Chapter 5 Heavenly Punishment
Feng Zichen opened his Divine Sea, stepping into the gate of cultivation. Heaven sensed that someone had opened a new lineage, paving the way for future generations of beings to cultivate, and thus lowered its gaze, bestowing upon him a test.
Cultivation, seizing the opportunities of heaven and earth to replenish oneself, is inherently going against the will of heaven. Now, with a new path appearing, naturally, he must undergo trials.
If he passes, the new system will endure; if he fails, he will die, his soul will perish, and all will cease.
A muffled thunderclap sounded, and the sky suddenly changed .
Patches of dark clouds gathered above Feng Zichen's head, enveloping the surrounding area for dozens of miles. The tribulation clouds were pitch black, showing no unusual phenomena, sometimes flashing with lightning, sometimes rumbling with thunder, seemingly intent on destroying everything.
This was heavenly punishment, not a heavenly tribulation.
Before the Lich War, there were no heavenly tribulations, only heavenly punishments.
In that era, the world was filled with innate beings, born of heaven and earth, manifestations of the Great Dao, derived from the laws, all with profound roots; where would there be any heavenly tribulation?
Heavenly Tribulation is a tribulation deliberately set up by the Heavenly Dao after the birth of beings, because it deeply feels that these beings are inherently flawed, lack virtue, and have uneven qualities. It is specifically designed to weed out those with insufficient inherent nature.
Sensing the terrifying aura above his head, Feng Zichen's face turned green.
This was meant to kill him!
He had only ever felt such terrifying power from the Celestial Immortals.
He was just a minor cultivator who wasn't even at the Innate level. In this world, he wasn't even an ant. What merit did he have to compare himself to a Celestial Immortal and undergo a Heavenly Tribulation of Celestial Immortal level?
Just as Feng Zichen was filled with despair, the merit energy within his body suddenly shone brightly, illuminating him like a golden god.
Sensing this rich merit energy, the Heavenly Dao reduced the power of the Heavenly Tribulation.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
A gust of wind came, and the dark clouds in the sky quickly dissipated, leaving only a patch a few feet in size after a moment.
Rumble!
Silver lightning flashed in the dark clouds, carrying a terrifying aura.
At this moment, Feng Zichen's heart, which had been pounding with anxiety, finally settled, and a smile of relief spread across his face. Although the aura of the heavenly punishment was still terrifying, its power had diminished to a level he could tolerate.
Boom!
A blinding white light filled Feng Zichen's vision. A bolt of silver lightning slammed down on his forehead.
First, a tingling sensation followed by a tearing pain.
The lightning entering his body didn't temper him as Feng Zichen had expected; instead, it frantically destroyed his flesh, extinguishing his life force. His internal organs
glowed with five colors, swirling endlessly within him, forming a furnace that drew in the lightning power within, suppressing and refining it.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In the blink of an eye, three more bolts of lightning struck, and Feng Zichen's entire body cracked open, blood gushing out like a fountain.
His internal organs seemed to be ignited, emitting flames as they surged towards the furnace. With the support of his five internal organs, the furnace trembled violently, refining the power of lightning into innate essence that replenished his organs.
The light emanating from his organs shone even brighter: a crimson aura appeared at his heart, a yellow aura at his spleen, a white aura at his lungs, a green aura at his liver, and a black aura at his kidneys.
Sensing Feng Zichen's perilous situation, the five energies trembled violently, flying out from his organs and condensing above his head to form a canopy.
This canopy was ethereal and unreal, as if it would dissipate with a gust of wind. Nevertheless, it still managed to block three bolts of lightning for Feng Zichen before shattering.
The shattered energies reformed at Feng Zichen's organs. Baptized by the lightning, the five energies became even more powerful, forming a giant handprint above his head, which blasted towards the descending lightning. With a deafening explosion, the giant hand and the lightning vanished simultaneously.
The five elements shattered, and the form transformed again, becoming an imperial throne in the air, suppressing the final bolt of lightning within Feng Zichen's body.
Thus, nine bolts of lightning descended, the dark clouds in the sky dispersed, and Feng Zichen passed the heavenly tribulation.
Having passed the tribulation, the Heavenly Dao acknowledged the emergence of a new system, bestowing boundless merit.
Instantly, auspicious clouds filled the sky, golden flowers scattered, and boundless Xuanhuang merit energy gathered; spiritual springs gushed forth from the ground, golden lotuses bloomed, and several earth veins converged.
The sounds of the Dao resounded throughout heaven and earth, the Great Dao manifested, and the laws materialized, appearing before Feng Zichen, helping him deduce his future path.
A flash of inspiration appeared, and various strange visions appeared in Feng Zichen's eyes.
He saw his future self, his divine sea churning with boundless waves, surging upwards with overwhelming force.
The giant waves surged from his divine sea, opening all the meridians and acupoints in his body, merging with his soul to create a Yin spirit.
The Yin Spirit ignites the True Fire, creating the Yang Spirit; the Yang Spirit merges with the void, forming the Primordial Spirit; the Primordial Spirit unites with the Dao, attaining the Taiyi Dao.
"Taiyi? Is this my ultimate achievement?"
In a daze, Feng Zichen murmured to himself.
Immediately, a strong sense of resentment rose from the depths of his heart. Having come to the Primordial World, even the carefree Great Luo Immortal, let alone attaining sainthood, was unattainable?
Sensing the resentment within Feng Zichen, the Primordial Dao Seal blazed with brilliant light in his sea of consciousness, illuminating it in a purple hue.
Boundless merit surged into Feng Zichen's body, rapidly healing the injuries he had sustained under the Heavenly Punishment. Within his Divine Sea, the Life Spring expanded rapidly, gushing forth even more divine liquid. In an instant, it filled his Divine Sea, reaching the limit of the Divine Sea Realm.
A ray of starlight surged from the depths of his bloodline, forming a vast starry sky before his eyes.
Looking at the starry sky before him, Feng Zichen conceived a bold idea.
Pangu transformed into heaven and earth, his acupoints becoming nodes of the earth's spiritual veins. The spirits of these acupoints rose to the heavens, transforming into countless stars, echoing the nodes of the earth.
Why not reshape his meridians and acupoints according to the movement of the stars, thus recreating his Dao body?
"Since the meridians and acupoints of this body cannot allow me to attain the Great Luo Dao, then I will use star trails as veins and stars as acupoints to reforge my body!"
With a roar, Feng Zichen shattered all his meridians, and instantly, a sharp pain surged through him. Enduring the pain, he gathered the power from his divine sea to reshape his meridians. Sensing
Feng Zichen's determination, the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth changed, evolving into the primordial starry sky. Within the starry sky, countless stars shone brightly, among which the five main stars of the three hundred and sixty rows were the most prominent.
The stars slowly rotated in the starry sky, intersecting to create countless trajectories.
With the help of the Primordial Dao Seal, Feng Zichen entered a deep state of enlightenment, the boundless starry sky reflected within his body. Following the trajectory of the stars, magical power flowed rapidly, opening up new meridians.
Meridians reappeared, acupoints reopened. Points of light appeared all over Feng Zichen's body, a total of three hundred and sixty-five.
"Ah!"
Feng Zichen roared, his acupoints erupting with brilliant light, forming a mirror behind him that reflected his soul.
The essence of countless stars fell from the sky, converging on Feng Zichen, forming a divine embryo within his divine sea. His
innate spirit reappeared, merging with his soul and settling into the divine embryo.
(End of Chapter)