340: Ninefold Emperor Tribulation

Before Yan Lintian and his companion could say anything more, Mu Zun had already turned to look at the imprisoned Jing Yuan.

His expression was indifferent, as if he were looking at something insignificant.

For a fleeting moment, the ruthlessness in the depths of Jing Yuan's eyes could not be hidden.

He bit the tip of his tongue, and blood fell onto a small black bone talisman in his palm.

The bone talisman was the size of a fingertip, with irregular edges and ancient Wei Tian Clan talisman sequences densely carved on its surface.

In the very center was a hidden seal of the character "He," carrying Wang Hetian's unique aura.

As the blood seeped in, the talisman sequences lit up, rising layer by layer, and with a buzzing sound, they vibrated outward.

"The only one... Wang Hetian gave me," Jing Yuan whispered, as if reminding himself.

The black bone talisman suddenly shattered into powder, and a circle of black light expanded from beneath his feet.

It was no ordinary escape formation; it was as if a layer of the Secret Realm's skin had been directly peeled away.

The Chaos Qi within the circle was forcibly drained, revealing a lightless gap. The surrounding space-time seemed to be stripped away, such that not even an Emperor Realm Divine Sense could penetrate it.

Mu Zun's eyebrows twitched slightly. He pressed his fingers together and pushed down without emotion, intending to crush Jing Yuan along with the rift in that instant.

At the moment he struck, the sky above the Secret Realm suddenly grew heavy, as if an invisible hand were pressing down the entire heavens.

The Chaos cloud sea surged backward, and the space around the gilded stone platform first trembled slightly.

Immediately after, nine-fold dark tribulation clouds pressed down from on high, with lightning patterns emerging within them.

It was neither pure Chaos lightning nor ordinary Emperor lightning; the lightning carried the coldness of the Longevity Law and the tearing sensation of the Chaos Law.

Having stepped into the Emperor Realm, Mu Zun now faced his own Emperor Tribulation.

This scene in the sky left Yan Lintian and his companion terrified.

"Go!" Yan Linjun's voice was dry as the two of them retreated rapidly.

Mu Zun's finger-blade stopped in mid-air. He did not move forward even half an inch more.

He knew that once he intervened with others while locked in the Emperor Tribulation, the tribulation's power would rebound manifold and immediately shift to a harsher judgment.

He merely glanced in Jing Yuan's direction.

In that glance, his double pupils shifted between black and white, as if carving the other's aura along with every Wei Tian talisman sequence on his body into his memory. Then, he retracted his fingers, his feet remaining still.

Jing Yuan seized the opportunity to leap, his entire body swallowed by the black light.

Before the gap closed, the black light surged back once, as if to erase his existence from this place.

The blood at the corner of Jing Yuan's mouth was dried by the wind. He did not look back, leaving only a very low voice: "The Karma I owe, I shall repay in the future." The voice was swallowed by the void, and the rift disappeared as if it had never existed.

Regarding Jing Yuan's words, Mu Zun's expression remained calm, showing no signs of frustration or anger.

The first Emperor lightning fell in an instant.

It was not a single flash, but an extremely thick lightning chain, with every link being an emperor pattern.

As the lightning fell, a circle around the edge of the gilded stone platform collapsed, and a massive hole was scorched into the cloud sea.

Yan Lintian, fleeing in the distance, felt his heart tighten, and his Seven-Colored Emperor Soul instinctively protected him.

Yet he was still grazed by the aftershock, which left a shallow mark that burned all the way to the depths of his soul, making him gasp in pain.

Mu Zun raised his hand, and the emperor dragon crown hovered in the air ahead of him. Billions of strands of Dragon Qi poured from the crown's ring like a stable dragon domain. When the lightning chain crashed into it, the dragon roars were deafening.

Simultaneously, the book of lifespan rushed out from his body. The closed golden pages automatically flipped to the first page, and golden patterns lit up line by line like scriptures. The Longevity Law transformed into an invisible thin veil, adhering to his skin and Meridians, down to every joint.

The Chaos Body was no longer a mere prototype. The golden patterns around his body expanded, overlapping with the longevity veil, as he took the first lightning strike head-on.

"This tribulation... is not right." Yan Linjun stared fixedly at the overlapping light. He saw the two Laws within the lightning interlocking, only to be dismantled by Mu Zun using two powers of the same origin. It was a dismantling through direct suppression, not clever evasion.

The second and third lightning strikes fell almost consecutively. The second was the "Body Tribulation," carrying a heavy suppressive force targeted at bone, blood, and fascia.

Mu Zun did not retreat. He let the Innate Sacred Body Dao Fetus bear the pressure directly. His muscles tensed like fine golden threads, and continuous explosive sounds echoed from his joints, as if someone were breaking the shackles of his entire body link by link.

He exhaled a breath of turbid air containing black ash—the residue of old constraints being refined away.

The third was the "Soul Tribulation." There wasn't much commotion, but as the tribulation clouds darkened, his Sea of Consciousness felt as if it were being pressed into freezing water.

The Yan brothers were only swept by the aftershock, yet their minds went blank for a moment with a buzzing sound.

A tiny point of light appeared between Mu Zun's eyebrows, and a very faint Chaos wheel projection began to rotate deep within his double pupils. The second page of the book of lifespan flipped open. This time, the golden patterns did not protect his body but pressed against the edge of his Sea of Consciousness, pushing out the piercing cold lines inch by inch.

Not only was his Divine Soul not crushed, but it became even more stable under the lightning, as if it had been anchored.

When the fourth strike fell, the lightning in the clouds suddenly became thin—as thin as needles, yet so dense they were everywhere.

This Lightning Tribulation carried the "flavor of Karma," as if it wanted to sever all his connections with the outside world and turn him into a stripped, isolated individual.

Mu Zun did not use his thoughts to hook any lines. He simply let the third page of the book of lifespan rest in his palm and pressed his finger down bit by bit.

The Longevity runes on the golden page were like a stable wedge, nailed into his own "Primal Cause." While all external lines were severed by the lightning, his own main line became even clearer.

The Karma lightning circled around him, unable to find an entry point.

"This is the true Emperor Tribulation?" Yan Lintian's Adam's apple bobbed a few times, his voice a bit hoarse. "I thought the records of our ancestors were exaggerated."

"They weren't exaggerated." Yan Linjun raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, his gaze not shifting even half an inch. "Moreover, this is no ordinary Emperor Tribulation. Look—the tribulation's power is shifting according to the Young Master of the Qin Clan's two Laws. He is using Chaos to block Chaos and Longevity to break Longevity. The tribulation clouds are still increasing the stakes."

When the fifth lightning came, a circle of dark golden fire emerged from the edge of the tribulation clouds. That was the fire of the "Lifespan Tribulation," which did not burn external objects but directly scorched one's Lifespan.

As the fire pressed down, a large area of the cloud sea withered, as if aging in an instant.

The Yan brothers took only one look and felt a stinging pain in the corners of their eyes. An indescribable sense of dryness rose in their hearts, as if the remaining years of their lives could be wiped away with a flick of a finger.

Mu Zun fully retracted the book of lifespan into his chest. The golden pages were no longer projected outward but shone internally.

He lightly uttered a single word, toneless and soft: "Suppress." The emperor dragon crown trailed a wisp of faint dragon breath, which merged with the internal light of the book of lifespan, forming a simple cycle within his body that isolated the dark golden fire outside his skin.

While the fire burned outside, the "years" within him remained unmoved, instead slowly thickening along the cycle.

When the dark golden fire reached its peak, it suddenly shrank, turning into a fingertip-sized fire seal. It adhered to his shoulder blade for a moment before being swallowed by the Chaos patterns.

Before the sixth strike fell, the tribulation clouds suddenly pressed down another foot. That was the tribulation's intent warning him—you must not leave this place by even a single step.

Only then did the Yan brothers truly realize why Mu Zun had not pursued Jing Yuan the moment he fled.

It wasn't that he didn't want to kill him, but that he couldn't move. One move, and the heavens would cause this tribulation to collapse directly, replacing it with another, even more ruthless death trap.

"If the Young Master of the Qin Clan's Heart-Nature weren't stable enough, he would either be in Chaos or dead by now," Yan Lintian whispered.

He thought of how that Emperor Realm Chaos beast had been suppressed with a single glance, and looking at the current tribulation's power, he felt a series of chills run down his spine. "Let's move even further away."

They retreated to the outer edge of the cloud sea, trying their best to hide in the shadows of the rocky ridges. Yet even so, the stinging pain of the tribulation's power on their skin was very clear.

Yan Linjun looked at the figure in the center of the gilded stone platform and suddenly understood a simple fact—the gap between them and this man was not a single Realm, but the gap between two different "Paths."

The tribulation clouds continued to roll, and the sixth strike finally converged.

A dull sound came from above, like a door being slowly pushed open—this time it was not lightning or fire, but an extremely thick "Realm Pressure."

That pressure had no shape, yet it made everything around it very slow, as if even the surging cloud sea had turned into thick mud.

This layer was the "Realm Pressure." It sought to press the Great Emperor who had stepped into the Emperor Realm back down to his original level.

Mu Zun's expression was indifferent as the cracks on the gilded stone platform beneath his feet rapidly spread. He did not move but simply opened his double pupils completely.

Black and white colors rose distinctly from the depths of his pupils like two straight lines, respectively pulling at the sources of Chaos and Longevity.

He made no extra movements, not even raising his hand. He simply looked at the pressing "weight," letting the two sources connect within his body, then drawing the "weight" in, dismantling it, and swallowing it.

He was using himself as a Realm, using the Realm he supported to withstand the Realm pressed down by the heavens, and then eating it bit by bit.

The tribulation clouds showed no sign of stopping. The form of the seventh strike began to gather, and "blank points" even appeared deep within the cloud sea. Those were the "Judgment Blades" that the heavenly intent was about to drop, specifically meant to sever the Foundation of one's "Path."

The seventh strike slowly took shape at the top of the clouds. The Yan brothers held their breath, not even daring to make a sound when swallowing.

They did not know what the seventh strike would be, only that it was meant to force a new emperor to the sharpest point.

The clouds pressed even lower. The cracks around the gilded stone platform had already reached the edge of the cloud sea.

Mu Zun looked up slightly and spoke slowly.

His voice was very soft, yet it reached the ears of Yan Lintian and his companion.

"Please, strike."

This voice made the Yan brothers' scalps feel as if they were about to explode.

Provoking the Emperor Tribulation like this?!

Just as the two of them thought, the Emperor Tribulation seemed to be enraged. The entire sky was torn open with a massive gap, a scene resembling the end of the world.

The tribulation light fell. At this moment, the entire Chaos Secret Realm felt as if a silent, muffled thunder had been pressed into it.

In the Yan brothers' eyes, only one thought pulsed repeatedly—this was the Emperor Tribulation, this was a height they could never reach. Beyond shock, there were no other words.