The situation changed drastically.

Of the ten people originally tasked with protecting Xiao Sha during his tribulation, only one still stood.

Su Chen watched expressionlessly as these "colleagues" he had spent five hundred years with turned into withered skeletons in his hands. Until their dying breath, they could not believe what was happening.

The martial-obsessed Sha Shengzi—widely recognized as a principled assassin who had even saved them from danger multiple times—was one of the people Xiao Sha trusted most.

Yet now he had suddenly turned violent, revealing terrifying, unparalleled strength. In less than three breaths, none of the nine geniuses Xiao Sha had painstakingly cultivated escaped. All were slain by Su Chen.

The black cloak on Su Chen's back looked eerily enchanting against the still-wet blood. A chilling aura of slaughter spread outward. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Xiao Sha was fully occupied with his own Saint tribulation and had not noticed that nine of the ten Dao protectors he had prepared with all his heart were already dead, while the last one was sharpening his blade, ready to strike him down.

The Saint tribulation descended.

Su Chen knew this was a once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity—the best chance he would ever have to kill Xiao Sha. While crossing the Saint tribulation, many of Xiao Sha's methods could not be used. This would be the fairest battle between the two of them.

Xiao Sha fought fiercely against the thunder tribulation. He cultivated the purest Dao of Slaughter. Having killed countless beings, the Saint tribulation he faced was also the most terrifying. It condensed overwhelming killing intent, and every strike required his full caution.

However, as long as he survived this tribulation, he would form the Killing God Demon Embryo. From then on, he would be unrivaled among his peers. Once the road to Emperorhood opened, he would step onto that path revered by all living beings!

Unfortunately, an accident occurred.

A pair of terrifying giant hands tore the thunder tribulation apart. A demonic shadow charged straight into the heart of the lightning sea.

When Xiao Sha saw the intruder, his expression changed drastically. "Sha Shengzi? Why have you entered the tribulation? There is no place for you!"

Su Chen's long hair hanging over his shoulders whipped wildly in the roaring thunder. The tribulation above the nine heavens seemed enraged by this unexpected intruder and grew even more violent. An even more terrifying power gathered as a vast sea of red lightning surged into the sky. Xiao Sha immediately sensed that something was terribly wrong.

Su Chen's sudden intrusion had altered the tribulation.

Su Chen remained silent.

The next moment, Xiao Sha's face paled. He felt an extremely terrifying slaughtering force—one far beyond anything he had ever encountered, surpassing the limits of this era. Xiao Sha summoned the ancient word "Kill," and a blood sea churned wildly around the archaic character.

His combat power surged dramatically. He barely blocked Su Chen's sudden lethal strike, but his face turned deathly white.

"How is this possible… You are not Sha Shengzi. Who exactly are you?"

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Xiao Sha was shocked to the core. His expression grew darker than the thunderclouds above. Sha Shengzi could not possibly be this powerful. Someone must have impersonated him.

Five-colored divine light bloomed behind Su Chen, manifesting into a terrifying divine figure that controlled the laws of heaven and earth, supreme in the world. He transformed into this divine being, tearing through the vault of heaven like an ancient god-king descending upon the mortal realm. The cultivation he displayed was exactly the same as Xiao Sha's—Nirvana's ninth stage, far beyond early Nirvana.

Above the nine heavens, a second wave of tribulation began to gather.

Su Chen was actually going to cross the Saint tribulation together with Xiao Sha!

Xiao Sha cursed inwardly at the madman. Two people crossing the Saint tribulation at once—what kind of terrifying tribulation would this become? His mood plummeted to rock bottom. He knew he was mediocre and had spent five hundred years preparing just to fight for a slim chance of transformation. Yet now such a massive accident had occurred!

Suddenly, Xiao Sha stared at the giant divine figure. A flash of insight struck the depths of his memory. He recalled a similarly towering giant he had seen before… This was the Heaven and Earth Dharma Form of the Origin Spirit Saint Lu Chen!

"You are Lu Chen… You are still alive!"

The name surfaced in Xiao Sha's mind. He remembered the Origin Spirit Saint Lu Chen, who had dominated the world in his previous life. That man had been an incredibly powerful Saint who had roamed the starry sky and once torn apart a foreign race Saint with his bare hands. He had clearly ordered the loyal Life-Slaughter Saint King to nip Lu Chen in the cradle long ago. So why had Lu Chen become Sha Shengzi?

The moment Xiao Sha guessed his true identity, the bronze mask that Su Chen had worn for five hundred years shattered. A handsome face was revealed, his deep eyes carrying an indescribable indifference. He stared at Xiao Sha with interest, like a venomous snake that had lain dormant for a long time and finally bared its fangs.

Even though Xiao Sha stood within the thunder tribulation, he felt a bone-piercing chill.

The tribulation lightning descended. Xiao Sha blocked the bolts while roaring in fury. Su Chen faced the terrifying lightning as well. This was the first time he had confronted such a dreadful tribulation. His divine spirit form raised both hands toward the sky and tore the thunder apart. Su Chen himself erupted with brilliant divine light of laws and charged toward Xiao Sha with murderous intent.

One of Xiao Sha's arms was severed in an instant. Enduring the agonizing pain, he formed the Killing God Sword with his remaining hand and forced Su Chen back with a single strike. He laughed furiously, "Good… very good, Life-Slaughter Saint King! How ruthless you are!

"Lu Chen, even if you kill me, do you think the Life-Slaughter Saint King will spare you? He is such a vicious man that he could even kill his own successor. You are merely his pawn. Once I die, he will have no more scruples. The next one to die will be you!"

Xiao Sha hated Su Chen with every fiber of his being, and he hated the Life-Slaughter Saint King even more. With over three thousand years of experience, he had never expected to fall into such a massive trap this time.

Su Chen spoke calmly, "Hand over the Killing Emperor's inheritance, and I will spare your life."

Xiao Sha, already heavily injured, felt a surge of rage at those words and spat out a mouthful of blood. "Dream on! You heartless beast! I treated you well, yet you still betrayed me!"

Su Chen merely sneered. Divine might surged around him as he gathered a terrifying killing move. He spoke unhurriedly, "Treated me well? You mean when you sent the Life-Slaughter Saint King to massacre my entire Lu Clan and tried to nip me in the cradle?"

"Xiao Sha… if I am not mistaken… You are a reborn person, aren't you? You can foresee the future, know which opportunities will appear, and recognize which geniuses will rise to fame. I am very curious… what method did you use to reincarnate from the future into the past?"

Amid the roaring thunder, red and golden lightning crashed down, yet they could not hide the deathly pallor of Xiao Sha's face or the panic in his eyes. His greatest secret had been exposed. He felt like a rat in the gutter, suddenly dragged into the sunlight, completely at a loss.

Su Chen attacked.

Xiao Sha attacked as well.

Rebirth was Xiao Sha's greatest secret. Once exposed, he knew there would be no place for him in the entire universe. He had to kill anyone who knew the truth. There was no retreat.

Su Chen had already completely sealed off all of Xiao Sha's escape routes. In this desperate situation where the Killing Ancestor could not appear to save him and external saint or emperor weapons could not be used, a person of great destiny who might have dominated an entire era in the future had been driven into a dead end.