CHAPTER 158 – NINE LIGHTNINGS GOLDEN CORE TRIBULATION

Alarm bells started ringing across the once peaceful Daxia Sword Sect. Several peak elders took out a red jade slip and transmitted the same command: “All disciples currently training beyond sect grounds—head for Heavenly Tiger Mountain immediately! Hurry!”

In the span of a dozen breaths, every disciple at or above the Foundation Building Realm took to the skies, streaking toward the sect’s central plaza.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Streams of spirit light flared in the hands of the peak elders, coalescing into massive ten-zhang-wide array platforms. They inserted many precious mid-grade spirit stones into the platform, causing it to shine with a blinding light. The five platforms were transport arrays.

A solemn atmosphere weighed on everyone. One elder briefed them on the situation. “All disciples, enter the transport arrays quickly! We locked in a conflict with the Purple Sun Pavilion! I hope you’re all ready to kill! Enter now!”

Nearly a thousand disciples, Foundation Building Realm and Golden Core Realm cultivators alike, soared into the light of the arrays. Not one showed fear.

At the base of Heavenly Tiger Mountain, Li Nanting ordered his disciples to toss their jade slips into the air. The slips exploded mid-flight with a boom, scattering glowing runes that assembled into a giant formation in the sky, which served as a marker for those arriving via the transport array.

Light blazed from the five transport arrays in the Daxia Sword Sect disciples' courtyard.

With the preparations finished, Li Nanting couldn’t wait anymore. He turned to Ye Feng and the others. “Stay here. Whether it’s the Sect Master or anyone else who comes through next, the moment they arrive, you’re all to head for the Ethereal Darkness Mountain Range!”

Ye Feng and the others nodded solemnly.

But the instant Li Nanting departed, Ye Feng whirled around and sprinted too. He flung his sword into the air, leaped onto it, and shouted to Lin Dong, “You all stay here! If anything happens, tell me immediately!”

“Where are you going?!” Lin Dong called after him, worried.

Ye Feng didn’t answer. Without a backward glance, he flew straight toward the Purple Sun Pavilion’s courtyard.

“Hoo... Hoo... I hope the elders of the Purple Sun Pavilion don’t arrive too quickly!”

He arrived at the Purple Sun Pavilion courtyard to find it teeming with curious onlookers. Ye Feng asked around and learned Li Guanqi had murdered two people. He also saw the gruesome state of those two people.

Out of the thirty disciples, only ten gave chase. That’s good, that’s good...

Ye Feng sought out earlier arrivals, inquiring about the situation. A man, noticing his interest, eagerly began to explain.

But the more he said, the darker Ye Feng’s expression became. He hadn’t expected the Purple Sun Pavilion’s disciples to respond so quickly.

They informed their elders from the beginning... The Purple Sun Pavilion is thousands of li away. Even the Nascent Soul Realm elders would need at least sixteen hours to get here.

As he started to calculate the number of hours, he suddenly looked up. Oh no! They’re arriving soon!

Having no time to think, he immediately sent Gu Ran a voice message. “Tell Elder Li that the people from the Purple Sun Pavilion are coming soon!”

Gu Ran’s face drained of color. She relayed the warning to Li Nanting.

Ye Feng took to the skies again, heading for the Ethereal Darkness Mountain Range and meeting many curious bystanders along the way. Naturally, he overheard their conversations.

“What a fucking madman! The guy broke into the Purple Sun Pavilion’s quarters and killed those disciples even when there were so many people around!”

“Tsk. I heard it was because their disciples beat up and seriously injured a young girl from the Daxia Sword Sect. Li Guanqi may be a dark horse in this tournament, but he’s still an idiot.”

The person next to him asked, “Oh, why do you think so?”

The man pursed his lips. “With his strength, he could probably beat Zhao Beichen and win the championship for his sect. He should’ve waited to settle the score.”

The other person nodded in agreement.

Ye Feng listened to their discussions with an icy expression. He snickered. Talk is cheap. None of you lived it. If you’d seen it happen, you’d have lost control too, just like Brother Li did.

Rumble!

The skies above trembled with thunder. Everyone flying on their swords turned to look.

A hundred miles away, a host of massive gray storm clouds boiled into existence, blotting out the sun. Lightning flickered within their depths. The clouds stretched over a hundred zhang across

Ye Feng gulped and stared blankly. He murmured, “This is... a breakthrough to the Golden Core Realm!”

Li Nanting had just arrived at the Ethereal Darkness Mountain Range when he noticed the clouds gathering above. Without hesitation, he transformed into a streak of light and shot toward the mass of clouds.

Meanwhile, a zhang-wide pitch-black spatial crack appeared in the sky above the quarters of the Purple Sun Pavilion, located at the base of Heavenly Tiger Mountain. Several cold-faced elders stepped out of the crack.

The first to step out was an old man with white eyebrows—Miao Chuanjiang.

He scanned the courtyard with frosty eyes, huffed coldly, and then led the group toward the mountains without looking back.

By this time, the vital force within Li Guanqi's body had condensed into an irregular, crater-riddled sphere roughly half the size of a head. It continued to condense and compress further.

Zhao Beichen also sat cross-legged in midair, his own golden vital force surging. His core was now the size of two fists.

Lightning clouds began gathering overhead as both cultivators faced their first heavenly tribulation—the Nine Lightnings Golden Core Tribulation. If they could survive the ordeal, their golden cores would absorb the lightning energy and solidify, breaking through the invisible barrier into the Golden Core Realm.

With that, their lifespans would extend to five hundred years. Their vital force would soar, and they would awaken divine awareness. They’d no longer require food or drink, no longer be bound by mortal needs.

They’d be able to cast spells at will, fly as streaks of light unaided by swords, and travel a thousand li in a single day.

Rumble!

Both of their heavenly tribulations appeared simultaneously. Many cultivators who were still rushing toward the mountains paused, realizing that the ones undergoing the breakthrough must have been Li Guanqi and Zhao Beichen.

Whoosh!

Li Guanqi’s eyes snapped open. After a quick glance at the lightning clouds gathering above, he shot away from Zhao Beichen, stopping only when he’d put five hundred zhang between them. He looked up at his own tribulation clouds and grimaced—they stretched over two hundred zhang in radius, double the size of Zhao Beichen’s heavenly tribulation.

Rumble!

The first bolt of heavenly tribulation lightning struck downward—a purple streak as thick as a person’s wrist, cutting through the sky straight toward Li Guanqi.

Li Guanqi’s eyes flashed with determination. With his sword in hand, he leaped toward the bolt fearlessly.

From a distance, the others could only see a tiny silhouette soaring closer to the heavenly tribulation lightning, then slashing toward it.

Thud! Boom!

Li Guanqi planted his feet and raised his sword, taut as a drawn bow. Then he swung down hard.

His eyes were pure red. In that moment, he sensed a clear killing intent coming from the Red Lotus Sword—a silent defiance, as if it were saying, “So what if it’s a heavenly tribulation?”