“That’s not heavenly lightning!” Lu Yun frowned.

In the sky, black lightning crackled, thick with the intent of death. A sense of decay and corruption enveloped all of Dusk Province and despair weighed heavily on everyone’s chest.

There was a goal within that lightning to destroy everything within reach, and all living creatures shuddered in response.

This was the final obstacle before the Dao Flower could fully bloom and the restored path of cultivation be integrated back into the world. If they succeeded, every cultivator would be able to ascend to the void realm, the last segment of the cultivation path.

If they failed, all of their efforts would go up in literal smoke.

“Good, fantastic!” Jin Shikong crowed with laughter. “Strike! Strike down Lu Yun and those four!” He’d lost all resemblance of sanity at this point.

Once the tribulation destroyed the Dao Flower and the hairy monsters took Qing Han and the others, it would be as if the void realm had never existed at all. Everything would go back to the way it was. Then, it wouldn’t matter at all what the Jin Clan had done, or that Jin Shikong had attacked Lu Yun with a weapon of war.

At this moment, no one even spared him a glance. The Feng Clan, too, was waffling between whether they wanted the flower to bloom or be destroyed and didn’t dare show their true feelings, regardless. Their dilemma arose from the fact that Feng Wuhui had attacked the Dao Flower and almost crushed it with ten thousand formations. They were spared public hostility simply because they were one of the top clans in the world, and possessed powerful immortals among their ranks.

“Prepare the weapon of war!” shouted a dao immortal from the Nephrite Court. They were on the border of Outré Province, so he didn’t have to suppress his cultivation.

Hope sparked in Jin Shikong’s eyes, but was quickly snuffed out when the immortal ordered, “Aim for the tribulation clouds and scatter them!”

“Understood!” several heavenly soldiers roared in response.

Rumble.

A formation took shape, forming a battle image to supply the weapon with power.

Bam!

An enormous beam of light pierced the sky and slammed into the patch of clouds over Dusk City, clearing the sky for a moment.

“That did it!” cheered many cultivators.

“That’s not gonna work,” Lu Yun muttered, hovering in the air and looking at the gloomy sky. As he expected, more black clouds gathered immediately after, renewing the atmosphere of decay and corruption.

The crowd looked on in dismay, and the dao immortal who’d ordered the attack froze.

Crackle!

A strand of black lightning broke out of the thunderclouds and struck at the Dao Flower. Fear radiated from the four blood-stained paths when the bolt snaked to the ground. The void realm monsters greatly feared the tribulation and its power of decay.

Lu Yun lifted his hand and activated the Thunder Palmstrike, attempting to absorb the lightning, but scowled when he realized that he couldn’t.

“Then I’ll take it head on!”

Hum.

With a wave of his hand, he had Feinie set up a defensive formation to shield the Dao Flower and his companions underneath it.

Bam!

The black lightning smashed into the formation with great ferocity and shattered it, despite it being personally set up by Feinie. A second, third, and even more formations emerged overhead, but formations that had previously endured even shots from a weapon of war cracked like eggshells in face of the tribulation.

It took only an instant for a strand of black lighting to pierce through multiple layers of formations and crash into the flower.

Bam!

Their local patch of sky trembled as an ugly scar snaked through the flower. Blood seeped out from the mouths of Qing Han, Wu Tulong, Zi Chen, and Mo Qitian, evidence of their great injuries.

Then came the second lightning strike.

“Open!” Lu Yun shot into the air and shielded the Dao Flower with his own body, manifesting an enormous sword shadow and slashing at the black lightning with the energy of the Sugato Sword.

At the same time, he flicked out a soybean and summoned a golden-armored soldier. Wielding a Weaponry Talisman, the soldier stood guard above the Dao Flower.

“The Diabolical Tribulation of World Refinement!!” the soldier screamed when he saw the dark tribulation clouds. “This is a tribulation of the great dao and all living souls! Oh, my master, how did you attract such a malicious tribulation?!”

Scared witless, the soldier trembled like a leaf as he peered at the sky in disbelief.

“The Diabolical Tribulation of World Refinement?” Lu Yun frowned.

Bam!

Black lightning shattered Lu Yun’s sword aura and smote the bean soldier, reducing him to ashes with an agonized cry. But to his surprise, the bolt of black lighting disappeared as well.

“Hmm?” Lu Yun perked up. The soldier’s body was destroyed, but his soul had returned to where it came from and the lightning strike had scattered! Is sacrificing a life enough to offset a lightning strike?

His heart raced with the possibilities. Under the principles of the Tome of Life and Death, the bean soldiers could be considered dead after their bodies were destroyed.

“It can’t be that simple.” Lu Yun frowned. The name alone suggested that this particular tribulation wouldn’t disperse after simply feeding it a life.

Is it something to do with the summoned bean soldiers? Lu Yun’s eyes lit up. Another bolt of black lightning announced its presence with a roar. He flicked out a soybean without hesitation.

Hum!

After a flash of golden light, the bean morphed into a golden-armored warrior.

“The Diabolical Formation… why is it me again?!” The bean soldier only had time for a sorrowful yelp before he was disintegrated by black lightning again.

Lu Yun’s mind was firmly fixed on the soldier, his consciousness further strengthened by the Tome of Life and Death. An almost indiscernible pulse of power unleashed from the soldier at the moment of its death and was destroyed by the lightning. It was the mysterious power that had protected the soldier’s soul as it returned to its origin.

Is that the reason why the bean soldier can ensure mutual destruction with the lightning? Lu Yun perked up. As soon as the next bolt came, he cast another soybean.

“Another one?!” the same soldier whined. Lu Yun had apparently summoned the same spirit again.

Hum.

……

“Heavens, why is it me again....”

Bam!

……

Bam!

……

“Why is it always me suffering...!” The noble soldier was ready to burst into snivelling tears.

Bam!

The last of the lightning destroyed the bean soldier and returned him to his dimension. That was the thirty-sixth bolt. After that, the tribulation clouds slowly dispersed.