Eternal God Emperor: Only I Am Emperor One

Chapter 187 The Nine Great Sages
On the surface of Qinghu Lake, cultivators and savage beasts from various forces gathered. Most of them were only at the half-saint level and dared not dive into the lake to participate in the battle between the saint and saint king levels. They could only stay on the surface of the water to seek opportunities.

The opportunities in the 50,000-mile-long Qinghu Lake are definitely not limited to the Yellow Dragon Tooth. Especially for a half-saint, obtaining even a wisp of dragon energy would be a heaven-defying gain enough to become a saint.

At this moment, all living beings on the 50,000-li Qinghu Lake looked up at the sky.

Above Qinghu Lake, dark thunderclouds appeared, obscuring the sky.

The thunderclouds grew stronger and shorter, until they seemed to merge with the lake surface.

The dark clouds were so vast, stretching for thousands of miles, that they pressed down on the water's surface.

"Hoohoo!"

In the clouds, thunderbolts as large as trees that can be embraced pierced through the clouds, their sound causing waves to surge across the entire lake, and even the tranquil Qingjing Mountain on the distant lakeshore trembled slightly.

"What happened?"

All living beings beneath the thunderclouds were fleeing rapidly, sensing the terrifying divine might that could even kill a saint.

No one knew what had happened, and they assumed that some forbidden creature had revived at the bottom of the lake, incurring divine punishment.

The Calamity Clouds are a life-or-death calamity triggered by Emperor Yi.

Even though he was at the bottom of the lake, which was thousands of feet deep, the tribulation lightning was not hindered in the slightest. It struck down from the clouds and became even more powerful after passing through the lake.

Di Yi's 144 acupoints were ignited, and thunder roared in his ears. He was fearless and faced the thunder head-on, colliding with it with his physical body.

Centered on him, the area within a radius of thirty or forty miles became a domain of thunder, with water vapor rising, creating a rather dreamlike scene.

Emperor Yi floated in the water, letting bolts of lightning strike his body, but his aura did not weaken at all; on the contrary, it continued to strengthen.

The life-and-death tribulations at the Quasi-Saint level no longer posed a significant threat to him, and the heavenly punishments that had blocked countless Quasi-Saints seemed powerless at this moment.

The Tribulation of Life and Death consists of eighty-one strikes. Normally, they should strike one by one. However, it seems that because they could not cause any substantial damage to Di Yi, they angered the heavens and earth. At this moment, several bolts of lightning struck down at the same time, merging into one, and their power increased several times over.

At first, two bolts merged into one, then three, four... until the last bolt of lightning. The nine bolts of lightning merged into one, transforming into pure purple lightning, ten feet thick, like a dragon of heavenly tribulation, carrying destructive power straight to the bottom of the lake.

The vast lake was easily cleaved in two before it, forming a vortex entirely composed of lightning.

The power of the thousands of miles of tribulation clouds was compressed to its limit at this moment, and in an extremely strange manner, it crashed down onto the lake along with the purple lightning.

It was as if the sky had collapsed.

Di Yi was no longer as relaxed as before. His clothes were tattered, and domineering lightning power surged within his fifty meridians. Even the Chaos God-Demon Body could not refine it in a short time.

The lakebed beneath our feet had collapsed on a large scale, releasing more molten lava that merged with the lake water, creating a dark, misty cloud.

The power of lightning coursed through the lake, affecting an area spanning six or seven hundred miles, a catastrophe for the aquatic beasts in the lake.

There was still time to dodge the aftershocks of the Holy King's battle, but the power of lightning, which spreads as fast as light, was impossible to avoid.

Millions of savage beasts died in the lightning, sank to the bottom of the lake, and were buried by lava and the cooled black mud at the bottom.

The calamity clouds crashed onto the lake's surface, turning the entire area, spanning thousands of miles, pitch black, as if it were the end of the world.

The darkness lasted for a full half hour until the dark clouds dispersed and the lightning subsided, at which point the human cultivators and savage beasts on and in the lake breathed a sigh of relief.

No one believed this was a life-or-death tribulation for a saint. Firstly, the number of lightning bolts was not accurate, only forty or so. Secondly, the tribulation lightning of this power was already capable of threatening a saint in the Tongtian Realm, and was simply beyond the ability of a quasi-saint to withstand.

Everyone, including the wild beasts, believed this to be a divine punishment, a calamity ordained by the heavens against the unknown entity at the bottom of the lake.

Di Yi was struck into the molten lava at the bottom of the lake by the last purple tribulation lightning. His whole body was scorched by the flames, and the lightning power in his body had not completely dissipated and was very stubborn.

He was coughing up blood, the first time he had been injured like this since his physical sanctification.

"It's finally over. I've truly faced life and death. Why wasn't there eighty-one bolts of lightning during my tribulation?"

Di Yi didn't dwell on the matter. In the magma at the bottom of the lake, there was an aura that made him extremely uneasy, as if it were burying a great terror.

He dared not linger, rushed out of the lava, and returned to the lake.

Above them, countless aquatic beast corpses sank, and strangely, these corpses were instantly swallowed up as soon as they touched the black mud at the bottom of the lake, leaving not even a skeleton behind.

"Something's not right. There's something strange at the bottom of the lake, like it's sucking away life force. Could it be that beneath the magma, there's an ancient being that hasn't died yet and is about to be resurrected?"

The surroundings were deathly silent. The Saint King Realm experts who were fighting for the Yellow Dragon Fang had moved the battlefield to a place tens of thousands of miles away, avoiding the area of ​​the previous Emperor Yi's life-and-death tribulation cloud.

Even they were afraid of this unknown calamity cloud, fearing that they would be drawn into it and incur even more powerful divine punishment.

More and more corpses were being devoured, not only the aquatic beasts that died under the heavenly tribulation, but also the Saint Realm experts who died in battle. The Saintly corpses of Ling Xiao and the Ghost Flood Dragon King also disappeared without a trace, vanishing into thin air and being swallowed by the bottom of the lake.

Emperor Yi's heart pounded wildly, and he dared not remain at the bottom of the lake any longer, retreating towards the surface.

A moment later, he burst out of the lake, transformed into a streak of light, and landed on Tianlong Island in the center of the lake.

The disciples of Tianfu Star Palace on the island had long since left, leaving only the empty Star Palace Temple unguarded.

Emperor Yi stepped into the Holy Temple and activated the island's array with the Heavenly Firmament Holy Seal, forming a light barrier that temporarily kept the conflict outside the island.

The Heavenly Seal is the token of the head of the First-Class Hall in the Central Region Black Market. It is also a supreme treasure with a very high grade. However, the spirit of the seal is in a dormant state, and apart from using it to activate the formation within the Qingjing Mountain area, it does not have much combat use.

With the dramatic changes in Qinghu, the sacred energy on Tianlong Island became a hundred times more concentrated than before, and the rules of heaven and earth also became more active.

It is foreseeable that once this chaotic battle ends, Tianlong Island will become the best cultivation holy land in the entire Yipintang.

Having survived the life-or-death ordeal, Di Yi absorbed a significant amount of the divine medicine essence within his Qi Sea. Taking advantage of this, his spiritual power broke through the barrier, reaching the early stage of the fifty-third level, and his physical strength increased considerably.

However, his martial arts cultivation has not improved significantly; he remains in the quasi-saint realm and has not yet entered the saint realm.

Of course, this is only in comparison to physical strength and mental power. His progress in these two paths is quite abnormal, making martial arts pale in comparison.

If he were to condense the Saintly Image and Saintly Source and officially enter the Saintly Realm, Emperor Yi's martial arts cultivation would also experience a surge.

After passing through three Quasi-Saint Tribulations, each cultivator must use the Saintly Dao Rules they have comprehended to condense their own Saintly Image, and then from the Saintly Image, condense the Saintly Source.

“Any cultivator who has practiced the Heavenly Demon Stone Carvings can condense a Heavenly Demon Saint Image. Moreover, the more Heavenly Demon Stone Carvings a cultivator has, the more powerful the Heavenly Demon Saint Image they will condense will be. I have eight Heavenly Demon Stone Carvings, including the strongest Heavenly Demon Prison Suppression Diagram. The Heavenly Demon Saint Image I condense will definitely be at the top level. I just don’t know if I can condense more Saint Images.”

He remembered that after Zhang Ruochen in the original timeline survived three Quasi-Saint Tribulations, he managed to condense a total of six Saintly Images: Time, Space, Fist Dao, Palm Dao, Sword Dao, and Immovable King.

Emperor Yi believed that his accumulation of power at the same level was even deeper than Zhang Ruochen's, and it was entirely possible for him to condense no fewer than, or even surpass, the number of Saintly Appearances that Zhang Ruochen possessed.

However, the condensation of a Saintly Image is not absolutely related to the accumulation before reaching the Saintly Realm. A cultivator who can condense multiple Saintly Images represents, to some extent, breaking the rules and defying fate. It is related to destiny in the dark and is not entirely determined by oneself.

Di Yi was somewhat impatient. He closed his eyes, entered a meditative state, and released all 365 Sacred Dao Rules that he had comprehended from his Sacred Soul.

Origin Rules, Truth Rules, Darkness Rules, Sword Rules, Palm Rules, Claw Rules... various sacred rules are arranged around, each different from the others, and the holy light they emit varies in strength.

Emperor Yi raised his arm, and the two divine seals in his palm revived, drawing upon the sacred souls of the Holy Dragon and the Holy Elephant.

Under the guidance of the divine seal and the holy soul, the rules of the palm path were the first to react, condensing into a holy image, with a dragon and an elephant intertwined together, corresponding to the Dragon Elephant Prajna Palm.

Di Yi was overjoyed. The rule of the Dao could condense a Saintly Image on its own, which meant that he could also break the rules like Zhang Ruochen and condense multiple Saintly Images, giving him a chance to defy fate and reach the pinnacle in the future.

Without hesitation, Di Yi mobilized the rules of the Claw Dao, using the Hell Ghost King's Claw as a guide, and attempted to condense a second Holy Image.

His skill in claw techniques is no less than that in palm techniques. He has been cultivating since childhood and has always been studying the Hell King Claw.

This claw technique is also quite remarkable. It is derived from the "Qiankun Dragon Claw Hand," one of the eighteen ultimate techniques of the Wanfo Dao, and incorporates the essence of the holy path of demonic and evil paths, surpassing its predecessor.

The claw-like rules of heaven and earth resonated with him. The claw-like rules converged into illusory claw imprints, connected together, and condensed into a dark black claw about ten feet in size. Beneath the claw, a dark yellow galaxy was also held.

The Demon King of Hell, whose realm is the Yellow Springs Galaxy, uses his claws to capture the Yellow Springs Galaxy. This claw-wielding holy form is quite extraordinary.

Generally speaking, the holy images condensed by cultivators are almost always human-shaped and closely resemble their own appearance. However, Di Yi condensed two holy images in a row, neither of which were human-shaped.

This is not a bad thing; on the contrary, it represents infinite possibilities.

He did not stop, but continued to condense the holy image.

The holy image condensed by the Path of Flowing Light is a ball of golden light, without substance, and when it moves, it is like a flying rainbow.

The holy image condensed from the sword's rules is a long sword, more than ten feet long, exuding a sharp sword aura.

The Five Elements Sacred Path rules merged with the Chaos God-Demon Body and the Heavenly Demon Stone Carving, forming a Heavenly Demon Sacred Image bathed in chaotic energy.

The Heavenly Demon Saint Form was a hundred feet tall, and finally took on a human form, with a face almost identical to that of Emperor Yi.

The fact that five holy images could be formed in succession is already astonishing.

But Emperor Yi had no intention of stopping there. He then set about condensing the holy images corresponding to the three ancient paths.

Without encountering any obstacles, the three sacred images of darkness, origin, and truth were successfully condensed, all in a vortex shape, invisible to the naked eye, which was quite miraculous.

He condensed eight holy images in one go, which surprised even Emperor Yi himself. If he added the spiritual holy image Eternal Night Burial Realm, he would have a total of nine holy images.

(End of this chapter)