Xiao Ping'an's parents had named him Ping'an because they hoped he would live his whole life in peace and safety. But this world was far too dangerous.
Even as he underwent his tribulation, waves of dread swept over him. He knew he was being watched by more than one Dark Supreme.
In Xiao Ping'an's heavenly tribulation, one Immortal Divine Medicine after another appeared, each with a human face behind it. Their attacking power was truly terrifying.
Some of the faces were male, others female, and all of them gave off incomparably terrifying presences.
As Xiao Ping'an fought, he drove the great dragon of his body toward his Immortal Platform.
The great dragon, which had already made it more than halfway in, finally succeeded in charging inside.
In the realm of Alternative Dao Attainment, he underwent Ultimate Sublimation and truly reached the realm of great perfection.
Amid the incomparably violent heavenly tribulation, Xiao Ping'an unleashed terrifying combat power. Though he looked somewhat battered, he won in the end.
He had successfully completed his final transformation amid the heavenly tribulation.
Just then.
A terrifying figure appeared.
The Great Saints along his path were reduced to ashes the instant they were brushed by the slightest trace of his shockwaves, leaving not even bones behind.
The stars along the way turned to ash in an instant.
Xiao Ping'an had just passed his heavenly tribulation for Alternative Dao Attainment and was about to rest and recover. He planned to press on in one vigorous effort, break through the Heavenly Heart Imprint, and attain the Dao as an emperor.
But someone had already run out of patience.
"As expected, a Dark Supreme has emerged." Xiao Ping'an's voice was ice-cold.
He had long known that Dark Supremes would surely emerge, but he hadn't known which ones or how many.
The heavenly tribulations for attaining the Dao in later ages were far too difficult. After struggling to get through one, a cultivator still had to face these Dark Supremes hunting them down.
Xiao Ping'an hurled a punch at the dark figure charging toward him.
With a thunderous boom, blood scattered everywhere.
A cold, muffled grunt rang out.
"To think a little Tyrant Body like you would possess such ability."
A Supreme holding an Immortal Tear Green Gold treasure bottle in one hand and the enormous trunk of a Humanoid Undying Divine Medicine in the other gazed coldly at Xiao Ping'an.
"You're the Carefree Heavenly Venerate," Xiao Ping'an said coldly.
"This poor Daoist is Yun Gen. You have mistaken me for someone else," the newcomer said coldly.
Xiao Ping'an had read the trilogy, so he naturally knew that the Carefree Heavenly Venerate had seized Yun Gen's body. The old geezer was still putting on an act.
"Heh, old thief Carefree, die!" Xiao Ping'an roared and charged straight at him.
As a Great Accomplished Tyrant Body who had achieved Alternative Dao Attainment, Xiao Ping'an had ample confidence.
He was currently at his peak, brimming with vitality, while the Carefree Heavenly Venerate's vitality had dried up. The latter was desperate to seize a body and live a new life.
The battle began.
Bang, bang, bang.
The battle ended.
The Carefree Heavenly Venerate was dead.
His Extreme Dao Weapon, the Immortal Tear Green Gold Great Dao Treasure Bottle, fell into Xiao Ping'an's hands.
The withered, tree-shaped remnants of the Humanoid Undying Divine Medicine's trunk and branches also fell into Xiao Ping'an's hands.
When Xiao Ping'an destroyed the weapon spirit of the weapon with which the Carefree Heavenly Venerate had attained the Dao, he also forcibly extracted the Carefree Heavenly Art and Nine Secrets: Xing.
The treasures the Carefree Heavenly Venerate had accumulated over countless tens of thousands of years also fell into Xiao Ping'an's hands.
The Carefree Heavenly Venerate was practically a perennial bit player in Shrouding the Heavens fanfiction. Almost every transmigrator was harassed by him, only to turn the tables and kill him.
Now that Xiao Ping'an had transmigrated to the Mythological Era, he had turned the tables and killed the Carefree Heavenly Venerate too, just like the other transmigrators.
All the living beings watching from afar were stunned.
They had never expected the Carefree Heavenly Venerate to still be alive, much less that he had once seized the body of someone who had just attained the Dao and lived under a stolen name all these years.
They had never expected that, while trying to take this Great Accomplished Tyrant Body's origin and essence blood and seize another body, he would capsize in a gutter and be beaten to death.
This was the Carefree Heavenly Venerate, one of the Nine Great Heavenly Venerables, yet he had died just like that at the hands of a Great Accomplished Tyrant Body who had not even fused with the Heavenly Heart Imprint.
"To think the Carefree Heavenly Venerate was still alive."
"To think the Carefree Heavenly Venerate was so weak that someone actually beat him to death."
"This human with the so-called Heavenly Tyrant Body physique is unbelievably powerful."
"It seems another remarkable physique has appeared among the human race."
"I wonder how he compares to Wang Bo, that human Chaos Body who was beaten to death?"
The many Dark Supremes watched Xiao Ping'an heal his injuries, their eyes gleaming with insatiable greed.
But when they thought of the Carefree Heavenly Venerate, who had just died despite undergoing Ultimate Sublimation, the Dark Supremes grew calm again.
The battle between Xiao Ping'an and the Carefree Heavenly Venerate could be called exceptionally brutal.
He refined the Carefree Heavenly Venerate's essence blood and corpse, using their divine substance to heal the injuries to his own Dao.
"As expected of one of the Nine Great Heavenly Venerables. Old thief Carefree really was formidable," Xiao Ping'an said with a sigh.
Ever since transmigrating to this era, he had used every method he could think of to temper himself relentlessly.
He had made certain that his Dao foundation at every realm was incomparably solid.
Moreover, as the First-Generation Tyrant Body, the first Heavenly Tyrant Body born in the entire Shrouding the Heavens World, favored by the fortune of heaven and earth, he even believed his present strength could match Ye Fan's after the latter became a Great Accomplishment Sacred Body in a later age.
Yet, to his surprise, he had narrowly escaped death several times in his battle with the Carefree Heavenly Venerate.
The Carefree Heavenly Venerate's death brought his brilliant and evil life to an end.
Xiao Ping'an gathered all the Carefree Heavenly Venerate's treasures and quickly restored himself to peak condition.
Seeing Xiao Ping'an standing in the starry sky, the living beings throughout the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands were stunned.
A Great Accomplished Tyrant Body who had achieved Alternative Dao Attainment had killed the Carefree Heavenly Venerate, one of the Nine Great Heavenly Venerables, in an overwhelming display of strength.
Many people solemnly recorded the event in the annals of history as a legacy for their descendants.
Xiao Ping'an gazed into the distance at the Life Forbidden Zones scattered throughout the universe.
He was waiting.
He wanted to see whether any more Dark Supremes would overestimate themselves, or whether several might even emerge together.
He was confident that, if he fought with his life on the line, he could force at least two Dark Supremes to undergo Ultimate Sublimation-in other words, he could drag two Dark Supremes down to their deaths with him.
Not counting the time he had spent sealed in Immortal Source, Xiao Ping'an was now three thousand years old and at his peak, the time when his vitality was at its strongest.
By now, the Emperor Venerable's Dao had dissipated. There was no Dao obstructing him overhead, nor did he face the harsh conditions Ye Fan did in a later age. After all, Ye Fan had the Golden Crow Great Emperor weighing down on him.
He already knew how he would break through the Heavenly Heart Imprint.
Xiao Ping'an waited a long time, but no more Dark Supremes dared to emerge.
"In that case, I'll break through the Heavenly Heart Imprint and tread upon it."
"From this day forth, the living beings of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands will know that the Dao can be attained without fusing with the Heavenly Heart Imprint."
Rumble. A terrifying heavenly tribulation descended.
An even more violent heavenly tribulation appeared across the universe. All things in heaven and earth could feel a pressure like the coming of doomsday.
The more powerful a person was, the more keenly they felt this terrifying suppression.
Facing the terrifying heavenly tribulation, Xiao Ping'an had the Tyrant Bell bob above his head, swallowing and refining every bolt of lightning.
"This man is truly powerful. He's actually swallowing and refining the heavenly tribulation outright."
"He truly defies the heavens."
The many experts watching Xiao Ping'an undergo his tribulation were stunned into silence.
"It's time to formally break through the Heavenly Heart Imprint."
"In these Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, there is nothing left that I must look up to."
Boom!
Like an incomparably terrifying flash of sword light, Xiao Ping'an soared into the sky, shattering the Heavenly Heart Imprint and tearing through the suppression of the myriad Daos of heaven and earth.
People saw Xiao Ping'an charge straight above the Heavenly Heart Imprint.
At that instant, every expert in the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands felt the world around them grow empty, as though the myriad Daos of heaven and earth had vanished in an instant.
It was as though, when Xiao Ping'an shattered the Heavenly Heart Imprint, the myriad Daos of heaven and earth had been shattered along with it.
Hum, hum, hum.
The myriad Daos of heaven and earth appeared once more. The Immortal Divine Medicines in the sea of lightning took human form, one after another, each incomparably powerful, and all charged toward Xiao Ping'an.
This most terrifying heavenly tribulation contained the most fundamental power. These were the strongest Dao laws that a heavenly tribulation could manifest in the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands.
"These so-called Dao laws are no longer a threat to me."
Xiao Ping'an continuously swallowed and refined the terrifying lightning that filled the sky, shattering phantom after phantom of immortal spirits.
He charged straight upward, becoming a ray of the most brilliant light. In that moment, that ray illuminated the entire universe.
The living beings of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands trembled as they witnessed Xiao Ping'an break the Heavenly Heart Imprint and charge straight upward.
Everyone had the same feeling: a figure had appeared above the myriad Daos of heaven and earth, trampling all the laws of heaven and earth beneath his feet.
An even more violent heavenly tribulation appeared.
One phantom after another of Immortal Kings of the past manifested from the heavenly tribulation.
Unfortunately, they no longer posed a threat. In the end, they merely helped Xiao Ping'an forge the strongest Dao foundation.
Amid that terrifying lightning, his body and primordial spirit underwent further transformation.
Meanwhile, his Divine Mark Purple Gold Tyrant Bell was also transforming rapidly as the lightning tempered it.
No one knew how much time passed before the lightning filling the sky finally dispersed.
The Heavenly Heart Imprint also coalesced once more.
But everyone could sense that Xiao Ping'an now stood above the Heavenly Heart Imprint, truly trampling the myriad Daos of heaven and earth underfoot, supreme above and below the heavens.
In the original story, Ye Fan still succeeded in defying the heavens and attaining the Dao despite the Golden Crow Great Emperor's suppression.
I don't have a Great Emperor suppressing me now, so succeeding in defying the heavens and attaining the Dao should have been somewhat easier by comparison.
Even so, it isn't something just anyone can succeed at.
Take the first-generation Great Accomplishment Sacred Body, for example. He lived for more than twenty thousand years without succeeding in attaining the Dao. That shows his strength still wasn't up to par, Xiao Ping'an couldn't help grumbling.
Xiao Ping'an had successfully broken through the myriad Daos of heaven and earth. This could be called a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity for fortune; no one had ever experienced such a peculiar sensation before.
He had given all who came after him a possible path: even if a Great Emperor had already attained the Dao, a sufficiently powerful successor could still imitate Xiao Ping'an and forcibly break through the Heavenly Heart Imprint to attain the Dao.
The Dark Supremes of this time were all constrained by their ways of thinking and their view of history.
After severing themselves, they sealed themselves away and clung to life, either waiting for the Road to Immortality to open or constantly devouring living beings, eking out an existence life after life.
If they had known early on that they could achieve Red Dust Immortal Ascension by continually transforming in this world and living one life after another, perhaps so many Dark Supremes would not have accumulated.
And the death rate on this path of transformation was very high. Perhaps he could find a way to fool these Dark Supremes into seeking their own deaths.
By now, the Emperor Venerable and the Netherworld Venerable had probably already made some vague deductions about the Red Dust Immortal Path.
The Undying Heavenly Emperor and the Divine Silkworm Ancient Emperor, who came later, had probably been influenced by those two to embark on the Red Dust Immortal Path.
Even the later Ascension Great Emperor must have studied the Emperor Venerable's method of transformation, allowing him to successfully live a third life as a Saint Spirit.
As for the Ruthless Great Emperor, Xiao Ping'an thought she might have been influenced by the Netherworld Venerable Duan De, or seized the records the Ascension Great Emperor had left to his descendants, and thus embarked on the Red Dust Immortal Path.
As for Ye Fan's path of transformation, he had clearly gained inspiration after consulting the Ruthless Great Emperor.
As for the origin of the Red Dust Immortal method in this world, he didn't know whether to trace it back to the Netherworld Venerable or the Emperor Venerable.
In any case, the Desolate Heavenly Emperor apparently hadn't passed down the nine-life Red Dust Immortal method, and everyone was still groping in the dark.
Xiao Ping'an's Great Emperor heavenly tribulation had ended. An incomparably terrifying presence radiated from his entire body, and brilliant divine light shone upon the world.
That flawless Great Emperor presence and its world-destroying power were terrifying indeed.
"He really succeeded in attaining the Dao without fusing with the Heavenly Heart Imprint."
"His presence far surpasses that of an ordinary Heavenly Venerate. He can stand shoulder to shoulder with the Nine Great Heavenly Venerables."
"He has already killed the Carefree Heavenly Venerate, one of the Nine Great Heavenly Venerables, proving his strength."
Throughout the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, everyone felt Xiao Ping'an's incomparably domineering presence, unique to the Heavenly Tyrant Body, enveloping the entire world.
"He really succeeded."
"This special physique, which cannot fuse with the Heavenly Heart Imprint, can actually attain the Dao by breaking through it."
Countless cultivators marveled at Xiao Ping'an's incredible power. He had created an unbelievable miracle.
The peerless heavenly geniuses who had wanted to set foot on the Starry Sky Ancient Road and contend on the road to emperorship all turned pale.
None of them could attain the Dao anymore.
The newly opened Starry Sky Ancient Road could be said to have begun with a tiger's head and ended with a snake's tail.
It had ended just as it began.
Next, those peerless heavenly geniuses discovered something even more terrifying: the suppression of Xiao Ping'an's Dao, now that he stood above the Heavenly Heart Imprint, was unbelievably fearsome.
Someone tried to attain the Dao, but before he had even begun his heavenly tribulation, he immediately felt his Qi and blood churn and sensed a terrifying suppression.
That incomparably domineering suppression was like carrying the entire Nine Heavens and Ten Lands on his back, crushing him.
"The Heavenly Tyrant Body's bloodline is so domineering that it can forcibly suppress everyone. Anyone who tries to attain the Dao in this age will be crushed by it."
In this era, everyone who had any thought of attaining the Dao found cultivation and comprehending the Dao difficult. That extraordinarily terrifying, domineering presence suppressed them far too harshly.
"Damn it, what kind of physique is this?"
"The Heavenly Tyrant Body really is domineering. Once it attains the Dao, it leaves other cultivators no way to live."
"This golden age is as good as ruined. The entire golden age has benefited Xiao Ping'an alone."
(End of chapter)