Swallowing the Stars: Starting with a Meteor Tear

Chapter 293 The Six-Nine Heavenly Tribulation

In the Jinyang Sect, Zhou Yang, who had been immersed in cultivation, surprisingly stepped out of his secret chamber.

It had been nearly seven years since he entered the Jinyang Sect. Back in his first year as a disciple, he had secretly broken through to the second realm of "Stellar Transformation," the "Flowing Star."

Now, more than six years have passed. With the continuous practice of the "Three Souls Nine Refinements" and the "Stellar Transformation" technique, his progress has been very rapid, and he has reached the peak of his popularity!

The reason he stopped cultivating this time was because he had just sensed his own "Six-Nine Heavenly Tribulation"!

In this world, the cultivation realms are divided into Golden Core stage, Nascent Soul stage, Void Realm stage, Emptiness Realm stage, Tribulation Transcending stage, and Great Completion stage.

Each realm is divided into early, middle, and late stages. Only after going through countless tribulations and reaching the Great Completion stage can one ascend and ultimately become an immortal.

Before cultivating into an immortal and ascending to the upper realm, every cultivator must undergo the test of three heavenly tribulations.

These three tribulations are the "Four-Nine Minor Tribulation" at the Great Perfection of the Innate Realm, the "Six-Nine Major Tribulation" triggered at the limit of the Nascent Soul Stage, and the "Nine-Nine Tribulation" that must be faced during the Tribulation Transcending Stage.

The tribulation is both a hardship and a test, as well as an opportunity. If one can successfully overcome the tribulation, the benefits are self-evident.

The Heavenly Tribulation will temper the cultivator's physical body, solidify their cultivation, and make their "foundation" more solid and abundant, thus enabling them to break through to a higher realm.

After passing through the Lesser Heavenly Tribulation of the Forty-Nine, one can advance from the Great Perfection of the Innate Realm to the Golden Core Realm, increasing lifespan by a thousand years and truly embarking on the path of cultivation to become an immortal.

After passing the Sixty-Nine Heavenly Tribulations, one can enter the Void Realm. At that time, the Nascent Soul can merge with the soul, allowing the Nascent Soul to leave the body and travel thousands of miles in an instant, almost achieving true immortality.

If one can overcome the final tribulation, one can reach the 'Great Perfection' realm of this world. At that time, the 'True Essence Power' of the cultivator in the body will begin to transform into the 'Immortal Essence Power' unique to immortals. Once the transformation is complete, one can ascend to the upper realm and become a true immortal!

Of course, while the heavenly tribulation has many benefits, it is extremely difficult to overcome it smoothly.

Relatively speaking, the power of the Lesser Heavenly Tribulation of the Forty-Nine Heavens is still normal. Apart from some "rogue cultivators" who explore cultivation on their own, most of the Innate Great Perfection cultivators with inheritance and sect protection can pass through it smoothly.

However, the subsequent Six-Nine Heavenly Tribulations and Nine-Nine Tribulations were far too terrifying.

Let alone the Nine-Nine Tribulation, most cultivators, even after a lifetime of cultivation, may not be able to sense the Six-Nine Great Heavenly Tribulation.

After all, the transformation from the Nascent Soul stage to the Void Transformation stage is the most fundamental metamorphosis of the soul.

Many experts cultivate to the late Nascent Soul stage for thousands of years, but ultimately fail to break through to the end of their lifespan and face the Six-Nine Heavenly Tribulation.

"At the Void Transformation stage, the soul and nascent soul merge, and lifespan is nearly endless. It's somewhat similar to the breakthrough at the World Lord level, except that the power of this body is far from reaching the World Lord level."

Zhou Yang secretly weighed the situation in his mind. If he didn't consider the comprehension of the laws and only looked at the accumulation of energy in his body, the Nascent Soul stage (Liuxing stage) in this world was roughly equivalent to the peak of the Hengxing stage in the universe.

However, devouring the universe makes it easier to comprehend the laws. At the peak of the Eternal Star level, one can already make preliminary use of the power of the laws to fight enemies, and the combat power that can be unleashed may be stronger.

The laws of this world are relatively restrained. Even now, Zhou Yang cannot sense any fluctuations in the laws. He can only vaguely sense some natural power by comprehending the natural way of heaven.

"I wonder if things will change after surviving the Six-Nine Heavenly Tribulation."

Zhou Yang was somewhat expectant.

He went directly to the Jin Yang Sect's "Hall of Affairs" and casually accepted a mission to kill the monsters causing chaos in the Qiu Chi Kingdom.

His tribulation was more than two months away. He did not want to attract the attention of the Jin Yang Sect because of his cultivation level, so he naturally had to go down the mountain to find another place to undergo the tribulation.

"Hey, Senior Brother Luo Feng, are you going out?"

Just as Zhou Yang finished accepting the mission and was about to leave, he ran into a small team of seven or eight disciples from the Jin Yang Sect.

Moreover, there happened to be two disciples in this team whom Zhou Yang knew.

"Yeah, I took on a mission and went down the mountain. Jiang Fan, Wang Teng, you two just got back from outside?"

Zhou Yang nodded and smiled at the two young disciples in the group.

These two were the only people Zhou Yang knew in the Jinyang Sect.

Seven years ago, after surviving the Tribulation of the Forty-Nine Heavens, he chose to swim downstream along the Qianwu River in order to escape the sight of the old servant Qi Ying.

The moment he stepped ashore, he happened to meet these two people. It was under their guidance that he was able to successfully enter the Jinyang Sect. In a way, he had a considerable relationship with these two people.

"Shall we go down the mountain?"

Jiang Fan, a now much more mature and honest young man, had a sudden thought and offered a reminder:

"Senior Brother Luo Feng, things seem rather unstable outside lately, with frequent battles and fights among high-level cultivators. If you go out, please be extra careful."

As soon as he finished speaking, a tall, somewhat frivolous young man in white beside him also spoke up:

"Yes, Senior Brother Luo, during our trip, we saw two powerful cultivators chasing and fighting each other from afar. You didn't see the scene! The sword energy was so intense it was like the sky was collapsing and the earth was splitting apart. Even the mountains were being leveled. Luckily, we were far away, otherwise we wouldn't have made it back. My legs are still shaking, and I almost forgot how to fly on a sword!"

"A battle of the strongest?"

Zhou Yang was also somewhat interested, but he didn't say much, only nodding slightly to the two of them:

"Okay, thanks for reminding me. I'll be careful. You're probably here to hand over the mission, right? I won't bother you any longer, I'll be going now."

He nodded to the two of them again, then mounted his flying sword and transformed into a streak of light, speeding towards the outside of the mountain gate.

After he left, the tall, white-clad youth, Wang Teng, subtly curled his lip:

"A disciple who joined the sect halfway through his career is calling you 'senior brother,' and you're acting all high and mighty. Tch, I hope you die out there!"

Zhou Yang left the Jinyang Sect and headed east, soon leaving its territory.

He spent nearly seven years in the Jinyang Sect, and naturally, he didn't waste those years. In addition to cultivation, he read a large number of books in the Jinyang Sect's collection and carried out several missions. He had a fairly good understanding of the situation in the tens of thousands of miles around the Jinyang Sect, and naturally, he had planned the place for his tribulation in advance.

This time, his destination was a place called "Lingyuan Great Marsh" about 35,000 li to the east of Jinyang Sect.

It was a dangerous place similar to the Broken Moon Mountains where I had previously undergone the Heavenly Tribulation of the Forty-Nine Heavens. Due to the abundance of poisonous insects and venomous creatures, it was rarely visited by people, making it an ideal place to undergo the tribulation.

Zhou Yang rode his flying sword at breakneck speed, and in just over half a day, a vast, dreamlike land of rolling hills and swamps came into view.

(End of this chapter)