"Master, that will be the last round of lightning. It's the Lightning Tower containing nine levels, but at this stage, only the first level will be activated. Brace yourself, because it's going to be a dangerous one. After all, the heavens want you dead," Yuying warned.
Fruity, now standing with the Demon-Slaying Staff in his grip, looked up at the heavens, watching as the clouds churned and darkened.
He couldn't help but smirk as he watched the base of a tower, representing the first floor, slowly appear from the clouds. Suddenly, windows and doors littered around the first level swung open, and countless lightning monsters of different shapes and sizes began to pour out.
He wasn't scared in the least. After all, his last five years of intense training and tempering hadn't been for nothing.
Five years ago, he began his training with body tempering. Yuying had prepared all kinds of resources for him, so for months, he spent his time going from one medicinal bath to another.
He had tempered his body so much that after just seven months, he felt confident that with his bare hands alone, he could take on multiple Tier 7 devils.
After that, they moved on to the next phase of body cultivation, where he began climbing Griviy Mountain. His first trial was enough to prove that all the time spent enduring the medicinal burns on his skin and bones hadn't been in vain.
On his first attempt, he was able to climb ten steps before the pressure became unbearable. However, he didn't stop there. He adapted, using the pressure to temper his bones and muscles.
Within a few days, he advanced to the 15th step, and that became his training for another five months until he managed to climb the first 100 steps.
There were still 150 more to go before reaching the peak of the mountain, but he didn't have all the time in the world, so he moved on to the next phase: mental training.
He began by cultivating a secret technique called [Sage Mind]. According to Yuying, it would allow him to increase his mental capacity tenfold if he managed to overcome all the natural obstacles of the mind.
It took him just a month to break through these barriers, bringing his mental strength to a new level. Yuying then took him to the Hunting Cave. Fruity quickly entered, and for an entire year, he remained inside, pushing his mental capacity to its limit every single day.
After a year, he managed to advance 10 kilometers out of the 12-kilometer distance, an achievement that left Yuying both startled and pleased. Finally, she could see her past Master awakening within his current incarnation.
A large, towering pillar of ice appeared, and from its body, thousands of arrows shot forth, each one destroying a monster before they could even get close to the bell.
"I can feel my spiritual Qi becoming stronger," Fruity muttered.
"Of course it is. You are now sensing the Star Qi, which will fully unlock once you become a Great Sage," Yuying said from inside his soul sea.
"What is Star Qi?" Fruity asked.
"It's another form of energy, but incredibly powerful. It's from your core, the Paragon Star. It's the only energy that the heavens don't have control over," Yuying replied.
"Let me guess, I created that," Fruity said.
"Yes, Master. You haven't just created us; you've created many things, even a whole race of..." Before Yuying could continue, the heavens roared, and a red lightning bolt shot toward Fruity. He immediately stood up and jammed the staff into the ground.
"Eye of Despair: Void Eyes." The second face of the Pentaface Bead activated, and a huge dark eye snapped open just as the red lightning was about to hit Fruity.
Like a black hole, it swallowed the lightning, but Fruity coughed up a mouthful of blood.
"I'm sorry Master. I was so excited that I forgot about your situation with the heavens," Yuying said in a sad, guilty tone. She had accidentally triggered divine punishment by revealing too much, nearly costing Fruity his life.
"Don't sweat it, Yuying. It was my fault for asking," Fruity said, but deep down, he was happy to have learned something forbidden about himself. Unknowingly, he had just unlocked a trait within himself that would forever push him to rise above any obstacle set by the heavens or anyone else.
A short while later, he was done with the tribulation, finally forming a Sage Core. Yuying emerged from his soul sea and congratulated him. She then retrieved seven large cores, each exuding potent Ice Qi.
"It's now time to awaken the other four forbidden ice elements," she said with a smile.