The Tribulation of the Empress

Yong Yunzi meditated, her entire body was being incinerated, and there was a vein bulging on her entire body. It felt like her entire body was being cooked alive from the inside out.

She was also feeling the twist of her entire body wanting to destroy it. There is also some kind of pain she cannot fathom, no she understood it well. It was the pain from her being, the pain of the Essence, Qi, and her Spirit.

Contrary to all of what she was feeling, her appearance is calm and serene and her hair becomes the incarnation of flame itself. It may be an imagination created by the flames but an image manifested on her back.

It was an image of an Empress slaughtering everything. With her might and the support she had, she managed to become an Emperor. A Peak Existence with an attribute to Dominate anything between heaven and Earth.

That image can make any man fall on their knees as the weight of it is not something any mortal could ever fathom or know. It was the Empress who lived through generations. A Dao Emperor who understood the Dao and herself.

She was also the ruler of Flames and the Butcher of Flame Attribute Races. A genius who would become an Originator if not for all the Emperors and a Half Originator hunting her.

The thatched house that was created by her Senior Brother prevented the spread of the fire. The flame would be extinguished when it met the Wood or rather, it would be absorbed.

The flame would return as a Heat that would make anyone comfortable that they could fall asleep.

The flame would explode, with each explosion stronger than the other. This is the manifestation of the Manual of Ten Thousand Flames which can only be seen in the Divinity Stage of Qi Sea.

The Divinity Stage is the Perfect Stage of Qi Sea where the manifestation of Cultivator's technique could be seen. This would transform into a Divine Skill when one entered the Grotto Heaven Stage.

People in ancient times had the choice of breaking through from the Ninth Stage Qi Sea to Grotto Heaven or breaking through that Perfected Stage where the domain of Geniuses lies. The difference of it would truly shine when they were at Grotto Heaven.

It may be a weak explosion that could destroy small objects but at its peak is an explosion capable of sundering Space Time itself. It had the power of destroying the Universes in its wake to create a domain of only flames.

Sadly, no one in this generation, except Yun Haoran, had the Divinity stage. All of them are stuck at the Late Stage Qi Sea and can only break through the Grotto Heaven Stage.

No, it is easy to say that no one, except Yun Haoran, in this era had the Perfected Stage, even the mighty Elder Gold Sword. Yong Yunzi, who knows the secrets of the future would surely know about it but she was trying to not make any noise.

Yong Yunzi who felt all the power calm down inside her body felt a tribulation coming. She opened her eyes, stood up, and opened the door to where a tribulation was moving.

"This is unfair, Warhammer had nothing like this though?" She said while looking at the sky. She had no breakthrough and her realm stayed at the 6th Meridian Opening but when she felt something, she only smiled.

"Well, Senior Brother is truly Senior Brother. To create something like this overpowered item." She mumbled while looking at the tribulation.

The tribulation this time is a Lightning Tribulation. Rolling over the sky is a weak Lightning Tribulation that above Grotto Heaven could survive but she was merely at Meridian Opening.

A Meridian Opening, someone like that is trying to transcend something that a normal Qi Sea would be charred into pieces.

"I have experienced worse tribulations than this so watch me transcend it, Heaven." She mumbled again with a fierce expression on her face.

She experienced many tribulations all her life. She even witnessed someone transcending the greatest tribulations ever recorded. That guy become half crippled after that but he was still alive nonetheless.

The tribulation was ready and the first lightning coiled and hit where Yong Yunzi stood proudly.

The one who watched it all, Elder Gold Sword, stroked his beard. "Like Brother, Like Sister." He mumbled, looking at the rolling tribulation. Yong Yunzi merely smiled witnessed by him.

"A Meridian Opening surviving this is unheard of but I have disciples who did manage it." He said, remembering Yun Haoran.

He didn't know what happened but he woke up from his Cultivation then the little bastard was experiencing Demon Heart Tribulation. The Demon Heart Tribulation manifested and both Yun Haoran duked it out. They also drank mortal tea after that brawl until the Demon Heart had been gone.

In his opinion, Demon Heart is more dangerous than Lightning Tribulation happening. A Lightning Tribulation could be stopped forcefully but a Demon Heart cannot be stopped unless someone who was experiencing it could transcend it.

Elder Gold Sword watched how Yong Yunzi uses the Lightning to temper her Flames and by doing so, she has created a Flame capable of imitating Lightning. When it was too hard for her, she used the Lightning to temper herself.

That Tempering became the best choice for her because the Seed had ungodly healing properties which the Elder Gold Sword had witnessed it.

'Hmm?' He thought as he remembered the little bastard also having that kind of life force. Inferior to that quality but nonetheless a Life Force, witnessing it is a marvel on its own.

'What kind of disciples am I even accepting?' He thought to himself while shaking his head. He then continued watching Yong Yunzi transcending the tribulation and readying himself to try to save her when something went wrong.

The boundless life force heals her wounds and creates a better body.

Yong Yunzi also felt it then she smiled. She thought, 'This is too overpowered. If I had this kind of Spiritual Root, I would be able to shine while those Monsters are here. The 3 Young Taboo, 7 Gods, 9 Chosens and 20 Asuras.'

There is also lightning that was unknowingly being absorbed by the Seed. The lightning then becomes a new type of law that fuses with Flame itself.

While transcending the Tribulation, she remembered the 42 individuals who overruled the Heavens itself. They are the most outstanding individuals who created a name for themselves.

"Of course, I am only an Asura, those at the top are majestic. The 3 Young Taboos are the scariest and noblest of them all. There would be changes in this timeline, I am sure of it." Yong Yunzi mumbled while tempering her body with Lightning.

It continued until the 9th Round of Lightning Tribulation. The world returned to its normal state with Yong Yunzi having her body finally transformed and accommodating slowly the Root of the World Tree.

She may need to become a Qi Sea or a Grotto Heaven to finally control it. She sighed a sigh of relief.

"You didn't have any breakthrough but a tribulation happened. Just like that bastard in his Meridian Opening 3rd Stage." Yong Yunzi heard a voice. She then looked to see an old man who was stroking his beard.

Yong Yunzi bowed her head and replied, "Master for the 17th time!"

"Tsk, my dear disciple. To become strong like this. You needed to feel the aura of Heaven and Earth. And for that reason, you needed to feel me." Elder Gold Sword explained while grinning.

This old man may have a lot of time because a Saint doesn't need to cultivate. They only needed to feel and strengthen their connection to the Dao. No, they also cultivate but not actively anymore.

"Did you ever see your Senior Brother? It's been 1 year and three months, I would not be surprised if he was at Grotto Heaven at this stage." He added. His eyes had a curious light.

He was near the truth for Yun Haoran is at the cusp of Grotto Heaven. 13th Stage of Qi Sea to be exact.

"Master, I thought you had said that Senior Brother had a free-spirited nature so it wouldn't be surprising he would not return to the sect for a year or two.

As for the Path of Heaven, I don't know if he joined, Master." Yong Yunzi replied truthfully. Elder Gold Sword would not be surprised by that fact but only asked for the sake of it.

"Hmm, alright, alright. I don't care for the rewards of Heaven but as long as you have Perseverance and your Dao Heart. That should be fine." Elder Gold Sword replied while looking at Yong Yunzi.

It is a well-known fact even after only a week of its existence that the path of Heaven this time is different. Many heaven-defying rewards are permitted by the Heavens such as the Comprehension, Enlightenment, and Epiphany cards.

Some cards could be used to teleport an Item such as Artifacts, Runes, and Formations from the real world to the Path of Heaven.

"Yes, Master." Yong Yunzi replied nodding her head.

"By the way, are you sure you don't want to learn my Heaven Severing Sword? Your Senior Brother had learned it at age 8, without cultivation, and perfected them at the age of 10. He was not yet cultivating that time." Elder Gold Sword asked while having expectations this time.

"Master, for the 3rd time. Only Senior Brother could perfect it." She replied without annoyance while smiling within her heart.

Heaven Severing Sword is a sword technique capable of Severing Heaven itself. It was also the inheritance he gets in a Secret Realm when he was a mortal. He needed a thousand years just to master it and another thousand years to perfect them making him invincible.

In her previous timeline, Elder Gold Sword taught her that but it was extremely useless for her or rather she had no talent for the Sword at all. Her Master never left her hanging and used all available resources for her to cultivate the Sword. Ironically, it is time that she holds a spear that she managed to learn the intricacies of it.

As a matter of fact, it was the basis of her Flame Asura Technique.

"Alright, alright. If you change your mind, do talk to me." Elder Gold Sword said with a smile then vanished.

He appeared at another site watching Yong Yunzi practicing.

"Taking care of girls is harder than I thought." He then sighed and vanished again.

—

"Damn, damn. Damn that monster." The Devil or rather Gu Yan shouted while his eyes could devour anything between Heaven and Earth.

"Prince, shall we retreat a little and spread it to the world? To make it easier to kill and we shall harvest it if it would be killed?" A devil asked with knowing light but Gu Yan snorted out loud.

"If you are that capable, go do it. Try to spread it and more than capable individuals we could not handle will flock in this." Gu Yan replied pointing at the Devil to which he could only hide and nodded his head.

"I apologize, Prince." He said nodding his head.

"That's alright. As long as you know your mistake. 10 Drops of Dragon Blood and 50 Comprehension Points cannot fall into someone's hand." Gu Yan said while explaining the rewards of the monster.

"If we are successful, I will reward you with a Blood Orb of 20 Qi Sea Demon Cultivators and become an Executive of mine." He added.

A devil who heard that reward had a face full of smiles and replied, "Yes, You can count on me, Prince." He was now even imagining the things he could do when he became an executive of the Prince of the Gu Clan.