Chapter 1258 – Heavenly Tribulation
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Empyrean Vast Universe thought out loud, his eyes gathering onto Lin Ming. At this time, Lin Ming had also climbed up to the region that was densely filled with the power of divinity.
Lin Ming marched upwards with steady steps. The crazy and chaotic power of divinity smashed into him. Because of their difference in technique, Lin Ming climbed into the dense power of divinity the same as before, the only difference being that he had to consume more physical strength.
At every moment, Lin Ming was rapidly consuming true essence in his body. At the same time, the wild power of divinity within his body constantly increased.
Divine Seal Altar’s 33 steps; the higher one went, the greater the pressure.
Lin Ming felt like a single lonely boat tumbling in the rough seas. Every step he climbed upwards was made with a great deal of effort.
“This is only 40,000 feet up… the Divine Seal Altar truly lives up to its name. Even though I have managed to sense the Concept of the 33 Layered Heavens, climbing up so high is still so difficult! I have no idea just how the descendants of Empyrean Vast Universe crawled up higher than this.”
The direct disciples that Empyrean Vast Universe received were all abnormal geniuses of their generations. Each one had special abilities and extremely high perception. They might have special bodies or be astounding and versatile in several aspects.
As they climbed up the Divine Seal Altar, it could be seen as each one doing their own thing trying to outshine the other. Each one displayed their own special power, unlike Lin Ming who had to sense the power of divinity and absorb it. Rather, they would use different methods like Dragon Fang.
By avoiding all of the power of divinity and only withstanding the Empyrean pressure, it was naturally much easier. In Empyrean Vast Universe’s words, these were nothing but little tricks.
But, playing these tricks on the Divine Seal Altar was restricted to the first 50,000 feet.
After 50,000 feet, the power of divinity would become unbelievably wild and dangerous.
At this time, the area around the Divine Seal Altar was like a roaring turbulent sea. The power of divinity gathered in mighty waves, crashing forwards with unbelievable fury!
“Mm?”
Dragon Fang’s expression changed. The power of divinity was really too terrifying, even the space created by Spatial Genesis was about to tear apart soon!
The Concept of Space’s Spatial Genesis was able to compress a large space into a small space. Dragon Fang had created a space enchantment around him, and used the Concept of Spatial Genesis to fit through the gaps in the power of divinity.
However, after 50,000 feet, the power of divinity had become too wild and fierce; his enchantment was about to be broken through.
“Too fierce. If this continues then I won’t be able to continue much longer. Once the spatial enchantment breaks, the chaotic energy will directly crash into my protective true essence. With the current intensity of this energy, just three strikes will be enough to severely wound me or even kill me!”
Dragon Fang’s complexion fell. At this moment, a brilliant flame blazed in his eyes. A dim blood red light was emitted from his pupils, and all the meridian channels around his eyes shined, becoming incomparably fierce.
Three Lives Pupils – All Existence To Void.
All Existence to Void was a single state of the Three Lives Pupils transcendent divine might. The Three Lives Pupils was a transcendent divine might similar to the Eight Inner Hidden Gates: one could open multiple states, each one corresponding to a different function. At the same time, each and every one of these states was much harder to open than the last!
In the past, Three Lives Old Man could open seven or eight states together. In this condition, Three Lives Old Man was nearly the same as a god!
All Existence to Void was the first state of the Three Lives Pupils and also the simplest.
Dragon Fang had comprehended the Three Lives Pupils several months ago and was barely able to display All Existence to Void. Doing so rapidly consumed his strength and he was unable to maintain this state for a long time. It would even create a tremendous burden on his body.
“All Existence to Void… good young fellow!” Empyrean Vast Universe’s gaze sharpened. “36 years old and already able to open All Existence to Void. After another thousand years he should be able to open three or four states. His future accomplishments will truly be endless.”
Under the state of All Existence to Void, Dragon Fang was able to see every wisp of the power of divinity with absolute clarity, and the strength of his Concept of Space rose to an even higher level.
Visible flames ignited on his body. In truth, these flames were the power of the Three Lives Pupils taken form.
As this scene fell into the audience’s eyes, all of them cried out in alarm.
They didn’t know what the Three Lives Pupils transcendent divine might was. Let alone them, not even Xiao Daochild knew. After all, Xiao Daochild had only lived a million years so far; the time period 300 million years ago when Three Lives Old Man was at the height of his fame was far too distant.
“He’s already at 50,000 feet; he’s passed most disciples of Vast Universe Heavenly Palace in the past. When I was at their age, I only climbed up 30,000 feet. I am far inferior to these two.”
Xiao Daochild couldn’t help but admire them. These were two peerless monstrous geniuses. One was at the middle Divine Sea realm, the other was at the early Divine Sea realm, and yet both were able to sweep away most Empyrean descendants of Vast Universe Heavenly Palace. They had even far surpassed the young him in talent.
At this time, in a far off galaxy of the Divine Realm, in a strange unknown time-space dimension, an old man was dully standing on a desolate world.
This was a lifeless little planet a mere thousand miles wide. On the planet, besides a humble little cabin near the old man, there weren’t any other buildings. It seemed like an extremely lonely and deserted world.
The old man was leaning on a wooden walking stick. His back was bent with rickets, his figure was haggard, and the skin on his face was wrinkled up. The sockets of his eyes were deep, his hair was thinning, and many of his teeth had fallen out. His clothes were covered with stains and released a faint stench. This stench seemed like… the smell of the dead!
These were the five symbols of fading. When a supreme elder was nearing their inevitable death, they would experience stained clothes, the odor of death, balding of the head, sweat from the body, and loss of awareness.
All powerhouses of the Divine Realm had to undergo such a state, because their lives were finite. No matter how heaven-shaking he was in the past or how many countless powerhouses worshipped and prostrated him, he was currently nothing but an old man knocking on death's door.
“All Existence to Void… Fang, you have truly not disappointed me. I have walked through countless star systems and you are the only successor that I have ever found. The future is yours! With you here, then there is a chance that this world will be able to cross the great calamity. If so, I can rest in peace…”
The old man whispered. His eyes were completely black without the least bit of white sclera at all. But, these eyes seemed to understand the infinite mysteries of space and time, as if he could understand all the secrets in the world!
“In my life, I have seen all Laws and seen through all illusions. Even so, I cannot see through my own destiny! A martial artist may cultivate and become the greatest master to exist, but even they cannot rid themselves of the shackles of destiny and samsara. No one can defeat the eventual passage of time. An Empyrean is known as an existence that can surpass the Heavenly Dao, but the truth is that… they cannot completely surpass it…”
The old man deeply sighed and then violently coughed.
At this time, on Gravemoon Star’s Divine Seal Altar, Dragon Fang had already climbed up 53,000 feet. Lin Ming was at 49,000 feet, soon about to reach the area with the most violent surging power of divinity.
Currently, purple flames shrouded Dragon Fang. Every step up challenged the limits of his strength. The power of divinity collided with the Space Laws that Dragon Fang propped up with his strength, causing brilliant purple beams of light to shoot out like a mesmerizing dream!
At the start, the billions of people in the audience couldn’t make out the flowing power of divinity. They could also imagine Dragon Fang and Lin Ming withstanding the tribulation as they climbed up the 33rd step of the Divine Seal Altar.
But it wasn’t much fun just imagining all of this.
However, now that the power of the Space Laws that Dragon Fang released was directly colliding with the power of divinity, they could see the fierce combat. This left them bouncing with excitement!
“Too fierce! Dragon Fang didn’t use his hidden cards until this moment. It’s hard to imagine where his limit is!”
“Dragon Fang has completely erupted with all his strength at 50,000 feet. It’s clear that from 50,000 feet upwards, the difficulty rises dramatically yet again. Lin Ming has currently climbed up less than 50,000 feet; I wonder if he will be able to pass that height?”
“It’s just too difficult. It’s already very good that Lin Ming has managed to support himself until now, but didn’t you hear what Senior Xiao Daochild said? According to him, out of Empyrean Vast Universe’s numerous disciples, the highest record that any one of them ever set was 70,000 feet, and that record was set by a late Divine Sea realm martial artist. The more they continue, the harder it will become. Dragon Fang has a chance of breaking this record, but Lin Ming will likely be stopped at 50,000-60,000 feet!”
As the audience was discussing, there was a sudden change in the skies above the Divine Seal Altar. With a loud rumbling sound, dark clouds began to gather.
With the billions of people present, their thundering shouts had washed away the clouds for thousands of miles. But now there were actually layers of clouds gathering?
“It’s clouding over. What is going on here?”
“Clouds… these aren’t ordinary clouds, these are origin energy clouds!”
“No, these aren’t ordinary origin energy clouds either.”
When heaven and earth origin energy condensed into clouds, the time that most people saw this phenomenon was during Ninefall!
But now, the energy gathering in these thick and roiling clouds was different from normal heaven and earth origin energy. Rather, the energy was savage and chaotic, completely all-encompassing!
Although the martial artists present couldn’t feel the power of divinity, they could clearly sense the energies within these origin energy clouds. They were absolutely sure these were not ordinary origin energy clouds!
The clouds became thicker and thicker, stronger and stronger. They were no longer black, but had a crimson blood red sheen. Gradually, every drop of energy for tens of thousands of miles gathered here, forming a massive red vortex!
And the 33rd step of the Divine Seal Altar was the focal point of this blood red vortex!
“Heavens, what is going on here!?”
“Is this a world phenomenon? Because Dragon Fang is about to reach 60,000 feet, that will galvanize a world phenomenon?”
World phenomena would appear when an extreme monstrous genius was making a breakthrough, a remarkable supernatural power was being completed, a divine pill was being refined, or a divine weapon was being forged. Only then would world phenomena be quickened; they were no trifling matter!
Rumble rumble rumble!
In the layers of clouds, lightning flashed!
In truth, this was not ordinary elemental thunder, but sparks of excessive energy caused by high-speed energy friction.
Xiao Daochild looked up at the sky, a solemn expression on his face. He actually knew that this wasn’t just a normal world phenomenon, but the most difficult and abnormal pass in climbing up the Divine Seal Altar – heavenly tribulation. This was the heavenly tribulation that one had to experience when climbing up the last several tens of thousands of feet of the 33rd step!
After 60,000 feet, heavenly tribulation would run through the remaining distance of the 33rd step!
This was a deadly barrier that no Divine Sea realm martial artist could hope to pass! In the past, even Vast Void was stopped by this heavenly tribulation!
Now, whether it was Dragon Fang or Lin Ming, both of them would also be stopped in the last several tens of thousands of feet by this heavenly tribulation!
Of course, the basis of this was that Lin Ming could reach the height of heavenly tribulation. If Lin Ming could arrive at this point, then he would have broken the record of any early Divine Sea martial artist. The record left behind in Vast Universe Heavenly Palace by an early Divine Sea martial artist was 50,000 feet high.
“Heavenly tribulation has finally arrived. This is the final test of the Divine Seal Altar, and also one that no one can pass.” In Divine Dream Heavenly Palace, Empyrean Vast Universe’s eyes shined. He wanted to see just what sort of performance Lin Ming and Dragon Fang would show in this heavenly tribulation.