Thunder rumbled, shaking and battering the Supreme Grand True Space.
Little Southern Border had been ravaged beyond recognition by the Myriad Extinction Thunder Forest. Countless mountains collapsed, the earth was split open by bolt after bolt of lightning, leaving craters everywhere. The Beast Warrior King continued to fight to the bitter end, his injuries growing heavier with every passing moment, his situation increasingly desperate.
He was staking his very life to hold the line, but he could not stem the tide.
"Compared to the might of heaven and earth, what am I—even an Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal?" The Beast Warrior King had honed himself through tireless cultivation within the Supreme Grand True Space, broadening his horizons greatly and advancing his strength. He had been brimming with confidence. Yet now, under this tribulation, he fully grasped how small and feeble he truly was.
The Myriad Extinction Thunder Forest had expanded its coverage once more, and with Fang Yuan's true body forced to contend with the battlefield outside, he was at a severe disadvantage. Against a tribulation like this, Fang Yuan would be in danger even with his full attention—but now more than half of his energy was drawn away, consumed by the fierce battle against Spectral Soul.
This was a tribulation—how many Eighth Transformation cultivators had fallen in panicked, wretched ruin at this very juncture!
Fang Yuan's circumstances were even more unusual. This was not his first tribulation. He had not merely skipped two consecutive tribulations, but this one was triggered by the violent evolution of over three thousand Heavenly Dao marks that he carried within him.
A tribulation born in such a way was exceedingly rare in the long annals of human history.
Forced by circumstance, Fang Yuan had to split his attention. He confronted the battle on one front while keeping watch over the Supreme Grand True Space on the other.
He observed the Heavenly Dao marks transforming into Lightning Dao marks and Cloud Dao marks, giving rise to this tribulation—and suddenly, insight crystallized within him.
"I think I understand now." In that instant, he grasped the true essence of the tribulation!
He had known before: tribulations were governed by the Heavenly Dao, and the Heavenly Dao operated on the principle of balance—diminishing what was excessive and replenishing what was lacking. Every Gu Immortal and every immortal aperture represented a massive concentration of Dao marks, making them prime targets the Heavenly Dao had to balance.
That was why, at regular intervals, the Heavenly Dao would exert its power and manifest tribulations to torment Gu Immortals. But how these tribulations could evolve into such a bewildering variety of disasters—Fang Yuan had never been entirely clear.
Now, the question that had lingered at the back of his mind was completely illuminated by the scene unfolding before his eyes.
The truth was simple: no matter what form a tribulation took, it was fundamentally a transformation of Heavenly Dao marks. Heavenly Dao marks could shift into any path, which was why there existed Flying Frost Leaping Thunder Tribulation, Four-Flame Cloud Canopy Tribulation, Dragon Roar Tribulation, Sky Drum Thunder Sound Tribulation, Wind Flower Tribulation, Snow Moon Tribulation, Mysterious White Flying Salt Tribulation, and so on.
These tribulations encompassed every path, their types so numerous and varied that Gu Immortals could never predict them, and countering them was exceedingly difficult. The Heavenly Dao could even emulate the methods of Venerables—such as the Formless Hand of the Thieving Heavenly Demon Venerable.
The various types of tribulation were merely the surface. In essence, they were all Heavenly Dao marks!
The higher a Gu Immortal's cultivation, the more Dao marks they accumulated, and the greater the disparity between themselves and the natural environment. The more imbalanced the equation, the more Heavenly Dao marks would be mobilized—and thus the more powerful the resulting tribulation.
No one in the world could cultivate the Heavenly Dao, so even if a Gu Immortal survived a tribulation, they could not store Heavenly Dao marks. Instead, all those Heavenly Dao marks would transform into marks of other paths, settling within the Gu Immortal's immortal aperture.
Come to think of it, within the Madness Demon Hole, Heavenly Dao marks could evolve into all manner of strange miniature worlds—and once those small worlds collapsed, they would revert and coalesce back into Heavenly Dao marks.
The Immortal Tribulation Refine Aperture killer move that Fang Yuan had obtained from the Lang Ya Sect operated on a related principle.
The Immortal Tribulation Refine Aperture move treated the blessed land or grotto-heaven as the body being refined, using the killer move to connect the immortal aperture with the Five Regions' heaven and earth beyond its borders. Through this connection, it influenced the tribulation and harnessed it to temper the immortal aperture itself.
Lang Ya Blessed Land had once been anchored at Crescent Lake in the Northern Plains. The area around Crescent Lake was saturated with dense Water Dao marks and Refinement Dao marks. Each time the Immortal Tribulation Refine Aperture move was employed to address a tribulation, disasters related to the Water and Refinement paths would typically manifest. After surviving them, the immortal aperture would gain Water Dao and Refinement Dao marks.
This move was, in essence, a way to influence the direction in which Heavenly Dao marks evolved.
Among Sovereign Immortal Ju Yang's true inheritances, there were Fortune Path methods to weaken tribulations—such as Dog Shit Luck and Heaven-blessed Fortune. These involved Fortune Path marks participating in the evolution of Heavenly Dao marks into tribulation, steering the transformation in a direction favorable to the Gu Immortal, thereby reducing the tribulation's power.
The Myriad Phenomena Unification move from the Beast Calamity Grotto-Heaven could restrict the outcome of Heavenly Dao marks' transformation, converting every tribulation into a Beast Calamity of the Transformation Path.
The Stone Cavern Heavenly Secret killer move that Fang Yuan had obtained from the Shadow Sect true inheritance could precisely calculate the contents of a tribulation. The move was centered on the Heavenly Secret Immortal Gu, and it clearly operated from the very source—the Heavenly Dao marks themselves—to perform its divination. That was why its calculations were so accurate.
Immortal Tribulation Refine Aperture, Fortune Path methods, Myriad Phenomena Unification, Stone Cavern Heavenly Secret… these means were all in Fang Yuan's possession, but unfortunately, he could not use any of them for the time being.
The Heavenly Dao marks bound and entangled him, making it extremely difficult to freely activate these killer moves.
Only by countering the Heavenly Dao with Human Path methods could Fang Yuan carve out some space and time to deploy his other moves. Just as he had done before in Heavenly Court, when he used the Boundless Qi Sea killer move to break through the Primordial Qi Wall.
Fang Yuan had arranged a Human Path grand formation inside the Supreme Grand True Space, with the Thousand Wishes Tree at its core. But the Heavenly Will was no fool—it had long since learned this stratagem of Fang Yuan's. The Myriad Extinction Thunder Forest had also manifested within Little Central Continent and began bombarding the Human Path grand formation relentlessly, pushing Fang Yuan into an even more passive position.
Roar!
Beast roars echoed one after another as a massive horde of Soul Beasts surged forth, charging toward the thunderclouds in the sky.
They charged with tremendous momentum, utterly heedless of their own safety.
These were all Soul Beasts—a vast number of Wasteland-level Soul Beasts, no small number of Ancient Soul Beasts, and among them, four Grand Ancient Soul Beasts.
Most of these Soul Beasts had been captured by Fang Yuan in the Green Ghost Desert. The Grand Ancient Soul Beasts among them were trophies from the battle in which Fang Yuan had aided the Fang clan in seizing the Bean God Palace.
These Soul Beasts had been raised within Little Black Heaven all this time.
Now that Fang Yuan faced a crisis, he had no choice but to draw upon this reserve. His decision was swift and decisive—he mobilized every last Soul Beast, throwing them into a suicidal charge to scatter the thunderclouds and buy himself an opening for a counterattack.
Under the tribulation, the Soul Beasts were pitifully fragile, as though made of paper. In short order, nearly a hundred Wasteland-level Soul Beasts were obliterated by the lightning, and over a dozen Ancient Soul Beasts fell as well.