Chapter 97: The Heavenly Tribulation Descends

His deduction process was essentially a quest for answers from the Big Dipper constellation. The Big Dipper wouldn't directly give him the answers;instead, it searched through past starlight images based on his thoughts and then retrieved matching scenes for Su Yuan. Then Su Yuan would organize and calculate through a series of steps to derive the correct or nearly correct answers. The starlight of the Big Dipper has illuminated the world from ancient times to the present, recording everything that has happened. It contains countless pieces of information, but to find the needed information, precise search criteria must be provided. Of course, the higher the "permission" level and the more compatible a being is with the Big Dipper, the more and more accurate information it can access. The Seven Stars Shine Bright skill granted Su Yuan extremely high permission and maximum compatibility, making his deductions almost unstoppable. After guessing the origin of the heavenly tribulation and using it as a foundation for deduction, Su Yuan subconsciously received feedback from the Big Dipper, resulting in several conclusions. These included the Dao foundation quality, magical power quality, soul strength fused into the Nascent Soul, and the depth and breadth of the universal principles of heaven and earth. Calculating roughly, with his current Nascent Soul strength, he would have to endure twelve strikes of heavenly thunder. The power of the heavenly thunder would reach the early Nascent Soul level. This early Nascent Soul level refers to the power at the moment the tribulation strikes;cultivators can continuously weaken the thunder's intensity by attacking and confronting it. After weakening, defensive techniques can block it, so the damage to the body is obviously reduced multiple times. Heavenly thunder is a one-time attack;unlike cultivators, it cannot continuously supply energy. Thus, heavenly thunder with early Nascent Soul power is not as difficult as imagined. The benefit of passing through it is simple: an enhanced perception of the universal principles of heaven and earth. The stronger the tribulation one passes, the easier it becomes to comprehend these principles later. Su Yuan glanced at his fifth-grade and sixth-grade spiritual treasures and fell into thought. With these two treasures protecting him and his own strength, resisting a heavenly tribulation at the Transformation stage did not seem like a difficult problem. So he began to look for ways to increase his tribulation strength. Among the Dao foundation quality, magical power quality, and soul strength, none could be changed in the short term. The only modifiable factor was the universal principles fused within! Su Yuan immediately infused his comprehension of the star realm into the Nascent Soul's Dao foundation. When the intensity of the realm's power rose to rudimentary mastery, the tribulation clouds expanded once, increasing the thunder strikes to fourteen. When the star realm improved to minor success, the tribulation clouds expanded a second time, and the thunder strikes rose to fifteen. When he raised the star realm to great success, the tribulation clouds expanded again, reaching seventeen strikes. Finally, Su Yuan infused the perfect-level star realm into his Nascent Soul. The clouds in the sky displayed two complete layers of tribulation clouds, signifying the birth of a full Double-Nine Heavenly Tribulation. At this point, the heavenly tribulation had reached the Double-Nine level. The tribulation clouds began automatically brewing thunder tribulations. Su Yuan steadied himself and waited for the heavenly thunder to fall. Su Yuan’s actions stunned the surrounding elders who had been observing. “What? A full Double-Nine Heavenly Tribulation!” Nangong Xianweng’s expression changed drastically;his face darkened as he said, “How is this possible?” Gu Qingzhu was completely flustered now: “This… does this mean the thunder tribulation’s power will reach the peak of the Transformation stage?” Yang Pingzhi’s face was solemn as she said, “Exactly. Activate the sect’s mountain-protection array! Be ready to support Elder Su Yuan at any time. Remember, let the formation’s spirit control itself;do not intervene manually!” “Understood!” Gu Qingzhu nodded. He knew well that the heavenly tribulation could not be helped artificially. But the formation itself was not a true living being, so it could provide limited assistance. However, the heavenly tribulation inflicted great damage on the formation’s spirit, possibly even erasing its intelligence, so he had to force the formation spirit to act by the sect leader’s order. He immediately communicated with the mountain-protection array’s spirit, instructing, “Formation spirit, I order you to protect Elder Su Yuan when he can no longer hold against the heavenly tribulation!” “Sect leader, please place the sect leader’s token into the formation’s core!” the formation spirit’s calm voice replied. “Just wait…” Gu Qingzhu snorted coldly and hurried back to the sect’s main hall. Before he could place the sect leader’s token inside, he found the mountain-protection array was already activated. “The mountain-protection array is activated and on standby. However, I believe it is unnecessary,” the formation spirit said. Gu Qingzhu’s face darkened. “If you can activate without the sect leader’s token, why must I use it every time to activate you?” The formation spirit fell silent and did not respond. Gu Qingzhu immediately realized he had been fooled by the formation spirit all these years. This being’s intelligence was far from the low and rigid performance he had previously shown. His face turned as black as a pot bottom, but in his heart, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. The formation spirit’s words made him understand that Su Yuan would not be in danger. Standing beneath the heavenly tribulation, Su Yuan did not feel even a trace of oppression from it. Seeing the surrounding elders all struggling to withstand it, he realized that the Great Being’s Demeanor skill was shielding him from the tribulation’s pressure. He thought to himself, “Why does this heavenly tribulation feel like it has no pressure at all? If I wasn’t staring at it, I would think someone else was undergoing tribulation.” But Su Yuan suddenly had a new idea. He looked at the Great Being’s Demeanor entry on his panel, then glanced at the tribulation clouds. Quietly, he activated this entry. Something amazing happened. A faint but unmistakable heavenly might began to rise from his body! “Is this even possible?” Su Yuan widened his eyes, feeling the pressure of might on him. It was the oppressive power of the heavenly tribulation, but at this moment, it transformed into his own pressure. This pressure was even one rank stronger than the Double-Nine tribulation’s pressure in the sky, reaching the Triple-Nine tribulation level. Su Yuan kept this heavenly might hidden, pondering a question: after the thunder strikes fall, what changes would occur if he used this heavenly might to suppress them? While he was deep in thought, the heavenly thunder finished brewing. Under the watchful eyes of all, the first faint and tiny heavenly thunder descended from the sky. This tribulation’s power barely reached the early Nascent Soul threshold, something any Nascent Soul cultivator could resist. Su Yuan didn’t even have the desire to resist. When the thunder approached his body, it met the heavenly might generated by his Great Being’s Demeanor. The thunder paused for a moment in midair. Su Yuan was stunned. It seemed he could control the thunder’s movement? He instinctively manipulated the thunder to slightly change its trajectory. And surprisingly, it worked! He could even easily slow its speed. However, the command to attack him was unbreakable;the thunder still headed for his body. Su Yuan let the thunder fall smoothly onto him. At the moment it struck, Su Yuan seemed to fully gain the right to control this thunder, tempering himself with it and preventing it from causing damage. His physical body was already strong enough, so after only a few breaths, the thunder’s energy was fully consumed. Su Yuan’s physical strength increased slightly, but he didn’t feel anything special. Outside, cultivators only saw Su Yuan effortlessly tank the first thunder strike with his body and even use it to temper himself. No one showed particular surprise because this was normal. With the power of the Seven Stars Patriarch, it was only natural to tank the first thunder strike with the body. The heavenly tribulation continued. The second and third thunder strikes followed one after another. Su Yuan still endured them with his body. Whenever a thunder strike touched his body, it was completely controlled by him. It seemed the thunder had completed its assigned mission, and the tribulation no longer cared about its subsequent effects. This was actually very normal. The thunder had hit its target, and relying on its power alone, it was enough to give the tribulation cultivator a hard time. The aftermath did not need attention. But after the tribulation released control, Su Yuan’s heavenly might took over. This instantly made the thunder’s subsequent damage vanish into nothingness. With this, what threat did the tribulation still pose? His physical body was strong enough, so for the following thunder strikes, he controlled them to enter his spiritual sea, allowing them to temper his Nascent Soul. Under the careful tempering of the thunder, Su Yuan’s Nascent Soul rapidly grew and even showed signs of evolving toward the Yang God transformation. This transformation was supposed to be done by a Nascent Soul at the Transformation stage, but Su Yuan started early. He never expected such a change to occur. The value of the Great Being’s Demeanor entry was infinitely rising! Su Yuan dared say that anyone who knew about this entry would not remain calm! The thunder continued to fall. When the ninth strike arrived, its power was already terrifying! But this strike, which alone could shatter a peak Nascent Soul, vanished without a trace the moment it touched Su Yuan’s body, as if his body had a powerful ability to devour thunder and consumed it entirely. In reality, Su Yuan had transferred the thunder into his spiritual sea, turning it into a thunder sphere waiting to be refined by his Nascent Soul. Su Yuan’s Nascent Soul refining speed couldn’t keep up with the thunder’s arrival speed, which made him frown in thought. A serious problem arose: when the tribulation finished, wouldn’t his Great Being’s Demeanor end without the thunder? At that time, the thunder would become wild again! Thinking this, he suddenly snapped awake and quickly summoned the Myriad Treasures Heaven-Earth Cauldron. “Old Qian, quickly devour and refine these thunders!” Su Yuan immediately ordered. “What? Thunder? You want me to refine them?” Old Qian was dumbfounded. “Are you trying to extinguish my intelligence?” Su Yuan calmly said, “Don’t worry. All these thunders are under my control and won’t harm you!” “How is that possible?” Old Qian rolled its eyes, then looked at the thunder that had floated in front of it. The wild thunder now appeared extremely docile, looking as harmless as a stray cat by the roadside. Old Qian was stunned. “This is thunder?”