Hades, the Urban Legend

Chapter 736: Chapter 739: A Desperate Struggle

As the beam of light gradually grew stronger, the nearly thousand layers of parallel space began to solidify, and from below, the divine lightning's brilliance could barely penetrate!

"Boom!"

A muffled sound echoed, accompanied by a shockwave that shook the heavens and the earth. The second strike of the Taiqing Divine Lightning suddenly crashed into the spatial barrier!

Alice was overjoyed, "Did it work?!"

"No." Stern and Poseidon simultaneously denied it, their faces inexplicably grim.

"Damn it!"

The spatial barrier that had gathered the divine powers of the three of them trembled violently the moment the divine lightning made contact, teetering as it began to shake intensely!

Before their eyes, countless cracks began to appear on the barrier!

"Let's go; there's nothing more we can do!" Poseidon gritted his teeth and, without waiting for the other two, swiftly flew away from the scene!

Stern, without a moment's hesitation, grabbed his sister's hand, and they instantly teleported away from the sea area.

The moment the three left, the spatial barrier in midair shattered like concrete being pierced by a diamond drill. As the space collapsed, the blinding lightning once again plunged into the ocean!

In an instant, the sea and sky were illuminated as if it were daylight, like the mysterious glow of the polar lights, ethereal and illusionary!

Hundreds of nautical miles away, Poseidon's face was somber, his eyes sharp as an eagle's, staring directly at the sea area where Yang Chen was.

Stern cursed angrily, "Damn it, how is this possible? Even if it's the Nine Heavens Divine Lightning Tribulation, this is just the first round of the three Taiqing Divine Lightning strikes. How could the three of us together not withstand even one strike?!"

"No, even within the Nine Heavens Divine Lightning Tribulation, there are different levels. The more defiant the cultivation technique, the more powerful the divine lightning becomes. The divine lightning we witnessed tens of thousands of years ago was at least thirty to forty percent less powerful than today's. Unless that woman Athena uses her Aegis Shield, no one can withstand this unharmed," Poseidon shook his head.

Standing not far away, Christine, her face pale, stared blankly at the distant screen filled with the power of divine lightning, unable to comprehend what was happening, mumbling to herself in disbelief.

"And Yang Chen..." Alice, no longer displaying her usual seductive demeanor, leaned her head against her brother's chest with a few tears in her eyes, unable to continue watching.

Stern held his sister's delicate shoulders tightly, "There's still one more strike left. Once the lightning tribulation is over, we'll go find him immediately," he said, but there was a trace of sadness in his voice.

Meanwhile, beneath the thunderclouds and submerged in the ocean, Yang Chen had no time to consider the situation outside.

Before kicking Poseidon away, Yang Chen had vaguely sensed an overwhelming power from heaven and earth locking onto him!

Although he didn't know exactly what it was, Yang Chen had a premonition, and as he unleashed all his cultivation, that ominous feeling finally came true!

Every time his bloodlust was triggered by the side effects of the divine light, it also unleashed all his potential strength, which meant that all his cultivation was being released rather than holding back some to suppress the violent tendencies in his mind.

At this moment, he was truly exerting his full strength!

As for why, in such a situation, he had retained enough rationality to kick Poseidon away—perhaps it was his inner pride, or maybe it was the last bit of obsession. Even if Poseidon were to die because of him, it had to be by his own hand, not by some external force from heaven and earth!

Shortly after Yang Chen kicked Poseidon away, his body could no longer control itself. The surging true essence made his veins bulge to the limit, and a painful roar escaped from his throat, like the grinding of gears.

As the dark clouds swirled and a bolt of lightning descended, the true essence in Yang Chen's body, as if compressed to the extreme and resisting, surged up to meet the divine lightning head-on!

However, the gap between his true essence and the divine lightning was too vast!

Yang Chen felt as if all the true essence in his body was drained in a mere three seconds, and even his blood began to be squeezed out of his capillaries!

The blue divine lightning, after a brief pause, finally engulfed Yang Chen's entire body!

Yang Chen could no longer comprehend what pain was; it felt as if his very soul was being tormented in the depths of hell, making him wish for death to take him.

This was an indescribably harrowing state, far worse than the suffering he had endured as a child when he was subjected to biochemical experiments. The agony of that time was a hundred times lighter compared to this!

The power of the divine lightning was not only ravaging his physical body but also inflicting tremendous damage on his soul. Even if he wanted to abandon his physical body and undergo reincarnation in a parallel space, Yang Chen knew there was no escaping this torment!

Before the divine lightning even struck him, his clothes had already turned to ashes. When the lightning hit, Yang Chen's entire body was plunged into the cold ocean. The power of the lightning penetrated the water, as if it were invading every cell in his body.

In mere moments, his cells ruptured and tore apart continuously, his entire body turning into a pulpy mess. If it were an ordinary cultivator facing such Taiqing Divine Lightning, they would have been utterly obliterated, their soul completely annihilated! But Yang Chen's body had been tempered by divine light, and over the years, the Wang Nian Derivation Sutra had strengthened and refined him far beyond what a typical cultivator in the Transformation or Tribulation stage could imagine.

The most miraculous aspect of the Wang Nian Derivation Sutra was its ability to bring life out of certain death. As his body and soul were severely damaged by the divine lightning, the sutra began operating at a pace thousands of times faster than usual, converting the vast spiritual energy brought by the divine lightning into true essence within Yang Chen. It rapidly repaired the tissues and soul damage caused by the lightning.

Although this repair speed was slightly slower than the destruction wrought by the lightning, it was enough to preserve the last sliver of Yang Chen's life force.

The brief strike of the divine lightning lasted only a few seconds, but the suffering Yang Chen endured felt like it stretched on for centuries. His body was scorched and burned, his flesh and blood constantly rotting away, only to regenerate again and again. This was a level of torment beyond the imagination of any ordinary person.

As the first Taiqing Divine Lightning finally dissipated, Yang Chen realized he was still alive, and the violent bloodlust caused by the side effects in his brain vanished. The divine lightning, being the purest energy in the world, instantly dispersed the violent energy within him.

Maintaining a shred of reason, Yang Chen felt like crying. How did I suddenly reach the Tribulation stage? Cultivation is not bound by time—some people may not advance a single level in centuries, while others progress rapidly. It all depends on enlightenment, opportunity, and one's natural endowments. But this rapid advancement... was it too fast?

It was just a casual remark from Yan Sanniang that seemed to have awakened an understanding of the mysteries of heaven and earth far beyond hers. Rapid advancement is good, but Yang Chen had no experience and no protective treasures—how could he survive this heavenly tribulation?

If Yang Chen knew that his tribulation was not just any ordinary tribulation but the "Nine Heavens Divine Lightning Tribulation," the most unbearable of all tribulations for cultivators, he would have spat out blood in rage.

Just as he thought he had narrowly escaped death, Yang Chen sensed another divine lightning strike about to descend!

Is the heavens determined to kill me?

Yang Chen could feel his body frantically regenerating, but if another strike came so soon, it would surely be fatal! His soul hadn't fully recovered, and the chance for reincarnation was slim. Besides, so many people were counting on him; if he died now, what would happen to the women who depended on him?

Even in this dire moment, he could still think of such things. As Yang Chen was overwhelmed with a sense of helplessness beyond words, Poseidon, Apollo, and Diana happened to form a barrier over the sea!

Yang Chen could vaguely sense their presence and thought he might be saved, but to his despair, their barrier lasted only a few seconds before the lightning broke through and struck him again!

Don't give false hope if you can't follow through... This final grievance left Yang Chen feeling utterly hopeless.

With this second baptism of divine lightning, Yang Chen could no longer remain conscious. He completely lost all thought as his body was ravaged by the violent lightning, tossed around in the resulting tsunami like a lone boat, his skin and flesh torn apart!

If not for the barrier above buying him a few extra seconds, allowing the Wang Nian Derivation Sutra to restore more of his body and soul, this strike would have utterly destroyed his soul.

The thunderclouds in the sky did not dissipate. Sensing that the tribulation had not yet claimed its victim, it was as if the heavens themselves were furious. The clouds swirled faster, condensing into the third and final Taiqing Divine Lightning, which was even more formidable and imposing than the previous two!

Yang Chen, with his mind shut down for self-preservation, could not sense the terrifying atmosphere outside. At this moment, the true essence of the Wang Nian Derivation Sutra within his body, though not guided by Yang Chen's will, did not abandon its effort to protect its master. But seeing that the next lightning strike could not be withstood by mere repairs and resistance, the true essence of the Wang Nian Derivation Sutra decided on a "desperate gamble"!

It seemed to give up all resistance. The sutra retracted all protective true essence back into the dantian, leaving Yang Chen's body completely unprotected, floating openly on the surface of the sea, prepared to face the final strike of divine lightning with nothing but his battered, mortal body!

To read the manga version, please click the YouTube link https://youtu.be/GnU613H6xm8