Chapter 2742 A Mandate

RUMBLE!

An obscure law power surged forth near the Ninth Peak and resisted the terrifying tribulation lightning, saving the entire area from being reduced to dust. The dao platform made of purple lightning stood still like an immovable mountain, glowing in the void as the dreadful aura of calamity thunderously spread.

Such a scene was capable of driving any supreme Emperor Ancestor to despair. Who could even withstand this kind of catastrophe?

However, the crowd soon noticed something starting to happen near the purple platform. The bloodstains there gathered together, coalesced, and swiftly formed the figure of Lin Xun.

“He's still not dead?!” Qi Lingzhen yelped, nearly cracking his voice.

As everyone gawked in disbelief, Lin Xun's physical body was once again dissolved. It was as if he had entered a cycle of destruction and rebirth like during his earlier confrontation with the spear of judgment. Each time, the spectators believed that he was dead, only to see him miraculously return to life.

As Fu Wenli's faction watched this scene, their expressions were dark and changing quickly. However, while the crowd could witness everything clearly, they as outsiders could never understand what Lin Xun truly felt during his tribulation.

Each annihilation felt like enduring torture, his physical form being ground to bits everytime in the struggle within the grip of death. Had it been anyone with a slightly weaker mindset in his shoes, the relentless torture would have shattered their fighting spirit long ago!

In fact, Lin Xun was nearing his limits, but despite being subjected to such agony, his resolve and willpower remained unshaken! He had waited far too long for this opportunity to certify immortality. No matter how perverse this tribulation became, it could never make him even think of retreating!

It was true that each annihilation of his physical form felt like the world's most brutal torture, but after every rebirth, the barrier between his cultivation and the next stage cracked a little more, granting him an intangible transformation! If the Supreme Ancestor Stage was like a reservoir filled to the brim, then this tribulation was a massive hammer that was hitting at the reservoir's walls.

Such was a stage breakthrough. Only by breaking down the barriers of one's own cultivation could one ascend to a higher path!

As time passed, Lin Xun, after being ground down countless times by that purple platform, suddenly flashed. The next second, he appeared and sat down cross-legged on it! Looking as though he had entered meditation, a terrifying devouring energy emerged from him. This energy then formed an unfathomable abyss and began to refine the platform.

Kaboom!

Their powers clashed in an unprecedented confrontation, plunging the surrounding zone into disarray. Rampant, savage energy swept outward in all directions. However, no matter how fiercely the purple platform struggled, he remained as steadfast as a boulder. As the confrontation intensified, the platform got bitten off inch by inch, and its terrifying aura of calamity also slowly eroded away.

The entire crowd was stunned into silence. In their eyes, Lin Xun's current performance was nothing short of godlike – arrogant, overbearing, unshakable, and indestructible!

“How is this possible? Has his state of mind not been affected?!” exclaimed Qi Lingzhen.

Like him, his companions were displaying drastic changes in their expressions, clearly seething with indescribable fury and discomfit. Lin Xun had been too spectacular: battered time and again but kept rising like a phoenix from the ashes. Currently, he was even refining the tribulation power to nourish himself. How could any of them accept this?

More people were stunned by him. They asked themselves: If they were in his place, who among them could still stand under such annihilation?

Crack!

The purple dao platform cracked. Finally, it burst into a rain of lighting power and got swallowed by Lin Xun to the last drop. His aura began to skyrocket in a way that was visible to the naked eyes. From his entirety, faint wisps of a power belonging to the Immortal Stage steamed!

At this point, Fu Wenli’s group could no longer contain their shock and anger.

Has his state of mind really not been affected at all?!

This caught them completely off guard. Watching Lin Xun grow increasingly strong and resilient amid the tribulation, they had felt the urge to intervene multiple times but forced themselves to hold back. After all, this was the Origin Sect, and the rules were inviolable!

Meanwhile, important figures like Xuan Feiling and Dugu Yong secretly breathed sighs of relief. The first tribulation, a horrifying calamity that had manifested in the form of a spear, had been ultimately defused by Lin Xun. The second tribulation was a thunderous dao platform more formidable than the spear. It had sent shivers down their spines, yet it still failed to crush him.

All of this was simply a miracle, and it dramatically boosted their confidence in him.

However, right at this moment, lightning of primal chaos suddenly appeared in the depths of the tribulation clouds. Mystical and inexplicable, it violently tumbled, and in that instant, everyone present felt an uncontrollable tremor in their mind regardless of cultivation level. A great terror loomed over them, threatening to invade their very mind.

“Attention!” Xuan Feiling’s chant echoed across the field. “All disciples, cut off your six senses and cease all perception! Do not attempt to use your spirit sense; doing so will surely subject your mind to grave danger!”

Countless faces paled as the crowd instinctively sealed off their senses and perception, which unfortunately deprived them of any further glimpse into the power contained of the heavenly tribulation. Only the high-level expert could withstand it, but their expressions grew solemn.

Deep within the skies, primal chaos lightning bolts gathered and derived various unimaginable phenomena: scenes of the creation of the primordial world, cycles of changes, cosmic destruction, beings drifting between life and death, the collapse of all dao paths, the apocalypses of countless eras...

The powerful experts’ hair stood up on end, and the colors of their faces shifted.

What calamity is this?!

Lin Xun, however, appeared as calm as ever without the slightest change in his expression. He was quietly waiting.

A premonition suddenly stirred within him that this would be the final trial and also the most horrendous one. Passing it meant he would ascend to immortality and share longevity with the heavens. Failure meant sure death, where his body would crumble alongside his cultivation and his soul would scatter with the winds!

The dao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things. This tribulation has three levels to represent the past, present, and future. The mysteries within are indefinitely more scary than any tribulation before. Perhaps only by shattering all this can one truly attain Eternal Supreme...

As Lin Xun pondered, his mind grew increasingly clear and serene.

Meanwhile, the myriad of bizarre lighting-manifested phenomena in the sky had ultimately coalesced into a mandate. It was a scroll that unfolded within the tribulation clouds, radiating a massive radiance. Countless wondrous and abstruse texts were written on it, yet upon closer inspection, nothing could be discerned.

Even the Immortal experts in the audience were stunned, bewildered by this mysterious sight. They racked their brains but were unable to fathom how an Immortal tribulation could assume the form of a mandate!

They strained every ounce of their cultivation to sense and decipher the dao texts on it, only to come up empty-handed. Like a legendary heavenly scripture that bore the will of the Heaven, it was impossible to be named, read, and understood!

It was an inconceivable spectacle! Even the big shots who hated Lin Xun’s guts stood frozen in place, intimidated and shaken to their core by this unique tribulation lighting of unparalleled magnitude.

A mandate! Is this the representative of this tribulation’s highest power?

Even Lin Xun felt shivers running up and down his spine. Sensing a deadly threat, he unhesitantly summoned the Limitless Abyss Sword Cauldron from his palm. The artifact hovered above him, diffusing billions of rays of light. Inside it, the Nirvana law power for once seemed excited, as if being triggered by some invisible force.

BOOM!

From the primal chaos mandate in the depths of the black clouds, countless inscrutable runes suddenly flooded out. They immediately transformed into a rain of arcane illusory flower petals, overlapping like the clear and turbid.

The audience perceived nothing scary from it at first, for the petals fell so lightly. However, they were utterly unstoppable. The moment they touched Lin Xun, they were ablaze like the fiercest tribulation fire. His flesh was incinerated in the blink of an eye.

The crowd stopped breathing as if there was something invisible squeezing at their hearts.

How terrifying!

The petals clung to the Limitless Abyss Sword Cauldron. The latter buzzed intensely as its surface began to get corroded, flaking off in large patches. As it seemed to approach the verge of collapse, a lotus diagram suddenly emerged from inside and released a mysterious power that confined one petal after another.

However, the petals were too numerous. Obscure, illusory, and gleaming with clear and turbid light, they quickly enveloped the severely damaged sword cauldron along with the Nirvana law power.

Every scene transpiring went beyond the imagination of everyone present. Although they had no idea what these twists and turns signified, one thing was certain: Lin Xun was facing the worst and most powerful kind of calamity!

Only after a very long time did his form begin to coalesce, but before he could fully shape, the petals burned him to ashes once more.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Chills seeped into the hearts of Xuan Feiling’s group. Such an eerie and taboo tribulation struck dread even in these ancient relics like them. It had been far too long since they'd felt such anxiety.

In contrast, Fu Wenli’s party, although equally horrified by the spectacle, was being hit by overwhelming delight and anticipation.

How can Lin Xun possibly survive this colossal calamity? The masterpiece that the Lord of Fangchun Mountain has created with all effort and waited his entire life for is destined to be destroyed prematurely!

By now, even the disciples of the three pavilions and nine peaks had realized it: Lin Xun was in a very precarious situation that was nothing like before.

In the moments that followed, whenever his form began to coalesce, it would be incinerated by the petals drifting from the primal chaos mandate. He was left with no room to struggle. Eventually, the time it took for his form to solidify grew longer and longer...

“Alas, so close to success yet doomed to failure!” sighed Qi Lingzhen, feigning regret while inwardly reveling in satisfaction.

“If you don't want to die, shut your mouth!” Xuan Feiling's face was frosty. His single command caused Qi Lingzhen's face to alternate between pale and livid in humiliation.

“Brother Xuan, why quarrel with a junior? Who cannot see now that Lin Xun is about to fail his tribulation? While we too wish the outcome would be different, the reality before us is undeniable. Crying about it won’t help,” snapped Qi Xiaoyun coldly. He, who was also secretly elated, deliberately goaded Xuan Feiling with his words.

“What a pity for Lin Xun. For such an extraordinary genius to perish prematurely,” lamented Fu Wenli next to him.

“When this tribulation concludes, we should look for any ashes or relics that he might leave behind. After all, he deserves a proper burial as a disciple of our Origin Sect,” Chi Wen sighed deeply.

By speaking in this way at this juncture, the leading figures of Lin Xun’s enemy factions were being blatantly obvious with their intentions: to rub salt in the wounds of Xuan Feiling and his companions!

Of course, they were also using the opportunity to show off their joy and contentment. In the end, Lin Xun would die. All their efforts and sacrifices over the recent period of time would not have been in vain!