Nine Nether Lightning Tribulation

The sky split apart. Nine purple-black lightning pillars descended from the highest heavens, coiling downward like nine lightning dragons. Wherever they passed, the void burned away and the laws collapsed. Within the lightning, a spectral figure faintly emerged—the Nine Nether Thunder Emperor, an ancient enforcer of the Heavenly Dao charged with slaying cultivators who defied fate.

"Xiao Yan, you have defied causality, fused Emperor Flame, and violated heaven's laws! You shall suffer the Nine Nether Thunder Emperor Tribulation and be annihilated in body and soul!"

The thunder rang like a decree, resonating through heaven and earth. All living beings across the Central Plains fell to their knees, and every expert below Dou Zun was crushed beneath a pressure that left them gasping. Only atop Heaven-Burning Peak did the crimson-gold radiance of the Emperor Fire Stele remain undying. The Nine Flames Token resonated and trembled, shielding the Emperor Court's generals.

Xiao Yan stood on the summit, the Emperor Fire Seal hovering above his head. Nine flames circulated, and crimson-gold fire patterns covered his entire body. He fully unleashed the fourth stage of the Windfire Emperor Body, the "emperor fire body." His eyes seemed capable of burning the world as he stared straight into the heavens:

"The Heavenly Dao? Nothing but rules laid down by a bunch of old fossils!"

"Now that I, Xiao Yan, have reopened the Emperor Road, I have no fear of lightning tribulations!"

"Come—let me see whether this heaven of yours can kill me!"

Before his words had faded, the first lightning pillar crashed down!

Boom—!

Lightning and fire intertwined. The Emperor Fire Seal shook violently, and the Nine Flames Emperor Seal was actually driven back three inches. A trickle of blood escaped Xiao Yan's lips, but instead of retreating, he advanced. He stepped forward, driving the Nine Flames Return to Origin Art to its utmost:

"Nine Flames Burn Heaven—break!"

Crimson-gold waves of fire surged upward, meeting the lightning pillar head-on. Where flame and lightning collided, space collapsed into a black hole of nothingness. Yet the tribulation did not stop. The second and third pillars fell in succession, each several times more powerful than the last. By the fifth strike, the lightning pillar had become a solid lightning spear that thrust straight toward Xiao Yan's heart!

Squelch—!

The lightning spear pierced Xiao Yan's shoulder blade. The power of the Heavenly Dao actually corroded his emperor fire body. His crimson-gold fire patterns cracked inch by inch, and the Nine Flames Emperor Seal hummed incessantly, seemingly on the verge of shattering.

"Your Majesty!" Alarmed, Yao Chen moved to help, but Medusa stopped him. "No! This is a tribulation of the Heavenly Dao. If an outsider interferes, it will only trigger a backlash and drag the entire Central Plains into it!"

"Only he can withstand this tribulation."

Xiao Yan looked down at the lightning spear piercing his shoulder blade and suddenly smiled. His laughter rose, swelling into a wild roar. "What a Nine Nether Thunder Emperor Tribulation... but you've forgotten—"

"Within me, there is more than Emperor Flame—there are also the wind laws of the Nine Nether Wind Flame!"

"Wind can feed fire, and fire can command wind—with Nine Flames Return to Origin, why would I fear your paltry lightning tribulation?"

He abruptly raised his hand. The Emperor Fire Seal spun faster, and the Nine Flames Emperor Seal fused completely with the Nine Nether Wind Flame. Wind and fire intertwined, becoming a crimson-gold storm that swept over his entire body!

"Ninefold Windfire Transformation—ninth transformation!"

"Emperor Flame burns the heavens, wind commands the lightning tribulation—break!"

Boom—!!!

The crimson-gold storm shot skyward, burning the fifth lightning pillar into oblivion. Without stopping, it charged into the highest heavens and tore the sixth and seventh lightning pillars apart!

The spectral Nine Nether Thunder Emperor flew into a rage. He formed hand seals, condensing the eighth lightning pillar into a lightning sword. Heavenly Dao runes coiled around its blade as it slashed straight toward Xiao Yan's head!

"Heavenly Dao Rebel-Slaying Sword!"

Xiao Yan neither dodged nor retreated. He met it head-on with the Emperor Fire Seal, crossing his arms and driving his emperor fire body at full power. The Nine Flames Emperor Seal and the windfire storm intertwined into a shield, clashing directly with the lightning sword!

Crack—!

Cracks appeared in the Emperor Fire Seal. Xiao Yan's arms became a bloody ruin, every bone shattered, yet his eyes blazed like fire and his fighting spirit remained unquenched:

"I, Xiao Yan, began in Wutan City! I lost all my Dou Qi and was mocked as trash, but I never bowed my head!"

"I refined medicine in Flame-Burning City and suffered contempt, but I never bent the knee!"

"I stormed the Gu Clan, broke the Hall of Souls, fused Pure Lotus, and opened the Emperor Road—through bloody battles all the way, I never took a single step back!"

"And today—even you, the Heavenly Dao, think you can kill me?"

"I—will—not—submit!"

"Nine Flames Return to Origin—Emperor Flame burns the heavens!"

"Burn—for me!"

Boom—!!!

Crimson-gold Emperor Flame soared into the sky, fusing with the laws of wind to form an enormous windfire palm. One strike shattered the lightning sword; another slammed into the spectral Nine Nether Thunder Emperor!

"Aah—!" the Thunder Emperor roared. His spectral form disintegrated, and all nine lightning pillars collapsed.

Above the heavens, a fissure opened in the dark clouds, and that ancient will whispered:

"...A defier of fate... has actually broken the heavenly tribulation..."

"...Nine Flames Return to Origin... Emperor Flame descends upon the world... a great calamity approaches..."

The voice gradually faded. The thunderclouds dispersed, and daylight returned.

Xiao Yan stood atop Heaven-Burning Peak, drenched in blood, his arms utterly shattered. Yet his back remained straight, unbowed like a spear. Though cracked, the Emperor Fire Seal still hovered above his head. The nine flames had not died; instead, new life stirred within the cracks.

"Your Majesty!" The assembled heroes knelt in homage, their voices shaking the highest heavens.

Xiao Yan slowly raised his head and gazed toward the horizon, murmuring, "I have survived this tribulation."

"But I know—the true storm has only just begun."

He turned and stood before the Emperor Fire Stele, his voice like thunder:

"Pass down my command—the Nine Flames Emperor Court shall begin the 'Emperor Fire Trial.' All my followers may enter the Emperor Flame Abyss to temper their emperor fire bodies!"

"I, Xiao Yan, will make the entire Central Plains the domain of Emperor Flame!"

"Once I reforge my emperor body, I shall ascend to the highest heavens again—and burn the Heavenly Dao to ashes!"

Wutan City, Xiao Clan Ancestral Shrine.

Amid the remnants of the Nine Nether Chain Formation, the Crimson-Gold Flame Seed suddenly trembled violently. Slowly, it condensed into a spectral figure—Xiao Ze.

He gazed at the crimson-gold firelight on the horizon, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. "Good... my good son... you can now fight the Heavenly Dao alone..."

"But next, they... will not let you live..."

"Yet your father... still has one last move..."

He raised his hand, merging the final wisp of his remnant soul into the fire seed, and whispered:

"Nine Nether Chain Formation, ninth link—reverse!"

"With my remnant soul, open another gate for my son—the Emperor Gate!"

Boom—!

The Crimson-Gold Flame Seed shot into the sky, becoming a streak of fire that flew straight toward the Central Plains!

Next chapter preview: "The Emperor Gate Opens"

Xiao Yan shattered the Nine Nether Lightning Tribulation, and the might of his emperor fire shook the highest heavens. Using his remnant soul, Xiao Ze reversed the Nine Nether Chain Formation and opened the "Emperor Gate" deep within the earth veins of the Central Plains—the entrance to the ancient path to emperorship. Terrified, the Ancestor of the Gu Clan and the High Priest of the Hall of Souls jointly activated the "Emperor-Slaying Formation," seeking to kill Xiao Yan before the Emperor Gate opened. Xiao Yan stood atop Heaven-Burning Peak, the Emperor Fire Seal reformed and wind and fire blazing anew. "Whoever bars my ascent to the path to emperorship—"

"I shall burn—the entire Central Plains to ashes!"