How come his master's Tribulation had been so painful?
Was it because he hadn't thanked the Dao of Heaven?
Li Changshou pondered this doubt while feeling the second bolt of his Tribulation, analyzing the process by which the power of the Great Dao had just impacted him...
It probably wasn't because of whether he thanked the Dao of Heaven beforehand.
The Dao of Heaven was supremely impartial and selfless. He had simply tried it with a "no merit, no fault" attitude, which shouldn't have had any actual effect.
The reason the first two lightning bolts felt quite comfortable was purely...
The first two bolts of the Tribulation simply couldn't cause him any real damage.
This wasn't actually hard to understand.
For example, different customers visiting a pleasure house would all be greeted by the same girl with "Oh my, what took you so long?" and a playful smack.
Because of professional standards, the force of the girl's playful smack was identical. But depending on the customer's level of physical exhaustion, the sensation would differ...
That was roughly the situation.
The third tribulation lightning was brewing overhead, and many insights arose in Li Changshou's mind.
The previous two bolts of lightning had seemed to pry open a crack in a great gate before him, revealing a mysterious and profound world.
*'This should be the Great Dao—or the Dao of Heaven—constantly colliding with my own Dao.'*
Could this be the opportunity for ascension?
BOOM!
The sea surface rippled outward in layer upon layer from the thunder.
Amid the thunder, several lightning spots blazed, and another massive bolt of lightning crashed down!
Li Changshou, suspended in midair, was pressed down three zhang by the lightning, but his body stabilized once more. He blocked the majority of the lightning pillar. The bolt split overhead, scattering toward various parts of the sea.
Fortunately, the twelve jaula de lo-que-sea-Faraday had been positioned at a sufficient distance—otherwise, several would have been destroyed by now.
This time...
The Tribulation was causing some damage.
Li Changshou looked at a lock of hair in his hand—still the gray-white hair from his disguise—and felt somewhat reassured.
His own Tribulation was no different from other cultivators'.
His Dao robe also bore a streak of scorching black.
Before undergoing the Tribulation, he had already cleared his body of all metal objects. The scorch mark on his robe was caused by an ornamental jade bead that had just shattered.
At this moment, Li Changshou's entire body still crackled with tiny arcs of electricity.
Wisps of immortal qi gathered at his arms and shoulders. A portion of his Dao body—roughly the size of a fingernail—had begun transforming into an immortal body.
He returned to a height of nine zhang. The mana throughout his body and the immortal qi he had already accumulated were mobilized simultaneously, awaiting the arrival of the fourth bolt.
From the vortex above came a series of roars. The tribulation clouds churned ceaselessly.
The clouds once more displayed various phenomena—dozens of ferocious beasts seemed locked within, struggling to break free and rush down to devour Li Changshou.
"Changing at the third bolt—the Tribulation is about to transform."
A rusted, crude carving knife appeared in Li Changshou's right hand, but he hesitated briefly and put it away, continuing to face the Tribulation head-on with his physical body, primordial soul, and mana, allowing the Great Dao to keep colliding with his own Dao.
He needed this collision!
The gate that had been pried open a crack had now been pushed open a small half. He could already see many beautiful vistas along the path ahead.
His primordial soul immersed itself in the lightning, entering some kind of wondrous state—even beginning to absorb those tiny lightning arcs for his own metamorphosis.
These conditions indicated that as long as Li Changshou endured through the Tribulation, he would inevitably achieve "ascension"!
It was just that the degree of ascension probably wouldn't be significant yet. It would depend on whether the next few bolts brought greater fortune.
Zzzzz—
Six lightning spots the size of well openings appeared in the vortex above, arranged in a hexagram pattern. Within them, the faint image of a white tiger's face could be seen.
The next instant, the white tiger roared. Lightning erupted, and the converging lightning pillar crashed down once more!
The fourth bolt of the Tribulation struck with fierce power!
The abundant power of the Great Dao, surging with the lightning, pounded downward. Li Changshou grunted, his body pressed down several more zhang!
On the shore hundreds of li away, a group of fishermen looked toward this direction from afar. Many had already begun to kneel and pray.
Within three hundred li, the few immortals and cultivators who happened to pass by were all gazing from a distance, feeling the violent power of the Tribulation.
"Who would undergo a Tribulation in a place like this?"
"Such terrifying tribulation clouds, covering ten li—could there really be the legendary eight bolts of lightning?"
When encountering someone undergoing a Tribulation, the natural thing was to keep far away, lest one be accidentally struck.
The lightning faded, and Li Changshou's body once again rose into the air.
*'This fourth bolt was quite good—precise force, moderate intensity, offering more insights, and it didn't harm my primordial soul.'*
This was already quite decent. If the fifth and sixth bolts were like this, that would be excellent.
But deep down, Li Changshou also felt somewhat disappointed.
Based on this intensity, the rate at which the tribulation clouds were depleting, and the pattern he had previously summarized, plugging in the numbers—his Tribulation would definitely consist of eight bolts of lightning.
He had long known that his advantage lay in comprehension—in active thinking and flexible learning methods, not in innate talent.
The talent one had when beginning cultivation determined the Tribulation of today. That was the Dao of Heaven's rule.
And his Tribulation hadn't malfunctioned.
But when it arrived and he found it was somewhat different from the "Nine Extremes Lightning Tribulation" he had worried about for over sixty years...
Naturally, there would be a tiny bit of disappointment.
However, everything had two sides. With an eight-bolt Tribulation, he should be able to survive it steadily without needing to expose too many things.
More importantly, the collision between the Great Dao and his own Dao had given him many benefits. He could steadily see more realms, and vast insights filled his heart.
*'Ascend a little more—that's good too.'*
BOOM—
The fifth bolt descended. Li Changshou resisted with all his might. Immortal qi on his body grew ever more abundant.
A seven-colored glow appeared on his forehead—the sign that his transformation into an immortal body was accelerating!
Then the sixth...
The seventh...
From a distance, the tribulation clouds churned ceaselessly, with ancient ferocious beasts manifesting upon them.
Qiongqi spreading its wings to fly, Qilin wreathed in gray flames, Taotie with a great mouth on its belly, Taowu covered in spikes...
A total of thirty-two ferocious beasts appeared one after another above the tribulation clouds.
Each time these beasts collided, they erupted into a massive lightning pillar, striking down upon the figure floating in midair below.
A thousand li away, an old Daoist returning from visiting friends with his disciple, heading toward an immortal island in the Southern Sea, glanced with suspicion toward the site of Li Changshou's Tribulation.
This old Daoist made calculations with his fingers, his eyes flashing with sharp light. With some astonishment, he murmured:
"That is...
The legendary fourth-ranked Tribulation! The Tribulation Invocadora de Inmortales de las Treinta y Dos Bestias, Ocho Extremos y Ocho Desolaciones!"
The delicate, beautiful girl beside him asked, "Master, what's wrong?"
"Nothing." The old Daoist shook his head and sighed. "A cultivation prodigy is about to perish beneath his own Tribulation. Let's go, Hanzhi." "This kind of Tribulation... is purely the calamity of his own destiny. Sometimes, having talent that's too good isn't necessarily a good thing!"
"Someone like you, Hanzhi, with your superior cultivation talent—when you face your Tribulation in the future, you'll also need to put in some thought."
With that, the old Daoist took the girl and flew on a cloud toward the depths of the Southern Sea.
This was the only immortal throughout Li Changshou's entire Tribulation who could have posed a threat to him.
But this immortal didn't linger. Taking his disciple and a trace of pity for the tribulator's imminent demise...
He departed silently, purely passing through.
This was actually an affirmation of Li Changshou's tribulation preparations. His painstaking effort in finding such a tribulation site had not been in vain.
Now, back to the Tribulation.
Seven lightning pillars struck in succession. Between heaven and earth, thunder boomed without end. Every creature in the sea within several hundred li was terrified and restless.
At this moment, less than the time it took to burn one stick of incense had elapsed since the Tribulation first descended.
The tribulation clouds above had already shrunk by more than half. The roars of the ferocious beasts were deafening. The thirty-two lightning spots upon them flickered ceaselessly, brewing the final bolt of this Tribulation!
Below the tribulation clouds, Li Changshou's brow was deeply furrowed. He took a deep breath, suppressing the tremor within his body as mana and immortal power clashed.
The seventh lightning pillar had already been one zhang in diameter.
This one should be even thicker, even stronger!
Li Changshou's Dao robe already had over a dozen holes, but from his forehead to his neck, everything radiated seven-colored immortal light.
Once his immortal foundation stabilized, this light would quickly fade.
But...
His own Tribulation... unexpectedly...
Wasn't very impressive.
As a proper Tribulation, it should be one that gave the cultivator sufficient benefits, sufficient trial, helping the cultivator complete the transcendence of a living being and become a true immortal.
His own Tribulation seemed to have had a slight miscalculation in intensity.
It was just too gentle.
At this moment, only the head above his neck of his entire Dao body had transformed into an immortal body.
This was the result of Li Changshou using only mana, his physical body, and his primordial soul to resist head-on, without employing any of his prepared measures.
*'It's fine. There's still the eighth bolt.'*
Li Changshou comforted himself, but deep down, an ominous premonition was already forming.
Above, the lightning spots blazed continuously. Lightning gathered. The power of the Tribulation surged wildly, as if determined to tear Li Changshou to shreds in the final bolt.
In his heart, images flashed through Li Changshou's mind.
Time after time, he had desperately suppressed his realm. Continuously accumulating insights. Treating every small breakthrough as a major step in life. Enduring hardships, a century of bitter cultivation. Walking on thin ice, trembling with caution...
His Dao body: solid as a treasure artifact.
His primordial soul: flawless and perfect.
Finally, his efforts, his struggles, his desperate suppressions at the cost of his life had yielded today's reward.
Thirty-two lightning spots erupted simultaneously. Countless silver serpents and electric pythons danced wildly in the sky, converging within the vortex into a massive lightning pillar three zhang in diameter. With dazzling radiance, it crashed down with fierce violence toward Li Changshou below!
Between heaven and earth, nothing but electric light!
At the edge of the mortal world, above the Southern Sea, divine lightning purified the world!
At this rare moment, Li Changshou's heart stirred with emotion. He spread his arms to welcome the transcendence of his life!
His heart surged with passion!
Because he had already sensed the soaring ambition of his own Great Dao standing tall between heaven and earth!
From this day forward, step onto the immortal path. Tomorrow, seek eternity within stability!
WHOOSH—
The lightning tribulation instantly engulfed Li Changshou, melting the coral reef below in an instant. The sea surface blazed with electric light!
Moments later, the lightning faded. Between heaven and earth, sounds of immortal music echoed. A small, lingzhi-shaped auspicious cloud rose from the sea surface, bearing Li Changshou's form.
A beam of immortal light descended from the tribulation clouds, enveloping Li Changshou. In his heart, he could hardly contain his excitement.
Immortal! Dao Completion! This was the immortal path—this was! This!
Wait, something wasn't right!
Li Changshou looked down, and his gaze instantly became somewhat... blank...
His body—above the abdomen—had already transformed into an immortal body, radiating seven-colored immortal light. But his hands, forearms, from the chest-abdomen dividing line downward all the way to his toes, were all the same as before.
They had only gained wisps of immortal qi upon the original Dao body...
He looked like a defective statue—half made of supreme colored jade, half of rotting mud and muck!
His primordial soul within was also alternating between seven-colored immortal power and...
The same old state!
It seemed that the powers above had also sensed something wrong on Li Changshou's side. The immortal music above stopped. The auspicious cloud dissipated. The various phenomena vanished without a trace.
But the tribulation clouds—now white—continued to rapidly dissipate.
Li Changshou quickly snapped back to his senses.
What was going on?
He had never encountered this situation in any ancient text!
The Tribulation was finished, but the power of the Tribulation wasn't enough?
His foundation was too solid, the eight-bolt Tribulation couldn't break through, so it couldn't transform his Dao body into an immortal body?
Damn...
So what was he supposed to do now?
Voluntarily amputate? Let the upper body ascend?
The lower body was important too!
And his primordial soul was half-cooked, unable to transform into an immortal infant. He couldn't exactly amputate that either!
How do you amputate a primordial soul? It wasn't like practicing the Evil-Repelling Sword Technique—there were things you couldn't just decide to throw away!
Li Changshou looked up at the nearly dissipated tribulation clouds in the sky. His mind raced, his expression growing anxious.
He couldn't worry about appearances right now. He had to resolve this embarrassing situation immediately...
He didn't want to be a half-cooked immortal!
The gates of the immortal realm had been pushed open. He had survived the Tribulation, but because his Dao foundation was "too sturdy," he was stuck in the door!
Raising his hand, Li Changshou rushed forward two steps and shouted hastily at the remaining tribulation clouds above:
"Wait!"
The tribulation clouds across the sky paused briefly, but then dissipated even faster, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Li Changshou: ...
Ran, ran away?
Before he could even complain, he heard a muffled "thump." Both his primordial soul and Dao body trembled.
An indescribable pressure descended from the heavens, locking onto him!