Li Shuang sat cross-legged on the nameless hill, her body enveloped in moonlight forming a frosty mist that flowed like silk in the night wind.
Li Shuang no longer suppressed her cultivation; she released her restrictions, choosing to advance at this very moment!
Given her current strength, a normal advancement would be effortless.
But, Li Shuang's goal was never a normal advancement.
She continued to release her spiritual power. Having reached this stage, she was determined to challenge a perfect advancement!
Li Shuang hadn't even considered the possibility of her demise.
To speak of failure before even beginning would harm her Dao heart.
Her aim was to achieve her goals step by step.
Regardless of the outcome, at this moment, she was fearless.
The instant Li Shuang released her spiritual power, the first trial arrived.
She felt as if her soul was being squeezed by a peculiar force.
If her soul hadn't undergone countless refinements in the Thousand Machine Hammer Array, she would have failed in an instant.
Having perfectly passed the Thousand Machine Hammer Array, the refinement of her soul was comparable to someone in the Void Refining stage.
Even with her soul constantly being squeezed by the mysterious force, Li Shuang endured.
The next moment, the peculiar force vanished, and around Li Shuang, there was a sudden clamor of vegetation, scorching flames in the sky, surging waves, trembling earth, and sharp edges.
This seemed to be another test of the Five Elements Origin Array.
Li Shuang sat on the hill, as stable as Mount Tai.
She had already perfectly cleared the Five Elements Origin Array and absorbed all the advanced Five Elements Crystals.
She could pass this test!
Inside the City Lord's Mansion.
Five human supremes were chatting casually.
"She should be preparing for a breakthrough by now. City Lord Yu, do you truly not know where she is?"
Yu Jin sighed, "I do know, but this place is peculiar; even I cannot fully perceive it."
Since Yu Jin said so, it meant they truly couldn't know Li's current situation.
Xing Tiangang sighed and said, "I am the only one among us who has perfectly cleared the Divine Soul Golden Altar. To initiate a perfect advancement, the Heavenly Dao will evaluate from three aspects: one is Soul Refining, two is Seeking the Dao, and three is Questioning the Heart."
"If one has perfectly cleared the Divine Soul Golden Altar, then Soul Refining and Seeking the Dao will not be an issue."
"Li will certainly pass these two tests."
"Whether she ultimately achieves a perfect advancement depends on this 'Questioning the Heart'!"
"Questioning the Heart also questions the Dao, but not entirely. If she can meet this last condition, she will face... the most terrifying Myriad Things Tribulation in history."
After all, there had never been a record in ancient texts of anyone successfully passing the Myriad Things Tribulation after a perfect advancement.
As Xing Tiangang spoke, his heart couldn't help but feel complicated.
They didn't know whether they hoped Li could achieve a perfect advancement or not.
If she did...
It would be a near-certain death.
If she didn't...
She would forever lose the possibility of a perfect advancement. They, too, were secretly hoping for a miracle.
After a brief silence, Yu Jin sighed, "Since we cannot perceive it anyway, we can only await the outcome. I can only confirm that Li is still alive and well."
Yu Jin took out a bronze eye and placed it in the center: "This bronze eye represents Li's bronze eye. Her bronze eye is still connected here, which proves that she has not perished."
If this bronze eye... were to completely dim.
That would probably signify that Li had died under the subsequent Myriad Things Tribulation.
Everyone understood the City Lord's unspoken meaning, and their mood became somewhat heavy.
A rare silence fell upon the scene, and everyone silently watched the bronze eye.
Li...
Whether she lived or died.
Even as supremes, they couldn't change anything. All they could do, like anyone else, was... wait!
On the desolate hill.
Just as Xing Tiangang said, the first two tests were not difficult for Li Shuang.
She easily passed the second test: Seeking the Dao.
Then, it was the final Questioning the Heart!
As the Five Elements Tribulation slowly dissipated.
Li Shuang felt a moment of trance, a faint trace of doubt emerging in her heart.
Was she... preparing to advance to the Combined Spirit stage?
Yes, she wanted a perfect advancement, so the Heavenly Dao was testing her qualifications.
Now.
What was the result?
What was the result?
Had she passed the test?
Before Li Shuang could react, an incredibly terrifying force suddenly struck, and everything around her, even this entire world, seemed to harbor immense ill will towards her.
Li Shuang's pupils constricted sharply.
Perfect advancement!
It had already begun!
She didn't have time to think and immediately focused on enduring the tribulation.
All things in heaven and earth, condensing five-colored lightning, incessantly struck down.
Li Shuang felt that she should have a way to cope.
But for some reason, she could do nothing but blindly endure.
After an unknown duration, a bolt of lightning struck.
In an instant, Li Shuang's soul was utterly destroyed, and she died under the Myriad Things Tribulation.
In the City Lord's Mansion.
The bronze eye representing Li Shuang flickered momentarily.
Yu Jin was stunned.
It flickered?
What was going on?
Did she die and then come back to life?
During her Tribulation Transcending stage, her cultivation wasn't particularly outstanding, and she had never experienced a perfect advancement, so she didn't know what was happening.
Xing Tiangang's expression, however, grew complex: "Li is undergoing the third trial!"
Questioning the Heart!
It questioned the deepest part of one's heart!
This time, the Heavenly Dao would brutally present practitioners with their greatest fears.
And what was the greatest fear for most people?
It was...
Death.
Between life and death, there is great terror.
Many people say they are not afraid of death.
Many people are indeed willing to die for certain things.
But this does not negate the faint fear of the unknown, of death, deep within their hearts.
The higher one's cultivation, the more one is troubled by the great terror between life and death.
How many people can truly transcend?
And Li Shuang was now being questioned repeatedly.
On the desolate hill.
Li Shuang opened her eyes, a sudden flash of shock in her pupils.
Had she just had a dream?
In the dream.
She was struck by five-colored lightning, her soul utterly destroyed. The Myriad Things Tribulation during a perfect advancement was indeed terrifying.
What was this?
A warning from the Heavenly Dao?
Before Li Shuang could react, five-colored lightning began to gather in the sky again.
Li Shuang's pupils constricted sharply.
It's happening again!
What about this time?
Is it an illusion or real?
She didn't have time to think and quickly began to resist with all her might.
After an unknown period, her soul was dispersed once more.
In the City Lord's Mansion.
The bronze eye flickered again.
Xing Tiangang sighed, "This is the second time."
He said with a complex expression.
Actually, he had once considered initiating a perfect advancement himself.
However, he had fallen at the third stage, Questioning the Heart.
In this stage, he had died six times, and lived six times, but the fear in his heart accumulated each time.
In the end, he uncontrollably developed a fear of the terrifying Myriad Things Tribulation. When the seventh attempt began, his fear spread, the Heavenly Dao ended its test, and he lost the possibility of initiating a perfect advancement.
And Li Shuang?
How many times could she endure?