Chapter 260: Lightning Tribulation Again
Flipping himself up onto the island, SongZhong stood in the centre, blankly staring at the five coloured lightning tribulation clouds. He could not help but laugh bitterly. “Again that five elements lightning tribulation. Why…. Why is life so cruel to me?”
As SongZhong was grumbling upon his bad luck, the tribulation clouds above seemed to have reached the end of their patience. Immediately, a five coloured lightning shot out from it, much like a heavenly pillar descending. Following which, a huge explosion could be heard, and the deserted island exploded into a shower of five coloured electric arcs. The cloud of debris created was so huge that it covered the island in its entirety.
For SongZhong, it felt as though Mount Tai had suddenly descended upon him. Even the Blood River Pattern was crushed to pieces in an instant without being able to resist. Tremors reverberated throughout his body as bolt after bolt of lightning penetrated his body directly, rampaging wantonly within. The tremendous pain made him feel as though death was a simpler option.
Right at this time, memories of SongZhong’s life surfaced in his mind. The him from the past, walking beside his parents. His father imposing, his mother exuding love. At that time, he had no worries, let alone mention how free spirited he was. However, no matter how hard he tried to hold on to them, they dissipated like mist, and in their place was actually a crazed woman laughing maniacally!
Although SongZhong had never come across her in his whole life, he could recognise her at first glance. Huo QianWu! The true mastermind behind the deaths of his parents! After which, Old Devil Feng, together with his lackey from the Thousand Desires Sect, all appeared and stood shoulder by shoulder, laughing at the battered and exhausted SongZhong.
Seeing all the enemies which he could not bear sharing the same sky with, SongZhong felt as though his internals had combusted. In an instant, it seemed as though the frightening Five Elements Tribulation Lightning was burned away by the flames borne out of hatred.
“AHHHHH~” SongZhong let out a roar akin to a dying beast as he shouted: “Damned Old Heavens, you can’t suppress me! I still want to find Huo QianWu, to address this vengeance!”
*Hong hong hong!* That was the only answer SongZhong received from the tribulation clouds, a stronger rumble of divine thunder. Even more intense bolts of Five coloured Divine Lightning descended from the sky, akin to the sharpest swords. Every time they struck, a resounding boom would occur, and in just a mere few bolts, the pathetic island had turned into ruins from the lightning strikes.
However, SongZhong seemed to have aroused his primal ferocious spirit. He simply acted as if he did not care, standing tall and proud as he cursed non-stop. “Come, give me more! If I’m scared then I’m not SongZhong! I cannot be struck or smashed to ruination. I’m sound and hardy like a huge bell! YOU CAN’T STRIKE ME TO DEATH!”
The SongZhong right now was just like an unyielding boulder. Despite the storm and wind lashing on it, SongZhong was unmoving, unaffected and stood rooted to the spot stably.
The Tribulation clouds seemed to have been enraged by SongZhong. The eye of the storm widened completely, and the bolts which originally fell one by one gradually increased to two or three at once. A short moment later, the number of bolts were uncountable as they fell. As for the resulting explosion, the nearby small deserted islands was not spared from it. These islands were reduced to mere rubbles, which affected the surrounding seawater, creating ten foot high waves which surged forth away from the epicentre.
Even though SongZhong was under a lot of pressure, he stubbornly held on, unwilling to fall. Maybe the tribulation lightning was finally intimidated by his tenacious willpower, or that it had overused its strength in the very beginning. But it began to vanish only after a mere 4 hours, and the skies returned to their usual calm.
Right now, the deserted island of the circumference around 10 odd li and height 1000 meters, no longer existed. What was left, was a piece of flat bed stretching more than a thousand feet on the sea. Right now, SongZhong was standing on this platform.
The SongZhong right now was already blasted to the point that he did not look human anymore. His whole body was full of burnt crispy bits. If one did not take a close look, they would actually think that he was a piece of rock. However, despite his severe injuries, or the fact that he had already slipped into unconsciousness, SongZhong was still standing firm with his chest puffed out, refusing to fall no matter what!
After the tribulation clouds disappeared, AoTian hurriedly flew over to take a look. If he did not notice, all would have been fine, but one look and he was stunned silly. The whole island had actually vanished, without even a trace of SongZhong left. AoTian let out a despairing expression, thinking, “Could it be that the little highness, whose strength can match a YuanYing cultivator, died just like that? It can’t be, right? He is of the Imperial Bloodline with a natural Blood River Pattern. By all means, his life should not end so early!”
Holding on to that slim hope, AoTian submerged himself into the sea, using his strong spiritual sense to sweep the area. Finally, he found an unconscious SongZhong that had sunk to the seabed.
When AoTian saw the crispy and burnt pig SongZhong, he almost leaped out of his shell in fright. He originally thought that SongZhong was a goner. But upon coming closer, he joyously found out that hidden in SongZhong’s body was a faint stream of indescribable primal chaos Qi circulating, and that the pure spiritual energies of the ocean were converging into SongZhong’s body, helping him to recover.
AoTian, having lived for several millennia, was no ordinary turtle. He had accumulated a lot of experiences, and with one look, he could tell that SongZhong was currently in a mysterious state of enlightenment. He seemed to be in the process of digesting the accumulated lightning inside his body, and thus he was better off being left alone for now.
When he came to this conclusion, AoTian immediately took action. His hands continuously moved as he threw out talisman after talisman. Very quickly, the area surrounding 10000 feet around SongZhong was under his protection. However AoTian felt as though it was insufficient, and he took out some magical artifacts to further bolster the protection. Only after he did all this, did he sit at the periphery of the protective domain to take a breather as well as guard SongZhong.
AoTian has stood guard for over half a month. On this fateful day, AoTian felt a strange current of spiritual energy undulating, causing him the open his eyes in a panic to observe the situation.
The next moment, the water surrounding SongZhong suddenly exploded outwards like a sprinkler fountain, and SongZhong leaped out from the area. At the same time, he faced the sky to let out a huge shout of “AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH~”
Right now, SongZhong’s body was bulging with muscles and was radiating light like a gem, as though he had shed his old body once. After absorbing the tribulation lightning, his combat prowess had leapt by another level. Though it was not enough for him to break through, he was not far from the JinDan middle stage.
After venting all the negative feelings bottled up in his heart, SongZhong turned to address AoTian, “Old Ao, thank you for being my protector for this period of time!” As he finished, SongZhong cupped his fists and bowed to show his thanks.
AoTian hurriedly returned the bow, “I don’t dare to accept this. Your highness, this is something that this old slave should do, I don’t deserve your bow!”
“Haha, a thanks is still necessary!” SongZhong merely laughed it off and casually continued, “Old Ao, come come come, let’s compare our strength and see who can reach the Pure Water Palace first!”
The moment he finished speaking, before waiting for AoTian to reply, SongZhong had already leaped into the water and activated his water-based arts. As though he had turned into a lightning bolt, SongZhong streaked towards the Pure Water Palace.
Seeing this, AoTian did not want to dampen SongZhong’s good mood, and could only laugh bitterly as he collected his artifacts before chasing up using his own water-based art.
To them, this 2000 li road was not considered much. In just a few moments, SongZhong was the first to leap out from the ocean, soaring onto the island.
AoTian was tight on his heels. He immediately smiled as he praised, “Your Highness is indeed valiant, this old man can only concede defeat! Hahaha!”
“Cheh, you lose to me on purpose!” Hearing AoTian speak, SongZhong grimaced: “You were actually faster than me, it’s just that you gave way to me. Don’t tell me I am silly to the point where I can’t even differentiate such an obvious matter?”
“This~” AoTian did not know whether to laugh or cry, being at a loss for words. In actual fact, he really did gave way to SongZhong, else with his peak Sixth Grade strength, how could he lose to a JinDan cultivator who was not using any movement skills nor flying sword? That was so undeserving of his status!
AoTian did not know whether to admit or to remain dumb. Admitting would mean that he was stronger than SongZhong, and that he had let him win on purpose. But this was not how a servant should have behaved. On the other hand, if he did not admit and the other party could see through, then not confessing would be tantamount to treating SongZhong as a fool. For a moment, AoTian was in a dilemma.
SongZhong obviously did not want to make things difficult for him and seeing that AoTian was caught in such an embarrassing situation, he only laughed heartily. “Alright, Old Ao, I’m only joking, please do not take it seriously!”
Seeing that SongZhong was not pursuing the matter, then did AoTian finally heave a sigh of relief. He smiled bitterly as he replied, “Many thanks to your highness for not bearing a grudge!”
“It’s nothing!” Arriving at a place filled with a hundred feet tall mountain of magical tool fragments, with a wave of his hand, he kept all the shards that AoTian had saved up over the years into his natal artifact. With another wave of his hand, he put out those spiritual stones which had been formed inside his artifact for the past few years, replacing the mountain of fragments with a mountain of riches.
“Old Ao, I’ve finally raised a rank. After cooping up for so long, I feel like I’ve already become rusty. I intend to go out to travel for a bit, so I’ll be leaving the daily affairs in the Pure Water Palace over to you. For this few spiritual stones, just go according to the old rules, and trade them for the fragments. I’ll have to trouble you with all these!” SongZhong ended by cupping fists to AoTian.
AoTian also returned the gesture, “Your highness is too polite, this is within my scope of responsibilities. But how long would you be out traveling for this time? I need to have some preparations too!”
“A few years I guess!” SongZhong answered casually. “I’ll try to return before all the spiritual stones are used up!”
A few years might seem very long to a mortal, but to demonic beasts who have such long lifespan, this was considered nothing, just like going to play for a few months. For the demonic beasts, this was something too common, so AoTian did not feel surprised at all. He merely smiled and said, “This is also good, please rest assured your highness, this old one will take utmost care of your Pure Water Palace!”
“As long as you’re here, I can rest assured! In that case, I’ll be off!” The moment he finished his sentence, SongZhong had already leapt up high, somersaulting before plunging head-first into the sea. While using his water-based arts to gain momentum, he secretly took out his water essence sword of the Five Elements Essence Swords to aid him in his speed. In a short while, his speed was boosted to about 5000 or 6000, and he disappeared from sight.
Seeing this, AoTian could not help but rub his eyes in shock. “This is strange, how did his Highness speed suddenly increased by so much? It looked as if he had taken out a magical artifact. But why did he not use that from the start? Strange, this is strange!” Though he felt that this matter was weird, he did not put it in his heart, and only went back to the Pure Water Palace to continue cultivating.