Osmanthus Shadow's Heavenly Punishment

When Yun Jingheng woke up, a halberd was floating in front of him.

Heaven Saint Rift Abyss Halberd.

It stood upright less than half a foot from the tip of his nose, the halberd pointing downwards, not touching the ground, just hanging there quietly.

The bluish-purple light was no longer as outward-emitting as before; it was extremely still.

Extremely stable.

A weapon that has already recognized its master is waiting for him to open his eyes.

Yun Jingheng did not move.

His consciousness seemed to slowly rise from a very deep place.

This is no longer the ground of Shrek City; he is still in his secluded meditation room.

The four walls were covered by a layer of pale blue light, which emanated from the halberd.

He slowly reached out his hand, his fingertips touching the shaft of the halberd.

Only a very slight vibration seemed to respond to him.

Yun Jingheng gripped it tightly.

The Heaven Saint Rift Abyss Halberd emitted an extremely low and faint hum.

Blue-purple light patterns flowed like water across the entire halberd, then rose up his fingers, circled his wrist, and finally disappeared into his palm.

He felt a deep, fine thread inside his body.

That thread was connected to his own soul.

From this moment on, this halberd was no longer something stolen from the Abyss.

It became part of Yun Jingheng.

He closed his eyes and slowly lowered the halberd.

Before the halberd even touched the ground, it shrank into a blue-purple light, reforming into the purple ring on his right index finger.

Yun Jingheng glanced down and then gently moved his fingers.

The entire quiet room lit up for a moment.

The voice of Half-Sweet Coffee rang in his ears, extremely softly. "Congratulations, Master, the Heaven Saint Rift Abyss Halberd has been completely refined."

Yun Jingheng hummed in agreement.

He stood up and stretched his shoulders and neck.

His bones cracked a few times, but he didn't feel like he had become much stronger.

He pushed open the door to the quiet room, and the wind rushed in; the daylight was bright.

Ye Xinglan and Gu Yuena were both outside the door, one standing and the other sitting.

When he came out, the two of them looked over at the same time.

Yun Jingheng smiled and said, "Alright."

The three returned to the city, where Yun Ming and the others were still busy with reconstruction.

The Tang Sect members have arrived. Gu Yuena is going to discuss the documents with the people from the Spirit Pagoda, Ye Xinglan is also going to the workshop.

Yun Jingheng walked alone into the temporary Council Hall of the Sea God Pavilion. As soon as the door closed, the voice of Lunar Primordial Sovereign gently rang in his mind.

[Now that the Heaven Saint Rift Abyss Halberd belongs to you, you can begin the Fifth Trial at any time.]

Yun Jingheng stood in the empty hall and slowly closed his eyes.

[The Fifth Trial of the Nine Trials of the Lunar Moon God: Osmanthus Shadow’s Heavenly Punishment, Tribulation Crossing.]

The Moon Laurel manifests from the sky, its fallen leaves transforming into a hurricane that strikes the physical body and primordial spirit. It then summons eighty-one silver-white Moon-Suppressing Divine Firmament Thunder. You must withstand it with your physical body; you cannot retaliate, dodge, or avoid it.

Success: All Soul Ring' age was increased to 100,000 years, and the forbidden technique— Lunar God Heaven-Devouring Shield —was acquired.

Failure: Soul scattered.

He opened his eyes, and his gaze was now filled with an extremely cold, clear light.

"I understand," he said.

Five days later

The moon hangs high in the sky, and all is silent.

Yun Jingheng hung high in the sky, his robes fluttering, the moonlight around him subdued.

On the wasteland Shrek City, a whole circle of Titled Douluo had already formed.

Yun Ming, Ya Li, Zhuo Shi, Long Yeyue, Cai Yue'er, Feng Wuyu, Tang Yinmeng, Lan Muzi, Leng Yaozhu... everyone who could come came.

Gu Yuena and the others stood on the outermost edge, their silver hair swaying gently in the night breeze.

Ye Xinglan did not stand with them; she stood at the very front of the crowd.

She looked up at the person in the sky.

Yun Ming met Yun Jingheng's gaze and nodded slightly.

Yun Jingheng withdrew his gaze.

He raised his right hand, palm facing upwards.

A very thin, silvery-white beam of light shot up from his palm and soared into the sky.

The thick cloud layer, which had been there for three days, seemed to be ignited from within by this beam of light.

Silvery-white flames spread out from the clouds, ringing out and turning the entire sky grayish-white.

A breeze has picked up, but it's not strong.

But each wisp seemed to carry a chill, and then, the ceiling cracked open.

A slit of light appeared out of nowhere in the sky; the slit was extremely long, as if someone had used the moon to make a cut across the heavens.

Light poured down through the crack, without a sound. Only a tree slowly descended from that light.

Moon Laurel.

It was so big that everyone below had to crane their necks to see the top, the trunk was like silver, and the canopy was like the sea.

It hovered a hundred feet above Yun Jingheng's head, its roots not touching the ground, but rising and falling slowly.

The entire wasteland was illuminated as if it were daytime, and no one spoke.

Even the wind seemed to have forgotten how to blow; Yun Jingheng stood under the tree, like a speck of dust.

But ironically, that speck of dust was the only source of light in this world.

Suddenly, the osmanthus tree moved.

Thousands of leaves trembled in unison, and then they began to fall.

It pressed down layer by layer.

The silvery-white laurel leaves, like a torrent cascading from the sky, rolled towards Yun Jingheng.

Each piece is as thin as a cicada's wing and as sharp as a knife; they are no ordinary wind.

They are real, visceral hurricanes that swept across the primordial spirit.

Yun Jingheng simply raised his arms and crossed them in front of him.

The wind has arrived.

In the first wave, he felt as if he were being dragged into a silver vortex.

Clothes were torn to shreds, hair was wildly flying, and countless fine lines appeared on the skin. The wind seemed to penetrate through the seven orifices and every pore.

He gritted his teeth and didn't make a sound, while the Titled Douluo beneath his feet all held their breath.

Ya Li had already covered her mouth, but Ye Xinglan was still standing, not moving.

The second wave of winds was even stronger.

The laurel leaves no longer merely cut through the skin and flesh, but struck straight at the soul; Yun Jingheng's figure was almost invisible in the stream of light.

Only that tiny, extremely thin sliver of moonlight remained, standing in the wind.

The third wave caused the entire wasteland to crack.

Even Gu Yuena, who was standing on the outermost edge, felt the wind sweep through her divine sense.

Her expression changed slightly, and she murmured, "How terrifying..."

Yun Ming stared intently at the sky, remaining silent. Anyone who spoke now would only harm him.

The wind finally died down, but the sky above was far from quiet.

The osmanthus tree trembled violently; the first thunderclap was coming.

A silvery-white divine lightning bolt struck straight down from the center of the tree canopy.

The moment it fell, the world fell silent; everyone saw only light and heard nothing.

The lightning bolt struck Yun Jingheng directly on the top of his head, causing him to sink downwards, and the void beneath his feet seemed to collapse by half an inch.

Then came the second and third courses.

Thunder roared like a torrential downpour, one after another, making the wasteland look like it was studded with silvery-white pillars of light, with mud and rocks flying everywhere and scorched earth turning upside down.

Yun Jingheng was like a statue being forged by heaven and earth; before the blood could even flow, it was evaporated by the lightning, leaving not a single inch of his body intact.

But he was still standing; he had to swallow all eighty-one bolts of lightning.

Ye Xinglan took a step forward, but Gu Yuena grabbed her and pressed her down. Ye Xinglan's hand was trembling, but she didn't move forward.

The two women stood there in the wind, looking at their moon, which was knocked down by the sky time and time again, but rose again and again.

Until the last bolt of lightning struck, the world was suddenly plunged into white.

The illusory image of the cassia tree shattered into countless specks of light in that instant, and all eighty-one bolts of lightning struck down.

Yun Jingheng knelt in mid-air, covered in blood, but his eyes shone with a frightening light.

He slowly stood up, and nine Soul Ring rose up from beneath his feet with a roar.

But at this moment, the six red dots began to fade from the inside.

Starting from the outermost Outer Circle of the Soul Ring, it gradually spreads inwards, turning orange-gold.

Like the setting sun bathed in the sunlight, or like countless tiny suns awakening simultaneously at Yun Jingheng's feet.

After the red fades, orange and gold rise.

Nine orange -Golden Soul Ring surrounded him.

[The Fifth Trial is complete; the Lunar God Heaven-Devouring Shield is now upon you.]