Chapter Text
Kali stood in the middle of the Tribulation Plaza, like others did before. While looking at the sky, she wondered if she should transform as Cecile did. However, unlike Cecile, Kali couldn't fly in her beast form, at least not to the point of being useful in battle. 'So… do I fight in my human form?'
Thinking of what she saw from Cecile's battle, the Heavenly Lightning Soldiers were swift and powerful; if she lost mobility, she would have trouble overcoming their attacks. The size difference also meant nothing. She saw first-hand how their swords sliced through Cecile's defenses like a knife through butter.
Kali's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. 'If I'm to fight in my human form, should I summon my creatures before I challenge the heavens or after?' The question hung in the air, and Kali knew she needed guidance. She turned to Valeria, her trusted companion, and asked, 'What do you think, Valeria?'
Valeria answered from her soul. 'While you are breaking through, maintaining the connection with the summons will get complicated. Some of them might get unsummoned, and the energy might even be backlash. It is never recommended to summon your creatures before the Tribulation. But you can summon me.'
Kali asked. 'Do you think I should get your help in every tribulation?'
Valeria affirmed it. 'Yes. If it were an ordinary tribulation, like those you did while climbing the body cultivation realms, I would prefer it if you did them alone. Moreover, Heavenly Tribulations are usually quite gentle because of your nature.' Valeria continued. 'Still, crossing three paths at once is not easy, regardless of how strong you are or how gentle the heavens are.'
Kali asked. 'But… If the tribulation is gentle, do I receive fewer benefits than the others?'
Valeria chuckled. 'Didn't we answer this question before?'
Kali nodded and knew that it wasn't the case in her single tribulations. The Heavenly Tribulation was more of pure nourishment for her.
For example, if Cecile's lightning bolts carried 80% destructive power and 20% nourishment, Kali's lightning bolts carried 40% destructive power and 60% nourishment.
Of course, the numbers were not like that, as it was much more complex than a few percentages. But that was the gist of it.
Valeria reassured her with a soft tone. 'Even in multiple stacked tribulations, the same principle applies. Don't worry. You will receive as much nourishment as Cecile."
Kali moved her energy as they spoke and summoned the three-meter-tall spirit. Valeria smiled and urged her. "Go on, Kali. Let's start."
Kali nodded and sat cross-legged, closing her eyes. She focused on her Dantin, and then she began the breakthrough process.
Similar to the rest, her energies surged as they attracted Life, Nature, and Wood energies toward her body. The tribulation plaza's rock slabs had vegetation slowly growing in between, creating a peculiar scenery.
If one didn't know what had happened and arrived, it would look like an abandoned location that had been overtaken by flora.
Kali took longer than Cecile to trigger the tribulation. The main reason was that Kali was not only going to break through her realms but also about to gain her fourth tail.
Once she approached the fourth day of meditation, Kali took out a few pill bottles and opened them all with her energy. From them, seven pills floated before her. After much thinking and practice, she had calculated that she needed all of these to compensate for the effects Yasenia's Blood Essence drop had.
5 of them were peak-level Heaven Ranked pills, while the other two had already crossed that realm and become something like a quasi-transcendence realm pill.
They were her best creations by far to date.
Valeria looked at Kali and asked. "Are you sure you don't want to ask her for it?"
Kali shook her head. "We've discussed this before. If I can't cross these hurdles with my own strength and rely on Yasenia, there might come a time when I will not be able to use Yasenia's help. I want to know how to provide for myself, especially for something as important as purifying my bloodline and allowing more tails to grow."
Valeria didn't stop her anymore and saw how Kali opened her mouth and moved the seven pills into her mouth one by one. The pills dissolved the second they touched her tongue and flowed inside her one after another.
Their energies and medicinal properties quickly spread through her entire body, filling her with energy and power.
It was enough to feel bloated and about to burst. However, that was the objective. The focus of these seven pills was a combination of purifying impurities while giving her lots of energy and stimulating growth.
When all of them combined, Kali's body was bloated to the limits, and using this overwhelming amount of strength, Kali called for the tribulation and broke through.
RUMBLE!
The clouds gathered on top of Kali, and even though they looked terrifying, they weren't as powerful compared to Cecile's. However, Kali didn't dare underestimate them because she saw the lightning bolts start colliding with each other.
Kali didn't lose a second, and she used her overflowing energy to summon every creature she could during this time.
Valeria stood by her side, looking skywards solemnly. One thing she would never do is take lightly the Heavenly Tribulation. During her long years, she had seen many peerless geniuses fall to them because they were overconfident in their tools.
Thankfully, Valeria had never experienced losing her master to tribulations, and she didn't want to start now. When Kali finished summoning an army reaching close to 1000, Valeria tapped the floor with the butt of her staff, sending a powerful energy pulse through all the creatures.
Their dull eyes were instantly lit up with a green glow while their dull postures sharpened as every being gained essential intelligence.
Kali didn't say and unsheathed her sword, while covering her body in a wooden armor. Then, her flower field unleashed, covering a large part of the plaza with gorgeous flowers.
By the time the eleventh and final Heavenly Lightning Soldier was formed, Kali had also finished her own preparations.
Pointing at the soldiers in the sky, she spoke with a low and imposing tone. "We'll deal with those, prepare."
Her words made all the plant creatures surrounding her cry with a battle-hungry tone, creating a weird cacophony of sounds.
'Any parasitic or poison is useless against the heavens, so I'll need to use pure tactics and overwhelm them with strength. I've summoned most of my creatures as ranged, so let's bombard them while a few powerful ones keep them busy."
Her tails waved, sending her creature-specific buffs onto a few creatures at the front, and then she tapped the ground with her feet to summon roots around herself. 'The Heavenly Lightning Soldier will most likely ignore the army and try to fight me, so I need to be prepared.'
RUMBLE!
The sound of thunder came from the first soldier as it prepared the longsword and straightened it. After the gesture was made, Kali tensed as she saw his foot stomping on the air and shooting down like a falling star right in her direction.
Kali didn't panic and waved her hand. The previously prepared roots shot skyward and tried to latch onto it. Yet, they were too slow to even touch the soldier, who managed to approach right above her.
Even though it had no expression, it felt as if it was mocking her, managing to close the gap this easily.
Kali didn't flinch and prepared her sword. However, while doing so, several plant creatures shot their attacks and created their defensive methods right above her head.
Arrows, seeds, roots, spears, leaves, and many more projectiles filled the sky above Kali, leaving it with no choice but to stop to block.
The second it slowed down, Kali's eyes flashed and roots much quicker than before shot from the ground and latched around the Heavenly Lightning Solider.
One melee shield-bearing dryad that had been buffed by several skills jumped with a roar and impacted her shield against the Heavenly Lightning Solider.
BOOM!
The soldier cratered like a cannonball, and several plant creatures instantly swarmed it, continuously launching entangling attacks, ranged attacks, and some of the resistant melee fighters also approached.
In just 3 minutes, the Heavenly Lightning Soldier disappeared. Kali used her entire time to replenish soldiers. Speaking of which, the reason for not summoning more was her limit as a cultivator.
While summons were independent to a certain extent, the intelligence they could reach during low-level realms was minimal. Yet, as luck would have it, Kali wasn't alone.
Her eyes moved to her side, where her trusty Valeria stood tall, her flower dress waving with the wind generated by the fight, and her face calmly and coldly analyzing the situation. She was the personification of gentle elegance and power.
Valeria spoke softly. "Don't get distracted, Kali. A single mistake can get you killed."
Kali snapped out of her daze and nodded with a serious face. "Understood."
The first Heavenly Lightning Soldier didn't cause much damage, killing about 13 creatures of the army while injuring many more.
Even before the battle ended, Kali had already replenished the numbers and used her healing auras to renew her army.
Two of them approached next, using their ridiculous speed. They both followed opposite arcs as they rushed directly at Kali.
The fox woman looked on with calm and waved her hand again, spreading an energy pulse with her orders.
Once they were in range, Kali's army got to work, throwing another rain of projectiles and skills to entangle and push them down. However, this time, there were a few complications.
After all, the army was separated in half, so their efficiency was much more lacking than when the entire group of plant creatures focused on one of them.
Even then, neither Kali nor Valeria needed to move, yet her army whittled down both powerful creatures with methodical and constant efforts.
This time, Kali's numbers took a hit. Their sword swing speed was truly too quick, so several plant creatures were killed before they could retreat. The several casualties amounted to a tenth of her army.
Kali muttered. "They are really strong… I still need to overcome two rounds with four each. Thankfully, I have a bit of breathing room in between rounds, so I've been able to replenish most mu numbers."
Her face tensed when four of the eight remaining Heavenly Lightning Soldiers readied their weapons and took a simultaneous step forward.
They streaked through the sky and approached them at a similar speed to the previous ones. With four of them coming, Kali clutched her sword and prepared to meet with one of them.
She would leave the other three to her army while she pushed back against one of them. After all, while she was an army-based fighter, Kali was not weak at all.
Everyone moved, and Kali shot forward with elegance, locking onto the only Heavenly Lightning Soldier that made it through and swinging her weapon.
"Let's dance, Heavenly Tribulation."
