What? Isn't that basically pointing a finger and calling all of us scoundrels? This fellow’s talent for indirect insult is truly impressive! But now, you’ve swept everyone up in one fell swoop. This is going to incite a general outrage...
The crowd instantly bristled with indignation. Voices rose up, denouncing him in unison.
You, claiming to have good character? If someone like you counts as having good character, then every single person on this earth must be a saint! Gu Han glared at Jun Mo Xie, his eyes wide, his teeth clenched as he demanded, “Do you even know what the words ‘character’ actually mean, you brat?”
“Character is an esoteric thing, and I’m too lazy to waste my breath explaining it to you...” Jun Mo Xie tilted his head with a casual flair, remaining seated in his recliner. The recliner beneath him then floated weightlessly, carrying him smoothly into the depths of the Heavenly Punishment encampment.
“I dare swear, you don’t know the first thing about integrity!” Gu Han spat, yelling his condemnation before retreating sullenly to resume his meditation!
That was such a blow!
It had taken him over a thousand years to ascend from Saint Venerable to the third level of Saint Lord, enduring countless near-death experiences, countless brushes with the edge of oblivion, countless instances where he narrowly escaped death!
Yet this kid was clearly only at the Saint Venerable level just a few days ago. Now, after a few days spent sleeping, he had passed his lightning tribulation, and Gu Han couldn’t even discern his current cultivation level anymore. That could only mean one thing: this kid's current strength had officially surpassed his own!
Where in the world was there such an easy, pleasant, and effortless way to advance?
Gu Han was deeply shaken, and even more indignant!
Sleep, just sleep. Sleep a while to soothe his frayed nerves. At least out of sight would be out of mind.
So, this world also had its version of ‘Ah Q’ spirit!
However, the ancient Saint Lord was fated to be disappointed!
Because the entire night passed without peace. One moment there was a fluctuation of Heaven and Earth vital energy, the next, a disruption of the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth. To actually be able to fall asleep would truly be a miracle! As for calming his mood—that was utter nonsense!
Even more absurdly, as the first pale light of dawn tinted the eastern sky the next morning, an intensely heavy sense of pressure from the surrounding world descended abruptly, causing Gu Han, who had just settled into meditation to regulate his breathing, to jump up violently! He stared toward the horizon in horror, his eyeballs nearly bulging clean out of their sockets.
The Heavenly Pillar Mountain had already collapsed; was the sky itself now falling?
How could there be such powerful coercion? The intensity of this pressure was such that even the tribulation pressure for a Saint Lord expert would not compare by even a fraction! Gu Han, a third-level Saint Lord himself, had fortunately witnessed Young Master Jun’s tribulation yesterday, allowing him to roughly analyze the extent of the lightning tribulation faced by a fourth-level Saint Lord. But the coercion before him demanded an increase of at least several dozen times that level! What in the world was happening?!
How could such a terrifying entity exist under heaven!
Suddenly, a strange thought flashed across Gu Han’s mind. Could it be…?
Everyone from the Three Great Holy Lands was currently staring upward, watching the densely gathering dark clouds in the sky. Each face was filled with inexplicable dread!
Tribulation clouds!
Countless tribulation clouds!
Endless tribulation clouds!
Dense, layered, and covering the entire expanse! Clusters upon clusters, heaps upon heaps... they completely blotted out the sliver of pale light that had just appeared in the sky!
One massive, solitary eye after another slowly formed within the swirling cloud layers, coldly observing the ants-like humans below!
“What is happening?!” Gu Han leaped up, looking utterly crazed, flinging his arms wide. He roared, “What in the blazes is going on?!”
It turned out to be exactly the possibility he had imagined, the very thing that should have been the least likely to occur. And it was happening at the absolute worst time!
Old Gu had completely lost his composure!
It truly wasn’t his fault for losing control! This event was simply too preposterous!
The tribulation eyes in the sky were packed so tightly, there must have been tens of thousands! The dark clouds accumulated and churned in layer upon layer, almost pressing down upon their heads!
Even with Gu Han’s experience spanning over three thousand years, he had never witnessed such a phenomenon!
Tribulation...
It had always been an individual affair. From ancient times until now, even two people facing a tribulation together was rare. As for more people undergoing it simultaneously, it had almost never occurred!
The reason it was said to have almost never happened was because, several thousand years ago, the master of a massive power tried to ensure his son passed his heavenly tribulation safely by arranging numerous experts to block the disaster for him.
But no one expected that the lightning tribulation, which was originally only at the Venerable level, would grow increasingly fierce and difficult to resist precisely because someone interfered! In the end, even that supreme patriarch failed to survive the tribulation, sacrificing himself and the powerful faction he had founded!
If it were merely one person’s tribulation lightning, no matter how high that person’s cultivation reached—even if the First Young Master of the Nine Hells were resurrected and underwent the tribulation personally—it might not produce such a grand spectacle!
The current situation clearly indicated the tribulation of not just one or two people, but at least hundreds or thousands undergoing it at the same place and time...
The most obvious proof lay in the sky: those endlessly savage solitary eyes were the best evidence. Heavenly tribulation lightning, regardless of strength, only ever manifested...
Gu Han suppressed his shock and immediately resolved to act. He gathered his inner strength, intending to rise and survey the surroundings, hoping to find a relatively safe place to shelter. With such astonishing might, the range of the lightning tribulation surely wouldn't be small. If the people of the Three Great Holy Lands were caught in the crossfire, they would be truly innocent victims.
But his body had only ascended about five zhang when he suddenly gasped, slammed back down to the earth by the sheer pressure of the Heavenly Might! The power of tens of thousands of heavenly tribulations managed to suppress a Saint Lord to the point where he couldn't even leap!
Now, Gu Han was truly alarmed!
These tribulation forces already possessed immense power before even striking. If they truly descended... forget those at the very front lines facing the tribulation; even among the onlookers like himself, perhaps not a single person could survive this calamity!
Observing the area covered by this tribulation, even if Heavenly Pillar Mountain hadn't collapsed from the previous incident, this spectacle would certainly annihilate the entire mountain range now.
The people gathered here were arguably the last remaining strength on the Xuan Xuan Continent capable of resisting the alien races! If they were annihilated in one go, it would truly mean the heavens had abandoned the Xuan Xuan Continent!
Gu Han fell into a state of utter helplessness, stamping his feet, beating his chest, and sighing repeatedly, his dignity completely gone.
“Elder Gu, look over there!” Zhen Wudao, sitting on the ground, stretched his hand out forcefully, pointing in the direction of the Heavenly Punishment Forest encampment.
Despite Gu Han stamping his feet and lamenting, among the people of the Three Great Holy Lands, no one other than this elder could stand upright.
As for the Sect Master Mo Wudao, possessing only Venerable cultivation, his condition was even worse. His usual demeanor was entirely gone, his image shattered. Under this unprecedented divine terror, everyone had simultaneously slumped onto the ground! Not being crushed flat against the ground was proof enough of profound cultivation!
Gu Han turned his head upon hearing the words. He saw that all the warriors at the Heavenly Punishment Forest encampment were huddled together, each one with his eyes closed, sitting cross-legged, their faces solemn.
They seemed to be waiting for something to arrive...
“Did they cause all of this?” Gu Han stared in stunned silence, then burst into raging anger. “Bastards! What foolishness! How can one undergo tribulation like this! This is clearly gambling with their lives! Everyone packed together, waiting to be turned into a patty filling by the heavenly lightning? Are they trying to recreate that tragic event from thousands of years ago?!”
“En, looking at the situation now, it seems... they all broke through! But... how is this possible? Their cultivation levels vary, and their stages are different, how could they all face tribulation simultaneously? Did they all break through overnight last night?..”
Cheng Yin Xiao’s cultivation was not among the best in this group. Now, he was slumped sideways on the ground, his face and eyes filled with disbelief.
The sky suddenly darkened, as if night had returned.
All the tribulation clouds pressed down at once. Dense electric light, visible to the naked eye, danced back and forth within the cloud layers, emitting a sizzling sound. It was like a dull knife slowly sawing against one's bones...
Gu Han suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He was the only one present who could still maintain some level of mobility; thus, the only one with a chance to escape. But at this moment, the elder was on the verge of collapse—his lifelong beliefs, the things he was sworn to protect, were about to be obliterated!
Just then, a white figure drifted up serenely. With a light twist in the heavily charged air, it hovered steadily about ten zhang above the heads of the Heavenly Punishment warriors, coming to a stop, perfectly still. Dressed in snow-white robes, he stood silently in the air, unmoving.
At this moment, there wasn't even the slightest breeze in the entire sky.
The stillness was like a fixed painting.
Aside from the spontaneous flickering of the vast electric lights, there was absolutely no other sound or movement.
“Jun Mo Xie! How is he still moving? And flying?” Gu Han stared, unable to comprehend. At best, he could maintain some limited mobility. Even if Jun Mo Xie was stronger than him now, the difference shouldn't be this vast, right?
Could there still be a turn of events?!
Right there, under the gaze of all onlookers, Young Master Jun tilted his head back, his black hair flowing around him. He quietly raised both hands, adopting an embracing posture, reaching out toward the vast sky.
“Wind, come!”
A voice, nearly like an ancient chant, suddenly manifested, exceptionally ethereal and unusually fluid.
Gu Han’s mouth twitched.
This Young Master Jun’s grand posturing... had truly reached the zenith of pretense!
Wind come?
Wind come, my foot! Who does he think he is? He says it comes, and it comes? Does he really think he’s an immortal?
And then, “Wind come...”
In the very next moment, Old Gu, even with his eyes wide—so wide they nearly popped from their sockets!—
Almost had them shoot clear out of his face!
Because, right after the Young Master Jun spoke that sentence, the atmosphere, which had been stagnant, actually... suddenly, there was wind!
There was truly wind!
A soft breeze began to blow, swirling gently.
It lifted Jun Mo Xie’s jet-black hair and made his flowing robes billow.
At this moment, the image of the Young Master could only be described by four words: floating, as if immortal.
Absolutely, typically, floating as if immortal!
“The wind really came...” Gu Han’s mouth uttered a sound like "Aah..." and he froze completely, utterly petrified!