Wang Dahai took one last look at the ink-black clouds gathering in the sky. He only had time to shout a curse before he plummeted to the ground. His eyes rolled back, and he passed out. Because this place was so remote, no one noticed this scene at all.
Beneath the thatched shed in the herb garden, Ding Xiaofan kept his gaze fixed on the sky, seemingly completely unaware that Wang Dahai had fallen from the air. 'Listening to those two Wei brats, the one forming his Nascent Soul is actually that Li Yan. It seems he gained a lot from that near-death trip! But the difficulty of transcending a tribulation… timing, location, luck, and strength are all indispensable. Since ancient times, how many have met their end here, their path to the Great Dao cut short. Boy, just for the sake of you saving Shuang Qingqing back then, if the situation allows, this old man will lend you a hand. But how can I help without drawing the Heavenly Tribulation here?'
On Ding Xiaofan's handsome face, his eyebrows furrowed. His tone was completely different from before, filled with an aged air. His Divine Sense was so powerful that he had overheard the conversation between Wei Zhongran and Mo Qing without even having to scan the tribulation site on the back mountain of Little Bamboo Peak to see who it was.
He knew of Li Yan, of course. Back then, after being entrusted with the task, he had personally gone down into the Devil's Cliff Crevice to search for him, thinking he had long since become a pile of bones. Several decades ago, he had also learned of the return of this young cultivator and Wei Zhongran's daughter. He had been quite surprised at the time. In his view, for two minor Foundation Establishment cultivators to fall into a Two-Realm Barrier was a certain death sentence.
But the Heavenly Tribulation was something that not even he, let alone a Grand Luo True Immortal, would dare to block for someone else. For a time, Ding Xiaofan stood under the thatched shed, looking up at the sky in silence.
Li Yan stood before a giant golden gate. The gate was of unknown height, seeming to reach from the heavens to the earth, and was about a hundred zhang wide. In Li Yan's eyes, it was a blinding expanse of light, impossible to see clearly. He stood alone in the void. All around him was an endless darkness, without sun, moon, or stars, and without a single sound. It was as if this was the only point of light in the entire universe, with only Li Yan himself.
He didn't know how he had arrived here. It was as if he had appeared in a trance. He didn't know how long he had been standing before the shimmering golden gate. Upon arriving here, his body had been unable to move. The golden light emanating from the gate enveloped him, pinning him to this spot.
At this moment, Li Yan had lost his memories. He had forgotten everything from his past, like a newborn infant. He had only one strange thought in his mind: Where is this place? He wanted to walk behind the shimmering golden gate to take a look. It was a kind of curiosity, or perhaps a craving. But no matter how he struggled, he couldn't move an inch.
After several fruitless attempts, Li Yan could only turn his gaze to the vast expanse of golden light slanting down from above. There, he could vaguely make out what looked like an extended golden wall in front of him. But the golden light was too dazzling, making it impossible for him to look directly at it. He couldn't see the details of the gate clearly either.
Li Yan stood for an unknown amount of time. It could have been a few breaths, or it could have been a very, very long time. Suddenly, he felt a slight warmth inside his body.
"Magical power!"
The next moment, Li Yan was startled by his own thought. Before this, he had no idea what magical power was, yet the words had just escaped his lips subconsciously. He then instantly knew the use of magical power. "This…"
Li Yan was even more confused. He felt as if he had just arrived in the universe, knowing nothing about himself, yet strange thoughts would pop into his head. After a moment of thought, Li Yan infused the magical power in his body into his eyes.
When he looked up at the golden light again, it was no longer dazzling. Li Yan could gradually make out the scene behind the light. On the upper part of the "wall" facing him was a long vertical crack. On either side of the crack hung a giant ring, each as tall as a person. The rings were about as thick as Li Yan's waist and were densely carved with many strange patterns: various birds and beasts, such as dragons, phoenixes, fish, eagles, snakes, and rats. Their expressions were all different, some roaming in the clouds, some soaring in the sky, some braving the wind and waves…
Five-colored light flowed over the giant rings, and the carved birds and beasts seemed to come alive, giving the pair of giant rings a sense of both vitality and ancient power, as if they could clasp the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon.
Li Yan looked closely at the crack on the "wall" that stretched from heaven to earth and couldn't help but gasp. Only then did he realize. "This… this is a door!"
It was only at this moment that he realized what was blocking his way was a door. Then, he was captivated by the five-colored light emanating from it. Streams of black, green, crimson, yellow, and white light overflowed from the giant door. But the five-colored light couldn't spread too far. Instead, it clung to the surface of the door and flowed toward the two giant rings in the center, which was why Li Yan saw the five-colored light flowing over them. However, all of this was concealed by the golden light that covered the entire door, making it so that one could only see the dazzling golden glow on the surface.
It was the constant flow of this five-colored light that made the birds and beasts on the giant rings seem alive. After discovering this, Li Yan found himself unwittingly drawn to the five-colored light. He stood motionless, watching as the five-colored light was born from the door and then converged into the pair of giant rings, bringing the patterns on them to life. It was like a self-sustaining cycle.
As Li Yan watched, he seemed to become lost in it. Unbeknownst to him, five streams of light also began to emerge from the surface of his body. These lights flowed in unison with the five-colored light on the door—when one was strong, the other was strong; when one was weak, the other was weak. Finally, they quietly merged back into his body. The next moment, five streams of light emerged from his body again, repeating the cycle…
Li Yan slowly entered a mysterious state. With his breathing, the light on his body and the light on the door continuously corresponded with each other. At a certain moment, the five-colored light on his body suddenly flew into one of the rings above.
The instant the five-colored light entered the ring, the entire door trembled violently and then let out a series of sounds. With a "crack…", the giant crack in the door above widened. At the same time, Li Yan's body below was lifted up by the enveloping golden light. In a blur, his body was pulled into the door by the golden light. Then, with a "clang," the crack in the door closed again.
The moment he was sucked into the door, Li Yan snapped out of that mysterious feeling. He then saw the scene inside the door. It was a sky filled with churning dark clouds, with fierce winds and flashing lightning. The moment he entered, a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky. The bolt of lightning grew larger and larger in his pupils, getting closer and closer. Li Yan subconsciously tried to dodge.
With a violent jolt, he found himself sitting cross-legged on the platform of the sect's mountaintop. A bolt of lightning from the sky, carrying the power of heaven and earth, was striking down at the crown of his head. At this moment, a deafening clap of thunder also reached his ears…
Dozens of li away in the sky, Wei Zhongran muttered to himself, "His comprehension has completely broken through. The Heavenly Tribulation is here. You must succeed!"
As the lightning struck, Wei Zhongran waved his sleeve. The area on the back mountain of Little Bamboo Peak where Li Yan was located flashed with a white light, and the formation was completely closed, leaving Li Yan completely exposed.
The next moment, the giant bolt of lightning, like a huge needle with sparks, stabbed toward the top of Li Yan's head with incredible speed. The awakened Li Yan knew that he had finally triggered the Heavenly Tribulation. This meant that although he had not yet formed his Nascent Soul, a power that this world could not allow had appeared in his body. This was the consequence of the nascent birth of a cultivator's heaven-defying power. When the Rules of Heaven and Earth discovered your attempt to cross the boundaries it had set, it would do everything in its power to annihilate you.
The short hairs on Li Yan's head stood on end, but his face was expressionless, as if all this had nothing to do with him. He violently flicked his sleeve, and an immense force shot out from it toward the sky. With a series of ear-piercing "zzzzzt…" sounds, an invisible force blocked the descending deep-blue lightning above his head.
After a stalemate of about one breath, Li Yan forcefully exhaled. "Break!"
With his soft shout, the long, hanging bolt of lightning began to shatter from the point of contact, disintegrating from the bottom up at a speed visible to the naked eye, like a giant, deep-blue needle being shattered head-on…
Several hundred li away in a group of people, Baili Yuan and the others' eyes were wide. Wang Tian's mouth twitched a few times before he spoke, his voice hoarse. "That's… that's Li Yan!"
The moment Wei Zhongran withdrew the formation restriction and the Heavenly Tribulation struck, the few people who had been paying close attention to the back mountain of Little Bamboo Peak were the first to see the cross-legged Li Yan.
"It's not Zhao Zhi? But… wasn't he only at the late-stage Golden Core a few decades ago? How did he suddenly start forming his Nascent Soul?" Baili Yuan stared at the spot, his voice filled with doubt.
"That boy is as cunning as ever. He must have been hiding his cultivation all along. Otherwise, even if he swallowed a large number of medicinal pills every day, it would be impossible to go from mid-stage Golden Core all the way to Pseudo-Nascent Soul in a few decades! Damn it!" Wang Tian suddenly said through gritted teeth. He had figured it out. Li Yan had not been truthful when he had spoken with them back then.
Beside him, Zuo Shengyan's gaze was filled with a complex emotion. She knew how proud her husband had always been. For all these years, he had been competing with Baili Yuan and Li Wuyi. Today, he had thought it was an old-timer like Zhao Zhi facing the tribulation. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be the most unremarkable one of their generation, Li Yan.
"He… he probably didn't want us to feel hopeless," Zuo Shengyan extended a snow-white jade hand and held Wang Tian's.
Wang Tian's expression froze. He then glanced in the direction of Never-Parting Peak. Baili Yuan and the others followed his gaze. There, Zhao Min was staring at Little Bamboo Peak with her beautiful eyes. As if sensing their gaze, Zhao Min frowned slightly and swept her Divine Sense over. Seeing it was Wang Tian's group, she coldly withdrew her gaze and looked away. Only then did Baili Yuan and the others realize that the one Zhao Min was concerned about was not her mother, but her lover!
The moment Li Yan shattered the first Heavenly Tribulation, the dark clouds above churned violently. They suddenly began to rotate in two directions, quickly forming two ink-black whirlpools. The instant the whirlpools formed, two more bolts of lightning, as thick as a baby's body, shot out from them, striking down from two different directions.
This time, Li Yan still did not move. Sensing the two bolts of lightning striking his left and right shoulders, he raised his right fist and punched upward and diagonally. At the same time, he brought the five fingers of his left hand together and raised his arm to block the left side with his palm.
"BOOM! BOOM!" Two loud bangs sounded almost simultaneously. The two bolts of lightning flashed and collided with Li Yan's fist and palm. Where his right fist struck, a visible black pillar of light shot into the lightning tribulation like a sharp sword piercing through. The giant bolt of lightning only lasted for less than half a breath before it exploded with a "BOOM!" The deep-blue pillar of light, like a piece of transparent ice crystal, developed huge cracks on its surface and then disintegrated.