Chapter 82: Ten Tribulations: Foundation Establishment

Earth-Rank Cave Abode, lightning torrents danced wildly.

Lightning wove into a net, dense and unbroken, leaving no place to stand.

Liu Yicheng climbed the steps, watching Chen Zhao slowly lift his gaze.

Drip.

Good rain knows its season, falling upon the long blade, reflecting the faces of both men.

One grotesque, one utterly calm.

"Pretending to be divine—what else do you have left to rely on?"

He sneered, yet his fingers clenched tightly, summoning five-tenths of his spiritual power to slash a jet-black blade qi through the air.

Boom—

The blade qi vanished into the lightning, like a mud ox sinking into the sea; the thunderous tribulation, as if provoked, surged in intensity.

Tribulations usually come in nine layers, yet this second layer already surpassed his own fifth layer from years past!

A lightning serpent struck down—Liu Yicheng dared not meet it head-on, fearing he too would be marked by the tribulation as a cultivator undergoing transcendence.

He flipped backward to the mountainside, his expression turning cold.

"Using the tribulation to hinder—this cannot last!"

On the Flying Boat, all watched, hearts clawing at their chests, sweat pouring down.

Each time he struck, the tribulation doubled in strength; ordinary cultivators seeking transcendence prayed for a thousand li of empty wilderness.

Yet Mo Ya, of all people, chose to undergo transcendence on the battlefield—hardly a clever tactic.

Liu Yicheng knew this well.

Yet his primary cultivation revolved around the character "anger"—unless he killed with his own hands to release his rage, he feared it would fester into illness.

But the Immortal Binding Rope only worked upon contact with a physical object—and now the tribulation raged fiercely; how could he kill Chen Zhao?

He breathed in and gathered his qi, seizing the brief gap between lightning strikes to unleash the Soul Slashing Blade Technique at full power!

Blade light engulfed the entire Cave Abode; even Xu Jing flinched inwardly, knowing he could not withstand its edge—risking annihilation of both spirit and soul.

The blade moved with blinding speed; before the Qi Refining cultivators could react, it struck Chen Zhao squarely.

He had no time to evade—his body convulsed violently, as if wracked by unbearable agony.

Liu Yicheng's lips curled.

This blade left no visible wound—but turned its target into a hollow shell, retaining only cultivation, nothing more.

He crossed his arms, watching the man writhe.

Yet Chen Zhao thrashed for half a stick of incense—and the tribulation raged on, wild as ever.

"Why is this so?"

Could he be pretending?

"Venerable one, let me aid you—do not let this villain succeed in his transcendence!"

Xu Jing plucked a bead from his rosary and placed his hand on Liu Yicheng's shoulder.

In the midst of speech, the fifth layer of tribulation arrived—this man's Foundation Establishment tribulation was immense; he would surely rise far beyond the ordinary.

Seeing the man still hesitating, he added:

"I'll draw the tribulation's attention—your share is his head!"

Liu Yicheng nodded, gripping his long blade tighter.

Yet Xu Jing extended the Flower-Plucking Finger—and the entire sky's lightning spun, revealing a central void.

He surged his spiritual power and charged straight up the mountain.

Lightning struck mere feet beside him, deafening.

Seventh layer… Eighth layer…

He was only a hundred steps from the Cave Abode—already seeing Chen Zhao's back, hair whipping wildly.

The debt of a single sword strike would be settled in two breaths!

The man before him radiated an increasingly profound aura, nearing Foundation Establishment—Liu Yicheng's eyes suddenly filled with countless ink-wash images.

Bamboo groves stretched a hundred li; as leaves fell, ink-streams flowed—he traced their source upward, only to find the former Cave Abode transformed into a Bamboo Building.

How could such a strange image exist in this world?

Liu Yicheng had no time to question—he hurled the Immortal Binding Rope and leapt into the black hole.

Only one breath remained—the ninth layer of tribulation arrived!

He drew his long blade and slashed out a jet-black crescent moon!

He had never imagined he could wield such a strike—he could even feel the subtle vibration of the blade tearing through the air.

Puff!

Like a bamboo stalk splitting clean through!

On the Flying Boat, all stared with bulging eyes; Li Zhiwei furrowed her brow.

Yet—

Liu Yicheng suddenly widened his eyes.

The sensation was wrong!

The figure before him shattered instantly, dissolving into specks of ink.

A phantom body?

He reacted at once, stomping the ground to shatter it, revealing a small hole—Chen Zhao looked up, grinning at him.

"Venerable one, retreat quickly! The ninth layer is coming—I can't hold it!"

Xu Jing's cry came from below, but Liu Yicheng ignored it—his gaze hardened, and he dove into the black hole.

The very next breath.

The ninth tribulation bolt was several dozen zhang wide, and with a thunderous crash it smashed the mountaintop flat!

Everyone's hearts clenched at once, but it was Zhang Sifan who said in a low voice:

"His aura is still there. He's still alive."

However…

Why is he still at Qi Refining?

"There's still a tenth bolt! Heaven truly aids me!"

Liu Yicheng burst out of the black hole, laughing with wild abandon.

Though no one knew what art Mo Ya cultivated that he could draw down the legendary Heavenly Jealousy Tribulation, it no longer mattered now.

The long blade slashed toward Chen Zhao's neck in an instant.

In that hairsbreadth of a moment, this "Chen Zhao" and "Xin Tong" suddenly began chanting the true scripture in unison, and the tenth tribulation bolt came crashing down from the vault of heaven.

Its target was not the ground, but rather the clouds above!

Wisps of Incense Fire Qi rose curling upward; Liu Yicheng followed them with his gaze, only to see Chen Zhao seated calmly within the thunderbolts, scripture characters surfacing one by one across his body!

Electric arcs churned at his fingertips as he rose unhurriedly, his aura no longer restrained, climbing to Foundation Establishment Early Stage!

For a moment.

Raindrops were slowed by the pressure, falling leisurely in everyone's eyes.

"Arhat Bone-Forging Scripture! You actually learned it—how could you have learned it?"

Xu Jing turned pale with shock, his Nianhua Finger trembling beyond recognition.

This man's physical body is but a hair's breadth from Foundation Establishment—he must have been honing it for ages. Does Tian Kui truly not care?

An absurd thought surged up in his mind.

Xu Jing was about to retreat, but it was already too late.

Chen Zhao produced a string of beads; on the spirit-wood beads, green light blazed forth, enveloping both him and Liu Yicheng directly.

The two of them could not move. Looking down, they saw their shins had already rotted into deadwood—and the corruption was still spreading upward!

At the same time.

A streak of ink-wash killing intent came slashing in, laced with condensed sword intent. The two barely blocked it, yet its aftershock sheared two small hills flat!

What kind of Foundation Establishment Early Stage is this?

Xu Jing and Liu Yicheng exchanged a glance, each reading the other's horror.

The latter no longer cared a whit about the Five Poisons Heart Demon; he hastily formed hand seals and called upon his fellow cultivators of the Eight Sects.

And on the Flying Boat, not a single sound stirred.

The tribulation clouds had already dispersed, yet no one remembered fleeing for their lives.

"Mo Ya… is Chen Zhao?"

The disciples were all dumbstruck.

Especially the Chen siblings.

Having cursed Chen Zhao for years, the two instantly wished the earth would swallow them up.

To weather a tenfold thunder tribulation and break through to Foundation Establishment at the very heart of the battlefield, and to scheme against Foundation Establishment cultivators while still at Qi Refining—landing blow after blow—such daring was something they would never have dared to imagine.

Li Zhiwei, however, was rather astonished.

It seemed she could no longer see through Chen Zhao at all.

Showing off before others and going against the tide was absolutely not his nature.

This man never stirred without profit—how could he do something with nothing but harm to gain?

Could it all just be for the sake of showing off?

But even with his deep foundations, the gap in cultivation remained, and with enemies many and his side few, such showing off could not last long.

"Benefactor, to be so obstinate—is that not failing to read the times?"

Xu Jing pressed his palms together one-handed, his Buddhist light blocking the streaks of ink-wash killing intent.

As the thunder tribulation slowly faded and he no longer had any reservations, he gave a sharp cry and, with a swing of his Precept Knife, sliced off his own rotting shin!

Pfft!

Wisps of Incense Fire Qi gathered in, and the severed limb regenerated in the space of a breath.

Yet over a dozen killing strikes came hurtling in unison from the foot of the mountain, every one of them from cultivators no weaker than Xu Jing. Not to mention the crowd on the Flying Boat—even Li Zhiwei's heart tightened, and she prepared to flee at full speed.

Chen Zhao neither dodged nor fled; he smiled faintly.

"Your fates lie beneath the Huaigai star—you may be in for bloodshed."