Chapter 266: Dragon Transformation Tribulation
"What!"
The words of the Taiqing Sect's master startled the leaders of the other two sects. Over the years, they had conducted detailed investigations into the origin of that headless corpse. Though they had not gathered much information, they were no longer as blind as before.
Among the intelligence was, naturally, news about the missing head of that corpse. Yet no one knew where it was hidden.
Now that zombies had begun leaving of their own accord, it was very likely they were going to look for the head. Once the headless corpse recovered its head, the situation would become even more dire.
"Should we send people to track those departing zombies? Perhaps we could uncover the whereabouts of the head," suggested the master of Shennong Valley.
"Those zombies include no small number at the Nascent Soul level. Who among us has the manpower?" The Yin-Yang Sword Sect master shook his head.
This time, a great many zombies had departed, among them several at the Nascent Soul level. Zombies were extremely sensitive to the aura of the living. Sending low-level cultivators to follow them would only result in detection and death.
Sending Nascent Soul True Lords was possible, but manpower was already stretched thin keeping up the fight against the zombie tide. They could not afford to divert anyone.
Especially those at the Nascent Soul level—these were the absolute backbone of the defense. If too many were withdrawn, the entire war effort could collapse.
"Then are we to just sit and wait? If that corpse regains its head, then—" The Shennong Valley master's voice was heavy with frustration.
"We wait."
The Taiqing sect master let out a long sigh. "Our task is to suppress the zombie tide. Whether this calamity can truly be ended will ultimately depend on the Soul Formation sovereigns."
The righteous Soul Formation experts were seeking a way to break the deadlock. Their current task was merely to buy them time—so that when they returned with a solution, they would still have a home to defend.
Qinglu Sect.
The roiling tribulation clouds in the sky drew countless gazes.
"Is Qinglu Sect about to produce another Nascent Soul True Lord?" a cultivator exclaimed as he peered at the heavens.
By now, Qinglu Sect had long become the foremost sect of the Qinghe cultivation world. With another Nascent Soul joining their ranks, their dominance would only grow stronger.
"That isn't a Nascent Soul tribulation, but a Transformation Tribulation," corrected a more knowledgeable cultivator.
"Master, Master, I'm scared."
Beneath the clouds, a golden carp circled nervously. After years of accumulation, the little koi had finally reached this crucial step.
"Don't be afraid. I'm here."
From afar, Gu Mo reassured her through their bond. When a spirit pet faced tribulation, the master could offer some assistance, but in the end it depended on the pet's own foundation.
Gu Mo, however, was not worried. Over the years, he had fed the little koi vast quantities of Sun Essence. Though only of the third tier, the sheer volume had given her a formidable foundation.
He had also arranged multiple contingencies. Passing the Transformation Tribulation would not be a problem.
So comforted, the little koi steadied her heart and soared upward to face the heavenly wrath.
"Rumble!"
The first thunderbolt fell, its vast might smashing the koi back to the ground. Her once-gleaming golden scales were scorched black in places.
Though battered, she had withstood the strike, and her confidence grew.
Not until the eighth bolt did she cry out in pain. To take eight bolts of the Transformation Tribulation head-on without other means was proof enough of how deep her foundation ran.
But enduring them left her heavily injured. She immediately swallowed a fourth-tier Sun Essence Gu Mo had prepared, swiftly mending wounds and replenishing her strength.
"Rumble!"
With the Sun Essence bolstering her, she resisted the ninth and final bolt of the Transformation Tribulation. She had survived what made even great demons blanch.
Yet, though she had passed, no change came over her body—and the clouds did not disperse.
"As expected."
Gu Mo gazed at the churning heavens. For ordinary beasts, the Transformation Tribulation was nine bolts, much like a cultivator's ascension to Nascent Soul.
But his koi was no ordinary beast. Years ago, the Sun Essence had awakened the trace of true dragon blood in her veins. The tribulation just endured was but the prelude. Now came the true trial—the legendary Dragon Transformation Tribulation.
Only by enduring it could she shed her koi form and become a true dragon of legend.
"Little Koi won't be in danger, will she?"
Seeing the anomaly, Chu Feifei and Yuan Niya hurried to Gu Mo's side. If it had been a normal tribulation, they were certain she would succeed. But against such a rare calamity, even the greatest prodigies had no guarantees.
"I don't know either." Gu Mo shook his head.
No one had ever seen the Dragon Transformation Tribulation, but he knew it would be unimaginably difficult. Though he had made many preparations, the final outcome lay beyond his control.
"What's happening? Nine bolts have already fallen—why hasn't it ended?"
From afar, the gathered cultivators murmured in confusion.
Special tribulations were exceedingly rare even in the higher Heaven-Origin world, let alone in the lower Qinghe realm. Many had never even heard of such things.
"Rumble!"
After a moment of brewing, the clouds sent forth a golden dragon-shaped bolt of lightning. Its power rivaled the ninth bolt of the Transformation Tribulation.
"Ah!!"
The strike drove a pained scream from the koi, grievously wounding her in an instant. And this after she had only just restored herself with fourth-tier Sun Essence.
Another dragon-shaped bolt was already forming, giving her no time to breathe.
"Little dull, help me!"
At her cry, a shimmering barrier enfolded her. This was the Nut Formation Gu Mo had laid in advance.
Every component was a fourth-tier nut, with the core being the fourth-tier peak spirit beast, Little dull. It was Gu Mo's strongest safeguard for her.
"Boom!"
The dragon lightning slammed into the barrier, shaking it violently. At last it steadied again, though each buried nut now bore a charred dragon-shaped scar.
Seeing this, Gu Mo's Heaven-Earth Nascent Infant began drawing in spiritual energy, channeling it to the nuts to restore their strength.
It was only because Little Carp was Gu Mo's spirit pet, and he was her master, that he could intervene like this. If it were anyone else daring to interfere, the tribulation would have long since descended to strike them down together.
"Boss, I can take one strike of the tribulation for Lady Little Carp." The Dragonblood Kelp coiled around Gu Mo's waist looked up at the dragon-shaped heavenly thunder, its gaze filled with yearning.
The greatest desire of the Dragonblood Kelp was to transform into a true dragon. Unfortunately, what it had once undergone was only an ordinary shapeshifting tribulation. The dragon form it currently assumed was merely a shape modeled after legends of the true dragon—an empty façade. But what Little Carp was facing now was the true Dragon Transformation Tribulation. That made the Dragonblood Kelp deeply envious, stirring in it the longing to personally taste what such a tribulation felt like.
Since following Gu Mo, the Dragonblood Kelp had received no small amount of Sun Essence. As a spirit-plant demon king, Sun Essence brought him tremendous benefit. This only intensified his craving to become a true dragon. Now that Little Carp had drawn down the Dragon Transformation Tribulation, the Dragonblood Kelp wondered whether, if he stepped into it, he could edge closer to true dragonhood.
Even if it wasn't his tribulation, he longed to feel its power.
"You'll die."
Gu Mo shook his head. The Dragonblood Kelp was already at the mid stage of Demon King, but the might of the Dragon Transformation Tribulation was far beyond that of an ordinary tribulation. Gu Mo sensed that its intensity would fluctuate according to the density of the true dragon bloodline within the one undergoing it.
Little Carp's true dragon bloodline had already awakened back when she was at the third tier, and even now the tribulation remained so terrifying. If the Dragonblood Kelp stepped into it, a single strike of the Dragon Transformation Tribulation would likely obliterate him on the spot.
"Boss, I'm not afraid of death. As long as I can become a dragon, I fear nothing." The Dragonblood Kelp's voice was unwilling, his resolve unshaken. He had already lived thousands of years, and transforming into a dragon had long since become his obsession. For that, he feared no death.
"So be it. If the time is right, I'll give you a chance." Seeing the determination in the Dragonblood Kelp's eyes, Gu Mo sighed helplessly. Then he cautioned sternly: "But you must obey my command. If there's no proper chance, then you'll have to let it go."
"Yes!"
With Gu Mo's permission, the Dragonblood Kelp's body quivered in excitement. As for whether directly intervening in Little Carp's tribulation would cause unexpected changes, there was no need to worry. Gu Mo could step in because he was Little Carp's master; likewise, the Dragonblood Kelp had long since pledged himself as Little Carp's servant—that was why he addressed her as Lady.
The awakening of the true dragon bloodline within Little Carp made the Dragonblood Kelp willingly submit. Beyond that, he was gambling that when Little Carp broke through, she would indeed draw down the legendary Dragon Transformation Tribulation, and by then he could seize his chance to join in.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Bolts of dragon-shaped heavenly thunder kept falling, all blocked by the Nut Array. Yet even though the array was strong, it had its limits. The continuous tribulation strikes gave Little Dull no time to recover.
Seeing this, Gu Mo decisively ordered Little dull to stop. If they pushed on, the Nut Array would shatter. And by now, Little Carp had recovered almost fully.
"The next strike of the Dragon Transformation Tribulation—leave it to you," Gu Mo said to the Dragonblood Kelp.
One strike borne by Little Carp, another by the Dragonblood Kelp—that would give Little dull enough breathing space to resume shielding Little Carp afterwards.
"Alright!"
At those words, the Dragonblood Kelp detached from Gu Mo's waist. In the next moment, his demonic power surged forth, readying himself so that once Little Carp endured the current strike, he could immediately take the next.
"Rumble!"
A golden bolt of the Dragon Transformation Tribulation descended, blasting Little Carp until her scales split open and blood spilled.
"Now!"
Gu Mo shouted sharply. At once, the Dragonblood Kelp streaked forward as an emerald-green ray, instantly reaching above Little Carp's head, where he smashed directly into the tribulation thunder that followed.
"Ahhh!"
The heavenly bolt crashed into him, wringing a scream from the Dragonblood Kelp. In the very next instant, his body was blown apart into fragments.
Though a mid-stage Demon King, with cultivation and battle strength far beyond Little Carp's, the strike that she could withstand was one he could not. This confirmed further that the Dragon Transformation Tribulation tailored itself to the blood within—those with denser true dragon bloodline could resist it, those without would be crushed.
"Little Kelp!"
Little Carp froze, crying out as she watched him shatter in an instant.
"Don't worry—he's not dead. Focus on the final strike." Gu Mo's voice came through. The Dragonblood Kelp, as a spirit-plant demon king, possessed astonishing vitality. The heavenly bolt had blasted apart his body and dispersed his cultivation, but it had also burned away the impurities in his blood, leaving behind pure true dragon essence.
In other words, the Dragonblood Kelp had won his gamble. The cost, however, was losing all his cultivation and having to start over from nothing.
"Mm!"
Little Carp steadied herself, fixing her gaze on the sky as she waited for the final strike. At the same time, the faint glow of the Nut Array rose once more.
"Roar!"
A deep, resonant dragon's cry erupted. From within the tribulation clouds, a colossal golden dragon thrust its head out, casting its gaze upon Little Carp.
That single glance stilled heaven and earth, made all beasts prostrate themselves, and froze the bodies of every watching cultivator. To them it felt as if this dragon's head from the cloud was the true, legendary dragon itself.
The true dragon—an existence of the same order as immortals and gods.
The highest realms of the cultivation world today reached only Nascent Soul. Beyond that lay Void Refinement, then Union, then Tribulation Crossing, and then Great Ascension. After Great Ascension came ascension to the Immortal-God realm.
"Ahhh!"
Under that one glance, Little Carp convulsed as though struck by lightning. She immediately flipped over, belly up. The final strike of the Dragon Transformation Tribulation was not lightning at all, but a trial of the soul.
To become a true dragon, one must not only possess dragon blood, but also a dragon soul.
After that single glance, the tribulation clouds dissipated. Little Carp's Dragon Transformation Tribulation had formally ended. Yet her road to dragonhood was not yet complete.
Gu Mo approached her. By now, strands of golden energy were leaking from within her body. Soon, Little Carp's form collapsed inward, turning into a golden egg.
He placed the golden egg into his pocket world. Next, she would need a period of time to endure the trial of her soul within, until at last she broke free of the shell to emerge as a true dragon.
Then Gu Mo's gaze shifted aside. There, a faint azure dragon phantom hovered, a seed clasped in its mouth.
This was the Dragonblood Kelp's current state. He had now condensed a dragon soul, and within that seed was his true dragon bloodline. As long as the seed was planted and allowed to sprout, he would be reborn.
When that time came, the Dragonblood Kelp would become a wood-attribute Azure Dragon—his transformation from spirit-plant demon king into true dragon. As for Little Carp, should she succeed in her metamorphosis, she would become a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon.
Storing the Dragonblood Kelp away into his pocket world, Gu Mo chose the place where the spiritual energy was thickest and planted the seed.
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