Chapter 741: Chapter 166: Understanding Rebellious Bone
The Heavenly Tribulation had not yet descended, but the wind between Heaven and Earth had become very cold.
Xiao Fei slightly tightened her War Armor Gown around her body as if to fend off the chill.
She looked up at the snowy sky, her expression unchanging, but she had her own judgments.
“Hopefully, nothing will go wrong.”
Xiao Fei muttered to herself, a rare trace of seriousness crossing her face.
She said this, then turned to look at Zhou Yan again. At that moment, Zhou Yan was calmly engaged in Enlightenment, not rushing to face the second Heavenly Tribulation or perform a second Soul Slash.
It was as if the first Soul Slash had exhausted all his ‘accumulated’ energy.
A hint of worry flashed in Xiao Fei’s eyes. Apart from instructing her to take good care of Zhou Yan, the Palace Master had also secretly told her that if a mortal danger arose, she must step forward.
That’s why, before setting out, Xiao Fei had left behind a Void Soul, thus even if she fell here, there was still a chance for resurrection.
As for the method to judge Life and Death dangers, Xiao Fei had also learned it from the Palace Master.
…
The point of Time Origin.
Zhou Yan had been pondering this issue.
He couldn’t find the answer or, rather, there was no answer within his understanding.
Zhou Yan also couldn’t figure out what kind of Heavenly Dao method Time Origin was—was it a Cultivation Technique, a Killing Dao, or something else?
All these things, Zhou Yan did not know. And after he delved deeply into comprehension without finding an answer, Zhou Yan no longer dwelled on this.
Zhou Yan also stopped arranging his Soul according to the existing methods. Instead, he transformed the essence of the Tai Chu Rune into energy, refining the ancient energy of this Heaven and Earth into his Soul to restore it while also imbuing his Soul with more of the Heavenly Tribulation’s essence.
This continued for nearly a day and a night. This time, Zhou Yan reached a state where his Soul felt completely full, as if he was under an illusion—his Soul’s state had reached its absolute peak, unable to advance further.
Zhou Yan stood up. Once again, he formed the Soul Condensing Sword and said to Xiao Fei, “You should step back a certain distance; otherwise, you might get caught in the aftermath.”
As Zhou Yan spoke, he started the Soul Slash.
This time, his Soul was split instantaneously, and Zhou Yan’s primary Soul immediately moved aside.
At Zhou Yan’s side, Xiao Fei originally also wanted to say something, but her expression suddenly turned to surprise, and she instinctively retreated a great distance.
It was no longer Zhou Yan asking her to move back, but she did so voluntarily, driven by the lurking killing intent between Heaven and Earth.
As Xiao Fei retreated, Zhou Yan had already derived the Tai Chu Rune Ancient Array, enclosing both of them and forming a special Guardian Light Array.
The surface of this injured Light Array even revealed the essence of Tai Chu Heavenly Tribulation, as if it was the Heavenly Tribulation itself.
When Xiao Fei recovered her senses, she was even more perplexed, and she looked at Zhou Yan as if he were a monster. She could not imagine why Zhou Yan made the Guardian Array so similar to the essence of Tai Chu Heavenly Tribulation—what was he planning to do?
Nevertheless, she also vaguely guessed something, so she watched nervously at the outside Soul Split,
The Soul Split summoned the Heavenly Tribulation and, in an instant, initiated an attack.
In the hands of the Soul Split was a Xingyi Sword Soul formed from Soul Power. Although it was just a split Soul, it possessed almost all the abilities of Zhou Yan’s primary Soul.
The Heavenly Tribulation once again materialized a man holding a Giant Axe, but this time, Zhou Yan’s Soul Split, from between its eyebrows, directly emitted a Soul Divine Radiance from the Eye of Destruction.
This strand of Divine Radiance, formed from the Secret Technique of Tai Chu Rune and the Destruction Dao, penetrated the Void in an instant, instantly nullifying the Giant Axe man’s axe attack.
Not only that, but the Divine Radiance from the Eye of Destruction further immobilized the Giant Axe man, preventing him from moving for a moment.
The scene left Xiao Fei, who had been closely watching Zhou Yan, entirely stunned. Her lips slightly parted, and her face wore an utterly astonished and dazed expression, seeming completely unexpected.
Then, the Giant Axe man repeatedly swung his axe, but Zhou Yan’s Soul Split wasn’t hasty. Instead, like before, he emitted several beams of Divine Radiance of Destruction Light, once again freezing the Giant Axe man in the Void so that his axe swings couldn’t reach Zhou Yan.
Nine times in succession, Zhou Yan overcame each one this way.
After that, the Giant Axe man’s body suddenly crumbled, turning to ashes, and strands of dark purple Thunder Light descended from Heaven and Earth, suddenly striking into Zhou Yan’s Soul Split.
Zhou Yan’s Soul Split violently shook and immediately opened the shielding Array, merging with the primary Soul.
At that moment, just like when the memories of Lei Yan King had integrated, Zhou Yan suddenly felt a surge of inheritance from the Soul rush into his Soul.
Like refining a golden body in a sea of fire, amidst this dark purple lightning Heavenly Tribulation energy, Zhou Yan felt the bones in his Soul being pulled out one by one.
This was an extremely peculiar feeling, yet it was incredibly real, real enough to make one shudder.
“Rebellious Bone…”
Suddenly, Zhou Yan finally understood the definition of “Rebellious Bone” in “Rebuilding Bones.” His mind was shocked, and he suddenly achieved Enlightenment; he had stepped into the level of “Rebellious Bone.”
Soul Rebellious Bone was equivalent to a Nirvana Rebirth of the soul, where the soul bones within were extracted, refined, purified from all flaws, and then returned.
Thus, with a pure soul, there were no existential declines.
At this moment, Zhou Yan had only taken the first step, but he already felt this level and state carried an innate nobility of the soul; suddenly, women like Xiao Fei seemed like mere ants in his eyes.
It was a terrifying transformation. As Zhou Yan stepped into this change of the soul, he immediately saw many dark impurities in his soul being refined by the purple Thunderflame Power and expelled, forming plumes of black smoke in the heavens and earth.
The black smoke wasn’t dense or plentiful, just a few strands, but even a single glance at these strands, which felt like evil demon souls, could make one’s soul shudder and chill the heart.
“You, you actually succeeded through the first round of Heavenly Tribulation; this is simply, simply unbelievable—”
Xiao Fei was extremely shocked; her beautiful eyes went wide as she looked at Zhou Yan.
“This Rebellious Bone, it’s the rebuilding of the Reversed Soul Bone, but you haven’t surpassed the Sword Void Nine Transformation Realm, you haven’t even faced the first tribulation, instead you faced such a primeval Tai Chu Heavenly Tribulation, your future achievements, they will undoubtedly be… unbelievably unimaginable.”
Xiao Fei drew in a cold breath, and when she looked at Zhou Yan again, her gaze finally became stagnant, filled with more respect and admiration.
No matter how he had behaved before, Zhou Yan’s current level was enough to earn her respect.
Zhou Yan just nodded lightly, but he was still immersed in his cultivation.
For quite a while, he regained his senses; this Soul Slash experienced no pain, but a constant state of indescribable enjoyment, extremely comfortable. The process of Soul Rebellious Bone was not uncomfortable, it was just like having the bones forcefully extracted from one’s body, a moment of discomfort, but it soon passed.
Having suffered no loss and having advanced further, Zhou Yan considered his options; he summoned the Heavenly Tribulation for another Soul Slash.
This time, Zhou Yan was even more solemn; he knew there were a total of nine rounds of Great Heavenly Tribulation, with each Great Heavenly Tribulation divided into nine smaller rounds, and he had only passed the first of these rounds.
This time, the second round of tribulation was looming, Zhou Yan still had no idea what it would be like, so he responded tentatively.
The Heavenly Tribulation descended again; it was colder and darker than before.
This time, it wasn’t the giant axe man who appeared but a massive woman with the body of a snake and the head of a human.
The woman was enormous and, despite her stunning beauty, her massive body made her look terrifying.
The moment she appeared in the tribulation, she extended her long hand and grabbed at the Void, capturing the endless tribulation energy in her hand.
Then, with a downward slap of her hand in the Void, “Papapapa—”
The tribulation energy she had captured transformed into named, powerful male and female cultivators, densely packed, all falling down.
“Shishi—”
Zhou Yan immediately unleashed the Eye of Destruction, sending out endless streams of Light of Destruction.
Yet the Lights of Destruction he emitted were captured once again by the snake-woman’s hand and then slapped down again.
Again, numerous strong cultivators.
Zhou Yan’s Split Soul was besieged; he had no chance to retaliate and was soon overwhelmed by ten thousand killing intents, his body turning into a sieve, dying a tragic death.
Moreover, due to this connection, the endless tribulation cultivators nearly discovered Zhou Yan’s true body. Fortuitously, within moments, the Split Soul completely died, and those cultivators were taken back by the snake-woman.
…
After quite some time, the sky calmed down, and Xiao Fei was so stunned, frightened by the grand scale of the event, she couldn’t even breathe, unable to recover her breath.
As for Zhou Yan, he waited until all was quiet in heaven and earth before spitting out a large mouthful of blood, utterly weakened to his core.
“This kind of Heavenly Tribulation, can a cultivator of the Void Realm really surpass it?”
Zhou Yan sighed lightly. The moment of being utterly pulverized had deeply shaken his soul so much that, though his prime soul still lived, Zhou Yan felt as if he were already dead.
“Zhou, Young Master Zhou Yan, you’ve already done quite well, don’t be sad. It was I who underestimated the horror of this Heavenly Tribulation. The original tribulations were already terrifying, but what you faced were some of the strongest possible tribulations… If there is someone controlling this ancient tribulation, I really wonder if you’ve offended the controller, causing them to target you deliberately.”
Xiao Fei said somewhat helplessly.
She also was frightened; every descent of the tribulation made her tremble with fear, her delicate body quivering.
Now, having barely caught her breath, she paid no attention to herself but came over immediately to comfort Zhou Yan.