Lu Yuan chased the swarm of hundreds of thousands of Mechanical Myriad Venomous Birds, disturbing countless living beings along the way.

As he passed, many creatures began to watch the spectacle.

Numerous strange demonic beasts appeared, such as the Five-legged Concubine-eyed Demon Beast, and others with one eye and eight legs.

Even more formidable entities emerged: the Eastern Ghost Emperor from the Netherworld Civilization, the Half-Demon Emperor from the Demonic Civilization, the Heavenly Enchanting Fox Emperor from the Demonic Beast Civilization, and many, many more.

All these figures took notice of Lu Yuan.

It wasn't necessarily because Lu Yuan’s strength was overwhelmingly high, but rather that he, without having reached the World Realm, was actually capable of pursuing such a massive host of Mechanical Myriad Venomous Birds. This astounded them, leading them to believe that such an individual, once fully grown, might very well become a titan between Heaven and Earth.

Titans of Heaven and Earth were figures they certainly paid attention to.

The major powers within the Lost Lands immediately began searching for information on Lu Yuan.

Naturally, finding Lu Yuan’s background couldn't be done solely within the Lost Lands, as he had first appeared there. Although these factions remained in the Lost Lands, they all maintained intelligence networks within the Central Celestial Dynasty. These individuals never intended to remain in such a harsh environment indefinitely, so it was inevitable they had spies planted everywhere.

Consequently, after some time, data concerning Lu Yuan began to arrive.

"Lu Yuan, originally from an Outer Domain, later entered the Central Celestial Dynasty and joined the Sword Gate. His past achievements include achieving thirty thousand consecutive victories at the Challenge Tower, displaying exceptional performance during the training within the Ancient Law Civilization, performing brilliantly during the internal strife of the Sword Gate, and securing a victory streak of eleven thousand at the World Volcano." The Eastern Ghost Emperor read from the file. Lu Yuan’s recorded history was sparse, amounting to little more than these few sentences.

Indeed, Lu Yuan was not an already famous figure.

Of course, the move Floating Life Like A Dream received a special notation, as this technique had made a significant name for itself even within the Central Celestial Dynasty.

And the Eastern Ghost Emperor finally understood the technique Lu Yuan had consistently employed; it turned out this move was self-created. He had almost assumed it was a technique devised by a Civilization-level master, and he marveled at how this young man could devise such a profound move—truly awe-inspiring for the younger generation.

"So that is the sort of person he is."

It wasn't just the Eastern Ghost Emperor; everyone else began poring over Lu Yuan's dossier.

The location where Lu Yuan currently resided was relatively stable. Although the Illusory Sky Light could confuse the mind, and the air contained faint toxins, making it absolutely unsuitable for cultivators, this area lacked the aura of corruption, was free of overwhelmingly terrifying life forms, and crucially, was spared from spatial collapse. Ah, here it was necessary to introduce spatial collapse.

Lu Yuan had never witnessed spatial collapse before, but his experience in the Lost Lands offered him an education. He had once seen a location where space suddenly ruptured. With a resounding boom, the area instantly shattered, taking with it several World Realm demonic beasts that happened to be nearby. World Realm beings were annihilated instantly, without any power to resist.

Regarding the Iron Rule of Space, there existed mere spatial ruptures; once ruptured, the area's space would rapidly restore itself.

However, spatial collapse in the Lost Lands was terrifying. Once it occurred, that section of space ceased to exist completely.

In spatial collapse, ten deaths out of ten were certain.

Yet, this phenomenon was extremely common in the Lost Lands.

There was no other way; much of the Lost Lands consisted of remnants from previous epochs, making further collapse a normal occurrence.

This place was so perilous and frightening that it could only be called the Land of Exile, the Lost Lands.

Yan Cangtian surveyed their surroundings and remarked, "This place isn't bad; it can serve for tribulation transcendence."

"Agreed," Lu Yuan conceded. This location was indeed superior, significantly more treacherous than the Central Celestial Dynasty, but relatively decent within the Lost Lands—perfect for undergoing tribulation.

He immediately sat down cross-legged, preparing to begin his transcendence, while Yan Cangtian naturally stood guard nearby.

As Lu Yuan began his preparations, the Light Slave Number 3000 halted its advance because the Light Slave Number 2900 had appeared ahead. The Light Slave Number 2900 was also commanding a vast army of several hundred thousand—an army of Mechanical Mantises. These mechanical mantises were each about three times the size of a person, and each possessed two long blades at its fore. These blades were forged from a peculiar substance called Nirvana Alloy, making them incredibly sharp. Furthermore, countless sword techniques had been programmed into the minds of these mechanical mantises, rendering every single one a highly accomplished master of the blade, capable of executing all manner of sword arts. Moreover, most of these mechanical mantises possessed the strength of the first or second layer of the World Realm.

A major characteristic of the Mechanical Civilization was its ability to rapidly field troops—troop churning!

Virtually no civilization, even the Ancient Civilizations, could match the Mechanical Civilization in sheer speed of deployment.

As long as the Mechanical Civilization possessed sufficient energy, it could fabricate vast numbers of figures across all tiers.

However, they struggled to create figures of too high a rank, which was a significant flaw in the Mechanical Civilization and a key reason they lagged behind the Ancient Civilizations.

The usual tactic of the Mechanical Civilization was the "Sea of Machines."

Now, Light Slave Number 2900 and Light Slave Number 3000 began to communicate. Their exchange was not conducted through spoken language,

but through brainwave signals.

"This individual is preparing to transcend tribulation, but he has a protector," Light Slave Number 3000 communicated via brainwaves.

"That is not a concern. When he reaches the perilous stage of his tribulation, I will deploy my army of several hundred thousand Mechanical Mantises to surround and neutralize the Yan Cangtian who is guarding him. Then, you can attack Lu Yuan," Light Slave Number 2900 replied through brainwaves. Though Yan Cangtian was extremely powerful, he could not instantly slay too many mechanical mantises, and Lu Yuan, during the critical phase of his tribulation, certainly wouldn't withstand an assault from Light Slave Number 3000's subordinates.

Both Light Slave Number 2900 and Light Slave Number 3000 utilized their optical brains to calculate, waiting for the opportune moment—the instant Lu Yuan encountered danger during his World Tribulation.

Lu Yuan sat cross-legged. The time to break through to the World Realm had indeed arrived. Gritting his teeth, he swallowed the Sword Dao World Fruit and the token he acquired from the World Volcano. Lu Yuan’s stomach was already freakishly powerful, capable of instantly melting iron blocks. Simultaneously, he absorbed all the World Power into his own body.

After consuming these three items, he felt a subtle shift occurring within his body. Lu Yuan then put extra effort into replenishing his World Origin Qi. During a World Tribulation, immense quantities of World Origin Qi were necessary; Qi of any other purity was entirely insufficient. Lu Yuan had absorbed a substantial amount of World Origin Qi at the World Volcano.

All his prior preparations had now come to fruition.

Following this, Lu Yuan sensed he was on the verge of a breakthrough.

Immediately above Lu Yuan’s head, countless calamities seemed to gather in the heavens. These calamities were vast and wide-ranging, accumulating within the dimensional space of the Lost Lands, causing the already unstable space there to tremble faintly. These calamities exuded infinite majesty, solemnity, terror, and murderous intent.

Within the tribulation clouds amassed in the sky, there appeared to be endless burning fire clouds—what kind of fire was this? This was no mortal flame. Blazing fiercely, the flames burned across the void; their majestic might dyed the earth red. Within this boundless inferno were Fire Gods, Fire Generals, Fire Blades, Fire Spears, Fire Soldiers, Fire Arrows, Fire Bows, and Fire Swords descending from the heavens.

This was! Samadhi! True Fire!

The Samadhi True Fire: the first flame burns the physical body and material objects; the second flame burns the soul; the third flame burns karma and sin.

The first flame, the one that incinerates physical bodies, regardless of the nature of the flesh, would ignite upon even minor contact and burn eternally. Once, someone attempting to transcend the World Tribulation attracted this first aspect of the Samadhi True Fire—the flame that consumes material objects. This person was burned alive, and furthermore, several late-stage Chaotic Void Realm tenth-tier cultivators nearby were also incinerated. That conflagration burned so intensely that even a first-layer World Realm expert would avoid it.

The second aspect, the soul-burning flame, once targeted a practitioner from the Fox Civilization, known for their mastery of illusions and formidable spiritual power. Preparing for thirty years, this cultivator constructed a Soul-Restraining Array for his World Realm breakthrough. When he faced the soul-burning flame, it instantly incinerated the Soul-Restraining Array he had spent three decades creating, ultimately burning him alive as well.

The first flame (material consumption) and the second flame (soul burning) were both terrifying, but the third aspect, the flame of sin and karma, was even more dreadful. It descended according to how many lives one had taken. Under the entanglement of karma, both soul and body were utterly consumed. When facing heavenly tribulations during a World Realm breakthrough, cultivators would rather face the material-consuming fire or the soul-burning fire than the fire of sin.

But now, what descended was precisely the Samadhi True Fire—the amalgamation of all three aspects, an overwhelmingly terrifying flame. It was rumored that in the Ancient Buddha Civilization, there was an individual named Hong Hai'er who wielded this Samadhi True Fire to unparalleled effect; he was a young attendant by the side of a Buddha.

A normal cultivator challenging the World Realm would be fortunate to face just one type of this flame, but Lu Yuan was immediately confronted by the convergence of all three aspects—truly terrifying.

The boundless Samadhi True Fire poured down from the sky, intent on annihilating Lu Yuan.

It descended thousands of zhang high, an endless sea of fire as vast as an ocean. Yet, the mass of tribulation clouds above seemed barely diminished, maintaining immense pressure overhead. Boom! A colossal gale began to blow down from above. What manner of strange wind was this? Its approach could not even be felt from afar.

With a deafening roar, a burst of thunder, so immense it threatened to shatter this unstable space, descended from above. What kind of lightning was this? It hadn't drawn near yet, but its presence was palpable.

This heavenly tribulation was growing more fearsome with every passing moment.

An overwhelmingly great pressure bore down, akin to the sun meeting the end of a world.

The wind and thunder drew ever closer, allowing observers to finally discern the nature of this wind and this lightning.