Volume 1, Chapter 457 – Primordial Survivors

Several hours passed in the blink of an eye.

Shi Lan had already endured more than sixty tribulation lightning bolts, yet the heavenly lightning still showed no sign whatsoever of stopping.

Even the world-ending great tribulation crossed by Emperor-level cultivators amounted to only eighty-one bolts!

Nearly a hundred immortal herb remnants floated in the void. As the power of the heavenly lightning increased, even with the immortal herbs serving as nourishment, the recovery speed of her fleshly body was gradually beginning to fall behind.

Bathed in the lightning, a trace of agitation arose in Shi Lan’s heart. This tribulation had no intention of letting her through at all. That thread of life had yet to appear, as though it meant to kill her outright before the gates of the Heaven-Man Realm.

After yet another heavenly lightning bolt gradually faded, the tribulation clouds rolled, and the pressure suddenly began to surge, brimming with an aura of destruction.

Shi Lan’s body sank involuntarily. The sea surface abruptly collapsed, compressing inward layer by layer. At the very center of the vast ocean, a gigantic hollow appeared, while the overlapping waves formed tsunamis tens of thousands of zhang high, surging toward all corners of the world.

Outside the tribulation clouds, Tianbai was frantic with worry, yet did not dare step across the line. Any stray thread of lightning spilling from the heavens could shatter her demon body.

The warning of death kept flashing. She could not withstand this next bolt. Shi Lan drew a light breath. Facing death head-on, her heart instead gradually calmed.

Even if she survived this one, there would still be another heavenly lightning bolt after it. Lingyang’s Heavenly Dao had never intended to leave her a path to live.

Why?

In that instant, Shi Lan could not make sense of it no matter how she thought about it. She had already severed the immortal path from her body. She should not have been rejected by the Heavenly Dao.

Rumble…

Lightning came crashing down. Shi Lan’s fleshly body had only just recovered halfway. Her bones were exposed, her primordial spirit had already suffered severe damage, and even her consciousness had started to blur. Death was unavoidable.

Driven into a dead end, Shi Lan had even prepared herself to abandon this body and start over from the beginning.

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Buzz—

In an instant, ten thousand rays of rosy light burst forth. A layer of hazy immortal radiance stretched in from the east, covering the sky, blocking the endless lightning, and completely sealing off the surrounding world. It was like an inverted jade bowl, cutting off heaven and earth and protecting Shi Lan within.

The light enveloped her whole body, bringing a warmth that soaked straight into the heart.

Shi Lan looked up at the sky. Amid the endless lightning, the tribulation clouds rolled, and within them she could vaguely make out a face with indistinct features.

Only after a long while did the tribulation clouds gradually disperse.

The immortal radiance slowly drew back in, then gradually scattered and merged into heaven and earth.

Just when all seemed lost, life appeared again.

There was no time to think. Shi Lan shook her somewhat muddled head, forced herself to stay alert, took out a robe to cover herself, then produced two more immortal herbs, extracted their essence, and fused it into her limbs, bones, and organs.

A streak of white rushed toward her. Shi Lan relaxed her mind, fell into silence, and slowly began repairing the damage to her primordial spirit.

…

Boundless Demon Domain, Feather Emperor Hall.

Inside the great hall.

The Feather Emperor, Feng Yichuan, sat high upon his throne. More than thirty figures stood below, and thick law aura filled the entire hall. The overwhelming majority were demon race venerables who had entered the Heaven Demon domain.

Half of them were dressed in red robes, all bearing the same phoenix pattern on their garments. Clearly, they had come from the same place.

“Your Highness, when will the tomb of Ancestor Huangze be opened?”

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A beautiful woman around thirty years of age asked softly, her tone extremely respectful. She stood at the front of the red-robed Heaven Demons, clearly showing that her status was anything but ordinary.

“In the next two days. The location has already been confirmed. Opening the passage will take time.”

Feng Yichuan answered, then continued:

“At most, forty people can be sent into the realm this time. I want thirteen spots. Your Divine Phoenix Clan can have no more than fifteen. The rest must go to the Demon Emperor Palace.”

“Fifteen spots… is that not a little too few?”

The beautiful woman hesitated and spoke carefully:

“There are still a few juniors in my clan who wish to go inside and try their luck.”

At those words, Feng Yichuan fell silent. Only after a long while did he speak again:

“I can give you two more from my side. Forget about the Demon Emperor Palace’s allotment. Those spots need to be distributed among several great clans.”

Although Huangze was an ancestor of the Divine Phoenix Clan, his tomb was no longer something the Divine Phoenix Clan alone could interfere with, given the state of the demon race today.

“Thank you, Your Highness!”

The beautiful woman said no more and bowed gratefully.

Qinglan stood in a corner of the great hall, her expression utterly unchanged. Quite a few Heaven Demons in the hall cast glances over her from time to time, but none of them looked down on her because her cultivation was slightly weaker.

Recently, the Lan Clan’s reputation had been rising more and more. Rumors had long spread among the nearby demon race that the head of the Lan Clan had an unusually close relationship with the Feather Emperor, which was why Feather Emperor Hall gave her so much special consideration.

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Qinglan did not react in the slightest to those probing looks. Because Shi Lan was crossing tribulation, most of her attention was focused on the main body’s side.

Her cultivation had now entered the late stage of the Spirit Transformation Realm. One step further, and she would have to merge with the Dao.

At that time, the unknown great terror Chu Hanzhou had spoken of would arrive.

When the main body crossed tribulation, the Heavenly Dao had reacted like this, refusing to leave the slightest path to survival. When her immortal path reached that point, her end would likely be even more miserable.

…

Boundless Sea, atop an enormous island.

Inside a wooden hut by the sea, Shi Lan sat cross-legged on a bamboo bed. Faint spiritual mist flowed in and out between her nose and lips, and clear light swirled around her body.

After a long while, Shi Lan slowly opened her eyes. The injuries in her body had fully recovered, but the damage to her primordial spirit would still require time to heal.

She had not drawn in that thread of life from within the lightning, yet she had still crossed that threshold and stepped into the Heaven-Man Realm. The laws of heaven and earth were now within reach.

She had thought about that protective immortal radiance for a long time, yet still had no clue what it was.

That day, after she fainted while crossing tribulation, Tianbai had taken her away from that sea region. Tianbai had originally intended to find a nearby place for her to recover, but before they had traveled even half a quarter of an hour, a giant hand had reached out from the void and carried both Tianbai and Shi Lan away together.

After that, she had appeared here.

The barren island where she now was lay extremely far from the Lingyang Continent, far more than tens of millions of li away.

During this period, she had also gone outside a few times and discovered many strange things.

Most of the people living here were primordial survivors. There were members of the demon race, the devil race, and even quite a few humans. More than that, there were mixed-blood descendants of all three races.

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The door opened gently. Tianbai poked her head in to take a look, and only after seeing that Shi Lan had awakened did she push the door open and come in, carrying a box of spirit fruit in her hands.

“Your Reverence.”

“Was this sent by Ruitu again?”

Shi Lan rose and glanced at the spirit fruit in Tianbai’s hands, frowning slightly.

“Do not accept it next time.”

“Understood.”

Tianbai nodded, then without hesitation threw the spirit fruit in her hands out of the room.

“We’ll leave within the next two days.”

Now that her injuries had recovered, once her primordial spirit had healed a little more, no one on this island would be able to stop her.

There were too many urgent matters at hand. She had no mind to investigate the affairs of these primordial survivors.

Boom…

A muffled thunderous sound came from outside, and the ground trembled faintly.

A shadow like a mountain blotted out the sunlight. As Shi Lan walked out of the house, she saw a strange beast dozens of li long that resembled a heavenly wolf.

The demons and devils here were all like this beast, walking the world in their true forms, with no understanding of the art of transformation.