Chapter 174: Terrifying New Tribulation Mark! Supreme Elder? Just a bunch of ants!

Deng Ao's voice was like a great bell, resounding without cease, yet not piercing, nor overly deafening.

After all, this is the territory of the Cluster Stars Sect; although he holds the position of Supreme Elder of the Feather Transformation Sect, he cannot be too presumptuous.

Yet the hundreds of thousands of disciples and elders inside the Primordial Meteorite were still startled, their expressions uncertain, gazing toward the mountain gate.

The sound came from outside the mountain gate.

"It sounds like the Demon-Slaying Great Immortal Deng Ao?"

Inside the Taiji Star Palace, the Star Master and the many elders deeply immersed in comprehending the Great Stellar Art were also awakened by the sound, and they recognized the speaker as the Feather Transformation Sect's Supreme Elder Deng Ao.

But Chen Zheng is the Feather Transformation Sect's foremost prodigy.

If the Cluster Stars Sect had a disciple as terrifying as Chen Zheng, they would have long since enshrined him like an ancestor, pouring any resources and treasures onto him.

And Deng Ao?

As a senior fellow sect member, not looking after Chen Zheng would be one thing, but to be so rude as to demand he roll out of the Cluster Stars Sect?

And even bring his own disciples to apologize to the Great One Sect?

Listen, is this something a person could say?

This is simply too outrageous.

Even if Chen Zheng had killed hundreds of the Great One Sect's true disciples on the Five Elements Ground, it wouldn't come to this, would it?

Many Cluster Stars Sect elders feel Deng Ao's behavior is absurd; perhaps he has groveled to the Great One Sect until he's addled.

"Deng Ao coming to our door might be an opportunity for our Cluster Stars Sect to fully reconcile with Chen Zheng. If we seize this chance, perhaps there is still hope to topple the Ultimate Zero Star Palace in the future. After all, Chen Zheng can already slay a hall master of the Ultimate Zero Star Palace; after he survives the Wind and Fire Great Tribulation, he will become even more terrifying."

Unlike the many elders, the Star Master's gaze fell on Chen Zheng, who was cultivating in the corner of the hall, with a strange hue, and he murmured to himself in a voice barely audible.

In his eyes, Chen Zheng was currently hovering mid‑air, eyes closed, legs crossed, sitting upright and unmoving, as if he had not heard Deng Ao's voice.

Flames blazed up Chen Zheng's body, pure red in color, condensing into lotus blossoms.

Each lotus‑flame was the size of a water jar, emitting scorching heat and light that bathed the entire hall in a crimson glow.

Moreover, gusts of wind issued from Chen Zheng's body, wailing eerily like ghosts crying and gods howling.

That wind was pitch black, countless times fiercer than the Nine Heavens Gale, transforming into ferocious black dragons that opened blood‑filled maws, their scales and claws razor‑sharp.

For a moment, wind and fire howled, swirling around Chen Zheng nonstop, growing ever fiercer and more terrifying, as if they sought to blow him to death and burn him to ash.

Even from within the wind and fire came a dispassionate proclamation: "Inescapable calamity, inescapable calamity…"

It seemed to seal Chen Zheng's doom.

"Brother Chen is undergoing the eighth layer of divine ability's Wind and Fire Great Tribulation? And it's the Black Nightmare Dragon Wind and Red Lotus Tribulation Fire… this… this is ten deaths with no life!" The Moving Star Elder saw the abnormality on Chen Zheng's body and sucked in a sharp breath.

The Star Punishment Elder stepped back, crying out in alarm: "That is the most dreadful calamity within the Wind and Fire Great Tribulation; not only the one undergoing tribulation, but even anyone who touches it will suffer eternal ruin! Compared to my own Wind and Fire Great Tribulation, it is terrifying by ten thousandfold, and yet it has appeared on Brother Chen."

The Moving Star Elder sighed: "Ah, he has cultivated ninety‑nine kinds of divine abilities, which is why he has provoked such a dreadful tribulation; no one can aid him in it, he must rely on himself alone."

Not only these two elders, but the other elders also showed startled faces, sweat beading on their foreheads, retreating several steps, treating the wind and fire tribulation encircling Chen Zheng as they would a venomous snake.

At that very moment, Deng Ao's icy voice rolled again from outside the mountain gate: "Chen Zheng, if you don't roll out now, I will enter the Cluster Stars Sect and personally seize you; then you will have no chance to beg for mercy!"

"Deng Ao, what grand airs you have! Brother Chen is a honored guest of our sect—come on, try to move him!"

A sonorous voice issued from within the Taiji Great Hall, echoing throughout the Primordial Meteorite—it was the Star Master.

The Star Master no longer bore the gentle, pleasant countenance he had shown toward Chen Zheng before; his aura shifted dramatically, becoming awe‑inspiring and mighty, his stature towering like an abyss, his breath vast as an ocean.

At this moment, the Star Master finally displayed the supreme bearing of a generation's sect master.

Deng Ao outside the mountain gate fell silent.

But soon Deng Ao's voice came again: "Star Master, do you know how great a disaster this little demon Chen Zheng has stirred up, that you dare to protect him? Let me tell you, he has slain far more than the people of the Blood Shadow Magic Sect and Wan Gui Immortal Island; he has also killed Chi Rong Tian and the five deputy sect masters of the Great One Sect. Do you really wish to make the Great One Sect your enemy and bring a calamity upon the Cluster Stars Sect?"

"What? Chi Rong Tian was killed by Chen Zheng?"

The hundreds of thousands of disciples of the Cluster Stars Sect, including the many elders within the Grand Void Hall, all underwent drastic changes in complexion.

Chi Rong Tian is none other than the reincarnation of the ancient fire god!

How could Chen Zheng possibly have slain him?

And how could he dare to do so?

To kill such a figure is no longer a petty skirmish; it is to pierce a huge hole in the heavens.

The Great One Sect's sect master will surely unleash thunderous means, leaving Chen Zheng nowhere to bury his corpse.

And the Cluster Stars Sect's protection of Chen Zheng amounts to making the Great One Sect an enemy.

At this moment, the faces of all in the Cluster Stars Sect turned visibly pale.

The Star Master's expression also shifted; he glanced at Chen Zheng in the corner, his resolve hardening, and he said word by word: "Deng Ao, are you threatening me?"

Deng Ao replied fearlessly: "It's not a threat; I'm merely clarifying the stakes. How about this: we each take a step back—I won't enter your Cluster Stars Sect's gate, and you yourself drive Chen Zheng out—what do you say?"

The Star Master said: "No way. I have guaranteed Chen Zheng's safety; if you don't leave, don't blame me for turning hostile without mercy."

"You…"

Deng Ao, furious, sneered: "Fine, then don't blame me for reporting this to the Great One Sect!"

"Bold!"

In the Star Master's eyes appeared two rivers of stars, countless great stars falling like rain, as if he wanted to make heaven collapse and earth sink, all things reduced to nothing.

He was angry.

He wished to give Deng Ao a lesson he would never forget.

"Star Master Brother, thank you for your goodwill, but my affairs I will settle myself." A calm voice suddenly rang out in the hall.

The Star Master and the elders all started, looking toward where Chen Zheng was.

Only then did they see Chen Zheng open his eyes, his stature immeasurably tall, stepping forward toward them, while the wind and fire tribulation that had surrounded him had mysteriously vanished.

"Brother Chen, you… you have just passed the Wind and Fire Great Tribulation, breaking through successfully?" The Star Master's eyes showed surprise.

The Star Punishment Elder and the others could not believe it.

In the span of a few words, Chen Zheng had completed the tribulation, without a sound, so swiftly they were caught off guard.

That's the Black Nightmare Dragon Wind and the Crimson Lotus Calamity Fire!

Chen Zheng nodded: 'I've passed through.'

The Star Lord shook his head: 'Even if you breakthrough, it's hard to contend with Deng Ao…'

Chen Zheng said calmly: 'No problem, just an ant.'

The Star Lord and all the Elders were utterly astonished.

Chen Zheng actually said Deng Ao is an ant?

A Supreme Elder, an epic myth of the ages, is an ant?

What arrogance!

If Deng Ao is an ant, what are they? Could it be that they are even worse than ants?

'I'm an ant? Haha, hahaha, when heaven wishes to destroy a person, it first drives them mad—I finally understand the true meaning of this saying today!'

Outside the Mountain Gate, Deng Ao seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world, bursting into laughter; the sound waves like a cosmic storm swept across heaven and earth, causing the Nine Heavens Gale Winds within a radius of hundreds of thousands of li to completely dissipate, forming a vacuum domain.

He is an ancient cultivator of ten thousand years, a Supreme Elder of his sect, an unrivaled hegemon who has traversed the realms, yet being called an ant by a greenhorn youth—what ridiculousness!

Once he captures Chen Zheng, he will surely tear apart that foul mouth of his, to see if he can still be stubborn.

"Noisy."

Inside the Supreme Ultimate Star Palace, Chen Zheng's expression turned cold as an unparalleled devil emperor descending to the mortal realm; boundless void collapsed around him, all things withered, as if he sought to turn the human world into a forbidden land.

At this moment!

All the Elders felt an indescribable sense of suffocation, their hearts shocked and pounding wildly.

Whoosh!

Chen Zheng pointed casually, and a crooked, twisted character, like ghostly scribbles, coalesced at his fingertip.

Before anyone could make out the character, it flashed out of the Supreme Ultimate Star Palace at a speed transcending time and space, tracing an inscrutable heavenly trajectory to the outside of the Mountain Gate.

"What the hell is this?"

Seeing the character fly toward his brow, Deng Ao at the Mountain Gate entrance instinctively sensed danger and tried to dodge by tilting his head.

But his movement was too slow.

To be precise, that character was too fast, it shot straight into his brow.

Immediately afterward, an event that made all the Elders and true disciples who saw Deng Ao feel hair-raising occurred.

Deng Ao's expression turned extremely terrified, his whole body uncontrollably growing thin.

Indeed, he was becoming thin.

In an instant, Deng Ao flattened into a thin, human-shaped cicada wing, which drifted down onto the floor of the Mountain Gate and left an imprint like a painting, losing all front and back, able only to slide left and right on the floor.

Deng Ao seemed to have been exiled by Chen Zheng from the three‑dimensional world to the two‑dimensional world, never able to return.

(End of chapter)