Chapter 4 The Divine Tribulation

"I heard the Divine Tribulation is very dangerous." Mingyue was worried, her small hands clenched tightly in front of her chest.

Ji Ning crouched down, gently hugging his daughter, looking at her small face, and smiled: "Mingyue, rest assured, the Divine Tribulation might be dangerous for others, but for your father... it's really nothing."

"Really?" Mingyue hesitated.

"Yes, you must trust your father," Ji Ning said.

"Mm." Mingyue reached out her small hands to hug Ji Ning's head, "Father, mother is no longer here, don't leave Mingyue."

Ji Ning's heart ached.

Mingyue was still very young after all; Yu Wei's death had a huge impact on her.

"Father will never leave Mingyue," Ji Ning held his daughter and said softly, "Father will always protect Mingyue."

This was Ji Ning's promise to his daughter!

......

That night, his daughter Mingyue slept with Ji Ning. She was afraid he would abandon her and go alone to undergo the Divine Tribulation; she insisted on watching her father undergo the tribulation with her own eyes to feel at ease.

"Time to get up." Ji Ning pinched his daughter's little nose.

"Mm mm."

Mingyue opened her bleary eyes, looking around dazedly, still not fully awake, but when she saw Ji Ning, she couldn't help but hug him.

"Get up, it's dawn." Ji Ning affectionately kissed his daughter's little cheek.

"Oh." Mingyue rubbed her eyes and sat up, looking outside. It was just getting light. "Ah, father, you're going to undergo the Divine Tribulation today."

"Yes, why aren't you getting up quickly?"

Outside the house.

The Whitewater Hound and Little Qing had been waiting for a long time. Hearing the playful sounds inside, they couldn't help but smile.

"The master only laughs happily when he's with little Mingyue," Little Qing said.

"He has transferred his feelings for Yu Wei, for his elder brother and sister-in-law, onto his daughter," the Whitewater Hound sighed. "It's fortunate that Yu Wei gave birth to the child before she died; otherwise, I don't know what would have become of Ning after such a blow."

Creak!

The door opened.

A handsome youth in white robes walked out, holding a cute and clever little girl. The handsome youth looked young, but his calm eyes, like an endless deep sea, revealed an infinite depth. Everyone understood that he was no longer young, especially his heart... it was no longer young.

"Let's go," Ji Ning said.

"Mm." Uncle Bai and Little Qing followed Ji Ning.

Just as they stepped out of the courtyard, they saw Qingya Xiaoyu outside.

"Master." Qingya Xiaoyu bowed respectfully.

......

Ji Ning, holding the little girl Mingyue, led Uncle Bai, Little Qing, and Qingya Xiaoyu, and directly left Mount Fangcun. Then, with a spatial shift, they arrived at a vast wilderness in the Brightmoon World.

A large crowd had already gathered on the wilderness.

"Junior apprentice-brother."

"Ji Ning."

"Young master."

Red Snow Celestial and six other Celestial Immortals, Senior Apprentice-Brother Silvermoon, Senior Apprentice-Brother Jiang Jun, Ji Dian, and others had all arrived. They had even brought some disciples and grand-disciples.

After Ji Ning landed, he waved his hand, and Qiuye, Mu Zishuo, and others appeared beside him.

"Junior apprentice-brother, be careful. Although the Divine Tribulation is not difficult for you, it's still better to be cautious," Ji Dian advised.

"Second senior apprentice-brother, rest assured." Ji Ning nodded, then walked alone a short distance away. After only three steps, he was a thousand zhang away.

Then Ji Ning stood silently.

"Boom."

The Brightmoon Diagram of the Nine Heavens, which had long been accumulating and ready to break through, finally broke through the last bottleneck and directly entered the eighteenth level! At the same time, Ji Ning's true body's qi-refining path also directly broke through to the perfection of the Return to Void stage!

The simultaneous breakthroughs immediately stirred the Heavenly Dao operating in the unseen.

Before long...

Wind began to rise around them.

"The tribulation has begun."

"The master is really straightforward; as soon as he arrived, he triggered the heavenly tribulation."

"Junior apprentice-brother's strength is extraordinary, and his encounters are also remarkable. His Divine Tribulation will probably be extraordinarily powerful."

The onlookers in the distance watched nervously, especially the little girl Mingyue, who clenched her small fists tightly, her nails turning white, biting her lip, staring at Ji Ning. She was afraid... afraid that her father would also disappear and leave.

In the distance of the wilderness, an old man and a woodcutter stood.

Although they stood there, no one noticed them, not even Ji Dian.

"Do you think your junior apprentice-brother can survive?" Bodhi asked.

"Surviving the Divine Tribulation is naturally no problem. I'm just guessing whether this time's Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation will produce 'Pure Yang Golden Light Thunder,'" the woodcutter said with a smile.

"Pure Yang Golden Light Thunder? Hmm... it's indeed been a very long time since it last appeared. From ancient times to the present, the number of times Pure Yang Golden Light Thunder has appeared is pitifully few. If it does appear, although it's a great threat, it can also make your junior apprentice-brother's divine body truly perfect," Bodhi said.

Wind, fire, and thunder—these three tribulations temper the body.

For qi-refining cultivators, they generally achieve a Celestial Immortal body.

For divine body refiners, encountering the Divine Tribulation is far more powerful. And this Divine Tribulation... will produce a divine body!

The stronger the Divine Tribulation, the more perfect the resulting divine body.

After all, Celestial Immortals also vary in strength. Some weaker Celestial Immortals spend endless ages just to make their bodies more perfect. The perfection of the divine body... is one of the thresholds before stepping into the True God realm.

......

"Rumble~~~"

The wind howled.

Countless wind blades formed a huge vortex, with Ji Ning at its center.

"Terrifying."

"Just this wind tribulation alone is more terrifying than the Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation Ji Ning's second avatar underwent last time," the Whitewater Hound, Mu Zishuo, and others watching from a distance all changed color. The power of this wind was too strong.

Even for Ji Ning, his qi-refining methods were useless at this moment; he relied entirely on his divine body of the sixth level of the Eight-Nine Arcane Art to withstand it.

Ji Ning stood at the center of the vortex, silently looking at the sky, very calm.

"Whoosh~~~"

With the final invisible and formless 'Divine Wind' entering his body through the crown of his head, every part of Ji Ning's body trembled, but his heart remained still as water, unmoved. Amid this trembling, Ji Ning's divine body was also undergoing some subtle changes. These changes were not noticeable, but after the subsequent thunder tribulation, a qualitative transformation would truly occur.

"Wind tribulation, passed." Ji Ning looked up at the sky and murmured to himself.

High in the sky, a huge, scorching vortex cloud appeared. In the center of the rotating cloud, golden flames could be seen flowing. As the cloud descended, the surrounding temperature soared rapidly.

"Rise."

Ji Dian, watching from a distance, immediately waved his broken fan, and a faint green light rose around them, enveloping the onlookers.

But the wilderness around Ji Ning instantly turned to charcoal, and as the cloud descended, it even turned directly to ashes. The ground of the wilderness sank downward, while Ji Ning stood in the void, looking up at the cloud.

"Whoosh whoosh~~~" Flames descended.

Ji Ning still did not resist.

Because this tribulation progressed from weak to strong, the fire tribulation also gradually intensified. If the body of the sixth level of the Eight-Nine Arcane Art couldn't withstand it, he could act later. But just the fire tribulation... Ji Ning didn't think it would force him to act.

The flames were scorching, soon rising to the level of true fire. Various true fires came one after another, including the Sun True Fire.

But Ji Ning stood in the void, completely unconcerned.

With the complete dissipation of the cloud.

"Boom!" Ji Ning turned into a man of fire.

A mass of firelight was burning inside Ji Ning's body.

"Ah." Mingyue, watching from a distance, turned pale with fright.

"It's okay, this is Divine Fire, which cannot be resisted, only endured. Although it is far stronger than Celestial Immortal Fire," Little Qing said beside her, "But your father's Dao-heart is remarkable; he is not afraid of this Divine Fire."

Sure enough, Ji Ning soon returned to normal.

Time passed, and the sky continued to gather and accumulate.

Red Snow Celestial, Silvermoon, and the others watching from a distance also became serious. The wind and fire tribulations had been too easy for Ji Ning. Even the Heart Demon Tribulation, with his fourth-level heart force... would likely be easy, since fourth-level heart force was impressive across the Three Realms; he couldn't possibly fail to withstand the Heart Demon Tribulation.

The only real threat was the thunder tribulation, which was also the most important tempering for forming the 'divine body'!

"I wonder what the power of the first wave of Ji Ning's Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation will be."

Everyone watched nervously.

Ji Ning was destined to undergo the Nine-Nine Thunder Tribulation. The more powerful the first wave, the more terrifying the final eighty-first wave would be.

"It's getting dark!" Mingyue suddenly said nervously.

Everyone, including Ji Ning, looked up at the sky.

Yes.

The endless sky visible to the naked eye had turned pitch black. Boundless dark clouds covered all areas, and the immense pressure was frightening. Ji Ning still silently looked up at the sky, but two divine swords had appeared in his hands.