Everlasting

 

“Don’t worry! Nothing will happen. Probably,” Tower replied lackadaisically before continuing to devour the surrounding power of lightning.

“What do you mean probably? Will an issue actually pop up?” Chen Feng rolled his eyes.

“Humph! Kiddo, do you not have faith in my powers? With me taking action, what can happen? Right now, I am hoping that this Heavenly Tribulation will be even stronger. That way, I can absorb even more energy!” Tower retorted loudly.

The power of lightning within the rifts lasted for two hours before subsiding. After a few breaths’ worth of time, the sky calmed down. However, the rifts continued hovering in the sky. Additionally, the aura of destruction seeping out from the rifts grew even stronger.

“The first wave of the Heavenly Tribulation is over. I wonder what is next?” Mu Sheng whispered.

“Good! Old Freak Ming has successfully overcome the Heavenly Tribulation’s Lightning Tribulation,” Sage Enigma Flame said, excitement in his voice.

Unknown to them all, although the power of lightning beneath the sky had subsided, there was still a vast amount of lightning powers within the rifts. Additionally, the lightning powers there had grown even more ferocious and wild. The rifts were connected to an extremely mysterious place and lightning powers kept pouring forth from the place.

Originally, the lightning wave for Old Freak Ming’s Heavenly Tribulation should already be over. However, due to the Longevity Tower’s interference, a change had occurred to the source of the Heavenly Tribulation within the rifts. The power of lightning, which should have subsided, grew stronger and more violent. To put things into perspective, assuming that the lightning powers that Old Freak Ming faced earlier were like an inconspicuous rivulet, the present lightning powers there were like a great, raging river.

After cultivating to a certain point, a cultivator would end up attracting the attention of Heaven and Earth. Due to that, Heavenly Tribulation would descend. The objective of the Heavenly Tribulation was to stop the cultivator from defying Heaven with his or her cultivation efforts. At that very moment, Heaven and Earth had seemingly sensed the interference caused by the Longevity Tower. Thus, a change occurred to the laws of Heaven and Earth. The power of lightning began to grow, becoming 10 times, 100 times stronger. It wanted to annihilate and stop the third party interfering with the tribulation.

“Ha ha ha ha! Excellent! Stronger! Stronger!” As the power of lightning rose, Tower could not stop himself from laughing aloud. All of the lightning powers falling down from the mysterious space was easily devoured by the Longevity Tower.

Although the Longevity Tower was already damaged and weakened, its toughness was not something that any attack could break down. The lightning powers from the Heavenly Tribulation could affect even Human Immortals. However, it could not do any damage to the Longevity Tower. All it could do was increase its power.

“Anymore? Give me more! This amount of lightning powers is too little!” After devouring all the ferocious lightning powers, Tower was still unsatisfied. Thus, he kept bellowing out.

As Chen Feng was linked to the Longevity Tower, he could clearly sense everything that the Longevity Tower was doing. Thick lightning powers were gathered within certain designated spots on the first and second floor of the Longevity Tower. Light kept flashing out from the lightning powers, which brimmed with a terrifying and destructive energy.

As the lightning powers were continuously melding into the tower’s body, Chen Feng could sense the minute changes happening to the Longevity Tower. It was slowly recovering its original powers. At the same time, Chen Feng could sense that the 10,000 magic arrays on the second floor of the Longevity Tower were slowly being restored.

“Tower, don’t devour all the lightning powers. Leave some for me. I want to use it to temper my body,” Chen Feng said.

“Don’t worry! I will,” Tower said.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

Under the provocations from Tower, Heaven and Earth seemingly grew furious and three massive passageways suddenly appeared within the void. Gold-coloured lightning, blue-coloured lightning and black-coloured lightning surged out from the passageways. The gold lightning was overbearing, the blue lightning was formidable and the black lightning was destructive. The three bolts of lightning appeared to possess spirituality and they swirled around each other before bombarding the Longevity Tower.

“Ha ha ha! Good! Fantastic! Profound Vajra Lightning, Astral Blue Lightning, Devastation Lightning! They are just right for a nice little meal!” The Longevity Tower shook happily.

“What a formidable aura! It is enough to destroy an empire!” Sensing the auras radiating from the three bolts of lightning, the very depths of Chen Feng’s soul trembled involuntarily. All he could sense was the overwhelming might of Heaven and Earth.

“Ha ha ha! Kiddo, there is no need to fear. I will store up some of these lightning powers in the tower and use them to temper your fleshly body. Ha ha ha! These are lightning powers that can shatter even Human Immortals. Ha ha ha! I wonder if you can endure it, kid!” Clearly, Tower was feeling very happy and he kept laughing loudly.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three bolts of lightning, seemingly capable of obliterating Heaven and annihilating Earth, roared as they smashed against the Longevity Tower and the lightning powers bloomed. When the bolts of lightning struck, Chen Feng felt the Longevity Tower shake violently. At the same time, clumps of ancient, faint-yellow light shone out from the Longevity Tower’s body.

The lightning bolts were simply incapable of damaging or posing any treat to the Longevity Tower. Thus, they were all absorbed into the Longevity Tower.

“Ha ha ha! This feels too good! Again! More!” Tower could not stop himself from howling.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

The mysterious space began shaking intensely. Just when Chen Feng thought that more lightning bolts would emerge, the space suddenly turned calm. No more lightning bolts came out.

“Eh? No more?” Chen Feng was surprised.

“Humph! So little lightning powers. They are not even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth,” Tower said in dissatisfaction. However, he did not leave. Instead, he continued to hover there.

Moving away from the Longevity Tower, Old Freak Ming, who was facing the Heavenly Tribulation, and even Mu Sheng and the others, who were observing from afar, felt puzzled.

It had to be said, Heavenly Tribulation and Lightning Tribulation were different in nature. From level 1 to level 9 of the Sky Human stage, cultivators only needed to undergo Lightning Tribulation. However, in order for a level 9 Sky Human stage cultivator to rise up to the Human Immortal stage, he or she would have to undergo Heavenly Tribulation. Heavenly Tribulation was not something that Lightning Tribulation could match up against. Lightning Tribulation was just part of one whole Heavenly Tribulation.

At that moment, the wave of lightning powers had passed. Normally, other tribulation powers should appear. However, after waiting for a moment, no other movements could be seen from the rifts, which continued to hover in the sky. 

“What is going on here?” Mu Sheng, who had overcome 1 Heavenly Tribulation before, was shocked. He did not understand why this would happen.

Eh, it stopped? Who cares! I’ll make use of this opportunity to recover and refine the lightning powers. Old Freak Ming did not think too much about it.

After one whole hour, the rifts up in the sky abruptly exploded again. It was as though someone had torn the sky open. Next, a hurricane descended to envelop Old Freak Ming. This was no ordinary hurricane. This was the Heavenly Tribulation’s Wind Tribulation. The hurricane then suddenly split into countless wind powers before spinning towards Old Freak Ming. The objective of the tribulation winds was to drill into the cultivator’s body and spin until the body’s cultivator was reduced to bits. They were far more powerful compared to the hurricanes of the world.

“It’s here! After Lightning Tribulation comes Wind Tribulation. Very well. I am already prepared. Watch as I break apart these tribulation winds.” Old Freak Ming did not panic. Instead, he mobilized his power to face the tribulation winds.

Sou! Sou! Sou!

Three more tribulation winds enveloped Old Freak Ming’s body and the body armour Old Freak Ming wore was quick to crack in the face of the tribulation winds.

“Sii! Such power! This body armour of mine can already be considered a semi-Sacred artefact. To think that it could only endure for such a short period of time. Looks like this tribulation process to rise to the Human Immortal stage will be fraught with dangers.” Old Freak Ming dared not be careless. He mobilized all his powers to cautiously fend off the tribulation winds.

“How can there be wind?” Chen Feng felt puzzled. At that moment, wind powers were swirling all around the Longevity Tower and they were constantly bombarding it to create popping sounds.

“This is the Heavenly Tribulation’s Wind Tribulation. Kid, this is a Human Immortal’s tribulation, not the Lightning Tribulation of a Sky Human stage cultivator. At present, your cultivation level is not high enough. Telling you more about it will be useless. Just watch as I collect these tribulation winds. You can also use these tribulation winds to hone your body,” Tower said. Next, he made his move. Vast amounts of the tribulation winds were pulled into the Longevity Tower. A portion of the winds were thus devoured by the Longevity Tower while another portion was stored within.

Due to the Longevity Tower’s interference, the Heavenly Tribulation’s Wind Tribulation ran into a problem as well. After Old Freak Ming overcame the Wind Tribulation, his whole body was filled with wounds. However, even though the Heavenly Tribulation did not disappear, it also did not continue. Rather, it came to a halt once again.

How strange! How strange! As I recall, this did not happen back when Mu Sheng was undergoing his tribulation. What exactly happened? Old Freak Ming was highly shocked.

“The Heavenly Tribulation is definitely not over yet. However, since it has stopped, I will use this opportunity to heal myself!” said Old Freak Ming, who brought out a pile of spirit stones. He began absorbing their energy, wanting to recover as quickly as possible.

“Stopping for breaks? Is there even such a kind of Heavenly Tribulation? If that is the case, Old Freak Ming will have the time to recover. That way, he will definitely be able to overcome his Heavenly Tribulation.” Sage Enigma Flame stared with widened eyes; a look of disbelief etched on his face.

“Bah! How can there be such a thing? Last time, when I was undergoing my Heavenly Tribulation, one wave after another came after me. In the end, I was nearly blasted to death. Why is this Old Freak Ming so lucky? Is there any more justice in this world?!” Mu Sheng roared out.

Similar to last time, due to the Longevity Tower’s interference, even more tribulation winds appeared above. The power of those winds was in no way inferior compared to the lightning powers from earlier. They roared and spun, seemingly desirous of tearing the Longevity Tower into pieces. However, all of them were absorbed instead by the Longevity Tower.

After the Wind Tribulation came the Water Tribulation. These were not ordinary water powers. Rather, they were tribulation waters. Making contact with these waters would cause the skin, flesh and bones of a cultivator to fall apart. In the end, the waters would utterly corrode away the cultivator. One drop of tribulation water could kill a Sky Human stage cultivator. 

After the Water Tribulation came the Fire Tribulation. These were true Heavenly fire, capable of searing Heaven and Earth, vaporize rivers and melt down hard rocks. Even more so, they were capable of incinerating cultivators until there was nothing left of them, incinerating even their souls into oblivion.

Lightning, wind, water and fire. After the four waves of tribulation powers ended, Old Freak Ming’s Heavenly Tribulation concluded and an immortal dao aura enveloped Old Freak Ming’s body. He had successfully reached the Human Immortal stage. 

Due to the Longevity Tower’s interference, there were constant pauses between his Heavenly Tribulation, giving Old Freak Ming the time and opportunity to recover his strength. When he finally overcame his Heavenly Tribulation, he did not appear as wretched. Seeing that, Mu Sheng kept sighing. 

“This guy is truly lucky! The Heavenly Tribulation that I had to undergo in the past was truly a near-death experience. Did it give me the time to heal up? This Old Freak Ming’s luck is a defiance of Heaven! Humph! Humph!” Mu Sheng, who always had a calm demeanour, finally lost his cool.

The Heavenly Tribulation had ended. Finally, the rifts up in the sky slowly closed up and the sky returned to a state of normalcy.

Sou!

The Longevity Tower swiftly slipped back into Chen Feng’s body. Hovering inside his Heavenly Origin acupoint, Tower laughed joyously without respite.