The tribulation clouds above the heavens silently grew heavier and thicker.
They were not clouds.
They were the tangible embodiment of the Heavenly Dao's wrath, a destructive force condensed from the most primal killing intent of the cosmic laws.
Their pure blackness was so profound that it devoured all light, along with the last trace of luck in Yang Chen's Divine Soul.
Within the clouds, there was no thunder.
There was only the teeth-grinding sound of cosmic laws crushing and grinding against one another.
Streaks of purple electricity no longer took the form of lightning. They became tangible Order Divine Chains covered in Heavenly Dao Runes, tumbling and weaving through the black tribulation clouds. Every chain was as thick as a mountain range stretching across the sky. Any wisp of aura leaking from them was enough to instantly shatter the Dao Fruit of a Grand Unity Golden Immortal who had cultivated for hundreds of millions of years, annihilating both body and soul.
Heavenly Punishment Divine Thunder.
The ultimate punishment born specifically to settle great karma and immense karmic sin.
Under this pure Heavenly Might, Yang Chen was disproportionately insignificant.
He was a speck of dust.
A speck of dust about to be personally wiped away by the will of the entire universe.
He wanted to struggle, but even moving a finger was a luxury. The lock descending from the Ninth Heavens was not physical restraint, but utter suppression at the very level of existence.
His mana was frozen.
His Divine Soul was suppressed.
His final thread of connection to the Great Dao was brutally severed by that will.
He could clearly "hear" the sound of his life slipping away.
It was not a ticking sound, but a ceaseless hiss, like melting ice and snow. His newly acquired Innate Dao Body, brimming with limitless potential, was being dismantled from within by boundless karmic sin. His vitality and origin were rapidly evaporating under that Heavenly Might.
At most, he had less than one shichen left.
No, not even half a shichen.
He would first be completely consumed by his own immeasurable karmic sin, becoming an empty shell left with nothing but venomous resentment and the instinct to destroy.
Then the Heavenly Punishment Divine Thunder in the sky would descend, blasting him and his karmic sin into the most insignificant void within the chaos of the universe, leaving not even a trace of his True Spirit behind.
And this was not even the deepest despair.
Just as the Heavenly Dao's killing intent reached its peak.
Six utterly distinct yet equally vast supreme wills, all standing above all living beings, ignored the distance of time and space, tore through the barriers of heaven and earth, and descended upon this world at the same moment.
They descended upon Yang Chen.
The first will came from Jade Void Palace on Eastern Kunlun Mountain.
It was cold, lofty, and filled with the majesty and order of one who looked down upon all living beings. It swept over Yang Chen without anger or hatred, possessing only the absolute judgment reserved for a stain.
To its perception, Yang Chen was not a living being.
He was an error, a flaw, a filthy thing that had to be removed to preserve the clarity of heaven and earth.
The second will followed close behind, coming from Biyou Palace on Golden Ao Island in the East Sea.
Sharp!
Incomparably sharp!
The instant this will descended, Yang Chen's True Spirit felt a needle-like pain. It was like a peerless immortal sword already drawn from its sheath, its killing aura piercing through the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, sharp enough to sever everything. It was examining, weighing, calculating what method could thoroughly exterminate him, the source of this karmic sin, while minimizing the impact upon heaven and earth.
The third will came from Wa Huang Palace Beyond the Thirty-Three Heavens.
It carried a faint, almost imperceptible compassion, like a spring breeze brushing past. Yet that breeze lasted only an instant before being replaced by a greater and colder will. It was the duty of a Sage to uphold the workings of heaven and earth and protect all living beings.
For the safety of the entire primordial world, sacrificing one individual burdened with immeasurable karmic sin was an inevitable choice.
That trace of compassion only made the coldness that followed seem even crueler.
The fourth will reached out from distant Mount Sumeru in the West.
Unlike the direct crushing pressure of the other wills, it was filled with conversion and calculation. It was in no hurry to destroy Yang Chen. Instead, it resembled a shrewd merchant carefully appraising merchandise.
It was evaluating his immeasurable karmic sin, calculating how much benefit the Western Teachings could gain from "making use of waste" after converting him.
That undisguised desire to exploit him made Yang Chen feel a chill and nausea rise from the depths of his bones, worse than pure killing intent.
The fifth will came from Eight Sceneries Palace on Shouyang Mountain.
Stillness.
Non-action.
It seemed to merge with heaven and earth itself, showing no obvious emotional fluctuation. Yet within that absolute stillness and non-action, Yang Chen sensed the most fundamental rejection.
It did not say it wanted to kill him, yet it used the rules of the entire world to tell him: you should not exist.
Your existence itself is an "action," an anomaly beneath the Great Dao, an unpredictable variable that must be dissolved through "non-action."
The final will was deep and vast, rising from the place of reincarnation in the Nine Nether Underworld.
Calm.
Yet it contained the power to end all things.
It was the destination of all things' extinction, the endpoint of life's cycle. It looked upon Yang Chen as though he were already dead, merely awaiting his descent into reincarnation, where his True Spirit would be ground to dust.
The Heavenly Dao and the Six Sages!
Grand Pure Lord Laozi! Jade Pure Primordial Heavenly Lord! Upper Pure Master of Heaven! Empress Nuwa! Daoist Jieyin! Daoist Zhunti!
And Ancestral Witch Houtu, who had transformed herself into reincarnation!
The seven true rulers of the primordial world—their wills had gathered here at this moment because of Yang Chen alone!
Their wills did not clash. Instead, they formed an invisible Heavenly Net and Earthly Net.
Primordial's judgment was heavenly law, Tongtian's slaughter was the blade, Nuwa's order was the framework, the West's calculations were the undercurrent, Grand Pure's non-action was the void, and Houtu's reincarnation was the end.
Seven wills, seven laws, formed a flawless cage.
A death cage forged specifically for Yang Chen, one from which escape was absolutely impossible.
It completely sealed off every trace of life, every shred of luck, every possibility of existence for Yang Chen.
The Heavenly Dao wanted him dead.
The Sages wanted him destroyed.
And he himself bore a Karma Nuclear Bomb that could explode at the slightest touch, enough to drag the entire primordial world down with him.
The last trace of elation Yang Chen had felt as a transmigrator had long since been crushed into the most pitiful dust.
Endless sorrow and unwillingness surged like a burst dam, instantly washing away the embankment of his reason.
He had transmigrated...
For this?
To let these lofty Heavenly Dao Sages join forces and stage a play called "The Instant Destruction of One Unlucky Bastard"?
To become their tool for purging the karmic sin of heaven and earth?
To become cannon fodder for displaying the Heavenly Might and Sagely authority?
This beginning...
The corners of Yang Chen's mouth involuntarily pulled into an expression uglier than crying.
This was not merely a hopeless situation.
This was a true and absolute death sentence.
Before you continue