Chapter 31: Heavenly Tribulation!

(3055 words, roughly double what I usually post, you better enjoy this chapter!)

"Alright, Elif, everything is prepared and ready to go, so just go ahead and break through to the Saint realm." Said Marcus, who's standing with Maria, Tiana, Tyler, Illumia, and Elaine, though she is being held within Maria's arms.

"Just make sure you prepare for the Heavenly Tribulation that'll appear after you advance to the Saint realm!" Warned Maria from the sidelines as they all started at Elif, who was sitting down in a meditative position.

"I know, mother, you've told me how dangerous the Heavenly Tribulation can be several times already." Replied Elif while sitting atop an enormous altar that's been engraved with thousands of formations, all with various functions, though the primary function was meant for protection.

Calming my mind and body down, I close my eyes as I begin cultivating to break through to the Saint realm from a peak Half-step Saint that I've achieved after another two weeks of cultivation. During those two weeks, I managed to perform every technique I had acquired, each varying in difficulty; the easiest one was definitely the Heavenly Scar, as it only took me thirty minutes to learn; however, the hardest one for me wasn't the Royal Elf's Palm, it was the Fairy sword Dance. The thing about that technique that made it so difficult to learn for me was combining the movement of my sword along with the footwork required for it. Trying to multitask both of them at the same time took me several hours to do, though it was worth it as I looked pretty cool with it; I had even thought of combining the Elven Body Flicker with it, and while Illumia had told me it is possible, it won't be easy to achieve.

Anyways during the rare free time, I would get, I would, of course, spend time with my family, but I would also read the book of Dao's, and although I've only read a couple of pages, it's greatly helped me in understanding the basic concept of a Dao Heart. I can't comprehend most of the words written in the book, but progress is progress, even if it's slow. Besides, with my increasing lifespan, I'm not worried about rushing things.

While Cultivating, I had finally reached the limit of the amount of Qi my body could hold, and instead of me sensing some ethereal wall that would stop my progression unless I destroyed it, this time, I felt as if my entire being was covered in an ethereal dome, breaking it would allow to me advance into the Saint realm, but I could feel the barrier radiating a very ominous and dangerous feeling; however, mother and father warned me of this, so I didn't worry. Manipulating about ten percent of my Qi, I commanded it to rush towards the dome, and the moment they came in contact with each other, nothing extraordinary happened except that the ethereal dome instantly got destroyed.

The moment that happened, I started absorbing a colossal amount of Qi into myself. While I made sure to stay focused, I was still capable of sensing the amount of Qi I was absorbing into me. The amount completely shocked me, as it's only been five seconds since I had broken the barrier, yet my Qi reserves had already increased by five times my previous amount, and it showed no signs of stopping.

'My goodness, now I'm starting to understand what Illumia meant when she said Half-step chasm.' Thought Elif, astonished at how his Qi constantly increased at a tremendous pace.

This continued for a little bit longer, and only then did the rush of Qi start slowing down until it stopped altogether, though by then my Qi capacity had increased by at least fifty times compared to before; however, now I could also sense the vast distance I needed to complete till I advanced to middle Saint.

'The amount of power at my disposal is absurd; I'm confident that if I were to fight against one hundred of my previous selves, I would be able to completely destroy them, though the difficulty in advancing to the next minor realm is also several times harder as well. Anyways I need to quickly get ready for the heavenly tribulation that should be coming.' Thought Elif as he quickly checked his newfound power before leaving his inner body and returning to the real world.

The moment I opened my eyes, I was suddenly hit with a feeling of suppression, it wasn't nearly strong enough to truly suppress me, but I did feel uncomfortable. Standing up, I looked up to the sky as that was where the suppression seemed to be coming from, and when I did, all I saw was a blanket of dark clouds covering the sky, along with the occasional Lightning and thunder following soon after.

'Alright, get ready, Elif, everything is already prepared for me, if I really can't handle the Heavenly Tribulation, then I'll activate the protection runes, but I'll only be doing that if I truly can't defeat the punishment heaven sent down on me, as since I'm the Crown Prince of the Elven Immortal Empire, I can't just always hide if things get difficult, especially with my family watching, that'd be embarrassing.' Thought Elif as he peeked over at his family in the distance before focusing back on the heavenly punishment.

While staring at the clouds above me, I saw it suddenly send down a lightning bolt to strike me down; I was mentally and physically prepared for this, so when I noticed how the heavenly tribulation had started, I attacked with the Royal Elf's Palm and when they collided both of our attacks exploded in the air.

'Father said they're two stages of Heavenly Tribulation, the first one is called Heavens' Arrival, these attacks are meant to announce a Heavens Tribulation, not kill me, so they're weak, however, the second stage, Heavens' Descent, is where it'll send out nine Tribulation lightning with the power of each one being double than the previous one, and that's when it tries to kill me. So right now, I'll try to get more comfortable with my newfound strength.' Thought Elif as he stopped another one of heaven's attacks, though he didn't notice that each of those attacks he effortlessly blocked all struck down with the power of an early Saint Lord, an entire major realm above him.

As time passed, the number of attacks heaven launched at me increased in number till every second; I had to block multiple lightning bolts. After a short while of dealing with heaven's attacks, they suddenly stopped, prompting me to raise an eyebrow; however, I immediately felt the suppression on myself increase.

'It seems the first phase has finished, and the second phase is about to begin; now, this is where I show off all of the progress I've made.' Thought Elif, excited and nervous at his very first heavenly tribulation.

Quickly taking out my partner from my dimension ring before throwing it over towards my family as I didn't wish for it to sustain any damage, I unsheathed my sword and waited calmly for the first attack to arrive, which didn't take long.

Looking up at the sky, I saw how all the lightning snaking across the dark clouds converged into one singular point just above me, and then it happened, heaven sent down the first punishment, officially starting the heavenly tribulation.

As I watched the lightning bolt strike down towards me much faster than the previous weak attacks, I raised my free hand and once again attacked with a Royal Elf's Palm; however, this time, my attack was significantly larger as I had injected much more Qi into it than the previous times. When they collided in the sky, a massive explosion went off, with Lightning sparking in all directions before everything settled back down.

'Alright, that's one out of nine; it was really easy but from what my parents, grandparents, and even Illumia told me about, is that the first three attacks will be relatively easy, then the next three attacks will usually start to require some effort, and the last three is where you'll truly experience the might of heaven as out of the fifty percent that die attempting the heavenly tribulation, ninety-nine percent die from the last three attacks.' Thought Elif while simultaneously blocking the second strike from heaven with relative ease as the first one.

Attacking the third Lightning strike, this time, instead of instantly getting destroyed, both of the attacks seemed to be in a state of struggle till my attack eventually overpowered it.

Seeing the fourth attack that was twice as big as the third attack, this time, instead of attacking with the Royal Elf's Palm, I tightly gripped my sword with both hands. When the lightning attack was about to hit me, I slashed at the attack, and as I was doing so, I could feel my partner slice through the Lightning with little resistance. In doing so, the attack split in two, with each one striking the ground beside me; however, my body felt slightly numb as some of the lightning managed to travel across my sword and into me.

"Hmm, what's happening?" Said Elif as he watched how his partner began to glow brightly for a few seconds before returning to normal.

After the glowing settled down, I noticed my partner had no apparent changes; nothing was different even when I flipped it over.

'If nothing changed, what was the point of all that useless glowing?' Thought Elif confused as the special effects seemed to have yet to do anything.

Though when I scanned it with my divine sense, I could tell it somehow grew tremendously in power, and while I was curious how it did that, I was still in the middle of a heavenly tribulation. Looking back up, I instantly notice the fifth attack heading down; quickly covering my sword in sword intent, I repeat the same thing I did previously and sliced the attack in half, and even though I pretty easily defeated the tribulation lightning, the fifth attack wasn't something I would call weak anymore.

Shortly after the sixth heavenly tribulation striked down on me, I once again did the same thing, but I first attacked with a Royal Elf's Palm. I didn't use much Qi in it as it was mainly meant to weaken the attack before it arrived near me, and it accomplished just that as by the time the sixth lightning was near me, its power had been reduced to being only a little bit stronger than the previous one.

After slicing the sixth attack in half, I checked how much Qi I had left to work with as I was trying to save as much Qi as possible for the last three attacks.

'Eighty-five percent full, could've probably done better but whatever, I can't really change that now can I?' Thought Elif, slightly nervous.

Looking up I saw the seventh attack about to strike down and the power radiating off it gave me a dangerous feeling that none of the previous six did; when the lightning bolt launched at me from the clouds, I channeled my Qi through my sword, and slashed towards the sky, performing my favorite technique, Heavenly Scar.

When I slashed my partner, an arc of purple Qi traversed across the sky before colliding with the incoming Lightning bolt. They competed in a struggle for a little bit until my attack eventually overpowered it and sliced the lightning bolt in half.

'I used a good chunk of Qi with that attack; I don't know whether that was good or bad.' Thought Elif as he got back into position.

Then the eighth lightning bolt stroked down on me, and its power was much stronger than the previous one, performing two Heavenly Scars with both of them being stronger than the first one; however, when they collided with the Lightning, it was only capable of holding it back for a while before it eventually broke through both of my attacks and continue its way charging at me.

Luckily by then, a good chunk of its power had been used up with the previous clashing, though its power was still only slightly weaker than the seventh attack. When it got close, I went to slash it in half with my partner, but I had underestimated its power, and while I did manage to win the struggle, I got injured; thankfully, it wasn't anything too serious.

'Well, that wasn't great, but my condition isn't too bad, though the burns on my arms sting quite a bit.' Thought Elif as he looked down at his forearms covered in burn marks, cuts, and bruises.

Even though my condition wasn't the best, I didn't think about activating the protection formations; instead, I prepared for the ninth and final heavenly tribulation. While looking at the creation of the ninth Lightning, I could feel the power radiating off it was vastly stronger than the eighth one, and I could even feel the scent of death coming off it as well.

Taking in a deep breath and exhaling, I launched the strongest Royal Elf's Palm I could toward the ninth Lightning that had just launched itself at me; I didn't stand around and wait to see the outcome and used the rest of the Qi I had left and performed Heavenly Scar repeatedly until I couldn't anymore. However, to my astonishment, all of my attacks didn't manage to slow down its momentum much; it was still wildly charging straight at me with the intent of destroying me.

'Crap, my attacks didn't do much to it, I didn't want to use the formations, but I guess things can't always go my way.' Thought Elf, sad, defeated, and discouraged as he reached into his pocket to activate the protection formations.

'Ho, so something doesn't go your way, and the first thing you do is cowardly hide behind safety, disgraceful.' Said a beautiful and majestic voice appearing in Elif's soul.

'You, you're not mother, grandmother, or great-grandmother! Who the heck are you, and what are you doing inside my soul!? Also, what am I supposed to do, you fool, the attack is about to hit me, and you want me to fight against that!?' Replied Elif as he vented his emotions onto the voice that suddenly appeared in his soul.

'Of course. Do you think when you experience the outside world and leave the protection of the Empire, you're always going to be able to hide just because things get too difficult!? If that's how you think, then you'll never make it far in cultivation, so kill yourself now and save yourself from future embarrassments, as all you'll do is disgrace the Royal Elven bloodline and be labeled as trash before you're eventually forgotten about.' Replied the beautiful and majestic voice with obvious disdain in her voice, eliciting anger from Elif.

'How can I disgrace the Elven Royal bloodline when I'm the most talented Royal Elf ever!? Maybe you should kill yourself, idiot!' Responded Elif angrily.

'What you said is true, but what's the point of incredible talent without the mentality to overcome any challenge that awaits you? Just like the book of Dao's says, "countless genius with high talents but a weak Dao Heart have failed to become Legendary Figures" Do you want that to be you? Do you want to become a pathetic excuse of a cultivator and not live up to your parent's expectations, or do you want to become someone so great that just the mention of your name causes waves to form throughout the world!?' Said the voice blandly though her intention seemed to be to try and encourage Elif.

'Of course, I want my parents to be able to speak of my achievements proudly!' Answered Elif, vividly angry, though he didn't wish to be just like every other cultivator, and most importantly, he didn't wish to be considered a disgraceful existence by his parents.

'THEN PUT YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE AND OVERCOME THE CHALLENGE BEFORE YOU. THAT'S WHAT LEGENDS DO!' Said the voice as her words loudly resounded throughout Elif's soul before disappearing.

When I looked up at the sky and saw the ninth attack about to hit us, I was scared and nervous, but I was also determined to defeat this attack and show the world, show that random voice, and show my parents how extraordinary I was!

Lifting my sword in the air, I channeled as much of my sword intent as possible into him, and right when the lightning bolt was about to hit me, I slashed down with all the power I could muster. When my sword and the Lightning collided, I felt as if my hands were going to break, my arms snap, and my body crushed into the ground, but I preserved on and struggled; not once did I think about giving up as I knew if I did so now, I would die.

Even as my body was constantly getting injured by the lightning, I didn't waver and stood my ground no matter what happened; my partner and I struggled against the lightning bolt for what felt like an eternity until I felt the attack start weakening, I didn't know why it was weakening, but I knew I had to quickly destroy it in case heaven could somehow empower it once again.

However, I wasn't strong enough to push it back without my Qi, especially with all the injuries I'd accumulated. When I thought it was only a matter of time until I died, I felt something inside my very being slightly awakened, then I suddenly felt a rush of power similar to sword intent, but I could tell it was vastly stronger. I didn't know what this power was, but I wasn't given enough time to ponder about it as I could sense the Lightning I'd been holding off start growing in strength, instinctively manipulating the energy to cover my entire body as well as my partner, I finally manage to slash the ninth attack in half.

Seeing the Lightning disperse into the air and the dark clouds above us slowly vanish, I let out a laugh of satisfaction before collapsing to the ground.

"Hahahahahaha-"