<b>Chapter 581: Battling The Physique Tribulation</b>
After receiving the decree, an elder of the Nether Crossing Swamp reluctantly said: “Messenger, it is not that we don't want to carry out the will of the decree, but right now, our previous sect master had abdicated his position and the new one escaped to be a monk. Our inner workings are in turmoil and the elders are chaotically arguing just for a new sect master. We are a snake without a head at the moment, and no one can take the lead. In this situation, how can we have the ability to carry out the Heavenly God Decree?”
Whether their excuse was real or not, or if the messenger believed them or otherwise, the swamp refused to follow the decree and bought time.
The messenger couldn't find the leader of the swamp since they didn't have a sect master. They couldn't force the issue since there was no one around.
Of course, only the Nether Crossing Swamp could use this excuse. Everyone knew that their descendant, Jian Xuan, ran away to be a monk instead of the sect master. This was not a secret in the northern Misty Field or the entire Sacred Nether World.
Outside of these two, all the other ghost lineages left the Prime Ominous Grave and headed for the cities around the Nether Border to gather up mortals.
All the mortals around this region didn't know a calamity was quickly approaching. Moreover, the decree was sent and carried out on the same day, so the great powers in the Distant Cloud didn't know anything yet.
Although most cultivators and mortals of the other races were normally at the Distant Cloud, the races had taken root in the Sacred Nether World for millions of years. Even in the Nether Border that was full of ghosts, there were still mortals and cultivators from the other races.
They normally gathered at huge cities in the Nether Border that contained hundreds of thousands of people. At this time, the mortals and cultivators of the other races in this region didn't know that there was an evil hand reaching out for them.
Within the pond that was deep into the path of death, Li Qiye's physique tribulation was pouring down. Li Qiye simply roared and didn't move as the Hell Suppressing Inner Physique rose up high. The dao foundation turned into a Primordial Kun Peng, and his True Fate placed the inner physique inside. In just a moment, the True Fate and the Hell Suppressing Inner Physique rode the Kun Peng to fight the tribulation up above.
“Rumble!” Up in the sky, the ensuing battle caused the world to collapse in a tyrannical and domineering manner.
Anyone would be scared out of their mind to see this scene since no one had ever undergone their tribulation like this. Using one's True Fate to fight the enemy was courting death because cultivators were most fearful of a Fate Calamity. The majority of cultivators didn't want to use their True Fate to fight, let alone face a Physique Tribulation.
At the Enlightened Being level, a destroyed body could be rebuilt, but if the True Fate was shattered, that would be a real death.
Because of this, no cultivator would do what Li Qiye was doing with his tribulation. However, Li Qiye didn't care and used an unstoppable momentum with his True Fate to crush the physique tribulation until the sky collapsed. Such an invincible style would win a lot of fans if there was anyone spectating.
Anyone would feel that he was being too crazy since if his True Fate was wounded, he could die and turn into ashes.
Meanwhile, Li Qiye's true body was still meditating in the pond. The young green branches continued to suck up the essence to strengthen Li Qiye's meridian. After absorbing a sufficient amount of essence, the entire location became full of divine spirits!
After opening the twelfth palace, his meridian was dried up — this was the norm since opening twelve palaces was its limit. The meridian drying up meant that it couldn't open another palace, lest the cultivator risks shattering the meridian along with all the other palaces.
Even the strongest cultivator couldn't handle such a devastating result. However, at this moment, Li Qiye's palace location was full of vigor and divinity like the realm of a god with endless life essences.
Outsiders would never believe such a thing since nothing could restore the withered Nigong meridian, not even True Immortal Medicine. However, after absorbing so much essence from the pond, he proved them wrong.
Nevertheless, this was far from enough for Li Qiye since the restoration of the meridian alone was not beneficial at all. In the end, all the divinity and endless life inside were meaningless.
Under the current circumstances, even if he could open the thirteenth palace, he still wouldn't be able to withstand the suppression from the heavens, so the restoration was merely his first step.
“Boom, boom, boom!” Hymns appeared as if a grand dao was forming into something like a new palace. Each time a hum resonated, Li Qiye's body would shake. The twelve palaces hovering above his head were greatly affected, dimming and brightening in an alternating cycle.
He had begun the construction of the thirteenth palace after absorbing enough essence. Of course, this was only the beginning. These rich essences alone were far from enough to create the next palace.
After an outline was formed, Li Qiye still needed the most important thing. Without it, the palace would collapse right after it formed!
In the sky, the battle lasted for some time before the True Fate finally destroyed the heavenly tribulation and collapsed the tribulation portal as well as slew the physique devil. After the portal was destroyed, the tribulation dissipated.
The Soaring Immortal Inner Physique in front of Li Qiye's chest became even brighter. Waves of rings emanated like the spreading of wings.
“Buzz!” The moment these wings made of light spread out wide, time suddenly quivered as if the flap of these wings could affect time itself. In just a second, time began to slow down.
There was an illusion that everything became slower. Even the passing of light was as slow as a snail; nothing was excluded from this effect.
People would be able to see the passage of time at this moment. Nothing could feel better than sensing the slow passage of time.
Soaring Immortal Physique, minor completion! At this moment, Li Qiye had two minor completion Immortal Physiques. Outside of the Black Dragon King, Li Qiye was the only other one who successfully accomplished this.
It was the fastest physique in this world. Although it was only at minor completion, its speed was still at an awe-inspiring level. With this, no Heavenly King would ever be able to catch Li Qiye, not even the highest level of Heavenly King, a Heaven's Equal King that specialized in speed, unless this particular king also cultivated the Soaring Immortal Physique.
At grand completion, its speed would be at the limit of this world. When exerted to its maximum potential, one could jump outside of the temporal constraint and soar across eternity!
Li Qiye was only at minor completion and was far from reaching that level, but what kind of power would the combination of two minor completion Immortal Physiques have? Extreme speed and extreme weight — this combination would be the most terrifying weapon in this world. One strike could cause the destruction of the heaven and earth.
Other cultivators would be ecstatic at achieving minor completion, but Li Qiye was emotionless. He was still sitting in the pond, focusing all of his will into opening the thirteenth palace.
A minor completion Soaring Immortal Physique was not a cause for pride to Li Qiye, but opening the next palace was indeed a glorious thing.
There were several big cities back in the Nether Border, sites of congregation for the other races besides the ghosts. Outside of these huge cities, there were also other smaller cities all around. At this minute, all of them were suffering a calamity with screams that pierced the sky only to be answered by ominous black clouds. The apocalypse had come to these mortals and even the cultivators in these cities. They didn't know what was happening before being brought away.
Blackstone City was one of the biggest cities in the Nether Border. It was built on top of a rolling mountain range. This was the place where stone golems gathered in the Nether Border. This region was ruled by the ghosts and protected by a monster named the Myriad Bones Throne. Outside of the ghosts, other races had a very difficult time opening up new settlements.
Thus, Blackstone City was built in the wild and spanned hundreds of thousands of miles. 300,000 mortals and tens of thousands of cultivators could be found within.
The majority of the inhabitants were stone golems with some humans and members of the Blood Race here and there.
Today, it had also met a calamity. At early sunrise, there was a sudden deafening explosion.
“Rumble!” Its defense was being attacked by someone as explosions kept on detonating. Many pavilions and buildings were collapsing as if there was a gigantic hand lifting the entire city up.
In just a moment, shrill screams appeared everywhere. More than 300,000 mortals were suddenly sucked up into the sky along with some weaker cultivators.