Back to where Mira was undergoing her Heavenly Punishment Tribulation. Elenei and Rhydian, who had both run far away when Mira called down a Heavenly Tribulation, watched Mira be repeatedly struck down with awe and terror written all over their faces.
Elenei, the more knowledgeable of the two, knew that what Mira was going through was no ordinary tribulation. In fact, calling down a Heavenly Tribulation for breaking through into the Core Formation Realm is supposed to be impossible. No matter how talented one is or how great of a Core they form, they are ultimately too weak to face the might of Heaven.
Heaven has no need to waste its power on testing weaklings. After all, not even 1% of geniuses will reach the peak of power just based on the Cultivation World functions. From the Core Formation Realm to the peak of the Mortal Cultivation World, it might take a genius hundreds or even thousands of years to reach that point. That's thousands of years where something could go wrong and end up costing them their lives.
Although Elenei didn't know much about the Heavens nor its rules, she learned from her parents that Heaven doesn't usually bother interfering with the lives of Mortals. At least not until they reach a certain Realm, then Heaven will begin testing them to see if they are worthy of ascending.
However, Mira clearly hadn't reached that point, nor did this Heavenly Tribulation feel like a test. No, it felt like a death sentence!
From what little she knew, there was another tribulation where Heaven punished those for trying to break its rules. That tribulation was called a Heavenly Punishment Tribulation!
Clearly, Mira did something that Heaven very much disliked. To the point where the Tribulation it sent down was enough to kill even her, a Mythical Frost-Fire Phoenix who is just about at the pinnacle of strength in the Mortal Cultivation Realms! Even if her cultivation hadn't quite reached the peak, there should not be many people who could threaten her, yet Heaven sent down such a Tribulation for a Core Formation Realm weakling?!
It seemed that instead of calling it a 'punishment', Heaven feared what Mira might become if she were allowed to live!
Watching Mira struggle to survive, Elenei knew she wouldn't live to see another day. It's not that she doubted Mira's strength or will, but what can Mira do in the face of such power?
She watched as Mira slowly lost parts of her body, and when that final lightning strike gathered and painted the world red, Elenei knew it was over. Even she would have a hard time surviving that strike, and even if she did, she'd be severely injured or perhaps crippled!
When the clouds eventually passed, and Elenei could get a good look at the scene, she shook her head when she saw nothing there. After that last strike, there wasn't even a corpse or a speck of dust left of Mira's body!
However, as the seconds ticked by, the more confused Elenei became.
She and Mira were essentially soul-bonded, so naturally, if one of them were to die, the other should feel a severe backlash. However, that backlash never came.
Suddenly, Elenei felt a burst of power appear where Mira's body was, and immediately, the shadow of a tree with a yellow trunk and white and black leaves appeared.
That's when it all started; when Elenei felt her worldview overturning.
Over the next few minutes, Mira's once destroyed body was reconstructed, and it was done so by something that Elenei couldn't identify. No, forget about the object doing the reconstruction; Elenei couldn't even identify the tree silhouette hovering above Mira's newly constructed body!
However, she could tell that Mira's aura grew with every subsequent burst of power. Not only that, but whatever changes these bursts of power were making to Mira's body were clearly Heaven-defying.
Now, the reason for the Heavenly Punishment Tribulation started to make more sense. From the changes she could sense in Mira's body, she would also probably want to kill Mira if she was in Heaven's place. What was happening to her Mira were things that shouldn't be possible! Even in the Immortal Realm, such a thing isn't possible!
Sure, those in the Immortal Realm can form near-perfect Cores during their breakthrough to the Core Formation Realm, but they'd never be able to reconstruct their body like what Mira was undergoing! At most, their talent and affinities would rise exponentially, while their strength also rose, but not nearly as much as the former two.
However, what Mira was undergoing was a complete rebirth! Every aspect of her body evolved into something better, something more suited for cultivation!
Even she, a Phoenix, can't do what Mira just went through when she undergoes Nirvana and is reborn. She especially can't do so by just making a breakthrough to become a Rank 6 beast. Just take Rhydian as an example. Although she broke through and became a Rank 6 beast, other than her strength and some previously locked abilities, not much has changed. At least, not much in comparison to Mira!
For the next few minutes to an hour, Elenei watched as Mira's entire existence was altered in such a way that could only be described as perfect.
Then when the process was over, a naked body was left lying on the ground, unconscious. However, the sheer power radiating from this body was something that a Stage 1 Core Formation Realm cultivator shouldn't have.
However, Elenei was taken out of her stupor as she sensed several frightening existences waking up and charging at Mira's position right now!
She quickly grabbed Rhydian and Mira with her Qi, dropped them on her back, flew up in the sky, and took off!
From the auras she just sensed, the people coming over to investigate were no weaker than her! There was only a handful, but Elenei had no intention of putting herself, Mira, or Rhydian in danger because of some greedy old bags.
If a fight were to break out between her and them, Mira and Rhydian would undoubtedly either die or get captured unless she protected them.
However, that would severely limit her combat ability, and she would either be severely injured or forced to do something she really didn't want to do.
Mira had just been reborn into an unfathomable existence. After she had broken through to the Core Formation Realm, Elenei could now undergo Nirvana to refine her two bloodlines into one, so they stop fighting for control. She can finally progress forward in her cultivation afterward and reunite with her family!
Even if it's a disgrace to her bloodline and heritage to run away from a fight, she will do so without hesitation if it means she could finally grow stronger and ascend to become an Immortal Phoenix!
Her instincts also told her that something special would happen if she underwent Nirvana with Mira's new powers. She didn't know what it might be, but she knew it was something extremely beneficial to her.
So with that in mind, Elenei didn't hesitate to take Mira and Rhydian away from here and get them to safety.
***
A few seconds after Elenei took Mira and Rhydian away, five old men and three old women appeared above the area where Mira underwent her Heavenly Punishment Tribulation.
When they appeared, they looked at the scene in front of them with narrowed eyes as there was absolutely no Qi in the surrounding areas. In fact, there was no life at all! Compared to lush green forests and plains around the area, the place where Mira underwent her Tribulation was now devoid of any signs of life and probably wouldn't birth anything for at least the next few thousand years.
"What exactly happened here?" One of the old men muttered.
"It seems like a Heavenly Tribulation appeared here, but why does it feel different than other Heavenly Tribulations? Usually, Heavenly Tribulations don't cause the area it appeared above to become devoid of life. Actually, isn't it the opposite?" Another old man asked.
"This was no test. This was an execution," An old woman said.
"What do you mean, you old hag?" A third old man asked rudely, causing the woman's face to scrunch up in displeasure, but she answered him anyway.
"One of my clan's ancient texts read that if someone did something that went against Heaven and its rules, then a Heavenly Punishment Tribulation would be sent down to kill them. This scene seems quite similar to what was described in the texts." The old woman said.
The surroundings went quiet as they took in what the old woman said. They also sent out their senses to try and find any clues as to why this might have happened, but unfortunately, the Heavenly Punishment Tribulation erased any traces that might've been left behind.
Worst of all, they didn't even know if the person died from the Heavenly Punishment Tribulation! If they were dead, then everything was fine.
However…
If they somehow lived…
A somber look appeared on their faces as they all looked at each other, nodded, and began scouring the surroundings to see if they could find any clues.
Unfortunately for them, Elenei wasn't the only one watching over and protecting Mira from any threats far beyond her reach.
These eight old people spent the next weeks searching the entire continent for any clues regarding this mysterious person who underwent a Heavenly Punishment Tribulation only to come up with nothing.
In the end, they were forced back into seclusion, where they worked even harder to get stronger as soon as possible as they felt a calamity was about to hit the world, and they wanted to be ready for it.
***
A day after Elenei took Mira and Rhydian away, a low grunt came out of Mira's mouth as her eyes slowly quivered open.
