In ages past, Wang Lin knew not if any soul before him had dared such a thing. To face the Celestial Tribulation with a heart vast as the cosmos, a mind serene as a still lake, and to turn the very wrath of Heaven back upon itself.

Nor did he know if in the endless years to come, another would attempt such a feat. He knew only this: now, in this moment, he would utterly defy the Tribulation, would subjugate it, would become as the very Dao itself, not to punish mortals, but to punish the Tribulation!

A battle of tribulations, a clash unseen since the dawn of time, unheard of within the Realm itself.

As the words “Thunder Tribulation” left Wang Lin’s lips, within the swirling mists that blanketed a million leagues of the star-strewn void, amidst the writhing azure serpents of lightning, the lightning mark upon Wang Lin’s right eye blazed forth with blinding radiance.

Instantly, tendrils of electricity mirrored the mark, coursing across his face, engulfing his body, until finally, they crackled within his snow-white hair. The sound echoed like thunder, and from afar, Wang Lin appeared clad in a suit of living lightning, a veritable lord of the storm.

With a deafening roar, the vortex above churned ever more violently. As it spun, an endless torrent of lightning coalesced at its center, a blinding azure light erupting forth. From this convergence was born the First Calamity of Wang Lin’s Third Step Tribulation: the Thunder Tribulation.

The azure light pierced the million leagues of mist, staining it a vibrant teal, a spectacle both awe-inspiring and terrifying.

But Wang Lin saw within that azure glow a single bolt of lightning, ten thousand fathoms thick, descending from the vortex’s depths, bearing an alien aura. It was *not* of this world.

It came from an unknown place, bursting from the vortex with a deafening roar, hurtling towards Wang Lin like a colossal azure dragon, writhing and howling as it sought to devour him.

It sought to consume Wang Lin, to obliterate him, to prevent the existence of a Third Step defying cultivator in this corner of creation!

Wang Lin remained calm, his gaze fixed upon the swirling mists above, upon the azure lightning poised to strike. A glint flickered in his eyes.

“Today, I, Wang Lin, shall inflict tribulation upon the Tribulation itself! The First Calamity I name ‘My Will, the Thunder Calamity!'” As he spoke, the lightning crackling around him erupted in a furious explosion, spreading outwards until, in an instant, it coalesced above him into a colossal lightning mark of equal size.

This mark, however, was unlike the azure of the descending tribulation. It was crimson, blood-red! A scarlet light radiated from it, becoming Wang Lin’s own Thunder Calamity. As it formed, the heavens themselves trembled, the mists recoiled, and the entire Kunxu Starfield shuddered.

Raising his right hand, he pointed a single finger at the roaring azure lightning above. Immediately, the crimson lightning mark transformed into a bolt of comparable size, hurtling skyward to meet its counterpart.

It was a sight to behold! From afar, one could see two bolts of lightning, one azure, one crimson, hurtling towards each other at terrifying speed, drawing ever closer in a cacophony of thunderous roars.

The spectacle was so surreal that it blurred the lines of perception. Was either of these bolts the true Tribulation? Were both? Was the heavens punishing Wang Lin, or… was Wang Lin punishing the heavens?

Within the million leagues of mist, in the blink of an eye, the two bolts collided. The roar was earth-shattering. Azure met crimson, and a violent clash ensued.

Like two celestial bodies locked in a desperate struggle of consumption and annihilation, the azure bolt began to dissipate with alarming speed, shrinking to a mere few thousand fathoms as it was slowly devoured by Wang Lin’s crimson lightning.

But then, the vortex above began to spin in reverse, a sudden, violent reversal that brought forth another roar. Another azure lightning bolt descended, merging with the weakened first.

And then another. And another. A third, a fourth, a fifth… until nine azure lightning bolts descended in unison, merging into an endless, boundless torrent of lightning that poured from the vortex, seeking to drown the world in its power!

Before this sudden onslaught, Wang Lin’s crimson lightning rapidly dissipated.

A shockwave of raw thunderous energy blasted outwards, churning the mists and sweeping across the surrounding space. From beyond the mists, Situ and the others watched in horrified awe.

But the spectacle did not stir Zhan Laogui. His expression remained impassive, as if he had foreseen it all. He shook his head slightly.

“He is likely not the Third. If he were, he would not be so weak… Alas, I have searched countless millennia for the Third. It cannot be so simple…” With a sigh, Zhan Laogui turned his gaze from the mists, his expression tinged with disappointment. He turned to leave.

But as he turned, he stopped abruptly. His eyes, previously devoid of hope, now blazed with a fierce light.

He saw Wang Lin, deep within the mists, his snow-white hair billowing despite the absence of wind. As his crimson lightning was utterly consumed, and the immense, alien, and destructive force crashed down upon him, Wang Lin took a step forward. In that step, his form blurred and vanished, only to reappear in the heavens, directly beneath the descending azure lightning.

He raised his right hand, and gently placed his palm upon the boundless azure tempest.

“Lightning of unknown origin, I am Wang Lin, attuned to the very essence of thunder, master of all lightning beneath the heavens. You shall either submit to my will, or… crumble before it.”
Time, it seemed, stood breathless, a moment etched into eternity. In that tableau, Wang Lin, his silver hair swirling like frost, met the descent of the Nine-fold Azure Lightning with a single hand, defying its celestial wrath.

Before the verdant fury of the heavens, he was but a speck, a mortal mote. Yet, the instant his palm met the azure bolt, it was as if he had seized the very soul of the thunder.

His face serene, Wang Lin closed his eyes. He felt within his grasp the lightning’s rebellious spirit, its tormented cries of struggle. He felt the tremors of fear emanating from the storm itself.

“I understand,” he murmured, his eyes opening, reflecting the stolen light. And with a gesture of his hand, he spoke a word of doom to the celestial entity, the lightning, which was above him.

At his command, the azure thunder shuddered, then, without a sound, it broke.

Shattered into a myriad of shimmering blue motes, like countless emerald fireflies, the power of the thunder dissolved into the void.

Wang Lin stood within the fading aurora, his form slightly blurred by the dissipating energies. He raised his head, gazing at the vortex that still churned above, and pointed with his right hand.

“By my will, let the Lightning Tribulation arise! Let it punish the Heavens and scourge the Earth!”

Instantly, to Wang Lin’s left, a crimson bolt of lightning manifested from the nothingness, its roar echoing through the firmament. It hurtled towards the vortex above. Then another, and another… Innumerable bolts, each crackling with crimson energy, erupted around Wang Lin, bathing the land in their incandescent glow.

The space around him became a tempest of lightning, a dominion of thunder. Dozens became hundreds, then thousands, finally myriads of crimson bolts, unleashed with a deafening cacophony.

A thousand red thunders, a heaven-punishing tribulation! Tens of thousands of crimson lances of energy surged forward, defying distance, and plunged into the heart of the vortex above.

A cataclysmic roar echoed, the echoes of the thunderous battle reverberated. Under the relentless assault of Wang Lin’s lightning, the vortex above thinned, teetered on the brink of collapse. Finally, with a deafening explosion that shook the very foundations of reality, the swirling abyss unraveled, vanishing from Wang Lin’s sight.

But even as it dissolved, a colossal fissure ripped open in the void where the vortex once reigned. Ten thousand fathoms long, the tear in reality pulsed with a muffled roar. From within its depths, a gargantuan structure, resembling an altar of four cornered閣樓, slowly emerged.

With its appearance, the muffled roar intensified, the rumblings increasing. In a brief moment, the four-cornered altar閣樓 emerged from its prison, revealing two of its corners. Wang Lin saw, at the heart of the structure, a figure sat in a meditative posture. Around that shadowy form were embedded four gleaming swords.

“By my will, let the Fire Tribulation erupt! Let it consume the Heavens and shatter the Earth!” The flame sigil in Wang Lin’s left eye blazed, and raging flames erupted, engulfing him in a vortex of incandescent energy.

As he pointed his left hand towards the heavens, the flames around him exploded outwards, engulfing all that was within. A hundred fathoms, a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred leagues, a thousand, ten thousand… Such was the swiftness of its expansion that only Wang Lin’s will controlled its trajectory. Where he stood became a sea of fire, an inferno that stretched for tens of thousands of leagues. With his command, that fiery expanse roared upwards, a conflagration that sought to immolate the very heavens.

In the blink of an eye, even the surrounding mists seemed to ignite, painted by the crimson glow of the inferno. The ten-thousand-fathom fissure above was entirely consumed by the flames. Unlike the thunderous roar of the lightning, the crackling symphony of the fire filled the air, a continuous, searing wave that washed over the world.

Wang Lin’s eyes flashed with cold determination. He swept his sleeves and strode forward, materializing within the sea of fire above. He approached the four-cornered altar閣樓 that had emerged from the fissure and extended his right hand. He unleashed his power in a palm.

As he pressed forward, his fingers bent to form a fist.

“Karmic Seal!”