Author's Note:
As before, the specific details will be left for when the main body breaks through on its own.
So, for now, the presentation will be brief.
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Elder Xuan Zhen, of the Formation Pavilion, waited calmly as he saw the trio approaching.
Aotian and the Rihais landed and walked toward the two elders who were waiting. They clasped their fists and greeted them respectfully.
"The disciples greet Elder Xuan and Elder Jian," the two said, while the third hooded figure only bowed silently.
The elders returned the greeting with calm nods, allowing them to rise.
Jian Huiyin cast a curious and confused glance at the hooded person who had arrived hand in hand with disciple Long, but she didn't ask anything, since Xuan Zhen showed no reaction to her presence.
"Good. You've arrived," Xuan Zhen said seriously. "The sect has already set up a formation and an isolation area that will provide you with enough energy for your breakthroughs. It will also prevent your advancement from disturbing the sect's disciples, and, of course, ensure that you can break through safely and with peace of mind," he explained.
Aotian had already prepared this breakthrough site, knowing it would be heavily used in the future.
He also intended to allow disciples to choose whether their advancement would be public, involve a few selected people, or be done in private.
But for now, since this breakthrough involved an elder and the two bodies of his wife, Aotian decided to keep it confidential.
"Come with me," Elder Xuan called, as his feet lifted off the ground.
Seeing them nod and follow, he soared ahead at a speed appropriate for those present to keep up.
Following him, they soon found themselves leaving the sect's boundaries and flying toward the horizon.
After about twenty minutes, Elder Xuan finally slowed down until they stopped above a calm, seemingly ordinary prairie.
With a composed expression, Xuan Zhen took a token from his storage ring, and as he pulsed his spiritual energy, nothing appeared to happen at first. However, as soon as they stepped onto the prairie grass, their bodies suddenly vanished.
They hadn't been teleported — they were still in the same place. What had happened was that illusion and isolation formations placed on that passage, normally inactive, had now been fully activated.
Under the elder's token effect, the formations came to life, concealing the group's presence and confusing anyone without authorization who might attempt to pass through.
For such formations to function without the direct support of a spiritual vein, it was only natural that spiritual stones were required, being consumed every second. But that small expenditure was nothing to Aotian, who possessed the Equivalent Exchange ability — especially after the great heist carried out by Ancestor Mo and Ancestor Bao against several Formation-Tier sects.
Within the pasture, which appeared normal from the outside, the scene seen by Aotian, Jian Huiyin, and Rihai was quite different.
There were several marked areas on the ground, with large blue squares drawn by formation patterns. Corridors surrounded these squares, and the group stood in one of them.
Xuan Zhen turned toward them and tossed a token to each of the girls.
"Since it's empty now, you could choose any spot, but to keep things simple, take rooms 1, 2, and 3 respectively." He pointed to three blue squares on the ground, where small light screens displayed the corresponding room numbers — or rather, the designated areas.
On the tokens in the girls' hands, the same numbers shone.
"By controlling the token with spiritual energy, you can give two commands. The first is to block external vision, if you wish. The second is to release spiritual energy when you're ready to break through."
"The square is large enough for your advancement, and there's an internal area within the boundaries that allows a specific audience to watch. But that's not relevant right now."
After finishing the explanation, he let the girls prepare. Once he received their thanks, he disappeared from sight.
The three wasted no time and headed for their respective squares.
"It's going to be fine. It's not as difficult as you think," Aotian held the hands of his wife's two bodies before they left and spoke firmly.
Both nodded resolutely, and after kissing his cheeks, they went to their positions.
As soon as they entered with their tokens, the squares turned red, and protective barriers preventing outsiders from entering were activated. Those were now private, occupied chambers.
The blonde Rihai and Elder Jian did not activate the vision-blocking function, but the blue-haired Rihai did.
When the block was activated, the outer area of the square became hazy, making it impossible to see inside.
The blonde Rihai and Elder Jian sat cross-legged in their respective squares and closed their eyes.
Aotian also sat down and waited for them to begin.
An hour later, Rihai opened her eyes and activated the energy release function with her token before storing it in her ring.
Upon activation, dense spiritual and elemental energy filled the area. Soon, dark clouds gathered, and thunder echoed across the sky.
Beside Aotian, hidden, was Ancestor Zhao Wenming of the Heritage Pavilion, releasing the aura of his Wisdom Domain ability, which increased the ease of gaining insights and restored mental strength. The girls were, therefore, in excellent care.
Through the ancestor's perception, which passed smoothly through the formations without obstruction — since Aotian himself had created them — he could see that the second body of his wife was also breaking through.
Aotian had thought she would advance one body at a time, but in the end, it seemed his wife had decided to go all out.
The storm in the sky grew larger and larger until it broke through the limits of the formation and spread beyond the prairie.
But since they were far from the cities and the sect, it didn't matter much.
'Fortunately, there's no problem in attracting tribulations so close to each other, and there's no such thing as one tribulation becoming stronger or being affected because another one is nearby.'
Aotian reflected calmly as he observed.
Indeed, he had discovered that in this world, tribulations truly targeted anyone who tried to interfere with their judgment. But something like tribulations overlapping simply didn't exist. Otherwise, it would be disastrous for major sects where cultivators advanced frequently.
Imagine an ancestor enjoying the sect's excellent environment, about to break through to a higher realm, and suddenly another disciple decided to advance. If one person's tribulation affected and strengthened the other's — even slightly — that ancestor might die from something they could have originally endured.
If such cases really happened, Aotian believed there would be many deserted sects out there, inhabited by only one person.
Based on his experience and the many sect inheritances he had read, Aotian came to a conclusion:
'The will of the heavens is fair. It tests those who wish to break beyond the Golden Core, but if someone tries to interfere with its judgment — whether to help or to hinder the target — they become its enemy, and indeed that enemy suffers from its wrath.'
'As for two people breaking through near each other, each tribulation has a specific target and a defined amount of judgment. They do not strengthen because of proximity. It truly is fair.'
'This is quite different from the books I read back on Earth. In those stories, whenever someone interfered, it basically turned into a double suicide, which was pretty infuriating. Only the protagonists, with their divine luck, could somehow overcome a strengthened tribulation, while ordinary people could only cry bitterly.'
'Here, however, the tribulation too strengthens if someone interferes — yet the increased power falls upon the one who meddles, not unjustly upon the original target. For the latter, the intensity of Heaven's judgment remains unchanged.'
'Although there's still the danger of being attacked while severely wounded from the tribulation, whoever dares to strike must also be ready to bear Heaven's wrath.'
'As for other things from the xianxias I used to read, I don't know if anyone can use their own tribulation to strike down an enemy, like in those novels. I've never found any record or mention of such a thing. But I feel that even if it worked, the tribulation would still turn its anger against whoever tried it, instead of remaining unchanged as it does in normal cases.'
Setting those thoughts aside, he refocused on Rihai, who was going through her tribulation.
Still sitting cross-legged, a small, ghostly blue version of herself suddenly emerged from her forehead — her Nascent Soul.
As soon as it appeared, as if drawn by it, a lightning bolt descended from the heavens with immense ferocity. The target was undoubtedly the Nascent Soul.
Rihai grew serious, gritted her teeth, and flew upward with her soul to meet it, taking the impact head-on with her ethereal body.
BOOOMMM!!
A deafening sound echoed through the corridor where Aotian stood, strong enough that for a moment he felt as if the ground shook beneath his feet.
The lightning enveloped her soul's body before descending toward her physical form. What struck her physical body, however, was only one-third of the original power; the remaining two-thirds were endured by the Nascent Soul.
When the lightning's glow faded, Aotian noticed that far from being weakened, Rihai's little soul appeared denser and deeper. Her physical body also remained stable.
A smile appeared on his lips.
'The first bolt is the hardest, since it must be endured directly by the Nascent Soul. Now that she's passed that, the rest will be easy.' He nodded, satisfied to see his wife succeeding.
Rihai's little soul returned to her body as soon as it stabilized. She then opened her eyes, stood up, and began to float, facing the tribulation clouds.
Without hesitation, she shot upward, diving straight into the clouds.
Such an action seemed to irritate the tribulation, which began bombarding her relentlessly.
BOOM!!
BOOMM!!!
BOOOOMMM!!!!
BOOOOOMMMMM!!!!
Colorful lightning bolts, larger than her own body, flashed across the sky, striking her without pause.
In the end, after eighteen bolts struck her, the tribulation collapsed with the last strike, dispersing in the heavens and letting the sun shine once more, revealing her unscathed body, radiating a powerful and heroic aura.
"What a show-off." Aotian chuckled, amused by his wife's protagonist-like behavior.
But he didn't judge her. After all, he himself had done the same more than once.
The difference was that the lightning Rihai received was far more powerful, meaning she gained greater benefits than his avatars. This was due to her solid and refined foundation, far superior to that of his avatars who prioritized speed.
While an unharmed and satisfied Rihai descended from the sky, Jian Huiyin beside her — who had begun her trial not long after — was also finishing her last tribulation.
However, it seemed to have been harder for Elder Jian, judging by the wounds, blood, and burns on her body — which were quickly healed by pills and spiritual energy.
Since she had entered the sect late in her cultivation, she hadn't forged a Supreme Golden Core, yet she had spent nearly a year refining her Core with the sect's techniques, coming close to correcting her foundation.
With a bit of luck mixed in, she managed to summon eighteen tribulation bolts as well. Though weaker than Rihai's or even those of the avatars, it was still fair to say she had forged a Supreme Nascent Soul.
Far from feeling unhappy, Jian Huiyin looked at her own fists in disbelief until a smile formed on her lips.
Before joining the Infinite Dao Sect, she had never imagined reaching even the late stage of the Golden Core — much less forging a Supreme Nascent Soul, whose existence she hadn't even known of back then.
Her gratitude and loyalty to the sect only deepened further.
Rihai, though equally elated, was calmer.
As the possessor of a Divine Physique, there had never been any doubt she would reach the peak of cultivation in this world. If not for the misfortune of an accident along the way, such a thing would never have been questioned.
Thus, her true joy had been when she recovered her roots. Now, though happy to advance, she didn't feel the same euphoria as before.
The room beside them also lost its haze, and the scene within became visible again. The second body of Hai'er, still hooded, was revealed as well, emanating the fluctuations of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
And just like that, the Infinite Dao Sect suddenly had three powerful new women supporting it.