Yun Ranran stretched out her delicate white hand and pointed at Chen Xiao's eyebrows.
Suddenly, a flood of information poured into his mind.
It gathered, forming a complete set of exercises:
"Nine Heavens Thunder Scripture for Controlling Disasters!"
Rumble——
A deep, resonating thunder rolled inside Chen Xiao's body.
In the span of a moment, his cultivation, previously stuck at the third level of Qi Refining, surged forward. Unstoppable, he broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Almost immediately, the scene around him shifted.
The vast, endless starry sky vanished. In its place, dark clouds churned, thunder rolling between them. Above, the sky remained bright blue. Below, at his feet, a volcano spewed thick smoke.
Above the crater, a giant beast, a hundred feet long and cloaked in flames, trembled in fear.
"What… what's happening?" Chen Xiao murmured, scanning the area. Yun Ranran was nowhere to be seen.
"This is the demon beast's transformation calamity," a warm voice sounded in his ears. "The Fire Qilin below… is the one meant to survive this heavenly tribulation."
"Master?" Chen Xiao straightened, trying to focus, but still couldn't see her.
"The heavenly tribulation arises from the operation of the laws of Heaven," Yun Ranran explained. "If I bring it about myself, you won't be able to control it. But now… I am officially passing the power of the Heavenly Tribulation to you."
Boom—
Chen Xiao felt a surge of thunder explode in his mind. Immediately after, a vast amount of knowledge poured in.
The origins of heavenly and earthly calamities. Nine Heavens and Nine Calamities. Eternal calamities. Forty-nine thunder tribulations, sixty-nine heavenly tribulations, ninety-nine heavy tribulations, ten-direction annihilation tribulations, a thousand demon-killing tribulations, ten thousand tribulations of refining the world, reincarnation tribulations, the five declines of heaven and man, and the chaos of heavenly punishment.
The Fire Qilin, a top-grade divine beast, was 325 years old and at the late stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm. Surviving sixty-nine heavenly tribulations would allow it to take human form; failure meant turning to ashes.
Chen Xiao's spirit trembled. He instinctively looked down at the mythical beast below.
A fearful, frustrated voice echoed in his mind:
I'm just trying to survive my transformation… why has the Eye of Heavenly Punishment chosen me?
I'm a divine beast, a lucky beast! Not some common feral monster!
Three hundred years ago, the ferocious beast Taowu endured tribulations without attracting the Eye of Heavenly Punishment…
God has no eyes! God has no eyes!
No… God does have eyes, and He's thinking about how to kill me!
Chen Xiao blinked. So, God could hear the voices of all living beings.
But the creature below was a Fire Qilin in the Spirit Transformation Realm. Chen Xiao couldn't help a mischievous thought: If I could… take this Qilin as my own…
"No, no," Yun Ranran's voice immediately cut in. "I gave you control of the Heavenly Tribulation so you could reap its rewards, not misuse it!"
"Your chance in the mortal world was stolen by the Destiny Villain System. Now, you can make up for it here. This is the true Heaven-shattering Cheat!"
"Besides the Qilin, scan the calamity cloud for other rare treasures. Take anything valuable."
Chen Xiao's eyes sparkled. "Now we're talking."
He immediately noticed a stone emitting a golden-red glow at the base of the crater. I don't know what it is, but it's definitely a treasure.
"First, let the Fire Qilin survive its transformation," he decided.
Focusing his mind, Chen Xiao directed the weakest of the nine heavenly tribulations — the forty-nine thunder tribulations — to strike the Fire Qilin.
The beast lay trembling in the crater. When the lightning fell, its expression froze.
Forty-nine thunder tribulations?
For a divine beast with thick skin, the weakest tribulation posed no real danger. The thirty-six bolts of lightning fell in four quick rounds. The Fire Qilin survived, bewildered but unharmed.
The immense power of heaven and earth surged into its body. In an instant, the massive beast — once a hundred feet long — transformed into a human form. A young man in golden-red armor, heroic and imposing, yet clearly confused.
What happened? he thought. I was supposed to turn to ashes under divine punishment… and now this?
Suddenly, he laughed, loudly and uproariously.
"The Eye of Heavenly Punishment… is nothing!"
"This divine beast… is truly the Son of Destiny! I will become the Qilin of the Qilin Emperor!"
But laughter abruptly ended. A pair of enormous purple lightning hands shot from the clouds. One grabbed the Fire Qilin, pulling it back into beast form, lifting it like a chick into the sky. The other snatched the glowing golden-red stone.
Chen Xiao casually played with the stone in one hand while looking at the Fire Qilin.
"Is this the top-grade divine beast, the Fire Qilin?" he asked teasingly. "I wonder if it tastes good…"
The Fire Qilin trembled, sensing his divine aura. Staring at him blankly, it realized this was no ordinary human.
"Heaven… Master Tiandao?" it asked tentatively.
Chen Xiao shook his finger. "I am not the Great Master of Tiandao. I am the disciple, Tian Xiaodao."
Yun Ranran, watching nearby, confirmed, "Yes, he is the Little Master of Tiandao!"
Thump!
The Fire Qilin knelt, kowtowing. "This humble servant pays homage to the Little Master of Heaven!"
Chen Xiao chuckled. "Meat sticks? Hm, then fatten them up before eating!"
The Fire Qilin's legs went weak, and it collapsed to the ground. Chen Xiao grinned.
"I don't care what your name was before. From now on, you are Chen Daqiang!"
"The Chen family is big and powerful," he declared, pointing a finger. A faint purple electric light entered the center of the Fire Qilin's brows.
Chen Daqiang lowered his head, fear in his eyes. "Chen… Chen Daqiang greets the Little Master of the Heavenly Dao!"
Chen Xiao shook the golden-red stone in his hand. "What is this?"
"It's the top-grade spiritual material, Fire Flame Crystal," Chen Daqiang replied quickly. "Originally, I prepared it for weapon refining after my transformation. Now, I present it to the Little Master of Heavenly Dao!"
Chen Xiao's eyes lit up. "You can refine weapons?"
Chen Daqiang nodded eagerly. "I know a little! One of our ancestors studied under a top weapon-refining master in the immortal world, leaving a legacy of memories. I inherited some of that knowledge."
The Fire Qilin was indeed a top-grade divine beast with inherited memories, capable of assisting in cultivation and craft.