Thunder rumbled like angry lions, sending waves of terrifying energy down on the city.
Every eye turned, and every heart shrunk at the anomaly that hadn't occurred in more than one thousand years in the city.
"An immortal is about to ascend," they rejoiced. They knelt and murmured prayers, hoping the one ascending would deliver them to the gods.
The mortals prayed while the cultivators drew closer to gain blessings from the tribulation that was about to open the Path and flow cosmic energy into their world.
According to the texts passed down from generation to generation, gaining these blessings would accelerate one's growth and become one step closer to immortality.
The lightning sizzled even louder as it began dropping from the dark clouds that had cast a heavy shadow upon the city.
"Who is ascending?" The cultivators could be heard asking amongst themselves while they peered from a distance to protect themselves.
"Why did they choose this place? Wouldn't the mountains be better?"
"What do you know? As long as you're an immortal, even if you walk sideways, nobody is qualified to challenge you."
"Senior brother, the elders ordered us not to leave the sect unless it is necessary. We're breaking the-"
"Shut up! If you're scared, go back and hide yourself like a loser. Can't you see the other disciples are heading to the city?"
Like a swarm of bees, disciples from all the sects filled the air flying towards the city, their Masters having led the way minutes ago.
Ren stood outside a balcony of the nearest building, which was tall enough to allow him, along with others, to spectate what was going on in the arena.
He looked up in the distance and spotted countless cultivators who had come here for the show about to unfold.
Barriers were erected all around the arena to contain the chaotic energy that would fill it.
*Crack* The first bolts of black lightning fell from the clouds with the anger of millions of soldiers stomping their way into a battlefield. *Boom* Thunder followed, loud enough to leave mortals deaf if the barrier had not been put in place.
The arrays that protected the city were destroyed like eggshells trying to fight against a mountain till there was nothing left.
The female who was long dead received these bolts of lightning that were meant to obliterate anything below five thousand out of existence.
Soon, the elders realized that this was not a tribulation but the Dao punishment for defying the laws. It was similar to an immortal's tribulation and differed with how long it lasted.
They could see that the person being punished was already dead and her body chares beyond recognition, yet the Dao wasn't stopping.
The second wave came.
A roar like heavy trumpets being blown filled the sky before the head of a dragon made of black lightning made an appearance from the center of the clouds swirling around.
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The sight left Ren feeling like an ant as he sensed the intensity of the dragon's breath.
Fear spread outwards past the barriers the cultivators were pouring their qi into to keep it intact.
He closed his eyes and stopped breathing to connect with the energy from the heavens. Like him, many other cultivators sat on the floor cross-legged to meditate and gain enlightenment even if it was a thing later of it.
A second roar blasted the atmosphere as the dragon flew downwards at a heavy and slow pace, exposing half of its long body.
The pressure in the air multiplied a hundredfold, striking more terror in the weaker souls. 'The Dao is not playing around today,' Ren thought opening his eyes and breathing again.
"Clay?" He called. "It's time to wake up. A big meal awaits you."
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DRAGON SWORD SECT
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Placed on Ren's bedside table was the cocoon in which Clay was still hibernating.
"There is so much noise in the city. I wish Master had taken me with him," Han groaned stroking the cocoon. "I want to gain a human body and follow him. Why did I have to be a plant? It'd have been fine if I was beast like you."
*Crack*
"Clay!" Han jumped away from the table with a frightened look in his eyes. "Did I...break you?"
He extended his hand, which was slightly trembling, to the table to touch the cocoon when a black hole appeared unexpectedly. Gasping, Han hopped on Ren's bed and cowered in the corner, pulling the cover to hide himself. "Master, I'm sorry, I did not..." The black hole was gone, and so was, Clay.
"Mas...ter?"
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The dragon opened its mouth and countless bolts of lightning rained down on the whole arena, reducing it to rubbles and dust in two breaths. Whatever had been left of the female and her disciple had now vanished without any traces.
The ferocity of the dragon's breath shook even Ren's soul as he stared up at it.
For a moment, he saw it glance in his direction as if it knew who was the real culprit behind this incident. It roared angrily, intending to attack him as well, when Clay appeared on its back in its true grown form. Eight feet long, Clay wound its body around the tribulation dragon's neck before biting into its body which was purely made of lightning and raw energy.
"What is happening?" The old men in the air behind the barrier wondered noticing the restlessness of the tribulation dragon after it began letting out loud and deafening roars.
One of them closed his eyes and looked through his mental eye. He gasped moving backward. "An azure serpent. It's...attacking the tribulation dragon."
"Azure serpent! Why is it here? Won't this bring us another disaster?"
They grew distracted while conversing which gave way to the overflowing energy to cause the barrier to crack.
"Call in all inner and core disciples!" One of the elders yelled out.
Facing such a calamity, all sects were bound to put their differences aside and help each other, lest they all perish with the city.
Xu'er flew to where her master was, her heart pounding from the shock and fear of what she had witnessed from the very beginning. "Xu'er, are you alright? You can go down if this is too much for-"
"Master. It's him. It's Dragon Sword's sect leader who-"
His master quickly shushed her by covering her mouth with his qi before he built a privacy barrier around them.
"Take it easy. Breathe first," he instructed.
When she was calm, he unbound her mouth. "Why do you keep forgetting everything I have been teaching you all these years whenever you walk about him?" There was a shadow of envy in his voice but he did not dwell on his dark feelings. "You should always maintain a-"
"He brought this tribulation. I was there. I saw it all."
To further calm her internal qi, her master blew some of his at her, aiding her to stand firmly on her sword. "Let us not discuss that here. Do not speak to anyone else what you have told me. Do you understand?"
She saluted, "Ye-yes, Master."
"Go down. I have to help the other elders."
She obeyed and flew away as soon as her master opened the barrier.
Some curious eyes from the white-bearded elders who had been close to them lingered on Xu'er's master long after she had left. But their nosiness was interrupted when the tribulation dragon roared out. It was now flying around the destroyed arena, constantly hitting the cracked barrier as its energy grew more chaotic by the second.
'Something is coming.'
Ren gazed into the hole between the clouds where the phantom of a gigantic golden hand was starting to emerge. The fluctuations emanating from it knocked away all the cultivators from the sky like dolls, shattering the barrier.
It made all under it crumble from the pressure, forcing them to submit to it.
Ren's eyes sharpened realizing whose hand it was... A god's.
And it was here to retrieve the tribulation dragon that Clay was riding on.
"Get out of there!" Ren ordered opening a black hole for Clay to escape through right before the hand grasped the dragon.
The last roar reverberated through the dense atmosphere whilst the hand slowly pulled it back into the hole shrouded by golden fog, marking the end of the punishment. A punishment that would have turned into a calamity for the entire city.
As if the Dao had not just tried to wreck everything in sight, the clouds dispersed and the sun began shining again.
To think that such a disaster had been initiated by a simple duel was laughable.