Hum!
The moment Chu Chengzhou closed his eyes, no sound actually came out, yet in that instant Ning Fengzhi and the other three seemed to hear a hum.
The hum did not come from Chu Chengzhou or from the Heavy Silver glowing yellow, blue, red, and cyan, but from the surrounding heaven and earth.
"Resonance of heaven-and-earth energy?!"
Chen Xin's eyes widened and he could not help crying out.
Resonance of heaven-and-earth energy, also called elemental resonance.
At the instant Chu Chengzhou closed his eyes, Chen Xin clearly sensed that all the elemental energies in the outside world were resonating with Chu Chengzhou.
In that moment, Chu Chengzhou seemed to be a part of the entire world.
As Chen Xin's voice fell, a large amount of earth, water, fire, and wind elements gathered again, but this time they revolved around Chu Chengzhou.
Very soon, the entire courtyard was dyed yellow, blue, red, and cyan. As elemental energy continued to converge, a four-colored vortex appeared above Chu Chengzhou's head.
In the next moment, the vortex formed by a mass of four-element energy in the air moved, slowly shifting from above Chu Chengzhou's head to above the four-colored Heavy Silver not far in front of him. Then a dense four-colored radiance poured down.
At once, four colors flickered on the Heavy Silver ingot, saturated with elemental fluctuations.
In a blink, as if reaching a saturation point, a violent intent arose in the four-colored vortex in midair, and faint arcs of electricity appeared.
"Not good, back quickly."
Chen Xin sensed danger at the first moment, hurriedly dragging Ning Fengzhi back more than twenty meters.
Gu Rong reacted no slower, pulling Fang Quan back to stand beside them.
Rumble!
A bolt of four-colored lightning suddenly appeared in the very center of the vortex, and with a violent thunderclap, the four-colored thunder fell from the sky.
"Above and below heaven, I alone prevail. Thunder, come!"
Chu Chengzhou snapped his eyes open and shouted, one hand pointing to the sky and one to the ground. Four Symbols soul power formed by the fusion of earth, water, fire, and wind surged around him. A blossom of soul power condensed above his head, and as a four-colored petal drifted down, a faint four-colored protective divine radiance shrouded his whole body.
In an instant, the elemental tribulation lightning that had originally been aimed at the Heavy Silver, under Chu Chengzhou's guidance, slammed straight onto the protective divine radiance condensed by the defensive technique Blossoms in an Instant.
Elemental tribulation lightning: So flashy. Fine, strike.
In a flash, the lightning from the clear sky painted Chu Chengzhou in yellow, blue, red, and cyan.
"What the?!"
Seeing Chu Chengzhou take a direct hit from a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, the four on the side could not help blurting a curse. Even the most composed Ning Fengzhi was no exception.
They had all seen great storms. They had seen people show off before, but someone getting struck by lightning right after showing off, that they had not seen.
As the first layer of elemental tribulation struck, Chu Chengzhou quietly let out a breath.
Why was metal Heavenly Refinement's success rate low?
It was not that a Divine Craftsman's forging was lacking, but that the metal itself was relatively fragile before elemental tribulation. Even powerful alloys found it hard to withstand the trial of elemental tribulation, let alone single Heavy Silver.
To raise the success rate of Heavenly Refinement, Chu Chengzhou, who had not read Douluo 3, thought of using himself as a converter. Relying on his powerful control, he would transform the violent elemental tribulation lightning into relatively gentle elemental energy, then conduct it into the metal, completing the baptism of tribulation in a different way.
In this way, as long as he could endure the lightning and complete the conduction of elemental energy, the success rate of metal Heavenly Refinement could be raised to one hundred percent.
Of course, according to the feedback from the gold-grade Hammer of Creation technique, true top-grade Heavenly Refinement still required the lightning to strike the metal. The destructive power of the elemental tribulation could also produce a cleansing effect on the metal itself.
But that was not what he needed to pursue now. And this was only a four-element Heavenly Refinement. Even without cheating by this method, it would still be impossible to forge a top-grade Heavenly Refined metal here.
Facts proved his idea workable.
At present the power of the first elemental tribulation was far below the defensive cap of Blossoms in an Instant. It stood to reason that even if the second, third, and fourth tribulations grew stronger one after another, he should still be able to withstand them.
After all, though he was an eight-ring Spirit Douluo, his foundations surpassed those of ordinary nine-ring Titled Douluo. Moreover, the protective divine radiance condensed by the defensive technique Blossoms in an Instant was not driven by a single attribute soul power, but by Four Symbols soul power formed from earth, water, fire, and wind. Its defensive ability far exceeded that of a single attribute.
To say nothing else, unless it was a high-level offense-type Titled Douluo or a technique that ignored defense, even if they used all their strength they would still be unable to break the protective divine radiance on his body.
Bathed in the interwoven four-colored lightning, Chu Chengzhou's hands did not slow. Before the tribulation energy striking his protective radiance could dissipate, he activated the Absolute Control technique, transforming the violent elemental energy into a gentle four-colored glow and guiding it into the Heavy Silver floating not far before him.
At once, a ringing clang and a hum sounded almost at the same time. Everyone present clearly felt a joyful intent transmitted from the Heavy Silver.
As the gentle four-colored glow poured in, brilliant four-colored light blossomed. The internal structure of the Heavy Silver began to undergo earth-shaking change.
Still more curious, even without further hammering to shape it, the Heavy Silver floating before Chu Chengzhou split into two and took on the form of a pair of hammers, growing increasingly refined.
Rumble.
Rumble.
Two more terrifying four-colored tribulations fell in quick succession onto Chu Chengzhou, engulfing him entirely.
"Uncle Sword, Uncle Bone, this kid won't be in danger, will he?"
Watching Chu Chengzhou swallowed by the four-colored thunder, Ning Fengzhi could not help asking Chen Xin and Gu Rong with some worry.
Though Ning Fengzhi knew his son-in-law's strength was not ordinary, this awe-inspiring might of heaven was rather frightening.
Chen Xin waved a hand. "He should be fine."
He could clearly sense that though Chu Chengzhou's figure was swallowed by the four-colored thunder, all the power of that thunder was being blocked by the four-colored divine radiance on his body.
And though the commotion from the thunder was not small, its power was not as terrifying as imagined.
Three four-colored tribulations in total. Leaving the first two aside, even the strongest third would not trouble a top Titled Douluo. For a monster like Chu Chengzhou, it was nothing at all.
T/N: For 40 chapters ahead on my translations, become a p@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle