Chapter 40: Breaking Through to the Late Stage of the Divine Bridge Realm

Jun Xiaoyao was only ten years old, yet he was already at the Ninth Level of the True Spirit Realm, enough to shock all sides.

But now, seeing Jun Xiaoyao’s aura rise once again, everyone present was dumbfounded, stunned into silence.

“He’s breaking through again?”

“This is bad. Could it be the tribulation of the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body?” Jun Zhantian looked up at the rolling black clouds in the sky, his brows furrowing.

For an ordinary cultivator, breaking through from the True Spirit Realm to the Divine Bridge Realm would not trigger any heavenly tribulation. But the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body was different.

This physique was abhorred by the heavens. Apart from the ten innate shackles it bore, each time the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body made a major leap in cultivation, the heavens would send down punishment. And going from the True Spirit Realm to the Divine Bridge Realm was such a leap.

Seeing the gathering clouds, not only Jun Zhantian, but the other guests also took notice.

“Could that be the tribulation of the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body?”

“Yes. They say that whenever a Desolate Ancient Sacred Body crosses to a higher realm, a heavenly tribulation descends. Looks like the Jun Family Divine Child is in trouble this time.”

For cultivators, the greatest dread was crossing tribulations. One misstep could lead to death, with everything lost in an instant. And for someone with the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body, the heavenly tribulation they drew was even stronger than ordinary tribulations—some geniuses might be instantly obliterated by just one strike.

“Xiaoyao, don’t worry. We, your grandfather and the others, will protect you!” Jun Zhantian and a group of clan elders stepped out, exuding the aura of Saint Realm experts.

In past generations, there were factions that sought to nurture a Desolate Ancient Sacred Body, and each time that physique faced a tribulation, a group of powerful cultivators would stand guard, helping them overcome it.

However, Jun Xiaoyao’s handsome features remained calm, his expression unruffled. “Grandfather, there’s no need. This minor tribulation is hardly worth mentioning. Let me face it alone…”

Hearing Jun Xiaoyao’s words, Jun Zhantian and the others were taken aback. All the cultivators around them froze as well.

At that moment, the thunder tribulation finally transformed into a torrent of lightning and came crashing down.

The power of that tribulation was terrifying, enough to make people shudder.

Jun Xiaoyao stood in midair with flowing black hair that shimmered with divine radiance, drifting lightly in the wind. His white clothes were as pristine as snow, fluttering gracefully, making him look like a transcendent immortal about to ride the wind away.

Jun Xiaoyao slowly raised one hand, and the Hell Furnace appeared once more. The column of lightning struck straight into the Hell Furnace.

Instantly, Jun Xiaoyao’s body shook. Within him, endless golden blood surged upward, manifesting the phantom of a colossal golden Primordial Divine Elephant. It appeared with a roar, carrying a vast power capable of suppressing all heavens and earth.

With an upward inhale of its trunk, the swirling thunder was drawn into Jun Xiaoyao’s body.

“A hundred thousand bolts of lightning shall forge my indestructible holy physique!”

Not only did Jun Xiaoyao show no fear of the lightning tribulation, he instead treated it as a means to temper his Desolate Ancient Sacred Body.

Boom after boom, the thunder kept falling, but it could not harm Jun Xiaoyao. At most, it only pushed him back a little.

“He…he’s a monster…” The various factions were speechless, lost for words.

Any genius crossing a tribulation would be jittery, fearing they might perish. Jun Xiaoyao, on the other hand, treated the heavenly tribulation as a resource to refine himself.

“Sigh, it seems I still underestimated Xiaoyao…” Jun Zhantian and the clan elders shook their heads with wry smiles. Sometimes, Jun Xiaoyao’s talent was so overwhelming that even these Saint Realm experts felt a hint of their own resolve cracking.

If they felt that way, one could only imagine how the young geniuses who had come for the banquet felt.

“I feel like I’ll never catch up to the Jun Family’s Divine Child…”

“Indeed, this era of tumult seems to be his stage alone…”

Top-tier geniuses from various great forces spoke in this manner, cracks appearing in their inner resolve.

In the end, the tribulation could do nothing to Jun Xiaoyao.

“Disappear!”

With a single palm thrust, the Primordial Divine Elephant phantom let out a roar toward the sky, sending the lightning crashing back upward. The black storm clouds over the sky were scattered in an instant.

Light returned to the world.

The harvest Jun Xiaoyao gained was also quite rewarding. First, his cultivation broke through to the Divine Bridge Realm. Not only that, he advanced straight to the late stage of the Divine Bridge Realm.

The Divine Bridge Realm itself consisted of early, mid, late, and peak (or great perfection) stages. Upon achieving great perfection in this realm, the Divine Bridge within the body would be fully constructed. Afterward came the Unity Realm, where spirit and flesh fused into one. Beyond that was the Confluence Realm, where one sought Dao Seeds, Immortal Seeds, and similar items to merge with oneself. Having merged one’s Dao, the next stage was the Nirvana Realm, where cultivators searched for Fire Seeds to cleanse the mind’s divine palace, allowing the True Spirit to evolve into a Nascent Spirit. After Nirvana, one’s power soared, achieving the Heaven-piercing Realm. Finally came igniting the Divine Flame, which opened the path to the Saint Realm.

Divine Bridge, Unity, Confluence, Nirvana, Heaven-piercing, Divine Flame—these were the mid-stage ranks of cultivation. Above that lay the levels of the Saint Realm.

For Jun Xiaoyao, to reach the late stage of the Divine Bridge Realm at only ten years old was a remarkably monstrous feat. Most geniuses his age were still hovering around the Divine Palace or True Spirit Realm. Even Long Haotian had only managed to step into the Divine Bridge Realm by relying on the power of Dragon Essence.

Aside from his realm breakthrough, Jun Xiaoyao used the power of the lightning tribulation and Dragon Essence to awaken another ten thousand giant elephant particles within his body. This meant that his physical strength now reached a total of five hundred million jins.

It was truly shocking.

A normal genius might reach at most a few hundred thousand jins of physical force. Even the top-tier ones only managed several million or tens of millions. Jun Xiaoyao now possessed a full five hundred million jins of divine power.

Moreover, Jun Xiaoyao noticed that the Supreme Bone in his chest was also absorbing the energy from the tribulation and Dragon Essence.

“It seems Heaven’s Tribulation Light isn’t the complete form of this ability. I’ll have to think of a way to further nurture this bone,” Jun Xiaoyao mused inwardly.

Both the Supreme Bone and the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body held limitless potential and would accompany Jun Xiaoyao throughout his cultivation. But similarly, these two unique physiques also demanded countless treasures for nourishment, like two endless voids.

“Fortunately, I was born into a Desolate Ancient aristocratic family. If I were born into a small family, they wouldn’t even have enough resources, let alone talk about helping me in my cultivation.”

Jun Xiaoyao sighed inwardly once again, recognizing that birth was indeed an art in itself.

“Right, I almost forgot about the quasi-Supreme dragon flesh,” Jun Xiaoyao thought.

“Here, Brother Xiaoyao, have some dragon meat!” Jiang Luoli, a bright and lively girl, her fair forehead shining with inner wisdom, had been paying close attention to Jun Xiaoyao. Now, she brought over a plate of roasted dragon meat, blinking her clear eyes in an adorably obedient way.

“Thank you.” Jun Xiaoyao nodded calmly. Even the way he ate was more refined and graceful than Jiang Luoli’s.

He had to admit, quasi-Supreme dragon meat contained an astonishing amount of life essence. The Supreme Bone in his chest was absorbing it with full force. Jun Xiaoyao also looked forward to the day when his Supreme Bone would evolve again. The power of Heaven’s Tribulation Light alone was already so formidable. If it transformed once more, just how powerful would his Supreme Bone become?

“After this Ten-Year Banquet’s sign-in, next up is the sign-in for the Yuantian Supreme’s secret repository. It seems I’ll need to start preparing for that,” Jun Xiaoyao thought to himself.

The sign-in rewards were simply too generous. The Great Accomplishment Desolate Ancient Sacred Body, the Divine Elephant Suppresses Prison technique, the Supreme Bone—all were of immense benefit to him. He was curious to see what sort of reward he would receive by signing in at the Yuantian Supreme’s secret realm.

“And there’s also that Xiao Chen. I wonder if he still has any value for me to harvest,” Jun Xiaoyao mused.

After the Ten-Year Banquet ended, Jun Xiaoyao would finally be free to venture out into the Immortal Domain. He was quite eager to explore its vastness.

“In this grand era of contention, I hope I won’t be too bored…” Jun Xiaoyao said, hands clasped behind his back, gazing up at the sky. It gave him a sense of true loneliness in invincibility.