Higher Realms Made Enlightenment More Natural

The lightning tribulation dispersed, leaving Li Tianwei standing at its center after enduring the heavenly tribulation whose threat even Spirit Transformation cultivators had felt.

He appeared completely untouched. Not even a trace of dust had stained the hem of his robes, and he wore an indifferent, unruffled expression.

Ming Yin and Xu Yuqing's expressions grew increasingly grave. Seeing how calm and composed Li Tianwei was, they could not help feeling that this fellow was putting on an act. He was clearly undergoing tribulation, yet it was as though he knew someone was watching and had deliberately put on a performance for them.

"Could he have already noticed our presence?"

At that thought, the two of them grew serious.

Naturally, Li Tianwei had no idea what Ming Yin and Xu Yuqing were thinking in the shadows. As for this supposed performance, how could it possibly be a performance? This was called self-discipline. As the protagonist of his own life, Li Tianwei naturally had to display his bearing.

That was why he appeared so calm and extraordinary.

If the system deep within Li Tianwei's consciousness had known about this, it would probably have understood. Li Tianwei was the type with a performative personality. He had played the part of a model student so convincingly that he had deceived even it; otherwise, the system would never have chosen him.

Very soon, the heavenly tribulation descended once more.

Rumble...

The heavenly might, the strange phenomena—no matter how one looked at it, this was not an ordinary Golden Core tribulation.

Even Spirit Transformation cultivators felt pressured by it.

This only strengthened their resolve to kill Li Tianwei and cut down such a prodigy before he could rise.

Elder Fu Zhen wielded the Heavenly Repelling Mirror, grasping the power of laws in each hand, supplemented by his Peak Spirit Transformation strength.

For a time, Lan Yu could not gain the slightest advantage against him and was completely suppressed.

Were cultivators who could reach Spirit Transformation not all geniuses of their era?

Elder Fu Zhen had once been a genius as well.

Though Lan Yu possessed extraordinary strength, facing Elder Fu Zhen, who held the Heavenly Repelling Mirror that was on the verge of advancing into a spirit treasure, she was being suppressed. Yet Elder Fu Zhen could not kill her for the moment either.

Elder Fu Zhen had not come to kill Lan Yu in the first place. It was enough to suppress her.

Their battle grew ever more terrifying. Had this not been beside the Taixu Forbidden Land, the mountains and rivers beneath them would likely have been shattered to pieces.

The Taixu Forbidden Land had once been the Immortal War Zone. This region was exceptionally different, and the use of laws was somewhat restricted here.

Techniques that had originally been capable of destroying heaven and earth had a far smaller range within this area.

The two continued fighting, while Ming Yin and Xu Yuqing continued gathering power, prepared to strike the instant Li Tianwei passed his heavenly tribulation and ensure a single fatal blow.

By now, Li Tianwei had already endured more than a dozen bolts of heavenly tribulation.

With a Golden Core comparable to a star, constantly undergoing fusion within him, these heavenly tribulations were utterly ineffective.

They instead became nourishment that strengthened his Golden Core.

At the same time, after suffering more than a dozen heavenly tribulations, Li Tianwei used them to savor their essence. An inexplicable scorching heat and violent sense of destruction rose within his heart, while specks of lightning flickered in his eyes.

As his strength steadily advanced, Li Tianwei's understanding of cultivation also grew ever deeper.

Just as elementary school began with one plus one, followed by the understanding of multiplication, division, quadratic functions...

It showed that one had acquired the most basic and fundamental knowledge of mathematics.

The Cultivation World could be understood in the same way. Qi Refinement was elementary school, Foundation Establishment was middle school, and Golden Core was high school. With the knowledge of high school, one could already touch upon the rules of heaven and earth and gain deeper understanding.

After arriving in this world, despite possessing immense abilities, Li Tianwei still had to begin from Qi Refinement and slowly comprehend each method step by step before ultimately breaking through.

Reaching Golden Core could be said to mean that Li Tianwei had truly entered through the gate.

Now, as he gazed upon the heavenly tribulation and the destructive feeling within its heavenly might—

A wave of enlightenment surged into Li Tianwei's heart.

"Lightning, destruction..."

Two intents of the Dao gradually took shape within Li Tianwei as he underwent tribulation.

There was nothing strange about this for Li Tianwei. Even when he had been at Foundation Establishment, he had occasionally entered enlightenment and comprehended intents of the Dao.

Now that he was already at Golden Core, how could his moments of enlightenment possibly decrease? They would only become more frequent.

How could a higher realm bring fewer enlightenments and less understanding of power? Naturally, there would be more, and they would be even more varied.

Just like those Spirit Transformation cultivators: after living for thousands of years, they had basically dabbled in spells of every attribute and all sorts of paths of cultivation. Otherwise, would those thousands of years of cultivation not have been wasted?

Li Tianwei merely had greater talent, allowing him to occasionally fill in all those miscellaneous bits of knowledge.

As he comprehended these two new intents of the Dao, Li Tianwei became increasingly at ease when facing the heavenly tribulation. He even absorbed the tribulation's power into his Golden Core.

Li Tianwei could actually conceal his aura, but that simply was not the kind of person he was.

There was no longer any need to hide his intents of the Dao. He already possessed more than a hundred of them. With absolute strength in hand, there was not the slightest need.

Ming Yin and Xu Yuqing felt the sudden change in Li Tianwei's aura and strength most clearly. They could not help exchanging a glance, each seeing shock in the other's eyes.

In such a short span of time, he had suddenly entered enlightenment and gained two intents of the Dao.

For cultivators, they might not comprehend even one intent of the Dao in their entire lives.

Though they were Spirit Transformation cultivators, each of them had comprehended only one such intent. It was precisely by relying on that single intent that they had mastered laws and possessed formidable combat strength within the Spirit Transformation stage.

Now, they completely understood why Li Tianwei had been able to overpower Nascent Soul Realm cultivators while still in the Foundation Establishment Realm.

This fellow was simply beyond reason.

And now, such a genius was about to fall here.

No matter how great his insight or aptitude, if he had not grown up yet, he was ultimately only an ordinary cultivator.

Rumble...

At this moment, five-colored radiance emerged within the heavenly tribulation.

The final bolt of the Nine-Five Supreme Heavenly Tribulation was about to descend.

Destructive power and five-colored radiance revealed strange phenomena. The terrifying heavenly might carried the sensation that the heavens themselves were collapsing.

Its scale continued expanding as well. Layer upon layer of black cloud vortices rose above the five-colored phenomenon, while five-colored brilliance shone from their center, like a heavenly eye hanging upside down and gazing at Li Tianwei.

Rumble...

A deafening boom resounded through heaven and earth.

As that sound fell, Xu Yuqing and Ming Yin also seized the moment. They knew this was the final bolt of the Nine-Five Supreme Heavenly Tribulation.

Thus, they had to grasp this precise opportunity and take down Li Tianwei together.

"Die!"

"Gan Yao Technique, Mie Yuan Art."

Laws merged into their spells. The techniques they had gathered power for so long tore through heaven and earth and shot straight toward Li Tianwei.

Spells infused with laws possessed the power to pry at heavenly might. They could even alter the rules of heaven and earth and twist everything around.

The gap between Nascent Soul and Spirit Transformation lay here. The power of rules could effortlessly erase opponents, leaving cultivators below Spirit Transformation completely unable to resist.

Though the Nine-Five Supreme Heavenly Tribulation was powerful, it was ultimately a heavenly tribulation. It would still preserve a sliver of life, giving cultivators a chance to survive it.

Battles between cultivators were different. They were fights to the death, strikes meant to kill without fail.

With the Nine-Five Supreme Heavenly Tribulation added to the compressed, power-charged attacks of two Spirit Transformation cultivators, even a Peak Spirit Transformation cultivator—or an existence at an even higher level—would have to treat it seriously.

In Ming Yin and Xu Yuqing's eyes, Li Tianwei was certain to die.

But they did not know that, faced with the sudden change in the heavenly tribulation, its surging power, and all manner of deadly threats, Li Tianwei had only one thought.

This was the heavenly tribulation worthy of my identity.