Desolate Era Book 17, Chapter 24 - The Tribulation

Uncle White, Autumn Leaf, Mu Northson, and the others watching from far away were all extremely nervous. Immortal Diancai immediately said consolingly to them, “I was able to successfully overcome my tribulation. This disciple of mine is more powerful than me, even as I am right now, and his Primaltwin is merely a Ki Refiner; I trust his Celestial Tribulation won’t be too powerful. He’ll definitely succeed in overcoming it.”
“Right.” They all nodded, including Yu Wei. However, Yu Wei still felt restlessness in her heart. This was because she had been an apprentice to Patriarch Lu; she knew very well that Patriarch Lu’s tribulation had been one with nine nine-sets of thunder tribulation; clearly, Ki Refiners could also encounter incredibly terrifying Celestial Tribulations.
Whoooosh.
Atop the distant, solitary mountain peak, Ning’s true body which had been seated in the lotus position suddenly vanished. He had entered the underwater estate, leaving behind only the black-robed Primaltwin Ning, who still continued to sit there.
The golden-lotus Primal within the black-robed Ning’s body began to undergo its final breakthrough. It surged to the peak of the Void-level and began to actively call out for the Celestial Tribulation to descend…
Whooooosh. Whoooosh. Whooooosh.
A wind arose.
“It’s begun.”
“The wind tribulation.”
“The Celestial Tribulation has started.” Immortal Diancai and the others all stared nervously.
Everything had been completely calm before this, but suddenly a gale erupted out of nowhere, forming into wind-blades that grew increasingly small in size. The wind-blades changed in color, growing increasingly powerful as they became tiny black knives, each of which was comparable to an Immortal-ranked magic treasure.
“The start to the wind tribulation is already this powerful…” The looks on the faces of Immortal Diancai and Yu Wei changed. They had both undergone tribulations and had past experience to rely on; it was obvious to them that the Primaltwin Ning’s Celestial Tribulation was starting off at an excessive level of power. It vastly surpassed theirs, at least!
The seated, black-robed Ning just watched calmly. In a soft voice, he called out, “Nineleaf, come out.”
Instantly, an enormous, snowy-white lotus treasure appeared beneath the seated Ning. If one looked at it carefully, one would see that it had a total of nine snowy-white lotus petals. This was the most powerful magic treasure which Celestial Immortal Blackheaven had prepared for the Seamless Gate’s assault against Brightheart Island…the Protocosmic spirit-treasure, ‘Nineleaf Snowlotus’.
The Nineleaf Snowlotus was incredibly powerful, and it was best-suited for trapping and binding foes! Even if it was ownerless, the Nineleaf Snowlotus could activate the cold elemental energy of the natural world to form tiny snowlotus petals to wildly assault and constrict its foes. And if it did have a master who filled it with elemental ki…its power would be even more astonishing.
Blackheaven had been planning to rely on this Protocosmic spirit-treasure to bind Ning! From this, one could tell how powerful it was.
When Old Man Yuan had wiped out all the forces of the Seamless Gate, he had given Ning all of the treasures the Seamless Gate had left behind. The Pure Yang treasures weren’t as important for now, and Ning was in no rush to parcel them out to Yu Wei or the others; after all, his tribulation was coming soon, and he had his master to protect him, meaning that this period of time would be very safe. The parceling out of the treasures could wait for after the tribulation.
As for the Nineleaf Snowlotus, Ning had bound it to himself.
This sort of treasure was tremendously helpful towards Ning, and binding it could also be quite difficult; it depended on whether or not the Protocosmic spirit-treasure was willing to accept the new master or not. The Nineleaf Snowlotus naturally had a spirit of its own, one which took the form of a white-robed girl. The white-robed girl was persuaded by the Rahu Bow and the giant bear of the underwater estate…and given that Ji Ning was indeed a monstrous talent, and that she had seen a Daofather strike out on behalf of Ning, she quickly accepted and acknowledged Ning as her master. As a result, Ning was able to easily bind this Protocosmic spirit-treasure.
If the Nineleaf Snowlotus had been unwilling, binding her would’ve been a true pain; most likely, only a Pure Yang True Immortal would’ve been able to bind her forcibly, after spending an enormous amount of time.
However, once she became willing, Ning was able to effortlessly bind her.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Ning was now enthroned on his Nineleaf Snowlotus. Countless snowflakes appeared around him, each of which had the form of a tiny little snowlotus leaf. In the thousands and tens of thousands, they completely surrounded Ning and protected the area around him. Although they were best-suited for wrapping around and binding a foe en masse, they could also be used to defend. If they had to protect a large space, their defensive power would drop a bit, but since the treasure was as a Protocosmic spirit-treasure, its power was still quite extraordinary.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!!!!
Countless Immortal swords appeared around Ning, hovering in the air around him and ensconcing him within. Although Ning had already activated a Protocosmic spirit-treasure…to be completely safe, he released all of his Immortal swords, preparing to defend if necessary.
Rumble…
First came the roaring gale.
Next came all sorts of terrifying skywinds with astonishing power.
Still…no matter how powerful the assaults were, the Nineleaf Snowlotus Protocosmic spirit-treasure was able to endure them all. Ning wasn’t even needed to use his sword-formations at all.
“The final assault of the wind tribulation has come, the Celestial Immortal Wind.” Immortal Diancai and the other distant spectators all felt their hearts clench.
The Celestial Immortal Wind was formless and invisible; no magic treasures or spells could block it.
Whoosh!
The Celestial Immortal Wind descended, effortlessly bypassing the defending Nineleaf Snowlotus. It passed through Ning’s skin, going straight into the Sole-Ki Pearl of Primalwater within Ning’s Primaltwin. Ordinary people usually had this wind entering through their head, but since Ning’s Primaltwin was created from this Sole-Ki Pearl of Primalwater. Still…in the face of the Celestial Immortal Wind, it seemed incredibly fragile.
Celestial Immortal Wind would only ever appear during the Celestial Tribulation. It was a manifestation of the Dao that flowed through the Three Realms, and no power or magic treasure could oppose it. If one’s Dao-heart was not strong enough, the Celestial Immortal Wind would incinerate one’s body and reduce it to ash.
Thus…one’s Dao-heart had to be firm.
Ning had managed to overcome the karmic sinflames tribulation; how could his Dao-heart be weak? He could sense the Zifu region within his Sole-Ki Pearl of Primalwater begin to tremble, then transform. The pearl itself was being transformed. Once he truly became a Celestial Immortal…the pearl would completely vanish, and the true core of his Primaltwin would become a golden pellet, his Jindan.
……
The wind tribulation ended. The fire tribulation came.
The weather changed dramatically as an utterly enormous cloud of fire appeared in the skies, causing the temperature to skyrocket. However, Ning continued to simply sit there above the Nineleaf Snowlotus. Just by using a little bit of his elemental energy, he was able to activate a large amount of energy of the natural world to cause the temperature to cool once more. For a time, the world was divided between a blazing sky high above and a world of snow down below. Truly, this was a case where fire and snow could not coexist.
“The fire tribulation has come. However…since that protective treasure Ning has was able to easily defend against the wind tribulation, I trust it won’t be too hard for it to resist the fire tribulation.” Immortal Diancai smiled.
“The power of the wind tribulation is comparable to the power of the fire tribulation. Given how formidable junior apprentice-brother’s protective treasure is, he should be able to easily overcome it without using up too much energy.” Yu Wei said with concern, “What I’m worried about is the thunder tribulation.”
Indeed.
The power of the Protocosmic spirit-treasure, the Nineleaf Snowlotus, was truly astonishing. It didn’t require too much energy to be used up, but alas, Ning didn’t have a way to apply his heartforce through the Nineleaf Snowlotus. If he did, not even his swords might be as powerful as the Nineleaf Snowlotus. This was a Protocosmic spirit-treasure, after all; although Ning had many hundreds of Immortal swords, and although the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] was incredibly powerful, they were still ‘merely’ top-grade Immortal swords. But of course…Ning had come up with a way to apply heartforce through his swords of the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation], and so at present the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] far surpassed the Nineleaf Snowlotus in power.
He had passed the wind tribulation!
He now passed the fire tribulation as well! The Celestial Immortal Fire that came in the end resulted in the Sole-Ki Pearl of Primalwater evolving yet again.
Finally…the time came for the thunder tribulation.
……
There was a fairly long period of time that would pass between the end of the fire tribulation and the start of the thunder tribulation. The Celestial Tribulation gave the tribulant some time to restore their energy…but in truth, in this case Ning had primarily relied on the Nineleaf Snowlotus to defend against the elemental attacks, and had used his Dao-heart to endure the Celestial Immortal Wind and Celestial Immortal Fire. Thus, he had used up very little of his energy.
“I wonder how many sets of thunder tribulation Master will face,” Little Qing said worriedly.
“I underwent six nine-sets,” Immortal Diancai said with concern. “This disciple of mine had far more karmic luck than I did, and he also has karmic sinflames around him; his thunder tribulation shall undoubtedly be astonishing.”
All of them were worried. What none of them realized…
Was that in truth, Ji Ning had received supreme transmissions of the Dao from three Daofather-level figures; Patriarch Subhuti, Daoist Threelives, and Old Man Yuan. Of the three, Old Man Yuan and Patriarch Subhuti both stood at the very pinnacle of power amongst the Daofathers of the Three Realms. While Daoist Threelives had never been able to actually become a Daofather, remaining a True God of Primordial Chaos, the [Starseizing Hand] divine ability was awe-inspiringly powerful and one of the top ten divine abilities of the Three Realms.
Ning had acquired so many legacies that even his Ki Refiner tribulation wouldn’t be weak…and he also had mastered heartforce and was covered in karmic sinflames.
An hour passed.
Rumble…
The calm skies suddenly manifested a pair of enormous black clouds. These enormous black clouds covered nearly the entire sky, causing the world to turn pitch-black as they blocked out almost all light.
“What just happened?”
“The sky turned dark?”
The Ji clansmen within Swallow Mountain, as well as the other clansmen and monsters present, all stared towards the sky in confusion.
The entire sky had turned pitch-black. As for the dark clouds…they had now completely covered the entire Swallow Mountain area of nearly a hundred thousand kilometers!
“How could this…” Yu Wei, Immortal Diancai, Mu Northson, Uncle White, Little Qing, and Autumn Leaf all raised their heads. They had changed looks on their faces, while Yu Wei’s face was completely bloodless.
The two enormous dark clouds that had blotted out the skies above all of Swallow Mountain slowly began to move towards each other. Because of how enormous they were, these two massive clouds semed to fly at a very slow pace. But as they flew…crack! Crack! A series of cracking sounds could be heard from the skies as one enormous bolt of lightning after another began to snake out from within the two massive dark clouds.
Ning, however, just watched calmly.
He wasn’t surprised at all.
Soon, an enormous vortex of lightning and clouds had formed within the skies. The size of this vortex still covered the entire Swallow Mountain region; from its size alone, one could tell how utterly astonishing its power was.
BOOM!
A streak of lightning lashed out from the lightning-cloud vortex, striking directly down like the sword of the heavens.
Clang!
Ning had already risen to his feet. Hundreds of Immortal swords hovered around him, while the Nineleaf Snowlotus was underneath him. Many hundreds of meters above Ning, an utterly enormous lotus had formed, generated from countless tiny snowlotus petals. The enormous lotus was a barrier to defend against the thunder tribulation. Ning still wanted to use this Protocosmic spirit-treasure; it consumed very little of his elemental ki, after all.
BOOM! The first bolt of lightning wasn’t even able to cause the Protocosmic spirit-treasure to shake in the slightest.
Bolts of lightning continued to crash down.
Soon, they were at the fourth nine-set of thunderbolts.
Thunderbolts continued to crash down.
Five nine-sets. Six nine-sets…
“This is the seventh nine-set.” Autumn Leaf couldn’t help but whisper these words. Brightheart Island now had quite an extensive library of books, many of which Ning had acquired after killing other Immortals. Autumn Leaf had naturally perused them.
“Master is almost at his limit.” Little Qing was worried as well.
This was the sixty-first bolt of thunder.
The enormous lotus flower formed from the Nineleaf Snowlotus was already beginning to collapse.
“[Greater Thousand Swords Formation], go forth!” The black-robed Ning, standing atop the Nineleaf Snowlotus, pointed towards the skies. Instantly, a golden sword that had manifested in front of his chest streaked out into the heavens.
BOOM!
The enormous lotus above him had already vanished into thin air. However, a series of layers of lotus flowers appeared around the black-robed Ning.
This strike of the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] contained a hint of his heartforce, allowing him to effortlessly block the celestial thunder.
“The eighth nine-set has arrived.”
Soon, it was time for the eighth nine-set. Immortal Diancai and the other spectators all felt nervous; how was it that a Ki Refiner actually caused an eighth nine-set to appear? Even though Ning had taken on a Daofather as his master, his tribulation shouldn’t be this terrifying, right?