Xu Yuan was not one to abandon something because of a small setback.
Though devouring the power of the heavenly tribulation could speed up the accumulation of over ten thousand years of cultivation, that wasn't a reason for Xu Yuan to recklessly endanger himself.
Forcing a spirit soul that had just broken through the hundred-thousand-year mark to face a two hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation—even with Xu Yuan's help—was far too risky.
After all, the spirit soul bore the brunt of the tribulation. Xu Yuan, by virtue of his fusion with the spirit soul, only suffered its repercussions and could assist without triggering the enhancement mechanism of the heavenly tribulation.
If the spirit soul couldn't withstand even a fraction of the heavenly tribulation's power, then no amount of assistance from a soul master would make a difference.
Having just finished recuperating, Xu Yuan eagerly prepared to support Shan He.
Indeed, he had gained something significant this time: the Thunder Quenching Technique had become more refined.
The essence of the quenching technique included an important aspect—ensuring that the thunder power protected the meridians while circulating within them. However, the heavenly tribulation was so intense that Xu Yuan's meridians were severely damaged, indirectly revealing many flaws in the quenching technique.
A scroll emerged from the surrounding space, as if it had always been part of this realm.
Shan He soared into the sky, unfurling the scroll. The dense spatial power fluctuation distorted the light above Devil Island, creating the illusion of a massive vortex in the distance.
"The world within the scroll is even more stable than I imagined."
Xu Yuan was very satisfied with the world inside Shan He's scroll.
However, he also felt troubled.
The existence of the scroll world meant that Xu Yuan was carrying a real miniature world with him at all times, preventing him from tearing through space to travel freely.
Of course, there were benefits too—he could integrate the scroll world into the surrounding environment to teleport directly. As long as the scroll world could extend far enough, each teleportation would cover a considerable distance, allowing him to quickly reach his destination without calculating coordinates.
Moreover, while he couldn't tear through space casually, he could still attempt it when necessary.
The issue lay in bringing a real miniature world into spatial turbulence, which would trigger spatial tides. Inserting a large object into a spatial area would violently compress the surrounding spatial forces outward, and similarly, the inserted object would be squeezed by the contracting space.
Above Shan He's head, thunder power began to gather once again.
Compared to Phantom Star, the thunder power Shan He attracted was more immense, though it didn't match the range of the mixed tribulation formed by Phantom Star and Star Lord combined.
This was merely a hundred-thousand-year lightning tribulation!
Xu Yuan guided destruction energy and life energy, infusing them into the scroll world within Shan He's body.
Instantly, a loud explosion echoed in the sky, and a sense of impending doom enveloped the entire Devil Island.
Even Xu Yuan felt a momentary unease.
"It seems that the small world Shan He has created is even more complete than I anticipated."
The only reason Xu Yuan could think of was the scroll world.
"This time, the heavenly tribulation has been influenced by the lightning tribulation and has intensified—it's no longer the normal intensity of a first heavenly tribulation."
The mechanism of the lightning tribulation was flexible and adaptable, adjusting according to the strength of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast. On the other hand, the heavenly tribulation was rigid, adhering strictly to the nine standard levels and the distant godhood tribulation.
"Shan He, use this lightning tribulation as ink to enrich and perfect the rules of your scroll world," Xu Yuan instructed.
Shan He acknowledged and began doing so immediately.
Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes.
In his perception, Shan He was mobilizing destruction energy and life energy. His method of absorbing these two energies to increase cultivation wasn't integrating them into his own body but rather into the scroll world.
Within the scroll world, it seemed that the influx of destruction energy and life energy was gradually shaping it.
The scroll world, modeled after the framework of Devil Island, now incorporated real energies and finally began 'practicing.'
"Shan He, remember this feeling. Afterward, I'll help you form subsequent soul rings!"
"Got it!" Shan He responded.
Without further distraction, one man and one scroll focused on dealing with the mixed tribulation.
The proportion of lightning tribulation in Shan He's mixed tribulation was larger, making the difficulty of enduring the tribulation lower. Once the scroll world stabilized, there was more time to absorb the power of the heavenly tribulation.
Northern Sea Legion Command Center.
After resting for over half a month, Shen Yue received another urgent report from her subordinates.
She entered the command room and looked at the scene of the heavenly tribulation above Devil Island on the screen, her pupils contracting.
"There's more than one ferocious beast on Devil Island!"
What exactly was happening on Devil Island?
What had Shrek been doing all these years?
Had they been dealing with those ferocious beasts?
Or did the emergence of destruction energy create some opportunity on Devil Island, causing soul beasts to transform and become ferocious under Shrek's guidance?
Numerous thoughts flowed through Shen Yue's mind.
She knew that within a short span of a month, experiencing the heavenly tribulation twice was highly abnormal, even more so than a special case. She had to report it immediately.
---
Shrek Academy.
Sea God Pavilion.
Ya Li, Feng Wuyu, and Elder Long convened a small meeting.
"Little Long, what's so urgent?"
"The Federal Parliament urgently inquired about Devil Island."
"Devil Island?" Both Feng Wuyu and Ya Li were startled, looking at Elder Long, waiting for him to continue.
Seeing their reaction, Elder Long understood that Devil Island had indeed undergone some changes.
"According to information transmitted by General Shen Yue, commander of the Northern Sea Legion, two heavenly tribulations have occurred above Devil Island. The first happened a month ago and lasted ten days. Now, after a brief respite of over half a month, the second heavenly tribulation has appeared." Elder Long's voice was heavy.
Ya Li blinked.
Feng Wuyu frowned, muttering, "That brat Xiao Yuan just went there a month ago. What is he doing?"
Xiao Yuan?
Xu Yuan?
Elder Long's heart stirred, roughly deducing the instigator from Feng Wuyu's words.
But Xu Yuan had gone to Devil Island, and within a month of arrival, he had triggered two heavenly tribulations?
They all knew that there were no ferocious beasts or even soul beasts on Devil Island—except for the plants in the valley, there was no life.
So, what could trigger the heavenly tribulation...
The three exchanged glances, their mouths twitching slightly.
"Did his spirit souls break through?" Feng Wuyu's voice carried a hint of disbelief.
Ya Li nodded with difficulty, saying, "From the looks of it, that should be the case."
Two heavenly tribulations.
If memory served, Xu Yuan indeed had three hundred-thousand-year spirit souls.
The key point was that two heavenly tribulations meant the birth of two ferocious beast spirit souls. Since each of Xu Yuan's spirit souls added at least three soul rings, this trip to Devil Island would mean he gained at least six orange-gold soul rings?
Unbelievable.
At this moment, they vividly understood what it meant to be a favored child of heaven, feeling the emotions others might have had toward them in their younger years.
Reflecting on Xu Yuan's cultivation journey, he was constantly transforming and making exaggerated progress every step of the way.
Simply put, it was overwhelmingly impressive.
---
Devil Island.
Shan He endured the tribulation for a full month.
His mere hundred-thousand-year lightning tribulation intensity surpassed Phantom Star's mixed tribulation. When the heavenly tribulation appeared, the power of the mixed tribulation reached the combined level of Phantom Star and Star Lord's mixed tribulation.
Not only that, in terms of duration, Shan He's mixed tribulation completely outclassed that of Phantom Star and Star Lord.
The mixed tribulation lasted a full month. At the halfway mark, Xu Yuan began assisting Shan He in devouring the power of the mixed tribulation while also using its power to refine the rule framework of the scroll world.
Now, after a month, as the mixed tribulation dissipated, Xu Yuan also exhaled in relief.
"Shan He's scroll world can really devour. But it's good—it used the power of the mixed tribulation to fully stabilize the scroll world."
Xu Yuan smiled.
The biggest gain this time was that under the sustained mixed tribulation, the foundation for Shan He's subsequent soul rings was shaped.
Xu Yuan was also satisfied with the potential soul rings Shan He might obtain afterward.
"Shan He, wait until I recover, then I'll help you form the subsequent soul rings."
Xu Yuan said this and began healing his injuries using the life energy from the valley.
The injuries in his meridians were worse than last time.
This round of recovery took another month.
Three months had passed since arriving at Devil Island. Xu Yuan hadn't expected that his entire three months would pass in a cycle of enduring tribulations and recovering from injuries.
But the gains were substantial.
The Five Elements Spear materialized, with seven blood-red soul rings swirling around him.
The spear merged into his body, and the surrounding scenery began to change, transforming into a galaxy. Three red and six orange-gold soul rings arranged themselves in order.
The galaxy contracted, merging into Xu Yuan's forehead.
The surrounding space solidified, and a scroll manifested. On the scroll, a Heavenly Origin Brush floated.
Five orange-gold soul rings emerged.
Such a soul ring configuration might not be unprecedented, but it was undoubtedly among the top tier.
Eleven orange-gold soul rings and ten blood-red soul rings.
Looking back at the history of soul masters, only Huo Yuhao could surpass him in his pre-deification period.
In terms of the number of soul rings, Huo Yuhao naturally couldn't compare with Xu Yuan. However, according to Huo Yuhao's transformed spirit soul system, he should have had seven orange-gold soul rings, at least six hundred-thousand-year soul rings, one million-year soul ring, and one rose-gold auspicious beast soul ring. Even though the number of orange-gold soul rings was fewer, their quality was higher, including the Ice Emperor, Snow Empress, and Evil Eye Tyrant Emperor.
The Heavenly Origin Brush descended, landing in Xu Yuan's hands. Shan He transformed into a small scroll, unfolding before Xu Yuan.
"Shan He, you constructed the scroll world based on the structure of Devil Island and previously integrated a large amount of destruction and life energy. Naturally, you should condense a soul ring with these two powers."
As Xu Yuan spoke, he began sketching on Shan He's scroll.
Though Xu Yuan was drawing, it was actually the scroll world within Shan He evolving independently. Xu Yuan merely infused his will and understanding of destruction and life into it.
Outside Xu Yuan's body, beyond the five orange-gold soul rings, another halo-like shadow emerged.
The moment the shadow appeared, the surrounding destruction energy and life energy surged inward.
Purplish-black and emerald-green energies merged into the halo shadow.
Then, the halo turned blood-red, quickly shifting to orange-gold. However, on this orange-gold soul ring, only scattered golden patterns appeared, without a fully connected gold line. Instead, there was a pattern intertwining purplish-black and emerald-green.
When the halo shadow finished changing, it finally solidified completely.
Stopping his Heavenly Origin Brush, Xu Yuan observed his sixth soul ring.
A complex rune emerged from the soul ring.
Life and Destruction Rune.
Looking at this novel rune, Xu Yuan was very satisfied.
"Rather than calling it the Life and Destruction Rune, it should be called the Life-Death Rune. In my understanding, life corresponds to death. After all, the majority of the Destruction God's destruction energy represents extinction, and extinction is a form of death."
With a glance, Xu Yuan settled on the intertwining purplish-black and emerald-green runes, which also seemed to change according to Xu Yuan's definition.
Life-Death!
Just by looking at this rune, one could understand its meaning.
Xu Yuan smiled.
"In the future, this rune will evolve towards the direction of life-death. As for destruction, it's merely the catalyst for my comprehension of this rune."
It wasn't over yet. Xu Yuan's development of the Heavenly Origin Brush hadn't ended.
He continued to channel his will into the Heavenly Origin Brush.
Another halo emerged.
The seventh soul ring!
Following the example of the seventh soul ring of the Five Elements Spear, Xu Yuan condensed a similar seventh soul ring for the Heavenly Origin Brush. The essence of the seventh soul ring lay in the scroll world!
From this point on, Shan He and Xu Yuan's Heavenly Origin Brush became inseparable.
With the completion of the seventh soul ring, before Xu Yuan had time to feel his seventh soul skill, his attention was drawn to the change in his first soul ring.
Within the first soul ring, the Five Elements Rune emerged.
The rune evolved, transcending beyond the five elements and becoming increasingly intricate, yet seemingly still rooted in the five elements.
Xu Yuan's will resonated with the evolution of the rune, and enlightenment arose within him.
"My Heavenly Origin Brush governs the forces of heaven and earth, not elemental forces. The five-element attributes were merely obtained from fusing with Jue. Now that the scroll world is complete, the first soul ring has transformed into governing the forces of heaven and earth."
The five elements give rise to all things!
This aligned perfectly with Xu Yuan's development of the first soul ring.
"All of this stems from past accumulation."
"Since a transformation has occurred, it shall no longer be called the Five Elements Rune."
Looking at the unrecognizably transformed Five Elements Rune, Xu Yuan named it anew.
"Primal!"
(T/N: The character used '元' also means 'first', 'basic', 'primary' as well as the currency Chinese Yuan)
Xu Yuan named the rune of the first soul ring.
Primal Rune!
The runes continuously evolved on their own, deepening Xu Yuan's understanding of them.
Runes are self-enlightened by soul masters, infused with their will and condensed into soul rings. They belong to the soul master and to heaven and earth. Under certain conditions, they might be influenced by heaven and earth, evolving and perfecting themselves.
Now, Xu Yuan, moved by consecutive revelations, had condensed two soul rings. His passion hadn't cooled; instead, it burned even brighter.
Xu Yuan picked up his brush.
With each stroke, runes emerged.
Within the scroll world, chaos erupted. The scene from a month ago reappeared, with endless hidden lightning and heavenly tribulations surging, engulfing the entire world.
This time, the lightning tribulation had no triggering mechanism but evolved alongside the heavenly tribulation. Under a higher-level mechanism, it gradually formed a new rune as Xu Yuan sketched.
The moment the new rune was born, it was immediately defined.
Tribulation!
------------------------------------------------------
40+ Chapters Ahead Guaranteed: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)