THE FALLEN CELESTIAL SOVEREIGN: I AWAKENED AFTER ELEVEN LIFE

Chapter 7: The First Heavenly Tribulation

Lightning descended with the fury of a world determined to erase a single man. The crimson bolt tore through layers of ancient stone, reducing the ceiling of the underground sanctuary to molten fragments. The air exploded with unbearable pressure as the Heavenly Tribulation reached for Mo Tianyu's life. He could have dodged. Every instinct inherited from eleven lifetimes urged him to survive. Instead...He took a step forward.

Then another. He walked directly toward the descending lightning. The mountain trembled. Even the spiritual veins buried beneath the earth recoiled as though they could not comprehend what they were witnessing. The bolt struck. For an instant, Mo Tianyu disappeared within a sphere of blinding crimson light. Pain, unlike anything he had ever endured, tore through his body. His flesh cracked. His bones groaned. Every vein felt as though it had been filled with molten stars. Yet beneath the agony, another sensation emerged. Warmth.

The Origin Divine Blood awakened. Golden currents surged through his restored meridians, meeting the invading lightning head-on. Instead of resisting, his blood devoured it. The violent crimson energy gradually turned gold. The impossible was happening. The Heavenly Tribulation was becoming nourishment. Mo Tianyu gritted his teeth. So this...""...is what my bloodline was meant to do."

A second bolt descended before the first had faded. Then a third. Each strike was stronger than the last. The mountain shook so violently that ancient cliffs collapsed, while forgotten formations hidden beneath the earth activated one after another, attempting to contain the overwhelming force. The Primordial Spirit Crystal had vanished, but its final gift remained.

The Origin Heaven Scripture guided every circulation of energy. Rather than defending himself, Mo Tianyu refined the lightning itself. His body became a furnace. His blood became the flame. His soul became the anvil. Each strike forged him into something closer to the being he had once been. Golden symbols slowly appeared beneath his skin. At first, they resembled tiny cracks of light. Soon they spread across his arms, chest, and back like living rivers, forming intricate runes older than any known cultivation art.

The runes pulsed in harmony with his heartbeat. Every pulse made the surrounding lightning weaker. Every heartbeat made him stronger. Far above, the black clouds churned angrily. The Heavenly Dao seemed unable to accept what it was seeing. The punishment meant to destroy him had become his greatest source of strength. Another thunderclap split the sky.

This time, a spear of violet lightning descended. Mo Tianyu raised his head. The spear struck directly between his eyes. His vision turned white. For one terrifying moment, he believed he had finally reached his limit. Then...A voice echoed from somewhere beyond Heaven itself. It was neither male nor female.Ancient.Boundless.Calm."Heaven cannot kill its rightful ruler."

The words resonated through his soul. The violet lightning dissolved into countless streams of golden light that flowed toward his forehead. An unfamiliar heat gathered there. His entire body trembled. Slowly, a radiant symbol emerged between his eyebrows. It resembled an unopened eye formed from intertwining celestial runes. The mark pulsed once. The world changed. Mo Tianyu opened his eyes. Nothing looked the same.

The mountain no longer appeared to be made merely of stone. Every cliff, every tree, every stream of air carried flowing currents of spiritual energy. Invisible formations hidden for countless ages glowed beneath the earth like constellations. He turned toward a weathered pillar. A faint grey mist surrounded it. Decay.

The pillar would collapse within a year. He looked toward a young spirit deer watching from the forest. Gentle golden light surrounded the creature.Purity.It had never harmed another living being. His gaze shifted to a crumbling wall. Behind the stone, concealed by ancient illusions, lay a hidden passage no ordinary cultivator could ever discover. Mo Tianyu frowned. I can... see them."Not merely with his eyes.With something deeper. Truth itself had become visible. A forgotten memory surfaced. Authority of Divine Sight.

One of the innate Authorities once possessed by the Third Celestial Sovereign.Not an ordinary technique.A fragment of divine law. It allowed its bearer to perceive souls, discern lies, unravel illusions, and expose formations hidden even by Heaven. Though only a sliver of its former power had awakened, it was enough to change everything. The final lightning cloud roared one last time before slowly dispersing. Silence settled over the mountain. Mo Tianyu stood alone amid shattered stone and fading sparks. His robes were burned. His body was covered in glowing runes.

The mark upon his forehead slowly faded beneath his skin. He had survived. More than that...He had grown stronger. But as he lifted his eyes toward the clearing sky, a chill ran through him. The tribulation had not gone unnoticed. Far beyond the Forbidden Spirit Mountain, hidden within a palace carved into the clouds, an elderly cultivator abruptly stopped meditating. His cloudy eyes snapped open.

"The Heavenly Punishment..."His expression darkened."No mortal should have survived it."At the same moment, inside the highest reaches of the Celestial Realm, a bronze mirror resting in an abandoned hall rippled with golden light. A hooded figure stepped from the shadows and stared into its surface. Within the mirror, a pair of newly awakened golden eyes stared back. The figure whispered a single sentence."So... "He has begun to remember."Somewhere across the heavens, the hunt quietly resumed.