Shen Ni: Though My Body Dies, I Have Not Lost!

"This lightning... how is that possible!"

The Nine-Nine Lightning Tribulation struck fear into Shen Ni's heart.

The key was that he had no way to dodge it.

This lightning tribulation.

It froze space-time and locked onto causality.

No matter where the tribulation-crosser was, no matter what place they stood.

As long as a single shred of Divine Soul remained.

This lightning would not dissipate!

Even if the power fueling the lightning tribulation ran out, as long as Heaven and Earth still existed, it would condense once more!

And continue to fall!

Until Heaven and Earth were shattered, or... the tribulation-crosser vanished completely!

To the point where not even a single trace could be found.

No wonder this lightning tribulation.

Was also called the Stillness Annihilation Lightning Tribulation.

It annihilated everything into nothingness!

No matter how heaven-defying your resurrection Divine Ability was, you could not escape this tribulation!

"This Seat resents this!"

Shen Ni roared in fury.

There was both the regret of a wrong choice and the hatred toward Lei Jun.

Just then.

Lei Jun's voice rang out, spreading across the entire Primordial Wilderness!

"If the Heavenly Dao does not act, I shall punish in Heaven's stead! If the Heavenly Dao does not manifest, I shall drive out the Fierce Beasts and cleanse the Sha Qi!"

"My name is Lei Jun. Today, I transform into the Heavenly Dao!"

"With lightning as my sword, I shall slay the Beast Emperor, sever the Sha Qi, and cut off the Tribulation Period!"

"Nine-Nine Nirvana, Annihilation Divine Lightning..."

"Fall!"

Before the words had even finished, the thunder struck first!

The lightning tribulation, long poised and ready, fell in an instant.

Transcending space-time.

And then.

Came wave after wave of thunderous roars.

Boom!

Endless and unbroken.

Each bolt of falling lightning seemed capable of tearing the world apart.

Also torn apart.

Was Shen Ni!

Thunder had an immense restraining effect on Fierce Beasts.

Beneath the Nine-Nine Lightning Tribulation, even the Beast Emperor was no exception!

His Divine Soul could be seen.

Shattered and split apart time and again.

Then.

Time and again, it reassembled.

As if reborn.

At first.

Rebirth took but an instant.

When the lightning tribulation was halfway through, it took much longer.

As the tribulation neared its end.

A considerable amount of time passed before a dim, dark light slowly gathered together.

Clearly.

Even with countless Shen Ni's True Bodies, he could not truly resurrect at will.

During this process.

A kind of "Heart Spirit," also known as "Spiritual Light," was lost!

Consumed!

"The last one!"

Lei Jun's gaze was cold.

In the Primordial Wilderness.

Nine is the ultimate number.

Seven times seven, forty-nine, is a minor perfection.

Thus.

Nine times nine, eighty-one, is a major perfection!

The final lightning tribulation of a major perfection contained power far more terrifying than the previous eighty combined.

Given Shen Ni's current state.

He naturally couldn't withstand it!

Boom!

When the lightning tribulation fell, it was as if even sound ceased.

Empty silence, deathly stillness, nothingness.

It seemed that all things ceased to exist.

Including the Sha Qi.

And also the seawater nearby!

In an instant.

Only a formless Great Ravine could be seen here.

Or to put it another way...

A black hole?

This Great Ravine was void and shapeless.

Profound to the extreme, and elusive.

Even with Lei Jun's cultivation, he couldn't see through it for a moment!

The perception he extended toward it.

Was actually devoured!

Lei Jun raised an eyebrow.

Clearly.

Such a Great Ravine was not caused by the lightning tribulation.

Something even Lei Jun couldn't perceive.

How could the lightning tribulation he unleashed possibly have struck it out?

The Nine-Nine Lightning Tribulation was powerful.

But not this absurd.

Barring any surprises.

It should be naturally existing.

Only, due to its devouring nature, it simply couldn't be sensed.

Suddenly.

Lei Jun grew curious.

However, he forcibly suppressed that curiosity, temporarily refraining from investigating.

Instead, he searched for traces of Shen Ni.

Whether Shen Ni had fallen.

Was crucial.

After a thorough check.

Lei Jun's gaze sharpened as he stared into the void.

He sensed specks of faint light.

Few in number, but gathering together.

This was precisely Shen Ni's Spiritual Light!

So...

Shen Ni is not dead yet?

Of course.

Compared to before, the Spiritual Light particles have already thinned out countless times.

Same amount of time.

Before, it could almost take shape.

And had a faint consciousness.

Now it's different.

It seems even gathering together is somewhat difficult.

Just a little more.

And it would completely dissipate.

One could say, in this situation.

Even if Shen Ni isn't dead.

He's not far off.

And this time, for him to be reborn again, it will take much longer.

So long that Lei Jun even has time to explore the Great Ravine.

"If that's the case!"

"Then I'll wait!"

In the depths of his being, Lei Jun has a premonition.

This ravine holds hidden mysteries!

Then.

Lei Jun focuses his Divine Sense, and the three dantians within his body—upper, middle, and lower—all illuminate at once.

At the same time.

Three Strange Phenomena unfold.

They are exactly the three Strange Phenomena that appeared when he broke through.

They are the Past, the Present, and the Future.

As well as the World Tree, the Green Lotus, and the Ancient Star Tree!

At this moment.

Lei Jun is truly going "all out."

Revealing even his hidden cards.

These are methods he didn't even use when dealing with Shen Ni.

As soon as the dantian Strange Phenomena appear.

His Divine Sense instantly solidifies, as if it has taken on a physical form!

Once again, it dives into the Great Ravine.

Although it is still devoured by the Great Ravine, it can now hold on for a period of time.

Before long.

Just as his Divine Sense is about to be completely dissolved.

Lei Jun withdraws it.

No choice—if he doesn't pull it back, his Divine Sense will vanish inside again.

If that happens.

Wouldn't it all be for nothing?

Only when his Divine Sense returns can he know what's inside!

The Divine Sense returns.

Lei Jun begins to analyze.

Soon.

He figures out the general idea.

Gaining some understanding.

"All Profound Qi in heaven and earth converges here!"

"But no matter how much gathers, this place neither increases nor decreases, showing no change, like a bottomless chasm!"

"With no bottom beneath, its name is Gui Xu!"

Gui Xu!

Gui means to return.

Xu means ruins.

But the two words "Gui Xu" cannot be understood as "returning to ruins."

It should be...

All "ruins" return here.

What kind of "Profound Qi" can be called "Xu"?

That which has been transformed by cultivators!

For example, a cultivator practicing a Fire Method.

Can refine spiritual energy into fire-attributed spiritual energy!

To increase its power.

Or to speed up cultivation.

But fire-attributed spiritual energy is not useful to all cultivators.

To some, it is even poisonous!

Yet no matter the era.

What dominates heaven and earth is still attribute-less spiritual energy.

No matter how many Tribulation Periods pass.

It remains so.

Is it that no cultivator transforms spiritual energy?

Of course not.

It's that someone is doing a good deed.

No one has such a kind heart.

Even if they did.

It would be hard to maintain.

What truly transforms spiritual energy is this Gui Xu!

If the Six Paths of Reincarnation is the cycle for living beings, or for those with consciousness, Spiritual Light, and such.

Then this place.

Is the cycle for Profound Qi!

And also includes...

Shattering Qi!

In an instant.

Lei Jun understood.

"No wonder I couldn't deduce where the Purified Shattering Qi went before!"

"It's all here!"

"And precisely because it has the power of 'reincarnation,' it can transform Shattering Qi into Merit!"

"So that's it!"

As for why it was forced out by a single Thunder Tribulation from Lei Jun...

Don't look at Gui Xu being in the South Sea right now.

If the battlefield had been in the East Sea or elsewhere in the Primordial Wilderness.

It would have been forced out just the same!

To be precise.

Gui Xu is everywhere.

Divine thunder has no effect on it either.

The reason it appeared.

Is simply because the time and space enveloping it were annihilated by the Thunder Tribulation, revealing its true form!

Just as Lei Jun was thinking.

That faint wisp of Spiritual Light finally began to change.

Shen Ni at this moment.

Could not be said to be alive, only that he was not yet completely dead.

A sliver of weak consciousness remained.

It seemed to have something to say.

From that faint wisp of Spiritual Light, Lei Jun sensed a ripple of consciousness.

He thought for a moment.

Lei Jun did not strike again.

The thunderclouds gathering in the sky were also dispersed with a wave of his hand.

Against a Beast Emperor so weakened to this degree.

A Thunder Tribulation was no longer necessary.

As for whether there might be a trap or something...

Lei Jun wanted to say.

Given Shen Ni's current state, if Lei Jun could still be schemed against.

Then his cultivation would have been for nothing.

Lei Jun wanted to hear what such a Beast Emperor, the protagonist of a tribulation, would say before his death and Dao vanished.

Would it be "When a man is about to die, his words are kind"?

Or would it all be "trash talk"?

If the latter.

Then let it be destruction directly.

If the former...

Might as well listen for a bit?

Under these circumstances.

Lei Jun waited patiently.

Before long.

Shen Ni's consciousness fully took shape. Weak, yes, it was a bit weak.

But it could speak.

The first words it spoke made Lei Jun startled.

"You have won! But This Seat has not lost!"

"Not lost?"

Lei Jun's brow furrowed slightly.

Given Shen Ni's nature, it would never speak meaningless words.

Since he said so.

It could not be a baseless claim.

Could it be...

This bastard actually had some scheme in play?

At this moment.

Shen Ni spoke again.

"What This Seat sought was not to Prove the Dao."

"But to destroy the Primordial Wilderness!"

"Therefore, even if This Seat falls, how can it be called a failure?"

"As long as after my death, the Primordial Wilderness is still destroyed, and the Heavenly Dao is still annihilated, then even if This Seat dies ten thousand times, it will be worth it!"

"Do you dare to say that the Primordial Wilderness will be eternal from now on?"

After hearing this.

Lei Jun's brow furrowed even deeper.

Vaguely, He seemed to understand what Shen Ni was about to say.

Would the Primordial Wilderness be eternal?

Not necessarily.

First of all, with the passage of time.

Or rather, with the increase of tribulations, the Primordial Wilderness was indeed growing weaker.

Don't look at it now as just the Fierce Beast Tribulation.

But one could see the end at a glance.

That is, the End of Dharma Immeasurable Calamity!

Could this Tribulation be related to Shen Ni?

Lei Jun couldn't help but think.

Or rather, was it because Shen Ni had tampered with something during this Tribulation Period, and then, over an immeasurable span of time, it was infinitely magnified?

That possibility couldn't be ruled out.

Seeing Lei Jun silent, Shen Ni didn't mind.

He continued speaking on his own.

But what he said next—

Though it seemed unrelated to before—

Was nonetheless quite striking.

"This Seat once comprehended a Dao. This Dao is formless, yet it exists everywhere—in every single place!"

"Everyone is affected by it!"

"Including this very heaven and earth!"

Shen Ni didn't keep them in suspense.

"This Dao is called Destruction."