Chapter 202: Heavenly Tribulation Indicators and Traces

——Primordial Qi surges and fluctuates violently!

——The Void rolls and trembles in chaos!

The sea of thunder is endless, forming a great destruction, vast and boundless, limitless and infinite.

Tribulation clouds spread like ink staining, covering heaven and earth, appearing in patches, brilliant light arising, gorgeous radiance and the sounds of destruction intertwining, as if to tear heaven and earth apart. Accompanied by continuous collapsing roars, countless electric bolts chop down, transforming into world-destroying divine radiance, as if all things are perishing.

It is only fortunate that this place is not near Earth, with no familiar planets; otherwise, such an astronomical spectacle would inevitably attract attention, causing a huge sensation.

The scene in the depths of the thunder light is Xia Zhi sitting cross-legged in the Void Point, surroundings blazing with light, as if a blazing sun hangs across the sky.

His existence distorts the surrounding electromagnetic radiation, like the strange effect of a gravitational lens, deflecting the endless thunder so that most cannot approach his body. And because of his simulated gravitational field, the nearby gravity well also undergoes huge changes, as if space is collapsing.

To achieve this step is naturally not easy; at this moment, the Mors Surge of magic power within him is vast like magma in a planetary Earth Core, this power rushing ceaselessly in his Jin Zhi Xiang, faintly emitting a grand and deep rumbling similar to tectonic movement. He seems to have drawn out life's potential, sublimating it to the extreme, powerful beyond compare as if reborn; relying on his own power alone, he can contend with heaven and earth.

Of course, the thunder punishment is not everything.

The fundamental "fields" are all boiling, cosmic wind howls, particle streams surge, high-energy particle fluctuations continue unabated; this tribulation prepared specifically for Cultivators reveals its terror.

In outward form, the three disasters of wind, fire, and thunder have already gathered, and grow ever more fierce; whether in scale or frequency they continue to expand. The eruption of tribulation thunder, tribulation fire, and tribulation wind releases enormous energy, leaving Xia Zhi unable to dodge; he can only choose to directly enter the examination hall, face this trial head-on, and hand in his answer sheet within the limited time.

And he is not certain whether there will still be an inward form of manifestation.

After all, so-called Cultivator Tribulation Crossing is nothing more than heaven striking with thunder, inner devils flourishing.

There are tribulation thunder, tribulation fire, tribulation wind, and also inner devils, yin devils, heart devils; only such a Heavenly Tribulation model can be called sound.

Who knows what the Team Leader's "Heavenly Tribulation in her heart" is like? How did she imagine it? In any case it is definitely not all of it yet; Xia Zhi can only consider as much as possible how to respond should something appear, while seizing time to reinterpret and reconstruct his own power, to better cope with the coming challenges.

Magic power consumption is extremely Kuang Zhang.

Every minute and every second sees enormous energy Mors Burn, used to resist the outside world's tribulation disaster onslaught.

By rights, his own self could not possibly sustain such astonishing Mors Burn, so it is entirely through "overdraft" and "loan" methods that he desperately maintains it. Just like the Second Magic · Kaleidoscope's Mage, the Jewel Old Man supposedly uses methods, relying on operation of parallel worlds, to create parallel world Channels, and through those Channels draw out almost Unrestricted magic power from the parallel worlds' atmospheric Environment.

It seems to be just like this——

That he hard-generated endless Ether Energy Cannons, Bombardment down the True Ancestor King who was projected as a Moon mirror image.

Xia Zhi is the same, only the platforms the two can choose are not the same.

He is operating on the Time Plane, within the range his power allows, borrowing magic power from past or future.

However this is also only a Zhiyou stopgap; countless stacked Time Planes in an instant, in the end are not the same as infinite parallel worlds…… Parallel worlds are right there, regardless of whether the Jewel Old Man operates or observes them. But Time Planes are different; the future constantly changes within endless Probability Interference, and the past's history also cannot be Unrestricted in extraction.

In the matter of magic power loans, he cannot reach the Jewel Old Man's level, becoming a pseudo-perpetual motion machine.

Holding out for a short time is fine, but over a long time it definitely cannot be sustained.

This is also why Xia Zhi is abnormally decisive, directly setting the first indicator as "Energy"; after all, if this hard Requirement is not first solved, the basic Guaranteed Drop satisfied, the later indicators have no basis to speak of.

Fortunately, the first step of "Tian Dao Foundation Establishment" proceeds very Smoothly——

Perhaps due to eating the Guaranteed Drop, perhaps the "Heavenly Dao" itself is helping him cultivate——

Amidst the chaotic thunder light raging at the Heavenly Tribulation center, Xia Zhi sits cross-legged in the Void Point like a boulder, outwardly appearing Stagnant and unmoving, yet within his body it is like surging rivers, Mors Surge and vast. Life's pulse flows rapidly within him, operating frequency a shocking hundred-billion-level leap; matter is decomposed into countless tiny particles, silently recombining within his body.

He takes a deep breath; of course this is only a Subconscious action, after all he long ago no longer needs Breath to survive, merely retaining the habit from his Human period. And now, he seems to have made some Determination, carefully controlling his own Defense Art to open a gap, letting the outside world's tribulation thunder, tribulation fire, tribulation wind three disasters' energy have an opportunity to break through his defense and Bombardment wash over his body…… Of course only a small part.

This is already very Dangerous.

But this is also a baptism that must be experienced.

Because he needs Heavenly Tribulation energy to shed his mortal body and exchange his bones, wash marrow and cut hair, thoroughly break and then establish.

………………

………………

The sky dome shatters into countless fragments.

The entire sea of thunder undulates, countless black lightnings rumble, emitting sounds vast and boundless.

Like the End of the World arriving, all things before this power lose their luster, raising an unprecedented catastrophe.

"... It's about to succeed, I can feel it, every moment... enormous energy is transmitting over... mm... even though current Progress hasn't reached half, it already far exceeds my previous magnitude. But that's right, the vacuum zero-point energy foundation... mm, the foundation theory is actually Dirac Zhi Hai, speaking of which, you should have seen 'EVA' right..."

Xia Zhi closes his eyes, carefully sensing his own life Shape undergoing a leap.

Although his speech is somewhat fragmented, occasionally interspersed with pained muffled groans, the joy in his Tone can still be heard.

Just as he said, he is approaching success; although he seems very bedraggled, repeatedly struck until half his body is charred black, flesh tissue carbonized, whole body hot and painful, simply as if burning from inside out. Yet he ultimately endures, and even needs only a single Breath to immediately recover as before; you must know before this, he did not have such a good outcome.

——Tribulation fire rises from the Bubbling Well point below, penetrating straight through the Niwan Palace, five viscera turn to ash, four limbs all wither……

——Tribulation wind arrives, blowing in from the Hundred Meetings gate into the six bowels, passing the elixir field, piercing the nine orifices, flesh and bone disperse, the body itself dissolves……

——Tribulation thunder falls, even more nothing to say, directly incinerating body and shattering bones, turning to flying ash, not a tissue remaining……

Pain!

Anyway it's just very painful, very painful.

But for a Lifeform that has already preliminarily broken free of Three Dimensional Existence, advancing toward Higher Dimension, wanting to kill him is not that easy either; more so since he ate the Guaranteed Drop, so he endures time and again. Under the Heavenly Tribulation energy's constant destruction and reshaping, under the Nanomachine's meticulous transformation, he continuously trials and errors in the microscopic realm and dimensional scale, bit by bit approaching that correct Blueprints.

First and foremost the twenty-one Jin Zhi Xiang are transformed; these are the main energy Circuits. Only then gradually spreading to the whole body, from Fingertip to hair, extremely comprehensive.

This is a strange transformation, and also a life sublimation.

Every Cell in his body is rapidly metamorphosing, like rebirth.

And the ultimate conception of the Blueprints to become the "Indicator", is that every Cell undergoes structural difference, to be transformed into a Spiritual Energy Reaction Furnace with extremely high Conversion Rate, or to say every Cell is becoming a Micro Zero Point Reactor, ultimately letting the Foundation Establishment Cultivator extract energy from any point in the Universe, convert it into magic power most suited to their own attribute……

Right now it is so; benefiting from the extremely high Conversion Rate already displayed before completion, his whole person is now a giant Spiritual Energy Reaction Furnace, able to directly convert a portion of the tribulation disasters attacking him from outside into energy he can absorb, effectively exempting a portion of the damage. And again benefiting from no longer needing to worry about energy consumption, he can now continuously refresh his own state, letting himself recover immediately after injury.

Xia Zhi's mouth is not idle either, speaking as if in Soliloquy:

"... Mm, you can understand it this way, the Angel's so-called Fruit of Life S2 Coffin Ji... from a scientific angle can be seen as similar to mitochondria, a Biological Engine existing inside Cells... it can open a 'Door', connecting the pure energy Universe Dirac Zhi Hai, through positron-electron collision Annihilation, obtaining... obtaining perpetual motion machine-like infinite energy..."

This is of course not Soliloquy.

If it were only Xia Zhi alone, he would definitely have no mood to explain into the Void, so these words are naturally spoken to Haruhi Suzumiya.

Because the tribulation disaster's frequency and scale rapidly grow, he also cannot have the leisure to distract himself caring for the Team Leader; otherwise he would not mind holding the young girl and weaving through the sea of thunder with ease, Farming a wave of favorability.

Under such circumstances, he can only put her into a space, then leave a gap, letting her pay attention to outside matters.

To tell the truth, this operation is actually not recommended; after all the Tribulation Crossing Scene's Void fluctuates unstably, normally speaking it is very risky…… However strangely, nothing happened; Miss Suzumiya stays fine in the other space, nervously yet excitedly following this side's Tribulation Crossing situation, as if watching a live broadcast. And that space also completely suffered no influence; through the Key Sword's Connection it is also very Stable, the Signal very good.

Regarding this kind of abnormal situation, Xia Zhi expressed——

This is very normal.

Perhaps unscientific, nor magical, but very Haruhi, and that is enough.

"……Should be soon, next is the second indicator, equally very crucial."

He continued enduring the pain with great effort while reporting progress to Team Leader, consolidating gains while decisively striking while the iron is hot, "After all, Foundation Establishment is laying the foundation of the path to the Dao, in a certain sense it is the prototype of an immortal. Even if incomplete now, it is still the foundation of the future."

"So-called cultivation is nothing more than refining essence into Qi, refining Qi into spirit, refining spirit to return to void…… Since you have investigated, you should have seen this from those allusions as well."

"The focus of cultivation is the flourishing of the human body's essence, Qi, and spirit. The first indicator 'energy' actually belongs to Qi, one of the three……"

"Only with Qi Gate boundless can one have the qualification to drive the transformation of the other two……"

The three gates of essence, Qi, and spirit are the Foundation Establishment key in his conception, and indeed completely conform to the consistent key points of Daoist thought; wanting to attain the Dao and become an immortal, must one not work on these three of essence, Qi, and spirit? Foundation Establishment Stage requiring a solid foundation in this aspect is undoubtedly very reasonable.

Although at the beginning Xia Zhi also conceived whether to do a "Spirit Gate Four Heavenly Gates", subdividing into Qi Gate, Heart Gate, Soul Gate, and Body Gate etc.

Later thinking again felt nothing necessary, and moreover directly citing classics, using the most classic traditional framework to endorse himself, obviously more credible, more able to convince Miss Haruhi.

Therefore still continued using this current framework.

——Physical Body firm.

——Qi Gate boundless.

——Primordial Spirit indestructible.

After all merely a minor Foundation Establishment Cultivator, as long as able to roughly complete these three basic indicators, it counts as laying a solid foundation, having a tiny bit of achievement, in the cultivation world also counts as having a tiny bit of self-protection ability.

Although saying, this damn "cultivation world" is self-defined. Currently still only himself alone, walking lonely on this path.

No other seniors, dao companions, or ants……

Rapidly explaining his conception and setting to the wish-granting machine, Xia Zhi with lingering fear raised his head to look at the end of the Lightning Tribulation, that gap seemed larger, also don't know if illusion, faintly able to see another dimension's scenery.

In his view this is not only a Sword of Damocles hanging over his head.

Also an hourglass, a timer.

Urging him to complete this unconventional ascension before time runs out.

However——

Sensing Haruhi Suzumiya staying in his space, Xia Zhi deeply inhaled, gritted teeth, decisively made determination.

Right, he strongly suspects the girl wants to use this opportunity to run away together with him.

Cannot bring her along!

……………………

……………………

Simultaneously.

In the other apartment building——

"Cannot find."

"No matter what cannot find."

Calmly stating the conclusion, Nagato Yuki whispered.

"Within the range perceivable by the Information Integration Thought Entity, their traces do not exist……"

Asakura Ryouko sat on the sofa with a worried frown, hands propping her chin, then don't know what she thought of, somewhat gritting teeth: "Only two possibilities left, one is they are in the Tian Gai Domain, that side is a Wide-Band Universe Existence of different origin from the Information Integration Thought Entity, a place we also cannot grasp; the other is Haruhi Suzumiya created another very hidden Closed Space, so we cannot find them."

"……"

"……"

"Also possible……"

Nagato Yuki seemed to be thinking, then raised head expressionlessly said.

"They are already no longer in this world."

(Chapter End)