Chapter 991: The Power of the Overlapping Calamity from Devouring Thunder Tribulation

“Faster!”

“Even faster!”

“Faster still!”

In the depths of the sea, as Xu Xiaoshou flew upward, the ominous premonition in his heart grew stronger and stronger.

He had no idea what awaited him ahead, but the powerful warning from his “perception” was something he could no longer ignore.

“Shou Ye, are you still alive...”

Finally, after rushing at full speed, Xu Xiaoshou arrived at the first site of a Jiushi Leijie tribulation.

The overwhelming power of the tribulation filled the seawater here, hitting him like a wave. The visible nine-colored electric serpents writhed menacingly, asserting their dominance.

Having experienced the aftermath of a thunder tribulation before, Xu Xiaoshou felt his scalp tingle and his body start to go numb just from a glance.

But to find the person he was looking for, he had to push through this barrier!

From such a distance, with the tribulation's power interfering, he couldn't locate the one undergoing the tribulation without entering the core.

“Let's try this!”

Gritting his teeth, Xu Xiaoshou charged headlong into the Jiushi Leijie site, facing the thunder head-on.

From the nine heavens above, an orange thunderbolt struck down.

Through the bolt's impact point, Xu Xiaoshou instantly locked onto the tribulator's position and turned to flash toward it.

But as the thunder fell, it seemed to detect an intruder, splitting into two.

The part meant for the tribulator now targeted Xu Xiaoshou instead.

“As expected, indiscriminate attacks...”

Xu Xiaoshou thought to himself that Da Zui had been telling the truth after all.

He wished Xiao Kongdong had been lying to discourage him from going to the tribulation site out of kindness.

Yet reality proved otherwise.

“Bring it on!”

At the Zongshi Tianxiang realm, facing the Jiushi Leijie meant for Dao-cutting, Xu Xiaoshou had never underestimated it.

Seeing the thunder coming his way, he quickly drew the famous sword Yanmo and the fierce sword You Si Jian from his Yuanfu.

“Rage Giant, activate!”

With a booming explosion of golden light, the water ghost that had been wearing a golden beast mask and holding a illusory Yuhai God Trident transformed in an instant into a towering golden giant wielding dual swords.

“Shatter for me!”

The giant crossed its swords and slashed upward fiercely at the orange divine thunder, sending a cross-shaped strike hurtling through the air.

“Clang—”

The divine thunder descended, producing a piercing clash of weapons in the deep sea. Then, the dual swords turned into streaks of black and red light, flying off to the side.

The remaining thunder pierced straight through the golden giant, whose eyes glowed with a primal, savage fury.

“Ugh... ugh...”

Struck full in the face by the divine thunder, Xu Xiaoshou saw the gold and red hues vanish instantly before his eyes.

The strike blasted him back to his original form, unable to maintain the Rage Giant state.

He hovered in mid-air, trembling uncontrollably like he was being punished, his teeth chattering, nearly biting his straight tongue in half.

“This... this...

“This damn thing, what kind of joke is this...

“I... I can't even handle one tribulation?”

Smelling the charred odor from his burned body, Xu Xiaoshou was dazed by the thunderstrike, taking a long time to recover.

Even with his array of passive skills, that single orange divine thunder left him with torn skin, exposed flesh, and total paralysis.

“Buzz!”

From afar, You Si Jian emitted a strange sound, sending a disdainful intent, as if rebuking its new master for being so pathetic.

How could he drop his sword from just one thunderbolt?

What kind of ancient sword cultivator was this?

“Rest!”

Yanmo, however, remained in good spirits. After being flung away, it flew back swiftly, showing no blame and even confronting You Si Jian defiantly.

Xu Xiaoshou caught the exchange between the two swords:

“He's still young; give him time to grow.”

“Trash.”

“Say that again?”

“Trash!”

Clang—

Yanmo trembled and shot toward You Si Jian.

You Si Jian refused to back down, meeting the challenge. The two swords clashed in the deep sea...

“Boom!”

The terrifying sonic blast shattered the undersea currents, and the rampaging sword intent swept over his body, jolting Xu Xiaoshou awake and regaining control.

What was going on?

Why did it feel like you two had slipped from my control and become even stronger?

Xu Xiaoshou's face flushed red as he roared,

“Enough!”

Are you trying to embarrass me more?

I couldn't even block one thunderbolt with a fierce sword and a flame sword, and now you're fighting among yourselves? What nonsense is this!

Do you have some kind of illness, or where did you pick up this bad temper—from Zang Ku?

With a firm grip, he summoned the dual swords back into his palms.

But both swords turned aside, as if turning their “heads” away in mutual disdain.

If he weren't a sword expert, Xu Xiaoshou might have thought he was holding two curved blades!

“This is getting scary...”

Ignoring the swords' quarrel, Xu Xiaoshou finally recovered from his post-tribulation fear.

The Jiushi Leijie was too powerful!

With his passive skills and the fierce and flame swords as the first line of defense, blocking most of the damage, what hit him still caused such horrific harm.

Look at this!

Glancing down at his wounds, Xu Xiaoshou realized they had already healed.

How terrifying!

He had even bled and scabbed over!

This was one of the most serious injuries since his passive skills reached the throne level—it nearly blasted away his flesh and blood!

If one thunderbolt left him like this, what about those undergoing the tribulation?

In the deep sea, with the forbidden spell barriers in place, how could those Dao-cutting tribulators withstand over nine hundred thunderbolts?

Xu Xiaoshou grew anxious.

Shou Ye was in no state to handle even nine thunderbolts in a row, let alone nine hundred—they might kill him outright!

“What's he fighting with?

“With his will? With his burning passion?

“That thunder would blast his passion into cold smithereens!”

Regaining his mobility, Xu Xiaoshou didn't delay and stepped toward the true tribulator's position.

The tribulation's range was vast, and they were far apart, but with Suo Di Cheng Cun, he reached the target in a few steps.

“Shou Ye?”

He stopped, taking advantage of the tribulation's brief recharge, and gazed at the withered figure with his dual swords in hand.

But at just one look, his next words stuck in his throat, unable to escape. His eyes filled only with terror and unconcealed horror.

In the depths of the sea, time seemed to slow. The surrounding sizzling electric sounds highlighted the eerie silence.

The tribulator slowly turned his head...

It was a horrifying sight, for what turned was merely a skull!

Xu Xiaoshou couldn't see the lower body; he only saw the back of a half-red, half-white skull, which had twisted around.

But with that movement, the half-neck attached to the skull and the ragged left arm—reduced to bone and scattered flesh—snapped off instantly!

A shiver ran through Xu Xiaoshou's flesh as the tribulation's power coursed within him, raising goosebumps all over.

This wasn't a tribulation site—it was like a horror movie!

“You...

“Save... save...

“Me...”

A hoarse, inhuman voice, transmitted through spiritual energy vibrating the seawater, reached Xu Xiaoshou's ears as murky words.

Xu Xiaoshou let out a deep breath.

Clearly, this wasn't Shou Ye, and he was beyond saving.

“Boom!”

Another golden thunderbolt struck, splitting in two.

Xu Xiaoshou closed his eyes heavily, his body erupting in golden light as he transformed into the Rage Giant once more.

This time, he went all out, activating “Explosive Stance,” “Time Boundary Field,” and “Gluttony Feast” directly, then raised his dual swords over his head without striking back.

“Boom!”

As the thunder fell, the millstone-sized Taotie beast head swallowed a huge mouthful first, nearly bursting Xu Xiaoshou from the surging energy.

Fortunately, the pain that followed...

The golden thunder was weakened once by the flung dual swords; weakened again by passing through the “Time Boundary Field”; and swallowed again by the Taotie beast head as it pierced his body, for a third weakening...

Even after all that, the thunder still engulfed the golden giant's form!

“Ugh... ugh...”

Xu Xiaoshou was struck again, his teeth chattering and knees trembling.

But with “Gluttony Feast” converting the energy, he recovered quickly.

It was over...

Everything returned to calm.

The surrounding tribulation power began to dissipate.

Because Xu Xiaoshou had endured it, the Dao-cutting tribulator—who was left with only half an arm and half a skull—had not.

Even with his eyes closed, his “perception” relayed the nearby scene of death.

Under the golden divine thunder, the tribulator's skull shattered, killing him on the spot.

Without spiritual energy to repel it, the deep-sea pressure swept in, grinding his scattered bones to dust.

“Reduced to ashes...”

Xu Xiaoshou had never understood that idiom so deeply.

In stark contrast to his own brilliant state enduring the thunder, this truly tragic tribulator might be the real fate of all Dao-cutting cultivators in the deep sea.

“I'm sorry...”

Xu Xiaoshou felt a profound sorrow, a sense of mourning for a fellow sufferer.

He opened his mouth to say something, thinking that seeing his various techniques resist the heavenly tribulation might only deepen the despair for the other.

But after a long pause, Xu Xiaoshou couldn't utter a single word of explanation.

Because the person was already dead.

“I'm sorry.”

He bowed his head sincerely in silence, gripping his dual swords tightly. “If I had the power, maybe I could have saved you...”

But no matter how he thought about it, how could he save someone reduced to just a skull?

“Huff!”

Taking a long breath, Xu Xiaoshou chose to move on, not letting the stranger's gruesome death affect his emotions.

Because right now, someone more important was waiting for him.

“Shou Ye, you have to hold on!”

Having witnessed firsthand how a Dao-cutting cultivator dies under the Jiushi Leijie, Xu Xiaoshou was even more urgent.

The forbidden spell barriers were far too damaging to spirit refiners. In this deep sea, forget nine hundred thunderbolts at once—even one, or a hundred and eight strikes, could kill someone outright.

Glancing back upward, Xu Xiaoshou made up his mind to continue.

From this experience of entering the tribulation core, he knew how much his throne-level body—or rather, his passive skills—helped against the Jiushi Leijie.

As long as the strikes weren't continuous, he probably wouldn't be killed by the thunder.

Of course, the thunder's intensity and frequency depended on each Dao-cutting cultivator's foundation.

The stronger the base, the fiercer the tribulation.

Xu Xiaoshou realized he was only facing the early stages of the Jiushi Leijie.

In the middle and later stages, the thunderbolts wouldn't even pause to recharge, let alone stop.

Hundreds of continuous strikes would bring even Taixu to their knees, let alone Dao-cutting cultivators under the forbidden barriers.

“Buzz!”

As he stepped upward, a surge of spiritual energy rose in his Qi Hai, bringing a refreshing sensation throughout his body.

Xu Xiaoshou froze, almost in disbelief, as he probed his Qi Hai and found that he...

Had broken through!

Tianxiang realm, late stage!

That earlier thunderbolt had let “Gluttony Feast” swallow two mouthfuls, converting the pure, overflowing energy during his healing, which perfectly merged into his Qi Hai.

Add to that the continuous practice of his throne-level “Breathing Method” these days.

And before that, during his encounters with Jin Zu, the repeated cycles of expelling and absorbing spiritual energy.

All of this naturally shattered the bottleneck of the Tianxiang realm's late stage in such a short time.

“This is too fast.”

Xu Xiaoshou couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Since entering the Zongshi realm, he hadn't deliberately slept or had much time for cultivation.

As for heavenly treasures, he hadn't consumed them as frequently as in the innate stage, like Jin Zhao Origin Seed or Three Days Frozen Tribulation.

Yet, the throne-level “Breathing Method” was still incredibly powerful, pushing his cultivation boundaries upward in such a brief period.

“My Qi Hai is immensely vast, so logically, I shouldn't have broken through to Tianxiang late stage this quickly.

“Hmm, it must be those two mouthfuls of Jiushi Leijie...

“The thunder power is incredibly strong—this is meant to temper Dao-cutting cultivators. I'm only at the Zongshi realm, yet I stole two bites of pure thunder energy.

“And ‘Gluttony Feast’ can truly convert any violent power into my spiritual energy...

“This is like that final straw that broke the camel's back, I suppose?”

Shaking his head, Xu Xiaoshou stopped dwelling on it and continued upward.

A breakthrough was trivial.

Right now, bigger matters awaited him.

Still...

The Zongshi realm was far too weak against the various powerful foes in the deep sea.

Not knowing before that “Gluttony Feast” could devour thunder and boost his cultivation, he now realized it. And since Dao-cutting tribulators needed help to share the thunder's burden...

“Then I'll do a good deed!

“Not for myself, but for these poor souls.”

Upward...

Continuously upward...

With experience now, Xu Xiaoshou no longer feared these early-stage Jiushi Leijie thunderbolts.

He charged into them on sight, swallowing a few to stabilize his realm. Once he confirmed it wasn't Shou Ye, he'd exhale a breath of life spiritual energy for them and say, “Take care,” before leaving.

Once, twice...

Four times, five times...

Finally, after experiencing seven or eight Dao-cutting tribulations, Xu Xiaoshou arrived at what should be the first one's range, based on his memory.

In his recollection, this position seemed to be below Shou Ye's drop point, so the chances of it being correct were high.

“One Step to Heaven!”

Outside the thunder, Xu Xiaoshou gripped his dual swords and charged into the tribulation zone again, but he felt something off.

Why did this place have two layers of tribulation power overlapping?