Although only ten days had passed in the outside world, more than a hundred years had gone by within the pagoda. Today, a sword light shot up, making a beeline for the tribulation nebula. It pierced the deepest part of the nebula. It was Ye Guan's first time venturing this deep. He looked up and saw countless blood-red faces before him. Three thousand tribulations of the Great Dao, each one formed through endless bloodshed, were brimming with boundless karmic force and devastating power. Ye Guan didn't wield the Qingxuan Sword. Otherwise, he could easily resist these tribulations. These tribulations were the perfect tempering grounds. He would use the tribulations to train himself. Suddenly, a massive crimson bolt of lightning crashed down from the depths of the sea of tribulations. Ye Guan's sword intent was instantly shattered, and he was blasted away. When he struck the ground, the earth beneath his feet cracked wide open. At this point, his fleshly body was engulfed in lightning, making him look utterly terrifying. He didn't dispel the lightning bolts and allowed it to attack his fleshly body. Over time, his body had gradually grown accustomed to the lightning tribulation. Under this constant assault, both his sword intent and fleshly body had undergone tremendous transformation. Rather than say he was refining his fleshly body, it was more accurate to say that he was forging his sword intent. The stronger his sword intent, the stronger his fleshly body would become. Just then, a thunderous laugh erupted from deep within the sea of tribulations. The tribulation nebula roared to life, lightning pillars exploding like fireworks, dazzling and wild. Moments later, a figure descended from the sky, trailed by bolts of lightning. As the thunder struck the ground, deep abysses split open across the land. Ye Guan hovered midair. With a casual wave of his right hand, the residual energy from the lightning dispersed. The Old God appeared beside him, laughing heartily. "Cultivating in this place? It's like getting twice the result for half the effort!" Ye Guan looked him up and down, grinning. "Your strength has grown again!" He couldn't help but feel a bit shocked. In the time they'd trained together, Ye Guan realized the Old God's progress was absolutely terrifying. He also had his own unique insights into cultivation, and the two often exchanged thoughts and experiences. The Old God chuckled. "You're not doing too bad yourself!" Ye Guan burst out laughing. Over this stretch of time, he had indeed improved immensely. Even without using faith power, he could now rival a Civilization Lord. If tapped into his faith power, even Civilization Ancestors would be nothing more than ants before him. His strength was that insane. His faith power had evolved over the years, transforming into a pure white energy. It was far purer than before. Moreover, it was still becoming even stronger. In other words, his faith power had yet to reach its limit. However, he was at a bottleneck. The spiritual energy inside the tiny pagoda was almost depleted. The faith power relied on two things: the believers' faith had to be pure; the stronger the believers, the stronger the faith power. Secondly, the quantity of believers, the more the better, of course. Unfortunately, both required one fundamental resource—spiritual energy. After years of rapid growth inside the tiny pagoda, the spiritual veins he had obtained from Shang Hongyi were nearly exhausted. His faith power was at a bottleneck. Unless he found higher-quality spiritual veins, he wouldn't be able to make a breakthrough. In short, he needed resources. The Old God suddenly asked, "Little brother, why aren't you using your faith power? I can sense that it's incredibly strong." Ye Guan glanced up at the tribulation nebula and smiled. "Just trying to train the old-fashioned way. Aren't you doing the same?" The Old God laughed heartily, and Ye Guan joined him. To both of them, this place was a phenomenal training ground. Ye Guan suddenly asked, "Old brother, do you know about the realms above Civilization Lord?" "So you're currently a Civilization Ancestor?" "And what comes after that?" "Well, even among Civilization Ancestors, there are vast differences in strength. Some are worlds apart." Ye Guan frowned. "Worlds apart?" "Exactly. Take, for example, the founder of the Ancestral Civilization compared to a Civilization Ancestor from the Eternal Civilization, they're technically at the same realm, but the strength of the civilization they made is vastly different." Ye Guan asked, "The founder of the Ancestral Civilization? You mean the Universe Ruler?" "How about the Universe Ruler of the... Main Universe?" "He must be invincible up there." Ye Guan was a bit surprised. "Hahaha." The Old God laughed, "You didn't think the Ancestral Civilization was native to this place, did you?" Ye Guan raised an eyebrow. "They came from above?" "Definitely not from around here, and their status is anything but ordinary. But the details... well, they're beyond me." "And you're certain that person was only a Civilization Ancestor?" The Old God laughed. "Why would I lie?" "You've been to the Ruler Divine Temple, have you met him?" The Old God chuckled. "I did, had a short chat. That's why I know a bit more than most." Ye Guan curiously asked, "With your talents, did he give you any inheritance? A treasure, maybe?" The Old God shrugged. "We just had a chat. He didn't give me anything, and I didn't ask. But that throne was really interesting. I tried sitting on it, haha!" Ye Guan's curiosity was piqued. "What did you two talk about?" The Old God replied, "He told me to leave and not get involved in the coming chaos." Ye Guan murmured, "Sounds like he saw it all coming." The Old God said, "He's the one who taught me about the higher realms. Civilizations differ in strength and scale. In the Main Universe, civilization strength is measured quite simply by the size of its universe. "For example, we're currently in a universe within the Sea of Life. And within that sea, there are countless tiny droplets. Each droplet holds a micro-civilization like ours, a Micro Civilization. "The droplet itself represents our civilization's shackles. Only by breaking free of it can we become a Major Civilization." Ye Guan nodded. "So the Main Universe's civilizations are considered Major Civilizations?" "Exactly. But breaking the shackles is unimaginably hard. For most beings in our kind of universe, the tribulations here are extremely terrifying." "We talk about droplets and Major Civilizations, but don't forget, there are many kinds of Micro Civilizations in the Sea of Life. They're divided into six tiers." "What tier are we in?" The Old God replied, "Tier six." The Old God roared with laughter. "Because the two of us are in it!" The Old God looked up at the tribulation clouds. "The tribulation nebula above us isn't just restraining our universe; it's also holding back the Major Civilizations above us. Without it, those powerful civilizations would have long enslaved or sacrificed us all." Ye Guan nodded. From his journey starting in Qingzhou, he'd seen the truth firsthand—the world always had been a matter of big fish eating the small fish. Without balance, the strong would devour the weak without hesitation. The world... had always been cruel. The Old God suddenly asked, "Have you noticed something?" Ye Guan looked at him. The Old God smiled. "Your strength can no longer be measured by conventional realms." Ye Guan simply smiled, staying quiet. "You've already surpassed this entire civilization. By all rights, you should've been able to break through its shackles long ago. So... what are you waiting for?" "With your strength, you should be able to break through, too. So what are you waiting for?" The Old God laughed. "You first." "If I were to destroy this tribulation nebula, how would you continue your training? That's why I'm waiting, for your sake," the Old God replied. Ye Guan froze, and then he grinned. "Don't tell me you're waiting for me?" The Old God burst out laughing and said nothing. Looking at the cheerful man beside him, Ye Guan couldn't help but smile. He genuinely liked the guy; it felt like they were kindred spirits. The Old God asked, "Shall we begin?" "If I fail later, I'll be counting on you to back me up." The Old God replied, "You've got this." Ye Guan laughed heartily and said no more. In the blink of an eye, he turned into a streak of sword light and soared skyward, plunging straight into the deepest part of the tribulation nebula. When he entered it, he activated his Mad Demon Bloodline. In just a split second, everything around Ye Guan turned into a sea of blood. Deep within the tribulation nebula, countless bloody faces became excited. They stared at Ye Guan with greedy eyes, as if they had just spotted a delicious feast. At that moment, Ye Guan unleashed his evil intent. Those bloody faces went completely wild. They were born of evil and thrived on evil intent. And now, Ye Guan's evil intent combined with his Mad Demon Bloodline made him the ultimate delicacy... a feast too good to pass up! The bloody faces closed in. Ye Guan suddenly grinned. "Come on! Let's see who'll come out on tgop!" The moment those words left his mouth, the faces lunged at him. Instead of dodging, Ye Guan allowed them to melt into him. The tribulations crashed down on him, and his eyes took on a blood-red hue. The Old God was instantly alarmed. His right hand clenched, ready to strike at any moment, as he could tell that the overwhelming tide of tribulation was about to consume Ye Guan whole. There was simply too much evil, far more than Ye Guan could possibly withstand. "Suppress!" Ye Guan suddenly roared. The next moment, countless white beams of light gathered from the heavens and the earth, converging on his forehead. In the blink of an eye, the tribulations were forcefully suppressed inside him. Ye Guan was going to ascend as an invincible figure into the Main Universe.