Han De’s mind stopped for a while. He couldn’t divine the cultivation of the netherworld demons that are about to emerge, he could only derive through a process of elimination that they were close to becoming higher beings. He couldn’t determine their exact numbers too, just that the ones closing in were close to a hundred.

‘Not even my grandfather is close to being a higher being. At least, as far as I know. Even if netherworld demon and human cultivation systems are different, the power level of those things should be above my family.'

'I can summon heavenly tribulation, but Yao Qing will have to stay with me in that case. The power level of the tribulation is suspect too. Something summoned with middle-school knowledge might not be able to hurt those things. The token is too risky as well.'

In some Xianxia novels, tribulation lightning would do extra damage to netherworld demons. Even low-level versions of the tribulation may damage a higher realm demon. Unless Long family cavalry arrives in time, this was Han De's only option.

M-Master!”

Han De’s train of thought was interrupted by Ning Bi’s exclamation, followed by a piece of cloth jammed on to his nose. After a second of confusion, Han De forced a smile and gently removed Ning Bi’s hand.

“Didn’t I say I feel fine? My constitution is already hea-”

The dark red spot of that piece of cloth startled Han De. His constitution was working unrestrained and he felt completely fine. He didn’t feel pain, and the almost unbearable pressure was completely gone. While thinking that, he felt something drip on his lips. Sure enough, it was blood.

In a panic, Han De immediately took out 5 precious restoration pills from his storage ring. Each of these pills had to be stored in a separate jade container to protect their efficacy. Their effects were nothing short of miraculous, strong enough to regenerate multiple limbs, but also gentle enough that even a Qi Condensation disciple could use them.

Refining such a pill was extraordinarily difficult, even for a master alchemist. Slight variations could cause the pill to be unusable for anyone below Unity Realm, or even completely ruin the efficacy of the pill. When properly concocted, they were known as high-grade healing pills, but Han De classified them as filthy-rich grade in his mind.

Han De didn’t give himself the time to think, he swallowed those 5 pills at the same time.

Disciples looked at each other, then looked at Han Bai, who was holding an ornate jade communicator. Han Bai met the disciples' gazes and infused another message into the communicator.

Meanwhile, Han De was focused on absorbing the medicine to guide the healing process. When he first regained control of his body, he didn’t have a chance to check his own condition. There was no pressing need for it. The System had refined his bloodline and his constitution was good at healing. Even the creepy grandpa had commented on the process and called it ingenious. On top of all that, he didn't feel any discomfort.

Now that he was finally using his spiritual sense to check his condition, Han De was covered with cold sweat. He didn’t have any medical expertise, but he was sure that his brain shouldn’t be looking like mush. His skull shouldn’t have this many cracks either. His skin was holding everything together like duct-tape. If he didn't practice body cultivation, perhaps he would've died already.

Han De tried to switch his focus to somewhere else while trying to absorb the healing effects of the pills. Panicking during the process wouldn't do him any favors. Running out of pills wasn’t a concern, there were hundreds more in his storage ring. What concerned him was the urgency of his condition.

'Calm people live, tense people die. Calm people live, tense people die...'

The spiritual boat started vibrating with irregular intensity. The battle was starting while Han De was trying to absorb the healing pills. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, the vibrations slowly but steadily increased in intensity.

Han De normally would’ve started to panic, normally he would’ve tried to observe the situation and give some orders just to gain some semblance of being in control. Unfortunately, right now, he was completely frozen with terror.

As he kept attempting to absorb the pills, he realized his body wasn’t reacting to them at all. Not only that, not even his body constitution was doing anything. The problem areas he was trying to treat were still slowly deteriorating. He felt completely fine, there was no pain at all, but his body was clearly failing.

“Try this. It is a Long family secret pill, created and refined by grandmother herself. It’s called Heaven and Earth Serene Renewal.”

Upon hearing his cousin’s voice, Han De opened his eyes and saw a small jade box. A cloud of spiritual energy gushed out when Han Bai opened the lid.

[Yin-Yang Restoration Pill]

[Elementary grade body restoration pill.]

[Efficacy reduced by 97.8723% due to inadequate concocting methods.]

This was the first time the System ever identified something as a ‘pill’. Even the Seven Luminaries Reminiscence was identified as an ‘herb arrangement’ by the System. Han De didn’t stand the ceremony, he directly swallowed the pill.

Han De was in no condition to mind the pain. His top priority was to prevent the catastrophic failure of his body, whatever it takes. The pill stirred and started to release its energy layer by layer. The expected pain didn’t appear, but Han De stayed vigilant. He continued to absorb the pill with a stoic face.

‘Didn’t he say this pill was extremely violent? Are you kidding me? F#$%#$ I am dying here and you are messing with me?!’

The pain was just a side effect of violent pills. The cause was the harsh energy damaging the meridians as the energy of the pill passes through. This was also the reason why higher realm healing pills couldn’t be taken by lower realms. Unless it was a specialized filthy-rich grade formula, no alchemist would bother to smooth out the energy release profile of a pill. It was a ridiculous waste of time.

Han De knew he had somehow lost the ability to feel pain, but he was still expecting his meridians to get damaged. The so-called extremely violent pill actually nurtured his meridians by a small degree instead. It didn’t do anything else.

‘The pill works. The problem is… Am I really that far gone?’

The sky outside the window was already dark, and even mortals could see the stars with their naked eye. They were long past the highest point Han De reached on his first high altitude flight.

Unlike the previous Starfall Mountain flagship, the current spiritual boat was fairly small. The required surface area to defend was much lower. Coupled with the nearly two weeks of formation reinforcements requested by Han De, it was already much sturdier than the unlucky sect flagship.

The jury-rigged celestial boat stopped shaking. Han De didn’t know whether this was a good or bad sign. He needed to get his disciples and lackeys out of here before it was too late.

{My dear red-eyed girl... Don’t you miss your parents? You wanted to visit them, but you decided to stay with your master later. But… Aren’t they just mortals? What would happen if those terrible demons started roaming? Can your parents survive where even your master can only wait for his death?}

As the creepy grandpa finished his whispers, an overwhelming pressure appeared. Han De was already sitting in the lotus position, but this aura, this pressure, demanded him to kneel, to submit.

Han De instinctively recognized that this pressure could only come from a higher order of life. When ordinary mortals encounter Immortal Realm cultivators that didn’t restrict their aura, they too would be compelled to submit.

In the room, Han Bai’s face was ashen, but he still didn’t budge. Jin Shu and Yao Qing just frowned but stayed steady. Han De looked at his left, and saw Ning Bi staring into nothingness with wide eyes.

‘I should’ve sent them away when I had the chance, instead I focused on healing my wounds…’

Han De felt something drip to his lips. He used the back of his hand to get it off and noticed the liquid was more viscous and brownish this time. The aura of the demons was still nagging him to kneel and submit as well. Without Han De noticing, his face started twitching with annoyance.

{You’ve been watching your little cousin for so long. Don’t you feel tired? You’ve been forced to look after a brat… You can never rise and you can never leave...}

The pressure that came from the demons' aura was incomplete, but what they lacked in quality, was compensated by the quantity. As the creepy grandpa talked, the pressure kept getting stronger.

Han De felt something in him stir, but he couldn't concentrate on what that was. The overwhelming annoyance he felt, turned into anger. Everything started to anger him. He started furiously cursing at whatever came to his mind. He cursed at the guy that killed the cultivation idiot, his sect and his family that failed to stop it. He cursed at the guy that drugged him. He cursed at the people that made the conference in the northern continent, the sects that killed and crippled his lackeys, those knock off tleilaxu people, he kept cursing and shouting at all of them in his mind.

‘After surviving all of that, I am going to die just because of a creep that talked too much?!?! My disciples are going to die because of some oversized sea worms?!?!’

Han De’s warped face slowly turned red as he raged in his mind. He was still just a mid-stage Core Formation expert, and there was nothing he could do. This powerlessness further intensified his anger. Unfortunately, this was just a silent, frothing rage that didn’t have the brute strength to back it up.

Han De had no way of knowing what was happening. He only had grand mastered 11 scriptures, and 6 of them were standard herbalism volumes. He didn’t enjoy cultivation at all, so Starfall and Yellow Grove scriptures weren’t especially compatible with him. Body cultivation and divination were quite novel but useful things. Perhaps he would have noticed their effects if he started writing his diary much earlier, but his obsession and overreliance on them were completely lost on him.

Heaven Defying Tyrannical Sword was created by the cultivation idiot. Since it was his primary intimidation method, Han De practiced with it quite often. Especially after sinking in 1200 Profound Points and 2 Martial Arts Method Upgrade Token, he became even more attached to it. Later, the scripture also proved its value when Han De escaped the fox and the oversized snake.

It was for this reason, instead of panicking and making escape plans, Han De was silently fantasizing about torturing the creepy grandpa, the leviathans, and the false ruler. Originally, Han De himself couldn't care less about kneeling or submitting to someone. Survival was his number one concern.

The essence of the Heaven Defying Tyrannical Scripture though, found the concept of kneeling or submitting highly insulting.

* * *

The Leviathan Lords were dropped to this world many years ago by an irresistible force. When they became aware of their surroundings, an imprint forced them to submit and wait.

They were all at the edge of elevating their existence. They were all pure netherworld demons as well. They could not assume human form and increase their cultivation speed like spiritual animals. The only option was bitter cultivation. They have all survived and cultivated for countless years. Therefore, all of them knew, whatever being brought them here, was not one to be trifled with. None of them had any thoughts of resisting.

For years they waited and observed. This was a frontier world that once hosted the Primordial Sun Temple. Those glory days were long gone now, and the remnant survivors were slowly dwindling, as usual.

One day, a horrifying presence entered the world through some unknown means. Any netherworld demon that touched it lost their minds and became its willing servant. A small part of the being crossed over to the material realm for a moment and quickly left. The Leviathans realized they were protected by the same imprint that forced them to submit. A faint aura similar to their imprint was in close proximity of the passage as well.

Years passed once again, and finally, they were given permission to move. This time, the imprint filled their mind with information. There was a higher netherworld bloodline in this world! Possessed by a mere Core Formation hybrid! All they had to do was to ensure the death of that fledgling!

All of the leviathan lords snickered in their heads. Their dignity was in shambles, but none of them could afford to pass up this chance. This setup also reminded them of the rumors about void beings. Just the possibility of them being involved was enough to make them shiver in fear. It wasn’t good to think about the void beings for long.

They followed the imprint’s instructions. Tens of thousands of low-level demons appeared near them just as the imprint instructed. When they received the coordinates, those low-level demons were the first to enter, just as the imprint instructed. When the time came, they went in one by one just as the imprint instructed. Both the demons and humans fell to their knees. The leviathans got ready to fight and kill each other with full power, just as the imprint instructed.

99 giant armored serpents eyed each other as they menacingly flew above the wasteland. They couldn’t stop even if they wanted, the imprint’s rule was absolute. In all likelihood, they wouldn’t mind killing each other for a chance to advance anyway.

Before anyone could make the first strike, they felt the imprint on them stir. They instinctively looked up with their giant maws. The target, the prize, was on that tiny spiritual boat. They also felt something else was there too, something that resonated with their imprint. A few moments later, the imprint disappeared completely along with the resonating energy. It was as if it never existed in the first place.

After a moment of silence, the leviathans seemed to have perceived something with their intuition. They retracted their aura in a hurry, but above the spiritual boat, strange tribulation clouds were already forming.