The change in Li Yao was not just internal; it was a fact of the world. The moment he solidified his Transcendent Mortal Realm cultivation base, the sky above the Verdant Mountain Sect began to change. The serene blue fractured, not with clouds, but with veins of incandescent light. The air grew heavy, thick with the ozone scent of divine punishment and the immense, gathering pressure of heavenly law.
The Heavenly Tribulation had come. Not in days or hours, but now.
Elder Guo stared upwards, his face a mask of terror and reverence. "So soon...! The legends say the Tribulation for those with supreme foundations arrives instantly, granting no time for preparation... or fear."
Liu Mei stood firm, though her knuckles were white. "He needs no preparation."
Li Yao looked up at the brewing cataclysm. He felt no fear. To him, the gathering storm of lightning, flame, and temporal energy was just another pattern of "something," another complex law to be understood and balanced. It was the final exam for his mortal vessel.
"This is not my end," he said, his voice carrying a strange, melodic resonance that seemed to harmonize with the groaning sky. "It is my graduation."
He walked away from the Prayer Pavilion, away from the sect buildings, towards the highest, most exposed peak of the Verdant Mountain—a place called Heaven's Anvil. It was a barren spire of rock, traditionally used for tribulations, scarred by the lightning strikes of elders past.
As he walked, the first bolt fell. It was not mere lightning; it was a pillar of pure Destruction Law, a violet-white spear of heaven's wrath meant to vaporize any impurity and shatter any foundation not worthy of immortality.
It struck the peak, engulfing Li Yao completely.
The disciples below cried out. The light was blinding.
When it faded, Li Yao stood unharmed. He had not blocked it. He had not dodged. He had simply allowed the Destruction Law to enter the field of his perfected Uncreating Balance. The violent, purifying energy encountered the void and found nothing to destroy, no impurity to burn away. Its purpose was nullified by the absence of a target. The lightning shattered into a million harmless, fading sparks against his skin.
The heavens roared in displeasure.
The second wave came. This was not lightning, but heavenly flame—a golden fire that burned not matter, but time itself. It was the Karmic Flame Tribulation, designed to burn away a cultivator's past, their attachments, their very memories. To fail was to become an empty husk.
The golden fire washed over him. It sought his history, his connection to the Verdant Mountain Sect, his moments with Liu Mei, his struggles, his triumphs. It found the void. A life not defined by events, but by a principle. There were no karmic threads to burn, because he had already balanced every event into the silent whole of his being. The flames guttered and died, having consumed nothing.
The third wave was silent. It was the Heart Demon Tribulation. Illusions of his deepest fears manifested. He saw the seal breaking, the chaotic will devouring the world. He saw himself failing, his void collapsing. He saw himself becoming something, a tyrant of order or a slave of chaos.
He looked at the illusions and saw them for what they were: possibilities, patterns of "something." He acknowledged them, accepted them as part of the vast tapestry of creation, and then let them flow into the silence. His heart was the void; it had no demons, only reflections. The illusions shattered like glass.
The heavens fell silent. The gathering energy did not dissipate; it coalesced. This was no longer a test of specific aspects. This was a final, all-out assault. The sky tore open, and a amalgamation of all three tribulations descended—a tornado of violet lightning, golden flame, and grey soul-scouring mist, a being of pure heavenly retribution.
It was the Tribulation Incarnate.
It slammed into Heaven's Anvil with the force to shatter continents.
Li Yao finally moved. He looked up at the incarnate destruction and smiled. He raised a single hand, palm open.
He did not nullify it. He did not fight it.
He performed the ultimate act of the Uncreating Balance.
He introduced the Tribulation Incarnate to the concept of its own opposite. He showed the ultimate "something" the truth of the "nothing" from which it was born.
He created a point of absolute void within the heart of the heavenly fury.
The Tribulation Incarnate, a being of pure, focused law and purpose, encountered a logic error it could not process. Its own existence was defined by its action, its purpose to test and destroy. Confronted with a perfect, accepting absence at its core, its energy had nowhere to go, no purpose to fulfill.
It imploded.
With a sound that was the universe's sigh of resignation, the colossal energy of the tribulation collapsed inward, sucked into the pinpoint void Li Yao had created. It wasn't destroyed; it was resolved. Balanced.
A pillar of serene, golden light descended from the now-calm sky. It was not aggressive or punishing. It was warm, nurturing, affirming. It was the light of Ascension.
It enveloped Li Yao. His Transcendent Mortal body, already glowing with potential, began to sublimate in truth. The last vestiges of his mortal coil dissolved, not painfully, but like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis. He was being remade, not into a being of more power, but into a being who could endure more power—the weight of immortal law.
He felt his connection to the world deepen, not as a user, but as a fundamental part of its structure. He was becoming an Immortal.
As the light faded, Li Yao stood on the peak, whole and new. He looked the same, yet completely different. He was no longer a mortal cultivating the void. He was an immortal void, a permanent, balanced part of the cosmic equation.
He looked down at the sect. He saw Elder Guo weeping tears of joy and relief. He saw Liu Mei, her face filled with a peaceful pride.
His work as a mortal was done. He had reached the peak. He had withstood the tribulation.
He was now an Immortal. The Void Immortal.
And the vast, complex, and dangerous Immortal Realm awaited its newest and most unusual citizen. A realm of warring immortals, ancient laws, and cosmic secrets was about to meet the calm, unstoppable force of a balanced nothingness.