Chapter 473: and translation of chapter title

"Here will do."

Yao Shou Shijie, in the depths of the vast, boundless forest lies a small swamp, and the spiritual energy is not very abundant.

A black tortoise the size of a grindstone flies out from the rainbow light, and as it slowly descends, a powerful demon sense sweeps out unreasonably.

Although Yunhe's Demon Beast Body is only at the early Fourth Level, his Cultivator Body has already broken through, and he has cultivated the "Thousand Gu Myriad Insects Art" to the fifth layer, his divine sense comparable to that of a Nascent Soul perfected cultivator.

Since the Demon Beast Body and Cultivator Body share divine sense and divine thought, this exaggerated scene occurs.

The demon sense of a merely early Fourth Level cultivation black tortoise can actually crush the vast majority of Fourth Level demon beasts, including late Fourth Level and even perfected Fourth Level demon beasts!

Because demon beasts naturally excel in physique, divine sense and thought are their weaknesses, but Yunhe's divine thought is as strong as that of a Nascent Soul perfected cultivator, naturally making it somewhat stronger than the demon sense of most perfected Fourth Level demon beasts.

With such Demon Sense, unless it is a late Fourth Level great demon, it cannot be detected.

After his Demon Sense sweeps over and confirms, there are no powerful demon beasts in this small swamp; the strongest is merely a mid Third Level poisonous python coiled here.

Gululu—

Various treasures and spiritual materials displayed before Yunhe emit thread-like strands of spiritual energy that continuously drill into his body.

Most importantly, his Demon Sense is now strong enough to suppress late Fourth Level demon beasts.

A terrifying aura rampages over Yunhe's body.

But if he breaks through to mid Fourth Level, his Cultivation Base and demon power will greatly increase, then it's a different story.

Seeing Yunhe's resolute attitude, the poisonous python dared not linger, immediately turning and fleeing at great speed.

Inside his body, three demon cores revolve in the sea of qi; strands of spiritual energy drill in from all directions, but cannot enter the demon cores, only revolving outside and gradually solidifying.

Moreover, his Demon Beast Body's physique is extremely strong; combined with secret techniques and divine abilities, it surpasses that of a mid Fourth Level demon beast, and even if slightly inferior to a late Fourth Level demon beast, the difference should not be great.

Demon Sense sweeps out again.

Buzz!!

"Rise!"

In an instant, all demon beasts within a hundred-li radius cowered like cold cicadas, prostrating on the ground; as this pressure dissipated, they desperately fled away from the area.

Ripples appear on the demon cores.

This is Yunhe preparing to break through.

From the swamp beneath his feet slowly crawled a huge python, entirely black with spots; after cautiously glancing at Yunhe, it respectfully prostrated on the ground.

His figure briefly blurred, taking on the appearance of a cultivator clad in black robes.

And each time the "wave" reaches its peak, the terrifying aura it emits also reaches its peak.

Both hands slowly rise from below upward.

"If I were outside Yun Chou Mountain, even just relying on these formations, I would have a chance to battle a late Fourth Level demon beast."

Yunhe glanced at it, knowing it wanted to cling to him.

Ang!!

Buzz—

Immediately, a grand aura suddenly appeared, and three vaguely different spirit tortoise phantoms silently emerged, simultaneously opening their mouths.

If he were near Huanhu Dao, he might not refuse, but this time Huanhu Dao is hundreds of thousands of li away, and he does not want to bring along a burden.

This place has already been covered by several formations.

Three days later.

After confirming that no living beings remained within tens of li, Yunhe no longer hesitated.

After all, after years of study, the formations he can now use are far stronger than before; even just the Five Elements Formation derived from the successfully condensed Five Elements Spiritual Body is not to be underestimated, let alone the derivative formations of the Twelve Celestial Stars Grand Formation and the Dragon Fish Vast Sea Grand Formation.

Immediately after slapping his storage bag, sets of formation plates and flags flew out; as his hands fluttered, surging demon power burst forth, and these flags and plates fell all around.

Moreover, it conveyed flattery and ingratiation via Demon Sense.

Furthermore, with the formations, he is not incapable of contending with a late Fourth Level demon beast for a round or two.

"You too, get lost."

Strands of transparent dusk rose up, enveloping this place.

At the same time.

A black tortoise lay silently within the cover, waves of terrifying demon power emanating from its body, fluctuating.

While pondering in his heart, his hands did not stop working.

"Hiss—"

Of course, under these circumstances, he cannot last long.

Actually, the deep pool Yunhe originally occupied was fine, but being too close to Yun Chou Mountain, the commotion from his breakthrough would surely attract the attention of the three demon beasts there.

Boom!

The entire sea of qi was like a massive explosion; surging demon power instantly flooded it like a tide, turning into wave after wave.

"Get lost!"

Most of these treasures and spiritual materials were collected by Yunhe over the years in Yao Shou Shijie, precisely prepared for this breakthrough.

The rest were obtained by Yunhe in the cultivation world through merit exchange, either to boost spiritual energy or increase the chance of breaking a bottleneck; even if each item's effect on his demon beast body is slight, stacking them yields a noticeable effect.

Demon beasts differ from cultivators.

Cultivators can rely on elixirs when breaking through realms, but demon beasts have never heard of elixirs aiding their breakthrough, so they must rely solely on themselves.

"'Originally I just wanted to adjust my breath, recover my condition, and wait for a suitable opportunity to break through; I didn't expect that after releasing my self-imposed restraint and adjusting my breath for three days, the demon power would flood out like a deluge, somewhat out of control.'"

Perhaps because the suppression lasted too long, Yunhe's demon body and demon power have now reached their peak; a little further cultivation invites breakthrough.

"'But that's fine; what is destined to come will come; this is the best opportunity for breakthrough!'"

Immediately Yunhe no longer restrained himself.

Boom!!

Demon power surged, and even the qi and blood inside his body began to churn.

Splash—

The black scales covering his body rustled with a shasha sound, and the treasures before him turned to flying ash one after another as their spiritual energy was exhausted.

At the same time.

This place, originally cloudless for thousands of miles with bright sunshine, suddenly gathered and swirled up into masses of heavy black clouds.

In no time at all, they spread to fill the skies for thousands of miles.

Within the dense black clouds, masses of golden thunder-jelly surged, and golden arcs leapt and flickered into being.

Boom!!

Suddenly, a bolt of golden lightning appeared.

"Break!"

Yunhe also almost at the same moment violently opened his eyes, lightning flashing in his pupils.

Boom!!

In an instant, the demon power around his body suddenly surged.

The spiritual energy that had already filled his limbs and bones, congealed like glue, seemed to have found an outlet, rushing all at once toward his three demon cores.

His cultivation base had already broken through from the early Fourth Level to the middle Fourth Level!

"This breakthrough came as naturally as water finding its channel."

He felt as if he had hardly exerted any force, and the bottleneck limiting his cultivation base had already been shattered.

"But that's fine."

No one would complain about a breakthrough being too smooth.

"If only all future breakthroughs could go this smoothly."

Yunhe sighed silently, then lifted his gaze to the heavens.

The thunderclouds had already condensed to be extremely thick.

This is also a difference between demon beasts and human cultivators, as well as the other races.

For human cultivators, only when breaking through the Fourth Level—that is, reaching Nascent Soul—do they need to face the Nascent Soul tribulation; after passing it, they need not undergo any further tribulation lightning washes until they reach the Divine Transformation realm.

But demon beasts are different.

When demon beasts break through the Fourth Level, they must undergo the transformation tribulation; thereafter, each small realm breakthrough requires undergoing a tribulation, or rather, the transformation tribulation.

Only the more transformation tribulations they survive, the more their transformed appearance can gradually approach that of humans, allowing the originally retained traits such as scales, horns, and claws to be completely shed.

Of course, whether to retain these demonic traits is entirely up to the demon beast's own will, but each time they survive a transformation tribulation, their demonic body can better absorb heavenly and earthly spiritual energy, which is advantageous for cultivation.

This is a kind of "check and balance" imposed by the Heavenly Dao upon demon beasts.

"Compared to the first transformation tribulation, this tribulation's might has not increased."

Feeling the threatening intent conveyed by the rolling thunder-jelly, Yunhe's expression remained unchanged.

This is also one of the characteristics of the transformation tribulation.

Although demon beasts need to undergo far more tribulations than human cultivators, the transformation tribulation does not keep growing stronger each time, or rather, its increase is limited.

Even so, many demon beasts still perish beneath the tribulation lightning when they break through.

"I wonder if there will still be a 'Harmonizing Divine Lightning'... huh?"

Just as Yunhe formed this speculation in his mind, his expression suddenly shifted.

Within his body's lightning reservoir, the usually "well-behaved" strand of white divine lightning suddenly became active.

A mysterious and unfathomable aura spread out from the lightning reservoir.

This aura undoubtedly came from the "Harmonizing Divine Lightning," but to be honest, since Yunhe absorbed this divine lightning, he has still not been able to comprehend it.

But before he could savor it, the thunder-jelly within the tribulation clouds became restless.

"Here it comes!"

Boom—

As the thought in his mind faded,

a bolt of golden lightning descended like a massive axe cleaving downwards.

Yunhe immediately shifted his form, changing from a gigantic black tortoise into a human shape, sweeping his robe as the formation dispersed.

At the same time, a huge phantom of a black tortoise emerged behind him, expanding at a terrifying speed; in just a moment it grew to the size of a mountain.

Roar!!

The black tortoise phantom raised its head, and its terrified cry shook everything.

The tribulation lightning fell, but vanished instantly upon contacting the black tortoise phantom's mouth!

Immediately, serpentine dragon-like arcs of light appeared on Yunhe's body.

Without a doubt.

This heavenly lightning was "swallowed."

"Indeed, the taste is worlds apart from the first transformation tribulation."

Yunhe shook his head, muttering with a hint of disdain.

However, he also noticed that after swallowing this heavenly lightning, the strand of "Harmonizing Divine Lightning" in his lightning reservoir seemed to have become more active.

With his demon sense looking inward, he even felt that the "Harmonizing Divine Lightning" seemed to be transmitting a hint of "joy" at this moment?

A bolt of lightning actually has emotions?

If this were not the strange and wondrous world of demon beasts, Yunhe might have thought he was hallucinating.

At the same time, after he swallowed the first heavenly lightning, the strange aura emanating from the "Harmonizing Divine Lightning" gradually became more substantial, like a white mist, hazy and indistinct.

But the tribulation lightning continued, and Yunhe could not devote the energy of raising his head to pay attention to it.

He no longer really regarded the lightning tribulation as anything; after all, this was a heavenly tribulation.

Boom!!

One bolt of lightning tribulation after another kept falling, each stronger than the last.

Yet without exception, all of these lightning tribulations were swallowed by Yunhe.

This even surprised him himself.

Although this lightning tribulation wasn't particularly strong, his strength had risen by more than one level; still, this was a lightning tribulation—when had his Nurturing Thunder divine ability become so formidable?

Seventh bolt!

Boom—!!

Lightning flashed, and at that moment it seemed as if the whole world had dimmed, leaving only a murky gold hue and the silhouette beneath it, along with a phantom of a Mysterious Turtle as vast as a mountain.

"Roar!!"

Facing the lightning tribulation that seemed about to destroy everything, that huge Mysterious Turtle phantom actually opened its mouth wide, trying to swallow it.

The lightning tribulation came fast and vanished even faster.

As the seventh lightning tribulation fell, the dark clouds that had filled the sky, as if reluctantly finishing an unwanted task, quickly dispersed.

And Yunhe's huge Mysterious Turtle phantom, after the seventh lightning tribulation had passed, dissipated like a bubble.

All noise ceased, and Yunhe, maintaining a human appearance, stood blankly in place.

In his vision, sometimes appeared a Great Ao carrying a massive mountain, sometimes a Dragon Turtle clad in golden armor, and sometimes a Mysterious Turtle entirely dark in color.

Three Phases Revolve.

However.

If one looked closely, one would find that the Dragon Turtle seemed even more lively.

Mainly because its body was covered in golden scales that were more distinctly rendered than those of the other two Spirit Turtles.

No one knew how long had passed.

Yunhe, still standing upright, was already covered with a thin layer of ash.

"Mm"

Though his eyes were open, he let out a muffled groan like someone waking from a long sleep.

But as his mouth opened, a puff of black smoke reeking of scorched odor drifted out, and his aura plummeted, as if he had suffered a serious injury.

But in the next instant.

His aura instantly recovered to its peak, and even surpassed it.

Moreover, strands of golden silk were drawn from his body, quickly woven into a Golden Scale Armor!

"Fourth Level mid-stage. Achieved!"

Feeling his formidable physique and powerful monster power, even he couldn't help but show a hint of astonishment.

It seemed that after breaking through to the Fourth Level, the enhancement of his fleshly body was far more exaggerated than he had anticipated.

The growth of his monster power, however, was within his expectations.

Three monster cores, triple growth, plus the transformation of swallowed lightning tribulations—everything seemed quite "normal."

However.

Yunhe slowly raised his palm, and his monster power, under his control, swirled in the center of his hand.

The solidified monster power rose in a spiral, then quickly calmed, finally forming something like a white‑mist‑wreathed, upturned, translucent bowl.

But.

Inside this translucent bowl lay a sizable forest!

It was merely a forest reduced many times in size!

Within that forest, one could faintly see a tiny creature, likewise reduced many times over, panicking and scurrying about—among them were also beastly monsters possessing monster power.

"Is this... Palm Universe?"

(End of chapter)