Chapter 1640: Quasi-Emperor Tribulation
Achieving emperorhood through the physical body, even with the addition of the word "quasi," was enough to shock the world. One had to know that Ye Fan had barely survived and had already retreated into obscurity, yet now he returned in such a manner.
The two words "Quasi-Emperor" were heavier than Mount Tai, suffocating all who heard them. Ye Fan now possessed such a physical body; even without the laws of order, he could roam the universe freely. How many people could possibly restrain him?
The key was the trend of this development, which made people tremble. If the Lord of the Divine Court knew about this now, he would definitely be unable to sit still!
Lightning flashed and thunder roared. Countless bolts of lightning intertwined densely across the universe, transforming into dragons and serpents that lashed their tails and slashed toward Ye Fan's physical body.
Streaks of blazing electricity streaked across the originally dark starry sky, illuminating eternity as Ye Fan struggled against the heavenly punishment.
Clearly, this heavenly tribulation was different from before. Its initial momentum did not seem overwhelming, but its power had suddenly increased by who knows how many times.
"Ao hou..."
Everyone clearly heard the roar of dragons. Several great dragons emerged from the sea of lightning, their bodies covered in dense azure dragon scales, as massive as mountain ranges, as they pounced toward Ye Fan.
"Is this the great tribulation sent down for achieving a quasi-emperor physical body?"
People were shaken. Even from an immeasurable distance, they trembled, every hair on their bodies standing on end. How could those dragons be so real? They even emitted dragon roars, seemingly carrying life fluctuations.
It truly split the nine heavens above and suppressed the nine netherworlds below. Everyone's scalps went numb. It was too concrete and vivid, reaching the pinnacle of realism.
The azure true dragons coiled, opened their massive mouths, and extended their claws, attacking Ye Fan to destroy him. Achieving emperorhood defied heaven, and even with the addition of the word "quasi," it was the same. Approaching this domain, the heavens felt threatened and sought to suppress and kill.
Ye Fan's body shimmered with precious radiance. The blood within him roared like a tsunami, washing through his flesh. His thick black hair flew wildly, and his eyes were sharper than cold lightning. He looked up at the high sky, treating everything seriously, his expression very solemn.
This was an opportunity, possibly a transformation. If he passed this checkpoint, he could roam the universe freely. Even without the laws of order or the corresponding quasi-emperor divine abilities, relying solely on this physical body, he could walk proudly through the world.
"Boom!"
A true dragon's massive body directly crushed down, its form shattering the starry sky. Numerous meteors were ground into powder. Its body coiled like a world-grinding millstone, making people's scalps turn cold.
That kind of momentum was unparalleled. People believed that no matter how many great sages were thrown in, they would be ground into meat paste by the dragon's body. There was a wave of power that could not be resisted.
But Ye Fan withstood it, using his sacred body's physical form to clash head-on. His fists shattered the void. The true Heavenly Emperor Fist erupted before the eyes of the world, showing all the heroes his terrifying power.
"Too terrifying, no wonder there were rumors that even after losing his methods and dao, he still killed the disciple of the Longevity Heavenly Venerable when leaving the only true path."
Ye Fan soared through the heavens, punching out one fist after another. Every fist drew blood, striking the azure dragon's body. Dragon scales broke, and blood splattered everywhere, incredibly real. Were they really transformed from lightning? People began to doubt. The azure scales and dragon blood were all so solid.
"Ao hou..."
The azure dragon, in pain, leaped upward. Ye Fan broke off one of its claws, and it fled into the universe, crashing into a large star and shattering it into pieces.
"This..." People were horrified. It directly destroyed a celestial body, roaring incessantly. It was clearly a living creature.
"Could it really have life? A flood dragon with a quasi-emperor physical body, descending here from the Immortal Domain," a few people suspected, forming such thoughts.
"Roar..." The azure great dragon turned back, and the others also attacked close to Ye Fan, where a fierce battle erupted.
No one could say for sure what realm the azure true dragon was in. It seemed to possess a quasi-emperor body, yet also seemed like lightning formed from a quasi-emperor's single strike. Without a doubt, it was supremely powerful, and no one present dared to oppose it.
Even Ye Fan looked solemn. Every fist drew blood—not just dragon blood, but his own as well. His fingers were reduced to white bone. But he seemed to feel no pain, ignoring it, focusing only on the several azure true dragons, swinging the Heavenly Emperor Fist in fierce blows.
One, two... A total of eight appeared from the sea of lightning. Their massive bodies, with each coil, destroyed many meteors, possessing awe-inspiring divine power.
"Roar!"
With a final dragon cry, an even larger dragon appeared. It swallowed several stars in one gulp, and the light it sprayed was as vast and boundless as a galaxy.
This starry region experienced great turmoil. Ye Fan naturally bore the brunt, fiercely resisting there.
People were horrified. Especially the Divine Court army, who secretly rejoiced that they had retreated. Otherwise, this thunder tribulation would have destroyed them all, with no one able to withstand it.
Li Heishui sneered, "Little Leaf is soft-hearted. He doesn't want to wipe them all out. Otherwise, do they think they could escape? Back then, he used thunder tribulation to destroy many great enemies."
"Fewer killing tribulations is also good. Otherwise, it would cause great trouble for achieving emperorhood—that endless worldly karma fire would eventually catch up," said Black Emperor.
The black-hearted big black dog, for once, showed mercy to a hated enemy, but there was a reason. He had followed an ancient great emperor and knew many secrets unknown to ordinary people.
"He's stabilized, finally gained the upper hand!" said Dongfang Ye, completely relieved. The wild man was bare-chested, exuding a most primitive beastly aura. To enemies, he was very dangerous.
The nine dragons wailed in sorrow. Ye Fan's fists were down to white bone, but he seemed to feel no pain, maintaining a constant rhythm and eternal pulse, striking outward with all his strength.
He beat the nine azure true dragons until they trembled and wailed incessantly. One by one, their claws shattered or their bodies broke in half. All were severely wounded and could not approach.
He let out a long roar, his entire body shining even brighter. The sacred body's true blood boiled, a vivid red dyeing his fists. Those wounds healed rapidly, covering the hand bones.
He adjusted himself to his strongest state, charging quickly. Stepping on the backs of the true dragons, he swung his fists, unleashing the most powerful force. One by one, he made them prostrate at his feet.
Ye Fan let out a great shout. He transformed into a furnace tripod, his human form fading as he floated there. The nine azure great dragons were suppressed beneath him.
"In truth, it's still his human form, not a transformation. It's just his state and the aura he emits that make people think of a tripod. Unless one has special heavenly eyes, they can't see the truth," said Black Emperor. His brow split open, revealing a vertical eye with deep light within.
The nine azure true dragons were suppressed by Ye Fan, wailing there. Their mouths continuously spewed immortal light, burning like blazing flames, roasting the furnace tripod.
For Ye Fan, this was actually a form of tempering. He drew upon the nine powerful and mysterious beings that had taken form in the thunder tribulation, using their power to refine his physical body.
Boom!
The sea of lightning above erupted. Infinite energy converged into the nine great dragons, making them many times larger, but it was still useless. They could not escape the suppression of the furnace tripod.
Only when the nine true dragons were extinguished, all turning into light and dao principles that refined into Ye Fan's body, did the sea of lightning explode. From within flew out one weapon after another.
"Oh? This time, no ancient great emperors manifested. Strange, different from his past tribulations. Is it because he achieved quasi-emperor through the physical body?" Yan Yixi was surprised.
"It's not simple. Those are several terrifying weapons, very hard to deal with!"
The weapons that flew out were not ordinary. The first was a tripod—three-legged, two-eared, round. Chaos filled the tripod's mouth as it descended, both offensive and defensive.
Next came a great bell, its sound spreading far and wide, causing the universe's starry rivers to tremble lightly. Then an ancient pagoda appeared, with the power to suppress the thirty-three heavens.
Additionally, a heavenly sword slashed down, a great halberd fell... Each weapon possessed super-strong attack power!
Ye Fan resisted, clashing with his bare hands. The place rang like blacksmithing, with clanging sounds. He was covered in blood, doing something astonishing—incorporating one weapon after another into his body.
This could be said to be risking his life. At any moment, it could cause him to explode. Each weapon was extremely dangerous, a manifestation of the primal dao principles of heaven and earth, yet he used them to shape himself, treating them as dao fire.
Later, Ye Fan's bones crackled. He was covered in blood, his body trembling like a clanging melody, on the verge of shattering at any moment.
He persisted, drawing these weapons into his body one by one, causing them to resonate, letting these fragments of law and dao burn and forge within his flesh.
"Boom!"
Ye Fan's body nearly exploded. White bone stubble emerged, stark and terrifying. Red blood and golden plasma dripped down, looking extremely frightening.
However, his flesh possessed astonishing regenerative power. Even in the midst of the thunder tribulation, it could recover rapidly. This was because his physique had evolved to an extreme realm.
For three hundred years, the purification and sublimation of his body had continued. The battle against the supreme being had a profound impact on him. His flesh remembered every moment of that time, driving him to evolve and transform in a certain direction.
Ye Fan fought against the various weapons. Though he faced near-death situations—once even having his forehead bone shattered and his primordial spirit nearly split in two—he still pulled through.
In the end, he drew all the weapons into his body and then expelled them. His primordial spirit also underwent tempering through this. The golden little figure swung its fists and feet, battling the various weapons.
"Tripod, come!"
Ye Fan shouted loudly. The void tore open, and the Primordial Qi Cauldron appeared, hovering above his head. Together with his physical body and primordial spirit, it underwent the tribulation. Those weapons became the cauldron's most desired targets, colliding violently.
Though the cauldron developed many cracks in the process, it ultimately did not shatter, swallowing all the weapons and refining them into itself.
"This is..."
People were shocked. This cauldron was truly special. Even though the weapons had been nearly broken by Ye Fan's strikes, the fact that it could swallow them like this was still world-shaking.
"Boom!"
The sea of lightning churned and pressed down. Within it were mountains, rivers, birds, and beasts. Upon closer inspection, it was a lifelike world. On the ground, mythical creatures like Kunpeng, White Tiger, Teng Snake, and Vermilion Bird appeared.
Soon, Ye Fan was submerged. The place blazed with divine energy.
"That's not right. What place is that? Could it be simulating the Immortal Domain world? It's different from past heavenly tribulations!" Black Emperor showed a grave expression.
This heavenly tribulation was very strange!
"Those mountains, rivers, and all things seem to contain immense power. Little Leaf, ah... he was directly split open across the chest!" Li Heishui cried out in alarm.
This was just the beginning. Ye Fan had already suffered such an attack. The mountains, rivers, and all things had spirits. Kunpeng, Teng Snake, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird—each was like a real beast god, far too powerful.
Ye Fan's physical body was incredibly solid, yet it caused such consequences. This thunder tribulation was absolutely terrifying, far beyond normal reasoning.
The only thing to be grateful for was that Ye Fan's physical recovery speed was too rapid. In the blink of an eye, his flesh and bones reconnected. The quasi-emperor body was truly astonishing.
The tripod, primordial spirit, and trunk suffered a great calamity. Heaven and earth shattered, ghosts wailed, and gods howled. There were too many strange creatures there—some prehistoric, some great demons recorded in ancient texts, some gods and demons, some Vermilion Birds and heavenly ghosts.
The Divine Court army was elated. Such a calamity seemed too much even for Ye Fan to withstand. His physical body had shattered several times, and even the tripod had broken and been remade several times.
"Why is it so strange? It seems Ye Fan is having a hard time. Can he make it through?" Li Heishui murmured, showing concern.
This heavenly tribulation was different from the past. No ancient great emperors manifested, but it was equally terrifying, capable of taking lives at any moment. If anyone else went up, they would surely die.
"Hateful. Little Leaf cannot use his methods and dao. Otherwise, the situation would be better than this."
"This is not a bad opportunity for him. Without relying on divine abilities, only using his physical body and primordial spirit to resist the heavenly tribulation, the fiercer the tempering, the greater the harvest," said Black Emperor.
Boom!
In a series of violent explosions, that place became a blazing mass where nothing could be seen. Clearly, the heavenly punishment had suddenly increased several times, truly destroying heaven and earth.
In that area, many stars directly disappeared, struck into cosmic dust, turning to ashes.
Then, those mountains, rivers, and all things—including Kunpeng, gods and demons, Vermilion Birds, heavenly ghosts—all vanished. The universe became clear.
It ended extremely suddenly!