Chapter 1088: Chapter 1088: Endless Heavenly Tribulations
The appearance of the space windstorm that set off Yolande's attack had to be more than mere coincidence.
However, no one had the means of explaining how such a force emerged and why it had deflected Yolande's hit.
The other martial artists were fixated on Zen and failed to notice what had just happened. It was one enigma after another. How was Zen able to dodge the Heavenly Tribulation? Not one lightning ray had touched him since it had started. Then there was the leader of the Mist Palace striking out her palm towards him, and the next thing they knew, a strange space windstorm had materialized.
They were at a loss as they struggled to put the fragments of the puzzle together.
Amidst the warriors' confusion, Layla stood on one side, silent and pensive, as if she was trying to figure something out.
Her feet lightly tapped the ground, causing cracks to appear beneath her feet. With a barely noticeable wave of her finger, a small stone shot up from the ground.
She grabbed the stone and threw it straight at Zen's direction.
The stone was not large in size, but it moved towards Zen in an overwhelming speed. In a matter of seconds, it had arrived in front of him.
“Boom!”
Just as it was about to hit him, another bolt of lightning struck at his side, smashing the stone into pieces…
From where she stood, a faint smile played on Yolande's lips. “It seems that Zen's luck has now reached unimaginable heights. It's almost as if he is invincible,” she said.
The Sunset World lord also smiled helplessly at the unexplainable coincidences that kept happening one after another. That Zen had indeed increased his luck when he had absorbed the Luck-devouring Snakes. That might be the most plausible conjecture as of the moment...
The Upper World held a number of methods that could temporarily change one's luck. The effects of these techniques, however, were minimal at best. For instance, there was the “prayer for fortune” in a secret sect, and there existed divine weapons that could increase one's luck. The Sunset World lord, Yolande, and the others, viewed these methods and items as charms that had more to do with psychological effects than actual changes in one's fortune. The changes, if there were any, remained obscure and were yet to be defined.
However, the scene in front of him was different and defied all logic…
Zen's luck had undeniably changed after he absorbed the Luck-devouring Snakes.
With this much luck, it was as if god himself was in Zen's favor.
There had already been more than enough proof. The probability of a space windstorm appearing on Willow Island was close to none - perhaps only about one in a hundred trillion. Even more so was the chance of it arriving at the exact same time with Yolanda's strike.
However, the Sunset World lord had witnessed both things happen in front of his very own eyes.
“It's a bit of a waste that he is only able to use his luck this way,” he said, shaking his head regretfully. It was a pity that those Luck-devouring Snakes couldn't be restored. Had Zen saved one or two of them, he would probably have greater use for them in the future.
By this time, Zen was starting to comprehend what had happened. However, he could not put his thoughts in order as his Heavenly Tribulation demanded more of his attention.
The streaks of lightning hacked on the ground again and again, but all of them kept on missing their target. Just what kind of Heavenly Tribulation was this?
He felt the beginnings of disappointment stir inside him, but he kept his ground. It would be better for him to just wait and see what would happen next. Was his luck really that strong now? he wondered. R̃ἈŊòʙЕ𝘚
Zen's round of tribulation continued for a full hour…
After this, the sixth small Heavenly Tribulation finally dissipated. The Mahayana Lotus Flower rotated a few times, then its shadow slowly faded.
To Zen's surprise, the flower's last petal had remained unfurled.
Just now, he had been expectant that he would be able to open the Mahayana Lotus flower fully. With his current luck, the likelihood of it happening was greater. Perhaps he had thought too much of it. Even his great luck wasn't enough to affect this Mahayana Lotus Flower.
No one could have expected what happened next.
Zen made motions to get up, but right at this moment, the Mahayana Lotus Flower appeared once again on top of Zen's head. It spun slowly as everyone gazed at it with dumbstruck expressions.
The clouds roiled around angrily, a terrifying aura emanating from the sky. Immediately, everyone knew that Zen's Heavenly Tribulations were still not over yet. The sky swirled as the seventh small Heavenly Tribulation arrived…
“Another tribulation? Is this Zen going through them successively?”
“There's nothing that surprising about this. Once one reaches a certain level of cultivation, the Heavenly Tribulations would come in accordance to a warrior's level - no more, no less.”
“I had witnessed a similar occurrence in the past. One warrior had deliberately suppressed his own cultivation for too long a time, and he had encountered two small Heavenly Tribulations successively just after he entered the Life and Death Realm. However, as he had not been fully prepared, he was struck by lighting and was gravely injured. In the end, it had cost him his own life.”
“This Zen wouldn't die, would he?”
The old man in cotton clothes was preparing to remove the seal he had placed when Zen finished his sixth small Heavenly Tribulation. He had never expected that another tribulation would arrive for Zen to go through.
At this time, the intense fixation everyone previously had for Zen began to dissipate. A single tribulation would take a few hours at most. This amount of time was not of much consequence. Eyes began to wander away from the scene and the once lively spectators did not bother to watch Zen experience one more tribulation.
There would be no Luck-devouring Snakes in the seventh small Heavenly Tribulation...
However, it was not uncommon to see all sorts of powerful Heavenly Tribulations. The seventh small Heavenly Tribulation that Zen was undergoing was comparable to the ninth or even tenth small Heavenly Tribulation that other warriors had experienced.
It had started uneventfully. Due to Zen's heightened luck, the small Heavenly Tribulations, instead of targeting him, attacked aimlessly. As a result, Zen did not have to do much to avoid them.
Zen was far from satisfied with how things had turned out. For martial artists, the Heavenly Tribulation was no ordinary ordeal - it was a test of one's true strength. Only after successfully undergoing this would they be baptized by the Heavenly Tribulation. It was the sole path that would allow them to advance to higher levels in the Life and Death Realm.
And yet, these small Heavenly Tribulations just attacked without aiming at Zen. They landed around him with no particular pattern and missed him every time. What was this? Could this still be considered Heavenly Tribulation?
Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind...
Rumble…
The next moment, purple bolts of lightning whipped hard on Zen, the streaks like burning lashes from hell…
With Zen's newfound luck, it seemed that even the heavens and the earth were ready to do his bidding. This was something that Zen had never expected. When the lightning appeared, he was unprepared and was struck directly.
In one movement, he turned and jumped up from the ground. These Heavenly Tribulations appeared one by one, so he would certainly be able to follow them easily and take them on. Moreover, with his great luck, he could avoid being hurt too much by the Heavenly Tribulations.
Even without the sudden increase in his luck, Zen was confident that he could survive the force of the small Heavenly Tribulation.
His body had the tenacity of a divine weapon. Resisting the Heavenly Tribulation shouldn't be too difficult a task for him.
Zen chased the attacks around, letting them come in direct contact with his body. This went on for over an hour. Then, the seventh small Heavenly Tribulation was finally over. However, the Mahayana Lotus Flower remained incomplete and had instead disappeared. Eyes widened in disbelief at what had just happened.
'It can't be… There are still more tribulations to come?' Zen thought.
Perhaps the eighth small Heavenly Tribulation was truly bound to appear, or perhaps it was Zen's great luck that called it forth.
As the shadow of the Lotus Flower reappeared, the eighth small Heavenly Tribulation descended…
Zen sighed as a wry smile appeared on his face. He couldn't believe his eyes. With how things were turning out, he was no longer sure if his fortune was a blessing or a curse.
“To undergo three Heavenly Tribulations consecutively…”
“This man...He has risen from the fifth to the eighth level of the Life and Death Realm in less than four hours. ”
Many of the martial artists stared at the flower's shadow, all of them speechless.
It was uncommon to see someone undergo two consecutive Heavenly Tribulations, but it was not entirely unheard of. For a martial artist to experience three Heavenly Tribulations in a row, however, was something else.
Zen steeled himself to face the next round of tribulation. Another hour passed…
“Four consecutive small Heavenly Tribulations?”
“After he finishes this round, his cultivation will be at the ninth level of the Life and Death Realm!”
“With this progress, is he going to break into the Soul Sea Realm?”
“If you remember, this Zen had taken the Tenth Tribulation Introducing Pill. Could it be due to this that these Heavenly Tribulations were triggered?”
“There seems to be no end to it!”
As Zen looked at the terrifying power of the Heavenly Tribulation condensing in the sky, he didn't know how to respond. What the others said was true. The tribulations indeed seemed to be endless. Truthfully, he was anxious to increase his own cultivation - he wanted to see what he would be capable of after he created his own Soul Sea with his chaotic energy.
However, he did not expect things to happen this quickly.
Another hour later, Zen stared at the shadow of the Lotus Flower above his head with blank eyes. The Lotus Flower had only bloomed thirty five leaves, with nine leaves in the lower layer, and twenty six leaves on the upper layer. The last leaf had remained closed, and the tenth Heavenly Tribulation was coming...