After Shirong closed his eyes, the entire crowd went silent. They knew better than to disturb the person undergoing a heavenly tribulation and knew that if any mishap occurred, they could become the target of the tribulation lightning as well.

Shirong stimulated the spirit Qi in his core and used his Immortal Sky Shaker Art. He had long since reached the absolute limit of the Core condensation realm and only needed a slight push of spirit Qi to trigger the heavenly tribulation.

In fact, had he not been suppressing his breakthrough consciously he would have already broken through naturally due to the spirit Qi being absorbed passively by his body.

~pop~

It was as if a balloon had been popped and the spirit Qi in the air suddenly became agitated. Wind started to pick up and strong gusts started blowing. As minutes passed by, dark clouds started catering high up in the sky.

It would take a little bit of time for the heavenly tribulation clouds to gather and this was actually good. This gave the cultivator time to adjust to the minute changes in their body and would give them a better chance at succeeding.

Though this was not what always happened. Sometimes the heavenly tribulation clouds would gather abruptly and the tribulation would start very quickly. Such was the case when the demon spine ape and Lin Wu underwent their respective heavenly tribulations.

While Shirong was preparing for his breakthrough, Lin Wu's avatar was doing the same.

"Alright system, time to upgrade to the next stage." Lin Wu ordered.

~Ding~

——

CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADE: Late stage of the core condensation realm -> Peak stage of the core condensation realm

SPIRIT QI CONSUMED: 12000 units [liquid spirit Qi]

——

A wave of spirit Qi rose from Lin Wu's avatar before calming down rather quickly.

~Ding~

——

CULTIVATION BASE UPGRADED: Peak stage of the core condensation realm

-Spirit Qi required to upgrade = [0000/24,000] units (liquid spirit qi)

BLOODLINE: 1. Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm (System Manufactured)

QI SKILLS: 1. Qi Amplification (Lesser) (Proficiency: Novice)

INNATE SKILLS: 1. Radiation Manipulation (minor) (Proficiency: Expert)

2. Cellular Manipulation (lesser) (Proficiency: Expert)

3. Cellular Crystallization (great) (Proficiency: Intermediate)

BEAST CORES: 1. Fully Condensed (Crimson Eyed Emerald Worm)

——

Lin Wu nodded at the new data and everything was according to his expectations. He wanted to be at the peak stage, as he didn't know if he would be able to withstand the tribulation lightning otherwise.

He actually didn't even know if Shirong was going to use him as a defense or not, thus there was a chance that he may not even need to act. But still, he decided to be more cautious and prepare for anything that may come his way.

"Now to wait and watch…" Lin Wu muttered to himself as the dark clouds now covered the entire sky.

The sun had long since been hidden behind the clouds and the area had become a bit gloomy due to the shade.

~Rumble~

Soon the first streak of white lightning could be seen flowing through the tribulation clouds. The tribulation announced its presence with the loud crack of thunder.

And just as that happed, the tribulation platform activated as well. Countless runes appeared from the platform and arranged themselves into the formation array. This formation array created an illusory shape that looked like a circular cauldron.

At the center of the base of this cauldron sat Shirong, while the people observed him from the outside. His face was calm without a trace of anxiety or nervousness, and his short hair fluttered in the wind.

The hair growth pills had finally worked by the time he woke up and as such he had a head full of hair, even if it was short and only a couple of inches long. His eyebrows too had returned, even though they were a bit faint and looked feminine due to it.

Still, this did no injustice to the handsomeness of Shirong and due to his change after the body tempering realm breakthrough, he had only gotten better looking. The woman in the crowd couldn't take their eyes off him and even a few men secretly took a second look at him.

While the rest of the people all looked up at the tribulation clouds in the sky. After all, that was what they had paid to watch.

~Rumble~

By now, five minutes had passed and the lightning in the tribulation clouds had become concentrated.

~Crack~

The first bolt of heavenly lightning formed quickly and struck Shirong.

~BOOM~

The shockwave released due to the tribulation lightning stuck the walls of the illusionary cauldron and protected the observers from getting affected. Still, some of the people couldn't help but get startled and a few that were of a weak heart straight up jumped out of their seats.

Their companions had to hold them back so that they would not end up disturbing the tribulation process.

The tribulation bolt hit Shirong, and his body trembled as the power coursed through it. The tribulation lightning reached his core and finally stuck it. But then an unexpected thing happened.

The unknown energy that the system had concluded to be a higher form of the spirit Qi, intercepted the lightning. It hurriedly consumed it as if it were a starved dog and did not leave even a single bit for Shirong.

Shirong who had been calm and unmoving till now, suddenly became bewildered.

'What in the name of…' He thought, feeling speechless.

Where was his tribulation lightning? How was he now going to break through if his core was not attacked by it?

There were a multitude of questions raining across Shirong's mind, and he couldn't answer any of them. Even Lin Wu who had been observing the entire thing closely, was shocked.

"What was that system?" Lin Wu couldn't help but ask.

~Ding~

——

ANSWER: The system has no answer.

——

Lin Wu "…"

~RUMBLE~

Then it was as if its child had been wrongly kidnapped, the tribulation cloud let out a thunderous sound, shaking the skies.

"What in the name of heaven…" all the people muttered.