Forging an Immortal Path Through Myriad Tribulations

Since ancient times, the path to immortality has never been smooth. Cultivation is, by its very nature, an act of defying Heaven: seizing the workings of creation and staking one's life in a struggle against the heavens for the Dao. All things in the world follow the laws of Heaven. The lifespans of living beings, the rise and fall of fortune, and the cycles of heaven and earth are all predetermined. Yet cultivators insist on breaking free from the restraints of fate, seizing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to forge their own Dao foundations, and defying the laws of the cosmos in pursuit of the Great Dao of immortality. Such deeds are inherently unacceptable to Heaven. Thus, every time a cultivator advances to a higher realm, they must overcome another tribulation. Tribulations grow alongside the Dao, and the further one cultivates, the more perilous they become: from the calamities and heart-demon tribulations of the mortal world, to the ascension tribulation of rising to the Ninth Heaven and the Great Dao tribulation of attaining the Primordial Dao, and even the Origin Tribulation of tracing all things back to their source and the Transcendence Tribulation of escaping the myriad worlds. None can be avoided or evaded. Flee, and your Dao foundation will crumble; hide, and your soul will be scattered. Only by enduring the tribulation head-on is there a glimmer of hope for survival. Those who overcome their tribulations shatter their shackles and soar to new heights, stepping into a higher realm and discovering a vast new world of cultivation. Those who fail may, at best, lose all their cultivation and become crippled; at worst, their souls are scattered and their Dao foundations destroyed, with even the chance to reincarnate stripped away, leaving no hope of beginning again.