Rise Of The Worm Sovereign

While Lin Wu was slaughtering his way through the Frozen Cliff Division's peaks, Tian Han was suffering through the worst pain in his life.

~RUMBLE~

The dark tribulation clouds in the sky thundered and sent down another tribulation bolt that struck Tian Han.

"GODDAMMIT!" Tian Han cursed.

His outer clothes had already been burned off and only his soft protective inner armor was somewhat intact on his body, protecting his dignity. 

"How many bolts has it even been now? Seven? Eight?" Tian Han questioned.

After the first four bolts, he had been a bit disoriented, but the ones that came after that were only stronger. They increased in intensity as was expected and were even different from the normal tribulation lighting.

Tina Han didn't know what variant of the Tribulation lightning he was getting hit with, but it surely didn't feel good. In addition to that, he had no idea how many tribulation bolts he would be getting.

Someone that was in the Pseudo Nascent soul realm would usually know this or at least have a hunch about it, but Tian Han never got the opportunity to ponder on it since Lin Wu boosted him rapidly through it all and summoned the Tribulation clouds.

And now he was in no condition to check anything either. He could only wait for it to pass. 

'Couldn't he have at least set up a tribulation attenuation platform? If he can set up such a vast formation array in the matter of minutes, he should be able to do that too…' Tian Han cried to himself.

~BOOM~

Another lightning bolt struck his body, making him trembled non stop and instantly evaporating his tears, leaving behind scorched salt on his cheeks. 

While Tian Han was wallowing in his pain, Tian Chu was hidden in the corner.

"Fuck! What the hell is this heavenly tribulation? Even the legendary ones mentioned in the books don't come close to this…" Tian Chu said to herself as she wiped the sweat off her forehead.

Her hand clenched onto the formation array control token hard, as if afraid that letting go of it would kill her.

Which it really might…

After all, considering how close she was to Tian Han while he was undergoing his heavenly tribulation, she should have long since been struck by the lightning bolts as well. It was actually the protective formation that Lin Wu had added in addition to the others that had kept her safe all this time.

'Master really cares for me… he even made this protective array for me.' Tian Chu thought with a slight flutter in her heart.

~BOOM~

"Aiya!" Tian Chu secretly shrieked from the sudden lightning. 

She had never told this to anyone, but she was really afraid of thunder. Since it would tarnish her image of being a genius in the Tian Clan's branch, she had kept it hidden. She could even suppress it for the most part and was fine with normal thunderstorms.

But the heavenly tribulation… well, that was anything but normal. Especially a variant one that Tian Han was going through.

'Thankfully, master pushed me to the Nascent soul realm directly and even stopped the tribulation lightning for me, so I didn't have to suffer. Though I wonder what kind of a tribulation I would have had…' Tian Chu thought.

She had been at the Nascent soul realm for long enough that she could compare her strength to others and get a gauge of her own standing. And she could tell that she was far stronger than any average Infant soul stage Nascent soul realm cultivator.

"Master's abilities are truly profound…" Tian Chu said with a hint of longing. ~Sigh~ "if only he could be a human…"

~RUMBLE~

~WHOOSH~

While Tian Chu was living in her fantasies for a hot minute, the rest of the audience finally arrived.

Away from where Tian Han was, a large group of people dressed in the robes of the Frozen Cloud sect arrived.

"LOOK!"

"Damn, it really is a heavenly tribulation!"

"Who would be so brave enough to undergo a heavenly tribulation here?"

"Forget about being brave. I'd rather say they were very brazen to have picked this place. How can they use the territory of the Frozen Cliff division without permission? Don't they know what kind of damage a heavenly tribulation can cause to the area?" 

Such conversations were heard in the entire group as they looked at the heavenly tribulation. They couldn't really go any closer and only spotted a humanoid figure that was charred black.

It was sitting cross legged but its back was slightly hunched. There were also a lot of burn marks all around him, with some parts of the ground being directly melted. 

"Ssss! What strong tribulation lightning!"

"I know, right? It has barely been ten minutes and there have already been nine bolts of it." 

The disciples certainly felt surprised by this. One had to know that the most common heavenly tribulation only had up to three bolts. And even the one with the three bolts was considered good.

Anything more than that, and it would enter the territory of rare and the further it went, the rarer it would get.

The ones that reached beyond five bolts were already in the level of a genius and only those with a great talent would ever suffer from them.

This knowledge was very well known by the elders and they had quite some shock in their eyes.

"Elder Giza, you are the expert in this field, aren't you? What do you think this tribulation is?" One of the elders asked.

The elderly man named Elder Giza seemed to rub his beard a couple of times before replying, "considering we're already at the ninth bolt, it should be the Nine Spark Tribulation or even the Falling Rise Tribulation." 

"Whoa! Haven't those two never been recorded in the past five thousand years?" another elder asked.

"It is possible for it to be something else t—" but before Elder Giza could finish his sentence, another bolt struck.

~BOOM~

"Impossible!" the elders shouted.