Chapter 467: To Hell with This So-Called Heavenly Might!

The second round of the heavenly tribulation was strange and terrifying. It was so powerful that it seemed to have been meant for immortals. The strength it possessed was far beyond anything Wang Sheng had ever imagined a heavenly tribulation could be. It had lightning infused with the power of divine punishment, heavenly fire that scorched the spirit, and mystical ice that could freeze Nascent Souls solid.

Of all the heavenly tribulations, cultivators faced lightning tribulations most commonly. However, heavenly tribulations had more than just lightning in their arsenals.

The fourth and fifth lightning strikes had wounded Wang Sheng's Dao Body. To make matters worse, they had come with heavenly fire and mystical ice.

Now, he had no choice but to unleash every technique he knew. He had wanted to keep a few trump cards hidden for the last three strikes, but what good were trump cards to a dead man?

Yaoyun had called it a death tribulation earlier, which was all he had to hear to know what awaited him. At the very least, Spiritless was still sheathed, which gave Wang Sheng a small sense of comfort. He hadn't used his four sword intents yet either. His Heavenly Tribulation Sword Intent remained his last line of defense against the final three strikes.

He had no time to think. Another monstrous and eerie clawing bolt of lightning—violet and tinged with crimson—appeared before him, instantly shattering the Tai Chi diagram that his Dual-Polarity Sword Intent had formed. The Light Edge flew out of his grasp as he was hurled aside, tumbling through the air before crashing down in a corner of the Small Immortal Realm.

Made solely for absolute destruction, the bolt had hit the area around Wang Sheng's middle dantian. Joining lightning, ice, and fire, a fourth force also emerged: the heavenly wind of annihilation!

The moment a faint breeze brushed against Wang Sheng, thin, bleeding cracks began to open all over his Dao Body. His battered Nascent Soul flickered weakly and dimmed further as wind, fire, ice, and lightning tormented the Primordial Soul within it, tearing at its very essence.

Wang Sheng lay motionless for half a minute, blood seeping from the countless tiny wounds he couldn't heal. His chest was scorched black, his eyes bloodshot.

Around him, eighteen to nineteen people stood guard. Some looked anxious, while some had turned pale with despair. Though her eyes were red with worry, Mu Wanxuan kept her gaze fixed on Wang Sheng, refusing to look away.

If Wang Sheng happened to glance at her now, she would force herself to smile to give him strength. She wouldn't show any expression that could unsettle her junior brother even more.

"What kind of damned tribulation is that?!" Xi Lian finally shouted. "Heaven's just trying to kill him at this point! Who could possibly survive that?!"

The head-shaped cloud in the sky remained silent. The Daoist masters and elders could only sigh helplessly as the entire tribulation cloud condensed into a vast sphere of lightning, forming the seventh strike.

Wang Sheng coughed out a puff of black smoke, which seemed to be impurities from his Dao Body. He knew the tribulation was no longer tempering him; it was trying to end him. His only task now was to survive.

Thankfully, the heavenly tribulation hadn't destroyed the pendant on his chest. He pulled out several pills, swallowed two, and wedged the rest between his back teeth.

Defiance burned once more in his eyes.

Not even heart devils can shake my will! No heavenly wind can move my soul! Battling the heavens is where true joy lies!

Spiritless quivered out of its sheath and spun once in his grip. Ignoring everything else, Wang Sheng lifted the sword and shot into the sky, charging straight at the cloud.

Sword radiance flashed like lightning as he used his Seven-Star Footwork to course through the air. Countless sword phantasms intertwined, and sword radiance filled the sky, making it seem as though forty-nine stars were hovering in the air. Instead of descending, they rose and struck upward.

Heavenly Ziwei Sword!

Starlight gathered into a single torrent. Wang Sheng poured every drop of his enchanted power into that blow.

Thunder rumbled faster and louder. It made the tribulation cloud appear enraged—as though it had its own will. From its open mouth, a pillar of blue lightning shot down.

However, Wang Sheng seemed to have been waiting for this very lightning pillar. He quickly changed his sword technique's target from the tribulation cloud to the base of the lightning pillar.

Sword radiance burst forth right after, blasting apart a small portion of the blue lightning pillar. Nevertheless, the pillar still overwhelmed it and hit Wang Sheng square in the chest, driving him straight to the ground.

The resulting thunderous explosion shook the heavens. The blue pillar raged on for six to seven seconds. Bolts of cyan lightning burst outward from Wang Sheng, who was at its center.

A thin barrier of light appeared under him to shield the ground, but it didn't help cushion the impact at all. He had no choice but to bear the full force of the seventh lightning strike. By the time the lightning finally faded, he had been charred black, making him look almost like burned ash.

His right hand twitched. Spiritless slipped free and flew into the air. Yaoyun then appeared, her silver hair cascading down like a waterfall. Standing proudly upon the sword's hilt, she looked at the tribulation clouds with unwavering resolve.

She rapidly wove a sequence of hand signs, making Spiritless emit immortal light. In the air before her, threads of spiritual power consumed nine-tenths of her spiritual power to form a vast array that was composed of nine slowly rotating layers.

Spiritless now stood between Wang Sheng and the heavens.

Wang Sheng slowly sat up again. In a trembling voice, he said, "Yaoyun, I can still withstand it..."

However, he had gone numb; his body wouldn't listen to him anymore.

The eighth strike was already half-formed. Perhaps because it required far more power, creating it took far longer than the ones before.

Once it was launched, it would likely tear the heavens apart. It would likely end the sword and its master.

"Let me help," Yaoyun calmly replied. "I should have enough spiritual power to block the eighth bolt. Afterward, I'll help you shoulder part of the ninth's force. Whether you survive or not after that will be up to you."

Wang Sheng's vision blurred. Cracks had already spread across his Nascent Soul, and his Dao Body was breaking apart inch by inch. A faint despair stirred within him.

Still, sitting and waiting to die was no way for a man to face his fate. He swallowed a celestial pill, but his Dao Body had already reached its limit; it could no longer absorb the pill's power.

Since escaping the Earth Qi Seal, everything had gone smoothly thanks to Yaoyun's help. Perhaps all the calamities he had avoided along the way had finally caught up to him.

Can I rise from the brink of death?

In the face of heavenly tribulation, such notions were nothing but empty words. He wasn't even sure he could survive the eighth strike. The seventh alone had made him feel as though heaven's wrath was tearing down everything that he had built through grueling cultivation. Even his Heavenly Tribulation Sword Intent, his last resort, was utterly useless in such a state.

All his painstaking comprehension, cultivation, enlightenment, and breakthroughs had led to a Dao foundation that now seemed like nothing more than a fragile shield against the storm.

There has to be a way out.

He tried to think, but when he regained control of his body, he immediately felt pain strong enough to nearly knock him out. Moreover, the heart devils' whispers echoed. Frost also bit into his flesh, and heavenly wind tore through his spirit. The three forces left him no room for thought or hope for calm.

Finally, the eighth lightning bolt descended. Seemingly draining every ounce of qi from the tribulation clouds above, it condensed countless lightning bolts into a blue-white pillar and launched them straight at Wang Sheng and Spiritless.

As Wang Sheng's sword spirit, Yaoyun could intervene without altering the tribulation's nature. It just counted as Wang Sheng defending himself with a treasured artifact.

She unleashed the full force of her spiritual power. The nine layers of the array above Wang Sheng's head shone brilliantly, but the lightning was too fierce. It broke through one barrier after another, as though nothing could stop it.

However, every time a barrier was destroyed, the array made the rest grow thicker and stronger. It was the reason Yaoyun dared promise to hold off the eighth lightning bolt.

Unfortunately, she had misjudged the power of the heavens; the ninth layer failed to consume the lightning completely. Her array had reduced the lightning pillar's force by nearly eighty percent, but it still managed to smash onto Wang Sheng.

Having already used all of his enchanted power, Wang Sheng no longer had any means to defend against it. Even so, a faint spark of lightning began to gather in his eyes.

Spiritless suddenly swung up above him. Yaoyun, who had turned translucent, stood on its blade, glowing brightly.

Wang Sheng never expected his sword spirit to go this far to protect him. He tried to push the Spiritless away, but his wounds slowed him down, causing him to be just a heartbeat too late. The lightning swallowed Yaoyun, Spiritless, and Wang Sheng, but by the time it touched Wang Sheng's brow, it had already lost most of its strength.

For the briefest instant, his silver-lit eyes reflected Yaoyun as she faded, grew thinner, and lost form. They also reflected the fine crack that ran down Spiritless's blade.

Wang Sheng's heart clenched as he grabbed Spiritless and drew it close. He reached out to examine Yaoyun's condition, but he heard a faint whisper in his mind.

"

I've used up my spiritual power, but all that's left is the final lightning bolt... I bet everything on you when the Earth Qi Seal was reforged, so make sure you survive. I just wish I could see my mother again...

"

Yaoyun...

Wang Sheng's gaze trembled. He cradled Spiritless against his chest and slowly closed his eyes, making threads of light rise from every part of his body.

His cracked Nascent Soul slowly emerged from his forehead. Behind it hovered three dim miniature swords: The Seven-Star Sword Intent, the Dual-Polarity Sword Intent, and the Pure Yang Sword Intent. In his Nascent Soul's hand, his Heavenly Tribulation Sword Intent trembled violently, constantly changing and evolving.

High above, the ninth lightning bolt gathered. The clouds turned into gray figures, each holding a blue weapon.

The giant at their rear, which had a vertical eye on its forehead, seethed with destruction. Just before it launched its final attack, an indescribable, oppressive power emanated from the gray figures.

The entire Small Immortal Realm dimmed. Even the heavenly tribulation itself seemed to stop.

In the endless space, a pair of ancient eyes opened slowly. Chants rose across the realm, and the beat of war drums echoed from the distant heavens.

Hum!

All that remained in the confined world were those eyes and Wang Sheng, who was right in front of them.

His Nascent Soul stood calmly on his forehead. It was still him, merely separated from his Dao Body.

The lightning sword in its hand turned from crimson to blue and white. Arcs of lightning wound around it as it drew a silent breath and let out a quiet roar. Right after, it leaped into the air and lifted its sword high, stopping its transformation.

Wang Sheng's Nascent Soul closed its eyes. As if time itself had resumed, the gray figures above began to descend like scattered rain. However, they weren't the first to unleash lightning.

Gray clouds quickly condensed around Wang Sheng. Countless bolts of lightning erupted from them and converged on him.