Aspiring to the Immortal Path

Chapter 804: Heavenly Tribulation (2)

After the mountain disappeared, a few moments passed before the new Heavenly Tribulation began to take form.

But rather than from the sky, it came from the ground.

The Heavenly Tribulation was the will of the heavens.

But this didn't mean that only attacks that fell from the heavens were Heavenly Tribulations. On the contrary, when the Heavenly Tribulations began, anything in the world could become one.

It represented the wrath of the heavens, the rejection of the usurper.

A gust blew past.

Grass suddenly began to grow on the ground where Tang Jie was standing, rapidly growing into huge trees, creating a dense forest that completely enclosed Tang Jie.

These countless trees swayed in unison in a majestic sight, their branches turning into arms, their wooden fists pummeling Tang Jie. Some trees even grew mouths and feet, running at Tang Jie and opening their tooth-filled maws.

But Tang Jie was unmoved.

The Primal Infant hid in his body and continued to evolve, the phenomena in the heavens continuing. Meanwhile, Tang Jie faced the trees and simply said, "Go."

The Pale Cloud Flame bird again flew out, transforming into a sea of fire to burn away the trees.

Such was the power of the Pale Cloud Flame that the trees were burned to cinders before they could get close.

Sitting in the sea of fire, Tang Jie picked up a flower and smiled.

In this seemingly casual movement, he was actually analyzing the power of the Wood Element, greedily absorbing every bit of experience and every principle of the Dao that he could.

The Pale Cloud Flame had once more easily blocked a tribulation.

Next was the Metal Tribulation.

Countless weapons of various shapes and sizes began to manifest in the air.

Although these weapons were made from illusions, as they were made with Metal Element energy, each one became real once they manifested.

Once they had all manifested, they threw themselves at Tang Jie.

But the way Tang Jie dealt with them was even simpler than before.

He extended a finger and shouted, "Break!"

There was a great shattering.

All the weapons shattered, transforming into golden grains that flew toward Tang Jie.

These weapons had been formed directly from Metal Element energy through the power of the Heavenly Dao. No cultivator had refined them, nor were there seals to protect them. They could be called the most basic of weapons, which was why the Weapon Mantra could so easily destroy them. He had destroyed all of them with one shout, finally emulating some of the Martial Lord's demeanor.

"What sort of spell art is this?" The cultivators down below gasped in shock.

"The Weapon Mantra," a voice softly said.

The crowd turned to see Xu Miaoran elegantly standing nearby. She was looking up at her husband, her eyes thick with love.

When the cultivators saw that Xu Miaoran had come over, they all backed away.

The crowd opening up a path for her, Xu Miaoran walked through, like the moon ringed by the stars.

"Fairy, might I ask what exactly the Weapon Mantra is?" someone asked.

Xu Miaoran casually replied, "A divine spell from High Antiquity, an art of the Great Dao."

As Tang Jie grew stronger and stronger, it became less necessary to keep things secret. Even the Weapon Mantra could be made known.

Everyone cried out in surprise, realizing that this must be something Tang Jie had obtained from those ruins from High Antiquity. They heaved heavy sighs while also joking about how Godhead Palace's efforts of many years had ultimately only benefited Tang Jie.

The Heavenly Tribulations continued.

After the Metal Tribulation, a powerful storm began to blow.

The Wind Tribulation.

This was no ordinary wind, but the Gold Ignis Astral Winds brought down from beyond the heavens.

This dazzling golden wind was the fence that penned in the world, and also the wall that protected it.

As it howled down from above, its boundless might terrified all the cultivators down below, who backed away for fear that they might be caught up in it, and they looked at Tang Jie in sympathy.

The Gold Ignis Astral Wind! The seventh Heavenly Tribulation was the Gold Ignis Astral Winds! It was evident that Tang Jie's ambitions had particularly incensed the heavens.

But these Gold Ignis Astral Winds could still do nothing to Tang Jie.

Tang Jie had been borrowing the Astral Winds to temper himself, and he had long ago reached a refined state. Although he couldn't break out from the Astral Winds and leave the domain like Earth Immortals, he could endure them for a time without a problem. While the golden wind tribulation was strong, it was simply one sliver of Astral Winds brought down to the lower world. Without a continuous stream of power, it was impossible for it to destroy Tang Jie.

Tang Jie proudly faced the Astral Winds, and despite their savagery, he treated them like a gentle breeze.

Everyone was dumbfounded.

Just like that, Tang Jie had endured the Gold Ignis Astral Winds.

As if sensing Tang Jie's contempt, the sky let out a guttural roar of rage.

The howling of beasts came from all around, and countless fiends emerged, brimming with the might of the heavens.

These fiends had been manifested by the world, and bearing the will of the heavens, they wielded a pure energy that could take on any form.

The beasts all charged at Tang Jie.

Even a Violet Palace Titan would have to be careful when dealing with so many fiends, let alone one at a key moment in their charge at Deification. But Tang Jie was fearless, smiling as he threw out the Mountain River State Diagram.

The Mountain River State Diagram transformed into a vast world in the sky, and the fiends mindlessly charged into this world. The moment they appeared in the diagram world, the power of the small world transformed into the most lethal traps and began to eliminate the fiends.

This was combatting the will of the heavens with the will of the heavens, using a small world to fight back against a large world. Despite the difference in size, one was using all the strength it had while the other was using a drop from an ocean, so in this contest, the large world was defeated. The countless fiends were devoured, absorbed, and digested by the small world, converted into their most fundamental energy to nurture the diagram world. Tang Jie swiftly put away the diagram before the Heavenly Tribulation could react—the small world was not complete and had too many flaws, so this action had been extremely risky. It was only effective when dealing with the Heavenly Tribulations. If he had used it to deal with a cultivator of the same level, they would quickly notice the flaws and attack them, which would make the costs outweigh the benefits.

The Fiend Tribulation had been easily taken care of. Not only had it failed to hurt him, it had actually enriched him.

Although all cultivators who had made the charge at Deification would use the Heavenly Tribulations to temper themselves, none of them had ever been so thorough about it.

The will of the heavens was furious. Eight tribulations had done nothing!

The heavens shifted again, white and black emerging.

Ling Xiao and Xiao Biehan looked up at the sky and muttered, "The Yin Yang Tribulation is about to begin."

The last of the Nine Heavenly Tribulations was the Yin Yang Tribulation.

All diametric pairs in the world would appear in the Yin Yang Tribulation: Life and Death, Light and Dark, Black and White, Illusory and Real, Cold and Hot. All of this would be converted into the most fundamental Yin Yang energy, creating a Heavenly Law Seal Yin Yang Wheel that would crush the target to death.

This was the strongest and most terrifying of the Nine Heavenly Tribulations.

Ling Xiao and Xiao Biehan had both needed to expend numerous treasures to just barely fend off this tribulation, and even then, they had failed numerous times. After surviving the Heavenly Tribulation, they had to start over, and it was only after gaining some experience that they had succeeded.

Tang Jie was attempting to reach Deification in a single try, so he would have a much harder time of it.

The Yin Yang power of the world had gathered. Because it was the world bringing this power together, Tang Jie couldn't move proactively and try to dispel it beforehand, only quietly wait. As more and more Yin Yang energy gathered, it began to arrange itself as if a pair of invisible hands was drawing in the sky, and eventually, it turned into a giant wheel, black and white, appearing rather like the Taiji Diagram.

After this wheel formed, it began to turn, exuding such majestic energy that all cultivators below Violet Palace had to retreat, and only when they had retreated fifty kilometers did they finally feel at ease.

But Tang Jie appeared indifferent in comparison.

He stood up and placed his hands behind his back, looking up at the heavens as if he was challenging the tribulation to come down. The spectating cultivators sighed in admiration, commenting on how this person was completely different from before, possessing his own majesty and grace.

They had no idea that Tang Jie was internally reeling in shock.

Through the Dao of Wisdom, he was analyzing the Heavenly Law Seal Yin Yang Wheel, and the more he analyzed it, the more stunned he became.

The vastness of the Dao power contained in the Yin Yang Wheel was such that Tang Jie felt like his depth of understanding in the Yin Yang Dao was the size of a tiny ant. It was like a boy who had studied for several years suddenly walking into the hall of a sage.

But Tang Jie didn't feel humbled or panicked. Rather, after his moment of shock, he became even more anxious to analyze the deeper secrets of the Yin Yang Dao hidden within the wheel.

As Tang Jie's understanding of the Yin Yang Dao grew, his Yin Yang energy grew even more profound.

He could have used the Dao of Fate to weaken the Heavenly Tribulation, but after his realization, he instead used the Dao of Fate to provoke the heavens. The wrathful heavens began to gather even more energy to make the wheel more powerful, thus extending the time needed to complete it. Tang Jie seized the moment to greedily drink up this knowledge, caring nothing for his safety—after all, Yun Tianlan was protecting him, so what did he have to be afraid of?

Thus, everyone saw the Yin Yang Wheel growing larger and larger, and they began to wonder why it wasn't falling yet. Even Ling Xiao and Xiao Biehan were confused, worrying over whether this Heavenly Tribulation was trying to play some sort of trick.

Someone even blindly speculated, "The Freedom Celestial Sovereign has a rather fine name. Tang Jie, Tang Jie—could it mean to stall (tui tang) the Heavenly Tribulation (jie)?"

This earned him many rolled eyes.

Tang Jie's body began to change.

The concentration of Yin Yang power made him stronger and stronger, Yin Yang Dao Standards swiftly forming, even his Reflections of Floating Life Dao Art being enhanced.

And Tang Jie finally began to comprehend the secrets within the Yin Yang Wheel.

As he analyzed the secrets, the Flesh Millstone suddenly emerged from Tang Jie's body. It seemed like Tang Jie was using the structure of the Yin Yang Wheel to improve the Flesh Millstone, which left everyone speechless. Other people had to put all their energy into reaching Deification, acting cautiously with every step, but Tang Jie was putting all his energy into using this opportunity to get stronger.

The wheel in the sky finally stopped turning and plummeted downward.

Tang Jie laughed. "Let's use this Yin Yang energy to give this god the last bit of essence I need."

His body grew larger once more.

In a flash, he was a giant, radiating a golden light as he threw a punch at the Yin Yang Wheel.

Offense was the best defense.

"Open!" Tang Jie let out the most majestic and intimidating roar of his life.

All the heavens trembled at his cry!