Tianyan Great Emperor's Tribulation

The Tianyan Tribulation: Wind, Earth, Water, and Fire

The instant the imperial title was proclaimed, the resonance of the Star Sea abruptly shifted. The cheers of billions of stars were abruptly cut short by an invisible hand; the surging starlight, which had flowed like a tide, suddenly froze, transforming into billions of Ice Crystals suspended in the void. Each Ice Crystals contained the phantom of a star, refracting a cold and solemn light, as if the entire universe was holding its breath in awe. In its place came a solemnity originating from the Cosmic Origin —not hostility, yet more chilling than any hostility, as if an iron law etched into the very marrow of time and space Beginning of Creation, carrying an unchanging majesty, slowly pressing down on the newly ascended "Tianyan Great Emperor." This was the necessary tempering for all who ascended to the position of "Great Emperor," the weighing of the "Dao" by the Principle, the ultimate test of the universe for its "ruler." If one could not withstand it, one would be like the remnants of Supernova Explosion, leaving not even a speck of dust in the Star Sea.

Ren Xiaoyao's Star-Seed Cloak suddenly trembled violently. The newly formed Star Core at the edges of the cloak collided with the embers of Annihilation Embers. Each star emitted a faint hum, the hum weaving into an ancient prophecy, as if warning of impending calamity. He looked up at the void, where the once flowing Star Orbit Patterns were now twisting, and four distinct Nebula were emerging from the depths of the universe: the bluish-gray nebula to the east resembled crushed smoke, its wisps concealing a force capable of tearing everything apart. The sharpness of the nebula was striking; the fiery white to the west resembled burnt-out bones, its pure white exuding a resolute determination to incinerate everything; the pitch-black to the south was like an overturned inkwell, so dense it could Devouring Light Rays and time; the earthy yellow to the north was like solidified magma, its weight carrying the imposing power to suppress the Star River. They were like four ancient and majestic eyes, slowly locking onto him. The air currents at the edge of the Nebula began to accelerate and rotate, stirring up ripples in the surrounding spacetime, even causing Quasar Jet light-years away to deviate from their paths.

"Wind, Earth, Water, Fire..." Ren Xiaoyao murmured, his fingertips tracing the Emperor Mark between his brows. The Twenty-Eight Mansions Totem flowed like a living fish on the pattern, and the wind's trajectory danced on the green scales of the Jiao Mu Jiao. The opening and closing of each scale matched the rhythm of the Nebula to the east. The foxfire of the Xin Yue Hu reflected the shadow of water, and the flickering of the flames was just like the breathing of the dark Nebula to the south. He could clearly sense that these Four Tribulations were not destruction imposed by external forces, but rather a calibration of the identity of the "Tianyan Great Emperor" by the Principle of the universe. It was to allow his soul to completely merge with the Dao of "Life and Death Interdependence," just as a star must undergo the excruciating pain of gravitational collapse to compress hydrogen and helium into a denser core before it could ignite the fusion fire that would last for billions of years, and only then could it truly bear the immense weight of the word "evolution."

Before the words were even finished, the easternmost bluish-gray Nebula erupted first. The gas at the Nebula's edge was torn into countless silver threads by an invisible force, each thread emitting a sharp whistling sound. From initially as fine as mosquitoes, it instantly expanded into a cosmic-level shriek capable of tearing eardrums, the whistling carrying the crisp sound of spacetime being cleaved. In an instant, a Gale Wind spanning millions of light-years was generated out of thin air, its force so intense that it rippled the light of distant stars, as if turning the entire starry sky into flowing water, even the stable stars... The spiral arms were slightly deformed by the wind. Countless tiny Space-time Fragments were carried in the wind, each like an invisible razor forged from Dark Matter, its blade shimmering with distorted starlight. Wherever it passed, the Asteroid Belt, millions of miles in diameter, was instantly shredded into stardust, even its atomic structure was completely torn apart—this was the "Wind Tribulation," named "Form Shatter," meant to shatter his current form, scatter his soul, and test whether he could preserve the true nature of his soul amidst the Chaos Current, unperturbed by "impermanence," and undevoured by "fluctuation."

The Gale Wind arrived instantly, Ren Xiaoyao's Star-Seed Cloak bore the brunt. The outer star-like fragments, like candle flames swept by a storm, were instantly shattered by the wind blades, turning into countless fireflies that flickered briefly in the wind before vanishing without a trace, as if they had never existed. His robes fluttered wildly, the edges of the fabric beginning to blur, transforming into strands of light that merged into the wind. A fine golden light shimmered on the surface of his body— the Origin Power of the Ziwei Emperor Star protecting him—yet it fluctuated violently under the impact of the Gale Wind, like a flickering candle in the wind, its light uncertain. But the true target of the Wind Tribulation was not his physical body, but his soul. Those wind blades piercing through the golden light carried a sharp force capable of tearing through space and time, surging straight towards his sea of consciousness like a tidal wave.

The Zhou Tian Star Dou within his sea of consciousness shook violently. The handle of the Big Dipper was blown backward, like a broken jade spoon; the star chain of the Crux Constellation nearly snapped, with Stardust scattering from its joints; the Star Orbit on the Miniature Star Disk were scattered and fragmented, as if they might disintegrate into Primordial Chaos at any moment. The earthen-yellow Star Core projection left behind by the Tianyan Evil Emperor trembled in the wind, its newly sprouted buds almost touching the ground, and tiny cracks appeared at its roots, oozing a pale golden sap—the essence of the Star Core's origin—as if it would be uprooted and withered completely at any moment.

"Heaven and earth possess righteous energy, which manifests in myriad forms." Ren Xiaoyao's eyes were slightly closed, and a soft chant suddenly resounded in his sea of consciousness. The sound was not from his own throat, but rather an echo of his soul resonating with the righteous energy of the universe, ancient and magnificent, as if it had traversed countless eras. He did not resist forcefully, but instead dispersed the protective aura of the Ziwei Golden Light, allowing the Gale Wind to pass through his body, feeling the pain of the wind blades tearing through his flesh—the pain was so clear, as if every inch of his skin was being slowly sliced, every Root Bone was being sawed, yet it made his soul even clearer, like stars washed clean by a storm. In the midst of the excruciating pain, his soul remained as steadfast as a rock—not a rigid, unyielding one, but rather as adaptable as water meeting stone, adjusting its own frequency with the wind's momentum, achieving a subtle harmony with the rhythm of the wind.

The Yin-Yang Fish Eyes of the Miniature Star Disk suddenly rotated. The Ziwei Golden Light of the left eye transformed into a spiral vortex, and the Star Orbit Patterns on the edge of the vortex were perfectly synchronized with the frequency of the Gale Wind, drawing the violent Gale Wind into it. Like a precise Star Orbit windmill, it transformed the disordered wind force into ordered energy, which was then injected into the veins of the star chart. The blackness of Black Tortoise right eye transformed into a deep virtual ocean, with the seawater shimmering with a faint blue light. It carried a gentle warmth that encompassed everything, allowing the wind blades carrying Space-time Fragments to gradually subside within it, like pebbles thrown into the deep sea, eventually returning to silence without leaving even a ripple. Even more remarkably, the torn Star Orbit Fragments did not dissipate; instead, they reassembled in the wind, like willow catkins carried by the wind to new locations, forming trajectories more suited to the wind's force. The originally fragmented Star Map, propelled by the wind, evolved into more intricate and dynamic patterns, as if the wind itself were the artist of the Star Orbit. The tender shoots on the earthen-yellow Star Core bent with the wind but never broke; their roots, on the contrary, penetrated even deeper in the wind, absorbing the "flow" contained within the Wind Tribulation. On the leaves of those tender shoots, wind patterns began to emerge, like a naturally formed Star Map.

As the last Gale Wind swept past, Ren Xiaoyao's physical body was damaged, his clothes tattered, and his skin covered with fine bloodstains. These bloodstains, however, shimmered with a pale golden light under the starlight, like the marks of medals. His soul, on the other hand, became even more refined, like Star Core polished by billions of years of starlight, shimmering with a warm yet resolute light. He raised his hand and flicked his wrist, and the scattered Star-Seed Cloak reformed. This time, however, the edges of the cloak had an additional layer of flowing blue light. That blue light moved like a living thing, sometimes transforming into the shape of wind, sometimes condensing into the trajectory of stars. It was the mark left by the tribulation of Wind Tribulation, symbolizing the resilience of "going with the flow." The wind passed without form, yet it could carry things far and wide, piercing through stone and breaking rocks.

As the Wind Tribulation subsided, a rumbling echoed from beneath their feet. This rumble didn't originate from the Floating Island, but from the deepest ley lines of the universe, as if a slumbering ancient beast was awakening. The bluestone slabs of the Floating Island began to bulge violently, golden Earth Vein Spiritual Fluid seeping from the cracks. This fluid, viscous like amber, solidified into rock upon contact with air, each new rock etched with ancient Star Map. Countless earthen pillars erupted from the ground, piercing the sky like the fangs of ancient behemoths. Each pillar was tens of millions of feet tall, its surface covered with dents from meteorite impacts and patterns of flowing lava, clearly having endured the cosmic ravages of time. These pillars, formed during the early stages of creation, witnessed the grandeur of galaxy birth. They are not ordinary rocks, but rather condensed from Cosmic Dust and Dark Matter, as hard as the outer shell of Neutron Star, and possess a heavy "suppressive" force. This force does not originate from the pillars themselves, but from the gravitational aftershocks of the universe's collapse, as if to press the entire starry sky into the abyss of the universe, returning it to the Primordial Chaos of the singularity—this is the "Earth Tribulation," named "Origin Suppression," which aims to suppress his soul into the endless core of the earth, testing whether he can maintain his soaring spirit amidst absolute heaviness, not be trapped by "stagnation," and not be crushed by "pressure."

The rock pillars instantly closed in, trapping Ren Xiaoyao in a shrinking stone prison. The patterns on the prison walls were becoming denser at a visible rate, each contraction accompanied by immense pressure. The space within the prison shrank at a rate as fast as breathing, even bending the light. Countless ancient runes appeared on the prison walls, geological imprints from the beginning of the universe, recording the compression and collisions during Planets formation. Each rune released billions of tons of pressure. Ren Xiaoyao could feel his bones groaning, emitting creaking sounds of unbearable strain. His soul felt as if it were being squeezed into a shrinking container, making even breathing difficult. His lungs felt like they were filled with lead, each inhalation accompanied by a tearing pain.

The Black Tortoise Totems in his sea of consciousness suddenly lit up. The cracks on the tortoise shell were no longer symbols of incompleteness, but transformed into interconnected veins, like underground rivers deep within the earth, winding and turning, channeling the heavy pressure of the Earth Tribulation's nature is receptive; the superior man, in accordance with this, carries all things with his Great Virtue Carries All Things."Ren Xiaoyao straightened his back and stood upright, his body emanating a heavy aura of the same origin as the Black Tortoise Earth Vein. That aura was like a sleeping ancient continent, silent yet firm, capable of bearing immense power without moving like a mountain. He no longer resisted the pressure, but instead absorbed it into his body. Just as the earth bears all things, he transformed the power of Origin Suppression into nourishment for his soul. The heavy pressure that surged into his body actually transformed into a warm, earthy-yellow current of energy in his dantian, flowing along the meridians, nourishing his limbs and bones, making his physical body and soul increasingly substantial, like a precious jade imbued with the essence of the earth.

Within the Miniature Star Disk, the earthen-yellow Star Core suddenly glowed, its light piercing through the sea of consciousness and resonating with the stone prison outside. The pulsation of the Star Core gradually synchronized with the contraction frequency of the stone prison. The reddish-brown soil on the surface of the Star Core began to expand, spreading like a tide along the cracks of the stone prison. The rock pillars, as hard as Neutron Star, melted like ice and snow the moment they touched the soil, becoming part of the Star Core. The walls of the stone prison thinned at a visible speed, revealing the flowing starlight behind them. The stronger the pressure of the stone prison, the brighter the light of the Star Core became. In the end, the entire stone prison was completely assimilated by the Star Core, transforming into a vast reddish-brown land. Grass and trees grew on the land, streams murmured, and even mountains rose and fell in the distance. This was a manifestation of the Daoist principles of "bearing" and "growth"—the earth can bear immense weight and nurture boundless vitality under pressure. This is the true meaning of "Great Virtue Carries All Things carries all things."

Earth Tribulation subsided, the countless Nebula suddenly transformed into boundless, raging waves. These were no ordinary streams of water, but rather "Primeval Water," formed from the cores of billions of liquid Planets. The water was as black as ink, carrying a chilling power capable of freezing time. Wherever it passed, the light of distant stars was frozen into Ice Crystals, and even the light itself lost its vitality, as if time itself had been paused. This was the "Water Tribulation," named "Seal of Silence," designed to completely freeze his life force, testing whether he could awaken the power of revival in absolute stillness, refusing to be devoured by "Annihilation" or trapped by "freezing."

The raging torrents of the Primeval Water surged forth, their waves reaching millions of feet high, crashing against the protective shield of the Floating Island with a deafening roar. Instantly, a thick layer of ice formed on the shield, cracks spreading like a spiderweb. Wherever it touched, the Star Grass Star Grass the Floating Island withered instantly, black Ice Flowers forming on Ice Flowers leaves, revealing the final moments of its decay. The light of the Twenty-Eight Mansions Totem totem dimmed rapidly, the green shoots of the Jiao Mu Jiao were frozen into ice sculptures, the dewdrops at their tips solidifying into diamond-like crystals; the vines of the Kui Mu Lang cracked like withered branches, oozing fluid from the breaks. The juices instantly froze. The reddish-brown earth beneath Ren Xiaoyao's feet, which had just begun to show signs of life, was frozen solid by the Primeval Water. The ice layer spread upwards at a visible speed, even covering his Star-Seed Cloak- patterned cloak with a thick layer of ice. Within the ice shell, one could see the frozen traces of the stars, as if time itself had stopped. His soul seemed to sink into an endless sea of ice, his limbs and bones frozen stiff, even his thoughts becoming sluggish, like lead-filled gears, turning with increasing difficulty, each thought accompanied by the crisp sound of ice shards.

"The Supreme Goodness is Like Water, which benefits all things without striving." A faint light suddenly shone deep within Ren Xiaoyao's soul. It was the meaning of "Annihilation Birthlight" gleaned from the remnants of the Evil Emperor's memories—the faint light hidden in the core of the White Dwarf Star for three hundred years, the life force that had never been extinguished in the Star Core amidst extreme icy confinement. He no longer tried to break free from the ice; instead, he sank his consciousness into the depths of the icy sea to touch the extreme "coldness" and "silence," to feel the energy hidden beneath the ice. There, he "saw" the essence of the Primeval Water —it was not pure stillness, but the ultimate "concealment," like winter snow covering the earth, seemingly suffocating life, but actually nurturing spring buds, storing energy within, waiting for the opportunity to revive. Beneath the thickness of the ice lay the flow and nourishment of water.

Within the sea of consciousness, the Vermilion Bird Totems broke free from the Xin Yue Hu's Ice Crystals restraints, igniting a ball of ghostly red flame. This flame was not a violent, incinerating fire, but rather carried a gentle warmth, like Earth Fire slowly burning beneath the ice, not in a hurry to melt the snow, but continuously releasing vitality, each spark carrying the unwavering will to live. The flame spread along the veins of the Primeval Water, and wherever it passed, the pitch-black Primeval Water gradually became clear, and fine water droplets seeped from beneath the frozen ice shell. As the droplets fell, they struck the ice surface with a "tinkling" sound, a vibrant sound of life, like a song awakening all things from their slumber. Even the Star Grass seeds deep within the ice began to tremble.

The Yin-Yang Fish of the Miniature Star Disk began to rotate in reverse, drawing the frozen power into the yin fish, transforming it into the sedimentary "hidden" essence, making every bit of chill fertile ground for life; and releasing the reviving warmth from the yang fish, transforming it into the "life" of breaking through the soil, allowing warmth to spread along the water to every inch of frozen land. The frozen Star Grass sprouted new shoots, their tips topped with Ice Crystals, yet radiating a vibrant green life force within the Ice Crystals, like a sword piercing the winter's chill; the light of the Twenty-Eight Mansions Totem penetrated the ice shell, refracting in the Primeval Water... A seven-colored halo appeared, within which one could see the illusory images of schools of fish swimming and birds flapping their wings—life's yearning for spring. Finally, the raging torrents of Primeval Water transformed into a gentle rain, nourishing the earth. Where the ice melted, countless tender green shoots sprouted from the exposed soil, dewdrops formed from stardust rolling on the blades of grass. On Ren Xiaoyao's Star-Seed Cloak, a layer of flowing water ripples appeared, sometimes frozen like ice, revealing the depth of "concealment," and sometimes flowing like water, carrying the vitality of "life," symbolizing the balance between "concealment" and "revival."

The instant the Water Tribulation receded, the western blazing white Nebula suddenly erupted with blinding white light. The light was so intense that it dimmed the surrounding stars, and even Black Hole revealed distorted outlines under its glow, as if gravity itself had been torn apart by the light. It was a flame more intense than the eruption of Blue Supergiant Star, pure white and devoid of temperature, yet carrying a resolute determination to "burn everything." Wherever it passed, Planets were instantly broken down into quark-sized particles, and even the Space-time Structure was being scorched and reorganized—this was the "Fire Tribulation," named "Return Ruins," meant to utterly reduce it to Cosmic Dust, testing whether it could preserve the foundation of "evolution" amidst absolute destruction, understanding that "extinction" is also the beginning of "life," and that only from "ashes" can "newness" be born.

A pure white flame, like a pillar of light piercing the heavens and earth, instantly engulfed Ren Xiaoyao. His physical body, his Star-Seed Cloak, and even the Star Orbit around him were violently melted in the flames, turning into specks of light that drifted within the pillar of light, as if his existence was being completely erased by the universe. The Zhou Tian Star Dou in his sea of consciousness seemed to be thrown into a furnace, their Star Orbit twisted and deformed. Even the projection of the Ziwei Emperor Star flickered in the flames, its golden light scorched and mottled, threatening to extinguish at any moment. His entire sea of consciousness trembled violently in the flames, as if it would collapse completely at any instant.

This is the most intense of the Four Tribulations, directly addressing the core of "Life and Death Interdependence"—if one cannot find life in destruction, the so-called "Tianyan" is merely empty talk, nothing more than another form of clinging, and will eventually end like a extinguished star, fading into silence.

Ren Xiaoyao's consciousness drifted in the flames. He felt himself decomposing, from cells to atoms, and then to even smaller particles. Each decomposition took him further away from "existence," yet he felt no fear, only an unprecedented clarity, as if he had shed all the constraints of appearances and touched the most essential rhythm of the universe. He "saw" that the light fragments incinerated by the flames were not dissipating, but were being recombined in a new way, like the matter ejected after Supernova Explosion, which would eventually condense into a new Star Core under the pull of gravity, giving birth to a new star; he "heard" the most primordial rhythm of the universe, in which destruction and birth were two sides of the same coin, there was no absolute life, nor absolute death, only eternal transformation, like the cycle of the seasons, where the withering of winter conceals the budding of spring.

"The Great Derivation Number is fifty, its application is forty-nine." His soul suddenly resonated with the Cosmic Rhythm, Miniature Star Disk in his sea of consciousness burst forth with unprecedented light. That light pierced through the flames and illuminated the entire void, even making the pure white flames appear dim under this light. The Yin-Yang Fish Eyes merged into one, transforming into a Primordial Chaos Light Wheel. Within the Light Wheel, birth and death, decay and prosperity, Attack and Defense and defense, hardness and softness intertwined to form a perfect circle. Within the circle was the entire process of the universe from singularity to expansion: the explosion of the singularity gave birth to time and space, the condensation of Nebula gave birth to stars, the explosion of stars ejected matter, the collision of matter formed Planets, and the Annihilation of Planets returned to the Nebula... Every destruction gave birth to new life, and every silence concealed an explosion, repeating endlessly without beginning Wu Zhong.

The fragments of light, broken down by the flames, were drawn by the Light Wheel Light Wheel and began to revolve around it, coalescing at a speed beyond the reach of time, much like Nebula condensing its Star Core. This time, his physical body was no longer a pure entity, but an "Evolutionary Body" existing between matter and energy: the surface of his skin shimmered with the luster of stardust, sometimes appearing as a hazy Gaseous State, sometimes solidifying into a firm solid; as his hair fluttered, Star Orbit Patterns extended with the airflow, each strand like a miniature Star River; when his eyes opened and closed, his left eye reflected the blazing intensity of a stellar explosion, while his right eye held the profound stillness of Nebula's birth, and deep within his pupils lay a microcosm of the Cosmic Life and Death. Every gesture he made carried the rhythm of the universe's evolution, as if with each breath he could cause Nebula to condense and stars to collapse.

As the pure white flames burned out, Ren Xiaoyao stood in the void, his Star-Seed Cloak gone, replaced only by a Chaos Light Wheel slowly rotating behind him. Within the Light Wheel, the wind flowed with a sharp force capable of piercing stone and tearing silk, yet also concealed a fluidity that moved with the flow; the earth's weight enveloped the grandeur that suppressed Star River, yet also nurtured the vitality of growing vegetation; the water's containment held the silence that Freeze All Sounds all things, yet also revealed a silent revival; the fire's destruction carried the resolute determination to incinerate everything, yet also linked to the Hope of Life from the ashes—