Under sect master's Wang Tian's order, the whole sect began to mobilize. All the disciples returned to their cultivating mountains, all the Supreme Elders, Great Elders, and Elders stood in different positions to activate the Emperor Formation.
A beam of energy came from all the mountains in the sect heading straight into the sky, then they connected together. Following which, countless interlocking runes formed a dome-like shape--at the intersection of points of energy--that covered all the floating and non-floating mountains of the sect; the formation essentially covered the entire Dao Opening Sect.
After everything was ready, Wang Tian motioned his son that he could begin, and Wang Wei did so. After sitting cross-leg in the floor, he adjusted his state in just a few minutes, then began to attack the 13th Layer barrier.
The first assault did not do anything to the barrier, however, Wang Wei did not stop. He continued to gather all his blood qi to attack it. On his 51st attempt, a crack finally appeared on the barrier.
As soon as the crack appeared, vast ominous clouds manifested on top of the sect; one could tell that these dark clouds were brewing something dangerous.
All the faces of the upper echelons of the sect changed. Although the sect master warned them that Divine Punishment was coming, all of them thought it was just the sect master being overprotective of his son.
What is Divine Punishment?
That is thunder used solely to punish Great Emperors. That's right, Divine Punishment Thunder exists solely for the purpose of killing or punishing Great Emperors.
Throughout the history of the Myriad Emperor World, there have been countless Emperors who are not so friendly to their homeland or Emperors who have accomplished certain tasks that the world would be considered quite detrimental to itself. And with their devastating power, they could essentially destroy the world if given them enough time.
As such, Heavenly Dao developed a mechanism to either kill, warn, or punish these Emperors. Some times, Divine Punishment will succeed, but other times, it will fail catastrophically. It all depends on how strong the Emperor is after all.
However, no matter how weak an Emperor is, it will still be the most powerful being in the entire plane. As such, the level of Divine Punishment Thunder can be imagined.
Upon seeing the dark clouds that were spreading throughout the entire Domain that the Dao Opening Sect occupied, sect master Wang Tian's face became more serious.
"Opened two more Emperor Formations," he yelled towards Great Elder Yan Ji of the Formation Hall. Wang Tian did not want to leave anything to chance.
After his order, more energy beams came out of the mountains and two more layers of formations were added to the original dome shape protection. All the True Monarchs and Saints pour their origin essence into the formation to maximized its effect.
Meanwhile, Wang Wei was already on his 123rd attack on the 13th Layer barrier. Although there were many more cracks on it, it was still far from being destroyed.
Suddenly, Wang Wei felt a life or death danger on top of his head. His eyes opened and looked in the sky, seeing a 10,000 meters long black thunder bolt dropped from the sky.
From that bolt, Wang Wei felt the power to annihilate everything--including all matter, energy, time and space. Anything that stood in the way of this thunder would have only one fate waiting for them: annihilation.
A feeling of dread suddenly intruded deep into Wan Wei's mind telling him that he is insignificant in the face of the Wrath of Heaven. That he should give up on his endeavor, otherwise, all he knows and comes to love will come to an end.
And the feeling did not stop there. It kept increasing as it wished to devour all of his mind and soul, wanting him to kneeled down and acknowledge the errors of his way.
Wang Wei found himself slowly fading away, slowly succumbing to this feeling. He knew that as long as he stopped and gave up, everything would end. He did not have to suffer.
Suddenly, Wang Wei found himself in an imaginary space, half kneeling in the ground with a gigantic eye looking down on him from above. The eye gave off a vast and supreme feeling, like all things in existence are just tiny ants in front of it, like he was the noblest of existence and everything and everyone should bow to it.
'Maybe I should just give up,' thought Wang Wei after seeing the mighty power of that eye. 'After all, I have already tried my best. It's okay to just give up now, or maybe I can just try again later when I'm more powerful.'
After thinking about this, Wang Wei decided to finally kneel and give up. However, just when his right knee was about to hit the floor, a memory suddenly appeared in his mind: It was the memory of the Ninth Pagoda Trial. This gigantic eye reminded him of the gigantic hand that he had to face. They had the same pride and conceit that all things are below them; that they can determine the life or death of everything and anyone.
After thinking about this, Wang Wei suddenly became angry. He did not concede to the gigantic hand, why would he conceded to this eye.
Suddenly, the image or shadow of the Young Emperor appeared in the back of Wang Wei. This time, it was quite different. It had grey hair and eyes like Wang Wei, he was sitting on a multicolored throne with countless grey strings attached to his hand.
Each string signified the fate of a person, and the shadow was in control of these strings. Suddenly, the Young Emperor image stood up from his throne, looked at the Gigantic Eye, and roared: "Who dares to stop me from pursuing my own way?"
The roar shook the entire imaginary space, then the space started to tremble, then cracked all over before being destroyed in a massive explosion. The eye in the sky let out an unwilling roar, however, even it could not withstand the power of the roar that could shake the Heavens, install fear in the Devil, and make Gods kneel.
Following which, Wang Wei woke up from the imaginary space with a look of fear in his face. He knew that imaginary space was not just an illusion, but someone or something was trying to affect his will.
If he knelt down in that space, then he would never be able to break that barrier in his life. For the rest of his life, he would live with a bind and shackled mind. Wang Wei secretly praised himself and the Elders for creating the Pagoda Trials.
"Wei'er, this is not the time to be distracted."
Wang Wei heard someone talking to him, however, it took him a few seconds to understand the words spoken and realized that it was his father talking to him.
After which, he nodded, then continued to attack the barrier with a newfound determination unlike previously. No one can stop his pursuit of being free and unfettered.
Meanwhile, while the Dao Opening Sect was fighting the Divine Punishment, all the powerful sects in the world were shocked.
They all looked in the direction of the sect. Countless visions--from all over the world--penetrated the vast space and distance to observe the Dao Opening Sect. They saw how Divine Punishment Thunder kept dropping from the sky and even how 3 Emperor Formations was used by the sect.
They all wonder what the Dao Opening Sect did to offend Heaven that they had to suffer such punishment. All the enemies of the sect wished that it would be destroyed by Heaven or at the very least, their foundations are severely injured.
As such, the whole world was paying attention to the most powerful sect of the world.
Soon, 6 days passed. The Divine Punishment Thunder did not stop falling for the past few days. On the contrary, it became more fierce. Instead of thunderbolts, powerful demonic beasts like Dragons, Phoenixes, and Qilins made of black thunder started falling on the sect.
Sect master Wang Tian had to add another two Emperor formations to the sect in order to protect Wang Wei. The consumption of origin source needed to keep all 5 formations working for 6 days was astronomical.
However, whether it was all the 36 Saints or 9 Supremes, did not mind or complain. On the contrary, they became more excited as time passed by and the chance of Wang Wei succeeding kept increasing.
Meanwhile, all the Nine Supremes were talking through divine sense.
"There is still hope for us," said Wang Chang.
"Yes. 9 is an extreme number and a limit. Due to the Heavenly Dao Curse, our Dao Opening Sect has not been able to cultivate another Emperor no matter what we do, but this generation, the curse might be broken," responded True Monarch Yan Chen.
"Many of our predecessors did not believe in the curse, however, it became increasingly obvious when there conveniently was not a Heaven Mandate Battle the generation of the sect master."
"Shin Dong, do not speak randomly. There is no evidence that the Heaven Mandate did not appear because of Wang Tian. There have been many precedents before."
Shin Dong just snorted, ignoring Li Fen's words.
Another True Monarch that Wang Wei did not know yet said, "All that matters is the fact that once the young master breakthroughs the 13th Layer, he would have exceeded the shackles of Heaven, as such, not affected by the curse."
All the people nodded and agree with him. However, Wang Chang still reminded them. "We should not relax our guard yet. We all know that this curse will not be so simple. Wei'er still have a long way to go. All we have to do is support him as much as we can."
Meanwhile, somewhere in the ground, Wang Wei was still attacking the 13th layer barrier, and he was so close to breaking it. He had a feeling that in less than a day, he would succeed.
Suddenly, an enormous eye appeared in the sky of the Myriad Emperor World, covering the entire world. This eye was cold, indifferent, and stood above all myriad beings.
"Heavenly Dao Eye," muttered all the cultivators of the world, from the lowest Bodyrefining Realm to the Supreme Realm.
They all wondered how serious the situation was that even the Eye of Heavenly Dao showed up. Heavenly Dao is both a real and illusory concept in the cultivating world. However, one thing is clear is that the gigantic eye is the physical manifestation of Heavenly Dao itself.
Soon, cultivators knew the reason for it showing up. A message was spread into the minds of all cultivators of the world.
"The young master of the Dao Opening Sect was committing blasphemy against Heaven. Anyone who manages to stop him will be rewarded with boundless merits."
All the cultivators became excited at the prospect of acquiring merits. With it, they can do so many things. They can improve their cultivation without side effects, they can refine a powerful magic weapon, they can improve their talent, and more importantly, they can increase their lifespans.
Many Emperor Lineages were tempted and wonder if they should wake up their Emperor Artifacts and attack the Dao Opening Sect. In normal circumstances, that would be suicidal, however, now it is possible with the help of Heaven.
Sect master Wang Tian also learned about Heavenly Dao's message. His face became ugly and the killing intent in his eyes increased.
Without hesitation, he opened the remaining four Emperor Formations of the sect. This time the formation did not just cover the sect only, but the entire Domain.
As the 9 formations opened, they seemed to fit into a whole, then a supreme will enveloped the entire Myriad Emperor World.
The will gave the feeling of Monarch Overlooking The World, suppressing the entire plane. An intense killing intent enveloped the entire world, exuding a terrible pressure on all cultivators.
It was at this moment that the overexcited cultivators woke up from their daydreaming.
The Dao Opening Sect was still the overlord of this world. Even in the face of Heavenly Dao, they did not have to bow to their head.
Suddenly a deep and powerful voice echoed throughout the world. Everyone could hear it--even mortals.
"I want to see who dares attack my sect. I still have 9 Emperor Artifacts that have not tasted blood in a very long time."
After this voice, all mortals knelt in the ground bowing and begging for the immortals to forgive whatever sins they have committed.
Meanwhile, all the cultivators became shocked again. Many of them recognized this voice as the one that forced an entire generation to bow to him. Unfortunately, or fortunately for them, he was unlucky.
After that, they finally remembered the fact that the Dao Opening Sect still had 9 Emperor Artifacts that have not been used.
The majority of them removed the stupid ideas they had in their mind and decide to just watch how everything unfold. However, there were a few that were unwilling to give up such an opportunity. Their fate was instant destruction the moment they approached the sect's domain.
Meanwhile, on the seventh day, Wang Wei finally succeeded in breaking that barrier and reached the 13th Layer of the Body Refining Realm.
Upon his success, Wang Wei felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulder, like he freed himself from drowning and was able to breathe more easily.
Suddenly, his grey eyes lit up, and he found himself floating in a void-like space. There were countless strings attached to him with different sizes. Then, one of them was suddenly cut.
After this one was gone, Wang Wei discovered that he could now control all the other strings. However, when he reached and was about to do so, he suddenly woke up from the void space.
He then tried to enter that space again, however, he did not succeed. He could probably guess that it is not the right time yet, or he was currently too weak.
After Wang Wei finished his breakthrough, the Divine Punishment also disappeared. All the cultivators in the world could feel the unwillingness of the Heavenly Dao Eye when it left.
Meanwhile, no one in the sect noticed that Great Elder Long Bo took something off from the final thunder strike before he left.