"Hum!"
Calming his mind, Jiang Yan soon began to cultivate.
He took a large quantity of spirit stones out of his storage bag and reached out to touch them.
With just a slight brush against them, the mountain-like pile of spirit stones instantly turned into powder. The immense spiritual energy contained within them was directly drawn by Jiang Yan straight into his own spirit sea.
The sudden influx of vast spiritual energy caused Jiang Yan's previously calm spirit sea to boil instantly. For a brief moment, it felt as though it was about to burst apart.
It took him around ten breaths of time in total before he finally managed to adapt to the sensation.
"Hoo..."
Exhaling a long breath, Jiang Yan could feel that his cultivation level was also rapidly climbing at this moment.
"Bang!"
At last, a muffled explosion rang out from within his spirit sea.
As if some sort of bottleneck had been shattered at that very moment, a terrifying aura surged endlessly from his body, threatening to submerge the entire Ru Peak.
"Rumble..."
Suddenly, a strange commotion broke out with the roar of thunder.
The entire sky above the Dao Sect turned pitch black in an instant, as if plunging into eternal darkness.
"Strange, why is it suddenly thundering?"
"It was fine just a moment ago. Is it going to rain?"
Many disciples were startled. They quickly packed up everything they were doing and dashed into their rooms.
Anyone seeing such a scene would have the same initial reaction, assuming a heavy storm was about to arrive.
After all, from the perspective of many cultivators, a heavenly tribulation was something extremely difficult to encounter in a lifetime.
Let alone in a place like the Dao Sect.
Only experts at the Dao Severing Realm could trigger a heavenly tribulation, and the Dao Sect simply could not possess such a figure.
Even the sect master, Nangong Ao, was currently rumored to have just barely reached the First Layer of the Return to Void Realm, hailed as one of the top ten experts within Xuan Province.
Thus, one could easily imagine that Jiang Yan, who was now about to sever his dao, possessed a cultivation level that could absolutely sweep across the entire Xuan Province.
"A heavenly tribulation, is it..."
Inside Qixian Residence, Jiang Yan's gaze burned with fervor.
Since childhood, he had dealt with heavenly tribulations countless times.
Without exception, however, those had all been the heavenly tribulations of Zhang Yuanshu, absorbed by his Heavenly Tribulation Physique.
Now it was different. The heavenly tribulation about to descend upon him was one he had earned himself through his own capability.
"The Heavenly Tribulation Physique can absorb other people's tribulations, but can my own tribulation be handled the same way?" He could not help muttering to himself as this question came to mind.
"Rumble!"
At that very moment, thunderclouds rolled across the void, roaring like the will of the heavenly dao.
The Dao Severing Realm was divided from the first to the ninth layers, and the breakthrough to every minor realm would trigger a heavenly tribulation.
The number of heavenly tribulations was not fixed. When ordinary cultivators broke through to the First Layer of the Dao Severing Realm, there was usually only a single heavenly tribulation descending.
Yet according to Zhang Yuanshu, the more terrifying a person's talent was, the more heavenly tribulations they would trigger upon breaking through.
Nine was the limit.
Throughout the ages, let alone Xuan Province, not even the entire Northern Region or the Canglan continent had ever heard of anyone triggering nine heavenly tribulations at once upon reaching the Dao Severing Realm.
Jiang Yan remembered that every time Zhang Yuanshu underwent his tribulations in the past, he had triggered six heavenly tribulations—which showed just how extraordinary the other man's talent and potential were.
Now, the moment of facing his own tribulation had finally arrived. How many heavenly tribulations would appear?
"Crack!"
At last, after a moment of brewing, a streak of purple light tore through the dark night.
A thunderbolt seemed to shatter the edge of the clouds, striking down from the distant horizon.
This was Jiang Yan's first heavenly tribulation, carrying an immensely terrifying aura capable of destroying the world as it fiercely descended toward Ru Peak.
"Hum!"
However, this heavenly tribulation failed to cause Jiang Yan any harm whatsoever.
The moment it touched his body, it was directly absorbed by the Heavenly Tribulation Physique.
A tingling sensation washed over him, feeling just like an itchy scratch, no different from when Jiang Yan had helped Zhang Yuanshu through his tribulations previously.
In other words, the Heavenly Tribulation Physique could not only help others through tribulations, but it could simultaneously absorb Jiang Yan's own heavenly tribulations for him.
"Rumble!"
Another muffled clap of thunder exploded, echoing rolling through the void.
Following closely, the second heavenly tribulation fell. Its power was at least twice as terrifying as the first one before it.
Yet without exception, this heavenly tribulation was likewise absorbed by Jiang Yan's Heavenly Tribulation Physique.
"Rumble!"
"Rumble!"
"Rumble!"
Bursts of dull explosions echoed across all directions. Following the second heavenly tribulation, the third, fourth, and fifth tribulations descended one after another.
"What is going on? It's just thundering without raining?"
Meanwhile, across the various peaks of the Dao Sect, many disciples had no idea what was actually happening.
Because Ru Peak had been sealed off by Jiang Yan using a grand array, viewed from afar it remained completely serene, indistinguishable from any other part of the Dao Sect.
"It truly is strange. I remember a few years ago, our Dao Sect frequently had weather like this—all thunder and no rain. Come to think of it, we haven't seen it in about six years. Why is it starting again tonight?" On a certain hilltop, the First Elder, Li Sihai, could not help speaking up.
Only a few individuals knew what kind of event was actually taking place within the Dao Sect today.
Figures such as Xu Hua, the master of Array Peak, and Nangong Ao, the sect master of the Dao Sect, currently wore burning gazes as they looked far away toward Ru Peak.
"Since Senior Zhang Yuanshu is not currently within the sect, could it be that this heavenly tribulation... was brought down by Junior Brother Jiang Yan?" Nangong Ao asked in astonishment.
He was well aware of Zhang Yuanshu's terrifying might. Regardless of the fact that the other man was merely the master of Ru Peak while he himself was honored as the sect master, in terms of strength, Nangong Ao felt he did not even compare to a single hair on Zhang Yuanshu's body.
Furthermore, he was one of the few who knew that Jiang Yan was far from ordinary. Before going into secluded cultivation six years ago, his junior nephew's cultivation had already been on par with his own.
Yet what Nangong Ao had not expected was that six years later, Jiang Yan—who had emerged from seclusion only a few days prior—had already triggered his own heavenly tribulation and was about to step into the Dao Severing Realm!
He was both shocked and delighted.
What shocked him was the sheer, exaggerated speed at which Jiang Yan's strength was improving.
What delighted him was that this meant their Dao Sect was about to give birth to yet another hidden powerhouse.
Just like Zhang Yuanshu, the existence of this master-disciple pair was known to almost no one in the outside world.
Their strength was simply too transcendent to be placed within Xuan Province.
After all, Nangong Ao, with merely the cultivation of the First Layer of the Return to Void Realm, was already hailed as one of the top ten experts in Xuan Province.
One could only imagine what kind of supreme existence a figure at the Dao Severing Realm must be upon such a land!