Five hundred years passed quietly.
During these five hundred years, Li Qi had already elevated his understanding of formations to a new level.
In these more than five hundred years, Li Qi had spent more time on formations than on cultivation.
Furthermore, as the scope of the Penguin Medicine Pavilion expanded to encompass more great domains, Li Qi also began to master new formations.
He then integrated them into his own use, not merely drawing them.
Instead, he modified and fused them.
One day, Li Qi slowly opened his eyes.
Before him, an unprecedentedly intricate formation pattern had been drawn.
This was a sealing formation that Li Qi had spent all his knowledge, experience, and countless hours over the past five hundred years deconstructing and merging numerous prior formations.
It could be considered the most powerful sealing formation Li Qi could create at this moment.
With a slight shift of his mind, Li Qi activated the formation.
Immediately, an incomparably terrifying sealing power surged forth from the formation.
As far as Li Qi could perceive, everything within this formation was now extremely difficult for even his senses to detect.
"I wonder if the strength of this formation is enough to shield my tribulation fluctuations," Li Qi murmured.
He then sensed his internal cultivation realm.
Although the path of formations had consumed a lot of time, his cultivation had not been neglected, and the Silent Demise Space had also provided considerable assistance to Li Qi.
By now, Li Qi's cultivation had reached the peak of the third level of the Mahayana realm.
If Li Qi wished, and focused on cultivation, he was confident he could break through within twenty years.
"I should set up the formation first and attempt a breakthrough." Li Qi murmured.
Without taking too much time, Li Qi directly set up the formation he held in his hand within this Heavenly Dao Space.
For convenience, Li Qi did not even extend this formation to encompass the entire Earthly Void Realm.
After all, he was cultivating within the Heavenly Dao Space, and sealing the entire Heavenly Dao Space was sufficient.
Thus, Li Qi entered a state of secluded cultivation.
As expected, just as Li Qi had predicted.
Seventeen years later, the realm of the third level of the Mahayana that Li Qi had reached was suddenly broken through.
Li Qi's cultivation surged to the fourth level of the Mahayana realm.
Opening his eyes, Li Qi's gaze shot up towards the sky.
At this moment, the formidable sealing formation Li Qi had set up was fully activated.
If any cultivator were to try and sense the location of the Heavenly Dao Space within the Earthly Void Realm now, they would be astonished to find that, to their perception, the Heavenly Dao Space seemed to be non-existent.
Li Qi remained motionless after activating the formation.
However, his eyes remained fixed on the sky.
One breath…
Two breaths…
There seemed to be no fluctuation in the sky.
Li Qi's gaze slowly relaxed.
But just then, his eyes, which had begun to relax, suddenly changed, turning grim.
On the fifth breath after his breakthrough, the rift that led to the tribulation space reappeared outside the Earthly Void Realm.
"Is the formation still not powerful enough?" Li Qi frowned slightly.
But sensing the attraction of the tribulation space towards him, Li Qi had no choice. He couldn't let the lightning tribulation truly appear near the Earthly Void Realm.
That would directly expose him.
Sighing, Li Qi got up, and in the next moment, his figure once again rushed into the tribulation space.
"Who is breaking through this time? Is it another fellow daoist of the seventh level or higher, or that young daoist?"
This time, various powerful cultivators entered the tribulation space, even specifically looking to see if it was Li Qi.
"If it's that young daoist, then it's too terrifying. It's only been a thousand years since that young daoist last broke through to the third level of Mahayana. To reach the fourth level of Mahayana in a thousand years…"
But before this cultivator could finish speaking, in the next moment, at the center of the lightning tribulation, Li Qi's unique aura of the fourth level of Mahayana emerged, instantly silencing the cultivator.
Good heavens, it really is you.
This is hopeless!
Thus, under the gaze of this group of cultivators, Li Qi, as usual, sat quietly in place, unmoving as the lightning tribulation from the sky descended.
The calm and ordinary lightning tribulation was once again overcome.
Not just Li Qi, but even the powerful cultivators who had come to watch Li Qi's tribulation were much more nonchalant this time.
Witnessing the same thing once or twice was indeed shocking.
But this was the third time they had seen it, so shock was impossible.
They were numb.
Even this time, a group of cultivators were privately discussing.
"I bet that kid will run as soon as he finishes his tribulation, believe it or not."
"I think that kid will run right after his tribulation too."
"What a shame, we still don't know this kid's background, too mysterious."
As the last bolt of lightning fell, the lightning tribulation above Li Qi's head slowly dissipated.
And after Li Qi's tribulation was completed, this time was completely different from before.
Compared to the previous two times when all the powerful cultivators rushed towards Li Qi to communicate with him, this time, only a third of them were scattered and heading towards Li Qi.
As for the remaining two-thirds, they simply stood still.
Then, under their gaze, Li Qi, having completed his tribulation, directly opened a passage and fled.
"Haha, I knew that kid would run away directly. Fortunately, I didn't keep chasing. Those guys couldn't catch up twice already, and they're still chasing this time."
The group of cultivators who stood by watching the spectacle burst into laughter.
But they did not know how heavy Li Qi's heart was at this moment.
...
"The sealing ability of this formation is still not enough. How strong is the attraction of the tribulation space?"
Now Li Qi was at the fourth level of Mahayana, not far from breaking through to become an immortal.
This meant that in the time remaining, Li Qi only had a few chances to try.
If his attempts failed, perhaps when Li Qi finally reached the realm of becoming an immortal, he would have to face the three great immortals who had already been immortals for an unknown period of time.
At least now, Li Qi harbored a deep sense of apprehension towards those three great immortals.