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

****

Long Di was running the Foundation Forge Body Tempering Art at full speed. Lightning acted as the fire and the tribulation was the forge, but it still needed to be tempered to grow stronger.

‘First Forging, Nine Tempers!’

The hammer flew out for the first temper and landed on Long Di’s chest!

“Puah!”

A mouthful of blood erupted, but he didn’t care. This idea had to work!

The second temper was already en route when it landed!

“Ugh!”

Another mouthful of blood was coughed up, but he couldn’t stop! He needed to grow during this tribulation or die within it!

Third Temper!

“Pwah!”

Fourth Temper!

“Ack!”

Fifth Temper!

“Hngh!”

Sixth Temper!

This continued until Long Di completed the first forging, and he started all over again.

Melodious clanking reverberated within the lightning. Long Di’s body was covered in cracks and blood leaking from them, resulting in a jarring sight!

Yet, even now, he refused to cease!

He kept on with the forging until finally…

Crack!

Long Di could feel it. A crack appeared in his skeleton. Before he could do anything else, the crack spread and covered his entire skeleton!

Seeing this, the lightning as if it possessed its own will grew even fiercer, even more savage, and rushed into the cracks of his skeleton.

The pain was maddening to perverse levels!

‘I see!’

Long Di could see how the tribulation lightning seeped in through the cracks and began tempering the marrow!

The marrow swimming in his bones was now being baptised by the tribulation lightning!

Ka ka ka ka…

The bones in Long Di’s body were being rattled by the tribulation lightning’s energy!

However, this was necessary! This was what was needed!

The tribulation lightning brought about a variation of forging that the Foundation Forge Body Tempering Art could efficiently adapt to.

This also meant that the Foundation Forge Body Tempering Art needed to be built up from the ground up once more!

The marrow required this baptism and the only remaining requirement for all of this to culminate into something new was Long Di’s maddening action.

‘First Forging, Nine Tempers!’

C-C-C-C-Cl-Cla-Clan-Clank-Clank!

All Nine Tempers assaulted his body in the blink of an eye and Long Di’s skeleton reacted in kind!

Plang!

The skeleton shattered, and another mouthful of blood was coughed up! Truly, this boy was the envy of blood banks everywhere!

The fragments were the dust at this point and Long Di’s body was much too gruesome a sight to describe for it.

Shing!

Suddenly, the runes that composed the marrow chapter lit up while they continuously twisted before forming the bone’s marrow itself!

This was soon followed by the glow of the bone chapter’s runes and they twisted and collapsed upon themselves before they composed the bones. They quickly reconnected within Long Di’s body.

Countless cracking sounds exploded from within his body as the bones quickly connected and formed once more.

At this moment, the bones were a faint blue and there was a divine tenacity to them now. Long Di’s bones, courtesy of the tribulation lightning, had successfully been tempered to the Quasi-Sapphire level!

As a result, Long Di could feel that his somatic essence had soared to a whole new level.

Whoosh…

The lightning that blanketed him receded once more. The second bolt was now over.

However, Long Di was simply sitting there. The hammer lay beside him. His skin was a mangled mess, but his body remained straight and upright. There was a kind of strength to his posture that created the feeling that even if the skies were to fall down, he would be there to support it.

His eyes were closed as he felt the changes throughout his body. He could hear the faint sounds of many booms of thunder from within his bones. Lightning crackled along his bones while they shone with a blue hue.

Long Di’s somatic essence had transformed as well somehow, but he wasn’t entirely sure how yet.

He could tell one thing for sure though… his strength had reached an entirely new level.

Hong!

Heavenly might came crashing down once more, and this one was not just once or twice stronger than the second, but several tens of times stronger!

The meaning of sparing the rod to spoil the child was not an adage the heavens practised! This prelude let Long Di know that this was the last of the tribulation’s rod!

“Three Star Cores yield three thunder strikes,” whispered Long Di to himself. “Come at me then.”

Shu!

A rush of wind kicked up beside and Long Di opened his eyes to see Lord Whiskers lying down beside him with his eyes closed.

Long Di nodded, seemingly pleased. “Seems like you’ve gotten great gains from this as well.”

Lord Whiskers’s white fur possessed an even greater sheen! This heavenly punishment had killing intent within it and didn’t leave a way for life as normal tribulations did, but should one be able to survive it, the gains were many times greater as a result.

Lord Whiskers only shrugged in response, not even opening its eyes.

Long Di didn’t mind this. If there was one thing that everyone who ever had a cat knew, it was that they were beyond moody and possessed the social complexity of an introvert working as a party planner.

Boom!

The third bolt came crashing down, and it swallowed up the two of them!

The lightning immediately tore the skin from Long Di’s body, causing blood to splash everywhere.

The flesh was being burnt and seared under the tribulation lightning’s power! Long Di could summon greater defence if he just switched to the defense wrought by his spiritual qi instead, but he relied on the somatic essence instead to get as many gains as he could from this tribulation to strengthen his physical body.

Lord Whiskers, however, was faring much better. His strength and physical body had taken great leaps forward after this tribulation and it knew they would get more powerful as it grew so it couldn’t run away forever.

Long Di ran the Foundation Forge Body Tempering Art and, with the hammer in hand, utilised the Breaking Mundane Forging Heaven technique to temper his already battered body.

Numerous clanking sounds rang out. The First Forging Nine Tempers were repeatedly executed, and they all landed upon Long Di’s body with extreme precision!

The faint blue of Long Di’s skeletons grew brighter and more distinct as time went on and the clankings of Long Di’s hammer strikes grew louder as the strength that spawned them increased.

Lord Whiskers’s eyes were now open as he lay there. At a glance, it was obvious that this much stronger lightning strike was causing it damage, though on a much smaller scale.

The pristine white fur was being burnt blank once more. The skin was also being singed as well.

This single bolt of Heavenly Levyance Tribulation Lightning poured down like a shower without end.

Long Di realised that his body was no longer growing stronger and was instead being destroyed by the lightning. Seeing this was the case, he switched to spiritual qi and his cauldrons trembled as the cores and star cores within them lit up to reflect that.

“Hm?”

Long Di realised that his cauldrons were sucking in the energy from the lightning tribulation and were channelling it into his body!

He hurriedly started to cultivate like normal and could feel the tumultuous energy surging into his body.

The best part was that this was pure lightning energy, and it didn’t require refinement.

“No way…”

Long Di started to channel the lightning energy towards his fourth cauldron to light the fourth star-core!

He was legitimately surprised when he saw that the core was actually turning into a star core!

What Long Di didn’t know was that when a person’s foundation was extremely sturdy and their spiritual realm was high enough, provided with enough energy, they could achieve several leaps of strength in one sitting.

This was what was happening right now.

Rumble!

Long Di’s eyes narrowed when he realised what he had just triggered…

“Oh… well then… screw me sideways.”

Hong!

A few hours later, the lightning tribulation ended and the dark clouds cleared up.

The warm rays of the sun shone down and covered both Long Di and Lord Whiskers.

They both laid face down like a pair of dead dogs.

“Meow!”

Lord Whiskers cursed Long Di to death!

“How was I to know that raising another realm would have unleashed another round of tribulation?”