The heavenly tribulation clouds in the sky remained dense, their immense pressure pressing down on Fang Xiaoyu's heart, making it difficult for her to breathe. This was heavenly might, beyond the resistance of mortal strength.
She knew that with Wan Lei present, the heavenly tribulation wouldn't harm her, but experiencing it for the first time, she still felt a bit flustered.
This was different from a heavenly tribulation. A heavenly tribulation was merely a test for cultivators.
Heavenly punishment, however, was a symbol of cosmic heavenly might, an embodiment of order, meant to punish evil and eliminate sinners. It itself represented a mighty, cleansing force.
Under such heavenly might, any lowly being would be annihilated.
But the moment she saw Wan Lei, she was no longer flustered.
This man, when he was merely at the Core Formation stage, had defeated heavenly punishment. Together with Sui Xiaohang, they had become survivors under heavenly punishment.
No, they were victors.
How could someone who could defeat heavenly punishment back then be afraid of it now?
Moreover, at this moment, he was even berating the Heavenly Dao and threatening it.
Wan Lei, too, was filled with righteous indignation. He had long wanted to reason with the Heavenly Dao.
"If you want to kill me, are you prepared to perish with me?
Without me, this world would have long ago become a paradise for demons. And now you intend to repay kindness with enmity?
Back then, I was still the same me. I only engaged in some ostentatious behavior, acting like a spoiled brat. I didn't even kill people carelessly. At most, I was a纨绔子弟 who deserved a beating and compensation for the victims. I certainly didn't deserve death.
Yet, you unleashed heavenly punishment, time and time again, trying to put me to death.
If that's the case, then among the six great families and countless upper and middle-tier sects, how many纨绔败家子 are there? Why do none of them face heavenly punishment?
Which of them has harmed fewer people than I have?
If that were the standard, the tribulation clouds of heavenly punishment should never have dispersed from above those families.
You are the will of the Heavenly Dao, how can you be so biased?
Where were you when the Huo family colluded with other families to slaughter hundreds of thousands of mortals?
Where were you when the Liu family massacred over a million ordinary citizens in the secret realm?
When the demon race invaded the Lei Feng Realm, where was the will of the Lei Feng Realm? Where was the heavenly punishment?
Where were you when the demons annihilated hundreds of millions of lives from the Wu, Zhou, and Dun families?
Where were you when the Liu family wantonly slaughtered its own citizens?
Where were you when the allied forces attacked the Yin Yang Sect?
Or is it that you only dare to bully the weak and fear the strong, picking on your own people within your world, but hiding your head and tail when facing external enemies, afraid to move?
When there were so many times you should have intervened, you remained indifferent. Now, I seek revenge, and you want to strike me down?
Is this your logic? Is this your justice?"
Upon saying this, the Heavenly Dao did not transmit any divine sense to respond to Wan Lei. However, the coalescing tribulation clouds had stopped.
Wan Lei didn't know if the Heavenly Dao could hear him, but after scolding the air for a while, he felt a bit disheartened. He waved his hand.
"Scram. If I need you next time and you don't help, then I will no longer concern myself with this universe. You can await your fate as playthings of the demons."
Fang Xiaoyu's eyes widened.
She had witnessed firsthand how, under Wan Lei's words, as if driving away a stray dog, those dense tribulation clouds actually dissipated.
"Hmph, as expected, it can hear. Damn Heavenly Dao."
Wan Lei cursed again.
"I risked my life, and it day after day ignores right and wrong and remains aloof."
After Wan Lei finished speaking, he suddenly felt a pair of bright eyes looking at him. Turning his head, he saw Fang Xiaoyu gazing at him with stars in her eyes, full of admiration.
"You... you are truly amazing. That's the Heavenly Dao, that's heavenly punishment, the embodiment of a cosmic will.
And it was just scared away by your scolding?
You... you are even more powerful than the heavens?"
Fang Xiaoyu's words made Wan Lei laugh and sigh. He dotingly ruffled Fang Xiaoyu's small head and smiled.
"Don't take the Heavenly Dao too seriously. A few Immortals can alter it and manipulate it at will. What's so frightening about it? We've even spoken with Saints.
Don't think of it as too grand or noble. The Heavenly Dao is also unfair, it doesn't distinguish between loyal and treacherous, nor does it understand right from wrong. Frankly, it's just a will, it might not even have thoughts. What's there to show off about."
"Let's go, we should go and see the Kaitian Sword Sect. See if they need any help."
"Okay."
Fang Xiaoyu nodded. She didn't feel disheartened or guilty for killing millions of people. Instead, she felt a little happy. Her man was someone who made even the Heavenly Dao retreat.
The two left the Huo family and sped westward, soon arriving within the territory of the Kaitian Sword Sect.
At this moment, after a round of indiscriminate carpet bombing, the remnants of the Kaitian Sword Sect below had long since been in disarray, scattering in all directions.
The allied forces' warships advanced into the grand formation, and their armies descended from the warships, continuously attacking the cultivators below.
The allied forces far outnumbered the remnants of the Kaitian Sword Sect. After destroying all their defensive fortifications, the people of the Kaitian Sword Sect were forced to use their own bodies to resist the spiritual energy cannons and the attacks of enemies several times their own number.
Their defeat was already sealed.
The casualties on the allied forces' side were far less than those on the Kaitian Sword Sect's side.
When Wan Lei and Fang Xiaoyu arrived, it was a scene of chaos below. Battles were erupting everywhere in the Kaitian Sword Sect.
Wan Lei looked at the smoke rising everywhere and the sounds of killing filling the Kaitian Sword Sect, feeling a sense of melancholy.
On Lei Xinghai, in a hallucination, he had experienced a battle where he annihilated the nine major powers.
The location of that final battle was within the Kaitian Sword Sect.
He, alone, relying on formations, had annihilated over ten million troops of the Kaitian Sword Sect. It had been incredibly satisfying.
At that time, he hadn't understood. He thought formations could really be that powerful, like a child imagining he could fly to the sun by sprouting wings.
Now, thinking back, the scene in the hallucination was truly absurd.
Not yet an Immortal, relying on his mere Tribulation Crossing power, to single-handedly annihilate the allied forces of several peak powers without sustaining any injuries. How could that be anything but absurd?
With his current peak Tribulation Crossing combat power, the Nine Great Thunders, the Origin Fire, the Two Divine Artifacts, and his mastery of formations – with all these strengths combined, he wouldn't dare claim he could annihilate the allied forces of the nine major powers without sustaining any injuries.
Let alone the strength he possessed in that hallucination, which was so weak. That hallucination was truly for fooling children, disregarding logic, and doing whatever felt good, as long as it could engross you.
"What are you thinking about?"
Fang Xiaoyu noticed that Wan Lei's moments of absentmindedness were becoming more frequent, and she couldn't help but feel worried.
Wan Lei smiled.
"I was thinking about how in the Lei Xinghai hallucination, after I saved you, it was here that I annihilated the allied forces of the nine major powers. All these mountains were covered with corpses. You even advised me to stop killing, but I didn't listen."