Inside his cultivation chamber, the Dragon Emperor opened his eyes. He didn't emit any qi, but his aura alone seemed to force the air around him to kneel in his presence.
"It's about time."
He had already mastered a complete law, one of the greatest offensive laws, the Law of Destruction. 'I guess I have to thank that bastard. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to master a peak law, but that won't stop me from getting my revenge.'
In his previous life, the Dragon Emperor had used the Law of Blood to step onto the immortal path, but compared to the Law of Destruction, it was lacking.
Still, this raised his wariness towards the new elder, the Monarch Nine Heavens. He crossed out the possibility that Xi Tianyi was the new immortal monarch due to the vast amounts of concepts the Monarch Nine Heavens had mastered. Tianyi was only one hundred years old, and there was no way he could have mastered the Law of Space and so many other concepts.
If he did, the Dragon Emperor would kill him at all costs using any means, even if he had to shed his current identity.
He had gained the last bit of inspiration through the Monarch Nine Heavens' explanation of the relationship between space and entropy and how it affected everything within.
While comprehending the Law of Chaos, the Dragon Emperor had been perfecting his martial body and spiritual core so that he reached the peak as a Transcending Mortality and Mortality Shedding Saint. Now, after ten years, he only needed to cross his tribulation.
The Dragon Emperor walked out of his chambers and saw an earth mortal waiting outside.
"Young Master," the earth immortal deferentially said.
The Dragon Emperor nodded. "Has anything happened while I was in retreat?"
"Elder Nine Heavens recently finished another sermon, and I heard that he accepted a disciple."
The Dragon Emperor snorted, but he still asked. "What is the identity of that disciple?"
The earth immortal shook his head. "Forgive me, I do not know. I couldn't discover any traces of him in the Huang realm, so I think he may have been taken from a different realm."
Hearing this, the Dragon Emperor narrowed his eyes. One of the reasons he was so wary of the Buzhou Immortal Sect was that only they could travel to different realms. Sure, an immortal monarch or emperor could forcibly leave the Huang Realm, but without fail, they would never return.
The Dragon Emperor waved his hand. "Enough, I will cross my Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation in nine days. Inform the guard my grandfather prepared for me to be on standby."
"Young Master, isn't this a bit risky?" the earth immortal asked. "How about waiting for a few more years? With the current situation, the sect will undoubtedly release Elder Redseal from his imprisonment."
"Are you questioning me?"
The earth immortal quickly lowered his head under the Dragon Emperor's scathing glare. "Forgive me. I will carry out your orders immediately."
Nine days later, on a mountain near Justice Peak, the Dragon Emperor sat on a scarlet lotus with his eyes closed.
Over a kilometer away, a few people stood. Among them were two true immortals Redseal had sent to protect Lovespot. The rest were Redseal's subordinates that had taken an interest, so a mere grandmaster stood out immensely.
The Dragon Emperor opened his eyes and glanced at Zi Zun. He inwardly nodded. 'Not bad, he should be able to reach the peak of Soul Nourishing Realm in less than a decade. At least he didn't waste all those materials I gave him and let me down.'
He had taken a particular interest in the grandmaster after learning of his hatred towards Xi Tianyi. Even if he couldn't grasp Zi Zun's loyalty or turn him against the Buzhou Immortal Sect, he was still a good knife against Xi Tianyi. Though that might not be possible anymore since Xi Tianyi has already reached the Immortal Realm, wasn't there still a mortal junior sister?
"Begin."
With the Dragon Emperor's words, black tribulation clouds began to gather in the sky above him. As if in response, the scarlet lotus below him emitted a brilliant red light.
Since he had lost the Red Dragon Lotus artifact, he had refined another one. He named it the Scarletwyrm Lotus, and its potential exceeded the Red Dragon Lotus thanks to using materials from Redseal's personal treasury.
Just before the first bolt of tribulation lightning fell, the Dragon Emperor gazed off into the distance. A hint of competitiveness appeared in his eyes.
-line break-
In the central peak of the Buzhou Immortal Sect, Xia Yushan stood alone. Off in the distance, his master and the Xia Clan disciples all watched.
His brows furrowed as he gazed towards the distance. Massive amounts of black clouds had gathered above, and there was no mistaking the coercion emanating from them.
''Someone else is crossing the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation too?' Xia Yushan thought. 'Should I wait another day?'
As soon as the thought appeared in his mind, Xia Yushan immediately rejected it. What did another person's heavenly tribulation have to do with him?
Xia Yushan looked away from the distant Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation and looked directly above him. Black clouds started to appear above his head.
As the lightning snaked within the tribulation clouds and gathered power, Xia Yushan gripped the handle of his sword. Instantly, the calm and peaceful aura around him disappeared and was replaced by a terrifyingly sharp aura.
Xia Yushan mastered the Law of Metal, which only increased the power of his sword.
Thanks to using the five elements as his foundation and increasing it even more with yin yang essence, Xia Yushan possessed greater and more potent true qi than his peers. With it, he had the confidence to overcome the heavenly tribulation.
After Xia Yushan blocked the first bolt of tribulation lightning, he couldn't help but turn his head towards Jade Peak. Another Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation had started to form.
'Should I have waited?'
-line break-
Unlike the Dragon Emperor or Xia Yushan, thanks to Tianyi sealing the space around Ba Shifang, no one was there to watch his heavenly tribulation. That, coupled with Mengfei's support, meant that no one would know who was transcending the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation.
On Jade Peak, Ba Shifang stared at increasing tribulation clouds with some sweat. "Goddamit. What is Main Body thinking? Two Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation occurring in such proximity is already dangerous, yet you added a third?! Knowing him, he'd probably wanted to see what happened.'
Ba Shifang hadn't worried too much. Tianyi had simulated the heavenly tribulation inside the Nine Heavens Universe, but it was only that, a simulation, so Ba Shifang hadn't become an immortal.
But now? He started to worry.
Thanks to the appearance of three Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulations, the tribulations clouds engulfed all of the Buzhou Immortal Sect and much more, but it hadn't reached the same extent as Tianyi's own Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation.
As the first bolt of lightning descended, Ba Shifang did nothing. Although his physical body wasn't as perverse as Tianyi, he still cultivated the Nine-Five Scripture and possessed an immensely powerful body. It wasn't until halfway through that he finally raised his defense.
His body seemed to have merged with the ground beneath, becoming part of the mountain. When the lightning made contact, it split like splashed water and was absorbed into the ground. No matter how hard the tribulation lightning struck Ba Shifang, he remained unmoved.
Three days later, Ba Shifang finally passed his Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation. After he passed, he resisted the Inner Devil Tribulation and formed several hand seals. The tribulation lightning that had been absorbed rose out of the ground and gathered around Ba Shifang's body and started to temper him.
Once Ba Shifang was done tempering his body, he closed his eyes and began his Inner Devil Tribulation.
In front of him, Tianyi appeared in the guise of Monarch Nine Heavens. Even though Ba Shifang was his clone, he couldn't interfere with the Inner Devil Tribulation because all his connections with his Ba Shifang had been cut off.
Tianyi turned towards the distance to where Lovespot and Xia Yushan were crossing their Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation. 'I wonder how their Inner Devil Tribulations are going.'
-line break-
"Long Aotian, no matter how many times you try, you will never be able to defeat me," Xi Tianyi said as he placed his foot on the Dragon Emperor's face and smeared it on the ground.
The Dragon Emperor glared hatefully at Tianyi. 'I didn't expect you to appear in my Inner Devil Heavenly Tribulation!'
Having transcended the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation once more before, the Dragon Emperor was extremely confident in passing even if the strength of the tribulation had increased.
As he expected, he crossed the lightning tribulation with some injuries but no fatal damage. However, he had underestimated the Inner Devil Tribulation.
The Dragon Emperor had wanted to swiftly crush the false reality created by the Inner Devil Tribulation, but he had failed. Instead, he had met setback after setback each time—all of them under Xi Tianyi's hands.
He gathered his saliva and spat it at the fake Tianyi. The wad of spit landed on the fake's robes, and he smiled coldly. A second later, there was the sound of bone cracking, and the Dragon Emperor lost consciousness.
When he regained consciousness, he discovered that he was currently undertaking the Buzhou Immortal Sect's disciple acceptance trials. He didn't panic as this wasn't the first time he had died under the fake Tianyi's hands.
'Counting that death, I've already died sixty-nine times under his hands. It seems that I have to kill him unless I want to develop an inner devil.' The Dragon Emperor thought as he started to act out the play the Inner Devil Tribulation had prepared for him
Since he couldn't directly break the fake world, then he had to persevere for a certain amount of time. He estimated that the number of deaths would not exceed ninety-nine.
-line break-
"Die!" Xia Yushan shouted as his sword pierced his father's heart for a second time.
As his father died drowning in his own blood, Xia Yushan threw his body away and quickly ran to his mother and held her close. "Mother! Mother, stay with me! I'll definitely save you!'
His mother's pale lips formed a smile with great difficulty as she gazed at Xia Yushan with motherly love. Her hands trembled as they stroked his cheeks. "Yu'er..."
She never had a chance to finish as her hand fell limp to the side and light left her eyes.
"Mother! Mother!" Xia Yushan cried out as tears streamed down his face. "Yes! Master can definitely save you, he must! If not, I'll find your reincarnation! Mother, mother! Please don't leave me! I don't want to be alone in the world!"
Xia Yushan opened his eyes, gasping for breath. He glanced around him to see that he was inside his cultivation room. 'It's that dream again. How did I fall asleep in the first place?'
He shook his head and stood up, no longer in the mood to cultivate. When he left, he searched around but couldn't find her.
"Where's my wife?" Xia Yushan asked a passing servant.
Sweat covered the servant's back, and he looked down, not daring to meet Xia Yushan's eyes at all. Xia Yushan frowned and asked again. "Where is she?"
"T-th-the lady is at Jade Peak."
Hearing this, Xia Yushan's expression turned severe, and a heavy pressure crushed down on the servant. "What you mean to say is that Daoyi is with Junior Brother Xi, am I right?"
The servant's whole body started to tremble as he fell to his knees. He said nothing as he desperately wished a hole would appear and swallow him whole.
Xia Yushan snorted and walked past the servant. He didn't stop until he reached Jade Peak Palace. There, in the garden, he saw his wife being hugged by another man from behind.
"Jiang Daoyi. Xi Tianyi!" Xia Yushan roared and walked forward to separate the two. If looks could kill, both of them would have keeled over instantly. "Do you two have anything to say for yourself?"
Daoyi showed a scared look and hid behind a pillar. Tianyi snorted and stared straight at Xia Yushan. "Senior Brother, don't you have eyes?"
Xia Yushan felt like he could spew fire at any minute as he pointed a shaking finger at Tianyi. "You! You!"
"You, you. Is that all you have to say?" Tianyi rolled his eyes. "I advise you to divorce Daoyi as soon as possible. If it weren't for your little tricks, my junior sister would have never married you. She simply saw the reality that I'm the better choice."
"Good, good!" Xia Yushan shouted. "Just because you're Grand Elder Xi's son, don't think you can do anything you want!"
Xia Yushan then turned his gaze towards Daoyi. Seeing her avoid his gaze with fear, he softened his gaze.
"Daoyi, don't be afraid. Just tell the truth. No matter who he is, he can't force you." Xia Yushan said.
Daoyi didn't say anything, but she left the pillar and hid behind Tianyi. Xia Yushan closed his eyes as he felt despair creep into his heart. "So, you are leaving me too?"
Tianyi smirked. "Yes, she's leaving you. What can you do about it?"
Before Tianyi could say anymore, Xia Yushan drew his sword and cut him down with maddened eyes. Daoyi screamed in fright as she fell on her butt. Tears started to stream down as she retreated as far as possible.
But Xia Yushan acted as if he didn't see anything. He continued to hack Tianyi until he was dismembered into over a thousand pieces. Only then did the madness in his eyes retreat.
"How dare you!"
A thunderous voice shouted. Xia Yushan looked up to see crystalline sword energy shooting toward him. Xia Yushan roared and attacked even as his body instantly broke under the immortal's attack.
-line break-
On the central peak, Xia Yushan opened his eyes with not a hint of emotion in his eyes. Suddenly, he clutched his heart as his veins bulged on his forehead.
"Yushan, are you alright?" Sect Master Xia called out from beside his disciple. He had just released a sigh of relief from Xia Yushan overcoming his Inner Devil Tribulation. He didn't know why, but Xia Yushan suddenly clutched his chest.
Xia Yushan ignored him as infinite emotions swirled in his eyes. 'Mother, I didn't expect you to become my inner devil.'