Chapter 438 Facing the tribulation
The very air felt dense as the vast expanse of the tribulation cloud covered the sky. The twinkle of the stars vanished as they replaced by a terrifying looking cloud.
Atmosphere in the forest turned tense with the occasional crackling sound coming from the cloud. "Squeak","howl", the frightened sound of various animals came out as they scurried away to escape.
Zhan Chen sat calmly in this tense atmosphere, seemingly unaffected by the impending doom. His breathing was even and calm, his face a picture of serene concentration. He was like an immovable mountain steadfast and undeterred infront of a looming storm.
Shui Liying, however, was far from calm. The fear in her heart grew with every passing second. She was an emperor realm cultivator, having faced countless battles and seen various tribulations. But what was unfolding before her was beyond her comprehension.
"How is this possiblle? Why do husband has to face such a dangerous tribulation in his first step to the Heavenly tribulation realm?", she thought to herself. Her heart was flooding with worry as she looked towards Zhan Chen.
In the distance, Long Xinyu was also feeling puzzled. She had curiousity on her face as she looked towards the gathering cloud. "I have saw our Dragon clansmen ascending to the Heavenly tribulation realm. Generally dragons face a much fiercer heavenly tribulation than human cultivators. But here, the tribulation of this baddie has already surpassed theirs", she thought to herself. She kept herself hidden as she watched the tribulation cloud getting more denser and bigger with each passing moment.
It took almost half an hour for the tribulation cloud to be fully condensed. Crackling sounds rang across the surrounding as the heavenly tribulation announced its imminent arrival.
"Crackle", a defeaning noise came forth as a terrifying lightning fell upon Zhan Chen. Shui Liying's heart skipped a bit as she was taken aback by the descending speed of the thunderbolt.
Zhan Chen was fully prepared at this moment. He had already taken out a sword and was waiting for the thunderbolt to descend. "Mountain cutting sword", he roared out and launched a long slash towards the sky.
To the utter surprise of both Long Xinyu and Shui Liying, the terrifying lighting was hacked apart in two. The lightning disperced just before reaching Zhan Chen's head and turned into a dense blanket of essence energy.
Lightning cackled loudly in the dense cloud as it seemed like it would send another thunderbolt. Both Shui Liying and Long Xinyu waited with baited breath but no other thunderbolt descended. It seemed like the heaven was unwilling to let Zhan Chen cross through to the Heavenly tribulation realm so easily. But it didn't send another thunderbolt.
The starlit sky revealed itself gradually as the cloud dispersed. Zhan Chen felt a sudden tug inside his mind as the cloud was about to disappear. The feeling was very familiar to him. It happened whenever he had cultivated spiritual energy.
The mysterious diagram inside his soul activated on it's own. Zhan Chen could feel that it's aim was targeted at the dissipating tribulation clouds.
There was a mysterious golden pool located beyond the tribulation clouds. Many cultivators couldn't feel it's existence even after passing through all the seven tribulations of the Heavenly tribulation realm. Zhan Chen wouldn't have noticed it without the tug from the diagram world.
Zhan Chen felt that he had seen the most extraordinary thing of the world after he laid his eyes on the golden pool. He felt a sensation as if the golden pool was the source of all the creations in the heaven and earth. The diagram world shown brightly and a strem of golden drops of water separated from the golden pool.
The heaven and earth reacted violently to the deeds of the mysterious diagram. Zhan Chen felt his soul trembled as he could felt the tension in the air. The dissipating clouds gathered again to the surprise of both Long Xinyu and Shui Liying. This time the tribulation cloud looked fiercer and terrifying as they cackled above Zhan Chen's head.
The diagram world glowed brightly I'm response to heaven and Earth's reaction. It released a gentle stream of golden energy which refreshed Zhan Chen's mind and body. Zhan Chen could tell that it was the gift from the mysterious diagram to him after it absorbed the golden drops of water from the mysterious pool. He felt his body and mind rejuvenated as the golden coloured energy seeped throughout his body. His soul stopped trembling as the mysterious diagram let out a calm aura to pacify him.
He readied himself as the tribulation cloud threatened to send out another thunderbolt for him. He knew he couldn't stop the reaction of the mysterious diagram as it was a part of his soul now. So, he readied himself to face the consequences after the diagram world snatched some golden energy from the golden pool.
Another thunderbolt fell this time which was multiple times more stronger than the previous one. Zhan Chen felt his heart sink as he used the Ethereal cloud steps to dodge.
To his surprise, he felt another tug from the diagram world. This time, it was exerting it's pressure on the thunderbolt sent by the tribulation cloud. Before he could properly understand what was going on, the thunderbolt attracted to him and changed it's trajectory to fall on him. "Am I going to die?", Zhan Chen thought in despair as the thunderbolt descended on him. He thought he was a goner but nothing happened. The thunderbolt sent by the tribulation cloud seemed to have disappeared mysteriously after falling on his body.
'How is this possible?', Zhan Chen muttered to himself with disbelief in his eyes. He could feel that it was the mysterious diagram who was the culprit behind the disappearance of the thunderbolt.
The gathered cloud didn't send another thunderbolt after it failed to harm Zhan Chen. It hovered in the air for a while before disappearing from the sky. The mysterious diagram glowed brightly after being silent for few moments. It released a pure stream of essence energy inside Zhan Chen's body
Zhan Chen could see that the stream of essence energy produced after the mysterious diagram in his soul refined the thunderbolt came from the tribulation cloud. He was beyond surprise at this moment after finding out another heaven defying ability of the diagram world.
"I will investigate it later. Let's first use all these available energy and break through to the Heavenly tribulation realm", Zhan Chen thought to himself.
He gathered all of his essence energy and flooded his essence energy sea. His essence energy sea enlarged once again after being filled to the limit. Zhan Chen could feel a mysterious connection with the heaven and earth as an energy whirlpool slowly manifested above his essence energy sea.
The process of breaking through to the Heavenly tribulation realm was ethereal and one could not describe it properly without experiencing himself. The energy whirlpool that appeared above the essence energy sea was a link between a cultivator and the heaven and earth. Unlike the Martial ascension realm, a cultivator didn't have to condense essence energy into essence liquid once again. Rather the energy whirlpool would condense the essence energy liquid itself as long as sufficient essence energy was present in heaven and earth.
A Heavenly tribulation realm cultivator would never run out of essence energy as he could use his essence energy whirlpool and absorb the energy from the heaven and earth at a faster rate. Each time a cultivator broke through a stage in the Heavenly tribulation realm, his essence energy sea would be enlarged and another essence energy whirlpool would be added above his essence energy sea. There was also great improvement in soul strength but Zhan Chen would not feel it because his soul had already reached the limit of the sage realm.
Zhan Chen felt he had more than half of energy left even after he reached the first stage of the Heavenly tribulation realm. He decided to not waste such a heaven sent opportunity. So, he activayed his energy whirlpool and strmarted to refine the essence energy gathered in his body. His body now had energy from various sources.
The first source of the energy was the seventh grade extreme yang sea. His essence energy sea was now ten times bigger than its previous size. Any ordinary Heavenly tribulation realm cultivator treasure. The second source of the energy was the golden liquid refined by the mysterious diagram. The third source of energy was the thunderbolt sent by the tribulation cloud which was refined by the mysterious diagram in his soul.
His energy whirlpool started to rotate faster as a great amount of essence energy liquid started to be added in his essence energy sea. His essence energy sea was now ten times bigger than its previous size. Any ordinary Heavenly tribulation realm cultivator would struggle to fill it completely even if given two or three years of time but Zhan Chen was different.
With the help of the mysterious diagram in his soul, he had got a huge volume of essence energy. The essence energy was very pure in nature and Zhan Chen only had to cultivate patiently as his essence energy sea started to get filled in a visible speed.
He cultivated for another six hours and his essence energy sea was completely filled once again. He only had to establish a connection with the heaven and earth before he could face the heavenly tribulation to reach the second stage of the Heavenly tribulation realm.
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