Crushing the vitality pills, he absorbed the appearing red mist through all of his pores. His blood circulated at breaknecking speed; his heart thumped and pressed on his ribs, making itself shown to the world.

The clouds let out constant rumbles and booms, then expanded twice the size. However, constricted by the formation, they couldn’t exceed the thousand-meter distance within the folded space.

Thus, it began to descend towards the ground. Hundred meters in length, a thousand meters in width, the revolution of this gigantic phenomena of nature sent chills through the observers.

It was ordinary for a tribulation cloud to be around five hundred-meters wide.

A thousand meters already forced the limits of Bronze Core Formation.

What did a hundred meter length say, then?

Was he truly breaking through to Foundation Establishment, or shooting straight up to ascendance?

Swallowing, gaping, people rushed back to their seats and put on their sunglasses.

The audience turned lively once more, shouting and hollering for him to go on.

Li Ao bit his lip in frustration.

‘’Why the fuck are you enjoying this!?’’

‘’What happened to my speed...’’

That was due course—what was a tribulation? It wasn’t something to be underestimated.

Still, Li Ao pointed his finger at the heavens again.

He didn’t know why this gesture made the heavens feel challenged.

Was it able to see it for what it was? Did heavens have the required cultural background to understand it?

He thought about it, but it wasn’t terribly important. After all, it worked.

Golden bolts of thunder combined into Heavenly Thunder flashing blue. Sky dyed with colourful lights, the heavens seemed to touch his mind with a finger.

‘Hey, let’s play more!’

A chill crept its way in Li Ao’s heart.

‘’What?’’

The thunder struck down.

This time, there was no single strike!

Roaring and exploding, they all fell in consecutive strikes.

Li Ao let out gasp and shrill screams, enduring the thunder striking at his organs. His bones, guts, kidneys, stomach, lungs, heart, brain, blood vessels, muscles, skin—everywhere, everything all at once began to burn.

One strike after another sent him bowing to the ground. Yet, with that pain, he could feel his vitality rise to the sky. The bloody aura around him began to merge with the bronze mist, turning its colour into faint silver.

The two auras collapsed within each other and turned smaller and smaller—then Li Ao, shivering, noticed another strand of Hell Thunder form.

‘’Oh no!’’

It struck without any wait.

The heavens were aware, and they knew this kind of tempering was better for the body than a slow onslaught. After all, if there were any interruptions, Li Ao’s pain would make him instinctively use Spirit Qi to block some of it. That would leave his body incomplete.

Also, it was the perfect chance to raise his pain threshold.

Heavens were ‘that’ considerate...

Li Ao’s screams made people wince and spit their drinks. Not only was it terrible to hear, the tempering of his voice cords made them even louder than ever, echoing even in the other districts of the city.

More and more people began to gather to watch the horrifying sight.

Trembling on both feet, Li Ao’s head went blank. His senses kept coming back and forth—one moment there was no sound, in another he saw nothing, then the next he couldn’t feel any of his muscles.

He fell face first onto the ground, paralyzed, but within his dantian everything was still under way.

A scarlet and silver mix of mist began to pour atop his pagoda, forming three floors of bright red color! The illusion behind him immediately reflected the change.

As the image further clarified itself, more of his body began to break down. Blood poured out of his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth—every one of his pores spewed out dirty bronze blood.

The pain almost made him mad.

It took ten minutes for the thunder to be spent.

Once it ended, Li Ao regained his bearings and pushed himself up the floor.

Now, he was covered in bronze blood and Silver mist, extending no further than two meters away from his body. However, it felt ten times heavier than the Bronze Mist, and he could still use it to form an Aura Weapon.

Gritting his teeth through the fear, Li Ao cast another finger towards the heavens.

‘’Come over you bastard! Let’s finish this shit!’’

At this point, someone noticed his little trick.

‘’What is he doing there? A luck charm?’’

‘’Must be some family tradition, right? Everyone receives tribulations with some trinket or ritual.’’

‘’Yeah, but most have charms or pictures, right? Why the middle finger?’’

The question stumped the audience.

Watching his heroic figure raise his last middle finger, the clouds halted, churned, then halted again.

It seemed to struggle for a while under the ridiculous gazes of the old monsters.

‘’The heavens are...hesitating?’’

Great-grandaunt turned sharp for a moment. Her gaze profound, she pointed at the clouds.

‘’They look like cotton candy!’’

Cheeks twitching, the Imperial Uncle, Wei Shi cast a side-long glance to his old friend.

‘’Li Bo, your grandson...isn’t he courting death?’’

‘’...’’

Li Bo, Li Ao’s grandpa, only massaged his temples.

‘’Little Anjing! Dear Anjing? Anjing, my baby nephew? Anjing, you mischievous brat! Show me what’s happening!’’

‘’He is courting death.’’

Aunt Shu swung her blade at something out of sight as she shouted. ‘’Don’t state the obvious!’’

Sighing, Li Anjing watched his nephew call forth another layer of dark clouds.

‘Caicai...why didn’t you pass down some of your intellect?’

Unable to watch, Li Anjing plugged his ears to Aunt Shu’s insults and closed his eyes.

Li Ao also had his eyes closed.

‘’No, no, I must be mistaken. I see it wrong, right?’’

Opening his eyes, he saw two strands of Hell Thunder forming.

‘’...why are there two?’’

‘’Why the fuck are there two of them!?’’

Li Ao looked down at his middle-finger, then up at the churning, three-hundred meter long clouds.

‘’Was I fucking scammed!?’’

He gulped twice and shielded himself with both Silver Mist and Qi.

His aura climbed up so high that even third and fourth-level Foundation Establishment cultivators began to feel the pressure.

‘’This kid is terrifying...’’ Li Xuanhe gulped as he looked at the tribulation cloud. ‘’What did Uncle Bo made him eat?’’

Li Ao did, in fact, eat something.

Taking out the 8th-grade Mind Bolstering Pill and Mutated Flying Fish core, he swallowed both of them.

A white fire enveloped his entire body, burning away the silent pressure forming around the sky.

At this point, none of the two sides had the patience to wait.

Before anyone had the chance to brace themselves for the final strike, Li Ao let out a shout.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

‘’Flying sword!’’

His voice overrode the thundering clouds and clapped against the ears. The entire crowd, like a gigantic bubble, burst into another bout of excitement.

‘’Who will lend me their sword!?’’

A sword to ride into the heavens!

This was a heavenly chance, but also a heavenly risk!

With his current cultivation base, Li Ao could ride on any flying sword within his level.

If he dove into that cloud of Hell Thunder with that sword, and if the sword could endure the tempering with him, it could very well increase in a grade or two at the very least!

However, what kind of a sword could endure Hell Thunder? Only top tier Earth-Quality weapons had a chance to do so!

Most in the crowd had none of it, but those who had it were unwilling to lose it.

Yet, how could there not be people willing in a crowd of almost two million people?

‘’Young master, get my sword!’’

‘’Young master Li, help me raise its grade!’’

‘’Young master, please show me the might of your foundation!’’

Around three thousand swords took flight in an instant—sharp tip of these top tier earth-quality weapons tore at air and let out terrible screeches, each one racing to be the first one to reach.

After all, how could there be more than one sword?

There wasn’t enough thunder for it!

With a wry smile, Li Nan also waved her hand, but then, raising a brow, stopped.

Next to her, from the main hall’s window, a jade sword coated in spiritual light shot out towards the hill. Its pommel had a ‘Wei’ inscribed cloth.

This was a flying sword made for Imperial Children.

‘’Princess Long’s sword!’’

‘’Princess Long Liye answered his call!’’

The cold beauty beside the window was the youngest Foundation Establishment cultivator in the last one hundred years, Princes Long Liye, adopted daughter of Emperor Wei.

She wore thick and long robes that dangled behind her, adopted a crown over her long hair, and watched Li Ao’s excited expression with a trace of amusement.

The jade sword cut through the sky in a flash.

Li Xuanhe and the other elders made hand seals and opened a hole in the glittering formation.

For a moment, the true terror of the tribulation escaped the bounds of the folded space.

A howl, deep and so loud that it felt unbearable echoed thousands of meters around, sending shivers down mortals and Qi Condensation cultivators. The air pressure alone made them unable to raise their heads from fear.

This kind of primal fear of death could only be achieved through absolute helplessness.

Even then, the imposing sight of thousands of swords racing to be first lit up people’s hearts.

Amidst the cheers and howls, Long Liye made a hand seal where she stood.

From being in the middle, her jade sword accelerated and knocked out the dozen swords in front of it.

Those participating had the means to retaliate, but no one wanted to go against an Imperial for the tempering risk.

With wry smiles and frowns, no one employed their martial arts and let her sword enter first.

Once the sword shot in, Li Xuanhe and others sealed the formation back, and all sounds ceased. Only faint rumblings and claps of thunder could be heard.

The swords shot back to their owners and the arena fell silent. Once heard, never forgotten—everyone replayed the horrible sounds of the gathered clouds in their head.

Compared to what Li Ao faced, the pressure seen by the outsiders was at most one hundredth of the heavens’ might.

That was why they could see it as entertainment.

But from ages past to the current times, which cultivator dared to consider tribulations a mere show?

This was, no matter the arrangements, a battle against one’s self to triumph.

To make this ancient ritual into entertainment only showed the current prosperity of the Great Wei, as well as the Four Mountains realm.

To glimpse at this truth for a moment made most juniors contemplative of their situation, and their future.

Li Ao, holding the jade sword, showed a wry smile as well.

‘’Is this the payment for my offense?’’

The reason he was imprisoned was because of this princess as well.

He had only touched her hands while complimenting her nails, hence his grandfather’s anger...

Sighing with laughter, Li Ao put his feet on the flying sword and poured his Qi in.

The dark foundation’s abundant Qi seemed endless as it activated the formations dormant within the sword’s blade. They flashed with bright colors, then shot his figure up like an arrow.

The clouds let out one last rumble—two strands of Hell Thunder condensed into a single bolt. The hill, its grass and earth began to burn, dying the heavens with scarlet red flames.

Raised temperature made Li Ao’s senses sting—even his recently increased affinity made it hard to endure the pressure. Sweating, breathing out steam, he traversed the sky.

Shockwaves followed his ascent, and in a moment Li Ao appeared two hundred meters below the small bolt of scarlet thunder.

‘’Bubbles!’’

Since this was the last hurdle, of course he wouldn’t miss the chance to temper Bubbles!

The little thing appeared on him like a liquid and formed into a four-limbed silver sludge. She held onto his neck with two appendages and smashed his chest with the other two.

‘Go, brother, go!’

‘’Go sister go!’’

Shouting together, they shot straight into the falling thunder.

A scarlet Sun descended into the earth. The momentum of both forces created a point where all energy compressed into a single spark, Li Ao’s soul turned infinitely bright, then exploded into a ball of white and scarlet fire.

The amalgamation of thunder and soul expanded again and again, turning from one hundred-meter diameter to one hundred and twenty, and at last one hundred and forty!

Each expansion razed the ground and rattled the walls of the formations. Hundreds of thousands of people found the world cloaked in scarlet, and most forced themselves to close their eyes.

Even with sunglasses, looking straight at it burnt the cornea!

For ten whole seconds the explosive ball expanded and Li Ao’s soul further broke down. Yet he wasn’t destroyed. He grit and preserved.

There were small white threads connecting each separated piece. They seemed to be hung in the sky, unable to fall or rise, but perpetually stuck in place, acting as if constellations on a starry sky.

The magical and terrible sight caused people suck in their breaths.

A soul tribulation was the same as Spirit and Physique.

There had to be destruction for there to be creation.

Yet, what kind of a pain did one have to go through to have their Soul destroyed?

They shuddered, but Li Ao felt only warmth.

Not just warmth, it was hot, unbearably hot!

Sweating from his blood-shot eyes and inside his ears, Li Ao tore his lips from biting down. His skin lit up with orange flames, adding another color to the white and scarlet crescendo.

Adept level Soul Expanding Manual!

His affinity further aided the process—threads of white light began to pull each other back into Li Ao, leaving trickles of light behind their revolutions.

Bit by bit, he gathered the soul fragments around him, re-connecting his soul. Each fragment returned three times larger than before, yet also brought even more pain.

Bubbles, however, kept his attention at bay. Whenever he felt like giving up, or stumbled because of the pain, she banged his chest and shouted within their connection.

‘Go, brother, go!’

‘Go, brother, go!’

‘Go, brother, go!’

Repeating the motion again and again, unable to lose his focus with that encouragement, Li Ao spent fifteen minutes in the sky amidst the explosion.

His figure was invisible, but with each soul fragment out of sight more people held their breaths.

At last, the clouds began to disperse, and the ball of explosion dimmed.

Revolving once, twice, then thrice, it shrank to a fist-sized ball of tame thunder.

Li Ao grasped it with his charred skin and flew out of the debris.

He looked absolutely hammered—most of his skin, hair, and cultivated beard was burnt, while Bubbles hung on him like a molten piece of metal.

Sending her back into the spatial ring to absorb her portion of Hell Thunder and soul power, Li Ao focused on his dantian.

Like a flood, his improved Soul Power poured into the upper three floors of the pagoda. It absorbed some of his Qi and Blood to construct three separate layers, each a milky-white color, emanating a mystifying aura that confused those looking at it.

For a moment, he looked at the melting crowd, enjoyed the fame, and ignoring the cheers and hollers shut his eyes.

The revolving fragments of the last six Spirit floors halted, then began to rain upon Li Ao’s pagoda. Like a snowstorm, these violet and golden pieces absorbed the power of his foundation and turned dark, and upon changing colors began to build the tenth and last floor of his foundation.

Right as he completed it, the dark color began to spread from the bottom to the up.

The blurry illusion of a ten story pagoda appeared behind him, a hundred meters in length, with a dark exterior absorbing ambient light.

Bit by bit, the illusion condensed into reality, and the first floor of his pagoda turned solid black.

‘’...ten floors.’’

Li Xuanhe let out a sigh of relief.

‘’This leg-high bastard has given too big of a scare!’’

After him, more people began to clamour and shout and cheer and boo—the mixed reaction caused strange looks to appear on Li Bo and other old-monsters’ faces.

‘’Tell me the truth, Old Bo—this boy didn’t stop cultivating, did he?’’

Wei Shi, the imperial uncle, had an understanding gaze on his smug face. ‘’With this big of an attraction, your sales must have tripled Liye’s breakthrough event, right?’’

Stroking his beard, he cast a cunning look at Li Bo. ‘’What a sly man you are, I truly underestimated you!’’

Li Bo averted his gaze from the old formation Grandmaster and instead peered at the sword Li Ao rode.

‘’She still benefitted more, as it stands, though unjustly.’’

‘’What is unjust about it? They should have competed for the chance if they wanted fairness.’’

Li Bo flicked his sleeve at the response.

Taking deep breaths to calm himself down, Li Ao descended on the remains of the hill—a sorry displacement of charred rocks and earth, and took the jade sword in his hand.

It had a thick jaded blade, a thin dark handle, and a red cloth that read ‘Wei’ on its pommel. It was originally third-grade Earth Quality.

When it fought the Hell Thunder with him, the sword reached Second-grade Earth Quality, which was nothing short of remarkable.

Li Ao cast a glance at the tame thunder and stored it away.

Since he reached Foundation Establishment in every aspect, he had no trouble in flinging the sword away.

With a wave of his hand, it shot through the opened up formation and crashed at Long Liye’s window.

Frowning, she took a step forward and clawed at the sword’s hilt—her hand met the sword, a boom echoed, and she was forced to take three steps back from the impact.

Hearing the gasps around, her eyes turned frosty.

Li Ao’s jaw dropped at her reaction. ‘’Oh shit, I didn’t intend to be that rough—’’

Quickly, he sent a Qi transmission using his new cultivation base.

‘Uh, dear princess, forgive my boorish act since I have ascended quickly and am not aware of my newfound powers. Instead, I helped your flying sword reach the second-grade Earth Quality. In the future, with that sword you can escape from average Core Formation Cultivators just by employing your cultivation base. Again, do forgive me.’

With that, ignoring her weird looks, Li Ao bowed towards the seething Li Xuanhe, then towards the steaming Li Bo.

Ignoring his signs, Li Ao’s Blood and Qi let out loud rumbles.

‘’Oh I am terribly injured and am afraid I must take my immediate leave to consolidate my realm for a few hundred years!’’

Then without wait he shot into the family estate and locked himself into his room.

Ignoring his father and the steam rising from his bald head, Li Anjing stood up to leave as well.

‘’:..Anjing, you retarded bastard of a nephew! Pick me up! Pick me up I said! Let me see!’’