Earth's Greatest Magus

Chapter 3014: Strategy

The clouds finished gathering, and the sky above the golden mountain turned a deep, ominous violet.

Violet clouds meant lightning imbued with law itself—bolts that struck not only flesh, but comprehension, assaulting the very foundation of a cultivator’s understanding of the universe.

Then the first strike fell.

Emery’s breathing slowed.

He had faced heavenly tribulations before. Decades ago, in the Skyroot Sacred Garden, he had endured the Heavenly Sentinel, weathering lightning spears through desperate hours spent refusing to die.

He knew what heavenly tribulations looked like.

This...

This was a Supreme Grand Tribulation.

The vast sea of violet clouds hanging over the mountain hinted at the scale of the coming calamity.

It did not measure its descent in nine bolts.

It measured it in nine sets of nine.

Eighty-one heavenly descents.

Every single strike carried enough power to grievously wound—or outright kill—a Grand Magus.

The first wave descended like the wrath of the heavens.

Rosin Karat did not retreat behind his guardians.

He met it alone.

The opening bolt screamed from the sky, and the Supreme answered with a single punch, his massive fist shattering the violet lightning as though swatting away an insect. The second descended, only to be destroyed just as effortlessly. Then the third. The fourth. One after another, each heavenly strike exploded against his fists, dissolving into countless sparks that rained harmlessly across the arena’s formations.

Then...

The ninth bolt descended.

Emery sensed the difference immediately.

It was no mere continuation of the previous strikes. This bolt carried three times the force of the eight before it, a pillar of violet destruction broad enough to engulf an entire warship.

Rosin’s aura erupted.

Golden radiance poured from every pore, covering his body until his skin resembled living divine metal, brilliant and indestructible. It was the Karat Faction’s supreme inheritance—the legendary technique that had carried countless generations to greatness.

The Golden Body.

Drawing back one arm, Rosin gathered the laws of the cosmos into a colossal projection. A gigantic golden fist materialized above him, its surface covered in radiant runes as it surged upward to meet the descending heavens.

The collision shook the world.

BAAMMM!!

The enormous fist smashed through the violet pillar, shattering the heavenly lightning into countless fragments that scattered across the sky like shattered crystal.

A collective breath escaped the spectators.

Relief spread through the gathered cultivators.

Their Supreme Lord had overcome the first wave as though it were nothing more than a warm-up exercise..

Emery did not relax.

Barely a minute later, the clouds churned once more.

The violet lightning became increasingly violent, countless bolts writhing within the storm like enraged dragons as the second wave gathered strength before crashing down once again.

Rosin met it head-on.

His roar echoed across the mountain as golden fists collided with heavenly lightning. One bolt after another shattered beneath his strikes.

Emery immediately sensed the difference.

This wave was stronger.

Each strike carried perhaps twenty to thirty percent more power than those of the first wave, the escalation measured and relentless, allowing no opportunity for complacency.

Then the ninth bolt descended.

It resembled a mountain of violet judgment falling from the heavens.

Rosin answered with a storm of his own.

Dozens of enormous golden fists erupted into the sky in rapid succession, colliding with the descending pillar again and again.

BAAAMM!!

The explosion shook the entire mountain.

This time, Rosin was forced backward.

His feet carved deep trenches through the arena floor before he finally halted, violet lightning crawling across his Golden Body and dancing over his shoulders as the surrounding air crackled with residual heavenly law.

The Supreme threw back his head and roared.

The spectators erupted into thunderous cheers.

Everyone celebrated.

Everyone...

Except four men.

The four guardians remained perfectly silent.

Emery’s eyes narrowed.

A moment later, he understood why.

Rosin slowly returned to the center of the arena before lowering himself into a cross-legged position. Closing his eyes, he began refining the heavenly tribulation energy raging through his body, allowing the remnants of the previous waves to temper both his physique and his cultivation.

The third set would not be his.

At the four corners, Khalid, Boyd, Schenable, and Xavier raised their heads toward the storm.

These were veterans — Three Cosmos experts who had walked through more life-and-death struggles than most cultivators could imagine. Their stances were firm, their auras unwavering.

But Emery’s divine sense reached deeper than their postures.

Beneath that discipline, their minds were stirring. Every one of them knew exactly what was about to fall on them.

The clouds gathered once more.

The first bolt of the third set tore down from the heavens.

Khalid moved to intercept.

His spear swept upward as countless runes bloomed along its shaft, expanding into a great circular formation of layered laws. The moment the violet lightning struck, the entire arena erupted.

BOOM!!

A violent shockwave exploded outward, roaring across the mountaintop. Hurricane-force winds flattened nearby formations, and Khalid was hurled from the sky, crashing into the arena floor hard enough to leave a massive crater.

For a long moment, he remained there.

Then, gritting his teeth, he slowly pushed himself upright. Pain twisted across his weathered face as he circulated his cultivation, forcibly suppressing the violent tribulation lightning still coursing through his meridians.

Boyd glanced toward him, and the giant’s expression changed.

”...That bad, huh?”

Without waiting for an answer, he raised his massive weapon and launched himself into the sky.

The second bolt descended.

The result was no different.

Another deafening explosion echoed across the mountain before Boyd was blasted backward.

Then came Schenable.

Then Xavier.

Each met a heavenly bolt head-on.

Each was driven back.

Watching from the edge of the arena, Emery felt an increasing chill settle in his chest.

Each one of these bolts was comparable to the tribulation he unleashed on Astiel planet.

And this...

...was only the third set.

Dozens more remained.

Every set would grow stronger than the one before it.

When the fifth bolt descended, it was Khalid’s turn again.

The increase in power was immediately apparent.

The Eastern Guardian blocked the strike, but the impact forced him to one knee as blood burst from his mouth. Smoke rose from his robes, and cracks spread across the protective armor covering his arms.

The sixth, seventh, and eighth bolts followed in grim succession, each guardian taking another turn without a single complaint despite the injuries rapidly accumulating across their bodies.

Then Xavier descended after enduring the eighth strike.

At that very moment, the Divine Instrument awakened.

Golden runes spread across the arena floor before racing outward in every direction. One formation after another ignited in rapid succession, until dozens of interconnected arrays covered the entire facility. The towering conductive pillars blazed with brilliant light as streams of spiritual energy surged through them, weaving together into a colossal golden lattice that enveloped the mountain itself.

The whole mountain trembled.

Emery immediately understood.

They had no intention of allowing anyone to face the ninth bolt alone.

The lightning descended.

It slammed into the golden lattice first, detonating with such force that the sky itself seemed to fracture. Nearly half of its terrifying power was siphoned away through the formations and redirected deep into the mountain’s countless channels.

Even diminished...

The remaining bolt was still terrifying.

The four guardians charged together.

Four Three Cosmos cultivators unleashed their strongest techniques simultaneously, converging upon a single point of violet destruction.

The collision swallowed the entire arena in blinding white light.

When the brilliance finally faded...

The third set had ended.

Rosin Karat slowly rose to his feet.

The four guardians withdrew to their corners, battered and breathing heavily, using the brief respite to suppress the heavenly lightning still raging through their bodies. At the arena’s center, their patriarch once again stood alone.

The fourth set began.

Emery watched without blinking.

This was, after all, why he had been invited.

Not merely as an honored guest, but as a cultivator whose own Three Cosmos tribulation awaited in the near future—and whose Supreme Grand Tribulation lay somewhere even farther down the road. Every moment unfolding before him was a lesson beyond price.

The fundamental law of tribulation had always been clear.

The cultivator must personally endure at least two-thirds of the heavenly punishment.

Assistance could shoulder the remaining third—but no more.

That was the purpose behind the carefully arranged rotation.

Rosin bore the majority of the lightning himself while the four guardians intercepted the remainder, allowing the Supreme to conserve enough strength to remain standing until the eighty-first and final bolt.

It was a well thought strategy.

Unfortunately...

The grand tribulation was escalating even faster.

By the fourth set, Rosin had begun using his treasures.

A brilliant defensive ward burst into existence just before one descending bolt reached him. The artifact absorbed the strike in a blaze of golden light before disintegrating into glittering fragments.

By the eighth bolt, his first Tier 7 defensive artifact had been completely consumed.

The sacrificed artifact bought him a few precious moments to gather strength for the attack that truly mattered.

The ninth bolt.

Before it descended, Rosin released his battlefield domain.

Profound Metal Law erupted outward, condensing into a magnificent dome of shimmering golden light that enveloped the center of the arena. Countless metallic runes revolved within the barrier as the ninth bolt descended from the heavens.

The impact shook the world.

The golden dome absorbed nearly half of the terrifying force before fractures rapidly spread across its surface.

Then Rosin struck.

His Golden Body blazed brilliantly as enormous golden fists erupted upward, shattering what remained of the heavenly lightning before it could fully descend.

There was no time to rest.

The fifth set descended almost immediately.