The Master and His Wealthy Fiancée

The tribulation clouds morphed again, rolling across hundreds of miles as lightning struck down again and again.

By now, Tian Sisi's Profound Pill had reached the fourth grade. It was as large as a pigeon's egg, plump and glistening, radiating a golden, profound light.

As expected of one of the most exceptionally talented individuals in history, the Thunder Tribulations below the fourth grade had barely drained her.

She now understood the nature of the Profound Pill's Thunder Tribulation. It was an opportunity born from the Dao of Heaven and Earth sensing the Profound Pill, a profound process that used lightning to cleanse the cultivator. As long as one's cultivation was strong enough to withstand the strikes, they would be refined by the lightning, their impurities purged, leaving only the essence. Not only would their physical body and cultivation improve, but their Divine Sense would also experience a tremendous leap.

Of course, if one failed to withstand it, the lightning's power would transform into an all-destroying energy. The only outcome would be complete annihilation, both in body and Dao.

Now, as her Profound Pill evolved toward the third grade, the Spiritual Qi around her was being consumed with incredible speed. The distracting thoughts, desires, and fears stirred by the lightning were all viciously amplified.

This was not just a test of one's cultivation, but also a trial to temper one's Dao Heart.

At first, Chen Dong had been worried, but his fears eased over time. Tian Sisi was like a fish in water amidst the lightning. Her foundation was simply too profound, and the current explosive surge of Spiritual Qi provided the perfect environment for her tribulation.

But the tribulation clouds in the sky continued to expand, and the resulting phenomenon was now impossible to miss. Even ordinary people in Beijing could see the clouds, to say nothing of perceptive Martial Artists.

Chen Dong readied himself. He could already sense the first wave of arrivals. He absolutely could not allow them to interfere with Tian Sisi's tribulation.

A dark figure flickered in the shadows. Without warning, it channeled its power to lift a massive boulder and hurl it directly at Tian Sisi in the air.

With a flash of lightning from his hand, Chen Dong's Thunder Spear instantly shattered the massive rock.

The figure was revealed in the lightning's glare: a tall, sturdy, middle-aged man clad in the black robes of the Military Suppression Department's Divine Department. His face, covered in black inscriptions, looked sinister and terrifying.

"Lightning Arts!"

The man's eyes narrowed. "You're Chen Dong?" he said coldly. "Why are you obstructing the Military Suppression Department in its capture of a demon?"

Chen Dong was wearing a mask, so the man wasn't certain of his identity at first, but he had deduced it from the attack.

Chen Dong chuckled. "And what if I am? If you want to touch Tian Sisi, you'll have to get through me first... member of the Calamity God Department!"

The way Chen Dong uttered "Calamity God Department" was heavy with meaning. E Xuanfu instantly understood that Chen Dong must be the Guardian Sisi had found. There was no need for further words. He didn't know how Sisi had escaped the Qiankun Realm, rendering the grand arrays prepared for her useless, but regardless, he could not allow her to complete her tribulation.

E Xuanfu drew a pair of short swords and slashed them across his arms. The blood that flowed out soaked into his black robes, and half the inscriptions on his face began to glow. His body instantly swelled, and he again transformed into a shadow, lunging at Chen Dong.

In this situation, he had to use his real strength and finish this fight quickly. Things would get messy if he waited until Tian Sisi completed her Thunder Tribulation.

Chen Dong summoned a bolt of lightning, fusing it into his body. A purplish-blue aura flared around him as he stood ready with his Thunder Spear. E Xuanfu was an Inner Realm Peak expert, after all; there was no room for carelessness.

'Behind me! No, to the left.'

Chen Dong parried with a thrust of his spear! A tremendous shockwave of energy erupted from the clash of sword and spear.

Chen Dong was violently thrown back, but he immediately hurled his Thunder Spear. This ability to hide in shadows had caught him off guard, and E Xuanfu's True Qi was frighteningly powerful, far beyond what he had anticipated.

E Xuanfu didn't try to block the Thunder Spear, instead melting back into the shadows.

The spear blasted a massive crater into the mountaintop where Chen Dong had just been. Luckily, it was nowhere near the Teleportation Array; otherwise, it would have been ruined.

The surrounding shadows flickered incessantly; E Xuanfu could strike from any direction. With a frown, Chen Dong shot up into the open air.

Another bolt of tribulation lightning lit up the sky, casting a fleeting shadow from Chen Dong's body. E Xuanfu erupted from that very shadow, his twin short swords moving with vicious speed as he slashed at Chen Dong's lower half.

'Fast. He's just too fast!'

Chen Dong's reaction was a fraction too late. He could only parry one of the short swords with his spear. With his free hand, he flung five Silver Needles charged with lightning. It was a gamble: with only one sword left to attack, E Xuanfu would either have to trade blow for blow or pull back to defend.

The short sword broke through his purplish-blue protective aura. With a flick of the blade, it slashed back, sending blood flying. A gash deep enough to reveal bone was carved into Chen Dong's side, from his abdomen up to his ribs.

At the same time, five muffled explosions of lightning erupted from within E Xuanfu's body, and he plummeted from the sky.

But Chen Dong, who possessed the Saint's Emblem, had no fear of trading injuries. The red dot between his eyebrows glowed faintly, and the gash on his body began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

'For E Xuanfu to choose that trade, he must have an ace up his sleeve,' Chen Dong thought. 'I doubt he can be defeated this easily.'

Sure enough, a figure like a ferocious beast repeated the same trick, bursting from the shadows. His twin swords seemed to stick to Chen Dong's Thunder Spear, his strikes coming one after another with incredible speed and immense force.

Chen Dong was shocked. 'The Divine Departments are truly on another level.' E Xuanfu was superior to him in speed, strength, and even his Realm, and Chen Dong instantly found himself at a disadvantage. What he didn't know was that E Xuanfu had only gained this power by absorbing the bloodline of Huo Pu.

Facing this overwhelming pressure, Chen Dong fought while retreating. Relying on his Saint's Emblem, he resorted to a strategy of trading injury for injury.

This strategy, however, was exactly what E Xuanfu wanted. To defeat Chen Dong quickly, his only option was to rely on the power of Huo Pu's bloodline and launch a relentless assault, completely disregarding his own wounds.