What Immortality, what eternity, what Dimensional Demon Gods—all of them were things within the rules. But this power lay beyond the rules.
That was also why Zhao Cheng yearned to attain the transcendent Dao Fruit.
Mastering the power of tribulation, however, had no absolute relation to the level of one's own strength. Only those who were sufficiently powerful and, while powerful, still possessed enough possibilities, were qualified to touch upon this power.
Mere strength, with all possibilities exhausted, meant no affinity with this power.
And merely possessing possibilities without the support of strength was no good either.
Thus, the four realms of Mortal, Dao, Fruit, and Tribulation were not actually progressive layers.
Only the realms of Mortal, Dao, and Fruit progressed layer by layer.
Tribulation, on the other hand, ran through all three realms.
This power could be touched upon in the Mortal Realm, touched upon in the Dao Realm, and cultivated in the Fruit Realm.
It could even be said that the threefold cultivation of Mortal, Dao, and Fruit was merely a tool for touching the greatest power of all: the power of tribulation.
Like crossing a river: while on the river, the ferryboat was indispensable, but once one reached the shore, it could be discarded.
Of course, Zhao Cheng was still within the Dao Realm. Though he had touched upon a trace of its outermost layer, he was still unimaginably far from attaining Tribulation.
Thus, many things absolutely could not yet be discarded.
It was only after Zhao Cheng's ten pillars reached perfection, when he looked back upon the things he had once seen, that he gradually came to comprehend these truths.
Realms and strength were important, yet not important.
The power of tribulation was an unimaginable qualitative transformation. To say that power arose from the heart was