BOOM—
As the heavens trembled with bizarre and unprecedented anomalies, the entire universe seemed to shake to its very foundations. The spiritual energy of all realms grew restless, swirling towards a single, terrifying focal point.
Immortal Tribulation.
In that instant, as if a divine bell had been struck, every single cultivator above the Dao Comprehension stage felt those two momentous words echo directly in their minds, a universal announcement from the Heavenly Dao itself.
Then, the entire cosmos erupted into chaos and frantic activity. From the earliest, most ancient records of history, no one had ever successfully crossed this ultimate threshold. Now, at long last, after countless eons, someone was daring to take that legendary step. In the blink of an eye, countless powerhouses from across the stars gathered via teleportation formations and light speed travel, many of them Unity stage or even legendary Mahayana stage experts, their faces a mixture of awe, fear, and desperate hope.
Over thirty thousand years had passed since the world's rebirth after the great calamity. In such a vast, unimaginable span of time, even the mighty Great Emperors from the golden age had reached the natural end of their lifespans and passed into history.
"Who… Who is it? Who is triggering the Immortal Tribulation? Is it the new Great Desolate Martial Sage who arose a few millennia ago?"
"Could it be that supreme genius from the Heavenly God Sect? The one who reached Mahayana in just three thousand years, he certainly has the potential to claim the throne!"
"Impossible. He only rose to prominence because he was born after that terrifying era. Otherwise, he wouldn't even rank in the top five of his generation. Just look at the first Golden Core Heavenly Ranking from the post calamity era, the previous Great Emperor with the Spiritual Dao Body, the new Great Emperor with the Great Desolate Holy Body, the Lunar Sovereign Body, and that mysterious existence who was rumored to have slain an immortal while at the Mahayana stage before vanishing. The Immortal Gate may keep a low profile now, but no one dares to provoke them, their foundation is too deep."
As Su Min journeyed silently through the ages, perfecting herself, she had witnessed the gradual fall of countless figures she had once known. The Little Golden Crow, despite her vast, natural divine beast lifespan, had ultimately chosen to follow Su Min's path and sever her own cultivation. She had later painstakingly reentered the Mahayana stage without relying on any of her innate bloodline essence, forging a new path purely through will, only to sever herself again to build a more perfect foundation. Now, she too was sealed away in deep stasis, awaiting a future opportunity.
Thus, the powerful first generation of the Immortal Gate had either perished from old age or successfully ascended to Mahayana and then entered seclusion. The only remaining Mahayana expert from that era still active was a talented junior, alongside a new, young Three Legged Golden Crow hatched from the Fusang Tree. The sect's top tier forces had undoubtedly dwindled from their peak.
But at that moment, as the tribulation gathered, a jet black and white flame, the primordial Chaos Flame, erupted across the cosmos, its light eclipsing nearby stars. Then, a magnificent Three Legged Golden Crow emerged in the sky above the Immortal Gate, its wings spread wide. Though clearly a Golden Crow, its feathers shimmered in an unusual, striking monochrome hue, black and white like a living yin yang symbol.
"Hiss! That is the Chaos Three Legged Golden Crow from the Immortal Gate! They say it's the direct descendant of that one in a million Alchemy Immortal, Su Min!"
"But was she not human? How does she have a bird child?" a young cultivator whispered in confusion.
"Watch your tongue! That is not something we should speculate about!" A nearby elder cultivator immediately silenced the reckless gossip, his face pale.
This particular Golden Crow, born from the purest Golden Crow royal bloodline and fused with a drop of Su Min's own Chaos essence, possessed truly terrifying combat power even from birth. In the past, at just the late Dao Comprehension stage, it had famously slew a rampaging early Mahayana stage demon beast that had threatened a border world, a feat even the legendary Su Min had never accomplished at that stage. The act had shaken the heavens and cemented its reputation. Now that it had reached the Mahayana stage itself, its true strength was beyond the comprehension of most.
"Father?" The Golden Crow's voice trembled with a complex mix of emotions as it sensed the familiar figure within the raging thunderstorm through their deep bloodline connection. Long ago, the original Little Golden Crow had requested a single drop of Su Min's Chaos essence before entering her own seclusion. Using an ancient royal secret technique, she had nurtured a new Golden Crow monarch egg from the Fusang Divine Tree, then refined it with the Chaos blood.
Thus, the most talented Golden Crow in the history of the race was born. After all, the sheer dominance of the Chaos Body surpassed even the purest royal bloodlines of divine beasts. Though, to be fair, divine beasts had one peculiar trait, they often bred but rarely raised their young personally, leaving them to the care of the clan. It was Su Min herself who had ended up raising this one, serving as both a parent and a master.
But just as the crowd marveled at the appearance of the divine beast,
BOOM!
Several overwhelming, ancient auras erupted from the deepest seclusion spots within the Heavenly Continent. Gasps filled the void as these ancient existences made their presence known for the first time in millennia.
"That is the Ancient Buddha from the Great Thunder Temple! His cultivation is only at the Divine Transformation stage now, but his protectors are all Mahayana experts. Did he undergo a deliberate rebirth to rebuild his foundation?"
"Look! That is!" Then, a true uproar exploded across the mental networks. A single, dominant figure emerged from a secret realm, causing the very heavens and earth to tremble at his presence. A golden radiance, the color of his supreme physique, flooded the cosmos. Transcendence stage. This was the only realm considered the closest stepping stone to true immortality, and in this current era, only one person could achieve such a disturbance. The Great Desolate Martial Sage, Tian Hao.
"Did he not die of old age? It's been over thirty thousand years since his reign!" Countless minds reeled in shock and confusion. The man before them now had snow white hair and a withered, aged frame, yet his eyes blazed with an unquenchable vitality, as if something far greater and more powerful lurked within his aged body. His natural lifespan should have ended millennia ago, yet here he stood, having defied the heavens themselves. For a moment, the entire world held its breath at this revelation.
"Greetings, Uncle Tian." Only the Chaos Golden Crow bowed respectfully, her tone formal. She had been born just before the original Little Golden Crow's self severing, so she recognized this era's sole Great Emperor. Given its close ties to Su Min, all the top experts of the world treated it with courtesy and respect.
"Is it… her?" Tian Hao's golden pupils flickered with a deep, complex longing. He had chosen his own difficult path, to ascend to immortality from the position of a Great Emperor, enduring the countless trials and reincarnations of the mortal world. It would be a long, arduous journey with no guarantee of success. Yet here, at the very starting line of that journey, someone else had already reached the finish. The Chaos Body granted its wielder an innate qualification, a head start that exempted them from the struggles of competition that bound all others. A sense of envy was inevitable, a bitter pill to swallow. So he chose to simply observe, to learn what he could from the spectacle.
Meanwhile, at the epicenter, Su Min was fully aware of the countless spectators, but she had no attention to spare for them. Around her, a cataclysmic storm of thunderclouds raged, their pressure so immense it forced all onlookers to keep a distance of several solar systems.
What awaited her was the most terrifying Immortal Tribulation imaginable. Just like the Three Nine, Six Nine, and Nine Nine Golden Core Tribulations of youth, the Immortal Tribulation was known to have three distinct tiers of difficulty, Suffering, Crimson Lotus, and the deadliest of all, Annihilation.
And Su Min, by virtue of her unique nature and accumulated karma, faced the Annihilation Tribulation. She slowly raised her head, her expression one of absolute focus, and then, three solid figures materialized within the roiling thunder, formed from pure lightning and law.
"What… is that?" The crowd froze, their previous theories shattered. They had seen many tribulations in records, usually just violent lightning strikes or elemental beasts, but nothing like this, nothing that so clearly mimicked humanoid forms.
"Those three… all possess the aura and power of true immortals. No, they're even stronger than ordinary immortals! These are spiritual recordings of supreme experts from ages past, left by the Great Dao itself, meant to test the challenger to their absolute limit!" Tian Hao was the first to understand, his eyes locked onto the three figures with a burning, competitive battle intent. In his current peak state, he could likely defeat a lower tier immortal one on one, but he was nowhere near Su Min's level of effortlessly slaughtering them like livestock. Yet these three immortals conjured by the tribulation each exuded an indomitable, pressuring aura that made even his soul shudder.
Su Min took a deep breath, centering herself. She knew the hierarchy of immortals well from the records she had plundered. The ones she had slain before were the lowest tier, mere cannon fodder in the grand scheme of the Nether Prison's forces. According to those records, only one in a thousand lower tier immortals could ever advance to the coveted upper tier. An upper tier immortal could utterly crush a lower tier one without effort. That was precisely why her tribulation was so horrifyingly difficult. But she hadn't realized just how horrifying it would be until this moment. Three upper tier immortals at once. Without her ten lifetimes of accumulated power and comprehension, she would have stood no chance whatsoever.
"Then… come." Su Min gripped her Chaos Sword, its blade humming with eager power, and she charged forward without a hint of fear.
BOOM—!
The universe itself seemed to quake at the first collision. The shockwaves alone ripped through the fabric of space, reducing weaker cultivators who had dared to remain merely light years away into bloody mist.
The survivors fled in absolute terror, scrambling to put entire galactic arms between themselves and the battle. Yet they couldn't force themselves to look away completely. The clash was too profound, every exchange contained priceless fragments of the Great Dao. Even a sliver of comprehension could lead to a quantum leap in their own strength.
Only Tian Hao, with his Transcendence stage power, and the Chaos Golden Crow, with her unique bloodline, dared to remain relatively close. And one other, Yao Xian'er, watched from hidden deep within the Heavenly Continent, having rebuilt her cultivation to a high level but not yet peak. She hadn't yet returned to Mahayana, so she couldn't safely approach. But she had her own secret arts to witness history unfolding. Her expression was graver than anyone else's. Unlike Tian Hao's chosen path, her current strength hadn't peaked yet, and she understood the implications more deeply. What she saw now shook her to the very core of her being.
"The first immortal… is about to be born in this universe." She sighed, a sound of both awe and resignation.
Because in the heart of the cosmos, Su Min moved with blinding speed. She seized a strand of the raging thunder itself, using it as a whip, and then swung her blade in a perfect, decisive arc. One of the three immortal figures shattered into countless motes of glowing Great Dao fragments, which then surged into her body like a river flowing into the sea. Her eyes blazed brighter, filled with newfound power and understanding. The tribulation was both a trial and an ultimate opportunity. Success meant the Heavens would reward her without restraint, pouring their essence into her. And Su Min intended to claim it all.
With the first immortal defeated, the stable triangular formation of the three collapsed, their synergy broken. Soon, with two more dazzling displays of supreme swordsmanship and law manipulation, the other two fell as well, absorbed into her growing power. Her aura began to transcend the Mahayana stage, touching upon the threshold of true immortality. Yet she wasn't done.
The tribulation wasn't over.
With a deep breath, she swallowed a specially prepared recovery pill to stabilize her fluctuating energy. The Great Dao fragments of three upper tier immortals now flowed within her, a massive infusion of power. If she stopped now, she would still ascend as a true immortal, a monumental success. But that wasn't her ultimate goal. She was aiming higher.
As if in response to her unyielding ambition, the thunderclouds above did not dissipate. Instead, they parted once more, the energy condensing further. A lone, final figure descended slowly before her, its presence dwarfing the previous three combined.
Su Min's pupils contracted to pinpoints. This final opponent's cultivation was also at the immortal level, but the aura, the pressure, the very essence of his physique, it was unmistakably, terrifyingly familiar.
It was the previous Chaos Body.