Time trickled by. During this period, thirteen demon generals, much to Ye Yun's surprise and annoyance, arrived. These fellows brought along nearly ten thousand demons, causing the tribulation clouds for Ye Yun's Golden Core tribulation to swell in energy hundreds of times over. The power within the black dragon was utterly colossal.
"Hmm? Is the protection about to emerge?" At a certain moment, the black dragon in the sky let out a dragon's roar, countless lightning bolts streaking across its scales, sparking with each movement. Da Yan, waiting in the valley, suddenly looked up, his eyes filled with anticipation.
"Indeed, ignorance is terrifying," Ye Yun muttered, gazing at the demons in the valley with a sigh.
Boom...
Thunder cracked, and the energy in the sky seemed to build to an explosive point. Arm-thick lightning bolts descended from above, striking all living beings below with relentless force.
"What the hell is going on?!" The demon generals instantly erupted in panic, their faces pale as they witnessed a scene akin to the apocalypse.
Even Emperor Da Yan, the Demon Emperor, paled at the lightning. He felt locked onto by the black dragon in the sky. As the most powerful being present, he was clearly receiving special attention from the black dragon.
Bang...
With a single strike, tens of thousands of lesser demon soldiers were obliterated into bloody mist. Streams of pure demonic essence and countless demon blood, as if the heavens and earth had flipped, poured into the black dragon high above. A portion also entered Ye Yun, transforming into true essence within his dantian.
Ye Yun sat cross-legged, neither joyful nor sorrowful. His true essence surged, an ancient aura emanating from him. A massive vortex rose behind him, like a black moon devouring the demonic essence in the air.
"Devouring demonic essence? How can this human do that?" Emperor Da Yan exclaimed in shock, gazing at the vortex behind Ye Yun. Unfortunately, he was already struggling to cope with the lightning tribulation.
This heavenly tribulation was calibrated according to the strength of each challenger!
Ye Yun, too, faced the lightning. He directly opened his mouth and inhaled, swallowing the energy of a lightning bolt as thick as a man. Not only did he absorb the lightning that was comparable to that of an Eighth-Rank demon, but he also consumed the lightning bolts from several surrounding demon generals.
Countless lightning bolts descended, seemingly endless.
Ye Yun absorbed over seven hundred lightning bolts to strengthen his physical body. He was now crackling with electricity, as if bathing in lightning.
"Awesome!" Ye Yun roared. Countless demon blood and essence were drawn by the vortex, forming a stark contrast with the black dragon.
The Golden Core heavenly tribulation had three rounds. Even half of the first round had seen the demise of the majority of the demons. Those who remained could be considered the elites of the demon race. Each demon, after being tempered by eighty-one lightning strikes, would see their strength increase, and their master, Ye Yun, would reap even more terrifying benefits.
"Uncle Da Yan, is this truly a heavenly tribulation?" Yu Ye, who had lost her earlier composure, looked at the black dragon in the sky with a pale face. Although she had easily blocked the previous lightning bolt, she, as the sole offspring of Wu Yue, had never witnessed such a scene.
"It must be! I didn't expect this human's talent to be so potent. After this, he must be killed, or our demon race will face endless future troubles!"
Emperor Da Yan glared at Ye Yun, gnashing his teeth in hatred. However, under the heavenly tribulation, they dared not attack Ye Yun. As the one truly undergoing the tribulation, no one dared to interfere, lest they incur the wrath of the heavenly tribulation.
As the first round concluded and the lightning bolts vanished, before everyone could recover, the second round of the heavenly tribulation descended!
The black dragon swept its claw through the air, shattering the amassed demonic essence and countless demon blood, transforming them into fiery orbs that hurtled towards their respective targets.
"What the hell is this? Why is the treasure spawning attacking us?" Many demons remained bewildered.
Boom...
A fiery orb struck a demon general, exploding and obliterating the surrounding soldiers. Even more terrifying, these flames, like corrosive maggots, immediately began to burn at their wounds.
Using blood as lamp oil, wounds as wicks!
Ye Yun saw a massive fireball heading towards him and erupted in ten-zhang flames. If he had any reservations before his talent improved, now, with the fire resistance of his True Fire Dharmakaya and his practiced Burning Heaven Art, it would be utterly shameful to be harmed by flames.
After all, the 'Burning Heaven Art' was a divine technique exclusive to the God of Fire, the supreme fire-attribute cultivation technique in existence.
Sizzle...
As the fireball entered his flames, it emitted a loud roar. Its immense power forced Yu Ye, dozens of meters away from Ye Yun, to retreat rapidly.
"Damn it, where did this human come from? His talent is already so high, and his strength is even greater!" Da Yan slashed with his greatsword, blasting away a fireball that approached him. He was forced back several meters by the deafening explosion, the tiger's mouth of his sword-wielding hands cracking.
After being burned by the Burning Heaven Art flames, the car-sized fireball had shrunk by more than half by the time it reached Ye Yun. With a thought, Ye Yun formed his fingers into claws, a vortex appearing in his hand, and swallowed the fireball directly into his dantian.
After two rounds of heavenly tribulation, Ye Yun had once again absorbed his allotted forty-nine massive fireballs, feeling his physical strength and the resilience of his dantian wall reach their peak.
His entire true essence dantian churned like boiling water, within which a long sword constantly rose and fell.
Roar...
A non-human roar escaped Ye Yun's lips.
The black dragon in the sky seemed enraged by Ye Yun's actions. Despite two releases of energy, the black dragon's body still stretched over twenty thousand zhang.
Ye Yun steeled himself, knowing that this was the final hurdle, its power surpassing the sum of all previous strengths.
Whoosh...
A gale arose, and the black dragon's tail swept down from the sky. Before anyone could react, an ancient, primordial aura erupted from the black dragon, covering an area of several thousand li.
"This is... Dragon Might? Damn it, it's just an anomaly, how can it possess Dragon Might?" Emperor Da Yan had lost all his former composure. Dragon Might was a suppression based on bloodline hierarchy, preventing everyone present from exerting more than eighty percent of their strength!
"Holy shit, is this real or fake?" Ye Yun was also stunned. He leaped into the air, his body appearing a kilometer away.
Boom...
Mountains collapsed and the earth split. The entire valley was turned into a hundred-meter-deep ravine with a single sweep of the dragon's tail. Apart from Yu Ye and Da Yan, who were Demon Kings, all other demons were killed. On the edge of the ravine, a colossal sword shadow shot into the sky, slashing towards the dragon's tail.
"How dare you! I don't care if you're a dragon or a worm, die!" Da Yan stood in mid-air, his dozens of meters long sword energy sweeping across the dragon's tail, severing a thirty to forty-meter thick segment.
Awu!
The giant dragon seemed to feel no pain, its body continuing to crash down. The severed tail segment instantly vanished, rising demonic energy and transforming into a giant wielding a black longsword.