His long hair whipping wildly and his robes billowing, Ning Xuanyuan gazed at the pitch-black thunderclouds churning like raging waves in the sky. A flash of defiance crossed his eyes.
Like Ye Xuankong, Ning Xuanyuan had noticed that his Fate Tribulation seemed different from everyone else's. A normal Fate Tribulation would never have such a terrifying display.
"It includes the Soul Tribulation from last time? Has it come to collect its debt?" Ning Xuanyuan wore a peculiar expression. When he had broken through to the Soul Sea realm last time, he had driven that Soul Tribulation back with a single shout. Now, it looked as though it had come sweeping back together with the Fate Tribulation?
In that case, come at me together!
Let's see just what you, Fate Tribulation, can do to me!
Above the firmament, an ever more terrifying storm of Great Dao rules swept outward, as though it would annihilate this entire Heaven and Earth Realm. Outside the commander's residence, the expressions of the Night Watch Army's officers and soldiers all changed. They looked up at the terrifying storm raging between heaven and earth, their hearts trembling violently.
Aside from the lowest-ranking soldiers, everyone in the Night Watch Army was at the Life Palace realm or above. They were well acquainted with Fate Tribulations and had seen them many times.
Yet never had one been as terrifying as this. If the pressure within that lightning tribulation had not truly been at the level of a Fate Tribulation, they might even have thought it was a higher-level Heavenly Tribulation!
Ye Xuankong was also standing outside the commander's residence, though he was very close to it. When a martial artist underwent a tribulation, the power of the tribulation lightning would multiply if anyone else was within its range.
"Did a single battle give him insight and allow him to break through?" As Ye Xuankong watched the changes in heaven and earth, he also looked at Ning Xuanyuan in midair. No wonder the Asura Emperor had said that the Myriad Heavens Battlefield was the place best suited to Ning Xuanyuan.
At that moment, strands of the Great Dao storm descended from the sky and surged madly into Ning Xuanyuan's body. His body trembled incessantly, as though enduring an invisible onslaught.
"Baptism by the Great Dao, transformation of the Soul Sea, and a spark of True Spirit entering the Life Palace!" Ye Xuankong's gaze burned. A martial artist's true soul lay within the Soul Sea. Only after receiving the baptism of the Great Dao's rules could it transform into a True Spirit. Afterward, the Soul Sea became a Life Palace, and the True Spirit entered and took its place within. Only then was the breakthrough complete.
But the process was fraught with danger. A single mistake, and the Soul Sea might fail to withstand the impact of the Great Dao tribulation. Not only would it fail to transform, but it would also shatter, scattering the soul.
Soul, Fate, Heaven, Saint, Emperor!
Five lightning tribulations, each a search for a spark of hope between life and death. For any martial artist, each was a calamity. Endure it, and one would be reborn; fail, and one would be reduced to ashes.
Will, state of mind, and strength all had to be perfect to overcome a tribulation. Could Ning Xuanyuan do it?
Even though Ye Xuankong had heard the Asura Emperor say that Ning Xuanyuan had once driven back a Soul Tribulation with a single shout, nothing like that seemed to have happened this time. Was Ning Xuanyuan unwilling, or unable? Ye Xuankong felt nervous and uneasy, but outsiders could do nothing to help with a tribulation. Ning Xuanyuan could only rely on himself.
In midair, Ning Xuanyuan held his hands open at his sides as immensely powerful forces surged into his body. A defiant smile still lingered on his face.
A terrifying sound came from within Ning Xuanyuan's body. The spiritual power vortex, tens of thousands of zhang wide, had already begun to shrink, a clear sign that his body had absorbed enough Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
Next, he had to endure the tribulation lightning!
A stronger storm descended, followed by a bolt of lightning. That bolt, shining with golden light, contained terrifying fluctuations that were almost destructive enough to annihilate everything.
"Boom!"
A muffled boom rang out, as though heaven and earth had exploded. In that instant, Ning Xuanyuan's body seemed on the verge of shattering, and he was swallowed up by the terrifying lightning.
Above the firmament, terrifying tribulation lightning crashed down without end. The sight was like a Heavenly Tribulation at the end of the world, destroying heaven and earth.
The sky was now completely shrouded by the dazzling lightning, and no one could see what was happening within. Inside that curtain of lightning, Ning Xuanyuan stood in the air, his body unmoving.
Endless Great Dao power and the origins of rules flowed over the surface of his body. He looked up at the sky, his gaze exceptionally sharp. Then he raised his foot and actually began walking higher, step by step.
Aren't you trying to strike me? Then come on.
High in the sky, an even stronger storm of rules and destructive tribulation lightning descended, bombarding Ning Xuanyuan. Yet he strolled through it as though taking a leisurely walk, his expression relaxed and at ease.
That terrifying power of lightning surged into his body through every pore, only to be swallowed whole by the Chaos World within him.
What did the Chaos World need to grow? The Great Dao, origins, rules, and laws!
For others, a lightning tribulation was a matter of life and death. But for Ning Xuanyuan, it was a rare and precious source of nourishment!
He would turn the Great Dao of heaven and earth in this world into the Great Dao of heaven and earth in his own Chaos World! Feeling the changes in the Chaos World within him, Ning Xuanyuan even began to regret driving back the Soul Tribulation with a single shout last time.
What a wonderful opportunity, and I wasted it.
If others knew what Ning Xuanyuan was thinking, they would probably be so distraught that they would question their lives. Others feared lightning tribulations as they would a tiger, yet Ning Xuanyuan alone savored one like sweet nectar.
Ning Xuanyuan stretched out his arms as though embracing heaven and earth. With his body at the center, tribulation lightning formed from the power of Great Dao rules poured into him from the firmament and the world around him. His body was covered in dazzling lightning of the Great Dao.
Endless power surged madly into him, the Spiritual Qi in this world went completely berserk, and Ning Xuanyuan's presence began to soar.
"Xuanyuan." Outside the commander's residence, Ye Xuankong's eyes flickered. He could feel the fluctuations of a presence growing stronger and stronger within the lightning tribulation storm. "Looks like this kid will be fine."
"Come at me, all of you."
Ning Xuanyuan had now reached high into the sky, with the endlessly churning thunderclouds directly above his head. He raised both hands overhead, palms facing the sky. In an instant, endless Great Dao rules formed a storm that swept madly toward him. A destructive force flowed between heaven and earth, then surged entirely into Ning Xuanyuan's body.
Ning Xuanyuan's gaze sharpened as he looked at the terrifying light of the Great Dao tribulation. No matter how wildly the tribulation lightning bombarded him, he stood firm as a mountain!
"To others, you are a tribulation. But in my eyes, I, Ning Xuanyuan, see you as nothing. You cannot control my fate!" Ning Xuanyuan's lips curved into a sharp smile. The next moment, his hand clamped down, as though he had seized all the lightning filling the sky in his palm.
With startling abruptness, the light of the tribulation lightning in the sky seemed to vanish in an instant. At that moment, a voice echoed throughout this Heaven and Earth Realm.
"My fate is mine to command, not heaven's!"