MSBITRS Chapter 53 v1

Why? Was the Master’s tribulation so painful because he didn’t thank the Heavenly Dao?

Li Changshou pondered this question as he processed the second Heavenly Tribulation he had just endured, analyzing the impact of the Dao force on him…

It shouldn’t have been because he forgot to thank the Heavenly Dao before the tribulation. The Heavenly Dao is impartial, and he approached it with a neutral mindset, so it shouldn’t have had any real effect.

The reason why the first two lightning strikes felt relatively mild was purely because…

The first two tribulations could not inflict substantial harm on him.

This was easy to understand.

It was like a man going to a brothel, being greeted by the same girl every time, and being hit gently by her playful slap, regardless of how different his physical condition was. The slap might feel different based on the man’s physical state, but the force would remain the same.

It was something like that.

The third tribulation was brewing above his head, and Li Changshou’s mind was filled with insights.

The first two lightning strikes seemed to have cracked open a door in front of him, revealing a mysterious and profound world.

‘This must be the collision between the Great Dao and my own Dao.’

Could this be the opportunity for ascension?

Boom!

The sea surface rippled with the thunderclaps.

Within the thunder, several lightning marks flashed, and another thick bolt of lightning struck down!

Li Changshou, floating in mid-air, was pressed down by the lightning for three zhang (about 10 feet), but he stabilized himself, blocking most of the falling lightning bolt. The lightning split above his head, striking the sea surface in multiple places.

Fortunately, the twelve spirit-fowl cages were far enough away, or several of them might have been destroyed by now.

This time…

The Heavenly Tribulation had caused some harm.

Li Changshou looked at a strand of his long hair, still dyed grey after being disguised, and felt slightly relieved.

— His tribulation wasn’t much different from that of other Qi Refining practitioners.

A scorch mark had appeared on his Dao robe.

Before the tribulation, he had removed all metallic objects from his body, and the scorch mark on his robe was from an ornamented jade bead that had exploded earlier.

At this moment, Li Changshou’s body was still crackling with tiny electrical arcs.

Spiritual energy gathered at his arms and shoulders, and a portion of his Dao body, about the size of a fingernail, had begun transforming into an immortal body.

He had returned to a height of nine zhang, and his magical power, together with the spiritual energy, was now being harnessed in preparation for the fourth tribulation.

Above him, the whirlpool stirred with roaring sounds, and the tribulation clouds kept churning.

The clouds once again displayed strange phenomena, resembling dozens of fierce beasts trapped within, trying to break free and devour Li Changshou.

“Every third tribulation brings a change. The Heavenly Tribulation is about to change,” Li Changshou muttered to himself.

His right hand now held a rusted, crude engraving knife, but after a moment’s hesitation, he put it away. He continued to endure the tribulation with his physical body, primordial spirit, and magical power, letting the Great Dao collide with his own.

He needed this collision!

The door that had been cracked open earlier had already been pushed halfway, revealing beautiful vistas of the future.

His primordial spirit immersed itself in the lightning, entering a state of profound understanding, even starting to absorb the tiny arcs of lightning for self-transformation.

This signaled that as long as he endured the Heavenly Tribulation, “ascension” would be inevitable!

However, the degree of ascension would depend on the next few tribulations and whether he could seize greater opportunities.

Zzz—

In the whirlpool above, six lightning marks the size of well openings appeared, arranged in the shape of a hexagram, and within them, a white tiger’s face was faintly discernible.

In the next instant, the white tiger roared, and the lightning surged, forming a massive thunderbolt that fell!

The fourth tribulation came crashing down!

The immense power of the Great Dao, accompanied by the lightning, struck down, and Li Changshou grunted as he was pressed down again, several zhang further!

On the coastline hundreds of miles away, a group of fishermen looked toward this place, some already kneeling in prayer; within a radius of three hundred miles, several passing immortals and Qi Refining practitioners gazed from afar, feeling the violent force of the Heavenly Tribulation.

“Who would be undergoing a tribulation in this place?”

“What a powerful tribulation cloud, covering ten miles! Could it be the legendary eightfold thunder?”

When someone is undergoing a tribulation, others naturally keep their distance to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

As the lightning dissipated, Li Changshou’s figure flew back into mid-air.

‘This fourth tribulation was quite good—the power was precise, the intensity was moderate, it gave me more insights, and it didn’t harm my primordial spirit.’

This was a pretty good tribulation. If the next few, the fifth and sixth, were like this, it would be very favorable.

But, somewhat surprisingly, Li Changshou felt a hint of frustration.

Given this intensity and the speed at which the tribulation clouds were dissipating, combined with the patterns he had previously deduced, he calculated that his tribulation would undoubtedly involve eight bolts of thunder.

Although he had known for a long time that his advantage lay in his comprehension, quick thinking, and flexible learning methods rather than innate talent…

— The talent with which he began his cultivation determined his current tribulation, as per the rules of the Heavenly Dao.

Moreover, his tribulation hadn’t gone astray.

However, when the tribulation came, it felt slightly different from what he had feared for over sixty years—the so-called “Nine Extremes Thunder Tribulation.”

There was some slight disappointment.

But everything has two sides. With eight bolts of lightning, he should be able to pass the tribulation without revealing too much.

What was more valuable was the collision between the Great Dao and his own Dao, which brought him many benefits, allowing him to see more realms and triggering a flood of insights within.

‘It’s still good to ascend a bit more.’

Boom—

The fifth tribulation struck. Li Changshou fully focused on enduring it, his body increasingly suffused with spiritual energy.

A rainbow-colored glow appeared on his forehead, signaling the acceleration of his transformation into an immortal body!

Then, the sixth…

The seventh…

Far away, a senior Daoist who was returning from visiting friends with his disciple, en route to the South Sea Immortal Island, glanced toward Li Changshou’s tribulation site with some suspicion.

The old Daoist, with his fingers moving in calculation, looked slightly stunned as he muttered:

“That’s…

The fourth-ranked Heavenly Tribulation!

The Thirty-Two Beast, Eight Extremes, Eight Desolate Summoning Immortal Tribulation!”

Beside him, the graceful young girl asked curiously, “Master, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” the old Daoist shook his head and sighed. “A cultivation genius is about to fall to his tribulation. Let’s go, Han Zhi.

This tribulation… is purely his fate.

Sometimes, having too much talent isn’t a good thing!