Chapter 23: Nine Heavenly Tribulations

Chapter 23: Nine Heavenly Tribulations Tianyi sat cross legged on a lotus, an artifact of the Core Formation realm that he had refined, in a clearing near the edge of Jade Peak Mountain. Next to him were a few jade bottles filled with pills as well as the Yin Dragon Pearl Elixir.

Tianyi was preparing to take his Core Formation Heavenly Tribulation and the reason he didn't use the Jade Lotus Clear Pond to transcend his tribulation was for a multiple of reasons. For one the Jade Lotus Clear Pond was for cultivating only, there weren't much defensive measures in the formation.

The second more important reason was that Tianyi did not construct it and if he initiated the Heavenly Tribulation there, the Heavenly Dao would recognize it as outside help and increase the power of the tribulation.

He didn't have a death wish, especially since his mother, an immortal realm expert, constructed formation. He would be struck dead by the first strike of Heavenly Tribulation!

A fair distance away stood his mother, Xi Mengfei, his junior sister, Jiang Daoyi, Elder Shan who had watched him grow up from a baby, the ever flirtatious yet distant Spiritual Unity Venerable Jiao, and a few other Elders.

"Master, senior brother Tianyi won't have any trouble passing his tribulations right?" Daoyi asked. "He has already entered the Core Formation realm in the martial way, forming a Spiritual Core shouldn't be an issue, right?"

Although Daoyi believed that Tianyi will have no problems, but to see so many seniors and her master all watching her senior brother left Daoyi with a sense of unease. "That is hard to say." Mengfei said. "Yi'er, your senior brother, isn't planning to form a singleSpiritual Core but nine."

"Nine?" Daoyi said, shocked. "But I thought a dantian can only store a single Spiritual Core, how can senior brother's dantian store nine Spiritual Cores?"

Mengfei shook her head. "Normally that would be the case, but your senior brother has opened all of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, each of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians acts like a miniature dantian and with the modified cultivation manual, it is possible." Tianyi didn't just want to form nine Spiritual Cores, but he wanted to create a formation using the nine Spiritual Cores in his body as well!

"Then…won't senior brother have to endure nine Heavenly Tribulations to form nine Spiritual Core?" Daoyi asked.

"Unclear." Mengfei said. "No cultivator can discern the truth behind the Heavenly Dao. Perhaps it will be nine separate tribulations, or perhaps the Heavenly Tribulation will mutate into one larger one."

"This…isn't it very dangerous?" Daoyi asked, she already knew the answer but still couldn't help but ask. Mengfei stayed silent as she watched her son begin his Heavenly Tribulation.

Within Tianyi's dantian, where his Spiritual Crucible existed a golden light was emanating from within the crucible.

At the same time black clouds began to gather in the sky above Tianyi. It gathered and merged very slowly but the hidden arcs of lightning flashed every once in a while, as if to remind one that it could strike at any time.

But lightning did not strike down as the sun in the sky finished rising to its highest point and then starting to rise down towards dusk.

"This…junior nephew Tianyi shouldn't be unable to form his Spiritual Core, right?"

"Nonsense, with our senses we could already tell that junior nephew Tianyi has already entered the Martial Core Formation realm, there's no reason for junior nephew Tianyi not to be able to form his Spiritual Core."

"Then why is junior nephew Tianyi's Heavenly Tribulation taking so long? The first strike hasn't even fallen yet."

"This…perhaps junior nephew Tianyi's unique cultivation method? Junior nephew Tianyi is a rare genius that is going to form nine Spiritual Cores according to what we were informed. But even then…isn't it taking too long?"

"Junior nephew Tianyi looks like he is struggling."

Indeed, Tianyi's forehead was currently covered in sweat as he furrowed his brows with his eyes closed.

Currently in his Spiritual Crucible, nine embryonic Spiritual Cores were formed but they were all being suppressed from flying out by the crucible. But as a result the crucible was shaking from the pressure and all nine of the segmented Spiritual Pillars were trembling nonstop.

The crucible had already turned red from the energy it was containing and the color was deepening even more. As the color deepened, it slowly started to turn violet.

Once the crucible turned violet a low hum sounded as one of the embryonic cores within Tianyi's crucible flew out successfully, it's shape at a glance a perfect gold sphere glowing gold. If all went well the embryonic core would form into a Perfect Spiritual Core once Tianyi finished his Heavenly Tribulation.

The Spiritual Cores of Core Formation realm cultivators could be said to be separated into six categories. The color of the core itself did not matter but the color it emitted did.

Mixed Color, Red, Orange, Yellow, Gold, and Violet Gold; those were the grades of Spiritual Cores a Core Formation realm cultivator could form. Mixed Color was the worst result with no hope of advancing to the Nascent Soul realm, while a Gold Core guaranteed one's ascension to Nascent Soul realm should no accident occur.

But Violet Gold Core was supreme.

Just as the embryonic Gold Spiritual Core flew out of the crucible, one segment on all nine of the segmented Spiritual Pillars collapsed and dispersed in the Spiritual Sea. The Spiritual Crucible and Altar were both lowered a level due to the now eight segmented nine pillars.

Tianyi still had his attention focused on his Spiritual Crucible and his eyes closed, but he reached out and popped one of the pills he had prepared beforehand.

Instantly his previously drying up Spiritual Sea was instantly revitalized and full once more. And his Spiritual Crucible that was starting to cool back down to a reddish color became violet once more.

And another embryonic Gold Core popped out and another segment of his Spiritual Pillars collapsed. Lowering the Spiritual Crucible and Altar even more. But for Tianyi this was all planned.

Since he had conceived the Sole Yin, Eight Trigrams Yang Core Revolution Formation, he had already formed his Spiritual Pillars, Altars, and Crucible with the intention of forming nine Spiritual Cores!

When the fifth embryonic Gold Core flew out, Tianyi suddenly opened his eyes and looked skyward. "Finally couldn't wait any longer, huh?"

The tribulation clouds didn't wait any longer as five bolts of lightning began to descend. Since Tianyi had only released five embryonic Gold Cores, only five of them descending at the same time.

Each one correlated to one of Tiany's five embryonic Gold Cores.

Tianyi clapped his hand together and a golden light enveloped and protected him. The five bolts reached him not long after but Tianyi sat there still as if he didn't feel the five bolts of lightning striking him.

Tianyi ignored the five bolts of lightning as he continued to put forth the majority of his attention inside of his dantian. He didn't have the extra mentality and energy to absorb the tribulation lightning into him.

Tribulation lightning needed one to be fully concentrated to absorb, after all it was not simple lightning but carried the Tribulation Essence of the Heavenly Dao! One wrong move and Tianyi could shatter his newly formed Gold Cores as well as his Spiritual Pillars, Altar, and Crucible.

Luckily for Tianyi, the five bolts of tribulation lightning weren't merged and were five separated attacks so he could manage the opening move of the Heavenly Tribulation with his martial body alone.

If all five of the tribulation lightning had merged into one, then it wouldn't have been so simple anymore. A merged attack of tribulation lightning wasn't the sum of its components, but rather the final attack would be amplified. Although it wouldn't have been as extreme as being squared five times, but such an attack was several times more concerning.

The gathering of people who were watching the Heavenly Tribulation were befuddled by the strange tribulation.

"This…isn't it a bit too strange?"

"Five lightning strikes came down at one, I had thought junior nephew Tianyi would separate all nine Heavenly Tribulation in sequences, but taking multiple ones at the same time…this is"

"Perhaps junior nephew has simply formed multiple cores at once. It is not strange once one thinks about it. The Spiritual Crucible is under heavy stress during the formation of a Spiritual Core, once the core forms the Spiritual Crucible will normally shatter."

"But using this method, how well can junior nephew's core turn out to be. When forming multiples of something, what is most important is balance. If junior nephews has several different cores of different grades, then it wouldn't boost junior nephew's cultivation at all but hinder him instead."

"Don't forget this method was perfected by Grand Elder Xi, this aspect must have already been considered. See how calm Grand Elder Xi is? We just simply have to watch and have faith in junior nephew like Grand Elder Xi." Daoyi glanced at her expressionless master. Since she first became Mengfei's disciple, the only expression she has seen on her face was one of nothing. Nothing could move her heart, but her woman's intuition was telling her that Xi Mengfei was even more worried than all the people watching combined.

Besides as a mother, what mother wouldn't worry while her child was under great danger?

Tianyi had already lost count of how many lightning bolts had descended but his clothes were slightly tattered and the tips of his black hair were singed. Even his gold coronet was slightly fractured and melted due to the extreme heat.

Eight embryonic Gold Cores had already been formed but the Spiritual Crucible was covered in numerous small fissures and the only reason it hadn't been destroyed was because Tianyi was consuming numerous pills that were concocted to heal the Spiritual Crucible and using his spiritual qi to forcibly hold it in place.

There was one last embryonic core inside the crucible and it was the final one. Unlike all the others it seemed slightly smaller but the qi and pressure it emitted was even denser and powerful.

Tianyi opened his eyes and picked up the jade bottle containing the Yin Dragon Pearl Elixir.

If it hadn't been for his mother, he probably wouldn't have had a chance to obtain such an elixir. It was concocted using the dragon pearl of an immortal rank dragon.

A dragon's pearl could be considered a dragon's outer core and contributed a major portion to a dragon's power. Should a dragon lose its pearl, the loss wouldn't just be a dip in its strength but its overall potential. That's why most dragons unless under extreme circumstances wouldn't even reveal their pearls.

A dragon's pearl could be considered something of an equivalent of a life bound weapon that spiritual cultivators could form at the Core Formation realm, only more innate.

Don't speak of even the current era, before the Human-Divine Beast such a pearl was already nearly impossible to attain. Whoever attained it would face the Dragon Clan's wrath and be hunted ruthlessly.

And now such a valuable treasure had been concocted into an elixir for a puny Foundation Establishment realm cultivator to form their Spiritual Core.

Tianyi was only able to attain due to his mother's transcendental status within the sect as well as the fact that she had slayed many dragons and obtained their pearls during the Human-Divine Beast war. She naturally contributed a portion to the sect, but kept some for herself.

Tianyi opened the stopper and swallowed the liquid.

Instantly an ice cold qi assaulted his body, Tianyi felt as if he had hypothermia to the point of frostbite starting from the inside of his body.

However such a pain was nothing to the pain he felt he had during the Blood Absorption Ritual so he quickly calmed his heart down and began to guide the liquid into his dantian. The Yin Dragon Pearl Elixir lost its physical form as it converted into pure qi and entered Tianyi's dantian and then further into his Spiritual Crucible.

The Heavenly Tribulation seemed to have been enraged and the power of the tribulation lightning increased even more. Tianyi could only grit his teeth as he tried his best to defend it while directing most of his attention inside his dantian.

By now his body was already a bloody mess with burned skin covering his body, even some of his robes seemed to have meld into his skin and his gold coronet had long fallen off causing his hair to billow wildly in the turbulent winds created by the Heavenly Tribulation.

The Yin Dragon Pearl Elixir began to merge with the embryonic core causing the color to become pitch black, like a dark hole, an empty space in reality.

The Spiritual Crucible, Altar, and Pillars all began to turn even darker past the color of purple as it began emitting a golden glow.

BAM!

In a bright burst of light and explosion the Spiritual Crucible, Altar, and Pillars exploded into tiny little fragments that soon turned into qi and was absorbed by the newly formed embryonic black core that emitted a violet gold light.

At this instant all eight embryonic Gold Cores began to revolve around the Violet Gold Core like celestial bodies.

At the same time nerves seemingly made of lightning began to appear in Tianyi's dantian and covered all the embryonic cores like a heavenly net.

This was the manifestation of Tianyi's Dao Tribulation Lightning Spiritual Veins.

The last step needed to enter the Core Formation realm was to fuse one's Spiritual Vein's into their embryonic core, allowing one to produce true qi from the core.

This was also the reason why if a Core Formation realm cultivator had their core shattered, their immortal path would be severed. Because they fused their Spiritual Vein into their cores and so a loss of cores also meant they lost the ability to sense and absorb spiritual qi.

Tianyi looked up, before he fused his Dao Spiritual Vein into his cores he needed to pass the Heavenly Tribulation first.

However after the most recent strike the Heavenly Tribulation didn't send another attack and seemed to be waiting. Tianyi who had already experienced this before knew that the Heavenly Tribulation was biding its power.

Tianyi stood up from the lotus position he had been staying at, the fractured remains of the lotus artifact at his feet, broken and useless.

"I didn't think I would have to use it here." Tianyi said to himself, his voice hoarse and scarred from the damage done onto his body.

Immediately the blood inside Tianyi's body began to boil as a draconic presence was manifested and as dragon qi was formed. In order to get through this tribulation Tianyi was burning his blood essence, or rather the hidden blood essence inside of his body that he was prepared to use to cultivate the Dragon Emperor Fist in order to produce a stunning attack to combat the Heavenly Tribulation.

The tribulation clouds rumbled with majesty as streaks of lightning appeared. Tianyi's pupils shrunk as he felt those streaks of lightning.

At first there was only one, but soon there was two, three, four, all the way to nine.

But even with nine gathered the lightning didn't immediately descend but rather started to coil around each other.

Tianyi had already transcended nine sets of eight bolts of lightning, in other words seventy-two bolts of lightning and now the remaining nine bolts of lightning were being merged into one.

Finally it descended.

It was like a flash of light, a large towering bolt of lightning that was far larger than the sum of the size of the nine lightning streaks that it was composed of.

Tianyi opened his mouth and roared as he used both hands and clawed upwards and from his hands an illusionary dragon made of the burnt blood essence and dragon qi burst forth.

It was a golden dragon that sometimes became dark and illusionary but other times shone with a majestic presence as if announcing its presence to the world. It too roared as it ascended towards the lightning bolt.

The two clashed and struggled for supremacy, neither giving an inch as they coiled around each other and harming the other. This clash seemed to go indefinitely yet infinitely short as the next moment both the tribulation lightning and dragon burst into a golden light that showered down on Tianyi.

Tianyi stood there weakly with his eyes closed as he allowed the golden light to enter his body. At the same time in his dantian, his Dao Tribulation Lightning Spiritual Veins began to fracture into nine parts, with the largest part that was composed of half of his original Spiritual Vein merged into the Violet Gold Core while the rest all split evenly and merged with the other eight Gold Cores.

After that was done the eight Gold Cores began to move away and entered Tianyi's Eight Extraordinary Meridians creating a formation. Inside Tianyi, an illusionary octagonal trigram template with the taiji symbol in the middle was formed.

His injuries began to heal at a visible rate, although his clothes were in tatters, but his fleshly body was regenerating and soon his muscles and skin returned to their previous appearance.

"Master, senior brother, he -" When Daoyi turned to speak to her master, she discovered that Mengfei had already disappeared from her side and was now in front of Tianyi.

"Yi'er." Mengfei spoke as her hands reached out but stopped not knowing what to do with her hands.

Tianyi's face, however, quickly paled and blood sprayed from his mouth, dousing Mengfei In Tianyi's blood.

He didn't have any time to ponder the sudden change in his body as he soon fainted.