The Emperor's Tribulation

He lowered his head and gazed at the chaotic-colored orb resting in his palm, cautiously extending his divine sense into it.

“Boom—!”

It was as if he had pushed open a gate leading to the primordial universe!

A vast and incomparably pure energy, far beyond anything he could have imagined, surged into his perception like a raging tide, accompanied by an unmistakable difference in the flow of time.

How could this be called a “small gift”?

Within the orb was an entire world of its own!

The space was vast and stable, with the flow of time fixed at a hundred times that of the outside world.

In other words, one hundred years of cultivation within it would amount to only a single year in the outside world!

What shocked Ye Lingxiao nearly into speechlessness was that, at the very center of this space, lay an immortal vein. It was crystalline from end to end, radiating an immortal, indestructible, supreme aura, and stretched across the land like a slumbering primordial dragon.

Immense immortal spiritual energy, so dense that it could not disperse, had condensed into mist, forming spiritual rain and spiritual springs that nourished every inch of this world.

Immortal spiritual energy, which was nearly impossible to find even a wisp of in the outside world, was as abundant here as ordinary air!

Cultivating here for a single day would likely be equivalent to years, perhaps even more than a decade, of arduous cultivation in the Canglan Realm!

This… this was simply a supreme treasure that seized the fortune of Heaven and Earth and defied the laws of time and space!

It was a foundation and reserve powerful enough to drive the giants of the Immortal Domain mad with desire!

His Grandmaster had actually bestowed such an inconceivable treasure upon him as casually as if it were nothing?

The hand gripping the orb trembled slightly.

It was not fear. Rather, he was weighed down by the profound trust and expectations behind this gift—heavy as mountains and seas, deep as an abyss—yet his heart burned with warmth.

Slowly, he raised his head and gazed in the direction where Gu Changge, Ling Xi, and the others had departed. The sky there had long since returned to emptiness, with only drifting clouds slowly unfurling.

He straightened his robes, cast aside every distracting thought, and with the most solemn and devout bearing, bowed deeply toward the empty sky.

When he straightened, all the confusion and shock in his eyes—as well as the slight unease caused by receiving such a generous gift—had vanished.

All that remained was an unshakable determination as firm as bedrock, and a silent flame burning in the depths of an abyss.

He carefully put away the orb, turned around, and walked toward the depths of the Imperial Court.

The road ahead might still be perilous, and the shadow of the Hundred Immortals Alliance still loomed over him.

But now, not the slightest trace of hesitation remained in his heart.

This time, standing behind him was the towering mountain known as his sect.

The journey home was uneventful.

Gu Changge walked with unhurried ease, while Ling Xi, Xiao Ruobai, and the others followed closely behind.

The group traveled through the boundless chaos, surrounded by eternal silence and scattered points of light.

From time to time, chaotic currents transformed into fierce astral winds and swept toward them. Yet before they could even approach, they quietly subsided.

Ancient remains and strange shadows that had lain dormant within the chaos also sensed the unfathomable aura from afar and silently retreated.

They seemed to be walking through a silent painting. The person at the front was the painting’s sole and absolute point of reference—and its only source of light.

The chaotic currents ahead gradually weakened. Faintly, the familiar fluctuations of a vast and orderly world reached them.

They had arrived at the Great Xuanhuang World.

With one step, they crossed out of the chaos, and the scene before them suddenly opened wide.

The familiar world barrier appeared before their eyes, far more vast and stable than that of the Canglan Realm. Rich, dense spiritual energy rushed toward them.

The laws of the Great Dao within it were complete and vibrant, clearing the mind and refreshing the spirit.

Looking down, they saw magnificent mountains and rivers, cities laid out like pieces on a chessboard, and countless living beings flourishing across the land.

Yet with a closer sense, one could detect subtle differences from the world they had left a month before.

The spiritual energy between Heaven and Earth seemed to have grown somewhat denser and purer, while the spiritual vitality within the mountains, rivers, and earth veins had also become livelier and more vigorous.

The entire world seemed to have undergone a silent baptism and nourishment. It was transforming at an unprecedented speed, becoming ever more vibrant and suffused with the rhythm of the Dao.

In merely one month, its entire atmosphere had been renewed, filled with thriving life.

Gu Changge calmly swept his gaze across this increasingly lively world. Without stopping, he took one step and returned to Purple Bamboo Peak.

Ling Xi, Xiao Ruobai, Fang Hanyu, and Fatty Wang descended one after another.

Everything on the peak was as it had always been, though it now carried an even more vigorous aura of the Dao.

After returning, Ling Xi did not hurry to do anything. Instead, she sat quietly beside Gu Changge as she had in the past.

The aura surrounding her, however, had grown increasingly round and restrained, as if a profound universe were slowly turning within her, merely awaiting the right opportunity to erupt with world-shaking power.

Three days later, when the flawless aura around Ling Xi—an aura that seemed ready to break free from its cocoon at any moment—reached its peak, Gu Changge set down the teacup in his hand and raised his eyes toward the boundless void.

His voice was not loud, yet it seemed to communicate directly with the most fundamental will of the world.

“Find a secluded place. Do not disturb the peace of this realm.”

As his words fell, invisible ripples seemed to spread through the depths of the unseen.

In the next moment, Ling Xi sensed something. She bowed to Gu Changge and said, “This disciple will take her leave.”

Gu Changge nodded slightly.

Ling Xi did not hesitate any longer. Her figure transformed into a clear, formless light and merged into the void before her.

It was as though the world itself had taken the initiative to receive her, sending her into an isolated spacetime opened deep within the world’s origin.

With a wave of his hand, Gu Changge projected the scene before them. Xiao Ruobai and the others could not help but gather around to watch.

Meanwhile, Ling Xi did not hesitate in the slightest. The Devouring Heaven Dao Art within her body erupted into full operation!

The vast insights she had gained in her previous life as the Devouring Heaven Dao Emperor had completely fused with the supreme foundation rebuilt in this life. There was no longer any distinction between the two.

An overbearing aura capable of swallowing the myriad heavens and refining the countless Daos burst forth from her delicate body without restraint!

The instant this aura appeared, it was like a drop of cold water falling into a pan of boiling oil.

“Boom—!!”

The void erupted completely!

A world-destroying presence, ten times—perhaps even a hundred times—more terrifying than the one that had descended when Xing Tian'ao proved his Dao, came crashing down from the boundless heights!

Countless ancient Great Daos manifested as hazy phantoms, like supreme deities angered by her defiance, casting down cold and hostile gazes.

Under the mere scrutiny of those phantoms, the void spanning billions of miles seemed to solidify like amber. Even the smallest particles of energy ceased to move.

This was no longer a trial.

It was more akin to Heaven’s judgment!

Ling Xi’s expression did not change in the slightest. Instead, two blazing flames ignited within her cold eyes.

Behind her, a towering phantom that reached from Heaven to Earth suddenly appeared. Its features were indistinct, yet it radiated an aura of absolute supremacy and the power to devour Heaven and Earth.

It was the Dharma Aspect of the Devouring Heaven Dao Emperor!

The instant the Dharma Aspect appeared, the frozen void was forcibly torn open. The invisible repulsive force was ripped apart and countered by an even more domineering power of devouring!

Immediately afterward, the first tangible tribulation descended.

The Calamity of Chaotic Return to the Void!

The lightning was no longer purple. It was pitch-black, so deep that it seemed capable of swallowing all light.

Like the waters of the Nether River bursting through a breached dam, it surged out of nothingness and transformed into an endless sea of lightning, completely engulfing Ling Xi and the Dharma Aspect behind her!

Every bolt contained the annihilating power of returning all things to the void—an existence that would make even an ordinary Great Emperor’s heart tremble.

The scale and might of this tribulation had long since surpassed the bounds of a normal Emperor Tribulation. It rivaled the forbidden tribulations recorded in ancient texts—tribulations that existed only in theory.