Chapter 2922: Saintly Demon Tribulation

Boom!

The first Sheng Mo shattered the void with one foot, attacking without a weapon, punching straight through nothingness.

Ye Chen avoided a direct confrontation, soaring into the sky to escape.

The second Sheng Mo charged in, summoning the Demonic Blood Sea which surged from the heavens and completely enveloped him. Within it lay the destructive power of blood succession, devouring and annihilating everything; anyone caught inside would be consumed or ground into dust.

Open!

Ye Chen gritted his teeth and tore through the blood sea, bursting out and striking back with a palm to repel the third Sheng Mo rushing at him. But he paid a heavy price—the fourth Sheng Mo's palm split his back open. As he tried to flee, the fifth Sheng Mo's palm seal descended, throwing his body off balance. Before he could steady himself, the sixth Sheng Mo was upon him, his hand like a divine blade, slashing Ye Chen's sacred body and tearing out two ribs, which were annihilated in his grasp. At the same time, the seventh and eighth Sheng Mo struck from front and back—one thrusting a divine knife through his chest to his back, the other driving an immortal sword from his back to his chest. The ninth Sheng Mo summoned the Soul-Locking Chain, the tenth called down destructive thunder, the eleventh Sheng Mo...

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

Golden blood sprayed in brilliant, piercing light, making everyone's hearts race with shock.

From just this initial assault, Ye Chen was nearly torn apart.

The first lineage was overwhelmingly dominant; with an equivalent lineup, their overall combat strength completely crushed the second lineage. Each one was in the blood succession boundary state, which alone was enough to inspire despair. Even a one-on-one fight would be a struggle, let alone facing one hundred and thirty-one in a group brawl.

"This time, it's probably hopeless."

Too many people murmured, their faces deathly pale, and even the Donghuang Nüdi's imperial body trembled uncontrollably.

The expressions of Tianming Liangdi were grim beyond words.

Ye Chen's great achievement tribulation had drawn the Sheng Mo—this was outright manipulation of the laws! It was like a Sheng Wang undergoing tribulation, only to have a great saint tribulation added on top. Ye Chen's situation was strikingly similar; one hundred and thirty-one Sheng Mo, all with their blood succession boundary fully activated, far exceeded his limits.

Without absolute nirvana, death was certain.

The two emperors remained silent, but their worried looks spoke volumes.

Pfft!

As they watched, Ye Chen coughed up blood again, nearly exploded by a punch from the ninth Sheng Mo. Though both were sacred bodies with sacred forms, he and those beasts on the other side were incomparable; every one of them wielded the blood succession boundary, creating a grossly uneven fight.

Reverse World Reincarnation!

Ye Chen roared firmly, unleashing the reincarnation immortal law. Centered on his body, it formed a swirling reincarnation vortex that eradicated the oncoming waves of demonic aura. This technique was one of his greatest trump cards.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Soon after, dragon roars echoed as eight Sheng Mo activated the Eight Divisions Heavenly Dragon, summoning sixty-four massive black demonic dragons. Their sixty-four divine dragon tail sweeps unleashed devastating power, riddling the reincarnation vortex with scars.

The most formidable were the first and second Sheng Mo, who actually tore the vortex apart.

"One has reincarnation power, the other has spacetime power."

Mingdi murmured, his imperial eyes narrowing into slits as he discerned the strangeness of the first and second Sheng Mo.

"One is Di Sha, the other is Can Zhu."

"How do you know?"

"I've seen images of those two; they both participated in the ancient Heavenly Court great war," Daozu said leisurely.

"Later, show it to me."

Mingdi took a deep breath, his tone displeased, certain that the image had been shared by the ancient Heavenly Court Nüdi. This was unfair—Hongjun guarded the heavenly realm, and I guard the nether realm; we're both emperors, so why only show it to him and not me?

His inner thoughts seemed readable to Daozu.

Because he could read them, Daozu's gaze at him turned somewhat askew.

Having the collector's edition was enough; no need for the image.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

The bombardment in Taishang Tian continued relentlessly. Ye Chen activated his Overlord Body form, and the one hundred and thirty-one sacred bodies did the same. Already chaotic, the scene grew even more intense; looking up revealed one hundred and thirty-two towering giants.

Yet, in merely three instants, Ye Chen's Overlord Body exploded with a boom.

Though it was the same Overlord Body, the Sheng Mo's version was stronger; in a group fight, Ye Chen couldn't hold out.

"Come in for me."

Ye Chen snorted coldly and invoked Dream Back to Antiquity, vanishing in an instant—along with the swarm of Sheng Mo.

The trembling starry sky fell silent at once; Taishang Tian was deserted.

Ye Chen had shifted locations, and so had the heavenly tribulation; though the fighters were gone, the rumbling persisted.

"Where has he gone?"

The people strained their eyes, scanning the vast expanse, but couldn't pinpoint the source of the noise.

Ji Ningshuang did the same, glancing toward Tianming Liangjie.

Alas, she found nothing; checking the spatial black holes yielded the same result.

Thus, only one possibility remained: the spacetime turbulence.

Indeed, it was the spacetime turbulence. Ye Chen's Dream Back to Antiquity proved even more dominant, enhanced with spacetime power, truly entering the chaos—and the heavenly tribulation followed suit, with the one hundred and thirty-one Sheng Mo intact, neither more nor less.

His intent was clear to the three emperors of heaven, earth, and man: he aimed to disrupt the heavenly tribulation with the spacetime turbulence.

Unfortunately, it was futile; this was the great achievement heavenly tribulation, akin to an emperor tribulation, and the spacetime turbulence couldn't touch it.

Sure enough, in the spacetime turbulence, each Sheng Mo remained lively and active.

In contrast, Ye Chen was in utter misery; as wretched as it gets. He ignored the chaos, and so did the Sheng Mo.

Boom!

After more than ten instants, he returned, landing unsteadily and nearly collapsing. Now, he was barely recognizable as human; his sacred body was beaten nearly to ruin, his gleaming bones exposed, and the blood gashes across his body glowed with the blood succession's eerie light—it was killing intent and destructive force. Even the sacred dao's revival and various recovery secret techniques proved useless.

Boom! Bang! Boom!

In that very instant, the one hundred and thirty-one Sheng Mo reappeared together, many forming seals with the same formula.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

Black copper pillars erupted from the ground, each etched with dark sacred patterns and order chains slithering like serpents, linking the pillars to form a massive cage in Taishang Tian.

At the sight of that cage, both Daozu and Mingdi furrowed their brows deeply.

This cage was no ordinary prison; it could trap even great emperors. Many ancient Heavenly Court emperors had been confined and destroyed by it; the two emperors had witnessed those images, where imperial bodies and imperial dao primordial spirits were obliterated to ash.

Ye Chen snorted coldly, punching through the cosmos.

Regrettably, though his strike was supremely dominant and could pierce the universe, it couldn't breach the cage.

In just one breath, much of his vital energy was devoured.

Not only that, his sacred body crumbled inch by inch, and his sacred dao primordial spirit buckled under the cage's terrifying power of extinction.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

More Sheng Mo formed seals, more copper pillars rose, and with each addition, the cage's destructive force grew stronger. Not just Ji Ningshuang—even Daozu and Mingdi felt their hearts turn ice-cold; that cage was too horrifying.

Ye Chen knew it best; only the one suffering could truly grasp its vile nature.

Trapped inside, numerous emperor dao immortal laws were rendered useless—or rather, mere ornaments.

Ye Chen gritted his teeth, a wild frenzy in his eyes.

In that moment, he transformed into the dao, becoming a golden dao dragon that leaped from the Sheng Mo cage. What confined him could nullify his immortal laws, but it couldn't restrain his dao.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

Resounding dragon roars filled the air, one after another; each Sheng Mo shifted into dragon form, becoming black dao dragons that pursued Ye Chen into the vastness. One hundred and thirty-two dragons clashed all the way into the void.

One could see that in the dark vastness and dim void, the golden dao dragon surrounded by black ones stood out starkly. Only he was golden; it was impossible not to notice.

The more conspicuous he was, the faster everyone's hearts pounded; the clearer the view, the more they realized Ye Chen's dire state.

At that point, the hands in Tianming Liangdi's sleeves clenched white.

Transforming into the dao had broken the immediate crisis, but that path wasn't to be taken lightly; it was fraught with peril at every turn, and even a minor misstep could lead to complete annihilation. It was a life-or-death gamble; no one would choose it unless absolutely necessary, for it could truly dissipate the dao—a one-way road to irreversible death.

They understood it, and so did Ye Chen; he was driven to it—if he didn't transform, death would come even quicker.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

The mighty dragon roars echoed across the heavens, reaching even Tianming Liangjie; countless immortals and ghost kings looked up, unaware of the roars' origin or meaning, only that they made their souls quiver.

"The Sheng Mo don't cultivate the dao?"

Ri Yue Shenzi murmured, his eyes nearly narrowed to slits.

In terms of lineup, the one hundred and thirty-one Sheng Mo had become one hundred and thirty-one black dao dragons.

However, in size, no black dao dragon could match Ye Chen's golden one. Though Ye Chen's talent was heaven-defying and his dao comprehension profound, they were cultivating the same essence! This gap was enormous; they weren't in the same league at all.

His speculation could be confirmed by Tianming Liangdi.

The Sheng Mo did cultivate the dao, but it wasn't their primary focus in advancement; the same went for Tian Mo and E Mo.

This was one of the key ways they differed from the many in the heavens.

In short, in dao comprehension, Tian Mo emperors, E Mo emperors, and Sheng Mo of the same level and realm were far inferior to the people of the heavens.

As for the Sheng Mo being stronger than the sacred body, that was undeniable.

But in one aspect, the sacred body surpassed the Sheng Mo: the dao. Not prioritizing dao cultivation meant that, in the dao domain, the Sheng Mo were far outclassed. The disproportionate sizes of the two types of dao dragons were entirely expected.

This difference wasn't arbitrary; it stemmed from their true origins.

Roar!

With a dragon roar, Ye Chen's golden dao dragon plummeted from the void.

He had transformed into the dao before.

Now, he transformed back into human form; his sacred body was severely damaged, nearly exploding; the dao dragon form was ineffective against such numbers.

Now, the hearts of Tianming Liangdi that were half cold turned completely icy.

If even the emperors' hearts froze, the people of the heavens were even more ashen-faced, their expressions bloodless.

"If he also activates the blood succession boundary, perhaps he can turn the tide."

Dongzhou Wuwang murmured to himself, his eyes bloodshot with hope.

Roar!

No sooner had he spoken than Ye Chen, now back in human form, transformed into a dao dragon again, spiraling straight into the ninth heaven.

His action made one thing clear: the fight wasn't over; he was continuing.

This time, his dao dragon body was overlaid with a layer of terrifying power, and his dragon eyes resembled two black voids; the blood gashes on his body healed in an instant, and his damaged form was remolded just as quickly.

That state made everyone's eyes light up; indeed, he had activated the blood succession boundary.