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General Term[]
Heavenly Tribulation (天劫 tiānjié) (重劫 zhòngjié) – in some novels, a trial encountered by cultivators at key points in their cultivation, which they must resist and ultimately transcend. Because immortal cultivation (generally) goes against the Will of Heaven, the Heavens will send down tribulations to oppress high-level cultivators who make progress towards Immortality, often right when they enter a new cultivation stage. This typically takes the form of a lightning storm, with extraordinarily powerful bolts of lightning raining down from the Heavens to strike at the cultivator.[1]
Introduction[]
Heavenly tribulation was the punishment of the Heavenly Dao. When there was something that tried to surpass the constraints of the Heavenly Dao, the Heavenly Dao would summon heavenly tribulation against that existence in order to exterminate it.
Since ancient times there were truly many existences that were too perfect when they were born, thus they attracted heavenly tribulation. For instance, transcendent divine mights, transcendent divine pills, and monstrous Great World Kings. When these things were born, they would encounter heavenly tribulation and possibly fall from the sky. But, those that perished were in the minority. The heavens never sealed off all paths of hope. The Heavenly Dao was a completely contradictory concept. Even though it tried to destroy all those existences that dared to violate its Laws, it would also allow them a faint chance of survival.
However, if those extremely ancient super existences were to face a brutal heavenly tribulation that was the same rank as the one Lin Ming had faced during his Ninefall, then Mo Eversnow estimated that most of them would have perished. Even if they were peerless beings or treasures, Mo Eversnow was confident that Lin Ming wouldn’t lose to any of them.
If Lin Ming had died in that heavenly tribulation, then that meant they would have all died too!
The existence of heavenly tribulation was not to temper and give lucky chances to those monstrous geniuses that had dared to violate the edicts of the Heavenly Dao.
Rather, it was the ultimate command to destroy them!
Heavenly tribulation was not easy to overcome!
Although it could be said to be an injustice to perish beneath heavenly tribulation, it wasn’t uncommon at all!
Overview[]
Heavenly Tribulation was accompanied by a bass rumbling sound in the skies above. The heaven and earth origin energy would form a massive vortex, all of it surging around and curling up together.
In the world of martial artists, heavenly tribulation wasn’t some incredibly rare phenomenon. Whenever someone rose to the level of the Heavenly Dao rules they would have to withstand heavenly tribulation.
But the Heavenly Dao rules were also divided into those that were lower and those that were higher. For instance, when a martial artist broke into the Empyrean realm, when a transcendent divine might was created, when a transcendent divine pill was refined, when a God Beast underwent nirvana and grew up, all of these actions would summon heavenly tribulation.
However, these types of heavenly tribulation were only of the lowest order. When compared to Famine swallowing the dao laws and even the reversing life and death, the difference was as great as the heavens and earth.
Generally speaking, the phenomena of an Empyrean breakthrough were a manifestation of the Laws that the martial artist cultivated, or the types of energy they used.
This was because when a martial artist broke through to the Empyrean realm, the Laws they cultivated within themselves would sublimate, becoming a part of the Heavenly Dao.
Of course, the Heavenly Dao was divided into higher and lower divisions. There was the Heavenly Dao of a great world and the 33 Heavenly Daos, and even more beyond that. An Empyrean’s Heavenly Dao only consisted of a small portion in which they specialized, and that part would manage to achieve a lower standard of the Heavenly Dao. However, this was terrifying enough; it meant that when a martial artist became an Empyrean, they were able to break free from the shackles of mortality, becoming sanctified, becoming the true ruler of a world.
Within the three great cultivation systems, every one of the 33 Heavenly Daos revealed a different phenomenon.
Tribulation clouds were the most concentrated form of heavenly retribution as well as the most terrifying existence. Since ancient times, when Empyreans crossed their heavenly tribulations they had no choice but to dread these tribulation clouds.
To face heavenly tribulation was the same as a mortal facing a wild animal. They had to be careful with every action they took, and even taking a pill was nigh impossible lest they invoke the rage of their opponent, causing its attacks to become increasingly crazy!
The way in which they crossed their heavenly tribulations was to wait for the heavenly tribulation to cast down its energy while they passively withstood it and underwent their baptism of heavenly thunder.
Only extreme geniuses, when facing tribulation clouds, would simply hurtle towards them, challenge the might of heaven and even try refining them!
But the peak heavenly tribulation an Empyrean could achieve was the 33 Heavens tribulation, an all-encompassing judgement of the world! Meaning that the strength is no longer just a great world's, or a single layered heaven, but the entirety of the 33 Heavens as your opponent!
No one was able to help anyone cross his tribulation. Even if they were only trying to withstand the energy shockwaves of the Heavenly Dao, they could still suffer a gruesome backlash. This was not a matter of cultivation. The stronger a person was, the stronger the power of heavenly tribulation they would have to withstand!
However, the Heavenly Dao would not obliterate all existences that violated its rules with supreme and unstoppable power. As the saying went, the heavens would never cut off all exits. The Heavenly Dao would always leave behind the slimmest chance of survival!
These were the Heavenly Dao Laws, sacred and inviolable. Even so, the Heavenly Dao allowed challengers, and those with surpassing strength could even defy the will of the heavens. From this, one could see that the Heavenly Dao was filled with contradictions. It was impossible to speculate on the workings behind it!
Trivia[]
- Normally, only those monstrous geniuses at Holy Lord and World King would have thoughts of undergoing heavenly tribulation, and even some had such a lucky chance. But only true geniuses would undergo heavenly tribulation at the Divine Sea and have the ability to challenge masters two boundaries above them! That was a level beyond the Heavenly Dao laws![2]