And then—slowly, ever so slowly—the door began to move.
Outside, the changes were impossible to ignore. The sky above his real body began to distort. A violent mana storm erupted, surrounding him like a raging hurricane.
The intensity of the mana was so immense that even some lower-ranked World-Building Beasts in the surrounding Endless Forest fled in panic, driven by primal fear. The air vibrated, humming with pressure that made it nearly impossible for ordinary beings to stand.
At last, 80% of the door had opened.
Another half hour crept by, until…
With a sound like the heavens being split apart, the colossal white door exploded into countless shining fragments, like glass breaking under divine pressure. These fragments did not vanish but instead flowed into his spiritual form, fusing with it… until they faded completely into him.
And then came the true beginning.
Just as the door shattered in the inner world, the sky above Origin Planet trembled. The calm before the storm ended.
The tribulation awoke.
High above the vast expanse of the Endless Forest, a massive swirl of black clouds began forming, drawn to the epicenter where Kallus's father sat, still motionless in midair. The clouds churned with a malevolent, godlike force. Golden lightning crackled in their depths.
And then, the sky roared like a beast being shaken from slumber.
The tribulation clouds expanded rapidly, forming an overwhelming vortex that covered tens of thousands of kilometers. According to calculations from the Void Fleet's scanners, over 5% of the Origin Planet's surface was now beneath the influence of the Genesis Tribulation Clouds.
This… was no ordinary tribulation.
This was the birth cry of a cultivator ascending beyond realms—the kind that made even ancient beasts tremble, and awakened the slumbering laws of reality itself.
The Laws of Reality—those ever-present, all-encompassing truths that governed every corner of existence—were always there. Silent. Elusive. Beyond the reach of mortal comprehension.To sense them was rare.To glimpse them was divine.To touch them… was something only those on the cusp of ascension could dream of.
And yet, in this moment, things were different.
Due to the immense pressure gathered by the Genesis Law Realm tribulation clouds, those hidden threads of cosmic law—normally imperceptible—were slowly becoming visible, like faint silver lines webbing the sky above.
To the vast majority present, they remained unknowable and invisible, but Kallus could see them clearly.
Like a divine net cast over the heavens, the laws of reality shimmered with hidden purpose.
He alone, with his unique soul constitution and perception honed through countless trials, could see through the veil. He understood what was happening: as the tribulation clouds reached critical mass, the veil between mortal understanding and cosmic truth was thinning.
Soon, if his father succeeded in overcoming the trial and began drawing the Origin Infusion, even the others might catch a glimpse—perhaps enough to inspire lifetimes of enlightenment.
Just as that thought passed through Kallus's mind, the tribulation clouds stopped expanding. They had reached their limit.
A terrifying stillness fell over the region.
A bolt of white lightning arced through the clouds, snaking across thousands of kilometers, its force so pure that it momentarily shattered the sound barrier across vast stretches of the Origin Planet.
One arc. Then another. Then dozens.
Each time, the ground trembled, and the very air seemed to ripple.
But then something changed.
The lightning began to shift—its color fading from pristine white into a deep, ominous crimson. The shift marked something profound: The Judgment Phase had begun.And the color… was no accident.
Red Lightning—the manifestation of the Law of Destruction fused with the Law of Thunder.A deadly combination.
The skies grew darker, and from every corner of the tribulation cloud, arcs of red lightning began to twist and converge, slowly forming a massive orb of destructive energy at the very center.
The orb pulsed—gathering power, condensing judgment.
And then—without warning—it changed shape.
The orb twisted, expanded, and solidified into a terrifying figure:A massive, crackling Eastern Dragon, composed entirely of red lightning. Its body coiled and snapped like a living storm, and its glowing eyes burned with divine fury.
With a deafening roar that split the heavens, the dragon opened its jaws wide and descended, streaking down like a judgmental spear toward Kallus's father, who remained unmoving in midair—eyes closed, completely focused, still cycling his cultivation technique.
The first strike… had begun.
The red lightning dragon, immense and crackling with destructive force, descended like divine retribution. It streaked through the sky at impossible speed, a living embodiment of thunder and devastation. With a bone-shaking roar, it lunged—its colossal jaws aimed to crush William, Kallus's father, with the overwhelming brute force of divine judgment.
But just as its lightning-fanged jaws closed in…
A faint white barrier flared to life.
It shimmered softly, floating mere centimeters above William's seated form, like a divine cocoon of serenity amidst chaos. The dragon's full, terrifying bite landed squarely on the shield—yet William remained unmoved, his eyes still closed, his body still in perfect meditation.
Then the true nature of the barrier revealed itself.
It didn't just block the attack… it absorbed it. Redirected it.
The very energy that sought to annihilate William was now turned back upon its origin. The glowing lines of the white barrier pulsed once, and—
A deafening explosion erupted as the redirected force slammed into the dragon itself. The red lightning beast let out a final, tortured shriek before it shattered into countless crimson arcs, detonating in a storm of raw power.
The explosion was blinding.
Waves of destructive light surged outward, striking the lush fields and ancient trees of the forest below. Beautiful green meadows were scorched into craters, earth torn asunder as if clawed by the gods themselves. A dozen square kilometers of landscape were instantly transformed into a battlefield of ash, smoke, and twisted glass-like debris.
And yet, amid the chaos…
William remained still—calm as stone. His cultivation technique cycled ceaselessly, drawing in the primal energy of the storm, preparing for the next assault. Above him, the tribulation clouds rumbled again, now angrier than before—as if enraged their first trial had failed.
And this… was only the beginning.
Just like before, a sphere of red heavenly thunder began to condense high within the swirling tribulation clouds. But this time—it was twice as large, crackling with violent arcs of raw destructive energy.
From within the sphere emerged not one, but two heads of the same terrifying eastern dragon—crafted entirely from divine red lightning. Their serpentine bodies formed rapidly, merging with thunder and power as they let out a synchronized, furious roar that shook the skies.
Their eyes—burning orbs of crimson lightning—locked onto William, who remained unmoved in his meditative posture below. Without hesitation, they surged downward with terrifying speed, diving like twin harbingers of divine fury.
In perfect unison, the two lightning dragons separated mid-dive, curving from opposite sides—left and right—attempting a pincer strike, aiming to crush William from both flanks in one devastating blow.
From the outside, it seemed inescapable. Kallus, standing alongside Luna, Amila, and the thousand-strong elite gathered there, felt their hearts tighten. Even for a Genesis Law Realm tribulation, this was beyond brutal.
Just as the twin dragons collided with their target—
The white barrier activated once again.
Yet this time, it shook violently under the pressure. Cracks shimmered across its surface, trembling under the double assault of divine lightning beasts. The sheer power of the strike was leagues above the previous one. For a breathless moment, it looked like the barrier might shatter.
Quivering, bending, but refusing to break, the divine construct absorbed the brunt of both lightning dragons' force. Then, in a flash of light—
The barrier pulsed and released all the absorbed energy, turning it inward toward the two beasts.
In the next instant, both dragons exploded, their forms detonating in a blinding storm of crimson lightning. Thunder cracked like divine drums. The sky lit up blood red as shockwaves tore through the clouds, scattering mana across the battlefield.
The ground below trembled, trees in the distance were uprooted, and winds surged outward like a heavenly hurricane.
Amid the roaring chaos, as smoke and light faded—
William remained… seated.
Eyes still closed. Breath steady. A pillar of calm in a storm of destruction.
And above, the tribulation clouds… began to churn once more.
The next trial was coming.
And as the tribulation continued, the skies grew darker, the clouds denser, and the anger of the heavens more pronounced. The third trial descended—this time, it wasn't just two dragons, but three divine beasts.
Two were the same massive eastern dragons, formed from roaring arcs of red lightning, and the third—a majestic phoenix, blazing in crimson fire and lightning—descended beside them like a trinity of heavenly judgment.
Together, they plunged toward William like divine executioners.