52: He survived the Heavenly Tribulation and finally became a Martial Saint.

The ten-thousand-mile thundercloud above the sky began to contract, and as it shrank, the aura of destruction contained within it grew increasingly faint.

When the thundercloud contracted to a thousand meters, the previous intent of destruction was gone, replaced by a profound rhythm that made one's heart and soul tremble.

The moment the thundercloud finished changing, the Heart-Questioning Lightning struck down. At this point, the lightning had shifted from purple to a translucent, glazed color.

After the Heart-Questioning Lightning struck, you did not resist—nor could you—and you allowed it to carry you into an unknown space.

This space has been named the Void Realm Space by other Martial Saints. Here, the Heart-Questioning Lightning generates three trials: Questioning the Inner Heart, Realizing the True Self, and Verifying the Dao.

"Questioning the Inner Heart" asks, "Why do you cultivate?" This trial causes the cultivator to fall into an illusion.

The illusion reflects the cultivator's most primal cultivation motives and obsessions, forcing them to face the fears, desires, and regrets deep within their hearts.

The way to break it is for the cultivator to realize and firmly establish their original intention for cultivating.

As "Questioning the Inner Heart" began, you fell into the illusion created by the Heart-Questioning Lightning.

You attempted to circulate the Way of Xuanhuang, and unexpectedly, you shattered the illusion instantly. It seems this Heart-Questioning Lightning also has its limits.

It seems it is still a matter of strength; as long as one is strong enough, what tribulation cannot be broken?

However, as for why you cultivate, for you, there is only one purpose: to become stronger. As long as you are strong enough, you can control your own destiny. You certainly do not want to drift with the tide like in your past life.

Furthermore, you also enjoy the pleasure of life's transcendence brought about by cultivation.

After "Questioning the Inner Heart" comes "Realizing the True Self."

In the "Realizing the True Self" stage, a Martial Artist will still fall into an illusion, their mind confused, trapped in Reincarnation until they see through the illusion and realize the meaning of their own existence.

In your view, this is equivalent to the philosophical question, "Who am I?"

After entering the illusion, you discovered that your mind was not confused, and you still retained your own consciousness.

It seems this is indeed the limit of the Lightning Tribulation. You shattered the illusion instantly, having no desire to experience the feeling of a hundred lifetimes of Reincarnation.

A good start in Reincarnation would be fine, but if you were reincarnated into a poor start, you fear you would explode instantly; you cannot tolerate even the slightest grievance.

As for the philosophical question of "Who am I," you don't care at all, and you are even lazier to think about it. Regardless, the one enjoying this power right now is you, and the one who can avoid eating beef after becoming a Martial Saint is also you.

As the illusion dissipated, the Void Realm Space began to shake violently.

This meant the final trial of the Heart-Questioning Lightning, "Verifying the Dao," was about to begin.

At this moment, the Dao of heaven and earth will manifest into forms to fight you. The Martial Artist must use the Dao they have cultivated to oppose them; winning counts as passing. These forms manifested from the Dao of heaven and earth are called Incarnations of the Dao.

This trial changes according to the path the cultivator is practicing. If you practice the Dao of Fire, the Dao of Water will come to suppress you; if you practice the Dao of Water, the Dao of Earth will come to suppress you.

Actually, it is similar to the scene when you discussed the Dao with the other Martial Saints; the method of discussing the Dao was based on this.

For you now, this is nothing more than fighting against the many by yourself once again.

It is just that this time, you are not facing fifty-some Martial Saints, but over a hundred Martial Saints.

That's right, in your "Verifying the Dao" stage, you are being besieged by fully over a hundred Incarnations.

Facing the siege of over a hundred Incarnations of the Dao, you still performed with ease, and you continuously comprehended these manifested Daos of heaven and earth.

After you felt you had comprehended enough, you used that move from when you discussed the Dao with the Martial Saints, scattering all these Incarnations.

Subsequently, you exited the Void Realm Space; you had passed the Heart-Questioning Lightning and the Lightning Tribulation.

After passing the Lightning Tribulation, the thundercloud in the sky condensed and transformed into a stream of light that merged into your body.

You then felt your Comprehension Ability receive a brief boost, and this energy was also nourishing your Essence and Qi.

You took advantage of this brief time to integrate what you had comprehended from those Incarnations into your Way of Xuanhuang, and your Way of Xuanhuang improved rapidly.

Your Essence and Qi also grew stronger rapidly under this nourishment.

Three days later, as this energy was nearly exhausted, it transformed into a profound rune imprinted within your Primordial Spirit. You opened your eyes, and your Divine Thought spread rapidly to the surroundings until it covered a radius of twenty-five thousand li.

At this moment, having passed the three tribulations, you can truly be called a peerless Martial Saint.

You felt the changes after becoming a Martial Saint. Besides the improvements gained after passing the Lightning Tribulation, that mysterious rune imprinted in your Primordial Spirit was a reward given by heaven and earth to those who pass the Lightning Tribulation.

This rune has two functions; one of them is being able to allow a Martial Saint to completely control the heaven and earth within a certain range to form a Domain.

Within the Domain, all aspects of the Martial Saint can be greatly enhanced, just like your Xuanhuang Dharma Realm.

The Martial Saint's recovery ability within their own Domain will also be greatly improved, even allowing the Martial Saint to fight continuously.

However, the difference is that the Domain formed when you first ascended to the Primordial Spirit Realm was constructed by you merging with heaven and earth, combined with your Dharma Power of Xuanhuang that contained the Dao of heaven and earth; the energy to maintain the Domain came from yourself.

But the energy for a Martial Saint to maintain a Domain comes from heaven and earth, meaning that as long as the Martial Saint wants to, they can fight to the death with their Domain active.

As for the other function, it is quite ordinary: it can deepen the Martial Saint's comprehension of heaven and earth.

As you activated the rune, using your Primordial Spirit as a conduit, the heaven and earth within a radius of twenty-five thousand li was instantly shrouded by the Xuanhuang Heaven canopy, transforming into the Xuanhuang Dharma Realm.

Subsequently, you unleashed your Primordial Spirit Dharma Form. After the Dharma Form manifested, it instantly surged and finally reached a size of ten thousand zhang; this is the current limit your Dharma Form can reach.

In this state, your consumption of Primordial Spirit and Dharma Power is very high. You calculated that even as you are now, you can only maintain this state for three days.

However, an inexplicable power is simultaneously maintaining the Domain and replenishing your consumption. Under this replenishment, you feel you can maintain this state indefinitely.

However, you can perceive that the range of the Domain your rune can maintain is at most thirty thousand li.

In other words, once the range of the Domain you can deploy exceeds thirty thousand li, you will still have to bear the consumption of the excess portion yourself.

You do not know if other Martial Saints' runes can also maintain a Domain with a range of thirty thousand li, or if this range is related to the size of the thundercloud.

If it is always thirty thousand li, then perhaps some Martial Saints might never reach this limit in their entire lives.