The Ninth Cycle
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Jiang Chen looked up and saw the lightning condense as red as blood. In a mere moment, it became a lightning dragon that was fierce and had emotionless eyes. This was the Heavenly Tribulation, an intense heavenly force. Lightning dragons represented a punishment from the heavens. It had always emerged to punish all heaven defying beings.
The eyes of the lightning dragon locked onto Jiang Chen as if it was alive. The power of this lightning was far greater than the previous six.
From afar, Tyrant, Big Yellow, and Sot Old Man’s faces changed again. They could feel that this seventh Heavenly Tribulation was ten times stronger than the sixth.
Nevertheless, Jiang Chen didn’t looked nervous or anything. Despite the powerful tribulation, it still couldn’t make him surrender. As he was a cultivator of the Dragon Transformation Art, he needed to have such great qualities like bravery, boldness, and audacious guts that wasn’t scared of the heaven and earth, and all these qualities were seen on Jiang Chen’s face.
“Come on!”
All of a sudden, Jiang Chen shouted as he pointed to the blood red lightning dragon. The powerful Qi caused his sweat pores to open up. He was casting his Dragon Transformation Art to its maximum capacity. As it circulated, the Heavenly Saint Sword rippled intensely.
While facing the seventh tribulation, Jiang Chen chose to give up all of his defences, and instead used his blood and flesh to endure it.
“What’s he doing? This heavenly tribulation is so much stronger than the previous one, but he isn’t defending at all?”
Sot Old Man’s face turned shocked. He didn’t know why Jiang Chen wanted to act in such a way, but he knew that this was way too dangerous.
“He wants to use his physique to handle the heavenly tribulation so that he can use the lightning strike to toughen his flesh and also absorb the force of the lightning into his body. This would enhance his physique to a scary extent. He does this so that the potential inside him can be activated, pushing his grade further.”
Big Yellow said.
“This dude is far too audacious.”
Tyrant let out a sigh. He was another one among the three who knew his friend, Jiang Chen, quite well. Using one’s own body to face the tribulation? This was an extremely outrageous act! Besides Jiang Chen, he couldn’t find another person who would do that.
The blood red lightning dragon was furious, as if it could sense Jiang Chen’s defiance. It turned into a sea of blood red lightning that filled the surroundings with flashes of electricity, trapping Jiang Chen completely. Sot Old Man was a Fifth Grade Combat Emperor, but even with his grade, he still couldn’t see clearly what was happening in the sea of lightning flashes. Two men and a dog looked very worried. This scene wasn’t child’s play, it was about surviving the tribulation and a tiny mistake could put one’s life in danger.
The thunderclap in the sea of lightning rolled in the air continuously for a minute before it stopped. A slightly blurry image of Jiang Chen was revealed from within the light. His face looked flustered, many parts of his shirt were torn, his hair was messy, and his face was pale. There were also some blood flowing at the side of his mouth and his Qi wasn’t smooth anymore.
After seeing what happened, the three of them couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief and raised their thumbs up secretly for their friend. Using their own flesh to confront the tribulation? The extent of his achievement was unable to merely be described by the word ‘scary’.
*Hong Long*
Before they could rejoice for their friend’s success, the eighth Heavenly Tribulation took shape. It was another dragon-like lightning that was about two times longer than the seventh.
Sot Old Man felt that he couldn’t even catch his breath. The Qi was far too powerful. If he stayed in the middle of that thing, he would be blasted into nothing but slag. He wondered how Jiang Chen was going to deal with that.
What worried them was the tribulation after this, because there was still the final tribulation which was the strongest of them all.
Jiang Chen’s pupil had become reddish as he gripped his Heavenly Saint Sword and it became a dragon-like sword. He raised it up towards the sky, pointing at the lightning dragon.
Jiang Chen’s combat intent was great. That was right, he wanted to not only fight the heavens, but he also wanted to challenge them. Even if it was the Heavenly Tribulation, it wouldn’t create fear in him. This wasn’t the first time that he had battled against the heavens. He had broken open the gates of heaven in his past life without any fear.
*Raaaarrrrr!*
The lightning dragon became violent and wild after sensing Jiang Chen’s intention. The lightning dragon was the incarnation of heaven’s wrath, which also represented the Heaven’s Prestige. The heavens would never allow any blasphemy, particularly from a heaven defying being. It would descend and wipe all of them out.
“Come on, one more round!”
Jiang Chen shouted. He held the Heavenly Saint Sword as he charged towards the lightning dragon.
The lightning dragon became frantic. Then, it rushed down with its mouth wide open, desiring to swallow both Jiang Chen and his sword.
*Hong Long*
Another heaven and earth-shaking rumble occured. The isolated field below them had been left in ruins. There were newly-created pits and thick smoke everywhere. This time, the sea of lightning was ten miles in radius. Continuous cracking sounds could be heard from within. The three of them held their breaths and focused their eyes at the centre of the sea of lightning. That was the only thing they could do. There was no help that they could provide to their friend.
*Bang!*
A heavy thing descended from the sea of lightning in the sky. It fell hard on the ground, creating a deep hole. That thing was Jiang Chen.
“Not good.”
Sot Old Man was in shock. He could sense Jiang Chen’s condition. It was getting worse. His body was bleeding from top to bottom. The eighth tribulation was just too terrifying.
“I’m clueless about Jiang Chen’s situation now.”
Tyrant was worried about his friend.
*Cough*
Jiang Chen slowly climbed out of the hole. Currently, he had lost all of his composure. There was black smoke rising up from his head. His face was so dark, it looked as if he had been smoked. His attire was a hideous mess which was totally embarrassing.
However, Jiang Chen still stood on his feet, similar to his previous posture. He slightly pushed his lips upwards as he looked up again at the last Heavenly Tribulation, and pointed at it with his middle finger facing downwards.
*Hong Long*
The ninth tribulation finally descended. This was the most powerful tribulation of all the nine cycles. The power of this tribulation was the combination of all the previous eight.
“Old god! There is only one more tribulation left, but it is also the scariest one. I have no idea if Jiang Chen can pull it through.”
Sot Old Man’s facial expression was ugly. It was Jiang Chen who had saved him today. He had sensed the beginning of the tribulation after Jiang Chen’s release of Qi. If Jiang Chen wasn’t here to save him, the tribulation could have been delayed which would have given Jiang Chen more time for preparation.
Therefore, if Jiang Chen had made the ultimate sacrifice in this accident, he wouldn’t be able to explain it to his young master. Even if he wanted to save him, he couldn’t. He couldn’t even move into the area.
“Don’t worry about him. He will be able to pull it through. That dude is undefeatable.”
Big Yellow wagged his sturdy tail and said with confidence. He was the one who had followed Jiang Chen the longest and knew Jiang Chen better than anyone. From the Qi Yuan Mountain until now, there were so many encounters along their way, including both small and big battles. Even if it was a very difficult one, Jiang Chen could still get through it safely.
Jiang Chen didn’t care about his wounded body as he stood up again. Then, he jumped and flew towards the sky. The Heavenly Saint Sword in his hand was producing a buzzing sound, conveying Jiang Chen’s killing intent to the enemy.
“Haha…Come on!”
Jiang Chen laughed freely. The tip of his long sword was pointing at the thick thunderclouds. A ninth cycle Heavenly Tribulation? He didn’t fear it. The blood in his body was circulating as quick as it could, and the potential strength in his body was being activated continuously. Once he survived this nine-cycles tribulation, he would advance to the Second Grade Combat Emperor for certain.
Jiang Chen was well aware of his current condition. He took out a Nine Solar Lightning-Dragon pill and swallowed it. The effect wasn’t as good as the first time he took it, but it would still help a lot for his current injuries.
*Roar*
Jiang Chen had successfully provoked the lightning dragon every time he had defied it. This was the ninth Heavenly Tribulation. Not only was the body of the lightning dragon was very long, solid, and condensed, but its body was carrying great power, incomparable to the previous eight tribulations. It was truly quivering to one’s soul.
The lightning dragon stuck out its giant head and glared at Jiang Chen with its cold and cruel eyes.
At the next moment, the lightning dragon moved like the previous ones. As it dived down, the air around it turned into a sea of lightning, and Jiang Chen was at its core.
From far away, the trio’s hearts were already in their mouths. This was the first time they had ever witnessed such a Heavenly Tribulation. They were completely startled by it. Besides that, they were also very worried about Jiang Chen’s safety. The ninth tribulation was just way too terrifying. They were clueless as to whether Jiang Chen could endure it.
The sea of flashes of lightning remained for two minutes before it stopped. Jiang Chen fell once more from the sky, hitting the ground really hard.
The nine-cycled tribulation was over. The ninth tribulation still shook their guts. As soon as it ended, the dark clouds above the sky vanished. This big piece of wilderness was as if it had been through the end of the world, it was completely in ruins.
Three silhouettes flew to the scene like arrows shot from a bow. They didn’t have any interest on the condition of the place as they rushed towards their friend, Jiang Chen.
At this point, Jiang Chen’s eyes were closed. There was blood all over his body like a bloody man but they could still feel his pulse, it hadn’t stopped, but he had fainted due to his injuries.
What surprised them the most was that they could see Jiang Chen’s wounds were recovering in front of their very own eyes. This was the recovery technique of the Dragon Transformation Art. It was way too powerful that it couldn’t be compared to neither godly pills nor to an ordinary man.
Furthermore, there were no pills that could help him now as his injuries were too serious. He had to depend on the self-recovery technique of the Dragon Transformation Art. Thus, it was impossible for him to heal in such a short period of time.
“His injuries are way too heavy. He fainted, so he’s vulnerable for now. We have to leave this place immediately as the tribulation has drawn a lot of attention.”
Sot Old Man said.
“That’s right, let’s depart here first.”
Tyrant nodded and lifted Jiang Chen. The trio turned into three rays of light and disappeared.
….