Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

"Now..." Yi Seo-Jun smiled as the oaths finished, turning his attention towards the only person who had yet to swear an oath, the grey-robed celestial! She was the only loose-end amongst them and a factor that must be eliminated at all cost, for both sides.

The grey-robed female softy sneered, her tone filled with disdain and contempt. Her posture, her stance, aura, and actions were all steady and without any sense of urgency. It was as if her situation was nothing to her.

This startled Venerable Ghost Blade as he contemplated the circumstances. The problem with Celestials is that their paths were not one that required the will of the heavens, and thus heavenly oaths were all but useless before them. The path of Celestials was one that created their very own heaven within themselves, fortifying it with truths, resources, and various forms of energies of the multiverse.

It would be like a King trying to impose their will on to pirates! They may attempt to eliminate them, but when have pirates ever feared kings?!

For Celestials, only Dao or Soul Oaths can be applied, but those oaths held no chance of survival and can even affect one’s future cultivation in either of those paths, even if they do not break the oath. However, that wasn’t always the case. Soul Oaths or Dao Oaths can help solidify one’s cultivation as well, especially relating to Dao Oaths.

Yi Seo-Jun turned his attention to this grey-robed celestial, "I have one question: Willing or Not?" As those words sounded, there was a formless pressure that seemed to form, pressing down on the chests of all those in the surroundings. This pressure was like a question from an emperor of a nation talking about the fate of commoners.

The grey-robed female took a second glance at Yi Seo-Jun before directly laughing. This laughter was like the fluttering of beautiful music that contained the woes and highs of life! It was tantalizing to listen to, but it didn’t seem intentional.

"Not." After that laughter, she turned her gaze towards the Yaoguai, no longer paying attention to this Yi Seo-Jun.

Frowning, Yi Seo-Jun contemplated some matters. There were several options before him, but did he really need to take action? Instead, he turned towards Venerable Ghost Blade and smiled. This smile contained hidden meanings that were quite obvious.

However, unexpectedly, Venerable Ghost Blade directly ignored him. He was not some pawn of this Crown Prince, nor was he going to be used as a measuring stick. If he was so naive, wouldn’t his cultivation since be reduced to nothing but a joke?

"Hmph," witnessing Venerable Ghost Blade’s indifference and unwillingness to take the first path in offending this random celestial, he felt slightly cold in his heart. The only reason he would compromise with the death dealers of the Yeomna Empire was because of his attempts to keep the pursuit of the Non-Entity a secret from everyone.

It was also why he informed Venerable Ghost Blade. If he knew his actions were linked to a Non-Entity, he could easily deduce that if he didn’t agree to the conditions, Yi Seo-Jun would wipe him off the face of the Fortune Cemetery! However, this celestial was different.

Celestials were rulers in many parts of the expansive Heavenly Origin Grounds, and it was difficult to determine who they were connected to. Also, they weren’t limited by the same laws they were or subjected to the benefits or disadvantages like heavenly cultivators that require drawing power from the heavens. If they desired, their combat strength, regardless of their location, will always be one hundred percent.

This made their forces a very dangerous in the Heavenly Origin Grounds were laws strength was dependant on location. Especially with the possibility to change the environment or laws within the world to their liking, it simply made things incredibly difficult to deal with. However, this was only a small aspect of a true celestials power! A tip of an iceberg, so to speak. Despite that, it was more than enough to cause many Empires and forces to think thrice before acting.

"Fine, as long as you give your word to not spread a word of this incident, it’ll be enough," conceded Yi Seo-Jun. He felt somewhat embarrassed by his previous words and her curt response. However, if he had enough strength to kill Venerable Ghost Blade, he would’ve done so. At least, he couldn’t do so without informing his father of his actions.

It was this unwillingness that led him to compromise with the death reapers that were the Yeomna Empire. In any other case, where he could use or had his usual guards with him, he would’ve personally laid out the order to dig the graves of this savage lot, including this rude celestial. Unfortunately, circumstances dictate actions.

However, he never expected the reply from the celestial gave.

"It’ll be enough if you leave from my sight." Her tone was beyond rude, even somewhat annoyed. Her words invoked rage in every one of the Oneuli Empire’s crew, including Park Ji-Hu. Hahm Eun-Jung, the beautiful woman that always stood beside Yi Seo-Jun, couldn’t withstand such words and lashed out.

"You slut! How daring of you to say such words, are you courting death?!" Hahm Eun-Jung’s words were like a light, as her sentiment was echoed amidst the crew.

However, beyond shocking, a reply came from Park Ji-Hu that silenced them all. With a disdainful and cold snort, he roared imposingly, "Who’s the slut?! You’re the slut! All of you, be silent!"

Before the grey-robed woman could even turn her head around in response, these words flew wildly about in rage. Even the grey-robed woman couldn’t help but be startled by the sudden infighting. In truth, she was just about to teach these little idiots a lesson, but now...she felt a little bit awkward.

Hahm Eun-Jung pouted. With her beautiful appearance, it was very alluring. She bore holes in Park Ji-Hu with her gaze but remained silent. The rest of the crew followed suit, like a flock of chocked birds.

Deciding to ignore them, the grey-robed woman once more kept her attention of the Yaoguai. This circus of exchanges bored her, and she much rather be focusing on other matters. Such as...where is he?

"Should I split this thing open or..." As she said those words, her brows suddenly furrowed. A suction force seemed to originate from the frozen Yaoguai. This force wasn’t particularly strong, but it left her a feeling of intense dread. Without a thought, truly instinctually, she stepped back and distanced herself a decent amount of distance.

In Yi Seo-jun’s hand, a black object within his palm started to release an impure light. This light seemed willing to taint the world, taint the heavens, taint all things within the boundless universe! It was so shocking that, despite being quite a distance away from him, everyone, including Venerable Ghost Blade took a step back and distance himself.

Even the grey-robed woman who distanced herself away from the Yaoguai once more took a step away, getting closer to the Yaoguai unintentionally as the light started to be released.

Before they even realized it, their bodies and souls automatically took action before their conscious thought. This bewildered every last one of them as they turned their gaze towards Yi Seo-Jun who seemed to hold the taint of the world within his palm. The light wasn’t very brilliant, but it felt intense to some degree. It was as if merely looking at it stained one’s eyes.

Yi Seo-Jun, however, didn’t seem too bothered by this as he turned towards the light within his palm. His eyes flickered, and then he turned towards the Yaoguai. "It’s there!"

BOOM!!!

Unfortunately, his words were drowned out by the thundering of the heavens. The sound that originated from the dusk zone’s skies caused everyone to immediately look up, all except Yi Seo-Jun. The skies started to churn about like a wild cyclone without any rhyme or reason in its direction or strength. It was truly chaotic.

Before long, clouds blacker than the skies that barely had any light started to form. It served as a direct contrast from the dark skies, like a dark grey sea with a large, black dot.

Venerable Ghost Blade was the first to react, his eyes finding this situation incomparably familiar. "The Heavenly Tribulation of Death!?" As he said those words, the heavens seemed to respond as a thundering sound once more echoed about.

This was the Heavenly Tribulation of Death?!

However, it seemed to be a level one tribulation...

There were many reasons for tribulations, but each had their own meanings and reasons. The one that was defined by a law characteristic was the Sovereign Trial Tribulation! The Heavenly Tribulation of Punishment related to breaking an oath which the heavens presided over. These scale in power versus the strength of one’s heavenly cultivation base but always left a way to survive, be it someone else or one’s personal ability. It struck one’s body, soul, and heavenly cultivation base.

The Heavenly Tribulation of Bestowment was during the process of forming one’s Dao. It was the easiest and only focused on one’s soul. After which, the dao can be fully developed, and one could embark on the Path of their Dao.

The Heavenly Annihilation Light was formed to eradicate all those that contest against the heavens will or taking a path that went against the Heavenly Gods laws. The reason Heavenly Gods were the peak power of their heaven was that they could utilize Heavenly Annihilation Light for their own means! This light struck when Yan Zaizen attempted to cultivate the Herculean Path in the Xiantu Realm! It was also how he received the energy to form his Dao!

The last type of Heavenly Tribulation was the Sovereign Trial Tribulation. It tempered the soul in much the same way as the Heavenly Tribulation of Bestowment, but it can lead to death, and it could not be interrupted!

To cultivate laws, one must comprehend the five forms of their conceived laws to completion: Nascent, Force, Manifestation, Domain, and Sovereign.

When one bypasses the Domain-level, reaching the level of a Sovereign, they reach a level of strength and understanding into their concepts that could be heaven-equalling! With this, one could contest the laws of the world themselves! It was a fantastical level to reach and the dream of all experts. If one can say that in this world, there were a billion people that entered the peak Domain-level, then out of those billion only one reached the Sovereign level!

And now, someone has just invoked their Sovereign Trial Tribulation!

And this person was...none other than...

"It’s him!!!"