Chapter 264 - 263: Heaven’s Might
Lin Yuan had taken a single step as a god, and the Heavens had immediately responded by dropping the sky on his head.
Heaven Might!
The force that can suppress all life had fallen on Lin Yuan. It was not a physical gravity that merely sought to bring a man to his knees; it was an existential erasure. It was the absolute will of the Great Dao manifesting in the mortal plane to reject an anomaly that refused to conform to its rigid laws.
The star-iron plates beneath Lin Yuan’s boots had already been pulverized into dust, but the pressure did not stop there. The very air around him solidified into an unbreakable, suffocating block of amber, locking his joints, crushing his organs, and attempting to forcibly extinguish the newly forged Primordial Spirit radiating from him.
High above the chaotic, trembling amphitheater of the Grand Court, the Five Emperors stood frozen before their primordial thrones, their Void Refinement auras violently fluctuating in response to the apocalyptic suppression descending from above.
"Heaven Might..." Emperor Nanheng whispered, her fiery Vermilion Bird aura shrinking back in instinctual reverence. Her beautiful features were pale, stripped of all their usual haughty arrogance. "It is the very first stage of a heavenly tribulation! But how? He has only just forged his Primordial Spirit and stepped into the Early Stage of Soul Transformation. Tribulations of this unfathomable magnitude, carrying the sheer wrath of the heavens!"
"His Primordial Spirit... it is heaven-defying," Emperor Beiming rumbled, his voice a low, tectonic earthquake of awe and terror. The Northern Emperor gripped the edge of his throne. "What manner of foundation did he forge? What forbidden law did he weave into his soul to bring forth the manifestation of Heaven Might?!"
Emperor Tianxu, the Qilin Emperor, stared down at the pinned, struggling figure of Lin Yuan. His eyes flickered with a profound, and terrifying realization as he pieced together the puzzle.
"It was not just his Primordial Spirit," Emperor Tianxu declared, his voice cutting through the ambient roar of the descending pressure. "This animosity from the Heavens... it was born long before today. It must have taken root during his breakthrough to the Spirit Severing realm! That is the stage where a cultivator begins shedding the mortal dust, where the Dao Resolve is tested by the Heavens. But look at him."
Emperor Tianxu shifted his gaze, his eyes settling momentarily on Bai Qingyue, who was glowing with the brilliant, crystalline blue light of her Golden Core, before his gaze snapped back to the struggling Lin Yuan pinned in the crater.
"Ever since I saw this cultivator from the Zhao Province," Emperor Tianxu continued, his voice ringing with absolute clarity, "he has fought with a relentless pursuit of a singular goal. It is something akin to an absolute, and unyielding obsession.
It felt as if that goal—securing the cure for his wife—was something he could have easily accomplished at his own whim given enough time and patience. He possesses the talent to do such slowly. But he wanted it done now! His Spirit Severing cultivation is entirely stained with an obsession aura!"
Emperor Xiyan’s jaw dropped, his Warlord bravado completely evaporating. "What? You are saying he faced an Obsession Heart Tribulation during his Spirit Severing breakthrough and actually survived it? Impossible! The Obsession Heart Tribulation is an absolute death sentence! The Heavens eradicate those who refuse to let go of their mortal anchors!"
"That is only my speculation!" Emperor Tianxu countered, his eyes locked onto Lin Yuan’s trembling, indestructible frame. "But think about what we just witnessed! After securing the ultimate victory of this tournament, he did not ask for a supreme artifact. He did not ask for a Dao Domain or unimaginable wealth. He single-handedly gave the ultimate request to his wife, curing her shattered meridian. To mortal eyes, one can call such an act the purest form of love. But to the Heavens, love and obsession are just two sides of the exact same coin! Love gives birth to obsession, and obsession defies the emotional detachment required by the Heavenly Dao!"
Emperor Beiming nodded slowly, the terrifying logic settling over him like a shroud. "Fellow Emperor, you may have a point in this matter. The Heavens demand balance, conformity, and a severing of mortal ties. By tethering his entire Dao Heart to his wife’s salvation, he spat in the face of the Great Dao. He built his foundation on it. And now that his Primordial Spirit is fully realized, the Heavens have returned to correct their oversight."
While the Emperors conversed, a far more intimate and devastating realization was occurring in the Zhao pavilion.
Lord Zhao Shenming watched Lin Yuan struggling under the invisible weight. The Provincial Lord shook his head, a bitter, helpless tear escaping his youthful eye.
So it has come to this, Lord Zhao thought, his heart twisting with dread. I knew he faced an Obsession Heart Tribulation when he was breaking through to the Spirit Severing realm. I told him that the False Dao Heart was safer. I told him that cultivating a true, defiant obsession would invite the wrath of the heavens. Since he survived that tribulation through sheer willpower, the Heavens have been waiting. They bided their time until he opened the crack to the Origin Qi. They will make absolutely sure he does not survive this one!
Down on the star-iron plates, Bai Qingyue did not weep. She did not scream in helpless despair.
Seeing her husband—the sovereign who had literally conquered the tournament to restore her life—pinned and bleeding under the weight of Heaven Might, her newly restored cultivation erupted.
"Yuan!" Bai Qingyue cried out, her hands blurring into a rapid sequence of hand seals.
The brilliant, crystalline blue Qi of her flawless Golden Core flared to life. She thrust her hands forward, attempting to project a massive, protective barrier around Lin Yuan to shield him from the descending suppression.
𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
The barrier manifested for exactly a fraction of a second.
CRACK!
The protective dome instantly, and violently shattered into a million dissipating shards of blue light.
What good is a mere Core Formation barrier against the manifestation of Heaven Might? The Heavens were currently pinning down Lin Yuan, a cultivator at the Soul Transformation stage possessing a Rank 10 Ancient Beast Body. The ambient pressure alone was enough to vaporize standard Qi barriers.
The backlash of the shattered barrier raced back up the spiritual tether directly into Bai Qingyue’s meridians.
She let out a choked gasp, stumbling backward as a line of bright red blood leaked from the corner of her pristine lips.
"I will not let you harm him!"
A/N: Back to the standard word count, I wasn’t able to keep up with that large word count