Earth's Greatest Magus

Chapter 2835: Tribulation

"Even if you kill us... You will never escape this pagoda!!"

Those were the Winter Lord’s final words before the twilight vines swallowed her entirely, their verdant tendrils tightening, piercing, and finally devouring her fading soul essence without mercy.

And she was right.

Even after the chains binding his physical body had shattered... even after breaking through to the third layer of his second cosmos... Emery still could not damage the true prison around him. The inner walls of the pagoda remained untouched, its ancient formations humming with cold, indifferent authority. His strongest strikes only caused shallow ripples across the surface of the seals before being absorbed and redirected back into the structure.

Brute force was not enough.

Gritting his teeth, Emery once again summoned the Astral Link artifact. The crystalline cube unfolded before his soul form, its surfaces spinning with layers of geometric light as it amplified his perception and calculation speed. Formation lines, hidden nodes, and energy pathways revealed themselves like a vast celestial map.

He could break it.

But it would take hours... perhaps even days.

Time he did not have.

Through the narrow gap he had previously carved in the formation, his divine sense stretched outward once more, slipping through the pagoda’s defenses like a thread of consciousness. What he saw made his heart jolt violently.

Klea.

She was no longer as empty-eyed as before. The suffocating aura around her had weakened, the spiritual suppression fraying now that the Winter Lord’s soul had been destroyed. Emery could see the moment clarity flickered back into her gaze... could see her lips move as if trying to speak.

Then chaos erupted around her.

Eeshoo stepped forward and Atlas moved beside him, lightning chains lashing out to hold back enemies closing in from every direction. They were fighting to protect her — but they were outnumbered, surrounded by Astiel elites, and the situation was spiraling toward open conflict.

Emery’s chest burned.

He had to get out.

Inside the pagoda, his power was still surging. The Elysian Tree within his domain had grown wildly after absorbing Gaia’s essence, its roots spreading endlessly, its leaves radiating primal life force. At the same time, the devoured soul energy of two powerfull grand magus continued to circulate through his meridians like a raging flood.

His Dao of Heaven and Earth ignited once more.

He raised his blade and struck the pagoda’s inner wall with everything he had.

The entire artifact trembled violently, ancient runes flaring in protest as shockwaves echoed through its structure — but when the light faded, the seal still held.

A crack... but not enough.

His soul power continued to rise, pressure building inside him with nowhere to go. It was then, as he watched through his divine sense, that he saw Klea suddenly collapse in Jinkan’s arms, her body trembling, blood at the corner of her lips.

Something inside Emery snapped into clarity.

There was another way.

A dangerous one.

Even if it failed, Emery would create enough chaos, hopefully leading to Klea’s safety.

He stopped resisting the pressure inside his soul.

Instead, he released it.

All three layers of his cosmos unfolded at once, no longer contained within careful circulation. His consciousness expanded outward, tearing past the limits of the pagoda’s internal space as he opened his soul fully to the heavens.

He met the cosmos directly.

With the comprehension he had accumulated... with Gaia’s blessing... with the devoured power of his enemies...

He met all the requirements.

To break into the third cosmos.

And the sky answered.

#####

"Who is it?! Who dares to break through in a place like this?!" the Astiel ruler roared.

Like many of the high-level magus present, his divine sense surged outward in a sweeping wave, searching for the cultivator whose soul had ignited in breakthrough. One after another, powerful spiritual senses scanned the surroundings.

They found nothing.

No meditating figure. No rising aura. No source.

Then the heavens answered.

A deafening roar rolled across the sky as darkness spread unnaturally fast, swallowing the stars above the island. Clouds churned and folded into one another, growing thicker with every breath, their depths flickering with the unmistakable light of gathering lightning. The air itself began to tremble, heavy and suffocating, pressing down on every living being below as though an invisible mountain had descended upon the celebration grounds.

"It’s definetly a tribulation cloud..."

"At a wedding celebration? Impossible...!!"

"No... this must be part of the Astiel spectacle..."

Their uncertainty wavered as the lightning within the clouds shifted color. What had begun as ordinary stormlight deepened into a vivid violet glow, an ominous hue that carried the will of destruction reserved only for those attempting to step onto the highest paths of cultivation. Lightning chains writhed inside the clouds like colossal serpents, twisting and coiling as if alive.

"That’s no ordinary tribulation..."

"It’s a grand tribulation!"

"Someone is breaking into the Two Cosmos Realm—no... the Three Cosmos Realm!"

The murmurs died the instant the lightning condensed.

A massive pillar of violet lightning gathered in the heart of the storm, humming with terrifying authority before tearing downward, its target unmistakable—the majestic Astiel Grand Pavilion rising on the northern side of the island.

Before it could land, a streak of blue shot upward.

Storm Lord.

The Astiel Grand Elder rose into the sky wrapped in roaring thunder, his entire body crackling with lightning as he met the descending tribulation head-on. With a fierce shout, he drove his fist upward, shattering the violet bolt into countless fragments that exploded across the sky like celestial fireworks.

Gasps rippled across the island.

Yet relief lasted less than a heartbeat.

A second bolt formed immediately, thicker and more violent than the first, descending with a shriek that tore at the ears and soul alike.

Some guests near the northern district began to retreat in alarm, robes and ornaments fluttering as they hurried away, while others remained frozen in place, still trying to convince themselves this was planned.

"See? It must be part of the show!"

But even as they spoke, fear crept into their voices.

Chaos unfolded on two fronts at once—the heavens above boiling with celestial wrath, and the ceremonial plaza below fracturing into open confrontation.

Jinkan wasted no time. From within her sleeve, she produced a lustrous emerald pill etched with life-preserving runes and gently pressed it to Klea’s lips. At the same time, her other hand traced a rapid sequence of sigils in the air, weaving a high-tier healing art that settled over Klea like a veil of warm light. The spell stabilized her meridians and slowed the internal backlash raging through her body, but it could not erase the deep spiritual pain contorting her expression.

Eeshoo and Atlas stepped forward in perfect unison, placing themselves between Klea and the Astiel faction. Their auras unfurled, battle-ready pressure that warned everyone nearby.

Denard, however, had lost the last of his composure.

"What are you doing?!" he barked again, as he continued with his pretense. "You’ll worsen her condition—let her go!"

On his order, two Astiel grand guardians lunged. Frost-laced domains spilled from their bodies, the air crystallizing in their wake. Eeshoo answered instantly. Dozens of spirit weapons manifested around him in a tight orbit, locking together into a rotating defensive formation that slammed into place with a ringing metallic resonance, halting the guardians mid-charge.

More Astiel enforcers moved from the flanks, forcing Atlas to release chains of crackling lightning that carved warning lines across the marble plaza. The atmosphere thickened with clashing spiritual pressures, invisible currents grinding against each other hard enough to make lesser cultivators stumble backward.

Seeing the encirclement forming, Jinkan activated a high-grade artifact. A multifaceted barrier of refracted light blossomed outward, enclosing her, Klea, and their allies inside a prismatic dome that hummed with layered defensive arrays.

She looked toward the Grand Overseer, silently pleading for support.

He did not move.

<Jinkan... we should not get involved,> his voice sounded in her mind, heavy with conflict.

Her jaw tightened. She turned sharply toward the three grand magus guards who had accompanied her, commanding them.

"We’re leaving. Take us out... Now!."

"No!... You are not."

The words rolled across the plaza like distant thunder.

The Astiel ruler himself stepped forward, his presence alone warping the air. Behind him, more than a dozen Astiel grand magus revealed themselves, forming an unmistakable blockade.

"Duchess," he said with chilling politeness, "you are free to depart. But the young lady stays."

Courtesy in tone. Command in intent.

Tension stretched to the breaking point.

And above them, the sky answered.

Storm Lord had already shattered several tribulation bolts, each one heavier than the last, his figure blazing against the darkened heavens. But now the violet storm clouds no longer discharged lightning at random. They began to spiral inward, compressing into a vast celestial vortex.

Energy gathered.

Condensed.

Transformed.

A colossal silhouette emerged within the storm’s core—neither fully solid nor entirely ethereal, yet radiating a pressure so immense that even grand magus felt their souls tremble. Its outline resembled a towering humanoid formed of lightning and void, eyes like twin stars burning in the storm.

Its presence pressed down upon Eclipse Island like the will of heaven itself.

Voices shook throughout the crowd.

"That’s... a Heavenly Sentinel—"

"Its a Heavenly Tribulation!!"

The realization rippled through the gathered magus and grand magus like a shockwave, and for the first time since the storm began, genuine fear surfaced in the eyes of beings who had stood at the peak of countless battlefields.

Lightning of this magnitude could tear straight through the heart of Eclipse Island and annihilate everyone upon it.