In the mortal realm, within the Four Great Continents plane, heaven and earth were sealed. Boundless Tribulation Clouds poured down like mountain floods, layer upon layer forming high in the sky—some shaped like mountain peaks, others like ocean tides. Amid the surging Tribulation Clouds, thunder stretched for thousands of miles, and an indescribable suffocation blanketed the limitless earth. Xiao Hua and his clones' tribulation transcendence had reached its end.
Above the Western Paradise in the south, before the Buddha Kingdom's Heavenly Gate wreathed in Buddhist light, beneath layers of mountain shadows resembling Mount Sumeru, Xiao Hua's Sarira Clone, Maitreya Buddha Lord, wore a faint smile. He raised a hand and brought out the Seven Treasures Wonderful Tree. With a wave, the myriad mountain shadows shattered, and the guiding Buddhist light swept them all away before falling upon Maitreya Buddha Lord!
For a moment, ten thousand Buddhas chanted, heavenly flowers descended, Sanskrit sounds resounded, and heavenly dragons reappeared. Yet strangely, just as the Buddhist light fell upon Maitreya Buddha Lord, it split off a beam. Boom... It crossed the sky and descended onto Xiao Hua's head, far away as he underwent tribulation in the Western Sea!
Above the Thousand Demon Sacred Realm in the north lay two utterly different starry skies. At first glance, one could hardly be called a starry sky, for there were no stars within that space, nor sun or moon. There were only tens of thousands of birds and beasts of every color, their bodies flickering with radiance like stellar flames as they roared madly. Along with their roars, space twisted as well, and a faint bloody hue shrouded the surroundings. At this moment, Huang Tong, the clone formed from Xiao Hua's flesh-and-blood phantom, had also reached the end of his tribulation transcendence. The bloody Phoenix Egg he had transformed into touched the plane barrier. Boom! A bloody pillar of light descended and enveloped the Phoenix Egg. Yet bizarrely, another bloody light pillar ignored Huang Tong and fell directly upon Xiao Hua.
Within the other starry sky, countless stars shone brilliantly, and twisted star patterns surrounded every one of them. The distortions were strange. When the naked eye fell upon them, it seemed as though every fold contained sun and moon shining together, though all light and shadow were obscured by the sea of stars. At this moment, the star Xiao Hua's flesh-and-blood clone Phoenix Wutong had transformed into touched the plane barrier. The Star Moon Light Pillar drawing that star abruptly split off a beam and, like the bloody light pillar, pounced toward Xiao Hua in the distance!
High in the northwestern reaches of the Three Great Continents, a golden pupil stretching a hundred thousand li appeared. It was the Sky-Opening Eye of the dragon race's tribulation transcendence. Earth, fire, wind, and lightning flooded out around the Heavenly Eye as though the sky itself had collapsed, blanketing a million-li expanse! Within that space, earth, fire, wind, and lightning ran rampant. The heavens gradually steamed, their ordinary colors vanishing until all became gold. At this moment, the golden eye was opening, while the cocoon of light belonging to Dragon True Person, Xiao Hua's meridian clone, also touched the plane barrier. With a deafening boom..., the nine rings of the hundred-thousand-li Heavenly Eye closed. An enormous golden light pillar blasted through the plane barrier and descended upon Dragon True Person. Like Phoenix Wutong and Huang Tong, after the golden light fell upon Dragon True Person, it split off another beam that pierced Xiao Hua's physical body.
High above the Hidden Immortal Continent in the east, an enormous scroll ten thousand zhang long flickered alongside Sword Light. Lightning flashed around the scroll, while Five Qi True Thunder poured down like a celestial river, transforming into a towering thunder tide that covered a million li. Within the Five Qi True Thunder, hundreds of millions of pillars of righteous energy crashed down. Five-colored radiance likewise carpeted the heavens. A vast, supreme aura seeped from the scroll and enveloped the entire Hidden Immortal Continent. The gates of the book were dyed gold, and the descending clouds and rosy mists wrapped around Wen Qu, Xiao Hua's Confucian Cultivation clone. As immortal music arose, the scroll contracted, and Wen Qu's figure flew up with it toward the book gate. Boom... A golden beam as thick as ten thousand zhang surged from within the book gate and directly enveloped Wen Qu. Like Maitreya Buddha Lord and the others, the golden light produced another beam that fell upon Xiao Hua's chest!
Above Yilin Continent in the west, at the five-colored, star-shaped Immortal Realm Gate, lightning condensed into stars that filled the sky in speckled clusters. The might of every speck pierced straight through space, each possessing the power to destroy heaven and earth. Thunder True Person, the clone of a wisp of Xiao Hua's Primordial Spirit, transformed into lightning and emerged from the white phantom that slaughtered all things. With a boom, guiding light fell from the Immortal Realm Gate. Unsurprisingly, with a swish, it split off a beam and rushed into the Western Sea.
High above the Western Sea, beyond another Immortal Realm Gate shaped like thunder patterns, mottled lightning crisscrossed like paths between fields, completely covering the sky. Beneath every streak of light lay gray-white strands resembling ribbons. That gray-white light likewise passed through space and fell upon the Western Sea, each strand containing force capable of overturning mountains and seas. Xiao Hua had just activated his golden body and used Light Escape to emerge from the white phantom when boom, boom, boom... light pillars descended from Yilin Continent, the Thousand Demon Sacred Realm, the Northern Sea, the Hidden Immortal Continent, and elsewhere, scattering across every part of Xiao Hua's golden body. Not only that, within Xiao Hua's light pillar, three more light pillars split off and fell toward Xiaoyu Continent and two locations in the Western Sea. Xiao Hua's Demon Lord clone Shi, skeletal clone Celestial Being, and soul-cultivating clone Witch Daoist were likewise enveloped by those light pillars.
Where the light pillars passed, the space containing Xiao Hua was completely sealed. The radiance was blinding beyond measure; no one could see what was happening within!
"What... what is going on?" Seeing that his golden body could not move, Xiao Hua was greatly alarmed. It was not merely his Mana and physical body—even his thoughts seemed about to freeze solid. Yet when the light pillars connected, a unique space unexpectedly formed amid the heavenly tribulation. Xiao Hua discovered that this space contained only himself and his clones; everything else in the world had been shut out. A sense of foreboding arose in his heart.
With a soft swish, Xiao Hua felt a pain that pierced deep into his soul. Something immensely important seemed to split away from his body. "Ah..." Xiao Hua screamed miserably as he watched his Niwan Palace, wrapped around the sarira, fly out of thin air and travel along a light pillar. Looking again into that pillar, was that not the phantom of Maitreya Buddha Lord?
"I... I understand!" Xiao Hua endured the sharp pain in his soul, gritted his teeth, and thought to himself, This... this belongs to Maitreya Buddha Lord. I... I have to give it to him!
With another soft swish, Xiao Hua felt his soul being cut open again, as though someone had stabbed his physical body. His middle dantian, which cultivated Confucian energy, was forcibly torn apart, transforming along with his five viscera and six bowels into Wen Qu's phantom and rushing into another light pillar.
Immediately afterward, Xiao Hua felt like a lamb awaiting slaughter upon a chopping block. His mysterious dark clouds were sliced apart, becoming Witch Daoist's phantom; his meridians were cruelly extracted, becoming Dragon True Person's draconic form; his seven-colored tempered bones burst roughly through his flesh, as brutal as Celestial Being himself, the pain nearly making Xiao Hua faint. When his flesh transformed into the phantoms of Phoenix Wutong and Huang Tong and departed, and his bloodline transformed into the fierce visage of Demon Lord Shi and left, incomparably intense agony surged like tides from within his Primordial Spirit, Heart God, and soul. This suffering was a hundred times worse than the pain of tribulation transcendence!
"Why... why is my tribulation transcendence so bitter?" Xiao Hua nearly moaned under his breath. Yet that was not even the worst of it. When Xiao Hua lowered his head, he suddenly discovered that his once-mighty golden body, ten thousand zhang tall, was gone. All that remained was a naked Nascent Soul standing there shyly!!!
"My heavens, how... how am I supposed to undergo tribulation like this??" Thinking of the many Supremes still watching from the Four Great Continents, Xiao Hua felt like dying.
"Dust returns to dust, earth returns to earth; cause returns to cause, effect returns to effect. At the end of dust and earth lies a grave mound; at the end of cause and effect lies rebirth..." All the clones spoke in unison. "Many thanks, Fellow Daoist. Today, we have reached completion. Let us meet again in the upper realm someday!"
Then the countless light pillars vanished, and the space formed by those pillars shattered. When the light pillars withdrew into Xiao Hua's body, it was like sweet rain descending. The agony of his torn Primordial Spirit, Heart God, and soul was swept away. Heroic spirit surged within Xiao Hua, and he shouted, "Good, good, good! Then let us make this pact: someday, we shall meet again in the upper realm, conquer the immortal path, and tread upon the divine gates!!"
Having spoken, boom, boom, boom... Xiao Hua released his Nascent Soul. Lightning once more surged over his body, and a ten-thousand-zhang Nascent Soul Dharma Body appeared. Its bearing was no weaker than his physical body's! Who could possibly discover the hidden strangeness within??
Above Xiao Hua's head, the hundreds of millions of runes now became like butterflies once more, flapping their wings as they returned one after another to the edge of the enormous gate. Amid wave after wave of rumbling, the Immortal Realm Gate finally opened. Xiao Hua's figure descended with the guiding golden light to stand before that gate. Then Xiao Hua looked toward the Imperial Thunder Sect, looked toward the million Meng Mountains, and respectfully bowed. Afterward, he turned and entered the Immortal Realm Gate!
But just as Xiao Hua's figure vanished into the silver radiance, an abrupt change occurred. Rumble... Nine layers of lightning suddenly appeared above the gate, transforming into nine-colored python dragons that bared their fangs and brandished their claws as they pounced toward Xiao Hua. This Nine-Colored True Thunder was ten times more ferocious than the previous tribulation lightning!
"This..." Xiao Hua was stunned. Without a moment's thought, he activated Thunderous Might. Wuwu... Above Xiao Hua's head, nine-colored lightning likewise blasted forth, condensing in midair into lightning shaped like an Immortal Slaying Platform as it pounced toward the Nine-Colored True Thunder!
It was also as Xiao Hua activated Thunderous Might that he suddenly realized this nine-colored true thunder was no abnormal change at all. It had come because of his released Nascent Soul! During his earlier lightning tribulation, he had relied upon his physical body and had not released his Nascent Soul. Now that his physical body had vanished, he could only ascend to the Immortal Realm through his Nascent Soul. Yet his Nascent Soul had never truly undergone the baptism of the Immortal Realm's tribulation lightning! How could the Immortal Realm Gate possibly allow him to enter the Immortal Realm?
Sure enough, although Xiao Hua's Thunderous Might was formidable, the nine-colored true thunder formed abruptly at the Immortal Realm Gate, its power far beyond what Xiao Hua had imagined. After annihilating Xiao Hua's Thunderous Might, it rushed at Xiao Hua like ocean waves. "Damn it..." Xiao Hua cursed under his breath. Had he known that Phoenix Wutong would take away his physical body, he would certainly have released his Nascent Soul long ago. But now, this Nine-Colored True Thunder was nine bolts of tribulation lightning firing as one. How could his Nascent Soul possibly endure it?
Yet even if he could not endure it, Xiao Hua had to endure it, because the Immortal Realm's plane power pressed down with unparalleled force, leaving him utterly unable to struggle. Only after his Nascent Soul underwent the baptism of lightning tribulation and Immortal Spiritual Energy fully arose could it remain in the Immortal Realm!
Boom, boom... An immense torrent of lightning engulfed Xiao Hua. Unspeakable agony, acute beyond measure, came from the surface of his Nascent Soul body. Moreover, each wave of lightning surpassed the last, and it had already reached the limit Xiao Hua could bear!
Just then, a faint voice came from afar. "Hmph, truly useless..."
Though the voice came through the Immortal Realm barrier and sounded like distorted thunder, Xiao Hua heard it clearly. The voice was exceedingly familiar!
"Senior... Senior Xu?" Xiao Hua could not help but feel a warmth in his heart. He seemed to recall the day within Star Moon Palace, when Xu Zhi and Star Moon Fairy were leaving. Xu Zhi had said, "When you ascend, Xu will come receive you..."
With Xu Zhi's voice, the Nine-Colored True Thunder that had been about to shatter Xiao Hua's released Nascent Soul abruptly vanished. Xiao Hua saw clearly that, in the distance, a tall silver human figure stood there. The silver light was no longer as blinding as before. Xiao Hua could see clearly—was that not Xu Zhi?
Xiao Hua was overjoyed. He activated his body and flew out, crying, "Xu..."
Yet the instant Xiao Hua moved, a terrifying force from the plane barrier surged over and pressed his released Nascent Soul down tightly. That barrier force further overwhelmed Xiao Hua's consciousness like raging waves. His vision gradually darkened, but just before he fainted, he suddenly thought of something. His expression changed drastically!
Xiao Hua abruptly opened his eyes, stared at the smiling Xu Zhi, and shouted, "You... you are not Xu Zhi?"
PS:
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