Zhang Kui Asks the Way in Investiture of the Gods

"This is the Heavenly Tribulation sensing the origin of the Dharma Form, and evolving into the corresponding Tribulation Beast!" Zhang Kui's eyes narrowed.

Zheng Lun roared, and the Golden Crow Dharma Form solidified completely. The three-legged Golden Crow spread its wings, and the golden flames of the great sun burned fiercely, colliding with the Flame Thunder Bird.

"Hey!"

The golden crow cries out, and the thunderbird shrieks.

Two flames collided, devoured, and annihilated each other in mid-air. Gold and crimson intertwined, turning half the sky into a sea of ​​fire.

"roar!"

On Chen Qi's side, the Qiongqi Dharma Image roared to the sky, and the Void Wind condensed into countless wind blades, slashing towards Lei Hu. Wherever the wind blades passed, space was torn apart, colliding with Lei Hu's claws and lightning, and bursting out a deafening roar.

This time, neither of them felt good.

Zheng Lun's Golden Crow Dharma Image had a piece of its fiery wing torn off by the Thunder Bird. The Dharma Image was damaged, which backfired on him. He spat out a mouthful of blood, and his aura weakened considerably.

Chen Qi's Qiongqi Dharma Image was also bitten on the shoulder by Lei Hu. The power of thunder invaded the Dharma Image, and he trembled all over and turned pale.

"If this continues, I'm afraid we won't be able to hold on," Gao Lanying said worriedly.

Zhang Kui shook his head: "It hasn't reached its limit yet. Look at their Dao soldiers."

Gao Lanying stared intently at it.

The three thousand crow soldiers behind Zheng Lun simultaneously raised their long spears, and black crow shadows soared into the sky above their heads, transforming into a black torrent that flowed into Zheng Lun's body.

Chen Qi's three thousand Flying Tiger Soldiers roared in unison, and a blue whirlwind gathered into a pillar, pouring into Chen Qi's body.

With the blessing of the Dao soldiers' power, Zheng Lun and Chen Qi's auras surged.

Zheng Lun's Golden Crow Dharma Form, its torn wings reformed, becoming even more solid. The color of the Great Sun Golden Flame gradually changed from pure gold to platinum.

Chen Qi's Qiongqi Dharma Form rapidly healed the wound on his shoulder, and the power of the Void Wind increased exponentially. The wind blades transformed from formless to pale blue, and their cutting power surpassed that of before.

"The way of the Daoist soldiers is indeed profound," Zhang Kui praised. "The lives of the commander and the Daoist soldiers are intertwined; they can help each other in times of crisis. However..."

Before he could finish speaking, the tribulation clouds above the valley began to brew their third wave.

This time, the tribulation clouds no longer attacked separately, but instead rolled up as a whole.

The three colors of black, red, and purple intertwined, eventually transforming into a chaotic color.

A chilling pressure emanated from the clouds of tribulation.

Zhang Kui's expression changed: "This is... merging the two into one?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a bolt of chaotic lightning with a diameter of more than ten feet slowly emerged from the center of the tribulation clouds.

The thunder was no longer just simple lightning, but a fusion of flames, gales, malevolent energy, and calamity power, with faint traces of the laws and principles of the Dao flowing within it.

Thunder's target was no longer Zheng Lun or Chen Qi alone, but rather to encompass both of them along with their Dao soldiers.

"The Heavenly Tribulation senses the combined power of the two and is about to unleash a combined attack as well." Zhang Kui took a deep breath. "This attack is likely comparable to the power of a True Immortal Tribulation."

Zheng Lun and Chen Qi clearly also felt threatened.

The two looked at each other and nodded simultaneously.

The next moment, the Golden Crow Dharma Image and the Qiongqi Dharma Image soared into the sky and converged in the air.

The golden flames of the great sun and the winds of nothingness, two completely opposite forces, actually began to merge.

Golden flames blend into the wind, which fuels the fire; the wind entwines the flames, which in turn amplify the fire's power.

Finally, a beam of light, interwoven with gold and blue, shot into the sky.

Within the pillar of light, the phantoms of the Golden Crow and the Qiongqi could be vaguely seen standing side by side, their power more than twice as strong as when they were alone.

"good!"

A look of admiration flashed in Zhang Kui's eyes. "Yin and Yang complement each other, wind and fire generate each other. These two have indeed grasped the method of combined attack."

The three thousand crow soldiers and the three thousand flying tiger soldiers also changed formation at the same time.

Soldiers in black armor and tiger-striped battle robes stood in a staggered formation, their qi and blood merging together, black clouds and blue whirlwinds intertwining to form a huge array below.

The array rotated, gathering the power of six thousand soldiers and continuously injecting it into the golden-blue pillar of light in the sky.

"boom……"

The thunder finally struck.

The golden-blue beam of light met it head-on.

This collision was not a loud bang, but a dull, muffled rumble.

The space trembled, the valley shook, and even the surface of the Yellow River in the distance was churning up huge waves.

The light devoured everything.

Zheng Lun and Chen Qi were ashen-faced, and blood was oozing from their seven orifices.

Of the three thousand crow soldiers, more than a thousand fainted immediately, and the rest were swaying precariously.

Of the three thousand Flying Tiger soldiers, the situation was slightly better, but several hundred still fell.

"Hold on!" Zhang Kui silently chanted in his heart.

If one can withstand this attack, the tribulation will be more than half over. If one cannot, at best one will fail to transcend the tribulation, and at worst one will die and perish.

Within the light screen, the phantoms of the Golden Crow and the Qiongqi had dimmed to the point of being almost invisible.

The Thunder, however, continued to press downwards.

"In the end... was it just a little short?" Zhang Kui frowned, his right hand already on the hilt of his sword.

If it truly came to a life-or-death situation, he would intervene. Although intervening in the heavenly tribulation would bring about an even more terrible calamity, he could not stand by and watch Zheng Lun and Chen Qi perish.

However, just as he was about to make his move...

A sudden change occurred.

Cola Novels: turn the page and you're in another world.

Zheng Lun and Chen Qi both bit their tongues at the same time, spitting out a mouthful of their life essence blood.

The essence and blood transformed into a blood mist, merging into the collapsing golden-blue pillar of light.

The beam of light suddenly trembled, bursting forth with its final brilliance.

The phantom of the Golden Crow cried out, and the phantom of the Qiongqi roared angrily.

"Snap!"

The thunder shattered.

The golden-blue pillar of light also collapsed at the same time, but in the end, they won.

The fragments of lightning transformed into countless points of light, scattering across the valley. These points of light contained pure tribulation energy, a great tonic for those undergoing tribulation.

Zheng Lun and Chen Qi greedily absorbed these light spots, and their auras recovered and improved at a visible speed.

However, the heavenly tribulation was not yet over.

The calamity clouds did not dissipate; instead, they began to shrink.

From covering the entire valley, it shrank to only a hundred feet in diameter.

The color also gradually changed from chaotic to pure black.

An even more dangerous aura than before emanated from the black tribulation clouds.

"Inner demon tribulation?" Gao Lanying asked in confusion. "No, the tribulation clouds of the inner demon tribulation are not like this."

Zhang Kui's pupils contracted: "This is... a karmic tribulation!"

He saw clearly that what was churning in the black tribulation clouds was not thunder, but countless black threads—that was karma, cause and effect, the karmic obstacles accumulated by Zheng Lun and Chen Qi in cultivating the Daoist weapon method and condensing the evil spirit dharma form.

The Golden Crow and the Qiongqi are both ancient ferocious creatures that have committed countless killings and accumulated immense karmic burdens.

Zheng Lun and Chen Qi took them as their models, and naturally they had to bear the corresponding consequences.

Black calamity clouds pressed down, and countless threads of karma rained down.

These threads ignored defenses and directly entangled Zheng Lun and Chen Qi's souls.

Both of them groaned simultaneously, their eyes becoming unfocused.

Illusions appeared in their minds...

Zheng Lun saw himself transform into a golden crow, soaring through the nine heavens. With a flap of his wings, a vast sea of ​​fire stretched for thousands of miles, burning countless lives. The creatures that were burned to death wailed in the sea of ​​fire, their resentment turning into black chains that bound his soul.

Chen Qi saw himself transformed into Qiongqi, rampaging across the land, leaving a trail of bloodshed and devouring countless lives. The devoured souls howled in the darkness, their karma transforming into countless sharp teeth that gnawed at his Dao heart.

This is the backlash of karma. If one cannot withstand it, the soul will be eroded by karma. At best, one will suffer from demonic possession; at worst, one's true spirit will dissipate.

"Husband, what should we do?" Gao Lanying asked anxiously. "The karmic tribulation can only be overcome by oneself; outsiders cannot interfere."

Zhang Kui remained silent for a moment, a resolute glint in his eyes.

"not necessarily."

He slowly raised his right hand, and a faint light appeared in his palm.

The light was initially faint, but gradually grew brighter and brighter, eventually transforming into an ancient-looking coin—the Falling Treasure Coin.

But this time, what flows through the money is not the rules of trading, but a more profound and mysterious Daoist principle.

The Law of Reincarnation!

Through the connection between his true self and his avatar, Zhang Kui borrowed a sliver of reincarnation authority from the Emperor of Fengdu.

"Karma is also a kind of cause and effect," Zhang Kui murmured to himself. "And reincarnation... is best at resolving cause and effect."

With a flick of his finger, the Falling Treasure Coin transformed into two streams of light, shooting into the foreheads of Zheng Lun and Chen Qi.

They did not interfere with their tribulations, nor did they bear their karma on their behalf.

Those two streaks of light simply lit a lamp in each of their seas of consciousness.

The lights are bright, but not glaring.

Where the light shone, the chains of karma in the illusion began to loosen, and the howls of vengeful spirits in the darkness gradually subsided.

Under the illumination of this light, Zheng Lun and Chen Qi's souls were stabilized again.

They saw through the illusion—it was merely a demonic manifestation of karma, not reality.

"cut!"

Zheng Lun roared in his heart, and the Golden Crow Dharma Form transformed into a flaming longsword, severing the karmic chains binding him.

"break!"

Chen Qi roared inwardly, and the Qiongqi Dharma Form transformed into a hurricane, blowing away the karmic teeth that were gnawing at his Dao Heart.

Illusion shatters, karma dissipates.

The dark clouds of calamity finally dissipated slowly.

A ray of sunlight, like the rising sun, shone through the gap in the clouds and fell upon Zheng Lun and Chen Qi.

The two slowly opened their eyes, their eyes gleaming with a sharp light, their auras more than ten times stronger than before their tribulation.

Celestial Immortal, accomplished!

Moreover, he was a celestial being who had condensed the forms of the Golden Crow and the Qiongqi, and whose foundation was extremely solid.

"Congratulations, Generals." Zhang Kui descended from the sky and landed in the valley.

Upon seeing Zhang Kui, Zheng Lun and Chen Qi immediately rose and bowed, saying, "Thank you for your help, my lord!"

Although they were trapped in illusions, they vaguely sensed that without that final guiding light illuminating their sea of ​​consciousness, they would never have been able to successfully transcend the tribulation today.

Zhang Kui waved his hand: "It's your own good fortune. Wind and fire complement each other, yin and yang harmonize, this combined attack method is quite good."

He paused, then said solemnly, "However, the Golden Crow and the Qiongqi are both ancient ferocious creatures with heavy karma. In your future cultivation, remember to keep your mind steady, cultivate good relationships, and do not be influenced by the ferocity within their forms."

"We will follow your teachings, our lord!" the two replied respectfully.