Is It Wrong to Bully the Novice Village for System Rewards?

Boom… Rumble…

Lightning serpents writhed amidst muffled thunder, the sky darkening under the oppressive weight of Heaven’s might. Flocks of birds and herds of beasts fled in panic, terrified of being caught in the tribulation lightning and meeting their doom.

Qi Yuan was deep in a state of sudden enlightenment, countless insights about the Nascent Soul realm flooding his mind. His cultivation technique operated flawlessly within him, merging his existence with the world as boundless spiritual energy swirled in the air.

Soon, the churning tribulation clouds overhead finished gathering their power.

BOOM!

A thick, pillar-like bolt of violet-blue tribulation lightning tore through the void, descending from the heavens to strike directly at Qi Yuan.

A deafening roar echoed as his body was instantly engulfed by the thunder. The crackling and booming of the lightning obliterated everything within a thousand-zhang radius, grinding the landscape into dust.

Crack, crack, crack—

The lightning shattered something deep within Qi Yuan. The wildly vibrating Golden Core in his dantian fractured like fine porcelain, revealing a tiny, inch-long infant, crystalline and translucent.

The infant’s appearance mirrored Qi Yuan’s perfectly. Strands of profound, mysterious spiritual essence emanated from it, clear and bright as a mirror, resembling glazed glass.

It was unmistakably a high-quality Divine Splendor Nascent Soul!

As if touched by divine inspiration, Qi Yuan swiftly drew out a wisp of Heavenly Dao aura from his System Space and infused it into the newly formed Nascent Soul.

Hum!

The moment the Heavenly Dao aura merged with it, the Nascent Soul erupted with countless radiant beams of light, illuminating the surroundings as bright as day.

A vast, lofty, and ancient aura spread from this newborn entity. Behind it, a faint halo representing perfection and flawlessness—the Heavenly Dao Halo—materialized, appearing ethereal and boundless, as if capable of encompassing all things in the universe.

As the Heavenly Dao Nascent Soul took form, the dissipating tribulation clouds above suddenly began to coalesce once more.

They intensified rapidly, blotting out the sky in the blink of an eye. The aura of destruction grew even denser, suffocating the air.

BOOM!!!

A bolt of tribulation lightning far more powerful than the first tore through the dark clouds. It swallowed Qi Yuan whole, blasting a massive crater deep into the earth beneath his feet.

Only after unleashing this second bolt did the tribulation clouds slowly disperse, revealing the azure blue heavens once more.

At the bottom of the smoking crater.

A charred, disheveled figure struggled to climb up from the dirt. Trembling, he raised his right hand toward the sky, starting to extend his middle finger halfway before silently retracting it.

He clearly wanted to flip off the Heavens but decided he didn’t quite have the guts.

The state of sudden enlightenment had ended. Qi Yuan barely managed to stand upright, looking around at the equipment scattered all over the ground from the explosion, his face a picture of utter frustration.

According to conventional wisdom, breaking the core to form the Nascent Soul should not attract a Heavenly Tribulation. At the very least, a cultivator would only undergo tribulation baptism when breaking through to the Soul Formation stage.

Precisely because of this, he had never imagined he would face lightning strikes today and had made zero preparations.

Now, all his clothes had been reduced to ashes. His entire body was covered in scorch marks, and even the storage pouch at his waist had been shattered, its contents scattered everywhere—a truly miserable sight.

Fortunately, he had stored all his important items in his personal System Space. The storage pouch was merely for show, containing only some low-grade spirit stones and pills. Otherwise, the financial loss would have been devastating.

“The books said cultivators forming their Nascent Soul don’t get struck by lightning… Well, when it’s my turn, the Heavenly Tribulation comes out of nowhere. Did I violate some heavenly law or something?”

“One bolt was bad enough, but two… Heavens, I just wanted to level up. Was there any need to go this hard?”

Just as Qi Yuan was muttering to himself, the residual tribulation power surged toward him like a tidal wave. His aura climbed steadily, soon reaching the Early Nascent Soul stage.

He circulated a trace of spiritual power. The layer of charred skin on his body sloughed off, revealing skin as smooth and flawless as new, faintly shimmering with a soft glow like precious jade.

Looking inward, his Nascent Soul brimmed with profound Dao essence, radiating extraordinary splendor. Streams of clear, magnificent light and auspicious mist swirled around it, constantly inhaling and exhaling incredibly pure spiritual power.

“Truly worthy of a Heavenly Dao Nascent Soul. It’s far stronger than that Divine Splendor Nascent Soul from before. All that suffering wasn’t in vain.”

Feeling this unprecedented power, Qi Yuan’s mood greatly improved, all his previous gloom swept away.

After the initial joy, he focused his mind. His black-and-white pupils filled with dense, intricate golden runes. The bones, sinews, flesh, and blood within his body emitted rumbling sounds, as if dragons and serpents were rising from the earth.

Simultaneously, his aura skyrocketed, ultimately reaching the peak of the Mid Nascent Soul stage!

This state lasted only a few breaths before abruptly ceasing. As the strange runes in Qi Yuan’s eyes vanished, his cultivation level reverted to the Early Nascent Soul stage.

“Not bad power!”

Qi Yuan reopened his eyes, a flash of satisfaction crossing his face.

After condensing the Heavenly Dao Nascent Soul, not only had his strength surged dramatically, but he had also gained an innate divine ability: [Blood God Four Refinements].

This divine ability allowed him to significantly boost his combat power for a short time by burning his blood and qi.

As the name implied, [Blood God Four Refinements] could be activated in four levels. The most terrifying—the Fourth Refinement—could temporarily increase his strength by fourfold.

However, the backlash was severe. After activating the Fourth Refinement, he would be lucky to survive with half a life left.

What Qi Yuan had just tested was the Second Refinement. In this state, erupting with blood and qi incurred almost no cost afterward, yet it could instantly double his strength.

It was undoubtedly a sharp weapon for overcoming stronger opponents. In the cultivation world, a killing art of this level would be at least Saint-Rank, comparable to the top-tier legacies of the Seven Great Holy Lands.

Moreover, as an innate divine ability, [Blood God Four Refinements] required no practice to master. As his cultivation grew, this ability would naturally become even more powerful.

“To think achieving a Heavenly Dao Nascent Soul also came with such an incredible innate ability. That’s truly an unexpected delight.”

The corners of Qi Yuan’s mouth lifted into an irrepressible smile.

After pondering for a moment, he casually donned a standard Falling Cloud Valley robe. With a single step, his figure vanished, reappearing a hundred miles away as if teleporting.

Upon reaching the Nascent Soul realm, a cultivator could traverse a hundred miles in an instant, shrinking the earth to a single step.