Chapter 156: Dazhuang's Divine Soul

Chapter 156: Dazhuang's Divine Soul

One must believe that if Tang Youyou had been at his peak, the might of his divine sense perhaps truly would not have been inferior to Tu Zhe's.

However, "ifs" are always just ifs. Tang Youyou's true strength was compromised because his old injuries in his divine sense had not yet fully healed, compounded by the physical limitations of his mortal vessel. Furthermore, he had to divert the vast majority of his energy to cope with the violent Heavenly Tribulation. Consequently, the moment Red Baby struck, Tang Youyou's barrier was shattered, and his divine sense even suffered secondary damage.

The moment Tang Youyou's barrier broke, he faced an almost immediate catastrophe.

The seawater formed by the Qingxu Divine Lightning possessed waves where each droplet was capable of piercing and shattering an entire world. When the towering mountain-like walls of water formed by those giant waves collapsed and directly smashed into his body, what kind of situation would that be?

The collapse of the barrier also left Tang Youyou's physical body directly exposed to the attacks of billions of sea monsters spawned by the Taihuang Divine Lightning. Along with the collapsing giant waves, these billions of sea monsters covered Tang Youyou's body almost instantaneously.

Simultaneously, the tens of thousands of feet of lightning purification from the Daoyuan Thunder Lord and the sonic light waves from the Principal Transformation Thunder Lord enveloped Tang Youyou in the blink of an eye.

Tang Youyou vanished.

His divine sense wounded by Red Baby's Mana Blade, submerged by the deluge, covered by sea monsters, swept and purified by lightning, and shaken by sonic waves—under the simultaneous envelopment of four major heavenly tribulations and five major attacks, Tang Youyou had completely disappeared.

Barring a miracle, the probability of Tang Youyou surviving was infinitesimal.

Tang Youyou's disappearance instantly scared the wits out of subordinates like Tang San.

How could they answer to the Haotian Jade Emperor?

How could they answer to Consort Tang?

A master's humiliation means death for his ministers; a master's death means the demise of his followers.

How on earth were any of them supposed to stay alive now?

For a moment, Tang San felt that all hope was lost. Sighing, he prepared to detonate his own core and perish, hoping to trade this for the mercy and sympathy of the Haotian Jade Emperor so that disaster would not befall his family.

However, the other subordinates were not as composed as Tang San. The shadow of death loomed over them. Even though they were far outside the range of the Heavenly Tribulation, they immediately felt a divine might far more terrifying than the tribulation itself, chilling their hearts to the core and scaring them out of their wits.

Suddenly, a chorus of weeping and wailing erupted, though it was unclear whether they were mourning the fall of Tang Youyou or lamenting their own misfortune.

Tang San's attempted self-detonation was unsuccessful because Erlang Shen, a supreme powerhouse, was standing right beside him.

With a wave of the True Lord Erlang's hand, the true qi that Tang San had compressed into his Qi Sea could no longer be mustered.

Tang San knew that Erlang Shen had just saved his life.

With tear-filled eyes, Tang San bowed deeply to Erlang Shen, saying that while he appreciated the True Lord's immense kindness, if he did not die now, he would die an even more miserable death later.

Erlang Shen looked at him with a faint smile and said, "Death is not necessarily the only good path. Since you are willing to submit to this True Lord's command, why is that not a viable route?"

Overjoyed, Tang San immediately prostrated himself, kowtowing to Erlang Shen with his entire body flat on the ground. Going from certain death to a sudden twist of fortune, these drastic emotional swings were a true test of one's nerves. For a moment, Tang San wept uncontrollably.

Seeing this, the rest of Tang Youyou's former subordinates all dropped to their knees in unison, begging Erlang Shen to take them in and expressing their willingness to serve as maids and slaves, threatening to kneel until they died if he refused.

Erlang Shen was a man of bold and unyielding character; he dared to start a fight across the entire Heavenly Court if something displeased him. Did he lack the daring to take in a mere subordinate of Tang Youyou?

As for that so-called Consort Tang, what did she even amount to?

This demonstrated that even among the nobility, there were distinct tiers and ranks. As the biological nephew of the Haotian Jade Emperor, coupled with rumors that the Queen Mother of the West also doted on him and favored him immensely, even if the Haotian Jade Emperor felt dissatisfied with this nephew, would he dare to utter a single word of complaint?

Thus, Erlang Shen readily agreed without hesitation.

With that, the lives of all of Tang Youyou's former subordinates were secured, and cheers erupted amongst them instantly.

As for little Su and the puppy Yema nearby, this sister-in-law and sister pair completely lacked the bandwidth to care what Tang San and Erlang Shen were up to. Because Red Baby and Tu Zhe now seemed to be acting rather strangely.

The puppy's little claws scraped frantically against little Su's delicate face, almost drawing bloody trails, yet neither little Su nor the puppy noticed. All four eyes remained unblinkingly fixed on Tu Zhe and Red Baby within the Heavenly Tribulation.

At this moment, Tu Zhe had opened his Alaya-vijnana realm, allowing the giant waves, sea monsters, lightning, and sound waves to enter all at once. The butcher had a premonition that if his Alaya-vijnana realm were tempered by the Heavenly Tribulation, it would undergo some delightful changes.

However, he had not anticipated that the power of the Heavenly Tribulation would far exceed his imagination. Once these tribulations entered his realm, although their power was somewhat mitigated under the control of his divine sense, they remained violently savage.

Tu Zhe's divine sense realm had only just taken shape; it was countless miles away from reaching perfection. This kid belonged to that reckless breed whose ambitions matched the size of the earth—whatever they dared to imagine, they believed they could achieve.

To say nothing else, the massive influx of Qingxu Lightning water—where a single droplet could pierce boundless emptiness and shatter an entire world—nearly caused his realm to collapse. The glassy ground of his still-shallow realm cracked with loud snapping sounds, developing numerous fractures as it teetered on the brink of collapse.

The butcher let out a cry of alarm and hurriedly asked Red Baby for help. However, Red Baby was having too much fun playing amidst the massive expanse of the Heavenly Tribulation outside and refused to come back.

This situation appeared somewhat peculiar.

Tu Zhe saw Red Baby laughing and dashing about amidst the thunderbolts, lightning, and sea monster sound waves. Countless heavenly tribulations struck his body, instantly splashing forth boundless divine light. Under the tempering of the celestial realm, that nine-colored divine light grew increasingly pure and transparent, making it look as though Red Baby were dancing while dragging a ribbon of colorful clouds across the sky.

This dead child had the exact same idea as his old man: he was actually utilizing the Heavenly Tribulation to temper his physical body, attempting to forge it into something even more solid and refined.

Left with no other choice and not knowing what else to do, Tu Zhe suddenly received a telepathic message from Erlang Shen, asking, "Brother, can you hold on? If you can't manage, Second Brother can give you a hand."

Tu Zhe shifted his divine thought and replied, "Second Brother, don't worry, I can still handle it."

In truth, he was simply clinging to his pride. If he could really handle it, why was his glassy ground on the verge of collapse?

Right at that moment, boundless thunder radiance, lightning, and thunder waves surged into his Alaya-vijnana space, directly hacking and slashing against the Heavenly God Soul Crystals embedded in the spatial walls. Instantly, a drastic transformation occurred: the Heavenly God Soul Crystals rapidly shattered and melted, fusing completely with the radiance and lightning.

When the butcher saw this, he was overjoyed. *These blind heavenly tribulations actually dared to charge into Laozi's Alaya-vijnana space! Do you know what a heavenly god is? Do you know what a Heavenly God Soul Crystal is? This brother was just worrying about how to refine these soul crystals in bulk, and you guys rushing right in is doing me a massive favor. Then this brother will graciously accept! Hehehe!*

Facing a Heavenly Tribulation with such brazen arrogance—throughout the heavens and the earth, there was only one butcher like this.

Seizing the opportunity, the butcher manipulated the Heavenly God Soul Powers fused within the thunder radiance, lightning, and thunder waves, converting them into the power of a world. He continuously and endlessly replenished his spatial walls with this energy. As a result, not only did his Alaya-vijnana spatial walls escape damage from the influx of lightning, but they actually grew stronger as he refined even more Heavenly God Soul Power.

In an instant, Tu Zhe's divine sense swelled and expanded abruptly, becoming vastly more mighty and accelerating his rate of refining the Heavenly God Soul Power even further.