My CEO Bai Fumei’s wife

The instant Meng Qianyun and Zhuge Chuchu disappeared into the Spirit Tower, the Nine Ghost Spirit Tower shrank into a tiny speck of light the size of a grain of rice and slipped into Qin Yu's sleeve. The movement was so fluid and seamless that it took less than a breath.

The thunder below was still gathering momentum, and purple arcs of electricity crackled all around him, scorching the bluestone slabs at the entrance of Tingyu Pavilion. Behind him, sixteen elite members of the Tianlei Sect spread out in a fan shape, sealing off the entire building's exit completely.

"Wang Ergou, I'll count to three. If you don't get down after I count to three, I'll make this building go down with you."

The window on the third floor opened, but instead of a rogue cultivator kneeling and begging for mercy, a young man emerged, holding a wine glass. The spirit wine in the glass was still steaming, and he exuded a leisurely air, as if he were watching the sunset in his own backyard.

Lei Ming was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that this Foundation Establishment stage small merchant would dare to stand face to face at the window instead of escaping through the back door or hiding in the cellar trembling.

"Elder Lei, your tracking lightning spirit is quite useful, but unfortunately it's going in the wrong direction. I'm not Wang Ergou."

“If it’s not Wang Ergou, then where did you get that bottle of Soul Purifying Elixir in your storage ring? That’s a genuine item that I bought back for three thousand spirit crystals.”

Qin Yu raised the wine glass to his eyes and swirled it around; the reflection in the glass showed the curve of his lips.

"Elder Lei, have you used your Soul Purification Elixir? How was the effect? ​​Is that sixth-grade demon beast still alive?"

Upon hearing this, Lei Ming's face instantly turned a deep purplish-red. The beastly roar he had just heard came from the direction of the camp. He had personally witnessed the tragic state of the Purple Lightning Lion, which had plummeted from the sixth rank to the third rank, and the desperate sound of its collapsing realm still echoed in his mind.

"It was you. You switched the auction items."

"The word 'switching' is too offensive. I only took the real product away in advance and left a sample bottle for Wanbao Pavilion. Elder Lei spent three thousand spirit crystals to buy a bottle of Flower Fairy Sparkling Water. I feel sorry for you."

The onlookers were expecting to see the Heavenly Thunder Sect crush the rogue cultivators; this kind of scenario played out every few days in Qingyun Prefecture.

But no one present had ever heard of anyone daring to switch the items auctioned by Wanbaoge, let alone someone who could get away unscathed and go drinking at Tingyuxuan. Such a person was either a madman or a ruthless character that even the Tianlei Sect couldn't afford to offend.

Lei Ming pulled out a demon-locking nail from his storage ring. It was about the length of a palm and its body was engraved with lightning patterns and sealing runes.

"I can let bygones be bygones regarding the switch."

The nail tip pointed at Qin Yu:

"But that bull demon, I'm determined to have it today. I'll personally dig out its demon core and soak it in wine, and you can just watch it die."

With the elders of the Heavenly Thunder Sect taking action themselves, no one in the entire Qingyun Prefecture dared to stop them, and the onlookers had begun to sympathize with the bull demon.

Qin Yu glanced at the Demon-Locking Nail, then looked back at Lei Ming's face.

"Elder Lei cultivates thunder magic, and the thunder magic of the Heavenly Thunder Sect is known as the best in Qingyun Prefecture."

He put down his wine glass:
"Then your lightning resistance must be pretty good."

Upon hearing this, everyone present was stunned. Threatened by the elder of the Thunder Sect, this rogue cultivator not only refused to beg for mercy, but actually turned around and asked the other party if he could withstand lightning.

What do you want to say?

"What I want to ask is, how many bolts of heavenly lightning can you withstand?"

Before Lei Ming could even process what those words meant, Qin Yu had already tilted his head back and swallowed the Heaven-Defying Pill he was holding in his mouth. In that instant, the clouds above the entire Tian Shu City began to surge wildly.

The night sky, previously illuminated by purple signal flares, suddenly darkened. Not in the way of clouds obscuring the moon, but as if an invisible giant hand had swallowed all the light, replacing it with a suffocating sense of oppression. Within Qin Yu's dantian, the medicinal power of the Heaven-Defying Pill was released like a nuclear explosion. The bottleneck of his peak Foundation Establishment stage shattered instantly under the impact of the medicinal power. But the effects of the Heaven-Defying Pill didn't stop there; it was about to carry Qin Yu directly past the Golden Core stage, allowing him to ascend to the heavens in one step.

The price is a tribulation three times stronger.

The cultivators of Tian Shu City all looked up and saw a red vortex appear in the sky directly above Ting Yu Xuan. The vortex spun faster and faster, and grew larger and larger, with faint lightning crackling at its center.

Lei Ming's proud purple arc of electricity paled in comparison to the red vortex, like a firefly facing the bright moon, and even began to shrink back uncontrollably.

"What the hell is this thing?"

"Someone is undergoing tribulation. No, this is not an ordinary Golden Core Tribulation. This is a Heaven-Defying Tribulation."

"The Tribulation Against Heaven? Isn't that the legendary punishment that only those who defy fate can attract? Who is so bold as to undergo the tribulation in the city?"

The onlookers had already started running away, but Lei Ming couldn't escape. His tracking lightning spirit locked onto Qin Yu's aura, while the heavenly tribulation locked onto the energy of this area. The two combined to create a strange resonance.

The first heaven-defying lightning bolt struck.

Instead of slender electric snakes, it was a thick, red lightning pillar, as thick as a bucket, carrying a world-destroying pressure, that crashed straight toward Tingyu Pavilion. But the moment it hit the ground, the lightning pillar spread out like ripples, enveloping everything within a hundred feet.

Qin Yu stood at the window, the dark golden light of the Purple Sun Divine Armor emerging from his body. He withstood the impact of the lightning tribulation, took a step forward, and instantly teleported to the top of the thunder.

"Elder Lei, please help me."

Qin Yu kicked Lei Ming in the shoulder, sending him flying from mid-air toward the center of the second lightning strike. Lei Ming screamed and tried to steady himself, but the pressure of the heavenly tribulation locked onto his aura. The more he struggled, the more accurately the lightning struck.

"Are you insane? Do you want to drag me down with you?"

"We're not going to die together. You're the one who's shielding me from the lightning, I'm undergoing my tribulation, and you're protecting me. We each get what we need."

The second heaven-defying tribulation lightning struck down, directly hitting Lei Ming's protective spiritual energy. The lightning attribute resistance that the Heavenly Thunder Sect was so proud of was like paper in front of this lightning, and it was instantly pierced. Large wisps of smoke rose from Lei Ming's body, and he spat out a mouthful of black blood.

But he didn't die. After all, he cultivated lightning magic, so he had some resistance. However, this resistance seemed utterly laughable in the face of the heaven-defying tribulation.

"Guardian my ass! I'm going to kill you!"

Lei Ming struggled to fight back, but the third bolt of lightning had already struck. Qin Yu's figure weaved through the lightning, pushing Lei Ming towards the core of the tribulation each time.

The others from the Heavenly Thunder Sect wanted to come to the rescue, but as soon as they rushed in, they were blasted away by the aftershocks of the lightning tribulation. They landed on the ground, disheveled and unable to even stand.

The buildings around Tingyuxuan began to collapse under the impact of the lightning tribulation, but strangely, no one was injured by the collapsing walls and beams, because the civilians and ordinary cultivators around had already run away before the first lightning bolt struck.

This is exactly the effect Qin Yu wanted.

He used thunder as a lightning rod and Tingyuxuan as a tribulation ground, turning what was originally a disaster that belonged only to him into a targeted attack against the Tianlei Sect.

When the fourth bolt of lightning struck, Qin Yu's cultivation finally broke through.

The barrier of the Foundation Establishment peak stage was completely shattered under the dual impact of the medicinal power and the lightning tribulation. A vortex of spiritual energy for the Golden Core stage formed in the dantian, but before this vortex could stabilize, the domineering medicinal power of the Heaven-Defying Pill surged up again, directly tearing the nascent Golden Core into fragments. (End of this chapter)