“Is he crazy? He actually spat out the Golden Core under the lightning tribulation! Wait a minute! When did he become a Golden Core cultivator!”
As soon as the lightning tribulation began, the three elders of the Scripture Storage Valley immediately rode their artifacts and flew out of the city.
At this moment, they saw the rebel cultivator, Duan Shuang, flying into the sky while enduring the lightning tribulation. While they gritted their teeth, they also had a strong sense of doubt.
Exposing the most important Golden Core directly under the lightning tribulation was no different from courting death!
If his Golden Core was destroyed, what was the use of having a physical body?
Furthermore, in the sect’s records, Elder Duan Shuang was only in the True Core realm a few days ago. How did he become a Golden Core cultivator in just a few days?
“It must be a demonic cultivation method. I really didn’t expect that the talented and righteous Duan Shuang would slaughter an entire city of mortals just to cultivate a demonic technique!”
“How unfortunate for the sect!”
Other than this reason, the trio could not think of any other explanation for the short-term breakthrough in his cultivation and the large-scale death of humans.
Elder Zhong raised his hand and struck out a small copper mirror above his head. After it instantly collided with a fine bolt of tribulation lightning that was striking towards them, the small copper mirror erupted with brilliance and actually reflected the bolt of tribulation lightning to an empty area not far away before exploding.
Immediately, they flew out of the area enveloped by the tribulation clouds of Cloud Stream City and were no longer affected by the aftershock of the lightning tribulation.
The small mirror spun and flew back. It was caught by Elder Zhong, who was heartbroken, and stuffed back into his bosom.
The power of the scattered lightning from the lightning tribulation was naturally far inferior to the official lightning tribulation, but it was also a power that they were not willing to face easily.
“It can be said that he brought this upon himself to suffer the wrath of the heavens. However, for him to do such a thing and bring shame to the sect, it’s truly detestable!”
The three elders turned to look at Duan Shuang, who was in the middle of the tribulation cloud, their expressions were quite ugly.
Although the Scripture Storage Valley was a sect formed by rogue cultivators, they had set strict rules to restrict their disciples since they established their own sect.
Over the past 200 years, sect cultivators rarely did anything outrageous. Instead, they often did things like slaying demons and devils to protect mortals.
In the Four Major Sects of the Great Mountain Region, their reputation had always been good, second only to the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak and Benevolent Travel Temple… They were at least ranked in the top three.
This time, such a vicious demonic cultivator appeared in the sect. The reputation of the cultivation world would definitely be greatly affected.
As they watched the tribulation lightning strike Duan Shuang’s head one after another, they only felt a sense of satisfaction in their hearts. They wished that the divine punishment lightning tribulation would directly reduce their opponent to ash!
“Old Chen, what’s wrong with you? With such a great punishment, even if he becomes a Golden Core cultivator, he definitely won’t survive.”
Elder Zhong suddenly discovered that the other elder among the three had not spoken since Duan Shuang appeared. His expression was solemn, and it was unknown what he was thinking.
“Look at the other Zombie Core above his head.”
With the three elders’ cultivation levels, it was not difficult for them to cross half a city to see the two cores above Duan Shuang’s head.
The golden one with a hint of black qi was naturally his Golden Core.
However, the other one was the same size as the Golden Core and was completely pale-white in color. Thick corpse qi surged around it that could not be melted. It was the Golden Core zombie demon’s Zombie Core that he had snatched a few days ago.
The other two elders only felt that Duan Shuang’s artifact must have been damaged in the previous pursuit. At this moment, he had no other way to resist the lightning tribulation, so he released his Golden Core and Zombie Core to shield himself.
However, this Elder Chen was experienced and knowledgeable, he saw some clues from this.
“He might not be courting death… have you heard of the lightning tribulation core refinement?”
Elder Chen considered his words and said this with some hesitation. Clearly, he was not very confident.
“Lightning tribulation to refine the core like a pill? How is that possible? Furthermore, he doesn’t have a furnace!”
When Elder Chen said this, the other two elders immediately did not dare to believe it.
They had heard of the lightning tribulation and pill alchemy separately, but when these two completely different terms were put together, they would only subconsciously feel that it was absurd.
This was divine punishment, this was a lightning tribulation! Facing this kind of tribulation, even surviving was a thousand hardships. How could he borrow this kind of violent power of heaven and earth to refine his core?
“When refining the Golden Core with the lightning tribulation, it’s not like refining spirit pills. I don’t know the exact details, but according to the ancient texts, there are great horrors and great fortune under the heavenly tribulation.”
“If he really borrows the power of the lightning tribulation to refine the Zombie Core and Golden Core together and achieve a fusion of yin-yang, we will be in big trouble!”
Elder Chen said what he was truly worried about. When the other two elders heard this, they also frowned deeply.
Seeing the Golden Core and Zombie Core above Duan Shuang getting closer and closer, they could not help but become serious.
Elder Zhong guessed what the other party meant. However, looking at the lightning tribulation that was still falling from time to time and turning the escaping outer sect disciples into ashes, he still asked hesitantly, “Elder, what do you suggest?”
“Although we’re not completely sure, in order to prevent any accidents, we should return and kill Duan Shuang while he’s distracted by the lightning tribulation!”
Elder Chen was quite a vicious person. He wanted to forcefully attack when he was undergoing tribulation. This was a famous kind of behavior for harming others without benefiting himself.
The tribulation clouds did not know one’s goal. As long as one entered the range of the tribulation clouds, they would be treated as a provocation and get attacked. The closer one was to the tribulation cloud, the more violent the lightning would be. Therefore, unless there was deep hatred between them, very few people would take the risk to do such a thing.
In his heart, Elder Zhong really wanted to refuse. In a great battle between high-level cultivators, even if he won, he would have to pay a terrible price. If the lightning tribulation could directly kill the other party, that would be for the best.
However, looking into the distance, the two cores floating above Duan Shuang’s head did not shatter even after seven or eight bolts of lightning had already descended. This made him hesitate.
In their impression, Elder Duan Shuang was a young and promising junior. He was never an impulsive and brainless person.
This sudden defection might be because he was prepared.
Duan Shuang had strangely taken the risk of attracting the wrath of the heavens and slaughtered the citizens of Cloud Stream City!
Other than cultivating demonic technique, he might have… deliberately attracted the Heavenly Tribulation! He wanted to use the tribulation lightning to refine that damned Golden Core of Life and Death!
What if… what if it was really as Elder Chen said, and the other party succeeded?
The consequences would be unthinkable!
Thinking of this, the elder who felt heartache for his precious artifact finally became determined.
“This… Alright! Isn’t it just divine punishment? Let’s strike that guy down and uphold justice!”
In the end, they gritted their teeth and took out their respective artifacts.
The reason why the three elders were sent out by the Scripture Storage Valley to pursue Duan Shuang was naturally because they all had the strength to suppress him.
Of the three elders, two were at the Golden Core realm and one was at the True Core realm. With the three of them working together, even the intact Duan Shuang could only flee for his life.
Now, even if Duan Shuang relied on special methods to heal his injuries and even increase his cultivation after sacrificing the citizens in the city, he would still be able to survive.
However, his artifact had been damaged during the pursuit and he was also plagued by the divine punishment. He was definitely not their match.
A bronze mirror, a bamboo umbrella, and a bracelet. These three protective artifacts floated above their heads. A thin layer of spiritual light poured down and formed a layer of spiritual qi barrier around their bodies. The three elders turned into flowing light again and rushed towards Duan Shuang in the center of the tribulation cloud.
As soon as they left, the northern gate of Cloud Stream City exploded. A figure flew out of the city gate like a cannonball.
A scattered bolt of tribulation lightning blasted the ground a square inch behind his feet, pushing his already absurd speed even faster from behind.
As a result, Jiang Li did not lose momentum even after crashing through the city gate. Instead, he flew out for another hundred meters before ruthlessly crashing into a hard rock.
The rock was smashed into pieces, and Jiang Li who barely escaped death spat out a mouthful of blood.
Lying in the rubble, every part of his body was in pain. His body even twitched from time to time.
Jiang Li opened the interface and saw that his health points had decreased by one-fifth.
To him, the collision just now was barely acceptable. Even if he was injured, it was at most a superficial wound. He could recover in a few breaths.
However, the bolt of lightning just now was truly a little terrifying.
This was still under the circumstances that he had not been hit directly. The bolt of lightning had struck the ground behind him. Just the shock of the lingering lightning bolt had already caused him such injuries.
The power of that bolt of lightning was really too difficult to defend against. The defensive ability that he was proud of was simply unable to withstand a single blow from the lightning tribulation. It was penetrated in an instant!
If he was really hit head-on, even he would not be spared.
Fortunately, he had already left the confines of the tribulation cloud. As long as the cultivator targeted by the divine punishment did not bring the tribulation cloud to him, he should be safe.
“Eh? Those three rays of light are the sect elders, right? Why have they returned?”
Jiang Li, who was lying on his back in the rubble, just happened to see the three elders of the sect who had charged back into the city with defensive artifacts.
“Could it be that they want to save more outer sect disciples and kill Duan Shuang to end the divine punishment?” Jiang Li thought in his heart.
Even though the outer sect competition arranged by the sect this time was truly a little unfair, they probably had some expectations towards the loss of their disciples, and it was impossible for them to have the intention of sending everyone to their deaths.
To the Scripture Storage Valley, there were casualties every day. It was not a big deal if more than ten outer sect disciples died this time.
However, the 500 disciples here were the strongest 20% of the entire outer sect.
If the losses were too great, or rather, if all of them died, then in the next ten years, there would be a huge gap between the outer sect disciples.
Even the sect could not accept this.
“But are all the elders of the sect so fearless? They charged forward while enduring the lightning tribulation. Looks like not all the elders are as unreliable as Elder Red Hair.”
Jiang Li’s current health recovery speed had already reached 2 health points per second. In theory, as long as he had approximately 260 seconds, he would be able to recover from all injuries. That was less than five minutes.
Therefore, he only lay quietly in the rubble, feeling the pain in his entire body gradually ease. He planned to admire from this angle what a top-notch battle between Core Formation cultivators was like.
However, before long, his expression changed.
“Holy f*ck! How unreliable!”
The three elders flew extremely quickly and did not take much time to approach Duan Shuang. They did not hesitate to cast their spell techniques and unleash their magic artifacts.
Their attacks were extremely fierce. The three-colored spiritual light tore apart the air above Cloud Stream City like a rainbow, looking extremely magnificent and shocking!
However, Duan Shuang was not a dead person. He was also a Golden Core cultivator and could fly, dodge, and counterattack.
It did not matter if he flew, but the tribulation clouds above him also moved along with his footsteps.
Golden Core cultivators could move 300 meters in an instant. Under the circumstances of their intense battle, the tribulation clouds above their heads started to move about repeatedly, sometimes enveloping Jiang Li, and sometimes even moving further away.
The sense of danger that appeared and vanished in an instant repeatedly stimulated Jiang Li’s nerves, and it was uncomfortable to the point he almost spat blood again.
