The bronze bell was thoroughly perplexed. "Ah Ying, Old Ancestor Zhou's brilliance certainly reaches heaven and earth, and this sight before us is magnificent indeed. But even if he kidnaps all the heavenly gods of the celestial cycle into the mortal realm, what does it matter? The Heavenly Tribulation is still here."
Xu Ying replied, "However, the passageway for the heavenly gods to return to the Heavenly Dao world has been sealed shut by the Heavenly Tribulation."
The bronze bell chimed a dull *clang*, completely dumbfounded.
Xu Ying continued, "Right now, all the heavenly gods are beneath the tribulation clouds, caught in the midst of the lightning tribulation. They will have no choice but to join forces with Zhou Qiyun to resist it. They must ensure that Zhou Qiyun succeeds in his crossing, because Zhou Qiyun is their only hope of ascending back to the Heavenly Dao world."
He paused, then added, "Lord Bell, do you still remember the Palace of Heavenly Gods?"
Naturally, the bronze bell had not forgotten. The Palace of Heavenly Gods was an ascension site where the barrier between the Heavenly Dao world and the mortal realm grew thin, allowing those heavenly gods to descend and form the Heavenly God Council.
However, the Palace of Heavenly Gods could not permit their true bodies to descend; it only allowed their consciousness to project into triangular-headed stone statues.
This was because the Palace of Heavenly Gods, as an ascension site, was far too ancient. The traces left behind by the immortals who had ascended there had long since faded, and the barrier between the two worlds had gradually thickened, making physical descent impossible.
Xu Ying said, "Their only chance to return to the Heavenly Dao world lies in the ascension rosy glow at the very moment Zhou Qiyun ascends. When that ascension glow descends, they can ride it back into the Heavenly Dao world."
The bronze bell finally saw the light. "So no matter what, these three hundred and sixty heavenly gods must help him withstand the Heavenly Tribulation in order to return to their world! While the Heavenly Tribulation Zhou Qiyun must face is terrifyingly powerful, with the aid of so many heavenly gods, his ascension is actually within reach! His mind is truly..."
Kidnapping three hundred and sixty heavenly deities to help him combat a Heavenly Tribulation was something no one else would dare even imagine!
Zhou Qiyun had not only dared to imagine it—he had done it!
Xu Ying's heart surged with excitement. This would be the first ascension of a Nuo practitioner, and it would bring hope to countless people!
If Zhou Qiyun overcame the tribulation and became an immortal, any conspiracy concocted by the master of the Mud Pill Palace would be rendered utterly powerless.
Atop Mount Jiuyi, the heavenly gods feasting on the offerings lifted their heads one after another to gaze up at the tribulation clouds churning in the sky. Roars of fury tore from their throats, yet the tribulation clouds showed not the slightest intention of backing down.
In this Heavenly Tribulation, they too had become an inseparable part beneath the clouds!
They had no choice but to help Zhou Qiyun shoulder this great catastrophe, no choice but to fight desperately on his behalf. Only if Zhou Qiyun survived could they ever return to the Heavenly Dao world!
Lightning flared in the distance above Mount Jiuyi.
The onlookers atop Mount Wuwang saw a bolt of heavenly lightning crash downward, nearly as thick as Mount Jiuyi's main peak itself. The brilliance erupting in that single instant was so intense that even though they were a thousand li away, sharp silhouettes were cast onto the ground, only to stretch outward at blinding speed!
After the shadows dimmed, they watched the lightning stream down the main peak of Mount Jiuyi. Like luminous liquid, the lightning flowed, glistening and shimmering, before reaching the base of the mountain and rippling out in all directions, illuminating the surrounding peaks!
The Guo clan ancestor murmured, "If that strike hit me, I'd be dead."
The ancestors of the other noble clans harbored the exact same thought.
A Heavenly Tribulation of this scale was far too horrifying; it was simply not a trial they could ever hope to survive. Even merely brushing against its edges would spell instant death and pulverization!
They even felt that not even Zhou Qiyun was worthy of enduring such a calamity.
A display of might like this made them believe that even if a legendary immortal were to descend, a single strike would blast them into ash.
This was by no means a power that should exist in the mortal realm!
A moment later, they witnessed another bizarre phenomenon. Some of the mountains and rivers surrounding Mount Jiuyi suddenly surged far higher, while others suddenly sank drastically.
Certain peaks towered more than twice their normal height before instantly shrinking down to half their original elevation. Other mountains, normally majestic, were suddenly compressed to half their height, only to spring up into the sky an instant later!
It was as if an invisible force were stretching them, flattening them, kneading and toying with them at will.
"Spatial fluctuations!"
The bronze bell recognized the phenomenon and said, "The energy contained within that heavenly thunder is too terrifying. The moment it unleashed, it shook space itself. When a mountain sits on a wave's crest, it grows taller; when it falls into a trough, it is pressed down. This phenomenon isn't dangerous to us—we won't even feel it."
These spatial ripples propagated at staggering speed, reaching them in a heartbeat!
They seemed to hear a strange howling sound, yet their bodies felt nothing, and the world before their eyes showed no distortion at all. Only their souls were violently jostled.
Xu Ying felt that this sensation in his soul was somewhat akin to entering the ruined temple's world at Shuikou Temple.
It was the sensation of passing through space as if space itself possessed thickness and mass.
Once this wave subsided, they heard a second sound, resembling a whistle, followed once more by the sensation of the soul crossing a boundary.
A second bolt of heavenly lightning, then a third, erupted in rapid succession. Mount Jiuyi's main peak seemed peculiarly gifted at drawing thunderbolts, constantly pulling the monstrous energy of the thunderclouds toward itself.
Amidst the flashes of blinding light and plunging darkness, the crowd on Mount Wuwang caught sight of the figures of heavenly gods leaping into action across the other eight peaks of Mount Jiuyi.
Between light and dark, each heavenly god took on a distinct form and posture; three hundred and sixty heavenly deities displayed three hundred and sixty unique stances.
Those postures were profound, archaic, vigorous, and powerful, delivering a tremendous visual impact!
When the lightning flared again, their postures shifted once more, yet not a single one was repeated!
They were aiding Zhou Qiyun in crossing his tribulation!
"Can even heavenly gods be bribed?" muttered the Guo clan ancestor. "Can they really be bought off?"
Imperial Uncle Li shook his head. "No. This is kidnapping. He kidnapped the heavenly gods and bound them to his war chariot, forcing them to fight for their lives on his behalf."
The Shi clan ancestor remarked, "Living in the same era as him is our misfortune."
"Fortunately, he is about to ascend."
On Mount Wuwang, the large snake's tongue fluttered in waves as he shrieked, "Dao images! Those are the Great Dao images of the heavenly gods! Memorize them quickly! Every single Dao image can be transformed into an extraordinary divine skill passed down through the generations!"
Prompted by Qi, the clan ancestors, the juniors they had brought along, and even their mounts frantically focused their minds to commit the forms to memory.
They did not know what an image of the Great Dao truly was, but they knew of Hidden Sceneries. To them, the Dao images of the heavenly gods were Hidden Sceneries that could be turned into remarkable Nuo techniques. If someone possessed exceptional talent, they might even deduce extraordinary Nuo methods from them.
However, they were too far away, the heavenly gods' Dao images were too numerous, and the lightning strikes were far too swift. The transformations of the Dao images occurred so rapidly that it was impossible to comprehend them.
Unless one stood right before the heavenly gods, close enough to observe in fine detail, it was impossible to capture the spiritual essence and Dao charm of these images.
Unwilling to let such an opportunity slip away, they tried to memorize them by force. Yet the heavenly gods were the divine manifestations of the Heavenly Dao—how profound and overwhelming were the principles they contained?
Forcibly memorizing and comprehending them took an appalling toll on one's spirit. Before long, the donkey coughed up mouthful after mouthful of blood and collapsed listlessly to the ground.
A moment later, Xu Ying's companions, the brothers Niu Zhen and Niu Gan, also vomited blood. Guo Xiaodie let out a muffled groan as blood seeped from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Others of weaker cultivation coughed up blood in large gulps, instantly filling Mount Wuwang with the stench of gore.
Even Guo Xiaodie's maternal aunt, Li Yingzhu, suffered spiritual damage and fainted dead away.
"How come Lord Qi hasn't coughed up blood?"
Niu Zhen and Niu Gan lay sprawled on the ground, their vitality scattered in disarray. Yet they saw that Qi was still staring wide-eyed, his gaze fixed unblinkingly on the tribulation scene, completely calm and composed, unaffected in the slightest by the heavenly gods' Dao images. A wave of awe washed over their hearts. *As expected of the existence our teacher respectfully calls Lord Qi. To think his foundation is so deep—we can't hold a candle to him.*
Qi stared at the shifting scenes of the heavenly gods' Dao images, his eyelids twitching slightly. *Can't understand a thing... Ah Ying definitely can, right? I'll have him explain it to me later. Oh well, let me watch a little longer, lest Ah Ying says I'm half-hearted.*
Xu Ying had not managed to comprehend anything in time either, so instead of trying to observe the Dao images of the heavenly gods, he turned his focus to the Heavenly Tribulation itself.
*Three hundred and sixty heavenly gods joining forces with Zhou Qiyun to combat the Heavenly Tribulation create endless variations that are hard to grasp. But if I use the Guo clan's Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens as a foundation and compare it against the Heavenly Tribulation, I might be able to add a new divine skill to the rhapsody,* he thought to himself.
Silently channeling the Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens, he directed his heart power according to its mantras. Behind him, the azure heavens of the high sky gradually emerged, slowly coalescing into a thundercloud.
Beside him, the maiden in the coffin looked on in surprise, eyeing the tribulation phenomenon manifesting behind his back, her gaze flickering without a word.
The Guo clan ancestor suddenly sensed something. Looking back toward the severed cliff, he saw the thundercloud forming behind Xu Ying and felt his heart skip a beat. *A ninth move derived from my Guo clan's Rhapsody of the Azure Heavens?*
He glanced back toward the Heavenly Tribulation a thousand li away, his eyes gleaming. *While others try to comprehend the Dao images of the heavenly gods, he tries to grasp the Heavenly Tribulation! This boy is truly remarkable. The more I look at him, the more he looks like a son-in-law for my Guo clan!*
Overjoyed, he thought, *Xiaodie also has a two-hundred-jin elder sister who is gentle, delicate as a chrysanthemum, and still unwed. Why not recruit him as a matrilocal son-in-law for our Guo clan?*
The tribulation cloud behind Xu Ying grew larger and wider, gradually spanning several mu. Forming such an anomaly already carried the might of a divine skill.
The Guo clan ancestor was delighted. *His talent surpasses even mine. The more I look at him, the more pleasing he is to the eye.*
However, the tribulation cloud soon grew increasingly abnormal, continuing to expand at a startling rate until it quickly reached over a hundred mu across.
*With talent like this, marrying both Xiaodie and her sister to him wouldn't be a problem,* the Guo clan ancestor thought, exceedingly pleased.
Beside Xu Ying, however, the maiden in the coffin sensed that something was amiss immediately. She instinctively took a step back to put distance between herself and Xu Ying, only to realize what she had done. *Why did I step back on my own? Right... I sensed the intent of the Heavenly Tribulation, and my subconscious urged me to stay far away from it!*
At this moment, the bronze bell flew out from behind Xu Ying's head. Forgetting its grudge against the young woman, it urgently called out, "Miss Qing, do you sense something?"
"Tribulation fortune!" the maiden Qing said gravely. "What is happening here?"
The bronze bell deduced, "Ah Ying entered the Dao by observing the Heavenly Tribulation, and his consciousness has linked with it! He experienced this once before on Mount Jiuyi when observing the Jiuyi Dao images—his consciousness linked with Mount Jiuyi then, too."
The maiden was startled. She looked up at the other tribulation cloud high in the sky and said, "Are you saying his consciousness is inside the tribulation cloud right now? Why is the cloud behind him still expanding?"
The tribulation cloud floating in the air behind Xu Ying had now expanded to cover a thousand mu, and thunder began to rumble within its depths.
Down on Mount Wuwang, the Nuo Immortals frowned and looked toward him, all feeling a faint sense of unease, as if impending doom were hanging over their heads.
The bronze bell had never encountered such a situation before and had no idea what was causing it.
Just then, three silhouettes flashed and arrived beside Xu Ying. It was the sorrowful old man, the woman in red, and the white-robed elder. With grave expressions, all three reached out their fingers simultaneously, thrusting toward various points across Xu Ying's body!
The maiden Qing frowned and swept her sleeve. In the next instant, the sorrowful old man's finger struck the white-robed elder's brow, the woman in red's finger pierced the white-robed elder's heart, and the white-robed elder's own finger drove straight through his own throat!
The white-robed elder coughed up blood with hacking sounds and collapsed, utterly spent.
The bronze bell was horrified. A top-tier expert had been grievously wounded in an instant, nearly dying on the spot!
The sorrowful old man and the woman in red were shocked. They hurriedly shouted, "Stop! We mean well! We're trying to sever his connection with the Heavenly Tribulation! Otherwise, he will drag all of us into eternal damnation!"
In that brief span, the tribulation divine skill Xu Ying was comprehending had expanded to the periphery of Zhou Qiyun's Heavenly Tribulation.
The two tribulation clouds—one large, one small—showed signs of merging. At the edge of the massive tribulation cloud, raging power turned into lightning, channeling its destructive force into the smaller cloud.
Xu Ying's small tribulation cloud was like tinder ready to ignite, with thunder constantly detonating within the cloud layer, growing ever more deafening and vast.
All around Xu Ying, vital energy surged wildly, his robes snapping fiercely in the wind.
Beneath the clouds, the crowd on Mount Wuwang felt an unbearable weight pressing down upon them. They had an ominous premonition: the moment the two tribulation clouds merged, none of them would escape alive!
The Guo clan ancestor suddenly waved his wide sleeve and shouted, "This is no place to linger! Run!"
Sweeping up Guo Xiaodie, he whistled away with the speed of hurtling thunder!
The ancestors and mysterious experts of the other major clans could endure it no longer. Forcibly suppressing the primal terror rising from their souls, they led their juniors away in panicked retreat at top speed, not daring to stay a moment longer!
"Hee-haw, hee-haw—!" The donkey brought by Old Ancestor Zhu cried out in terror, galloping madly as he brayed, "Wait for me! Hee-haw—"
"Old Ancestor, let's eat donkey meat when we get back!"
"Mm, we'll eat it when we get back!"
The smaller tribulation cloud in the sky had already expanded to a hundred li across, drawing even more power from the massive cloud!
*Rumble!* Hidden thunder broke inside the storm clouds, deafening to the ears.
The maiden Qing felt her heart leap in terror. Her cultivation had already reached the Ascension stage, but she had avoided ascending to dodge the Heavenly Tribulation. Now, she felt her own tribulation fortune stirring, threatening to summon down her own tribulation!
Uncertain and wary, she no longer stopped the sorrowful old man.
The sorrowful old man roared, "If we don't seal him now, we'll all die! Strike!"
He and the woman in red rallied their spirits, circulating their Primordial Spirits and focusing completely as they thrust their fingers toward vital points across Xu Ying's body!
Though his body had been punctured in three places and severely injured, the white-haired elder's will remained unbroken. Struggling to his feet and covered in blood, he stirred his Primordial Spirit and struck Xu Ying with finger after finger, coordinating closely with the other two.
As the three poured their finger force into him, the two tribulation clouds in the sky began to separate. The tribulation cloud hanging above Mount Wuwang slowly shrank, gradually returning to normal.
The furious aura whipping around Xu Ying also subsided, losing its terrifying edge.
The suffocating sense of doom pressing upon everyone's hearts dissipated. Those fleeing in the distance stopped in bewildered relief, feeling as if they had narrowly escaped death.
The Son of Heaven of the Nether Court let out a soft exclamation of surprise. Looking toward Xu Ying, he murmured, "How could he possibly channel the power of the Heavenly Tribulation? Who on earth is he? Is he truly just a snake catcher from Lingling? And those people beside him..."
He looked at the sorrowful old man and the others, filled with shock.
He had never seen these people before, yet their depths felt completely unfathomable!
The sorrowful old man immediately sensed danger and whispered, "Our action just now drew too much attention. Let's leave before complications arise!"
He and the woman in red supported the white-haired elder, leaped into the azure sky, and vanished without a trace.
The bronze bell urgently asked, "Qing, do you know where those three came from? Qing?"
Without anyone noticing, the maiden Qing had also disappeared, along with the black coffin that suppressed her.
Seeing this, the Son of Heaven of the Nether Court immediately instructed in a low voice, "Depart! Return to the Netherworld!"
The ghost kings hoisted the coffin, placed it within the imperial carriage, and descended the mountain. Reaching the banks of the Nai River, they boarded a multi-decked vessel. The ship sailed forth and vanished into the mists of the Nai River.
Xu Ying's breath finally stabilized. He turned to the bronze bell and said, "Lord Bell, just now, I felt as though I had merged with the Heavenly Tribulation and reached its very core, as if I had become the Heavenly Tribulation itself."
Excited, he continued, "I saw Zhou Qiyun and the three hundred and sixty heavenly gods enduring the tribulation, and I could even perceive each person's tribulation fortune. I even felt that I could bring down tribulation upon them. It felt as if I had become the Heavenly Dao."
The bronze bell went numb with lingering dread.
"Just when I wanted to give it a try, a force pulled me back."
Xu Ying sounded rather regretful. Suddenly, he looked down at Mount Wuwang and asked in confusion, "Wait, where did everybody go?"
Mount Wuwang was in absolute shambles, leaving behind only Qi and the brothers Niu Zhen and Niu Gan. Everyone else had vanished into thin air.
At the same time, Zhou Qiyun's Heavenly Tribulation was gradually drawing to a close.
Chapter 87