Chapter 576: Soaring Dragon In The Clouds
Zhong Yue nearly spat out a mouthful of blood in shock, he exclaimed, "What? This is just the first level of the Lightning Tribulation?"
Before he could even recollect his thoughts, the Leize dragon god had already sprung to action. The dragon's its body was over a thousand feet long, like a moving mountain ridge purely formed by lightning totem patterns.
Thunder rumbled as it moved, it slashed a claw down at Zhong Yue with great power!
The dragon claw had five fingers, and although formed by the lightning totem patterns, they were imbued with the power of the five elements, each finger corresponding to one of the five elements!
Zhong Yue yelled, he changed into the Fuxi True Form and managed to dodge the dragon claw by a hair!
Surprisingly, Zhong Yue did not wield the two sabers, deciding to focus on one. He clenched the heavy Metamagnetic Divine Saber while moving along the dragon's huge body.
Shua, shua, shua, shua, shua—
Saber rays rained on the Leize dragon god from its head to tail!
However, despite the divine saber's incredible weight and sharpness, it failed to do any considerable damage to the Leize dragon god. It couldn't even penetrate its scales.
The dragon scales were filled with marvelous totem patterns, unlike anything he seen before, they were stronger and more profound. When the Metamagnet Divine Saber slashed on the scales, the lightning totem patterns would burst out into lightning flowers that blocked and unloaded the saber strike before it reached +the scales.
"Of course!" Xin Huo answered insouciantly, "This lightning Leize dragon god is the end of the first level of Lightning Tribulation. Kill it and you can proceed to the Leize lightning loch of the second level Lightning Tribulation. Eventually, you'll reach the forty-ninth Leize lightning loch; only after that will you be considered as having passed through all the Lightning Tribulations. The Leize lightning loch constitutes the heaven and earth, while the Leize dragon god is the manifestation of the will of nature. Defeat it, and you will receive the recognition of heaven and earth!"
"The Leize dragon god is the will of heaven and earth?" Zhong Yue inhaled deeply.
Meanwhile, the Leize dragon god swung its tail in a full circle and coiled its body together. Its head rose high above and turned around, blasting out endless lightning rays from its mouth down on Zhong Yue!
In the lightning, Zhong Yue muffled a deep groan, his body was charred like charcoal!
This is just the first level and its so strong already! And Xin Huo still said I can manage forty levels, looks like he overestimated my strength! The first level alone almost... wait a second!
Zhong Yue tumbled in mid-air for some distance before coming to a stop. He quickly bowed and cast the[Worshipping of Gods]. The Solar Divine Saber turned into an altar and lifted him up while the gods emerged around the altar, bowing toward Zhong Yue. Right away, his prowess rose a level higher and he surged it all into the Metamagnet Divine Saber.
Energy rippled in and out of the divine saber, the divine saber grew stronger and heavier, even distorting the gravitational force.
Zhong Yue yelled and the slashed the saber toward the incoming dragon.
Xin Huo must knew I would strengthen myself within the lightning burner, he knows that my prowess will steadily increase in the Lightning Tribulations. That's why he said I can manage forty levels of Lightning Tribulations! If he said I can, then it means that I will surely be able to kill the first level's Leize dragon god!
Krong—
The Leize dragon god raised its claw against the saber, while Zhong Yue surged all of his power into the weapon. His muscles were even torn open, causing blood to sprinkle to the surroundings.
Zheng—
Surprisingly enough, the Metamagnetic Divine Saber shattered the dragon claw!
But before Zhong Yue had any time to rejoice, two bright lightning rays shot out from the dragon's eyes and bore through his body. The impact force sent him flying backward, but he dashed forward again as soon as he landed!
Meanwhile, Xin Huo was still talking, "Do you know where does the Leize Clan of the eight sovereign races originate from? The first Leize dragon was exactly an innate god that was born from the heaven and earth; nurtured by worship and imbued with the wills of the heaven and earth! His arrival in this world was accompanied by the birth of a galaxy, one that brimmed with the strongest lightning in this universe. He stood on his own and was one of a kind. Other than him, all other Leize dragon gods are either his descendants, or innate gods from the Leize Galaxy! If you are able to, you should visit the Leize Galaxy at least once. It is a truly wonderful place to visit, its power is beyond what words can describe, you can only feel it for yourself. As long as there are living beings still worshipping the lightnings and thunders, the Leize Galaxy will grow bigger and stronger. It's even more exciting to experience Lightning Tribulations there!"
Just as Xin Huo finished speaking, Zhong Yue had clashed over a hundred times with the Leize dragon god already.
The Leize dragon god was strong but still couldn't avoid injuries, after all, it was Zhong Yue that it was fighting with!
Suddenly, Zhong Yue yelled and his mortal body grew to over ten thousand feet tall. But with the sudden increase in size, the many wounds on his mortal body grew as well!
He utilized the power of heaven and earth, entering the Heavenly Dharma level's state of extremity!
Within the Leize lightning loch, thunder rumbled even louder, and the lightning was absorbed into his mortal body and Yuan Shen. This time, he actively siphoned the lightning energy around to boost his strength.
His turned his mortal body to thirty thousand feet tall along with the Metamagnetic Divine Saber. He raised his hand and brought the thirty thousand feet long Metamagnetic Divine Saber down in a slashing motion, cleaving through the dragon scales into its body.
The dragon god opened its mouth, blasting out lightning fire and sent Zhong Yue high up into the sky. Then, the lightning dragon clenched its claw and struck at him!
His mortal body bent like a fully drawn bow with lightning rays piercing out from the back of his body!
Zhong Yue's Heavenly Dharma state of extremity was broken away and he shrunk back into his usual size. Meanwhile, the dragon god raised its claw and poked toward his forehead, a killing blow!
Zhong Yue quickly opened his mouth, and he cast out the Nine Revolving Inner Core. The Tai Chi Force Field was opened and trapped the dragon god in it.
Roar—
But the inner core force field was placed on the verge of shattering apart in just a loud roar from the lightning dragon god,.
Zhong Yue dashed forward, he cast the Metamagnetic Divine Saber and the Solar Divine Saber out. Together, the two divine sabers lunged forward like two dragons.
The dragons reached the dragon god's neck when it broke free from the inner core force field!
"Die!" Arms grew out from Zhong Yue's body as he clenched on the sabers, forcing out all of his strength into the dragons!
Suddenly, thunder rumbled within the dragon god's mouth. Zhong Yue's skin cracked and the seven apertures of his head trickled out blood. If it weren't for the fact that Zhong Yue had trained for a month's time in the lightning burner, this alone would have killed him!
Muscles fell from his body, soon revealing the bone underneath.
The top of his head was cracked open, exposing his skull, and the sounds of cracking came from his body as the totem patterns on his bones shattered.
The roars continued, and his bones were on the verge of fracturing!
"DIE!" Zhong Yue shouted loudly, the twin sabers finally decapitated the dragon god. Its huge head fell down and disappeared in the lightning loch.
"Did I win?" Zhong Yue was overjoyed, his arms atrophied into ash and he fell into the lightning loch after the dragon head. He didn't even have the strength to grip on the two divine sabers anymore as they separated in mid-air and crashed some distance away from him.
Zhong Yue bathed inside the lightning loch as he allowed the lightning to penetrate his mortal body, scorching his muscles and nerves.
Zhong Yue lied in the lightning loch and thought, Shame, I didn't defeat it on my own... Feng Xiaozhong... it's your skill that truly defeated the Leize dragon god, it's you that won this Lightning Tribulation, not me...
"Brat Yue, you smell good." Xin Huo leaped out, wiping slobber from his mouth as he looked at Zhong Yue's cooked body, "What a shame I lack a mortal body, I cannot eat and taste anything. How about... you let me control of your mortal body for a while and let me taste have a taste of your flesh?"
Zhong Yue muttered something inaudible as a sign of protest while speeding up his recovery rate.
Soon after, his mortal body was fully healed. He consumed a few pieces of divine herbs to recover his lost strength and further refine his inner core.
"Cast!"
After that, Zhong Yue cast out the two divine sabers and repaired them.
"Hmm? The sabers, they feel so much lighter..." Zhong Yue clenched the two sabers and swung them freely through the air.
Before, although he could cast the two sabers, he still struggled to wield both of them in his hands. But now, not only could he wield the two divine sabers in his hands, they even felt light!
"Are the Golden Origin Water in them frittered away during the battle?" Zhong Yue mumbled curiously.
"No, it's you who became stronger!" Xin Huo laughed as he said, "In the Earth Order Era, the Lightning Tribulation was a means for the Fuxi cultivators to temper themselves. Every level of the Lightning Tribulation brought with it a huge improvement in their strength. Do you know why?"
Zhong Yue shook his head.
Xin Huo laughed, "This is because the Fuxi Celestial Race has the blood of Leize in them. You Fuxi have a natural affinity to lightning. Normally, the Lightning Tribulation is a death sentence to most other races, but they are in fact, golden opportunities to awaken the Leize blood in them!
"You made it past the first level of Lightning Tribulation, and a little part of the Leize blood in your Fuxi bloodline has now awakened. Of course, the sabers would seem light to you now."
"I see." Zhong Yue was enlightened. He took out the copper lamp, entered the mini Six Paths Reincarnations in it, and soaked the divine sabers in the Golden Origin Water again.
Meanwhile, Xin Huo looked curiously at the sabers, he asked again, "Brat Yue, these two soul weapons you forged, are they really sabers?"
"Of course!" Zhong Yue assured.
Xin Huo scratched his head and said, "Then why can the sabers take the forms of the Shaohao Bell, altars, the Tai Chi Art, even the[ Dragon Shears]?"
"Because of the word 'Yi'." Zhong Yue laughed loudly. He pulled the two divine sabers away and walked out of the Six Paths Reincarnations into the Leize lightning loch. He raised his head up and saw another Leize lightning loch forming above him, while the one he was in started to disperse.
"Yi, Fuxi, changes. This is what Fuxi Haoyi taught me. It's the same concept that can be applied to the soul weapons."
He strode into the second Leize lightning loch while saying casually, "There appears a dragon in the field, it leaps into the abyss when necessary and soars into the sky when given the opportunity, only the heavens can contain it. Humans are no different to dragons, we can change accordingly. And the same applies to sabers. This is my comprehension of 'Yi'."
TN:
Now, now, the last sentence Zhong Yue said is a little more complicated to explain as even most of the Chinese wouldn't understand. It's fine to just skip it, they got nothing to do with the story/plot. But, if you are curious to know a little more about it, I will try my best to explain it to you all.
Basically, it comes from the famous , a hexagram known as Qian, which means Creativity. It consists of six parts plus an additional part due to its specialty (Only Hexagram Qian and Hexagram Kun seven parts). Hexagram Qian explains the life cycle of a dragon, which is used to refer to mankind.
Initial Nine: A submerged dragon is never to be used.
Meaning: A talent who yet to finish acquiring his knowledge and skills should not be touched or involved in any activities.
Second Nine: A dragon is seen in the field.
Meaning: The talent is now ready to show his ability to the world, and he can be found in the fields.
Third Nine: A noble works hard in the morning, and stays alert in the evening.
Meaning: No matter how good one is in his work, he should never lose his sense of alertness and slack back, never stop progress his own abilities further.
Fourth Nine: It leaps into the abyss, and soars in the sky.
Meaning: One must know under what circumstances he should take a step back and make a concession, or when should he jump in to seize the fleeting glimpse of success.
Fifth Nine: The dragon soars in the heaven.
Meaning: This is the time when one stands high enough to unleash his full talents, a great man arisen.
Topmost Nine: The dragon who raises its head too high would regret.
Meaning: This means that when one stands on the peak of his glorious days, he would or had already left some regrets in the decisions he made. This is to advice people from not going over the limit and do things they would regret.
Action Nine: The herd of dragons that soars without a head.
Meaning: This essentially means that there are a herd of dragons without a leader. Normally, this is used in a derogatory sense, denoting that even a group of dragons would achieve nothing without a leader.
But King Wen of Zhou, who is said to written the denotes that it is actually a commendatory term. When the members of the herd are all dragons, they would know where they stand, their respective responsibilities, what they can do and what they can't; that way, everything will be carried in a smooth and perfect manner, even without a leader leading them.