"Open your sea of consciousness and accept my soul imprint," Mo Lingtian said as he looked at the dragon pinned to the surface of the ocean by his pressure.
With hesitation, the dragon opened its sea of consciousness, revealing a light source directly between its eyebrows.
Mo Lingtian raised a single finger, conjured a soul imprint, and released it into the beast's mind. Inside the dragon's sea of consciousness, a vast ocean formed entirely from qi raged violently, beating against mental mountains and hills. Then, from the cloudy gray sky, a colossal formation as massive as the vast sea itself slowly descended.
The inner ocean raged in defiance, refusing to accept Mo Lingtian's imprint. But with one word, "Seal!" the colossal formation swiftly crashed into the turbulent waters. Instantly, everything calmed. The cloudy skies, the raging sea, and the thundering lightning all ceased.
The moment the soul imprint was complete, Mo Lingtian lifted the pressure, allowing the beast to rest at ease on the surface of the ocean.
"Wha...t? How is this happening?" the dragon stuttered as its demonic core suddenly began to etch runic inscriptions and ancient scriptures onto itself. The beast was abruptly stepping into the Dao Realm.
"Surprised? That is one of the benefits of accepting my soul imprint. You now share the same source with me," Mo Lingtian said, turning around in the canoe.
Above them, the night sky was already brimming with an intense golden light, forming a celestial phenomenon. This was the Dao tribulation, the heavenly punishment the dragon had to survive before officially crossing into the Dao Realm.
"Your Dao tribulation has already attracted unwanted guests," Mo Lingtian said looking at the sky above him.
Scores of cultivators had appeared in the sky above the ocean to salvage what they could of this celestial event. The vast majority were mere Vessel Cleansing and Qi Refining practitioners, though a handful radiated the dense, oppressive auras of the Perfection and Great Perfection stages.
Looming in the air behind this opportunistic crowd stood three early Dao Realm elders, among them was an hunched old man whose aura placed him firmly in the mid-stage of the Dao Realm.
"This seat will have to rely on you to protect me then," the dragon said to Mo Lingtian.
The four Great Perfection experts broke away from the main group, flying over to address the Dao Realm elders.
"Fellow monks, the aura from the tribulation of this demon beast is far from ordinary. We will be relying on you to help us subdue it. We can discuss how to split the beast's dantian after it's handled," one of the four said, bowing slightly.
"Just come clean. You want us to help wear down this beast with our lives because, although it is in a critical stage due to its tribulation, its power is still not something you can easily confront. Am I right?" one of the elders replied with a sinister smile.
"Are you even worthy to discuss terms with me?" another elder sneered.
"Fellow Daoists, you've gotten it all wrong. We wouldn't dare..." the cultivator started with a nervous laugh, before getting tossed a few miles away by a sudden release of pressure from one of the old men.
"There is no reason to refuse your request," the hunched old man said, breaking the building tension.
"Take these. Use them to set a binding formation when it reaches a critical stage. If you can successfully set it up, we will agree to help you kill the beast," the hunched elder continued, throwing four sixth-grade talismans to them.
"Daoi—" one of the Qi Refining cultivators tried to speak but was sharply interrupted.
"What? You're afraid? If you can't even set up a binding formation, what use are you, even at the Perfection stage? Why should we help you?" one of the Dao Realm practitioners scoffed.
The hunched old man chuckled, stroking his beard as he tapped his walking stick with his forefinger.
"Understood," the remaining Great Perfection cultivators said, bowing deeply before flying back to the vanguard, ready to strike.
"We went to seek help only to end up getting manipulated," one of them muttered on the way back.
"It's the law of the jungle. The strong prey on the weak," replied another with a heavy sigh.
"It's coming!" a cultivator yelled, staring at the sky now brimming with a golden-blue brilliance.
They all watched anxiously as the clouds spiraled into an endless tunnel of radiant light.
At both ends of the radiant tunnel, two giants emerged, using the sky itself as a standing platform. These giants possessed human-like bodies, but bore the massive heads of bulls, with two curved horns fixed to their skulls.
In one hand, they each held a massive golden chain, and in the other, an axe, a colossal weapon of execution that thundered with violent lightning claps.
One could not help but feel the overwhelming aura of judgment permeate their entire being.
Some of the weaker Vessel Cleansing and Qi Refining cultivators retreated a few miles back when they felt the intense intimidation of the Dao tribulation. They deemed preserving their lives more important than interfering with a punishment that fierce.
"Is this what a Dao tribulation looks like?" Mo Lingtian said to himself as he watched the bull-headed giants drag their axes and chains across the sky.
"Hmm?" one of the opportunistic cultivators hummed, looking down at the ocean.
"There's someone in the boat down there!" another pointed at Mo Lingtian, whose eyes were fixated on the manifestation above.
"Interesting," one of the Great Perfection experts noted with a hint of mockery.
"Even I wouldn't place myself at the center of attention like that. He must be new to the wilderness," another added.
"Leave him to the wild dogs," one of them sneered, glancing at the surrounding crowd of weaker cultivators who were already salivating at the thought of what they could salvage off a lone, ignorant boy.
"Hey! You there!" One of them said trying to draw Mo Lingtian's attention from the Dao tribulation he was focused on but Mo Lingtian barely gave him any accord.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" the cultivator yelled from the sky but was still totally ignored.
Murmured laughter spread across the sky from the different cultivators. A Qi Refining cultivator was getting schooled by a nobody in the vessel cleansing stage.
"What a joke!" one of the many scores of cultivators said mocking him.
"Ha! Your sect just can't get rid of their hundreds year legacy of being a joke!' another cultivator yelled out much to the laughter of everyone around.
"Who are you talking to?" the cultivator shouted releasing a burst of qi around his body.
"Senior," one of his fellow disciples said holding his hand and nodding his head disapprovingly.
"Ah? Wang Ping? You want to fight me?" said when he saw his clan member hold him back.