Chapter 298: Return to Destiny!

Just like that, Gu Fan smoothly withstood the sixth and seventh bolts of lightning.

After all, his strength was now completely different from before, so this level of Heavenly Tribulation damage was still bearable.

Gu Fan estimated that only the ninth bolt of lightning might pose a significant threat to him, while the first eight should not be a problem.

Sure enough, after the eighth bolt ended, the ninth bolt did not fall for a long time, brewing repeatedly in the sky.

A full half an incense stick of time passed, and just as Gu Fan was starting to get impatient, the ninth bolt finally appeared.

This time, the lightning was not a massive thunder pillar, but a tiny water droplet containing the power of lightning falling down.

Yet, just that one droplet made Gu Fan’s expression change slightly.

In the next instant, he immediately activated the Green Lotus Phenomenon amplification, with Magic Immunity and his Domain instantly reinforcing the area around his body.

Pop!

A sound of a droplet falling rang out.

Gu Fan unleashed his spiritual power to the fullest, but he still underestimated the piercing power of this bolt.

With a whoosh, it directly pierced through all of Gu Fan’s defenses and drilled straight into his body!

“Damn it!”

Gu Fan had been careless—he hadn’t expected this Heavenly Tribulation to play dirty!

The water-drop lightning instantly transformed into countless strands of lightning power, rampaging inside Gu Fan’s body.

Wherever it passed, the meridians instantly turned into charred remains.

Gu Fan could only immediately sit down to regulate his breathing, confronting the lightning power constantly rampaging within his body.

Gradually, after an entire hour, the lightning power was finally suppressed under Gu Fan’s pressure.

He then simultaneously worked to restore his damaged meridians while continuing to suppress the lightning, intending to refine and absorb it.

But at this moment, when the lightning power passed through a meridian in his chest, it suddenly startled a wisp of black smoke into manifesting!

Gu Fan’s brows furrowed tightly when he saw this scene in his inner vision.

What was this black smoke?

He could confirm that he had never seen such a thing during previous inner vision examinations.

Nothing like this had ever entered his body before.

Its sudden appearance now was enough to make anyone tense.

“What exactly is this… and why does it feel so familiar!”

Gu Fan released his restraint on the lightning power, even guiding it to encircle the black mist.

In the end, he successfully forced the black mist into a corner.

The surging lightning power instantly engulfed the black mist.

The black mist let out sizzling noises as it dissolved, and faintly, Gu Fan seemed to hear miserable screams!

“There’s a fluctuation of Divine Soul!”

Gu Fan keenly detected it and immediately used his own Divine Soul to pin it in place, then began a Soul Search!

On one side was his peak Divine Soul power, and on the other was the black mist after being greatly dissolved by the lightning.

Thus, Gu Fan quickly began the Soul Search, while his physical body continued refining the remaining lightning to temper himself.

Just like that, after more than half an hour, Gu Fan finally finished annihilating that Divine Soul during the Soul Search state.

After resting for a moment, Gu Fan let out a long breath.

“So that’s how it is… no wonder…”

Through the Soul Search, Gu Fan finally understood the reason.

This black mist actually belonged to a secret technique remnant soul of the Heavenly Demon Clan.

That’s right! The Heavenly Demon Clan—the very one whose member Gu Fan had killed inside the Rift!

Back then, the opponent had exploited Gu Fan’s fear of the Holy Son, transforming into the Holy Son to fight Gu Fan.

Although Gu Fan ultimately won and directly destroyed this Heavenly Demon after gaining some information, he had not expected that the Heavenly Demon had used a secret clan technique to lodge a remnant soul in his body to recuperate.

During that time, it had constantly been influencing Gu Fan’s other side.

This was also why, after entering the Void Sacred Realm, his personality had unknowingly changed.

Gu Fan himself had not noticed this slow transformation.

Now that he thought about it, the change was truly immense.

Back then, Gu Fan had cut a bloody path forward, and anyone who offended him would die without question!

But later, in the Void Sacred Realm, he had gradually become far more merciful.

His original killing intent had been suppressed invisibly, and he became increasingly “gentle, negotiable, and patient”!

He had even taken huge risks to save Ruo Xi just for the sake of some so-called “clear conscience”!

If not for the subtle influence of the Heavenly Demon remnant soul, with his original temperament, he would never have done such things!

And the so-called Heart Demon was merely an excuse created within him by the Heavenly Demon remnant soul.

Thus, Gu Fan had changed from a demonic cultivator into someone with human sentiment!

Gu Fan’s lips curled into a cold smile:

“So it was this thing all along that was disgusting me, influencing me!”

“If I hadn’t accidentally discovered it during this tribulation, it might really have turned into my Heart Demon in the future!”

Now that the Heavenly Demon remnant soul was gone, Gu Fan even felt his Divine Soul lighten, clearly having completely rid himself of its influence.

However, he also knew that because of this period’s influence, coupled with his long adaptation, he would not immediately regain his former ruthlessness.

But it didn’t matter—as long as he had enough time, he would eventually purge these changes and return to himself.

“Almost overturned in a gutter… who would have thought a mere Heavenly Demon Clan member would be scheming against me from the Rift until now.”

“They nearly made me forget my original heart of being a demonic cultivator…”

Although he had indeed restrained himself a lot after coming to the Upper Realm, that was only because his strength was insufficient, and being new to the place, he naturally kept a low profile.

But now, that was no longer the case.

His mid-stage Solar Radiance Realm strength was equivalent to mid-stage Yang Spirit Realm on the Destiny Continent.

At full power, he could even battle those in the Three Blossoms Realm.

With such strength, as long as he didn’t provoke hidden top experts, he had little to worry about.

Thinking of this, Gu Fan immediately suppressed his Mysterious Power to the lowest, then slowly stood up.

“Holy Son… it’s time to settle some debts!”

“I want to see just how many punches the Brahma God Sect’s number one genius disciple can withstand from me!”

With that, Gu Fan laughed and flew into the sky, sweeping his Divine Sense in a circle before quickly flying in one direction!

On the way, Gu Fan couldn’t help but recall the Sacred Domain’s mission.

He needed to undergo three years of concentrated training at the Xuan Yu Immortal Sect, and upon returning, he could freely choose cultivation methods and rewards from their treasure vault—plus become one of the sect’s most highly nurtured disciples.

Such generous rewards were almost overly tempting when put together.

Gu Fan had even wondered at the time what kind of mission would make the Xuan Yu Immortal Sect take out such rewards to motivate its disciples to participate.

Combined with the Xian’ai Sect’s Great Elder’s hint, the mission was not only dangerous but also seemed to involve a long journey.

Once there, returning might not be possible!

Putting this information together only made the mysterious mission seem stranger.

Could it be related to a war between two realms?

Thinking of this gave Gu Fan a headache, but since he was already back, he stopped overthinking it.

However, what truly surprised him was the sudden appearance of Nian Ji, who had helped him escape danger.

He hadn’t expected that the bead inside his body actually concealed an incarnation of Nian Ji.

Thinking of this, he once again began to doubt Nian Ji’s identity.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep