What’s happening here?

Zhou Bao looked around his Sea of Consciousness, completely dumbstruck. He saw several of his Primary Primordial Spirits fluttering about. Cundi’s primordial spirit roared, whipping up huge frenzied waves, engulfing everything.

“A Highest Grade Celestial Devil? Do you think that releasing a Highest Grade Celestial Devil would help in dealing with me? I have already devoured all of the boy’s primordial spirit.”

Cundi frantically attacked the countless Primary Primordial Spirits that were suddenly appearing in the Sea of Consciousness. Meanwhile, an immensely powerful thought split off noiselessly from one of Cundi’s spirits and transmitted itself into Zhou Bao’s spirit.

“This is the——!”

This message was even more powerful than the one he had received when the Primordial Sword Spirit disappeared, and more real.

Boom!

A huge sound rang throughout the Sea of Consciousness. Cundi’s primordial spirit once again turned into a raging ocean. In a short time, it had engulfed thousands of Zhou Bao’s Primary Primordial Spirits. But what happened next made him hesitate.

Because the remaining “spirits” had begun to cross the Divine Tribulation!

These “Primary Primordial Spirits” had been transformed from Highest Grade Celestial Devils and were not Zhou Bao’s true primordial spirits. They’d invaded the Sea of Consciousness to confuse Cundi and were meaningless in the Celestial Immortal Tribulation because they could not become Celestial Immortals. If these “Primary Primordial Spirits” really were Highest Grade Celestial Devils, then Cundi would not have anything to worry about. But what if they actually were Zhou Bao’s Primary Primordial Spirits?

That would be a problem!

Attacking these “Primary Primordial Spirits” took little effort. But if Zhou Bao’s Primary Primordial Spirits had not actually been annihilated, then his attack would cause a chain reaction. He could seal up the tribulation with his Tree of Seven Wonders, and because his primordial spirit had already far exceeded the Celestial Immortal level, even though he had been in a deep sleep for countless eras, he could sleep for several thousand more. His primordial spirit was also at the Celestial Immortal level. Zhou Bao only needed for his physical body to ascend to the Celestial Immortal realm.

But the God-striking Whip had just made a hole in the Tree of Seven Wonders, and the power of the Divine Tribulation had leaked in. Although he had patched it up in time, if Zhou Bao’s Primary Primordial Spirit was really there and reacted to the tribulation, then even the Tree of Seven Wonders could not stop his primordial spirits from ascending to the Celestial Immortal realm.

As long as he was still alive, he could probably stop him, but for now he was powerless.

The most vexing thing was that he could have just let Zhou Bao’s Primary Primordial Spirits ascend to the Celestial Immortal realm and forgotten about it, because he was the last Celestial Immortal of the era, the Omnipotent Sage. If he were to let Zhou Bao succeed, then his own primordial spirit would truly have no way of being able to stop him from ascending to Omnipotent Sage status.

But these were not Zhou Bao’s Primary Primordial Spirits, right?

The primordial spirits in the Sea of Consciousness could certainly react to the Celestial Immortal Tribulation, but it was hard to keep them out of harm’s way. At this critical moment, he did not need to be dealing with Zhou Bao’s half-living half-dead primordial spirits. They were only pawns, after all. There was a stronger opponent waiting for them. Although this opponent only had one opportunity to attack, this attack would be earth-shattering.

“A worthless Omnipotent Sage, that’s all you are. Even if I let you ascend, so what?” He pondered for a moment, then made a decision. “First I need to deal with this guy’s attack. Even if you do achieve Omnipotent Sage status and place your primordial spirit in the third layer of the vacuum, I will still be able to exterminate you!”

“Why is it so quiet all of a sudden?” Zhou Bao’s Primary Primordial Spirits finally floated out from the depths of his Sea of Consciousness. They were inconspicuous among the multitude of “Primary Primordial Spirits”. They had barely appeared when they felt the terrible force from the tribulation.

“This is the Celestial Immortal Tribulation. Of course, I have no way of crossing at my level!” The Celestial Immortal Tribulation had only seeped slightly into his Sea of Consciousness. It was simply not at the same scale. As it entered the huge sea, it was dispersed by countless Highest Grade Celestial Devils. Despite this, his Primary Primordial Spirits had no way of supporting it.

The fact of the matter was that Zhou Bao had only ascended to the Earthly Immortal realm recently, and he did not even have a proper insight into its foundation. How could it have been possible to suddenly ascend to the Celestial Immortal realm?

The Dharma Ending Tribulation was an opportunity, but it was a distant one. In fact, although he, Kong Ti, and the others were known as Tribulation Takers, they could not all achieve Omnipotent Sage status. Even if he defeated all of them, it was not possible.

The biggest likelihood was in the Dharma Ending Tribulation. All of his luck belonged to the Underworld Sage, who had not long before proven himself a strong man at the Celestial Immortal level. In fact, during most of the eras, Omnipotent Sages had been created before the Dharma Ending Tribulations. They made use of the tribulation’s power to absorb some of the luck of the era and placed their primordial spirit in the fourth layer of the vacuum. This was the most orthodox origin of the Omnipotent Sage.

But this was a special situation.

The Celestial Immortal Tribulation had dissipated and weakened inside his Sea of Consciousness. Although it had given him immense power, it was not fatal. He was extremely surprised to discover that he seemed to have a hope of crossing it. If he crossed the tribulation, he could leave his soul in the fourth layer of the vacuum, and then he would be a true Omnipotent Sage.

Thinking about this cheered him up. A cryptic light flashed through his Primary Primordial Spirit, and turned into a Tree of Seven Wonders, sending out rays of auspicious light. Just like the Tree of Seven Wonders above Cundi, it blocked the surrounding tribulation.

“Hmph. Of course, there was something I hadn’t considered!” The second it turned into a Tree of Seven Wonders, Cundi’s primordial spirits bellowed violently. A Highest Grade Celestial Devil might have had a broad Divine Sense, but what about the Tree of Seven Wonders? That was Cundi’s most guarded secret. As long as Cundi had his meticulously placed primordial spirit fragments, he could practice. These Highest Grade Celestial Devils might have been the highest grade of Heavenly Devils, but they had no way of learning the Tree of Seven Wonders’ skills. So, as soon as Zhou Bao produced the tree, he had exposed himself as a target. Cundi’s primordial spirits immediately found which direction to go. They had churned, and instead of going for the other “Primary Primordial Spirits”, they went straight for the Tree of Seven Wonders and surrounded it. But that was all they did. Cundi’s primordial spirit was not like before when it could immediately engulf things, rather it confronted the tree.

This was not because of his good intentions, rather he had some misgivings. Zhou Bao’s primordial spirits were crossing the tribulation, they would have to endure the trials of the tribulation. Zhou Bao would not be one of the Celestial Immortals lying in wait to cause him trouble, unaffected by tribulation and allowing him to go all out. He was not like that. He could trigger the Celestial Immortal Tribulation in his Sea of Consciousness, and attack him himself at the same time as the tribulation. Adding to that the band of men eyeing him like a tiger watching its prey, he would have some difficulty in dealing with it all. Cundi could not act rashly, he could only wait and see what happened.

Zhou Bao was relieved to see that Cundi had some misgivings. In fact, he had been forced into a corner by the sudden tribulation. There was no way out of it. He might as well go for it and start crossing the Celestial Immortal Tribulation.

“Time to make you proud!” In the Immortal Realm, Cundi gave a cold snort of laughter as he watched from the depths of the hollow.

The Celestial Immortal Tribulation had created a huge hole between the heavens and earth and the Immortal Realm. The gloomy hollow was visible to the naked eye. It was both terrifying and awe-inspiring.

That’s right, terrifying and awe-inspiring.

The Immortal Realm practitioners were not seeing the hollow for the first time. In fact, most of them had traveled through it before. But they had never seen it like it was now. They felt its horror. Inside the awe-inspiring emptiness that was the hollow lurked a completely unconcealed killing intent.

The killing intent of the Celestial Immortal Tribulation and the Dharma Ending Tribulation paled in comparison to what they were now experiencing.

All of a sudden, a dazzling beautiful multi-hued radiance erupted from the hollow and streaked downwards.

A chilling light emanated from Cundi’s eyes. “Is this your first attack? Well, come on then!” The Tree of Seven Wonders in his hands shuddered, and thousands of golden lotuses emerged to face the Five-colored Divine Light.

Papapapapapapa!

Thousands of golden lotuses could not withstand the Five-colored Divine Light and exploded. More than half were wiped out clean. The rest could barely withstand the attack.

“Cundi, you have deteriorated considerably!” A fierce voice could be heard in the hollow. “Even if I let you come fully back to life, do you think you could still have the same power you had before?”

“You’re not necessarily that mighty!” Cundi laughed coldly. “Even under layers of restraints, this is the most power you can release. You can’t deal even with me. Why bother pretending you’re so powerful?”

“Hmph! Let’s see whether you can actually cross this tribulation!” The voice in the hollow grew faint, and everything turned quiet again.

The Tree of Seven Wonders was damaged, but not entirely. Cundi remained unharmed, but he seemed intent on maintaining the status quo. He was waiting for the tribulation to pass.

Of course, he understood that things would not go that smoothly. The attack of the Five-colored Divine Light was just the beginning. The next attack would be even more fierce.

The calm in the hollow did not last long. As expected, there was a change. A white jade Ruyi Scepter appeared from a gap in the hollow and crashed straight onto Cundi’s Tree of Seven Wonders.

He grimaced as the Tree of Seven Wonders in his hand swayed from one side to another, the lotuses flashing. They did not appear to be actively attacking the Five-colored Divine Light. Instead, they took a defensive stance.

All that could be seen was the 30 centimeter long white jade Ruyi Scepter. There was no scattered light, and it did not have much power, either. It crashed downwards, unimpeded by the multitude of golden lotuses. Every golden lotus that it crashed into was being smashed to pieces, until Cundi began to rustle the Tree of Seven Wonders in desperation.

Boom!

The Ruyi Scepter was sent flying, but it was not damaged in the slightest. Unfortunately, he was not able to keep the tree completely stable, and it took another beating from the Ruyi Scepter.

The perfectly integrated Qi Power was immediately bogged down. A fine, cryptic sword light flashed lightly on Cundi’s forehead. A short time later, Zhou Bao’s Primary Primordial Spirits, which were in the process of crossing the Celestial Immortal Tribulation, seemed to be reacting to something. They moved violently. The tiny Primary Primordial Spirits suddenly expanded in size. Seeing this, Cundi’s primordial spirit began to undulate as if it were about to engulf them. But suddenly a sword light flashed through the Sea of Consciousness. In one blow it split Cundi’s primordial spirit right open.