Chapter 00456: Surviving the Heavenly Tribulation Without Ascending to Immortal Emperor
# Surviving the Heavenly Tribulation Without Ascending to Immortal Emperor
Chapter 456
Novel: Abandon The Universe
Chapter 456: Surviving the Heavenly Tribulation Without Ascending to Immortal Emperor
Absorbing divine spiritual energy to cultivate to the peak of the Immortal Sovereign Realm, coupled with the extraordinary nature of Lan Xiaobu’s foundational cultivation technique, the *Longevity Technique*, he sensed the bottleneck to the Immortal Emperor Realm.
In just a short hour, Lan Xiaobu triggered the Immortal Emperor Heavenly Tribulation.
The first wave of the tribulation consisted of nine thunderbolts, each as thick as a small bucket.
Lan Xiaobu chose to endure them head-on.
Each bolt struck his body, tearing through his flesh and sending blood mist into the air.
Yet, his heart was filled with joy.
Though his physical body hadn’t yet broken through, the years of tempering at the bottom of the Swamp Mud River had not been in vain—his physique had ascended to a new level.
Lan Xiaobu estimated that even if he didn’t activate his body-refining technique, the *Undying Technique*, he could still withstand all nine thunderbolts.
As the *Longevity Technique* circulated, the thunder’s essence merged with the dense immortal spiritual energy.
To his delight, the very first wave nearly cracked open the barrier to the Immortal Emperor Realm.
After enduring the nine bolts, only a few of his bones had fractured.
This level of tribulation made the *Cycle Cauldron* he had prepared seem unnecessary.
The second and third waves of tribulation struck in quick succession.
Now with a clearer understanding of his limits, Lan Xiaobu didn’t use the *Undying Technique* this time.
Instead, he frantically channeled the *Longevity Technique*, absorbing the thunder’s essence to continue battering against the Immortal Emperor bottleneck.
For Lan Xiaobu, without divine spiritual energy, breaking through to the Immortal Emperor Realm so quickly would have been impossible.
Though he had come close earlier, "close" still meant failure.
Ordinary immortal spiritual energy lacked the potency he needed, so he had to rely on the thunder’s essence—imbued with the laws of heaven and earth—to force his breakthrough.
Eighteen consecutive thunderbolts crashed onto his body.
Without his body-refining technique active, his bones shattered even more severely.
Yet, the abundant thunder essence, rich with heavenly laws, allowed him to come within a hair’s breadth of breaching the Immortal Emperor barrier once more.
When the fourth wave—another nine thunderbolts—descended, Lan Xiaobu’s heart sank as he realized something was wrong.
He felt that his perception might be deceiving him.
What seemed like "almost breaking through" was, in reality, still far from it.
Without divine spiritual energy, ascending to the Immortal Emperor Realm required an even greater influx of thunder essence.
If each wave only brought him "close" without truly breaking the barrier, then after enduring all nine waves, he might still fail to ascend.
An Immortal Emperor’s tribulation was the *Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation*.
Surviving all nine waves without ascending—had such a thing ever happened in the history of the immortal world?
Lan Xiaobu had only heard of cultivators who couldn’t trigger the tribulation and thus failed to ascend, or those who triggered it but perished under its might.
He had never heard of someone who survived the full nine waves yet still failed to break through due to insufficient energy.
Was he about to make history? No—if there were no records of such a thing, it likely meant that all who failed to ascend, regardless of whether they survived the tribulation, had ultimately perished.
He couldn’t accept that.
He had to gamble.
When the fifth wave struck—another nine bolts—Lan Xiaobu refused to wait passively.
He charged forward and punched directly at the descending lightning.
His fist seemed to strike the tribulation’s reverse scale.
The moment the fifth wave landed, the sixth, seventh, and eighth waves—thirty-six thunderbolts in total—crashed down in rapid succession.
And that wasn’t the end.
The ninth wave followed immediately.
Forty-five thunderbolts descended at once, a relentless onslaught clearly meant to annihilate him.
Lan Xiaobu had provoked this retaliation, and he wasn’t about to waste it.
If the heavens wanted him dead, they’d have to try harder.
Ignoring the damage to his body, he desperately absorbed the thunder essence.
Guided by the *Longevity Technique*, the energy coalesced into a single, overwhelming force that slammed into the Immortal Emperor bottleneck.
**Boom! Boom! Boom! Crack!**
His bones shattered in succession.
His flesh and skin were reduced to tatters under the lightning’s fury.
No longer just blood mist—Lan Xiaobu collapsed, his entire body a mangled wreck.
It had been a long time since he’d been so grievously injured.
But he endured.
To ascend to the Immortal Emperor Realm, he needed this tribulation’s power.
As the thunder faded, Lan Xiaobu’s heart grew heavier.
The nine waves had passed, yet he hadn’t broken through.
Worse, his injuries were nearly irreversible.
If an enemy appeared now, he’d be finished.
He, Lan Xiaobu, would become the first Immortal Sovereign in history to survive the *Nine-Nine Heavenly Tribulation* yet fail to ascend to the Immortal Emperor Realm.
Swallowing a drop of *Void Immortal Essence* and several pills, he prepared to find a place to recover when a terrifying, overwhelming aura swept over him.
Every hair on his body stood on end.
His scalp prickled, and even his primordial spirit trembled.
This was the aura of death.
He hadn’t been wrong—surviving the tribulation without ascending meant only one fate: annihilation.
How? It had to be tied to the heavenly laws.
With no time to waste, Lan Xiaobu tried to flee into the *Cosmic Dimension Matrix*.
But the laws of heaven bound him tightly—he couldn’t enter.
The universe itself was determined to erase this anomaly.
Lan Xiaobu nearly cursed aloud.
The *Silent God Valley* had existed for countless years, with countless cultivators absorbing divine spiritual energy.
When they ascended to Immortal Emperor, why hadn’t they faced such punishment? Yet after just a few decades of cultivation, he was subjected to this merciless retribution?
If only his cultivation were higher—he’d drag the architect of these laws out and demand answers.
The aura of death drew closer.
With no other choice, Lan Xiaobu weakly summoned the *Cycle Cauldron* to shield himself.
Just as the cauldron enveloped him, a thunderbolt a full meter in diameter crashed down.
It had been aimed directly at his head, but the *Cycle Cauldron* took the blow instead.
The terrifying energy radiated outward from the cauldron’s surface.
Already crippled, Lan Xiaobu could only cough up mouthfuls of blood.
Without the *Cycle Cauldron*, he would have died several times over.
Now, he could only pray that no more such strikes would come.
Surviving one was a miracle—a second would be the end.
After a while, sensing no further danger, Lan Xiaobu cautiously began circulating the *Longevity Technique* to heal.
The moment his cultivation technique activated, his meridians and sea of consciousness roared to life.
Pure thunder essence flooded his entire being.
Even without actively striving for a breakthrough, the Immortal Emperor bottleneck crumbled effortlessly.
Seizing the opportunity, Lan Xiaobu accelerated the *Longevity Technique’s* circulation.
A resonant *Dao chime* echoed through his being.
His entire body underwent a transcendent sublimation.
The *Cycle Cauldron* seemed saturated with pure thunder essence, which Lan Xiaobu voraciously absorbed.
His sea of consciousness expanded wildly, his meridians stretched infinitely, and the immortal energy in his dantian emptied as it transformed.
Success!
Overjoyed, Lan Xiaobu didn’t dare slacken.
He continued refining his foundation to stabilize his newfound Immortal Emperor cultivation.
Never had he imagined he’d ascend to Immortal Emperor inside a cauldron.
But in the end, breaking through was all that mattered.
His injuries rapidly healed as his cultivation solidified.
---
**"So this is the Leviathan Ruins Sea?"** Standing atop her flying artifact, Luo Caisi stared in awe at the sight before her.
It was her first time seeing an endless ocean in the void.
The vastness of the universe was truly wondrous.
Beside her, Jia Yunkong let out a relieved sigh.
After decades of travel, they had finally reached the Leviathan Ruins Sea.
Now, they just needed to reach the Liang Family’s territory.
**"Yes, this is the Leviathan Ruins Sea. Normally, the journey from my island would take seventy to eighty years. Fortunately, my flying artifact is quite fast, so we made it in just over forty. The *Kunpeng* would’ve been slower—even if Fellow Daoist Lan urged Liang Changxu to push it to the limit, they’d only be arriving now, or perhaps still en route. Of course, if Fellow Daoist Lan used his own flying artifact, he might’ve arrived decades earlier."** Jia Yunkong explained, pride evident in his voice when speaking of his flying treasure.
**"The sea looks so calm,"** Gudao remarked.
Jia Yunkong chuckled. **"That’s because you’re not inside it. For newcomers, the survival rate in the Leviathan Ruins Sea is barely ten percent."**
He didn’t mention that without his guidance, Luo Caisi and Gudao might never have found this place—let alone reached the Liang Family.
**"The sea is so vast. Reaching the Liang Family must still take some time, right?"** Luo Caisi asked.
Jia Yunkong nodded. **"Indeed. If we tried flying directly there, even with me leading, our chances of survival would be slim. But I know a safer route. Three months from here, we’ll reach *Leviathan Immortal Market*. From there, we can take a teleportation array straight to the Liang Family’s domain."**
**"Leviathan Immortal Market?"** Gudao’s eyes lit up. **"Island Master Jia, there are markets in the Leviathan Ruins Sea?"**
**"Naturally, and not just one. But this one is special,"** Jia Yunkong replied. **"The Leviathan Ruins Sea is ruled by six major powers: the *Great Kun Immortal Palace*, the *Boundless Market City*, the *Three Immortals Hall*, *Luanjiao Island*, *Leviathan Immortal Market*, and *Dragon Roar Valley*. As you can tell, the market ranks fifth. No one dares to cause trouble there, making it one of the few safe places in the sea."**
*(That’s all for today’s update.
Goodnight, friends! The next chapter will be posted after midnight—no requests for monthly tickets this time.)*
*(End of Chapter)*