Chapter Seventy-Four: The Prison of Nine Tribulations

“It seems you’re about to be struck bald soon.”
Feng Shang gazed at Elder Crane’s forehead, counting dozens of silver hairs now charred and broken, emitting the pungent odor of burnt feathers. The old man looked thoroughly disheveled—Feng Shang couldn’t help but sneer.

“You—”
Elder Crane was both shocked and furious. His appearance had suffered, and this was no trivial matter. Instantly, dazzling strands of light emerged, and his lost silver hair regenerated, gleaming with renewed luster.

Afterward, he cautiously scanned his surroundings.

In the distance, nine-colored divine patterns flickered, the light of the Dao hazy, and tribulation power arose from the array’s banners, flowing through the starry sky.

At the same time, this region was enveloped by a force, sealed completely like an impenetrable cage.

“What kind of formation is this? I can’t move even a light-year, let alone pierce through the void.”
Crane Xuan was inwardly alarmed and deeply regretful.

He extended his divine sense, carefully searching for external presence, but his efforts were in vain—he sensed nothing beyond, frustration rising within him.

He had used a precious strand of Radiant Light this time, convinced of victory; yet, in just this brief moment, the situation had turned sharply against him.

“Damn brat, I can’t keep entangling with him; I must escape. Lu Han set me up, but this boy is even more troublesome than a peak Lord of Light!”
Crane Xuan was vexed and remorseful. Feng Shang’s methods were endless and impossible to guard against—had he known, he would never have involved himself in this mess.

Thinking it over, not only had he gained nothing from this venture, but he was about to lose heavily, expending a strand of Radiant Light for absolutely nothing—an utter loss.

Thunder boomed.

As he pondered, a golden bolt of lightning struck again, even more formidable than before.

Elder Crane’s expression changed instantly. This thunder contained the laws of destruction, inherently countering his immortal body of light—his flesh struck could not be transformed by light, and would be truly damaged.

This time, he was wiser. He immediately shifted beside the Thousand-Handed Compassionate Sovereign; this divine technique, now bolstered by Radiant Light, was far more stable than before.

With a resounding crash, the golden thunder blazed, its force overwhelming, instantly severing forty-five arms from the Compassionate Sovereign.

Elder Crane saw this and panicked. If his guardian deity collapsed, he would be left to face the tribulation alone. Fearing the danger, he hastily formed seals, reinforcing his technique’s defenses.

The deity’s serene and compassionate eyes lifted gently as Elder Crane activated it. Nine hundred fifty-five arms rose, each pinching a flower, a haze of light surrounding them—extraordinary, bordering on the sacred.

This was a defensive stance.

“You were shouting so arrogantly, and now you’re hiding like a turtle. How disappointing.”
Feng Shang watched from above, his interest waning.

Hearing this, Elder Crane’s face flushed, unable to retort. Indeed, he had slapped his own face with his earlier boasts, now suffering humiliation from the younger generation.

With his status, he couldn’t remain calm. The indignity he had suffered in these few moments far outweighed centuries of accumulated grievance—he was deeply aggrieved.

“Forget the brat for now. Escaping is paramount. Where is the heart of this formation? If I destroy it, the array will crumble on its own. But the core is well-hidden—let me try breaking out directly.”
Crane Xuan’s thoughts raced.

He knew little about formations, and had never encountered an array capable of trapping a Lord of Light. Still, he decided to attempt a direct breakthrough.

Before he could try, a sharp clang echoed suddenly—a jet-black sword aura of destruction swept across the starry sky, slashing straight toward Elder Crane’s head.

“Is this the sword aura of the Path of Destruction? How can it be so powerful?”
Elder Crane was dumbfounded. At once a chill ran through him—if this sword aura struck him, his body of light would lose at least three percent of its power.

No!
He must not let it touch him!

The Thousand-Handed Sovereign pinched its fingers, petals danced around, divine rain fell. With a metallic clang, it blocked the sword aura, which exploded in a shower of fragments. The deity shuddered violently—over eighty more arms shattered and vanished.

Elder Crane’s mouth twitched. The power was indeed immense.

“The Nine Tribulations have begun to cycle. With each passing moment, the tribulation attacks here grow stronger. You might as well focus on being a turtle—though you won’t last much longer…”
Feng Shang looked at Elder Crane with sympathy.

“Don’t get smug. You’re only relying on the formation. Damn it!”
Elder Crane was livid—the brat’s mouth was relentless.

“I’m only offering friendly advice. Look, the tribulation of the Path of Slaughter has arrived.”
Feng Shang smiled faintly, hands folded at his chest, calmly watching.

Elder Crane turned, and sure enough, from the northern quadrant, a blood-red spear hurtled toward him, so vivid it seemed to drip blood. He gasped in shock.

This was a great tribulation containing the laws of slaughter!

Damn it all!

If he were impaled by this, his body of light would lose at least five percent. He must avoid it at all costs.

Elder Crane stiffened, hiding behind the Thousand-Handed Sovereign, focusing on being a turtle.

The blood spear of slaughter arrived, its rule merciless, tearing through everything. This time, over a hundred arms of the deity were destroyed.

Elder Crane felt acute pain—at this rate, he didn’t know how much longer the deity could hold. Would he be forced to expend more precious Radiant Light?

The ordeal only worsened.

The tribulations of the Path of Void, Path of Devouring, Path of Origin, and Path of Yin-Yang arrived one after another, each unexpected. The deity’s arms dwindled, and Crane Xuan’s old face grew more and more dejected.

“Hahaha, how does it feel, enjoying the taste of the Nine Tribulations? If you offer your Radiant Light willingly, I might, just might, let you live!”
Feng Shang laughed heartily.

“You—delusional!”
Elder Crane was enraged.

Radiant Light was his lifeblood; without it, ninety percent of his power would vanish.

“Then you’d better think carefully,”
Feng Shang said lazily, “There’s no escape from the Prison Array of Nine Tribulations. You’re trapped in a cage. Refuse my terms, and your manifestation will be destroyed by ever-strengthening tribulation attacks. Then, relying on your body of light alone, how long do you think you can last?”

His words drifted lightly but reached Elder Crane’s ears with crystalline clarity, causing his expression to shift repeatedly. He couldn’t deny it—Feng Shang’s words were truly threatening.

But he would never agree!

Elder Crane laughed coldly, glaring at Feng Shang. “You little bastard, dream on! If I fell for your tricks, I’d be the fool! Maintaining an array of this caliber consumes vast amounts of energy. How much longer can the crystals you infused last?”

“Oh?”
Feng Shang’s lips curled in amusement. “So that’s your concern. To be honest, I have plenty of cosmic crystals. Even if ten more Lords of Light entered the array, I have the wealth to grind them all down.”

“Such boastful nonsense!”
Elder Crane scoffed. Each tribulation attack was infused with the laws—every blink cost hundreds of thousands of cosmic crystals. To exhaust his light power would require an astronomical sum.

Dream on!

He reckoned if he held out long enough, the brat would run out of cosmic crystals, and he would naturally escape the array.

“Don’t believe me? Then look at this.”
Feng Shang produced an object—no bigger than an egg, crystal-clear and shimmering, with countless galaxies flowing inside, dazzling and radiant.

“A cosmic crystal… star?”
Elder Crane looked up, seeing the egg-sized crystal orb in the youth’s hand, utterly stunned, his mind buzzing, his voice stammering. Now he understood the boy’s arrogant tone.

Indeed, with this cosmic crystal star, even ten Lords of Light could be worn down.

“Just who are you?”
Elder Crane was fearful. Though small, the cosmic crystal star was actually composed of billions upon billions of compressed cosmic crystals—a trillion is a million times a million.

Billions of trillions of cosmic crystals equaled the fortune of several Lords of Light, something only ancient and illustrious divine realms could produce.

The value of this cosmic crystal star was so immense that even a Sovereign of the Path would be tempted.