The figures of seven kings moved across the firmament, bearing down on He Xian together.
"Kill! Hahaha! Well met!" He Xian laughed wildly, his fighting spirit soaring. This was what befitted his stature-a slaughter among kings.
His lightning tribulation could not be uneventful. Like his life, it could end early, but it could never be dull.
"Kill!"
He Xian's golden hair cascaded like a waterfall, and cold light flashed in his eyes. Like one who defied heaven, he raised his hand and punched, majestic and overwhelming, overturning past and present, sweeping aside all above heaven and below earth.
Like these figures, he possessed the bearing of one revered through ten thousand ages, of one who alone remained undefeated.
Whoosh!
But how could the descending phantoms of the Immortal Kings be ordinary? They had reached the utmost limit of every realm, repeating the process again and again before finally rising above the endless multitude of living beings across ten thousand ages.
They had become kings, become progenitors, and sat watching the rise and fall of epochs past and present.
Rumble!
At once, one king's phantom raised a fist and struck to kill. He was forceful and domineering, like an unrivaled sovereign whose word admitted no dissent.
His fist pierced the starry cosmos, filled with a fierce, demonic force. It plunged across the river of stars, annihilating everything around it with the might to split heaven and earth.
Another king's phantom had a crimson furnace suspended above his head, radiating myriad rays of brilliance as though it would devour an Immortal King. Its radiance surged in endless, overlapping waves, and a single shudder of the furnace tore eighty-one great rifts through the void.
A battle of utmost terror erupted. The youthful kingly phantoms looked down upon the cosmos and its rivers of stars, their strength defying heaven. Each had once reigned supreme over an epoch, and at this moment, their former glory manifested anew.
This was destined to be a grueling struggle. Heaven and earth intertwined, chaos arose, and hundreds of millions of layers of lightning completely engulfed the area.
"Ten thousand Daos, one alone-only me!" He Xian stood amid the sea of lightning, fighting seven opponents alone. Had they truly been seven Immortal Kings battling him at the same cultivation realm, he might have lost, but these were only phantoms.
He could destroy them all with his fists!
"I alone reign supreme!"
In the next instant, all eight figures roared together, their voices echoing through the starry cosmos. Countless stars trembled as they struck relentlessly, battering the void apart.
Chaotic energy spilled from their palms and fingers, flowing with the radiance of suns, moons, and rivers of stars, as though it blanketed the entire universe.
Rumble!
A single hand blotted out the heavens, wreathed in rivers of stars, vast and boundless as it descended. He Xian's might shook the heavens as he confronted several kingly phantoms, their battle making the entire starry cosmos tremble as though it would shatter.
Meteors beyond the firmament disintegrated and burned, their dazzling radiance illuminating everything.
"This is astonishing. I've never seen a king fight before."
"With power like this, who knows how earth-shattering it would be if a true king struck?"
High in the firmament, the battle within the lightning tribulation remained fiercely deadlocked. Endless killing moves flashed in the blink of an eye. He Xian was already accustomed to being attacked by a crowd and found nothing unreasonable about it.
This was how it ought to be. He was a sovereign; fighting many alone and striking upward against stronger foes was only natural.
The Red King, Heaven Devourer, An Lan, Yu Tuo-He Xian discovered that the seven kingly phantoms battling him were all progenitors of the Emperor Clans he had slain.
Some mysterious force had drawn them here. No wonder.
"Be destroyed!" He shattered An Lan's kingly phantom with a punch, then lunged at Yu Tuo and the Red King.
After an unknown span of time, the figures of all seven kings finally faded one after another, slowly disappearing as the curtain fell.
They were not the actual kings, after all, and could hardly unleash heaven-defying combat strength.
He Xian's combat strength now touched the Supreme level. Below Supreme, his heaven-bestowed prowess was invincible!
Unless an enemy descended from heaven.
He Xian stood amid the sea of lightning and roared, "With me here, none can prevail!"
Endless roars, chants of scripture, and prayers rose around him, blending into an unparalleled demonic sound, as though affirming his words. Deafening, it surged toward him and reverberated throughout the entire starry universe.
It sounded as though three thousand ancient Buddhas were chanting, and as though tens of thousands of gods and demons were roaring. Their voices mingled, shaking the soul and compelling people to fall to their knees, bow their heads, and worship.
They acknowledged his commanding might and hailed him as their lord.
He Xian stood at the center of the rolling black clouds. Ten thousand ages fell silent, ten thousand Daos resounded, and he alone endured forever.
Wisps of chaotic light streamed outward, illuminating the myriad beings of all heavens. He breathed in the essence left after the lightning tribulation, possessing an unrivaled grandeur that towered above the world!
Countless people trembled, unable to endure beneath that vast pressure and imposing presence.
He passed? He passed just like that?! Countless people cried out inwardly in disbelief. It had been too fast. Somehow, they felt as though they were dreaming. It was too terrifying-even merely watching left them breathless, unable to bear it.
He Xian stood tall, his tribulation-tempered body shining brilliantly. He had truly drawn close to Supreme.
Even after two rounds of supreme tempering, he had only advanced from half a step into Supreme to approaching Supreme. One could well imagine how terrifying a Supreme body was. Only by enduring the most extreme trials between heaven and earth could it be perfected.
Supreme was a great dividing line, whether in this epoch or those yet to come.
Huff! Huff!
He Xian began breathing in the vital essence of heaven and earth, drawing in all the laws of the Dao beneath this firmament, along with the tribulation clouds, like a taotie that could never eat its fill.
All manner of radiance and vital essence swept toward him. Cracks rang out continuously within his body, every joint shaking, his flesh and blood pulsing as well.
The essence of heaven and earth and the radiance of sun and moon poured down upon him, washing every inch of his body and making him shine ever more brightly.
At the same moment, peerless auspicious energy descended from an infinite height. This was the reward for surviving the tribulation. Like a heavenly river, it submerged He Xian, bathing him as he transformed within it.
The eyes of the distant onlookers nearly popped out of their heads. Every one of them stared, tongue-tied.
Auspicious energy descending from heaven?
This was the most precious energy between heaven and earth.
Ordinarily, obtaining even a wisp brought an immense benefit! Incorporating it into one's body bestowed even greater wonders, allowing one to resonate with heaven and earth and receive their favor.
Yet now, so much poured down at once that it submerged He Xian like a vast ocean!
Even the many immortals were stunned for a moment, gazing at that abyssal ocean of auspicious energy and sinking into thought.
Splash!
Ripples stirred across the ocean of auspicious energy as it entered He Xian's body through every pore, suffusing him with dazzling splendor.
He sensed that this skyful of auspicious energy had descended because he bore the fortune of an entire world upon his shoulders.
This was what it meant to possess great fortune.
A day later, the ocean of auspicious energy slowly dissipated, all of it swallowed by He Xian.
The sky returned to its usual state, cloudless for ten thousand miles beneath a blazing sun.
He stood in midair, his entire body crystalline as glass, pure and unsullied. His blood and vitality surged as though nine True Dragons had become one, while a dazzling beam of golden light rose from the crown of his head, piercing the universe and startling all ten directions.
He Xian slowly opened his eyes. They shone like rivers of stars, cross-shaped markings blazing across all heavens, vast and ancient. His body was imposing and powerful, as though it held countless divine treasures, with myriad strands of chaotic radiance flowing through it.
He Xian's long hair hung loosely over his shoulders, his features exquisite beyond compare. He took a step, and wherever his gaze passed, the beings in every direction lowered their heads.
Astonishing phenomena accompanied him: the void collapsed, chaos spread, and meteors shattered. At this moment, his strength had reached its utmost peak.
Was this the Escape One Realm? Those within it were honored as great cultivators, able to pluck the sun, moon, and stars with their hands.