The heavenly tribulation continued, and the people of Dragon Family Plain were far from the only ones with grim expressions.

Compared to the residents of Dragon Family Plain, those powerful cultivators who could sense the heavenly tribulation, knowing someone was undergoing tribulation, were truly terrified. After seven bolts of heavenly lightning, it hadn't stopped; there was more to come.

"Brother Li, is this perhaps not a human undergoing tribulation, but a top-tier spirit beast reaching the Fifth Tier?"

Hua Feitian turned to Li Jianyi beside him and asked, perplexed. A human heavenly tribulation had a maximum of five bolts; seven was already beyond their imagination, and they couldn't conceive of a ninth bolt.

A nine-bolt heavenly tribulation was impossible for a human.

Since antiquity, there had never been any record of a human facing a nine-bolt heavenly tribulation, nor even for spirit beasts. However, spirit beasts were known to pass seven-bolt tribulations and become immensely powerful; if a stronger spirit beast could survive a nine-bolt tribulation, that was a possibility.

"Highly likely. Kunlun Mountain is an ancient spiritual meridian, harboring many powerful spirit beasts. If a formidable Fifth Tier appeared there, I would believe it!"

Li Jianyi’s expression was grave. After a moment, he nodded lightly. Nine bolts of heavenly lightning, a nine-layer tribulation—even for them, who commanded the full resources of great sects and were at the Great Perfection stage, this was unheard of.

In truth, he preferred to believe this explanation, because regardless of whether the one currently undergoing tribulation was Zhang Yang or that Golden Three-Eyed Beast, it was a favorable outcome for him.

If Zhang Yang succeeded, Li Jianyi and Hua Feitian could at least rely on the protection of the Twelve-Crowned Golden Python of Changbai Mountain. But if that Golden Three-Eyed Beast succeeded in its tribulation... he wasn't sure if even the Twelve-Crowned Python of Changbai Mountain could withstand a Golden Three-Eyed Beast that had weathered nine bolts of lightning.

Hua Feitian let out a heavy sigh. The poison in his body had still not fully receded, and his ashen face made it impossible to read his expression, but Li Jianyi's thoughts were exactly his own.

After a long pause, he finally spoke, "It’s just a matter of whether this nine-bolt heavenly tribulation is aimed specifically at that Golden Three-Eyed Beast. The appearance of the Flat Peach was immediately followed by this lightning tribulation; the timing aligns."

"It would be wonderful if this spirit beast could destroy the Long and Zhang families after succeeding in its tribulation!"

Li Jianyi sighed faintly and spoke again, his current thoughts merely a way to comfort himself. Hua Feitian could only offer a bitter smile and shake his head. "That possibility is slim. Spirit beasts possess high intelligence, and Fifth Tier beasts are exceedingly arrogant. They usually establish their own territories, and as long as no one encroaches upon them, they will never suffer any harm!"

Li Jianyi remained silent but nodded in agreement.

Hua Feitian knew the arrogance of Fifth Tier spirit beasts best; if the Hua family had not been sheltered by one, they would no longer exist in this world.

To a Fifth Tier being, whether cultivators were First or Second Tier, or even Third or Fourth Tier martial arts masters, they looked the same. It might not be an absolute case of "all beneath the Fifth Tier are ants," but it was true that they wouldn't spare a second glance for anyone below the Fifth Tier.

This represented a qualitative gap; between the Fourth and Fifth Tiers, there was already an absolute difference in quality.

Several others shared their thoughts. At this moment, almost all Great Perfection experts were focused on this tribulation, observing this unprecedented nine-bolt heavenly tribulation.

In the Zhou family of Western Frontier, the Demon Sect and the Zhou family had already allied. Zhou Gu looked up at the sky, his teeth nearly grinding to dust, a thin streak of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

From afar, Zhang Hefeng of Wudang watched, trembling all over. Behind him, numerous Wudang disciples were packing up their sect’s heavenly materials, rare treasures, magic artifacts, and spiritual elixirs as if preparing for a mass migration.

Zhang Hefeng had already decided: if the person undergoing tribulation succeeded, whoever it was, he would return to Dragon Family Plain with sincerity for the sake of Wudang's legacy, to once again appease the Long and Zhang families. But if this person failed... the Wudang disciples would simply waste a bit more time moving their belongings.

In a bedroom within the Long family palace, the golden shimmer surrounding the room suddenly shattered. Master Shi Ming retreated three steps rapidly, his face changing drastically. He then swiftly struck Long Feng and Long Haotian unconscious—he feared they could not withstand the power of the nine-bolt heavenly tribulation. After that, he looked out the window again, murmuring to himself.

"Benefactor Zhang is benevolent and is favored by Heaven. My Buddha is merciful and will surely help you pass this nine-bolt heavenly tribulation..."

With Di Wanfang’s fate still unknown, every Great Perfection expert in Huaxia was focused on the thundercloud above, their thoughts varied, but they shared one common understanding regarding the impending lightning bolts.

The concept of odd-numbered tribulations had long been ingrained in their minds; since the seven bolts hadn't ended, the next must be the nine-bolt heavenly tribulation.

"How could this be?"

Zhang Yang, struggling to rise, looked slightly dazed. His appearance was nothing like his usual self; half his hair had fallen out, his face was half-blue and half-swollen, and his mouth was stained with bright red blood.

His body was in even worse shape; there wasn't a single intact spot. Zhang Yang felt that at least three of his ribs were broken, and his lower leg bone was also fractured.

Inside his Dantian, it was already completely empty; the spiritual energy converted from his internal force had vanished. He could only climb up through sheer willpower.

The power of the previous seventh heavenly bolt was immense; even a thick-skinned, strength-based spirit beast might not have survived it. Zhang Yang had only managed to toss out his Bagua Staff at the last moment to buy a sliver of life.

The material of the Bagua Staff was even harder than the Cold Spring Sword, yet it too was obliterated by that bolt of heavenly lightning.

Two artifacts from the Divine Weapon Ranking were thus destroyed due to the tribulation; the future ranking of the Divine Weapon Ranking would certainly see changes.

Through the seven bolts, Zhang Yang had realized he had completed his breakthrough, advancing to the Fifth Tier. He had assumed the tribulation would end after surviving this, and he could then wait for the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to replenish before slowly recovering his body.

And once fully recovered, he would officially become the most powerful Fifth Tier expert.

During this recovery period, he harbored no worries.

Now that he was a Fifth Tier expert, even injured, he was stronger than those at Great Perfection. Zhang Yang only truly understood how terrifying a genuine Fifth Tier was after his promotion.

Those thunderbolts, let alone the later ones, even the first three bolts, were enough to strike down Great Perfection masters like Zhang Hefeng and Li Jianyi who had achieved their status through inheritance. As for the fourth bolt, no Great Perfection master, including himself, could withstand it, even if they destroyed a Divine Weapon Ranking artifact.

Only now did Zhang Yang understand why Huang Longshi had repeatedly warned him against using energy blasts, an offensive technique of Fifth Tier experts, and why the old man he met at Yanming Mountain had said he could never break through in the future.

As a Great Perfection master, his repeated use of powerful Fifth Tier offensive means had damaged the stored heavenly energy within his body—the energy shield that had helped him survive the first few tribulations. A damaged energy shield naturally could not withstand the immense power of this lightning tribulation.

Looking up at the sky, the thunderclouds gathered, and the time the eighth heavenly bolt took to build up was longer than the previous ones.

As long as Zhang Yang survived the tribulation, the Zhang family would surely usher in its most glorious moment, but all that was in the past; Zhang Yang had not expected the tribulation to continue further.

"The Flat Peach Immortal Elixir truly has killed me this time!"

Zhang Yang’s lips cracked slightly, and he muttered softly to himself. Unlike Zhang Pinglu, he understood what was happening as soon as the heavenly tribulation reappeared.

He hadn't expected that the continuous infusion of spiritual energy from heaven and earth would actually allow him to successfully concoct an Immortal Elixir—a feat difficult even for Fifth Tier experts. The grade of an Immortal Elixir was a full level higher than a Spiritual Elixir, representing a qualitative change.

The previous Flat Peach, if it had the best effect only on Fourth Tier and Great Perfection cultivators, the current Flat Peach Immortal Elixir would hold immense attraction even for Fifth Tier experts.

For the Fifth Tier, Immortal Elixirs were the treasures truly meant for them to consume.

The thunderclouds continued to condense. No matter how wronged or unwilling Zhang Yang felt, he could only accept reality now. He staggered toward the quiet room; the formation of the Immortal Elixir had drawn the heavenly tribulation, and as its creator, he had to face the tribulation alongside it.

The thunderclouds grew thicker and thicker, enveloping the entire sky above Dragon Family Plain. All cultivators below the Fourth Tier were urgently retreating from Dragon Family Plain, and Qu Meilan and Mi Xue were also being escorted out by Zhang Daofeng’s arrangements.

The eighth heavenly bolt, possibly the first recorded Eighth Heavenly Bolt in history, was about to descend.

Dragging his injured leg, relying on willpower, Zhang Yang finally returned to the quiet room.

Upon returning, he didn't look at the medicine furnace immediately. Instead, he went straight to the bed and took out his canvas bag, retrieving his silver needles, which he inserted into several of the most crucial acupoints on his body.

He needed to recover now, otherwise, forget resisting the tribulation—he might perish even before the lightning struck.

After needling himself, Zhang Yang finally looked toward the medicine furnace and gasped in shock.

No wonder it drew a nine-bolt heavenly tribulation!

Inside the furnace, the vibrant red medicinal liquid had vanished, replaced by three vibrant red, round pills, each the size of a quail egg.

These three pills exuded a bone-chilling fragrance; just smelling it made Zhang Yang feel significantly better.

The Ten-Thousand-Year Flat Peach was supremely precious; successfully refining even one Immortal Elixir was a rarity. Zhang Yang had added so many incomparably rare heavenly materials and earthly treasures hoping to refine just one more Immortal Elixir, but the result was beyond expectation.

Three Flat Peach Immortal Elixirs had been refined.

These three pills were absolute treasures in the cultivation world; forget Fourth Tier and Great Perfection experts—even Fifth Tier experts might fight for them. Manufacturing such an elixir was Zhang Yang's greatest pride, but he had no time to savor that pride now.

Now that the Flat Peach Immortal Elixirs had taken shape, after passing the heavenly tribulation, they would become true Immortal Elixirs, emitting spiritual energy potent enough to shake all of Huaxia.

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Yang's eye suddenly twitched unnaturally.

The next moment, Zhang Yang did something no one expected: he took one of the Flat Peach Immortal Elixirs from the furnace and shoved it directly into his mouth.

He swallowed an Immortal Elixir that had not yet passed the tribulation.

The elixir entered his stomach, and a powerful heat instantly filled his entire body. His broken ribs healed rapidly, and the trauma to his body quickly repaired itself.

This was worthy of being an Immortal Elixir, a grade higher than Spiritual Elixirs; even without passing the tribulation, the speed of its medicinal effect surpassed Zhang Yang’s imagination.

Feeling the medicinal power, Zhang Yang let out a heavy breath, exhaling a plume of white mist. At this moment, even his breath consisted of purely refined heavenly and earthly energy.

In fact, consuming an Immortal Elixir before it had passed its tribulation was an extremely risky endeavor. Normally, an elixir that hadn't passed tribulation wasn't called an Immortal Elixir, or rather, it was an incomplete one; no one knew what the result of consuming it would be.

Zhang Yang had inferred, based on the fact that he had reached Fifth Tier strength before the tribulation, that the elixir should also possess its full medicinal efficacy before its own tribulation, which is why he took the risk.

He took this risk because he was cornered, left with no other recourse.

Completely devoid of strength and severely injured, he wouldn't just be unable to face the eighth bolt; even if the seventh bolt struck again, it would reduce him to dust.

Facing a certain death scenario, he might as well gamble; at least consuming the elixir gave him a slim chance of survival. Nine deaths out of ten chances was better than ten certain deaths.

Fortunately, three Flat Peach Immortal Elixirs had been produced. For Zhang Yang, one was enough; the remaining two could be saved for the Old Man and the Golden Three-Eyed Beast, and since the elixir quality was superior to Spiritual Elixirs, the effect on them would be even better.

However, all of this was predicated on surviving the tribulation; if he failed, everything would turn to smoke.

This time, Zhang Yang did not leave the quiet room; leaving was useless now. It was better to save time and rapidly absorb the medicinal power to restore his body.

The thunderclouds continued to condense, and this time the condensation period was exceptionally long, longer than any previous instance.

The longer the thunderclouds gathered, the greater the power of the resulting lightning bolt.

But for Zhang Yang at this moment, the longer the gathering time, the more advantageous it was for him. He was absorbing the elixir’s potency, and swallowing it directly allowed him to recover two-tenths of his strength instantly. If he could recover to seven-tenths, Zhang Yang felt he would have a fifty percent chance of withstanding the next heavenly bolt head-on.

Unfortunately, he didn't know if the elixir could restore that much power.

Earlier, he had considered swallowing the other two Flat Peach Immortal Elixirs to make the tribulation disappear, but that thought was immediately dismissed.

The heavenly tribulation had already formed; even without the elixirs, it would still strike him as the creator. Furthermore, Zhang Yang had already been undergoing tribulation; as long as the thundercloud remained over him, his tribulation wasn't truly over, and the lightning would still fall upon his head.

Not to mention how crucial the Immortal Elixirs were to Zhang Pinglu and the Golden Three-Eyed Beast; he could not keep them all for himself.

"Rumble!" Half of the pitch-black thunderclouds unexpectedly began to turn pale white. The black and white clouds exerted an even greater pressure. All disciples below the Fourth Tier had retreated from Dragon Family Plain, and even the Fourth Tier experts were now at the edge of the cave entrances, ready to retreat if they couldn't hold on.

The sheer oppressive force made everyone's face cloud with worry for Zhang Yang.

"Rumble!"

The thunderclouds began to sound again. Zhang Yang's strength had recovered to four-tenths. This fast rate of recovery somewhat calmed his heart, but before this calm could truly settle, his heart sank again.

He could feel that the eighth heavenly bolt was about to descend. To be continued.