Chapter 12: The First Tribulation

The clouds pressed lower and lower, and from within the churning gray mass came a deep, oppressive hiss.

The aura of destruction grew thicker with every passing moment, as though Heaven itself had been roused to fury, intent on grinding the audacious creature below — the one who dared challenge its authority — into dust.

"It's coming!" Second Uncle Si Che called out in a low, urgent voice.

Before his words had even faded —

Crack!

A blinding bolt of white lightning tore through the dark sky, carrying with it a deafening thunderclap, and struck with unerring precision at the slender figure at the center of the Array Formation!

The lightning exploded outward, swallowing Si Chen in an instant!

"Chen'er!" Ye Fu cried out in alarm, instinctively lunging forward — only to be firmly held back by Si Kai.

The Clan Head's expression was equally taut, yet his arm was steady as a boulder, his gaze locked unblinkingly on the place where the lightning blazed.

The electric light faded, revealing the scene within.

Si Chen remained seated in his cross-legged posture, his spine perfectly straight.

But the cyan cloth robe covering his upper body had been reduced to ash by the thunder. The exposed skin beneath was a horrifying sight — jagged, charred cracks ran across it, and blood welled up from each fissure, dyeing him crimson from head to toe in an instant.

This was the first time, since his reincarnation into a human body, that he had truly experienced the sensation of being "injured."

Si Chen looked down at his mangled, blood-soaked chest, and for the first time, the color of mortal blood was reflected in his eyes.

It hurt.

It felt as though countless tiny creatures were gnawing at his wounds, accompanied by a strange, numbing sensation.

The feeling was so vivid, so intense — and yet... so novel.

He could also feel it: the vitality of wood and grass that had settled into every corner of his body over the past five years was now like a spring startled awake, beginning to slowly mend the damage to his flesh.

Destruction and rebirth engaged in the most direct of struggles within him.

He did not draw upon the Thunder Element Spirit Root that had grown on its own to dispel the force.

That would have been easy enough — but it would have betrayed the very purpose of Body Tempering. He wanted this body to truly remember thunder, to adapt to thunder, until it became a part of him.

"This kid…"

Si Shuo, standing outside the formation, clenched his fists, his palms slick with sweat. "He's really just tanking it head-on…"

The second bolt of lightning came without a moment's pause, thicker than the first, crashing down with a savage, overbearing force!

Si Chen's body shuddered violently. More blood poured from his splitting wounds, and the acrid smell of scorched flesh hung in the air. His complexion paled, and a thin trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

Ye Fu turned her face away, unable to bear the sight.

The third bolt. The fourth…

One after another, the bolts of Yin Thunder struck in relentless succession, as though they would never end.

Si Chen's seated figure was swallowed again and again by the lightning's glare, and again and again it reappeared, unyielding.

He never fell. He never uttered a single groan. Only the tight press of his lips and the faint trembling of his lashes betrayed the extreme agony his body was enduring.

And yet, amid this cycle of destruction and repair, a quiet change began to take place.

At first, the warm, gentle vitality of wood and grass had only been passively mending his wounds.

But as the thunder tempered him again and again, that vitality seemed to grow indignant — or perhaps a deeper instinct had been awakened within it. It was no longer content merely to repair. It began to actively surge toward the raging arcs of lightning!

Crackle —

When yet another bolt of thunder pierced through him, the emerald radiance of vitality within his body and the blazing white of the lightning's destructive force no longer simply clashed against each other.

Like two fish of light — at once playful and combative — they began to intertwine and permeate one another.

Where the emerald radiance flowed, the Meridians torn apart by the thunder did not wither. Instead, like vines nourished by spring rain, they grew more supple and broad.

And the violent arcs of lightning threading through them — their destructive power was gradually stripped of its ferocity by that surging vitality, refined down to the purest origin force, which then settled into his bones and flesh.

The Yimu Everspring Art and the Nine Tribulation Thunder Body — two Cultivation Techniques with opposing attributes and divergent paths — had found, within him, a way of coexistence that defied all reason.

Not suppression, but accommodation.

Not conquest, but fusion.

A sudden clarity descended upon Si Chen. He released all control over his physical body entirely, no longer distinguishing between what was wood and what was thunder. A single thought remained:

With this body, receive this force.

The seventh bolt. The eighth…

The tribulation lightning remained fierce, but the rate at which Si Chen's body cracked and split had visibly slowed.

The newly regenerated flesh gleamed with a lustrous sheen. The charred, dead skin sloughed away rapidly, and the fresh skin beneath seemed to have absorbed the lightning's light — faintly suffused with a soft silver radiance.

Outside the formation, Si Shuo stared wide-eyed, murmuring, "What in the world… his body looks like it's… eating the lightning?"

The tension in Si Kai's expression finally eased a fraction. A flash of disbelief and awe passed through the depths of his eyes. He could see it clearly — his son was not simply enduring the strikes. He was undergoing a profound transformation.

When the ninth and final bolt — the thickest of them all — came crashing down, Si Chen did not even sway.

The force of the thunder poured into him like a stream flowing into a great river, unable to stir so much as a single reckless wave. Only a vast, surging power coursed through his every limb and bone, before finally settling into stillness.

The clouds dispersed. The thunder ceased.

Silence fell over heaven and earth, broken only by the sound of wind moving through the mountain forest.

Si Chen slowly opened his eyes.

The charred marks across his body were fading at a visible rate. The new skin that emerged was smooth and warm as jade, yet beneath its surface flowed a restrained, luminous brilliance.

He gently closed his hand into a fist. A faint arc of electricity flickered between his fingers and vanished.

He had succeeded.

The Tribulation of Yin Thunder — crossed.

This body, which had once felt "crowded" and "fragile," was now light and resilient, as though a thousand-pound burden had been lifted, as though an invisible shackle had been unlocked.

Within his flesh and blood, vitality and the power of thunder coexisted in harmony, forming a subtle and perfect balance.

Ye Fu was the first to rush forward, throwing her arms tightly around her son, her voice thick with tears: "You're alright, you're alright…"

Si Chen could feel the faint trembling of his mother's body. He hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand and gently patted her on the back.

Si Kai stepped forward and conducted a careful examination. The last trace of worry in his eyes finally dissolved, replaced by undisguised relief.

He could feel it — the vigor of his son's Qi and blood was far beyond that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment Body Cultivator. The vitality deep within his flesh and the faint power of thunder were perfectly intertwined, forming a foundation unlike anything he had ever seen.

"Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!" Si Kai said the word three times in succession, clapping his son firmly on the shoulder.

Si Shuo crowded in as well, circling Si Chen twice with an expression of amazed admiration. "Remarkable! When I went through this first tribulation back in the day, I was bedridden for half a month! And you, brat — you look like nothing even happened!"

He reached out curiously to poke Si Chen's arm, only to be yanked back by Si Che: "Third Brother, stop being so grabby."

Si Chen felt the entirely different sense of power within him. The limitations of his physical body — from this moment on, they had been broken through.

He raised his head and gazed up at the clear, washed-blue sky, his eyes seeming to pierce through the clouds and reach toward somewhere far more distant.

The Si Clan's Blessed Land was a fine place — but it was no longer a world vast enough for him to spread his wings.

…That wider stage seemed, at last, to be within reach.