8 Death by Heavenly Tribulation.

Shi Ning chose to battle The First Avenger in Jianye city. In the same area his son had been killed. This was to add symbolism to his win. Plus, this place attracted lots of spectators. Shi Ning was going to unleash his newest martial arts attack and he wanted a lot of people present to excitedly call it out. That sort of thing always made him feel like a big man.

As per the previous battle between cultivators, a number of less aware bystanders walked into the killing intent field exuded by the two experts. Leading to their deaths. It was a good thing that people in this world bred like rabbits. In fact a group of people were currently engaged in heated exchange within the centre of Jianye city.

"Oh master!" a young woman with a perfect figure and large breasts moaned as her companion petted her pussy. "Your hands are so forceful and skilled."

"Young miss…." groaned a handsome man as he felt himself losing control. "Your expert tongue is going to make my cock… OH YES!"

"Let me join in," said a muscular older gentleman.

He whipped out his snake and allowed both the male and female youths to stroke it.

That's right, today was pet appreciation day in Jianye city. A day when the citizens appreciated each other's pets and livestock. This author hopes that the reader wasn't suddenly fooled into believing that a sex scene was being described.

The ruckus was distracting Shi Ning. Who felt that such scenes were detracting from his own show.

"Everyone shut up!" shouted Shi Ning.

Then he unleashed his sect's famous area of attack technique; Giant Clapping Hands of Stone.

Massive pairs of stone hands, each as big as a person, appeared from the ground. Then these paired hands clapped. First managed to jump out of the way, but most bystanders were squished.

Because he was an Aura Realm cultivator, Shi Ning didn't require the aid of Mystical Arrays nor Magical Spells. Instead he merely extended his internal qi to affect the wider world and thus the attack was really fast.

This was the main difference between Core Realm and Aura Realm. A Core Realm cultivator used their qi to improve their body. While an Aura Realm cultivator could extend their qi outside their body and control the local area.

Because of this difference, Aura Realm cultivators had superior ranged combat abilities and could infuse their physical attacks with different energy including; Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Electric, Ice, Metal, Wood, Shadow, Poison, Sex, Reality Tv, J-Pop and it's evil version K-Pop. This made it near impossible for Core Realm cultivators to defeat Aura Realm cultivators.

"That's better," said Shi Ning. "Now people can pay attention to me."

He withdrew a jade communication tablet and took a picture of himself with #Shi Ning #Crushing Ants. Which he then posted on the Spirit-Net. A world-wide information network used by cultivators to communicate with each other.

"Are we going to fight now?" inquired First, who wanted to get this match over with, so he could undergo Heavenly Tribulation.

"So keen to die," smirked Shi Ning. "Don't you know who I am?"

"Nope," replied First. "Should I?"

Shi Ning almost spat blood at the disrespect.

"Ant!" he shouted. "You have eyes but can't see Mount Tai! I am the great Shi Ning!"

"That's the great Master Shi Ning," a murmur rose among the surviving spectators.

"I heard that Master Shi Ning is only forty years old, yet is already at the Aura Peak stage," said a tall celebrator.

"Master Shi Ning is truly fierce, having already killed tens of rival cultivators," declared a short spectator.

"It's said the master Shi Ning is the strongest Aura Peak cultivator in Sun Wu kingdom," stated a skinny spectator.

"More importantly, Master Shi Ning once fought a Nascent Soul elder to a draw," recounted a fat spectator.

It was clear to all in the vicinity, that Shi Ning was not to be taken lightly. He was but a one sixty-fourth step away from becoming a Nascent Soul cultivator. So how could a mere Core Realm cultivator survive his attack? It was laughable.

Shi Ning swelled with pride at the praise of the spectators. He was an important existence soon to ascend to the vaunted Nascent Soul Realm. Sure, in later chapters, the world's power level would mysteriously rise in order to keep up with the MC. And Nascent Soul cultivators would be everywhere by that point. However, at this stage of the story, Nascent Soul cultivators and Aura Peak cultivators were still rare enough to be impressive.

"Aura Peak cultivator," smiled First. "I bet you have some good stuff in your storage ring. I can't wait to kill you and take it from your corpse."

Shi Ning was taken aback by his rival's arrogance.

"You're courting death!" he shouted while channelling Giant Clapping Hands of Stone.

This time though, the attack was focused on First. Each pair of hands tried to crush him. However, his speed was just to amazing. Since First had trained in his mother's womb, he was used to having his movement's hindered by amniotic fluid which was slightly thicker than water. Now though there was simply air resistance. So his speed and agility was far superior to other cultivators.

"You bore me," yawned First. "Now let' see if you can receive my attack."

First unleashed Hurricane Kick, smashing through the stone hands which barred his path. Then as soon as he landed beside Shi Ning, he launched the Rising Dragon Fist.

Shi Ning was set flying into the air. If not for the fact that he had conjured armour using his Stone Skin technique, then he would have suffered grave injuries.

"Tsk," grumbled First. "Seems beating you is going to be more troublesome than I expected. I hope your storage ring has enough valuable items to compensate me for my time."

"I was holding back my power," stated Shi Ning, who now stood atop a two meter tall stone pole he had conjured. "But now I will let you taste my true strength!

Feel the might of my newly created technique; Stone King's Spurting Hot Liquid. This technique combines both Earth and Fire elements to unleash an eruption of lava! No Core Realm cultivator can withstand it."

Shi Ning explained his move in detail. Since no-one had seen him use it before, he wanted to make sure they knew exactly what it was. It would be embarrassing if spectators accidently misnamed the technique when they saw it.

"Spurt your hot liquid all over me then," taunted First. "I've experienced worse."

This was the absolute truth. Green Peach Maiden had been an adventurous eater and some of the dishes from the Celestial Divine Immortal Heaven World had been truly potent. One time she had eaten One Million Alarms Chilli which was made using one million year old chilli pods. That night, she had suffered a really bad stomach ache. While her unborn son had shielded his sister and been forced to endure burning energy that was hotter than any lava.

Spurt!

Lava ejaculated from the ground with incredible force. Aimed directly at First's young face.

Swoosh!

First was knocked backwards by the powerful torrent of spurting hot liquid.

"Where's your arrogant boasting now?" mocked Shi Ning. "You were but a frog in a well."

"That was it?" questioned First as he extricated himself from the melted remains of the building he had been smashed into.

He nonchalantly walked to gaze upwards at his enemy, still standing on the stone pole.

"How did you survive?!?" squawked Shi Ning, who started to feel fear at how abnormal this Core Realm cultivator before him was. "I must escape."

"You're not going anywhere!" declared First in imitation of Shi Ning's earlier. "You're staying here to die!"

Boom! Crack!

First launched a Rising Dragon Fist attack with all his might. The attack was so fast that it unleashed a sonic boom. It was so forceful that it disintegrated Shi Ning's Stone Skin armour. Miraculously though, the antagonist was still alive, albeit almost dead.

"You can't beat an Aura realm cultivator with pure physical attack!" gloated Shi Ning.

"How troublesome," mumbled First. "I guess I'll have to use a borrowed knife to kill you. Or in this case… burrowed lightning."

The First Avenger immediately started revolving the golden core within his dantian. He decided to undergo Heavenly Tribulations right there and then.

Crash!

The first lightning bolt struck First. He barely felt it and yawned.

As if angered by his nonchalant attitude the Heavens unleashed tens of lightning bolts. Turning the area around First into an electrically charged zone of destruction. Nearby spectators and the now regretful Shi Ning were vaporised.

First also began to buckle under the pressure. Most cultivators took special pills to bolster their bodies during normal Heavenly Tribulations. And even then, they could be damaged. So, it was much harder for First, who was without any aid and whose Heavenly Tribulations were much stronger.

However, thanks to previous experience living in the womb of a mother with irresponsible eating habits, he managed to bear the pain and power. He even smiled, appearing as if some kind of storm god who was merely enjoying a massage as opposed to being internally fried by incredible heat and voltage.

The golden ball within The First Avenger's lower dantian seemed to melt. Becoming a golden liquid that travelled into his middle dantian to form an Aura Lake. This Lake was were Aura Realm cultivators stored the qi to power their Aura Realm powers. The larger the Lake, the more energy they could use. Due to his superior meditation technique, First's Lake was massive.

After an incense stick length of time, the Heavenly Tribulations ceased and an Aura Realm cultivator, strode forth from the carnage which his ascension had caused. The First Avenger picked up Shi Ning's storage ring and headed back home.