Alm and Bruno snapped back to consciousness. They quickly looked around and breathed a sigh of relief; they were exactly where they had left off.
Over eight months had passed in the outside world; yet within this separated realm, time had stood still. There must have been turmoil in the Yinblood sect after they failed to exit the sealed world. But now, they needed to settle this once and for all.
The spatial runes that had covered everything disappeared in an instant. Everything returned to normal as if the play button had been pressed.
Alm and Bruno glanced at the demoness, observing her eyes tremble in complete shock; she sensed something was wrong. Like the previous heroes who weren’t completely frozen upon their return, she discerned the manipulation of Heaven’s Will.
Immediately, the whale sent a message to his group. ’Everyone, advance together. Rehvka, Kaiyka, and Thea, freeze all Qi in your bodies; I will protect you, then you’ll be useful.’
Everyone heard something completely insane and considered taboo in multiple ways for a cultivator. Regardless of race or cultivation, one would always prepare to be at 110% to break through a realm, or risk failing and dying. But their current state could only be considered miserable.
The tribulation to enter the divine realms was notably known for its extreme ruthlessness. The heavens would severely test those who sought to transcend from being mere mortals to gaining a divine foothold. Now, twelve of them were attempting this simultaneously? The tribulations would compound, and the level each would have to endure would multiply.
The demoness realized immediately upon their arrival that they were about to break through. But no one was crazy enough to attempt such a feat. She and all the cultivators in her branch could simply seal their cultivations, and this tribulation would never kill them. Meanwhile, the whale’s group would simply die in vain.
Yet, despite everything, in the next second after the whale spoke mentally, Runula, Deryu, and Coltia appeared beside the group. And immediately, a muffled cracking sound emanated from all twelve.
A spatial rune appeared on the whale’s forehead. Rehvka, Kaiyka, and Thea had already sealed their Qi to the maximum when a spatial force engulfed them directly. In the next moment, the three found themselves in a mystical space.
The entire place was covered in pulsating runes, the ground was ashen as if infinite grains of sand-sized runes were accumulated. They sat down and then looked up, stunned. They found themselves beneath the Chaos Tree.
A power of faith and Qi enveloped them. "Get ready, it won’t take long," the whale’s voice echoed, and they focused.
Simultaneously, outside, all twelve felt the power of faith and Qi being directly infused into their bodies.
All wounds closed and magically regenerated completely. With everyone releasing their cultivation breakthroughs, every inch of their meridians and cores began to expand as they poured in more and more Qi they had received.
It all lasted for two seconds, and the demoness did not react; she was still stunned, feeling the time difference, not understanding what had happened. It was these two seconds she lost that completely changed everything. As a result, the heavens and earth began to tremble.
**BOOM!**
The heavens roared, and at the same time, countless destructive pillars fell towards the twelve. An explosion suddenly occurred. The entire central building, in the heart of the branch, exploded.
In the same second, thousands of blue demons at the highest levels of divine cultivation flew towards the site, shocked and confused. But the heavens continued to roar, and now the spatial laws sealing the location began to tremble.
The dust curtain was swept away, and amidst the debris and a crater, the whale and all twelve emerged.
Alm and Bruno looked around and sensed everything, grasping a bit of where they were. That world was the size of a medium planet; it was considered enormous for a separated realm. There was no sky, everything was covered in a deep crimson... which Alm immediately sensed the origins of, infernal laws.
This world didn’t reside on a planet. It probably existed within a spatial rift, in some region of the galaxy not far from the Gloom planet.
With no visible sky, the high-level demons didn’t immediately realize what was happening. No one could imagine someone would be foolish enough to attempt a breakthrough in the middle of the branch, and there were no characteristic clouds to be seen above.
But outside that world, anyone sighting the region would see it all covered in a black, destructive mist.
**RUMBLE!!!**
Hundreds of pillar-shaped lightning bolts descended from this black mist. They pierced through the spatial barrier with relentless force, coming down towards the group. Now, all the demons understood what was happening.
"Seal your cultivations and move away. Form a circle around and wait for the tribulation to end. All common cultivators, move as far away as possible!"
The branch leader’s voice roared furiously in all directions as she ran to distance herself. Obviously, if only one powerful demon was marked by the tribulation, its level would increase multiple times to try and kill them. As a result, everyone below would be doomed and unable to withstand it without using their cultivation... leading to a deadly snowball effect.
"Tribulation? You’ve tried to fuck me so many times. Let’s properly celebrate this time," the whale spoke maliciously. In the next moment, his eyes pulsed in an earthy brown hue. As a consequence, the entire ground trembled.
The earth around the central zone of the branch split open. Everyone halted in stunned steps as a massive, circular wall of earth rose up, encircling and imprisoning them all. Without being able to use Qi or cultivation, they obviously couldn’t fly or destroy it.
From above, a violent roar made everyone’s ears buzz. Alm and Bruno were obviously marked. But they just dryly snorted.
The demons didn’t have time to be surprised by the wall of earth. They looked up, tense.
"It escalated to another level... now it’s a celestial punishment," a senior elder murmured fearfully. He had only heard of it, never seen it personally, like most there.
Bruno sighed. He only sealed the central region of the branch. There, no matter which sect it was, it was where the largest and most influential cultivators lived. The young and weak wouldn’t be affected, but he had no pity for those who lived there.
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He had quite a bit of knowledge about how this branch operated through Mistie. The power here was divided into three equal forces: the Leader, the Advisers, and the High Elders. There was only one Leader, thirty-three Advisers, and thousands of High Elders.
Since they weren’t a proper sect, the rules were different from the conventional. The Shadow God sect was the one giving the real orders, and they only had autonomy for minor matters. To act as they did against the whale and Ruri, the main sect must have been informed, but they simply didn’t care about something so small. Then the three powers of the branch voted; if one of the groups denied, nothing would happen, and the demoness couldn’t act.
The reason behind all this was something personal for the leader; but she must have bought with favors everything, being able to do what she did. Already Alm, Bruno, and Ruri, even after destroying that entire branch and killing that demoness’s husband; they had no remorse about killing everyone around them now.
How many lives were destroyed on those two planets they saved? Then, there were the incidents with Idris’s clan and all the problems they suffered. Undoubtedly, all the top people were directly or indirectly responsible for everything and didn’t deserve mercy.
"Those bastards used billions of innocent lives on those two planets. They suffered retaliation, and it was still too little; do they think they have the right to avenge something? We’ll end this karma today," Bruno spat dryly, and everyone trapped within the walls of earth heard it.
**RUMBLE!!**
A sea of lightning crashed down upon the twelve and the whale.
Tense minutes passed. The three young Feys were barely holding on; the others seemed pressed but wouldn’t have issues. Meanwhile, the whale and Corin appeared to be sunbathing, as if nothing was happening.
All the demons around were equally calm, without a hint of pressure; they were too powerful to fear something of this magnitude. Alm and Bruno glanced at their group and spoke lightly:
"You won’t have time to go through it all; absorb as much in the first waves as you can. Level up."
The entire whale’s group took a deep breath. Corin poised himself, but before he could make a move, a small humanoid figure covered in black scales leaped up, wielding a black saber.
"Manifestation of Will!"
Runula roared and struck, merging her soul power and bloodline with her will. All those Soul Eater demons on the ground felt that technique, surprised, as it came from the same bloodline as theirs.
"That technique... it’s from a mortal branch of our race. This hybrid dares to challenge us..."
A counselor spoke but swallowed his words midway. He saw space split with that strike. That power managed to surpass even the spatial laws of the divine world. It was definitely not at the level of a mortal branch. The strike hit high, piercing through everything and reaching the center of the punishment.
**CRACK!!!**
Everyone below, across that separated world, even those outside the earth walls and far away, felt their bodies tremble with dread. The heavens were furious at this affront; the level of that punishment escalated several times over.
"It’s at the maximum limit... just another inch, and it will shift to complete annihilation... if that happens, we’ll all die, no matter what we do." Another counselor spoke in clear despair.
All turned to the whale’s group completely dumbfounded. Were they mad? Did they want to die and bury everyone with them?
Clearly, they had no idea what they were talking about. There were barely any records of celestial annihilation; they were just scared of the unknown in their minds. But... their fear wasn’t unfounded; they felt death looming. Whoever was manipulating this power was sinister enough to cause a universal apocalypse.
"Corin and Deryu, be the main barrier. Whatever gets through, I’ll block and evenly distribute the celestial power to everyone behind." The whale spoke dryly, and everyone took a deep breath.
Corin had the physical cultivation and might barely survive; this was his golden chance to elevate his physique. Meanwhile, Deryu had a 30% chance of survival, but his dragon bloodline could only be enhanced if he pushed himself to the limit; Alm and Bruno would show him no mercy. He either advanced or died. There was no turning back to getting stronger.
Runula glanced at the whale, wanting to be in the frontline too. They noticed her gaze. Currently, after she focused on her demon side and used the dragon physique as a supplement, her overall power had increased significantly. She would definitely elevate her dragon side in the future, but that shouldn’t be her focus anymore.
"Conserve your energies. You and Calirer will need it soon." The whale spoke softly, and she nodded.
The entire time and space of that world vibrated. It was as if the heavens were collapsing; everything was covered in lightning, each one several times more powerful than the last. It all seemed to funnel towards one point: the whale’s group.
**CRASH!!!**
Everyone outside the walls felt their world lose its colors. The shock was so fierce they couldn’t hear or see anything; everything was blanketed in white and emptiness.
When the demons’ reality returned, they found themselves lying on the ground, nearly buried in the earth. As they slowly got to their feet, they realized they were amidst countless fissures in the ground, as if they were on an eggshell cracked every inch they could see.
Meanwhile, the earth walls remained intact, still radiating a powerful presence. Everyone now understood that this was no ordinary earthly law.
Inside the walls... everything had turned into a wasteland.
But... a completely red figure, as if trampled by a giant beast, stood tall. Corin felt his body crack, then it was as if a shell was shedding and he was shedding skin.
"Complete Vitality Condemnation..." Corin murmured, feeling boundless life energy circulating through his body.
Beside him, the earth stirred. Then, a massive black figure rose. Thankfully, his blood was black and mixed with his scales; he just didn’t seem so miserable. Deryu rose slowly, and all the green scales on his body, born with him, fell off. He reached the divine realms and, like a pure dragon losing its reverse scale, he lost his green scales.
Behind him, Ruri watched her excited pet. Beside her, the rest of the group was ecstatic. They had all received pure celestial power from the whale, which allowed cultivators to advance, and they absorbed it all. Now, they were officially divine cultivators. But...
**Rumble!!!**
The tribulation was far from over. In fact, Alm and Bruno decided to provoke it to reach the highest level possible quickly. The group had to advance soon; at that initial level, nothing would happen to the demons. But if they merged the rest of their punishment with something even greater?
Everyone in the group looked up, sighing. Just that before them was terrifying enough. They moved forward, but they still had to fight to survive. And the level of power was much higher than before...
’Accept.’ Alm and Bruno confirmed to the system.
Until everything stopped. Literally. All life seemed interrupted, and no one could breathe anymore.
The whale floated upwards, slowly, alone. ’Protect yourselves, things are about to get lively.’ Everyone heard those words in their minds, then their eyes shone.
The sky, the earth, and the world went dark.
This time, it was true darkness, so deep that you couldn’t see your fingers even if you waved them in front of your eyes. A boundless fury from celestial laws covered this entire world. It was as if the apocalypse had arrived.
Lightning began to flash within the tribulation clouds. At the same time, a terrifying pressure that made heaven and earth tremble descended.
The whale took a deep breath. It could feel that this tribulation was terrifying at an unprecedented level. Even before it descended, the pressure it unleashed made it difficult to breathe.
"One... and annihilation!" A demon murmured, trembling, and everyone almost fell to their knees.
"This is an apocalyptic tribulation, a celestial annihilation that... only a Heaven-Defier could pass!" The demoness leader spoke in complete disbelief, now realizing the true depth of the hole she had dug herself into.