A tribulation was forming underground. This was the power of the earth that instilled shock into the deepest part of one’s mind!
Cultivators who wanted to prove their dao wouldn’t only have to endure a test from the heavens but also a test from the grand earth.
Any cultivator in the God Base realm would clearly sense this disturbance underground. Seven dragons made out of magma were piercing through the earth and making their way towards the center.
“Even though Shi Yelai lost to Feng Feiyun, he was able to see the entrance to the grand dao. This is the Earth Tribulation, the start of seizing the Heaven’s Mandate.” Many images emerged in the sky. The kings of the younger generation gathered. Many prodigies in closed cultivation all awakened from the disturbance caused by the Earth Tribulation.
After surpassing the Earth Tribulation, grand achievement God Base could obtain the Heaven’s Mandate dao fruit as well as five hundred years of life while entering the first level of Heaven’s Mandate.
Cultivation was difficult, but enduring these trials was even harder. Many supreme geniuses were ended by the Earth Tribulation and became ashes in the end.
Shi Yelai’s 360 major meridians completely opened. They were absorbing the dao of the earth. His wounds were closing while a crimson crack appeared beneath his feet.
He didn’t hesitate at all and immediately jumped straight down.
“Boom!” The ground closed again!
A huge fluctuation came from below alongside a surging river of magma. This liquid was refining his body via heat.
This great fire escaped and burned all the tall trees within a hundred mile radius, painting a scene of red in the sky with its blazing flames.
Heat waves and smoke were swept by the wind. The vegetations nearby were instantly incinerated into black soot.
The power of the Earth Tribulation exceeded many people’s imagination. It could instantly swallow a grand achievement God Base cultivator and burn them to ashes.
“Shi Yelai is going through it right after a fight, his potential is still being stimulated. If he could use it to refine his body, maybe it will be a blessing in disguise and allow him to reach the Grand Historical Genius level.” The other young kings were very solemn. If Shi Yelai could reach first level Heaven’s Mandate as well as the Grand Historical Genius level, then he would officially become the new number one of the younger generation. No one else could be his match.
Feng Feiyun was quite close to the Earth Tribulation. His eyes narrowed while he actually hoped that Shi Yelai could reach Grand Historical, thus giving him a greater pressure and to act as an impetus for his own drive.
“Boom!” Ten meter thick columns of red magma spewed out, seemingly like a raging dragon. It instantly burned the soil into a circular shape while a thick smoke covered the sky.
An Earth Tribulation was just like the might of the heavens. It could easily kill a grand achievement God Base.
The average person would only bring about one magma river for refinement. Those with high aptitudes would bring about two or three — this was already hard enough. However, Shi Yelai actually invited seven different magma rivers. This was enough to show his great talents.
Even the earth couldn’t tolerate him and wished to swallow him alive; it didn’t want to allow him to go on the path towards the heavenly dao.
“Seven magma rivers to refine the body is quite scary. I heard that when a Historical level genius does it, there would be nine rivers.” After surpassing the Earth Tribulation, Shi Yelai’s ranking on the Hundreds’ List would surely change. All the top ten members would be challenged afterward.
It was truly dangerous to surpass the Earth Tribulation. Only one would be able to succeed out of ten. Regardless of one’s talents, there would always be a risk of dying. There had been Grand Historical Geniuses that died to this before. Their bodies melted with the magma, ending in a pitiful fate.
“I want the Heavens to turn dark for me!” Shi Yelai’s arrogant and unrestrained voice came from under the ground. His momentum crazily rose with a power that swept through the area like a tidal wave.
Was he about to surpass the Earth Tribulation?
This power was truly powerful, several dozen times stronger than before. Moreover, it was rising continuously. It seemed that he was becoming one with the earth while rising above its chains.
“I want the Earth to tremble before me!” The voice underground became even louder like an awakening god. The earth truly seemed to be shaking because of him.
Ordinary people wouldn’t be this powerful even after surpassing the trial, but Shi Yelai was different. He could already kill first level Heaven’s Mandate cultivators in the past, so if he surpassed this trial today, how much higher would his cultivation be?
The other young kings glanced at each other and could see fear. Shi Yelai’s power was growing at a monstrous rate. Several cultivators that were more powerful than him felt that they would lose miserably against him now.
Feng Feiyun squinted and looked at a mountain range a hundred miles away. He felt that something was moving underneath. Two wild beasts seemed to be lunging down there towards this direction. The ground began to crack in many places with magma oozing out.
“Those are… the eighth and ninth magma rivers!” Someone else also saw the scene coming from the other mountain.
Nine magma rivers — this represented a Grand Historical Genius undergoing the Earth Tribulation.
Shi Yelai actually made it. He borrowed the Earth Tribulation to refine himself in order to reach the physique of a Grand Historical Genius. This was him proving that he could compete with the other famous characters in the world!
The ninth river was extremely ferocious compared to the previous eight. The entire mountain range was quaking as if it was about to crumble.
“Boom! Boom!” A white ray of light surged from the ground to the sky. There was an immortal lotus transforming within, causing the stars to turn. This was an auspicious sign that illuminated half of the sky. This commotion was so great that it alarmed all the cultivators in the Wanxiang Pagoda.
The dozen Tower Lords were all startled. They went to the top of their respective towers with their eyes shooting out divine lights to gaze towards the distance.
Shi Yelai flew out from the ground and bathed in this white light. His skin suddenly cracked like an eggshell and white light snuck out from within like a jade being slowly refined.
“Pa! Pa! Pa!” Sounds of something breaking continuously rang. All of his skin cracked. It was his old body departing to usher in a new physique. The dazzling eyes made it so that spectators couldn’t open their eyes fully. It was a brilliant star amidst the sky wanting to take over the universe.
“He… he is…” A young king couldn’t believe his own eyes. He felt that even if Shi Yelai became a first level Heaven’s Mandate, he could still take him on. But at this moment, he felt an urge to retreat and was completely deterred.
It was an inopposable enemy that couldn’t be beaten!
On top of a peak with the cool breeze flowing by, causing falling leaves to flutter everywhere, Scholar Heaven Calculating stood among the leaves in his white daoist robe. He took out a bamboo slip and used his bronze pen to write down the name, “Shi Yelai.”
“Shi Yelai, the tenth Grand Historical Genius has been born!”
He might be the most tragic out of the ten Historical Geniuses because the other nine have never been defeated while he had lost to Feng Feiyun before.
If he wanted to prove his dao and officially compete with the other nine geniuses, then there must be another fight between him and Feng Feiyun. Only by defeating Feng Feiyun would he be able to actually reach the Grand Historical level and have his name recorded in the annals.
Right after Shi Yelai surpassed the Earth Tribulation, Feng Feiyun was on his way back. Whether Shi Yelai would become a Grand Historical Genius or not didn’t really affect him.
For him, becoming one was only a matter of time. If fast, it would take five or six months. If slow, it would take five or six years. He would definitely be able to complete the fourth Blood Transformation to reach the Grand Historical level.
Moreover, he had refined the phoenix bone into his body. Even though his physique was not at the historical level, it was actually not weaker than one at all.
After crossing this mountain, Feng Feiyun finally saw the eight dragons imperial carriage. It was parked next to a cliff. The four strange beasts pulling it glared at Feng Feiyun. Their big nostrils were puffing out white puffs of smoke.
The eight inner-court armored experts were surrounding the carriage without showing any emotion on their faces. They resembled statues; each of them was at grand achievement God Base.
He finally saw the real mastermind!
“Are you the fifth trial?” Feng Feiyun leaned on his blade. Even though he was unbearably exhausted, his eyes were still as white as snow. He was in high spirits and could fight for three thousand more rounds without falling…
This eight dragon carriage had an old yet luxurious design. It was a Spirit Treasure of the imperial family. Rumor has it that once it activated the spirits stones inside, eight ancient dragons would pull the carriage. They could cross ten million miles in one day. [1. Most likely just an expression, not literally ten million.]
It was quiet inside the carriage for a long time as if the master inside had already fallen asleep!
“I’d like to know how exactly I have offended Your Majesty, Princess Luofu?” Even though Feng Feiyun looked fierce at this moment, he felt like he was the victim the entire night. He was calculated by others and was full of wounds from battles on top of being completely fatigued.
Anyone would be cursing their opponent’s mothers and ancestors of eighteen generations. However, he couldn’t exactly curse Princess Luofu’s mother and definitely not her eighteen ancestors. Who was to blame for her being the golden daughter of the imperial family?
The princess finally answered: “You have not offended me.”
Her voice had a natural arrogance to it like a singing swan. Each word carried the power of a noble that could make ordinary people directly kneel.
This was a unique royal aura that only the imperial clan had. It existed in the noble bloodline and was groomed from a young age. Even the daughters of the great clans wouldn’t be able to have such majestic magnanimity. Others couldn’t help but admire her.
However, Feng Feiyun was unyielding and full of integrity. Not to mention kneeling, he didn’t even bow down to her. So what if she was a golden daughter of the imperial clan? This was not enough to make him bow.
The eight experts did not yell at his disrespectful showing because they knew that he was the successor of the Divine King. In the future, he could inherit the noble position, so they were not qualified to tell the Divine King’s successor to kneel.
If it wasn’t for Princess Luofu’s arrangement tonight, they would be the ones kneeling to salute Feng Feiyun instead. The disparity in status forced them so.