Many figures rushed towards the west of the Douluo continent including a few spirit beasts adept at masking their identities while the surface of the ocean was boiling. Closer to the Beacon of Blood than many, Di Tian noticed not only the sky gradually turning blood red but also the surrounding region of the ocean itself turning bloody in color... and viscosity.
'Poison... and quite a troublesome one at that,' Di Tian noticed thick miasma blood red in color developing over the bloody ocean as many aquatic spirit beasts began to slowly float onto the surface, their bodies dried to a meager husk. Di Tian himself countered the poison with his outstanding physique but... any beast under 100000 years old couldn't and since this poison was developed by a human...
One... two... three...
More and more spirit rings of varying colors began to emerge from the bodies of the beasts as even the black spirit ring shone with hard-to-ignore splendor and lit the blood-red dominion like stars...
Fallen stars.
With a grave expression, however, Di Tian looked up in the center of the Beacon of Blood.
"Hahaha!" Haunting laughter echoed through the beacon, soft as a whisper, but the Golden-eyed Black Dragon sensed the sheer manic intent hidden behind the laugh.
Far away, above the clouds of the western coast of the continent, a strained but still remarkably calm and comfortable voice reached Ja Sun's senses as the man inquired, "I learned a new thing. There are varying qualities of divine intent and mine cannot even peer past the bloody mist covering that pillar of light."
Not turning to greet the man, Ja Sun idly mumbled, "Hey, you're here, Master. But... I don't think you'll like the answer."
Qian Daoliu sat next to Ja Sun 'on' the cloud and sighed, "Is it my son?"
"He did something to his martial soul. It's not evolved, clearly... it's as if he stripped a part of himself and patched it with someone else so... he is transitioning." Ja Sun remarked as he could 'see' Qian Xunji's condition. How his previously mangled right side was filled with blood-red pus as he continued to dig his long crimson nails into his flesh, gouging his eyes out and carving his body. Of course, Qian Xunji, with the exception of his right mangled side, healed. But he then carved himself again. His blood and body parts easily dissolved into the ocean and air around him, forming a thick poisonous miasma that was infecting the ocean.
'Sigh... what a masochist. Really, I don't know what some people think while hurting themselves,' Ja Sun exhaled deeply as his and Qian Daoliu's attention briefly fell on the woman in an imperial gown as she stood amongst many other Titled Douluos watching the scene with a somber expression.
Many others were joining in.
The Elders of the Elder's Hall weren't out in the open but they were arriving one after another, too. Nobody who sensed this wished to miss such a special occasion because their gut told them not to and no one at such a grand level ignored this feeling.
"Not going to greet your wife?" Qian Daoliu smiled as Ja Sun continued to stare at the beacon of light and whispered, "To become a god... you can either walk the road of god's inheritance... or you can carve your own path. Master, you desired a conversation between equals, right? Don't you miss a single word I'm about to say," Three of Ja Sun's eyes glowed like torches as he looked at Qian Daoliu with an almost... manic grin shared by another being in that light.
Although stunned, Qian Daoliu remembered what he said to Ja Sun the moment he unlocked his divine intent. While Qian Daoliu had taught everything about cultivation including its basics and nuance concepts like bloodline and laws, it was the Lady of the Lake that described the history behind bloodline, martial souls, and laws, and their function during ascension. Regaining composure, the middle-aged-looking man gave a warm chuckle as he silently waited for what HE would be taught today... for the first time in dozens of years.
It was hard not to feel emotional as Ja Sun continued.
"To carve our own path... is not a poetic description. It's a literal step. Mortals are not destined to be divine and seize the rights of heaven so... to even appear as an eligible candidate, one must forsake their spirit energy to carve this path."
Qian Daoliu interjected, "And our spirit energy must be at 99th rank or—"
Smiling faintly, Ja Sun got the revenge he had been waiting for for years, and boy it was sweeter than Zi Ji's luscious juices, "Now, now, don't interrupt."
Qian Daoliu was stunned for a second before he guffawed. Strangely, the comfortable aura around him, for the first time in years, grew and became substantial.
"Right, go on," the Grand Priest of the Spirit Hall exhaled a hearty sigh with a pleased grin striking his face.
"Spirit energy of rank 99 is enough. But, as they say, the higher the quality, the better the tribulation. Despite the greater dangers, the benefits, in the end, will be better, too. And yes, gods have varied levels right from the beginning, so, it's better to aim at the hardest tribulation to become the strongest and freshest god." Ja Sun chuckled and gestured towards the Beacon of Blood, "The path we carve itself is based on the main law we wish to become a god of and control that aspect of reality. Your son... chose blood. While the True Sun Flames that he should have are nowhere to be found..."
"What's next?" Qian Daoliu only after a minute of silence as Ja Sun replied, "Since I haven't confirmed the information I have. I'll explain as things progress. Right now, the mortal is still carving a path, letting his spirit energy shoot not out of this planet but through dimensions. Of course... to even start this path... you must be able to sense this."
As Ja Sun waved his hands, tiny cracks began to spread around the space surrounding his palm. This wasn't a spatial trick but an actual ability of thick, living spirit energy to seek out a realm existing within the living word but beyond the life of mortals instead.
Qian Daoliu mused as space around him cracked visibly, too.
"Then why didn't you ever try to aim for tribulation?" Ja Sun questioned with a thoughtful look.
"Complicated history. I am just a carrier of the past and maybe... I will get to know the reason why I constantly feel dreadful at the notion of becoming a god aside from the fact that I am forbidden to do so by my goddess itself... by the way, Spirit Hall has a god inheritance, too. I wouldn't have divulged it... but let's say I did this in the light of transparency. After all, you are informing me of Divine practices right now."
Ja Sun nodded. He himself wondered if he should go through this method... or the third one a tiny bit different from this method described by Lady of the Lake. Really, the only thing that differed from now would be... how much 'used' and 'filled' he'd be to anger the heavens to that extent.
The group of spirit masters distanced themselves and watched the pillar of light carving its path through the sky. A few couldn't even utilize their mental energy to get close to the plume of blood-red mist. But as things transitioned, the space near Qian Daoliu and Ja Sun shifted, and as if walking out of the door, a muscular and sharp-looking man with flowing black hair and a pair of deep golden eyes appeared. He instantly set his sight on the duo sitting on the cloud and only gave Ja Sun a curt nod and wholly ignored the dark-grey-haired middle-aged man next to him.
"Won't you join us?" Qian Daoliu teased with a smirk, "I heard that MY disciple beat you. To be exact, smacked you into the ground and pounded you relentlessly. How're you feeling, Di Tian?"
Though more than just annoyed by his name directly spoken by a 'mere' human, Di Tian did not dignify the clear attempts at rousing his anger with a reply and silently watched the attempt of Divine Tribulation through a distance.
Seeing that it would be hard to even make Di Tian respond all he'd achieve by mocking him without a reply is to lower the worth of his own words, Qian Daoliu stopped and sighed softly, "I always thought that Tang Chen was the better of the two of us... but while his descendants have been utter disappointments except for the Tang Siblings, especially that Tang Hao... my disciple managed to reach the realms beyond mortal while being a mortal and my son... despite his means, managed to tear apart the restriction imparted on our blood and now attempts to surpass mortality itself... not to mention I'm still alive and Tang Chen is kind of passed on. I can't help but feel like a winner."
Ja Sun smirked at the man's words. Well, wasn't that great. At least, he made one of his masters feel proud rather than having himself shot again.
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A/N: Like usual, I draw my inspiration from reverend insanity most of the time so the tribulation won't be a deadass lightning. No... I want to make god tribulations special in a way after investing so much into the fanfic and even adding lore I didn't think would fit in such an epic manner so, yeah, Qian Xunji's tribulation will be amongst the few I actually write about and want to create a... hehe, bloody sight~
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