Chapter 511

Boom!

With the final bolt of tribulation lightning, Xiao Yan slashed it apart with a burst of peerlessly fierce sword qi.

Her sword qi even soared into the heavens, piercing into the tribulation clouds and cleaving the entire vortex of clouds in two.

The thundercloud vortex trembled slightly before finally releasing a streak of flowing light that descended into Xiao Yan’s body and slowly began to dissipate and fade away.

A vast wave of life force imbued with the power of laws emerged, wrapping around Xiao Yan.

While healing her injuries, it also helped her complete the physical transformation of the Golden Core Realm.

Meanwhile, Doctor Chen and the others stood dumbfounded by the sight before them.

“Master, that sword strike from Xiao Yan—it had a hint of your style back when you cleaved through a heavenly tribulation,” Lu Qing said with a smile.

“Don’t flatter me,” Doctor Chen chuckled as he regained his composure. “Xiao Yan’s sword was far beyond what I managed back then. She cut through the ninth bolt of tribulation lightning.”

The shock in Doctor Chen’s heart had yet to fade.

Back then, when he slashed through a heavenly tribulation, he had only cleaved through the eighth bolt.

And after delivering that sword strike, he had been gravely wounded and utterly spent.

But Xiao Yan, after weathering the ninth bolt just now, although injured, still had strength left in reserve.

In comparison to his past self, she was far stronger.

“Ah Qing, this sword of Xiao Yan’s carried a grand and lofty intent, as if it bore a trace of the power to split the heavens. This must be that sword technique you created, right?”

Doctor Chen said thoughtfully.

“Yes,” Lu Qing nodded. “It’s the sword art I developed based on a sword dao inheritance I obtained in the past. I only perfected it in recent years. I hadn’t expected Xiao Yan to actually comprehend a trace of Heaven-Shattering Sword Intent while still in the Foundation Establishment Realm.”

Indeed, the sword qi that Xiao Yan had just unleashed was no ordinary sword qi.

It carried a sliver of the powerful intent to shatter the heavens.

Years ago, Lu Qing had acquired an ancient inheritance from the Heaven-Shattering Sword Mark left behind in One Line Sky Gorge.

It was the ultimate sword art of Daoist ‘Heaven-Shatterer’: Heaven-Shattering Sword Qi.

Originally, Heaven-Shattering Sword Qi was an immensely profound and supreme technique, requiring cultivation at the Nascent Soul Realm merely to begin practicing it.

However, Lu Qing possessed a unique spiritual ability that allowed him to repeatedly observe and comprehend the scene from ten thousand years ago when Daoist Heaven-Shatterer had unleashed that sword light.

Over the years, through constant observation and enlightenment, he gradually grasped some of its mysteries.

By leveraging his spiritual ability to simulate and refine it, he eventually created a complete sword art suitable for cultivators beneath the Nascent Soul Realm.

This sword art, derived from Heaven-Shattering Sword Qi, served as a foundational technique for learning the true art.

Lu Qing named it: Minor Heaven-Shattering Sword.

The Minor Heaven-Shattering Sword was a complete sword technique inheritance with relatively low entry requirements. Cultivators at the Innate Realm could begin practicing it, and it could be cultivated all the way up to the Golden Core Realm. ȑ𝘈ℕỌʙÊs̩

After creating it, Lu Qing passed it down to Xiao Yan.

Under normal circumstances, based on the progress of the Minor Heaven-Shattering Sword, one would only begin to comprehend a trace of Heaven-Shattering Sword Intent after reaching the Golden Core Realm.

But unexpectedly, Xiao Yan’s talent in sword dao was astonishingly high.

After years of training, she actually gained insight into a sliver of Heaven-Shattering Sword Intent during the Foundation Establishment stage.

It was precisely this that enabled her to perform the awe-inspiring feat of slashing through the heavenly tribulation.

“Unbelievable… Her cultivation aptitude only seems to grow stronger as her realm rises. It seems the innate dao body she awakened back then must be an extraordinary constitution.”

Lu Qing thought silently.

Back when Doctor Chen broke through to the Innate Realm, Xiao Yan had absorbed a droplet of Precelestial Vital Qi by chance, awakening a trace of an innate dao body.

Later, after fusing her body with the World Origin Energy and consuming the various pills Lu Qing provided over the years—

The essence of her innate dao body had grown increasingly potent.

Finally, after reaching Peak Foundation Establishment, she completely awakened the full constitution of the innate dao body.

At first, Lu Qing had paid it little mind.

But as the years passed and Xiao Yan’s cultivation achievements became increasingly defiant of convention—

Lu Qing gradually came to realize just how terrifying the power of this innate dao body was.

“This sword art of yours is truly formidable,” Doctor Chen exclaimed in amazement.

After Lu Qing created the Minor Heaven-Shattering Sword, he had shared it with Doctor Chen for reference.

But by that time, Doctor Chen had already formed his Golden Core and begun forging his own path in swordsmanship.

Thus, he had only studied the technique and never seriously cultivated it.

Yet now, seeing its power after full mastery, he was astounded.

While the two conversed, Xiao Li and Wuxing were still in a daze nearby.

They couldn’t help it—the scene of Xiao Yan facing her tribulation had simply been too shocking.

Of the nine bolts of lightning from the Golden Cloud Heavenly Tribulation, the first six had barely troubled her.

Even the final three, though they had injured her, hadn’t pushed her into a desperate situation.

Most astounding of all was the ninth and most powerful bolt, which she cleaved apart with a single strike—cleaving the tribulation cloud vortex in two.

From start to finish, the ease with which she overcame the tribulation was hard to believe, especially for Xiao Li and Wuxing, who had nearly been killed by their own tribulations in the past.

“Xiao Yan’s already that powerful?” Wuxing murmured once he came to his senses.

“Ah Qing’s been strict with Xiao Yan’s training all these years, probably in preparation for this very day,” Xiao Li added.

Over the past decade, while Lu Qing struggled to make progress in his own cultivation of divine techniques, he had spent much of his time honing Xiao Yan’s training and consolidating her foundation.

Sometimes, watching from the side, Xiao Li had felt that Lu Qing was too harsh.

But in hindsight, it was that very harshness that made it possible for Xiao Yan to face the tribulation so easily today.

“Ah Qing… what is he preparing for?”

Xiao Li looked at Lu Qing instinctively.

Over the years, she had vaguely sensed that Lu Qing seemed troubled by something—

As though there was something weighing on his mind that he could never quite resolve.

It was an emotion rarely seen on Lu Qing.

In the past, he had always been resolute and decisive in all things.

Now, thinking back to how strict he had been with Xiao Yan’s training—

Xiao Li keenly sensed that Lu Qing was hiding something from them.

“All right, Xiao Yan’s waking up. Let’s go to her.”

Lu Qing hadn’t noticed Xiao Li’s glance. Seeing the white mist surrounding Xiao Yan beginning to dissipate, he knew her transformation was nearly complete.

They all flew toward her.

After being ravaged by the heavenly tribulation, the mountain peak—reduced earlier to a mere earthen mound—was now completely flattened.

But in a way, this might actually be a good thing.

At least Lu Qing believed that no one would dare attempt their tribulation here in the future.

As the mist fully faded, Xiao Yan opened her eyes.

“Xiao Yan, congratulations on overcoming your tribulation! That last sword strike of yours was incredible! You not only shattered the lightning bolt, you even split the tribulation clouds in half…”

As soon as Xiao Yan awoke, Xiao Li started chirping away excitedly.

For a while, the area grew lively and filled with voices once more.