Chapter 98: Refining Heavenly Thunder

"Hurry up, stop wasting time!" Su Yuan said. "Oh, right, right!" Su Qian responded immediately. At this moment, Old Qian still couldn't wrap his head around what was happening. He had never heard of anyone being able to control heavenly thunder before. At most, cultivators would use it for body tempering, but Su Yuan's manipulation was completely beyond his comprehension. The Myriad Treasures Heaven-Earth Cauldron automatically activated, devouring the heavenly thunder. Then it said, "This won't work! These heavenly thunders aren't treasures - they're raw materials that can't be refined!" "So troublesome? Let me process them first!" Su Yuan casually imprinted a rune onto the heavenly thunder, transforming it from "raw material" into a disposable "heavenly thunder" bomb. Although this rune didn't enhance anything, it fundamentally changed the nature of the thunder from raw material to "treasure"! While adding this rune seemed simple, it would be nearly impossible for anyone else - the heavenly thunder would normally destroy such runes instantly. Yet under Su Yuan's control, the thunder obediently accepted the rune. Old Qian was utterly astonished, his voice trembling as he said, "Su Yuan, I'm speechless... Are you some immortal reincarnated or something?" Old Qian quickly began refining this newly transformed heavenly thunder treasure. The Myriad Treasures Heaven-Earth Cauldron rapidly absorbed and refined the thunder. Since the thunder offered no resistance and actively cooperated, the refining process was incredibly smooth. The cauldron transformed into a thunder pool, with lightning energy churning inside! "Continue!" At this moment, the tenth heavenly thunder strike descended. Su Yuan casually caught it in his hand and tossed it into the Myriad Treasures Heaven-Earth Cauldron. This action made Old Qian's eyes nearly pop out of his head. Not just Old Qian - all the elders watching the tribulation crossing from nearby gasped in shock. The sight of someone casually catching heavenly thunder with bare hands and playing with it so effortlessly was both mesmerizing and terrifying! What kind of technique was this? Gu Qingzhu had already returned and witnessed this scene. He immediately fell to his knees: "I've heard legends of immortals plucking stars with bare hands, but never imagined I'd see our Patriarch Su plucking heavenly thunder! This is too unbelievable!" "Absolutely insane!" Nangong Xianweng responded after a moment of silence. The formation spirit then said, "See? I told you my intervention wasn't needed!" Its tone carried a hint of relief - apparently even it hadn't been completely certain about the outcome before. Just seeing this display, even a fool could tell Su Yuan would survive this heavenly tribulation! The Myriad Treasures Heaven-Earth Cauldron rapidly devoured the transformed heavenly thunder treasures. Its grade was improving at astonishing speed. The tenth heavenly thunder strike was theoretically equivalent to a fifth-grade treasure, perfect for the cauldron's current refining capacity. Su Yuan repeated this process with each subsequent thunder strike. Every time a thunderbolt descended, he would catch it bare-handed, imprint a rune to transform it into a treasure, then feed it to the cauldron for refinement. Meanwhile, his nascent soul continued refining energy from the initial thunder strikes at a much slower pace - completely incomparable to the cauldron's speed. This was understandable - one was a nascent soul requiring careful refinement, while the other was a seventh-grade spiritual treasure in recovery mode, effortlessly refining fifth-grade heavenly thunder. By the eighteenth thunder strike, Su Yuan felt there wasn't enough thunder - it simply wasn't sufficient. Observing the dissipating tribulation clouds, Su Yuan pondered briefly while sensing his nascent soul's condition. The nascent soul had grown significantly, transforming from an infant form to that of a seven or eight-year-old child. At this moment, he transferred a wisp of the stellar law comprehension from his golden core to the nascent soul. As the stellar law merged with the nascent soul, it underwent earth-shaking changes. The essence of the nascent soul underwent a remarkable metamorphosis, evolving from an "intent-level energy lifeform" to a "law-level energy lifeform." Though only containing a wisp of law, this fundamental difference was incomparable to before. The dissipating tribulation clouds in the sky seemed to sense something extraordinary and began churning violently again. Above the original two layers of tribulation clouds, a third layer formed! Within these rolling clouds, new thunderbolts began swirling, their power reaching the Void Refining level! This development instantly tensed everyone who had just begun to relax. "What... what's happening now?" Gu Qingzhu gasped. "No idea," Nangong Xianweng replied, completely baffled. "Records never mention this phenomenon. The Double-Nine Heavenly Tribulation is supposed to be the highest level for Nascent Soul tribulation - how could a Triple-Nine Heavenly Tribulation appear?" "Can Patriarch Su survive this?" Gu Qingzhu's gaze turned to the formation spirit. The formation spirit remained silent. If it were just one wave, it might risk intervention, but who knew how many thunderbolts would come? Su Yuan calculated - three more thunderbolts would descend. Old Qian said nervously, "S-Su Yuan, take it easy..." "Absorbing these should restore you to sixth-grade, right?" Su Yuan asked. "It should, but this feels too unreliable!" Old Qian gulped. Clearly, he had never seen a Nascent Soul cultivator triggering a Triple-Nine Heavenly Tribulation before. Su Yuan calmly said, "Relax, everything is under control." Su Yuan felt the pressure on him increase another level, reaching Four-Nine Heavenly Tribulation intensity, while [Great Being's Demeanor] continued shielding him. Then, a thunderbolt as thick as a thigh descended from the sky, instantly reaching Su Yuan. As it approached, its speed drastically reduced under the influence of [Great Being's Demeanor]'s majestic pressure. Su Yuan reached out bare-handed, suffering only superficial finger injuries as he caught the thunderbolt and passed it to the cauldron. Old Qian numbly accepted the thunder treasure for refinement. With this terrifying thunderbolt's help, the Myriad Treasures Heaven-Earth Cauldron finally recovered to lower sixth-grade spiritual treasure level! The idea of using heavenly tribulation thunder to restore a spiritual treasure's grade had never occurred to Old Qian - it still felt like a dream. As expected, the second Void Refining-level thunderbolt was also caught by Su Yuan and given to Old Qian for refinement. The cauldron stabilized at sixth-grade and began progressing toward middle sixth-grade. Soon, the tribulation reached its final strike. Meanwhile, outside Seven Stars Sect... A late-stage Void Refining elder from the Demon Sect, relying on his exceptional movement speed, had arrived outside Seven Stars Sect's protective formation, observing the heavenly tribulation above. "A Triple-Nine Heavenly Tribulation?" This elder, named Heavenly Spirit Sage, was one of the Demon Sect's renowned Void Refining elders, not to be underestimated - he had killed two righteous-path Void Refining cultivators in the past. When Heavenly Spirit Sage saw the tribulation clouds, his mind went blank. The Triple-Nine Heavenly Tribulation was extremely rare - Nascent Soul tribulations weren't supposed to reach this level, while Body Fusion tribulations started from Four-Nine at minimum. Thus, this theoretically possible tribulation level had never appeared in the cultivation world... until now. This situation left him utterly perplexed. After some thought, he could only conclude two possibilities: "Either the weakest Body Fusion expert in history, or the most monstrous Nascent Soul genius has appeared!" Heavenly Spirit Sage's heart trembled. He naturally didn't believe Seven Stars Sect had a Body Fusion expert, which meant they had produced the most powerful Nascent Soul cultivator in history! Though this conclusion seemed outrageous and hard to believe, it was theoretically the most plausible explanation! He recalled recent rumors about Seven Stars Sect's Seven Stars Patriarch. Previously, he hadn't cared, but now this clearly exceeded demonic sects' expectations. If this Seven Stars Patriarch rose to power, the demonic sects would face catastrophe! At this thought, Heavenly Spirit Sage nearly turned back immediately to report to the demonic sects. But he wanted to see the outcome first - if the target failed to survive the tribulation, that would be ideal! He would retreat as soon as there was a result. Meanwhile, Su Yuan stared at the tribulation as the final thunderbolt - thick as a bucket - descended under his gaze. Once again, Su Yuan performed his bare-handed thunder-plucking act, though his palm was now completely charred black. Still, these were merely superficial wounds! He passed the thunderbolt to Old Qian for refinement. "Hurry! Once the tribulation dissipates, I'll lose control of this thunder!" Su Yuan urged. Old Qian was shocked - there was such a limitation? Not daring to delay, it pushed the cauldron's refinement speed to the limit. But as the tribulation clouds completed their task, they had already begun dissipating! Su Yuan watched helplessly as the clouds scattered. "Forget refining the last portion!" Su Yuan said immediately. "But what about the remaining thunder? Even at lower sixth-grade, without a Void Refining cultivator's continuous energy supply, I can't withstand unrefined heavenly thunder!" Old Qian said urgently. "Just toss it outside the sect randomly!" Su Yuan replied nonchalantly. As he looked outside the sect, a particularly thick strand of mental attention caught his notice. Following this strand, Su Yuan spotted a suspicious-looking unfamiliar cultivator hiding nearby. Just as the tribulation clouds were about to completely dissipate, white light flashed around this cultivator - the visual manifestation of fame value generation. [Ding, fame value +88000] "88,000 fame value? And from a demonic cultivator?" Seeing this, Su Yuan casually extracted the unrefined heavenly thunder from the cauldron and hurled it in that direction. Heavenly Spirit Sage was still reeling from witnessing a Nascent Soul cultivator surviving a Triple-Nine Heavenly Tribulation when he saw a terrifying thunderbolt streaking toward him. Simultaneously, unimaginable heavenly pressure pinned him to the ground, completely immobilizing him - as if he was experiencing another heavenly tribulation! He could only watch helplessly as the thunderbolt approached. "What is this? Stay away!" was his last thought before the thunder completely engulfed him.