"I… shall not…fall here!" the words were spoken through the blood and muck covering Meng Hao's face as he raised a hand up, "Bring it on, Heavens!"
And then, thunder boomed as the heavens agreed to Meng Hao's challenge and laced down with a thunderbolt as thick as a tree trunk down towards Meng Hao's extended hand.
The electric shock from the thunderbolt wasn't even worth Meng Hao's expressions to twist and sower as he took it in like if it was a summer breeze.
With eyes clearer than the bluest of skies, Meng Hao looked up and spoke, "My Dao is to defy and rise above the rest, even you, heavens, one day I'll bring you under this very foot of mine!"
His words, a clear blasphemy against the authority of heaven caused the latter to rage and roil as its clouds began darkening to an even darker shade of red, and then three more thunderbolts even thicker than the one before shot down at Meng Hao.
Meng Hao, defiant as ever, roared against the odds, and with all the Qi his broken body could muster, he coated his hands and sent forward a challenging fist against heaven's assault.
Lightning and Meng Hao's fist collided, rocking Meng Hao back into the ground like if he was a ragdoll, his body seared and burnt, and damaged beyond what any human could sustain, yet his eyes never wavered, nor did he even scream once from the agonizing pain.
"This is the first time, I've seen a Nascent Soul tribulation as powerful as this… to be honest, this is almost as strong as a Soul Formation's Tribulation, if not slightly stronger. This kid's future will be limitless if he survives here," spoke one of the men who carried the crowd away from the tribulation.
The rest of the Nascent Soul cultivators all watched with slight envy and fear in what is happening. They all wanted to go through the same powerful tribulation, for the stronger the tribulation, the greater the rewards, but at the same time, there was fear, for this type of tribulation can kill them, and it was not worth it if they were dead.
"Is that all you got?!" Meng Hao laughed, "NOT ENOUGH!" he shouted and suddenly runes began shimmering through all of his body.
"NOT ENOUGH!" he called once again, and the burns on his body began receding, and his flesh began to mend back.
"Give me all you got! For this is, far from enough to have me kneel!"
The skies rumbled once again, and instead of the thunderbolts, the lightning transformed into red swords. Ten, twenty, a hundred, then more, and more until trying to count them was nothing but a waste of mental effort.
The storm roiled and coiled, and the swords readied up in the skies like raindrops that were frozen in time.
And then, as if the belly of the storm was poked with a spear, it unleashed its holding power and the swords came down with so much speed that tracking them was nigh impossible.
In Meng Hao's hand was an item that I was surprised to see because I've seen it before…
It was an old brass bell with a red string. I've seen this, in a place where Meng Hao shouldn't have visited…it was in the Demon Realm, and this item was among the special items that the man in black was selling on the ground…
I obtained the quill and ink bottle from him, but couldn't take the Bell because, at that time, I felt like it wasn't mine… but apparently, that brass bell was supposed to go to Meng Hao. This is really strange.
Meng Hao threw the bell upwards and the small thing jingled once and then grew in size then, easily shrugged off the killer assault from the Tribulation like if it was nothing.
The swords shattered as they made contact with the bell. And for every few hundred strikes the bell would ring one and it was loud.
The bell's jingle was strong enough that it sent a shockwave of sound that rattled the incoming sword breaking them in flight.
Heavens finding the bell's interference intolerable sent in even more powerful thunderbolts that were once again shrugged off as if they were nothing.
Looking around, I realized that Meng Hao was unlucky in being forced to go through the Heavenly Tribulation here. Because there was Greed in the eyes of every Nascent Soul cultivator present, and even more in the eyes of the ones who were in a higher cultivation rank.
That bell was a powerful defensive treasure, and as it appears no one here would be willing to give up the opportunity to get that item for themselves.
Yet, what happened next was pretty impressive.
The Heavenly tribulation's wrath seemed to coalesce in one last effort. It absorbed the rest of the swords back into the clouds and shaped the very clouds into a material godly fist, shaped like a gauntlet adorned with jewels and metal spikes.
The gauntlet came down at the brass bell, where it sounded one last time before it cracked and broke, shattering into pieces.
Causing the many cultivators around me to sigh in disappointment.
However, the fist's power didn't fully dissipate after shattering the bell and struck Meng Hao down with enough power that even the already cratered ground was rocked once again causing the whole territory to shake and quack.
Buildings all over the city began falling down, but thanks to the concentrated efforts of the many guards and cultivators who were dispatched once the heavenly tribulation happened, it seemed that not many casualties would occur.
Soon, the heavens torment and tribulation had ended, and the red clouds dissipated, leaving destruction, but at the same time, the heavenly law isn't all destruction. For once the heavens had shown its wrath, it gives its mercy to those who survive it. And grants the might to once again grow, and face the Heavens once again, in a never-ending cycle of destruction and creation.
Pure worldly Qi poured down from high above and washed over the lands. The greatest concentration of this pure Qi was sent directly into the massive hole where Meng Hao was, though most highly doubted if Meng Hao survived that, once they saw the Qi being sucked dry, they all knew he made it.
And whatever remained of the worldly Qi washed over the lands, causing wilted plants to grow once again. Cultivators all around me sat down, basking in heavenly mercy, and cultivated this Qi.
Sadly, I'm not able to cultivate this energy so I made better use of my time. I flew forward and into where Meng Hao was.
He looked half-dead, but the wounds on his body were slowly recovering.
I looked around and found the small bell that I thought was destroyed laying right next to Meng Hao, I immediately hid it into Meng Hao's clothes and gave him a few pills.
Once the pills' effect fused into Meng Hao's system, he opened his eyes and looked around looking for something.
'I already hid it within your robes, cultivate and recuperate, I'll keep guard,' I said to Meng Hao in a divine sense message.
He nodded at me and sat down in a lotus position.
"Ah you should go and cultivate with the rest, Shen Bao, I'll keep guard over this child," came the words of the Soul Transformation Cultivator.
"Thank you for your concern, but I don't need to, and Meng Hao is an old acquaintance of mine, it would only be natural for me to guard him. Also, the city is in shambles, I bet your time is more valuable used in more important matters than guarding a junior." I said.
The old man frowned but since I spoke loudly, he had to give Face. And leave us alone. Though everyone knew well why the old man came here, because all of them wanted to do the same, and come and inspect the remains of the bell that they'll never find. Since I clearly spoke denying them the 'right' to come and protect Meng Hao as he cultivated, they'll have to just wait and sit down, for Face.
Seems like this weird-ass expression of Face is starting to grow on me, it's the best thing to use to cuck these greedy ass old people.
Soon, the Qi from within Meng Hao's body began a powerful turmoil. It roe and twirled around him as his expressions changed to that of a person in pain, then suddenly a blast of powerful Qi shot out from his body as he spoke the word, "BREAK!"
More worldly Qi gathered around Meng Hao as his body absorbed it as fast as he could. Then pureness never before seen through him emitted as his hair grew all the way to his back, his already clear eyes became clearer and the muscles on his body deflated, but not enough to give him a skinny look, but more of well balanced and chiseled physic. I could even swear that he visibly grew slightly taller.
Then once he took a breath, and released it, a foul stench left his body, raising the purity of his entire body by several grades.
Meng Hao slowly stood up, looked at both his arms, and clenched his fists, "Nascent Soul, achieved!" he spoke.
I smiled saying, "Congratulations on becoming a Nascent Soul cultivator."
"Yes, perhaps now, I'll be able to beat you." He said smiling at me.
'Damn, with the MC aura around you, I'd probably lose to you even if I was an ascendant and you were a Qi cultivator,'
"That would be bullying, I'm just a poor Core cultivator," I said.
"Hah, cultivation stage isn't everything. Now, where is that guy, our fight hasn't officially ended.." Meng Hao's eyes were full of fighting spirit, and now with a second breath and a new cultivation stage, this should be plenty interesting.