Chapter 83: Torturing Lu Zheng

Lu Zheng was completely encased in ice that even his mind was frozen.

The blue half of the sword shined greatly as the frost around Lu Zheng continued to thicken.

The ice path dao imprints that were normally evenly spread were attracted towards Lu Zheng's body.

If a mere mortal were to come here, they would instantly freeze to death.

The ice path dao imprints continued to concentrate around Lu Zheng as the temperature continued to drop far below zero degrees Celsius.

After a long while, the phenomenon stopped and ice many metres thick surrounded Lu Zheng.

He could see but he could not think, his thoughts were completely frozen.

Even his blood vessels were frozen.

The Vermillion Blood in his blood vessels could never be frozen as they shined with golden runes but they were sealed in thick ice, preventing them from unleashing their bloodline techniques and abilities.

Time passed by slowly.

Days became weeks which became months.

Lu Zheng was still frozen in ice and seemed to be forgotten in the River of Time. Eight months had already passed since he was frozen.

It seemed that he would be frozen till eternity but on a certain day, he blinked.

"Crack!"

The thick ice that sealed Lu Zheng began to crack.

Initially, it was a small unnoticeable crack but it began to spread till it resembled a spider's web.

At once, all of the ice that sealed Lu Zheng broke off into many fragments and poured of his body.

He flexed his joints and muttered to himself: "Free, once again"

Lu Zheng scanned his body and sighed to himself.

Natural ice path dao imprints had formed on his body and it was because of them that he was able to regain his thinking and break free.

They numbered thirty two in total.

Martial practitioners like Hong Haoyu and Bennett would rejoice over such an increase in dao imprints but to Lu Zheng, it was the worst curse ever.

Lu Zheng bore the Vermillion Bird Race's bloodline and his blood vessels were completely filled with Vermilion Blood. His entire being was a representation of fire path.

Fire and ice were both extremes of opposite constitutions and could never reside together naturally.

One had to leave for the other.

The formation of ice path dao imprints on Lu Zheng's body would make his cultivation unstable and it was possible that he would implode.

Only one person had managed to balance both extremes in all of history. It was Lu Zheng's number two enemy, Darmian.

Just as Lu Zheng's hate towards Darmian grew, the sword that was half buried in ice shined again.

Ice path dao imprints in the area moved and crawled onto Lu Zheng's body.

"Haa!" An agonising scream escaped Lu Zheng's mouth as his body gave out white and red lights constantly.

Lu Zheng that had swum in a ten thousand year old Earth Flame without a single grunt could not withstand the pain of conflicting dao imprints.

It was like each cell of his body was being torn apart.

Only a few seconds passed but to Lu Zheng, it was like many years.

As soon as the pain receded and the sword stopped shining, dark clouds formed in the sky above Lu Zheng as his Qi became unstable.

He was having a breakthrough!

The dark clouds condensed continuously till they became the darkest tinge of black.

Blue lightning swarm across the dark clouds menacingly as if threatening Lu Zheng.

Lu Zheng had a bitter expression.

If he underwent this tribulation, he would permanently become an ice path martial practitioner.

By then, only a Divine Grade pill would be able to clear the ice path dao imprints from his body.

Lu Zheng felt like hitting someone. He only had the cheapest types of Spirit Grade pills, Divine Grade pills were definitely out of his reach.

People didn't just sell Divine Grade pills. They were as rare as the alchemists that could refine them.

Fate was cruel. No matter what he did, he had to undergo this tribulation.

"Pzoom!"

The first bolt of blue lightning struck Lu Zheng, adding a fire path dao imprint to his body.

Lu Zheng was a lightning path martial practitioner, he absorbed the lightning Qi within the bolt of lightning.

"Pzoom!"

Another bolt of blue lightning struck Lu Zheng in similar fashion and he absorbed it.

This continued until the fifty third bolt of blue lightning. Lu Zheng's jade-like skin was now completely charred.

He had reached his limits and had to defend against the rest of the bolts.

During the tribulation to breakthrough to the Void Passage realm, the martial practitioner would be struck by fifty four bolts of blue lightning. Of these fifty four bolts, eight would give the martial practitioner space path dao imprints.

This was why Void Passage realm experts could tear space and open spatial passages.

Lu Zheng cultivated five different paths; fire path, soul path, lightning path, wind path and ice path and was meant to receive two hundred and sixteen bolts of blue lightning.

Lightning was the bane of souls. Soul path dao imprints could not be assimilated during lightning tribulations.

Lu Zheng already had enough wind path dao imprints. He would not be undergoing wind path tribulation till he reached the Eternal realm.

This meant that Lu Zheng would receive a hundred and sixty two bolts of blue lightning during this tribulation and a beast manifestation.