The Innkeeper

Chapter 1871: Spirit tribulation

Lex closed his eyes and felt the restraints on his power loosen. More importantly, he had been carrying a certain weight of knowledge ever since leaving Abaddon, and it was a huge burden on his mental state at all times. He ignored it, because what other option did he have? But now, finally, he could feel the impact of that weight decrease - or rather, his own ability to bear that weight was increasing.

Vaguely, he felt himself remember certain secrets that he had inadvertently forgotten, or simply overlooked. The two biggest secrets of all, though, remained hidden. One was the seal in his mind, and though it had loosened on its own, he could still feel the threat of death emanate from it, so he dared not touch it. The second was what he saw at the end in Abaddon which caused such an enormous weight on his soul.

He had no answers to either, but he was certain that with time, the answers would come on their own.

The Crystal realm trembled around him as the weight of his increasing cultivation put immense pressure on its laws. If this were prior to its own tribulation, the consequences would have been disastrous, for Lex did not have the strength of a usual Heaven Immortal. His existence could very well destabilise a weakened realm.

Fortunately, the realm tribulation allowed the realm to consolidate its own foundation, becoming even stronger than before the insane Hellion crisis began.

Lex took in a deep breath, then sat down atop an invisible barrier he created at the mouth of the crater. After a tremendous explosion, which had promptly been met by heavenly punishment, a pool of lava had filled the crater, no longer overflowing or going anywhere. Most likely the opening deep below had been sealed shut, leaving this lava here to rest and eventually cool until it solidified. Somehow, taking his Fire tribulation over such a pool felt just right.

Speaking of which, he felt his fire tribulation approaching. Just like last time, it began with an itch. A small, irritating itch deep inside his body that not only could he not scratch, but also had to silently endure as it grew.

But that growing itch made Lex smile. The Fire tribulation was not visible, because it took place inside the body. The reason, then, that it was called a Fire tribulation was because of how it burned and also... the black smoke that was released as a result.

Lex merely closed his eyes and allowed his body to burn internally - it wasn’t like there was anything else he could do. Unlike the Lightning tribulation which could be weakened and resisted through a number of ways, including but not limited to defensive treasures, barriers, formations and such, the Fire tribulation could not be resisted at all.

That was both a good and a bad thing. Using all these items to resist a Lightning tribulation made it easier to survive, but also reduced the amount of benefit one could get from the lightning. Of course, if a person was likely to die, then settling for reduced benefits was not a problem at all.

The Fire tribulation, though, could not be resisted, so everyone was forced to accept the benefits whether they liked it or not.

Without the need to fight a war, and with his protective barriers around himself, Lex just sat there and allowed his body to burn. Black smoke began to emerge first from his nose, then his ears, followed by each and every pore in his body.

Since he had no impurities to burn, the tribulation put him through something similar to a baking process, tempering his body even further to better tolerate the power of laws. There was no other other benefit - merely the ability to endure the pressure from laws better.

But Lex could, more or less, already endure Relational laws even as an Earth Immortal so...

Watching Lex progress so easily seemed to trigger Heaven’s jealousy, or maybe there was simply a delay in the realms tribulation. The Crystal realms Fire tribulation began - except a realms Fire tribulation was somewhat special. A realm technically had no impurities, and so the only thing that mattered was to improve its ability to tolerate more laws, and more complex laws. Naturally, that too, occurred through a Fire tribulation so...

Lex, who was peacefully sitting atop a pool of lava, smiling as his body burned and black smoke emerged from his body, wondered when the realms’ tribulation would begin.

As if in response to his question, the pool beneath him erupted. To be more specific, every volcano in the entire realm erupted altogether, bathing the realm, which had begun to cool due to the new Hellion laws, in lava.

Of course, all the natives of the realm experienced a mystical protection from the realm itself, allowing them to escape unharmed from even the eruptions. Let alone a single person, not even a single bacteria would die as a result of the tribulation.

The same could not be said for those not native to the realm. Countless Kraven died, and many Hellions were injured by the unexpected eruptions.

Lex, however, could not be bothered to care. What kind of volcanic eruption had he not seen? What kind of eruption had he not experienced? What kind of fire had he not endured?

That was not to say he was not being hurt, just that he took it like a man - a man whose body was comparable to a Celestial Immortal, enduring a Heaven Immortal fire.

Amidst the endless eruption of the entire realm, Lex enjoyed a cozy, sauna-like experience amidst the lava as his body was strengthened.

Upon Lex’s snug and comfortable appearance shone a single beam of sunlight, coming out from the dark clouds hanging up above. That Heaven’s voice had not returned since it originally laughed at Lex, perhaps because the plan was not going as it expected, or perhaps because it could not speak so easily. Regardless, it made no difference to Lex.

In his mind, Lex compared his strength to the Celestials he had seen. He was now confident that going toe to toe against a level one Celestial was no problem at all, but against the Jorlam, or against those Celestials who fought the Jorlam, he was still no match.

The Tribulations both lasted one hour, during which Lex’s skin was thoroughly skin burned by the erupting volcano. After all, it was a tribulation for a whole realm. Even strengthened, it would be ridiculous if Lex were entirely unharmed by it.

During this time, Lotus had also siphoned off some of the energy contained within the realm tribulation, hoping to learn how to recreate it. Lex didn’t stop Lotus, and instead turned his attention to the Spirit tribulation.𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

This... would be a genuinely new experience for him, though he had done his research on it so that he could be prepared. Compared to the previous two, this was genuinely the most dangerous tribulation, where even he had to be careful.

Lex closed his eyes and recovered to his peak state, using the small gap between tribulations to mentally prepare himself.

Just like the Fire tribulation could not be seen, the Spirit tribulation could not be seen either. The difference was that this time, there was no smoke or anything else to mark it either.

Lex simply... fell asleep, sitting crosslegged on his barrier.

This tribulation was not one of character, or similar to a Heart demon which would tempt him down the wrong path. It was simply a test... as well as a baptism of sorts.

The mind was one of the most important aspects when controlling laws. Having a mind and understanding strong enough that it would not simply unravel when faced with the endless, awesome might of laws was one of the greatest requirements of assailing the cultivation path.

Lex had already faced some trouble grasping onto more abstract laws, not to mention karma, but in truth the only reason he had survived all those experiences so easily... was because his body, mind and soul were fused into one. They mutually strengthened one another, allowing him to have a spirit far stronger than he should have.

The foundation set for him by the Regal Embrace was useful even now. Compared to the haphazard way in which he cultivated now, it was much more organized. Of course, the path he walked now had a lot more potential.

In his sleep, Lex had a dream, and in that dream, he saw only one thing. He saw a grand obelisk, rising up into the sky far beyond what he could see. Its size was far greater than planets even, and was quite possibly even greater than the Jorlam - the only reason he could not be certain of its actual size was that there was nothing except his own body to compare it to.

But such comparisons were pointless - he could not even tell how far the obelisk was from him.

All he knew was that etched on the obelisk... were characters.