59 Liquid Realm (1/2)
The ongoing two versus one fight was raging around Shin Sumi.
Her entire arm had now coalesced into wax, the greyish substance slowly taking over her entire body.
The sound of metal clashing against metal was defeaning, and the thunder from above still roared but Shin Sumi was oblivious to it all.
”My dantian...”
Shin Sumi was floating in a void. The space around her was empty, silent and dark, yet she only felt a reassuring feeling, a connexion stronger than anything she ever experienced.
She was within herself, floating inside her dantian, in tune with her body and mind.
Contrary to when she delved deep into a meditative state, this time she wasn't concentrating on anything else like the flow of Shinsoo, the energy of nature. She wasn't trying to comprehend a technique or applying a skill.
She was simply folded upon herself, her spiritual presence invading her energy points.
At the speed of thought, Shin Sumi travelled through the void. There was no sense of space and no air to blow her long hair away but she knew she was moving even though she didn't know how or why.
In the distance, what seemed like lightyears away, a fuzzy warmness came into view, like a cloud.
The cloud had no edges, no physical limitations. The space in her dantian simply went from dark and emptiness to golden warmth.
”This is my Shinsoo, the Shinsoo I have gathered continuously in the last couple years.”
Inside her own energy space, a single glance told her all the information she needed.
”All the energy I have refined again and again to open all Sixty-Four Shinsoo Doors. Even the energy from the Veins!”
Amidst the golden plasma, a few regions varied slightly in color. Red, blue, green, purple and white were the colors of the five Veins of Hell Fire she had used to get to this state.
The colors only made a portion of the overall cloud but their shine was significant. The five colors outruled all the tiny specks of glowing dust that floated here and there.
Had Shin Sumi seen the small individual specks she would have realized that they each represented a spirit stone or a spirit beast core she had used to cultivate.
Shin Sumi was still advancing quite fast towards the cloud. In the void where no sense of scale was provided, the cloud seemed either close and tiny or far and immensely big.
”It is all turning to gold... Is it because I have opened all the existing Shinsoo Doors?”
No answer was given to her but her own mind felt like it was true.
The approaching plasma was now radiating an intense golden glow. Shin Sumi had no idea how long she had been moving for and if what she was experiencing now was very slow or faster than light.
Subconsciously, Shin Sumi extended a hand towards the plasma cloud which started rotating.
From a gaseous volatile substance, the Shinsoo inside her dantian was condensing into a drop of golden liquid.
”Liquid Realm” she now knew what it meant. Had all the cultivators in history since time immemorial experienced the same scene?
The process of her energy coalescing from nothing into a liquid droplet. It was even the third step from the Shinsoo Gathering Manual!
The vortex in her palm had turned into a drop and now it was being flattened, forming a golden mirror like a puddle or a small lake.
Shin Sumi looked around her at the immensity of emptiness. How many clouds would it take to form enough drops to fill an entire ocean in there?!
***
Tribulation lightning was not something ever to appear during a low level breakthrough. Reaching the Liquid Realm was considered the first real step into cultivation and was not enough to provoke the Heavens themselves!
But Shin Sumi's case was special. Due to the little nut refining the Shinsoo Gathering Manual into its complete form, Shin Sumi's cultivation had strayed from what could be called the normal path.
It was more than enough to incur the wrath of nature itself, seeing Shin Sumi as a defyiance to the laws in place.
Bolts formed one after the other in the dark oppressive clouds that seemed to cover the entire world.
They were raining down in succession towards the yellow robed figure sitting down, already half encased in magical wax.
Xiao Yue, Chu Erlong and Jun Qian were still fighting to the death, the latter two trying to get to Shin Sumi and Xiao Yue ensuring they couldn't.
They, too, had never heard of Liquid Realm Tribulations. But the simple fact that Heavenly Lightning was trying to get rid of that Bai Fulong was proof enough for his enemies that he couldn't be allowed to live.
If he succeeded, then his level of power would be devastating to them. They had to put an end to it. Now.
In much the opposite way, Xiao Yue had decreted that she had to protect Bai Fulong. She was currently fighting two of the most promiscing Honorary Disciples of the Dark Sky Starry Sect, making enemies out of dangerous people.
Protecting Bai Fulong during his breakthrough was also a way to make a useful friend for the future. A friend that would be able to crush anything on their path.
In the midst of the fight, none of the protagonists really had time to spare to pay attention to the silver and purple lightning crackling neverendingly above their heads.
Tribulation only came for one person after all so they were safe themselves, which was fortunate. In order to eradicate Shin Sumi's law-defying cultivation, each bolt contained enough power to kill any disciple effortlessly.
But Shin Sumi was not alone. In the skies above, seemingly battling the clouds themselves, a white slender crane was fighting.
The bird's cry was drowned by the rumble of the Heavenly storm but its magic still pierced through them, dissipating the lightning right before they could hit Shin Sumi.
Even the dark clouds were sensing that Shin Sumi was close to finishing her last step in the breakthrough, the intensity of the tribulation reaching a climax.
Sixty three silvery bolts had rained down so far when a massive black mist coalesced into the shape of a giant hand. The hand was as big as a building and concealed in the tribulation clouds, only the white crane could see it.
Before the sixty fourth lightning bolt was formed, the white crane was already in the grasp of the hand. The hand represented another level of Heavenly Laws and even the white crane had to use all its power to protect itself.
The white eyes devoid of emotions looked down intensely as a last single bolt took shape above Shin Sumi. The crackling lightning was red like blood and contained a completely new level of power. The silvery purple attacks previously unleashed were like ants compared to a mountain in front of it.
RUMBLE
The storm was stronger than ever. Xiao Yue and the others had even stopped fighting because of the pressure. They had been forced to sit down in order to simply resist the pressure trying to crush their bones into dust.
Grinding their teeth, they were looking at the massive red bolt taking shape, too puzzled by the scale of what was happening to comprehend it.
Too fast for their eyes to follow, the red lightning descended from the dark clouds, piercing the atmosphere and suddenly more brilliant than anything.
The last hope of the white crane was dying quickly but suddenly a golden blur rose from the ground.
It didn't look as brilliant or as powerful as the lightning bolt, but it was at least quicker. The golden afterimages in its wake tore the sky into two, a long straight line opposing the trajectory of the red lightning.
”The eleventh refinement”, the white crane's eyes were reflecting the golden line, another strange glow suddenly burning deeply behind its pupils.
The Gold Tyrant Flying Sword had flown out of Shin Sumi's bag of holding out of its own volition.
The spherical energy barrier made of Shinsoo Threads that was wrapped around it clashed first with the red lightning, not impeding its power but instead burning away instantly.
The tip of the Gold Tyrant Flying Sword hit the heavenly strike the next instant. After the fifth Vein of Hell Fire, the blade of the weapon almost didn't look like gold anymore.