He thought for a moment and dialed Luo Tiance's number.
"Has your closed-door cultivation ended?"
"Is the mysterious cold from Changbai Mountain spreading outward?" Luo Yu asked without beating around the bush.
"It has always been contained within a range of three hundred miles."
"That's good."
Luo Yu breathed a sigh of relief; if the cold spread and affected the common people, he would have to go and check it out immediately.
Others might not be able to interact with it, but that might not be the case for him.
Moreover, the White-Haired Goddess was related to the secrets inside the Bronze Gate in the First Emperor's Mausoleum at the foot of Mount Li, and he couldn't just sit idly by.
If they found the White-Haired Goddess, all they would need then would be to find the special creature that crawled out of the red coffin.
Since the cold hadn't spread, it could wait until after the world competition to take a look.
Otherwise, if he got trapped over there, or injured, Our Great Xia's world competition might be devastated by the God's Children from other regions.
"Grandfather, are you on the roof? Why is the wind so loud over there?" Luo Yu asked, puzzled, as he came back to his senses.
Luo Tiance said, "I am preparing for tribulation."
"Tribulation???"
Luo Yu was flabbergasted: "What tribulation? You're not talking about a breakthrough, are you?"
"Yes, the suppression of the Power of Heaven and Earth has loosened, and grandfather's opportunity for a breakthrough has come," Luo Tiance said with a hearty laugh.
"Sss—"
Luo Yu took a deep breath, "You're about to break through, and you still have the leisure to talk to me on the phone?"
"It doesn't matter, a mere heavenly tribulation isn't worth mentioning," Luo Tiance said, appearing very dismissive.
Luo Yu's mouth twitched.
How could this old man act cooler than he did?
"Hang up."
He quickly ended the call and looked out the window to see nothing but darkness outside.
He thought it was the middle of the night until he glanced at the time on his phone again.
Damn.
Twelve noon?
The sky is this dark?
This was the first time he had witnessed such an unusual sight, so he immediately opened the window of the third-floor bedroom and vaulted out.
"Whoosh!"
Luo Yu hovered in mid-air and looked up, instantly stunned.
The sky was pitch black, the sun's brilliance completely obscured, with purple light flickering in the dark sky, as if signaling the approach of the end of the world.
He acutely sensed that the Power of Heaven and Earth was undergoing some kind of special change.
It felt as if certain shackles pressing down on him were gradually loosening.
This was a sensation he hadn't felt on ordinary days.
It's like wearing leg weights for a long time and getting used to their heft.
But the moment you take them off, your legs feel a special kind of lightness.
Now was that moment.
The old man wouldn't possibly be undergoing tribulation within the base city.
Luo Yu scanned the sky, but there was no special disturbance within a hundred miles.
He extended his God's Eye across thousands of miles, still no sign of Luo Tiance.
However, he could vaguely see special purple lightning flitting within the dark clouds.
Luo Yu speculated that this phenomenon might have already enveloped the globe; anyone who wanted to break the shackles of the First Rank Summit would need to be struck by these converging purple bolts.
It was just unfortunate that he already possessed an inner world, and without even a Dao Ze World, according to the current cultivation system, he was considered a Third-Grade Martial Artist.
Breaking through to the First Rank Summit was out of the question.
Such a significant event, the authorities would definitely want to inform the public beforehand to avoid panic.
Luo Yu checked his phone for the latest announcement, and there it was: the public was advised not to panic as the suppression of Heaven and Earth was loosening.
The peak powerhouses of Our Great Xia were going to live broadcast their breakthrough from outside the Kunlun Mountain Range.
In the live stream, the masters of Great Xia were perched on a mountaintop, their robes billowing in the wind, their expressions solemn, their solemnity tinged with longing and anticipation.
Luo Tiance and the other veteran powerhouses had been suppressed for too long.
Finally facing an opportunity to break through, they were naturally extremely excited.
There was no chance he would watch the live stream, not in this lifetime; Luo Yu took off towards the western reaches of Great Xia.
The Kunlun Ruins.
The most sacred and prosperous land of Great Xia, known as the Divine Mountain of a Thousand Ancestors, the place where, according to legend, ten thousand immortals lived during the ancient times.
The Great Xia's peak powerhouses chose this place because, firstly, it was rarely visited by humans, avoiding the risk of innocent people being affected by the tribulation.
Secondly, because the strong men of Great Xia held a special reverence for this place, believing that if there really were unknown beings here, they would bless them. It was seen as a good omen.
Lastly, because ferocious beasts dwelled and flourished here, but now, with the descent of the tribulation, they sensed it instinctively and fled in fear.
This gave the powerhouses an opportunity to eliminate them one by one.
Oddly-shaped rocks jutted out on the mountain peak.
Luo Tiance, one of the Eight Great Family Heads of Great Xia, along with four great school principals, was conspicuously present.
And then there were a few rising stars.
Cao Potian, Zhao Yunliu, Xiang Kunlun, and Liu Sheng Tan, the young masters of the Top Four Families.
As for Qin Qi and others, they were somewhat lacking and had not yet reached the realm of breakthrough.
There were also several old men present.
"Elder Luo, has your grandson ended his retreat?" Shi Kai asked, "Isn't he coming to transcend the tribulation and make a breakthrough with us?"
Luo Tiance shook his head, "He hasn't even condensed his Dao Ze World yet, what tribulation would he transcend?"
"Watching us break through won't gain him any experience. With the competition approaching, it's better for him to rest easy."
A twitch formed at the corner of Shi Kai's mouth.
"Strange, too strange."
"I feel like your grandson could beat me up as if I were his son, yet his realm just won't increase. It's really absurd."
"You're asking me? I have no idea either," replied Luo Tiance, shaking his head.
"Crack."
A special sound, like the breaking of chains, echoed between heaven and earth, and in that instant, everyone felt as though some oppressive force that had weighed upon them had vanished.
Ordinary people barely noticed the sensation, but First Rank Summit strong persons felt it distinctly.
"Boom!"
The sky, obscured by dark clouds, resonated with thunder and lightning, as a purple Brontosaurus coiled itself within.
Everyone looked up.
Zhu Wushi, sensing something, laughed heartily, "Hahahaha, it seems my Thunder Tribulation is first to arrive!"
"I shall lead the way."
He soared into the sky and immediately released his Dao Ze World. Within it, dust swirled, and soldiers roared as if it were a desert battlefield, filled with an aura of stern slaughter.
The Dao Ze World expanded, growing to three hundred yards before stopping.
For a First Rank Summit strong person, cultivating the Dao Ze World meant the bigger the expansion, the more solid their foundation.
The newly initiated into the First Grade could barely manage forty yards.
From this, it was evident that Zhu Wushi, as one of the Eight Great Family Heads of Great Xia, was truly deserving of his reputation.
"Come on!"
Zhu Wushi stood proud, awaiting the descent of the heavenly tribulation.
Other summit strong persons also watched closely, hoping to absorb experience for their own forthcoming tribulations.
"Roar."
A purple lightning dragon took form and struck down from the ninth heaven.
Heeding the guidance of his sixth sense, Zhu Wushi didn't resort to any special maneuvers but relied strictly on his Dao Ze World to withstand the assault.
"Boom, boom."
Under the onslaught of the lightning dragon, Zhu Wushi's Dao Ze World grew increasingly smaller.
But the shrinkage didn't imply destruction and ruin; instead, under the strength of the lightning dragon, his Dao Ze World was progressively compressed amidst destruction and reformation.
His power became more condensed.
Two hundred yards.
One hundred and fifty yards.
Thirty yards.
In the end, Zhu Wushi's Dao Ze World was compressed by the heavenly lightning into a yellow orb of light.
And his complexion had turned utterly pallid.
The toll of continuously repairing the Dao Ze World on his own vital essence was indeed massive.
Fortunately, the heavenly tribulation was nearly over, and his breakthrough was reaching its end.
He drew the compressed earthy yellow orb of light into his body.
In an instant.
Zhu Wushi's aura underwent a metamorphosis, fundamentally surpassing the First-Grade Realm.
He evolved towards a higher level.
"Transcendence Realm."
Luo Tiance gazed into the sky and nodded slightly.
Long ago, these peak strong persons had discerned a method for breaking through: using external forces to compress their maximally expanded Dao Ze Worlds and then absorbing them into their Dantians.
But with the suppression of Power of Heaven and Earth, even with a method, it was unachievable.
The likes of Shi Kai and others watched with eager eyes, ready to try for themselves.
And the nation's people, glued to their screens watching the live broadcast, erupted in cheers and jubilation.
With one more Transcendent Powerhouse, Great Xia gained an addition to its strength.
Now, citizens from the major powers had entered a competition to see which faction would have more First-grade Strong Persons breaking through.
"Our Great Xia's Principal Shi Kai, Principal Long Xiaoyun, Patriarch Cao, and the Zhao Family head have also broken through," they announced.
"Disgusting, those Takamanopara brats already have three in the Transcendence," someone complained.
"Damn it, what's going on with the Pantheon Temple? They already have eight Transcendent ones???"