Chapter Forty-Three: The Cosmic Thunder Tribulation

"Let me take a look at you here."

Qing E pondered for a moment. Suddenly, as if recalling something crucial, his expression grew grave. He raised his claw, reaching toward the center of Feng Shang’s brow.

Feng Shang lifted his gaze, and in his vision, the claw gleamed, snowy white and razor sharp, glinting with cold light. It was at this very spot that, on that day, the Lord of Li had left behind something faint and mysterious...

With a resonant hum, the snowy clawtip sparkled, and an overwhelming surge of divine consciousness slipped through Feng Shang’s brow.

“Release the soul seal and cooperate with me completely,” Qing E commanded.

“All right.”

Feng Shang closed his eyes. Upon the ethereal surface of his soul—normally invisible—a thin strand of golden thread appeared, inscribed with intricate, profound runes of the Dao. Staring at it too long would make one’s eyes ache. It was imprinted deep within his soul.

This was a rare and precious soul seal—such that even if the body was utterly destroyed, so long as the seal remained intact, the soul would be undying and unperishing. It was one of Feng Shang’s means of survival.

As the sole heir to the Celestial Star Tower, the most cherished child of the Nine Exalted Ones, Feng Shang could not be allowed to perish lightly during his upbringing, and was bestowed with treasures coveted even by the divine lords.

The golden light peeled away, and the soul seal lifted gently, of its own accord.

Qing E’s divine sense swept in, probing every inch of Feng Shang’s soul.

A long while passed before the divine sense withdrew, and Qing E’s expression had become strange, almost mystical.

“Well?” Feng Shang asked.

“There is a divine mark, entwined with your soul threads. I cannot say if it is good or ill,” Qing E replied, deeply astonished. The Lord of Li’s immortal shadow had managed to bypass the soul seal itself.

So that day, Feng Shang’s splitting headache had been because the soul seal had been breached. Such supreme soul seals were nearly impossible to surpass unless lifted voluntarily.

It was said the master of the Sea of Flowers was ever mysterious, each generation possessing unfathomable abilities. To achieve such a feat with a mere immortal projection—truly extraordinary.

“There’s something in my soul?”

Feng Shang was first shocked, then a sense of discomfort crept in. Why should anyone leave something behind in his soul?

He calmed himself, searching his soul carefully. Normally, the golden soul seal blocked all perception; only when lifted could one look within.

“There really is something!”

Feng Shang frowned. At the very core of his soul, there lay a mark, nearly imperceptible, shaped like a flower petal, emitting a faint glow, woven into his soul threads as if it had always belonged there.

“Don’t be anxious. My guess is, it’s not a bad thing. You have the fragrant hand-seed and now a divine mark upon your soul. Your journey to the Sea of Flowers has proven most fruitful,” Qing E mused, thinking the two must be related in some special way.

Perhaps, in time, all would be revealed.

Not a bad thing?

Feng Shang’s lips twitched. His once pure soul now bore a bizarre mark—it felt wrong no matter how he considered it, like a flawless face suddenly marred by a black mole, conspicuous and irritating.

It was an awkward matter, one he certainly could not share with the old man.

He’d wait until they reached Star City and have Gu Xiao examine it, ask him how this much-vaunted soul seal had been breached!

“Unlucky,” he grumbled, vexed, feeling he must have lost his mind to seek out the Lord of Li for no good reason.

The snowfields lay blanketed in silvery white, brilliant and translucent. From the mountain peaks, one could see verdant clouds stretching to the horizon.

In the days that followed, Feng Shang rested and recuperated. Bai Xiatian would occasionally visit, her gaze solemn and somewhat sulky, until Feng Shang began telling her tales of the world of spiritual energy. Only then did her mood brighten, and she sat beside him, chin in hand, quietly listening.

Feng Shang found her amusing, but kept his promise, narrating stories of the spiritual universe in detail.

More than ten days later, a thunderous roar erupted from the direction of the World Mountain in the Sea of Flowers realm.

A pillar of astral light soared to the heavens, dazzling and resplendent, blotting out the radiance of the Sea of Flowers. Above the World Mountain, a vortex formed, spanning a hundred thousand miles in diameter, radiating terrifying, boundless power. The Celestial Snow Peak trembled violently, and billions of flower spirits swayed.

“What’s happening?” Bai Xiatian exclaimed in astonishment. Feng Shang had been recounting an especially thrilling adventure when the great quake struck, abruptly tearing her from her reverie.

“Probably the old man about to complete his star-forging. Quite the spectacle,” Feng Shang said, unfazed. He stepped outside the hall, glanced at the massive spiritual vortex across the sky, and muttered, “Such scale—and there’s the tribulation of the Daoic Lightning. The old man’s alchemy this time is no ordinary feat.”

No sooner had he spoken than, above the beautiful Flower Sea continent, lightning flashed suddenly—piercing the darkness of the starry sky, erupting in torrents, quickly becoming endless, transforming into a vast ocean.

The terrifying phenomena that blotted out the stars made one’s scalp prickle in dread.

Nearby, stars that strayed too close were instantly blasted apart by the searing bolts. Their cores split, the remains disintegrated to dust in the sea of lightning, vanishing utterly.

The spiritual universe raged in fury.

A defiant creation had emerged here, one that violated its will and could not be tolerated.

“How terrifying.”

“Heavens, our Flower Sea faces a great catastrophe!”

Countless flower spirits quaked in fear. Even the highest-level beings struggled to remain calm, for the might brewing above the firmament was too vast—its force so fierce it could easily drown entire continents.

All wondered if the thin veil of the Sea of Flowers’ protective glow could withstand such a downpour of divine thunder.

Upon the World Mountain, an old man in moon-white robes sat serenely amidst the sea of clouds. The ninety-nine strange stars once encircling him, along with the mountain of divine crystals and sacred materials at his feet, had all been refined away.

In their place shone three crystalline, dazzling streams of energy, each brimming with vibrant, living spirit.

“Success,” Da Jiuxing murmured with a faint smile.

The Flower Sea’s divine lords gazed at the three energies with burning eyes.

These three were the famed “Heaven-Defying Cosmic Essences,” said to be capable of driving spiritual beings to their ultimate evolution. Even a mere glance ignited an intense desire within them to claim these treasures for themselves—it was almost unimaginable.

But these three cosmic essences were not yet complete. Only by withstanding the tribulation of Daoic Lightning would they be perfected.

Seldom did any form of spiritual essence provoke such cosmic wrath.

Ordinary star-forged treasures, if they drew thunderclouds and rolling golden lightning, were already extraordinary.

But these three—Daoic tribulation, divine lightning oceans—were nearly the stuff of legend, born only from the most brilliant strokes of the greatest Star Refiners.

“Let us face the lightning,” the First Divine Lord, Ming Luo, said.

“Wait. This thunder is actually of use to me. I’ll take it for myself,” Da Jiuxing replied with a mild smile. To the astonishment of the assembled divine lords, he produced an ancient, pitch-black box. With a gentle push, he opened it a crack and tossed it toward the sky.

The black box, light as a feather, swiftly rose through the radiant barrier of the Sea of Flowers and plunged straight into the world-shattering ocean of divine lightning.

“Ninth Exalted One, are you sure you don’t need us to help face the lightning?” one of the Flower Sea’s divine lords asked in confusion. This was cosmic divine thunder, born alongside the heaven-defying essence. Even one among them would find it nearly impossible to endure.

Within the spiritual universe existed artifacts capable of storing cosmic lightning, but only in minuscule amounts. Such a vast, terrifying ocean of divine thunder, containing unparalleled destructive power, could not be claimed even by a divine lord.