Chapter 152: Nascent Soul Lightning Tribulation

===================
Translated by Frog in the Well

Read it only at Nineheavens.org
===================

***

At the time when Jin So-myeong was in the midst of suffering from the Heart Demon Tribulation.

Outside the cave dwelling, two Nascent Soul stage cultivators were facing off.

Mister Demonic Jade of the Black Night Palace and Yeom Un-cheong, the Supreme Elder of the Medicine King Sect, kept their distance and glared at each other.

Both of them held their Rank 4 spirit treasures with stiffened expressions, creating an atmosphere where it would not be strange if a fight broke out at any moment, but internally, that was not the case.

In the first place, because the two of them had clashed too many times while active in the same region, they knew each other’s strength well, so they did not even feel the need to fight.

While formally facing off, they were actually conversing via voice transmission.

-Are you asking me to help you when you strike the Supreme Elder of the Black Night Palace, Ya Cheon-ryun?

At the voice transmission of Yeom Un-cheong, who was fiddling with his beard, Mister Demonic Jade nodded.

-Yes. From the perspective of the Medicine King Sect, wouldn’t it be good if Ya Cheon-ryun disappeared?

-Hmm… Well. It would be good, but I do not know if it is worth taking such a risk.

-Do not act so frustratingly when you know everything. Ya Cheon-ryun is too greedy. If left alone, he might even covet the Gangseo Kingdom where the Medicine King Sect is located, you know?

When Yeom Un-cheong frowned, Mister Demonic Jade’s voice transmission continued.

-Even if you somehow hold out while you are alive, what will happen afterward? The Medicine King Sect might disappear without even leaving its name behind.

-Nonsense! Do you think there are no talents in our Medicine King Sect? Before my lifespan ends, I will definitely raise one more Nascent Soul stage cultivator!

-Oh, are you perhaps referring to Cheong Hwa-ran? Or your daughter?

When Yeom Un-cheong, whose face stiffened hard, glared at him in earnest, Mister Demonic Jade opened his palm and spoke.

-Calm down. I have no intention of threatening you. But this is a bit strange. Why did you, who had no interest in anything other than elixir refining and protecting the Medicine King Sect, come here? What relation does Jin So-myeong have to you?

Just as Yeom Un-cheong, frowning, was about to answer.

Suddenly, the void rippled. Yeom Un-cheong, startled, hurriedly formed a hand seal, and light erupted from the Rank 4 elixir cauldron he was riding as if it were a mount.

Boomoon!

When the light erupting from the elixir cauldron collided with the grey energy that flew in after twisting space, Yeom Un-cheong coughed up blood.

Yeom Un-cheong, whose chest was soaked in blood just from blocking a single blow, gritted his teeth and shouted.

“Ya Cheon-ryun!”

The Supreme Elder of the Black Night Palace had launched a sneak attack the moment he appeared, inflicting a heavy injury on Yeom Un-cheong.

Yeom Un-cheong, who was releasing killing intent as if enraged by the sneak attack, flinched.

“Mid-Nascent Soul stage?”

His shock, to the point of widening his eyes, was only temporary.

Swish!

Light erupted from the Rank 4 elixir cauldron Yeom Un-cheong was stepping on, and he became a beam of escape light, disappearing beyond the sky.

The moment he realized the Supreme Elder of the Black Night Palace had attained the mid-Nascent Soul stage, he fled without even looking back.

“Hmph.”

Watching that, the Supreme Elder of the Black Night Palace merely snorted.

This was because, although Yeom Un-cheong’s combat power was not that strong, his talent for fleeing was outstanding, making it difficult to pursue him.

“…You have broken through the minor realm. Congratulations on the Supreme Elder’s achievement.”

Although he looked down at Demonic Jade, who bowed his head shamelessly, as if in contempt, he did not find fault with him.

Right now, rather than harping on Demonic Jade’s fault, it was more important to interfere with Jin So-myeong’s breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage.

“Demonic Jade, how many days has it been since that arrogant sword cultivator bastard began his breakthrough?”

“Today is the third day.”

“It is right at the critical moment. I shall interfere properly.”

With a fishy smile, curling up one corner of his mouth, Ya Cheon-ryun took out a bronze bell and shook it.

Ring…!

Just as the sound of weeping ghosts echoed through the grey fog rising from the ground.

“Good grief. A bunch of old men who have aged plenty gathering to bully a kid who isn’t even a hundred years old. I cannot bear to watch.”

A beggar old man wearing hemp clothes riddled with holes. Ju Gwang, who was so heavily drunk that his face was dyed red, appeared riding a gourd as large as a house.

However, strangely enough, his realm was not the ninth layer of the Golden Core stage, but the mid-Nascent Soul stage.

“Immortal Elder White Liquor! Why are you here…?”

“Wherever I am is my choice. *Belch*, the wine tastes great!”

As Ju Gwang, standing with his back to the cave dwelling where Jin So-myeong was breaking through, let out a thick belch, the Supreme Elder frowned deeply.

“Do you perhaps have a relationship with Jin So-myeong?”

“Eh? Not particularly… aren’t we fellow rogue cultivators? Seeing him in trouble, it was hard to just stand by.”

“…You are going to protect him for just that kind of reason? Do you expect me to believe that?”

“Hehe, isn’t action more important than belief? For today, please withdraw for the sake of my face.”

At the words spoken while sipping from the gourd, the Supreme Elder of the Black Night Palace clicked his tongue.

“Tsk. I will withdraw today for the sake of your face, Immortal Elder White Liquor. However, if you block me next time, I will not tolerate it.”

“Ah, excellent. Let’s have a drink sometime.”

Just as the Supreme Elder was about to turn away with an expressionless face, suddenly, with a strange glint in his eyes, he shook the bell.

Screeech!

Ehihihihi!

The grey fog spread on the ground surged like a whirlwind, turning into a waterspout and charging toward the cave dwelling where Jin So-myeong was breaking through.

Ju Gwang, flustered, tried to block it but was a step too late. The waterspout, rushing like a whip, was right before crashing into Jin So-myeong’s cave dwelling.

The Supreme Elder, who had pretended to withdraw, had launched a sneak attack with all his might!

Grrrind!

A blow struck by a cultivator who had reached the mid-Nascent Soul stage, it was about to tear the cave dwelling apart.

At that moment.

Not only Ju Gwang, whose face stiffened in frustration, but everyone watching from the surroundings instinctively knew.

That it was over.

Although Jin So-myeong’s cave dwelling had a Rank 3 formation installed, that was all. It could not endure a Nascent Soul-grade blow.

Following a roar that felt like heaven and earth were collapsing, the wind blew.

The moment the view cleared as the waterspout, which had devastated a radius of several kilometers, dissipated.

Everyone, including the Supreme Elder, fell into shock.

“It is perfectly fine…?”

The hundred or so formations surrounding the cave dwelling hummed and vibrated, resonating with each other and withstanding the Nascent Soul-grade blow.

Did it barely endure?

Not particularly. Not a single one of the over a hundred formations was broken. They were all perfectly fine, to the point where not even a tiny scratch was made.

Judging by the massive durability, even if a Nascent Soul stage expert attacked with all his might, it seemed they would not be able to break it down in a day or two.

The Hong siblings, who watched this scene from a distance after avoiding the Nascent Soul stage experts, were even more shocked. This was because the formation they had inwardly dismissed as insignificant was sturdy beyond imagination.

“What kind of Rank 3 formation is so sturdy?”

They could not have known, but in truth, it was not a strange thing.

The formations installed in the cave dwelling were ones that Jin So-myeong had strengthened by pouring in his Supreme Great Ability from time to time throughout his entire stay in Natian City.

Especially from the time he attained the ninth layer of the Golden Core stage until he reached the Great Circle, he had invested most of his Supreme Great Ability over several years.

Even if it looked shabby as if junk was piled up on the outside, a tremendous amount of care had gone into it. It was by no means an ordinary formation.

In any case, this was a fact known only to Jin So-myeong, and those who watched were merely dumbfounded.

Just as everyone was bewildered by the inexplicably sturdy formation.

Rumble…!

In the dark clouds gathered in the sky above Natian City, snow-white lightning flickered.

“Lightning Tribulation!”

The calamity sent by heaven, called the divine punishment that burns the soul, had begun.

***

Meanwhile.

Facing the Lightning Tribulation, Jin So-myeong forgot all the complex situations and focused solely on the dark clouds floating in the sky.

First, he took out the basket dharma treasure named the Heavenly Thunder Cloud Basket.

The Heavenly Thunder Cloud Basket was a dharma treasure he obtained after fighting and defeating a hundred Golden Core cultivators in the Seven-Colored Treasure Pagoda in the past, and it possessed the ability to weaken the Lightning Tribulation.

‘It is coming.’

In the instant he concentrated so deeply that it felt as if the passage of time had slowed down.

Rumble!

The white lightning that was flickering in the dark clouds, a single snow-white line, struck down vertically.

Just before the white lightning, which flew in along the path between the formations he had intentionally left open, struck his crown.

The Heavenly Thunder Cloud Basket, spreading out like a giant umbrella, absorbed part of the white lightning and let the rest pass through.

Was it thanks to the dharma treasure that weakened the Lightning Tribulation?

Even though the white lightning that seeped through his crown swept throughout his entire body, he felt it was bearable.

‘Fortunately.’

Since countless people had warned in unison that the most terrifying and dangerous of the heavenly calamities was the Lightning Tribulation and that one must be extremely careful, he had been on guard, but it seemed he would be able to pass it much more easily than expected.

‘Is it thanks to practicing the Heavenly Thunder Dao Body Art?’

Although practicing a thunder-attributed technique did not mean one could easily pass the Lightning Tribulation, the Heavenly Thunder Dao Body Art strengthened by the Supreme Great Ability might be different.

‘This is a good thing.’

Having gained some leeway, he was able to observe the white lightning sweeping through his body in detail.

The white lightning that spread to the extremities of his limbs melted his physical body while simultaneously imparting deep vitality, giving him the feeling that the impurities in his body, which he did not even know existed, were being purified.

And also.

The white lightning that penetrated into his dantian in an instant even reached his spiritual root, the foundation of a cultivator, and along with a pain that made his head go completely blank, he felt his spiritual root being tempered.

‘The Lightning Tribulation is beneficial if only one can endure it!’

The moment this thought occurred, he removed the Heavenly Thunder Cloud Basket from above his head to raise his aptitude by utilizing the Lightning Tribulation.

Rumble!

The second white lightning struck down. Perhaps because there was no Heavenly Thunder Cloud Basket, it was about thirty percent stronger, but it was still bearable.

He laughed amidst the pain that felt as if not only his body but also his soul was burning.

It felt as if a wall had been breached. His aptitude, which had stagnated at the high-grade spiritual root level, was gradually improving.

‘How many times will the lightning strike?’

Although it was hard to say for sure since the Heavenly Tribulation was so arbitrary that it was difficult to find a rule, there was still a tendency.

Especially, the sturdier the cultivator’s foundation was, and the higher their possibility of reaching the Soul Formation stage by mastering outstanding divine abilities, the harder the Lightning Tribulation tended to strike.

According to his research, the cultivator who had received the most Lightning Tribulations in the Southern Province had been struck by white lightning a total of seven times.

Rumble!

The third, fourth, fifth… with the rapidly increasing count, even his robust body cried out its limit.

While he was gritting his teeth and enduring.

“You will fail!”

A voice resembling the scraping of a glass window pierced through even the noisy sound of thunder and struck his eardrums.

It was not an ordinary voice. Even though it was heard from beyond the formation, his insides were shaken.

‘A sound art?’

It seemed to be an attack utilizing sound waves.

To interfere right at the critical moment.

Turning his gaze in a sudden surge of annoyance, he saw a man pouring out spells toward the formation. Judging by his attire and aura, he seemed to be the Supreme Elder of the Black Night Palace.

“How long do you think a mere Rank 3 formation like this can protect you! I shall crush it immediately and kill you!”

Perhaps afraid of being caught in the Lightning Tribulation, he did not come close. Watching him noisily attack the formation from afar to get on his nerves was quite an eyesore.

Ju Gwang revealed his mid-Nascent Soul stage power and tried to stop the Supreme Elder, but it seemed difficult to block a fellow who was running around and shouting.

‘Urgh.’

While his concentration was disrupted, the sixth white lightning struck. Ignoring the annoying interferer, he focused on the Lightning Tribulation.

Passing seven, and up to eight.

His entire body screamed from the pure white lightning that struck without a moment’s rest, and his mind grew hazy.

‘Is it over?’

As if mocking his belief that it was bearable, the danger of the Lightning Tribulation rose vertically as the count increased.

Should he say his soul had become tattered? He felt like throwing everything away and passing out.

In any case, since it had ended safely, it was time to sort out the situation.

“The lightning struck eight times…?”

Just as someone muttered in disbelief.

‘Um?’

Sensing something strange, he looked up at the sky and was astonished.

The dark clouds in which the white lightning was flickering still covered the sky. They showed no sign of dispersing.

A single drop of cold sweat rolled down the back of his neck.

Crackle!

The lightning, which was as white as snow, began to turn blue.

‘Blue Lightning?’

The moment he saw it, he instinctively knew. If he took a direct hit, he would die.

Enjoyed the chapter?

If you like our work, consider supporting us on Ko-fi. This site solely runs on donations. Every donation helps us keep translating!

Support on Ko-fi