Chapter 318 - The Manifestation and the Heavenly Tribulation

Chapter 318: Chapter 318 - The Manifestation and the Heavenly Tribulation

The moment Su Bai suppressed the Void Ring, the concealment surrounding his foundation loosened.

His aura flowed outward from the center of the training ground, carrying with it the fluctuations of the breakthrough that Null State had hidden until now.

The isolation formation responded almost immediately.

Light raced through the inscriptions beneath the Main Peak, and the translucent barrier surrounding Su Bai rippled from the center outward.

Several formation elders instinctively reinforced their respective nodes as Huo Yan’s attention sharpened.

"Keep the circulation steady. Let the formation adjust to him."

The disturbance quickly stabilized, yet Lu Canghai’s brows had already drawn together.

He knew something the others did not.

Su Bai had drawn a thread of Immortal Qi from the Immortal Stone earlier, and the formation had contained it without such an obvious reaction.

That energy had been vastly beyond anything a Golden Core cultivator should possess, yet the layers Huo Yan prepared had suppressed its fluctuation exactly as intended.

Now Su Bai had simply released his own aura, and nearly every layer of the inner formation had stirred at once.

Lu Canghai stared at the center of the barrier.

Huo Yan noticed his expression. "What happened?"

"The formation handled something much more dangerous earlier without reacting like this."

Huo Yan glanced at him, then returned his attention to the barrier.

He understood enough from those words.

The strength of the released aura was only part of what the formation was sensing. Whatever had emerged from Su Bai was spreading through the entire enclosed space instead of behaving like a concentrated source of energy.

Before either of them could examine it further, a faint crystalline shadow appeared behind Su Bai.

It began close to his back and slowly extended upward.

Branches took shape within the light.

The Crystalline Tree Spirit Root emerged from the growing projection, its crystalline trunk becoming clearer while the Ashen-Frost Blight Flame unfolded across the branches as an ash-gray canopy.

Murmurs spread around the Main Peak.

Many disciples recognized the tree.

Some remembered the strange purification that had once swept through the sect under its influence.

Those who knew more about Su Bai’s cultivation recognized something even older. It’s the Dao Manifestation that appeared when he stepped beyond the normal limits of Qi Refining and entered the Tenth Stage.

This manifestation, however, continued developing.

The tree was only the clearest part of it.

Faint spiritual lines spread beneath the crystalline trunk, gradually revealing the outline of Su Bai’s foundation. His Infinite Dantian appeared first as an indistinct center of light, followed by nine dimmer points corresponding to the Gateway Dantians distributed through his body.

Thin pathways connected them.

The pattern closely resembled the Myriad-Path Meridian Web.

At the same time, the full-sized Nascent Soul remained seated before Su Bai.

Its ten spiritual cultivation centers resonated with the ten Dantians within his physical body, while the reflected Meridian Web inside it pulsed in the same rhythm.

The Macro-Taiji passed through both structures without interruption.

Su Bai sensed the manifestation as clearly as he sensed his own limbs.

Understanding came gradually.

His Nascent Soul had been formed from the entirety of his Greater Golden Core. Its spiritual body had reproduced the structure that already existed within him, and the Macro-Taiji had now bound both sides into the same Yin-Yang cycle.

When the Void Ring stopped concealing that connection, the spiritual resonance between them spread beyond his body.

The phenomenon behind him was the outward reflection of that resonance.

It was similar to his previous Dao Manifestation, yet this time the manifestation came from the transformation of his entire cultivation foundation.

Su Bai did not deliberately control it.

He allowed the projection to settle naturally.

A strange aura spread from the Crystalline Tree Spirit Root.

Several disciples closest to the training ground stiffened when something within their bodies responded.

One of them lowered his gaze toward his abdomen.

"My Spirit Root moved..."

Others soon noticed the same thing.

Spirit Roots of different attributes began stirring faintly across the Main Peak.

There was no painful suppression accompanying the reaction. Their foundations simply responded to the presence of the projected tree, as though something within them had sensed a spiritual existence beyond what they normally encountered.

The elders became noticeably more attentive.

Even the Ancestors stopped treating the strange phenomenon as another entertaining abnormality from Su Bai.

Li Xuanzong watched the projection for several breaths before speaking quietly to the formation elders nearest him.

"Remember what you sensed. We can examine it after he succeeds."

No one attempted to explain the reaction prematurely.

Inside the barrier, Su Bai’s attention had already returned to his breakthrough.

The full-sized Nascent Soul sat across from him with its eyes closed.

Their connection continued deepening.

The transformed central seat within the Infinite Dantian anchored the entire connection.

The breakthrough had nearly reached completion.

Su Bai waited for the final response.

Suddenly, his spiritual perception swept upward.

A deep sound suddenly rolled across Radiant Sky Sect.

The stones beneath the Main Peak vibrated.

Every remaining murmur around the training ground disappeared.

The sound continued across the mountains, carrying a heaviness unlike ordinary thunder. Several disciples instinctively looked upward as the clear sky above Radiant Sky Sect began changing.

Darkness gathered directly over the Main Peak.

Dense tribulation clouds formed high above Su Bai and rapidly accumulated into overlapping layers. Their shadows spread across the surrounding peaks as the afternoon light dimmed beneath the growing mass.

The heavenly pressure arrived soon after.

Several younger disciples unconsciously stepped back.

The Ancestors remained in place, though the amusement that had accompanied Su Bai’s earlier abnormalities had disappeared from their expressions.

Li Xuanzong raised one hand.

"Maintain the formation."

The prepared formation came fully alive.

Light flowed through the reinforcement layers around the training ground, while the outer channels opened to receive any excess force that might escape from the center.

Nobody approached the authority points yet.

At the outer boundary of Radiant Sky Sect, Shen Youran also raised her head.

Dense clouds now covered much of the sky above the sect.

She remained beside the control of the Sect-Scale Suppression Formation and continued watching the surroundings.

The Main Peak already had enough people protecting Su Bai.

Her responsibility was ensuring that nobody else chose this moment to interfere.

Within the isolated training ground, Su Bai felt the heavenly pressure settle upon him.

His Nascent Soul opened its eyes.

Both bodies looked toward the clouds.

The sensation immediately felt different from his previous tribulation.

Su Bai could feel part of the heavenly pressure bearing down upon his physical foundation, while another portion seemed to settle directly upon the spiritual figure sitting before him.

The heavens had recognized the Nascent Soul.

The connection leading back to the transformed Black-Ice foundation tightened.

The Macro-Taiji continued circulating steadily.

Within the Infinite Dantian, the nine Tribulation Marks began responding to the pressure above.

Faint light passed across their surfaces.

The Void Ring maintained its silent orbit outside them, its concealment still suppressed.

Su Bai watched carefully.

Those marks had survived the transformation of the Golden Core.

Whatever happened during this tribulation would be built upon the foundation they had already left behind.

The clouds above pulsed.