Dragon Monarch System

Chapter 1191: Chapter 1191:- Heavenly Tribulation [I]

Suddenly, an extremely bright crimson light erupted from Aditya’s body. The light was so intense that for a brief moment, everyone watching from below instinctively narrowed their eyes. The crimson radiance rapidly expanded around Aditya before shooting upward like an enormous pillar connecting the earth and the heavens.

However, this pillar of crimson light did not remain a simple pillar for long. Under the astonished gazes of everyone below, the enormous pillar began changing shape.

A gigantic head gradually formed within the crimson light, followed by an impossibly long serpentine body. Four enormous limbs emerged from its sides, each ending in terrifying dragon claws. Crimson scales formed across its entire body while two majestic horns extended backwards from its head.

Within seconds, the pillar of crimson light had completely transformed into the projection of a Divine Crimson Storm Dragon.

And its size was absolutely colossal.

The projection stretched for several kilometres across the sky. Its enormous head alone appeared large enough to dwarf many of the buildings within Axel City, while its long serpentine body continued extending through the clouds until those standing on the ground had to turn their heads just to follow its entire length.

Aditya, who had appeared so noticeably moments earlier while floating alone more than a thousand meters above the ground, now looked unbelievably small beneath the colossal projection.

The Divine Crimson Storm Dragon slowly moved. Despite being nothing more than a projection, its movements appeared incredibly lifelike. Its gigantic body twisted and curved through the heavens as though the sky itself had transformed into an endless ocean.

It freely swam through the clouds.

Every movement of its colossal body caused the crimson radiance surrounding it to spread across the heavens. Its scales shone brilliantly under the light, while streams of Crimson Flame flowed around portions of its body like burning clouds. Occasionally, crimson lightning flickered between its scales before disappearing into the surrounding sky.

The sight was both beautiful and terrifying for everyone. At this moment, practically everyone in and around Axel City had their eyes fixed upon the heavens.

Aditya’s family members stared upward. His women stared upward. Boris, Malakor Harrington, Wahid, Spencer, Nathan, and the others watched without taking their eyes away from the enormous Dragon swimming above them.

Outside Axel City, the same scene unfolded on an even greater scale. The ever-growing number of soldiers gathering for the upcoming war had almost completely forgotten what they had been doing. Ordinary soldiers, captains, commanders, generals, and the various Dukes all raised their heads toward the sky.

Even the young masters and other members of the noble families who had accompanied their armies stood completely frozen as they watched the colossal Dragon.

Hundreds of thousands of people were now witnessing the same scene. And as more armies continued arriving outside Axel City through the teleportation arrays, the newcomers almost instinctively followed everyone else’s gazes toward the heavens.

There, several kilometres of crimson scales moved freely among the clouds. The colossal Divine Crimson Storm Dragon circled high above Axel City, its gigantic serpentine body seemingly without end as it swam through the sky.

‘My understanding of Crimson Flame has significantly deepened.’ Aditya silently thought to himself while staring into the distance.

His gaze was not directed toward Axel City below, nor did he turn around to look at his loved ones. At this critical moment of his breakthrough, he appeared strangely calm, almost as though he had become completely lost within his own thoughts.

The path that had brought him to this point had been anything but easy.

It was not necessarily the cultivation itself that Aditya considered cruel. Compared to countless cultivators who spent centuries desperately trying to advance, the System had made his cultivation journey considerably faster.

However, the challenges that he had been forced to face at almost every stage of his journey had never been simple. Again and again, he had faced situations where failure could have taken everything away from him.

And now, standing at the boundary separating the Fifth Order from the Sixth Order, Aditya once again found himself facing such a moment.

Aditya was not afraid of death itself. What he feared was dying here and leaving behind everyone he loved to fight the cruel war that was about to begin.

That was what made him afraid of failure. If he died during this breakthrough, what would happen to his parents? What would happen to the women he loved? What would happen to his family and friends who had chosen to stand beside him?

And what would happen to the Istarin Empire? Aditya knew very well that his death would not simply mean the disappearance of one cultivator. There were countless lives connected to him now. His death could completely change the direction of the upcoming civil war and expose everyone close to him to whatever cruel fate awaited them afterwards.

His loved ones here on the Main Continent would have to face Ren and the Mysterious Organization without him. Meanwhile, far away within the Six Continents, the Istarin Empire would lose its Emperor. Those possibilities frightened him far more than death ever could.

‘I cannot fail here.’ Aditya slowly clenched his fists.

At the same time, he could clearly feel the transformations taking place throughout his body. ‘I can feel it. My understanding of my innate skills is continuously deepening.’ It was not limited to Crimson Flame.

His understanding and control over Crimson Lightning were also improving. The same changes were occurring with several of his other abilities. Things that had previously felt complicated were gradually becoming clearer, as though he was beginning to understand another layer of the powers that had always existed within him.

His Mana reserve was expanding at an astonishing rate. His physical strength was increasing. His agility, senses, endurance, and every other aspect of his body were being pushed beyond the limits that had previously restrained him.

Aditya could clearly feel himself changing. Yet something was still preventing him from completing the transformation. There was one final barrier.

It felt almost like an invisible string tightly wrapped around his existence, stubbornly binding him to the Peak Fifth Order realm regardless of how much his Mana reserve expanded or how powerful his body became.

Aditya finally understood what that invisible restriction represented. The boundary between the Fifth Order and the Sixth Order. And there was only one way to break it. He slowly raised his gaze toward the heavens.

‘So this is why no cultivator can ascend to the Sixth Order without facing the Heavenly Tribulation.’ The final barrier could not be overcome merely by accumulating more Mana.

It could not be bypassed through talent. It could not be ignored simply because his body had already surpassed its previous limits. To truly step into the Sixth Order, Aditya had to face the heavens themselves.

Only by surviving the Heavenly Tribulation could he sever the final string binding him to the Fifth Order and complete his ascension to Beginner Sixth Order.

At the same time, dark clouds began gathering a few hundred meters above Aditya’s head.

At first, they appeared only within the area directly above him. However, these were not ordinary storm clouds, nor did they remain concentrated around Axel City for long. The mass of darkness expanded at an astonishing speed, spreading farther and farther across the heavens with every passing second.

The previously bright blue sky rapidly disappeared.

Within minutes, the entirety of the Harrington Family Dukedom was covered beneath an enormous layer of dark clouds. Yet even that was not the limit. The clouds continued expanding beyond the borders of the Harrington Family Dukedom, eventually covering parts of the surrounding Dukedoms as well.

Day seemed to be slowly turning into night. Deep within those enormous dark clouds, flashes of crimson light occasionally appeared.

Rumble…!

Crimson lightning bolts moved through the clouds like gigantic serpents, briefly illuminating enormous sections of the darkened heavens before disappearing again. Some bolts stretched for kilometers across the clouds, branching into countless smaller arcs of crimson lightning.

At the same time, powerful winds began sweeping across the land. Trees violently swayed from side to side. Loose objects were sent flying through the streets, while clothes and banners hanging from buildings fiercely fluttered in the increasingly powerful wind.

The sudden transformation naturally attracted the attention of countless people. Throughout the Harrington Family Dukedom and even within the neighboring Dukedoms, people gradually stopped whatever they were doing and looked toward the sky.

None of them could understand why the previously clear weather had changed so drastically within such a short period of time. To most ordinary people, it looked as though an enormous and terrifying storm had suddenly appeared without warning.

“What is happening?” One cultivator finally asked aloud while staring at the darkened heavens. Even as a cultivator himself, he could not understand what he was witnessing. He would never have imagined, even in his wildest dreams, that all of these changes were being caused by a single cultivator preparing to break through to a higher Order.

Then, almost immediately after his question, something cold landed on his face.

It was a single drop of water. He instinctively touched his cheek before looking upward again.

Another drop fell.

Then another.

Within moments, a light rain began falling across the Harrington Family Dukedom and the surrounding regions covered by the enormous storm clouds.

Meanwhile, high above Axel City, the colossal projection of the Divine Crimson Storm Dragon continued freely swimming through the heavens.

The arrival of the storm seemed to make the gigantic Dragon projection even more lively. Its several-kilometre-long crimson body disappeared into the dark clouds before suddenly emerging from another section moments later. It dove downward through one layer of clouds before curving its enormous serpentine body and ascending once again.

Up and down.

In and out of the clouds.

The Divine Crimson Storm Dragon moved through the enormous storm as naturally as a fish swimming through water.

Crimson lightning bolts flashed around its gigantic body while the rain continued falling beneath it. Occasionally, the entire projection disappeared within the darkness, leaving behind only flashes of crimson light revealing portions of its enormous silhouette.

Then its gigantic head would emerge from the clouds again, followed by kilometre after kilometre of its seemingly endless crimson body.

As the storm continued expanding across the land, the Divine Crimson Storm Dragon freely swam through the darkened heavens.

Harrington and Boris, who were the most experienced cultivators within Axel City felt something was coming.

“It’s coming,” Boris murmured in a low tone. The Heavenly Tribulation was coming. He and Boris could feel that it was above their heads. Their instincts were screaming at them to flee from this place as they felt endless danger from whatever was beyond the dark clouds.

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