Unsurprisingly, the Soul and Mind Tribulations ended and he returned back to the previously scorched patch of earth, near the flowing river. With the ridiculous amount of Qi flowing due to the ongoing breakthrough though, the grass was flourishing and it became a patch of verdant green once more.

Moving his body and cracking his joints, Herman tried to get accustomed to the changes which occurred in his body. With a quick glance in his mind palace, he could already see the soul avatar quietly refining the new world created through the wrapping of Primordial Qi around the Diamond Core. He was also certain that his bodily cultivation leveled up slightly, but he didn't have the leisure to check just yet.

"Just in time! That damned memory left a really bad taste in my mouth. Come, come, come! Let daddy wipe the floor with you lot and vent out!"

Looking at the literal cut piece of sky from where heaps of demonic Qi were flowing in, he couldn't help but taunt while sneering. Unsheathing his Thundering Sword and walking slowly towards the portal, he was remembered about acting the same way in the illusion he just re-lived, making a truly ugly expression appear on his face.

For some reason, he was getting angrier by the second when remembering what just transpired and his hands were getting itchy.

"So that's the first wave, huh? Imps..."

After all the built anger and anticipation, he couldn't help but feel perplexed and slightly disappointed when seeing the Imps appear. How could these creatures be described most aptly? A preschooler dressed up as a small devil for Halloween!

They were of the appropriate preschooler height, fully red, sporting a pair of small horns on their foreheads and a pair of wings on their backs. The wings were so small, that the unfortunate bastards were unable to actually fly for long distances, and instead, could just glide for a short period of time while attacking. They had no weapon to speak of even if a small pitchfork would've complimented their attire quite nicely.

"As for attacking patterns and methods... they use their teeth and small claws. Usually, they rely on their numerical advantage to overwhelm and drown their targets."

Seeing them gather and squeal excitedly, Herman was automatically reminded of the old joke he often found on the internet.

"What was it again? How many waves of middle-schoolers could take on, while every five waves a highschool mini-boss appears? Why does this situation resemble that but at an ever lower scale? Or was it preschoolers with a middle-schooler mini-boss? Shit! I'm I getting too old to remember!?"

Somehow, the amusing situation happening in front of his eyes began pissing him off even worse than before, making him directly leap at the mini horde of imps. He wasn't even slightly worried about their numbers or the damage they dealt.

Once reaching the Soul Wandering realm, the tribulations become slightly stronger. For example, the Wind Tribulation he was undergoing right now had a total of five waves, with the fifth being optional.

The first wave was made of demonic creatures that retain only 25% of the cultivator's every attribute. That means that that if the cultivator has a total of 100K in the grand sum of Strength, Dexterity, Life Essence, and Vitality, the main attributes of the demonic creatures will be 25K at max. The decrease by 75% for each one, ensures a pretty fair survival rate. After all, if special beasts such as the Qiongqi appear when someone tries to break through, there won't be as many cultivators left in the world.

Taking as an example the previous 100K grand total, if one or more of the demonic creatures has 70K in Life Essence and the rest split by 10K each, the cultivator would die 100%, drowned in the very first wave. The System ensures that it won't happen by taking the cultivator's attribute page and copy/pasted it on the assailants. Then, all that's left is applying the 75% discount and... Voila! You got yourself a horde of weak mobs doing their best to drown you with their spittle.

Without even counting, Herman was already swinging his sword at the little pipsqueaks, drawing both blood and horrifyingly high-pitched screams from the imps. Unfortunately for these little creatures, their main abilities were in dispelling and preventing immortal spells. Their current attacker was using nothing but physical attacks though, making these unfortunate bastards continuously yell in frustration (and pain).

"Hehehe! Since you like evoking shitty memories, why don't I thank you by showing off something you can't dispel or prevent. Furthermore, I have you, bastards, as responsible parties for reminding me of it."

The AOE (area of effect) immortal spell he just used in the illusion before. It was called Forest of Demise and at its peak, it could cover an area of over 1.000 square kilometers if used by a Profound Immortal or higher. As for extending the range more than that... it wasn't a good idea, to begin with, forcing those that wanted to keep using it to only strengthen the potency of it. At his current level, judging by the over 70K Spirit Qi he could store, the best he could do was 70 square meters with an attack power equal to 50% of his normal value.

Judging by the ever-growing numbers of imps, they should be at least about a hundred or so already. Without hesitating any longer, Herman stomped on the ground heavily and injected over 50% of his total Qi reserves. Not even seconds later, earth javelins thick as a grown man's arm began rushing up from the ground as if they were bamboo shoots. It was a massacre!

While the imps could steal Qi and disrupt spells that way, the combination of Spirit, Primordial Qi, and earth already created a physical object attacking them from below. Even if they wouldn't be taken by surprise, they would still be unable to do anything about this sort of attack.

"And that's that!"

Looking around at the carnage he created, Herman seemed quite pleased with himself and managed to vent at least a mouthful of those bitter feelings he was force-fed before. Now, even the terrain was slightly affected because of the dust and earth being moved from left to right. Undoing the spell, the javelins shattered and the bodies of the imps fell to the ground with a thud, never to rise again. The main issue he was facing now was the bodies. There were too many of them and too far apart to deal with them all at once.

"The demonic Qi isn't something that should be let to run rampant in this territory. Not to mention creatures, even the plants would be heavily affected and undergo horrifying mutations. *Sigh* I really don't want to waste more Qi and energy, but it doesn't seem that I have a choice."

After more than half an hour of walking from body to body and firmly stabbing each one just to be safe, he stacked them all in one big pile and used Qi to collapse the earth. A pit was created and he swiftly brought out some animal fat reserves he purchased and kept in his Inventory, just for situations like this.

"Initially, I bought this in case I had to deal with cultivator's corpses without leaving any traces behind, so you lot ought to thank me for my generosity. No, no, no! You don't have to go as far as lowering yourself to the ground in front of me. Or into it..."

While acting out like a total nutcase, Herman poured 20% of the liquefied animal fat over the pile in a careful manner, stood away at least twenty meters, and then threw a spark in the pit. Moments later he began cussing.

"Motherf*cker! It smells so damn bad! It's like someone that didn't wash their feet in centuries suddenly decided to make a perfume with it..."

Indeed, the distance wasn't in preparation for an explosion, but just to avoid the horrifyingly bad smell. Unfortunately, it appears that no distance would save him from that repugnant stench, wondering if he would have future nightmares about it.

Such inquiries were left unanswered since he couldn't bother with the imps any longer. The second wave was already descending.

"Wonder what's behind door number 2? Wasn't there a chocolate kind of desert that hid surprises inside? Haven't felt this way since the last time I ate one. Haha!"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

With no apparent worries about his rapidly declining mental sanity, Herman looked expectantly at the second tear in the sky that appeared just as sudden as the first. He didn't have to wait for long, as a dog-like creature was already lunging at him. Seeing the sulfur breath it was exhaling, he immediately realized what it was.

"Hellhounds. Tsk! They are going with a full demonic course? Should I feel honored?"

Usually, one's Wind Tribulation is accompanied by all sorts of evil creatures from the Six Realms of Samsara. There were the obvious demons from the Hell Realm which Herman was currently busy with, the pain in the ass ghosts from the Ghost Realm, the even worse annoyances asuras from the Asura Realm, the powerful beasts from the Animal Realm (usually the most fun to fight against since they always put up a good fight), and the most stuck-up figures in existence, the demi-gods from the Heavenly Realm. The last realm would be the Human Realm, but since the cultivator undergoing tribulations (Herman) was a human himself, he would only be attacked by evil creatures belonging to the other five worlds.

"Still... 2 out of 5 and they are both demons. That's pretty rare! Tsk! Should've had a camera or a recording talisman in hand. This would serve as a nice viewing material for the bored masses."

As for the hellhounds... even with 50% of Herman's attributes, they were still weak beyond words. Not to mention that besides a slightly thicker skin, they had no specific advantages to be proud of. In the Hell hierarchy, hellhounds rank over imps only due to their ferocious nature and the wolf-like pack mentality. In fact, one of their favorite snacks is the unfortunate imp.

"As always, hell sounds like a very fun place!"

Even as he yelled out from time to time, Herman was busy cutting dogs in half left and right. Well, hounds if we're to be specific, but it was all the same to him. Their numbers were much lesser than the imps and in order to save time and energy, he stood next to the still smelly pit and hacked left and right. As soon as a body would fall, he would kick it into the pit, making room for the next one.

This grinding process continued for the next three hours until finally, the last hell hound was killed and threw in the garbage pit. After another 20% of his animal fat reserves were used, silence and a horrible smell reigned over the surroundings. Next up would be the third wave which would have 75% of his normal attributes. As for numbers, the hell hounds were around 78 in total, less than half of the imps. From his past experience, he could expect around 30 or so monsters in the third wave.

"The heck!? Are you for real? What's going on right now?"

The third creature was already galloping his way, scaring the crap out of Herman. As for the reason why... that was because the third type of creature was still a demon. A Nightmare to be more precise.

The Nightmare was more or less a horse that has been fed so many steroids that a horn grew in the middle of its forehead. It would be funny to call it a unicorn, if not for the disparity between the two images. As the name implies, the Nightmare was mostly black with red flaming lines exploding into being here and there from time to time. Its hooves were leaving behind scorching marks on the earth, while its charge was a fearsome thing to stand against.

With 75% of his regular attributes, this Nightmare was quite the well-rounded opponent, not to mention that there were thirty of them.

"Actually, it looks more than forty. Something is really up!"

Not wanting to be trampled into horse shit, Herman ran towards the forest where he could have an advantage. Using the trees as well as hit and run tactics, he could secure an easy victory against these brainless opponents. The only thing he was silently complaining about, was the fact that he might have to dig another pit or drag their bodies back to the original one.

Unfortunately again, his plan proved to be quite inefficient as tree after tree was being either uprooted or smashed into bits. He forgot about their attributes...

"*Sigh* Having high attributes but no good skills or immortal spells is quite a pain in the ass. Even the previous attempt is only a replica..."

Speaking of the previous spell, 'The Forest of Demise', it was also a spell that could only be learned first. The reason behind the differences was quite obvious. First off, in the illusion, Herman's spell created humongous tree-like spears to impale the enemies made out of steel. In the current pirated version, it was made out of simple earth molded by Qi. Only after obtaining the skill book or having a master teach it to him would he be able to re-create the pathways needed to properly use the spell.

If there was one advantage to the 'pirated' version, however, it was its practicability. Given that it had no fixed pathways and Herman could decide how the Qi was injected into the earth, as well as in what quantities, he could also manipulate it in a different way, bringing about different results.

After much thinking while on the run, Herman decided on the most Qi-economic plan and once more, stomped the ground hard. If anyone else saw what it was produced, their eyes might've fallen from their sockets, complaining about how he acted in such a grand and majestic way, yet he only created ten or so small mounds of earth.

Surprisingly though, as soon as the Nightmares stumbled upon them and sneering at how they would be trampled into dust, they actually stumbled over them and fell over. The Nightmares following close behind weren't able to stop in time and instead, walked with their burning hooves all over their fallen comrades. Using a footwork technique, he moved behind the herd while it was rattled because of the unfortunate event and silently ended the life of the seven fallen ones.

Repeating this process took more than two hours since the 'horses' weren't dumb enough to fall for the same trick multiple times. Nevertheless, by the time they stumbled over the mounds for the third time, their numbers were reduced to less than half, allowing for Herman to take a more... direct approach.

"Hmm... I wonder if I could tame one of these horses. Riding it would look very cool, not to mention that it would keep me quite warm in the winter..."

If the poor dead Nightmares could hear his ranting, it's likely that they would wake up from the dead only to scold him for being shameless. Now, with three waves down and the fourth incoming, he did his best to recover slightly and mentally prepare.

Judging by the numbers so far, he should face slightly more than ten opponents that have the same amount of attributes as he does. Unlike before, he was seriously pondering what tactic to adopt in his next fight. Nightmares were already pretty high on the Hell's ladder, so giving how the System was skipping steps in bringing enemies forward, he began sweating at the idea of having to face actual humanoid demons in the next wave.

"F*ck! I hope the System doesn't do me in like that. I can take on a horde of dumb enemies using wit and tactics, but having to face opponents with actual positive IQ's is always a challenge..."

Especially having to face over ten such creatures with the same amount of attributes as himself. His complaints were rejected by the System though, as the space he was standing on was suddenly surrounded by nine different pentagrams. Seeing the purple summoning spells, he hurried and used his Qi to try and disrupt a couple of them, only to fail in the end.

The amount of Qi the System could invest in a spell compared with his petty amount... there was no contest there.

Gulping loudly, he witnessed nine shadows materializing out of the famed void, all carrying a slightly humanoid form, if it wasn't for their huge wings and long tails. As soon as they appeared, they all stabbed their broken swords in the ground at the same time, forming another nine smaller pentagrams in the air. Feeling impending doom, Herman infused over 25% of his Qi reserves into his legs and jumped as high as possibly could. As soon as he made his move, nine gigantic fireballs collapsed the small hill he was previously standing on.

"Motherf*cker! Nine Pit Lords!? What sort of devil emperor did I piss off and how!?"

The Hell Realm followed a very human-like society, with ranks being assigned to demons depending on their power. At the very top stood demon emperors who were usually above the Immortal King realm or at the peak of it. Under them were demon kings, demon lords, demon princes, demon dukes, marquees, etc. The Pit Lords were Earls holding quite the status in their respective territories, only one rank under the Marquis rank, yet nine such bastards suddenly popped up to deal with him. Did he somehow angered a demonic deity!? Why the hell would he be targeted in such a way?

One has to understand that the System forces representatives out of all other five realms to appear and fight each time a cultivator breaks through. Yet somehow, the Hell Realm or the one summoned to deal with me from the Hell Realm, convinced or coerced both the other four realms as well as the System not to interfere and let him play however he wanted. Luckily, the attribute adjustment is still there, but demons with the rank of Earls usually are at least Profound Immortals. That signifies only one thing!

"They know more than one spell! F*ck!"

Before he could even finish his words, another nine pentagrams appeared above his head, creating a barrier around him. He felt a weakness in his limbs and his attributes fell sharply to only 75% of their normal numbers.

With the space sealed to an area of less than 200 square meters, he used Qi to create an ice foothold in the air and do a double jump in order to slightly distance himself from the other Pit Lords.

Judging from their looks, they appeared to have used up most of the Qi they were allowed to use by the System, so he could at least thank the Heavens for that. He was currently wondering how the f*ck was he supposed to survive another fireball attack from those nine bastards.

Ignoring his petty thoughts, the Pit Lords moved their broken swords in front of their faces with both hands, facing upward. They had a knightly disposition about them, making them look both dashing and imposing if it were not for their ugly mugs and demonic features.

Seeing their act, Herman got incensed and started cussing at them.

"Goddamn pretentious d*cks! What's with all the acting!? Hurry up and come to daddy! I want to see the f*cker behind this mess so I can shove my boot up his ass!"

Hearing his unkindly remarks about their superior, the nine Earls began snarling wildly and two of them rushed at Herman at the same time.