The Wind fanned the Fire, and the Fire gave rise to Lightning, and the Lightning complemented the Fire…

As the three powers intertwined, their strength rose again.

"I have to ignite my Essence Soul." With a thought, Qin Yun burned his Essence Soul Dharmic powers as the might of his Misty Rain Array increased exponentially. Regardless of how the Wind, Fire, Lightning struck, the Misty Rain Array remained as placid as a deep ocean, withstanding every attack without causing huge waves. The Wind, Fire, and Lightning"s attacks lasted only a few seconds before coming to a stop.

"It"s just fifty percent stronger than the ninth Lightning bolt." Although Qin Yun burned his Essence Soul out of caution, the tribulation was only at the might of Hou Yi"s third arrow if he shot his Essence Soul-burning nine arrows. It was still something he could manage quite easily. Qin Yun looked up at the tribulation cloud. "However, the tribulation cloud hasn"t dispersed."

"Boom!!!"

The tribulation cloud suddenly collapsed and shrank, contracting to a beam of "light" in extreme fas.h.i.+on.

This beam descended immediately.

Shoo!

With a flash, the beam of light tore through the Misty Rain Array! Even though Qin Yun was powering his Misty Rain Array via his burning Essence Soul, it did not pose as an obstacle at all. It was as though the beam of light was intangible.

"Oh no."

Qin Yun knew that things had gone awry. For the tribulation cloud to collapse into a beam of light, it was likely the final strike of the Itinerant Immortal tribulations. However, his Misty Rain Array had failed to be of any use.

As this thought flashed through his mind, the beam of light struck Qin Yun.

"Boom!"

What sounded like wind howls, the roaring of flames, and thundering lightning boomed from Qin Yun"s body, but no attack could be seen.

It was a formless attack.

Under this formless attack, Qin Yun"s Itinerant Immortal body collapsed immediately, shattering into pieces and vanis.h.i.+ng. Only the Qingping Sword and his storage items were left floating in the air.

This scene shocked all the spectating experts in the Three Realms. Sword Immortal Qin had managed to withstand the previous tribulations easily, but when the tribulation cloud collapsed into a beam of light, it ignored all defenses and struck Qin Yun instantly. It dissipated Qin Yun completely.

"Dad!" Qin Yiyi"s and Meng Huan"s expressions changed drastically.

Yi Xiao"s face turned pale and colorless. "No, impossible!"

As Qin Yun"s wife, Yi Xiao instantly sensed Qin Yun"s karmic connection with her vanish. She could not sense it at all, forcing her to realize that Brother Yun might really be dead! However, this was an unacceptable outcome.

"Yun"er!" Qin Liehu and his wife were taken aback.

Qin Yuluo, Qing Shuang, Tian Huang, and Bian Hanyu all looked in disbelief at this scene.

"Brother Qin Yun," Ninth Hong, Eighth Zhu, Ancestral Master Zhang, and Immortal Sa Xu all watched in a daze.

…

There were just too many people watching Qin Yun"s transcending of the tribulations. For instance, the Grand Supreme sword immortal lineage was paying keen attention to it.

A mighty figure had specially conjured a water mirror that floated in midair.

Many Grand Supreme sword immortal lineage experts watched Qin Yun"s tribulation via the mirror, and when they saw Qin Yun dissipate due to the beam of light, all of them gasped.

"Sword Immortal Qin actually failed?"

"This Itinerant Immortal path is really a dead end."

All of them sighed.

Yu Gufeng, who had joined the Grand Supreme lineage for decades, looked up. Qin Yun had once wanted to recruit him as a disciple, but he ultimately chose the Grand Supreme sword immortal lineage.

"Sword Immortal Qin really failed transcending his tribulations." Yu Gufeng shook his head slightly when he saw that. However, he felt a sense of joy, thankful that he had chosen the Grand Supreme sword immortal lineage.

…

"Haha, he"s dead. He"s dead! What a nice death." When Fiend Ancestor remotely saw Qin Yun"s body dissipate completely from the strike, he could not help but be overjoyed. But moments later, his expression changed. "That"s not right. Why is his karmic connection still around?"

"My disciple"s karmic connection still exists." Numinous Treasure Dao Ancestor stared intently at the tribulation spot. "Although my disciple"s karmic connection turned very vague for an instant, to the point of even me finding it faint, his karmic connection still exists! He isn"t dead!"

At their realm, those that could still sense Qin Yun"s existence were limited to the few Heavenly Dao realm existences.

"If the karmic connection is so blurred, perhaps only the few of us can sense it." Grand Supreme Dao Ancestor watched in puzzlement. "What is Qin Yun"s condition actually?"

"The final tribulation cloud strike is very mysterious," said G.o.ddess Nüwa. "Qin Yun"s Misty Rain Array is already sufficiently powerful. When he casts it with a Connate Merit Cardinal treasure, even we would have difficulty killing him. That final strike… actually ignored all obstacles and went straight for Qin Yun"s Essence Soul Itinerant Immortal body?"

******

The tribulation cloud"s collapse to form that final strike was not anything the Misty Rain Array could withstand. Qin Yun knew that something had gone awry, but he had no other solution.

But after the beam of light flew into his body—

Boom!

Qin Yun felt his consciousness turn blank!

Excruciating pain enveloped his Essence Soul as if thousands of blades were slicing across his Essence Soul, instantly splitting it into thousands of pieces in a thorough fas.h.i.+on.

There was also an extremely scorching flame burning at his Essence Soul fragments, completely destroying them.

There was also the terrifying lightning that blasted each and every piece of his Essence Soul.

At that instant, there was no room for thought.

Only pain!

It was an unprecedented pain after all his years of cultivation. It was a pain that made him desire death!

"Just die. You will be free from this infinite pain if you die." This thought surfaced in his mind.

"No!"

A thought immediately surfaced. "Why would I want to die? Who am I? What am I doing? I… I am Qin Yun! I"m Qin Yun! I"m transcending the tribulations!"

Having acknowledged his own existence, a strong desire spread through every Essence Soul fragment. Although each of them had been burned and blasted to extremely minute pieces, all of them lit up.

Regardless of the fire and lightning a.s.sault, once the Essence Soul fragments had a thought, they were filled with tenacity. Furthermore, the Soul Heart Fruit"s powers were spreading through the Essence Soul and nouris.h.i.+ng the fragments.

"Hold on. Hold on. Hold on."

Qin Yun could sense that his Essence Soul had been split into countless fragments. Each Essence Soul fragment was suffering the mysterious a.s.saults of fire and lightning. Under this barrage of attacks, his Essence Soul fragments were also gradually changing. He then vaguely came to the understanding… that this was the real Itinerant Immortal tribulation! It was a metamorphic tribulation, akin to the tempering of sc.r.a.p iron into fortified steel. As these Essence Soul fragments suffered the excruciating pain, his soul also began undergoing the change from "iron" to "steel."

This process was the most terrifying tribulation.

If he survived it, he would truly escape his fate as an Itinerant Immortal and obtain eternal life.

If he failed, the countless pieces of Essence Soul fragments would be destroyed, and death would follow.

"Hold on." The countless Essence Soul fragments withstood the infinite pain as Qin Yun only had one thought—"Hold on."

Slowly…

As the Essence Soul fragments transformed, the pain suddenly subsided after an unknown period of time. It gave Qin Yun relief as his thoughts turned clearer and he could consider even more.

"I"ve pa.s.sed the hardest stage. This feeling is just fantastic." As the pain rapidly waned, Qin Yun felt that each Essence Soul fragment was overcome with an emerging joy, as though they were each welcoming new life.

…

"Is Brother Qin Yun really dead?" Hou Yi watched from afar in disbelief.

By his side, Kong Xuan said with a sigh, "I can"t even sense his karma, so it means he"s really dead. That final strike of the tribulation cloud was just too odd. Brother Qin Yun"s Misty Rain Array failed to put up any resistance. Besides, Brother Qin Yun has an Itinerant Immortal body. It"s weak, so it dissipated upon impact."

"Even Sword Immortal Qin can"t transcend the Itinerant Immortal tribulations?" Ancestral Dragon sighed.

Qin Yun"s good friends were sighing.

As for his family, they were disconsolate and in despair. Although they were mentally prepared before the tribulation, and Qin Yun had made many arrangements for the Qin family, to see Qin Yun"s body ultimately blasted into nothingness left them in immense misery.

"That is?" Yi Xiao, whose eyes had been staring blankly at the spot where Qin Yun once was, suddenly saw countless lights appearing.

"What"s that?"

All the mighty figures also noticed it.

Lights lit up in the void as they brightened in intensity and enlarged in size. Each point of light was drawing on power to gradually turn crystalline, like they were precious gems.

Countless crystalline gems floated in midair.

"There are 129,600 gems," Kong Xuan muttered as he observed. "The number corresponding to one Yuan How can this be a coincidence?"

The countless gloating gems finally transformed and each of them took the form of Qin Yun. Each of them were the size of a finger.

The 129,600 Qin Yuns looked at each other and smiled.

"A body can be split into thousands, but the Essence Soul is eternal.

"Fuse!"

The countless Qin Yuns began fusing together, taking on Qin Yun"s original form. With a wave of his hand, he collected all the Dharma treasures that had dropped on the mountaintop.

Qin Yun stood there and saw that the tribulation cloud had dissipated. He felt overjoyed as he thought, "This Itinerant Immortal tribulation"s final strike was a test of the Essence Soul. No Dharma treasure can help. When the Essence Soul was split into 129,600 pieces, it reached an extremum. Being tempered by the lightning and fire, one needs extremely strong determination and tenacity to survive it.

"Thankfully. I"m thankful that I had the heaven-defying Soul Heart Fruit which can nourish my Essence Soul"s core. While I was suffering the pain, it was nouris.h.i.+ng my Essence Soul. If not, I probably only had a thirty percent chance of surviving it. The Soul Heart Fruit allowed me endure the torment, greatly increasing my chances.

"My venture into the spatial tide at the risk of my life was of use indeed."

After having his Essence Soul split into 129,600 pieces, he was still able to be cognizant of himself. That was the first major trial, and enduring through the pain was the second major trial. The Soul Heart Fruit had indeed helped Qin Yun tremendously.

"Regardless of what I"ve done, how much suffering I"ve been through, or how treacherous the tribulation is… I, Qin Yun, have finally transcended the Itinerant Immortal tribulations completely." Qin Yun rejoiced inwardly.

(End of Volume)Related to a cosmic period of time in Daoist cosmology.