An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 373 The Body That Has Endured Tribulations
Chu Xiu let out a soft breath, a hint of exhaustion flashing in his eyes.

It has to be said that even for him now, the high-intensity use of [Perfect Forging] is extremely taxing.

Fortunately, the result was good.

Chu Xiu could clearly feel the terrifying power contained in this drop of liquid!
"Once someone gets tainted by it, even a demigod would probably lose a lot of strength, and some weaker demigods might even be wiped out."

"Well, since it's condensed from death energy, I'll call you the Poison Stealer."

This drop of Calamity Poison was only refined using ordinary death energy, not mutated death energy. Ordinary death energy is a product of the neutralization of Calamity and Dao, and is not pure. If it were refined using mutated death energy, its power would probably be even greater!

Furthermore, Chu Xiu could sense that after refining this drop of liquid, the spiritual light on the Myriad Filth Returning to Origin Bag seemed to have become much more subdued. Although it didn't look as dazzling, the aura it exuded was even stronger.

"This is the wonder of the Myriad Filth Returning to Origin Bag. After refining the poisonous gas and miasma within, the main body can also draw power from it to grow!"

"My current mid-grade Myriad Filth Returning to Origin Bag may even transform into a high-grade bag after undergoing enough refining processes!"

This is the biggest difference between this magic weapon and other magic weapons! It was also the main reason why Chu Xiu chose to refine this treasure.

Let out a soft breath, and a smile appeared on Chu Xiu's face: "Since that's the case, let's take this opportunity to refine this treasure properly."

With a wave of his hand, the Ten Directions Netherfire Array and the Four Symbols Yin-Yang Furnace appeared in the arena, along with more than a dozen spiritual materials that floated out at the same time!
These spiritual materials are all high-grade materials from the eight immortals, and they are the same as the Myriad Filth Returning to Origin Bag in terms of the five elements and affinity. Refining them into the bag will allow the grade of this treasure to continue to be upgraded!

Chu Xiu estimated that he could at least improve his rank by one grade, from rank six to rank five, and if he was lucky, he could even improve it directly to rank four!
The improvement in basic grade will naturally be of great benefit to Chu Xiu's subsequent refining and nurturing.

As the perfect refining process began, the materials started to fuse together. With focused refining, half a month passed in the blink of an eye. Finally, a burst of spiritual light appeared, and countless streams of spiritual energy surged out from the Four Symbols Yin-Yang Furnace. After the strange phenomenon disappeared, the brand-new Myriad Impurities Return to Origin Bag appeared on the spot.

Chu Xiu could clearly feel that, compared to before, both the internal space and the refining restrictions within it were more than twice as strong!
"It has definitely reached the fifth rank, and it's only a hair's breadth away from the fourth rank!"

Chu Xiu was very satisfied. After taking a few recovery items, he withdrew from the death energy domain and rested for half a day to recover his energy. Then he immediately re-entered the domain and began to absorb and refine the mutated death energy!
As soon as the Myriad Filth Returning to Origin Bag was opened, it began to devour the surrounding mutated death energy like a whale's gaping maw, and this devouring lasted for a full half hour!

Although it was nothing compared to the massive vortex of death energy, Chu Xiu was in no hurry. He withdrew from the death energy domain and devoted himself to refining it. After successfully refining the Calamity Poison, he returned to absorb it again.

As it continuously absorbed and refined, the Myriad Impurities Returning to Origin Bag seemed to be constantly nourished by some kind of powerful tonic, and the spiritual energy within it grew stronger and stronger.

A month and a half passed, and the Myriad Filth Returning to Origin Bag suddenly emitted a dazzling spiritual light, which then completely receded and quietly fell into Chu Xiu's hand, no longer absorbing a trace of death energy.

"It's complete."

Looking at the Myriad Filth Returning to Origin Bag in his hand, which had completely extinguished its radiance and was no different from an ordinary cloth bag, Chu Xiu revealed a satisfied smile.

For the past month and a half, he has been absorbing mutated death energy day and night to refine it. After refining the sixth drop of Calamity Poison, the Myriad Filth Returning to Origin Bag successfully advanced to the fourth grade.

After advancing to the fourth rank, the Abyss still displayed the rank as a demigod myth, but Chu Xiu could clearly feel that the fourth-rank Myriad Filth Returning to Origin Bag was much stronger than the Chiwen and Star Ring Pulse Gauntlets!

He guessed that this was because the quality of the equipment was the same as that of the Awakener. The gap between demigods and gods was huge, and even among demigods, their power would be vastly different.

Chu Xiu didn't care too much about the grade, after all, the attributes of the Abyss were just a reference, and the power in the real world was the most important.

He then continued to repeat the refining process to further enhance the power of the Myriad Impurities Returning to Origin Bag.

Although the Myriad Filth Returning to Origin Bag was ultimately not upgraded to the top three grades, the amount of calamity poison in the bag had reached a full fourteen drops!

Moreover, just as he expected, the calamity poison refined from mutated death energy was 30% more powerful than that refined from ordinary death energy!

"A single drop of the Calamity Poison can obliterate an ordinary demigod, so what if all fourteen drops of the Calamity Poison were used together?"

Chu Xiu felt that even if he still couldn't kill a demigod like Astrid, who was at the level of a Heavenly King, he could at least inflict some damage on them, and might even severely injure them!
Of course, this is based on the premise that the poison hits the opponent. Although the poison is powerful, the demigods at the Heavenly King level each have their own supernatural abilities. Chu Xiu is not so arrogant as to think that he can fight against Heavenly King level powerhouses with these external objects.

To fight against those powerful individuals, you must first advance to the level of Heroic Spirit!
If the basic attributes are too far apart, having the most magic items won't help!

Although he was still no match for the Heavenly King, Chu Xiu was in a great mood because he had added another trump card.

Moreover, the continuous refining over the past month and a half has absorbed countless amounts of mutated death energy, causing the death energy vortex in the distance to thin out somewhat.

"Now our chances of obtaining the Calamity Pearl have increased even more."

After a moment's hesitation, Chu Xiu patted his cloth bag, and a drop of poison appeared before him.

This seemingly ordinary black liquid is filled with a chilling aura, as if it could devour all life in an instant.

Although this drop of poison wasn't as domineering as the black lightning, it still possessed some of its eerie effects.

For example, upon impact, it will cause large-scale disintegration of the target, such as having strong penetrating power through barriers and protective gear.

"If I'm not mistaken, that black lightning was actually the pure calamity, and it was also what attacked this ancient cultivator back then."

"The rest, whether it is death energy or mutated death energy, are products of the combination of blood, flesh, yin energy and other substances after hitting the target, which are diluted by countless times."

"However, the Tribulation Poison I refined still contains a lot of impurities, so it cannot reproduce the full power of the Tribulation Poison."

Perhaps only after the Myriad Filth Returns to Origin Bag is upgraded to the upper third grade will it be possible to further refine the Calamity Poison and transform it into the black lightning-like [Calamity Lightning].

However, after these days of refinement, Chu Xiu also realized the huge gap between the middle grade and the upper grade. Although the Myriad Filth Returning to Origin Bag still has a chance to be promoted to the upper three grades, it is by no means something that can be achieved overnight.

Shaking his head, Chu Xiu stopped thinking about it; he was already satisfied with its current power.

The most urgent matter now is to obtain the Tribulation Pearl, since there are less than three months left until the agreed-upon final battle.

"This calamity seems to have a certain characteristic of being certain to strike; there is no way to avoid it, and we can only withstand it!"

"Although the death energy vortex has been weakened considerably compared to the beginning, if I were to force my way through, I would most likely still face an attack from the black lightning."

Chu Xiu stroked his chin, lost in thought.

During the process of refining the Calamity, Chu Xiu gained a deeper understanding of its characteristics. However, this was far from enough!

"To unravel the mysteries of this calamity and find a way to deal with it, I'm afraid I'll have to experience it for myself."

Taking a deep breath, Chu Xiu did not hesitate and waved the Myriad Soul Banner. Instantly, a high-level ghost general appeared in front of him!

This ghost general is the very one that absorbed Jie earlier!
At this moment, its soul body had been almost completely destroyed, leaving only an incredibly solidified ghost energy that firmly locked its core, trapping those strands of tribulation lightning within it.

Normally, after such a long period of time, the tribulation lightning should have dissipated through continuous consumption.

However, Chu Xiu discovered that after the tribulation lightning combined with his physical body, its ability to penetrate everything was greatly reduced. In addition, these few strands of tribulation lightning were many times weaker than the original ones, which is why Chu Xiu was able to barely trap them with his ghost energy.

As he watched the several strands of tribulation lightning rampaging through the ghostly energy, seemingly about to break through at any moment, a solemn expression appeared on Chu Xiu's face. He pointed his finger, and the two ghost kings simultaneously dispersed their power, creating a gap in the ghostly energy barrier. In the next instant, all the tribulation lightning burst out!
Chu Xiu reacted swiftly with a wave of the Soul Banner, and several more ghosts rushed out, taking in the souls of those who had been afflicted by the tribulation. The ghost that had previously carried the tribulation returned to the Soul Banner, barely clinging to life, to recuperate.

Finally, only the weakest wisp of tribulation lightning, which no ghost could contain, rushed straight towards Chu Xiu!
Chu Xiu's expression turned solemn. He neither dodged nor avoided the attack, but instead directly extended his palm to meet it head-on!

In an instant, the violent tribulation lightning struck Chu Xiu's palms. He felt a sharp pain in his palms, and his body, which could withstand the attack of a powerful hero, was visibly collapsing!
Chu Xiu immediately channeled all his magical power towards the tribulation lightning, attempting to forcefully suppress it. However, he was horrified to discover that his magical power was like that of a predator and predator, a superior and inferior, in the face of the tribulation lightning. The tribulation lightning rampaged through his magical power, and no matter how he manipulated it, he could not stop it in the slightest!
"boom!"

With a soft sound, a large hole appeared in Chu Xiu's palm! The flesh and blood inside were completely burned, as if burned to ashes and scattered in the wind.

Chu Xiu's expression became even more solemn. With a thought, he activated the Golden Embryo Source and began to heal the wound on his hand. After just a few breaths, the injury was completely healed.

He looked exactly the same as before, but only Chu Xiu knew that for a high-level awakened one, external injuries were just a facade, while the life energy within his body had been genuinely consumed by the tribulation lightning!

However, Chu Xiu did not show much fear on his face. With a thought, one of the ghosts that had previously received the tribulation lightning appeared near him. Chu Xiu used the same trick again and attracted another wisp of tribulation lightning!
In the time that followed, he continued to manipulate these tiny lightning bolts, conducting experiments. Each time he was subjected to them, he gained a completely new understanding of this terrifying power.

Half a day later.

After consuming the last wisp of tribulation lightning, Chu Xiu opened his eyes, looked at the panel in front of him, and revealed a strange expression in his eyes.

[Gained Trait: Body Forged Through Tribulations (Fragment)]

[Body Forged Through Tribulation (Remnant) (SSS): After undergoing the baptism of lightning tribulation, all your attributes have been enhanced, and you have gained resistance to tribulation lightning.]

[Current completion: 0.018%, Attribute bonus: All attributes +17, Lightning resistance +0.24]

“I didn’t expect there would be an unexpected harvest.”

After consuming all the tribulation lightning, he actually gained a trait! An SSS-level trait!
This trait is undoubtedly incredibly powerful, after all, it's on par with the Perfect Refinement trait! And its effects are extremely overpowered, directly and simply increasing all attributes, and also enhancing resistance to tribulation lightning!
Of course, it is also extremely difficult.

If the tribulation lightning that Chu Xiu just absorbed were combined into one, it would probably be able to easily kill a heroic spirit! And such terrifying power only allowed him to complete the process to be close to one in five thousand.

This is absolutely outrageous.

Chu Xiu guessed that the cultivation techniques the ghosts used to absorb death energy might be related to this. Those techniques could increase resistance to death energy, which was exactly the same as the effect of the body that had undergone tribulation.
However, the ghosts spend thousands of years absorbing death energy to cultivate, and the results they achieve are probably less than one percent of what they intended.

"SSS-level traits aren't easy to obtain," Chu Xiu sighed.

He then thought, "In the cultivation tradition, there is a tribulation for those who have reached the Nascent Soul stage, and a tribulation for those who have become immortals. Monsters and demons also have to undergo tribulations frequently. And now I have actually gained power from this tribulation lightning. It seems that this so-called tribulation is not just a coincidence that the names are the same, but that it is similar to the tribulations of the past."

Of course, the two are definitely not the same thing. At least the tribulation lightning in front of us is very different from the one recorded in the Demonic Sect's inheritance in terms of both characteristics and power.

After pondering for a while, Chu Xiu shook his head to dispel the thoughts in his mind.

There's no point in exploring this now; daydreaming won't yield any results. Let's deal with the important matters first.

After several experiments, he achieved considerable success and summarized three methods to counter the calamity.

Firstly, it naturally relies on its strong vitality to withstand the test.

A tribulation is a force that directly destroys life, reducing the ordered structure of life to disordered basic particles. However, every force has its strengths and weaknesses and follows the law of conservation of energy. The stronger the life form, the more difficult it is for tribulation lightning to destroy it.

If Chu Xiu possessed the life strength of a Heavenly King, he wouldn't have any problem with withstanding this black lightning.

Of course, after enduring it, you will definitely be seriously injured.

Secondly, it is to sever the connection of the calamity.

Chu Xiu discovered that the Calamity seemed to be very similar to the Abyss. The Abyss could only devour the world after destroying civilization, because civilization greatly increased the complexity of the world. The Calamity was similar; before disintegrating the life form, it had a step of severing the connection between the disintegrating part and other parts of the body.

However, this process happened extremely quickly. Even Chu Xiu, who had the help of the bug-level detection skill of divine sense, only discovered the clue during the fourth experiment.

Although his magical power could not stop the tribulation lightning in the slightest, Chu Xiu could mobilize the magical power within his body, like countless tiny bridges, to strengthen the connection between various parts of his body, thereby increasing the energy required for the tribulation lightning to destroy him.

Finally, the solution is to use higher-level power to fight back.

Magical power had no effect on the tribulation lightning, but Chu Xiu discovered that his condensed Golden Embryo Origin could slightly block and slow down the tribulation lightning, while the power of gods and demons and the origin of magic treasures had an even greater effect! They could even fight against the tribulation lightning!

This reminded Chu Xiu of when he broke through before, wasn't it after the infusion of divine and demonic power and the essence of magic treasures that the speed at which his golden core shattered began to slow down significantly!
The force that hinders one's breakthrough, while not as simple and brutal as tribulation lightning, seems to be the same in essence.

This is probably why celestial energy can be effective against tribulations.

"So that's how it works."

Chu Xiu felt that even if he gained nothing in the end, the increased understanding of the tribulation alone would make the trip worthwhile.

Letting out a long breath, Chu Xiu raised his palm. In his palm was a small, dark hole, its diameter only a third smaller than the damage caused by the first tribulation lightning!

This is the result of his application of his accumulated experience to combat the lightning strike.

After pondering for a while, Chu Xiu had a complete plan with multiple backup plans in mind.

It's a bit risky, but worth a try!
With his mind made up, Chu Xiu rested on the spot for a while, and after improving his condition to the best, he did not hesitate any longer and rushed towards the vortex of death energy in the center!
(End of this chapter)