Taiyin

Suddenly.

The violet qi gathered above the Han River churned like rolling waves.

Arcs of light clashed fiercely, transforming into lightning's lure.

Like a roar carried from antiquity, yet more like nature's own rhythm. All of it was caused by the towering figure walking through the air; even the lightning tribulation seemed to have sensed the newcomer's strength.

Purple qi came from the east, transforming into black-violet thunderclouds.

Heavenly might resembled a pair of hands covering this stretch of heaven and earth, clutching all spiritual opportunities within their palms.

The towering man walking through the air raised his head slightly, and two divine rays burst from his black-crimson eyes.

In an instant.

Black-red mist shrouded heaven and earth, intertwining with countless lightning arcs. Then, the phantom figure behind the horned cultivator seemed to transform in an instant into a hundred-zhang-high city.

He softly uttered:

"Reverse!"

The streaking arc of light that fell like a meteor became, beneath the towering figure's fist, like raindrops flowing upstream. It blasted upward from the eight-hundred-li Han River, tearing apart the lightning intertwined with black mist and becoming a soaring stream of light—a heavenly river like a waterfall of radiance flowing backward.

Within the thunderous "rain."

Tu Shan Jun gazed toward the distant sky.

The aura around him was like a solidified ocean, surging freely and climbing against the current.

The moment his Baleful Intent returned, swept away the thunderfire invading his body, and shattered the seventh lightning tribulation, he became a Venerable.

At the instant he became a Venerable, Lord East Sea within the Heaven-and-Earth Return-to-Ruin was absorbed into the Soul Banner. Having gained the soul of a Venerable, his already stable aura rose once more.

He looked down at his own body.

"What is this?"

Tu Shan Jun touched his face in surprise.