Rumble! Rumble!
Numerous bolts of lightning rained down from the sky, filling the world below with broken branches and burning trees. As for the Young Lightning King, due to the lightning condor's setup, he was forced to help resist the tribulation as well. The realization frightened him greatly as he started trying to escape with all his might.
But it did not matter how far he ran. The tribulation had already locked on to him. Thus, the tribulation lightning would still come for him, and his distance from the center of tribulation would only cause the lightning bolts to weaken slightly.
As for Xiang Shaoyun, his current predicament was simply a tragedy. He couldn't even lift an arm anymore and could only lie there helplessly. It would seem like his risky venture had backfired.
Numerous bolts of lightning rained on the lightning condor king while a small number of them were drawn toward Xiang Shaoyun by the lightning strike wood. Everything around him was already completely destroyed, the entire area filled with nothing but berserk electrical currents.
The trees had all been blasted into smithereens, the grasses were all burning, the ground was now filled with craters, and flesh and blood was flying everywhere. The lightning condor king shrieked repeatedly as it had been gravely injured. Even so, its demonic core was growing more and more solid. So long as it survived this, it would be reborn as a Demon King.
Xiang Shaoyun was lying on the ground expecting death even as his lightning bone was growing incessantly. The growth here wasn't the growth of a new bone. Rather, it was the purple spot on his spine, which was spreading along the spine.
As the purple spread, his spine turned incomparably solid. At the same time, it started emitting a primordial aura as it devoured every single shred of lightning energy coursing through Xiang Shaoyun's body.
Strains of pure lightning energy coursed along the lightning bone while the nine stars and astral cosmos sea shone brightly, filling Xiang Shaoyun's inner body with a boundless and dazzling expanse of light. This situation seemed to have further provoked the tribulation. It sent more and more lightning bolts down at them.
The lightning condor king was filled with distress at the sight of even more lighting bolts. It shrieked in grief and kept on struggling. The lightning tribulation should have ended by now, but for some reason, there were still so many lightning bolts coming from the sky.
Fortunately for the condor king, the tribulation seemed to have shifted its target, as all the lightning bolts were now heading toward Xiang Shaoyun. The lightning bolts bombarded the lightning strike wood until finally, the entire wood blasted apart. From inside the wood, some sort of purple liquid dripped out.
If anyone else saw this, they would definitely cry out the term "lightning liquid" in surprise.
The so-called lightning liquid was a top-quality liquid that could be formed by concentrating lightning energy. Every single drop of this liquid contained an unimaginable power within. It was unknown if this tiny bit of lightning liquid flowing out of the wood belonged originally to the wood or if it had formed during the bombardment of the lightning bolts.
Regardless, it was a great opportunity. The moment the lightning liquid appeared, the lightning bone within Xiang Shaoyun grew mad as a terrifying devouring force appeared to pull the liquid into his body.
And the moment the lightning bone absorbed the lightning liquid, the lightning energy within Xiang Shaoyun grew greatly, to the point even the river of stars within him surged violently.
"Roar! Roar!"
Suddenly, the projection of a purple dragon formed. The dragon howled at the sky furiously, seemingly trying to break free of its cage to soar in the nine heavens above. With the appearance of this purple dragon, the nine stars and astral cosmos sea within Xiang Shaoyun became even more abundant with energy.
Once again, Xiang Shaoyun's strength rose sharply. The cleansing of his body by the abundant lightning energy had squeezed out even more of his potential. With the addition of the pure energy contained within the lightning liquid, it would be impossible for him to not grow.
Before this, Xiang Shaoyun had been at the late fourth stage of the Astral Realm. With this sudden growth, he successfully entered the fifth stage and was still growing. The boundless energy continued coursing through his meridians as his cultivation level continued to rise. Early fifth stage, middle fifth stage, late fifth stage...not even the bottleneck of the sixth stage was able to stop the boundless energy.
Even so, the surging energy still did not seem like it was stopping anytime soon. Like a rampaging deluge, the energy broke through shackle after shackle within Xiang Shaoyun's body, pushing his cultivation level higher and higher. It was completely out of his control. If he allowed this to continue, he would definitely suffer cultivation deviation and die by bodily implosion.
"Roar! Roar!"
The purple dragon roared repeatedly before it finally broke out partially from Xiang Shaoyun's body, spreading its draconic presence around the area, oppressing every living being in range. The lightning condor king was still lingering around Xiang Shaoyun when the purple dragon suddenly appeared, and it was nearly frightened to death.
Its greatly injured body wavered until finally, it could no longer resist the terrifying presence and plastered its body on the ground. The lightning condor king shrieked fearfully, and at the same time, it sensed an unstoppable sensation to swear obeisance to the being before it.
Facing the purple dragon projection was akin to facing an actual lightning dragon, and facing an higher being of the same element, the lightning condor was left with no choice but to bow. Before the purple dragon could fully break free of Xiang Shaoyun’s body, it suddenly dispersed.
As for Xiang Shaoyun, he had now entered a state of suspended animation. If the berserk energy within him wasn't put into control, his organs would eventually explode and he would be dead for real.
Relieved of the pressure it was suffering, the lightning condor king's demonic core quickly drew in the lightning energy in its vicinity, and the condor quickly completed the final step of its breakthrough, turning into a true Demon King.
It even went straight to the peak of the first-stage Demon King realm. Before the tribulation arrived, it had already absorbed a large amount of lightning energy from the natural lightning bolts, building itself a rich deposit of energy. Because of that, after the breakthrough, it was able to directly reach the peak of the first stage, with the second stage being within reach.
The condor king was about to take this opportunity to flee when it accidentally caught a glimpse of Xiang Shaoyun. It was able to see that Xiang Shaoyun's entire body was enveloped by a thick lightning energy. The lightning energy was so overbearing even the condor king felt fear, but at the same time, the condor king also felt an extremely intimate sensation when it looked upon Xiang Shaoyun.
After thinking for a bit, the condor king flew over and lifted Xiang Shaoyun with its claw. Up in the air, it shrieked before flying toward a certain land of lightning with Xiang Shaoyun. That was the actual territory of this condor king, and with the numerous lightning condors living there, not many people could intrude upon that place.
After it shrieked, numerous lightning condors flew over and once again formed a defensive network around it. Elder Zhen Peng had just arrived, and the only thing he saw was the sky filled with lightning condors. He couldn't even catch a glimpse of Xiang Shaoyun.
"Where is the young master? Has anything happened to him?" Elder Zhen Peng's face turned solemn.
No matter what happened to Xiang Shaoyun, Elder Zhen Peng had to try searching for him. If Xiang Shaoyun was still here by the time the Young Lightning King returned, things would get really troublesome.
Elder Zhen Peng did not know that Xiang Shaoyun wasn't in the area anymore. Rather, Xiang Shaoyun had been taken away by the condor king. After bringing Xiang Shaoyun to its territory, the condor king set Xiang Shaoyun down and brought a stalk of purple plant over.
Lightning transformation grass!
This was a unique spirit medicine that grew at places where lightning congregated. It was capable of weakening lightning energy and healing wounds caused by lightning. The condor king fed Xiang Shaoyun the lightning transformation grass, placing it straight into Xiang Shaoyun's mouth.