This was a quasi-emperor-level shockwave — one that shook all six directions and eight wastes. The powerful figures of the world trembled, and some were rapidly closing in, unwilling to give Ye Fan any chance to truly grow strong and rise again.

Boom!

Divine lightning obliterated the world. The vast star domain was drowned in a flood of lightning radiance — not a single star remained visible in that place; every last one had been shattered by the thunderbolts. It was difficult to imagine just how enormous this heavenly tribulation was.

Ye Fan had moved far from inhabited space and into a desolate, dead star system — had he remained near any living place, no creature would have survived. Everything would have been reduced to ash.

Lightning interlaced — each bolt like a hanging river of stars, silver radiance stretching long, slashing through the darkened cosmos, dazzling enough to leave one breathless.

None had ever seen such a thing. Never before had anyone witnessed a sea of lightning this vast, covering this immense an area — it was nearing the scale of crossing entire star domains. Inconceivable.

It defied all reason. A single bolt of lightning shot across the sky, departing that region — and even after leaving, it continued to shatter one great star after another, each explosion blooming like a flower, brilliant and beautiful.

The scene rendered people speechless. Too violent. Too terrifying. Too overwhelming. Was this truly the tribulation of a quasi-emperor?

People nearly doubted themselves — that this was actually a Great Emperor undergoing tribulation.

Of course, no one had ever witnessed an Emperor’s tribulation. This was merely speculation born of the fact that no quasi-emperor who had ever existed seemed to have stirred up such a clamor as this.

Ye Fan roared, rising and sinking within the sea of lightning — he was in terrible trouble, fighting for his life with everything he had, battling simply to survive.

“So this is what a complete quasi-emperor tribulation truly is!”

Compared to the last time, the difference was as vast as heaven and earth. The terror of it was enough to make even Ye Fan’s own heart pound — the danger he faced surpassed even his own expectations.

Calling it nine deaths and one survival would be understating it. He was staring directly into a death trap with no way out.

Days passed. He remained hidden within a barren dead star system — the tribulation should have ended long ago, but because his trials were so uniquely numerous, his heavenly punishment was unlike anyone else’s. Even now, lightning continued to flash and detonate, spilling outward and revealing itself to the outside world.

The lightning storm raged like an ocean. Ye Fan was like a lone leaf on its surface, tossed about, rocked violently, on the verge of capsizing at any moment — of being buried in this vast sea of thunder.

At this moment, he was drenched in blood. He was at war with Great Emperors, locked in battle with ancient sovereigns — one supreme existence after another, each unmatched in beauty and power, without equal beneath the heavens.

These figures had not appeared during his previous tribulation, because that tribulation had been incomplete — fractured. But today, all of them had erupted at once. The ocean surged against the sky, pulverizing the starry expanse.

This was the destruction of worlds.

Ye Fan fought and killed. He had lost count of how many he had battled. His body had been wrecked — shattered bones flew through the air, his golden blood ignited the lightning ocean, his red blood flickered with Dao runes, scattered everywhere.

The golden figure within his brow had also rushed out, struck down and shattered more times than he could recall — yet each time, it reassembled itself, fighting against those Emperor silhouettes one after another.

Kill!

Ye Fan had fought for days and nights. He was exhausted to the bone — yet still he roared, unyielding, refusing to yield. For he knew: the moment he wavered, the moment he closed his eyes, he would slumber forever and never wake again.

Hum!

Opposite him, a figure came charging — wielding a battle axe, like a great demon king, eyes blazing gold, ferociously brilliant, with a killing intent that flooded the heavens.

“The Chaos Ancient Emperor!”

Ye Fan was weary, but he forced himself to focus. Another young Great Emperor had come, axe raised high — its radiance like an ocean, capable of destroying heaven and exterminating the earth.

Facing the first strike, he did not evade. Instead, he bore it — using the young Great Emperor’s laws to hammer against the shackles within his own body, using that borrowed force to shatter his chains and break free of his prison.

Pfft!

Ye Fan caught the battle axe with both hands. The blade’s frigid radiance instantly spread into his body, shattering every bone within him. His flesh and blood surged and quaked — his body nearly exploded apart.

This was akin to self-mutilation. But it was necessary.

For over three hundred years, the remnant traces of the laws of the Stone Emperor, the Lord of the Immortal Realm, the Lord of Light and Darkness, the Lord of Reincarnation, and others had intertwined within his body — forming a cocoon, more like a prison, burying his own law and Dao.

Now, Ye Fan bathed in the quasi-emperor tribulation. Using the Dao arts of ancient Great Emperors, he tempered himself — to break free of his trap. It was like blade after blade of razor-sharp swords thrust into his prison, helping him sever his bonds.

Of course, doing so also wounded him. This was a price that had to be paid.

For days, he had endured this suffering without end. The reason the lightning punishment refused to conclude lay precisely here — he was forcing his way across the sea of lightning, and every time he was about to sink, he would let out a roar, recall all the past, present, and future — allowing the obsession within his heart to become a flame, scorching his soul, keeping himself lucid.

Agonizing struggle. Unceasing tribulation. For Ye Fan, this was a torment beyond imagining — and also a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Break through, and the sea would part before him and the sky would open wide. Fail, and he would fall forever into the abyss.

One Great Emperor after another appeared. One ancient sovereign after another stood waiting — for him to conquer them, to battle them. Ye Fan had shed rivers of blood. His bones had been shattered countless times.

It was fortunate that his recovery was now extraordinary, and that the tribulation’s lightning had cracked open his flesh and momentarily broken the law-prison within — allowing his law and Dao to stir to life. Paired with the recovery of the Word-of-Permanence secret technique, had it not been so, even ten lives would not have been enough to spare him.

“What a terrifying divine punishment — never seen the like of it. This exceeds all limits. He cannot be allowed this opportunity!”

A voice rang out — cold as ice yet trembling with shock. A massive bronze coffin floated in the darkness, carved with the Underworld’s death-maps. The howling of fierce ghosts emanated from within, and ghost-energy drowned out the heavens and the earth.

From within the coffin, a figure sat upright. Though not a quasi-emperor, this being was extraordinarily dangerous — cold energy flooding the sky and earth, emanating from a painted scroll in his hand.

“The Undying Death Scroll — passed down from one generation to the next. Today it is finally spent — but using it on the Holy Body makes it worthwhile!”

This was a quasi-emperor forbidden weapon. In a certain sense, it was even more terrifying than a quasi-emperor weapon — because it was a one-time detonation. Once used, the weapon was destroyed. But its divine power was immense.

Hum!

The ancient scroll spread across the sky like a sea of stars glistening, inner galaxies revolving around a deathly still underworld — and in that moment, it erupted.

Clearly, the one who had come was well prepared. The forbidden weapon pierced through the lightning radiance and plunged straight into the center — having not been destroyed in advance, and carrying with it an ocean of underworld energy that shook this entire region of the cosmos.

“Hmm — those are tribulation-crossing runes. They temporarily evade heaven’s reckoning and dissolve the lightning tribulation, forging a pathway. Were these unsurpassed formation runes not already lost to the ages? To think they have appeared once more.”

“These are the formation runes created by the ancient Tribulation-Crossing Honored One — I never imagined they fell into the hands of the Underworld!”

Clearly, more than one person had come. All of them watched intently, eyes flickering with cold, indifferent light.

Ye Fan was utterly weakened now. Nearly all his strength was spent — having just faced the Chaos Ancient Emperor, now locked in battle with the Silkworm Emperor, and now an ancient scroll was tearing through the sky and entering the tribulation, intent on crushing him.

“The Underworld!”

Ye Fan saw the galaxies within the scroll. He also saw the ghost-energy at the center and the Palace of Judgment within. His brows snapped upright in fury. He bit through the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of Dao-blood, using it to force himself alert.

Boom!

The Word-of-Soldier secret technique activated — he attempted to seize control of the forbidden weapon and turn it upon the Underworld Emperor, seeking to drive the two into a great collision.

Unfortunately, he could not manage it. The forbidden weapon was immense and all-encompassing. In his current weakened state, he could not grasp hold of it. The Death Scroll remained immovable as a mountain, advancing steadily toward him, pressing down to annihilate him.

“Then come. I have enough traces of ancient sovereigns within me — what is one more?”

Ye Fan’s body rang like metal struck. Chains of divine order flew out one after another, each thick as a human arm. He was like a ten-thousand-handed demon god — the law chains became giant hands, reaching out to seize the scroll.

Boom!

The Undying Death Scroll collapsed, dissolving into a surging tide that swept toward Ye Fan. This was a divine scroll capable of slaying quasi-emperors and annihilating supreme figures of the age — and now its power finally fully manifested.

Resplendent light flashed. Ye Fan voluntarily disintegrated — the sovereign Dao-runes contained within his blood all surged forward, colliding with the boundless ocean of laws and order emanating from the forbidden weapon.

His blood and Dao-bones burned. This was a mutually devastating battle — he was bearing it with his own body.

During this time, his Primordial Spirit was not touched by a single trace of underworld energy — it was drawn inside the Myriad Life Mother Qi Cauldron, which sealed itself tightly around him in protection.

A world-shaking collision. Brilliant radiance blazed so fiercely it even dimmed the tribulation lightning for a moment. The Underworld Emperor stood to the side, hands folded — cold and indifferent, watching, as though a true divine consciousness had truly taken residence within that body.

Ye Fan was reduced to fragments — his blood burning, his bones cracking, nearly dissolving into a pillar of flame. The chains of sovereign remnant-traces within his body and the scroll detonated together simultaneously.

This had nearly driven him to self-destruction.

“Is it over?” A bone-chilling snort rang out. The figure in the bronze coffin smiled — like someone appreciating the bloom and fall of scattered flower petals.

“I cannot die.”

From within the vast sea of lightning came Ye Fan’s voice — cold, yet soul-shaking. The burning blood and flesh extinguished. The shattered bones reassembled. His body painstakingly reformed itself.

This obliteration had pierced through the blockade left by the sovereign remnants, allowing his command over his law and Dao to grow yet greater — more fluid, more masterful.

Ye Fan’s Primordial Spirit did not immediately return to his body. It burst forth from the cauldron, and with both hands sweeping through the air, it drew in the vast ghost-energy and the underworld ghost-flames that lingered throughout the sky, tempering itself within.

His physical body had already undergone its trial. Now he wished his Primordial Spirit to experience the same.

Everyone drew a sharp breath. This was simply defying the heavens.

None of them had anticipated how terrifying the remnant traces of those ancient sovereigns truly were. Sealed within Ye Fan’s body for over three hundred years, the two had coexisted — and every attack launched against him had amounted to helping him shatter his prison.

“What else do you have?!”

Ye Fan let out a roar and stepped forward. The Word-of-Motion technique reached its absolute pinnacle — time seemed to stop, even to reverse. In an instant he appeared before the bronze coffin, supporting the tribulation upon his back, refusing to let it fall upon this place.

“You—”

The expression of the figure within the coffin froze on his face. His heart was trembling. Ye Fan’s speed had been too great — he had not been able to react in time.

Looking up at the raging lightning above — at the rolling torrents of the quasi-emperor tribulation — his face turned deathly white. Even without Ye Fan striking him, his death was certain. The moment those thunderbolts fell, he would be turned to ash.

“Why?” His heart shook, filled with incomprehension. That forbidden weapon should absolutely have been capable of slaying a quasi-emperor — it was one of the Underworld’s most precious immortal treasures, stored for countless ages, brought out only today. He had never imagined it would fail. The result had surpassed all reason.

Ye Fan reached out and seized him. He looked down at him with cold indifference — then with a single motion, ripped him apart. Blood sprayed through the air. Then Ye Fan shook his hand and flung what remained into the sea of lightning.

Pfft!

Only a wisp of green smoke rose — and together with the bronze coffin, all became dust.

Ye Fan let out a long howl. The lightning roared, the entire star domain rumbling and shaking. The stars were long gone — only empty void and chaotic electric radiance remained.

“He’s going to succeed — the tribulation has reached its final stage!”

One could see the Great Emperor silhouettes that had stood in the void fading away. The lightning tribulation that had persisted for days was drawing to its end — signaling that Ye Fan was about to unlock the shackles on his law and Dao and truly rise.

Such a spectacle, such divine punishment — who beneath heaven could withstand it?