At the Ripple Mist sect.
A group of disciples were doing their job of refining some raw materials for spirit tools in one of the pavilions when they suddenly heard a low rumble.
"Huh? Thunder? In our sect?" One of the disciples stopped midway, making the chunk of metal floating in front of him fall.
"Be careful Ping Mo! Why are you acting like this?" One of the other disciples complained.
"Did you guys not hear the rumbling of thunder?" Ping Mo questioned.
"Thunder? How can there be thunder in our Ripple mist sect?" The disciple who had asked Ping Mo to be careful, stated.
"Yeah, our sect has formations that control the climate around the sect. How can there be thunder here?" Another disciple chimed in.
"Are my ears buzzing then?" Ping Mo said, doubting himself.
But then…
~RUMBLE~
"What the hell! It really is thunder!" The disciples said in unison as they all ran out of the pavilion.
Outside they could see hundreds of other disciples all staring at the dark clouds gathering in the distance.
"It… it cannot be… A heavenly Tribulation?" Ping Mo muttered in disbelief.
"Quick! We need to inform the elders! Someone is having their Heavenly tribulation at the forest!" Someone shouted.
"You idiot! Do you really think the elders are stupid like you? If we can see the heavenly tribulation, they must have sensed it long before." The precious disciples frankly stated while slapping the back of his head.
"Ah, that's true. But which senior brother or senior sister could it be? And why are they choosing to have their tribulation in the forest when they could do it in the sect under the assistance of the Tribulation platform and the elders as Dharma protectors?" The previous stupid disciple questioned.
"How could I know? But whoever it is, they must be confident of their breakthrough and must want to do it on their own independently! They must have their own pride!" The other disciple said with a knowing expression.
At one of the higher buildings in the central peak, a bunch of elders were standing in a gallery while observing the clouds in the distance.
"Is it truly a disciple having a breakthrough?" A green robed elder questioned.
"I do not know high elder, let me check our roster. If any disciple was close to a breakthrough we should have it on our list." A brown robed elder replied.
The brown robed elder took out a long register and opened it. Flipping through the pages he came to a particular page, after which his brows became furrowed.
"This is strange… they're not on the list…" The brown robed elder said before turning to another young man. "Quick check the whereabouts of all the disciples on the roster!" he urged.
"Yes Elder!" The young man said before taking out his communication jade slip and contacting certain people.
About two minutes later, sweat appeared on his face as he shook his head.
~gulp~
"All disciples are accounted for elder… I fear it may not be someone from our sect…" The Young man stated.
The green robed elder stroked his beard as he looked up at the dark clouds that had not stopped expanding.
"The Heavenly Tribulation clouds… they are far too big for a normal Heavenly tribulation." The green robed elder stated.
Everyone else hurriedly looked at the clouds and found them to be exactly as how the green robed elder had stated.
"Heavens! It is some unique type of a Tribulation? Is it some genius that is having a breakthrough?" One of the elders exclaimed.
The green robed elder did not say anything and simply narrowed his eyes, as his gaze tried to peer far into the distance.
***
Lin Mu could see the dark clouds and the faint glow of lightning hidden within. There was also the spatial tear that was hidden behind the clouds but it could not be seen by common eyes.
Lin Mu squinted his eyes and his gaze went past the clouds. There he could see a large tear in the spatial fabric. This one was much bigger than the one Alchemist Bilao's heavenly tribulation had caused.
"The two snakes will be having their tribulation together… don't know if it will make it better or worse." Lin Mu muttered to himself.
He chanted the calming heart sutra in the preparation of the tribulation. Lin Mu knew he should wait for the first tribulation bolt to fall before he jumped into the fray. He did not know what difference there will be if it is two beasts having a tribulation together than just one.
Lin Mu was reminded of the warnings of the Lost Immortal.
'Better to be cautious a million times than be dead once.'
It was a simple and crude line, but Lin Mu had seen that it was backed by many years of experience and misfortune. It would only do him good to heed the warning. After all, he was not doing anything normal… he was about to steal a Heavenly tribulation!
Cultivators dreaded Heavenly tribulations and wanted nothing more than to get away from them. They feared the day their tribulation would arrive and would try to delay it as long as possible.
Only those that were about to run out of tier life span or those that were brave geniuses would attempt it as quickly as possible. But here was Lin Mu… not even twenty and about to undergo his second tribulation.
One had to know there were many Peak stage core condensation realm beings that underwent the Heavenly Tribulations. But there were less than ten percent that actually survived.
If surviving just a single tribulation was this hard, then Lin Mu was going the extreme way. Trying his chance against multiple tribulations just because his own could not be summoned.
~Rumble~
The clouds started to stir in the sky as arcs of lightning jumped from one part to the other.
The Fire Fang Snake and the Black Water Snake seemed to be prepared for this and were also looking up at the sky at this moment.
