The process of ascending to the Celestial King Tier was that of germinating and growing one’s Celestial Seed, especially during heavenly tribulation. Even though this was dangerous, it was the best opportunity for the Celestial Seed to grow quickly. This was because heavenly tribulation contained the power of heaven and earth, the most useful nutrient for Celestial Seeds.

Once heavenly tribulation passed, the growth of one’s Celestial Seed would become unbearably slow. In fact, it wouldn’t be strange to come across people who needed an entire epoch to advance to the First Heaven.

Even though Yu Wudi was a monarch star, his cultivation speed at the Celestial King Tier would also be severely limited. Thus, if he lost this opportunity, perhaps he would need to spend 100 million, one billion, or even 10 billion years to make up for it.

Yu Wudi naturally understood this as well. He immediately flared up in rage, with his roars deafening like thunder. If he failed to advance during heavenly tribulation, it would be extremely difficult for him to suppress Ling Han even after he became a Celestial King.

At this moment, he finally chose to believe that Ling Han could indeed maintain this battle prowess for as long as he wanted.

Ling Han had only cultivated for tens of thousands of years, so it was definitely impossible for him to have comprehended the Heaven Forbidden State. Moreover, even if he entered this state, its effects would be similar to that of ingesting the Crimson Demonic Earth—it was also subject to time constraints.

“You’re far too detestable!” Yu Wudi roared. Was this person the nemesis of the Yu Clan?

Back at that time, his father had wanted to obtain the Origin Magic Cube. However, he had failed to do so because of Ling Han. Now, Yu Wudi himself had been stopped from obtaining the flawless Celestial Seed, and he was even being prevented from making the most of his tribulation.

This was simply preposterous!

“Before accusing others, why don’t you take a good hard look into the mirror first? Just look at your own immoral self!” Ling Han said with a cold chuckle. He continued to slash down with his Divine Demon Sword, not yearning to wound his opponent, and instead only yearning to disturb him.

Half a day quickly passed by. Neither Ling Han nor Yu Wudi had been paying attention to the situation below, so they had no idea whether the Empress and the others had obtained the Celestial Seed or not. They were fully focused on heavenly tribulation and each other.

The dark clouds started to dissipate, after which iridescent colors appeared in the sky, accompanied by a refreshing fragrance.

This was heaven and earth celebrating the birth of a new Celestial King, the first one in tens of billions of years.

However, Yu Wudi showed no signs of joy at all. A halo of iridescent light appeared around him, yet its radiance was as weak as could be. In fact, it was so dim that it was almost impossible to discern.

He certainly hadn’t wanted to become the first person to advance to the Celestial King Tier. At the very least, he hadn’t wanted to ascend now. Instead, he had wanted to wait until he had obtained the flawless Celestial Seed. Moreover, he had been greatly disturbed during his tribulation, and this had caused him to become perhaps the weakest First Heaven Celestial King in history… Of course, this was only temporary.

This was all… This was all because of Ling Han!

His eyes were ice-cold, and as he swept his gaze around, many Ascending Origin Tier elites were surprisingly sealed in ice.

Regardless of how weak he was, he was still a Celestial King, after all. Moreover, he was a monarch star, so he was definitely no pushover that Ascending Origin Tier elites could defeat.

“You! Deserve! Death!” Yu Wudi spat. He had already calmed down, but he was still raging with boundless killing intent.

Ling Han smiled faintly, and said, “Heaps of people want to kill me. You’re not the first, and you won’t be the last, either. However, the result will always be the same. You’re all dreaming!”

“No matter how sharp your tongue is, you’re still just a measly Ascending Origin Tier cultivator. Let me show you the true might of a Celestial King!” Yu Wudi said as his black hair billowed in the wind.

Boom!

He brandished his golden-purple staff, on which numerous symbols started to light up one after another. He had activated a limited amount of power of the Celestial Tool.

Even a First Heaven Celestial King couldn’t completely unleash the might of a Celestial Tool that had once belonged to a Ninth Heaven Celestial King. However, they could indeed unleash a portion of its power. In fact, this was already terrifying enough.

Yu Wudi was like a demonic god as he sent streaks of purple light through the air. It looked as if he were fearsome enough to exterminate all life.

Ling Han roared as he raised his sword to parry.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The two powerful Celestial Tools collided, causing swathes of space to implode and collapse. Everyone fled in disarray. In the face of a Celestial King Tier battle, what could they do but flee?

Right now, Yu Wudi was indeed powerful. After advancing to the Celestial King Tier, even though he had been greatly disturbed, his monarch star aptitude still allowed him to possess a petrifying battle prowess. His Vitality Index had reached at least 5200.

This put great pressure on Ling Han. Fortunately, his Divine Demon Sword had engulfed several Celestial Tools, which allowed it to gain peculiar abilities. This aided Ling Han immensely. Otherwise, even with his freakish physique, he would have still struggled quite a bit.

“Bloody die! Die! Die!” Yu Wudi roared. His eyes were red with rage. He had remained sealed for several epochs for none other than this rare opportunity, yet everything had been ruined by Ling Han. He was so infuriated that he had to kill Ling Han no matter what. Otherwise, his anger would never subside.

Ling Han humphed as he retrieved the Heaven and Earth Origin Stars.

A cold shiver instantly ran down Yu Wudi’s spine.

This was the instinct of a Celestial King. After reaching this height, they were essentially one with the Regulations of heaven and earth, so they could almost instinctively react to any danger.

He immediately stopped his attacks, after which he hurriedly retreated 50 kilometers. His gaze was extremely wary as he stared at the item in Ling Han’s hands.

“Heaven and Earth Origin Stars—capable of exterminating low-level Celestial Kings,” Ling Han said in a calm voice. “No need to feel envious. If you want to blame someone, you can only blame your father. He’s clearly a member of the Celestial Realm, yet he’s committing such traitorous acts. Otherwise, if he had been willing to properly fight against the invasion of the Foreign Realm, he could have obtained heaven knows how many Heaven and Earth Origin Stars with his military merit.”

Yu Wudi’s face twisted with rage. This brat was far too detestable! He was finding every excuse to taunt and ridicule him!

However, Ling Han’s words were indeed true. He couldn’t retort them even if he wanted to.

“Do you still want to fight?” Ling Han asked with a smile. His opponent had already become a Celestial King, and he more so had a Celestial Tool in his hands. Thus, Ling Han couldn’t kill him like he had killed the Blue North Celestial King. In any case, he had already ruined Yu Wudi’s plan to obtain the flawless Celestial Seed, and he had even forced him to rashly advance to the Celestial King Tier. It could be said that he had obtained a complete victory.

He would collect Yu Wudi’s head after he advanced to the Celestial King Tier.

Yu Wudi shook with incandescent rage. Not even in his wildest dreams had he imagined that he would one day fail to defeat a measly Ascending Origin Tier cultivator as a mighty Celestial King.

However, faced with the Heaven and Earth Origin Stars, he didn’t dare to make any rash movements at all. This item could indeed obliterate his existence.

He swept his gaze around, only to see that the seedpod of the lotus had already vanished without a trace. He furiously stomped his feet three times before turning around to flee.

Whoosh!

Divine light streaked through the sky, and he instantly disappeared from above the lake.

However, he definitely wouldn’t settle for defeat. He would definitely exact his revenge.

Ling Han descended to the ground, where he was welcomed back by the three women.

“You obtained it?” he asked.

“Yes, we did,” the Empress replied with a nod. She retrieved the Celestial Seed.

“It’s of the water element, and its quality is above that of the fruit from the first Celestial Tree,” she added.

This was entirely expected. The closer they got to the center of the Celestial Path, the higher the quality of the Celestial Fruits that they obtained.

“We’re making more and more enemies, and they’re also becoming more and more powerful. We need to be extremely careful,” Bewitching Maiden Rou said.

They were already being targeted by six Celestial Kings, and now they could add Yu Wudi to the list. Moreover, as time went on, Yu Wudi would also grow more and more powerful.

Ling Han flashed a carefree smile. “Let them be. After all, if we’re powerful enough, who’s going to be afraid of whom?”

The three women nodded in agreement. All four of them were already Pseudo-Celestial Kings. Moreover, Ling Han’s battle prowess and Defense Index were already infinitesimally close to that of Celestial Kings. They truly didn’t need to fear First Heaven Celestial Kings.

Meanwhile, if they encountered Second Heaven Celestial Kings, they would still have the Heaven and Earth Origin Stars.

They only needed to be careful; they didn’t need to be fearful.

The group set off again. They still needed to obtain many more Celestial Seeds.