Chapter 558: The First Heavenly Tribulation

"Luck is very important. A sliver of good fortune stacked ten times, and one out of ten casts hits—five or six times higher than at the very start… pity, after fusing the incense burner with weapons, no stronger blessing of luck appeared either…"

"The robbery range… ahem, the Human Tribulation Platform's fishing range is very broad—swords, spears, halberds, sabers, heaven materials and earthly treasures… even two spirit beasts, pity, they died the moment they were pulled down…"

"The randomness of the fishing is too great. The vast majority are just the guaranteed floor; only a tiny fraction can surpass the grade of the Tribulation Register itself…"

"A real glutton for incense offerings… and the higher the Tribulation Register advances, the harder the fishing becomes…"

"……"

Inside the mountain cave, Li Yuan lay on his back, eyes closed, sorting through the gains and insights from over ten days of casting his rod.

On the grey stone platform, 'tribulation items' of various grades had piled up over a person's height, while in the cave lay two spirit beasts that had stopped breathing not long ago, still twitching faintly.

"With my current spiritual strength, I can last ten-plus days without sleep, but the fatigue that accumulates really can't be offset by simple meditation alone…"

Li Yuan yawned, then couldn't help thinking of Old Longtou—that old fellow had once forced himself to stay awake for a long time just so he wouldn't forget things again.

"Keeping a sliver of attention slows things down a bit, but I can still keep fishing…"

Sensing the swaying rod on the Human Tribulation Platform, Li Yuan stopped resisting his drowsiness. His mind relaxed, and he was asleep in a second.

When the spirit is full, one does not think of sleep; when the spirit is depleted, one must make up for it doubly.

Li Yuan slept for a full half-day this time. When he woke, he still felt somewhat weary; only after swallowing a few Stored Spirit Lesser Restoration Pills did his spirit fully recover.

"Keep fishing!"

No sooner had he recovered than Li Yuan entered the Weapon Master space.

During the half-day he slept, the Human Tribulation Platform hadn't stopped—only much slower than when he was fully focused.

"I slept thirteen hours, and the Human Tribulation Platform cast the rod a hundred and three times… hit eleven times. Luck's decent."

Li Yuan swept a glance and already had the picture. He tallied the eleven items caught—all guaranteed floor. He'd expected as much and wasn't disappointed.

"Splash~"

Under Li Yuan's gaze, the rod rapidly reeled in, ending this cast:

"Another hit."

Li Yuan's heart stirred slightly. He took the famed-grade longsword off the fishing rod, glanced at it, and tossed it aside—famed weapons no longer caught his eye.

For the fishing of this past half-month, it was a complete losing proposition for him, not even as cost-effective as fusing weapons. Fortunately, what he sought was the rapid advancement of the Tribulation Register.

【Fourth-Grade Tribulation Register】

【Tribulations Available: 4 (once per century)】

【Activated: Human Tribulation Platform (Fourth Grade)】

【Three hundred tribulation items (Fourth Grade), the Tribulation Register can advance to Fifth Grade】

【Can Advance】

After one sleep, the Tribulation Register could advance again. Li Yuan was satisfied with this—it was the result of his ten-plus days of sleepless fishing.

"After Fifth Grade, advancing will be a hassle."

Satisfied as he was, Li Yuan also felt a bit of a headache. The Tribulation Register's advancement was far harder than the Sound Register's—even at one-in-ten, that still required three thousand sticks of incense offerings.

Low grades were manageable, but after Fifth Grade, wanting to advance again…

"When the Weapon Register advanced to Fifth Grade, the Divine Fire Weapon-Fusing Furnace appeared. When the Sound Register advanced to Fifth Grade, it was the Sound-Transmitting Talisman… the Tribulation Register advancing to Fifth Grade shouldn't be an exception, right?"

Li Yuan muttered to himself, somewhat expectant.

Losing money for now was no big deal—consider it an investment. For his third register, Li Yuan held strong expectations.

His catching up on sleep was also preparation for the Weapon Register's advancement to Fifth Grade.

"That thunderous boom was still bearable at low-grade advancement. For Fifth Grade, I'll need to prepare properly…"

Glancing at the Human Tribulation Platform casting its rod leisurely, Li Yuan left the Weapon Master space and prepared for the Tribulation Register's advancement.

Spirit incense, spirit pills, divine soul leaving the body…

BOOM!

Not long after, as the aftershocks of the thunderous boom gradually faded, Li Yuan wiped the fresh blood from his face, let the Long Hu Longhu Dadan heal his wounds on its own, and entered the Weapon Master space once more.

Hum~

On the stone platform, various colors flickered on and off.

"There's really been a change!"

Li Yuan rushed straight to the Human Tribulation Platform and at once spotted a new fishing rod added to it—pale gold in color, with fine dense patterns flowing like water across its surface. Its appearance was far better than that white one.

【Human Tribulation Platform (Fifth Grade)】

【Human Tribulation Rod (White) (Gold)】

"What's this gold one for?"

Li Yuan focused his perception. The instant he touched the golden fishing rod, fragmented information welled up in his mind.

Very broken and scattered, boiled down to a single sentence.

"Consume multiple times the incense offerings, and you can fish up higher-grade items…"

"Another incense-burning trap."

Li Yuan sighed inwardly, but wasn't truly disappointed. This golden rod's use would likely come at higher grades; for now, the white one was still more practical.

But even as he thought this, he still tried casting a few rods:

"The hit rate is still this low…"

After six or seven empty casts in a row, Li Yuan was speechless, but he held his nose and kept casting. Only on the ninth cast did an item get fished out from the darkness.

【Flowing Meteorite Star Blade (Seventh Grade)】

"Two grades higher than the Tribulation Register?"

Catching sight of that faint Jin Guang, Li Yuan felt a bit better. The value of a single divine weapon naturally far exceeded the Fifth-Grade incense offerings consumed by those nine casts.

Still, he was even more certain this gold rod was meant for use when the Tribulation Register reached higher grades.

"If the Tribulation Register can reach the tenth rank, then at the very least, what one fishes up will be a creation on the level of Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing..."

Li Yuan did not cast the golden rod again, but split off his attention to continue casting the white rod. He did not have much incense of the fifth or sixth rank left, so naturally he had to first satisfy the conditions for the Tribulation Register's advancement.

Most of his attention, however, fell upon that 'heavenly tribulation.'

【Available Tribulations: 5 (once per century)】

Unlike Listening to the Heavenly Sound, even though the Tribulation Register had advanced to the fifth rank, the number of heavenly tribulations still accumulated once per century, making each one extremely important.

"Once per century... it would be inexcusable not to fish up a Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing."

Li Yuan felt anticipation in his heart, and some unease as well.

If this came up empty, he was afraid he would cough up blood...

"Five chances, let's try one first..."

Li Yuan did not hesitate. He rose and stepped onto the Human Tribulation Platform. With a thought, a dazzling purple light erupted beneath him, and then he felt his vision go black.

In the next instant, he could not help but be flung forth, as if his spirit had left his body, following the 'fine line' he had cast down.

Hum~

The instant he plunged into the darkness, Li Yuan could no longer perceive anything; even his thoughts seemed to have completely stagnated, leaving only an immense fear echoing in his heart.

Fortunately, it was only for an instant—the five senses that had been stripped away returned once more.

"This is..."

Li Yuan saw grass and trees, mountains and rivers, a sea of clouds.

In a daze, he felt as if he had become a fine line, soaring at extreme speed to the highest point of the heavens, piercing through layer upon layer of cloud sea, as if about to fly beyond the ninefold firmament.

"Gale Wind Heaven!"

Li Yuan saw the howling gale winds, heard thunder and saw lightning, saw four great suns hanging high in the sky, and even saw, beyond the nine layers of Gale Wind Heaven, that deep and endless starry sky!

Cast this high?!

The sensation was so real that Li Yuan's perception instinctively contracted, and only after piercing through the nine layers of Gale Wind Heaven and flying into the sea of stars did his upward momentum finally ebb.

The next moment, he plunged into the nine layers of Gale Wind Heaven like a meteorite.

Hum~

In that instant, the heaven and earth within Li Yuan's perception had ceased to exist.

Gale winds, sea of clouds, great suns... everything had vanished.

He saw an endless, vast ocean, and saw, amidst the surging waves, countless 'fish' swimming about.

"So this really is fishing."

Li Yuan was dazed for an instant. The moment he brushed past a great wave, he saw a giant fish radiating dazzling divine light:

"That is?"

Perhaps because they were extremely close, he saw the true nature of that giant fish—it was...

"The sun!"

Even the sun is just a fish?!

Seeing this scene, even though he was now the angler, a chill could not help but rise in Li Yuan's heart.

In such a vast fishing ground, could he be the only angler?

He did not know.

But what could be certain was that he himself was definitely within this 'Wang Yang.' If there truly were other anglers in this world...

"This world is far too dangerous..."

The thought had not yet flashed through Li Yuan's mind when he had already plunged into the 'Wang Yang' along with the fishhook's fine line.

……

……

Eight Directions Temple Grotto-Heaven.

Amidst the mist-shrouded mountains, the Qian Yan Fa Lord, draped in a cloak, gazed coldly toward the foot of Eight Directions Mountain.

At the mountain's base, the masters of several great Dao Sects were climbing the mountain path. Daoist Feng Yuanqing leaned against a stone stele, holding a white-haired woman in his arms, his face full of helplessness and desolation.

"Qin Yun!"

Gazing at the purple-robed elder sitting cross-legged in meditation at the mountain's base, the Qian Yan Fa Lord's eyes were dark and profound.

He had not hesitated to clash fiercely with Wan Wan Zhuliu rather than go to that Dao Soldier Pagoda, all for the sake of waiting in the shadows for the Temple Opener to appear. Yet he had not waited for the Temple Opener, but for Qin Yun instead.

This one—the strongest being of this heaven and earth.

"Hoo!"

At this moment, Qin Yun at the mountain's base raised his head to look over.

The Qian Yan Fa Lord sank into the miasma. After a moment's hesitation, he turned and departed:

"That flame of his..."

Converging his aura, the Qian Yan Fa Lord turned and left. He was certain there were still other paths up the mountain within these mountains, but where those paths lay, he would still need to search.

Hum~

At a certain instant, he seemed to sense something and stopped, looking toward a distant thicket. He saw ripples spreading through the void, and a strange, cackling laugh rang out:

"That Dao Soldier Pagoda can trap you lot, but it can't trap Grandpa Turtle... heh, so what if you're half a step into the Divine Palace? Grandpa Turtle is..."

The strange laughter cut off abruptly.

Gui Gui Laoxian, who had poked his head out from the air, twitched his face. He had only glanced at the cloaked figure not far away when he let out a great shout and turned to flee—but how could he still make it in time?

The moment his four limbs had withdrawn into his shell, a withered old hand had already slapped him to the ground. No matter how he struggled, he could not break free.

"Thousand Spirit Locking the Void?!"

Gui Gui Laoxian was greatly horrified in his heart: "You are, you are..."

"Since you know who this one is, you still dare to flee?"

The cloaked man's voice was hoarse.

Hearing those words, Gui Gui Laoxian stopped struggling, but his voice was full of bitterness:

"You—you actually already knew where the Eight Directions Temple was?"

"After the fall of the Origin Divine Dynasty, Tomb-Bearing Spirit Tortoises grew fewer and fewer. This god has only seen a handful of them at most…"

Under the cloak, dense clusters of eyeballs surfaced, fixing their gaze on Gui Gui Laoxian and making his heart pound wildly:

"Whose tomb is it that you carry on your back?"