"Damn it! What's going on? Why hasn't the lightning disappeared after the ninety-ninth strike?"
Lin San stared at the sky, eyes wide with shock as the increasingly terrifying thunderclouds brewed above him.
He had thought there would only be ninety-nine lightning strikes, but to his surprise, the storm was still gathering strength, and it seemed the next bolt would be even more powerful.
Lin San's expression darkened. But he had no choice—he had to keep resisting this fearsome heavenly lightning.
Boom!
The one-hundredth bolt of lightning came crashing down.
This bolt was far more terrifying than any of the previous ones.
The area around Lin San was blasted into a massive crater, and his entire body was driven deep into the pit.
Huff, huff—
Lin San was panting heavily now, his body still crackling with residual lightning energy that caused sharp stabs of pain.
He was grateful that Ye Fan's sword had the Thousand Thunder ability, giving him some resistance to lightning. Gripping Ye Fan's sword tightly, he gathered his resolve.
"Bring it on!" Lin San shouted through gritted teeth as he raised Ye Fan's sword toward the sky.
No matter how many bolts of lightning came, he would endure them!
...
Time passed, and the terrifying bolts of heavenly lightning continued to crash down on him.
The ground around Lin San was now an enormous crater, its depth growing with each strike.
Lin San was at the bottom of a vast pit by now, but he kept going, never wavering.
In the sky above, a particularly massive bolt of lightning was forming—like a gigantic pillar of energy. It shot down straight onto Lin San.
Boom!
The ground shook violently.
Lin San's body was struck, and he collapsed to the ground. His body was now covered in countless wounds.
But at that moment, the thunderclouds above began to dissipate, and the lightning energy finally faded away.
"Nine hundred and ninety-nine strikes..."
Lying on the ground, Lin San gasped for breath.
In total, the lightning had struck him nine hundred and ninety-nine times.
"Luckily, they weren't too powerful..." Lin San muttered, still lying on the ground, his body too exhausted to move.
He was utterly drained.
"Hah, if it weren't for me, you'd be long dead by now," Ye Fan chimed in with a chuckle.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine bolts of heavenly lightning, each more powerful than the last. If Lin San had faced them alone, he might have died after just a few hundred strikes.
But fortunately for Lin San, Ye Fan had discovered that he could use his Devour ability to absorb some of the energy from the lightning bolts.
Ye Fan had absorbed a great deal of energy, which in turn weakened the force of the lightning bolts hitting Lin San, reducing the damage considerably.
"Now, I should be able to upgrade my abilities," Ye Fan thought.
Thousand Thunder LV.4 and the sword's Sword Aura ability were already at level 4, thanks to the energy fragment he had absorbed earlier. To upgrade them further would require just three hundred billion evolution points.
After defeating the Demon God King, Lin San had gained one trillion evolution points for Ye Fan, and together with the points from the other demons Lin San had slain, Ye Fan now had a total of over 1.5 trillion points.
Seeing such an immense number of evolution points, Ye Fan couldn't help but feel a bit surprised.
"Time to upgrade!"
Without hesitation, Ye Fan spent the necessary evolution points to upgrade both abilities.
The Devour ability remained at level 2, and although it couldn't be manually upgraded, Ye Fan wasn't too concerned.
With six hundred billion evolution points spent, both Thousand Thunder and Sword Aura were now upgraded to level 5! No new abilities had appeared yet.
"Upgrading to level 5 now requires six hundred billion points!"
Ye Fan glanced at the requirements for the next upgrade. It would take another six hundred billion evolution points to proceed.
For now, Ye Fan still had over nine hundred billion points, even after spending so many.
"Alright, let's upgrade again."
Without hesitation, Ye Fan spent another six hundred billion points, boosting both abilities to level 6!
The new Sword Aura ability description read:
Sword Aura: The sword releases powerful sword energy, which can form a crescent-shaped strike.
Advanced Ability:
Void Slash: Releases three powerful sword energies, forming a cone-shaped attack.
Sword Qi Tornado: Releases hundreds of sword energies at once, which converge to form a tornado that causes massive area damage.
"Hmm, looks good."
Ye Fan was quite satisfied with the newly acquired ability.
"It seems like every three levels, a new ability is unlocked."
"By that logic, the next ability might appear at level 9," Ye Fan thought to himself, feeling slightly frustrated. He still had over three hundred billion evolution points left, but not nearly enough to reach the next level.
He would need to gather more evolution points—or recover more of his lost fragments.
Meanwhile, Lin San was slowly sitting up, finally able to move after the intense tribulation.
He closed his eyes and began circulating his cultivation technique, channeling the energy from the lightning tribulation.
After enduring the strikes, Lin San realized that the lightning had been beneficial to him.
Heavenly lightning carried immense energy, and not only could it refine his body, but it also filled him with even more power.
Now, Lin San's body was teeming with energy.
Absorbing and refining it, he continued.
Time passed.
Eventually, after an unknown amount of time, Lin San opened his eyes once more. The injuries on his body had fully healed by now.
He felt a powerful surge of energy coursing through his body—stronger than ever before.
Boom!
As Lin San stood up, the very space around him trembled.
He looked down at his right hand, and in the center of his palm, a blood-red lotus flower had appeared.
The Blood Lotus Flame!
"I can now fully control the power of this flame," Lin San murmured to himself.
Not only had he mastered the Blood Lotus Flame, but his body had also grown stronger after enduring the lightning tribulation.
He was now a God King!
Lin San had successfully ascended to the level of God King, and he had control over a powerful fire-based energy!