Long Di’s brows slightly rose, and he quickly summoned his only usable weapon at the moment, the forging hammer.

Then, to Lord Whisker’s surprise, Long Di jumped, catapulting himself toward his very first tribulation!

****

Long Di’s strength allowed him to charge into the descending bolt of Heavenly Levyance tribulation with an insane amount of force.

As he neared the lone bolt that represented the guilt-dubbed verdict of the Heavens, a pricking sensation could be felt all over.

His expression remained unchanged as he raised his forging hammer. Was this an intent to smash the bolt to pieces!?

Boom!

Unsurprisingly, the Heavenly Levyance tribulation lightning smashed into him with a powerful force.

“Ack!” A mouthful of blood was coughed up as the tribulation lightning struck Long Di, sending him crashing to the ground with a powerful force!

Before anything else could register, the Heavenly Levyance tribulation lightning had already washed over him and Lord Whiskers!

Krssshhh!

In a crater of his own design, Long Di laid there while the Heavenly Levyance tribulation lightning’s destructive capabilities came into full play as this was true divine lightning!

The Destiny Scale had once told Long Di that his tribulation lightning was quasi tribulation lightning at best since his cultivation technique had not received its name. This placed several limitations upon it that even Long Di himself was unaware of.

However, Long Di couldn’t pay attention to this right now. Because right now, the Heavenly Levyance tribulation lightning was making him and Lord Whiskers its ill-treated stepchild!

“Meow!”

Lord Whiskers howled in pain and Long Di could hear it through even the roar of thunder that boomed all around.

“Lord Whiskers! Bear it!” Long Di was shouting as loud as he could so Lord Whiskers could hear it.

Within the scope of a tribulation, communication via divine senses was no different from suicide, and though Long Di was experienced in that field, he didn’t feel the need to flex that skill here.

Nevertheless, this was why he shouted. He hoped that Lord Whiskers could hear him and hold on!

Pain wracked Long Di’s body. He didn’t scream to express it, but it was still there!

His body was bloodied following the crash, but he still stood up and stared upwards through the Heavenly Levyance tribulation lightning that showered him.

Suddenly, he remembered something very interesting that the Destiny Scale had told him.

It had once said that Long Di’s tribulation lightning was something that could be used towards cultivating somatic essence and was useful in tempering the physical bodies.

Long Di felt like slapping his head. How could he forget cultivation 101!?

This was like common sense as far as cultivation tropes were concerned.

Then again, this tribulation lightning came outta nowhere and whacked him like a stepmother who didn’t get her foot–rub.

So that was as good a reason as any for why this wasn’t the first thing that came to mind.

Still, now that valuable piece of knowledge was rightfully lodged in his head, he had to make it work for him.

“I need to find Lord Whiskers first.”

Just as he decided this, the lightning that blanketed him was lessened until it was fully gone.

“Is it gone already?”

Long Di looked all over and realised that something was wrong. The dense cover of clouds above was still present. This meant that this tribulation, or rather, this punishment, wasn’t over.

Seeing that this was the case, he had to act fast!

“But then where’s-”

“M-Meow…”

A weak voice came from a short distance away, answering Long Di’s question. He immediately took off, ignoring the injuries that plagued him at the moment.

He came upon a small crater, one a bit smaller than his. Within it was Lord Whiskers. His white fur was burnt black and some areas even had the skin burnt away.

The only part that fared better than the rest was the area on its head that Long Di had once attacked with tribulation lightning when they first met.

Even now, smoke wafted from its body, which showcased how injured it was.

“Why don’t you heal?” he asked while looking up every now and again!

“M-Meow, nyah. R-Reargh…”

“What?” Long Di was taken aback at Lord Whiskers’s reply.

For the less feline-inclined, Lord Whiskers informed Long Di that he was a rank 5 Shidashi Mao. He was born at this rank.

Like all Shidashi Maos, throughout the process of childbirth, the Heavens will try its best to destroy the mother in an attempt to annihilate its mistake.

Of course, since Lord Whiskers was in the womb, he wouldn’t be affected by the tribulation lightning, but he could feel the Heavens’ hatred for him and his mother.

However, him being at rank 5 was his undoing here. He was only supposed to go through his tribulation when he was about to step into the sixth rank. This came too soon!

“Crap.” Understanding this, Long Di couldn’t allow Lord Whiskers to go through something like this again for now.

The cat was healing, but the process was extremely slow. The tribulation lightning inside his body, with its destructive affinity, was causing heaps of damage.

Long Di knew that Lord Whiskers would come from this stronger than before, but he had to pave that way for him!

Hong!

Heavenly might descended once more and crashed down upon both of them. Above, even more powerful Heavenly Levyance tribulation lightning was swimming through the clouds.

This pressure from this one was far greater than the first!

Long Di breathed out at the effort he was going to have to exert.

“Lord Whiskers, listen to me,” Long Di called out to him.

Hearing his name, Lord Whiskers weakly looked to Long Di in question.

“Don’t focus on defence in any way. Focus all your energy on regeneration, all of it.”

Lord Whiskers widened his eyes in shock! Did this human want him to die that badly!?

Everyone knew that when it came to lightning tribulations, most, if not all, of your energy had to be allocated toward defence. Normal injuries were fine, but critical injuries at such a moment could easily spell your doom, and right now, Lord Whiskers was 99% critical injuries.

Lord Whiskers stared into Long Di’s eyes, his dull, emotionless eyes. He didn’t know why, but he felt as if he could trust Long Di, so he meowed his consent.

“Good!” Getting Lord Whiskers’s agreement, Long Di immediately got to work.

He then took off at breakneck speed, leaving Lord Whiskers to heal. Lord Whiskers stared at Long Di’s receding back and closed his eyes. His gaping wounds and other injuries then sped up the regeneration in response.

Some distance away, Long Di prepped himself for what was to come. He was still injured, but he was using his spiritual energy to quicken the healing process somewhat.

“This is far enough,” Long Di suddenly stopped. If he left the tribulation to its own design, then it would attack both Long Di and Lord Whiskers, so all Long Di had to do was to take the Heavens' full attention onto himself.

With this in mind, he pointed a finger at where the clouds churned restlessly. The clouds there were just about to spit out another Heavenly Levyance tribulation lightning upon them both.

Krrrssh!

Lightning crackled upon Long Di’s finger. This was normal lightning qi but even then, it was still incredibly powerful as it lashed out all over.

His spiritual force then gushed out and wrapped around this lightning, condensing it into the same spear-like attack he levied at Yue Wang.

It was much longer and made Long Di look like he was using an oddly long finger to point at the heavens.

‘I really should make this a martial technique,’ he thought to himself.

When the lightning qi was condensed to the limit, he took aim before firing where the clouds swirled in silence.

Shu!

Eeeenngh!!

The air shrieked as the spear cut through the sky. Its speed was such that it looked like it was teleporting.

In a flash, it arrived before the tsunamic clouds.

Boom!

The pressure from the clouds caused the spear to burst apart, resulting in an explosion of lightning!

By the time the scene above cleared, the clouds stopped churning, as if frozen in time. Long Di’s eyes narrowed.

“P-Profound Myriad Heavenseize Physique!”

Hong!

Long Di’s body became the embodiment of the heavens, and at the same time, the clouds above started to churn once more. This time it seemed as if in reverse!

Boom!

The voice shuddered as another bolt of lightning, one ten times more powerful than the first, came crashing down, this time upon Long Di alone!

“Foundation Forge Body Tempering Art!”

The somatic essence in Long Di’s body ran at full speed! He then began to conjure a shield of spiritual qi to defend himself as well when suddenly…

“Puah!” A mouthful of blood was coughed up as an internal injury came up out of nowhere!

Long Di had no time to think. He gave up on the spiritual qi shield and relied only on the Profound Myriad Heavenseize Physique and the Foundation Forge Body Tempering Art!

The Heavenly Levyance tribulation lightning then arrived, smashing into his body with unmatched fury!

There was killing intent in this lightning! The Heavens wished to destroy him! The daos called for his death!

“Yeah. Well, screw you too.” Long Di’s calm voice echoed out.

He then sat down in the shower of lightning and allowed it to do its work, but only so much.

The Heavenly Levyance tribulation lightning burrowed into his body and Long Di ran the Foundation Forge Body Tempering Art to use it as a boon rather than his nemesis!

The lightning ran rampant within his body, tearing up his organs and burning up his meridians!

“Come on…” with his eyes closed, Long Di sensed the state of his body and knew it wasn’t good!

His organs were being torn up by the lightning. Eventually, the lightning reached the bones and then something unexpected began happening.

Shing!

His skeletons released a bright jade glow in response to the lightning’s assault!

The runes within and around them actually started to absorb the lightning. Eventually, the heat from the lightning began bringing the tenacity of Long Di's skeleton to the next level!

However, it was unbearably slow. So there was a lack of something to really get it moving. There was something missing to culminate in its immediate growth and that’s when it finally literally hit him… well, almost.

Long Di stared at the hammer in his hand and whispered to himself, “Well, I hope I don’t die from this stupid idea.”