The two pill tribulations combined as one and separated again, projecting roiling thunder and lightning that blasted down in a hail of electricity at the two cauldrons below.
The force of this heavenly tribulation was more than ten times greater than the normal pill tribulation of a single cauldron.
The Alchemist King had set up the Wild Formation King’s formation, and it solidly withstood the thunder and lightning drilling down from the sky. A marvelous connection grew between the formation and the Truefire World cauldron; the lightning was conducted into the cauldron to dissolve the retribution found within the pills.
Alchemist curled his lip—he’d forced Lu Yun into dire straits. If Lu Yun dared use the lightning rod to avoid the pill tribulation, no one would ever consume his pills again.
……
“You’ve lived a bit longer than me, but there’s nothing much to talk about when it comes to your experience or knowledge.” Lu Yun materialized a lightning rod with a flip of his hand. It was less than a meter long and sparkled with pale gold light. “Let me enlighten you today on what karma is, what retribution is, and how to resolve them both!”
Craaaaackle.
He crushed the lightning rod a second before the tribulation arrived and threw the remains at the sky.
Hummm.
Bright yellow luminescence emerged from the wreckage and met the heavenly thunder straight on. The harrowing thunder and lightning melted like snow when it touched the bright light and transmuted into pinpricks of light that drifted down.
“This is…” Jin Naluo’s eyes widened. “Heavenly favor?! The heavenly tribulation turned into heavenly favor?! …impossible!!”
He jumped up with shock and gawked incredulously at the dots of milky-white radiance.
“It really is heavenly favor! How did he do it?!”
Heavenly tribulations and favors were sent by the heavens themselves. “Heaven” referred to the great dao, heavenly dao, and order of all living things in a general sense. When one spoke of heaven and earth, particularly for the first realm, that was what heaven meant there as well.
When Lu Yun first arrived in the Hongmeng and asked Zhuo Bufan if there was heaven and earth here, Zhuo Bufan had pointed above and below him. He’d meant the great dao of the third realm.
Now with a pill tribulation upon them, Lu Yun crushed his lightning rod to release the brilliant splendor inside. It turned the tribulation into favor, not only resolving the retribution within the pills, but also quietly nurturing his cauldron of pills with the strength of the Hongmeng!
Alchemist stared in a daze.
He’d never imagined that this ability would exist inside the lightning rods! This meant that lightning rod users would avoid their heavenly tribulation, not have to constantly fret over its return, and also receive nourishment from the strange light and see their foundations consolidated!!
Cultivators who’d used Lu Yun’s lightning rods relaxed slightly when they saw this development.
Lu Yun had placed a tiny bit of virtuous merit inside his product—the radiant light that everyone saw rise from the remains of the lightning rod and envelop his pill cauldron. When the untamed lightning entered the zone of the yellow illumination, it metamorphosed into gentle trickles that showered down on the pill cauldron below.
Heavenly and pill tribulations were the might of heaven and earth that struck to eliminate retribution. The more virtuous merit that a being possessed, the weaker their heavenly tribulation would be. Certain thresholds of merit summoned heavenly favor instead.
Lu Yun hadn’t known how to utilize his accumulated merit and goodwill before; he couldn’t devour too many tribulations even after combining his Thunder Palmstrike with the merit stored on the Karmic Tree.
It wasn’t until the tree materialized in the chaos and swallowed the rampaging chaos tribulation that he found the proper way of using merit to defuse heavenly tribulations.
His cultivation level had risen since entering the Hongmeng and his grasp of Thunder Palmstrike continued to evolve. Its current iteration was the result of sustained improvement; the incorporation of merit into Thunder Palmstrike talismans meant that it could attract, dispel, and even transform heavenly tribulations into favor.
If anyone else crushed the thunder rod, they would only ruin it and waste the power of merit instead of summoning heavenly favor. But when Lu Yun used Thunder Palmstrike in conjunction with the power of merit, the light of virtue that the two gave rise to instantly altered heavenly tribulations.
The pill tribulation continued, but it converted to heavenly favor whenever it entered the range of the light. At the same time, the forge of heaven and earth began to shrink. Wisps of Hongmeng qi within it sank into the Eight Treasures Return Pills inside and a rich pill fragrance bloomed from the cauldron.
It spread throughout the premises, nurturing all beings within five hundred thousand kilometers and imperceptibly cementing their foundations. While this level of strengthening was nonexistent for kings, it was all too important for cultivators who were yet to reach kinghood. It was the equivalent of reforging their foundations.
“Is this really the Eight Treasures Return Pill?” Suspicions began to flourish.
“The medicinal properties within this cauldron are indeed that of the Eight Treasures Return Pill. Changes have occurred in these pills because they’ve absorbed the energy of the realm and received the care of heavenly favor,” tutted a supplemental grandmaster.
“The Immortal King didn’t miss anything—he considered it all the moment he started refining. The forge of heaven and earth and the heavenly favor from the tribulation were all part of his plan.”
“Tremendous, amazing! The Immortal King is a young hero and well deserving of his reputation!”
Many people present had only heard of the Immortal King after coming to Multitude City, but never witnessed his methods. Him borrowing the great dao of the Hongmeng to refine pills was their first glimpse, and what an awe-inspiring display it was!
“As strong as he is, he still loses.” A slightly bedraggled Imagination King materialized out of the void, her face a bit wan. She’d plainly come off worse for the wear in the scuffle of the illusory arts.
“The Alchemist King ensures no leaks occur when he refines pills, guaranteeing that the pill’s medicinal properties and energy are perfectly intact. This kind of pill can be stored for a long time without their effects evaporating in the air.
“The Immortal King’s pills are already discharging fragrance and medicinal properties before they’ve even left the cauldron. His pills will be a pile of consumed dregs before long.
“While his pills may have a marvelous variety of uses, he loses in terms of quality.” She looked at Lu Yun with contempt.
“But Imagination King, you lost the contest between us,” the little fox’s voice rang proudly in the air. She stood next to Lu Yun, very pleased with herself as she looked at the Imagination King.
