NOVEL NEXT Chapter 150: The Eye of the Heavenly Dao
He activated his Black Hole Core, not to absorb the energy, but to shield his soul. He wrapped his consciousness in the raw, chaotic emptiness of the Void.
CRUNCH.
The Law of Extreme Gravity pulverized the ground beneath him, sending shards of ice and rock flying like shrapnel, but Vahn's Void Refining Physique held firm, preventing his bones from shattering.
The Spiritual Annihilation struck the Black Hole Core. The Core immediately began to feed, devouring the hostile spiritual energy. The feedback was excruciating, but it worked.
"Your laws won't work on me, Dao," Vahn spat, wiping blood from his lip. "I am the absence of Law!"
"CRACKLE!"
He retaliated immediately, channeling his remaining lightning energy into his sword and unleashing the first true counter-attack.
Void Lightning Dragon Slash
As soon he swung his Sword, a massive sword slash combining his Lightning Affinity with the pure Void Corrosion of his bloodline. The slash was aimed directly at the Eye of the Heavenly Dao, as a challenge to its supremacy.
Vahn's Void Lightning Dragon Slash tore across the frozen sky like a streak of black-rimmed blue electricity fueled by the unyielding defiance of the Void Dragon Ultimate bloodline.
The attack bypassed the initial defensive layers of the surrounding tribulation clouds and slammed directly into the colossal Eye of Heavenly Dao.
KRAK-THOOM!
A sound unlike thunder, a sound of cosmic fabric tearing, echoed across the barren island. The invincible Eye, the embodiment of the Central Continent's natural laws, was dealt a visible wound. A fissure, crackling with errant Void energy, appeared across its infinite surface.
And then, the impossible happened. The Eye bled.
Not long after, a thick, blindingly golden-white substance, the primordial essence of the Dao itself, began to seep from the wound.
Wherever its blood fell, the frozen, barren landscape underwent instantaneous and miraculous transformation. The dead, crystalline ice shattered, revealing rich, fertile soil. Lush greenery erupted violently, spreading across the island. Rare, radiant Spirit Fruits and potent spiritual herbs materialized and matured in seconds, turning the desolate wasteland into a vibrant, chaotic Land of Paradise.
Vahn watched the surreal transformation, stunned. He had wounded the Heavens.
Just then, a single, potent drop of the ethereal golden blood fell straight toward him. Vahn tried to dodge, knowing the uncontrolled essence of the Dao could instantly obliterate his weaker human form, but the blood drop was faster than thought.
It fell directly onto Vahn's left eye.
AHHHHHH!
Vahn let out a scream of unimaginable agony as corrosive essence of Dao clashed with the pure, consuming nature of his Void Core. His body convulsed, his left eye socket burning as if filled with molten gold and frozen void simultaneously.
When the pain subsided, Vahn straightened, gasping for breath. He felt something fundamentally altered. He raised his hand, touching the socket. His left eye was now completely transformed: it swirled with faint golden light, constantly churning with the knowledge of laws, truth, and causality.
Vahn had absorbed the essence of the Heavenly Dao's bleeding wound. He had gained The Eye of Heavenly Dao.
Rumble!
The Eye of Heavenly Dao, momentarily stunned and hemorrhaging essence, roared its fury, and the Tribulation accelerated. It recognized Vahn's new assimilation as an even greater offense against its sovereignty.
The clouds above Vahn boiled into a cataclysmic storm, and the second phase of the Tribulation began. There was no longer targeted spiritual attacks, but raw, cataclysmic elemental fury.
Fury of the Nine Celestial Elements
"BUZZ! BUZZZ! BUZZZZ!"
Instantly, a bombardment combining the nine fundamental elements of the higher Dao like Pure Fire, Grand Water, Primordial Earth, Primal Wind, Thunder, Light, Shadow, Space, and Time manifested into nine separate, concentrated spears of destructive power.
Vahn, empowered and simultaneously terrified by the new ability in his eye, looked up. He immediately understood the nature and trajectory of all nine attacks.
The Eye of Heavenly Dao granted him perfect comprehension of the law and causality binding the attack together.
He saw not nine individual spears of destruction, but a single, incredibly complex formation that relied on the precise alignment of the nine elements. The entire assault was designed to overload a cultivator's defenses by hitting every possible elemental weakness simultaneously.
Vahn knew he could not block all nine. He had to sever the connection that held the formation together.
He chose to use the insight of his new eye to identify and exploit the formation's weakness.
Vahn focused the power of the Eye of Heavenly Dao on the converging elemental spears. The golden light in his left eye swirled, instantly calculating billions of possible vectors and outcomes. His eye pierced the veil of elemental complexity and pinpointed the single, ephemeral node of energy where the Light and Shadow elements were designed to stabilize the convergence.
This node was the linchpin. If destroyed, the entire formation would collapse.
Whoosh...
Vahn channeled the remaining energy in his Black Hole Core, combining his Void Corrosion with a final, desperate burst of Lightning Affinity.
"You rely on balance? I bring the end of balance!" Vahn roared with the primal fury of the Void.
BUZZZZ!
He unleashed the Void Lightning Dragon Slash once more, aiming with absolute, faultless precision guided by the Eye of Heavenly Dao.
The black and blue sword-light was focused to the size of a needlepoint, and yet it carried the destructive power of a collapsing dimension. It pierced the infinitesimal convergence point.
FZZZZT!
The result was instantaneous and spectacular. The nine elemental spears never reached him. Instead, the sudden collapse of their stabilizing node caused the elemental energies to turn against each other. Pure Fire and Grand Water collided explosively. Primordial Earth and Primal Wind shredded each other. Light and Shadow annihilated one another.
SIZZLE!
The chaotic backlash consumed the entire area in a blinding, self-destructive elemental storm that bypassed Vahn entirely. He used the resulting chaotic energy to push his breakthrough forward.
Vahn gasped, the exertion leaving him weak, but the storm was over. He had survived the second phase.
The power of the failed Tribulation was absorbed by his body, providing the final energy he needed.
RUMBLE!
Vahn's Nascent Soul shattered, and his Black Hole Core expanded, integrating the scattered remnants into a new form of consciousness. His spiritual energy surged, stabilizing at a terrifying new level.
Vahn Necrotis had successfully completed the most dangerous tribulation in the Dalu World's history. He was now a Soul Transformation Realm cultivator.
The Eye of Heavenly Dao, wounded and furious, pulsed one final time before the vortex of the Tribulation clouds began to rapidly dissipate. The battle was over.
Vahn stood in the center of the newly created paradise island, his body exhausted but whole, his left eye glowing faintly with the power of the Dao.
He looked back toward the Central Continent. His wives and his Dynasty were waiting.
However, just then—
"So, you're here, little brother."