Chapter Seventy-Three As Expected

  (ps: First update is here, seeking recommendation votes.)

  "Boom!"

  On a sunny afternoon, in the remote mountains outside the county town, the originally clear and bright sky suddenly drifted with dark clouds, accompanied by thunderstorms and an overwhelming pressure. The countless snakes, insects, and rodents in the mountains seemed to have received the most fatal shock, all rushing out of the mountain forest in a swarm. The trees that were originally straight and upright also shook and fell one after another, some even cracking and shattering with a loud crash.

  "Not good! Want to break through?!"

  Deep in the dense forest, a loud cry of surprise suddenly echoed through the sky, and then a figure sitting cross-legged in the woods immediately dissipated the power that was being circulated, and a cold sweat also appeared.

  Want to break through?

  In the mountains, he had been cultivating for over a decade. With the help of many scattered spiritual artifacts, the spiritual energy around him became as dense as some of the more remote areas within the Spiritual Realm. As a result, Guo Zhengyang's cultivation efficiency was indeed astonishing and exhilarating. In just over a decade, his cultivation had approached the peak of the Early Stage of Gathering Spirit. However, as he continued to cultivate, he suddenly felt the existence of a bottleneck at the peak. Moreover, having broken through this bottleneck in his previous life, he was able to draw upon that experience to directly break through and enter the Middle Stage of Gathering Spirit.

  This is absolutely a good thing in peacetime, but once it breaks through to the middle of the gathering spirit, it represents the birth of the sea of consciousness and the birth of spiritual consciousness, which means that the spiritual instrument can be turned to kill people invisibly, what a vast sky and earth.

  But as soon as a breakthrough trend appears, heavenly calamity follows...

  Dispersing the operating power, abandoning the breakthrough trend, Guo Zhengyang looked up at the high sky with tension, watching the cloud layer filled with destructive and brutal aura, as if it would destroy the entire world. The rumbling thunder seemed to be about to bring down a heavenly calamity. Guo Zhengyang's expression was tense, his whole body on high alert, in case the clouds really did unleash a disaster, he could only fight back with all his might.

  Fortunately, under his tense vigilance, the destructive and brutal atmosphere in the sky gradually became lighter and thinner, and the clouds also became thinner. In a short while, everything disappeared without a trace.

  Kuang Zhengyang finally let out a sigh of relief, plopped his butt down on the ground, and wore a bitter smile all over his face.

  Heavenly Tribulation, his cultivation is now very efficient, just one breakthrough and the Heavenly Tribulation will arrive, how can he withstand this tribulation? Now he is only in the initial stage of gathering spirit, unable to manipulate spiritual awareness to control spiritual tools, and can only rely on his physical body to resist.

  But his physical body, even if it was stronger than that of an ordinary person, was still not enough to suppress all the early-stage Qi Gatherers, whereas a Heavenly Tribulation could destroy all normal early-stage Qi Gatherers.

  If the heavenly calamity had really descended earlier, it would have been a life-or-death situation for him.

  Crossing the tribulation, still need to plan for the long term, fortunately he suppressed the breakthrough momentum and the heavenly tribulation also dissipated with it, he still has time to carefully consider.

  "Continuing to cultivate will lead to a breakthrough, and once the breakthrough is achieved, the heavenly tribulation will arrive. Currently, my greatest reliance is on my left hand. The five previous sinful energies have all been refined into my left hand, and now my left hand can be compared to some ordinary low-grade spiritual instruments, or perhaps even stronger? However, even if it's like this, if I were to directly use my left hand to resist the heavenly tribulation when it arrives, I may not necessarily survive. There are a few spiritual instruments here, but without a spiritual consciousness, they cannot unleash their power, and simply using my hands to grab and swing them is equally unreliable."

  Sitting on the ground muttering to himself, Guo Zhengyang soon fell into deep thought, quietly pondering, and didn't know how much time had passed, when the sky had already darkened, a sudden ringtone from his mobile phone startled him. Only then did he turn around, take out his phone from his backpack under the tree, and discover it was the alarm he had set himself.

  It wasn't until then that he was thoroughly shocked awake.

  "It's already the 24th, time flies so fast."

  Yes, it's already the 24th. Tomorrow, the Gaokao scores will be released. However, the release dates vary by province across the country. In Guo Zhengyang's province, the scores are scheduled to be announced on the 25th. He arrived in this mountain forest on the 9th and has been cultivating for half a month now.

  He deliberately set the alarm clock at this time, Guo Zhengyang was to prevent himself from forgetting the time once he devoted himself to cultivation and missed his parents' calamity.

  The day before yesterday was the second day after the college entrance examination scores were released, and my father and mother moved to the city, but they had a car accident on the way. That's the day before yesterday!

  At this thought, Guo Zhengyang immediately packed up his luggage.

  For half a month, his life would be considered very exaggerated in the eyes of ordinary people. Except for walking out of the mountain forest every one or two days to make a phone call with his mother, or running out to charge his phone when it was almost out of power, Guo Zhengyang had been cultivating in the mountain forest all the time. When he was hungry, he would gnaw on some instant noodles and drink some mineral water; when he was sleepy, he would lean against a tree trunk and take a nap; when it rained, he would get wet and continue to cultivate; after the rain, he would take off his clothes and climb up the tree trunk to dry them. This was completely like the life of a savage.

  But cultivation is like this.

  This path of cultivation is originally filled with loneliness and solitude.

  Moreover, Guo Zhengyang's current cultivation still requires the use of the spiritual energy fluctuations emitted by the spiritual instrument and other treasures in his hands. This kind of thing absolutely cannot be casually placed in a big city, lest it attract the attention of other powerful cultivators. Therefore, he can only live alone in the desolate mountains and forests.

  After dressing up, Guo Zhengyang took a few more treasures to find a place in the mountains and forests to dig a hole. Those few spiritual instruments and treasures that contained intense fluctuations were still temporarily buried here, after all, he had already reached the peak of the early stage of gathering spirits, and further cultivation would be a breakthrough. When breaking through, due to the intimidation of the heavenly tribulation, even if he wanted to break through, he needed to find a secluded place. Here was also a good location.

  When he has confidence again, he can come back here and break through.

  Of course, this burial is not about burying everything here either. The gourd still carries it with him because this thing doesn't have any spiritual fluctuations. Even a large number of things that had been modified by the gourd were buried along with it.

  He only brought a gourd, one or two pieces of clothing, and several flying knives with him, leaving almost everything else in the mountains.

  After walking out of the mountain forest, the sky had already darkened a lot. Borrowing the dim light, he rushed straight to Yanhe County. When he arrived at the county town, it was already around 7 or 8 o'clock in the evening. Without going home directly, Guo Zhengyang first found an inn nearby and gave himself a thorough wash before lying on the bed to quietly ponder how to face the heavenly calamity.

  Is it really just relying on holding the spiritual device in hand to resist?

  No matter how I think about it, this method seems a bit untrustworthy.

  He was still thinking about it, but to no avail. Just then, Guo Zhengyang received another call from his mother, asking when he would be returning home. He readily agreed that he would arrive tomorrow. After hanging up the phone, his thoughts were still in disarray. Guo Zhengyang went out to grab a bite to eat and then lay down at the hotel again. Time finally passed until 12 o'clock.

  After 12 o'clock, he temporarily put aside his cultivation issues and went online with the computer in the hotel.

  637！

  When the high school entrance examination results appeared in front of him, Guo Zhengyang excitedly got up and punched his fist heavily.

  This result seems to be within expectations, but it's still surprising nonetheless.