Immortal Refiner

A cataclysmic heavenly tribulation, as if destined to annihilate the world, was gathering relentlessly above the Lingyun Sect. Heavenly Thunder roared, and gale-force winds howled, casting an oppressive weight over all of heaven and earth.

Every member of the Lingyun Sect, from the lowliest outer sect disciple to the supreme elder, rushed out in stunned silence, their eyes fixed on the apocalyptic spectacle unfolding in the sky.

”W-what’s happening?”

”Such overwhelming Heavenly Might... Has someone angered the heavens?”

”It’s a heavenly tribulation! If such a calamity strikes, how can our Lingyun Sect possibly withstand it?”

”...”

The resplendent Heavenly Thunder continued to coalesce, amassing power for the impending cataclysm.

This was no mere flash in the pan like the thunder tribulation two months prior. Even the blind could see that this thunderous storm was destined to fall!

It was unimaginable what kind of being could be undergoing such a trial. Even a cultivator in the nascent soul realm might struggle to survive!

Within the entire Lingyun Sect, only one individual possessed the power to trigger such a monumental event:

Ancestor Limitless!

Whoosh!

Countless gazes turned toward Azure Cloud Peak within the sect, eager to know what the ancestor was doing to provoke such a terrifying calamity.

In the next moment, boundless spiritual light erupted from the peak of Azure Cloud Peak, dazzling and radiant, illuminating the entire sky with its brilliance!

Immediately afterward, an intense surge of spiritual energy erupted, drawing in the surrounding heaven and earth spiritual energy to form a true Spiritual Qi Tide, a massive, overwhelming torrent.

At that moment, every cultivator within the Lingyun Sect benefited greatly from the Spiritual Qi Tide. Some qi refining realm cultivators even achieved breakthroughs on the spot!

This demonstrated the sheer magnitude of the Spiritual Qi Tide.

Countless qi refining disciples immediately began meditating, absorbing as much of the rare heaven and earth spiritual energy as possible. This opportunity could save them months, even years, of arduous cultivation.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and no one wanted to miss it.

However, even with so many qi refining disciples meditating and absorbing the spiritual energy, they could only claim a tiny fraction of the total, barely making a dent in the overall flow.

”Is this artifact refinement?” True Lord Fu Xuan, with his vast experience, immediately recognized the cause of the commotion. ”What magic treasure is being refined that could trigger such a cataclysmic event? Even the heavens seem enraged.”

Chu Lingyi, standing beside him, was dumbfounded. Though she had recently advanced to the core formation realm, she could only tremble before such overwhelming Heavenly Might.

It was clear that if this heavenly tribulation truly descended, the entire Lingyun Sect could be annihilated in an instant. Even the fourth-tier formation might not withstand its fury.

”Senior brother Li, be careful...” Chu Lingyi murmured to herself.

Li Qing was not one to disregard the lives of his fellow sect members. The artifact refinement had reached its critical moment. The instant the dao pattern on the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings completed, it triggered a cataclysmic shift in heaven and earth.

Now, the bone wings needed to absorb the entire Spiritual Qi Tide and undergo a pure baptism, allowing the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings to truly ascend.

But Li Qing also realized that the moment the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings completed their ascension would be the exact moment the heavenly tribulation descended!

At that moment, the Lingyun Sect would likely suffer catastrophic damage, possibly being reduced to scorched earth in an instant.

”Rise!”

Inside his cave abode, Li Qing roared, his hands flashing through a series of palm seals. He activated the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings, which he had just begun refining, and sent them soaring out of the cave.

At the radiant peak of Azure Cloud Peak, a pair of silver-purple bone wings ascended into the sky!

Bathed in boundless spiritual light, the bone wings continuously absorbed the Spiritual Qi Tide, their spirituality steadily sublimating.

In that moment, the entire world seemed to shrink to encompass only these wings, making them the focal point of all eyes.

Below, Li Qing stepped through the void, ascending step by step toward the heavens. The refining process was far from complete, and he couldn’t afford to slacken his efforts.

Boom! Boom!

Every second, dense heaven and earth spiritual energy poured into the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings. They grew stronger with each breath, seemingly insatiable, like a bottomless pit.

As this process unfolded, the heavenly tribulation brewing above grew increasingly terrifying. The earth-shattering commotion reverberated across tens of thousands of miles, even reaching the senses of cultivators throughout the Azure Ridge Domain.

It was a harbinger of world-ending calamity, casting an inexplicable dread over the hearts of all who felt it.

In the easternmost reaches of the Boundless Sea, an ancient azure flood dragon surged from the depths, its gaze sweeping across the horizon.

”Incredible! Someone in this realm is refining a spirit treasure, drawing down a colossal heavenly tribulation.”

”In this era, with the heaven and earth spiritual energy so depleted, how could anyone accomplish such a feat? Who could it be?”

”These are turbulent times. Yet for this realm, this might prove to be a rare blessing.”

The azure flood dragon, whose age was beyond reckoning, possessed whiskers that stretched nearly three thousand meters. Its scales gleamed with an unfathomable depth of color, marking it as an ancient dragon of profound cultivation.

After confirming the source of the celestial phenomena, the azure flood dragon retreated into the deep sea, vanishing from sight.

Flame Domain, in an uncharted region:

”The Heavenly Might is unfathomable. The primordial Wind-Thunder energy is surging with chaotic intensity. Who is refining this Wind-Thunder spirit treasure?”

A faint voice echoed from the uncharted region, sending tremors of awe through everyone in the valley. All knew instantly that the speaker was none other than the Founding Ancestor of Bright King Valley.

In the Great Wilderness Domain, near the northern ice plains, lies an extremely mysterious underground fissure.

Within this fissure, an incredibly dreamlike Extreme Ice Palace exists, each structure exquisitely beautiful and breathtaking.

In the utterly silent Extreme Ice Palace, a sigh suddenly echoed.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Immediately afterward, the crisp sound of ice crystals shattering reverberated through the palace.

”The demonic cataclysm is approaching... This spatial node to the demon realm has become unstable.”

The mere sound of this voice made the already frigid underground Ice Palace grow even colder.

But soon, the voice subsided once more.

Back in the Azure Ridge Domain, Li Qing remained unaware that his artifact refinement had awakened many ancient monsters from their deep slumber.

These beings possessed terrifyingly high cultivation levels and had used forbidden longevity secret techniques to survive undisturbed until this day.

At this moment, Li Qing’s gaze was fixed solely on the pair of silver-purple bone wings.

The Spiritual Qi Tide persisted for an extended period, finally nearing its end. After absorbing such a massive amount of heaven and earth spiritual energy, the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings underwent a complete and thorough transformation.

The spirit treasure was complete, and the heavenly tribulation descended!

At that very moment, the thunderclouds that had been gathering and brewing in the sky finally stirred!

Rumble!

From within the swirling clouds, a sea of lightning roared down!

Instead of a mere one or two bolts of thunder, an entire ocean of Heavenly Thunder surged downward, its overwhelming power reaching its zenith.

Standing in the void, Li Qing felt a tingling, painful sensation on his exposed skin.

”The Dao’s trial has arrived,” he murmured. ”If I fail to overcome this wind thunder tribulation, the spirit treasure will be utterly ruined.”

”But if I succeed, it will be recognized by the Dao, capable of bearing the wind thunder dao. The Wind-Thunder Silver Wings will then become a true heaven-piercing spirit treasure.”

Li Qing’s heart pounded in his chest. Though he had unwavering confidence in the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings he had refined, he couldn’t help but be awestruck by the sheer magnitude of the heavenly tribulation.

The bone wings swiftly began to flap autonomously, creating arcs of silver-purple light that surged upward to meet the sea of lightning head-on.

Such untamed defiance suggested that the fifth-tier demonic bird whose bones formed these wings must have possessed an equally arrogant nature in life.

Yet Heavenly Might is unfathomable, and such defiance would only invite a more terrifying reprisal.

Rumble!

Within the sea of lightning, countless ten-thousand-zhang thunderbolts erupted, crashing directly onto the bone wings.

However, these thunderous strikes caused minimal damage, for the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings inherently possessed a thunder attribute.

In fact, the Heavenly Thunder seemed to amplify the spiritual light emanating from the wings, making it even more dazzling.

But this was far from over. The heavenly tribulation had been brewing for far too long to dissipate so anticlimactically.

Suddenly, a layer of the thick thunderclouds peeled back, revealing vast stretches of brilliant golden light.

”Golden Firmament True Lightning... Isn’t that the thunder tribulation one faces when attempting Divine Transformation?” Li Qing gasped, recognizing the origin of the golden lightning in the sky.

Alas, the great dao of heaven and earth is indifferent to human sentiment, paying no heed to Li Qing’s shock and dismay.

Soon, the vast expanse of Golden Firmament True Lightning descended upon the pair of silver-purple bone wings. The Wind-Thunder Silver Wings, still battling through the sea of lightning and striking against ten-thousand-zhang thunderbolts, now faced an even more terrifying trial.

Carrying immense destructive power, the Golden Firmament True Lightning annihilated even ordinary Heavenly Thunder in its path.

Boom!

The silver-purple bone wings, which had appeared so indomitable just moments before, instantly bore scorched marks upon being struck by the Golden Firmament True Lightning.

Li Qing’s heart clenched. It was clear that this true lightning posed a grave threat to the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings.

After all, even a cultivator in the divine transformation stage would likely struggle against such thunder.

The Golden Firmament True Lightning continued to fall relentlessly, as if inexhaustible. Before long, the silver-purple bone wings were covered in scorched marks.

”How is this possible? Why is this thunder tribulation so extreme? Even the Divine Transformation Tribulation isn’t this severe!” Li Qing’s heart turned cold.

The terror of this heavenly tribulation far exceeded Li Qing’s expectations. It was unlike any ordinary spirit treasure tribulation he had ever encountered!

”Senior Bai Ling’s notes on spirit treasure tribulations don’t mention anything like this! Golden Firmament True Lightning should only strike a few times at most, not this endless barrage!”

Li Qing’s face darkened, his heart pounding in his chest.

But then he remembered something Senior Bai Ling had once said casually:

”This world has changed. It’s only natural that cultivators in the Divine Transformation stage would prefer to remain hidden.”

At the time, Li Qing hadn’t understood the meaning behind those words. He had wanted to press for more details, but Dao Lord Bai Ling had never elaborated further.

Could it be that refining a heaven-piercing spirit treasure is also subject to the limitations of the world’s environment?

Because the world has changed, the trials of the thunder tribulation have become even more severe?

Li Qing frowned deeply, his mind racing for a solution.

If this continued, the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings—which he had painstakingly refined at such great cost—might be destroyed by this heavenly tribulation!

Li Qing couldn’t bear to watch his painstakingly crafted spirit treasure be destroyed before his eyes. His eyes flashed with determination as his mind raced.

In that instant, he made a daring decision: he would share some of the heavenly tribulation’s pressure with the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings!

”The destructive power contained within this thunder is terrifyingly extreme. Using it to cultivate the Dao Tribulation Limitless Sutra and undergo metamorphosis is indeed feasible.”

”But the might of this Heavenly Thunder is too overwhelming. If I suddenly charge into the sea of lightning, I’ll likely be struck dead by the Golden Firmament True Lightning!”

In the cultivation world, there’s a universal truth about facing heavenly tribulations: whoever attracts the thunder tribulation must face it alone. Reckless interference only invites disaster, intensifying the tribulation’s power and drawing its wrath upon oneself.

”I need to find a way to deceive the thunder tribulation, to make it perceive me and the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings as one and the same.”

With this thought, Li Qing’s resolve hardened.

To achieve this, there was only one thing he could rely on: Yellow Springs River Water!

The Wind-Thunder Silver Wings’ primary material was a fifth-tier demonic bird’s True Bone, which had been submerged in Yellow Springs River Water for countless years. The river’s nether qi had become inextricably fused with the bone, and this characteristic persisted even after it was refined into a spirit treasure.

”I originally planned to wait until the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings were refined, extending my lifespan, before using the Yellow Springs Water to cultivate the Dao Tribulation Limitless Sutra and achieve a breakthrough.”

”But it seems I’ll have to change my plans now,” Li Qing muttered to himself, his expression hardening with resolve.

Without hesitation, he retrieved the Black Furnace from his Carefree Cosmos Pouch. Within the pitch-black forge flowed a miraculous water, a mixture of Yellow Springs River Water and Great Yin True Water.

The moment he produced the Black Furnace, as expected, the thunder tribulation in the sky stirred, as if drawn to it!

”It’s working!” Li Qing gritted his teeth, his eyes flashing with ferocity, and slapped the Black Furnace.

Whoosh!

The Yellow Springs Water surged forth, drenching him completely.

In an instant, Li Qing felt his thoughts freeze. The nether qi seeped deep into his body, stiffening even his divine soul.

Yet at this critical moment, Li Qing regained his composure, moving with agonizing slowness.

Enveloped in the Yellow Springs Water, he propelled himself toward the heavens, toward the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings.

Rumble!

The colossal heavenly tribulation continued to roar, as if gathering strength. But perhaps sensing the nether qi from the Yellow Springs River Water, which shared the same origin as the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings, it swiftly subsided.

”It worked! This method is viable!”

Despite confirming this, Li Qing’s mind remained tense.

The truly terrifying trial lay ahead.

Next, Li Qing would simultaneously harness the Yellow Springs River Water and the destructive power of the thunder tribulation to temper his body, cultivating his self-created Dao Tribulation Limitless Sutra!

This was an incredibly risky gamble!

Facing such a massive heavenly tribulation, even Li Qing would struggle to survive, let alone with his body already being corroded by the nether qi from the Yellow Springs Water.

Yet immense risk came with immense reward. If successful, Li Qing was certain he would directly advance to the mid-Nascent Soul stage!

In this precarious era, with the demon realm poised to invade and the fate of heaven and earth hanging by a thread, he resolutely chose to take this perilous step.

As Li Qing approached the charred Wind-Thunder Silver Wings, the sea of lightning below surged toward him, engulfing him once more in a tidal wave of thunder!

”The power of the heavenly tribulation hasn’t increased. I must do everything I can to give the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings a chance to survive this calamity.”

Li Qing’s thoughts flickered slowly as he activated a secret technique from the Dao Tribulation Limitless Sutra, continuing to refine his divine ability and forge his indestructible body.

Of course, Li Qing’s actions weren’t reckless or driven by mere desperation.

The bone wings had already blocked the most dangerous Heavenly Thunder, so he only needed to do his utmost to alleviate some of the tribulation’s pressure on the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings.

Even so, the danger remained extreme—a razor’s edge!

Rumble!

Yellow Springs River Water corroded from below, while ten-thousand-zhang thunderbolts crashed down from above.

Li Qing sat cross-legged behind the Wind-Thunder Silver Wings, as steady as a mountain.

Thunder poured into his body, yet he remained motionless, clenching his teeth against the searing pain. He endured each thunderous strike, channeling the Dao Tribulation Limitless Sutra to maintain a sliver of consciousness.

(End of the Chapter)

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