1 Ascension

In the throne hall of the Divine Palace, sitting on the throne was a handsome youth with looks that would make anyone jealous, overlooking 100 people kneeling before him with a kind but at the same time a frightening gaze. He may appear to be a weak young man but he was none other than the celestial emperor. He had lived for thousands of years and he stood above everyone else in the worlds of Kriliran. Even all the apex experts combined could not make him display his full strength.

But that is not the shocking part in this scene, the people kneeling in front of him were all overlords wherever they went. But right now it looked like they wanted to cry. These 100 people were the Celestial Legion personally trained by the Celestial Emperor himself from the very beginning. Not all of them had amazing talents some of them had no talent at all but he still managed to make them stand above everyone except him. People couldn't rise above him because no one can match his talent.

But for the past three thousand years, all of them have reached the highest possible cultivation that is known to mankind and have been unable to advance since then. To pass his time, the Celestial Emperor would spend time in the mortal world and would travel all-around learning all the possible things there is. He would also destroy all kinds of evil sects and organizations that try to rise. But now that he has done everything that can be done, he was bored and called them all and said one sentence that made all of them want to cry.

"I am going to try to break the firmament and ascend." he declared.

The plane they resided in right now was the highest plane anyone can ever reach. There is no higher plane they can go to. It was not that no one has tried. There have been a lot of people before who believed this not the highest plane and tried to breakthrough once they reached the peak stage of the cultivation but something terrifying always followed. Humans at their cultivation level will always have to face a tribulation when they ascend. But the one that occurs when some tries to break through at this stage would bring along a calamity, not a tribulation. Whenever someone tried to break through it will be followed by the loss of billions of peak stage cultivators and mortal who were in the ten thousand kilometer radius.

The tribulation that descends when they reached the peak stage cultivation was not even one percent the strength of the calamity that would occur normally. And that was when normal experts try to ascend. All tribulation's strength depends on the strength of the one trying to ascend. So if the Celestial Emperor did try to ascend and fail, it might as well end all life that is known. So they wanted to stop him but could not bring themselves to try. All the people in the room trained in different styles of fighting and had at least one other specialty and it was all taught by the man sitting in front of them. After a long silence, a lady with a seductive body stood up and did a respectful salute.

"Your Majesty, we know that you are bored and want to see what is beyond the firmament and we would like to follow you and do that as well. But what about the people living here and the lower planes. Once you leave this cosmos will fall into chaos." she said in a slightly hesitant tone. All of them believed that he will be able to withstand the calamity that will follow, but they were worried about all the vile people that will try to take advantage of his absence.

"I have removed all roots of evil and destroyed all evil cultivation paths there is in the myriad worlds. I have spent three thousand years helping them and live a peaceful life. If they choose to forsake peace because of greed, I don't think they are worth saving. I have lived for five thousand years and helped them for four thousand years. I have abstained from having a life of my own for them. If they refuse to live by the way I have taught them, why should I bother anymore? I have already decided. I have made preparations for the tribulation as well. No one outside the Celestial Palace will be affected. In the end, I am still trying to save them instead of assuring my safety." said the youth in a tone that cannot be defied and sighed at the greedy cultivators trying to fight because of small profits.

At this time another middle-aged man stood up while holding his spear and did a respectful bow. His body oozed might without him even trying. "Since you have decided to leave we will follow you to wherever you go teacher," he said in a dignified manner.

The youth looked at him for a long time before sighing. As he was about to reject him, all the others stood as one said "We live and die for you alone, Your Majesty. The Celestial Legion is an empty shell without you. If you refuse to take us with you, then end our life before you go."

After saying this all of them half kneeled and dropped there weapons to the side before extending their heads as if offering it to him. Seeing this scene the youth's eyes turned extremely cold and a sudden golden light burst forth from him covering the entire palace. Even the whole plane could feel the wrath of the Celestial Empire and everyone started to cower in fear and wondered who has offended the Emperor. But all the people inside the hall, even though they were shivering in fright, still held resolute in their will and stayed in their position.

The youth sighed once again and contained his might before saying "Very well then. Follow me to the ascension stage."

He then led all his followers and went straight to the highest floor in the palace. There a huge formation with all kinds of precious materials was laid out. This was a defense and containment formation personally created by the Celestial Emperor and nothing could top this formation. He then said "Take the Dragon formation and execute the Tail Swallowing maneuver. Do not stop no matter what! Begin."

The youth stood in the center of the formation while the Celestial Legion executed a series of moves that made it look like the world was ending but at the same time created a mesmerizing scene. Then the youth sat cross-legged and began to recite an incantation. This was his cultivation mantra. Anyone who heard this can be enlightened. Even a stone might come to life from hearing this sutra.

But right now the sky above the Celestial Palace started to change. All the apex experts in the world immediately turned towards the Celestial Palace floating in the sky. They were all alarmed because they knew a tribulation was coming. And this one is going to be on a scale they can never imagine. All of them wanted to run far away but knew they can go nowhere. They knew that this time the Celestial Emperor is trying to break the firmament from just the scale of the tribulation.

But they had underestimated the might of this tribulation. After all, it was not only the Celestial Emperor trying to break through but his 100 followers as well. Endless lightning gathered in the sky while all kinds of disasters started to occur all over the myriad worlds. It appeared as if everything was going to be destroyed.

Suddenly a bolt of lightning descended from the sky and struck the Celestial Palace but it disappeared as soon as it came. Everyone was dumbfounded by this development.

'Were we mistaken? Was this not a tribulation?'

But no sooner than this thought occurred to them, a boom followed that made all of them go deaf and some weak-willed people were on the death throes. But a faint golden shield kept them all alive. Suddenly countless lighting started to descend on the Celestial Palace but none of them had any effect. After what appeared to be days, the lightning stopped descending and thunder also stopped. At this point except for the apex experts, all of them had fainted. And even the apex expert only hanging on by a thread of consciousness. They wanted to witness what happens when someone breaks the firmament. No one thought the Celestial Emperor would fail. If he had, all of them would have died.

Just as they were about to fall unconscious a voice boomed in everyone's head.

"I am leaving this plane with the Celestial Legion. I don't know what exists beyond the firmament and I don't know if I will be able to return. Don't stray from the path of light."

Just as everyone heard this, a crack appeared in the sky and a golden light followed by 100 dark red light flew into the crack before the crack closed. Every apex expert sighed as they watched this, as they knew a period of chaos and destruction is about to occur.

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As all the apex experts were worried about the future of Kriliran, 101 shooting stars appeared in the sky of Nathinrel, a universe that existed outside of Kriliran. And suddenly 101 people, on different corners of the planet, who were in the state of near-death opened their eyes filled with intelligence beyond their age, confused.