Endless lightning and ten thousand feet of purple radiance completely submerged heaven and earth — this was no longer a single bolt, but an ocean of thunder!
Everything ceased to exist. All was swallowed by the thunder. The eye met only blinding brilliance. Even standing at a great distance, one could feel that force of annihilation.
To say nothing of the one within, undergoing the tribulation — even miles away, the purple radiance created a suffocating sensation that made people tremble.
“Ahh…”
Heart-rending screams came first. Someone had been caught in the tribulation, reduced to flying ash, erased from this world forever.
“Damn it, little Ye — this Emperor will fight all of you to the death!” The great black dog was cursing and swearing without cease, trapped inside as well.
“Ahh…”
The area erupted. Many were crying out in terror and panic — who among them could possibly endure a heavenly calamity of this scale? Not one person had anticipated that Ye Fan would unleash such a method.
“Awooo — Ye, you black-hearted wretch!” Even the great black dog was cursing the heavens. One could only imagine what the others were feeling.
Everyone wanted to skin Ye Fan alive. Who could have anticipated something like this — a scheme conceived in the depths of despair? No matter how well any of them had planned, no one had accounted for this.
Some had specifically chosen this ancient ground where sacred spirits had perished, knowing the Black Emperor’s mastery of Dao inscriptions would be rendered useless there — guarding against a thousand things, they had never guarded against this one.
This kid was utterly beyond redemption!
Everyone wanted to curse. This was a devastating ploy — calculated to bury them all. Not one person didn’t go pale. The legendary heavenly tribulation — the most unpredictable and fearsome force in existence.
Boom!
Ten thousand feet of thunderstorm. No telling how many mountain ranges were submerged. Purple radiance reached the heavens; every inch of space was tribulation lightning — utterly terrifying.
“This is too cruel — I don’t want to die, ahh…” Screams rang out without end.
“Ye, you ruthless fiend — I’ll never rest even as a ghost, ahh…” Piercing wails echoed through the thunder sea, faint and failing — this was a great slaughter.
On that day, when Ye Fan learned that Yiyi had been taken captive, he had immediately entered seclusion at the Jade Pool — lying in wait, keeping himself hidden. In truth, he could have broken through long ago, but he had been suppressing his own realm, waiting for this very day.
He had wanted to bring the Scarlet Dragon and the Peacock King along, but the enemy had sensed the plan. Yet those were never his final method — the heavenly tribulation was the true killing stroke of this entire journey.
To undergo his tribulation within a deadly trap, to draw everyone into it — completing the task himself, advancing to Four Extremities Grand Perfection, while his enemies would be turned to ash.
Pulling all of them into the tribulation together was, one might say, a vicious stratagem. He had been left with no choice and had devised this plan to break out of an impossible situation.
Boom!
The great heavenly tribulation descended right on schedule, scorching heaven and earth, melting the mountains of snow. Not a single inch of ground was left undamaged.
“You are so ruthless…” A Holy Son-level figure cried out, his entire body engulfed in lightning radiance, fighting desperately.
“That looks painful. I’ll send you on your way!” Ye Fan wore a cold smile as he advanced toward him, step by step.
At this moment, Ye Fan was the center of the thunder sea — the source of the raging tempest. The endless electric bolts were all directed at him; the moment he moved, it truly was a mountain of thunder and a sea of lightning!
“Ahh…” The Holy Son-level figure screamed — he could not withstand this heavenly tribulation at all. Every inch of his flesh was charred.
“Let me see who you really are — you have a treasured artifact concealing your true appearance.” Ye Fan stepped to his side in a single stride. He himself was contending against the tribulation, but he was capable of enduring it.
Crack!
The treasured artifact on the man’s body shattered in the thunderstorm, revealing a familiar face — filled with terror, already destroyed by the lightning strikes.
“It’s you…” Ye Fan was surprised.
This person was Li Rui, a reserve Holy Son of Yao Guang — someone Ye Fan had once suppressed, then released in the Divine City.
Crack!
Five bolts of thunder rained down in unison. Li Rui’s skull split open, his brain matter spilling out, his divine soul collapsing. Then another sheet of lightning fell, and his form and spirit were obliterated together — he became flying ash. Nothing of him remained.
Ye Fan didn’t even need to think — there was certainly a Supreme Elder from one of Yao Guang’s factions here who had come alongside Li Rui.
“Ahh…”
Elsewhere, a Dragon Transformation Eighth Change Grand Elder let out a scream, his skin split open, white bones exposed, the smell of charred flesh in the air.
They were extremely powerful — and yet they did not necessarily fare better than the Holy Sons. To endure a heavenly tribulation, you needed sacred artifacts.
Most of the Holy Sons had weighty treasures woven with fragments of the Great Dao, so they could not be killed in a short time — they continued to struggle.
“You’re from the Purple Mansion — I saw you at the Jade Pool!”
Ye Fan reached this Grand Elder’s side and extended a single finger, pointing at his forehead. Lightning was channeled inward, and with a boom, the man exploded entirely — bones and bone fragments flying outward.
This was an ocean of lightning that killed without distinction. Within it, there was no escaping it. Everyone was submerged. Even breathing meant inhaling lightning.
“This is heaven’s injustice!”
Many elders of the older generation were wailing. Watching Ye Fan walk through the storm of electricity as though through an unguarded land — unharmed, killing without pause — they despaired.
“He’s a monster — he’s the one undergoing the tribulation, yet he doesn’t fear it! The rest of us can’t hold on anymore!”
“Heaven strikes him with lightning, yet he refuses to die — a freak like this has no right to exist in this world!”
Many were cursing and raging, howling with venom — no one could endure such divine punishment as this.
Pfft, pfft…
Ye Fan moved through the darkness like a death god, harvesting lives. In his wake, people fell and were reduced to cinders without end.
In truth, he need not have struck at all — merely walking toward them was enough to ensure those powerful figures could not endure what he carried. He was the center of the thunder sea, and the annihilating force was strongest wherever he stood.
Back when Ye Fan had shattered the curse and first survived a celestial-tier tribulation in the Divine City, he had already drawn a Nine-Five Heavenly Tribulation that could make even a Sacred Master’s face go white.
After that, every advance to a new realm brought with it a tribulation vastly greater than the last — and now, very few could withstand it at all.
Ye Fan was gritting his own teeth, doing everything he could to endure. His physical body had long since surpassed that of any Sacred Master.
It was not that those people didn’t want to flee. It was that they could not. Many were caught up in the tribulation — there was no escaping it.
Ye Fan had understood this situation long ago, for the Black Emperor had told him during his very first tribulation: anyone caught inside would inevitably be drawn in along with the cultivator.
In the ancient past, the Beginningless Emperor had also been struck by lightning constantly during his tribulations. Anyone entangled with him would face destruction.
If cultivators of high power helped resist the tribulation, the heavens would simply send an even more terrifying punishment — one targeted specifically at that person.
To prevent innocent bystanders from being caught up, the Beginningless Emperor had once specifically created the Heaven-Deceiving Formation Inscriptions. But the people before Ye Fan now could not possibly know how to use them.
“Ahh…” The Dao-Yi Holy Son Li Donglai was screaming, his hair disheveled and wild with terror. His golden warship had been destroyed, and he was now channeling his life-bound treasured artifact — a weapon gifted to him by the Dao-Yi Sacred Master — to resist the tribulation.
“You’re not worried about exposing your identity anymore?” Ye Fan advanced through the heavenly tribulation, step by step.
“Ye Fan, you ruthless bastard — do you know who has come here? Do you want to kill everyone?!” The Dao-Yi Holy Son Li Donglai was terrified.
Lightning coiled around his body and he convulsed. Much of him was cooked through. The Heaven-Ensnaring Canopy, woven with threads of the Great Dao, was faltering — slowly cracking apart.
“Who they are doesn’t matter. You set a death trap to kill me — you should have been prepared to be destroyed. Tell me: who planned all of this?” Ye Fan pressed him with a roar.
Boom!
Eighty-one consecutive bolts of crimson lightning descended — far more terrifying than the entire surrounding thunder sea, multiplied many times over — and all of them struck Ye Fan’s body, staggering him.
“What the hell — this makes no sense!” The Dao-Yi Holy Son’s eyes nearly burst from his skull.
He himself was fighting for his life, unable to withstand the terrible thunder sea, already on the verge of having his form and spirit obliterated — while Ye Fan faced something far more fearsome and was merely staggered. It was nothing.
Li Donglai was seething with resentment, nearly going mad — but there was no time to dwell on it. The thunder sea tore through him, splitting his entire body apart, bones jutting out, no resistance left.
His Heaven-Ensnaring Canopy had been destroyed. He had no more shield. He could not survive even another moment — his physical body alone was utterly incapable of withstanding the purple sea.
“Talk!” Ye Fan hauled him up.
“I truly don’t know. All of us only received a message. We all came from the Saint-Slaying Alliance — none of us know the true identity of whoever is directing this.” The Dao-Yi Holy Son Li Donglai was terrified and told everything he knew.
Pfft!
Ye Fan’s palm came down, shattering his skull. He died where he stood.
“Damn it — little Ye, come save this Emperor quickly! I can’t hold on much longer!” The great black dog howled.
Ye Fan knew the dog would be fine — he had been keeping watch on the situation over there. But he still went over at the earliest opportunity.
The great black dog gripped the Ancient Emperor Token in his paw. Its auspicious light shimmered, barely warding off the thunder sea, keeping it at bay. Liu Yiyi was sheltered inside.
“Ahh… It hurts this Emperor to death!” The great black dog screamed, his whole body convulsing.
The Ancient Emperor Token had been holding, but Ye Fan was the center of the thunderstorm. The moment he drew near, all manner of lightning came streaking in from every direction — multicolored light without end: five-element lightning radiance, and even faint threads of Chaos lightning.
“Damn it — get away, get away!” The great black dog screamed. He hoisted Yiyi onto his back, planted his hind legs, and took off running as fast as he could — fleeing as though from a venomous snake. “You’ve ruined this Emperor — now I’m going to have to undergo the tribulation alongside you.” Even as he bolted, the black dog called back, “Little Ye, you’ve dragged me into your catastrophe. Wherever I run, I’m in this tribulation now.”
This was the so-called “drawn-in” effect — it was not bound by location. Even now, finding a spot to carve out the Heaven-Deceiving Formation Inscriptions would be too late.
Ye Fan took out the “Immortal Treasure” he had obtained from the Myriad Dragon Lair and sealed the Primordial Sage inside it. He then suspended the Cauldron of the Mother Qi of All Things above his head to undergo the tribulation alongside him.
He had noticed that with each tribulation, the cauldron would become etched with traces of the Great Dao — imprints of heaven and earth. This was an essential step in helping it evolve toward becoming an Extreme Dao Sacred Artifact.
Not only that — Ye Fan also projected his terrifying divine sense outward. The small golden lake between his brows transformed into an immortal king in his own image, identical to himself, seated cross-legged before his forehead, enduring the baptism of lightning together with him.
He used the fearsome heavenly tribulation to refine himself — a comprehensive elevation. At this moment, he entered the realm of Four Extremities Grand Perfection. His golden blood and vital energy surged in abundance, and his combat power rose by a substantial margin.
“Ahh…”
Screams rose and fell in succession. This place was a living hell. Ye Fan’s heavenly tribulation was too terrifying — even Sacred Master-level figures could not withstand it, let alone anyone else.
Ye Fan continued to strike, finishing off multiple people in succession. Two half-step Great Abilities had already been killed, reduced to tribulation ash.
“Ahh…”
Then he caught sight of two Supreme Elders from Wanchu and the Holy Maiden Zhao Yanran herself, the three of them jointly summoning several weighty artifacts to resist the tribulation — barely keeping themselves from having their forms and spirits obliterated.
“You…”
Everyone’s face changed when they saw Ye Fan approaching. None could conceal their fear.
Pfft!
Cold and pitiless, the Cauldron of the Mother Qi of All Things hovering above his head, Ye Fan advanced step by step. A palm-blade cut outward, and the Wanchu Holy Maiden’s head flew sideways.
Bang!
The headless body had not yet had time to spray blood before it was reduced to charcoal by the lightning radiance — and the severed head burst apart with a bang.
“Holy Maiden!” The two Supreme Elders of Wanchu cried out — but they did not escape their own death.
Bang!
Both were reduced to flying ash by threads of Chaos lightning that Ye Fan guided down upon them. They vanished utterly, without a trace.
Ye Fan’s eyes were deep and focused. He drew ten thousand feet of divine lightning into his body, continuously tempering his flesh, his divine sense, and the Cauldron of the Mother Qi of All Things. His whole being became crystalline and radiant.
At this moment, his flesh and bones were flowing with light, stronger than before — while the golden divine sense condensed from between his brows had taken the form of “himself,” no bigger than a fist, yet exhaling and drawing in the boundless lightning and thunder.
The scene was awe-inspiring. It was as though all the lightning of the heavenly tribulation was being drawn inward and absorbed. He breathed in and out the thunder energy, forging his divine sense into something incomparably strong and resilient.
The small golden figure sat cross-legged in the air — like flawless, brilliant glass, every inch of it unblemished, dazzlingly radiant.
As for the cauldron — it, too, was transforming. Fine and intricate patterns had grown across it, etched into the inner walls, profound and unfathomable — and it had formally begun to interlace the Dao and its principles, beginning its evolution toward a Sacred Master-level weapon.
Ye Fan was metamorphosing continuously. From head to foot, every inch of him was dazzlingly radiant — every last bit of his flesh and blood shimmered with treasure-like brilliance.
He advanced step by step and came across body after body — Holy Son-level figures numbered seven or eight among the charred remains, all dead, all reduced to charcoal.
At last, he caught sight of a Great Ability figure who had long since fled the thunder sea and was undergoing his own tribulation atop a distant snowy peak.
There was no need to say more — this was the “drawn-in” effect. Wherever you ran, it made no difference. You were inevitably going to undergo a tribulation as well.
Ye Fan laughed out loud. His body was brilliant and pure, without a trace of dust. Exhaling the thunder sea, he charged forward, carrying ten thousand pounds of divine lightning.
“Let me lend you a hand!”
“You…” The Great Ability was filled with dread. He had never undergone a heavenly tribulation before. Even his own was already more than he could bear — and now he was expected to absorb what Ye Fan brought with him, a force no human power could withstand?
Boom!
The thunder sea closed in, and precisely at that moment, the Chaos Heavenly Lightning descended — matchless in its terror, blindingly brilliant, only a few wisps in number, yet enough to shatter and obliterate all things!
Even Ye Fan coughed up blood against this tribulation; even the Cauldron of the Mother Qi of All Things trembled, leaving deep marks. This Great Ability figure, powerful as he was, could not endure it.
Crack!
With only nine strikes, all of the man’s weapons were reduced to powder — permanently erased from existence.
Then eighty-one continuous strands of Chaos lightning descended one after another, beating him about like a lotus leaf in a storm, thrashing wildly.
“Ahh… You little thieving Ye — I’ll never rest, not even as a ghost!” He screamed in agony.
“So you were a martial brother of the Dao-Yi Sacred Master — you are Li Muqing. I saw you at the Jade Pool.” Ye Fan said with a cold smile.
“Ahh…”
Eighty-one strands of Chaos lightning fell. The Great Ability Li Muqing became tribulation ash — struck from the rolls of the living.
Ye Fan regulated his breathing. The golden figure condensed from his divine sense was like an ocean that received all rivers — drawing in every last strand of Chaos lightning, continuously refining itself.
His flesh and the cauldron were doing the same — undergoing everything together. He shone like a divine being, flowing with dreamlike radiance, brilliant and resplendent.
In this moment, he was, in every true sense of the word, a divine spirit walking among mortals!
Immune to the tribulation’s touch, invulnerable to all calamity — walking through an endless ocean of lightning.
He came upon charred corpse after charred corpse, personally extinguishing the lives of those who still breathed. Four half-step Great Abilities had now perished, their Dao and spirit consumed together.
“You — you are a demon! Do you know how many people you’ve killed? Do you know who they are? The Eastern Desolation is going to suffer a great upheaval!”
This was what was said to him when Ye Fan drew ten thousand feet of raging storm upon the second Great Ability undergoing his own tribulation, sending him on his way.
“I said it — today a miracle would occur. I would cut down all of you!” Ye Fan was unmoved.
He advanced through the tribulation, bearing witness to the Dao, while others continued to fall — screams rang out without pause, a scene of utter horror.