After not receiving any answer to his utterance, Lin Mo sighed.
What is he expecting anyway? He could just ask the old man later. For now, he had to survive this one.
He knew his newly tempered body, even with the [Stillwater Body] ability, could not tank this last bolt. The Null-Stone was still cooling down and would probably shatter if he used it to absorb this much complex energy.
He stood up and planted his feet firmly on the cracked stage which was already close to nding to the divine formation cast on it.
He held the [Starlit Dragon Spear] as an extension of his will and a weapon to defy the Heaven’s Will of the First Heaven.
He took a deep breath. Casting his focus off the storm and the lotus. Instead, he focused on the quiet, perfect and self-contained star system now residing above his dantian.
He closed his eyes.
The waterfall. The starless void. The eye of the storm.
Harmony. Flow. Serenity in chaos.
His own ’convenience’.
No one knew but himself that he ca up with it to give aning to his actions. After all, he had no motivation other than living his best in this second life bestowed upon him.
He wasn’t even convinced of his role of becoming the ’Shopkeeper’, burdened by the whims of the divine beings that created it. He wouldn’t say he didn’t have any choice, just that it was limited.
Would he rather go out there and walk this realm with nothing on him? He’d probably die after encountering a bandit or even a small demonic beast.
So, he took on the mantle and acted on his role.
Little by little, he also started believing in it. The Divine Convenience Store’s purpose is to provide convenience to all.
Now, twenty days later, the store had expanded so much that it already had the whole Eastern Abyssal Region as its patron. As for himself? He’s facing one of the major crossroads for every cultivator.
This celestial lotus was probably not a simple attack. It carries questions posed by the heavens. Are you worthy? Are you, this anomaly, this purveyor of impossible convenience, worthy of defying the established order?
Lin Mo opened his eyes, and in their depths, there was no fear. Only an absolute, unwavering calm. His answer was ready.
Instead of channeling his spiritual energy to create a defensive barrier or to dodge the incoming tribulation, he began to move.
He produced his spear and wielded it according to the [Flowing Star Combat Style] he had created recently. He started to pour his will and everything he learned from Taihao’s regin.
His movents beca continuous, seamless and profound.
Watching the descending lotus, he executed a [Starcoil Thrust] at the empty air before him. The spiraling starlight qi did not dissipate. It hung in the air like a shimring vortex of silver and sapphire.
Without pausing, he flowed into a [Dragon Crescent Sweep]. The arc of starlight qi coiled around the first vortex, reinforcing and expanding it.
Thrust, sweep, parry, block. He moved through the forms of his new style, each technique becoming a brushstroke on a celestial canvas.
Whether a shield or a net, he’s preparing to et the celestial lotus head-on and attain his Perfect Foundation.
The six nodes in his dantian pulsed in perfect sync, pouring a steady, controlled stream of perfected starlight qi into his creation.
The Heavens wielded the five elents in chaos and he answered with stars in perfect order.
Like a Heavenly Decree, the celestial lotus descended, its five-colored petals of elental law and its core of lightning judgnt filling the entire arena with an apocalyptic pressure.
Up in the lounge, Xiaoyu and Wu iyu held their breath, their faces pale. And it’s not just them, all the staff and custors inside the store, as well as everyone within Fanling City, paused whatever they were doing as they looked up at the sky.
Pan Ruo also found herself stuck staring at the doors leading to the [Divine Arena & Exhibition Hall]. Her eyes started glowing in ethereal light as though sothing else had been stirring within them.
Amidst the silence that the descent of the celestial lotus created, a sharp sound that seed to tear through everyone’s eardrums echoed.
And there, the lotus t Lin Mo’s creation.
The vortex of starlight, a swirling galaxy of his own making, did not shatter.
It began to spin with incredible speed, catching the brilliant petals of the lotus.
The searing law of fire was drawn in, its chaotic energy forced into the orderly spiral of the vortex. The crushing law of earth was ground down, its imnse weight distributed and circulated. The cutting law of tal was deflected, its sharpness lost in the endless, flowing dance.
The vortex was exhibiting the principle of the waterfall, magnified a thousandfold.
Do not resist. Harmonize. Guide.
The celestial lotus, a heavenly dictator of absolute annihilation, was being gradually dismantled. Its fundantal laws were unraveled and absorbed into the amalgamation of his current attainnt.
But the core of the lotus, the pure, soul-annihilating lightning, remained.
It pierced through the center of the vortex and beca a final, inescapable judgnt aid directly at Lin Mo’s foundation.
This was the part he couldn’t redirect. This was the part he had to endure.
"Now," He whispered as he flicked his wrist.
The final four [Seven-Star Soulnd Pills] were tossed at his mouth at once.
A rainbow of potent energy surged through him, fortifying his dantian, his soul, his will, and the foundation he’s propping up.
At the sa ti, he activated the ability he acquired after consuming the Primordial Starlight Dew.
[Stellar Domain]!
The invisible ten-ter field around him solidified. It beca a tangible sphere of shimring starlight. It turned into his ho field and absolute territory.
The remaining bolt of judgnt lightning struck.
It slamd into his Stellar Domain and the world before his eyes went white.
The sound was a deafening, absolute silence that seed to tear at his soul.
Lin Mo felt his consciousness shatter.
He felt like he had beco an insignificant speck in an ocean of pure, annihilating law.
His Stellar Domain buckled, cracked, and threatened to collapse. The perfected starlight qi that ford it was being erased by the might of Heaven’s Will.
His ridians and energy channels scread as the lightning burrowed into his body, seeking to obliterate his dantian and his spiritual core.
But his foundation, forged in the waterfall, perfected by the starlight dew, and now fortified by the Soulnd Pills, held firm.
His Stillwater Body absorbed a fraction of the impact.
His Everflowing Serenity Sutra kept his mind from dissolving into the white void.
The star system in his dantian, the perfect hexagon of starlight nodes, beca a fortress, a bulwark against the tide.
The pain was beyond description. It was the pain of his existence being questioned.
And in that crucible of pain and law, the final transformation occurred.
The chaotic tribulation energy, having failed to destroy him, had only one place left to go. It began to rge with his own spiritual energy, drawn into the vortex of his dantian.
His spiritual sea, once a calm lake of Spirit Condensation-level energy, began to churn, to condense, to solidify.
The vast quantity of gaseous spiritual energy began to compress into a single, perfect, liquid drop.
The process accelerated. The drop grew, stabilized, and began to shine with an inner light, a mixture of his own starlight and the purified essence of the tribulation lightning.
A foundation was being laid. Not a Fractured one. Not a Solid one.
A Perfect Foundation.
As the last of the blinding light faded, Lin Mo remained standing there, unmoving. He was still standing tall, his spear planted in the stage beside him.
His body was a latticework of smoking, cauterized wounds that had already started closing.
And from his dantian, a new, profound, and unbelievably stable power radiated outwards.
The power of the Foundation Establishnt Stage.
The tribulation clouds above, with their purpose served or their fury exhausted, began to disperse, revealing the clear, starry night sky once more.
And following that, the Divine System Interface was the first to give its congratulations.
[System Notification: Congratulations, Shopkeeper. You have successfully overco the Minor Heavenly Tribulation.]
[Foundation Quality: Perfect (Starlight Attuned)]
[Cultivation Base: Early Foundation Establishnt Stage]
[Silent Stream Breathing Technique - 3rd Layer: 50%]
[Vein of the Silent Stream - 2nd Layer: 50%]
[Everflowing Serenity Sutra - 1st Layer: 30%]
[New Ability Unlocked (Perfect Foundation): Qi Solidification - Allows for the temporary solidification of spiritual/starlight qi into tangible constructs like barriers, platforms or simple weapons.]
[Reward for achieving Perfect Foundation: One ’Divine Favor Token’ has been deposited in the system’s inventory.]
Lin Mo looked at the stream of notifications, a weary but triumphant grin spreading across his exhausted face.
"So..." He looked at his hands, which had already finished healing, "... this is why Xiaoyu prepared for this for too long. The Perfect Foundation."
The doors to the arena burst open as Liu Xiaoyu and Wu iyu rushed in, their faces etched with a profound relief that quickly turned to awe as they sensed the new, stable, and powerful aura radiating from him.
"Boss... you did it!" Xiaoyu joyously exclaid as she almost leapt into his arms. Wu iyu blocked her though.
Looking at them, Lin Mo gave a tired but genuine smile. "Of course. It would be inconvenient to fail. Who will look after the store?"
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