'It's not aiming for me.'
Noah realized when he sensed the aura of the clouds, their target was somewhere outside of his mansion.
Heilong's wings unfolded behind his back and carried him high in the air, his Blood companion had virtually recovered its peak form, it needed only a few more days under the nourishment of Noah's mental energy to be completely fixed.
Noah's consciousness enveloped his small island and soon found the reason behind the black clouds.
In a certain place next to the shore, a burly cultivator was sitting cross-legged on the sand illuminated by the purple halo of the exoskeleton.
Noah immediately recognized the cultivator, he was Bruce, the rank 3 cultivator that had once been the leader of the thieves' faction of the Chasing demon sect and that had been at the peak of the solid stage for many years.
'He is attempting to become a rank 4 cultivator!'
It wasn't hard for Noah to understand what was going on.
Bruce had been at the peak of the third rank for many years, only the lack of techniques and Sarah's injury had forced him to stop cultivating, it wasn't a surprise that he could approach the Tribulation after those issues had been solved.
'He has probably saved merit points in those years to buy a cultivation technique in the fourth rank, he should have a fire aptitude so that purchase mustn't have been that expensive. I wonder if he has made enough preparations.'
Noah thought as he flew near Bruce, he wanted to see if he could absorb the "Breath" released by the black clouds once they were destroyed.
Of course, if the situation needed it, he would destroy the cloud himself.
"Prince, let him be, the Tribulation would only switch target if you were to help him. Also, he needs to pass it by himself or his potential could be threatened."
Elder Iris' voice resounded behind him while he was trying to near Bruce, Noah turned to perform a slight bow toward the elder that had appeared in the air before deciding to limit himself to watch the events.
"Potential?"
Noah asked, he had already experienced a similar event but he didn't understand the meaning behind the elder's words.
Elder Iris didn't move her gaze away from Bruce as she began to explain.
"You can overcome the Heaven Tribulation by destroying the black clouds or by waiting for their power to be depleted. However, in the second approach, your dantian wouldn't receive any nourishment form them, coming out generally weaker than the dantians of the cultivators who have defeated them."
Noah listened to her words and inspected the black clouds again, they covered a larger area compared to what Noah had witnessed when he became a hybrid but the power they contained seemed somewhat lower, they seemed tuned around peak rank 3 cultivators.
'These clouds are different from the ones that I've experienced… Those that have appeared against me only wanted to destroy while these seem to carry a deeper meaning.'
During the breakthrough between ranks, the dantian of a cultivator would be nourished by the impurities released by the boiling "Breath".
Yet, apparently, the dantian needed additional nourishment when reaching the heroic ranks, such nourishment came from the black clouds sent by Heaven.
'I wonder if the reason why the God of the Empire is stuck here is that he has failed during the Heaven Tribulation for the seventh rank.'
Noah found the answer that he was looking for and let his mind wander.
Meanwhile, the first lightning bolts began to be launched toward the shore where Bruce was sitting.
A series of thick lightning bolts fell on the ground, a huge cloud of smoke and sand rose in the air as the attack crashed on Bruce.
However, a wave of blue flames soon filled the area and engulfed the smoke around him.
Bruce's figure reappeared in the open, his body was covered by a layer of blue flames that acted as a form of protection and that could be used to fuel his spells, Noah couldn't help but find some similarities between that form and his Demonic form spell.
More lightning bolts fell toward Bruce, the latter wielded a huge hammer which took fire when it entered his grasp.
Bruce swung the hammer toward the incoming bolts, his muscles bulged as he aimed his heavy inscribed weapon toward Heaven's attack.
The lightning bolts and the hammer clashed, Bruce was flung back due to the impact but his protective layer of flames managed to prevent any injury, leaving him unharmed.
On the other hand, blue flames spread over the bodies of the flashes of lightning, shattering them and reaching for the clouds where they were created.
A blue fire took place in the sky, part of the black clouds' power was consumed as the fire burned before it was extinguished under a series of sparks.
Bruce had stood up in the meantime and a huge ape made of blue flames had appeared next to him.
Noah felt the power behind that spell, he was now certain that Bruce was at the peak of the third rank with both mind and dantian!
The ape launched itself in the air and flew toward the black clouds, Bruce limited himself to create more apes since he couldn't fly and his martial art couldn't reach that place in the sky.
Explosions resounded in the air as lightning bolts pierced the apes which released flames in every direction as they were destroyed, some of the bolts even reached for Bruce on the ground as they destroyed his spells.
Bruce didn't seem surprised, he swung his hammer with incredible dexterity as he intercepted the lightning bolts that were aiming for him, leaving his defense to the layer of fire around him.
More apes appeared next to him and flew in the air, tongues of flames began to acc.u.mulate in the air between him and the clouds.
'He is preparing his final attack!'
Noah could clearly understand Bruce's tactic since he was observing the battle from a safe distance and since his mental sphere could sense that Bruce had still some connection with the flames that lingered in the air.
Apes made of flames continued to be destroyed and Bruce continued to fend off the lightning bolts that reached for him, the defensive layer around him thinned every time it endured one of Heaven's attacks.
Then, when the defensive spell was about to be broken, Bruce raised his hands toward the sky and controlled the many tongues of flames in the air to converge on the position of the black clouds.
A loud explosion occurred and the sky above island nineteen was swept by a blinding blue halo.