After teleporting out of the dungeon, Jiang Yuan parted ways with the rest of his team, taking his girlfriend Hamster Pudding with him. He flew on his sword to a scenic spot with beautiful mountains and rivers to enjoy the view together.
Since ascending to the Immortal Realm, Jiang Yuan often accompanied Hamster Pudding to explore its wonders, and their in-game relationship had quickly heated up. Not only that, but whenever they logged off, they would chat on WeChat, sharing their longing for each other like a real-life couple who had just started dating.
"Honey, I need to log off and rest. You keep playing, but don’t stay up too late!"
After strolling around the Immortal Realm with Hamster Pudding for a while, it was already 11 p.m. Since she had work the next day, Hamster Pudding found a safe spot to land, said her goodbyes to Jiang Yuan, and logged out of the game.
Watching his girlfriend log off, Jiang Yuan steered his flying sword, turned around, and spent over ten minutes flying back to the Everlasting Hall Immortal Sect.
After consuming all the Tai Chi Golden Pills he had obtained from the dungeon, Jiang Yuan’s level jumped three times, rising from level 137 to level 140.
"Finally broke through level 140. Time to upgrade my cultivation realm."
Jiang Yuan went to the Everlasting Hall’s Flying Immortal NPC, teleported to Qingyun Mountain, summoned his mount Frost Wolf, and rode toward Xuanyuan Terrace.
Arriving at the base of Xuanyuan Terrace, Jiang Yuan leaped onto his flying sword, ascended into the air, and soon stood before the NPC Xuanyuan Ancestor.
Opening his backpack, he counted the total number of Spirit Origin Pearls he had recently accumulated. Including those from the True Martial Sword Pavilion dungeon, Jiang Yuan now had a total of 8306 Creation Pearls.
After asking Xuanyuan Ancestor about the number of Creation Pearls needed to upgrade from Fifth-Rank Loose Immortal to Ninth-Rank Loose Immortal, he learned it would take about 83,000 in total. He was still short by less than 10,000 pearls to break through to the Earth Immortal level.
Opening the trading hall, he searched for the price of Creation Pearls. Each cost about ten cents—very cheap. Jiang Yuan immediately spent over 800 Dragon Kingdom dollars to buy 8306 Creation Pearls, then handed them all over to Xuanyuan Ancestor along with his own stock.
"Fellow cultivator, are you sure you want to consume 83,000 Creation Pearls to upgrade your cultivation realm?"
"Confirmed!"
Facing the NPC Xuanyuan Ancestor’s inquiry, Jiang Yuan replied with certainty.
After receiving Jiang Yuan’s affirmative answer, Xuanyuan Ancestor nodded and pointed a finger at Jiang Yuan’s forehead. Jiang Yuan’s entire body trembled violently, and then a series of system notifications rang in his ears.
[Ding! Congratulations! Your cultivation realm has been upgraded to Fifth-Rank Loose Immortal!]
[Ding! Congratulations! Your cultivation realm has been upgraded to Sixth-Rank Loose Immortal!]
[Ding! Congratulations! Your cultivation realm has been upgraded to Seventh-Rank Loose Immortal!]
[Ding! Congratulations! Your cultivation realm has been upgraded to Eighth-Rank Loose Immortal!]
[Ding! Congratulations! Your cultivation realm has been upgraded to Ninth-Rank Loose Immortal!]
[Ding! Your cultivation is complete, and you are about to face the First Nine Heavenly Tribulation. Do you accept the quest?]
When Jiang Yuan’s cultivation realm reached Ninth-Rank Loose Immortal, the system automatically issued a quest.
Jiang Yuan opened the quest interface and saw a new quest titled "First Nine Heavenly Tribulation." The quest instructed him to go to a certain location in the Immortal Realm, kill a beast named "Bilin," and obtain its inner core to trigger the tribulation.
Following the coordinates provided in the quest, Jiang Yuan opened the world map, searched for a while, and quickly located the beast Bilin’s haunt at a waterfall called "Dongzhen Source" in the Immortal Realm—the same place where he usually did the sect’s Golden Pill quest "Meritorious Deeds."
After two teleports and riding his Frost Wolf mount for over ten kilometers, Jiang Yuan arrived at Dongzhen Source and found the beast named Bilin.
[Quest Boss: Beast Bilin] Level: 130 HP: 100 million Attack: 10,000 Defense: 10,000
Glancing at its stats, which were pathetic, Jiang Yuan summoned only a single Sacred Beast White Tiger. Without even using any ultimate skills, he dispatched it in no time and then collected Bilin’s inner core through the interaction button.
[Ding! Bilin’s inner core collected! Please find a quiet place, consume the inner core, and trigger the heavenly tribulation!]
A new system prompt appeared. Jiang Yuan leaped onto his flying sword, ascended high into the sky, and circled around. Spotting a towering peak, he landed his sword on the summit. After checking to ensure no one was around, he immediately sat cross-legged, opened his palm, and swallowed the Bilin inner core lying in his hand.
Closing his eyes and sensing for a moment, Jiang Yuan felt a surge of heat spread from his lower abdomen throughout his body, warm and extremely comfortable.
"Rumble!"
The sky above Jiang Yuan’s head began to darken with thick clouds, and faint, muffled thunder could be heard within them.
"Crack!"
A bolt of lightning split the sky, followed by increasingly dense thunder from above the clouds.
"By the covenant’s scroll, I call upon the power of the stars to manifest as Xuanwu, and pledge to me."
Feeling a bit uneasy, Jiang Yuan summoned the Sacred Beast Xuanwu, which cast a water healing shield on him capable of absorbing 10 million damage. Then he looked up at the gloomy sky above.
"Rumble!"
"Crackle!"
In the clouds above Jiang Yuan’s head, lightning bolts as thick as an arm continuously streaked across the sky, flashing and vanishing, as if gathering some immense power.
After waiting quietly for a moment, a sudden loud crash came from the clouds. Jiang Yuan narrowed his eyes, staring intently at the sky above.
"Crack!"
A massive white lightning bolt shot through the clouds with lightning speed, striking directly at Jiang Yuan, who was sitting cross-legged on the peak, hitting him square on the head!
"Zzz!"
Jiang Yuan’s whole body trembled as if electrified, then quickly calmed down.
Smack! -580,000
The lightning dealt 580,000 damage to Jiang Yuan, but with his shield in place, it couldn’t inflict any real harm.
After the strike, the gloomy sky above Jiang Yuan’s head rapidly cleared, and the low thunder and hidden lightning in the clouds instantly dissipated into nothing.
"That’s it? In the movies, people undergoing tribulation get struck multiple times by lightning, don’t they? Why did it end so quickly?"
After waiting a full ten seconds and seeing no further activity above, Jiang Yuan stood up, looked at the sky, and muttered in confusion.
"The First Nine Heavenly Tribulation only has one lightning bolt. If it were the Seventh Nine Tribulation, hitting you with seven bolts, it would probably kill you, meow!"
Just then, the voice of Beiluo Shimen, hidden within Jiang Yuan’s body, sounded in his mind, dripping with disdain.
[Ding! Player Jiang Yuan’s cultivation is complete. He has successfully passed the First Nine Heavenly Tribulation and ascended to the Earth Immortal realm!]
At that moment, a system announcement refreshed in the world chat channel, informing all players that Jiang Yuan had been the first to break through his cultivation realm, becoming a First-Rank Earth Immortal!