Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 1097: The Weight of the Heavens

A sharp tear in the fabric of space ripped open near the edge of the elevated viewing balcony and two figures stepped through in a rush of turbulent energy. Zhan Tielan and Li Canghai arrived straight from the front lines and their armor still carried the faint scent of ash and blood from their recent battles. They were called back urgently via communication tokens and they did not even take a moment to greet the people standing around them before their eyes shot upward to the sky.The dark swirling vortex of multi-colored clouds hung heavy over the world and painted the surrounding mountains in a sickly glowing light. The sheer scale of the anomaly defied all logic and the pressure radiating from the heavens felt like a physical weight pressing against their chests. Zhan Tielan rushed forward to stand beside her father and she gripped the smooth stone railing so hard her knuckles turned white.

"Father, what is happening to him?" Zhan Tielan asked with a voice trembling with panic as she looked down at the tiny figure of Li Yu sitting in the center of the ancient plaza. "We even felt the energy gathering from across the territories and the messages said he was breaking through but this is beyond anything we have ever seen. Can we help him? Is there any way to shield him from that storm before it strikes?"

Zhan Tian looked at his daughter with a heavy heart and slowly shook his head. "You already know the answer to that but are asking. There is nothing we can do, Tielan. You know the laws of cultivation just as well as I do. A tribulation is a personal trial that one must face alone. If anyone else steps into that plaza the heavens will lock onto their energy and multiply the power of the lightning until both of them are turned to dust. There is no helping him right now and we must stand back."

Li Canghai stepped up beside his wife and placed a comforting hand on her armored shoulder. He looked up at the terrifying sky and his usual calm demeanor was fracturing under the strain of watching his son in such imminent danger.

"What about the ancient formations beneath him?" Li Canghai asked while looking over at Patriarch Yue. "Can we activate the defensive arrays of the sacred grounds to weaken the strikes or redirect the energy? This place is special for a reason right? There must be things that can be done here that we can’t do in other places."

"The formations on the sacred grounds are not designed to block the heavens," Patriarch Yue explained with a solemn sigh as the wind whipped his robes around his legs. "No treasure or defensive array can stop the heavenly dao from delivering its judgment. The special spot was created to help provide enlightenment and understanding during the process so cultivators can get more out of the progress, it cannot actually aid in one withstanding it. As the cultivator is bathed in the lightning and the ambient energy of the formations they can comprehend the laws easier. It is half symbolic and half practical but it ultimately depends on the person sitting there to process the refinement. We cannot intervene."

The group fell into a tense silence as they stared at the insane phenomenon gathering above their heads. Not one of them had ever witnessed such a sprawling storm before. Li Canghai thought back to his own advancement to the Tribulation realm. He had faced the fourth level known as the Thirty Six Astral Fiend Tribulation.

It was a terrifying ordeal that nearly broke his bones and shattered his meridians. Zhan Tielan had faced the exact same fourth level and so had Patriarch Yue. They were all considered brilliant talents in their youth yet their past trials paled in comparison to the swirling calamity hanging over Li Yu.

"My Thirty Six Astral Fiends tested my physical body and my Qi foundation to the limit," Li Canghai muttered while tracking the shifting colors in the clouds. "I thought I was going to die on the final strike when the lightning formed the shape of a falling star. But those clouds were only a fraction of the size we are seeing today."

Zhan Tian kept his eyes fixed on his grandson and his voice carried the weight of ancient memories. "I faced the fifth level known as the Seventy Two Earthly Calamity Tribulation. The lightning did not just strike my flesh and my energy reserves. It bypassed my physical defenses as well and directly tested my soul. I spent some time healing the spiritual scars from that day because the heavens wanted to see if my soul would break under its wrath."

A sudden shift in the ambient air drew their attention away from the storm. The space behind the group rippled gently and an old man materialized on the balcony without making a single sound or alerting their divine senses besides Zhan Tian’s. He wore simple grey robes and possessed a withered body that looked fragile, for a Zhan, against the howling wind. Yet his eyes held a depth that mirrored the endless starry sky. This was Zhan Mingyuan and he was one of the true hidden ancestors of the Zhan Clan and was making his first appearance in many generations.

Zhan Tian immediately turned around and bowed with respect. Patriarch Yue and the parents followed his lead and offered their sincere greetings to the ancient senior. Zhan Mingyuan had lived through eras and his age alone demanded the utmost reverence from anyone claiming the Zhan bloodline.

This text was taken from NovelFire. Help the author by reading the original version there.

The old ancestor waved a withered hand to dismiss the formalities and he walked slowly toward the edge of the balcony. He looked up at the expanding storm and his jaw dropped in dumbfounded shock as well upon seeing it for himself. A man who had seen empires rise and fall was left speechless by the anomaly gathering over his family.

"I was resting in the deep core of the realm when the heavenly pressure woke me from my seclusion," Zhan Mingyuan said in a raspy voice that carried a heavy tone of disbelief. "I thought an enemy faction had triggered a cosmic weapon against us to wipe out the headquarters. I never imagined a junior was breaking through. What kind of monster have you all raised?"

"He is my grandson," Zhan Tian answered with a mix of pride and fear shining in his eyes. "His foundation is the most impressive I have ever witnessed but the heavens seem to disagree with his continued existence. I thought he would trigger the same level as me or worse case the sixth level but nothing like this."

Zhan Mingyuan stroked his long white beard and shook his head slowly. "When I advanced to the Tribulation realm many eras ago I also only faced the fourth level. That is the boundary where most true geniuses find their limit and only those that are special reach higher. Reaching a higher level is usually a sign of an unparalleled genius but it is also a death sentence for most. So many bright stars fail here because the heavens do not tolerate such perfection."

“If the sixth level is the pinnacle of known tribulations then I fear the heavens have created something entirely new just for your boy." Zhan Mingyuan continued with a grim voice.

The clouds kept getting bigger and thicker as the hours slowly bled into days. The gathering process was taking a terrifyingly long time and the volume of ambient energy being sucked into the sky was causing the surrounding environments to suffer. The grass near the sacred grounds turned brown and the ancient trees lost their leaves as the heavens pulled every ounce of vitality from all over to fuel the coming judgment.

The Zhan Clan could not afford to just stand around and watch the sky. The commotion caused by the expanding storm was a beacon radiating across the territories and the clan leadership knew their enemies might use the distraction to launch a coordinated attack or to interfere.

Patriarch Yue turned away from the balcony and issued a series of rapid commands to the surrounding elders hovering nearby. "Deploy the outer defense fleets and activate the grand boundary arrays across all sectors. We must guard our realm from any opportunistic rivals while this storm persists. No one is allowed to enter or leave until the trial concludes."

The clan moved with practiced military efficiency while everyone was getting incredibly nervous as the days dragged on without a single strike falling from the clouds. The tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a blade and the silence between the rumbles of thunder felt agonizing.

Zhan Tielan and Li Canghai stood vigil on the balcony without sleeping or resting. They were becoming increasingly nervous and the fear of losing their only child was gnawing at their hearts. Yet, the one most nervous among all the powerful figures present was Li Yu himself.

Li Yu sat cross legged on the cold stone of the ancient plaza and stared up at the swirling void as a deep chill ran through his veins. The suffocating pressure made his hands tremble and he realized he had never seen such a terrifying thing before in his entire life. Everything his parents and his grandfather had told him about the Tribulation realm fell short of the reality pressing down on him. They knew he was special and they had warned him he might face the fifth level or even the mythical sixth level.

But nothing they said had prepared him for this level of cosmic hostility. This felt like an execution order from the universe itself.

A full week passed from the moment Zhan Tian had torn the void and brought Li Yu to the sacred grounds. Seven days of suffocating pressure and deafening thunder rolling across the sky without a single bolt of lightning striking at all and the clouds had gotten even bigger

Everyone watching the event was deadly worried by the seventh day. The disciples standing on the distant ridges whispered among themselves and many believed the young genius was doomed before the trial even started. There was no one even remotely close to Li Yu now as no one knew what to expect from the coming storm. Nearly everyone thought the boy's path would simply end here on the stone plaza and he would be turned to ash.

However his parents and his grandfather held onto a fragile sliver of hope. They knew the harsh rules of cultivation better than anyone else in the realm. If Li Yu could somehow make it through this impossible ordeal, the benefits waiting for him would be unimaginable.

The Tribulation step was not simply a matter of enduring the lightning and surviving the pain. It was a full refinement process designed to burn away the old self and forge a new existence closer to the dao. The worse the heavenly punishment was, the more the resulting refinement became. If the heavens were trying this hard to kill him, the resulting power from surviving would shake the very foundations of the Myriad Realms.

Li Yu stopped looking up at the terrifying sky long ago and focused his mind entirely on his own internal self, preparing himself as much as possible. He pushed his fear down into the depths of his soul and tightened his jaw. He was ready to fight for his life and he would not give up without making the heavens waste everything it had to bring him down.

The agonizing week of waiting came to a sudden and violent end at the end of the 7th day. The howling wind abruptly stopped and a brief moment of dead silence fell over the sacred grounds.

Then the tribulation began.

It was not a single bolt of testing lightning dropping from the sky as the old records described for the start. The heavens did not bother with a preliminary warning strike to test his defenses. The sky shattered open like fragile glass and unleashed a cataclysm of lightning of every imaginable color and it was all coming down on him at once. The world turned blindingly bright as the roaring pillar of chaotic energy slammed into the ancient plaza and swallowed Li Yu whole.