Chapter Nineteen: Yuanmu Unleashes His Power

At this moment, Yuan Mu truly resembled a god descending to earth. With the tribulation clouds swirling above his head, gales of spiritual wind raging around him, and his long hair billowing wildly, he looked from afar more like a madman in the throes of fury than a mortal cultivator. The angels around him suffered terribly at his hands. With the immense spiritual power he now wielded, he would seize any two-winged angel nearby as a shield, and whenever a bolt of heavenly lightning crashed down, he would hurl his living shield skyward to take the blow. In the brief lulls between strikes, he would slaughter as many angels as he could.

Yuan Mu at this moment was like a hedgehog bristling with thorns—anyone who touched him would only meet with misfortune!

From afar, Gu Linglong and the others could hear the relentless rumble of thunder behind them. Most of them understood that Yuan Mu had already begun to endure his tribulation. To withstand the heavenly punishment was perilous beyond compare, yet Yuan Mu chose this moment to forcibly raise his cultivation—not only to ensure Gu Linglong and the others could retreat safely, but also in the hope that the tribulation itself might help him annihilate his foes.

Destruction before rebirth!

Since the last battle with the thousand immortal cranes, the three brothers hadn't found any good treasures. With the day of the tribulation fast approaching, Yuan Mu, as their eldest, felt even more anxious than his siblings. Now that he had reached this point, he resolved to cast aside all hesitation. Even if he failed the tribulation, he would not let these wretches off lightly.

Cultivators undergoing tribulation could seek help from others—borrow treasures, share the burden. But perhaps since the beginning of the immortal realm, no one had ever thought to use a wall of living bodies to withstand the heavenly lightning. Yuan Mu, driven to desperation, had improvised on the spot. After all, these were enemies; better them than himself—who cared about the rest?

Finally, the dozen or so four-winged silver angels confirmed the death of the six-winged angel and returned from not far off to reinforce their ranks. The enemy’s powerful arrival made Yuan Mu’s situation even more dangerous. The four-winged angels, though not particularly afraid of the scattered heavenly lightning, still could not compare to Yuan Mu’s current cultivation. All they could do was direct their subordinates to attack Yuan Mu from a distance, determined not to let him draw near.

Those angels who favored close combat finally met someone even fiercer than themselves. The discovery left them utterly dispirited.

Yuan Mu felt his protective spiritual aura slowly growing weaker—even the fiercest hedgehog could be stripped of its quills. If his shield broke and his treasures were shattered, he would be left to face the tribulation with nothing but his flesh. And with the angels lurking nearby like vultures circling a dying lion, his end would be utter annihilation.

At last, the tribulation clouds were no longer satisfied with their earlier, relatively gentle assaults. The intensity increased sharply. No longer did the lightning bolts fall one at a time—now, several crashed down at once, and the frequency soared.

Yuan Mu had no choice but to dodge with all his speed, weaving among the angels, grabbing one with each hand and using them as shields as he ran.

The dense onslaught of heavenly lightning threw the angelic ranks into panic. Wherever Yuan Mu went, the lightning followed, and he always seemed to run straight into the thickest crowds. With every bolt, several angels were struck down, the scent of singed wings soon thick in the air, stinging the nostrils of all who remained.

Now, even the four-winged angels were at a loss. Their subordinates had scattered in terror, fleeing for their lives—there was no one left to command.

Yuan Mu chased after his living shields relentlessly. Without them, he was certain to fail the tribulation. With each passing moment, the lightning grew stronger and more frequent, and unease gnawed at Yuan Mu’s heart. He’d seen others undergo tribulation before, but never had it been this terrible.

A storm of red dust blotted out the sky above, and Yuan Mu couldn’t even see the tribulation clouds clearly. It wasn’t until a crimson bolt of lightning came crashing down, shattering the shield he’d flung into the air and then striking again, that Yuan Mu realized with despair—he was facing the Seven-Colored Heavenly Lightning Tribulation.

Panicked, Yuan Mu quickly hurled another angel into the path of the next strike, barely managing to block its overwhelming force.

Truly, he thought bitterly, this was the price of too much slaughter.

Yet when he looked around to see the countless angels encircling him from a distance, Yuan Mu actually smiled.

He had the luck to stumble into the angels’ own camp.

Looking at the endless supply of winged shields before him, Yuan Mu vanished with a blink. In the next instant, he reappeared in the midst of the terrified angels. With a wave of his hand, he seized two and flung them skyward without hesitation.

Time ticked by. Yuan Mu’s only task was to ceaselessly grab angels and throw them into the heavens; even a moment's pause might see a bolt of lightning strike him instead.

The power and speed of the heavenly lightning grew to a terrifying degree. Even Yuan Mu’s own speed could not fully evade the strikes. His clothes were already torn to shreds, his hair in wild disarray. The angels fared far worse—countless were obliterated by the thunderbolts he redirected. By now, a single bolt could wipe out a whole swath of two-winged angels in an instant.

The angelic camp was like a cesspit overflowing, filth and carnage scattered everywhere, the stench overwhelming.

Then, a slender bolt of purple lightning, no thicker than a thumb, shot down from the heavens, passing straight through the body of an angel Yuan Mu had just hurled upward before piercing his own skull. Yuan Mu shuddered violently and froze in his tracks.

Was it all over at last?

Had he truly failed at the final, most critical moment?

But what happened next pulled Yuan Mu from the brink of despair. His once-empty dantian erupted with a surge of powerful spiritual energy—energy that even carried the fragrance of the immortal realm.

Yuan Mu stood in place and burst out laughing.

Damn it all—he’d actually passed the tribulation!

The angels stood dumbfounded. They knew full well the might of the heavenly lightning—how could this man survive such punishment unscathed?

Yet before they could recover, the reborn Yuan Mu charged into their midst, wiping out swathes of angels with a single gesture.

Any hope the angels had was now replaced by the urge to flee. Their overwhelming numbers meant nothing to this man—their tactics were as childish as a game of make-believe before him.

Worst of all, the thunder began to rumble again in the sky above. The earlier display of heavenly might was still fresh in their minds, and now it was beginning anew.

The angels were in tears.

Even as Yuan Mu slaughtered with abandon, he could sense it—the immortal tribulation was about to descend.

He had never imagined that combining his and his brothers’ spiritual energy, in both quantity and quality, would already meet the requirements for ascension. This stroke of fortune filled Yuan Mu with wild delight.

Having survived the Seven-Colored Heavenly Lightning Tribulation, what fear had he of a mere immortal tribulation?

Yuan Mu even found himself with the leisure to continue killing as the immortal tribulation began.

When Yuan Mu himself began to grow numb from the slaughter, he sensed several waves of spiritual power as strong as his own rapidly approaching.

Yuan Mu sneered. At last, the true powers had arrived.

This time, four six-winged white angels appeared. Without a word, they formed a circle and attacked. To be bested by a single man—not even an especially powerful one—was a humiliation the angels could never allow to be known.

But before their attacks could land, Yuan Mu gave them a strange, mocking smile, waved, and as a beam of spiritual radiance descended from the sky to envelop him, the enemy before their eyes vanished, leaving their blows to strike only empty air.

The four six-winged angels stared at each other, utterly at a loss.