Chapter 465: Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

He He Pingsheng pulled out the Liuliying one by one from his ring and placed them in the void, as if on display.

He had killed one each in Ruokai, Longyuan, Wuchen, and Master Tianji Tianji Juedi; now there were four more.

That makes eight altogether!

Seeing these eight Liuliying, Su Zhen's entire body went rigid.

Eight…

Has this guy really killed eight Nascent Soul experts?

Sssss…

But He He Pingsheng wore a smile.

After enhancement, there are sixteen Liuliying.

Actually more than sixteen—he'd previously bought one from that Dan Tai immortal and enhanced it into two, so theoretically, after enhancement, there are eighteen.

"Collect…"

With a wave of his hand, he gathered them all.

He checked the space rings again.

Among these four space rings, spirit stones were the most abundant.

Besides spirit stones, there were cultivation techniques, elixirs, materials, magic treasures, spirit pets, and more.

He He Pingsheng even found in one of the rings an IV-grade elixir called 【Lianshen Pill】, capable of repairing spiritual sense damage.

"Damn it…" He He Pingsheng cursed angrily: "I don't need this now—why are you giving it to me?"

Ugh!

Of course, I don't need it now, but that doesn't mean I won't need it later.

It can still be used after enhancement.

"Let's go… this way…" He He Pingsheng opened the Eight Treasures Boat and left with Su Zhen, holding a map and pointing toward a desert.

In the desert, there were no spirit plants and very few spirit beasts.

This was the perfect place to undergo Tribulation Crossing.

"Strange…" He He Pingsheng stood atop the Eight Treasures Boat, his gaze sweeping the surroundings, his Tianmu open, a thread of golden light swirling in his eyes.

Logically, his Tianmu should perceive the fate energy across an entire commandery.

Yet he couldn't penetrate this secret realm at all.

There were countless cultivators in Master Tianji Tianji Juedi—why could he see not a trace of fate energy?

Everyone should have at least a little fate energy.

Yet he couldn't see any?

Could this Tianji Juedi block the manifestation of fate energy?

He He Pingsheng frowned: That must be the only explanation!

Two days later, the two arrived at the seemingly endless desert.

He He Pingsheng landed casually on a hilltop and unleashed his spiritual sense.

Within tens of thousands of zhang around him, both on the ground and underground, there were almost no living beings.

The greatest taboo during Tribulation Crossing is having other life nearby, for summoning the heavenly tribulation will annihilate all surrounding life.

Even the tiniest creature, if killed, will taint the cultivator with karmic debt.

"Just stay far away!" He He Pingsheng sat cross-legged atop the barren peak, looking at Su Zhen: "Stay beyond ten thousand zhang and guard me!"

After Su Zhen left, He He Pingsheng pulled out an elixir: Po Hua Pill.

Then he swallowed it whole.

Boom…

A few breaths after swallowing the pill, Xu Changan suddenly heard a crisp snap.

Then crack, crack, crack…

The five Golden Cores—metal, wood, water, fire, earth—all shattered.

His magic power flowed through his meridians, following the 【Five Elements Merged Heaven Scripture】.

Within half a stick of incense, five Nascent Souls coalesced.

Each belonged to one of the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, earth.

Boom… boom…

The instant the Nascent Souls formed, the previously clear desert sky suddenly filled with dark clouds.

The clouds turned ink-black and coalesced.

Within a few breaths, they condensed into inverted black mountain ranges, constantly shifting and colliding.

Boom… boom…

Between the black clouds, silver lightning writhed like thunder snakes—countless strands, dense and terrifying.

He He Pingsheng had certainly prepared for this heavenly tribulation.

It would surely be the Nine-Nine Tribulation.

What was uncertain was whether the first six waves would even fall.

That was unknown.

Soon after, the first wave of tribulation lightning crashed down.

It split into nine bolts, each as thick as a thigh.

Seeing such thick lightning, He He Pingsheng knew the first six waves had been secretly diverted by Heaven's will—he didn't know if they'd ultimately transfer to the Ninth Imperial Prince!

"Open…"

He He Pingsheng roared.

Golden Armor Shield!

Earth Armor Technique!

Ancient Xuan Cauldron!

He immediately summoned three defenses.

Each defense was formed from Five Elements Merged Qi.

Boom…

Boom…

The nine heavenly bolts shattered the Ancient Xuan Cauldron's defense.

Then the Golden Armor Shield, then the Earth Armor Technique!

Layer by layer, they tore apart.

Finally, his 【Seven-Clasp Sharp Metal Armor】 held firm against all.

He He Pingsheng suffered no injury under this seventh wave of tribulation.

Good.

"Open…" Before the eighth wave could strike, He He Pingsheng immediately summoned the blood-red turtle shell.

He powered it with his blood essence.

A blue spiritual turtle silhouette emerged, enveloping He He Pingsheng's body.

The silhouette was only ten zhang wide.

Though small, it pulsed with immense power, its surface flowing with mysterious runes.

Boom…

The eighth wave of tribulation struck—and the spiritual turtle silhouette blocked it entirely.

Moreover, the silhouette had consumed only half its energy.

"Again…"

He He Pingsheng roared, pouring more magic power into the spiritual turtle silhouette.

The silhouette glowed brighter.

The final wave of tribulation finally surged forth.

This time, the spiritual turtle silhouette blocked it perfectly again.

The Nine-Nine Tribulation had passed.

He He Pingsheng sat atop the peak, gazing at the void above, waiting for the Golden Clouds to descend.

But none came.

The Creation Golden Light was out of the question.

The black clouds above dispersed; the sky cleared again.

Su Zhen flew over from ten thousand zhang away, delighted: "Congratulations, Brother! You've successfully formed your Nascent Soul!"

"Mm…" He He Pingsheng nodded. "Wait a moment—I need to stabilize my cultivation base."

He turned his awareness inward.

The original Golden Cores were gone, replaced by Nascent Souls.

And not just one—five Nascent Souls.

Gold, red, green, blue, and earth-yellow.

They correspond to the Five Elements: metal, fire, wood, water, and earth.

After forming the Nascent Soul, the most immediate sensation was that his magic power had increased.

His current magic power was more than ten times stronger than before.

And one drop of Ice Plain Divine Dew was clearly insufficient to replenish it.

But it didn't matter!

If one drop isn't enough, then ten drops.

Boom…

He He Pingsheng's spiritual sense erupted outward, spreading across the surroundings.

One hundred thousand zhang!

Exactly the same as the first layer of Soul Transformation.

"Retract…" He He Pingsheng drew his spiritual sense back.

Then he condensed it into a spiritual sense nail, which shot out again, drifting through the void.

For cultivators reaching the Soul Transformation realm, one of the most important traits is transforming spiritual sense from formless to tangible.

Soul Transformation means precisely this.

He He Pingsheng's current spiritual sense strength was roughly equivalent to the first layer of Soul Transformation; he wondered if his own spiritual sense could now become tangible too.

But it didn't!

Still formless.

"Still too weak!" He He Pingsheng took a deep breath: "Though the range of my spiritual sense matches that of a first-layer Soul Transformation, its intensity may still fall short!"

But it's no problem.

Later, once he cultivates the 【Profound Gate Stillness True Scripture】's Nascent Soul section, and reaches its first layer, he would likely be able to make it tangible.

Two days later, He He Pingsheng's cultivation base was fully stabilized.

He stood up from the ground.

"Congratulations, brother!" Su Zhen asked: "What are your plans next?"