The entire academy grounds underwent a violent and abrupt transformation, becoming saturated with a density of pure energy so oppressive that it forced the weaker students to their knees as if gravity itself had increased tenfold. Drawn by the cataclysmic disturbance, a massive congregation of students and instructors flooded toward the cultivation grounds, their faces twisted into masks of bewildered terror as they witnessed the epicentre of the anomaly. At the heart of this spiritual hurricane sat Aldo, an island of terrifying calm amidst the chaos, his hands blurring as they executed a sequence of mudras so complex that merely looking at them caused physical pain to the untrained observers. His lips moved in a rhythmic, silent chant, vibrating with a frequency that resonated with the very bones of the earth, and moments later, the heavens split open to reveal a firmament not of blue or black, but of twelve distinct, writhing colours of lightning that tore through the clouds like the claws of angry gods. "These twelve chromatic bolts signify the twelve heavenly stages of tribulation, a barrier that I can only breach with the sacrifice of a relic," he analysed cold-bloodedly, his gaze lifting to the sky. He summoned the ancient artefact known as the Divine Throne, a majestic seat of power that radiated an aura of antiquity, and with a roar that shook the foundations of the academy, he crushed it with his bare hands, shattering its physical form to release the primordial essence trapped within. Twelve distinct flames, each radiating a colour corresponding to the celestial lightning above, erupted from the debris of the throne and began to spiral around him in a chaotic, mesmerising dance of destruction. "Fuse into one and obey my will!" he commanded, his authority absolute and unyielding against the laws of nature. In response, a bolt of catastrophic golden-red lightning descended from the heavens, striking him with the force of a falling star, yet he did not waver, using the impact to weld the disparate flames together. "If I can force these twelve distinct infernos to coalesce, they will birth the legendary Immortal Fire," he calculated amidst the blinding incandescence that turned the night into day. The flames roared in submission, collapsing into a single, terrifying sphere of golden-red fire that pulsed with the heartbeat of a newborn sun. "I have succeeded... the Immortal Fire is born," he whispered triumphantly, watching as the miniature star fell into a perfect, stable orbit around his body, casting a divine glow upon his features. "Now, the next phase begins... Lightning."
"Lightning possesses a hierarchy as rigid and absolute as the heavens themselves, yet unlike the elemental fire that can be birthed from artefacts, true lightning is a gift that can only be bestowed by the sky," he reasoned, his eyes tracking the volatile energy arching above him. "The golden-red lightning I currently possess is a rare coalesced union of eleven inferior bolts, but to achieve perfection, I must capture the twelfth and final component: the Heavenly Tribulation Lightning." As these arrogant calculations flashed through his mind, the firmament screamed in outrage at his hubris, birthing a Heavenly Tribulation so vast and terrifying that it threatened to erase the entire academy from the map. The sheer pressure of the gathering storm cracked the surrounding architecture, forcing the panicked instructors to order an immediate, chaotic evacuation of the entire campus, leaving the grounds desolate save for the lone figure defying the sky. The tribulation finally descended, a pillar of pure annihilation meant to incinerate his existence, but instead of cowering, he reached out with a hand clad in mana and snatched a fragment of the judgement from the air before it could destroy him. "Now, merge for me!" he roared, forcing the captured tribulation bolt to collide with the golden-red lightning in a violent display of dominance. The heavens retaliated against this violation of natural law, unleashing the catastrophic 'Million Power Twelve Direction Heavenly Tribulation', a relentless bombardment of destruction that rained down upon him for hours, turning the stone beneath him into molten slag. He endured the apocalyptic storm with grit and defiance until the chaotic energies finally submitted to his will, fusing into a sphere of crackling, silver-gold Immortal Lightning that joined the fire in a stable orbit around his body. "Achieved... the next target is the Light element," he declared without a moment of rest, shifting his stance to channel the energy of the sun. "Light is not the opposite of darkness, but its child; true radiance can only be found within the deepest abyss, for as long as darkness exists, light must also exist." The atmosphere warped and twisted as a terrifying duality manifested around him: on his left side, a devouring black hole of pure darkness materialised, while on his right, a blinding white star of absolute light ignited to balance the void. "Light and Darkness achieved... next is Space."
The twin spheres of Light and Darkness snapped into the divine constellation orbiting his form, their opposing energies finding a terrifying equilibrium that seemed to stabilise the chaotic atmosphere. His movements suddenly accelerated, blurring beyond the perception of the naked eye as the very fabric of reality around him began to stretch and warp, creating a disorienting sensation where distance lost all meaning. "Space achieved... next is time," he announced with a voice that echoed not through the air, but through the dimensional rift he had torn open. The element of space condensed into a translucent, distorted orb that joined the rotating halo behind him, but he did not pause for even a heartbeat. "To manipulate time, one must comprehend the laws that govern the celestial clockwork above the heavens... and I am above heaven!" he roared, his defiance shattering the natural order. "Time, I command you to stop!" The world instantly fell into a greyscale stillness; falling leaves froze in mid-air, the flickering lightning paused in its descent, and the very concept of seconds and minutes ceased to exist within his domain. The essence of Time submitted to his absolute authority, coalescing into a sphere of shifting sands that locked into the orbit. However, the moment the sixth element was secured, the toll on his mortal vessel became catastrophic. He convulsed violently, coughing up a veritable ocean of blood that stained his robes crimson, while dark rivulets of vitality streamed from his eyes, nose, and ears, signalling that his body was on the verge of total atomic disintegration. "Faster... faster... FAAASTER!" he screamed through the agony, his voice a wet gurgle of determination. Ignoring the fact that his internal organs were liquefying, he moved his hands in a blur of desperation, attempting the suicidal feat of condensing multiple elements simultaneously. For four agonising days and nights, he remained in that meditative hell, enduring pain that would have broken a thousand lesser men. Finally, the atmospheric mana screamed as the essences of Water, Ice, Wind, and Nature materialised from the void, forming four distinct, radiant spheres that snapped into the orbital ring behind him. "I have achieved it..." he rasped, his body now a trembling wreck that looked more like a reanimated corpse than a living cultivator. He knew with absolute certainty that if he stopped now, the imbalance would kill him instantly. "I cannot stop... I have no right to make mistakes. Next is the element of destruction and creation... I will gamble my life on this final cast... I achieve divinity, or I die!"
His hands moved with a velocity that defied the laws of friction, blurring into a phantom existence as he reached the absolute zenith of his concentration. The atmosphere around him shattered like glass, revealing a colossal, rotating Yin Yang symbol that spanned the heavens, turning the sky into a monochrome vortex of duality. The ambient energy of the entire academy—no, the entire region—was vacuumed into this singularity, condensing until two terrifyingly realistic planets materialised within the orbital ring behind him. One pulsed with the vibrant, blinding green of pure Creation, while the other sat as a silent, grey sphere of absolute Destruction, radiating the chill of the grave. The physical toll of manipulating these primal forces finally exceeded the limits of his mortal shell, and his consciousness snapped, plunging him into a black void of insensibility. However, the ritual did not fail. As his body went limp, the twelve elemental spheres and the dual planets of Yin and Yang did not disperse; instead, they began to merge with a terrifying autonomy. It was as if the universe itself recognised its true master and conspired to keep him alive, forcing the chaotic energies to harmonise. His shattered bones knitted themselves back together with audible cracks, his torn muscles rewove themselves with strands of golden light, and his skin regenerated with the lustre of polished jade.
In the midst of this miraculous reconstruction, his eyes snapped open, burning not with relief, but with a maniacal, unyielding hunger. "I have not finished yet..." he hissed through gritted teeth, pushing himself up despite the agony. With a wave of his hand, he emptied the contents of his spatial ring, summoning a mountain of treasures that would make empires weep. Ancient scrolls, rare ores, divine medicines, and even the sacred staffs left behind by his deceased disciples—he spared nothing. He even drew his own legendary weapons, casting them all into the roaring inferno of the Immortal Fire he had created. "These artefacts are nothing but crutches; they shall serve a greater purpose by becoming the foundation of my flesh!" he roared, watching as the sentimental remnants of his past and the tools of his trade were ruthlessly smelted down into a river of molten, iridescent liquid. He inhaled deeply, drawing this refined, super-dense energy directly into his pores. The power that flooded his system was cataclysmic, rewriting his genetic code and forging his body into a vessel capable of rivalling the gods. His bones turned to diamond, his blood became akin to liquid mercury, and his meridians expanded to resemble rivers. Finally, the transformation reached its peak, and the sheer weight of the power he now held proved too much for his mind to sustain. The light in his eyes faded, and he collapsed from the sky like a fallen star, crashing into the ruined earth below, unconscious but reborn as something far beyond human.