Tang Ru's Mahayana Heavenly Tribulation!

Rumble! A slightly pudgy figure floated midair. Countless abacus beads shimmering with spiritual light hovered around Tang Ru. By the time Ye Feng and Xiao Chen arrived, the surrounding cultivators and civilians had long since been cleared away. Li Guanqi and the others stood in the void several thousand feet away from the tribulation, silently standing guard. An uncanny pressure surged, and the perimeter had been sealed with barriers to prevent anyone from wandering in by mistake. Ye Feng stepped up beside Li Guanqi, frowning as he asked in a low voice, "Why is Fatty Tang making such a massive commotion breaking through?" Ji Yuchuan sent a quiet voice transmission to the group: "Tang Ru follows the path of the School of Yin-Yang, deducing heavenly secrets and practicing divination. That art inherently defies heaven's will to begin with, so this heavenly tribulation is bound to be much more violent than that of an ordinary cultivator!" At these words, Xiao Chen frowned, concern showing in his eyes. "Can he withstand it, then? With his combat strength..." This immediately earned him eye-rolls from Cao Yan and the others. Xiao Chen quickly slapped his own mouth. "My foul mouth, my foul mouth! Fatty Tang will definitely pull through!" At this moment, Tang Ru was seated cross-legged in the void. Though the thunderclouds churned furiously above, he remained as unmoving as a mountain. Gu Li said in a deep voice, "Don't worry. The inscribed talismans I left him are more than enough to endure the heavenly tribulation!" Li Guanqi looked at Gu Li with gentle eyes and said softly, "You've worked hard." Gu Li's face was slightly pale, showing that he had depleted a great deal of energy. Gu Li smiled easygoingly and lifted his chin with a grin. "What hard work? I'm happy enough just being able to help. It's just a shame... I never expected that immortal could descend with his full strength, which caused my talismans to fail." Gu Li felt deep guilt over this matter. If his inscribed talismans had not been neutralized, with the combined efforts of the brothers, Li Guanqi wouldn't have been pushed into such straits and suffered such grievous injuries. Sensing the shift in his thoughts, Li Guanqi punched him solidly on the shoulder and scolded with a chuckle, "You brat, don't overthink it. You've already done wonderfully! Without you, that battle would have been far harder for me." Gu Li offered a faint smile, though sensitive as he was, he clearly still took it to heart. While watching Tang Ru prepare to break through to the Mahayana realm, Gu Li racked his brain for ways to breach an enemy's sealing barriers. He realized that this had happened to his inscribed talismans multiple times now: whenever an opponent possessed certain specialized techniques, the power of his talismans was rendered useless. At a life-or-death juncture, having talismans fail was a terrifying prospect! People would instinctively pin their hopes on them. Once the talismans failed, nothing would remain but despair! Li Guanqi had other trump cards and backup plans to deal with the enemy, but what if Ye Feng had been trapped back then by an opponent using specialized arts or dharma artifacts? If they hadn't all arrived together in the end, would Ye Feng have chosen to throw himself into the abyss to seal the Purgatory Abyss? Gu Li dared not dwell on the thought, terrified that his shortcomings might bring about an unbearable tragedy! Hidden inside his sleeves, Gu Li's fists clenched tight. His long-held beliefs had begun to waver. He had always believed that as long as he had enough inscribed talismans, he would never have to fear an enemy several times stronger than himself. Yet as the years passed and his experiences deepened, he realized that in many situations, sheer quantity was merely numbers. How terrifying would it be if a single inscribed talisman could achieve the effect of a million talismans? Rumble! Thunder boomed beside his ears, and Gu Li suddenly froze. *Right!* *If the might of a single inscribed talisman could match a million explosive talismans...* *And then I craft eight or ten thousand of those top-tier talismans... Gulp...* At that moment, Gu Li's entire philosophy of talisman-making underwent a paradigm shift. From quantity to quality! He would decipher the ultimate spirit runes for every type of inscribed talisman! Buzz! As his thoughts turned, Gu Li inexplicably entered a state of sudden epiphany. At the same time, Gu Li's divine sense surged like boiling water, swirling around him. Seated cross-legged in the void, he was surrounded by dense clusters of golden runic radiance! Fingernail-sized golden runes rapidly dismantled and reconfigured themselves. Tens of thousands of such runes hovered about him, and their numbers were multiplying rapidly. Ji Yuchuan's pupils contracted, and he muttered in disbelief, "Is that... an enlightenment?" Li Guanqi, on the contrary, had long grown accustomed to this. Gu Li's talent in the Dao of Inscribed Talismans was the greatest he had ever witnessed! As for that absurd 'Forced Conception Talisman', he didn't think Gu Li had simply been blabbering nonsense. Deep down, he truly believed that Gu Li might actually develop such a thing in the days to come... Raising a hand, Li Guanqi tossed out two array plates beside Gu Li, severing the space around him and teleporting him to the summit of Yuhu Peak! "His comprehension is exceptional. There's nothing unusual about it." Xiao Chen shrugged and rolled his eyes in mild resignation. Gu Li's comprehension was indeed superior to any of theirs. Just as they were speaking, violent spatial fluctuations erupted from the void behind them. A travel-worn Tang Wei stepped out from nothingness, holding a multitude of array plates, runic elixirs, and pills! "Son! Daddy's here!" Boom! An immensely thick bolt of lightning struck down without warning. Tang Ru, who had just opened his eyes, was distracted by Tang Wei's shout. Caught off guard, he took the direct blast of the heavenly tribulation midair. With a wretched shriek, he plummeted from the sky and slammed into the ground, gouging out a deep crater. "Dad! Can't you wait a moment before talking?!" Tang Wei looked fraught with worry and waved the items in his hands, shouting, "No, I have to give you these things!" The corners of Li Guanqi's mouth twitched. Xiao Chen flashed beside the man and slapped a hand over his mouth. "Uncle Tang, can you please not disturb him right now..." "This is a Mahayana realm heavenly tribulation! Getting distracted will kill him!" Only then did Tang Wei come to his senses and hastily hush up. Still, he looked down anxiously at the various items in his hands and sent a voice transmission: "Then how do I give them to him?" Ji Yuchuan sighed. "It would have been fine earlier, but now that the heavenly tribulation has begun, anyone stepping inside will be deemed a provocateur by the tribulation!" Li Guanqi said softly, "Don't worry. The things we prepared for him are more than enough." After a brief hesitation, Tang Wei had no choice but to let it be. Immediately after, three massive bolts of thunder struck down from heaven in rapid succession. The ferocious might of the thunder tribulation caused everyone watching to break into a cold sweat. Yet Tang Ru climbed out of the crater. Though his injuries were far from light, his eyes burned with resolute determination. With a flick of his hand, three spiritual abacus beads shot violently toward the thunder tribulation above! Boom! Boom! Boom! Furious explosions rang out as terrifying pitch-black lightning scattered in all directions. The stray arcs struck far and wide, crumbling peaks and shaking the earth. As the clouds slowly spun, the oppressive pressure grew even more suffocating! And with the fall of each tribulation bolt, Tang Ru's own aura grew steadily stronger.