The Grand Duelist

Chapter 163: Besieged by Three Guilds[4]

Mortal cultivating to become immortals would inevitably meet heaven's wrath.

Be it humans, demons, beasts, or spirits.

If one wanted to thoroughly create a stable foundation and future-proof their cultivation.

One must face the heaven's wrath and survive through it.

Only when one had survived against the punishment of the heavens could they be considered as true immortals.

Joseph stared at the skies and frowned.

The Heavenly Tribulation that he knew would only gather in a small area over the head of the cultivator who wanted to temper his foundations on fighting against the heavens. An ordinary and average cultivator would usually condense only about ten kilometers worth of tribulation clouds.

At the least, Joseph had never heard that a cultivator could condense tribulation clouds that exceeded fifty kilometers like what Joseph himself was doing.

"What the fuck..." Joseph audibly cursed.

Heaven's wrath still hasn't descended upon him, yet he could already feel his spine shiver from fear.

The clouds gathering over Joseph's head were omnipresent, encapsulating the entire continent of the world created by the King's Trial. At this moment, the experts within the world of the King's Trial had raised their heads to stare at the skies and when they saw the scene unfolding before them.

Shock flashed across their face before being quickly replaced by terror.

It was because at this moment...

Those dark clouds started rolling over each other, generating lightning arcs that left thunderous booms on their wake.

"T-This.." 

"Heavenly..."

"Tribulation...?"

An expert buried underneath the earth suddenly pierced through the earth around him to stare at the skies.

His body, clad with innumerable bandages shivered in fear.

When reality struck him, his face turned as pale as a sheet of paper as he quickly leaped and dove back into the depths of the earth.

"How could this be...?"

"Are those clouds, really the effect of a Heavenly Tribulation...?"

"No..."

"That can't be..."

"With how wide those clouds are... When tribulation lightning descends, one of them would inevitably miss their target and if they struck the land below. Mayhem will follow suit!" 

"Heed my orders! Awaken the ancestors! We need their help if we want to survive this calamity! As for the one who dared to summon such a cataclysmic Heavenly Tribulation. Try and find out who he is, but you must never approach the surrounding five-hundred kilometers of space around him!" 

A King of a distant Kingdom gave a series of orders when he realized what was about to come.

The Kings of the other Kingdoms had the same reaction and in just a few minutes...

Several hundred, if not, thousands of Grand Defensive Formations were erected around the border of these Kingdoms.

When Joseph saw the luminescent colors appearing at the horizon...

A bitter smile appeared on his face.

He knew what these Kingdoms were thinking and he really couldn't blame them for their actions.

Even Joseph was astonished by the clouds that the heavens gathered for him.

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A serious look appeared on his face as he stared at the skies

The physical manifestation of the concepts that he had comprehended floated around him.

But since the dark clouds were still gathering above him.

He decided to take a look at the Unique Skills that he had acquired from the concepts that he comprehended.

[Unique Skill: Royal Edict.]

[Unique Skill: Iron Hand of Justice.] 

[Unique Skill: Conviction.] 

[Unique Skill: Strife.]

[Unique Skill: Chaos.]

Joseph fell into deep contemplation whilst he was staring at the list of unique skills that he acquired from comprehending these corresponding concepts.

Royal Edict... I suppose that came from the Concept of Law?

As for the Iron Hand of Justice... That's pretty obvious, so if I fill in the blanks. Conviction should come from the Concept of Order. But, Strife... Hmm, I think this comes from the Concept of Discord, and lastly. Chaos is most likely from the Concept of Disorder.

Regarding their effects, as expected I need to use them in order to gain an understanding of their usage so that the information about them would be updated. Dang, this mechanic is such a pain in the ass.

Joseph revealed a bitter smile.

He closed the opaque windows floating in front of him as he let out a sigh and raised his head to stare at the skies.

At this moment, the dark clouds had already condensed to the point that they looked to be completely saturated with lightning.

It was clear that at any moment, they could descend and strike!

Joseph mustered his courage. He remembered Pixie Fairy Elizabeth's reminder to not underestimate the power of the Heavenly Tribulation.

His heart became filled with trepidation as he stared at the churning clouds and as if on cue...

Screech!!!

An earth-shattering crack suddenly echoed from the skies whilst a bolt of lightning flashed across, as if it wanted to separate the heaven and earth into two halves. A clear bluish-purple ray of lightning started condensing within the dark clouds and started emanating horrifying sounds.

"That's..."

"That's definitely Heavenly Tribulation Lightning! I'm sure of it!"

The various monarch and sovereigns around the world gasped upon the sight of such terrifying lightning. They couldn't help but imagine how strong the individual who gained such tumultuous wrath from the heavens. 

The bluish-purple lightning within the dark clouds gave a heavy sense of dread to Joseph to the extent that he started regretting the fact that he may have been too naive and his preparations weren't as good as he had expected.

To those cultivating to become a true immortal...

Lightning tribulation was a form of a test as well as punishment.

However, the average cultivators only underwent through the wrath of Lightning Tribulation. Most, if not all of the cultivators here in the world created by the King's Trial hadn't even seen a Heavenly Tribulation. Completely opposite to what Joseph had expected from the residents in this place.

Before going through the baptism of Lightning Tribulation.

Every cultivator could prepare for it by gathering as many defensive talismans, high-quality spirit medicine, blessed artifacts, and profound formations as they could as possible as well as other methods of preparation that they could use to defend themselves against the might of the heavens.

This was the reason why most of the cultivators who underwent through the tempering of Lightning Tribulation and survived were only those who were rich enough to gather these resources necessary for increasing their chances of success.

An average and completely ordinary cultivator may not even try to provoke the heaven's wrath.

They would become satisfied with their lifespan that's longer than the average mortal than pursuing true immortality. It would be the opposite if the average cultivator could gather helpers to help him survive the tribulation, but unfortunately...

The cultivator undergoing the tribulation may not receive help from others during his trial.

It was because not only it wouldn't help the cultivator at all, the person lending his help would also receive heaven's wrath.

Joseph shook his head in disappointment.

But since it was already too late for regrets...

He could only steel his resolve and raise his head.

Screech!

A ray of lightning exploded as startling thunder roared through the skies. A streak of bluish-purple lightning from the heavenly tribulation ripped the skies apart before descending right onto Joseph's head.

"Shit!"

The experts watching the event unfold from afar forgot about their dignity at this moment as they simultaneously cursed out loud.

Within the knowledge that they had in their history.

Heavenly Tribulation usually lasted for about two minutes, yet those two minutes would probably become as long as eternity to the practitioner undergoing its baptism.

Furthermore, the Lightning from the Heavenly Tribulation usually came every ten seconds so the cultivator could have some time to breathe.

But not even three seconds have passed when the second lightning strike descended onto Joseph's head!

Bang!

The two tribulation lightning stacked upon each other and formed into a thousand-meter long bluish-purple lightning that exploded with Joseph standing at the center.

It released the undeniable and terrifying might of the heavens as if it was intent on thoroughly annihilating Joseph at this moment.

"Two tribulation lightning in just three seconds! What the fuck! He's dead! He's definitely dead!"

A King who was known for being gentle and a pious follower of decorum and had never cursed in his life actually cursed at this moment when he saw the successive lightning strikes hitting the practitioner floating in the skies!

But...

Bang!

Before the others could react, another thunderous boom rang out across the skies as two streaks of heavenly tribulation lightning from the dark clouds struck down towards Joseph at the same time.

Boom~~~

The bluish-purple ray of lightning covering Joseph hadn't even shown any signs of dissipating yet when it once again exploded in an even more dense and terrifying bluish-purple brilliance.

"Holy mother of Susej! Two lightning bolts at the same time?"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Three lightning bolts at the same time? Is he still alive? How is he still alive?!"

The ancestors sleeping beneath the earth had awakened at this moment and their eyes almost popped out of their sockets when they saw the figure still floating amidst the showers of heavenly tribulation lightning. These ancestors had once endured the might of Heavenly Tribulation so they knew how powerful it was.

Their cultivation was enough for them to clearly see an object tens of thousands of kilometers away. Yet, when they squinted their eyes to see clearly at what was the condition of the cultivator undergoing through this cataclysmic and horrifying Heavenly Tribulation of proportions that they had never seen before.

These old ancestors were flabbergasted.

It was because they saw that the man facing the lightning strikes actually had an excited look on his face as if he wanted more lightning to strike him!

"HAHAHA..." Joseph let out a maniacal laugh.

At the moment before the lightning could strike him...

Joseph tried his luck on using the Unique Skill Royal Edict.

He didn't know how it worked but he had a vague idea of its effects due to its name.

Edict!

This was a word synonymous with decree!

In other words, Joseph gambled and used the Unique Skill Royal Edict at the same time to grant himself permission on absorbing the lightning bolts of the Heavenly Tribulation Lightning!

[You have successfully absorbed the Heavenly Tribulation Lightning. Gained: Experience...]

[You have successfully absorbed the Heavenly Tribulation Lightning. Gained: Experience...]

[You failed on absorbing the Heavenly Tribulation Lightning. Damage is doubled...]

Of course, Joseph wasn't successful in absorbing each and every lightning.

But in the end, when the Heavenly Tribulation sent by the heavens retreated.

Joseph wore a victorious smile on his face.

Despite being stark naked at the moment and his Health Bar in the brink of complete depletion, the golden light of the parchment of the Royal Edict was still as strong as when Joseph first summoned it. 

"Finally..."

"The trial..."

"It's done..."

Joseph huffed and puffed as he tried on catching his breath. His absorption of the Heavenly Tribulation Lightning may look easy and relaxed to others, but for him...

It was quite a nightmare.

After all, even though his body was the body of an immortal, he could still feel pain...

The numbing, yet sharp pain of lightning flowing through his body was definitely an unforgettable experience for him here in the King's Trial.

Nevertheless, the Heavenly Tribulation was now in the past.

Joseph had finally completed the King's Trial.

Several dozens of system notifications flashed across Joseph's eyes at this moment, yet he disregarded them all.

His lips lifted to a bitter smile as his consciousness slowly disappeared from the King's Trial.

"Elizabeth..."

"I had fun here... with... you..."

Joseph left these words as his consciousness finally vanished from the world within the King's Trial.

When he reappeared, he found himself standing in the same spot that he remembered when he disappeared into the world of the KIng's Trial.

The only difference was...

Kristian, the first Legendary Player was standing in front of Alice, Ezreal, and Kayn as he declared.

"So the first Mythical Player of Victory has finally appeared? Just where did you go? I was about to ask these friends of yours for an explanation as to what happened the last time we met." Kristian revealed a smile as if he was a close friend of Joseph.

When Alice, Ezreal, and Kayn heard his words.

They turned to look behind them at the same time as they simultaneously screamed.

"Joseph!"

"Master!"

"You're finally here!"

Alice, Ezreal, and Kayn rushed towards Joseph but an invisible force suddenly swatted them from above and forced them to kneel.

"Oh? Did you guys forget the order that I gave earlier? None of you are allowed to turn around!"

Kristian's eyes radiated a sharp light.

Joseph furrowed his eyebrows.

He stood up and casually walked towards Kristian's direction.

He stopped when he was about five meters in front of Kristian as he asked in a loud voice.

"Just where did this barking dog came from?"