Chapter 1244: Heavenly Dao Trembles (Part 1)

“What is that?”

A collective gasp swept through the Conferred God Stage. While the lightning realm of a Heavenly Tribulation was a common sight to the powerful cultivators of the Star Realms, a red lightning realm had never been seen by anyone present, nor in the entire Eastern Divine Region, or even the whole God Realm. There was no similar memory or record in the God Realm’s history.

“This… what in the world is…” The Brahma Monarch God Emperor frowned deeply.

“Could it be… the seventh stage of the Heavenly Tribulation?” Qianye Ying’er whispered.

“What?!” Qianye Ying’er’s words caused all the God Emperors to turn their heads simultaneously, their expressions changing drastically.

At this moment, the lightning realm in the sky had turned completely red, with not a trace of purple lightning remaining. Within the red lightning realm, crimson lightning bolts twisted and shrieked, dyeing the world from purple to a blood-like scarlet. The churning, rolling red thunderclouds were even more dense and striking than the red glow of a setting sun.

People had not yet recovered from the shock of the sixth stage of the Heavenly Tribulation when they were bewildered by the sudden descent of this red world, feeling as if they were falling into an increasingly illusory dream.

Rumble…

The sky roared, and the red light contorted. The moment the red lightning realm fully formed, the faces of all the profound practitioners on the Conferred God Stage who had experienced Heavenly Tribulations changed dramatically. This was because the suppressive power of the Heavenly Dao that suddenly descended was more than ten times, perhaps dozens of times, heavier and more terrifying than that of the purple lightning realm!

Under this crimson pressure, not to mention profound practitioners at the Divine Tribulation or Divine Spirit realms, even the Divine Kings felt an intense sense of insignificance. They felt like tiny ants, as lowly as dust, beneath the heavenly gates, capable of being completely erased from existence in an instant by the wrath of the Heavenly Dao.

Below the Divine Sovereign realm, all profound practitioners began to tremble uncontrollably. This sudden sense of insignificance and fear had nothing to do with experience, state of mind, or courage; it was the most primal reaction originating from their souls and bodies under an overwhelming pressure from the Heavenly Dao. This primal reaction highlighted the extreme terrifying nature of this divine power and wrath.

And such immense wrath was directed at a human whose cultivation was only at the Divine Tribulation realm.

“What exactly is happening? What is going on?”

Mu Huanzhi and others were completely bewildered. Everything that had happened since the dark clouds covered the sky was too bizarre and terrifying, with almost every scene completely overturning their understanding.

*Slap!*

Huo Rulie fiercely slapped himself, then stood there, utterly dumbfounded, staring at the world completely dyed blood-red. He grimaced in pain, yet he did not wake from the “illusion.”

“Could it really be… the seventh stage of the Heavenly Tribulation?”

The Dragon Monarch, still looking up at the sky, muttered to himself.

*Crack!*

Under the horrified gazes of countless eyes, the red lightning realm slowly parted, revealing a dazzling crimson light at its center. In that instant, the red light that engulfed the heavens and earth intensified several times over. The already terrifying pressure of the Heavenly Dao also doubled, firmly pressing down on the Conferred God Stage.

And on the Conferred God Stage, the only presence was Yun Che. This revealed to everyone a truth that would surely shake the entire God Realm…

“Could it be… it’s…”

“The seventh stage of tribulation lightning… after the sixth?!”

“Ah… is this… real? The sixth stage wasn’t the limit? There’s a… seventh stage?”

“A red lightning realm that has never appeared, a seventh stage of tribulation lightning that has never existed… we are witnessing history!”

Shock, horror, excitement, stupor, exhilaration, disbelief… everyone had forgotten that this was the Eternal Heaven God Realm, forgotten that this was the exceptionally sacred Conferred God Stage. Emotions and the scene completely erupted into chaos.

Since its existence, the Eternal Heaven Conferred God Stage had never been in such disarray. Yet, no one in the Eternal Heaven Realm intervened. Even the Chief Adjudicator, the strict and emotionless Quhui Venerable, stared intently at the crimson sky, unwilling to divert his gaze for even a moment, fearing to miss anything.

For they were personally witnessing a true miracle.

The red glow in the center of the lightning realm slowly emerged… one zhang, ten zhang, twenty zhang… fifty zhang… reaching a hundred zhang. This red glow was no longer mere lightning; it was distinctly a lightning sword, its power compressed to the extreme!

Upon the lightning sword, red lightning shrieked, and heavenly might surged. In a daze, people felt as if they saw an ancient deity holding a crimson sword, asserting dominance over the mortal world. The hundred-zhang lightning sword fully emerged from the lightning realm, without a booming roar or a thunderous crash. The lightning sword descended straight down from directly above Yun Che, falling into the world.

The lightning sword descended, piercing the center of the Conferred God Stage… and also piercing Yun Che’s body. Instantly, crimson light filled the sky, and thunder roared, shaking the world. The purple lightning sea covering the Conferred God Stage transformed into a red lightning sea in an instant, glaring into countless wide-open eyes.

Everyone held their breath in complete silence; between heaven and earth, only thunder remained. The descending lightning sword slowly sank. With every inch it sank, the red lightning sea on the Conferred God Stage grew more violent. When the lightning sword finally submerged completely and vanished, the aura of tribulation lightning emanating from the red lightning sea on the Conferred God Stage had become so terrifying that it made the hearts of powerful cultivators seize up and stop beating.

This was a Heavenly Tribulation, an unprecedented red tribulation lightning. It was also the first time in the God Realm’s history that the seventh stage of Heavenly Tribulation had appeared.

From the first to the sixth stage of the Heavenly Tribulation, the quantity of tribulation lightning doubled with each stage, as did its power. However, this seventh stage of tribulation lightning was a complete qualitative change. There was only a single red lightning sword, but its power and momentum were not just double that of the thirty-two lightning bolts of the sixth stage—it was a leap in a different dimension altogether.

If the first six stages of the Heavenly Tribulation were meant to punish and test mortals seeking to cultivate the divine path, then this qualitatively different seventh stage of the Heavenly Tribulation seemed like the Heavenly Dao, in its anger and fear, exerting all its might to destroy a terrifying demon god destined to bring disaster to the world.

The crimson lightning illuminated everyone’s pupils and faces, yet for a long time, no one uttered a sound. Figures like Luo Shangchen, Jun Wuming, and Shui Qianheng were all stiff, as if their souls had been lost. The sixth stage of the Heavenly Tribulation had sent monstrous waves crashing through their hearts. But this seventh stage, descending before their eyes, made them feel as if they were in an illusion. As top-tier existences in the Eastern Divine Region, they could not even begin to imagine what terrifying talent could attract this unprecedented seventh stage of Heavenly Tribulation.

If he were to survive, what heights would he reach in the future…?

Yun Che, this young man who claimed to be from the lower realms, inherited his master’s teachings from a mid-level star realm, and was not yet half a cycle old—what kind of monstrous being was he?!

“Se…venth…stage…of…Heavenly…Tribulation…” Shui Yingyue’s lips moved slightly, each word like a somniloquy.

Shui Yinghen’s throat bobbed, and his lips turned pale as he struggled to say, “Is… is he… still… alive?”

“…!” Shui Qianheng took a deep breath. “That lightning sword is enough to instantly annihilate a Divine King into nothingness…”

“Ah…” Shui Yinghen’s mouth fell open.

“No, that’s not right…” Shui Meiyin gently shook her head and softly said, “Brother Yun Che is still alive; I can feel it… he must be alive!”

“…!?” Shui Qianheng abruptly turned his head. The Conferred God Stage was covered by Heavenly Tribulation lightning, a level so high that it was beyond human reach. Even a peak Divine Master’s divine sense could not penetrate Heavenly Tribulation lightning.

But there was Shui Meiyin’s immaculate divine soul, and the soul imprint Yun Che had left deep within her heart, which she had never been willing to erase…

Could it be that Yun Che… was truly still alive?

Yun Che was clearly on the verge of death, yet the six stages of Heavenly Tribulation, a total of sixty-three bolts of Heavenly Tribulation lightning, had not killed him. And now, under this Heavenly Dao lightning sword, capable of obliterating even Divine Kings… he was still alive?!

Under the lightning sea that had transformed from purple to red, Yun Che was not only alive but also felt incredibly comfortable. The red lightning sword descended from above his head, directly piercing his body. A surge of Heavenly Dao spiritual energy and lightning power, more than ten times denser than before, frantically poured into his entire being, making every cell and every strand of hair on his body tremble with excitement.

The level of the purple tribulation lightning was already extremely high, and the level of the red tribulation lightning was even higher. Under the immensely violent Heavenly Dao energy and elemental power, Yun Che’s Desolate God power was thoroughly activated. The Brahma Tower spun rapidly, and countless torrents of energy surged through his body. The tribulation lightning could not harm Yun Che in the slightest but was instead transformed by his Desolate God power into extremely high-level Heavenly Dao spiritual energy, flooding into Yun Che’s body and profound veins.

His initially severe injuries, both internal and external, had completely healed. His previously depleted profound veins were now filled with profound energy to an extreme degree. Yet, strangely, this profound energy did not linger in his profound veins but quickly dissipated.

Deep within his profound veins, that mysterious aura continued to struggle, its struggle far more intense than before, gradually on the verge of breaking free from the “cage” that bound it.

Above the sky, the red clouds still churned. The red lightning realm did not disappear; instead, it suddenly and rapidly expanded. The already dazzling red light instantly grew even denser, and the Heavenly Dao’s power descended even more heavily. A few breaths later, the red lightning realm had surged by nearly ten times, bringing with it ten times the pressure of the Heavenly Dao!

The entire world also turned a terrifying deep crimson, as if the sky and earth were covered in a layer of thick, drying blood.

“How… how could this be…”

This was the voice of the Eternal Heaven God Emperor; his voice was actually trembling.

In the center of the tenfold lightning realm, a scarlet lightning appeared, like a calamity star releasing a world-destroying radiance, piercing through everyone’s souls.

“The… eighth… stage…” The Dragon Monarch uttered in a low voice, unfamiliar even to himself.

The world at this moment was terrifyingly silent. Perhaps the entire Eastern Divine Region had never been as quiet as it was now. Everyone was speechless, unable to think. Deep in their pupils, deep in their souls, there was only that point of calamitous scarlet light in the sky.

The scarlet lightning slowly descended from the massive lightning realm in a deathly silence—one zhang… ten zhang… a hundred zhang… a thousand zhang!

For the first six stages of the Heavenly Tribulation, each additional stage doubled in power, an already nightmarmarish increase. But this lightning sword was a full ten times more powerful than the previous one!

The eighth stage of the Heavenly Tribulation… This thought echoed in everyone’s minds, like the most ethereal and illusory dream in the world. Even the most extreme profound practitioners, with countless experiences, having endured endless changes, and traversed every corner of the God Realm, could not believe or accept the reality unfolding before their eyes at this moment.