[Immortal Crossing Tribulation, Five Thunder Righteous Method]

Azure lightning and violet electricity danced through the air. A spark of thunder flashed as the old Celestial Master shattered the rubble and shot away like a bolt of lightning, somehow standing suspended in the sky.

"Thunder Method..."

"Fine. Let me experience the majestic might of heaven."

Lin Xian spoke softly, curiosity flickering in his eyes. A rainbow glow arose beneath his feet, and he stepped upward one stride at a time as though climbing stairs, ascending into the firmament. Flowing light danced around him in dazzling colors, like an immortal bridge descending into the mortal world, spanning mountains and rivers. Immortal aura surged, divine might shook the heavens, and the entire Mount Longhu was suppressed beneath it.

In the blink of an eye, the sky seemed to split in two. Azure lightning danced with the immortal bridge, rainbow transformations mingled with violet electricity, their radiance reflecting one another as they clashed and battled, painting a breathtaking scene.

"Holy shit, are those two people in the sky even human?"

At the foot of Mount Longhu, the otherworlders preparing to participate in the Luotian Grand Ceremony stared dumbfoundedly, unable to stop themselves from cursing.

"Cheat codes... Those two definitely have cheat codes!"

Cold sweat streamed down Zhang Chulan's face as he muttered repeatedly. He had thought his own life was legendary enough, that he possessed the bearing of a protagonist of his generation. Compared to those two guys in the sky, though, he was nothing worth mentioning.

"There are always greater people beyond people, higher heavens beyond heaven. Coming down from the mountain this time wasn't for nothing."

In a secluded corner of Mount Longhu, Wang Ye, the Mount Wudang Daoist with long black hair and a somewhat lazy air, gazed into the sky. His usual carefree attitude vanished at that moment, and he could not help asking curiously, "Can the Eight Extraordinary Skills reach such a level?"

"Probably not." A mysteriously dressed man, his face hidden beneath his hood, suddenly appeared at Wang Ye's side. His eyes were clear as he looked at the two figures in the sky, a calm sorrow surfacing within them.

"They can't?" Wang Ye was startled. This man had appeared right beside him, yet he had not sensed him in the slightest. It was simply unbelievable. Who exactly was this guy?

To probe his background, Wang Ye followed his line of thought and narrowed his eyes. "Then what use are the Eight Extraordinary Skills that everyone fights over?"

"What use are they? Yes, what use are they?" The mysterious man answered his own question. Looking at the immortal spectacle in the sky, he suddenly began laughing wildly. Under Wang Ye's wary gaze, tears gradually welled at the corners of his eyes as he laughed, before he burst into loud sobs. "They're useless! In the end, it's all empty. They're all useless!"

How could the Eight Extraordinary Skills compare to the dual cultivation of life and essence?

The Eight Extraordinary Skills, so mysterious in the eyes of worldly otherworlders, were merely standard equipment for immortals. Any casual strike was already at the level of the Eight Extraordinary Skills.

"Before Patriarch Zhang Sanfeng attained the Dao and ascended as an immortal, he often taught later generations a saying: Practice Tai Chi, and all will flourish... The Great Dao is simple, yet knowing is easy while doing is hard."

"How laughable that I clung to what was before my eyes and forgot the foundation."

"Wang Ye, stop practicing Fenghou Qimen. Go learn Tai Chi."

"How can a strange art compare to the path of immortality? Cultivation of life and essence is the foundation."

The mysterious man let out a long sigh. At that moment, he suddenly understood why those renowned orthodox sects whose ancestors had produced immortals had looked down upon the Eight Extraordinary Skills, even regarding them as arts that invited chaos.

If they had not even thoroughly mastered their own inheritance, how could they possibly covet others'?

Even if the Eight Extraordinary Skills were cultivated to their utmost limits, they might not make one invincible in the mortal world. Yet the Mount Wudang lineage was truly an immortal lineage. Zhang Sanfeng was the last recorded True Immortal in the history of the otherworlder world to attain the Dao, ascend, and live forever.

Oh, judging by things now, he should be the second-to-last. The one in the sky was now the last True Immortal.

How laughable. He had stood within a treasure mountain yet returned empty-handed, picking up sesame seeds while losing a watermelon.

"You... Sir... Who exactly are you?" Wang Ye's pupils contracted. A mad and daring thought was about to emerge. The person before him was...? He was?!

"Who am I? A man who took the wrong path. How could a sparrow know the ambitions of a swan?" Zhou Sheng sighed, then leaped into the air. His body shifted through countless transformations, and like the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven or Erlang Shen of legend, he transformed into a nimble sparrow and flew away.

How could a low-flying sparrow understand the soaring swan's boundless ambition? Beyond people are people of the mountains; beyond heaven lies the Great Luo Heaven.

"Zhang Zhiwei, not bad."

Dressed in azure robes with black hair hanging loose, Lin Xian stood upon the Divine Bridge, crushing the battlefield beneath it. His aura was heaven-shaking, and he firmly held the upper hand. Like a god of the Ninth Heaven gazing down upon the mortal realm, his divine consciousness manifested between his brows and transformed into a heavenly sword suspended high above the nine heavens. The light it emitted made hearts tremble, impossible to look upon directly.

He offered a word of praise, remaining utterly still with his hands behind his back and his wide sleeves fluttering. No matter how many spells or divine abilities came to kill him, they were all severed by that heavenly sword.

From the beginning of the battle until now, Zhang Zhiwei had used every technique and skill of Mount Longhu, yet he had never managed to force Lin Xian to move even a finger.

"Under this bright heaven and earth, there are many ordinary mortals but few outstanding talents."

The old Celestial Master transformed into lightning, his expression solemn. With the Celestial Master Seal at his waist and the Celestial Master Sword in hand, he said in a deep voice, "Ordinary man Zhang Zhiwei, bearing the inheritance of the ancestral Celestial Master, seeks instruction in an immortal's great arts today."

"Thunder, come!"

Rumble!

Heaven and earth stirred naturally, and the skies changed without warning. The clear blue firmament that had stretched for miles instantly filled with dark clouds, lightning flashing and thunder roaring, leaving every otherworlder dumbstruck.

Using one's own strength to influence heaven and earth... was that still human?

The head of the Shangqing Sect trembled as he said, "The Inner Landscape manifests outwardly, the Inner Landscape manifests outwardly! He commands the outer cosmos with the twenty-four gods of the human body. Zhang Zhiwei has actually reached such a realm."

"Before the Shangqing Purple Clouds and Void Sovereign stands the Supreme Dao's Jade Dawn Lord. Residing idly among pearl stamens, he composes seven-character verses, scattering into five forms and transforming into myriad gods."

"To command even a small portion of heaven and earth's power, this is Half-Step Outer Landscape!"

"The mystic pass has no regrets; the foundation has been established. Is Zhang Zhiwei's Half-Step Outer Landscape low-grade, mid-grade, or high-grade?"

"Probably mid-grade Half-Step Outer Landscape." Another elder of the Shangqing Sect looked at the majestic heavenly might and said gravely, "High-grade is an immortal foundation. If he were summoning heavenly lightning, the thunderclouds should not be so small."

"Can that Divine Bridge immortal withstand it? He..." The head of the Shangqing Sect was about to sigh when he suddenly cursed, "Damn it, he flew up! He flew into the sea of lightning!"

Facing the Five Thunder Righteous Method and heaven's majestic might, Lin Xian felt no fear at all. Instead, he stepped on the Divine Bridge and rose into the sky, crossing the Thunder Method with his fleshly body as he charged into the thunderclouds.

Heavenly Tribulation had been rare since ancient times. Even cultivators of the Body-as-Seed System who were true geniuses had to wait until the Four Extremes realm before they could undergo tribulation.

As for ordinary cultivators, they might cultivate all the way to the Immortal Platform Secret Realm without ever encountering a Heavenly Tribulation.

Heavenly Tribulation was also a standard by which geniuses were measured. It was both danger and Fortune. Many geniuses had drawn benefits from lightning tribulations, allowing their combat power to far surpass others at the same realm.

For Lin Xian, at the Divine Bridge realm, to undergo the Four Extremes Heavenly Tribulation was no different from courting death.

The Four Extremes Heavenly Tribulation could drown mountain ranges at a whim. Ten-thousand-foot violet lightning would scorch the earth black, terrifying beyond measure. Before undergoing tribulation, a cultivator had to possess combat power comparable to the Four Extremes realm, or there was simply no way to survive it.

By comparison, when the old Celestial Master's Five Thunder Righteous Method struck his body, Lin Xian merely felt numb and tingly, with a faint stabbing pain that he could still endure.

"A weaker lightning tribulation has its advantages too."

"Actually undergoing Heavenly Tribulation is impossible, and I can't pull off defying the odds to slay immortals either. I can only rely on the Five Thunder Righteous Method to temper my body bit by bit and elevate my primordial spirit."

"It's a little slow, but it's still better than getting killed by a single bolt from a Shrouding the Heavens tribulation."

Lin Xian muttered as he brought forth his divine consciousness and let it receive the baptism of the Thunder Method. He felt that supremely firm, supremely yang energy and allowed it to take on several traces of sunlike crimson.

His divine sense underwent tempering and quietly changed, as though reborn, revealing an aura that transcended the mundane.

As time passed, the Thunder Method gradually weakened, and the thunderclouds in the sky slowly dispersed.

With a thought from Lin Xian, his divine consciousness took form and became a streak of light. It flew before the old Celestial Master, and he shouted, "Old Celestial Master, put more into it!"

Zhang Zhiwei: ???

Put more into it? What did he think I was, a bath attendant?!