"He wants to use the heavenly tribulation to blast his way out of the Eight Trigrams Furnace. You stay here and watch—I’ll go inform the chief." As one Tidal Giant was about to leave, the Tidal Colossus had already arrived.
The huge commotion had alard all the Tidal Giants on the island, him included.
"Chief, that human wants to use a heavenly tribulation to blow open the Eight Trigrams Furnace. What should we do?" a Tidal Giant asked anxiously.
The Tidal Colossus frowned and shook his head. "This heavenly tribulation is ford based on Owen’s strength. I can’t stop it. We can only hope the Eight Trigrams Furnace is tough enough."
Everyone fell silent, staring up in fear at the gathering storm clouds, not knowing what to do.
Rumble, rumble...
Thunder rolled, and the crushing pressure kept growing stronger.
"Quick, leave this place," the Tidal Colossus urged. "This is a heavenly tribulation targeting The Core God. If you get caught in it, you’ll die for sure."
Only then did the surrounding Tidal Giants react, fleeing in a panic.
The Tidal Colossus did not leave.
Owen used to be a Highgod, but right now his level is only The Core God. So this heavenly tribulation is only at The Core God’s level.
As long as he didn’t stand at the core of it, he wouldn’t be in danger.
"Looks like Owen made a move on that human. Hopefully he kills him," the Tidal Colossus muttered, glancing out over the vast sea.
Too bad Pitiless had already withdrawn. If she knew Owen was still alive, how would that woman react?
A playful look crossed the Tidal Colossus’s face.
Crack!
A thick purple bolt of lightning slamd down, striking the Eight Trigrams Furnace.
Boom!
The Eight Trigrams Furnace shook violently as countless arcs of lightning surged.
Inside, lightning danced everywhere, filling the whole space.
Johnnie and Owen took the brunt of it.
A flood of current crashed into them. Both spat blood and were badly hurt.
Not dead?
Johnnie was shocked. Thanks to the Eight Desolations Body-Tempering Art, his body had grown much tougher, and he actually withstood a heavenly tribulation strike ant for a The Core God expert.
On top of that, the Eight Desolations Body-Tempering Art was also absorbing and refining the power of the heavenly tribulation, giving his body a small boost again.
But he was badly hurt. His head throbbed with stabbing pain, and his soul had taken heavy hits one after another.
"Human, I didn’t expect you to be only Stage 6 and still able to call a heavenly tribulation. That ans I can’t let you live!"
Owen’s cold voice ca through.
His clothes were in tatters, he was covered in blood, and his face was twisted. The heavenly tribulation had hurt him a lot.
"Die!"
With a furious shout, his spear howled as he charged at Johnnie again.
"Water-Curtain Celestial Blossom!"
Johnnie moved at once, casting a water-elent Forbidden Spell. He couldn’t die yet—if he died, the tribulation lightning would scatter and stop threatening Owen.
Boom!
The massive water curtain shattered. Johnnie spat blood and was sent flying.
Luckily, he didn’t die.
Rumble...
The Eight Trigrams Furnace shook as the second heavenly tribulation gathered.
"Damn it!" Owen cursed. He couldn’t spare another strike at Johnnie. With a dragon roar, he turned into his true form.
A massive black Celestial Dragon stretching hundreds of ters long.
Boom!
The second bolt of tribulation lightning fell.
Gritting his teeth, Johnnie used Vajra Indestructibility.
Good thing his Mana points had just recovered a bit.
Buzz!
Golden light wrapped around him, while endless lightning snakes surged and filled the whole furnace.
"Roar!"
A painful dragon cry echoed. In his true form, Owen’s huge body took most of the tribulation’s damage.
Crack, crack...
Purple currents danced over the giant dragon. His scales burst one after another, blood pouring out.
With Vajra Indestructibility, and Owen taking the brunt of it, Johnnie barely held on through this strike.
Douglas had it the worst.
The first heavenly tribulation killed him. He had just revived when the second one fell and killed him again.
Boom!
The ground shook as the huge black dragon crashed down.
Blood sprayed from his snout. Owen was badly wounded.
"Hm?" Seeing its ruined state, Johnnie frowned, sensing sothing off. He said in surprise, "You possessed this Celestial Dragon body too, didn’t you?"
"Hmph!" Owen snorted. Struggling, he lifted his head and glared at Johnnie, fury rising. "Why do you think I absorbed the Six Ding Divine Fire? To refine this body. Too bad—you swallowed and refined it all."
So that’s it!
Johnnie realized Owen had been using the Six Ding Divine Fire to refine the dragon body for a perfect fit, but he had ruined the process.
Rumble...
More thunder rolled overhead. A world-ending pressure spread over them.
"Again?" Douglas was terrified. This heavenly tribulation also attacked the soul. After being blasted to death by it several tis, his soul was badly damaged. If it hit a few more tis, he would surely die.
Boom!
The Eight Trigrams Furnace shook hard, and lightning filled the air again.
Johnnie didn’t hesitate and hid under Owen’s body.
"Despicable!"
Owen cursed. But he was already gravely hurt and could only focus on blocking the tribulation. He couldn’t strike at Johnnie.
Crack!
The space inside the furnace was torn open.
Even under Owen, Johnnie was still hit by countless bolts. The third heavenly tribulation was too fierce. He couldn’t hold on and was killed on the spot.
[Ding, you were killed by the heavenly tribulation. Special law blessing: you revive on the spot.]
A prompt popped up. Johnnie revived where he stood, face pale, soul stabbing with pain, a trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth.
This soul injury was worse than any he’d had before.
"Hm, dead?" Johnnie noticed the black Dragon Beast in front of him had no life left.
Buzz!
Divine Soul power surged. A golden Celestial Dragon phantom appeared—it was Owen’s Divine Soul.
"Human, I’ll rember today’s hatred," he roared. The Celestial Dragon phantom went straight through the Eight Trigrams Furnace and fled.
Johnnie wanted to call on the Six Ding Divine Fire, but the stabbing pain in his head stopped him. He could only watch it escape.
Owen’s death didn’t trigger the God-killing power.
Johnnie couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed. This was the closest he’d co to killing a The Core God expert, but the heavenly tribulation dealt the final blow.
Still, he didn’t walk away empty-handed. The Eight Desolations Body-Tempering Art had absorbed the tribulation’s power and improved a lot.
On top of that, he’d gotten a fairly intact dragon body—and it was a Dragon Beast body.
But the special spatial suppression inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace ant he couldn’t store it in the Map of Heaven and Earth.
He had to find a way out of here.
Now he faced a new problem: without Owen’s thods, he couldn’t leave the Eight Trigrams Furnace.
He looked over at Douglas in the distance, badly hurt.
This guy’s soul strength was even worse than Johnnie’s. Just getting grazed by the heavenly tribulation had almost finished him.
"Douglas, if you don’t want to die, hand over your treasures," Johnnie said coldly.
Douglas gave a bitter, helpless smile, swallowed blood, and said with difficulty, "Looks like I have no choice."
He sighed and handed over the Celestial Mirror, the Demon-Refining Pot, and the Kantorin Seal.
Douglas knew Johnnie had a way to erase him for good.
And he hadn’t lied before: the Dragon Nation’s top brass were eyeing the Celestial Mirror and the Kantorin Seal. Even if Johnnie got them, he might not be able to keep them.
Eager, Johnnie checked the stats of the three ancient artifacts one by one.
[Celestial Mirror: Ancient artifact, damaged. Holds strong ti-and-space power; can travel through ti and space. Currently damaged: can freely teleport through space to any place you’ve been (special restricted places excluded).]
[Demon-Refining Pot: Ancient artifact, damaged. Can refine and devour all things. Currently damaged: power greatly reduced.]
[Kantorin Seal: Ancient artifact. Very powerful; can set up a special barrier. Inside the barrier, living beings gain immortality; it ends once they leave.]
Two of the three ancient artifacts were damaged.
Johnnie couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Aside from the Celestial Mirror, the other two didn’t help him much.
The Demon-Refining Pot can devour and refine anything, kind of like the Gastro‑sac Transmuter that his chanical clone got.
The Kantorin Seal can create a barrier that grants immortality. It’s strong, but not very useful to him.
Johnnie looked at Douglas and asked, puzzled, "You said the Dragon Nation’s top brass wanted the Celestial Mirror and the Kantorin Seal because of this immortality ability, right?"
Douglas nodded.
Johnnie frowned and pressed, "Is it the old leader?"
"No." Douglas glanced at him and explained, "It’s not the leaders you’re thinking of. It’s the Immortality Cultivator top brass who used to belong to the Dragon Nation."
"Immortality Cultivator top brass?" Johnnie was even more confused.
"They’re all Immortality Cultivators," Douglas went on. "I don’t know much about them. I thought they were all dead, but it turns out they’re still alive."
Johnnie frowned, thinking of the last missile crisis.
The Dragon Nation hadn’t resisted—that was those Immortality Cultivators pulling strings behind the scenes, testing his strength.
He didn’t like them. He had already asked the old leader to pass along a ssage—he wanted to et them.
But right now he was in the Dragon Pulse secret realm and trapped in the Eight Trigrams Furnace, so he couldn’t contact the outside world.
Still, with these ancient artifacts in his hands, those people would definitely reach out to him first.
Johnnie dropped the matter and looked at Douglas. "There’s one more item."
"Hm?" Douglas’s face changed a bit. He tightened his grip on his storage ring and said, "Johnnie, this thing won’t help you."
"That’s not for you to decide. Hand it over," Johnnie said coldly, leaving no room for argunt.
"Sigh." Douglas let out a breath and took out a half-length branch.
Johnnie snatched it and looked it over.
[World-Tree Branch: Quality unknown; Attributes unknown; Effects unknown]
World-Tree!
Johnnie was shocked. This half branch actually ca from the World-Tree, one of the four divine trees.
He already had the Undead Tree, and now he’d gotten a branch from the World-Tree too.
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