A Thousand Years Hence, the One Seated upon the Lotus Throne Will Be an All-New True Lord Yuchen Ling Yuan (Shanhai Arc Complete)

Thunderclouds churned as a deep, terrifying aura of thunder calamity poured forth.

Thunder was Heaven's punishment, the Dao's retribution.

Since ancient times, thunder had always been the representative of the Heavenly Dao, the symbol of the Great Dao—the art of fierce, blazing force, the law that punished evil and purged wickedness.

At the same time, thunder was also the tribulation every cultivator in all the heavens and myriad worlds had to face when breaking through a realm.

It was not only human cultivators who needed to undergo lightning tribulations. To some extent, other living beings needed them even more.

Demons, sprites, spirits, and monsters, for instance, all had to undergo lightning tribulations to assume human form and break through their realms.

By the standards of the Nine Realms of cultivation recognized throughout all the heavens and myriad worlds, from Foundation Establishment onward, undergoing one lightning tribulation at every realm was utterly commonplace.

This was especially true when advancing beyond the Purple Mansion Realm and Spirit Transformation. Whether forming a Golden Core and first stepping onto the Great Dao, or breaking through into Void Refinement and ascending in feathered flight, one had to pass a lightning tribulation.

The Golden Core lightning tribulation and the Void Refinement lightning tribulation were likewise the most terrifying calamities faced by all living beings.

Yet above Void Refinement, lightning tribulations became less frequent instead.

From Void Refinement to Body Integration and then Great Vehicle, there were only two lightning tribulations: the Great Vehicle lightning tribulation faced when one in the Body Integration Realm had no hope of attaining Pure Yang and could only break through; and the thunder calamity, one of the Three Calamities that Void Refinement cultivators had to overcome.

Leaving aside the Great Vehicle lightning tribulation, as one of the only two lightning tribulations