Following the strategic plan, Vahn headed to a vast, open plain ground located under the clear, open sky of the floating island. He chose the spot specifically to avoid collateral damage to the Stone Monkey tribe and to face the inevitable Heavenly Tribulation head-on without hindrance.

​Seraphina and the yellow monkeys watched from a cautious distance, curiosity and anxiety warring on their faces. Seraphina knew the devastating power of a Tribulation; even with her supreme Light Arts, she wouldn't be able to intervene without risking her own life and potentially escalating the Tribulation's wrath. Vahn would have to face this alone.

​He sat down cross-legged on the bare earth, settling his mind. The terrifying Nuclear Dragon Sword rested horizontally by his side, its dark metal pulsing faintly in anticipation.

​

​Vahn closed his eyes and began the Breakthrough process. Countless glowing Spirit Stones he had retrieved from his spatial ring scattered around him, their spiritual energy instantly absorbed to fuel the ascent.

​His spiritual sense reached inward, concentrating entirely on the turbulent Spiritual Ocean residing within his dantian. The purpose of this breakthrough was not just an increase in power, but a fundamental transformation of his being.

​He now had to turn this vast, liquid Spiritual Ocean into a condensed, solid form—the Golden Core. Once formed, this core would be the central nexus of his power, allowing all his energy to be further concentrated. It would then form an ethereal network linked with his veins and meridians, making the application of Spiritual Energy far easier, faster, and exponentially stronger.

​As Vahn began to condense the swirling spiritual waters, a profound silence descended on the Secret Realm.

The sky, however, began to change. Dark, unnatural clouds gathered rapidly, drawn by the anomaly below. The Heavenly Tribulation was coming early.

Rumble! Rumble!

​The attempt to form the Golden Core, even in this isolated realm, had triggered a violent heavenly response. The sky above Vahn boiled into a furious, swirling vortex. Chaotic Blue Lightning gathered and coalesced, forming immense, destructive bolts ready to shoot down and destroy the anomaly who dared to defy the natural progression of the heavens.

​Vahn calmly opened his eyes and stood up, sensing the crushing pressure abovr. He was slightly tense but ready.

RUMBLEEE!

​

​The first, thick pillar of blue lightning crackled through the vortex and rumbled down toward Vahn.

However, just before it struck, Vahn thrust the Nuclear Dragon Sword straight into the sky.

​The ancient, dark blade was not used for defense; it was used for absorption and deflection.

The Tribulation Lightning, a pure form of destructive energy, slammed into the Nuclear Dragon Sword. Instead of consuming Vahn, the lightning was channeled and momentarily contained by the blade's fearsome power.

​Vahn grinned coldly. "Destroy!"

With a violent twist of his wrist, he deflected the stored power, deliberately redirecting the colossal bolt sideways, aiming for a patch of barren earth near the edge of the floating island.

​The reflected lightning struck the ground with devastating force. The very Earth cracked open, and the immense floating island shuddered violently from the power that should have been harmlessly dispersed.

​The monkeys shrieked in horror, scattering wildly as their home was literally starting to be destroyed beneath their feet.

​

​The terrified monkey leader scrambled toward Vahn, pleading with pathetic cries to save their home.

​Heeding their pleas, or perhaps fearing Seraphina's disappointed face, Vahn instantly discharged the remaining stored lightning in another destination.

He channeled it out, far away from the island, releasing the powerful Tribulation energy randomly to a far-away place in the vast Secret Realm.

--

"ARGHHH!"

​Miles away, somewhere over the jagged peaks of a towering mountain range, the redirected Tribulation Lightning struck with the power of a divine hammer.

​The target was Holy Son Veerion, who also had rushed through the portal.

Veerion had been recovering from minor injuries and was searching for resources. The unexpected, pure heavenly blast slammed into him before he could even raise a shield.

"What in the—"

​Veerion couldn't even comprehend the sudden attack, his senses overloaded by the raw, chaotic energy. He immediately lost consciousness, collapsing onto scorched earth.

Thud!

He was just the first major casualty of Vahn's Tribulation.

Eight more destructive lightning bolts fell from the sky, tearing through the Secret Realm. Each strike was aimed at Vahn but landed miles away, bringing unexpected casualties. The chaotic energy of the early Tribulation didn't care about the difference between righteous and demonic. The pursuing prodigies and even some of the

Demonic faction's geniuses were also struck down or severely injured by the random, terrifying discharge, creating more chaos for Vahn's enemies than he could have managed with his own hands.

​Meanwhile, after the ninth and final strike, the raging blue lightning retreated. The sky slowly returned to its normal, hazy place.

​Vahn opened his eyes. He had survived.

​Also, Vahn had successfully formed the Golden Core. However, his core was far from normal. It wasn't a core in the truest sense; it was a dualistic, terrifying entity. He had two distinct, yet linked, cores: the Black Hole and the White Hole.

​The Black Hole core automatically circulated his cultivation manual, greedily sucking spiritual energy from the environment.

With this core awakened, Vahn didn't need to enter closed-door cultivation at all. He was a living, breathing Cultivation Engine.

​The White Hole core's function was equally mind-blowing. It transforms the stored internal energy by black hole into a more purer state, enabling his body to upgrade and wield cultivation arts more effectively.

​With the combination of the two, Vahn could be said to possess infinite Spirit Energy for practical purposes. He could use any kind of high-energy-consuming Cultivation Art—Forbidden Art, Heavenly Art, Divine Art—with restraint and limitation. The only constraints would be physical capacity of his meridians, not his energy reserve.

​And that was also exactly why the heavens had marked him as the "Rebellious One."

​The attention of the Immortal Gods was now on him.

This mark was obviously not good. The future consequences of possessing this Heaven defying core would prove to be quite painful for Vahn.

As it often said, the heavens do not easily forgive the one who had cracked their laws of cultivation.

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