Dao Realm Five Heavens, Divine Heaven Dao Thunder

Dissipate part of his cultivation.

And use that to evade the Heavenly Tribulation?

Ren Xiaoyao would never consider such an option.

The reason he had cultivated arduously until now was to pursue an even more powerful realm.

Because once his realm rose,

Ren Xiaoyao's combat strength would not merely improve.

The upper limit of his lifespan would rise with it as well.

Dao Realm Fourth Heaven.

Ren Xiaoyao's lifespan limit was five hundred years. It seemed long, but to a cultivator, it was truly no more than the flick of a finger.

Since he could cultivate immortality,

Ren Xiaoyao naturally had to strive for eternal life and immortality, to become an immortal and patriarch.

One was a low-quality existence of merely scraping by.

The other was high-quality eternal life.

Ren Xiaoyao did not hesitate.

He directly chose the second option.

In an instant,

the booming sound of rolling Heavenly Thunder resounded across Night Gazing Peak.

"What is going on with this weather?"

Li Chunfeng had been observing the stars as usual, but dark clouds suddenly densely covered the sky and thunder roared. For a moment, he could not make heads or tails of it.

According to the calendar,

it was already late autumn.

There should not have been any more thunderstorms.

But now—

"Strange!"

"It is truly exceedingly strange!"

Li Chunfeng shook his head.

Since the heavens were about to rain, he could only return indoors to take shelter. If lightning struck him, even with his Heavenly Human Realm cultivation, he would be reduced to charcoal.

Humans,

compared to the creations of heaven and earth,

were still far too fragile.

Li Chunfeng had barely returned indoors when he heard thunder rumbling outside.

Just as Li Chunfeng could not help lamenting that heavenly might was beyond defiance, his gaze caught sight of a figure standing beneath the thunder light.

"Have I seen a ghost?"

Li Chunfeng only felt dazed.

He instinctively rubbed his eyes, but when the next streak of thunder light descended, he still saw a figure forcefully contending against the lightning.

This time, Li Chunfeng's eyes widened.

He saw the most horrifying scene of his life.

Ren Xiaoyao stood in midair, while a spherical barrier appeared before him.

This barrier had been formed from Ren Xiaoyao's spiritual energy.

Spiritual energy had originally been formless and colorless.

The reason it appeared as a spherical curtain of light

was because lightning had struck the barrier, and the Thunder Marsh's radiance reflected off it.

Li Chunfeng had no time to think.

He saw once more

bolt after bolt of lightning crashing down before Ren Xiaoyao.

Under the illumination of the lightning,

Ren Xiaoyao's already incomparably handsome face became even more refined and jade-like.

Contending against the Heavenly Tribulation had never been easy.

A tremendous amount of power had also been consumed within Ren Xiaoyao's body.

Even so,

some of the lightning still entered Ren Xiaoyao's body.

Ren Xiaoyao immediately circulated the Chaos God-Demon Body Refining Technique.

The Chaos God-Demon Body Refining Technique was a supreme body-tempering technique. At this moment, it actually began actively absorbing Thunder Force, making Ren Xiaoyao's body even stronger.

"Could it be that Ren Xiaoyao is a Reincarnated Immortal?"

Originally,

Li Chunfeng had been a firm materialist.

He believed that all things in the world, everything and anything, were nothing but grains of dust and sand within the universe of Endless Space-Time.

But now,

as he looked at Ren Xiaoyao in the heavens,

Li Chunfeng felt that his past beliefs might not have been correct.

"Does this world truly have immortals?"

Li Chunfeng's voice drifted faintly.

More than half an hour later,

Ren Xiaoyao's lightning tribulation finally came to an end. He only felt a Shackle of Restriction within his body break apart.

He was like an enormous vortex.

Between heaven and earth,

boundless spiritual energy surged toward him.

The spiritual power within his body also soared explosively.

Ren Xiaoyao even felt

that his strength had already reached through heaven and earth.

His Spiritual Sense also covered an area within ten kilometers. Every movement throughout the Fulong Mountain Range was clearly reflected in Ren Xiaoyao's Spiritual Sense.

It was at this moment

that words appeared before Ren Xiaoyao once again.

[Detected that you successfully passed the Heavenly Tribulation. Reward obtained: Spell: Palm Thunder.]

However,

before Ren Xiaoyao could inherit Palm Thunder,

another line of text appeared before his eyes.

[Detected that you have achieved Dao Realm Fifth Heaven. This world does not permit the Immortal Dao. You have the following choices:]

[One: Transform immortality into martial arts. The spiritual power within your body can be converted into True Essence at an equal ratio. After completing the conversion, your Martial Dao realm will be the Human Immortal Realm.]

[Two: Uphold the Immortal Dao. Due to this world's special nature, every future breakthrough will bring a lightning Heavenly Tribulation upon you, until death or until you surpass this world's Heavenly Dao.]

Seeing the words before him,

Ren Xiaoyao picked out several important pieces of information.

First,

once the spiritual power in his body was converted into True Essence, it would be equivalent to the Human Immortal Realm of Martial Dao.

Then,

this meant

that Ren Xiaoyao's current strength was equivalent to the Human Immortal Realm of Martial Dao.

"Human Immortal Realm... what kind of realm is that?"

Ren Xiaoyao muttered to himself. He had never heard of this Martial Dao realm.

No matter what,

this realm was many, many times more powerful than the Martial Saint Realm.

Looking across Great Gan,

there was not even a Martial Saint Realm expert in plain sight.

Human Immortal Realm.

Very strong!

The second piece of information

was that this world possessed such a thing as the Heavenly Dao.

It seemed that the Heavenly Dao did not permit cultivators to exist in this world.

Otherwise, the text would not have mentioned surpassing the Heavenly Dao, nor would lightning tribulations cease in this world.

As for the choice,

Ren Xiaoyao naturally did not hesitate in the slightest.

He decisively chose to continue cultivating immortality.

The Immortal Dao was the great path to eternal life.

Ren Xiaoyao could never abandon it.

After completing the tribulation, Ren Xiaoyao returned to his room and began inheriting Palm Thunder.

[Palm Thunder: A basic spell. Spiritual power can be used to manifest the lightning element among the four fundamental elements, condensing lightning in the palms before releasing it instantly. Its power is formidable.]

After receiving the inheritance,

Ren Xiaoyao instantly mastered the method of using Palm Thunder.

Then,

just as Ren Xiaoyao expected, another line of text appeared before his eyes.

[Your comprehension is Heaven-Defying. By cultivating Palm Thunder, you have comprehended a high-level lightning art: Divine Firmament Dao Thunder.]

Very quickly,

information related to Divine Firmament Dao Thunder also appeared in Ren Xiaoyao's mind.

Divine Firmament Dao Thunder.

Foremost among the Primordial Yang Five Thunders.

It could subdue demons and eliminate devils, capture ghosts and seize monsters.

Once cultivated to great mastery,

all specters and fiends,

all ten thousand evils would be unable to approach one's body.

"What marvelous Divine Firmament Dao Thunder!"

A smile appeared on Ren Xiaoyao's face. Divine Firmament Dao Thunder was a supreme spell; once mastered, its destructive power would be incomparably immense.

Ren Xiaoyao cultivated at the Imperial Observatory for another two days.

During those two days,

Ren Xiaoyao primarily familiarized himself with the power of Dao Realm Fifth Heaven

and thoroughly mastered Divine Firmament Dao Thunder, integrating it completely.

During those two days,

Ying Huai came to the Imperial Observatory once more. He brought Li Chunfeng and Ren Xiaoyao two pieces of news.

"Yuan Tiangang is not dead!"

Ying Huai stroked his beard and said,

"Back then, the outside world believed that Yuan Tiangang had died miserably at Xiao Qingfeng's hands. In truth, that was merely Yuan Tiangang's smokescreen. He knew he was no match for Xiao Qingfeng, so he feigned his death. Now that Xiao Qingfeng is dead, Yuan Tiangang has reappeared and taken control of the Dragon Capturing Organization."

Speaking of Yuan Tiangang, Ying Huai could not help reminding Li Chunfeng, "Since Yuan Tiangang is alive, he likely has not given up on the Great Evolution Tome. You must be more vigilant."

Li Chunfeng naturally nodded.

However, Li Chunfeng's own Martial Dao cultivation had now reached the Heavenly Human Realm. Even without Ren Xiaoyao's help, he was fully capable of contending against, or even suppressing, Yuan Tiangang.

Next,

Ying Huai spoke of the second piece of news.

This news concerned Qianqiu Pavilion.

"According to my investigation, this Qianqiu Pavilion seems to be an unprecedented behemoth. Its tentacles stretch from the previous dynasty into the current one, and its relationship with the imperial clan is even more tangled and intricate!"

Ying Huai spoke faintly.

The information he had uncovered was merely the tip of Qianqiu Pavilion's iceberg, yet its terror had already left Ying Huai bone-chillingly frightened.

Next,

Ying Huai said,

"This Qianqiu Pavilion points toward the Great Gan Imperial Clan, toward the Empress. Thus, I can no longer continue investigating. At present, the useful information I know is that both the Empress and Luo Mengshen came from Qianqiu Pavilion."

"The Empress and Luo Mengshen both came out of Qianqiu Pavilion?"

Li Chunfeng was also greatly shocked upon hearing this news.

Curiosity also arose in Ren Xiaoyao's heart.

Toward the Empress.

Toward Luo Mengshen.

Toward Qianqiu Pavilion.

After entering Dao Realm Fifth Heaven.

Ren Xiaoyao's state of mind gradually changed as well. He began actively engaging with this world, knowing that across the entire Great Gan region, there should be no one capable of contending against him.

Then Ren Xiaoyao had no need to be so restrained.

Ying Huai hurriedly left the Imperial Observatory.

But he specifically warned Li Chunfeng not to take too great an interest in Qianqiu Pavilion.

That would be far too dangerous.

Even if Li Chunfeng was suspected to be in the Martial Saint Realm.

He still could not bear such karma.

Li Chunfeng naturally nodded again and again. In any case, he had no interest in Qianqiu Pavilion; the one who was truly interested was Ren Xiaoyao.

As for Ren Xiaoyao...

Li Chunfeng shook his head.

If Qianqiu Pavilion went up against Ren Xiaoyao,

it would most likely suffer a terrible calamity.

After all,

the sight of Ren Xiaoyao forcibly confronting the lightning two days ago was still vivid in Li Chunfeng's mind.

After Ying Huai left,

Ren Xiaoyao stood atop Fulong Mountain, his gaze turned toward the direction of the Capital City.

Strictly speaking,

there was a mortal enemy of Ren Xiaoyao's in the Capital City.

That person was Princess Taiping.

Previously,

the Evil Sect had come to the Imperial Observatory to assassinate Ren Xiaoyao, and Princess Taiping had been the mastermind behind it.

Ren Xiaoyao had kept this matter buried in his heart.

Now,

Ren Xiaoyao was already in the Dao Realm Fifth Heaven.

He was confident he could face any enemy.

Then it was time for Ren Xiaoyao to settle this debt.

Ren Xiaoyao planned to head for the Capital City at night.

However,

before Ren Xiaoyao could set out,

astonishing news came again from the foot of Fulong Mountain.

Princess Taiping had comprehended the Dao overnight.

Originally, Princess Taiping had merely been a Second-Rank Martial Artist, yet she instantly crossed the First Rank and Grandmaster realms.

She achieved the True Person realm.