In that critical situation, Chen Feng mobilized the Overwhelming Astral Sword, which was within the Heavenly Origin acupoint to suppress both the Thousand Seeker Mirror and Bloody Soul. Chen Feng had assumed that this move would help somewhat. However, contrary to his expectations, the Thousand Seeker Mirror and Bloody Soul grew more violent. The domineering aura of Prized artefacts soared further. The two Prized artefacts were grade 2 Prized artefacts. It was only natural that they would be unwilling to allow the mere grade 1 Overwhelming Astral Sword to suppress them. Thus, Chen Feng’s move backfired, causing an intense backlash instead.

Two streams of power bombarded the Overwhelming Astral Sword’s surface, eliciting a mournful cry from the Overwhelming Astral Sword. After that, it fled back into the Heavenly Origin acupoint, not daring to show its face anymore.

For Chen Feng, it felt as though there was an erupting volcano within his body. The charge of the mighty powers brought about serious wounds to Chen Feng’s meridians.

As a result, Chen Feng puked out mouthful after mouthful of blood. The impact from the blasts of blood coming from Chen Feng’s mouth was such that it created craters on the ground.

Despite the crisis engulfing Chen Feng, Tower remained unresponsive. Truth be told, the best method for Chen Feng was to transfer the excess energy into the Longevity Tower. Even if the amount of energy was 10,000 times bigger, the Longevity Tower could easily store them all.

However, Chen Feng had no intention to do that. Not to mention, Tower would not allow that as well. The energy stored within Chen Feng’s sea of wisdom may only be absorbed and refined by Chen Feng alone. It may not be transferred over to any other place. It was also a form of training for Chen Feng in his cultivation path.

At that moment, however, there was no better option for Chen Feng. His own fleshly body was clearly not strong enough to absorb the energy. All Chen Feng could do at the moment was watch as his body expand, growing bigger and bigger.

Purplebolt noticed the crisis that Chen Feng was in. However, he was in no position to help Chen Feng. Due to his fierce rate of cultivation, the power within his body had reached a critical point as well. The first of his Lightning Tribulation was about to descend.

As it was, Purplebolt was uncertain whether he could survive the Lightning Tribulation or not. How was he to help Chen Feng? Concern over the soon-to-arrive Lightning Tribulation was foremost amongst the concerns in his mind while Chen Feng’s problem was secondary. That was despite the fact that Chen Feng had placed a soul imprint within Purplebolt’s soul. Should Chen Feng die, Purplebolt might suffer as well.

Dark clouds began gathering high up in the sky. The faint rumblings of thunder gradually descended from the Nine Heavens. Already, terrifying waves of suppression were descending upon the ground. The towering giant trees that were over 100 zhang tall began trembling. In the face of the incoming Lightning Tribulation, the giant trees that had lived for who knows how long trembled in fear.

Rumble!

As the first amalgam of lightning bolts charged down upon Purplebolt, Chen Feng finally thought of another method. Well, it was not exactly a method. He poured the excess energy towards the newly-condensed Longevity Furnace.

In Chen Feng’s opinion, it did not matter what the method was. All that mattered was that it could absorb and store the violent excess energy. Of course, the principal condition was that the energy had to be stored within his own body.

The earlier period spent on cultivation allowed Chen Feng to condense out the shape of the Longevity Furnace. However, it only had shape. Chen Feng, who was like a drowning man clutching at straws, now brought out the Longevity Furnace and a vast amount of longevity primary spirit rapidly poured into the newly-condensed Longevity Furnace.

To Chen Feng’s surprise, the Longevity Furnace – formed using weapon condensation technique – was able to absorb a great deal of the longevity primary spirit. Thanks to that, his body stopped swelling up.

Surprisingly, as the longevity primary spirit continued pouring into the Longevity Furnace, it began changing. Chen Feng became pleasantly surprised to see those changes. One after another, patterns, seals, symbols and imprints began to emerge on both the interior and exterior surface of the Longevity Furnace. The quality of the Longevity Furnace rapidly rose.

Unexpectedly, this unintentional move by Chen Feng had brought about world-shaking changes to the Longevity Furnace. This refining process of the Longevity Furnace had saved Chen Feng a great amount of time.

With its increased grade, the Longevity Furnace was therefore able to store even more energy. Chen Feng felt that the Longevity Furnace’s storage capacity was comparable to that of an opened insight acupoint. Additionally, as the Longevity Furnace’s grade kept climbing, its storage capacity would rise further.

A question may arise here. Why didn’t Chen Feng continue assailing the next insight acupoints? If he could open up the insight acupoints for level 5 of the Concealed stage, wouldn’t he be able to quickly absorb all the energy?

In fact, Chen Feng had considered this while he was cultivating. However, he failed to do so.

The insight acupoints for level 5 of the Concealed stage were different from the previous ones. Comparatively speaking, the Heavenly Origin acupoint, Magnetic acupoints, Tristar acupoints and Four Extreme acupoints were very noticeable, making it very easy for Chen Feng to sense them. The insight acupoints for level 5 of the Concealed stage, on the other hand, was more difficult to sense.

According to the Longevity Scripture, the insight acupoints for level 5 were the Five Elemental acupoints. In other words, he needed to open up five insight acupoints. However, the specific positions of the five insight acupoints were very vague. Even the function of each was vague. Given the short amount of time available, Chen Feng was simply incapable of sensing the existence of the five insight acupoints. Not to mention, he was in an extraordinarily dangerous situation. Thus, Chen Feng had no choice but to give up on the idea to consider other options.

Sure enough, this move from Chen Feng was effective. Seeing the transformation of the Longevity Furnace nearing its end, Chen Feng turned his attention towards the other longevity weapons.

With a thought, both the Longevity Blade and Longevity Sword quickly condensed out. As expected, after he soaked them within the longevity primary spirit, the two weapons immediately released potent suction forces to devour the energy around them.

“It is effective!” Chen Feng was overjoyed.

Following that were the Longevity Spear, Longevity Pike and Longevity Chains. Although these weapons were merely the condensed product of Chen Feng’s magic power, they were of a higher grade compared to some real Magic artefacts. Wave after wave of suction forces emerged from those weapons as they devoured the excess longevity primary spirit within Chen Feng’s body with a maddening fervour.

In just a joss stick’s worth of time, the dangerous situation was successfully dealt with. Chen Feng’s swollen body had returned to its normal shape. Even his damaged meridians had been completely restored. All that remained were the various longevity weapons, hovering and spreading out within Chen Feng’s body.

After managing to stabilize his situation, Chen Feng did not even get the time to open his eyes when a thunderbolt, as big as a tidal wave, descended upon him.

“What?!” Chen Feng, who had just opened his eyes, failed to get a clear view of what was happening before an overpowering force slammed into his body. Although Chen Feng had immediately put up a defensive force, the overpowering force had still sent him flying.

After flying backwards through more than 100 zhang, Chen Feng was finally able to steady his body. Sword light enveloped his body and he hovered in mid-air. When he was finally able to see what was going on, he became shocked.

From what Chen Feng could remember, there should have been a thick, 100-zhang-tall giant tree before him. Earlier, he had been sitting cross-legged atop the tree as he cultivated himself.

And yet, lying before Chen Feng’s eyes now was a stretch of chaos. At the very least, Chen Feng was incapable of finding a single tree within a radius of 10 li. When he was sent flying earlier, the tree that he was cultivating on had been uprooted while its foliage was torn apart.

The incomparably thick giant trees around him became like little saplings in the face of a category 12 hurricane. They had no chance of emerging intact.

As Chen Feng was staring in shock, a circular thunderbolt furiously descended from the sky, roaring loudly as it did. It then smashed down heavily against the ground. The massive force of collision caused shockwaves to spread out into the surrounding area. Feeling the suffocating aura wash towards him, Chen Feng, who was hovering in the sky, unconsciously retreated.

Sensing the strands of destructive lightning powers amidst the chaotic spiritual energy all around him, Chen Feng quickly understood what was going on.

Purplebolt is actually undergoing Lightning Tribulation. Chen Feng widened his eyes.

“This fellow, he did not even put some distance between us. I nearly got pulled in.” Chen Feng had only just uttered those words when he saw another lightning bolt descend from the sky, smashing into the ground. As it did, a furious roar could be heard. It was none other than Purplebolt, who was facing the Lightning Tribulation.

After carefully assessing the situation, Chen Feng grew relaxed. The Soul Shackle technique connected both Chen Feng and Purplebolt together. Thus, Chen Feng could know everything about Purplebolt’s state.

Although Purplebolt appeared very weakened, Chen Feng could sense the lingering but powerful vitality within Purplebolt. It would appear that he was in no danger.

However, that was only temporary. Chen Feng had no way of knowing how powerful the next phase of the Lightning Tribulation would be. Should Purplebolt fail to endure it, he would be utterly destroyed by the Lightning Tribulation. Chen Feng understood that Purplebolt was the only one who could help himself. No one else may help him with this. Only by accepting the baptism of lightning can Purplebolt truly overcome Lightning Tribulation.

This was also the first time Chen Feng got to witness a Lightning Tribulation in its entirety. Feeling the terrifying waves of suppression descending from the sky, he felt like an insect in the face of a mountain falling from the sky.

“So, this is Lightning Tribulation. Given my current level of strength, going forward will surely mean getting incinerated. Even if I am 10 times stronger, it will still be useless,” said Chen Feng, his heart stirring. To think that all his bitter efforts up until now were incapable of letting him stand up to Lightning Tribulation. He could not stop himself from becoming crestfallen. However, a courageous spirit quickly blossomed from the depths of his heart, allowing Chen Feng to regain his determination once more.

“He he. I will also be able to cultivate up to this stage soon. Perhaps, when the time comes, I will think that this Lightning Tribulation is not scary,” Chen Feng said coolly.

After that, a total of 18 lightning bolts bombarded the ground before the dark clouds finally dispersed. The sky began clearing up. Facing the minute rays of golden light coming down from the sky, Chen Feng felt a slight itch on his face.

“Huh! Thankfully, everything went well.” Chen Feng exhaled, a smile appearing on his face. Chen Feng could sense it. Although Purplebolt’s aura was very weak, the existence of his aura proved that he was alive. That he could stay alive was all that mattered.

Chen Feng’s figure dashed forward, quickly moving towards the place that was devastated most by the lightning bolts. Under the bombardment of the lightning bolts, the place had been reduced to a great, circular crater. Water vapour kept spraying out from beneath the soil to quickly form a small pond.

1 zhang = 3.333 m

1 li = 0.5 km