Chapter 1279: Imperious Thunder

Release him!

In the vast starry sky, the shout echoed like thunder. Dozens of Sheng Ren from Da Luo Jian Zong, along with over a hundred Zhun Sheng and five hundred thousand cultivators, formed a massive sea of figures that blanketed a hundred thousand li of space. Each one radiated divine light, outshining the stars, and their killing intent was heavy and icy, making the entire starry sky tremble.

In contrast, Ye Chen, surrounded at the center, appeared slender and isolated, like a single grain in the vast ocean.

This was a deadly trap. With his immortal eyes sealed, he had no chance of escape. Even with the formidable power of the Huang Gu Sheng Ti, he couldn't withstand such an overwhelming force and could be instantly killed at any moment.

"Release him." The five hundred thousand cultivators of Da Luo Jian Zong all raised their swords, pointing them at Ye Chen. The clanging of the blades resounded through the heavens, their killing intent soaring. Pairs of vicious eyes glared at him, their faces twisted like demons, utterly ferocious.

"Come and take him if you dare." Ye Chen smiled faintly. Before his words faded, a brilliant divine rainbow shot out from his crown, soaring into the sky and piercing the vast starry expanse. The stars themselves shook in response.

Soon, thunder rumbled from the distant heavens.

Hm?

The Sheng Ren of Da Luo Jian Zong furrowed their brows and instinctively looked up.

The cultivators of Da Luo Jian Zong also frowned, tilting their faces skyward.

Even the onlookers wrinkled their brows and collectively gazed upward.

There, in the nine heavens, wisps of stellar clouds intertwined, forming a chaotic sea of mist. The sea seemed alive, stirring without wind and churning with massive waves that swallowed chunks of starlight.

Boom!

Another thunderclap shook the stars. The chaotic sea in the nine heavens began to split with lightning, unleashing a pressure that made the starry sky quiver and left everyone breathless.

"Tian Jie." The Sheng Ren of Da Luo Jian Zong suddenly paled.

"The Sheng Ti's Tian Jie." Everyone was shocked and collectively stepped back. With nearly a million cultivators in this space, if a Tian Jie occurred here, all would be involuntarily drawn into it. They could all imagine the scene of a million cultivators enduring the tribulation together—it would be world-shattering.

"Retreat, retreat quickly." The experts of Da Luo Jian Zong frantically fled in all directions, moving faster than rabbits.

"Retreat?" Ye Chen sneered. With a single step, he shrank the distance and darted into the surging crowd of Da Luo Jian Zong. At that moment, the Tian Jie thunder arrived. Everyone within a hundred thousand zhang of him was pulled into the tribulation, and swaths of figures turned to ash.

"Damn it." The Sheng Ren of Da Luo Jian Zong roared in fury, though they continued to flee.

"Damn it." The five hundred thousand cultivators also shouted in anger, but their feet didn't stop as they madly escaped. Ye Chen was like a harbinger of doom—staying away from him was the smart choice.

Ye Chen moved like a ghost, fully embracing his shameless tactics, charging straight into the densest crowds.

The thunder followed him like a shadow, striking wherever he went and turning groups of people into blood mist. Even their escaping Yuan Shen couldn't escape destruction, truly annihilating them completely.

The starry sky grew lively again, a grand spectacle unfolding. The five hundred thousand cultivators of Da Luo Jian Zong were sent flying in chaos by the thunder, with even Zhun Sheng and Sheng Ren scattered everywhere.

The onlookers' mouths twitched violently.

It was unbelievable: Dozens of Sheng Ren, over a hundred Zhun Sheng, and five hundred thousand cultivators from Da Luo Jian Zong were being chased across the stars by a single Huang Jing expert. If this scene were passed down through history, it would become a legendary myth.

Someone quickly counted: In just a dozen breaths, over a hundred thousand Da Luo Jian Zong cultivators had been struck dead by the lightning tribulation—not counting the wounded. This was more brutal than any war.

As they watched, the onlookers backed away, afraid Ye Chen might suddenly wander over. After all, this was the Sheng Ti's Tian Jie, no joke—a single misstep and they'd be reduced to dust.

Pfft!

Ye Chen was hit, sent flying by a bolt of thunder.

He scrambled up, not daring to act recklessly anymore. This was his Tian Jie, after all—he couldn't take it lightly.

Under everyone's gaze, he charged defiantly into the nine heavens, smashing through the descending thunder with a single punch that shook the eight directions.

His actions provoked the will of the heavens, summoning even more thunder to crash down. Each bolt was massive and carried destructive power, intent on grinding him to nothing.

It was a magnificent sight: Bolts of thunder wove together like a galaxy pouring out, like a rain of light scattering through the sky.

Seeing Ye Chen turn to face the Tian Jie, the experts of Da Luo Jian Zong finally stopped fleeing.

Now, of their five hundred thousand cultivators, fewer than three hundred thousand remained—over a hundred thousand had perished in the Tian Jie.

"Damn it!" The Sheng Ren of Da Luo Jian Zong gritted their teeth, their faces twisted in rage, all of them disheveled. Even as transcendent beings, they dared not trifle with a Tian Jie, let alone the Sheng Ti's.

"Fight!"

Ye Chen's roar shook the starry sky as he charged upward like a war god of the eight directions, defiantly destroying bolt after bolt of thunder. He tempered his Sheng Ti with the lightning and honed his Hun Dun Dao with the divine punishment.

He fought his way up from below, and not a single bolt of the ten-thousand-zhang thunder could shatter him. It was as if this so-called will of the heavens was a massive joke, about to be trampled underfoot.

The onlookers' expressions changed again.

They had seen dominance before, but never like this. This was divine punishment, yet it seemed so fragile.

Everyone tilted their heads, staring in awe at the nine heavens. Ye Chen, covered in golden light, shone brighter than the sun, truly like a war god dominating the vast universe.

Boom!

Still under everyone's watchful eyes, Ye Chen battled his way into the ethereal starry sky, reaching the chaotic mists.

That was the will of the heavens.

A hundred years ago in Da Chu, when he advanced to the Tian Jing, he had torn through the chaotic mists and broken the heavenly restraints.

Break!

Ye Chen roared, punching into the nine heavens and shattering the chaotic mists that represented the will of the heavens.

But unlike a hundred years ago, the shattered mists instantly healed, gathering billions of thunderbolts. A nine-colored lightning bolt then manifested, striking Ye Chen and sending him plummeting.

Yet, the Tian Jie didn't stop because of his fall. Bolt after bolt continued to rain down.

The starry sky was stained with blood as the falling Ye Chen was struck, his blood and bones scattering. Each drop of Sheng blood was glaringly vivid, like a war god at the end of days, his immortal light dimming slightly.

From the nine heavens, the thunder grew even fiercer, one bolt after another weaving into a sea of lightning that descended and covered a hundred thousand zhang of space. Ye Chen, who had just steadied himself, was immediately engulfed.

Open!

Ye Chen snorted, punching through and bursting out.

A dragon's roar echoed as nine massive dragons appeared in the ten-thousand-zhang sea of thunder, wrapped in domineering lightning and lunging at Ye Chen. They spat thunder that targeted his Yuan Shen, aiming to destroy his true form.

Ye Chen was overwhelmingly powerful, stepping so forcefully that the sea of thunder trembled. His golden hand, inscribed with seal scripts, swept away five thunder dragons in one palm. Then, drawing his sword, he slashed out a galaxy, exterminating the remaining four. The dominance of the Sheng Ti once again shocked the forces of all directions.

However, the lightning tribulation didn't end—in fact, it intensified.

With the nine thunder dragons destroyed, the sea of thunder conjured nine more, each stronger than the last.

Ye Chen summoned the Lu Tian Great Halberd and battled the thunder dragons.

Boom! Bang!

The sea of thunder roiled, filled with dragon roars and thunderclaps.

Though Ye Chen's combat power was immense, the thunder dragons seemed endless. Every one he destroyed was replaced by another, each more ferocious and domineering than the previous.

Even his powerful Sheng Ti body was now covered in wounds, his fresh blood soaking the starry sky.

"Incredible." Outside the sea of thunder, the onlookers' faces paled further.

"The thunder dragons keep coming—one after another. Is this Tian Jie meant to exhaust the one undergoing it to death?"

"And each thunder dragon's power isn't weaker than a Zhun Sheng!"

"He's slain over a hundred by now!"

"For someone in the Huang Jing, this is utterly against the heavens!" An elder cultivator took a deep breath, the grand scene making everyone's heart race with fear. If it were them, they'd have been obliterated long ago.

"You can't destroy me." Amid the shocked murmurs, Ye Chen's thunderous roar echoed from the sea of thunder, directed at the heavens. Though drenched in blood and bones, his battle intent soared as he transformed into a radiant divine dragon, larger than any thunder dragon.

Now, the starry sky was even more chaotic, with ten dragons—counting Ye Chen—clashing in the sea of thunder.

The onlookers retreated again, as the sea of thunder kept expanding: from a hundred thousand zhang to a hundred and ten thousand, then to a hundred and twenty thousand, showing no sign of stopping as it devoured swaths of space.

Ye Chen suffered wound after wound, reverting to human form multiple times.

Still, the thunder dragons couldn't halt his advance. Instead of devouring him, they were slain one by one.

In this brutal battle, Ye Chen's Sheng Ti underwent nirvana, and his Dao principles evolved. Every pore in his body absorbed the power of thunder—perhaps only someone as domineering as him would dare fight like this.

After an unknown time, the sea of thunder finally shattered, pierced by Ye Chen's punch and obliterated in the starry sky.

With the sea gone, so were the thunder dragons.

As the thunder faded, it revealed the scarred starry sky and Ye Chen's staggering figure.

He was a mess of blood and bones, no longer resembling a human form. His overwhelming killing aura enveloped his Sheng Ti, a sight that made everyone shudder.

"Has he endured it?" Someone exclaimed in surprise.

"Then we'll kill him." A purple-robed Sheng Ren from Da Luo Jian Zong suddenly drew his killing sword, but he was blocked by a white-robed Sheng Ren at his side.

"Why stop me?"

"The Tian Jie isn't over yet." The white-robed Sheng Ren spoke, gesturing for the purple-robed one to look up. The purple-robed Sheng Ren frowned and instinctively raised his head, his old eyes narrowing sharply.

"What is that?" Not just them—all nearly a million cultivators present tilted their heads up.

From the nine heavens, immortal light poured down, each wisp entwined with thunder and weaving together into a ethereal figure. More precisely, it formed a graceful silhouette.

It was a woman, dressed in snow-white robes untouched by worldly dust, like a fairy descended from the nine heavens. She moved with elegant steps amid dazzling flower petals, but her face was indistinct. All that was clear was her pure sanctity, like a flawless lotus in full bloom, every strand of her hair glowing with divine radiance.

This...!

Everyone was stunned, staring blankly at the nine heavens. A humanoid Tian Jie was something they'd never seen before.

Ye Chen also looked up at the white-robed woman. While others couldn't make out her face, he could: it was an unparalleled beauty, more exquisite than any woman he had ever seen.

Suddenly, Ye Chen's Sheng Ti trembled, and his expression turned dazed. He stared fixedly at that peerless face, as if seeing it for the first time a hundred years ago, utterly captivating.

Zi Xuan!

Ye Chen murmured softly, the two simple words carrying endless sorrow.