Each time the Sword God Spirit fused a little more, the thunder above grew stronger and more violent.
Rock Solid’s body trembled slightly, sweat dripping down his forehead in relentless streams.
It was obvious the pressure on him was immense.
Even the veins on his arms and forehead bulged and throbbed.
The Nine-Curve God Flame wrapped around him, crackling as sparks burst outward.
The divine sword let out a ringing hum that echoed through the void.
A fierce sword intent shot straight into the heavens, as if vowing to tear the entire sky apart.
On the sword, all kinds of energies converged.
It seemed to condense the essence of heaven and earth, the five elements, yin and yang, sun and moon, and the entire blade shone with dazzling light.
Suddenly, the thunder in the sky seemed to be enraged.
A gray bolt of lightning directly split downward.
Crackling sounds spread in all directions as it fell.
Along its path, the void was shattered, forming a dazzling scar across the sky.
Before the lightning could even land, Xu Zimo leapt upward and smashed it apart with a single punch.
He looked up again, sensing even more terrifying lightning gathering in the clouds.
Glancing at his own fist, he felt a numbing sensation, as though his sense of touch had vanished in an instant.
“Judging by this scale, it should be a third-level tribulation,” Venerable Nu said at his side. “But because a tribulation must be endured by the refiner himself, your interference forced it to escalate into a fourth-level tribulation.”
“This lightning is truly formidable,” Xu Zimo remarked.
“There are still three more strikes to come. If you can’t hold out, let the stainless energy of this Weapon Mountain shield you for a moment,” Venerable Nu said. “I can’t intervene, or the tribulation’s power will climb even higher.”
Xu Zimo nodded slightly.
The reforging of the divine sword had reached its final stage, there was no room for even the slightest mistake.
Above, another thunderous explosion erupted with earth-shaking force.
A lightning bolt as thick as a water barrel crashed down.
Its destructive intent was inexhaustible, relentless.
Xu Zimo took a deep breath, letting the Heaven-Shattering Force spread throughout his body.
The colossal Heaven-Shattering Giant appeared, and to be safe, he also opened the three gates.
A tribulation was nothing to underestimate; he dared not show any negligence.
This was also Xu Zimo’s first time confronting heavenly tribulation.
When his small figure collided with the raging lightning, a mushroom cloud exploded in the sky.
Within a hundred miles, every living creature felt their ears ring, as though the very void around them trembled.
After the second bolt, Xu Zimo stood in the heavens like a war god.
But in resisting the lightning, he had exhausted nearly all of his Heaven-Shattering Power.
Now his force core was drained and weary.
The Heaven-Shattering Power was not endless; like human strength, it had limits.
Once spent, it needed time to recover before condensing again.
Still, since the core remained intact, regathering that power would not be too difficult.
Yet this tribulation was clearly too great for Xu Zimo in his current state.
But the heavens gave him no time to recover. With the second strike barely ended, the third followed immediately.
The entire sky seemed to rage.
This third tribulation was no longer a single massive bolt, but a torrential thunderstorm.
The whole range of Weapon Mountain was enveloped.
Xu Zimo frowned, sitting cross-legged to heal his inner injuries, ignoring the falling lightning.
As the storm raged, Weapon Mountain itself seemed to stir.
The countless buried weapons within began to tremble.
An endless tide of weapon intent gathered.
From deep within the mountain, a stream of white energy emerged.
This white energy looked extremely pure, as if it could cleanse all impurities of the world.
“Neither demon nor tribulation, neither dwelling nor void, difficult to begin, harder to end, stainless and without dust.”
A voice echoed from Weapon Mountain.
The stainless energy then formed a barrier, shielding the entire mountain.
The voice spread far and wide, as if it was the very spirit of Weapon Mountain itself.
The thunderstorm poured down, but all of it struck the barrier. Outside was a raging inferno, yet inside remained calm.
The stainless energy flowed gently, and after the lightning finally ended, the barrier slowly faded.
The energy dimmed, eventually vanishing into the forest, hidden once more.
“This stainless energy has reached its limit, it can’t be used again,” Venerable Nu urgently reminded. “The final strike must be faced by you alone. Do you have confidence?”
“We’ll find out,” Xu Zimo replied.
“It’s done!” On the mountain peak, Rock Solid’s expression lit up with joy as he shouted.
The light around the divine sword contracted; what had once been a dazzling rainbow blade now appeared simple and unadorned.
The sword tip gleamed faintly.
Four feet in length, its hilt was black, the blade pure white.
A majestic immortal aura lingered along its edge.
At the center of the hilt was a carved flower.
Not an ordinary flower, but a triangular sword blossom.
At the very moment the sword was completed, it turned into a streak of light, trying to escape.
“Come back,” Xu Zimo commanded softly.
The blade instantly turned and flew back.
Before forging, he had already carved his soul seed into it, just in case.
For artifacts all had their own spirit.
But overhead, the fourth tribulation, the final strike, contained power beyond anyone’s expectations.
The sky darkened, the heavens filled entirely with thunder.
Gray lightning dragons wove and coiled together.
Their roars shook the earth, and no living creature dared to come near.
“You both retreat, or you’ll be caught up in it,” Xu Zimo waved to Venerable Nu and Rock Solid.
Neither tried to be brave; they knew they could not help him now.
…
The gray lightning tore through the brewing sky.
This time, the lightning carried unprecedented might.
It was as though a river of stars poured down from the ninth heaven, or a flood swept all things away.
Everything was consumed in its wake.
Xu Zimo opened the Gate of Eternity, charging straight into the lightning.
But before he could even reach it, the Gate of Eternity was destroyed instantly.
“Damn this heaven,” Xu Zimo roared.
The lightning struck him directly, dragging his body down into Weapon Mountain.
He had no strength left to resist.
They said heaven cannot be defied, how powerful must those be who claimed man could conquer the heavens?
This was Xu Zimo’s first battle against heavenly tribulation.
With a thunderous crash, he fell, shaking the entire Weapon Mountain.
The central part of the peak was completely obliterated.
“He didn’t die, did he?” Rock Solid asked from afar, his heart pounding in terror.