Golden Immortal, Four Great Daos

Deep within Purple Abode Province, in a valley isolated by a natural formation, spiritual energy surged and roared like dragons.

Yuan Ming sat cross-legged at the heart of the valley, his aura rising and falling like the tides. He had already reached the peak of the True Immortal Realm and could advance no further.

Above his head, the clear sky spanning thousands of miles was being swallowed by inky tribulation clouds at a visible rate.

The clouds were heavy as lead, slowly rotating into a massive vortex. At its center, purple lightning serpents darted wildly, radiating a destructive aura that made all living creatures within ten thousand miles cower, not daring to move.

Golden Immortal Tribulation!

This was the first true impassable gulf on the path of cultivation. Countless exceptionally gifted True Immortals had ultimately been reduced to ash beneath this vast heavenly might.

Yuan Ming looked up at the sky. Not only was there no fear in his eyes, but blazing battle intent burned within them.

"Come!"

With a low shout, he stopped suppressing his aura.

Boom!

Vast and boundless magical power shot into the heavens, like a declaration of war against heaven and earth.

The tribulation clouds seemed thoroughly enraged, and the center of the vortex suddenly lit up.

Crack—!

The first bolt of tribulation lightning, as thick as a child's arm and azure in color, carried pure destructive force as it tore through the sky and struck straight down!

Yuan Ming neither dodged nor evaded. He directly circulated the Formless Scripture, using his physical body to withstand it head-on!

Boom!

Lightning completely engulfed him. Violent thunder power bored madly into every limb and bone, wreaking destruction without restraint.

Yuan Ming let out a muffled groan, his skin instantly charred black. Yet the Sea of Suffering in his lower dantian churned violently, and the Life Spring spewed endless vital essence, rapidly repairing his injuries.

"Not enough! Again!" He could feel the boundaries of his Sea of Suffering expanding outward by another sliver under the lightning's stimulation.

The second, the third... Each tribulation bolt was fiercer than the last, its color shifting from azure to crimson, then to dark gold, its power rising geometrically.

Yuan Ming's body was split open time and again, even exposing stark white bones, yet he remained seated as steady as a pine. Using his body as a furnace, he forcibly refined this supremely yang and unyielding power of heaven and earth.

When the seventh tribulation bolt, like a golden flood dragon, descended, Yuan Ming finally moved.

He rose to his full height and actually charged toward the heavenly lightning. Throwing both fists, he carried the intent of the Heaven-Devouring Dao Scripture to fuse all methods, swallowing part of the lightning's power and transforming it into pure energy to nourish himself.

Within his Sea of Suffering, towering waves surged. What the Life Spring now spewed was no longer clear water, but thunder slurry streaked with arcs of lightning!

His entire Sea of Suffering seemed to have become a sea of thunder.

The eighth tribulation bolt was no longer mere lightning. It contained a trace of heaven-and-earth law imprints, and its strike targeted the soul directly!

At this critical moment, the ever-shifting, illusory Divine Bridge at the center of the Sea of Suffering began to shake violently under the infusion and tempering of endless lightning, turning from illusion into reality!

"Now!"

A flash of insight struck Yuan Ming, and he immersed all his consciousness into the Sea of Suffering.

He guided the violent lightning power. No longer did it destroy; instead, like the most exquisite craftsman, he fused those law imprints with his own essence, energy, and spirit, pouring them madly into the Divine Bridge.

Buzz—!

A resonant sound of the Great Dao seemed to rise from within his body.

That Divine Bridge finally solidified completely!

It spanned the Sea of Suffering, one end connected to the surging Life Spring, while the other reached into the distant, unknowable void, as though linking to some mysterious realm.

The first layer of the Formless Scripture, Erecting the Divine Bridge, had reached great perfection!

At that moment, his physical strength underwent a qualitative leap. His blood and qi were like dragons, and every gesture seemed capable of tearing apart the heavens.

And just as the Divine Bridge formed, the final and most terrifying ninth tribulation descended.

It was no longer lightning, but a sea of Chaos-colored thunder!

Earth, water, fire, and wind raged within it, as if it sought to reopen heaven and earth and return the tribulation-taker to their original state.

Roar!

Yuan Ming let out a long howl that shook the surrounding lands.

He held nothing back, driving his newly perfected physical power to its limit. At the same time, the Heaven-Earth-Human Forty-Nine Return-to-Truth Method evolved all manner of Dao arts, laying down layer upon layer of defenses before him.

Rumble—!

The Chaos thunder sea completely swallowed him.

The entire valley was flooded with blinding light. The earth split apart, and space twisted.

No one knew how long passed before the lightning gradually faded and the tribulation clouds dispersed.

At the center of the valley, Yuan Ming stood proudly.

His wounds healed at a visible pace. His newly formed skin gleamed with a warm, jade-like luster, with faint lightning patterns hidden beneath it.

A profound aura of eternal freedom and indestructibility through countless tribulations spread from within him.

In the sky, auspicious seven-colored rays descended one after another, containing incomparably pure Innate spiritual energy and fragments of Great Dao laws. Like sweet rain, they poured into his body.

His magical power underwent an essential transformation, becoming more condensed and carrying a trace of immortality.

His soul and physical body were tightly connected through that Divine Bridge, perfectly harmonious and without obstruction.

The Golden Immortal Dao Fruit condensed at that very moment.

Yuan Ming had finally crossed that impassable gulf and attained the immortal Golden Immortal Dao!

Feeling the vast magical power surging within him like an ocean, far surpassing what it had once been, as well as the long life that seemed capable of enduring alongside heaven and earth, boundless ambition rose in his heart.

At this moment, not only had he broken through in cultivation, but he had also cultivated the first layer of the Formless Scripture to great perfection. His body was powerful enough to withstand magical treasures of the same realm head-on.

Unlike the True Immortal Realm, which was more about accumulating magical power and tempering the body, entering the Golden Immortal Realm meant that a cultivator had truly begun to touch the source that formed this Primordial World—the laws of the Great Dao!

And Yuan Ming, with his unparalleled foundation and the enhancement of [Great Dao Comprehension], had, the instant he entered this realm, seemingly pushed open a dust-covered door and glimpsed the vast, boundless ocean of the Dao beyond it.

When ordinary Golden Immortals first entered this realm, being able to barely sense and initially wield a single Great Dao law was already a blessing. Yet he felt a stir in his heart, and his divine sense instantly resonated mysteriously with several powerful Great Daos.

The first to light up was the Sun Dao, resplendent as the sun and illuminating the myriad worlds!

This was also thanks to the innate affinity of his [Eastern Lord's Heavenly Patrol] Entry.

At this moment, he felt as though he had transformed into a miniature blazing sun. With every gesture, he could draw upon supremely yang and unyielding solar divine power, burning mountains, boiling seas, and purifying evil entities.

Immediately afterward, an incomparably pure Dao rhythm, utterly yang without a trace of yin, emerged. This was the Pure Yang Dao!

This Dao was the extension and essence of the Sun Dao. It cast aside the sun's ferocity, leaving only the most fundamental gentle yang energy, nourishing all things and dispersing every shadow.

This Dao complemented the Sun Dao, elevating his control over "yang" to an entirely new level.

At the same time, a profound scene of primordial Chaos first opening, before yin and yang had separated, slowly unfolded within his sea of consciousness. Yin and yang energies circulated endlessly, mutually generating and restraining one another, evolving infinite mysteries. This was the Taiji Great Dao.

This Dao had been born from his understanding of the Dao De Jing.

This Dao did not focus on offense, but pointed directly toward the fundamental laws of cosmic birth and destruction, and the balance of all things. It was extraordinarily profound.

Finally, a deep and ancient aura that seemed capable of containing and digesting all things spread forth. It was the Devouring Dao, rooted in the Heaven-Devouring Dao Scripture.

This Dao was incomparably domineering. It could devour spiritual energy, laws, and even an opponent's divine abilities for one's own use. It was one of the supreme methods that united offense and defense.