A bronze bell slowly descended onto the scene with a man in purple standing upright on it. He looked to be in his early twenties and was classically handsome with flowing long hair. Poised atop the enormous bell, his eyes twinkled merrily at the Crimson Firmament elder.

Flaring with sword energy, the bell was as solid and real as the cauldron beneath the elder’s feet.

Faint ripples oscillated through the air when the two great treasures faced off against each other, and all of the color drained from the demon god’s face. He’d turned himself into a red marble and was silently cowering in a corner of the world.

If the two treasures came after him at the same time, they would severely injure his true spirit and send him into a deep sleep. Once he entered a deep slumber, the Exalted divine emperor’s true spirit might very well end up with a new master.

But at this moment, whether it was the elder from the Crimson Firmament or those from the Purple Firmament, everyone’s attention was on the kidneys of heaven and earth. Its divine spirit had perished, leaving the organ drifting through the air with the smallest mirage of an altar beneath it.

Though it’d lost the Water Altar, the kidneys still retained their instinctive reaction to receive worship. Thus, they wanted to create a new altar for which to receive sacrifices to birth a new spirit. After all, their creation had resulted from the worship of living beings to begin with.

……

“Heh heh heh, vermin of the Purple Firmament, you actually dared show yourself. Aren’t you afraid that I’ll smash your sword bell into the mundane world again?” Taking repeated swigs of wine, the elder chuckled darkly, a mirth not echoed in the frosty look of his eyes.

“Do you think my Purple Firmament is as easily bullied as the Green Firmament?” The purple-clad youth shook his head and waved a hand, changing the bell beneath his feet into a streak of light that encapsulated him and the nun from head to toe.

Wham—

The elder made his move.

Boundless sword rays spewed forth like the radiance of the blazing sun. With a tremor, the cauldron projected a crimson beast from the sword light. Snarling a challenge, the beast pounced on the bell. Waves of booming bell tolls rang forth in response, spreading through the air like a sword aura to match the cauldron blow for blow.

Scared senseless, the demon god didn’t dare linger for one more second now that battle was joined. He scampered for the exit as the two sides officially clashed with each other.

The Emperor Sunflower trembled from the collisions as well; its core couldn’t handle a fight between such great powerhouses. Only the kidneys of heaven and earth remained unaffected by the tumult.

……

“Strange, it’s really damned strange!” Outside the Emperor Sunflower, on a microscopic speck of dust, Lu Yun beheaded Yu Qinghun with a casual palm slash and turned his companion into an Infernum. At the same time, he looked toward the world of the spirit root. “I killed that divine spirit, but it didn’t turn into one of my ghostly soldiers. Er… is it actually not dead?”

While the world created by the spirit root appeared boundless, it was actually a seed storage. Once outside its domain, Lu Yun could see everything taking place inside with a quick glance.

The divine spirit of the kidneys was indeed dead—there were no ripples of life emanating from it. However, anything that Lu Yun killed should become one of his Infernum.

This was the first exception of its kind.

Rumble.

A tremendous disturbance rocked the skies as the tribulation clouds that’d disappeared gathered once again. Four hours had passed, and the Venerated Sacrosanct Demon Sovereign could no longer suppress the demon god and demonic cauldron. As a result, the tribulation had descended once again.

“Hahahahaha!!” Inside the world of the Emperor Sunflower, the demon god suddenly stopped fleeing and threw his head back with laughter. Black tribulation clouds brewed over his head and slowly filled the world of the spirit root. Lightning as black as ink roared within the clouds, giving full voice to the destructive might they were about to bring to bear.

The demonic egg and the demon god’s body formed from the Ichor Bog were about to undergo their tribulations at the same time! Both of them were his primary body as he was a being with dual spirits!

One of them was the true spirit of the Exalted divine emperor that he’d stolen beneath Mount Exalted, the other was his spirit that the demon celestial master had sealed into the demonic cauldron during the Primordial Era. However, it still came as a shock that both of them would experience their trials at the same time.

“The Diabolical Tribulation of World Refinement… this thunder possesses the power to destroy true spirits, as is a mark of that particular tribulation!” The ferociously battling sword cauldron flew back to the elder’s hand upon his light beckon. He leveled an arctic glare at the demon god, but didn’t show an inclination to run away.

“Heavenly tribulations of mere cultivators are of absolutely no threat to us.” The purple-clad man completely dismissed the proceedings. “Demon God, you may go seeking your death in attempting your tribulation now.”

“Hahahahaha!!” the demon god continued roaring with laughter. “Do you really think the immortal dao’s laws of tribulations hold no sway over you? Or perhaps you don’t know the true intentions of those three… They sought to incorporate all living beings of this major world into the immortal dao so that it would be the only grand dao in the entire multiverse and space-time continuum!

“Do you really think the three Firmaments are the Firmaments of old, those lofty sovereigns up high, dictating the life and death of all beings? You, too, will be conquered by the immortal dao before long.”

When the demon god spread his arms wide open, the sprinkle of lightning from the skies suddenly thickened into a column that blasted straight into him. However, his body made from the Ichor Bog was too hardy. Even though his tribulation was the Diabolical Tribulation of World Refinement, it still didn’t deliver any damage to him.

What rang a strange note was that, for the three powerhouses of other realms, an oddly uncomfortable feeling draped around them. Bizarrely enough, a tiny strand of the laws of heavenly tribulations had seeped into their bodies, strengthening the tribulation around them by just a hair. Though it wasn’t enough to be of any threat, it still felt uncommonly uncomfortable.

While those of the three Firmaments also cultivated the immortal dao, they’d always done so with the condescending perspective of being superior to it. But now it was starting to exert control over them, too.

……

Qing Yu’s heavenly tribulation had also arrived; thankfully, she’d already incorporated the Immortal Subjugation Seal and the Sol Truefire it contained into the heavenly palace.

A flame had been kindled in the heavenly palace, and the embryo of a vast and magnificent world was slowly taking form in her mind.

“Just a little more. I need the framework of a real world to truly manifest the world of the heavenly palace.” Qing Yu stood and tilted her head up at the tribulation clouds in the sky. “The Central World… is a dead world and its will extinguished. Only a world like that can be devoured by a budding new one!”