The Prodigies War

Silence fell. Not a single sound stirred the air. Lin Xun stepped down alive from the Heavenly Tribulation Platform. The sight stunned the crowd. Dao Lord Wanjing and the others stared in disbelief, as though the world itself had overturned.

“You said you would kill yourself if I survived,” Lin Xun said calmly, his gaze settling on Dao Lord Wanjing. “Why haven’t you done it yet?”

A strange tension rippled through the onlookers. Earlier, Dao Lord Wanjing had declared with absolute certainty that if Lin Xun did not perish, he would slit his own throat. Now Lin Xun was standing alive in front of them. Would he honor his words?

Countless eyes turned toward Dao Lord Wanjing. His face darkened to an ashen hue, and killing intent burned in his eyes. Of course, there was no sign whatsoever that he intended to take his own life. However, none dared mock him. Within the Thousand Tribulations Zone, Dao Lord Wanjing was unquestionably one of the most terrifying existences.

“Attack!” Unable to endure the humiliation, Dao Lord Wanjing waved his hand sharply.

Boom!

Eighteen Heavenly Mandate Apostles surged forward at once and treasures blazed into the sky. Supreme techniques were unleashed, and astonishing manifestations of the great dao unfolded, layer upon layer, each more breathtaking than the last.

Heaven and earth quaked, divine radiance swept across the world and dao sounds thundered through the firmament. A vast torrent of destruction roared toward Lin Xun.

Lin Xun stood with his hands clasped behind his back, unmoving as a mountain. When that overwhelming tide of power, enough to drive anyone present into despair, crashed toward him, it halted abruptly before him. It was as though it had struck an invisible heavenly chasm.

Then—Boom!

The torrent exploded and collapsed in a burst of light, vanishing without a trace. More than a dozen Eternal weapons were blasted backward, sent spinning through the air with shrill, anguished wails.

The spectacle left Chi Qianji and the others completely dumbfounded. Lin Xun had not even lifted a finger, yet he had shattered their combined killing strike with effortless ease. Dao Lord Wanjing and his companions stared wide-eyed, their scalps tingling with disbelief. How is this possible?!

“With such pitiful strength,” Lin Xun said lightly, almost bored, “you dare to scheme against me? You are courting death.”

Before his words had fully faded, a clear, resonant sword cry pierced the heavens. Streaks of sword qi erupted. Sword intent flooded the void.

Bang!

Dao Lord Wanjing was the first to fall. His body exploded under the crushing force of a single strand of sword intent and his soul scattered, utterly extinguished. Then, one after another, the remaining Heavenly Mandate Apostles ruptured where they stood. Overwhelming sword qi blotted out the sky, annihilating them on the spot.

Each of their bodies were shattered and their spirits perished. It all happened in the span of a single breath! That domineering, blood-soaked scene sent a shudder through every spectator, striking their minds like a violent shockwave.

Even Chi Qianji was shaken, his heart churning like a storm-tossed sea. Earlier, he had already anticipated that Lin Xun’s cultivation must have undergone earthshaking transformation. But he had never imagined that Lin Xun would become powerful to such a terrifying extent.

“No wonder...even while undergoing tribulation upon the Heavenly Tribulation Platform, he survived that sudden ambush...” Chi Qianji murmured.

Within moments, all nineteen Heavenly Mandate Apostles of the Kan Department stationed within the Thousand Tribulations Zone perished!

Lin Xun turned without another word and descended once more into the Heavenly Tribulation Platform. Earlier, he was undergoing his seventh great tribulation when Dao Lord Wanjing and the others launched their calculated ambush, forcing him to suspend the process and deal with the sudden upheaval.

Now that every enemy had been wiped out, there was nothing left to hinder him. It was time to resume his tribulation. Only after Lin Xun’s figure had completely vanished did the group of old monsters present finally breathe out in relief. However, their expressions were exceedingly complicated.

“Brother Chi,” someone said, cupping his fist respectfully, “you understand Lin Xun better than any of us. Could you tell us more about him?”

The others likewise turned their gazes toward Chi Qianji.

“Why not?” Chi Qianji replied with a faint smile. “I only came to know Young Friend Lin at the Sea of ​​Fate, so my understanding of him is limited. If you’re interested, I can share what little I know.”

......

Time flowed on. On the Heavenly Tribulation Platform, Lin Xun endured one tribulation after another. When he shattered the ninth and final tribulation, he ascended to the very summit of the platform. There, a torrent of primal chaos origin power poured down from above, enveloping him completely.

In that instant, he touched the profound mystery of the origin of tribulations. A surge of enlightenment flooded his mind. Vast and unfathomable visions flickered before his consciousness.

He saw that within the transformations of heaven and earth, and the rise and fall of ages, there always lingered the aura of calamities and tribulations. It was precisely because of their existence that all things in the world revealed a balance between life and death, ruin and renewal.

Plants could endure wind, frost, rain, and snow, growing tenaciously and displaying their vitality. Of course, beneath those same winds and fists, they could also wither and perish. To plants, wind and winter were calamities. Some survived their trials and transformed. Others faded and died within them.

Such was the eternal balance between life and death, ruin and renewal. By extension, all phenomena beneath the heavens followed the same principle. All bore the presence of calamity and tribulation. The shifting of worldly affairs and the turning of the ages, along with the countless unfathomable variables that arose within them, were inseparable from the workings of myriad calamities.

When one sought fortune or opportunity, one had to assume the corresponding risks. That risk itself was a form of calamity. Those who overcame their calamities gained transformation and fortune. Those who were defeated by them gained nothing at all.

Likewise, for ordinary mortals, birth and death, aging and sickness, love and hatred, grudges and entanglements were all bound to their own allotment of tribulations. In addition, their outcomes could also turn toward fortune or misfortune.

For those on the path of cultivation, the number of calamities only multiplied. There were tribulations of the dao, tribulations of the heart, and tribulations of slaughter. Every hardship endured and every setback suffered could be counted as a calamity.

Whether in the myriad phenomena of the world or among mortals and cultivators, those who survived their calamities could undergo a transformation akin to Nirvana. Those who perished within them...there was nothing more to say.

Ultimately, the origin of tribulations lay in the union of two primordial forces: destruction and transformation. When cultivators broke through their cultivation realms by enduring tribulation lightning, that lightning was imbued with the most direct power of destruction and transformation.

As Lin Xun grasped more and more of the mysteries surrounding the origin of calamity, a deeper understanding gradually dawned on him.

The so-called ‘epochal change’ referred to a calamity that tested an epochal civilization. If such an epochal civilization was powerful enough, it could survive the upheaval and endure, returning once more to the Fortune Dominion. If not, it would vanish entirely from the world.

The same principles applied to the Five Dao Decays that tested ordinary cultivators, and to the Great Silence Unlife Calamity that befell those of the Immeasurable Realm. Those who survived would attain greater power of the great dao, allowing their cultivation to undergo a profound transformation. Those who failed would fall and perish.

However, among all calamities, the calamity of an epochal change could be called the most terrifying across time. Once it manifested, myriad calamities followed in its wake, giving rise to countless tribulations. Among them were the Five Dao Decays and the Great Silence Unlife Calamity.

At this moment, Lin Xun finally understood that the Great Silence Unlife Calamity that struck fear into the hearts of countless beings originated within the All-Wonder Dominion! More precisely, it arose from the Forbidden Land of Myriad Wonders!

The Forbidden Land of Myriad Wonders was referred to by Alpha Origin as the Forbidden Zone of Life. It very likely concealed the profound truth of life’s origin: the dao of life. The Great Silence Unlife Calamity, on the other hand, was a supreme tribulation that targeted the very lives of those at the Immeasurable Realm. Even the word ‘life’ within its name made this evident.

Thus, it was hardly surprising that the source of this calamity lay within the Forbidden Land of Myriad Wonders. Moreover, within the origin of tribulations of the Thousand Tribulation Zone, Lin Xun was able to perceive those mysterious auras. At last, he understood why Alpha Origin was able to borrow and command the power of the Great Silence Unlife Calamity.

Alpha Origin had once comprehended the mysteries of the origin of tribulations itself. Grasping the origin was equivalent to possessing the means to wield all calamities beneath heaven!

This was precisely the truth behind the so-called ‘hidden mastermind’ that Chen Xi, Chen Lingkong, the Lord of Fangchun Mountain, and the golden cicada had sought so relentlessly!

“Like a hidden serpent’s trail through ashes, its line stretches for thousands of miles... Who could have imagined that the All-Wonder Dominion, regarded by those at the Immeasurable Realm as a refuge from the Great Silence Unlife Calamity, was in fact the very birthplace of that calamity?”

At that moment, an indescribable emotion surged within Lin Xun’s heart. The affairs of this world were often this unfathomable. Since entering the All-Wonder Dominion, Lin Xun had gradually unraveled many of the mysteries that had long weighed on his heart.

In the Mortal Transformation Zone, he came to realize that this world contained the power of the dao of creation, and he bore witness to the unparalleled brilliance of Chen Xi, Alpha Origin, and that swordsman.

In the Calamitous Zone, he discerned the hidden connection between the All-Wonder Dominion and the Fortune Dominion. From that point on, the interwoven relationship among the four dao dominions became clear to him one by one.

In the Dark Zone, he deduced that terrifying figures such as Alpha Origin and Chen Xi had remained within the Realm of All Mysteries for so long because they had encountered a bottleneck in their cultivation.

In other words, they had already reached the end of the Eternal Path and begun exploring a higher dao. The reason their cultivation could no longer advance was simple: they had yet to truly set foot upon that higher path.

In the Past Retracing Zone, Lin Xun learned of the origins of the Grand Abyss Heaven Devourer and uncovered the background of the Eternal Night Divine Emperor. He also came to understand the existence of the dao of life. Only then did he fully grasp why he himself was regarded as a variable. It was because the mystery of Nirvana was intrinsically connected to the dao of life.

In the Source of Evil Zone, Lin Xun came to discern the Principles of Good and Evil, and the underlying Principles of Right and Wrong.

In the Thousand Tribulations Zone, he gained insight into the mysteries of the origin of tribulations and uncovered the source of the Great Silence Unlife Calamity!

It could be said that many doubts and riddles that had accumulated in his heart over the years were being unveiled one by one after entering the All-Wonder Dominion. How could he not be moved?

A long period of time passed before Lin Xun finally emerged from his contemplation.

“The reason the Great Silence Unlife Calamity could not harm me,” he reflected, “lies in the power of Nirvana. It can dissolve a great calamity that targets life itself... And now, like the Alpha Origin Master, I have grasped the mysteries of the origin of calamity. When I reach the Realm of All Mysteries, so long as I can sense the aura within the Forbidden Land of Myriad Wonders, I too will be able to wield the power of the Great Silence Unlife Calamity!”

Lin Xun murmured. “As for Master and Elder Chen Xi...with their cultivation and wisdom, they must have already understood all of this when they arrived in the All-Wonder Dominion...”

Shaking his head, his gaze pierced through the gray, hazy chaos tribulation aura and fell on Chi Qianji in the distance.

“Senior, I will take my leave.”

He cupped his hands from afar in salute, his voice carrying clearly across heaven and earth.

“Take care, little friend!” Chi Qianji returned the salute, but his heart remained unsettled.

Back at the Sea of ​​Fate, although he had been surpassed by Lin Xun, the gap between them was not huge. Now, he suddenly realized that he would likely never again be able to keep pace with this young friend.