The terrifying lightning that had struck him was not just a freak storm. It was the consequence of his grasp of a Core Law. As soon as he re-entered the world, the tribulation found him. Only if he were to survive this lightning storm would he be able to truly become a rank seven cultivator. Only those that could withstand the test of heaven were worthy of the title of Saint. Only those that could defy the sky’s most destructive cleansing could be called Immortal.

Sage was not surprised by such an event as they’d taken that into consideration after he made his advancement within the dimension of the Realm Heart. He had already personally experienced that the ‘heavenly tribulation’ to advance was not just a myth, but a reality. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any hard data on what the tribulation could do. The research teams had only the scattered bits of information from the many libraries that Sage had copied over the years. Some of the information seemed to be confirmed, or at least as much as could be, given that it was in multiple places from different libraries.

If someone tried to help withstand the tribulation, then it would increase in intensity and target them both. If the help was not alive, like formations or tools, they would inevitably be destroyed by the tribulation. So, tools could be used, but not helpers. That said, there were some that speculated that too many tools would lead to inevitable failure. Some sources said that the lightning was not just destructive and that it targeted the weakest parts of the Cultivator. After the destruction came creation and only after resisting the lightning from the start would they be strong enough to face the later bolts.

It was a mystery whether that was true or not, but Sage was about to find out. It was also the reason that the Formation Array he’d set was not just a defensive barrier. Instead of a shield to block the lightning, it was only an area of dense energy. The advantage of the formation in the way they’d set was not just the speed in which it could be created, but that the Parasitic Roots could be rapidly reconfigured. If he wanted it, they could just create a large stone formation on the Inner World and he could bring the whole thing out in one piece. His Spirit Power had grown to such an extent that he could bring out an object the size of a building without issue.

The formation was actually a dense energy field in order to be used as a method of analysis. They hoped it might interfere with the lightning, but it was mainly in order to study the effects of the tribulation lightning. Since a bolt of lightning was so fast, they would focus on observing the destruction that it left in its wake. The energy field was meant to maintain its state and filled with many types of energies so they could see the path the lightning blasted through it and how it affected the surrounding field after the fact.

Of course, none of that was important to Sage at the moment as he was busy handling the tribulation itself. He left all that study to the researchers while he fought the remnants of the lightning rampaging through his body.

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Seems the rumors were right.

After the bolts trampled through the interior of his body, the remains of those bolts scattered apart and turned into warmth that rapidly healed him. Only, they didn’t have much time to do their work as the second bolt was already crashing down upon him. The formation around him recovered, or at least that’s how an outsider would see it, like the shield had repaired itself. All it actually did was reset itself to a blank slate so it could better analyze the second strike.

Sage didn’t just passively resist the second bolt, he coiled his body and then thrust his hand towards the sky, fingers spread wide. Then his hand closed rapidly, fingers closing like a claw and using his great strength to compress a sphere of air in his palm. This caused an explosive like force, which he created to meet the falling lightning bolt. The boom was followed by another as thunder rippled in the wake of the bolt falling upon him.

The second bolt was slightly dispersed by the metal cage around Sage and then reduced a second time by his attack before striking the Jade Mantle and then entering his body. The extra layer of defense almost compensated for the second bolt’s increase in power. The first lightning bolt had barely hurt him, and his healing ability along with the residual energy of the bolt meant he was in nearly perfect condition to face the second. Inside his body, the remaining energy of the bolt rampaged around again, inflicting more damage and then healing him. With the added defensive layer he wasn’t much worse off than the first strike.

Now the only question is whether I have more defensive tricks than this storm has lightning bolts.

His question was about to be answered as Sage faced the third lightning bolt. He opened his mouth and released a flood of wind. This didn’t seem like it would do much as wind was a natural complement to lightning, but this air wasn’t just wind. It actually carried an invisible gas, which instantly ignited from the top as the lightning struck it. At the same time, it also detonated from the bottom as Sage used another Collapsing Sun strike from below. The light show this time was fascinating, a bolt of lighting carrying along a chain of explosions in its wake while rushing down to meet a chain of explosions rushing up towards it. The many blasts weakened the bolt before it fell against the metal cage and carried on to its occupant.

Crack!

The cage surrounding Sage hit its limit and fell to pieces, the connections between the parts failing completely after the third strike. The metal cage had large gaps, enough for him to reach through to attack, but it still suffered damage from the bolt rushing through it. It was a trick from earth, using a Faraday cage to protect himself from the lightning. Of course, given the nature of this cultivation world, it couldn’t protect him completely like it was electricity on earth. Even lightning natured Qi would be able to penetrate it, let alone the power of this Heavenly Tribulation. Even so, the cage was still more effective than just a shield or other defensive tool, which is why they’d made many of them to prepare for this moment. It didn’t block the lightning so much as it distracted it. The power circulated through the cage for a while before jumping mysteriously onto Sage’s body. It actually served to slow down the lightning, hitting his body constantly over a few seconds time rather than the full force smashing into him in an instant.

With the first cage destroyed, he quickly brought out another one, ignoring the pain of the bolts stampeding inside him and focusing on the next one brewing above him.

I couldn’t quite stop that one as well as the others. The explosions are not as good against the lightning as I hoped.