The Grand Preceptor’s gaze became grave upon seeing this.

“It would seem we’re dealing with a denial.”

****

As soon as the tribulation clouds appeared, a terrifying pressure descended that weighed down on every present.

Even Long Zhe and the Grand Preceptor were slightly startled by the strength of the suppression the heavens laid down.

“It’s just starting, and it’s already this strong?” The Grand Preceptor took the ones who remained with him such as Yaomu Shou, Shen Ling, Mina and the others and backed off much further.

Long Zhe, on the other hand, because of his nature couldn’t back off and simply viewed the tribulation clouds churning above with great disdain.

His massive head then turned back to look at Long Di. “Let me see if you’re worthy of the young lord’s favour, tabooed one.”

Xue Zhuang was caught off guard by the mountainous pressure that bore down on him in an instant, and this caused his spear strike to veer off course.

Bam!

It was lodged halfway into the ground a few feet from Long Di and the others.

Even the Bloodletting Regiment was affected as the massive blood qi tiger they had summoned was crushed without resistance.

“Ack!”

Xiannu Liang felt the weight of it as well and she fell to her knees with blood leaking out the side of her lips. Her healing skill paused at the moment as she attempted to adapt to the intense pressure.

Long Di had advised her via spiritual transmission what was about to happen, but she stubbornly refused to go, saying that she wanted to heal him all the way.

He could only watch as she struggled to grow stronger through this tribulation. Jia Yan was faring much better than her. His knees were slightly bent, but with his jaw clenched shut he forced himself to endure.

It was actually the Destiny Scale that told him exactly what was about to happen. It also advised him to call Jia Yan over so that he could grow from this.

Apparently, it valued Jia Yan’s talents and wanted to nurture him into a peerless expert.

It would protect both Jia Yan and Xiannu Liang by making sure the pressure that they suffered was something that they could handle.

As for Long Di himself and Lord Whiskers…? Well… they were on their own.

Shing!

Long Di unsheathed his sabre and stared at Xue Zhuang who was still stunned by what was taking place above.

Even the Bloodletting Regiment was frozen by this calamitous scene!

…

Pang! Pang! Pang!

The rhythmic clangour of a hammer striking metal rang out in a forging room.

A demon with strange and obscure markings running the length of his ebon body on both sides of his chest could be seen. There were other conspicuous runes all over such as on his face and hands that were extremely eye-catching as well.

He never stopped with his swings as they flew in strange and profound angles that were both bizarre and captivating.

A massive forge in front of him was belching flames, raising the temperature in the room to obscene degrees.

Whatever it was that he was forging shone as bright as the sun. Yet not even this was enough to shield the spots where this demon willed his hammer to strike.

“Hmph…” a snort interrupted the metallic melody as the demon continued to forge.

“Unfilial disciple…” he grumbled to himself.

Pang! Pang! Pang!

No other words were uttered as the demon continued to forge, seemingly unconcerned about the matters of the outside world.

…

Krrrsh!

The sound of lightning crackling above could be heard and Xue Zhuang felt a strong sense of death envelop him.

He then looked back to see that many of his soldiers were sprawled on the ground. They were unable to regain their footing after the initial suppression!

Suddenly, enlightenment dawned on him and he turned his attention back to Long Di. “You!”

“Me,” Long Di pointed to himself.

Shu!

Xue Zhuang quickly retrieved his spear and gave out an order, “Recover!”

His General took action and gave commands to have the troops recollect themselves.

“Die!”

He then attacked once more with his spear to end Long Di.

Xue Zhuang wasn’t sure how or why, but this phenomenon was in some way tied to Long Di. He was sure of it somehow and whatever was happening was something that would be enough to destroy the Blood Crypt Sect.

He was going to kill Long Di here and now and put an end to all this!

Vrrrm!

Another bout of pressure crashed into him as the somatic essence that roared through his body like a rampaging beast slowed into a crawling snail.

The strength of his spear immediately fell and a silver sabre crackling with lightning slapped his spear aside, but not before it slid along its length and cut into the hand that held it!

“Urgh!” Xue Zhuang grunted as blood stained his hands.

Long Di’s cauldrons had long since emerged and the cauldronic pressure that emanated from them was not something Xue Zhuang saw coming, nor could he counter it.

[Run the Divine Heavens Autarchic Passage now!]

Eeeengh!

Long Di’s cauldron screamed as they spun at an insane speed!

Four of the cauldrons crackled with grey lightning as they absorbed the spiritual energy between the heavens and the earth.

Long Di was surprised when he saw this, “This is-”

[That’s right! As of now, the air is rich in lightning tribulation energy!] The Destiny Scale advised.

[I’ll continue to protect the little ones and will take action later. Right now, I need you to continue to run the cultivation technique despite whatever happens. Never let up! Or it will be lost to you forever!]

Long Di was ecstatic at the moment as an issue he faced many times was the difficulty in absorbing tribulation lightning to cultivate.

However, now he was able to absorb tribulation lightning-rich spiritual energy and drive it according to his cultivation technique.

D-D-Dum!

A tumultuous pressure descended that crashed into Long Di and Xue Zhuang who had yet to recover from Long Di’s initial attack!

“Ack!”

Both enemies coughed up a mouthful of blood from this increase in heavenly pressure.

Long Di’s cauldrons dimmed and the lightning that crackled all over the four cauldrons nearly petered out in its entirety.

He could feel a strange force trying to stagnate his cultivation technique.

[Never forget to run your cultivation technique! You will have to assail the heavens at some point but try to resist until the last minute!] The Destiny Scale’s divine intent rang out in his mind once more.

“Ugh!” Long Di gritted his teeth and willed his cultivation technique to circulate!

Krrrsh!

Lightning ran over his cauldrons once more and Xue Zhuang could feel the divinity of Long Di’s lightning.

Even though he was not yet qualified to come into contact with something like tribulation lightning himself, in his younger years he had experienced an unparalleled expert of the Demon Region going through a heavenly tribulation.

This was something he would never forget for the rest of his life. So when he felt the same from Long Di’s lightning, it immediately brought him back to that moment.

“It was you! You were the one who did that to Xue Zi! Not some divine weapon!” Xue Zhuang finally recalled how Xue Zi was injured the first time and he never in a million years believed there was someone who could command tribulation lightning.

Now that he knew this, a lot of things that were happening right now made much more sense.

“Correct. There’s no prize for getting the right answer, though. Since I’m poor and all.”

Long Di drove his cultivation technique and compelled his heavenly levyance tribulation lightning along the length of it.

Shu!

The sabre flew towards Xue Zhuang’s neck in an instant, forcing him to put up a hasty block in an effort to block it.

Bang!

The sabre slammed into the spear, leaving a large nick in the side of it!

“Damn it!” Xue Zhuang was both enraged and shocked by Long Di’s power, so he backed off as fast as he could.

He would be even more surprised if he learnt that it was Long Di’s injuries that disallowed him to act as freely as he would like. This was why he still had a damaged spear and not two useless pieces of stick and steel.

Still, Long Di didn’t care for this and looked back at Xiannu Liang who was still trying to heal him despite the current circumstances.

“You can either choose to stay here to grow a little stronger or you can escape the domain of the tribulation. Thank you Xiannu Liang. I really appreciate what you’ve done thus far.”

Shu!

Vrrrm!

Long Di shot off towards Xue Zhuang with his sabre releasing a destructive hum.

“Sabre intent!” Xue Zhuang was once more surprised when he felt the deleterious breath the sabre gave off.

Long Di let loose a flurry of slashes that opened up new wounds on Xue Zhuang before it slammed into his spear once more!

Boom!

The spear blew apart with a powerful force, sending countless pieces of shrapnel flying in all directions!

The lightning that danced all around Long Di shattered these shrapnels so he was unharmed.

Unfortunately, Xue Zhuang wasn’t so lucky and numerous of these pieces flew into his body, injuring him further.

Another mouthful of blood erupted from him, drawing moans of woe and distress from blood banks everywhere.

Krrrsh!

Two heavenly levyance tribulation lightning spears were being constructed at an inconceivable speed when a strange suppression came coursing down causing the spears to dim and flicker.

Shu!

The spears struck Xue Zhuang, but they didn’t damage him near as much as he thought they would.

Suddenly, the cauldronic pressure that suffocated him for so long disappeared, and his somatic essence surged through his body once more, allowing him to return to full strength!

There was nothing worse than having strength but being unable to use it. He then looked towards Long Di who he knew was responsible for this and saw several of the latter’s cauldrons freezing up.

“Darn it…” Long Di struggled to drive his cultivation technique, but the pressure from above worked against him, hindering him at every turn!

Xue Zhuang sneered at this and turned around to see his army once more in a formation that had them housed in a blood qi tortoise with a nigh-indestructible shell.

This was their defensive formation, and it allowed them to resist, to an extent, the pressure that bore down on them.

“Charge him!” The General bellowed.

Xue Zhuang had retreated to the ranks of his soldiers so he could recover. After all, it was sabre intent and tribulation lightning that gnawed at him. This was not something that was easy to recover from, even for a demon.

Bloodletting Regiment charging towards him dead set on taking him down.

Rumble!

The ground shook as their blood qi surged and their battle intent swelled!

Long Di tried his best to contend against the strange force that was against him.

“Well, screw you too…” Long Di got fed up and charged up as much lightning as was allowed to him before he sent it all to his sabre.

The Destiny Scale shuddered his actions. [Wait, what are you doing?]

Shu!

Then, before the shocked gazes of everyone present, Long Di released his slash upwards towards the heavens to rid himself of the pressure it plagued him with.

[No!]

Boom!