Terrifying tribulation clouds covered the entire sky. Bolts of lightning descended continuously, drowning the world in a soul-shaking power. Furthermore, a bizarrely strong power of inner demons coiled around Qi Ping. This tribulation was so potent it surpassed the Soul Transformation tribulations of most.
Everyone in the domain was struck with awe. Had they faced even a fraction of this power, their souls would have been scattered instantly. At this moment, everyone felt the chasm between themselves and the world-renowned Bee Daoist.
"So the Principal has reached such a level. Incredible, unheard of!"
"Yes, I feel the Principal is walking a path that no one has ever trodden before. To witness this breakthrough is a life well-lived!"
"The Principal's character, talent, and hard work are the best I have ever seen. This achievement is only right!"
"Meeting Senior Brother is the greatest fortune of my path to immortality!"
Watching Qi Ping walk calmly through the lightning like a man strolling through a garden, their admiration and shock reached a peak. Although he looked relaxed, Qi Ping was deeply serious and focused. As the laws vibrated around him, the image of a determined seeker of the Dao was laid bare. This character—devoted to the path yet not enslaved by it—was rare, and it was why he progressed so rapidly.
What everyone wondered now was how strong he would be after this.
The top cultivators of the continent outside the domain naturally noticed the strength of the tribulation. They were filled with shock. As the peak experts of the Star-Sea Continent, what had they not seen? Yet even they were shaken.
"The Bee Daoist is only breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage?"
"But how can a Nascent Soul tribulation be this strong? It's unheard of; even the ancient records have no mention of such a thing!"
"Does that mean the vision in the domain earlier was just him breaking through? And while breaking through, he find the time to heavily wound two of our Void Refinement experts? Such strength is horrifying!"
"If that's the case, how strong will he be after he completes the breakthrough?"
"Should we take advantage of this and strike him now?"
As those words were spoken, many displayed expressions of disdain.
"If you want to go, go. I don't want to die!"
"Interrupting one's Dao is like killing one's parents. Even if you succeed in an ambush, he could surely kill one or two Void Refinement experts before he dies. Who wants to lead the charge?"
The great figures who could make the continent tremble fell silent. Indeed, with no certainty and no clear benefit, who would volunteer for death?
After a long silence, a middle-aged man with a calm expression spoke amid the booming sounds of the lightning tribulation. "With that person from the Heavenly Dragon Continent absent and no one to stop him, the Bee Daoist's breakthrough is now a certainty. No one knows how strong he will become..." He paused, scanning the group. "What I say next requires a Dao-Oath before we can continue. Does anyone wish to proceed?"
A Dao-Oath? These old foxes understood the weight of those words. They looked at each other, hesitant. After a while, several figures left, until about a third remained.
"More stayed than I expected," the middle-aged man said with a faint smile.
"Enough nonsense. Let's swear the oath first!" a cold, elegant woman in black said bluntly.
The remaining group nodded and swore the oath—one so airtight it left no room for manipulation. After several isolation barriers were set up, the group relaxed slightly, though their expressions remained solemn.
"The Bee Daoist has broken through, and his strength will surely ascend a level. I believe that within the Qingtian Domain, our power is insufficient to oppose him. As for the Heavenly Dragon senior's plan... while it seems fine, who knows what traps lie within? Now that he has broken through, whether the plan will even work is a question."
He paused again, his gaze meaningful. "So, do you all still wish to oppose the Bee Daoist? Or should we... turn against the Heavenly Dragon Continent?"
The atmosphere froze! Turn against the Heavenly Dragon Continent? Those were forbidden words! That was a land with more than ten Mahayana cultivators! Compared to them, the Star-Sea Continent was like an ant—a mantis trying to stop a carriage. No one had dared to even think it before, but the emergence of the Bee Daoist had changed things.
Yet, no one answered directly. Instead, someone asked another question. "I want to know how much you all know about the true history of the Star-Sea Continent. I believe that after so many years, no matter how much the Heavenly Dragon and other continents block and threaten us, they cannot truly sever the transmission of truth."
Ordinary people might not know, but these peak experts surely had their sources. It was just that no one dared speak of it before. The Bee Daoist's sudden rise gave them this opportunity.
After all, while they didn't know the Bee Daoist's full strength, they knew his character. If they had to choose someone to trust in the Qingtian Domain, he was the only choice. In character and conduct, he was beyond reproach. His only potential flaw was that he wasn't someone who would sacrifice himself for the 'greater good,' but he was someone who would never backstab a friend and would always look after those who helped him.
Those who knew him during his growth were now all powerful figures in the domain, and he had positioned each of them perfectly to utilize their talents without letting nepotism ruin his industries. Such a blend of emotion and logic was rare, especially in someone at the peak. A man like this, who now possessed strength that even the Heavenly Dragon senior feared... wasn't he a better bet than the Heavenly Dragon cultivators who had been sucking the Star-Sea Continent dry for years?
"I know some of it, but there are many gaps. I am curious about what our continent truly looked like in ancient times... so I'll start!"
As the topic opened, everyone listened intently. The dusty history was slowly unveiled.
One of the strongest continents of the ancient era! The place with the most 'Top Ten Human Experts'! The land with the densest spiritual energy and the most miraculous spirit herbs!
As the fragments were pieced together, everyone fell silent. Their emotions were a complex blend of regret and sorrow. "Is this truly what our continent was? And yet it has become like this!" One voice was thick with bitterness.
A mysterious 'War of Demon-Extermination' had killed almost all of the continent's peak experts. Then, an unprecedented demonic calamity erupted. The brutal war drained the continent's foundation. While top experts from other continents eventually 'saved' them, the lost foundation could never be recovered.
After the war, the sects and cultivators tried to rebuild, hoping to restore their former glory. But an invisible sickle had descended from the heavens, breaking all hope... a harvest that had lasted for ages had turned the continent into its current state—a mere shadow of its peak. How could any person of the Star-Sea Continent accept this?
"This was a conspiracy against our continent!"
"And it seems they allied with the demons and other unknown forces... otherwise, given our peak strength, our experts wouldn't have been slaughtered without a single survivor. Only our continent suffered this fate!"
Having realized the truth, their faces turned grim.
"From your expressions, I assume you've made your choice?" the middle-aged man asked.
"Let's fight. This time, I stand with the Bee Daoist. What about you?" the woman in black said decisively.
"In all these years, our continent has finally produced someone who makes the other continents this fearful. If we don't gamble now, do we just wait to be killed by the Heavenly Dragon cultivators?"
"Me too. The Bee Daoist!"
"The Bee Daoist!"
Voices rang out in unison. To them, if the Bee Daoist fell, the destruction of the Star-Sea Continent was certain. Under that sickle, there was no hope. But if he won, given his character, they would surely be rewarded. Looking at the prosperity of the Qingtian Domain, in a thousand or ten thousand years, it might even birth a Grade 6 or even a legendary Grade 7 spirit vein! Then, Mahayana cultivators would no longer be a dream!
The only problem was that no matter how they looked at it, the Bee Daoist's chances weren't high. But they weren't zero. The fact that he made Heavenly Dragon cultivators fearful enough to want to use Star-Sea cultivators to dismantle him from within—that was unique in history!
Furthermore, from the moment this conversation began, they had no room to refuse. Anyone who refused would surely be killed by the others.
Once the final decision was made, they began their final discussion: How to win?
"First, we must secretly contact the Bee Daoist to ask what help he needs and provide all the techniques, knowledge, and resources we can..."
"He must be raising Soul Transformation grade bees, right? A massive swarm of those could provide a surprising effect."
"Those who left earlier are just opportunists. They are not truly allied with the Heavenly Dragon senior. We can use that."
"Does anyone have secret spatial coordinates? We can send our core foundations and 'seeds' into the Qingtian Domain. I believe he has more than just a few teleportation arrays! If we truly break ties, the Qingtian Domain is the safest place. As for inevitable casualties, consider them necessary sacrifices."
"No matter how strong the Heavenly Dragon senior is, his hidden manpower won't be much. That is his unavoidable weakness."
"Who do you think his helpers will be? Could it be the demons? Or something else..."
As they discussed the fate of the continent, Qi Ping's terrifying Nascent Soul tribulation reached its end. With a surge of feedback from heaven and earth containing endless spiritual vitality, a terrifying Nascent Soul of absolute pressure was finally completed!
The great Yin-Yang and Five Elements laws coiled around it, forming a domain world of crushing pressure. The spatial laws—too profound to look at directly—only deepened this irresistible suppression.