Myriad Rivers to the Sea

Chapter 1096: The Gathering Anomaly

The spatial rift tore open above the western expanse of the Zhan Clan headquarters and spilled chaotic energy into the air. Zhan Tian stepped through the swirling void and pulled Li Yu onto an ancient stone platform. The ground beneath their feet was carved with intricate runes left behind by an ancestor who had mastered the laws of lightning. The air here already hummed with latent energy and it felt heavy on the skin.Several dozen clan disciples were sitting cross legged across the sprawling plaza as they tried to comprehend the faint traces of the heavenly dao left etched in the stone. Zhan Tian did not have time for pleasantries or quiet arrivals as his voice boomed across the silent training ground like a sudden clap of thunder.

"Clear the sacred grounds at once!" Zhan Tian ordered with a stern authority that brooked no argument. "A member of the clan is breaking through to the Tribulation realm. Vacate the area so he can face the heavens without interference."

The studying cultivators opened their eyes in shock and quickly scrambled to their feet. They recognized the Worldkeeper immediately and bowed deeply before rushing toward the perimeter of the plaza. None of them dared to linger near the center while the heavenly pressure began to bleed into the atmosphere.

The ambient energy swirling around Li Yu was growing chaotic and the heavy scent of ozone filled the air. Li Yu was placed at the very center of the ancient formations and was sat down on the cold stone by his grandfather. He closed his eyes to stabilize his rampaging Qi while his grandfather stepped away to observe as there was no help that could truly be given during the tribulation.

The evacuated disciples did not just go home to resume their daily routines though. A breakthrough to the Tribulation realm was a rare event and witnessing it was a learning opportunity for anyone walking the path of cultivation. Even for those that have gone through it themselves, there were always things to learn or take away from such an event. Word spread quickly through the communication talismans and across the surrounding training pavilions. Disciples and elders alike abandoned their duties to rush toward the western sacred grounds.

"Did you hear who is breaking through?" A young disciple asked while running alongside his peers toward the viewing ridges. "They say the Worldkeeper brought someone directly to the ancient plaza."

"It must be his grandson, Li Yu," another disciple replied breathlessly as they took up positions on a distant hill overlooking the area. "I heard he reached the peak of Karma Severing at a very young age. His talent is supposed to be extraordinary."

"This will be an incredible sight to witness," an older core member chimed in while crossing his arms and looking down at the ancient stone platform. "The heavenly tribulation is the ultimate test of a foundation up to that point in a cultivator’s path. Watching the lightning strike might give us the insight we need to push past our own bottlenecks. I need to see how a true genius handles the pressure."

The crowd swelled into the thousands within minutes as people gathered on the ridges and floating pavilions surrounding the western expanse. A gentle breeze swept over the main viewing platform and a dignified man materialized out of thin air. It was Patriarch Yue, the leader of the Zhan Clan. He carried a calm demeanor but his eyes shone with keen interest as he looked down at the young man sitting in the center of the plaza.

Zhan Tian noticed the arrival and walked over to stand beside the patriarch on the elevated balcony.

"You brought him here in quite a hurry," Patriarch Yue observed with a faint smile while looking out over the gathering crowd. "I take it the spark ignited suddenly?"

"We were simply fishing at the lakes," Zhan Tian replied with a proud chuckle. "He is ready for this step and his foundation is incredibly solid, the best I have ever seen."

Two more figures arrived on the viewing platform a moment later. Shan and Tiff landed smoothly on the stone tiles behind the two clan leaders. Shan wore simple woven martial robes that highlighted his towering physical build and the dense muscles corded along his arms. Despite his own terrifying Heavenly Zenith cultivation he stood quietly and respectfully behind the Worldkeeper like a proper junior.

Tiff stood beside him in her vibrant clothing and kept her eyes focused on her lord in the distance. Patriarch Yue glanced back at the two retainers and nodded his head in greeting.

"It is good to see you both," Patriarch Yue said warmly. "Li Yu is fortunate to have such capable followers. Your presence brings great stability to his growing forces and the clan appreciates your loyalty and help."

"We only serve our purpose," Shan replied in a deep voice while bowing his head. "Our lord will conquer this trial and we will be waiting for him on the other side to resume our duties."

Zhan Tian looked at Shan with a glint of approval. He knew the strength hidden within the towering man but he appreciated the humility Shan displayed. It proved the commander had a good head on his shoulders and knew how to navigate politics without using just cultivation or strength.

A sharp crack of thunder drew their attention back to the sky. The tribulation arrived first as small heavenly clouds forming high above the sacred grounds. These initial clouds were different from the usual dark storm fronts the clan members were used to seeing. They bloomed in vibrant shades of blue, crimson, gold and all other kinds of color. The multi-colored clouds swirled together like wet paint mixing in a basin and cast a beautiful ethereal light over the watching crowd.

"Beautiful," a female disciple whispered from the ridge while looking up at the sky. "I have never seen tribulation clouds carry so many colors at the very beginning."

The beauty did not last long though. The clouds began to expand outward and they grew bigger with unnatural speed. The colorful edges darkened into a deep bruised purple and the sky above the western expanse turned terrifyingly grim. The clouds continued to swell until they eclipsed the sun and cast the entire region into a haunting twilight.

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Then the formation of clouds grew way too big. It swallowed the sky above the surrounding mountains and kept stretching toward the horizons. The wind picked up and tore leaves from the distant trees as the pressure descending from the heavens became suffocating for all of those around. It felt like the weight of an entire world was pressing down on their shoulders.

The watching crowd fell into silence as many did not understand what was going on, they had never seen such an event. The excitement quickly vanished and was replaced by a creeping sense of dread. Disciples who were standing on the inner ridges began to actually back away from the area as their primal instincts screamed at them to flee or die. The energy gathering above was no longer just a standard test. It felt like a brewing catastrophe aimed directly at the Zhan Clan.

"Move back!" A senior elder shouted while stepping in front of the retreating disciples. "Widen the perimeter at once. Do not stand close to the central plaza. If that lightning spills over the formations, it will turn you all to ash. Keep stepping away."

The elders flew into action and began herding the thousands of spectators further away from the sacred grounds. They erected secondary defensive barriers along the ridges to protect the weaker clan members from the crushing pressure. The safe viewing distance was pushed back significantly but the clouds kept gathering and multiplying and they kept having to move back. Soon the tribulation clouds were so expansive that the spectators could not even see the end of them. They stacked high above the realm in thick churning layers of energy that blotted out everything above.

Zhan Tian frowned deeply as he watched the sky turn into a swirling vortex of multi-colored lightning. The casual pride in his eyes was replaced by a sharp and intense focus at what was happening before him. Patriarch Yue gripped the edge of the viewing balcony and his knuckles turned white against the polished stone.

"This is not a normal heavenly judgment," Patriarch Yue muttered while tracking the expanding storm. "This is scaling far beyond even what we have recorded in the archives. What tier of tribulation is he triggering? There looks to be no end to it."

"I do not know yet," Zhan Tian answered honestly with a tight jaw. "The path of cultivation has many layers of heavenly testing depending on the potential of the individual. Most ordinary cultivators only face the Three Cycles Mortal Tribulation or the Six Cycles Earth Tribulation. Those are straightforward tests meant to clear out mortal impurities and evaluate a basic foundation."

"And the talented ones face the Nine Cycles Heavenly Tribulation," Patriarch Yue added while narrowing his eyes at the storm. "That is where most geniuses peak and often fail due to the intense lightning. But this has already surpassed the Nine Cycles. The clouds are far too dense and they carry too many conflicting elements."

"My daughter and Li Canghai both faced the Thirty Six Astral Fiend Tribulation," Zhan Tian recalled as the thunder shook the stone beneath their feet. "That is the fourth level where the heavens feel threatened by a true genius and send down targeted retribution to strike the body and Qi directly. You faced the Thirty Six Astral Fiends yourself Yue so you know the danger it brings."

"I remember the pain very well," the patriarch said with a solemn nod. "It nearly broke my core and I spent a decade recovering my strength. But you went a step further, Worldkeeper. You are hailed as a once in several era genius because you endured the Seventy Two Calamity Tribulation. That is the fifth level where the elements rebel to crush the body, Qi and the soul all at once."

Zhan Tian looked up at the sky and his expression turned incredibly grim. The clouds were still stacking higher and the colors were bleeding together into a terrifying formless void of energy that seemed to consume the light around it.

"There is a sixth level," Zhan Tian spoke in a low voice that barely carried over the roaring thunder. "The Eighty One Chaos Genesis Tribulation. It is a mythical tier with perhaps a one to five percent success rate among the very few who ever trigger it. The heavens do not send it as a simple test to gauge worthiness. They send it to kill those they deem too special or too dangerous to exist in the natural order."

“Not much information is known about that level of tribulation though. Those that pass it are far too few and those that have seem to want to keep such secrets to themselves. No one from our family has passed such a thing at least.” Patriarch Yue chimed in.

"It forces the lightning to revert to the primal chaos from the very beginning of the universe. It tests the body, the Qi, the soul, determination, the dao, even the invisible karmic threads connecting the cultivator to the world and who knows what else. It searches for a single hidden flaw to exploit and uses it to erase the anomaly from existence."

Patriarch Yue felt a chill run down his spine as the wind howled around the balcony. "You think Li Yu has triggered the Chaos Genesis? The heavens want to erase him right now?"

"I am not sure but I do not believe so. The little bits of information we have do not state clouds of this level. This is something far beyond… Li Yu, please make it through." Zhan Tian whispered while taking a step closer to the edge of the balcony and clenching his fists.

‘If the sixth level was the absolute pinnacle of heavenly tribulations that was known about, what the hell was forming above my grandson right now?’ Zhan Tian thought to himself in horror. The Eighty One Chaos Genesis was said to cover the sky of a single continent but the clouds currently swirling above them had reached a size larger than the realm they were on itself. They were bleeding into the void of space outside the realm boundaries and wrapping around the neighboring space. The gathering process was also taking a really long time as the storm stubbornly pulled ambient energy from who knows where to empower itself.

It truly looked like the Myriad Realms were gathering all their collective energy to kill Li Yu and wipe him away from existence.

Down in the center of the ancient plaza Li Yu opened his eyes and looked up at the sky. He expected a few strikes of lightning to test him and refine his body. He expected a difficult but manageable trial that would elevate his foundation to the next stage and get him one step closer to his goals. He did not expect the universe to rip open and stare down at him with such overwhelming malice, as if he had stolen a lover from it.

The young cultivator sat frozen on the stone tiles while the wind tore at his robes. He was really scared at this point and his heart hammered wildly against his ribs at the unknown. Li Yu could feel the lethal intent pressing down on his skin and made his breath catch in his throat. He did not understand what was going on because none of the library scrolls or lesions from his parents had prepared him for this level of hostility.

He looked around at the ancient formations glowing beneath him but they offered very little comfort against the sprawling void above. Li Yu was just trying to break through to the next realm to protect his family but the heavens were preparing to wage a ruthless war against his very existence.

Li Yu gritted his teeth and pushed his Qi outward to brace himself for the coming impact. If the heavens wanted him dead he would force them to fight for every single inch of his life. He had too much left to do to fall here but he might not have any choice in the matter.