Chapter Forty-Two: The Terrifying Lightning

The sea, blood-red, surged with waves dozens of fathoms high, whipped up by a violent gale. Qin Shuang’s figure flickered among the countless waves, dodging and weaving, doing his utmost to avoid being battered by waves that struck with the force of a ninth-rank Celestial Emperor. Yet, the waves were not the greatest threat he faced.

Whoosh! A blast of wind tore past him, ripping apart the last of the supreme-grade celestial armor he wore.

Rip! With a light, slicing sound, a deep gash split open on his body, blood spurting from the wound in an instant.

“A body on par with a premium artifact, yet so fragile before this storm,” Qin Shuang thought, a sense of helplessness rising within him as he confronted the might of the wind.

“It seems this treasure is truly not easily obtained.” He constantly evaded the strongest currents, striving to block only the weakest winds with his body. Even so, he was already covered in wounds; not even his celestial energy could repair the damage quickly enough.

Boom! A seemingly modest wave crashed against Qin Shuang, and even with the strength of an eighth-rank Celestial Emperor and a body as resilient as a premium artifact, he was thrown back dozens of meters, the wounds on his body stinging as if salt had been rubbed into them, the agony searing through to his very soul.

“Hmph, I endured the torment brought by that pill—what’s this by comparison?” Gritting his teeth, he forced himself upright by sheer willpower, his soul’s golden core blazing with light.

Whoosh—how long he endured, he could not say, but suddenly his body felt lighter, a breeze caressing him, bringing with it a fleeting sense of comfort.

“Could it be the first ordeal has passed?” Qin Shuang paused, startled. The first trial of the Sea of a Thousand Tribulations had wounded him deeply; he seized the chance to recover.

He looked a frightful sight: all the skin on his body had vanished, leaving him a figure of living blood, and even his bones were fractured in places.

“This first ordeal was truly terrifying. I nearly perished here,” he thought, quickly channeling his celestial energy to heal himself and conjuring a black robe to cover his body.

But just then, the howling wind rose again, fiercer and broader than before.

Qin Shuang looked up abruptly, his eyes filled with dread.

Five hundred meters ahead, a massive tornado spun with terrifying speed. The sea itself, driven by the vortex, formed a whirlpool hundreds of miles across, rapidly gyrating.

“Heavens...” he groaned inwardly. “The first ordeal isn’t over—and it’s only getting worse...” The wind alone was enough to destroy a premium artifact; who could fathom the force contained in that monstrous vortex?

“And this is just the first ordeal. What horrors will the next two hold?” Dread filled his heart, but he had no energy to speculate. He was already drifting close to the edge of the whirlpool, every muscle taut.

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Hu! Qin Si’s figure darted through lightning like a phantom, veering left and right. Each time he shifted, a bolt of lightning slashed through his trailing shadow, relentless as a shadow to the bone, never giving him a moment’s respite.

“Can’t a man catch a break?” Qin Si cried out, halting abruptly. The Fire Source Spirit Pearl spun above his head, casting a shimmering shield of light around him.

Standing on the sea, face contorted with rage, he pointed a single finger at the black sky and shouted, “Even if you’re the Supreme, you won’t defeat me! I, Qin Si, will never be bested by you!”

Boom! A bolt of lightning, thick as a barrel, crashed down from the darkness straight at his head. Consumed by fury, Qin Si no longer dodged. With a flash of gold, a long spear appeared in his grip. He bellowed, and a surge of wild energy burst from the spear’s tip as he leaped high, meeting the terrifying lightning head-on.

Zzzzt… The crackling of electricity echoed all around. Gripping his spear, Qin Si’s face paled as thousands of blue arcs coursed along the weapon, ignoring the primal energy of his divine treasures and striking mercilessly at the Fire Source Spirit Pearl above his head.

A sizzling sound followed. Qin Si’s hair stood on end, his handsome face blackened, a wisp of pale smoke trailing from his head as the Spirit Pearl failed to block the devastating lightning.

“I—%￥#￥#…” Smoke billowed from his mouth as he spoke, his sooty face animated by the bright gleam in his eyes. Furious, he unleashed a torrent of curses.

Then, another bolt as thick as a barrel crashed from the heavens. Qin Si, startled, abandoned his tirade and dashed away at once.

Crack! Suddenly, all the lightning vanished from the sky. After only a few hundred meters, Qin Si stopped in confusion, unsettled by the abrupt change.

“The lightning’s gone, but the clouds remain.” He realized that so long as these clouds lingered, he could not complete the first trial.

Whoosh—at that moment, the clouds shifted, rising hundreds of meters higher, no longer pressing so heavily upon the Sea of a Thousand Tribulations.

“Is it finally over?” Qin Si gazed up at the shifting sky.

But the clouds did not disperse. Instead, they whirled and condensed above Qin Si, forming a black vortex a hundred meters across, its center aligned with him below.

“I knew it wouldn’t be that simple.” Without hesitation, Qin Si shot forward.

The black vortex seemed to be his shadow; wherever he fled, it followed, the vortex’s center always fixed above him.

“Damn it, I’ll fight you to the end!” he roared. The Fire Source Spirit Pearl hovered overhead again, casting its shield. Though it couldn’t block the lightning completely, the primal treasure had helped filter the earlier strike, sparing him from true harm.

Boom! The black vortex thundered, the sound alone raising monstrous waves across the sea.

At the vortex’s center, streaks of black-violet lightning flashed with an ominous rumble. Though slender, Qin Si harbored no doubts about their power. He hurled his golden spear above the Spirit Pearl, forming a second golden shield, and donned a radiant celestial battle armor.

“I refuse to believe that with two top-tier treasures and this armor, I can’t withstand the lightning.” Though apprehensive, he pinned his hopes on his relics. “My life’s in your hands now. Don’t let me down.”

Boom! Almost as if understanding his resolve, the black vortex unleashed a slender bolt of black-violet lightning.

Though Qin Si had steeled himself to endure the strike, at the instant the lightning neared, he twisted aside, narrowly avoiding it.

Boom! The slender bolt struck the sea, its bloody waters exploding outward from the point of impact, titanic waves towering a hundred meters before crashing down. At the strike’s center, the water was blasted into a vacuum, a gaping pit on the open sea, slow to refill—a spectacle that left even Qin Si awestruck.

“That was truly fearsome,” he muttered, then looked up, lips curling in a taunt at the vortex. “Do you take me for a fool, just waiting here for you to strike?”

Rumble! The black vortex seemed to rage, spinning faster, its sound wilder, the bolts at its core growing thicker and more frequent.

Boom! Suddenly, Qin Si realized in terror that he was utterly unable to move. The two treasures still hovered above, the armor fit snugly, and his divine energy flowed unhindered—yet his body itself was paralyzed, as if crushed by the very air.

“What the—how is this even possible?” Panic flickered in his eyes. The last bolt’s power—if it struck him, he dared not guess the consequences.

Boom! Another bolt, thicker than before, hurled itself straight at Qin Si from the vortex’s center.