Chapter 80 – Danilov’s Lightning Tribulation?

Hello, dear readers! Here's chapter 80! Hope you'll enjoy it!

I've ha a bit of trouble writing chapter 94 this week because it's 'revelation' type of chapter and it took me so much time to write it in a way that satisfied me. I did succeed, but it took me five days...

Anyway, that's it for this week. See ya later!

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Molvograd, Molkovia, Earth.

Demian's P.O.V.

The implication behind her statement made him freeze in place briefly before he shook himself and exclaimed solemnly. "I got it. Let's go then." Nodding quickly, she led the way toward Roman's office while Seraphine and he followed behind. On the way, they were joined by Adeliya and Anna, who came from the Training Field, where the former had been practicing her sword moves under the latter. That situation came about when the brunette was taught a lesson from Bryn during the first sparring session, which happened the day after the young redhead condensed her Golden Jade Physique and Golden Jade Elemental Energy. The result was somehow predictable for Demian with Lirov's Spell getting destroyed by a single punch before the woman was sent flying relatively hard on the protective barrier. The Mid Tier 1 Formation would have been blasted open if not for Brynhild holding back her strength. After all, she did not want to kill the other woman, but instead simply to teach her a lesson: 'Stop acting like a bitch.'

The lesson was apparently received loud and clear and from then on the relationship between her and the Mikhailovs grew relatively closer with the woman even volunteering to teach Adeliya how to use her sword. As for Brynhild, Demian, and Seraphine, she mainly shared some fighting tips with them, such as when to use certain Spells or what to watch out for when fighting against a Tier 1 Weapon. Since the tall redhead was a fighting genius, it took her only a few days to reach a similar level of fighting experience as Anna before surpassing not long after. As for the two lovers, they had Demian's Perk helping them, so they only needed a few more days before their combat prowess somewhat matched Bryn's. Of course, none of them went all out, so they were not entirely sure about their true strength.

Another thing to note was that with plenty of cultivation resources and thorough training, Adeliya had reached the Peak of the Body Strengthening Rank a few days prior. She was only missing the right opportunity to break through to the next Rank and finally become a 'true' cultivator. Unfortunately, nothing came out of those last few days and that clearly bothered her. He did try to talk about it with her, to comfort and remind her that haste made waste, but he knew that it went in one ear and out the other. 'She's really stubborn... Although I'm in no position to criticize her...' He thought while glancing at her face marred with a worried expression.

Besides a quick nod, the five did not exchange a word but instead increased their pace to Roman's office. A few moments later, the group spotted the well-crafted wooden door separating them from the office wide open with Roman and an unknown man chatting together. Demian could not hear any sound from the men's mouths despite seeing the latter moving. The strange phenomenon did not surprise him, as, unlike when he first arrived at the Estate, his Spiritual Will easily noticed the hidden High Tier 1 Formation covering the entire room. With his current Divine Sense, he would easily be able to penetrate the barrier with brute force and find out what they were talking about. Unfortunately, his lack of knowledge about Formation meant that it would damage the Array, or even destroy it. Since he only had to wait a few moments before Roman shared with them the important news and his father was not an enemy, there was no need to go that far.

A brief moment later, they all went through the energy barrier without trouble, prompting Roman and the other man to stop talking and turn in their direction. While Demian's Spiritual Will picked up on the wooden door silently closing behind them, his father gestured toward the few sofas and chairs set on one side of the room and instructed. "All of you should sit before we start talking about why I asked you to come." Despite wearing a poker face, Demian's acute intuition told him that the older man was not as calm as he looked, which would not be too surprising if the situation was unfolding along his prediction.

All of them thus found themselves a seat before Roman motioned toward the unknown man and introduced him. "This is Andrei Yushkov. He's the third-in-command here. The news I sent to you earlier comes from him, so I'll let him explain." Following that statement, Demian focused his attention on the man. Above-average looks, dark hair, dark brown eyes, and a lean but muscular build. As for his Aura, it seemed to be above average for his Cultivation, but still slightly weaker than Anna's, even though the two were both at the Peak Eighth Level. That conclusion came from the fact that one's Aura usually represented one's base strength. Of course, there may be exceptions but so far he had not met any. However, that may be because, besides his two Cousins, his Divine Sense was much stronger than any of the people in the Estate, which made it impossible for anyone to hide their strength from him. 'Mmhh... Andrei's raw strength should be around the Mid-Ninth Level... Interesting...' He analyzed while his intuition told him that that was not the man's limit. As for Anna, she was approaching the Peak Chi Gathering Rank in terms of strength. When it came to Roman, however, he was not sure. Not because he could not feel the man's Aura, but simply because he had no frame of reference for other Peak Chi Gathering and Foundation Building Cultivators. That being said, their fighting prowess may be higher than that, but that was something that could only be determined with a real fight to the death.

As Demian was contemplating everyone's combat prowess, Andrei greeted the four Mikhailovs. "Nice to meet all of you, Mr. and the three Miss Mikhailovs. Lirov." The five nodded while returning the greeting. "Mr. Yushkov." "Yushkov." Once the pleasantries were out of the way, the man regained his seriousness as he started sharing his discoveries. "A month ago, when the four of you asked Boss to pay attention to Lightning Storms, I was the one assigned to that task. Since then, none of my men dispatched around the Capital could find anything."

While moving his gaze to look at everyone's faces, he continued. "That is until 30 minutes ago when a Lightning Storm appeared 50 kilometers south of the city. To be honest, we'd have missed it if it wasn't because of sheer dumb luck." His words roused their curiosity, something he immediately caught on because he clarified. "The place where it appeared is one of Danilov's firearm storage facilities that we discovered a week ago." Pausing for a second, he then added. "Normally, because the place was still under construction, we wouldn't involve too much manpower to do surveillance, if any at all. But I still sent someone there once a day to check it just in case of unexpected changes. The reason I said it was sheer dumb luck that we found out about the Lightning storm is because it was smaller than a normal Storm and it appeared a few minutes after the man I sent got there."

While the others were pondering on his words, Bryn asked an important question. "You mentioned a Lightning Storm, but what we need to know is if it's a Lightning Tribulation. Did your subordinate give any more details?" Nodding his head, Andrei replied seriously. "He did. His report contained two of the things that you told Boss to look for a month ago. First, there were nine lightning strikes before it dissipated and they all hit the same place. The second is the, and I quote, 'terrifying energy coming from both the Lightning and Clouds.' End of quote. I wasn't there, so that's all I could get."

While silently contemplating that statement, she subconsciously tapped her finger on the chair's armrest for a few seconds before asking another question. "What's that man's cultivation Level?" To which he responded instantly. "Mid First Level. From what he said, he wasn't able to go closer because of the pressure coming from the Lightning Storm." Shaking her head, Bryn remarked. "He did well. If he'd gone there, he'd have been struck dead." While gazing at her, Yushkov questioned doubtfully. "Is that Tribulation that deadly?"

His words brought an amused smile to the tall redhead who claimed. "You've got no idea." Demian knew she was not exaggerating one bit. After all, if it was not terrifying, it would not be called 'Tribulation', would it? "Could you please enlighten me, Ms Mikhailov? I'm afraid that I've only a vague notion of the phenomenon, let alone its exact strength." Unlike Roman and Anna, Demian grinned when he noted the fact that the dark-haired man was the talkative type. 'Well, it's not a stupid question, anyway.' He thought briefly before Brynhild nodded and then started explaining. "Might as well tell you then. After all, the two of you aren't far from the Peak of Chi Gathering. If you know more about what to expect, it'll increase your chance of going through your own successfully."

What she did not say was that, unless someone was a supreme genius like her or a cheat like Demian and Seraphine, one would need to have the appropriate Spiritual Pill to reach the next Rank in this place due to the relatively poor cultivation environment. "I'll make it simple. Lightning Tribulation is something anyone has to go through when reaching the Foundation Building Rank. It's both a test and an opportunity. Although most Cultivators are too busy trying to survive to catch that opportunity." She shook her head slightly at those words. Before she could continue, Adeliya remarked. "Then why isn't there any Lightning Tribulation when going from the Body Strengthening Rank to the Chi Gathering Rank?"

That question was also something Demian wanted to know but forgot to ask Bryn in the past. "Good question." Bryn said before adding. "It's because the Body Strengthening Rank is more of a Pseudo-Rank than a true cultivation Rank. At least, that's what I heard." 'Since you can't manipulate Spiritual Energy at that Rank, I guess that makes sense.' The young man contemplated while listening to his older cousin's next words. "Let's go back to the Lightning Tribulation." Turning her gaze toward Andrei, she stated. "Your question was about its exact strength. Well, I can't tell you for one simple reason: Every Cultivator's Tribulation is different. It depends on the person's talent and strength."

That was something that Demian, Seraphine, Adeliya, and Roman already knew, so they were not surprised by her words. However, Anna's and Andrei's faces turned thoughtful. A brief moment later, the tall redhead added. "That aside, I must tell you that you should never barge into someone else's Tribulation. And that's under any circumstance, alright?" Tilting her head slightly, Anna asked doubtfully. "Why? If we follow your logic, the Tribulation should adapt itself to our strength and talent, right?"

The brunette was not the only one confused, as Demian could see a similar emotion on everyone's faces but Seraphine's. Both she and Demian had read many cultivation novels in the past, so they could easily guess the reason behind the redhead's warning. Indeed, her following words confirmed Sera's and his ideas. "That's only for your own Lightning Tribulation. If you barge in someone else's then its strength will multiply compared to the one you should've gone through. You can guess the result yourselves."

All of them shudder at the idea, with Demian half-jokingly exclaiming. "I love my life too much to kill myself, so I'll keep to my own Tribulation." His quip brought an amused smile to Bryn's face who responded playfully. "You better." After she fell silent, Roman who stayed mostly quiet for the last few minutes finally intervened. "In the spirit of preparing for the worst scenario, we'll assume that Danilov successfully reached the First Level of Foundation Building. To be honest, despite the fact that the man is weaker than me, his gear is much better than mine. Around Peak Tier 1 for his sword and shield." To which Demian muttered. "A pay-to-win player, uh?" That brought a light chuckle from Seraphine while the rest ignored his comment. Roman instead added. "Now, we need to find a way to deal with him. Does anyone have any good idea?"

When the Mikhailovs heard his question, they glanced at each other before Demian declared. "I do have a way. But before I share it with all of you, I need to know if I can trust you two." His gaze was directed at Anna and Andrei. However, the person he asked his question to was obviously Roman Yanov. The two concerned frowned at the implication behind his question, however, they kept quiet. Instead, their gazes moved toward their Boss who firmly claimed. "I can't be sure for everyone under me, but Lirov and Yushkov are completely trustworthy."

Despite his assurance, Demian would not trust those two completely. The only three people he could trust his life with were the three girls. As for the rest, it would at most be partial trust, his father included. Nonetheless, he kept that thought to himself and instead looked at the three from the Fallen Fire Estate before declaring. "Alright. Then I'll just say this: you don't have to worry about Danilov. Bryn and I will deal with him. You guys only need to get rid of those Cultivators below the Foundation Building Stage."

From Roman's own mouth, due to the relatively poor Cultivation environment, only a few Foundation Building Cultivators appeared in Molkovia and the overwhelming majority came from those great Families or those who were well-connected. As for 'rogue' cultivators like themselves, it was almost impossible to go beyond the Chi Gathering Rank. That meant that besides a few exceptions like Roman himself, none of his subordinates had even seen a real Foundation Building Cultivator in the past. So, besides knowing that they could pretty much insta-kill anyone below that Rank, they did not know much about them. Even his father, whose Boss was a female Foundation Building Cultivator, had only a vague notion of the difference between the two Ranks.

Right after Demian made his statement, Anna and Andrei let out a sigh of relief. Since the unknown had always been the scariest, he was not really surprised by their reaction. 'If it wasn't for Bryn assuring me that we can deal with that guy with our current strength, I'd probably still be worried.' He thought wryly before Roman questioned Bryn and himself while sporting a grave expression on his face. "Are the two of you certain? I don't want you two to play with your life." 'As if you ever cared.' Demian briefly thought before claiming with a poker face. "Yes, we are." Bryn echoed his words as well, making it clear to the man that they would not change their minds about it.

After letting out a breath, Roman then said. "If you're so sure, then I'll trust the two of you." As he was about to add something else, Demian felt some energy fluctuations appearing on his left. Turning his head in that direction, he noticed that Adeliya had closed her eyes at one point, and what followed was her Cultivation starting to become unstable. Before he had the time to do anything, Seraphine exclaimed happily. "Mom's breaking through!" A fraction of a second later, Demian seemingly teleported by the redhead's side before picking her up in a princess carry before anyone could react. As he noticed everyone's strange expressions, he explained tersely. "I'll bring Liya to her Cultivation Room. I don't think that breaking through here is a good idea."

Without paying attention to the others, he started circulating his Movement Technique before moving at superhuman speed toward their suite. Since Bryn and Seraphine were the only ones who could somewhat match his pace, none of the others were able to react to his actions. Speaking of which, his Spiritual Will caught the two women following after him after excusing themselves to the other three. After barely a few seconds, Demian arrived at his own Cultivation Room with the older woman in his arms. At first, he wanted to bring her to her own room, but he did not want to bother Adeliya with deactivating the Array protecting the bedroom, so he had to find another way. Once inside, he gently let her down and whispered tenderly. "I'll be waiting for the good news outside, Liya."

His words elicited a small smile on the silent redhead's face before her facial expression turned back to seriousness, while her eyes were still closed. With a warm smile on his face, Demian turned back to exit the room, a brief but joyful thought surfacing in his mind. 'She can finally be safer.'