Chapter 85: Nine Million

“How could you possibly be here?!”

Yu Yin had found it unbelievable that Sun Yuan had reached the Tribulation Stage. Now, Sun Yuan was even more shocked to see Jiang Li appear here.

Jiang Li was supposed to be protecting the Ji family in the void—how could he be here?! How had he returned so quickly?! He hadn’t even reached the Mahayana Stage yet!

What about the Ji family? Had Jiang Li failed to protect them, leaving them to die in the void?

Jiang Li had no obligation to answer Sun Yuan’s questions. The moment he arrived, he immediately understood what had happened.

The Spirit-Sealing Formation. An empty city.

If there was any other possibility, then he might as well throw away everything he knew about demonic path techniques.

Sun Yuan might not be a demonic cultivator, but he was more detestable than one!

Jiang Li grabbed Sun Yuan by the throat with one hand and locked his wrist with the other. With a sharp pull, he forcibly tore off his arm.

Left arm. Right arm. Left leg. Right leg.

In just a few moves, Jiang Li had reduced Sun Yuan to a limbless stump!

For a Tribulation Stage cultivator with blood-rebirth, this level of injury wasn’t fatal.

But Sun Yuan would rather take a fatal wound.

Jiang Li was so furious that he refused to let him die a painless death!

Gritting his teeth, Sun Yuan violently twisted his own head off to break free from Jiang Li’s iron grip. His spine rapidly regrew, followed by his limbs and flesh.

As soon as he restored his body, he turned and fled.

The closer one was to the Mahayana Stage, the more terrifying Jiang Li became.

He had slaughtered an entire city just to push himself to the peak of the Tribulation Stage. To step into the Mahayana Stage, he would have to massacre an entire nation.

The vast chasm between the Tribulation and Mahayana Stages filled him with utter despair!

“Are you alright?”

Jiang Li stepped up to Yu Yin, helping her up and giving her a Great Rejuvenation Pill. His expression remained cold and emotionless.

Under normal circumstances, seeing Yu Yin suffer a setback, he would have smirked and thrown in a few sarcastic remarks—maybe something like, You finally reached the Tribulation Stage, and yet you still lost?

But now, Yu Yin was barely hanging on to life, and nine million people had perished, not even leaving corpses behind.

Jiang Li couldn’t bring himself to joke.

Nine million people—what kind of concept was that?

Even an invasion by the Outer World Demons wouldn’t have caused this much destruction!

This was his failure as the Human Sovereign!

He had let down the past generations of Human Sovereigns.

How could he still call himself the strongest Human Sovereign?

How could he even face himself?

Jiang Li picked up a small red dress from the ground. Judging by its size, it had likely belonged to a lively and adorable young girl.

Now, her laughter was gone.

Only this little dress remained.

And there were nine million others just like it.

Nine million lives. Nine million empty graves.

Jiang Li’s heart trembled. He even felt the urge to cry.

“Don’t let Sun Yuan escape!” Yu Yin hurriedly reminded him.

“Escape?”

Jiang Li neatly folded the red dress and placed it carefully to the side before letting out a cold laugh.

“In the face of the Heavenly Tribulation, where can he run?”

Yu Yin looked up and realized that, at some point, dark clouds had gathered over the imperial city.

Compared to the tribulation she had endured when reaching the Tribulation Stage, the range of this one was much smaller—only covering the imperial city.

Yet, it was the most terrifying tribulation she knew of.

She had only seen Jiang Li survive it before.

The Immortal Ascension Tribulation.

“Master, are you alright?”

The Ruyi Gourd rolled into Yu Yin’s arms, crying.

“That man almost killed you! I’ll use the Immortal Ascension Tribulation to strike him down!”

The Ruyi Gourd opened its mouth, spitting out a tiny white fish.

The little white fish transformed into human form and leaped toward Yu Yin.

“Aunt Yu Yin, are you okay?”

As the Nineteenth Princess of Great Zhou, she naturally recognized Yu Yin, the neighboring nation’s empress.

Back when Jiang Li was in the void, he had hidden Ji Kongkong inside the Ruyi Gourd by transforming her into a small white fish. He needed to protect Ji Kongkong, but not a mere immortal artifact.

Without the burden of protecting Ji Kongkong, Jiang Li had been able to return to the Nine Provinces in an instant.

Sun Yuan truly had nowhere to run.

Wherever he fled, the Immortal Ascension Tribulation followed.

Massive pillars of lightning struck him, charring his body black. Every technique available to a Tribulation Stage cultivator was useless against the Immortal Ascension Tribulation—completely ineffective!

The tribulation was a test of the cultivator.

It could only be endured.

“Sun Yuan, are you ready to die?”

Jiang Li’s voice sounded right behind him, sending chills down Sun Yuan’s spine.

Both of them stood under the Immortal Ascension Tribulation, doubling its intensity.

Sun Yuan suffered devastating injuries, while Jiang Li remained completely unscathed.

“N-no, no, no! I don’t want to die! I-I know many things! I can tell you how to obtain the Divine Repository Power! How to grow stronger! You’ll become even more powerful! You might not understand what Divine Repository Power is, but look—I used it to rise from the peak of the Soul Formation Stage to the peak of the Tribulation Stage! With this power, we’ll never have to fear the Outer World Demons again! Please! If you spare my life, I’ll tell you how to get it—”

Sun Yuan rambled desperately, trying to prove his worth.

“Do you understand me?”

Jiang Li suddenly asked.

Sun Yuan was caught off guard, unable to react.

“I asked, do you understand me?!”

Jiang Li’s fierce gaze bore into him, making Sun Yuan’s legs tremble.

“Y-yes, of course! You are the righteous and impartial Human Sovereign! The guardian of the Nine Provinces! The—”

Sun Yuan didn’t know how to answer in a way that would satisfy Jiang Li.

He had never had any direct dealings with Jiang Li.

The Tianji Tower never sold intelligence on Jiang Li.

Where could he have possibly learned anything about him?

He could only repeat what everyone already knew.

“Not you.”

Jiang Li shook his head in disappointment.

Sun Yuan didn’t understand him.

Which meant Sun Yuan wasn’t the one who had set him up.

Only someone who knew him well could have planned this so precisely.

Jiang Li already had a suspect in mind.

But he didn’t want to believe it.

“What was your position in the Divine Repository Sect?”

“Vice Sect Master! General Shenwei and I were both Vice Sect Masters, but he didn’t know about me. I knew about him.”

Sun Yuan’s heart sank when he realized Jiang Li knew about the Divine Repository Sect.

His leverage was dwindling.

“It was the Sect Master! Yes, blame the Sect Master! He said you were protecting the Ji family and wouldn’t be able to interfere here, so I could act without worry! N-no, no, no! I wasn’t at ease! I had a guilty conscience! The Sect Master forced me to do this!”

Sun Yuan hurriedly shifted the blame.

“Who is the Sect Master?”

“I don’t know! The Sect Master has never shown their true form!”

“And what is the Divine Repository Sovereign?”

“I don’t know! The Sect Master just said there was a Divine Repository Sovereign!”

Jiang Li stopped asking questions.

He drew his Heart Sword and sliced Sun Yuan apart, over and over again.

His skin remained intact, but his insides were shredded.

Yet, the Tribulation Stage’s blood-rebirth kept healing him.

The Ruyi Gourd joined in, summoning tribulations—Heart Demon Tribulation, Hell Tribulation, Reincarnation Tribulation, Eight Sufferings Tribulation…

These tribulations didn’t harm the body.

They tormented the soul.

The Reincarnation Tribulation made Sun Yuan repeatedly reincarnate as the nine million imperial citizens, experiencing their deaths again and again.

The Eight Sufferings Tribulation made him endure the pain of birth, aging, sickness, death, separation from loved ones, being forced to face enemies, unfulfilled desires, and the suffering of existence itself.

Sun Yuan couldn’t live.

He couldn’t die.

His agonized screams were endless.

He didn’t dare to open his eyes and face reality.

He didn’t dare to close them and experience the tribulations.

Finally, Jiang Li extracted his soul and burned it to ashes.