"...A Principle Crystal?!" Zhao Sheng shouted in shock, his face pale.

He never expected that this treasure refining session would yield such a significant gain, calling it a heaven-sent opportunity wouldn't be an exaggeration.

At this moment, countless spirit lights flashed in Zhao Sheng's mind. With a sudden wave of his hands, layers of barriers appeared on the walls surrounding the Dao Field, enveloping the entire field.

Zhao Sheng took out a bottle of Dragon Tiger Rejuvenation Pills, poured out a dragon-patterned azure elixir pill, and swallowed it. He then operated his energy to refine the medicinal power, and in a flash, a torrential mana rain poured over the Core Energy Sea in his Dantian.

Zhao Sheng sat cross-legged on the ground, simultaneously comprehending the gains from this session and refining the medicinal power to quickly recover his depleted mana.

A moment later, the entire Tao Field surprisingly birthed a vast ocean of thunder and lightning, deep within which loomed a grand and towering figure, resembling an Immortal God in the world.

...

Years passed by unknowingly in seclusion, time flew like an instant!

In the blink of an eye, the Cloud Mist Mountain Range had reached the winter season.

On this day, with the snow swirling and the bitter wind biting, the new Zhao City, stretching over hundreds of miles, suddenly shook violently as dusk fell. A massive azure pillar of light shot skyward from the city center, piercing through to the outer skies.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a three-thousand-mile radius suddenly surged towards the city like a swarm, stirring up the fluttering snow and abruptly changing the weather.

Large patches of dark clouds appeared out of thin air and quickly spread across the heavenly curtain, coalescing into vast, dense clouds that rendered the city below shrouded in darkness.

Soon after, lightning and thunder emerged from the clouds, with countless Thunder Snakes dancing wildly, accompanied by deafening roars of thunder.

City residents, witnessing this scene, were initially stunned, then quickly displayed expressions of ecstatic joy.

A Heavenly Tribulation!

The Heavenly Tribulation has arrived!

"Haha, I wonder which of our ancestors has achieved perfection and chosen to cross the tribulation today. With this overwhelming spectacle, it must easily surpass even the legendary Nascent Soul Thunder Tribulation!"

"Oh no, this is bad! Everyone, run away!"

"Quick, get inside, or you'll be struck by lightning!"

"Heaven have mercy! New Zhao City might be destroyed in a day! The vile creature dares to choose to cross the tribulation within the city! If I find out who it is, I will tear them to pieces!"

"..."

Half of the city's several million residents cursed the tribulation-crossing individual profusely, their vile words indescribable.

Since ancient times, cultivators have chosen barren areas to cross tribulations, primarily to avoid harming the innocent.

The one who chose to cross the tribulation in New Zhao City today had blatantly violated the greatest taboo in the Cultivation World, inciting the Zhao family's collective outrage and hatred.

Yet almost no one knew that the one cursed by countless people was none other than the Zhao family's most esteemed and revered ancestor, Zhao Menghan.

In fact, even Zhao Sheng did not anticipate causing such a huge commotion.

He had just refined Zhao Menghan's Nascent Soul into the Spirit Core when the Heavenly Dao outside suddenly became enraged, immediately bringing down divine punishment.

Zhao Sheng, observing the tribulation spirit cloud in the sky, frowned silently, then suddenly grabbed the Spirit Core Crystal Pearl from mid-air, and in a flash, disappeared from the underground Dao Field.

After he vanished, the tribulation clouds, seemingly having lost their target, saw the Thunder Snakes greatly reduced in number, with the thunderclaps turning sparse and scattered.

Before long, the vast dark clouds quickly dispersed, and the sky returned to tranquility!

The celestial upheaval, from its mysterious beginning to its equally puzzling end, lasted merely a hundred breaths.

This scene left the city's residents completely bewildered, save for a few informed individuals, who were now worried sick and eager to rush into the underground Dao Field.

"What happened? Could it be... could the ancestor have failed?"

"Third, do not act recklessly! Until Qi Tian emerges, we can only wait patiently."

"Sigh, there was little hope to begin with; it seems the ancestor was unlucky this time and couldn't defy fate!"

"Shut up! How dare you speak such ominous words! If there is failure, I will hold you accountable!"

Amidst discussions among seven or eight Golden Core Masters of the Zhao family, Zhao Lian'er, wearing a lotus-colored long skirt, glanced at her mother and gently asked, "Mother, can you sense the ancestor's—"

"The aura of Cold Ancestor has vanished, but his soul lamp has not extinguished," replied Zhao Xingyu, a young woman in azure, with a calm expression.

The new ancestor of the family spoke, instantly silencing the crowd, who exchanged glances, not knowing what to do.

The lifebound soul lamp of Ancestor Menghan was now in Ancestor Xingyu's hands, so her words were beyond doubt.

"Phew~ It is well that the ancestor is not dead! I am finally relieved," said a golden-robed elder with a face like a heavy date; he was Zhao Boci, the current patriarch of the Zhao family and a Golden Core Ninth Stage Great Master.

Hearing this, everyone visibly relaxed, chiming in with words about the ancestor's celestial blessings, swiftly quelling their fears.

An hour later, the tightly closed stone gate of the Dao Field slowly opened, releasing an overwhelming and immense pressure that swept out, causing the external Golden Core Masters to lose their color and prostrate themselves on the ground en masse.

Zhao Xingyu's face changed dramatically, and she suddenly pulled her daughter's hand, retreating several steps before managing to stabilize herself.

A dull laughter suddenly echoed from behind the door, followed by the emergence of a massive puppet, over three zhang tall, with a tiger's head and a human's body. A gleaming, wide giant sword hung from its waist. As it walked, the ground trembled, and the void seemed assaulted by some force, quaking violently.

With the Spirit Puppet's appearance, vast tribulation clouds once again gathered in the sky.

This time, however, the tribulation clouds were markedly different, their scale shrinking enormously to a few thousand li, comparable to a Divinity Transformation Thunder Tribulation.

"A Divinity Transformation Thunder Tribulation? Surely, this implies the Heavenly Dao of the Lower Realm is not flawless, even its operations have loopholes to exploit..." Zhao Sheng "gazed" at the tribulation clouds in the sky thoughtfully, then turned to the Tiger Head Spirit Puppet.

It was undeniable that Zhao Menghan was now controlling this Tiger Head Spirit Puppet.

Yet, Zhao Menghan gazed up at the tribulation clouds with utter fearlessness, arrogantly raised his head, and instantly crashed into the upper stone wall, leaving a gigantic void hole.

Boom!

The ground burst apart suddenly, sending the Tiger Head Spirit Puppet soaring into the void, forcefully breaking into the depths of the vast tribulation clouds and vanishing without a trace!

In the next moment, the tribulation clouds churned violently, with countless thunder crashes exploding, instantaneously illuminating the dim earth.

With a blinding sword light tearing through the clouds, innumerable white sword lights followed, blooming like myriad flowers, shredding the vast tribulation clouds into disorder.

Numerous tribulation thunders relentlessly struck the majestic Spirit Puppet, earning nothing but futile results.

The Tiger Head Spirit Puppet remained unscathed, its movements increasingly fluid, while the sword lights it unleashed grew ever more potent, effortlessly slicing through space-time barriers, revealing one horrifying dark Abyss Mark after another in the Heavenly Vault.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.