Thirteen thousand years passed, yet the world remained as it had been.
Civilization on the Black Tower Continent changed by the day, sometimes climbing to new heights, sometimes plunging into decline.
Elemental energy rose and fell in tides marked by tribulations, cycling through birth, destruction, and rebirth, filling the world with boundless vitality.
Above a black tower on the Black Tower Continent, ink-black tribulation clouds piled layer upon layer, threatening to crush the mountains beneath them.
The cause was a red-robed Sixth Ring wizard, who had invoked the inner-scenery illusory law to return to reality, seeking to attain the Seventh-Ring Tier and become a Void Wizard.
"Boom!"
A single thunderous roar rang out.
The tribulation clouds spawned a terrifying bolt of lightning that crashed down.
Lightning exploded, and terrifying energy erupted within the red-robed wizard, its violent force nearly tearing the elemental body apart.
Heavenly demons lingering in the Abyss invaded the Sea of Consciousness along with the thunder tribulation, throwing the mind into chaos and preventing the red-robed wizard from concentrating on the lightning. An already desperate ordeal grew even more perilous.
Tribulations! Minor tribulations, great calamities, thunder tribulations, wind tribulations...
After the golden age of cultivation, conditions for cultivating had become especially harsh. The use of the world's energy had already reached its utmost limit. Even with trillions of living beings providing computing power, there would never be enough. The time had come to weed out the inferior and retain the best to improve efficiency.
Tribulations did not deliberately torment cultivators. Their sole purpose was selection, sifting gold from sand.
Only by selecting the outstanding to command resources could computing power yield greater value.
After Wuxiang Watson ushered in the era of ancient gods and granted deities nearly endless lifespans, attaining eternal life at the Seventh-Ring Tier became