For the fourth bolt, Sage’s body shook and large blue veins appeared on his skin. The thick lines were like worms or roots running under his skin, the outward effects of the poison they’d inherited from the Zhu Clan which the Lang Clan had started to call: Sacrificial Blade. It was a bit dramatic of a name, overemphasizing the detrimental effects that its overuse could cause. It boosted the speed of the Qi system in the body, making it flow faster through the meridians.

This enhanced flow could make Qi techniques activate faster, but that wasn’t really a problem for most Cultivators. Instead, the main benefit was that it moved so quickly Qi bled through the walls of the meridians and flooded the whole body. This flooded all the muscles with Qi, pushing them past their limits and increasing the user’s strength. This also came with a downside as that overflow caused damage to the meridians. Those members of the clan who focused on the poison as their main technique were all those who had unusually strong meridians and spent most of their time training these normally fragile parts to the utmost.

Sage was not one who focused on that sort of thing, but he was reasonably strong due to the many body tempering methods he’d practiced over the years as well as the influence of so many powerful Demonic Beasts and Insects. He couldn’t use the Sacrificial Blade constantly, but he wasn’t injured after using it once or twice like a normal human Qi Cultivator would. He could only hope that he could withstand it long enough to make it through the whole tribulation. Once the Sacrificial Blade stopped flowing through his veins then the damage would be felt and if he was still facing the tribulation that could be disastrous.

He repeated the same attack as the last bolt, releasing a stream of another poison, the Fire Blossom, straight into the air. It was like a string of mines left for the lightning to trigger, wasting its energy as it fell. Then it was struck by an even stronger Collapsing Sun in his palm and then delayed by the cage with the gap just large enough between its ‘bars’ for him to strike through.

The bolt crashed upon his body and the explosive force from his grasping fingers was even more powerful than the last. Unfortunately, the increase in his power was not as great as that of the lightning. The fourth bolt seemed to be a milestone as the gap between it and the third bolt was much greater than the increase between the first and second, or second and third. This change was also reflected by the darker color of the bolt, being closer to what might be considered an indigo. This stronger bolt rampaged through his body, leaving more of those wild bits of energy to rush throughout his body than before.

He was still able to resist the bolt, but it left more damage in his body, such that he couldn’t completely heal it all before the fifth bolt fell upon him. The more purplish blue of this bolt was deeper than the last, but it had a more modest increase in power which showed that his guess about the change in color coming along with greater power was correct. This time, to face the 5th bolt, Sage knew he could no longer reserve his Jade Mantle and the sheath of energy around his body thinned out as its energy was consumed to give him more physical strength. This layer of glowing energy wasn’t just a suit of armor, that was only its auxiliary function. Its true purpose was to enhance his muscles, acting like a sort of ablative exoskeleton as it broke itself down to make him stronger. He’d been making use of it this whole time, but very conservatively. Yet, he could no longer hold back, expending a quarter of its remaining power to boost his strength for this one attack.

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The explosion that erupted from the Collapsing Sun he formed on his palm was of a greater magnitude than the last, which actually reclaimed some of the ground he’d lost to the fourth bolt, but if they continued to get stronger the Jade Mantle would be gone and not only would he lose the boost to his strength, but the defensive layer around his body.

Just my physical body will not be enough.

Sage wasn’t out of ideas yet, as he faced the sixth bolt, an even darker indigo color than the last two. This time, when he breathed out a heavy stream of the Fire Blossom Poison, there was something else that came along with it. A second type of power was released to help control it. Invisible walls in the air captured the invisible gas, creating a column to constrain the gas, concentrating it into a narrow space above him. With that small change all that explosively flammable gas was not allowed to escape and spread over a wide area, increasing its potency by many times. This time it didn’t ignite until the sixth indigo lightning bolt crashed down upon the top of the column, smashing through the layer of Spirit Power and instantly igniting the column of gas. Sage placed a much thicker layer of Spirit Power at the bottom of the column after filling it with Fire Blossom Poison, to make sure the explosive force was directed upwards instead of downwards.

This was an idea he’d taken from Guan Zhenyan when he saw him intimidating that man from the Chain Ocean Palace. Spirit Power was unaffected by most poisons, so he could use it to direct deadly gasses. It combined the lethality of poisonous gas, with the delicate control of Spirit Power. Guan Zhenyan had used Sage as a test subject for poisons, and it seemed his injuries made him refrain from using his Qi. Sage eventually figured out what he was doing and was now using that concept for himself.

The concentration of explosive gas created a far more violent detonation, before it smashed through the thick layer of Spirit Power at the bottom. Sage thrust his open hand upwards with just as much strength as before, even consuming the same quantity of the Jade Mantle as he once again struck the bolt before it hit his body. Thankfully, the more concentrated explosive gas was successful at negating the additional power of the bolt, but at the same time the jump in power was not that significant.

With the Inner World, Sage had all the time he needed to carefully analyze the changes inside his body as well as the change in the lightning tribulation’s bolts. Even if he pushed all his current tactics to the limits, there was no telling how many of these bolts would fall. Another change was in order.

There was a sudden change in the energy around him. The field of grass that had lied over on its side to form a formation suddenly shifted. All the narrow grass-like roots changed colors. They suddenly turned black and thickened, sprouting many dozens of small sharp legs from two sides and a circular opening on top lined with rows of sharp fangs. Each of the Parasitic Roots transformed into a terrifying cross between a centipede and a sand worm, flexing their bladed gullets towards the sky. As if to commemorate this terrifying change, they all turned on each other. The blade legged worms bit into each other, the strange mouths attaching to the hard black exoskeletons and cutting into them like a hole-saw. A blackish brown fluid spilled out onto the newly cleared dirt of the jungle, this strange liquid being what passed as blood for these strange creatures.

At the same time as this happened, the energy curtain that surrounded the clearing disintegrated. The brilliant energy melting into a black haze of smoke. The wisps of darkness seemed thinner and more fluid-like than any normal smoke, creating a polluted haze that rose up into the sky towards the black clouds. A malevolent feeling spread through the clearing and even outside its confines, causing the nearby jungle trees and plants to start to wilt and brown. There was no autumn season in the jungle, so the sight of these plants darkening and shedding leaves was very unusual. In just a few moments the formation array was replaced by a garden of horrors.

Standing in the middle of it all, Sage lifted his hands into the air and was suddenly bathed in silver lightning.