Inside the Taigu Wood Star Forest, Chi Danzi's tribulation transcension had reached its final stage. He had summoned his world's will, a red fire giant, to confront the lightning tribulation. Very quickly, he passed the eighth lightning tribulation, then looked solemnly at the sky! The ninth lightning tribulation had arrived.
"So powerful..." From afar, a Saint Ancestor of the demon race watched the tribulation transcender with grave solemnity, for he felt that the other's lightning tribulation was considerably stronger than his own when he broke through to Saint Ancestor. This person, at the same realm, was more powerful than him!
"..." Several other powerful cultivators also sent telepathic messages, one after another.
"Boom..." The ninth lightning tribulation descended. Chi Danzi's world's true form swung its fist, striking directly at it. Space shattered, and a mighty explosion rang out as if marking the end of his tribulation. He had stepped into the Saint Ancestor realm!
Chi Danzi hovered in the sky, absorbing the auspicious clouds that descended to consolidate his cultivation. Nearly half an hour later, he awoke and sent a telepathic message to Wu Zixuan and the others. The whole group then returned to Demon Dragon City, with no one knowing their direction.
Inside Demon Dragon City, the guardians did not disturb the spirit bodies. After a brief conversation, they resumed their cultivation; their main focus now was simply cultivation.
Two months quickly passed. Wu Tianjun planned to have the eight great spirit bodies condense their origins today. After that, following Wu Tianjun's guidance, they would quickly form cores and might even face lightning tribulations!
"Phew! Almost time!" On this day, Wu Tianjun opened his eyes. All sorts of magical artifacts were piled around him; he had just refined a scarlet battle saber, reaching the peak of the sixth-grade Divine Realm! Due to the considerable expenditure of energy, he regulated his breathing for nearly three hours before returning to normal. He stood up and walked out to the training ground; the others should have finished forming their cores by now.
Outside the training ground, whether by coincidence or design, all the guardians and spirit bodies had awakened from their cultivation and were waiting for Wu Tianjun to emerge. The spirit bodies could no longer suppress themselves; they immediately wanted to condense their origins!
"Creak..." The sound of the door opening rang out. Wu Tianjun saw everyone, smiled, and said, "Condense your origins! Go outside to condense them, haha, I'll let you taste a bit of suffering! I won't help you this time!" He predicted that most of them would face lightning tribulations when forming their cores, but whether they would have "Lightning Tribulation Liquid" or not, he didn't know.
"Yes, Young Master!" The spirit bodies immediately replied in serious tones. Last time, when Wu Tianjun activated their spirit bodies and bloodlines, he also mentioned a "bit of suffering," but that feeling was worse than death! This time, they shivered.
"Big Brother..." Mu Li and Chen Xiaoling looked at Wu Tianjun with teary eyes; it was truly too terrifying.
"Ugh! I can't control it! It's just a lightning tribulation, with your abilities, you'll pass it easily, just a little tingling pain!" Wu Tianjun said, his face darkening. He somewhat regretted spoiling these two girls!
"Oh, really!..." Mu Li's eyes lit up. It sounded like the lightning tribulation wasn't that scary after all!
"..." The guardians looked at this group of "monsters," not knowing what to say. If Wu Tianjun's prediction was correct, these people would face the Heavenly Tribulation starting from the Human Core Realm, whereas ordinary people would only face it at the Spirit Comprehension Realm! Yet, ever since they had known Wu Tianjun, he had never been wrong!
"Let's go outside!" Wu Tianjun led the way out of Demon Dragon City. "You eleven guardians, go stand guard around them!" he told the guardians, while he himself remained right there.
"Yes, Young Master!" The guardians respectfully departed. It seemed the Young Master wanted to personally oversee things; after all, if a lightning tribulation truly appeared and the spirit bodies couldn't overcome it, he could absorb the tribulation! They didn't know that Wu Tianjun's main purpose was merely to see if there was any Lightning Tribulation Fluid within the spirit bodies' tribulations.
"Hmm! You all, begin gathering essence. I also want to see what kind of core you'll form!" As the guardians dispersed in different directions, Wu Tianjun said to the spirit bodies.
"..." The spirit bodies immediately sat cross-legged and began gathering essence. They had all reached the peak of the Vein Opening Realm and had continuously suppressed their cultivation to prevent gathering essence, so at this moment, their essence gathering was incredibly fast. It was instantly complete, their aura continuously strengthening, reaching the mid-stage of the Origin Gathering Realm in less than a quarter of an hour!
Wu Zixian, Ma Lian, and the others spread out to guard in various directions. This naturally awakened many Demon Beasts, but sensing that these people were not to be trifled with, they didn't pay much attention. They were just curious, wondering why these people appeared to surround that area. Could it be that a treasure was emerging? Or was someone inside needing protection? It was a bit hard to guess!
An hour passed. The eight great spirit bodies had all reached the peak of the Origin Gathering Realm and were quickly about to form their cores, when unexpectedly, someone arrived—a human! A half-step Saint Ancestor human, merely a girl of twenty-five or twenty-six. It was none other than Jiang Yu, who had returned to her clan a year ago. She quickly arrived at their location and met the guardians.
"Why are you all here?" Jiang Yu asked in surprise upon seeing Guardian Chi Dan. Her spiritual sense also detected two other guardians.
"Haha, Fourth Sister! You're finally back! We're protecting those spirit children as they break through!" Chi Dan sensed that Jiang Yu still hadn't broken through to the Saint Realm and said with a laugh.
"Spirit bodies? You... you've broken through to Saint Ancestor?!" When Jiang Yu left, Wu Tianjun hadn't yet gathered all eight great spirit bodies, so she didn't understand, but she felt that Chi Dan's cultivation had surpassed hers! He had obviously broken through to the Saint Ancestor Realm.
"Haha, I only broke through two months ago! As for those spirit bodies..." Chi Dan began to explain about the eight great spirit children to Jiang Yu. She quickly understood.
“The Young Master actually activated their spirit body bloodline region for them?! They opened eighty-one meridians?! And are preparing to break through to the Human Core realm?! This…” Jiang Yu gasped in cold air repeatedly. It had only been a year, yet the Young Master had created a group of monstrous youths. How long had they been cultivating to reach the Human Core Realm? Their cultivation speed was truly world-shaking and unprecedented.
“Hehe! There are many more surprises; you’ll see later!” Chi Dan said with a strange laugh. “Ah! It’s here…” He looked at the sky, laughing, then suddenly fell silent. “This… How can this be? Run!” Chi Dan stared at the sky; this aura felt more familiar to him than anything else! The aura of lightning rain! He immediately grabbed Jiang Yu and ran.
“This… Lightning rain?! Is the Young Master breaking through again? Run!” Wu Zixuan, Ma Lian, and the others also sensed something unusual. No matter what, with the Young Master present, the spirit bodies would be fine. They, however, should run.
At the place where the Eight Great Spirit Bodies were breaking through, their advancements to the Human Core realm happened in quick succession. With Feng Daoling leading the way, the other seven also broke through almost simultaneously. Just as Wu Tianjun had predicted, their breakthroughs to the Human Core realm indeed brought forth a Lightning Tribulation. However, he had miscalculated; because the Eight Spirit Children were close together, their lightning tribulations intertwined, forming a different, much more powerful tribulation than the original. Yet, Wu Tianjun looked up at the sky and smiled strangely, for the aura of that lightning tribulation was incredibly familiar to him! Lightning Rain!
"Tsk! Your tribulations are quite the coincidence, aren't they!" Wu Tianjun said, looking strangely at the Eight Great Spirit Children while standing within the lightning tribulation's range. At this moment, they were restrained by the power of the Heavenly Punishment, unable to move or speak, only able to look at Wu Tianjun with questioning eyes. After all, Wu Tianjun was also within the tribulation's range!
"Tsk! This Young Master will just have to run an errand this once!" What Wu Tianjun feared least was the Lightning Tribulation. He had already absorbed Lightning Rain three times! For him, the lightning tribulation was a great tonic to quickly raise his cultivation and increase his Samsara power!
The atmosphere was oppressive and gloomy. The moment the first Lightning Rain descended, Wu Tianjun leaped up to receive it, then charged straight into the tribulation clouds! *Who knows how many benefits there are!* Wu Tianjun thought to himself.
"Hmm! Not much different from my last tribulation; it seems there's a cultivation limit!" Wu Tianjun muttered after sensing it for a moment. Within these tribulation clouds, there were only nearly twenty thousand units of Lightning Tribulation Liquid, and the Lightning Rain's energy wasn't very great! He estimated that even if his Demonic Meridian absorbed it all, he wouldn't be able to break through to the Divine Venerate realm! It would be better to let his Divine Meridian absorb it; perhaps it could reach the peak of Divine Rank Two, and after consolidating for a month or two, he could break through to Divine Rank Three, he calculated.
As Wu Tianjun leaped into the tribulation clouds, a massive vortex quickly formed at its center, absorbing the surrounding energy. Nearly an hour later, Wu Tianjun emerged from the tribulation clouds, and a peaceful aura descended upon the Eight Spirit Children and the others, causing their cultivation to instantly jump to the mid-stage Human Core realm! This was the benefit of completing a tribulation, a type of pure energy! But this was absolutely cheating!
Wu Tianjun hovered in the sky, nearly ten *li* away from the spirit bodies, watching them, wondering what schemes they were concocting.
The Twelve Protectors also quickly came over and gathered near Wu Tianjun.
"Young Master!" Jiang Yu exclaimed, about to embrace Wu Tianjun. Her personality was very childish; she had tried before but failed.
"Old hag! Get away from me!" Wu Tianjun said, startled. *How could a heroic young man like me embrace an old hag so affectionately?* Although Jiang Yu currently looked only twenty-five or twenty-six, her true age was probably fifty thousand years!
"When was I ever an old hag...?" Jiang Yu fumed. Before, she wouldn't have dared to provoke him like this, but later she understood that he was just a child, and his past was also very sorrowful!
"..." The other Protectors' faces darkened. Perhaps only Jiang Yu dared to act like this.
"Nonsense! How dare you tease my Young Master! I'll make you suffer!" Ma Lian snorted coldly. In his heart, the Young Master was extremely mighty; how could this woman... defile him!
"What I do is my business! Even the Young Master isn't scolding me! Hmph!" Jiang Yu, who had nowhere to vent her anger, immediately glared at Ma Lian upon hearing this!
"I won't argue with a woman! Big chest, no brains!" Ma Lian said without looking at her directly.
"You… Who did you say has a big chest and no brains?" Jiang Yu immediately flared up! Although they had lived together for over twenty thousand years, they hadn't interacted much and thus didn't understand each other well.
"..." No one paid her any mind.
"Hmph! Let’s return to Malong City! The Yuanmu Star Forest is Demon Race territory, it’s not suitable for us to show ourselves too much!" Wu Tianjun said, ignoring Jiang Yu’s outburst.
"Yes, Young Master!" Seeing Wu Tianjun speak, the protectors said no more, immediately taking the spirit bodies and returning to Malong City. For now, being underground beneath Malong City was the most suitable place for them!
"Huh! We should also start planning for what’s coming next!" Wu Tianjun suddenly said with a serious expression. He wanted to begin his foray into the starry sky!
"..." The protectors’ eyes immediately lit up, extremely excited! As for the spirit bodies, they said nothing; the Young Master wanted them to cultivate for ten years! The outside world had nothing to do with them!