The so-called power of the self was a concept Heavenly Origin had once spoken of. It was not the Self among the Ten Pillars. In this age, such a thing could no longer be cultivated. But Zhao Cheng had found a substitute: all his experiences, all his knowledge, all his understanding, bound together to form the broad conceptual "I." He would use that as the power of the self. The power of the universe, naturally, would be the Ten Pillars he had completed. Under such circumstances, all he needed was to comprehend the power of rebirth—or find this era's substitute for it—and he could replicate Heavenly Origin's Threefold Unity, forging the fundamental foundation of the Great Dao.
The power of the self and the power of the universe were the raw materials for forging, while rebirth was what, in a manner like nirvana, shaped the one and only.
In this regard, what Zhao Cheng thought of was the cycle of the four tribulations—Formation-Existence-Destruction-Emptiness—that he had comprehended. Yet the four tribulations alone were undoubtedly still lacking in refinement. Unifying the four tribulations, opening a path to heaven with a single Dao, was not enough. Even the Eternal Calamity brewed from the river of time fell far short.
To serve as rebirth and nirvana, to replace the power of rebirth, Zhao Cheng had to comprehend an unprecedented fifth tribulation.
Zhao Cheng still did not know that, in the eyes of immortals such as the Great Mystery Patriarch, Jade Origin Daoist, and Taiyi Daoist, he was in fact a wave of tribulation blown from the distant future into the present—a wisp of wind from the future, the greatest tribulation of this era.
He merely believed himself to be one who severed tribulations. That he was being targeted was because he possessed something extraordinary,