Hua San, Hua Wu and Adviser Liu looked at the King, who let out a shout that was more close to a roar.
His entire demeanor had changed, and so did his looks. His body seemed to have swelled up as veins popped up on it. His eyes turned bloodshot and his muscles bulged. The vitality in his body was burning at a rapid rate as he let out a Dauntless aura that was many times stronger than before.
"Wh-what?" Hua San and Hua Wu were stunned.
"What's happening?" Adviser Liu was confused as well.
Just a few seconds ago, he was convinced that his nephew was going to die and there was nothing he could do. But now suddenly he seemed to have gained a second wind. Lin Mu observed it too and kept on chanting.
He had not used the Burning heart sutra on anyone else other than him after his breakthrough and didn't know what level of an effect it would have. He had already seen the effect of the other sutras though and knew that their effects were enough to affect Nascent soul realm cultivators.
It was fine if he used the Calming and Severing heart sutras on other people as they didn't really cause any direct harm, but the Burning heart sutra was not exactly normal. It would put a strain on the body when used and would rapidly drain one's vitality at the same item.
For someone like Lin Mu who had massive stores of it, it was easy to use. Not to mention he had vital essence rather than vital energy in his body, which was a higher version that could last far longer.
But for others who had not even reached the tenth stage of the Body tempering realm, the amount of vitality within their body was limited, even if their cultivation base was rather high.
Though the boost that it gave in exchange for that was also significant.
Every inch of King Hong's body was exuding a power that was unseen before. Even when he had exerted all of his cultivation base before, he had not come close to this power level. But now it was beyond that.
It was as if rage fueled his strength and unwillingness fueled his heart. The restrains he was feeling earlier were freed and he didn't feel the pressure from the tribulation either. It was as if some shackles that were put on him at some time were broken.
Lin Mu who was observing the man using his spirit sense, realized that the water elemental tribulation Qi that was starting to block King Hong's meridians were forcibly being pushed out by the burning vitality of King Hong.
"I WILL DEFEAT YOU!!!!" King Hong let out a roar.
~KABOOM~
As if to reply to him, the Tribulation clouds gathered all of their power and sent out one final tribulation bolt. It descended at blinding speed, but King Hong did not waver. Instead of letting it fall on him freely, he punched out in retaliation and his fist was hit with the bolt.
~splat~
The skin on his fist was instantly charred by the lightning and the flesh direly exploded. His bones were exposed now, yet the man continued to push. It was as if the pain was a foreign existence to him and the only thing in his mind was to defeat the tribulation.
He didn't even think about surviving now, but rather wanted to show the heavens his unwillingness.
But of course, the power of the lightning was far stronger than before and continued to push through his hand. His skin kept on falling off as it got turned to ash and his flesh became mangled.
It spread from his fist, to his forearms to his shoulder, and finally to his torso. In a few seconds, it was about to reach his heart as well. Hua Wu, Hua San and Adviser Liu closed their eyes as they were unable to watch the cruel sight anymore.
But Lin Mu did not. He kept his eyes on the King and observed each and every instant of this time period.
To him, it would be unfair if there was no one to witness the King's actions now.
Alas, the force of the tribulation was not something that could just be overcome with will. The lightning had already spread to his neck and was about to reach his heart. The moment it reached either of them, the man would perish.
"Is this it?" Lin Mu muttered.
~HONG~
But just as he said that an almost imperceptible wave of aura spread out from King Hong. This aura was different from his own and had something else in it that Lin Mu found hard to identify.
~shua~shua~shua~
As the aura spread across the area, the Hong Lin trees started to rustle. Lin Mu looked around and saw that the trees were resonating right now. He could feel it even more because he had practiced the embrace of Hong Lin and was sensitive to it now.
"What… what is… the Hong Lin Trees are reacting?" Lin Mu muttered.
~poof~
Then a rather unexpected change occurred in the area. One after the other, the Hong Lin trees started to burn.
"Huh? Did fire spread when we were not looking?" Hua San was confused too.
But then the phenomenon started to spread at a rapid rate. In less than ten seconds, a radius over one kilometer was burning at the same time. Lin Mu, who had greater sensitivity, could feel the fire element spirit Qi spiking in the air.
Its concentration was rising rapidly and it was even more than when he had trigged the spirit Qi influx before.
~WHOOSH~
A wind started to blow and one could see tiny embers floating within the wind. They glowed in a red light and looked rather beautiful. The wind tried to blow them out, yet they kept on burning and let out their warmth and light.
All of these embers flew towards King Hong, shocking everyone.
