Flowing Moon Heaven

The Three Minor Tribulations of the Sovereign were terrifying trials that could make any cultivator below the Sovereign level pale.

They were the final three hurdles on the road to becoming a Sovereign, and undoubtedly the most difficult and dangerous ones.

Countless geniuses had been stopped here, their years of bitter cultivation ruined by these three tribulations before they died with their hearts full of resentment.

Heavenly Insect did not believe he would stop here, but he still prepared himself mentally beforehand to see just how terrifying these trials, whose very mention made people blanch, truly were!

Generally speaking, anyone who reached the late Heaven-reaching Realm could undergo the Body Tribulation...

Of course, unlike heavenly tribulations and similar trials, the Body Tribulation would not appear on its own. It had to be deliberately triggered...

In other words, one had to take the initiative to face it.

Triggering the Body Tribulation was not complicated. Once someone was ready to face it, all they needed to do was circulate all the spiritual energy within their body, cycle after cycle.

As that spiritual energy raced through the meridians, it would generate a kind of power, which would gradually seep out of the meridians and into the flesh and blood...

When a cultivator reached the late Heaven-reaching Realm, the blood energy within their body would reach a certain state of saturation. Once that blood energy fused with the power that seeped out from the rapidly circulating spiritual energy, it would turn into blood fire.

This blood fire was born within the flesh and blood, then spread throughout the body.

Much like tempering a Spirit Artifact, the burning blood fire would refine the flesh and blood, making the body stronger.

The process was extremely painful. If one could not withstand this tempering, the blood fire would refine and evaporate their flesh and blood. Once the body was destroyed, the cultivator would suffer tremendous harm.

That was the origin of the Body Tribulation!

There was no escaping this fire born from one's own flesh and blood. No external aid could help; only by relying on oneself could one truly overcome the ordeal and achieve transformation within the blood fire.

By now, Heavenly Insect's body had slowly begun turning blood-red, like a steamed shrimp. Wisps of white smoke even rose from the pores all over his body.

The temperature inside the secluded chamber kept climbing, and the surrounding air grew dry as the heat radiating from Heavenly Insect's body evaporated all the moisture.

As the temperature rose higher and higher, tiny beads of blood began seeping from Heavenly Insect's pores. They slid down his scalding skin with a sizzling sound, and the white smoke turned into rising white mist.

Sizzle, sizzle!

The sound grew ever more frequent. Bead after bead of blood seeped onto Heavenly Insect's skin before evaporating, and the billowing white mist almost enveloped the entire chamber.

Within the white mist, Heavenly Insect had opened his eyes. Crimson flames flickered in his pupils, lending his face a somewhat ferocious look.

Although Heavenly Insect felt as though he had swallowed molten lava, he still knew very clearly...

This still wasn't enough!

"Golden Cicada, help!"

He forced the words out, feeling as though his throat was about to start smoking...

No, that was wrong. It was already smoking.

"On it!"

Golden Cicada's voice was light and cheerful, a stark contrast to Heavenly Insect's current state.

Although there was a hint of delight in his suffering, Golden Cicada did not move slowly...

With a flash of golden light, an enormous amount of spiritual energy poured into Heavenly Insect's sea of spiritual energy once more.

At the same time, Heavenly Insect abruptly changed his hand seal, and the spiritual energy circulating within his body accelerated to yet another level.

Whoosh!

If the blood fire inside Heavenly Insect had been little tongues of flame before, it was now a sea of fire.

Heavenly Insect's body shuddered violently, and his teeth even bit a bloody mark into his lip.

Blood-red flames blazed fiercely...

Those flames clung to his flesh and blood,

Their terrifying heat seemed intent on refining his flesh and blood into nothingness. An unimaginable agony constantly tormented Heavenly Insect's nerves. This is fucking self-torture...

Heavenly Insect clenched his teeth while roaring inwardly.

Unfortunately, this apparently was not yet the most intense stage of the Body Tribulation. Just as his inward roar ended, the blood fire within him erupted again, making him feel as though his body contained a volcano on the verge of exploding.

Heavenly Insect's body kept trembling, and beads of blood continued seeping from his pores.

Eventually, a thick crust of blood gradually formed over his skin, covering his entire body.

At last, Heavenly Insect could no longer endure the agony and swung his fist at the floor before him...

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The entire chamber shook. Beneath his repeated punches, even the hard black jade stone of the floor shattered into pieces.

Heavenly Insect was using this method to vent the agony within him.

Roar!

A low, agonized roar like that of a wild beast echoed through the sealed chamber.

This was the Body Tribulation, an ordeal that terrified countless late Heaven-reaching Realm experts! It was also the first tribulation cultivators had to face to enter the Supreme Realm!

This agony would continue until Heavenly Insect's body completed its final tempering and transformation.

Outside the secluded chamber.

The guards had long since reported the commotion here to Tian Yuan.

Having experienced the same thing himself, Tian Yuan immediately guessed that someone was undergoing the Body Tribulation...

"That boy really wasn't lying to me. He's already breaking through in less than half a month... Still, with a body as strong as his, he's probably going to suffer quite a bit during this Body Tribulation."

The stronger the body, the longer the Body Tribulation lasted, and the pain would cling to him like maggots gnawing at the bone.

Tian Yuan had guessed correctly. An ordinary person's Body Tribulation would last seven or eight days at most, but Heavenly Insect's lasted an entire month!

The consequence was that if he did not come out soon, even if Tian Yuan really secured his eligibility to compete for a spot, he would still miss the competition!

"This fellow really knows how to cause trouble..."

Tian Yuan spoke with a headache.

Only three days remained before the competition. Even if they set out now, there was no way they could reach the Twelve Branches' clan grounds from the Flying Salamander Domain in time. Their only option was to take a teleportation array...

Although the Flying Salamander Domain was not a major power, Tian Yuan had a powerful father backing him. He had spent a great sum and relied on his father's standing to invite a Spirit Array master to build a small Teleportation Spirit Array in Flying Salamander City.

However, operating the Teleportation Spirit Array consumed a considerable amount of supreme spirit liquid, so Tian Yuan was reluctant to use it under ordinary circumstances.

This time, for Heavenly Insect's sake, he could only grit his teeth and use it once...

Hopefully, we can still make it in time...

Looking toward the secluded cultivation chamber deep within the Domain Lord's residence, Tian Yuan could only think this to himself.

Another short while passed.

Suddenly, Tian Yuan's eyes lit up, and he sensed a fairly powerful aura coming from the distance.

A dim light flickered, and Heavenly Insect appeared before Tian Yuan.

Sunlight fell upon the young man's tall, straight figure, which even shimmered faintly like jade. His black hair drifted gently in the wind, with brilliant strands of gold interspersed among it, lending him a hint of exotic charm.

Tian Yuan swept his gaze over the young man before him, and shock involuntarily flashed through his eyes.

He discovered that Heavenly Insect's physical strength was beyond that of other Body Tribulation cultivators. Even Sovereign experts might not be able to match him!

This boy actually mastered a divine-art-grade body-refining cultivation method?

At this moment, Tian Yuan finally believed that this young man could gain something from the approaching competition...

Reining in his emotions, Tian Yuan smiled at the young man before him. "You've finally come out, brat. Another two days, and it really would have been too late for everything!"

Heavenly Insect could only shake his head with a wry smile. He had never expected the tempering of his Body Tribulation to take so long, and he had suffered every imaginable hardship during that month!

Tian Yuan naturally understood this very well. After speaking, he added, "There are still three days before the competition. Do you want to rest for a day before we leave? Don't worry, we're taking the teleportation array this time..."

Heavenly Insect considered it briefly, then shook his head. "Forget it. Let's get there first."

Right now, he knew nothing about the Twelve Branches' situation. He would be better off spending those three days learning more about his opponents.

Moreover, since he had not expected breaking through the Body Tribulation alone to take so much time, Heavenly Insect still had many things left undone. Most importantly, his movement divine art, the Flying Insect Method, still used a movement form modeled on the Nine Revolutions Black-Whiskered Mosquito...

A Flying Insect Method at this level was powerful enough against ordinary experts undergoing the Three Minor Tribulations of the Sovereign. Against talented disciples who shared the main surname, however, it would fall somewhat short.

Heavenly Insect had originally planned to replace the Nine Revolutions Black-Whiskered Mosquito form with the Ancient Sword Butterfly form immediately after overcoming the Body Tribulation...

Because of the Ancient Sword Butterfly's powerful sword energy, his physical strength had to meet the required standard before he could condense a movement form modeled on the butterfly. Until now, Heavenly Insect had been forced to wait.

With time so tight now, he could only postpone this matter again. He would probably have time to cultivate the method only after entering the Insect World.

The Insect World would remain open for a year. Most of the talented young members of the Spirit Insect Tribe who qualified to enter would likely have broken through to the Sovereign level by the time they emerged, provided they did not perish inside.

Heavenly Insect believed he would be among those who broke through!

As one of the Great Thousand World's superpowers, the Spirit Insect Tribe occupied an entire medium-sized continent. Its strength was truly terrifying.

The Spirit Insect Tribe's four Main Branches-Heavenly, Profound, Earth, and Spirit-controlled nearly seventy percent of the Spirit Insect Continent's resources.

Among the current four Main Branches, the Heavenly Meridian was the strongest. Even the Spirit Insect Tribe's chief came from the Heavenly Meridian, so of that seventy percent of the resources, the Heavenly Meridian alone held thirty percent!

The Twelve Branches, to which Heavenly Insect belonged, was the weakest branch of the Heavenly Meridian. Even so, its branch leader, Tian Qiu, was a genuine Lower Earthly Sovereign, making it powerful enough to stand alongside powers such as the Great Luo Heavenly Domain and the Profound Heaven Hall from the original story.

Tian Yuan's father, Tian Zhe, was one of the Twelve Branches' five great elders and a Ninth Grade Sovereign. In other words, there were at least four more experts of comparable strength within the Twelve Branches...

Whenever he thought about this, Heavenly Insect could not help marveling at the deep foundations of these ancient powers, whose legacies stretched back thousands upon thousands of years.

He was also immensely grateful that he had chosen to inherit this body's original identity rather than venture out alone.

The Twelve Branches' clan grounds were called Flowing Moon Heaven, a gigantic floating island.

However, when Heavenly Insect first saw this so-called Flowing Moon Heaven, he was utterly stunned.

Rather than a floating island, it was more like a small continent! Its boundless expanse and imposing grandeur were enough to leave anyone dumbstruck.

Heavenly Insect stood atop a towering peak tens of thousands of feet high and gazed into the distance.

The floating continent known as Flowing Moon Heaven was entirely enveloped by a dazzling, formidable barrier of light. Countless palaces stood within, while countless streaks of light swept across the distant sky, their overwhelming numbers a particularly frightening sight.

Despite the great distance between them, Heavenly Insect could still vaguely sense countless powerful fluctuations of spiritual energy quietly rippling there.

"Well? Flowing Moon Heaven isn't bad as our Twelve Branches' clan grounds, is it?" Tian Yuan gazed at the floating continent on the horizon, a faint pride in his voice.

Everyone said their Twelve Branches was the weakest of the Heavenly Meridian, yet even so, they could occupy a wondrous place like Flowing Moon Heaven.

Out in the Great Thousand World, who knew how many people would be green with envy!

"Are the clan grounds of the Heavenly Meridian's other eleven branches floating continents like this too?"

While Tian Yuan was still basking in pride, the question beside his ear instantly wiped out his good mood!

He glanced at the fellow beside him, but still answered, "Most are floating continents, though some occupy other blessed grotto heavens..."

The blessed grotto heavens Tian Yuan mentioned were actually subspaces attached to the Spirit Insect Continent. Their cultivation environments were even somewhat better than those of these floating continents.

Most importantly, the Twelve Branches' Flowing Moon Heaven ranked at the very bottom among these floating continents...

Clearly, however, Heavenly Insect's thoughts were entirely different from Tian Yuan's, for he was currently marveling at something else.

As expected of the Heavenly Meridian-even their clan grounds fly in the sky! What are the other three Main Branches like, then? Could the people of the Earth Meridian actually live underground?

Such a novel perspective was probably something only Heavenly Insect could come up with.

However, if Tian Yuan had known what he was thinking, he would probably have told him outright that his guess was indeed correct. Those fellows from the Earth Meridian really did live underground, just as he imagined...

"Let's go. You might be spending your days here from now on..."

With that, Tian Yuan shot forward first, heading straight toward Flowing Moon Heaven suspended in the distant sky. Heavenly Insect immediately followed closely behind him.