When lightning gathers in the heavens to settle the scores of the past, it is called a tribulation.
A hundred-mile lightning sea is the hallmark of the tribulation of the tribulation transcendence stage. Most of the powerhouses in the world had seen one; indeed, more than half of those gathered here had faced one themselves.
Naturally, they recognized it.
However,
Right now,
The thunderclouds gathering overhead spanned a staggering thousand miles. A surging heavenly might permeated the air, sweeping out recklessly like a flood bursting through a dam.
The tens of thousands of miles of the Northern Borders were entirely covered by it.
One look upward,
And one's soul would tremble.
No one had ever seen such a sight before, yet they knew in their hearts that this was absolutely not the triple lightning tribulation of the tribulation transcendence stage...
Beyond the far north, a Confucian grandmaster stroked his beard and murmured, "Ancient records state that for a mortal to ascend to the heavens, they must face an Immortal Tribulation. The Heavenly Dao descends its punishment in a thousand-mile lightning sea, striking with nine bolts of heavenly thunder. Those who do not die may attain the Dao and ascend to immortality. To think I would see it today... it truly is a magnificent sight..."
Bai Ze murmured, his expression dazed. "Ascending to the Immortal Realm in just five hundred years... how terrifyingly formidable."
The Azure Dragon, Ao Tian, remarked with solemn admiration, "Truly impressive, Xu Xian."
Jin Qing stared into the depths of the far north, beneath the thousand-mile lightning sea. "Are we truly going to witness the birth of new history today?"
Jiang Wanyin lowered her gaze, thinking back to the sixth floor of the Immortal Pavilion. She whispered softly, "A room dark for ten thousand years is lit by a single lamp..."
The moment the thousand-mile lightning sea appeared above the far north and was revealed to the world, all questions and confusion were instantly resolved.
Speculation vanished.
Conjecture ceased.
The answer was obvious.
Whether they were from the Wendao Sword Sect or from other worlds, everyone understood what Xu Xian’s purpose was in doing all this.
He had cleared the far north for no other reason.
It was because Xu Xian,
Intended to face his Immortal Lightning Tribulation here and walk the path to becoming an immortal.
He...
The youth who had stood outside the Wendao Sword Sect five hundred years ago and challenged the world with his sword, was going to become an immortal today, five centuries later.
Yes,
He was going to become an immortal.
The momentum of the Immortal Lightning Tribulation was vast, and its roar was deafening, yet it still could not compare to the waves of shock crashing through their hearts.
Could he succeed?
More than that, they wanted to know how he had managed it.
Wasn't the Sky Gate closed?
Had Xu Xian opened it?
But why was it that they, who had reached the same level as him, could not sense it at all?
For thousands of years, perhaps nearly ten thousand, more than one of them had tried—more than once—to call down a lightning tribulation and ascend to immortality.
Yet they had never received a response.
It was precisely because of this,
That they were so certain the Wendao Sword Sect had sealed the Sky Gate. This was why the drama of the universal crusade against the Wendao Sword Sect had played out five hundred years ago.
However,
The scene before their eyes plunged them into deep self-doubt.
If they couldn't draw down a lightning tribulation,
Could it be simply because their cultivation was insufficient and their strength was lacking?
As one puzzle was solved,
New confusion was born.
They remained utterly perplexed.
Were they wrong, or was what they were seeing a mere hallucination?
The answer,
Was clear in their hearts.
They stopped dwelling on it and instead looked forward to what would happen next.
At this moment, whether they were saints from the Wendao Sword Sect or from other factions, regardless of their enmity, they all silently prayed that Xu Xian would succeed.
They hoped he could transcend the tribulation, reopen the Sky Gate, and forge the path to immortality once more.
Because this also concerned whether they, in the little time they had left, would have the chance to follow in his footsteps,
To face their own tribulations,
And become immortals.
Becoming an immortal was paramount; it was the lifelong pursuit of every cultivator.
Even the Ancestors of the Three Sects,
Were no exception.
The lightning in the sky was blinding, and the howling thunder was ear-splitting, yet their world was silent.
All the powerhouses stood wordlessly, watching silently.
Waiting....
.........
On the other side, deep within the pit in the far north, Xu Xian saw that the Immortal Lightning Tribulation had appeared. He communicated with the five sword spirits ten thousand miles away, telling them to reseal the Sky Gate.
Upon receiving the command, the five sword spirits immediately resealed the Sky Gate.
The Sky Gate of Fanzhou,
Had been opened and then closed once more.
The mountain gate of the Wendao Sword Sect shook three times.
Xu Xian withdrew the divine sense connecting him to the five sword spirits, opened his eyes, and looked up at the lightning tribulation.
His eyes were as calm as still water.
He said to the Little Book Spirit, "Let it come."
The Little Book Spirit was startled and felt a bit speechless. It felt like its master was showing off again.
Even though it no longer remembered how long it had been since its master had acted this childishly.
Let it come?
Could the lightning tribulation even listen to him?
Whether it came or not,
It wasn't for the spirit to decide.
Pouting, it grumbled, "Master, you really think highly of me."
After saying that, it added, "Still, it's bound to come eventually."
Xu Xian said nothing,
Simply watching quietly.
As time ticked by, the lightning gathered, becoming increasingly turbulent. While it was still manageable inside the abyss, the far north outside was already illuminated in a shroud of purple and white by the thousand-mile lightning sea.
Was it the time it took to drink a cup of tea?
Or the time for a stick of incense to burn?
No one cared.
The churning thousand-mile thunderclouds dropped the first strike of lightning.
Like a beast provoked to fury,
It let out a roar of rage.
Crack!
Boom!
A massive pillar of lightning, hundreds of feet in diameter, crashed down in response.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The heavens and earth vibrated, mountains and rivers shattered, and everything in sight became a blinding white...
The first strike of the Immortal Tribulation,
Had fallen!
It surged down for tens of millions of miles.
The mouth of the abyss was filled with lightning. The surrounding stone walls continuously crumbled, and the magma, frost, snow, and permafrost were instantly vaporized under the tearing force of the violent lightning.
They vanished without a trace.
Xu Xian was bathed in it.
He was completely swallowed by the lightning.
If anyone could have seen him, they would have noticed the pain and agony etched onto the youth's face.
Xu Xian had to admit it.
When this lightning tribulation struck,
It really, really hurt.
It felt as if an entire world had crashed down upon him.
Not only did he have to endure the tearing of the power of nirvana within the lightning, but he also had to withstand the crushing weight of the might of the Heavenly Dao.
He kept his lips pressed thin and gritted his teeth.
Enduring the tearing of the lightning, he charged straight toward the Twilight Emperor.
The lightning tribulation that fell on Xu Xian naturally fell on the Twilight Emperor as well.
The Twilight Emperor was imprisoned by the trapping formation and could not move.
As Xu Xian ducked beneath Him, He helplessly became Xu Xian's shield, passively blocking the majority of the lightning's power for him.
Naturally,
He also became inextricably linked to the youth's karma.
The lightning raged within this bottomless, boundless subterranean cage.
Electricity snaked along the dense network of chains, and the massive, forest-like stone pillars constantly shed layers of debris.
The lightning,
Washed away the accumulation of a million years.
Hidden beneath the Twilight Emperor’s main body, Xu Xian’s pressure suddenly lessened, and he felt quite at ease.
The Twilight Emperor,
Similarly remained unfazed, His expression as normal as ever.
To Him, the world-filling lightning was nothing more than an itch.
Forget the first strike.
Even if all nine strikes came at once, they naturally could not harm Him.
He had once been an Immortal Emperor, after all,
And His body was inherently indestructible.
However,
Both the Twilight Emperor and Xu Xian knew very well that this was only the beginning...
The moment the Twilight Emperor blocked even a single bolt for Xu Xian,
Then,
What awaited them was the wrath of the Heavenly Dao.
The Heavenly Dao would descend its divine punishment.
A reckoning for the karma.
At that time, the power of the lightning would surely far exceed that of a normal Immortal Tribulation.
This was also why,
Xu Xian had insisted on clearing the far north.
It wasn't that he feared interference,
But simply that he did not want to cause wanton slaughter.
The Twilight Emperor chuckled. "Using a lightning tribulation against me... you really are a genius, aren't you?"
Xu Xian countered provocatively, "To deal with you, I naturally have to use some unconventional methods."
The Twilight Emperor said with ill intent, "Harming others only to harm yourself—do you understand that principle?"
Xu Xian said coldly, "I hate it most when people try to lecture me. If you can act, then do it; otherwise, stop your yapping and just take it like a man..."
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