Chapter Thirty-Three: Thunder Marsh [Please Subscribe]

"Boom... sizzle..."

With the descent of the final Ping-fire thunder tribulation, inside the Lightning-Attracting Pagoda, Li Yang's eyes instantly turned crimson red. The archaic thunder seals engraved on the surface of the thunder chisel in his hands were activated one after another, and the pitch-black outer shell on his body showed faint signs of cracking.

"Pop, pop, pop..."

Accompanied by a faint sound of a bursting bubble, the Golden Centipede Dharmakaya behind Li Yang now showed faint signs of melting. It was clearly visible that the ferocious visage of the Dharmakaya was beginning to blur, while red-gold liquid circulated around its body. Even the arms gripping the elixir cauldron showed signs of softening.

"Crack... swish, swish, swish..."

At that very moment, the rift in the thunder clouds in the sky parted slightly wider, and a purple-black bolt of lightning descended from the fissure.

Across the entire Lightning-Attracting Pagoda, the lightning rod, which had already melted halfway, instantly turned frosty white. The crimson tower body, as if doused with a bucket of cold water, immediately billowed with white mist. Not only the Lightning-Attracting Pagoda, but the ground of the entire estate also grew a faint layer of white frost.

After nine water-type thunder bolts, the metal body of the Lightning-Attracting Pagoda was covered in a network of cracks. Inside the tower, the Golden Centipede Dharmakaya behind Li Yang was in the exact same state; the zhang-tall Dharmakaya was covered in dense, intricate fractures.

"Crack..."

Gazing at the purple-cyan divine lightning in the sky, a look of utter despair pierced through Li Yang's eyes. According to the sequence of the thunder tribulation, this should have been the Five Elements Thunder Tribulation. Having only survived the water and fire thunder bolts, he was already fast reaching his limit. Only two choices lay before him now: either abandon the Nirvana Golden Pill, or share the fate of the golden pill and try his luck.

To ask him to abandon it was tantamount to cutting off his own flesh. This Nirvana Golden Pill carried the hope of returning home and embodied all his painstaking efforts over the past few years. He had sacrificed far too much for this pill, and there was simply no possibility of him giving it up.

At this very moment, Li Yang was thoroughly obsessed, a tempest of emotions churning within his heart—reluctance at failure, longing for his family, obsession with attaining immortality, and a burning desire for revenge.

Yet, he failed to realize that a golden pill was inherently the exclusive domain of immortals. Why say this? Setting aside the difficulty of refining a golden pill, the pill tribulation alone was by no means weaker than the thunder tribulation faced by exotic beasts.

The tribulation demanded by this Nirvana Golden Pill was not the so-called Five Elements Thunder Tribulation he had anticipated, but a sevenfold thunder tribulation encompassing Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Yin, and Yang. A golden pill possessed nine transformations, with nine thunder tribulations per transformation, totaling the auspicious number of seven-nines. The Nirvana Golden Pill was precisely a top-grade golden pill of the seventh transformation.

What concept was this? In other words, this thunder tribulation was fully comparable to a cultivator's Third Disaster. One must know that this was a tribulation that ancient monsters like Celestial Master Zhang would never dare to cross, let alone someone like him.

If he truly resolved to share the fate of the Nirvana Golden Pill, the outcome of crossing the tribulation, barring any accidents, would undoubtedly be ten deaths and zero life.

Naturally, at this moment, Li Yang had fallen into an obsession. He neither thought of these things nor cared to heed them. He had only a single purpose and a single thought: to swallow the Nirvana Golden Pill and achieve a complete rebirth through nirvana.

"Click... crack..."

While his thoughts were lofty, reality was exceptionally cruel.

As the thunder tribulations continued, the Eye of the Heavenly Tribulation in the sky had slowly opened halfway. A grayish eyeball emerged from the tribulation cloud storm as the Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth thunder tribulations descended in rapid succession.

The Lightning-Attracting Pagoda had completely shattered, and the Four Symbols formation diagram in the sky flickered in and out of existence, ready to vanish at any moment. Even the ground of the altar had collapsed downward by several meters. Viewed from high above, centered on the altar, the ground of the entire estate had fractured like a giant spiderweb, revealing bottomless chasms.

The Golden Centipede Dharmakaya behind Li Yang was now barely visible, covered in deep cracks, and even the golden radiance around it had dimmed.

As for his own body, his complexion was now ashen gray, and the skin across his frame presented a hue of death, with faint, yellowish bronze-coin patterns intermittently surfacing. As the thunder tribulation continued to pound, his body showed signs of disintegration.

The only proof that he still lived was his dark red eyes, filled with crazed obsession.

"Crack... rumble..."

At that very moment, the thunder tribulation in the sky gradually drew to a close, accompanied by the descent of a beam of white lightning resembling the aurora borealis.

"Crack... snap..."

The elixir cauldron gripped in the hands of Li Yang's Dharmakaya instantly cracked. A stream of brilliant golden light pierced through the fissures of the cauldron, bathing the entire altar in a golden glow.

"Sizzle... crack..."

The moment this white Extreme Yang thunder tribulation came into contact with the thunder chisel, the precarious shell on the chisel shattered completely, revealing its true form.

"Thump, thump, thump..."

The thunder chisel transformed into a streak of purple lightning, gripped in Li Yang's hand. It emitted a startling pulse, swelling and contracting like a human heartbeat. The head of the thunder hammer transformed into a cluster of purple energy crystals, upon which chaotic seals flowed endlessly as if brought to life.

The instant the thunder chisel revealed its true form, the lightning particles throughout the estate converged frantically, turning into two visible electromagnetic plasma fields that were swallowed whole by the chisel and hammer.

This thunder chisel was originally the natal divine artifact of the Primordial Purple Firmament Divine Thunder Dao Ancestor, the Great God Leize. Forged by gathering all the thunder laws of innate thunder stones, it had remained in a sealed state all along.

The reason it was sealed by the Great God Leize, plainly speaking, was out of fear that future generations would be unable to wield it. The most basic qualification to use this divine artifact was to forge a thunder-attuned physical body; otherwise, one was completely unqualified to touch it.

Though its power was drastically diminished after being sealed, it required no refinement to unleash a fraction of its might. If future descendants possessed the capability, they would naturally find a way to unseal it; if they lacked the ability, they could at least rely on this divine artifact to pass down their orthodoxy and prevent it from being annihilated.

With Li Yang's current cultivation level, he was naturally incapable of breaking the seal on this divine artifact. Yet, having studied it for so long, he had long since perceived its characteristic of devouring lightning energy. Today, by a twist of fate, he had made use of the thunder tribulation to unseal the artifact.

The moment the thunder chisel was unsealed, even without Li Yang's conscious direction, it automatically floated into the air, frantically absorbing the energy of the thunder tribulation to replenish itself.

Simultaneously, a streak of chaotic thunder radiance shot straight into Li Yang's mind.

By this time, Li Yang had long since lost consciousness. His mind and spirit had plunged into a state akin to neither living nor dying, and his sea of consciousness had fallen into pitch-black darkness. The radiance of his soul was thoroughly extinguished. If not for a miracle, he was destined to perish under this thunder tribulation.

At that exact moment, a streak of chaotic thunder radiance instantly pierced through the pitch-black sea of consciousness, traversing Li Yang's mind and spirit like a divine lightning cleaving open the heavens and the earth.

"Rumble..."

Accompanied by deafening thunder, Li Yang's dormant spirit gradually revived. Thunder embodies the creation of heaven and earth, containing vitality amidst annihilation.

"Where is this?"

"......"

When Li Yang awoke once more, he found himself standing within a swamp. Gigantic trees towered into the clouds all around, brimming with vitality, and the entire realm was permeated with an ancient, primeval aura.

Standing beneath the colossal trees, he appeared no different from an inconspicuous ant. Countless monstrous beasts roamed the surroundings. These beasts possessed bizarre shapes, but without exception, the smallest among them were behemoths standing dozens of zhang tall.

There were ferocious giant crocodiles crackling with lightning, mountain goats with thunder patterns etched upon their twin horns, and giant birds resembling bolts of lightning. All these colossal beasts shared a common trait: they were intimately connected with thunder and lightning. Even this boundless swamp was saturated with the energy of lightning.

Though the sky above was clearly clear and cloudless, peals of thunder rumbled continuously, presenting a deeply bizarre sight.

"Little fellow, are you the current lineage successor of the Purple Firmament Divine Thunder Dao?"

Just as Li Yang was looking around in bewilderment, accompanied by a booming peal of thunder, the sky suddenly darkened.

"You are... Leize!"

Lifting his gaze, Li Yang widened his eyes in disbelief.

A giant, whose height was countless zhang tall, had suddenly squatted down. From Li Yang's perspective, it was entirely impossible to take in the giant's full form.

It was a giant with a dragon's head and a human body, draped in a massive beast skin. Across his exposed skin, esoteric thunder seals coalesced into mystical lines that flickered in and out of existence.

The giant's muscles were tightly knotted, and his hands gripped a chisel and a hammer. Although magnified by tens of thousands of times, Li Yang recognized at a single glance that it was precisely the thunder chisel.

"Hahahaha... Little fellow, do not be surprised. I am merely a projection."

Observing the expression on Li Yang's face, the giant let out a hearty laugh, his voice rumbling like thunder and causing the very void to tremble.

This thunderous voice was imbued with the majestic will of the Heavenly Dao, vibrating his spirit to the point of collapse. Li Yang could not help but tightly cover his ears, squatting on the ground with a look of terror.

"My apologies, little fellow!"

Noticing Li Yang's expression, the giant scratched the back of his head and continued with a somewhat awkward look, "Since you have unsealed the thunder chisel, it also means you are qualified to receive the legacy left by Leize. This seed of thunder contains all of Leize's laws and authority, as well as his foundation as an innate divine demon. Little fellow, comprehend it well; this is the very reason for my existence!"

The giant reached into his bosom and pulled out a seed of chaotic color. To call it a seed was less accurate than calling it a fruit.

It was a fruit of chaotic hue, appearing like a mass of light radiating an indescribable brilliance. This light surpassed the color spectrum perceptible to biological life, defying description by mere color. If one insisted on describing it, it resembled the light of the soul far more.

Two ancient and obscure seals flickered upon it faintly, as if representing the origin and end of all heaven and earth lightning, encompassing the essence of every law of thunder.

As this fruit sank into the center of Li Yang's brow, his vision darkened instantly, and he lost consciousness once more.