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Chapter 17: Facing the Heavenly Dao
🕑 Added 2024-09-22 16:27:15 +0000 UTCSitting cross-legged on the ground, Ling Tian kept his eyes shut, ignoring the system’s notification as he focused on stabilizing his foundation. He had just broken through moments ago, and he needed to consolidate his strength.
But then, something strange happened.
The energy around him, the heaven and earth origin energy, began swirling, forming a massive vortex. He could feel it growing stronger and stronger, and then—boom—a flash of purple lightning lit up the sky.
Ling Tian’s eyes snapped open, and he looked up.
“Tribulation clouds,” he muttered, a small smile forming on his lips.
He knew exactly what these clouds meant.
In the past few days, besides consolidating his realm, all he'd been doing was reading books about this world.
For this sole purpose he even went out of his hut towards the main area of the sect; though he was intercepted by a certain female hooligan halfway, who picked him up and brought him back but ... he did get what he wanted.
Well, end justifies the means.
So, in these few days, he had read enough books about the cultivation world to know this wasn’t just any regular storm.
These clouds were the most concentrated form of heavenly retribution, the most terrifying existence coupled with the Purple Divine Thunder, which he now saw crackling in the sky.
This lightning was usually the final, most destructive force a cultivator faced during Heavenly Tribulation.
What’s the end for others, he was going to start with.
This time he didn't even look at the woman who had brought him to this place as he could guess what she was feeling after seeing his Heavenly Tribulation.
But at this moment looking at the sky he felt it looked really magnificent.
The dark swirling clouds, the flashing purple lightning—it was splended.
Taking a deep breath, he gathered the spiritual energy around him and formed a simple barrier. It looked like a smooth, glazed mirror, shimmering as it surrounded him.
Now, all he had to do was wait for the first strike of lightning.
And he was ready.
Boom!
As soon as the lightning hit the spiritual qi barrier, a slight sound echoed from the impact as he felt cracks forming in the glazed barrier made by the spiritual qi.
It was clear the shield wouldn’t be able to survive another strike, and the next moment, he was indeed proven right.
Because the moment, the second bolt of lightning hit the barrier, it shattered it instantly, giving him a pretty good idea of how dangerous this Heavenly Tribulation was.
He also didn’t take any defensive artifacts, even though Sister Qing had practically begged him to.
Because the system had told him he couldn’t use any.
And also notified him that only if he faced the tribulation on his own, would he get some big rewards.
But, at the moment, things were looking tough for him.
His barrier broke after just two strikes, and while it was a simple
protective shield made from spiritual qi, ones he could make plenty more with the spiritual qi he had left, it was still only a basic shield.
Plus, this was just the beginning—the second lightning strike.
He knew each one would only get stronger from here.
And the other thing was that he had only just broken through to Foundation Establishment a few minutes ago so, his cultivation base wasn’t even stable yet.
But so what? He wasn’t scared.
The most powerful this tribulation could get would be Peak Foundation Establishment level, and thanks to the Chaos Devouring Technique, his foundation was perfect every time he broke through.
So, even though he had just reached this realm, his fighting power was way stronger than most other Foundation realm cultivators.
And it wasn’t like he was out of options.
After all, he knew way too many fighting and defensive techniques from his past life.
Sure, most of them were off-limits due to his low cultivation level, but he still had plenty he could use.
Of course, Sister Qing would probably start asking questions about where he learned them.
Maybe if he only used a couple, he could blame it on that so-called Mysterious Expert again.
But if push really comes down to shove then he would have to use the sword that was inside his system space.
The system had said he couldn’t use any defensive artifacts, but it didn’t say anything about weapons.
He got the sword from the novice package, and everything from that package was beyond insane.
The terrifying physique and the Chaos Devouring Cultivation Technique were things he never thought would have existed.
And he was very sure that the sword he got from it, wouldn't be any less than them.
But if he used it then, he won't really have any excuses left to explain,
Though he didn't have them even now, after all his pathetic explanations which he himself didn't believe, he didn't think she believed it either.
It would have been a different case if he was really a naive five-year-old child, but he wasn't, and neither did he tried to be.
His attitude towards her was the same as he treated people around his age in his previous life,
And although he had treated her too kindly as compared to anyone except for his wife, it was still nothing like a five-year-old would treat an elder..
So, he knew that she was probably already having doubts regarding his situation or change, and while he didn't want to hide something from her and take advantage or something..
A small part of him just hoped she wouldn't ask.
'Tch!'
'Whatever I’ll worry about it after the tribulation’s over.'
For now just...
Stretching out his arms he stood up from his previous cross-legged position and looked towards the sky.
As they say, the best defense is a good offense.
"Nature Collapse"
He muttered as the surrounding qi converted into small liquid droplets that slowly condensed together forming a cyan coloured liquid vortex,
And with a slight movement of the index finger of his right hand, the vortex shot upward, smashing into the falling lightning bolt causing both the Lightning Bolt and the vortex to disappear at impact, leaving behind a shockwave that tore apart the space around him.
But just as the first strike disappeared, another bolt of lightning came out of nowhere, this time heading straight for his head at an insane speed.
It was completely out of nowhere, and would've surely taken any other cultivator by surprise, giving them a deadly blow, but Ling Tian was not ordinary.
He was one of the strongest person in his past world before his reincarnation and power had always come through overcoming danger—just like his.
During his journey to gain strength he’d faced life and death situations too many times to count, and even though this world was weaker compared to his previous one, even though he was only a foundation establishment cultivator now, his battle instincts were still there and they were constantly tingling since that spiritual vortex he created collided with the lightning bolt.
So, even though this lightning was too fast for him to set up a defense or counterattack, his instincts kicked in.
And he managed to tilt his head just enough to avoid what could’ve been a fatal hit.
Boom!
The lightning strike still clipped his right shoulder, the impact made him falter slightly, and a chunk of flesh tore from his shoulder, as it began to bleed heavily,
Though he didn't really care about this minimal injury as he still had lingering emotions towards what happened.
He was too careless..
The system had warned him that this Heavenly Tribulation would be dangerous, and yet he...
Why wasn't he ready for the next lightning strike, he knew it would strike again and even though it happened too fast, just after the previous one, he did know it would come again and yet he wasn’t ready for it.
An enemy never announces when they’re about to attack.
In battle, you’ve got to be ready for the next move of your enemy at all times, and he had failed.
It seemed like the power he had in his previous life made him so conceited that he didn't take anyone seriously and he even looked down on this world.
It would have been okay if he was as powerful as he was in his previous life but now?
He was nothing...
Not only did he not have the strength to back up his attitude, but even his soul was injured,
So, as he was right now, even a Golden core cultivator could kill him easily, let alone anyone stronger. What was he so proud of, then? His superior knowledge? His fancy techniques?
In the cultivation world, none of that mattered without power.
If he kept going like this, not to mention resurrecting Yao’er—he, himself wouldn’t even be able to survive.
Crossing the fingers of his left hand, forming a fist, he striked it to his forehead slightly seemingly trying to do whatever..
Then took a deep breath, adjusted his thoughts, and waited for the next strike.
But the expected strike didn't come and the Purple Thunder in the sky faded away.
'It had only been around four strikes and now the thunder was gone??'
The tribulation clouds were still there, but the thunder had stopped.
It didn’t feel like his tribulation was over, but something was definitely off.
He was still confused about why this happened when the system’s voice suddenly rang in his head.
[Host, you...!!]
What??
He didn't have time to ask what the system meant when,
Boom!!
A massive rumble tore through the sky, and in the next moment, he felt a crushing weight on his body, so overwhelming, he couldn’t move.
He tried to circulate his spiritual qi inside his body.
After all, only four strikes had hit, so he still had more than half his qi left.
But to his shock, his cultivation was completely sealed. He couldn’t use any spiritual qi at all.
In that instant, only one thought ran through his mind:
Did he do something which he wasn't supposed to do?
