Chapter 638 - 623: The Daredevil

Shen Lang’s attempt to break through to the King Martial Realm in the Imperial Capital had attracted the legendary, most terrifying tribulation of the highest order: the Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation.

This had already scared the daylights out of a group of old powerhouses.

Unexpectedly, right under the thunder clouds, Shen Lang had casually taken out the Xingtian Battle Armor, seemingly preparing to re-refine it!

Once the thunder clouds appeared, a Martial Artist was generally left with very little time to prepare.

In fact, any Martial Artist who wanted to break through to the King Martial Realm would make all their preparations before condensing their Nascent Soul.

Powerful Magical Treasures and Secret Artifacts to withstand the Tribulation Thunder;

Large-scale Protective Arrays that could block the Tribulation Thunder’s furious bombardment multiple times;

And all sorts of supplementary Elixir Pills...

Never before had anyone attempted to refine armor or other Divine Weapons right after condensing their Nascent Soul, just as the Tribulation Thunder was about to descend.

Especially not when facing the legendary and supremely powerful Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation!

The Ninth Level of Thunder Tribulation!

One careless mistake, and you could be annihilated, body and soul!

Forget about the lack of time; even if there were time, who could possibly focus on Artifact Refining at such a life-or-death moment?

As the destructive pressure swept across the land and endless Thunder Power continued to gather, no one could say for certain when the purple lightning would strike.

Perhaps in ten minutes, or perhaps in two...

And yet, these old powerhouses were witnessing this very unbelievable scene!

"Young Master Lang is actually re-refining his armor at a time like this... He’s doing it right under the Tribulation Thunder! Isn’t he afraid of being obliterated, body and soul, if he makes a single mistake?!"

Zu Wei, the King Martial Realm expert from the Imperial Dragon Sect, spoke with trembling lips, his voice filled with disbelief.

The Spirit Martial Realm and Xuanwu Realm Martial Artists in the Martial Arts Arena immediately burst into an uproar!

An ordinary Xuanwu Realm powerhouse’s Divine Thought could only extend for ten to fifteen miles at most, so the Xuanwu Realm and Spirit Martial Realm Martial Artists present couldn’t see what Shen Lang was doing.

All they knew was that Shen Lang was breaking through to the King Martial Realm, and the immense pressure had enveloped even Cangxia Mountain!

Upon hearing Zu Wei say that Shen Lang was performing Artifact Refining right under the clouds of the so-called most tyrannical Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation, everyone thought they had misheard.

Everyone knew Shen Lang was arrogant, domineering, and audacious, even daring to attack those in the King Martial Realm.

But no one had ever imagined that he was this much of a daredevil!

The Tribulation Thunder could descend at any moment, yet he was under the clouds, performing Artifact Refining!

What kind of boldness did that require?

What kind of confidence!

The few elders from the White Bone Hall exchanged glances, each seeing the deep worry in the others’ eyes.

Shen Lang’s backing was so powerful it was hard to imagine, which had already made them hesitant and afraid to fight him openly.

They hadn’t expected Shen Lang himself to be this powerful. He had just condensed his Nascent Soul, yet his pressure already covered a radius of more than sixty miles!

If he managed to pass this final trial, how could any ordinary King Martial Realm expert stand against him?

And now, he was even performing Artifact Refining beneath the thunder clouds!

When it came to risking one’s life, even the Demons of the Demon Dao, who could kill without batting an eye, couldn’t hold a candle to him!

The soft are afraid of the tough, the tough are afraid of the stubborn, the stubborn are afraid of the reckless, and the reckless are afraid of those who don’t fear death... And this guy who didn’t fear death also had an impossibly strong backer!

If you angered someone with a personality like that, he might just disregard everything and fight you to the death!

The White Bone Hall was strong, but not stronger than Zombie Emperor Duanmu Xie.

And they certainly couldn’t compare to the Quasi-Emperor Martial Realm’s Xue Shiyin and the Xue Family.

If Shen Lang went berserk and sent Duanmu Xie to the Celestial Defying Demon Realm...

Forget the White Bone Hall; even the Celestial Defying Demon Realm would be destroyed!

When a madman like that went on a rampage, he wouldn’t hold anything back.

The elders from the White Bone Hall began to regret their alliance with the Third Prince.

They had only lost a Sect Leader. While humiliating, the material loss wasn’t that significant.

But to provoke such a character and end up bringing disaster upon themselves was a grave miscalculation...

Meanwhile, Xue Dangdang’s beautiful eyes glittered with a strange light. At some point, the corners of her mouth had lifted into a smile that she herself hadn’t even noticed.

’This guy is full of surprises! He’s just too reckless... He was the same way back at the Hidden Moon Tomb! Hmph!’

「Time passed, bit by bit.」

Though only a few minutes had passed, to everyone—whether on Cangxia Mountain or in the Imperial Capital—it felt like a lifetime.

Whether they were friend or foe to Shen Lang, everyone’s heart was in their throat.

High in the thunder clouds, the purple lightning could crash down at any second...

Meanwhile, Xue Shiyin glanced at the thunder clouds high above, then back at Shen Lang’s swift movements, looking like she wanted to say something but was holding back.

After a long moment, she finally summoned her courage and asked, "Can’t you use ’Tears of Paradise’?"

Xue Shiyin’s voice carried a hint of dissatisfaction, tinged with a bit of jealousy.

After all, the Imperial Artifact, Tears of Paradise, was a gift from her to Shen Lang, but he had turned around and given it to Nalan Ziyun.

Xue Shiyin didn’t say it aloud, but she was deeply hurt.

Women tend to take such matters very seriously.

However, even though Xue Shiyin had long since sensed that Tears of Paradise was on Nalan Ziyun, she had never brought it up, not wanting to make things awkward for everyone.

The crucial point was that now, in the face of the unimaginable Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation...

Shen Lang hadn’t even considered taking back Tears of Paradise to defend against it!

This was what finally made Xue Shiyin unable to hold back any longer.

Although Xue Shiyin knew Shen Lang’s true identity and believed completely and utterly that he had the strength to face this Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation.

But if he could face it with greater ease, who would willingly take such a risk?

After all, this was the legendary Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation, a trial that had driven countless powerhouses to despair!

If he had an Imperial Artifact with supreme defensive power like Tears of Paradise...

And with the Immortal Celestial Saber as well...

Shen Lang would be able to handle all of this with much greater ease.

At that moment, Shen Lang’s hands were rapidly forming a variety of Seal Techniques, his speed so fast it was dazzling.

The sight caused Shangguan Feiyue, Tantai Jingming, and the others watching nearby to gasp in shock.

They all knew that Shen Lang was formidable in the Artifact Refining Dao, but to refine an artifact like this... even for these Emperor Martial Realm powerhouses, it was the first time they had ever witnessed such a thing!

Hearing Xue Shiyin’s words, Shen Lang’s hands paused for a fraction of a second before immediately resuming their breakneck pace, continuing to refine the Xingtian Battle Armor without a word.

Xue Shiyin’s eyelashes trembled. She pursed her lips and said no more.

Meanwhile, Shen Lang’s movements grew faster and faster, so fast that an ordinary person couldn’t even see his hands!

As his hands danced, the air filled with afterimages!

In reality, most people had misunderstood Shen Lang.

Shen Lang did have a reckless side, but it rarely surfaced.

Aside from the time Nalan Ziyun died before his eyes, which drove him to madly activate the Demon Blade Technique and nearly caused his body to collapse...

Most of the time, Shen Lang was extremely rational.

He was not only rational but also meticulously calculating, rarely making a move without absolute certainty.

And when he did act, failure was not an option!

According to Shen Lang’s calculations...

The Xingtian Battle Armor’s Defense Power was already formidable, but it was clearly not enough to handle the legendary Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation.

The Wind, Thunder, Fire, Earth, Wood Five-Washing Spirit Array Map within the Xingtian Battle Armor meant it was optimized to defend against energy of those five attributes, while its defense against other attributes was significantly weaker.

For instance, if a Fire Element Spirit Array Map were inscribed within a suit of armor...

...its Defense Power against Fire Element attacks would far surpass its ability to defend against attacks of other energy Attributes.

The number of Spirit Array Maps that could be stacked within a single suit of armor was limited; it was impossible to defend against every type of energy in the world.

This was why ordinary King Martial Realm Third Heaven powerhouses found it difficult to breach the Xingtian Battle Armor. Yet, when Ying Huo had been spying on the Third Prince, the armor had failed to defend against the prince’s Silent Extinction Netherworld Finger, and Ying Huo was almost killed with a single strike.

The Supreme Yin Finger Power of the Silent Extinction Netherworld Finger was incredibly tyrannical, which was one reason Ying Huo had nearly died.

The bigger reason, however, was that the Xingtian Battle Armor lacked a corresponding Spirit Array Map; it had no defense specifically designed against that type of Supreme Yin Energy.

And what Shen Lang was doing now was dismantling all the stacked Spirit Array Maps within the Xingtian Battle Armor and replacing them entirely with Thunder Element Spirit Array Maps!

Five interwoven and stacked Thunder Spirit Array Maps would unfold a world of lightning. When used to defend against the Nine Heavens Thunder Power, this would be far more effective than a combination of various other elemental Array Maps!

For Shen Lang, a task like this was a piece of cake.

Furthermore, Shen Lang had activated his Silver Eyes of Truth long ago and had already seen everything within the thunder clouds clearly.

He had analyzed the situation completely!

Six minutes!

In just six minutes, the power of the Tribulation Thunder within the clouds would climb to its peak.

At that point, the Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation would activate, and the purple lightning would come crashing down!

The time was short, but for Shen Lang, it was more than enough.

In less than five minutes, Shen Lang had already replaced all the Spirit Array Maps inside the Xingtian Battle Armor!

Five stacked Thunder Spirit Array Maps took shape, forming a vast space of Thunder Power within the Xingtian Battle Armor!

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

As soft sounds echoed, a dazzling light erupted from the Xingtian Battle Armor.

The jet-black, gleaming armor immediately disassembled into countless individual scales, which began to spin ceaselessly around Shen Lang.

Then, as if drawn by his body, the scales suddenly converged upon him all at once.

CLICK! CLACK! CLICK!

The Xingtian Battle Armor took shape once more, fitted perfectly onto Shen Lang’s body!

Following that, myriad rays of Buddha Light emanated from within Shen Lang, and a tiny bead emerged from his forehead.

The Star Moon Bodhi Prayer Beads gave a quick spin, flew to his chest, and merged into the Xingtian Battle Armor.

At that moment, the originally jet-black, gleaming Xingtian Battle Armor began to transform.

A layer of golden light rippled out like water, covering every part of the armor and making Shen Lang look as majestic as a Golden Armored War God!

With a flick of his wrist, the Immortal Celestial Saber was in his hand.

The dark, ancient Immortal Celestial Saber radiated a sense of boundless, tyrannical power and immense weight.

The blade had not yet moved, but a tyrannical momentum capable of shattering mountains and sweeping through armies began to emanate in all directions.

The surrounding air shuddered violently, rolling outward like a tidal wave. The aura was absolutely astonishing!

But the very instant the Immortal Celestial Saber appeared, the thunder clouds above roared with a deafening RUMBLE, and the surging, unpredictable Thunder Power suddenly swelled to a terrifying degree!

"Hm?"

Sensing this strange change, Shen Lang’s heart tensed, and he immediately activated his Silver Eyes of Truth.

One look was all it took for his gaze to turn icy cold!

Vast quantities of purple lightning had materialized out of thin air within the thunder clouds, and the destructive aura was now more than three times stronger than it had been moments ago!

’The Immortal Celestial Saber can actually provoke the Tribulation Thunder? That fellow hidden inside it is truly something else!’

Both shocked and angered, Shen Lang grew even more cautious of the presence hidden within the Immortal Celestial Saber.