nodded. “Once I ascend to become an Immortal, naturally I’ll be in the Immortal Realm. There are boundaries between the three realms. You can’t transmigrate between the realms at your whim. Same case for Bai Ze. He had been in the lower realm for tens of thousands of years. If we did not have the Black Spirit Blossom, even you would not be able to open the realm gate.”

　　“Oh…” Furrowing her brows, Shen Ying asked, “You’re really going?”

　　“This is the law of heaven and earth. If I succeed in overcoming the tribulation, I’ll naturally not stay in the lower realm,” explained Lonemoon. Then seeing Shen Ying’s conflicted expression, his heart immediately softened, and he tried to comfort her by saying, “We will have to face the Tribulation Transcendence sooner or later. Like me, Yi Qing will also face it soon.”

　　“We’ll still have to undergo Tribulation Transcendence? Why don’t we just forget it.” This place was pretty good.

　　“Pui!” He glared at her. “You think this is a leisure tour where you can make your own decisions on when to depart. What have I been practicing so many years for if not to achieve Immortal Ascension?”

　　“In that case…”

　　“I know that you can’t bear to leave a fellow compatriot.” He patted her on the shoulder and smiled. “The Lightning Tribulation is so dangerous that I won’t activate the tribulation unless there is no other recourse. I’m not sure whether I can make it through the transcendence successfully.”

　　“Er…”

　　“Relax, I’m confident I can endure the divine lightning, don’t worry.”

　　“No, I mean…” Shen Ying said earnestly, “Father Niu, Before you ascend, can you leave sufficient spirit stones for your children?” We won’t have money for food.

　　…

　　“Scram!” I don’t have such an unfilial daughter like you.

　　Lonemoon was so disgusted that he wanted to spit at her. His pent up anger accumulated at his chest, causing his entire body’s Spirit Qi to surge. He felt as if his Qi would erupt any minute.

　　Wait a moment!

　　His Spirit Qi…

　　“You…” Yi Qing looked at him in sudden realization and exclaimed, “Your Heavenly Tribulation is coming!”

　　True enough, the surrounding area became dark all of a sudden. Gusts of winds blew and dark clouds, tinged with a faint purple streak of lightning, gathered in the upper atmosphere of the Invincible Sect.

　　Holy shit, it’s really here!

　　Lonemoon was so shocked that he forgot his anger. He turned and rushed out of the front hall. Looking at the lightning tribulation in the sky, he felt the Spirit Qi in his whole body surge.

　　Quickly conjuring a hand seal, he set up many layers of array formations and also activated an array to protect their mountain.

　　After checking that all measures had been taken to protect the Invincible Sect from the Lightning Tribulation, Lonemoon walked towards the eye of the array and sat down cross-legged to await the Tribulation Transcendence. However, he could not help turning around to issue a warning, “Shen Ying, the Lightning Tribulation of the Immortal Ascension is truly formidable, everyone don’t come near…”

　　Before completing his sentence, he saw that everyone had already retreated by a hundred meters. They also carried out tables and chairs. Spread on the tables were food like peanuts, seeds, fruits. Everyone then sat down to look at him while munching on their tidbits.

　　Lonemoon: “…” Son of a b*tch!

　　He must have been crazy to worry that they would be injured by the Lightning Tribulation. Let the Lightning Tribulation strike them!

　　Taking a deep breath, Lonemoon suppressed his violent urges and sat down cross-legged.

　　Eliminating all distracting thoughts, he concentrated on preparing for the tribulation. The sky had turned dark; the only light that could be seen in heavens and earth was the purple streak between the clouds.

　　At last, the first streak of Lightning Tribulation struck directly at Lonemoon. The array formation around him were all shattered, and the surrounding ground sank by a few feet. The suppression aura of heaven and earth started spreading outwards. If it were not for the Protective Mountain Array, the palace would have been burned to ashes.

　　“Wow.” Shen Ying looked up at the sky. This lightning was completely different from the ones she had seen before. “Is the lightning tribulation of the Immortal Ascension so powerful?”

　　“Yes, Master.” Yi Qing explained in a sombre tone, “The lightning that descended from the Immortal Ascension is the Violet Nightfall Heavenly Lightning. It is the most powerful lightning tribulation in the world. It can directly create immortal bones. This is only the first strike — the Mental Demon Tribulation — the others that follow will be far worse.”

　　“Oh…” Shen Ying nodded and looked carefully at the Father Niu. He had closed his eyes and seemed to be caught up with his mental demons. In less than five minutes he opened his eyes again. Obviously he had overcome his mental demons.

　　The next Lightning Tribulation struck. True enough, this one struck with double the force of the previous one, setting Lonemoon’s dharmic clothes on fire and splitting his skin apart. However, his body emitted a special kind of Spirit Qi that slowly started mending his torn body.

　　Then came the third strike, the fourth…

　　Unlike the first strike, this time the lightning struck down one after another without a break. It was as if it wanted to split Lonemoon’s body apart to reorganize it. Each strike was more devastating than the last.

　　“How long will it take?” asked Shen Ying, munching on her melon seeds.

　　“This is the Nine Nine Lightning Tribulation, forming a total of eighty-two bolts of divine lightning.

　　There are more than half to go?”

　　“Doesn’t nine nine makes eighty-one?” Shen Ying was confused, why was it eighty-two?

　　“This… I’m not sure,” replied Yi Qing, looking perplexed. “Although it is called the Nine Nine Lightning Tribulation, according to the traveling immortals who have undergone the tribulation, there are indeed eighty-two strikes. And the last one is the key to the test. Many traveling immortals failed at this last strike.”

　　“Oh…” said Shen Ying frowning. Leaving her thoughts aside, she grabbed another bunch of melon seeds as another bolt of lightning struck and continued munching.

　　In less than an hour, Lonemoon had withstood eighty bolts of lightning tribulation. His entire body was so battered that he was almost unrecognizable as a human being. Although the immortal Qi that followed each strike would mend his body, the rate of healing could not keep up with the frequency of the strikes; he was totally covered in blood.

　　There were two more. Lonemoon tried desperately to stay conscious as he was struck by the next bolt of lightning. Then, all of a sudden, the Lightning Tribulation ceased and clouds began to swirl. A purplish black lightning flashed through the clouds. Finally, there was a loud boom and an earth-shattering bolt struck down from the sky.

　　His senses jolted, Lonemoon was mentally focused. In an instant, he released his entire store of Immortal Qi that he had secretly converged within his body. Under the stimulation of this Immortal Qi, his damaged body was quickly restored and his immortal bones were formed. He was ready to face the last bolt of Lightning Tribulation.

　　Boom! His body, regenerated with the newly created immortal bones, withstood the last bolt. He had succeeded!

　　Lonemoon was overjoyed. His entire body slackened, and he toppled forwards. Although he did not have a shred of energy left, he felt like a whole new person, as if he had just been reborn. The Spirit Qi which had seemed dense previously, now curiously felt pitifully thin to him. Even Yi Qing’s cultivation, which he had highly regarded, now seemed weak to him.

　　Except for Shen Ying… She was still the same old chicken-like cheat.

　　The thunder clouds dispersed. While restoring his body, Lonemoon prepared himself to receive the Heavenly Beam from the sky.

　　Suddenly, a loud boom came from the sky and an even more terrifying bolt of lightning descended, heading straight for Lonemoon, who had no more power of resistance left.

　　“The eighty-third strike!” Everybody was shocked, how could this be! They had all seen the thunder clouds dispersing.

　　Lonemoon’s Immortal Qi had dissipated. There was no way he would be able to withstand another strike of the divine lightning.

　　That bolt of lightning was about to strike at Lonemoon’s body.

　　Releasing the melon seeds from her hand, Shen Ying was at the scene in an instant. She reached out her hand and at the last moment and caught hold of the streak of purplish black lightning’s tail as if it were a rope, stopping it within a foot from Lonemoon’s head.

　　Lonemoon was overwhelmed with shock. He had never expected there would an eighty-third bolt of divine lightning. “Shen… Ying?!” What the hell was going on?

　　Shen Ying did not reply him but her expression hardened and she frowned deeply. Tugging forcefully at the bolt of lightning, she commanded, “Come down!”

　　Suddenly, a black figure plummeted from the sky and crashed to the ground, his lower torso entirely embedded within the earth.

　　Shen Ying raised her leg and stamped hard till his whole body was buried in the ground. Enunciating each word, she asked, “Tell me. Those two extra bolts, were they from you?”

　　The crowd: “…”