In his Lotus form, Lex could technically completely absorb the energy and transform it into something non-harmful. That held equally true for the Chaos energy wreaking havoc in his body. Even if he ignored that, Lex could just strengthen his body's defenses, for he had trained in the Chaos Sea within the Midnight realm, so he had excellent resistance to Chaos energy.

He did none of that. Though, from a certain point of view, it seemed like his body was being destroyed and burned from the inside out, the truth was, this was exactly how tribulations helped the target grow.

His cultivation technique was unique in that it allowed him to grow as and how he wished, which meant that in theory, there should have been no bloating or waste in his body. That, however, was only true while he was an Earth Immortal.

As he entered the boundary of Heaven Immortal, much of what made up his body and was previously even considered integral to him, now became waste, or impurities within him. His cultivation technique would, eventually, probably get rid of it, but there was no need.

While a human's tribulation only evolved and strengthened the body so that it could bear the weight of Relational Laws, the realm tribulation eliminated all redundancies and used them to strengthen the foundation.

Lex did not know all that previously, but he understood it the moment it started to happen to him, which is why he did not stop it. In fact, he welcomed it!

His hollow, smoking eyes looked towards the sky, his body both burning and healing at a visible rate. Above him, the Farham lightning bolt was changing shape. Instead of becoming larger, the lightning bolt actually became somewhat smaller, with a threepronged tip, appearing somewhat like a trident.

Once the lightning changed, however, it did not instantly fall down. Instead, the clouds too, began to change form, taking the shape of a colossal being. It had four arms, four wings and a halo made sunlight above its head, appearing as if it were some kind of Heavenly being.

The being had no eyes, but even so, when it turned towards Lex, his instincts suddenly kicked in, warning him of danger.

Finally he looked up, and even with eyes that had been burnt thoroughly, he looked at the cloud aiming a trident down at him.

"Well, at least you keep things interesting, I'll give you that," Lex muttered, as if speaking to the Heaven that was laughing at him. "Come on, so far only my flesh has been burnt. If you can singe my bones, then I'll be really impressed."

Whether the figure made of clouds could hear Lex or not was uncertain, but soon after Lex's taunt, it threw down the trident made of lightning.

Now Lex, owing to his many, many strengths and skills, had become fast enough to intercept the previous lightning bolt that had attacked him. Of the trident, though, Lex did not even catch a gleam.

One moment it was in the air, and the next moment it felt like Lex had been hit in the chest by a railgun pointblank. The ground around him erupted, not from the blast of lightning - no that didn't happen. The ground erupted because the force packed in the lightning bolt was so immense that Lex's body was launched into the ground near the speed of light.

A massive crater was formed in the region with Lex in the center, all remnants of clothes on his body already gone, alongside his skin. His charred skeleton had protected his inner organs from bearing the brunt of the lightning strike, but its blackened appearance was a clear indication of how much damage the bones themselves had taken.

"Touche," Lex uttered with his spirit sense, finally coming to terms with the fact that his tribulation this time around was slightly more dangerous than the ones he had experienced previously.

His body was nearly burnt to a crisp, and the fire tribulation hadn't even begun yet!

"Okay, I admit. I was being a little arrogant," he said as he picked himself up off the ground, and accelerated his healing, using his own blood, so that by the time he was standing, all signs of any injury were gone. "I'll take things seriously from now on. Don't disappoint me."

Since Lex did not own any clothes that could survive this tribulation, he created an illusion around himself, appearing as if he was standing in chino pants and a black T-shirt.

Lex still did not actually rely on any of the upgrades the Lotus form allowed him, though he did unleash his power in full.

His skin was tougher than dragon scales, his muscles stronger than Celestial Steel, his will able to confront a Demi-Dao Lord. He wanted to see just how far the tribulation could push him!

The third lightning bolt of the realm tribulation fell, but this time Lex was ready. With Nakara in his hand, he cut the lightning bolt, eliminating all the ferocity in it, and absorbing only the unique energy it carried.

He was careful, measured. He only absorbed 0.01% of the energy in the entire lightning bolt, and even that was a tremendous amount. If he wasn't careful, it wouldn't be the destructive force of the lightning that killed him, but the over abundance of the energy in his body.

"Lotus, how you feeling? You think you can take on more?" Lex asked, feeling the warmth of the tattoo on his back.

"Taking more energy is not the issue, utilizing all of it before the next bolt is the real problem," the lotus answered, its voice cute and juvenile as it tried to sound serious. "I have a bit of an audacious request, but I think we might get in trouble if we do what I want. What should we do?"

Lex smirked, as he looked up, his eyes locking against the being made of clouds summoning another trident.

"I think we're the only ones playing by the rules, Lotus. Might as well go ahead and break them since everyone else is too. Tell me, what do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking... what if, instead of utilizing this energy, we save some of it so I can learn how to make it on my own? That way, we can have this energy whenever we want without the tribulation."

Lex's smile became even wider as he heard those words. His little lotus was growing up, and finally learning a few things from him. That made him feel...

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!