The Stars Beyond

In the Solitary Void, Wang Xuan was subjected to the "thousand burnings and hundred forgings" by the red substance, his "soul" nearly scorched in the process, enduring pain to welcome rebirth and transformation.

The so-called "dross of the soul" does not exist; there are only distractions and complex human thoughts, his memories too mottled.

For instance, those avatars, those useless experiences, and some negative emotions, all were incinerated clean by the terrifying red substance.

Ancient cultivators emphasized the purity of mind and spirit, achieving a childlike heart in their twilight years, with a steadfast Dao heart, perhaps related to this process.

The fusion of the soul, the absorption of memories, and the purification of the mind and spirit – this is a complex yet natural process. To achieve a state of completeness and uniqueness is to be the only one, which is what he has become now.

However, having been purified by the red substance, he was incredibly exhausted, nearly burned to death!

"Now, my affinity and integration with the red substance far exceed what it was before. This is a good sign, not a wasteful burning of my spirit."

Each visit here saw him being burned to the brink of death and back, and now his soul has gradually adapted. Over time, when he reaches the realms of free wandering and life preservation, could he wander in the red vastness?

He looked forward to this because he once saw something sinking and floating in the sea of light of the red substance, definitely not something trivial.

Finally, sitting in a pool steaming with silver light, bathing his spirit in the life elixir of this place, he felt a qualitative change, completely relaxed.

A layer of "old soul skin" that had been scorched cracked and fell off, and the transformed soul was full of vitality, exceptionally tough and strong.

"Should I try to break through the meteorite passage once?" Wang Xuan sat cross-legged in the pool, body and mind relaxed, feeling he had already stepped into the twelfth rank realm.

He and his avatars, when jointly attacking the Light God, possessed nearly twelfth rank strength, already powerful enough, but that was not his strength alone.

Now it was different. All the forces were unified, merged together; the spiritual power of each avatar, as well as their research directions on various scriptures, were all inherited by him, all belonging to him.

At this moment, he was stronger than all those avatars combined!

"Is this what being at the twelfth rank feels like? The power is there, but somehow, it feels unstable. Why is that? Is it some malicious force in the shadows? Are those supreme immortals and top deities out to get me? Or is it that the gods and immortals within the great barrier are about to emerge?"

Wang Xuan wasn't overly concerned, as the feeling was vague and not lethal.

Sitting in the rough-hewn pool, soaked in the silver life elixir, completely relaxed, he looked at the mounds of fate soil by the poolside, where the Nine Tribulations Sky Vine, transformed from the Nine Tribulations Sky Lotus, was thriving with more than a dozen leaves.

On the other side, the First Immortal Tea Tree was lush and verdant, its leaves dew-covered, radiating dawn light, and the various colored tea fruits clustered together, gleaming like agates.

Taking this rare moment to relax, he used the furnace cover to catch dewdrops and picked a few thumb-sized tea fruits, some bright red, others silver-white, some enveloped in black gleam, and some shrouded in purple mist, pleasing to the eye.

Once the water boiled and the tea fragrance filled the air, he sipped the tea slowly, his senses becoming increasingly sharp, quietly contemplating his transformation.

The taste of tea permeated his mouth, his spirit slowly sublimating, he muttered to himself, "I am very strong now."

"Tired of fighting and killing, if every day could be spent drinking tea, soaking in a comfortable fairy pool, then exploring new mythological paths, leisurely spending my days in the city, that would be quite nice."

At this moment, the fragrance of the tea fruits filled his nostrils, his heart calm and spirit at peace, detached from the mundane world, content in his solitude, an indescribable enjoyment.

However, this brief respite was destined to be short-lived. While still savoring the moment, he suddenly became alert, quickly stood up, grabbed the banner and the cover, ready for battle.

Could there be an invader in this place? That sense of unease grew stronger, and he scanned the surroundings with his spiritual eye.

"Last time, in the meteorite passage, I heard faint, mournful howls. Could it be that some ghastly entity is about to emerge?" He stepped out of the pool, advancing into the darkness.

The next moment, he was struck hard, his ears ringing, his eardrums nearly bursting, his arms numb, his whole body shaken to the verge of breaking apart, facing a lethal threat, quite terrifying.

Even his Godslaying Banner and the furnace cover flew out of his hands, his hands spasming.

Before Wang Xuan, everything turned a vivid red, like blood, an eerie light engulfing him, blocking his path to the furnace cover and banner.

Bang!

The next instant, he was sent flying, engulfed in intense light and extreme heat, threatening to "roast" his soul, the damage to his spiritual form was immense.

The outside world was in violent turmoil because of that.

With treasures already resonating, the Life-Preserving Furnace, now stimulated, roared and trembled, causing certain treasures to echo each other, intensifying the violent shaking even more.

Chen Yongjie had just gained new insights, refining his body with the red substance that overflowed from Wang Xuan, purifying his essence, energy, and spirit, feeling that reaching the tenth rank was within sight.

His potential was already astonishing, with many of the older generation commenting that if he were in ancient times, he would undoubtedly become a Buddha or a patriarch, founding a new doctrine without any problem.

Now, with various resources accelerating his cultivation process, his Dao fruit was enhanced.

However, just when the future seemed promising, and he was full of aspirations, he was struck by a blinding light, with faint rosy clouds spreading out, sending him flying.

"Another... shock, exceptionally fierce, incredibly violent!" Chen Yongjie realized something bad was happening, the earthquake triggered by Wang Xuan was finally starting to unfold.

Moreover, this time was different from before. He stood by Wang Xuan's side, absorbing various beneficial substances, but it was still not enough; it was just the beginning, and he already felt a strong unease. Could he be demoted to the eighth rank again?

Boom!

In the real world, it was as if thunder was roaring, new treasures were being born, old treasures were battling, resonating violently, and all transcendent beings were pale.

"What's happening? Why is there suddenly such a violent earthquake, becoming more intense... I want to cry, I'm going to lose my realm again!"

"This is unprecedented, to lose realms consecutively in one day, what kind of cursed situation is this, a disaster of hellish proportions, who can endure this?"

Across many transcendent lands, countless people wailed, having never experienced such a terrible situation before. Was this a judgement from the cosmos, wishing to strip all transcendent beings back to their origins?

Everywhere, all cultivators were pale; to them, this terrifying earthquake was like the apocalypse of the transcendent world arriving.

Within the decaying barrier, the supreme deities attempting to penetrate the ground with their spiritual power were all feeling a surge of heart palpitations, aside from being detected by Xu Fu, which put pressure on them, the most important thing was that the tremors of heaven and earth affected them!

How could this be? With his golden hair fluttering, the immortal Lei Tuo looked up at the sky. Has a new treasure been born? To cause such terrifying fluctuations, he was actually going to lose a realm again.

"No!" He roared lowly, having been careless the last time, this time he swore to hold on at all costs, absolutely not allowing his cultivation to fall again, otherwise, he would have to descend to the first layer of the Free Wanderer realm!

Yuan Lei, the top deity with black hair and silver eyes, dressed in crimson gold armor and with a fiery figure, was also incredibly shocked. Her beautiful face paled; she had withstood it last time, but now... she was going to lose a realm!

The great Daoist Xu Fu was also clouded with gloom; he was not going to hold on either!

In the Solitary Void, Wang Xuan was engulfed in scarlet light, his body violently shaking, nearly bursting apart several times. After being struck repeatedly, he finally regained his senses, realizing what it was.

"A heavenly tribulation?!"

It wasn't that he was slow to react, but this place was too special, a desolate land, ethereal and illusory. So far, only he was here, isolated from the mundane world, and yet he was facing a heavenly tribulation?

Moreover, generally speaking, normal cultivators only face heavenly tribulations when they ascend to immortality, a grand and dangerous event, hard to survive physically.

Even many would lose their souls to it.

Heavenly tribulations have particularly strong and terrifying destructive power on spirits, a natural nemesis, often resulting in complete annihilation.

"In such a place, separated from my physical body, I'm also to be struck by lightning, subjected to a heavenly tribulation?" He couldn't believe it, finding it incredulous.

Wang Xuan pondered, no wonder he felt uneasy earlier, sensing something was amiss. It turned out to be this danger. Without his physical body's protection, his soul was under too much pressure.

"I haven't ascended to immortality, yet I'm facing a heavenly tribulation, indicating that the twelfth realm, beyond the theoretical scope of transcendence, is somewhat unbelievable!"

He didn't know, some things were not recorded in books. Normally, reaching the mythological pinnacle, the eleventh rank, once one breaks through, entering the grand realm of Free Wanderer, there's also a terrible heavenly tribulation.

And he was even more unique, facing a great calamity at the twelfth stage without yet advancing to a grand realm!

"Bring it on, since it's inescapable, might as well enjoy it. Bathing in thunderlight, baptizing the soul, isn't it joyful? Ow, it truly hurts like hell!"

Wang Xuan couldn't even find solace in his suffering. The twelfth rank in this human realm, an uncharted territory, received an excessive amount of attention from the thunder in the unseen world.

It could be said, he was now a path of sparks and lightning, struck from head to toe, from the spirit-condensed hair to the marrow in his bones, his spirit blood and organs nearly cooked.

Wang Xuan was struck between life and death, his soul nearly exploding on the spot multiple times.

If it weren't for his practice of the Dao-Slaying Sword, having tempered his soul to be as indestructible as primordial divine metal, he would have turned to ashes by now. Now he struggled valiantly, transforming into a sword wheel, slashing out the light of the spirit, and confronting the heavenly tribulation head-on.

"If you can't kill me, then you're done for. Let's see if you can keep it up without extinguishing, I'm watching. Never seen a thunder that strikes from ancient times to the present!"

He stubbornly resisted, combating the tribulation while smelling his own scorched scent, baptizing his spirit body in the thunder, enduring thousands of strikes and hundreds of bombings, thunder "crowning" him, lightning "refining his marrow and hair."

Outside, the treasures trembled violently, the great barrier glowed, supreme rules intertwined, rumbling, causing a cacophony of wails and howls in the real world, unstoppable by anyone.

Even the great Daoist Xu Fu sat cross-legged, attempting to stable himself with his palms against the ground, his fishing rod on his back trembling uncontrollably. In such an earthquake, even a fisherman would find it unbearable, silently looking up at the heavens.

As for the supreme immortal Lei Tuo, he was already infuriated, howling and resisting, somewhat driven mad.

In outer space, Qing Mu felt like crying, sliding down from the peak of a grandmaster, ultimately unable to withstand it and falling to the master realm.

"My... my transcendent path, so full of hardships, life is but a dream, a jar of liquor to the moon!" Qing Mu was nearly driven insane by the shock.

"Now I'm Mar Er!" Grandmaster Ma was also hopping mad. The "de-transcendence" in the real world was evident. A couple more of these, and it too would be done for, returning to the ranks of unspeakable monsters.

Wu Yin also wanted to cry, becoming a mortal just like Qing Mu.

In the Solitary Void, Wang Xuan struggled to resist, fighting desperately to survive the tribulation. His soul's resilience was proven, blocking countless strikes of lightning without dissipating.

Mainly, he practiced too many spiritual techniques, had delved into several supreme scriptures, and in addition, there were techniques like the Spirit Coffin Grand Technique, Demonic Embryo Technique which were all related to the soul.

Through life and death refinement, his body charred, his soul smoking, eventually, the sky full of lightning receded. He struggled to his feet, feeling a sense of rebirth spreading within him.

This time, he wasn't relying on the silver pool, but was transforming on his own. After the thunder tribulation, amidst great destruction, vigorous life was brewing.

Finally, he was reborn here!

"The twelfth stage, I’ve reached it!" He seemed to have an epiphany, picking up the banner and the cover, thinking of returning. "It's time to go back, to meet those demons and deities still eyeing me. Whether it's the supreme deities or the top immortals, I will extinguish your life's flame!"

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