The Romantic Cultivator

Yuan Ji was actually astonished that Xiang Li had the ability to enhance the spirit animus to encompass all three of them.

"Why didn't you tell me that you got such a great ability?" He had secretly asked her when she was back into his soul sea.

Xiang Li chuckled shyly as she placed her fingers on her mouth, "I can only affect those that you have dual cultivate with."

Yuan Ji: …

Yuan Ji: …

Yuan Ji: …

Yuan Ji decided to ignore Xiang Li for now. It was because the lightning tribulation was starting soon.

From the dark heavens, a purple streak of lightning with multiple forks had descended with a brilliant purple flash upon Yuan Ji, Ling Feiyue and Xue Qianxue at the same time!

The four winged battle maiden of the golden profound animus that was displayed by Xue Qianxue was the first to be hit by the purple lightning. In that very instant, Xue Qianxue's four winged battle maiden were completely dissipated by the tremendous profound power of the first purple lightning.

If the winged battle maiden was Xue Qianxue's spirit entity, it would be surely be destroyed in that very instant. Having a spirit entity destroyed would have serious consequences on a cultivator's soul sea and would cause a severe loss of vital profound strength. In the worse situation, the cultivator may even suffer a loss in cultivation strength and may even drop in realm level.

But luckily for Xue Qianxue, the winged maiden was not a spirit entity but an illusion created by her Sacred Maiden Profound Art.

Although Xue Qianxue was already a saintess but she did not have any spirit entity yet. Even though a spirit entity could be produced from the artefact core of a sixth rank desolate beast but the chance of that happening was only too rare.

Now Xue Qianxue's Sacred Maiden Profound Art was a unique profound art that could shape the practitioner's profound animus into a battle maiden which closely resembled a spirit entity. Although it was not the actual case here but her Sacred Maiden Profound Art was closely related to the spirit entities.

As a matter of fact, should Xue Qianxue were to have a spirit entity in the future, she would empower her battle maiden with the added support of a spirit entity. Because her spirit entity was secondary to the battle maiden that was formed by the Sacred Maiden Profound Art, she would freely discard the spirit entity for a new spirit entity without affecting her soul sea. Even if the spirit entity was destroyed, her soul sea would not be affected.

Also if Xue Qianxue's winged battle maiden was destroyed like in this instance by the purple lightning, her soul sea would also not be affected as it was not a real spirit entity. However a great deal of her profound strength would dissipate as a result from the destruction of her profound animus.

The winged battle maiden that was encompassing Yuan Ji, Ling Feiyue and Xue Qianxue had managed to reduce the profound power of the purple lightning by 30%.

In their eyes, this was a massive reduction and a matter of life and death as they raised their divine swords to negate the profound power of the purple lightning.

BOOM!!!

There was a thunderous boom as the purple lightning blasted into them.

Yuan Ji yelled aloud as the purple lightning ripped through his soul sea with a thunderous impact before throwing him upside down as he landed on the ground.

A few aftershocks later, a large pit had appeared around them and a smoldering smoke could be seen.

Xue Qianxue and Ling Feiyue were also on the ground and they were trembling.

"Is everyone alright?" Yuan Ji coughed weakly as he struggled to stand up.

"I'm alright." Ling Feiyue coughed out weakly.

Xue Qianxue nodded quietly as she popped a profound pill.

Yuan Ji and Ling Feiyue knew that Xue Qianxue had used the most profound strength and she was trying to stabilize her erratic profound energies at the moment and could not speak.

Yuan Ji took a quick look behind him and was relieved that the grave was still intact. But he was soon sighing heavily; the profound power of the purple lightning was too powerful.

If it was not for Xiang Li earlier, they would all have been more seriously injured.

For that, Yuan Ji was secretly grateful to Xiang Li.

Xiang Li said to him from inside his soul sea as she shook her head, "The first purple lightning had dissipated 20% of your spiritual sea. This is not good."

Before the first purple lightning had struck, Xiang Li had already retreated into Yuan Ji's soul sea. It was because she dared not stay outside as she was vulnerable to the terrifying profound power of the lightning tribulation. She was a spirit entity now after all.

Yuan Ji knew that it was not good because there was nine more purple lightning left to go. Expending 20% of his soul sea was not the same as saying he could tank four more hits. In fact, it was way lesser than that.

It was because the soul sea was the real profound strength of the cultivator. The term for that was vital profound strength which was their true essence. When it was reduced, their profound power and defenses would also drop.

The next purple lightning would definitely drain more than 20% of Yuan Ji's soul sea and that was why Xiang Li had said that it was not good.

"We have to use the Five Elements Profound Mirror of the Forgotten Immortals for the next purple lightning." Ling Feiyue said solemnly as she popped in a few profound pills. "Let's hope that this mirror does not shatter on the very first hit."

After she had said that she was stroking Xue Qianxue's back to help her up, "Sister Xue, are you alright?"

Xue Qianxue nodded weakly.

Ling Feiyue sighed softly, "There is a five minute interval before the next strike. Let's cultivate back our profound strength as much as possible first."

Yuan Ji nodded as he popped a fourth rank profound pill that could be used for regaining some of his profound strength. It was given to him by Xue Qianxue.

The two maidens had actually given him many profound pills earlier and he was stunned by the amount of profound pills that they had.

He could not help muttering to himself that they were good-for-nothing wastrels after they had given him these profound pills which were worth several times the combined wealth of the Emperor Hall Sect and tens of times more than the Orthodox Sword Sect.

"Ji Yuan, you are only taking a fourth rank profound pill? Take it with the fifth rank profound rank. It is more effective this way." Xue Qianxue said to him with a weak voice.

Yuan Ji smiled weakly as he reluctantly popped in a fifth rank profound pill and he could feel that he was swallowing a huge gold mine and his heart felt extremely painful. This was too wasteful for him…

Suddenly he could hear Xiang Li sobbing in the corner of his soul sea, "Yuan Ji, sorry…it is all my fault. If it is just the golden lightning tribulation, we will surely have a good chance of overcoming it. It is because of my heaven defying presence that your golden lightning tribulation has become a purple lightning tribulation…"

Yuan Ji said gently to her with a soft laugh, "Xiang Li, it isn't your fault. It is just that I am too weak. Maybe I am actually the one that fault and this is my heavenly retribution for defiling an ancient cursed tomb. Haha."

Then he grew solemn, "Xiang Li, I won't let you die. It is not just you but Qianxue and Feiyue as well. I will safeguard all of you."

Xiang Li sobbed, "But at this rate even with all the miraculous profound pills, we won't be able to make it."

Yuan Ji was quiet for a while but all of a sudden Yuan Ji was shouting excitingly to Xiang Li, "I've got an idea. Maybe we got a hope!"

After he had said that to Xiang Li, he was shouting exciting to Ling Feiyue in the howling winds, "Feiyue, Qianxue! I got an idea. It may work."

Ling Feiyue and Xue Qianxue opened their eyes as they curiously looked at him, "Yes?"

Yuan Ji turned to Ling Feiyue, "Do you remember our combined profound art? The Heaven Light of the Coiling Dragon."

Ling Feiyue gasped softly; he had actually remembered the name of our combined profound art?

She quickly smiled shyly, "I do!"

"We can use it against the lightning tribulation." Yuan Ji pointed out.

Ling Feiyue had a look of hesitation, "Will it work?" It was because the purple lightning was obviously more powerful.

Then Yuan Ji turned to Xue Qianxue and smiled, "We also need Qianxue's Sacred Maiden Profound Art to support us."

Xue Qianxue immediately got it and she was smiling, "This may just work!"

The Sacred Maiden Profound Art was also an internal profound art and could be used to empower the profound strength of the other practitioners.

Yuan Ji grinned, "Rather than being on the defensive, why don't we turn it into the offensive?"

Ling Feiyue and Xue Qianxue were both nodding, "We will wait for your timing!"

"This is the plan…"

Before long, the next purple lightning had burst from the dark heavens.

"Flying Coiling Dragon Sword!"

"Retribution of the Profound Heaven Light!"

"Heaven Light of the Coiling Dragon!" Yuan Ji and Ling Feiyue shouted the name of their combined profound art together as it merged perfectly.

At the same time, Xue Qianxue had gently put her hands on their backs as the spirit animus of a four winged battle maiden appeared in a halo around her. This time round the winged battle maiden was much smaller because Xue Qianxue was channelling her profound energies into Ling Feiyue and Yuan Ji as profound power for their combined profound art.

It was even more beautiful and brilliant than the last time that they had used it because this time their divine swords were empowered by a sword spirit and Xue Qianxue's four wings battle maiden were empowering their profound arts.

Yuan Ji and Ling Feiyue quickly displayed the Heaven Light of the Coiling Dragon as a beautiful beam of white light lit with the golden animus of a four wing coiling dragon had flown into the heavens.

There was a slight difference this time; the coiling dragon had spurted four golden wings and even the heavenly beam of profound light had a golden animus surrounding it.

The three of them had successfully combined their profound arts together, creating yet another miracle!

There were a thunderous brilliant flare as the purple lightning and the Heaven Light of the Coiling Dragon clashed in an outburst of profound energies, causing the already strong winds to blow even more furious and the aftershocks produced by the two opposing profound energies were so great that Yuan Ji, Ling Feiyue and Xue Qianxue had all skidded several steps back.

But there was a joyous look on their faces; it was because they had completely stopped the purple lightning!

"Our combined profound power is able to neutralize the lightning tribulation." Yuan Ji was smiling.

"We may be able to survive after all…" Xue Qianxue and Ling Feiyue were smiling as they exchanged a sentimental look at Yuan Ji.

All of a sudden the whole heavens were lit with purple lightning and the purple lightning appeared to be chaining together, startling everyone.

Ling Feiyue gasped, "The purple tribulation is now combining together to deliver the next strike against us. It is because we have beaten the lightning tribulation and it is now increasing its ferocity. The good news is, we don't have to take all nine purple lightning now. The bad news is that, it will be several times stronger."

Yuan Ji said, "We have to use all the profound treasures now."

Xue Qianxue nodded, "I have mixed a powerful fifth rank profound pill in the Chalice of the Ancient Godly Monarch. It is almost ready to be consumed soon. The Chalice is now dissolving the profound pill. When this is ready, we can replenish some of our lost spiritual seas by absorbing the spirit stones around us."

Yuan Ji nodded before he said, "We shall use the Five Elements Profound Mirror to reduce the power of lightning first. We can also use the Artefact Bell of the Heaven's Path too."

Then he asked Ling Feiyue, "How many times more can you use your Retribution of the Profound Heaven Light?"

It was because the key to overcoming the Lightning Tribulation actually lay with Ling Feiyue now.

Ling Feiyue replied candidly, "Only one or twice. Each use actually used up half of my profound strength. Moreover when we combine it into our new profound art together, it will actually drain more than 90% of my profound strength. But because I'm a great saintess, I am able to recover fast. If I count all the profound pills and spirit stones that I have used, I can use it two more times at most."

Yuan Ji nodded and at the same time he was rubbing his chin to ponder. They would not be depending too much one the profound pills. It was because the effectiveness of the profound pills had a reduced effect after the first profound pill was taken. It did not matter what type of profound pill it was because the body could not absorb all the profound pills at once. In fact, taking so many profound pills at once would end up becoming a powerful poison for the cultivator instead.

It was a lucky thing that the three of them were all seventh realm cultivators and as long as they do not recklessly take too many profound pills at once, they would still be able to absorb the profound pills. However, the effectiveness of the profound pills would still be lost from taking so many profound pills at once.

Yuan Ji gave Ling Feiyue a sentimental look before saying, "After the third lightning tribulation, we shall let Feiyue drink from the Chalice of the Ancient Godly Monarch."

Ling Feiyue had a look of hesitation but slowly she nodded. At first, she had actually wanted Yuan Ji to drink from the Chalice of the Ancient Godly Monarch but now it seemed that she was expending the most profound strength.

Five minutes had quickly passed.

The next purple lightning was now about to descend. The whole skies had now turned white and purple as multiple chains of lightning were now forming like a purple serpent.

There was an explosive thunderclap that shook the heavens and the earth as the purple lightning had descended upon the trio.

Again, they had used their combined profound art.

This time they had thrown up the Five Elements Profound Mirror first. As the purple lightning struck the Five Elements Profound Mirror, some of its profound energies were scattered but the bulk of its profound power was still intact as the two profound energies clashed with a brilliant flare.

Again the same thing had happened except that the explosion in the mid-air was so furious that Yuan Ji, Ling Feiyue and Xue Qianxue were all thrown violently on the ground as the purple lightning went through them almost without any hindrances and draining them of their profound strength.

Yuan Ji was alarmed that 30% of his spiritual seas had been dissipated by the purple lightning. He could only imagine that it may be worse for Ling Feiyue.

He quickly got on his feet as he took the Chalice of the Ancient Godly Monarch for the fallen Ling Feiyue to have a sip.

"Sister Yue, are you alright?" Xue Qianxue was panicky as she helped Ling Feiyue up.

Ling Feiyue was trembling lightly as she forced herself to smile weakly, "I am alright. Don't give me all the sips. Take some for yourself too. The two of you need it as much as I do. I am a…great saintess…"

Yuan Ji forced her to drink all the sips that were in the chalice, "I don't care if you are a great saintess. You are my woman and I am forcing you to drink to the last drop."

Ling Feiyue had a beautiful flush on her cheeks, "Don't talk rubbish at this time…"

She shyly averted her eyes away from Yuan Ji but she was suddenly gasping, "The Five Elements Profound Mirror has a crack."

Even Xue Qianxue was gasping, "This is a most wondrous celestial treasure and we have almost destroyed it. We should not be using it anymore lest we destroy it. It will mend by itself over time…"

Yuan Ji took the Five Elements Profound Mirror with a soft chuckle, "Unfortunately we are going to use it for the very last time."

Then he sighed heavily as he looked at the next chain of purple lightning that was twice as powerful as the earlier blast. "This is the last tribulation lightning. If we can survive this one then the lightning tribulation will be over for us. Therefore we are going to throw everything that we got for our life and death tribulation."

Then he turned to look at the Heaven Smiting Cauldron with a light frown, "We haven't use this profound treasure it and it is already cracking?! What is use of this profound treasure again? I can't remember."

Ling Feiyue smiled, "That is because I haven't introduced it to everyone earlier. This is a most useful profound treasure actually. It had helped to overcome my lightning tribulation the last time. The spiritual root of this Heaven Smiting Cauldron is able to extend into the earth. I would say that 30% of the shockwaves that we had experienced earlier was absorbed by the spiritual root of the Heaven Smiting Cauldron. If not, the destruction of the vicinity will be much greater and even the grave…that we are protecting will also be destroyed."

Yuan Ji gasped. It was no wonder that they would be able to recover so quickly from the lightning shockwaves and was not paralyzed for too long. He had thought it was because he had a strong heart…

"Haha. I see."

They had a short five minutes to quickly recover as much of their profound strength as possible.

Soon the final purple lightning tribulation was arcing across the heavens like a gigantic long purple serpent that was hundreds of miles long. This purple lightning was ten times as long and maybe even ten times as powerful as the last lightning strike!

This final lightning was absolutely terrifying!

At this point, Yuan Ji had suddenly remembered what Hua Wuwu had told him before when he had survived a golden tribulation lightning.

"It is only a six-stage golden lightning and only just one golden lightning. It is nothing to be proud of. Our old master had survived through the nine-stage purple lightning. Now that is a feat that is worth praising."

It was no wonder that Hua Wuwu and Hua Baiyue had told him that he would never be able to defeat their Old Master. It was because he cannot imagine how formidable their Old Master really was. Now he finally realized that he was a frog in a well. Or rather a penniless frog without any cultivation resources that cannot imagine how the rich cultivators were able to have so many huge advantages over the poor cultivators that had no cultivation resources to back them up.

He could not resist adding silently, "Although I am poor but I have married two rich consorts. So I am still the ultimate winner."

At the same time that Yuan Ji had also thrown up the Five Elements Profound Mirror like a speeding object high up into the skies.

There was a brilliant white flare as the Five Elements Profound Mirror was completely shattered into a million pieces and each piece was like a brilliant shooting star. A celestial grade profound treasure was destroyed on this day.

Yuan Ji, Xue Qianxue and Ling Feiyue had quickly displayed their new profound art again to meeting the furious purple serpent that was speeding to them.

Yuan Ji raised his double halo sword as he shouted, "Let's call our new profound art the Heaven-Defying Light of the Coiling Dragon!"

All of a sudden Yuan Ji had awakened two new state of divinity, the Awakened Seventh Sense and the Three-in-One Reflex.

He could feel the profound energies, spiritual energies and soul energies that were coursing through the Heaven-Defying Light of the Coiling Dragon as he directed it to meet the onslaught of the furious purple serpent.

There was an explosive white nova that exploded brilliantly when the two titanic profound energies clashed against each other.

The purple lightning tribulation was naturally more powerful.

In that instant Xue Qianxue had quickly displayed the defensive form of the winged battle maiden to absorb the incoming purple lightning and shockwaves for everyone.

Yuan Ji was not slow either.

He had imbued his sword with all his sword energies as he raised it protectively around Ling Feiyue who had collapsed onto the ground.

Ling Feiyue had completely exhausted her profound energies!

The shockwaves that were sweeping through them were so great that it even shattered two of the legs of the Heaven Smiting Cauldron!

When the aftermath was over, the entire heavens had quickly returned to a pristine heaven and beautiful rainbows could be seen in the horizons.

In the aftermath, the three of them were all lying on the ground and could barely move!

Yuan Ji had lost over 99% of his spiritual seas but he was still alive!

So were Ling Feiyue and Xue Qianxue!

Ling Feiyue knew that Yuan Ji and Xue Qianxue were still alive as her divine sense could sense their heart beats.

She was smiling delightfully, "My silver lightning tribulation is now a purple lightning tribulation…I am now a great saintess of the highest tribulation…"

Xue Qianxue was also giggling delightfully as she rolled in the mud, "I am a great saintess now…hehee…I need a bath…"

Xiang Li was dumbfounded that Yuan Ji and the two maidens had actually overcome the Purple Lightning Tribulation.

She began to giggle to herself as she held onto her bosoms, "I think, I may be in love now..."

Yuan Ji was the most delight. It was because he had ensured that Xiang Li, Ling Feiyue and Xue Qianxue were all alive.

He was laughing jovially as he threw the God Emperor's Rope high up into the sky before it dropped into the bottomless abyss below. "Haha. You didn't kill me so you can use this rope to hang yourself now!"

Ling Feiyue gasped softly, "Don't…"

But it was already too late as the God Emperor's Rope was thrown away by Yuan Ji.

"What is it?" Yuan Ji asked curiously.

"This rope is actually a heaven-step profound treasure that can anchor our soul sea. It is a good profound treasure that can prevent death for a few minutes…"

Yuan Ji: …

Yuan Ji: …

Yuan Ji: …

"Why didn't you say so earlier…"

Unknown to them, a beautiful peerless immortal goddess was quietly watching them from afar. She was trembling with rage and shock at the same time. Rage because a man had thrown her out of her crystal coffin earlier and shock because they had actually survived the lightning tribulation that was created by her.

"This is not possible at all…this is a purple tribulation lightning…even an immortal would not dare to disregard the purple tribulation lightning…"