Eternal Emerald Dragon

While the steps had done more than he had expected, the true test was the final round. Lind had not taken any shortcuts with any of it.

Instead of lightning, they faced an experience focused on each Mystery layer of his dantian. Immortals could not withstand Mysteries but he had created something on par with the Divine Ascension Tribulation unlike anyone ever before.

Only someone like him that had access to all 18 elements, the Mystery of Defiance, and Origin Mysteries could pull it off. Such a high bar meant it was highly unlikely that anyone could repeat it ever again.

The reason he made it was 2 fold. It was, of course, to fully reveal his final Mystery and to test something. The former was just like the Heart of Origins. He unlocked a new possibility for others and it loosened his bottleneck.

He had assumed it was his professions that were the focus when it was the results of his work in creating things that did not exist before. He had overlooked it until he made the grass fan and acknowledged the spirit items as his children.

They were never tools.

Lind then applied all of his new revelations to making the Divine Tribulation Moon. The result was far better than expected as any Immortal that overcame it would be far better prepared to advance in the Divine Realm!

Yet, a final hurdle stood between acceptance by Heaven and Earth as well as his Mystery. A cultivator had to do it.

He now looked on as silvery light flared around the human woman at the peak of the stairs. A massive gate loomed over her and 8 of 9 arrays were lit up. Some were brighter than others but it was clear it was stable.

He recognized the intent of Life, Death, Samsara, Heaven, Earth, Qi, Time, and Tapestry in them. They were not like his layers exactly as they matched with her. It was clear she was ready.

The silvery light began to shift and change as the Dao of Hope took form. It was the one thing he had to retain to make it a tribulation. They had to face the path they had chosen to be acknowledged by Heaven and Earth.

However, his creation changed the nature of it. Rather than black clouds and horrifying lightning slamming into a massive area, the moon refined the Dao into a round of its function.

In other words, the greatest chance to define their path would be induced by the 9th round to maximize it. It was not just enduring the power of it but truly facing the weight of what they walked.

She had been the trailblazer of her Immortal World with no help beyond his initial spark. She did the hard work he had once done. Unlike him, she had been far more alone and far more embroiled in conflicts.

Even without Fiends, wars raged everywhere for various reasons.

She had taken far longer and had not had the resources his professions had brought him. In comparison, she was far more impressive to his mind. He had been helped so much and had so many good friends to cover for him when he was at his weakest.

She overcame every obstacle while never stumbling like he had.

Now, she faced her harmony as a 6 elemental. Others would face the Dao they had centered their existence on. The trigger conditions remained unchanged for his moon as it did for Heaven and Earth.

The cultivator had to be ready.

Instead of visions or some kind of shadowy figure fighting her, Lind heard music. Tears involuntarily formed as he felt his memories stir. He saw when he realized how he had come into the world but his mother loved him from the bottom of her heart.

He saw the feverish Teylin barely holding on and was inspired to make medicine from his old world as best he could.

One instance after another where he could have felt hopeless and without any chance of recovery but a spark always arrived to show the future was worth living.

He came out of it suddenly as the rumble of thunder over his own head became clear. He looked up and saw the massive door was creaking open!

He had missed it! He was a Master Tier Divine Realm cultivator and an Immortal on the cusp of only becoming an Apprentice Tier had clouded all his senses!

Emerald and silver light intertwined across the structures of the Divine Tribulation Moon as he felt a stone settle into its metaphorical slot in his dantian.

It had worked! The moon had worked as a different way for Immortals to ascend!

The final restrictions fell away but he had no time to see the path to the Divine Lands open as his dantian flared in power. The misty feeling on the 9th layer finally dispersed!

{Impossible only exists until it is done.}

{Infinite combinations lead to infinite possibilities.}

{Limits only exist if they are not tested.}

Lind felt his dantian and body suffuse with power. HIs mind seemed to accelerate and saw the many flaws in everything he had ever made. His struggle to combine weaving, Forging, and elixir mastery into a single creation was no longer so difficult!

The first facet was easy enough. He was living proof that 6 elementals had never been flawed. It simply had to be figured out.

The second facet was common sense to any crafter. Many cultivators had unique Arts, skills, or physiques combined in ways no one could predict. Crafting artifacts, armor, weapons, or even pills or elixirs required fresh approaches to adapt them for diverse needs.

There was no end, no limit to Heaven and Earth. Thus, there should be no limit to what can be created. It was all up to the skill of those that extracted the resources potential themselves.

The final one seemed to tie back to the first but he knew that was wrong. For something to exist it had to be brought forth. Limits were known. Supposedly, lower realm cultivators ran into hard walls they could never overcome but he had seen many fighting above their realm.

They paid a price or had to have the right conditions, but they existed. They could be replicated. Everyone that that the various elemental systems could not interact outside each other but he had proven that was far from the truth.

Mystery energy soared into his dantian until it was bursting. HIs harmony spread into it just as it had the others. His draconic body began to shrink until he was human once more.

His robes, however, were breaking down. The power flowing off of him was insane! He had to work to contain it and regulate it until he stabilized.

Yet, events were not kind to him. Black clouds thickened overhead and the kraken princess knew the truth.

"Lind, you are being forced to return to the Divine Lands for your ascension. This place cannot–" She had been silenced as the structures lit up in power far beyond anything either of them had felt.

The now closed gate shimmered with his own intents.

[I–I took that into account!] He was not sure how safe things would be if he ascended in the moon. He was not sure if it would work but the structures were made by him. He was fully compatible with it.

Thus, rather than have Heaven and Earth extract him forcibly, he had the path open via the stairs. The glowing light softly embraced them both and pulled them away.

A whole new horizon was opened for the Immortal World but it was no longer his to observe.

The familiar feeling of far stronger reality flooded his senses just enough through the storm in his body.

They did not appear in the Void Ocean but in a very familiar place. The Emerald Isle!

Lind laughed as it made perfect sense. Where else would an Immortal World made by him connect to?

He had no time to check for any familiar faces as he had to flee. The power was building above and it felt like the world was rejecting him!

That was not a tribulation at all!

He left the kraken princess far behind as the pressure began to build and build. He had to get far away, very far away!

No wonder no Master Tier spoke of it. It was not a tribulation awaiting them, but a trile by fire to justify their existence!

He could feel it!

The final connections to the world were falling away and he was no longer allowed to stay as he became the source of power rather than Heaven and Earth!

If he had reached the peak of the Master Tier without the desire to move on, he would have become a pillar of the Divine Lands instead. He would have been invincible in the Divine Lands.

Instead, he was being treated very swiftly as an invader! He had chosen to reach for the next major realm!

He would still have to survive what was coming. Instead of tribulation, he would have to separate and stand on his own via expulsion!

He was going to be attacked by Heaven and Earth!