Chapter 568: Come On, Lightning Tribulation!

“Ancient texts record that before the Dao Ancestor became a Primordial Chaos and Limitless Immortal, he faced an unprecedented tribulation that could be called the greatest crisis in his history.”

“The heavenly tribulation transformed into an inverted reflection of the Immortal Realm, pressing down upon the Dao Ancestor, nearly causing the Golden Immortal who had reached the pinnacle of his path to perish completely.”

“Fortunately, the Dao Ancestor possessed endless methods and successfully overcame this tribulation through various Dao techniques, though he suffered severe damage to his vital energy, taking several centuries to recover.”

“The Dao Ancestor initially thought this was a tribulation all who became Primordial Chaos and Limitless Immortals had to face, but neither the Confucius Sage nor the Buddha, nor even the later Primordial Ancestor and Immortal Emperor encountered such a tribulation.”

“Although the power of tribulations faced when becoming a Primordial Chaos and Limitless Immortal cannot be measured, most Golden Immortals believe the Dao Ancestor encountered the strongest tribulation, while the other great figures might not have been able to overcome it when they first became Primordial Chaos and Limitless Immortals.”

“Regarding this claim, the Primordial Chaos and Limitless Immortals neither confirmed nor denied it, essentially giving silent consent.”

Hearing Immortal Elder Changcun’s explanation, all Unity Stage cultivators gasped in shock.

The Tribulation Transcendence Stage cultivators showed no surprise, as Jiang Li had long told them he was stronger than the Heavenly Dao itself.

However, this fact was so fantastical that it hadn’t been publicly announced.

“The meaning of this tribulation should be confronting the world that gave birth to and nurtured you with one’s own strength, so the Dao Ancestor faced the Immortal Realm, while Jiang Li faces the Nine Provinces.”

Everyone shifted their gaze to Jiang Li’s majestic figure.

Logically, when a cultivator undergoes tribulation, especially one similar to the Dao Ancestor’s, people should be very concerned.

But whenever they thought about it being Jiang Li, they simply couldn’t muster any worry.

Especially Holy Maiden Jingxin, who showed no concern for Jiang Li whatsoever. She stared fixedly at Jiang Li’s back, completely captivated.

Yu Yin stared at Jiang Li’s back, wanting to take his place.

The Nine Provinces reflection tribulation enveloped the Nine Provinces, with countless people looking up at the sky, seeing only the mountain-like pressure of the heavenly tribulation.

This tribulation targeted only Jiang Li alone; otherwise, just the residual waves of this tribulation would be enough to make most people vomit blood.

Fortunately, the tribulation didn’t target others, or Jiang Li would have shattered the ascension tribulation long before it fully formed.

Jiang Li had free time, so he was willing to spend a few minutes wasting on the ascension tribulation.

Unlike the fifteenth time when he wanted to summon the Celestial Ascension Ladder and Immortal Realm, Jiang Li this time purely wanted to use tribulation crossing to express the joy that the Nine Provinces could progress collectively through his newly researched techniques.

After all, happiness matters most to people.

The Nine Provinces reflection pressed down toward Jiang Li, its weight far more terrifying than the actual Nine Provinces Continent.

Jiang Li soared into the sky, pushing the Nine Provinces reflection back.

Countless figures composed of heavenly tribulation appeared. Jiang Li easily recognized them as Bai Hongtu, Yu Yin, Li Er, Old Dragon King, and Commander Liu, along with several peak Unity Stage cultivators like Holy Maiden Jingxin and Zhang Konghu.

However, they weren’t at Tribulation Transcendence Stage or Unity Stage. Jiang Li sensed power fluctuations similar to the Ten Yama Kings from them.

Over ten Golden Immortals—this specification far exceeded what the Underworld had prepared for Jiang Li.

Bai Hongtu’s phantom took the lead, unleashing endless Dao techniques supported by his Wisdom Sword, appearing unstoppable.

Then Jiang Li shattered it with one punch.

“Let’s see you make the first move, you brat.”

…

Seeing this scene, Bai Hongtu trembled.

“Heavenly tribulation, do your best!” Bai Hongtu hid behind Immortal Elder Changcun, quietly cheering for the heavenly tribulation.

Yu Yin gave Bai Hongtu a contemptuous look, silently cheering for the heavenly tribulation in her heart.

Ji Kongkong ran over to Yu Yin’s side and patted the Wishful Gourd.

Her connection with the Wishful Gourd dated back to when she pretended to be a Shenzang Cult follower.

“Gourd, gourd, can you create such powerful heavenly tribulation?”

“Don’t ask me embarrassing questions next time.”

“Oh.”

…

The over ten familiar phantoms were still being besieged by Jiang Li, forced to retreat step by step.

They unleashed divine abilities even more powerful than their original forms, but unfortunately to no avail. Jiang Li was impervious to all techniques—spells hitting him had barely more impact than raindrops.

Seeing the situation turning unfavorable, the over ten phantoms merged into a phantom in Jiang Li’s form.

The Jiang Li-form phantom’s power climbed level by level—mid Golden Immortal, late Golden Immortal, peak Golden Immortal, peak Golden Immortal, peak Golden Immortal…

The phantom’s power stuck at peak Golden Immortal—this tribulation’s maximum power was peak Golden Immortal.

As if sensing Bai Hongtu and Yu Yin’s encouragement, the heavenly tribulation erupted with even greater power. Through relentless effort, it finally reached half-step Primordial Chaos and Limitless Immortal.

Then Jiang Li punched it back to its original form.

Seeing the situation turning bad, the phantoms merged into the Nine Provinces reflection.

The Nine Provinces reflection resembled a giant hand closing from both ends, trying to firmly grasp Jiang Li in its palm.

“Five Thunder Righteous Method.”

Seeing the tribulation had exhausted its tricks, Jiang Li softly uttered the four words “Five Thunder Righteous Method.”

These four words carried more weight than heavenly might, becoming spiritually divine and transforming into a roaring ferocious thunder dragon that fiercely pounced on the Nine Provinces phantom, tearing it to pieces, then using thunder dragon claws to crush the phantom fragments into dust.

Jiang Li looked rather unenthusiastic, not turning his head, letting the thunder dragon devour the Nine Provinces phantom.

Old Dragon King’s expression turned peculiar—his True Dragon Bloodline intuition told him that even the first-generation True Dragon wasn’t as formidable as this thunder dragon conjured by Jiang Li.

The ascension tribulation, unwilling to be outdone, unleashed its second tribulation.

The strongest inner demon tribulation descended, a mass of dark clouds appearing, attempting to pull Jiang Li into an inner demon illusion.

Jiang Li remained unmoved.

The inner demon tribulation exerted all its efforts, but Jiang Li’s body and mind were exceptionally firm, completely unaffected by the inner demon tribulation.

Just as the inner demon tribulation wanted to go through the motions as usual and count Jiang Li as having passed, Jiang Li suddenly reached out and pulled the dark clouds over.

The inner demon tribulation had no true form or specific appearance—whoever saw it would see their own form.

Jiang Li saw an inner demon in his own image.

The inner demon wanted to lure out Jiang Li’s deepest fears, but it discovered Jiang Li’s inner world was completely bright, so dazzling it couldn’t keep its eyes open, without a single flaw or impurity in his heart.

Jiang Li feared nothing and never felt any guilt in his heart. He believed what he did was right and firmly acted according to his beliefs.

Jiang Li never changed his thinking—what he believed before crossing over remained what he insisted on after crossing over, unchanged by the Nine Provinces environment.

This wasn’t the inner demon tribulation’s first encounter with Jiang Li. Every time it met Jiang Li, it was helpless, which was why it manifested previous Human Sovereigns to defeat Jiang Li.

Unfortunately, it was completely useless.

Just as the inner demon tribulation wanted to give up, Jiang Li grabbed the inner demon, revealing a smile that frightened it.

“Since you’ve come with such difficulty, let’s fight before you leave.”

While the inner demon was still stunned, it saw a fist approaching from far to near, landing on its face.

The inner demon tribulation was part of the heavenly tribulation, without emotions or thoughts. This time, fear accompanied the inner demon’s return. Combined with the fear Jiang Li had previously instilled in the inner demon tribulation, the inner demon tribulation would completely fear Jiang Li and never appear again.

“…Thus, the sixteenth Human Sovereign tribulation of Celestial Ascension Thunder concluded in failure.”

—Si Nan’s “Annals of Human Sovereign Jiang”