However, Tang Wulin was the Son of Nature, so all of these natural elements were injecting themselves into his body as gently as they could to prevent harming him. As such, he was able to draw upon them with his Devouring Heaven and Earth to his heart"s content.
All of a sudden, a peculiar buzzing sound rang out from within the piece of metal. Tang Wulin had been completely focused on his hammers and the piece of heavy silver this entire time, so he immediately detected that when the metal was entirely filled with elemental marks, these marks began to resonate with one another as if they had been instantly awakened, thereby producing a special type of energy fluctuations.
Even Tang Wulin himself didn"t know what type of energy fluctuations this was, but he could clearly sense that as soon as it appeared, the air around him changed. The elements that he had gathered suddenly became very violent, as if they had suffered an unforgivable ordeal, and immediately thereafter, rainbow clouds began to form overhead.
The tribulation clouds had arrived!
Compared to the tribulation clouds that Zhen Hua had gathered earlier, these clouds covered a far larger area, and the overwhelming pressure they were giving off struck one with a sense of asphyxiation.
Tang Wulin was rather astonished by this, but he wasn"t fl.u.s.tered in the slightest.
Zhen Hua had told him earlier that a blacksmith had to withstand the lightning tribulation together with the metal that they were forging. This type of elemental tribulation was extremely beneficial to the metal, and it could bestow upon a metal true ability.
Only by transcending this tribulation could the elemental power injected into the metal be truly stabilized, but to a Soul Master, this lightning tribulation was extremely destructive, so extreme caution had to be exercised. If he couldn"t withstand the lightning, then he had to retreat right away and accept failure. Otherwise, it was very likely that irreversible damage could be caused.
"Rumble!"
Three bolts of rainbow lightning descended from the heavens, cras.h.i.+ng down toward Tang Wulin"s hammers and that piece of soul refined heavy silver.
Tang Wulin immediately encircled his arms in front of himself, releasing a burst of gentle soul power to protect the three pieces of metal.
The three bolts of lightning struck, and each of them was slightly less powerful than the tribulation lightning that Zhen Hua had attracted, but the three of them combined were naturally far more powerful than any single bolt of tribulation lightning that Zhen Hua had to withstand.
In the instant that the tribulation lightning struck, Tang Wulin could feel seven types of elements exploding all at once. What was even more terrifying was that the elements enhanced one another to further increase the power of the explosion.
In particular, the clashes between water and fire, as well as light and darkness, instantly released energy fluctuations that were several times more powerful, and Tang Wulin felt his entire body instantly go numb as the power of the lightning coursed through his veins.
A large portion of this power was filtered by his body while the rest was injected into the three pieces of metal.
Golden patterns appeared over his skin as he unleashed his Golden Dragon Body, and the vast majority of the rainbow lightning was kept out by his dragon"s repulse.
Tang Wulin shuddered as the electrical currents ran through his entire body, but the numbing sensation quickly faded as his dragon core thumped violently to pump out scorching blood essence.
It was very difficult for Tang Wulin to continue to improve the power of his blood essence, but to his surprise, it began to undergo a change in response to the stimulation from the lightning.
Could he use this lightning tribulation to help him refine his body?
Thankfully, Zhen Hua didn"t know what he was thinking. Otherwise, he would definitely be left feeling very dejected.
Elemental tribulations were often referred to as Divine Blacksmith Killers as at least half of the Divine Blacksmiths in history had perished to these tribulations.
This was why Zhen Hua had said that it was very difficult for Divine Blacksmiths to continue to complete heavenly refinement in their old age after their bodies were past their prime.
Zhen Hua was feeling very anxious as Tang Wulin was struck by the three bolts of tribulation lightning at once, but much to his astonishment, Tang Wulin only shuddered slightly before instantly recovering as if he had only received a minor jolt.
Thus, the first wave of the lightning tribulation was transcended.
Even though Zhen Hua was very displeased by his decision to heavenly refine three pieces of metal at once, his heart was currently filled with elation.
If he could withstand three bolts of tribulation lighting at once, then there was a good chance that he would be able to complete heavenly refinement on one piece of metal while incorporating only four types of elements.
This first experience would merely serve as a lesson to him. Failure wasn"t something to be afraid of; the key was to learn through failure. With his physical tolerance, it shouldn"t be an issue for him to retreat before the lightning tribulation became too fierce to handle.
However, right at this moment, something unexpected happened. A series of bluish-purple vines suddenly erupted out of his body as if he were a blossoming flower. Each and every one of these vines was filled with an aura of extreme excitement, and as soon as they emerged, they sprang eagerly up into the air, giving even Tang Wulin himself quite a fright.
This was none other than his Infernal Lightning Vine, and there was nothing in this world that loved lightning more than the Infernal Lightning Vine!
Furthermore, the lightning formed by this elemental tribulation was completely different from normal lightning and was far more powerful. To the Infernal Lightning Vine, this was like a rare delicacy.
Tang Wulin had previously considered using the Infernal Lightning Vine to nullify a part of the tribulation lightning"s power, but he hadn"t expected it to burst out of his body completely out of his control, and he could sense the intense yearning within it.
"Boom!" Right at this moment, the second wave of rainbow lightning fell.
The Infernal Lightning Vine instantly formed a ma.s.sive net to capture all three bolts of lightning, and all of the vines immediately took on a rainbow color from the influx of lightning.
"Save some for the heavy silver!" Tang Wulin hurriedly instructed in his heart.
The Infernal Lightning Vine wiggled in a reluctant manner, then released three bolts of weaker rainbow lightning to strike the three pieces of metal.
With the experience from the first wave of lightning strikes, Tang Wulin was able to instruct the Infernal Lightning Vine to moderate the power of these bolts of lightning so that they were just enough to satisfy the three pieces of metal, but not enough to damage them.
Zhen Hua was completely flabbergasted by this. He had never seen anyone capable of controlling tribulation lighting before!
What exactly were those bluish-purple vines? Those definitely weren"t his original Bluesilver Emperor vines. It appeared that the vines had undergone a drastic mutation and were now filled with destructive lightning power.
Zhen Hua couldn"t help but gulp in a completely speechless manner. He had never even heard of something like this happening before, let alone seen this in person.
"Rumble!" The third wave of lightning came cras.h.i.+ng down, and it was even more powerful than the second wave. However, it was met by the ecstatic Infernal Lightning Vine, which was thoroughly enjoying this rainbow lightning delicacy.
The Infernal Lightning Vine had no physical form. After fusing with Tang Wulin, it had become his soul spirit and integrated itself together with his Bluesilver Emperor vines. However, during these tribulation lightning strikes, Tang Wulin could clearly sense that his Bluesilver Emperor was beginning to undergo another mutation.
This Infernal Lightning Vine was truly a lover of lightning!
It was undoubtedly the case that this mutation was only going to be a good thing.
His Bluesilver Emperor was a control system martial soul, but he had a feeling that after fusing with the Infernal Lightning Vine, it was going to slowly become an a.s.sault system martial soul in the future!
"Rumble!"
The rainbow lightning was clearly far more powerful than the four-colored lightning that Zhen Hua had triggered earlier, as each wave of lighting was more powerful than the previous one. Tang Wulin could even sense that his three pieces of soul refined metal were trembling in fear.