Late Tribulation Stage and the Demigod Realm

Inside the Divine Temple's training room, the space was now filled with purple lightning.

Each strand of this thunder was unimaginably powerful—just a single wisp could easily blast a Demigod-realm martialist to dust. Yet at this moment, Ian Song sat cross-legged in the center of the lightning, his whole body wrapped in thunder, his expression utterly calm and unruffled.

"Absorb!"

Suddenly, his hands moved rapidly to form seals. As soon as the seals were complete, all the lightning in the training room surged wildly into his body.

"Boom!"

No one knew how much time passed before a thunderous roar erupted from within his body—he had broken through to the martial Demigod Realm in one leap.

"Finally made it!"

A small, gratified smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He hadn’t expected this closed-door session to take over twenty years just to raise his cultivation to the Demigod Realm—mainly because his foundation was so absurdly deep.

"Alright, since my martial cultivation has reached the Demigod Realm, I might as well push my Immortal Dao to the late Tribulation stage too!"

With a thought, massive quantities of top-grade spirit crystals flew into the training room, shattering and dissolving into rolling spiritual energy that he absorbed into his body.

A few days later.

His body trembled, and his Immortal Dao cultivation broke through to mid Tribulation.

At the same time, a Heavenly Tribulation descended.

For a cultivator at this level, Ian Song didn’t have the slightest fear of the tribulation. He cleared it in just half an hour, emerging completely unscathed.

Without stopping, he pressed on with his cultivation.

Ten days later, his cultivation broke through once again, finally reaching the late Tribulation stage.

Another Heavenly Tribulation arrived.

This tribulation was even fiercer. For ordinary late-Tribulation cultivators, any single bolt of lightning would annihilate them— even a Human-Immortal would be severely injured. But to Ian Song, it was nothing but a mild itch.

"Sigh!"

Ian Song let out a gentle sigh. This breakthrough had nearly depleted all the spirit crystals and resources he’d stored in the Divine Temple, and with his foundation so deep, the resources needed for future breakthroughs would be unimaginable.

With a thought, Ian left the Divine Temple and appeared in his study.

"Young Master, you've finally come out!"

Wei Le and Hua Nu, who had been guarding the study door, rushed in as soon as they heard movement inside.

"Yeah."

Ian nodded. "Has anything important happened while I was away?"

"There has!" Wei Le nodded and quickly recounted how Ao Tian and Feng Jiu had arrived in the capital, and how certain people were deliberately smearing Ian, giving him a terrible reputation.

Ian just laughed it off.

Right now, even without using Nine Stellar Transformations, his strength rivaled high-tier gods. If he did use it, his power would skyrocket hundreds of times, letting him instant-kill high-tier gods.

So, those rumors couldn't hurt him at all.

Soon, word that Ian had emerged from seclusion spread, and Liu Long, Wang Ying, and others hurried over.

"Boss, you must've gotten way stronger in this round of closed-door training, right?"

Liu Long looked at Ian with open envy. They were both transmigrators, but his boss was just on another level—his cultivation was skyrocketing like a rocket.

"Yeah."

Ian nodded.

"Boss, you're awesome!" Liu Long quickly laid on the flattery.

"Boss, let's celebrate your breakthrough—how about we hit up the best restaurant in the city?" Liu Long suggested.

"Sure!"

Ian nodded.

A quarter of an hour later, several carriages rolled out from the estate, heading straight for Cloud-Heaven Pavilion—the best restaurant in the Imperial Capital.

Soon, the carriages stopped in front of Cloud-Heaven Pavilion. Ian and his group stepped out one by one; last time, Prince Rowan had hosted Ian here.

Soon, the crowd outside Cloud-Heaven Pavilion spotted them.

"Hey, isn't that Evan Chu?"

"Whoa, he finally showed up!"

"Hmph, damn Human traitor!"

"He's a disgrace to our race!"

...

Hearing all the gossip and curses, everyone except Ian looked pretty uncomfortable.

"Master, want us to go teach those bastards a lesson?"

Muse was fuming.

"No need. They're just a bunch of keyboard warriors. Not worth our time."

Ian waved it off and strode into Cloud-Heaven Pavilion.

Cloud-Heaven Pavilion had ninety-nine floors. The teleportation array on the first floor could take you to any level. Just as Ian's group entered, the array flashed and a bunch of young elites appeared. Leading them was Xue Ling'er, third on the Hatchling Dragon Ranking, still a bit tipsy.

"Boss, that guy's been the loudest lately—he's been going all out to smear you!" Liu Long whispered to Ian.

"Evan Chu, it's you!"

Xue Ling'er spotted Ian and his eyes flashed with venom. He sneered, "So the Human traitor dares show his face here? Aren't you afraid everyone will want you dead?"

"I don't have any beef with him. Why's he working so hard to smear me?" Ian ignored Xue Ling'er and turned to Liu Long.

"Just plain envy!" Liu Long said. "I heard he's chasing Ji Bing from the Ji Clan—they've got a grudge with you. He probably wants to suck up to her, but Ji Bing ignores him completely!"

"So that's it!"

Ian nodded, then waved to a waiter. "Get us a private room."

Being ignored made Xue Ling'er furious—his anger boiled over. He glared at Ian and shouted, "Traitor! You're not welcome here! You'd better get out of the capital now!"

"Boss, why don't I go teach that punk a lesson?" Liu Long's eyes flashed coldly.

"Just a mad dog. Not worth bothering with."

Ian said calmly.

"Mad dog? He called me a mad dog!"

Xue Ling'er was about to blow his top. He wanted nothing more than to tear Ian to pieces, but he still had a shred of sense—he knew he wasn't Ian's match. So he kept taunting: "Evan Chu, you coward! As soon as Saint Son Ao Tian and Divine Maiden Feng Jiu showed up, you turned turtle! If you've got any guts, go challenge them!"

"You done? If so, get lost."

Ian shot Xue Ling'er an annoyed look—this guy really didn't know when to quit.

Seeing Ian's attitude, Xue Ling'er thought he had the upper hand and got even cockier. "You're scared, aren't you? Heh, you're just a traitor who bullies the weak and fears the strong. You wouldn't dare to—uh!"

Before he could finish, Ian suddenly appeared in front of him and clamped a hand around his throat. A surge of power instantly sealed Xue Ling'er's cultivation.

Ian let go, staring at Xue Ling'er coldly. "Now, you've got two choices: kneel and kowtow in apology, or die. What's it gonna be?"

"...You...!"

Xue Ling'er was so furious he could barely speak, but inside he was even more terrified. He'd known Evan Chu was strong, but not this terrifying—he couldn't even resist for a second before his cultivation was sealed.