The cloud sea cultivators, along with their grand formation, had been utterly extinguished, leaving only the violet-robed elder, whose physical form remained. He was caught in the aftermath of the second collapse, spewing forth a mouthful of blood. Desperate, he turned to flee.

Fear gripped him, a chilling dread that pierced his very soul!

Wang Lin’s eyes flashed with resolve. He waved his right hand, and the river of fire that encircled him surged towards the fleeing elder. Without a further glance at the old man, Wang Lin lifted his gaze. Above him, the starfield’s tribulation clouds churned and roiled, and a deluge of fiery celestial tribulation descended with a deafening roar.

“Fire…” Wang Lin spoke calmly, a smile playing on his lips. As the sky-fire howled towards him, he pointed his right hand towards the heavens!

Instantly, his left eye blazed with an inferno, and crimson armor manifested upon his body. From afar, he seemed cloaked in living flame.

A white cloak billowed behind him, a stark contrast to his snow-white hair. Upon the crimson armor, a pure white Vermillion Bird totem blazed. With a single burst of power, Wang Lin shot forth, directly into the heart of the sky-fire.

In a heartbeat, he plunged into the fiery abyss. The endless ocean of flames engulfed him, only to be devoured by the armor he wore. The Vermillion Bird totem stirred, transforming into a majestic avian form, its piercing cry echoing through the heavens.

The sky-fire, as if entranced by the Vermillion Bird’s dance, swirled into a vortex, moving in harmony with the creature’s flight.

This fiery tribulation held no fear for Wang Lin!

He raised his gaze to the heavens, defiance blazing in his eyes. Throughout his life, he had faced countless tribulations, each a harrowing trial that threatened to extinguish his flame. Yet, he had never yielded. Now, wielding the powers of thunder and fire, the rebellious spirit that had slumbered within him for a millennium ignited anew.

This tribulation was but a manifestation of the Heavenly Dao. To defy Heaven, one must first defy its trials!

Within the all-encompassing tribulation clouds, a furious roar echoed in response to Wang Lin’s defiance, as if the heavens themselves were wounded. The clouds churned with unparalleled intensity, and a wave of celestial might descended in an instant!

This was not the first time he had faced such power. Twice before, he had endured this very presence. Under the weight of Heaven’s wrath, all who dared to resist were destined to be crushed.

But Wang Lin did not retreat. Instead, he threw back his head and laughed.

“Thunder, fire, illusion, might… are these the only trials you can muster?” Wang Lin roared, facing the heavens. Under the crushing pressure of celestial might, he stood unyielding!

At his words, the heavens themselves seemed to respond. The oppressive force intensified a hundredfold, warping the starfield around him. An indescribable power tore at reality.

Wang Lin was forced to his knees, his armor groaning under the strain, yet his head remained lifted, his gaze unbroken.

With a flick of his right hand, the burning river, which had surrounded the violet-robed elder, contracted. Drawing the elder’s collapsing body and captive soul towards him.

The elder of the Cloud Sea had been gravely wounded. He had suppressed the tribulation’s thunder spheres, which had the power to shatter his physical form, but the Landslide spell had worsened his injuries, causing his cultivation to plummet to the early stages of Void Nirvana.

Now, ensnared by the burning river, his soul began to dim. But as the river neared Wang Lin, the elder’s eyes narrowed. He detonated his very soul, unleashing a wave of energy in a desperate attempt to break free and strike down Wang Lin.

“Die!” The elder roared, his final cry carrying a wave of murderous intent.

Wang Lin snorted, his right hand forming a palm. He seized the onrushing soul. The energy of the starfield converged before him, forming a colossal palm print. With a resounding boom, the palm hurtled towards the elder’s soul.

The elder’s face twisted in horror. “This… this is the Spirit Engraving Palm of the Ninth Order Sect!” he cried. But before the words could fully leave his lips, the massive palm print swept over him, pushing his soul relentlessly back into the burning river. A thunderous explosion erupted as the two forces collided, obliterating the elder’s soul.

With no time to dwell on the elder’s final words, Wang Lin performed a series of hand seals and pointed at the burning river.

The river of burning mountains surged towards Wang Lin, coalescing above him, reforming into a mountain peak. But this peak was riddled with cracks, and crimson flames spilled from within, illuminating the surrounding space.

The celestial might pressed down with greater force, and a flush of crimson appeared on Wang Lin’s face. With a roar, he thrust both hands upwards. “Landslide, Obliterate the Heavens!”

The gigantic mountain above him hurtled skyward with earth-shattering force. Wang Lin, with a single burst of power, shot upwards, standing beneath the mountain, his right hand pressed firmly against its base, as if bearing its weight, and drove it straight towards the tribulation clouds!

Amidst the deafening roar, the oppressive weight of the heavens grew a hundredfold, and more. The mountain above Wang Lin began to crumble as it ascended. Countless stones, unable to withstand the celestial pressure, turned to ash.

But Wang Lin did not falter. Instead, he accelerated, roaring as he pressed upwards, driving the mountain towards the heavens, closing the distance with the infinite tribulation clouds above.

Closer and closer!

Wang Lin’s hair billowed wildly, and his armor groaned, as if on the verge of shattering. The grinding of his bones echoed within him, causing his face to contort with strain.

But none of it mattered. All he sought was the spirit to defy Heaven. After so many trials, he was no longer content to be a passive victim. This time, Wang Lin would strike back!

With each moment, the mountain crumbled further. Countless fragments dissolved into nothingness. In the end, the entire mountain was reduced to ash.

But though the mountain’s form had shattered, its spirit remained!

Now, Wang Lin held aloft a colossal mountain of flame, a seething mass of crimson fire, a testament to the power he now commanded.
Barely ten thousand fathoms separated Wang Lin from the calamitous cloud above! Driven to the brink, he faced a surge in celestial might, an escalation that knew no pause. The very fabric of the cosmos groaned, rent by fissures of space that spewed forth chilling winds.

Even the fiery mountain he had borne aloft, its inferno flickered, threatened to be extinguished by the encroaching heavenly wrath!

A roar tore from Wang Lin’s throat as he cast his hands forward, unleashing a torrent of arcane power to propel the flaming mountain ever faster towards the looming劫cloud!

Ten thousand fathoms… nine thousand… eight thousand… five thousand!

As the fiery mountain breached the cloud’s outer defenses, falling within five thousand fathoms, a bestial roar echoed from within. The mountain, buffeted and battered, failed to reach its apex. With a final shudder, its flames died, and it vanished without a trace.

Unyielding, the celestial pressure descended upon Wang Lin, who stared upward with bitter resolve. Only five thousand fathoms remained! To breach that final span would be to strike at the heart of the cloud itself!

As the crushing weight pressed upon him, a searing fire blazed in Wang Lin’s left eye, mirroring a storm of lightning that erupted in his right. Spreading his arms wide, he channeled the tempestuous energy of his right eye into his right arm, conjuring a sphere of raw lightning, the size of a clenched fist!

Simultaneously, the inferno of his left eye spilled down his left arm, coalescing into a white-hot orb of pure flame!

“Ye Elements of Thunder, heed the call of Wang Lin, King of Thunder-Dragons! Gather!” Standing defiant beneath the cosmos, Wang Lin’s voice, a low growl, commanded the heavens. In that instant, an immense, primordial Thunder-Dragon materialized behind him. Its scales shimmered with lightning, and its eyes blazed with defiance as it roared its challenge to the sky! Throughout the star-strewn expanse, bolts of celestial lightning ignited into existence, converging upon the sphere in Wang Lin’s right hand.

From afar, the area surrounding Wang Lin, spanning tens of thousands of leagues, became a maelstrom of lightning. The very earth seemed to writhe with countless electric serpents, transforming the landscape into a living lightning-pool!

Most astonishingly, as Wang Lin harnessed the power of the cosmos, wielding the authority of thunder, countless bolts of lightning were forcefully siphoned from the calamitous cloud above, drawn irresistibly to his right hand!

In that moment, Wang Lin battled the heavens for control of thunder itself!

He wrestled the very power to command lightning from the hands of the celestial realm! As the relentless deluge of thunder converged, a substantial portion of the cloud’s own energy was stolen away. A guttural roar echoed from within, and the remaining lightning hesitated, threatening to retreat and rejoin the storm above.

“Celestial path, calamitous trial! If such a path truly exists, then know this: if the heavens seek my demise, I will surely bring them to their knees! Wang Lin scorns the celestial path, rejects the trial of calamity! These are but titles self-proclaimed! The path, a self-appointed authority! The trial, a self-ordained judgment!” As he witnessed the thunder threatening to return to its source, Wang Lin clenched his left fist.

“Ye Elements of Fire, heed the call of Wang Lin, the Vermilion Bird Lord! Assemble!” In an instant, a sea of white flame erupted beside the spectral form of the Thunder-Dragon, coalescing into the majestic form of a Vermilion Bird. As its wings beat, the piercing cry of the celestial avian rent the very stars!

Throughout the star-filled cosmos, oceans of fire surged, converging upon Wang Lin’s left hand. Simultaneously, from the depths of the calamitous cloud, beyond the five-thousand-fathom mark, a torrent of celestial flame poured downwards, forming a funnel that channeled directly into the fire sphere coalescing in Wang Lin’s grasp.

He sought not only to wrestle thunder from the heavens but to usurp the very flames of celestial wrath!

Any mortal who witnessed this spectacle would find their mind shattered! For Wang Lin, wielding a sphere of thunder in his right hand and a sphere of fire in his left, not only absorbed the energies of the cosmos but also contested the power of the cloud itself.

The roar from within the calamitous cloud grew ever more deafening, as a crimson miasma poured forth, marking the advent of the fifth and most fearsome form of the trial: the Blood Calamity!

As the crimson fog materialized, Wang Lin cast his gaze upward, and with a mighty roar, he lunged forward, a living comet streaking through the cosmos. Bearing his spheres of thunder and fire, each the size of a modest dwelling, he hurtled directly towards the calamitous cloud!

Five thousand fathoms… four thousand… three thousand… one thousand! Wang Lin drew ever closer to the cloud, and as he crossed the threshold of a thousand fathoms, the crimson fog engulfed him!