Divine Emperor of Death

Ancestor Reselius Zenflame asked the Emperor of Death as he appeared to have resigned himself to fate.

Davis smiled, "Still smart enough to think, I see. I'm slightly interested in what kind of resurrection method you used, but sensing the auras and the contraptions, I could guess. Most importantly, what is this Heavenly Water Tribulation you speak of?"

As far as he knew, Myria made no mention of it, and even the heavenly geniuses had no memory of it. He guessed that this heavenly tribulation was filled with karmic burden, causing it to be forgotten after a long time.

'Except for the ones who experienced it…'

Davis narrowed his eyes as he waited for Ancestor Reselius Zenflame's answer.

"Did it not occur to you I was making things up to disallow you from destroying my soul essence?"

 Ancestor Reselius Zenflame chuckled.

"Oye, don't do something so boring as leaving me in the dark and dying." Davis sat on the edge and overlooked Ancestor Reselius Zenflame.

"…"

Ancestor Reselius Zenflame raised his head to stare at Davis.

His gaze lasted for a few seconds, thinking of unknown matters before he closed his eyes that held respect for the calamity in front of him.

"Kill me after this, and we have a deal."

"Still trying to die on your terms, I see…" Davis smiled, "Fine. You deserve it after pulling new stunts for me to see."

"…"

Ancestor Reselius Zenflame stayed silent for an entire minute before he finally opened his mouth.

"The Heavenly Water Tribulation is real. As you can tell, not many know of it and could only be reached after doing many good deeds such as saving trillions or more."

"You've done such a thing?" Davis sneered.

Ancestor Reselius Zenflame lightly chuckled, "It is troubling to see you deny the other reality of the Fire Phoenix Clan, which is just and righteous. I've saved more people than I killed and harmed in the millions of years I lived, all in order to maintain our glory and reputation as well as earn karmic virtue for myself and karmic luck for the clan."

"But it couldn't be just saving trillions, no?"

"Yes, I was an Immortal King Stage Cultivator back then after using up my rebirth to barely heal myself, but my blood was still corrupted, and my beastly nature was still present. I suspect that it was only after I managed to hunt down an Anarchic Divergent that I was able to obtain this blessing in my next tribulation, the Immortal Emperor Tribulation."

"The tribulation was extremely easy with it starting with Heavenly Water Tribulation, healing me entirely while allowing me to be calm and defend against my Heart Demon Tribulation and the common three-strike Heavenly Lightning Tribulation as well as the realm-specific Heavenly Yang Tribulation."

"!!!"

Davis's expression froze.

For the Immortal King Stage, the realm-specific tribulation was the Heavenly Wind Tribulation.

For the Immortal Emperor Stage, it was the Heavenly Yang Tribulation for men and Heavenly Yin Tribulation for women!

He finally recovered some memories from the heavenly geniuses that he wasn't even able to see due to karmic burden. Those memories didn't even exist to him until the term popped up.

The Heavenly Yin or Yang Tribulation consisted of a single strike that sought to destroy the core of their soul, aimed at the very essence of their gender. It was extremely powerful and, if not defended against properly, would cause many problems down the line at best and cause instant death at worst.

That's why most Immortal Kings who didn't bother to train their souls would rarely survive this tribulation and, hence, the true reason for the lack of many Immortal Emperors in the First Haven World despite millions of years passing.

'And then… it's Heavenly Space-Time Tribulation for Empyreans…'

Davis remembered Calypsea's tribulation.

He was unsure if it was space or time or both, but since he saw the heavens were capable of throwing people outside its universe through Tia's story and probably tried to do the same to Calypsea because of her anarchic nature, he imagined it was both.

"Is that so shocking for you to shut up and contemplate for an entire minute?"

Asked Ancestor Reselius Zenflame, causing Davis to finally come out of his reverie and return his gaze.

"The Heavenly Water Tribulation… I suppose it needs fourth-tier karmic virtue… saving quadrillions or killing an Anarchic Divergent…"

Davis sighed, causing Ancestor Reselius Zenflame to narrow his eyes.

"Fourth tier karmic virtue…? What is that supposed to mean?"

Davis ignored and continued pondering, "However, you hunted down an Anarchic Divergent who may have only faced one or two Paragon Magical Beasts, which makes it so that there is more to fourth-tier karmic virtue than it meets the eyes…"

His gaze shook as he found the implication of other possible tribulations.

After all, didn't each tier have the low, mid, high, signifying classes within every eleven meters of karmic virtue and karmic sin?

"Wait… first of all… what is fourth-tier karmic virtue!?"

"You can die without knowing that."

Davis crushed the soul essence in his hand with reincarnation energy, causing Ancestor Reselius Zenflame's eyes to widen before his entire body drooped, his eyes slightly closing.

The light in his eyes completely faded without being able to satisfy the last bit of curiosity that irked his soul to liveliness, leaving behind a King-Tier Body and Emperor-Tier Fire Phoenix Soul Essence, causing Davis to swipe it into his soul sea.

He unceremoniously plundered the body and went around searching for treasures, finding extreme wealth, far more than what he discovered in Reselius Zenflame's spatial ring and life ring.

Clearly, this was where he stashed his millions of years of work.

Davis scoured the entire palace and made his way around everywhere with the formation core in his hand. His delight lasted quite a while, but when he ran out of treasures to search, he returned to the underground chamber, confirming that there was no deus-ex machina stuff before he wanted to leave.

While searching every nook and cranny again, he noticed an unopened door and chanced upon something that made his heart turn cold yet delighted at the same time.

He held a jade container in his hand, and inside that container laid a crimson scarlet orb.

At first glance, it appeared like a Blood Essence Orb.

No- it was a Blood Essence Orb. He could even sense that it was at the Immortal Emperor Grade.

However, it was filled with the blood essence of the Fire Phoenix, blood essence from innumerable Fire Phoenixes over the span of millions of years, condensed into a state where it fused with the Blood Essence Orb. It contained no royal or imperial blood but exuded an extremely pure Fire Phoenix aura that made his soul feel at ease, especially with its nirvanic nature.

'Reselius… this is the foundation for your advent to mutate into a more powerful Fire Phoenix, unlocking its bloodline limits and aligning itself or even surpassing the Seven-Colored Phoenix, no?'

Davis trembled.

Back then, Lereza discussed whether it would be possible to create a new lifeform with Blood Essence Orb and Life Essence Orb, and with what Ancestor Reselius Zenflame had been trying to do with his millions of years worth of research, he was starting to think such a thing could be possible.

Davis sucked in a breath of cold air before leaving the palace and heading towards home.