266: Chapter 266 Tribulation Transcending Expert

At this moment, a vast expanse of ruins—where nothing but broken walls and crumbling pillars could be seen, and where silence was so profound that even the wind was frozen—suddenly crashed into his Sea of Consciousness!

No, it was not an "appearance"—

It was his World Tree Dao Seed at the center of his forehead resonating with a distant, ancient, and sorrowful Aura that spanned eons. Stimulated briefly by the "Soul Sealing Seed," it forcibly projected a scene of the end—a place submerged at the edge of space-time, where not even light could reach—

brutally into the depths of his consciousness!

This was a ruin billions of times larger than the remains of stars.

Endless fragmented continental plates, like discarded rubble, floated in the dead, frozen darkness.

Every plate was branded with indelible scars of war—sword marks billions of miles long, deep enough to expose bone, tore through the texture of the entire continent; palm prints capable of swallowing mountains were sunken into them, retaining a pressure that made even the Void Realm tremble.

There were also long-dried black seas of blood covering the entire land, and even after eons, they still exuded a grim Evil Qi that could freeze the Soul—

as if one could still hear the silent wailing of billions of dead Souls.

And in the very center of all these remains, on the Peak of a crater formed by shattered stars—

A "thing" stood quietly.

It might have once been a tree, a supreme giant tree that connected the Myriad Heavens and Worlds and held up the entire Universe.

But at this moment, it was reduced to a "concept" that shattered one's heart and Soul—withered.

The twisted and broken trunk looked like a galaxy torn apart; the broken edges were charred black, with traces of billions of lightning strikes faintly visible, as if the lingering power of a world-destroying event still remained.

The few remaining branches, like withered arms reaching desperately into the Void Realm, were bare and devoid of any life, telling of endless sorrow in the dead darkness.

Beneath the cracked and peeling bark, the exposed wood core had long since carbonized, pitch-black as ink, with the very last trace of life's breath dissipated, leaving only eternal, unchanging silence.

There was not a single leaf, not a trace of vitality; even the concept of "death" had settled upon it for too, too long—

so long that it itself seemed to have become the totem of the "End," the witness to the silence of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds.

Primordial Ancestral Realm. World Tree.

Chu Changsheng's breathing suddenly stalled, his heart feeling as if it were being tightly gripped by an invisible hand, and every beat tugged at the most piercing pain in the depths of his Soul.

This pain did not come from sealed memories, but originated from his Bloodline, from his Origin, from the most fundamental resonance of that Emerald Golden Dao Seed at the center of his forehead—

it pained him until his whole body spasmed, his fingertips trembled slightly, and his Sea of Consciousness churned violently.

"System, what is this place?"

His voice was dry and hoarse, carrying a trace of imperceptible trembling, as if squeezed out from between his teeth.

"The place you will go in the future."

The System's response remained as indifferent as before, without a ripple.

"The place... I will go in the future?"

Chu Changsheng chewed on these words repeatedly, his gaze locked tightly onto that frozen destruction, unable to look away even a fraction.

The charred wood core, the broken branches, the surrounding stellar remains... every detail was like a red-hot branding iron, searing fiercely into his Soul—

leaving an indelible mark.

"To be precise, it is the place you 'must' go."

The Emerald Golden Figure's voice echoed slowly in his Sea of Consciousness, more hollow and ethereal than before, as if coming from the other end of an extremely distant time, carrying the loneliness of eons of vicissitudes:

"When the World Tree is reborn in this world, its roots connect to the place where Chaos returns to zero, and its crown touches the supreme Laws of the Myriad Heavens and Worlds... that will be the moment you return to this realm to face this final battlefield."

Chu Changsheng was silent for a moment, complex emotions churning in his pitch-black pupils—shock, confusion—and even a flame of defiance burning fiercely.

He suddenly looked up, his voice low but firm, carrying a resolution to burn his bridges:

"At that time... how strong will I be?"

The Emerald Golden Figure did not seem to expect him to ask this question, its silver vortex eyes freezing slightly. After a brief pause, it replied slowly:

"If everything goes smoothly, when you stand upon these ruins, you should have already caught a glimpse of the 'Sacrificial Dao' path and grasped a portion of the Origin Laws—"

"With a single thought, you could cause the Myriad Heavens and Worlds to be born or perish; with a single word, you could determine the rise and fall of billions of stars."

"That version of me... can I win?"

Chu Changsheng pressed on, his burning gaze fixed on the withered World Tree in his Sea of Consciousness, as if wanting to glimpse a thread of hope for the future from that dead silence, his tone carrying unwillingness and stubbornness.

"The future is still unknown!"

The Emerald Golden Figure's voice suddenly rose, carrying an unquestionable majesty, interrupting his thoughts:

"Enough, Host, stop asking about things you shouldn't know. Focusing on increasing your cultivation is the most serious matter at hand."

The voice paused, as if it had suddenly remembered something, and it added a sentence in a light tone that carried fatal weight:

"By the way, Host, a quiet reminder: if you keep dawdling and don't go to the Central Province, your precious Disciple—"

"is about to have his blood drained and bones removed, and be refined into a Medicinal Pill."

"What?!"

This sentence, like a thunderclap from the Nine Heavens, exploded in Chu Changsheng's mind!

The dead ruins in his Sea of Consciousness were instantly cast to the back of his mind, his heart thumping so wildly it threatened to burst through his chest, and a cold killing intent suddenly surged from the soles of his feet to the top of his head—

freezing the Bloodline throughout his body.

He clenched his fists violently, his knuckles turning white from the force, even emitting a faint crisp sound. The World Tree Dao Seed at the center of his forehead buzzed due to his intense emotional fluctuations, and a rich Emerald Golden brilliance flashed across his body—

the surrounding Void Realm began to tremble slightly, ripples of fine cracks appearing.

"What did you say? My Disciple?"

His voice carried an unbelievable urgency and a trace of uncontrollable trembling, the killing intent almost overflowing from between his teeth:

"Which one? What happened?"

At this moment, the figures of Xuanyuan Zhanxian, Jian Tanghuang, and Chu Zhanxiao flashed through his mind one by one—

every face making his heart tighten.

"Chu Zhanxiao."

The Emerald Golden Figure's voice had no inflection, yet it was like a heavy hammer, smashing fiercely into Chu Changsheng's heart—shattering his last shred of reason completely.

A loud "boom" rang out in Chu Changsheng's mind, his reason instantly swallowed by fury and killing intent.

The next moment, a terrifying, extreme killing intent erupted from his body like a tsunami. The Void Realm behind him twisted violently, and a World Tree Manifestation ten thousand zhang tall slowly emerged—

its trunk as vigorous as a Dragon, its branches lush and leaves dense, covering the sky and sun. Three Dao Fruits containing the Profound Truth of the Dao rotated slowly at the top of the tree, emitting an unfathomably profound Dao rhythm that shocked the Universe.

"I don't want to know the reason, and I don't want to know the process."

Chu Changsheng's voice was bone-chillingly cold, as if coming from the Nine Nether Hell, without a trace of warmth:

"Immediately, give me the location of the Myriad Demon Palace."

"I want to see which blind fool dares to touch my Disciple!"

The moment the words fell, a simple, ancient longsword, engraved with Dragon patterns, suddenly flew out from his forehead and floated beside him.

The sword body buzzed and trembled, emitting a Dragon roar that shook the heavens, and the piercing Sword Qi automatically sliced through the surrounding air, making sharp hissing sounds—

the Void Realm was cut into fine cracks, filled with awe-inspiring killing intent.

The Emerald Golden Figure did not answer immediately; in its silver vortex eyes, billions of stars spun wildly, as if performing an extremely complex deduction, and lines of data runes flickered around it, moving at extreme speed.

After a few breaths, its voice sounded again, carrying a trace of imperceptible gravity:

"I can give you the location of the Myriad Demon Palace. But Host, I must warn you—the master of the Myriad Demon Palace, the 'Heavenly Demon Emperor,' is a peerless Great Demon at the Peak of the Late Undergoing Tribulation Stage, just one step away from stepping into the Immortal Dao realm, with eons of Lifespan and heaven-reaching Divine Ability."

"The eight great Demon Kings under his command all possess cultivation from the Late Mahayana Stage to the Half-Step Undergoing Tribulation Stage, each one vicious and bloodthirsty, their hands stained with blood; the Myriad Demon Palace itself has been operated for ten thousand years, with layers of Restrictions and as impregnable as a fortress—"

"It is one of the five top forces in the Central Province, with an unfathomable foundation."

It paused, its voice becoming increasingly cold, carrying a warning tone:

"And you, although you have condensed three Dao Fruits and stepped into the Late Mahayana Stage, and with the support of the World Tree Dao Seed, your combat power can rival an ordinary Late Mahayana Stage Peak expert. But facing the entire Myriad Demon Palace..."

"is still like a mantis trying to stop a chariot; you will surely die."

"Surely die?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Changsheng suddenly pulled his lips into a cold arc, his smile grim and chilling—his eyes burning with crazy Battle Intent and killing intent.

The light of the World Tree Manifestation behind him grew increasingly intense, the rotation speed of the three Dao Fruits suddenly accelerated, and the profound Dao rhythm emitted actually caused the surrounding Void Realm to begin to collapse inch by inch—with Chaos Qi flowing everywhere.

"In my dictionary, those four words have never existed."

He enunciated every word, the killing intent in his voice almost solidifying, as if it could freeze space-time:

"Wherever my Disciple is, I will fight my way there. The Heavenly Demon Emperor? Peak of the Late Undergoing Tribulation Stage? Half-Step Immortal Dao realm?"

He slowly raised his right hand, his distinct, bony fingers gently gripping the hilt of the nine heavens dragon roar sword.

The moment his fingertips touched the hilt, a desolate Dragon might, as if from the primordial wilderness, erupted with a roar!

The sound of the Dragon roar resonated through the Universe, shaking the heavens and earth, perfectly merging with his monstrous killing intent and the vast Dao rhythm of the World Tree, transforming into a terrifying Aura that looked down upon the world, rushing straight to the clouds—tearing through them!

"Just as well, I also want to see exactly how strong I can be when I fight with all my might!"