The heavens are just and impartial. These are the oldest words in the cultivation world, said since time immemorial from the first to the last venerate. It is said that tribulation is both a test and gift from the heavens. The heavens aid those who help themselves. Hence since tribulation is heaven's gift, it doesn't form until one has condensed an origin core.
For the first three stages of cultivation, tribulation rarely descends, but when it does, it is to announce the birth of either a great demon or a great extreme physique. Demon in this context refers to spiritual beasts that have formed an origin core, giving them the ability to turn themselves into humans.
The great extreme physiques however refer to a physical body containing a fragment of heaven and Earth laws. These people are usually referred to as Dao children. The name referred to heaven's favor that allows them to be born with an extreme physique.
Extreme physiques can also be acquired by normal cultivators under three specific conditions. The first condition was to be under the age of fifty. This is because cultivators below the age of fifty have strong blood Qi that can resist the heavenly tribulations that consent and approve the formation of the physique.
The second condition was merit: Heavenly merit to be more specific. This was a person's contribution towards the dao of the Martial Grotto continent. Heavenly merit can be gained using different methods, with breaking through to great grandmaster attainment level being the greatest achievement.
The third condition for acquiring an extreme physique was the hardest of the bunch; that is to meet the two previous conditions before forming an origin core and becoming a core formation realm cultivator.
One thing to note include the following. Those who acquire an extreme physique are usually more powerful than those who are born with it. That is because heaven grants these physiques to them due to the merit of their ancestors. This is a limiting factor as the cultivator has to comprehend the same law as his ancestor in order to use the physique to its highest potential.
Aotian looked at the oncoming tribulation lightning with a nostalgic expression. He couldn't help but reminisce about his core formation tribulation and how it changed from being a normal tribulation to an extreme seven colored lightning tribulation. When compared to what he was facing at the moment, he couldn't help but scoff. This was a joke.
But that was only compared to the extreme seven colored lightning tribulation and his self during that period. The him now was too weak. Weak to the point that Aotian himself would look at himself with disdain. He hated the feeling of being weak.
Spiritual Qi gathered and concentrated into a lightning ball. The ball then changed form and with the aid of heavenly pressure, it descended right for Aotian's yuan spirit.
Boom! A seal in Aotian's yuan spirit exploded into nothingness as it was struck by the lightning. Spiritual Qi then dicipated from the yuan spirit, diminishing its presence by a significant percent. Ling Aotian's physical body also suffered a backlash and he spit out a mouthful of blood, lightning circulating through his entire body.
Boom ! Another seal in his yuan spirit exploded as lightning struck for the second time. " I need to break these seals faster !! The duration between lightning is two incense sticks worth of time. Damn these heavens are really intent on destroying my advantage !! "
Yes, Aotian's greatest advantage in his memory rebirth was his spiritual yuan. It was at first an unexpected gain, but after pondering about it, Ling Aotian was ecstatic. Him being one who has already walked through cultivation knew better than anyone the advantage of having strong spirituality.
For this reason, he used the 4 mantras from the school of thought senior to seal his yuan spirit from heaven's sight. This came with many complications, one being that the yuan spirit is a must to awaken his spirituality and awaken Spiritual Qi. He then deduced that he will most certainly need to remove the seals during awakening and that it would trigger heaven's jealousy causing tribulation.
But who was Aotian..? He had already come up with a solution. ' The Spiritual Qi concentrating grand formation. ' His plan was simple, first he would create the grand formation, then he would tinker it and make it copy the pressure of a heaven merging expert. A heaven merging expert was needed to remove the seals since his yuan spirit was also at the heaven merging realm. He planned to use the formation to get as many benefits from his yuan spirit as possible. But the heavens were impartial, with each strike of lightning taking away the realm of the yuan spirit. It was now at 5th realm, having dropped from the seventh.
Boom!! another seal broke: " what! It has not been two incense sticks worth of time yet!! " Aotian screamed as his body was further struck by lightning that bypassed his yuan spirits defence. He was now panicking. If this continued his yuan spirit would be lost and he would lose his advantage over others.
"Shit .. These won't be enough! Do I need to go to these lengths in this lifetime too?"
Ling Aotian griminced, looking at his spacial ring which was now empty and the formation disks that were depleting the beast cores that project the heaven merging realm pressure. He then made up his determination, looking at four certain nuances that were clinging onto trees as the pressure pressed them to the ground.
"I guess those two little bastards were truly lucky." Aotian made hand seals, prompting his yuan spirit to deform from his body projection and turn into four giant hands.
***
At this very moment, Ling sun also appeared. He was at the edge of the heaven merging pressure, knowing very well the next step he takes would most likely make him spit out a mouthful of blood. He stayed on the greener pasture, his face bewildered asking himself just who was forming his origin core at this desolate place. If only he knew it was his target..!
Ling sun sat in a lotus position, trying to absorb the abundant spiritual Qi in this place as well as comprehend the essence of heaven and earth as much as possible. However...
Four giant hands reached out to the gigantic trees. He was startled to death, his hands moving instinctively to form hand seals. He retreated with the wind, floating high above from a large distance,only to witness the greatest shock of his life. From his vantage point, he used a special wind technique to float in the air. From here he saw the apocalyptic hands, each was holding a masked man.
" Aren't those the assassins sent by our faction..!? Just who is undergoing this terrifying tribulation..!? " He became interested, his loyalty to his family instantly flared as he thought about the benefits of having such an expert loyal to his family. He decided to gamble.
He formed hand seals, blood spurting out of his nose and ears as he activated a forbidden sensing ability that allowed him to escape from heaven's sight. He used this technique on purpose, knowing very well that if heaven sensed him, this tribulation would also become his.
Ling sun spread his divine sense, following the hands that were retracting at a terrifying speed. Then he did it, the hands placed the four assassins at four nodes of a formation. At the centre of the formation though was a man, a strange frail man on death's door. The place was too chaotic for him to see clearly but then the lightning struck, changing into four streaks as they all attacked the hands protecting the formation nodes. At this moment, Ling sun's mouth was wide agape. He couldn't believe his eyes..
"Ling..Ling Aotian !!!!"
As if hearing him call out, Ling Aotian twisted his head looking in his direction. Ling sun suddenly spat out mouthfuls of blood, his spiritual body shaken to the core making him unable to watch any further.
The next instant however, his eyes narrowed as the whole of giant tree forest glowed with golden light. His body became immovable, forcefully being constricted and lifted up to the sky. From the sky, he could see dozens of formations lighting up all over giant tree forest. There were so many intricate formations that Ling Sun was literally mesmerized. His body then turned without his own will. It turned towards Ling Aotian who was staring at him with a disdainful look.
"Heaven is impartial, heaven is just, heaven is essence, heaven is soul, heaven is spirit, heaven is earth, earth is human, earth is heaven and so human is heaven. But humans are not just, humans are not impartial, humans are greed, humans are lust, humans are jealousy, humans are sin, humans are imperfection hence heaven is also imperfect. "
Aotian shouted his recital, making the heavenly daos rumble and the earth essence shake. The four assassins in the formation nodes screamed, their blood drained from their body to from runes in the air.
" Heaven! " a seal in Ling Aotian's yuan spirit broke. Thunder rumbled, but the lightning had not formed yet.
"Earth! " Boom! a seal broke.
"Human! " Boom! Another broke.
"Demon ! Boom ! The last seal broke.
Thunder rumbled, lightning crackled as they tore through the heavens like a kuinping in water.
Aotian's yuan spirit gushed out into formless Qi, rushing ominously towards Ling Aotian's physical body. It entered unhindered, Aotian opening up his arms to embrace his other half. Soon, his body lacked the capacity to hold his own spirituality. Aotian formed hand seals, eyeing the oncoming lightning as his spiritual Qi entered his body.
In his body,green jade runes formed as his meridians formed their infant stage. The jade runes greedily absorbed the spiritual Qi.
Lightning struck, but it was too late, Aotian had already sucked it all in. The heavens raged, more lightning formed as they struck Aotian who was now literally on death's door. He was Exhausted , both physically and spiritually. Right now, his spirituality was still forming meridians in his body. But will he be able to handle it..?
The consecutive strikes of lightning got more ruthless, Aotian was breathing ruggedly, barely able to take a few pills before they struck again.
Ling sun looked at Aotian with a strange expression. Just what was he seeing..? Why was this young master still not dead yet..? Yes, he had already started thinking of ling Aotian as superior. Even making mental notes of him as Young master.
" what.. What is this...!! "
Ling sun exclaimed as he saw more than a hundred formations forming up to make a triangle shape. Three formations made up a small triangle while three triangles made up another huge triangle which then lit up another Eighty one triangle to make a huge triangular formation. In the middle of this triangle though was Ling Aotian who looked at the lightning descending to him with a smile.
" The essence of the world is one making two, two making three and three making the impossible possible. " He waved his hands, then with a grand smile he said ..
"Today..!! It is your loss and my victory!! Till next time..... Opeeen !! " Aotian screamed, making the formations all over giant tree forest ignite with golden light. The light moved through formation and formation, from its inception to the center of this grand formation. Energy concentrated at the center and attacked the heavenly tribulation.
The lightning was assimilated, its energy turning to a golden color as it tore the void when striking down. The force was too great, making the laws chaotic.
Ling sun looked at this with awe. He had no idea what was happening and so he tried looking at Aotian who was now standing at the torn void. Unfortunately he was like a string puppet, only able to move when strings are moved.
Suddenly, Ling Sun's body moved, looking at a section of the void with a golden glow. Apart from this particular section, the rest was a violet color. Aotian sluggishly waved his hand, a miniature formation lighting up and sending Ling Sun inside the void.
"My last healing pill..!" Aotian looked at his empty pill bottle, standing sluggishly as he took the pill. He followed Ling sun and also entered, vanishing away from the Martial Grotto Heaven.
The tribulation clouds parted, the formations left behind collapsing as they exploded silently throughout the Giant tree forest. Ling Luo and Cui Long were at the edge of the eastern part of the forest. Still naked as they watched the formation of this camp silently exploding. They sighed and started running towards Aotian since the pressure was too great for them to follow before.
Arriving at the site, they were dumbfounded. A huge spacial rift was glowing violet, rising from a destroyed wooden platform towards the heavens. This place was sheer chaos and destruction with a strong ominous aura.
The four blood runes in the air floated unhindered. They read them, their body hair tingling with fear.
Heaven ....!
Earth ...!
Human ...!
Demon ...!