Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 1038 - 1038 0614 Tribulation Thunder Baptism_2

Chapter 1038: Chapter 0614: Tribulation Thunder Baptism_2 Chapter 1038: Chapter 0614: Tribulation Thunder Baptism_2 Before Qi Tian could command the Transporting Whirlwind for a second attempt, the ninth wave of nine Tribulation Thunders finally finished brewing. One after another, the fierce and terrifying Thunder Snakes drilled out of the Tribulation Clouds and lunged towards Qi Tian.

In the previous eight waves of Heavenly Tribulation assaults, every time the Tribulation Thunders appeared, regardless of their number, they would attack Qi Tian all at once. They did not distinguish between primary or secondary, or which came first; they struck together, intent on annihilating Qi Tian beneath the Tribulation Thunder. However, this time the nine Tribulation Thunders underwent a new change; they abandoned the previous simultaneous attack pattern and became lone assailants. Each Tribulation Thunder struck individually, and right after one fell, the next followed without giving Qi Tian any chance to catch his breath.

At this time, the Princes standing outside the Eastern Capital City could clearly see the nine Tribulation Thunders piercing through heaven and earth, connecting together without any interval. At first glance, it looked like an exceptionally strong and unusually long-lasting Tribulation Thunder.

Such a sight made every Prince uneasy and filled with dread. If it were one of them standing under such Tribulation Thunder, the chances of withstanding it were slim, and even if by some fluke they did survive, the outcome would likely be grim.

Qi Tian, under the Tribulation Thunder, also felt the Heavenly Tribulation’s full malice toward him. These Tribulation Thunders were not only different in their form of attack from the previous eight waves but their individual power had also undergone significant changes.

The first of these nine Tribulation Thunders was still relatively normal, equivalent to the full force of a Half-step Nascent Soul level cultivator’s attack. Qi Tian controlled the Transporting Whirlwind, redirecting this strike to the ground beside the Treasure Pavilion, creating a large pit and loosening the Pavilion’s foundation slightly. Immediately following the first strike was the second Tribulation Thunder, whose power was about ten percent greater than the first. In other words, if the previous Heavenly Tribulation’s attack was equivalent to the full force of 0.5 Nascent Soul Stage cultivators, then this second strike was comparable to an attack initiated by 0.55 Nascent Soul Stage cultivators.

Qi Tian continued to control the Transporting Whirlwind to deflect the second Tribulation Thunder, letting it strike the land beside the Treasure Pavilion and further loosening the foundation of the Pavilion.

The increase in strength of the second Tribulation Thunder over the first initially caught Qi Tian’s attention, but he did not take it too seriously. However, when the third Tribulation Thunder struck, his vigilance was immediately heightened. He found that the third strike had increased in power compared to the second, reaching the equivalent force of an attack from 0.6 Nascent Soul Stage cultivators.

Then came the fourth, the fifth…

Each following thunderbolt increased in strength compared to the previous Tribulation Thunder by the force equivalent to 0.05 of a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator’s strike.

Qi Tian’s heart tightened. If these nine Tribulation Thunders continued to increase in power like this, by the ninth thunderbolt, it would reach the equivalent force of a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator’s attack. The situation would be very grave then. A casual strike from a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator was far stronger than the full force of a Half-step Nascent Soul cultivator, and they were not even of the same class; the difference was more than a little.

Even with the growing anxiety in his heart, there was still very little that Qi Tian could do at the moment. He only had to keep controlling the Transporting Whirlwind to deflect each Tribulation Thunder. However, as more thunders fell, Qi Tian realized that diverting them with the Transporting Whirlwind was becoming increasingly difficult. Initially, a single Transporting Whirlwind could deflect a thunderbolt, but soon it required two, then three, five, seven… Until the seventh Tribulation Thunder, when all the Transporting Whirlwinds were mobilized together, colliding with the incoming thunder.

The result was that the Transporting Whirlwind managed to deflect the Tribulation Thunder, but contrary to Qi Tian’s expectations, it did not land beside the Treasure Pavilion. Instead, it struck a palace nearby. The palace instantly turned into ruins, and a large pit appeared on the ground where the palace once stood — deep enough to have submerged the palace had it still been there.

Following the seventh Tribulation Thunder came the eighth, which was even more powerful than the one before. Qi Tian dared not hesitate, summoning all the Transporting Whirlwinds together, consolidating them into one, and fiercely collided with the eighth Tribulation Thunder.

With a thunderous boom, the two forces collided, and even though the Transporting Whirlwind only struck the side of the Eighth Tribulation Lightning, it still created a powerful shockwave. The impact of the shockwave felt like blades slicing through Qi Tian, shredding his clothes into tatters and cutting multiple wounds into his flesh, from which blood flowed endlessly.

The Eighth Tribulation Lightning was hardly diverted from its anticipated trajectory by the assault of all the Transporting Whirlwinds. Although it didn’t strike Qi Tian directly, its landing point was less than ten meters away from him.

The Tribulation Thunder struck the ground at the point of impact and its vicinity, creating a large crater. The surrounding soil was vaporized into dust and scattered away. The ground beneath Qi Tian’s feet turned into dust as well, and had he not promptly deployed his movement technique to keep himself stationary, he would have fallen into the pit.

Before Qi Tian could catch his breath, the Ninth Tribulation Lightning descended upon him. Indeed, as Qi Tian had anticipated, the power of this strike had reached the level of a single blow from a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, so formidable that even the usually fearless Qi Tian’s complexion turned somewhat pale, with no confidence in his heart.

Qi Tian once again gathered all the Transporting Whirlwinds in an attempt to deflect the direction of the Tribulation Thunder as he had done before, but this Tribulation Thunder was too powerful. When the Transporting Whirlwinds collided with it, the Tribulation Thunder didn’t deviate in the slightest and continued to plummet straight towards Qi Tian.

Clamping his mouth shut, Qi Tian now had no other choices left and threw his flying sword fiercely at the Tribulation Thunder.

In the time just now, Qi Tian had infused nearly all of his magic power into the flying sword, yet he had no confidence that the radiance emitted from the sword could neutralize the Tribulation Thunder. He chose the most certain method.

Charged with Qi Tian’s magic power, the flying sword struck the Tribulation Thunder head-on. In the instant the collision happened, Qi Tian’s mind flickered and the flying sword burst apart under his control—he had self-detonated the flying sword.

This was a flying sword that had been wielded by a Nascent Soul Master; it was already powerful on its own, and now, combined with Qi Tian’s own magic power, the resulting explosive power was immense.

Instantly, the Ninth Tribulation Lightning was torn in two by the explosion, splitting into different directions; quite coincidentally, more than half of it struck the Treasure Pavilion, which had remained unmoved until now, causing it to shake violently as its foundations loosened completely.

The other half of the Tribulation Thunder, its direction unchanged, continued to strike down towards Qi Tian.

At this moment, Qi Tian’s flying sword had already self-destructed, and there was no time for the Transporting Whirlwind to regroup for a second assault. He had no choice but to let this last bit of Tribulation Thunder, retaining only about ten percent of its strength, strike him. It hit his body directly from above, instantly penetrating into him.

All the hairs on Qi Tian’s body stood on end as the remnants of his tattered clothes disintegrated into ash. The Tribulation Thunder entered his meridians in an instant, wreaking havoc within.

Usually, the infilling of Tribulation Thunder is an instantaneous process. If the person undergoing the tribulation cannot endure it, within moments, their meridians will be overwhelmed and destroyed by the Tribulation Thunder. If the tribulation taker is too weak and the gap between their strength and the Tribulation Thunder is too great, they might even be pulverized or turned into charred ash from the infilling of the Tribulation Thunder.