Thirty-one percent. Thirty-two. Thirty-five.
The pace was agonizingly slow at first, the absorption limited by the tribulation’s intensity. But as the storm raged on, his core seed to awaken, its spin accelerating. Like a furnace finally stoked with fuel, its pull grew stronger, and the shards of tal essence were dragged inside faster and faster.
The cultivators outside could not see what Lin Mu was focused on. All they saw was a man standing unshaken beneath the heavens’ fury. Their jaws clenched, their hearts trembling at his audacity.
"To take such a tribulation head-on... without defense..." soone whispered in awe.
"Impossible," another said. "No body could endure that."
But endure it he did. And more than that, Lin Mu fed on it.
The tal Core continued to swell, rising past forty percent, then fifty. The resonance deepened, a hum spreading through his body that made even the falling tribulation rain hesitate, as if drawn to him rather than intending to destroy him.
The Grand Elder’s eyes widened.
He could sense it now—the strange, synchronized resonance of Lin Mu’s Omnicore Ascendancy. Of course, he did not know of the technique’s existence. He just knew that Lin Mu was doing sothing beyond common sense.
This was not the absorption of a normal cultivator. This was sothing different, sothing dangerous. Sothing... greater.
Ti stretched.
An hour passed in the storm of blades. The clouds above, once sharp and vibrant, began to dim. Their energy had been devoured, their strength waning. The rain of swords thinned, turning from an endless flood into a scattering drizzle.
Lin Mu clenched his fist. His tal Core spun with a roar in his senses, its size now at sixty-one percent. His lips curled in satisfaction.
"Not enough," he muttered. "But sufficient for now."
Raising his hand, he released his Nascent Soul.
The figure of his soul rose above him, radiant and imposing, eyes sharp like drawn blades. With a single motion, it slashed upward, tearing through the last remnants of the tribulation clouds. The heavens split open, the storm dispersed, and silence descended once more.
A golden radiance blood around the Nascent Soul’s head.
Another halo manifested, this one gleaming with the tallic luster of a sharpened blade. A yellow halo: the mark of tal.
The spectators erupted into cries of disbelief.
"Two breakthroughs... in a row?"
"Impossible! Even for a prodigal immortal, this... this defies reason!"
But Lin Mu paid them no mind. His focus remained inward, eyes closed, senses fixed upon the now-strengthened tal Core spinning steadily in his chest.
He exhaled slowly, voice calm yet filled with anticipation.
"Good. Water has grown. tal has grown. Two steps forward. But this is just the start of sothing greater."
Lin Mu now knew of a great new path or rather a ’shortcut’ he could take. But while he was thinking this, the people below in the city were trying to digest what they had just witnessed.
The silence that followed was deafening.
From the lowest of mortal cultivators to the seasoned immortals who had seen centuries of rise and fall, none could find the words to properly express what they had just witnessed.
Lin Mu had not only endured two immortal tribulations in succession, but he had done so with an ease that bordered on mockery.
Whispers spread like wildfire among the watching crowd.
"Two tribulations... back to back..." one elder muttered, his lips trembling.
"I’ve read ancient accounts of geniuses who braved multiple trials, but even they had to recuperate for months before attempting another."
"And this man... he looks as though he’s simply bathed in the rain."
The younger disciples, their eyes wide with reverence, clutched their fists as though trying to capture even a sliver of the inspiration they felt. So of them swore in their hearts that they would follow Lin Mu to the ends of the world. Others despaired, realizing how vast the gulf was between a ’genius’ and a true legend.
To the Grand Elder, whose long beard fluttered in the lingering spiritual currents, it was a revelation.
He had watched countless disciples undergo their heavenly trials, but this... this was a tale that would shake the world. He could already envision the stories spreading, carried by wandering cultivators to every sect and kingdom.
Lin Mu was no longer just a rising figure, more than a honored guest of the Xian Sword Sect, more than the bearer of the Silent Lotus Temple... he was a beacon that would draw eyes from realms far beyond the borders of the Silent Lotus World.
And yet, while the world stood frozen in awe, Lin Mu himself was still.
His gaze was distant, his aura calm.
The two new halos of water and tal glimred faintly around his nascent soul, yet his thoughts were not on glory, nor on the shocked stares that clung to him. They were inward, wrestling with a simple question:
Should he attempt a third tribulation?
He weighed the possibilities with cold clarity. On one hand, his body had proven itself more than capable. His cores had endured, his foundations remained unshaken, and his spirit was unwavering.
He could do it. Of that, he was certain.
But the matter was not just endurance. It was efficiency.
The water tribulation; variant, fierce, overwhelming, had nourished his water core with torrents of energy that exceeded his expectations. Compared to that, the tal tribulation felt almost pitiful. His gains were real, yes, but not as profound.
The difference was clear: the heavens tested harder when they saw fit, and in return, the rewards were greater.
Why waste such an opportunity on a ager, standard tribulation?
Lin Mu’s fingers flexed unconsciously as his mind sharpened with resolution. If he was to continue, it would not be for scraps. It would be for another variant tribulation, one worthy of his growth. Otherwise, it was nothing but ’squandering’ the heavens’ punishnt.
Were anyone able to hear his thoughts, they would have branded him mad, an insane individual, even a loony if one must.
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