Under one person: I, Zhang Zhiwei, the arrogant Zhang.

Chapter 903 Joining forces with the "Imperial Advisor" to powerfully overcome tribulation
Zhang Zhiwei, who was about to unleash the Samadhi True Fire to burn the "National Preceptor," was stunned by this sentence.

Will you help me overcome this tribulation?

Have you forgotten who you are?

You're a demon in your own heart!
Could this be a feint, with them saying they'll help you through your tribulation but actually stabbing you in the back?

Zhang Zhiwei's mind raced as he read the "Imperial Advisor's" thoughts. To his astonishment, he discovered that it hadn't lied after all; it genuinely wanted to add icing on the cake and give him a hand to boost its favorability.

A wise man submits to circumstances; this monkey is getting smarter and smarter. Since you offered to help, I won't hold it against you for calling me "Big-Faced Thief" to my face… Zhang Zhiwei chuckled inwardly.

Since the "Imperial Advisor" wanted to help him overcome his tribulation, he was naturally willing.

Although he was using the tribulation fire to temper his body, rather than engaging in pure confrontation, the process of tempering the body required a gradual approach. He could not absorb all of the tribulation fire that descended; he could only absorb a small portion and disperse the rest.

As a result, he could not concentrate all his attention on his body, which greatly slowed down his progress in tempering his life force.

If someone can help with part of the workload, that would be even better.

However, the tribulation is generated based on the "changes" of the person facing the tribulation.

If outsiders come to help, the "changes" will increase, and the heavenly tribulations will become even greater. Therefore, outsider help is ineffective, and forced intervention will only make things worse.

But the "National Preceptor" is not an outsider; it is a demon born from Zhang Zhiwei's life. Although they belong to different consciousnesses, strictly speaking, they are one.

Therefore, the arrival of the "Imperial Advisor" to help will not make the heavenly calamity worse.

Of course, even with the help of the "Imperial Advisor," Zhang Zhiwei was unable to fully dedicate himself to tempering his life force with the Tribulation Fire.

He had to spare some attention to guard against the "national advisor" turning against him.

But this also greatly reduced his pressure, since being wary of the "National Preceptor" was much easier than directly confronting the Heavenly Tribulation.

Zhang Zhiwei devoted more of his energy to refining his life force, which greatly increased his efficiency.

Meanwhile, the "Imperial Advisor" contracted his lightning, which materialized into a ferocious demonic ape. With a roar to the sky, flames and lightning erupted from his body, making him extremely vicious.

The "National Advisor" clasped his hands together, and when he separated them, he pulled out a long, lightning-fast staff.

The fiery clouds rolled and swung, wielding a long, lightning-fast staff to smash the incoming flames of destruction.

The crowd below stared in disbelief at the scene.

"Why does that monkey call Senior Brother Big-Face Thief? Senior Brother's face isn't that big!" someone asked, puzzled.

"Forget about whether the face is big or not, that monkey wouldn't be..."

The title "Imperial Advisor" is not a secret on Longhu Mountain; many people recognize him.

Zhang Yi pointed at the "Imperial Advisor" and stammered, "Senior... Senior Brother... that monkey, could it be that Zhiwei's inner demon?"

Zhang Jingqing also took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down: "The heavenly tribulation did not worsen, which means it is something inherent to him. Apart from that inner demon, I can't think of anything else!"

"Senior brother, is it...is it reasonable to let the inner demon help you overcome the heavenly tribulation?"

Zhang Shoucheng looked incredulous. He had never heard of such a thing before, let alone dared to imagine it.

Zhang Jingqing nodded: "To be honest, it's really unreasonable. If your inner demons don't betray you when you're undergoing tribulation, you should be grateful."

"But that is a given fact. However, it is no exaggeration to say that this kid is the first person in history to have his inner demons help him overcome the heavenly tribulation."

Yi Qian said, "This kid is indeed a bit of a genius! With this inner demon helping him, as long as he doesn't do anything reckless, he should have no problem getting through this fire."

"I'm afraid he'll cause some trouble." No one knows a disciple better than his teacher, and Zhang Jingqing knew his apprentice well.

The fellow disciples around them were also incredibly excited, discussing among themselves, feeling that they had witnessed the birth of a legend.

Thanks to the "Imperial Advisor's" help, Zhang Zhiwei was able to perceive the benefits and drawbacks of the calamity fire entering his body more meticulously, and find a balance between the good and the bad.

"The Great Fire Calamity is much stronger than the Internal Fire Calamity. If you directly use the Great Fire Calamity to temper your body, you will definitely be burned to a crisp and your life will be in danger."

"However, after adapting to the internal fire, the damage from the great fire's calamity is limited. In addition, I have adapted for so long, so perhaps I can try to absorb more calamity fire into my body."

With this thought in mind, he began to increase the dosage, and instead of dispersing the tribulation fire, he directly tempered his body with the complete tribulation fire. Streams of crimson tribulation fire surrounded his body, causing him to experience excruciating pain all over his body, while his brow swelled and ached.

This was a warning from his life.

Zhang Zhiwei ignored the warning: "It's still early, we can handle more."

He continued to absorb the energy, and under the burning flames, his body emitted an astonishing amount of white steam, and veins bulged on his face.

"Roar!"

The heavenly tribulation grew stronger and stronger, and the "national advisor" who was helping Zhang Zhiwei resist it gradually became unable to withstand it. He was burned by the tribulation fire and ran around wildly. The lightning surrounding him sometimes weakened and sometimes became stronger.

Normally speaking, a "national advisor" who has done this much has already done more than enough and should have run away long ago.

But it didn't. It continued to fight the heavenly tribulation tenaciously, even with a stronger momentum than before.

Because it discovered that its own strength had actually increased in the process of fighting against the heavenly tribulation.

Although the growth is not much, growth is a good thing.

Its power has not increased on its own for a long time.

The power of inner demons comes from two sources: first, from the host—the stronger the host, the stronger the inner demon; and second, from negative emotions—the more negative emotions the inner demon absorbs from the host, the stronger it becomes.

But ever since Zhang Zhiwei subdued his delusions, the "National Preceptor" has lost a path.

He could only passively grow stronger as Zhang Zhiwei grew stronger, which meant he could never defeat Zhang Zhiwei.

Now that it has suddenly tasted the benefits, like a long-awaited rain, how could it not be excited?

It was so eager to improve that the increase in power made it abandon its scheming and turn its full attention to dealing with the heavenly tribulation.

"What's wrong with this guy? Is he on steroids?!"

Today's "national advisor" is so energetic that Zhang Zhiwei feels like a stranger.

Immediately, he calmed down and continued to temper himself. The tribulation fire gradually burned away the impurities in his body, making him and even his life more and more pure and yang.

As the body-tempering fire increased, Zhang Zhiwei gradually adapted. In order to temper himself faster, he leaped onto the clouds and rushed into the fiery cloud to begin practicing his fist techniques.

During the last time he survived the lightning disaster, he practiced Bajiquan in the thunderclouds to better temper himself. This time, he will not practice Bajiquan, but instead practice Taijiquan.

Thunder is fierce and straightforward, so Bajiquan is the best choice. Although the Calamity Fire is explosive, it is also all-pervasive. Using Bajiquan would feel like punching cotton. Taijiquan is the better choice.

Although Tai Chi may appear soft and yielding, it effectively trains the muscles and skin externally while cultivating internal Qi. Perfect for the current state, Zhang Zhiwei moved his hands in circles, creating the circular motion characteristic of Tai Chi.

All that could be seen was that his body was surrounded by flowing Qi, and the wind howled around him, making a whistling sound. The flames also rotated with the Tai Chi pattern.

Zhang Zhiwei doesn't practice pure Tai Chi. Tai Chi is very profound. For others, it's profound, but for Zhang Zhiwei, it's something he can learn just by looking at it once.

Therefore, he habitually incorporates his own understanding of the art into his Tai Chi.

Tai Chi combines softness and strength, and theoretically, any martial arts principle can be incorporated into it. This makes Zhang Zhiwei's Tai Chi much more profound than that of most people in the Wudang school.

This is also why he was able to give guidance to the people of Wudang when he went there last time.

Practicing Tai Chi involves the flow of Yin and Yang, and given the current state of communion between humanity and nature, it is very easy to gain insights.

As the fight progressed, Zhang Zhiwei entered a state of complete absorption, a state of emptiness and formlessness, where he absorbed the universe into his heart and merged himself with it. He focused solely on practicing his fist techniques, oblivious to the pain of the tribulation fire engulfing him, and the thought of using the tribulation fire to temper himself vanished from his mind.

But it is in this state that the effects of the tribulation fire tempering are at their best, and with the protection of Tai Chi, the damage to oneself is also minimal.

Countless flames gathered between his palms, creating a strange scene of "ten thousand flames converging on the source".

The people below stared blankly at this scene.

The dull-witted are still in shock.

Intelligent people are already carefully observing and remembering Zhang Zhiwei's every move, while trying to grasp the essence of his actions.

Even many elders of the Celestial Master's Mansion were no exception. They were usually too embarrassed to ask Zhang Zhiwei for advice, but now was a good opportunity.

Amidst the fiery clouds, Zhang Zhiwei practiced his boxing faster and faster. However, despite the speed of his movements, they still appeared incredibly slow, creating a jarring contrast between fast and slow.

As Zhang Zhiwei ignited more and more tribulation flames, and absorbed more of them, the intensity of the tempering also increased...

He was like a piece of steel that had been forged through countless hammer blows, his entire body glowing red-hot.

The more tribulation fire he absorbed, the stronger the tempering became. He was like a piece of steel that had been forged a thousand times, his whole body burning red-hot; even his body became transparent, as if flames were burning inside him, but not a single flame escaped.

The crowd below stared in disbelief at the scene. If it weren't for Zhang Zhiwei still punching, he would have been like a god, exuding an aura of inviolability.

They might even think that Zhang Zhiwei had met with misfortune and was about to be reduced to dust.

Because Zhang Zhiwei's current state is too strange, like charcoal turning into a glassy red color before it is completely burned to ashes.

Under such extreme calcination, a considerable amount of impurities in his body were burned out.

In addition, he had an unexpected surprise: the Divine Eye of Delusion under the tempering of the tribulation fire underwent an external transformation and became even more powerful.

"The Great Sage endured the fire in the Eight Trigrams Furnace and gained fiery eyes. Am I the same as him?"

Zhang Zhiwei thought to himself.

He stopped practicing his fist techniques, looked up into the depths of the tribulation clouds, his eyes like shooting stars, golden flames dancing fiercely in his pupils.

If anyone could withstand his piercing gaze and see through the fiery light flashing in his eyes, they would discover that his pupils had become double pupils.

Regarding the ability of these double pupils...

The increased power is secondary; the main difference is that the ability to "observe" has become stronger, and the ability to see through changes has become more profound.

He looked up at the fiery tribulation in the sky. Although the tribulation was intensifying, he could already tell that he would definitely survive it.

Even this tribulation has lost its meaning, because he has already completed his self-tempering. Continuing to undergo the tribulation is just forcibly going through the process, and it will no longer be of much benefit to him.

However, the "national advisor" is engaged in a fierce battle.

Zhang Zhiwei didn't interfere with the good deeds. He just watched as the "National Preceptor" bravely fought against the heavenly tribulation. Occasionally, a few tribulation flames would attack him, but he would casually disperse them.

The "Imperial Advisor" was locked in battle with the fiery clouds when a violent explosion echoed from the sky. A massive amount of calamity fire transformed into a writhing fiery tornado, which the "Imperial Advisor" was unable to withstand and was swept into.

The fire tornado was enormous, even affecting the ground. This fire was no ordinary fire; it was extremely fierce. However, everything that was burned—grass, trees, soil, and rocks—was ignited.

Upon seeing this, everyone cast the Golden Light Spell to form a barrier, trying to keep the flames away and prevent them from burning down the entire back mountain.

Unexpectedly, the golden light was burned through as soon as it touched the flame. Not only that, the flame followed the golden light like a snake striking a stick, burning all the way up.

Zhang Jingqing frowned, and with a flick of her sleeve, several bolts of lightning intertwined, shattering the calamity fire and saving their lives.

"You're so ignorant! Who gave you permission to use golden light to block these flames? Wildfires can't be extinguished; they'll spring back to life with the spring breeze. Let it burn; don't worry about it," Zhang Jingqing rebuked. This was precisely why he had sent Zhang Zhiwei to the back mountain.

Everyone stopped and then spread out.

As the fire tornado intensified, half the sky turned red, and this small mountain was ablaze. Soil, vegetation, rocks... everything became fuel for the fire.

The fire tornado in the sky was like a giant iron pestle hanging down from the sky, spinning continuously, trying to grind Zhang Zhiwei and the "National Preceptor" to dust, and to flatten the mountain below.

In an instant, the flames rose and raged, and the wildfire intensified.

The onlookers had retreated far enough that they could no longer clearly see the scene at the center of the raging fire.

"Senior brother, has this reached the most intense and dangerous stage of the tribulation?" Zhang Yi asked with a worried expression.

Zhang Jingqing didn't answer. Of course, he hadn't survived this ordeal, how would he know?
Yi Qian suddenly said, "It seems so. I wonder if Zhiwei can handle it?"

But as soon as he finished speaking, a deafening thunderclap came from the sky.

"what's the situation?"

"Look, what's going on? The sky has turned dark."

someone exclaimed.

The fire tornado ahead was still burning, but a dark color spread out from the deep red, rapidly expanding and growing larger, like a dark cloud or a surge of stagnant energy.

As it rolled, it became incredibly sticky, yet black lightning flashed within it.

Outsiders might not be able to resist this technique, but everyone present except Lü Ci was a disciple of the Celestial Master's Mansion, so they all recognized it as their family's signature move, Yin Five Thunder.

As for who can use Yin Five Thunders during the Calamity Fire... it goes without saying.

The Yin Five Thunder in Zhang Zhiwei's hand was like a vast, surging black sea of ​​clouds, swallowing the sky and devouring the earth, rolling upwards and engulfing even the fierce tribulation fire.

The two collided, unleashing a series of explosions.

Then, everyone watched in disbelief as the towering fire tornado rapidly crumbled.

(End of this chapter)