Stellar Transformations

B3C20: The battle of the tribulation (1)

It gradually gets dark. Qin De is sitting with legs crossed in the center of the Reverse 8 Diagrams formation. Fengyuzi, Qin Yu and the other people are sitting randomly around Qin De. As every minute or second goes by, the 15 people in the valley know the heavenly tribulation is coming closer and they all become increasingly tense.

“Father.” Qin Yu slightly turns his head and looks at Qin De, who is sitting quietly. At this moment Qin De has a calm expression on his face. Qin Yu’s heart suddenly trembles because he knows it is extremely difficult for mortals to resist the power of a heavenly tribulation, even when it is the weakest -- the 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation.

“I won’t let anyone disturb you no matter what.” The look in Qin Yu’s eyes becomes even swifter and fiercer.

“Everybody, the 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation is a minor heavenly tribulation. There’ll be 4 bolts of lightning striking down in total. During this period of time, all of us must stop anyone from disturbing Mister Ying. Moreover … don’t even dream about helping Mister Ying resist the thunderbolts. A heavenly tribulation is meant only for the person who has to go through it. If any of you tries to help Mister Ying resist the tribulation, he won’t get any help and, even worse, the thunderbolts will punish him.” Fengyuzi orders everyone.

As Fengyuzi has previous experience with the 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation, the people present immediately memorize what he said.

“Brother Feng, all of you please don’t get too uptight. Only a few people know that I chose the Green Lotus mountain range for my tribulation. No one will necessarily disturb me.” Qin De opens his eyes and says smilingly. Even though the heavenly tribulation is coming, he is still talking cheerfully and humorously.

Suddenly --

Fierce winds blow, sweeping across the ground and the sky, scattering the clouds. Within several hundred li of the valley, all of the clouds in the air have been blown elsewhere in a short while. At the same time, the color of the sky above the valley gradually changes and turns into dark red.

“The heavenly tribulation is arriving!” shouts Fengyuzi immediately. Everyone becomes nervous at once. Qin Yu even feels as if his heart is about to jump out of his chest.

The dark red sky seems to be gathering over everyone’s head, which puts them under great pressure. It then starts to rotate, rotating nonstop like a maelstrom in the ocean. Various purple thunderbolts appear in the dark red sky, as if created out of thin air. They then get absorbed by that huge maelstrom.

The maelstrom spins faster and faster. The holy energy within several hundred li of it has become totally chaotic. Various huge serpentine electrical sparks are zigzagging in the maelstrom. After some time, the maelstrom gradually slows down. It eventually stops rotating and turns into a purple tribulation cloud.

The dark red sky, the purple tribulation cloud, and the serpentine electrical sparks in the cloud,

Everyone in the valley looks into the sky, including Qin Yu. Seeing the heavenly might making its appearance in such a terrifying manner, Qin Yu feels as if a rock has been put on his heart and finds it difficult to breathe. He clenches his teeth and glances at his father with fierce, glittering eyes.

“Father, you must succeed!”

Qin Yu is hoping in his heart.

Boom!

Suddenly there is a great crash of thunder. A purple thunderbolt which looks like a sinuous dragon strikes down at Qin De in the center of the valley. Everyone present knows that the 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation has 4 thunderbolts in total and each is more formidable than the previous. When even the 1st thunderbolt is already so imposing, it can be imagined how terrifying the heavenly tribulation is.

“Up!”

Qin De stands up in the center of the Reverse 8 Diagrams formation and starts it off. Various beams of light begins to move around the edge of the Reverse 8 Diagrams formation nonstop then turn into a cover of energy on its edge, protecting Qin De’s entire body thoroughly.

Even though the energy cover uses the holy energy of the natural huge 8 Diagrams formation, only after the Reverse 8 Diagrams formation absorbed holy energy for 3 whole days and became filled could it be formed. The power of the energy cover, therefore, is indeed strong.

Boom!

The purple thunderbolt strikes upon that green energy cover. The green holy energy of the Reverse 8 Diagrams formation hurriedly circulates. The energy cover also trembles for a short time but it has just really withstood the 1st thunderbolt. Seeing this scene, Qin Yu secretly feels relieved.

“This natural 8 Diagrams formation is really strong enough. The 8 Diagrams restrictive energy cover it created was even able to withstand the 1st thunderbolt without breaking apart.” Fengyuzi has a faint happy expression on his face.

……

Not far from the valley at the moment, Wu De and Wu Xing are standing on their flying swords respectively, bringing along 2 old men each.

“Martial brother, that Qin De unexpectedly overcame the 1st thunderbolt. Also, we even let him find a natural 8 Diagrams formation. What rotten luck!” Wu Xing says with a cold laugh.

Wu De says in an unconcerned manner: “There’s no need to worry. Each of the 4 thunderbolts of the 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation is more dangerous than the previous. The 1st thunderbolt was merely an appetizer. It’ll be hard for Qin De to overcome all of them. Moreover, even if he overcame the 4-in-9 Heavenly Tribulation, he would be seriously injured. At that time, with our power, it’d be easy to kill him.”

Generally, after overcoming a tribulation, the practitioner’s body will be badly damaged. How can a badly injured early-phase Jindan-stage novice possibly be a match for middle-phase Jindan-stage Wu Xing and late-phase Jindan-stage Wu De?

“Shangxian, could we spring into action right now?” The leader of the 4 old men asks respectfully at once. In the Xiang clan, these 4 old men are called Four Directions Death Gods. Their respective code names are East, South, West and North. And they have been granted the royal surname Xiang.

Hearing that, Wu De slightly nods: “Martial younger brother, the 2nd thunderbolt is charging now. Once it strikes down, their attention will surely be distracted by that scene. At that time, we’ll attack like lightning and destroy them at one stroke!”

“Yes, martial brother.” Wu Xing becomes excited as well.

……

The purple tribulation cloud continuously rolls. It sends out one strong force after another, frightening everyone in the valley. The 2nd thunderbolt will obviously be much more powerful.

“Hah!”

Qin De utters a series of low shouts. At the same time, a dragon-like body-protecting energy appears on the surface of his body. To be exact, this body-protecting energy, which seems almost materialized, is none other than the body-protecting technique of the Shi Huang Ancestral Dragon Art at the peak of the Xiantian level.

Concurrently with that, a dark red long sword appears in Qin De’s hand. It is exactly a middle-grade holy weapon and also Qin De’s trump card to overcome the tribulation.

Qin Yu is focusing most of his attention on his father. Fengyuzi, Elder Blue-clad and the others are also watching Qin De take on the tribulation attentively. No one even dares to breathe heavily so the atmosphere is very tense. Suddenly the air shudders.

Boom!

Another purple thunderbolt strikes down extremely fast from the sky. This thunderbolt is even thicker and radiates a more dazzling purple light than the the 1st one. It almost reaches Qin De in an instant. Qin Yu and the others become nervous. However, at this moment --

“Enemy’s raiding!”

Fengyuzi’s voice suddenly rises in the ears of the other 13 people. Qin Yu and the others are startled. Fengyuzi did not shout because he feared he would alarm Qin De, so he could only use controlled sound transference. At the same time, he makes signs with both hands. The entire natural 8 Diagrams formation in the valley is activated. Various streams of elemental energy start to run throughout the whole formation.

“Ha-ha, Fengyuzi, you think this kind of formation can block me and my martial brother? Are you dreaming?” White-browed Wu Xing says with a loud laugh as he comes down from the sky on his huge flying sword, bringing along 2 old men at his back. On his side, fluttering-long-haired Wu De also dives down standing on his flying sword with 2 old men behind him.

“2 Xiuzhenists.” Qin Yu is shocked. Then he clenches his teeth and stares at those 2 Shangxian with blazing eyes. “I’ll put my neck on the line. I won’t let them disturb father during his tribulation no matter what.”

End of b3c20.