13 Tribulation

A form of lightning used by the Heavens to smite and eradicate some of the vilest mortal life forms. Its purification power was absolutely unmatched among mortal tribulation lightnings.

Without waiting for Orion to finish reminiscing, the first bolt thundered down, like a God's judgement.

¡BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The laws of the world crumbled upon themselves, the concepts receded and the presence of any mortal dao was pushed away as everything within its path was reduced to mere cosmic ashes.

In a single strike, Orion had already shattered trillions of chains but that was barely a percent of what was to be done.

His skin felt like it was back within the Hells as his bones wildly rattled and he felt his organs nearly shutdown but he kept his sanity as his eyes blazed with flames of determination.

Though such a strike would've killed any mortal, Orion was anything but normal. His body alone, without cultivating, already matched the raw power of a peak second rate blood stage cultivator.

Using his dream influence, he gathered the remaining essence of the lightning and chains and immediately directed them to Vulkron.

In another instant, judgement fell again.

And again, and again, and again.

Chain after chain, strike after strike, Orion slowly unravelled the seemingly infinite amount of chains that bound his existence.

It seemed to rain down on him endlessly as it looked like the Heavens truly wanted to eradicate Orion.

Just like that, Orion was stricken Nine hundred million times.

Nine hundred million.

900,000,000.

Unlike anything ever seen before, Orion had broken through the entire realm in one go without taking any breaks as the pain he felt was indescribable to say the least.

The little bit of clarity he had could only be awed by the formidable amount of power he could feel flowing through his veins as the world around him felt fickle and fragile, something utterly inconceivable considering this was their Ancestral Land.

A world created by fusing trillions upon trillions of Chaos Heavens.

The laws of this land were so powerful even Saints would struggle to form major craters.

This didn't last long as his vision blurred and he passed out, a triumphant smile etched onto his face.

As he fell to the ground, the reality around him twisted and in another instant, Orion was safely cradled within his mother's warm arms.

Looking at his small face and burning body, Hera couldn't help but proudly smile. He had absolutely outdone their expectations.

Even if he hadn't managed to reach the very peak of the realm of priming, Hera had already prepared a pill for that. She didn't care about traditions at all. All that mattered to her was Orion.

Hera vanished and reappeared within one of their Heavenly springs as she gently submerged Orion into it, making sure to coat him with her qi so he didn't drown.

"We should've given him his Sky Knight at birth. If it wasn't for the clan's God shattering formation, Ori would've died." She said, the worry within her voice just as apparent as the pride within it.

"I couldn't have predicted he'd be such a troublemaker…" answered Eros with a sigh.

"He's exactly like you, if not a little less wild." She snapped at Eros.

"Anyways, did you notice the strange thing around his soul?" He shamelessly asked as he ignored her remark.

Looking deep into Orion soul space, a frown appeared on Hera's face as she noticed an oddity.

Around Orion's slumbering soul were arcs of obsidian lightning accompanied by wisps of dark blue flames. Both elements gave off an aura of tyranny as they actively mutated his soul.

"He already managed to form an innate phenomena, that's impressive. If he gets an appropriate bloodline for that lightning, he could eventually form a divine element." Said Eros in surprise.

"Though I wonder, where are those flames from?" He added.

"It's most likely a result from his time in Hell and the soul void…" she answered with a dark tone.

"I don't even know how he managed to keep his sanity as a mere mortal being tortured for so long. I can't even imagine…" she shakily said as her eyes became moist, a flood of emotion overtaking her.

Taking her into his embrace, Eros warmly smiled as he caressed her face.

"The kid's a tough one. He'll be alright."

——

A few days later, Orion woke within his bed, his veins full of power and vigour.

As he got out of bed, Orion's pupils couldn't help but constrict.

'This feels…'

'It's as if I was submerged in an endless sea of the thickest of liquids in existence but now…'

His simplest of movements seemed to make the space around him rattle and the natural qi streams disperse as he felt a form of freedom and power hard to describe.

Closing his eyes, Orion quickly took control of his new strength.

Later on, after stretching and tidying himself, Orion was ready to head out and keep cultivating.

"Slept well?" Asked Hera as she teleported into his room.

Her gaze rapidly trailed across his body, at speeds beyond what a mortal mind could fathom as she quickly assessed Orion's newfound power.

Her brow raised just as fast as she noticed how unusually tame Orion's physical power seemed to be but she quickly let the matter go as she remembered how adept Orion was at control of things.

"It's important you take breaks between your cultivation sessions and take the time to consolidate your foundation. For now you won't have to since you still have your past lives' benefits but at some point you'll need to take things one step at a time, okay?" She said seriously.

Stories of youths ruining their foundations due to impatience and carelessness were all too common.

Hearing this, Orion quickly nodded.

Satisfied with this, Hera continued.

"Anyways, before you resume your cultivation you'll need to choose your dao arts and artefacts. Let's go."

Placing her hand on his shoulder, they both vanished.

——

Somewhere within the Erebus' ancestral land, in a sealed realm where time held no meaning, stood a magnificent building.

Its towering white spires imposingly pierced into the Heavens and beyond as the myriad of crystals adorned on it shimmered like primordial stars.

The entrance of this magnificent building that reeked of ancientness and wisdom was guarded by the colossal statues of mythical beasts that seemed to blur the lines of the animate and inanimate.

Myriads of formations and runes that constantly shifted around could be observed as multiple scholars routinely teleported in and out of this building.

WHOOSH!

Hera and Orion arrived in front of this building as an awe inspiring sensation instantly overtook Orion.

"Welcome to our Clan archives."

Without waiting for Orion to close his gaping mouth, Hera walked in as she dragged her son by the hand.

As Orion entered the building, his shock only increased.

Ancient bookshelves, endlessly stretching into rows of infinite knowledge, carved with multiple ancient runic inscriptions that described mythical beings and tales.

Soft, ethereal sparks of light danced around, illuminating the faces of the clan's countless scholars as they either passionately debated or researched, their passion worn on their sleeve.

At focal points of the room existed glass boxes that seemed to contain forbidden ancient artefacts that related to the clan's history.

As a book nerd that had created his own knowledge gathering organisation, how could Orion not be awed by this?

"M-mom…is this place-"

"The result of our clan's search for knowledge that stretches up to the days of our first patriarches. Only the wisest and most worthy beings of our clan are allowed in here, even pillars need to undergo a diverse amount of trials to have free access. The knowledge you found in the library the other day is nothing but a speck of dust." She proudly said as she looked around, a beautiful smile etched onto her face.

"Wow…"

"As our son you'll have time to spend your days here but for now we have another place to be at, I just wanted to be the one to present you the place."

As they walked out, Orion's heart couldn't help tighten, the call of knowledge too overbearing. Taking a deep breath of air as he wiped the non existent tears that flowed down his face, he promised himself that he'd spend days here.

Having exited the clan archives, Hera waved her hand.

From the void, a gigantic beast, even larger than Vulkron, appeared as its presence shook the entire world.

With golden scales adorned by amethyst and crimson runes, this beast seemed to be a hybrid between all existing phoenixes and a primordial fire dragon.

It's multicoloured eyes locked onto Orion as he felt his heart stop and the blade of death rest upon his neck.

The beast's gaze pierced beyond Orion and reached Vulkron.

"Greetings, child. I am Vilgax, your father." Said Vilgax to Vulkron.

Though Orion didn't hear any response coming from Vulkron he knew they were having a telepathic conversation so he ignored Vilgax's gaze and joined his mother on its back.

"I didn't know you had a lifebond too, I thought they were from dad's bloodline?" Asked Orion as they travelled to their destination.

"Well, I only possess a lifebond because your father and I fused our bloodlines a long time ago."

"What?! How's that even possible?"

"Hehe, it's a long story. You'll find out in the future." She answered with a chuckle as memories of the past flashed across her mind.

"If you say so. Anyways, what are those dao arts you were talking about earlier?"