It was a monstrous beast resembling a giant ape, covered entirely in dark gold scales. Its eyes were blood-red, and it stood a full hundred zhang tall. With every step it took, a deep, massive crater was left in the ground.
Walking at the very rear of the beast horde, it looked like an emperor patrolling its territory.
The expressions of the eight City Lords changed completely.
Over forty Half-Immortal beasts!
One must know, in previous beast hordes, the most Half-Immortal beasts they had ever encountered was merely twenty or so!
But this time, the number had actually doubled!
Not only that, but the number of Tribulation Crossing stage beasts was also several times greater than before. They were densely packed, enough to make one's scalp tingle with numbness.
Were the beasts of this Outer Domain endless?!
How did so many Tribulation Crossing beasts suddenly appear at once?!
After all, while Half-Immortal beasts posed a massive threat, the ones that truly gave the Outer City a headache were the Tribulation Crossing stage beasts.
Their numbers far exceeded the Tribulation Crossing cultivators of the Outer City. Often, a single cultivator had to face several beasts simultaneously, making it impossible to hold their ground.
And this time, so many had come.
The vast and mighty beast horde crushed toward the Outer City like a black flood.
The earth wailed, the sky trembled, and the air burned.
The suffocating sense of oppression rushing at their faces made everyone on the city wall turn pale.
Even on Gu Changyuan's face, a trace of solemnity appeared.
This force was enough to easily flatten the Outer City.
It seemed this Outer Domain was much larger than he had imagined, and the hidden beasts were far more numerous than he had estimated.
Moreover, he could clearly sense that the suppression from the Heavenly Dao's rules in this Outer Domain was extremely weak. It was almost a black zone free from the heavy pressure of the Heavenly Dao.
Perhaps precisely because of this, the beasts here were not bound by the rules, allowing them to grow at such an astonishingly fast pace.
However, the reason for Gu Changyuan's solemnity was not that he found the situation difficult to handle.
With his strength, even if there were ten times as many beasts, he could easily deal with them.
His true concern was that if he annihilated all these beasts, what if the resource chain of the entire Outer Domain was completely broken?
He had just taken over the Outer City not long ago. It would be a shame if, after a wave of top-tier beast hordes, he slaughtered the entire Outer Domain clean, leaving his disciples without even a place to gain experiential learning.
But the current situation was no longer something the people of the Outer City could handle.
If he hadn't happened to be here, the Outer City would likely have been destroyed today.
A good place he had just acquired was almost gone.
Gu Changyuan felt an inexplicable surge of anger in his heart.
Usually, he was the one in control of everything. Yet, the entity hiding in the dark hadn't even shown its face, hiding behind the scenes to manipulate the beast horde and having a good time?
Since that was the case, he would first slaughter these Half-Immortal beasts, and then go meet them personally.
Gu Changyuan took a deep breath.
"Boom—!!!"
The spiritual energy around his body instantly surged!
Like a volcanic eruption, the spiritual energy spread madly in all directions with him at the center.
Wherever it passed, the void trembled.
In an instant, the majestic spiritual energy shrouded the entire Outer City, then continued to advance, enveloping all the charging beasts within it.
The beasts rushed to the barrier and smashed against it desperately.
The barrier did not budge an inch.
They couldn't break it at all.
Right at this moment.
"Ahhhhh!!!"
A massive shriek echoed from the depths of the Outer Domain.
Clearly, the sound wave Gu Changyuan had just reflected back had struck the beast hiding behind the scenes.
Following the shriek, an earth-shattering roar sounded, carrying apocalyptic fury.
Immediately after, deep within the Outer Domain, a faint white point of light slowly lit up. The point of light grew larger and larger, its radiance becoming increasingly blinding.
In the next second, a white laser as thick as a water barrel appeared in Gu Changyuan's field of vision, carrying ultimate destructive power.
Without caring about the lives of the beasts blocking its path, it pierced straight through.
Countless beasts were instantly vaporized in the laser, not even having the time to let out a cry.
"Boom—!!!"
The laser slammed viciously into the barrier.
At that moment, the entire world trembled.
The power of the laser was extremely terrifying. The instant of collision, the barrier caved in violently. Cracks instantly spread across its surface, and the pale golden light dimmed sharply, as if it would completely shatter in the next second.
The laser continued its relentless bombardment, an endless stream of destructive energy impacting the barrier.
The entire barrier trembled violently, its light flickering. The cracks grew denser and denser, almost covering the entire barrier.
However, with Gu Changyuan's continuous supply of spiritual energy, the barrier would instantly restore itself the moment it was about to break! Shatter, restore; shatter, restore...
Cycling endlessly, indestructible!
Gu Changyuan raised his right hand slightly, parted his thin lips, and slowly spat out two words. His voice was not loud, but it carried absolute majesty, echoing through heaven and earth:
"Nine Tribulations!"
Above the firmament, the void suddenly tore open.
Nine gigantic swords tore through the void from above, abruptly appearing over the Outer Domain.
The nine longswords varied in shape and possessed entirely different auras.
They hung vertically above the Outer City, tips pointing down, forming a massive circular array that enveloped the entire city.
The moment the Nine Tribulations Sword Array descended, the colors of the world changed.
The originally dim sky was illuminated as bright as day by the nine rays of sword light.
The clouds were torn apart, the void was suppressed, and even the continuously firing white laser was forcibly suppressed at this moment, dissipating completely.
The beasts in the distance were all suppressed to the ground the instant the Nine Tribulations Sword Array appeared.
The vast majority of the Half-Immortal beasts were also crushed to their knees. Only the few strongest ones were still struggling desperately, trying to stand up.
A cold light flashed in Gu Changyuan's eyes.
In the next instant, his figure appeared above the head of the giant ape beast at the ninth level of the Half-Immortal realm.
A cold light flashed in Gu Changyuan's eyes.
In the next instant, his figure appeared above the head of the giant ape beast at the ninth level of the Half-Immortal realm.
The giant ape beast, a hundred zhang tall and covered entirely in dark gold scales, was currently suppressed by the Nine Tribulations Sword Array. With its hands pressing against the ground, it was trying with all its might to stand up.
Its blood-red eyes were filled with unwillingness and tyranny. Its massive fangs protruded as it let out a low, guttural roar.
But it could not stand up.
Gu Changyuan looked down at it from above. His expression was indifferent, devoid of any superfluous emotion.
He raised his right hand.
One of the nine giant swords above instantly converged, transforming into a streak of flowing light that fell into his hand, shrinking to the size of a familiar longsword.
With a flick of his wrist, Gu Changyuan swung the silver-white longsword, unleashing a dazzling burst of sword qi in an instant.
The sword qi landed precisely on the giant ape beast, instantly cleaving the massive creature in two right down the middle. Black blood spewed forth, dyeing a large patch of the ground red.
Without even having the time to let out a scream, the giant ape beast perished on the spot, its divine soul completely annihilated by the sword qi.
Not only that, but the sword qi did not dissipate. It slashed straight forward, sweeping past like a silver dragon.
It directly sliced through all the beasts in the line ahead, whether they were in the Half-Immortal realm or the Tribulation Crossing realm, cutting them in half and killing them instantly.
With a single strike of the sword, a massive rift was forcefully cleaved through the beast horde.

close your eyes and open them again, only to find yourself transmigrated into the role of a villainous male supporting character. Readers familiar with urban wish-fulfillment novels know that it is only through the relentless antics of the villainous male supporting character that the plot between the male and female leads can progress. As the villainous male supporting character, Long Aotian not only has to bully the female lead, harass the second female lead, and flirt with the third female lead, but he also has to go all out to antagonize the male lead. In the end, when his body is discovered, he is still clutching half a moldy fried dough stick in his hand. Fully aware of the plot, Long Aotian is determined to change his fate, starting with the female lead! In the beginning, the female lead lacks confidence: "Big brother, I hope I didn't scare you?" In the middle, the female lead treads carefully: "Brother Long, please don't hit me, okay?" Later on, the female lead becomes coquettishly clingy: "Aotian, it's time to pay the 'public grain' tonight." Long Aotian's legs go weak, and he feels like crying: "I taught you to be thick-skinned, not shameless!"

his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…

to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”

he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...