Chapter 436 - 434: Ascending to the Upper Realm
It was clearly still afternoon, but the sky felt oppressively dark. Thunderclouds roiled overhead, forming one vortex after another. Lightning flashed within the clouds, looking as if it could tear the very sky apart.
Deep within the Forbidden Land.
Stepping into the array, Celeste Grant looked up at the sky. She knew her Ascension Thunder Tribulation was coming. The sight of the gathering thunder was a little frightening, even for her. This pressure was different from any breakthrough she had ever experienced.
’Regardless of how the tribulation goes, it’s never a bad idea to pray to my dear dad at a time like this.’ Thinking this, she pressed her palms together, a pious look on her face as she mumbled, "Dearest Heavenly Dao-daddy, your daughter’s Ascension Thunder Tribulation is here. I’m very pregnant right now, so for the sake of your dear grandchild, you have to go easy on me. If you could go a little easy on me, that would be great too."
Amidst the surging thunderclouds, a line of golden text appeared. It read: ’I will keep you and your daughter safe!’
The words were conspicuous, but outsiders couldn’t see them. From their perspective, the thunderclouds merely roiled and radiated immense pressure. Only Celeste Grant could see the words that appeared within them.
When she saw the line of text in the clouds, a smile spread across her face, and she finally relaxed. ’See? Acknowledging a dad pays off. When it counts, you can rely on him *and* get special treatment.’
She smiled faintly.
She bowed happily.
"Really? Thank you for your protection, Father Heavenly Dao! Thank you, dear dad."
At this point, she shamelessly added, "After I go to the Upper Realm, my son and my parents will be in your care. Hehe, when they ascend, you should give them some special consideration too. Thanks, thanks."
The Heavenly Dao: "..."
A few golden words appeared in the sky: ’Give you an inch, and you take a mile.’ Before she could say another word, a bolt of Heavenly Thunder had already struck her. In that instant, crackling lightning covered Celeste Grant’s body.
Inside the array, Celeste Grant stood her ground and couldn’t help but give a dry laugh. ’This first bolt of Heavenly Thunder isn’t very powerful. It feels more like getting a slap on the head from my old man.’
"Striking right away! Not even a little warning." As she spoke, Celeste Grant quickly sat down cross-legged within the array and began to take the Heavenly Tribulation seriously.
Then, from the swirling vortex in the roiling thunderclouds, the gathered Heavenly Thunder descended again, striking Celeste Grant. The terrifying pressure was so immense that even outsiders felt that if such a Heavenly Tribulation were to strike them, with their current Cultivation, their Divine Souls would most likely be annihilated.
RUMBLE...
The power of the lightning struck her body. Ascending through a tribulation required one to be tempered and baptized by Heavenly Thunder. So, as the bolts rained down on her, it was certainly painful, but thankfully, it was within a range she could endure.
Celeste Grant closed her eyes. Her hands formed seals, and with a sweep of her arms, she used her Cultivation to resist the Heavenly Tribulation. "Bring it on! I’m ready."
BOOM—
The moment she finished speaking, Heavenly Thunder struck her again. The bolts fell one after another. They weren’t very powerful at first, but once she felt herself adapting, their power would gradually increase.
Celeste Grant was in the midst of the Heavenly Tribulation, but her heart was calm.
She could feel that the Heavenly Dao was going easy on her.
Although the Heavenly Tribulation’s pressure was immense and the strikes were fierce, when the bolts actually hit her, the force was within the limits her body could withstand. There was no real danger. Not only that, but she could even feel the power of the lightning actively tempering her body for her.
The world changed color as the thunder roared with unstoppable force.
The rumbling continued, and the Heavenly Thunder sizzled as it landed on her. As Celeste Grant underwent the baptism of Heavenly Thunder, she could feel her body transforming.
This Ascension Thunder Tribulation was incredibly powerful. Even though this world’s Heavenly Dao was going easy on her, she was still struck so hard that her hair was a mess and her vestment robe was blasted to tatters, making her look like a refugee. She also had several wounds on her body from the Heavenly Thunder. Fortunately, they only looked severe; they were just superficial injuries.
She didn’t know how long the Heavenly Thunder had been striking her.
When the final bolt of Heavenly Thunder fell, a Merit Golden Light surged from Celeste Grant’s body, and in an instant, all her injuries healed completely. At that moment, her body underwent a complete metamorphosis, becoming an Immortal Body. Her tattered vestment robe also returned to its original state.
At the same time, golden rays of light shone down from the vortex of thunderclouds, dispelling them and landing directly upon her. In that instant, auspicious purple qi suffused the eastern sky, and twelve red flowers appeared, all connected to one another, some large and some small.
’Aside from the lack of leaves, they look just like the little red flowers that bloom from the Spirit Root on my head. No, they’re exactly the same. It’s just that the flowers on my head are smaller, while this celestial phenomenon in the sky has been magnified.’
Seeing this, she quickly reached up to feel her head.
She only felt hair. Relieved, she couldn’t help but whisper, "Thank goodness, thank goodness."
This time, her Spirit Root hadn’t sprouted out directly. As Celeste Grant’s Cultivation grew stronger, she gained the ability to control whether her Spirit Root grew externally. ’I really don’t want to be gawked at for having flowers sprouting from my head while I ascend. The Cultivation World would definitely label such a strange sight as bizarre. People might still be talking about it eight hundred or a thousand years from now. Just thinking about it is mortifying.’
However... her gaze fell upon the celestial phenomenon that had appeared after she passed her Ascension Thunder Tribulation.
’When protagonists in those cultivation novels ascend through their tribulations, their celestial phenomena are things like a Twelve-Grade Golden Lotus. So how come mine is twelve little red flowers? Seriously?’
Just as she was slightly dazed, a voice came from the sky. It was the Heavenly Dao of this world.
"Child, it is time for you to leave this world."
The voice spoke again, "Your power has already exceeded what this world can withstand. I will send you to the Upper Realm now."
Celeste Grant nodded slightly.
"Okay, let me say a few words to my son and the others first."
"You may."
At that moment, Aaron Sinclair, who had been worried sick about her, rushed over and threw his arms around her.
"Mother, you’re leaving."
Celeste Grant smiled faintly and hugged him back. She lovingly stroked her son’s hair and said with a smile, "Yes, Mother is going to the Upper Realm to find your father. You have to cultivate hard, son. Come up as soon as you can so our family can be reunited."
"Mm, I know, Mom."
The moment he spoke, his heart ached with sorrow.
He looked at his very pregnant mother, his heart filled with worry. "Mother, will it be dangerous for you to go to the Upper Realm alone? I’m really not at ease."
After letting her go, Aaron Sinclair held his mother’s hand. "Mother, you’re already in the late stages of pregnancy. It won’t be long before my little sister is born, and now you’re ascending without any of us by your side."