Desperately competing inward was not cheap—it was because in the Nine-Nine Boundary Heaven, breaking through every realm came with a "Heaven and Earth Calamity."
"I get it. Lightning tribulation."
It was a cosmic punishment mechanism for cultivators devouring Heaven and Earth Vital Energy. After all, the vital energy they absorbed was truly consumed completely; there was no such thing as energy degradation. Energy was not conserved.
"Got it—seizing the creation of heaven and earth, owing karma to heaven and earth."
To prevent these vital-energy locusts from growing ever stronger, the Heaven and Earth Calamities would likewise become increasingly terrifying. In the early stages, there was one calamity for every major realm. Later on, even every minor breakthrough came with a calamity.
This punishment mechanism included lightning tribulations, heavenly fire, and Melting Water. In short, there were all kinds of them, and none were fixed. Even within the same system and at the same realm, one might face different calamities.
Systems with Dao Seal Quality below 9... generally could not withstand the Heaven and Earth Calamity faced in the Second Realm!
"Isn't this fucking excessive?"
Yun Shou was speechless.
Simply put, if he did not have the cheat of Essence, he would be doomed to get struck dead by lightning when breaking through to the Innate realm.
The Venerable Yuan System had a Dao Seal Quality of only 4!
You could choose a system that was easy to cultivate, sure!
But that also meant you could forget about breaking through to higher realms. You would be wiped out by calamities in the First Realm, or even the Second Realm!
The Heaven and Earth Calamities forced them to create systems of high intensity—and correspondingly higher difficulty—because no matter what system one cultivated, the Heaven and Earth Calamity faced at the same realm