The Tengu Child hesitated for a moment before voicing his guess. "With a normal Celestial Tribulation, each bolt of celestial thunder is stronger than the last."

"But the hundred-plus bolts of celestial thunder just now were all about the same power."

"If I’m not mistaken..."

He hesitated again before giving an answer that even he found hard to believe. "The celestial thunder just now... might have only been the first wave..."

The Tengu Child didn’t continue.

But the other Sakura Ancient Gods instantly understood his meaning.

A normal Celestial Tribulation has nine bolts of celestial thunder.

Now, for some unknown reason, it had likely evolved into nine *waves* of celestial thunder!

Each wave might contain hundreds of bolts!

How the hell were they supposed to block this!

Even if they had a hundred lives, it wouldn’t be enough to survive the strikes!

As if to confirm their suspicions,

The thick, dark clouds began to churn violently once more.

This time, it was even more intense than before!

"What do we do?"

All the Sakura Ancient Gods turned their gazes to Amaterasu.

Amaterasu gritted his teeth, a ruthless glint in his eyes. "Begin... the blood sacrifice summoning."

Susanoo frowned. "We’re locked on by the Celestial Tribulation and can’t escape. Where are we supposed to find sacrificial offerings?"

Amaterasu pointed to the ground. "There."

The other Sakura Ancient Gods followed his finger.

They saw countless ordinary Sakura citizens, huddled in various corners, looking up at them and trembling in fear.

The flesh, blood, and souls of ordinary people were weak, but their strength was in their numbers.

This was Tokyo, after all.

A tenth of the entire Sakura population was here.

As for the lives of these common people...

In the eyes of these lofty Ancient Gods, these mortals were their slaves, sacrificial offerings to be used at any time.

As the blood sacrifice ritual officially began,

On the ground below,

A middle-aged office worker wearing glasses, hiding inside a clothing store, suddenly felt himself growing weaker and weaker.

’What’s happening? Have I been overdoing it in the bedroom these past few nights?’

At first, the middle-aged office worker didn’t think much of it, assuming it had something to do with his wife.

But he soon realized something was wrong.

He looked into a mirror in the store.

He was shocked to see his hair turning white at a visible rate.

The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were deepening.

In just a moment of shock, he went from a middle-aged man to a decrepit old man!

It wasn’t just him.

The same scene was playing out all over Tokyo.

No matter your age.

No matter if you were male or female.

No matter if you were an ordinary citizen or a Martial Artist.

Everyone’s Life Force was being frantically drained by an invisible power.

People began to flee in a panic.

But no matter where they ran, they couldn’t escape the fate of rapid aging.

It was as if invisible threads were pulling their Life Force, drawing it toward the sky.

Toward... the Sakura Ancient Gods they revered as deities.

A Sakura competitor had once used this Forbidden Technique in the Global Youth Tournament.

But compared to the power wielded by the Sakura Ancient Gods, that was mere child’s play.

In just a few short minutes,

All of Tokyo had become a living hell.

Meanwhile, Amaterasu, who was using the Forbidden Technique, felt his aura begin to skyrocket!

His Cultivation shot up from the Emperor Realm Middle Stage, rising frantically at a visible rate!

However, this "borrowed" power was temporary and would gradually dissipate after the Celestial Tribulation passed.

"This is enough." He looked up at the churning dark clouds. "This power is sufficient to withstand the rest of the Celestial Tribulation."

...

Chu Sheng had been standing outside the range of the Celestial Tribulation, watching everything from afar.

When the blood sacrifice summoning began, it smelled a familiar scent.

Life Essence!

It instantly understood what the five Sakura Ancient Gods were trying to do.

They were absorbing the Life Force of ordinary people, refining it into pure Life Essence, and infusing it into Amaterasu’s body.

Finally, they would rely on Amaterasu’s temporarily borrowed strength at the Peak of Emperor Realm to endure the Celestial Tribulation.

Chu Sheng’s compound eyes narrowed.

As the "culprit" who had drawn the Celestial Tribulation, how could it let the Sakura Ancient Gods get their wish so easily?

’That would be a great disservice to the Celestial Tribulation!’

Chu Sheng opened its skill bar, ready to receive this generous gift from the Sakura Ancient Gods.

[God-devouring Needle LV40, Ancient Mother Nest LV30, Chaos True Sight LV30, Silent Extinction Flame Feather LV30, Five-Elements Saint Armor LV30, Ancient Calming God Spell LV30, Origin Pressure LV30, Myriad Insect Clone LV30, Outer Body Avatar LV10]

After its eleventh full evolution, all its Skills had been upgraded.

Among them, the Primordial Mother Nest and the Primordial Mind Stabilizing Spell had been upgraded to Ancient Mother Nest and Ancient Calming God Spell, respectively, following the change in its constitution.

In addition to these Skills, a new Skill had been added.

Outer Body Avatar: Summons a clone with the same strength as oneself. The number of clones that can be summoned is equal to the skill’s level.

This newly added Skill was what gave Chu Sheng the confidence to snatch the food right out of the Sakura Ancient Gods’ mouths!!!

Outer Body Avatar was now Level 10, allowing Chu Sheng to summon ten Ancient Saint Mosquitoes with strength identical to its own.

These avatars could be understood as the mosquito version of "One Qi Transmutes into the Three Pristine Ones."

Unfortunately, the Skill was only Level 10, so it could only summon 10 avatars.

But... it was enough!

Chu Sheng took a deep breath and chanted inwardly.

’Come on out... Pika...’

’No, that’s not right. Let’s try again.’

’Come forth, my children!!!’

Following Chu Sheng’s call, ten enormous figures materialized beside it.

Ten Ancient Saint Mosquitoes, each over five hundred meters long, lined up in a row.

They looked identical to Chu Sheng’s main body.

With just a thought from Chu Sheng,

The ten "Chu Shengs" simultaneously spread their "Boundless Wings," instantly entering the Celestial Tribulation’s range and appearing around the five Sakura Ancient Gods.

The Sakura Ancient Gods were busy dealing with the second wave of the Celestial Tribulation.

They were all stunned to see ten identical "mosquitoes" suddenly appear.

They had been tricked by a Celestial Thunder Clone once before.

This time, they sensed them more carefully and discovered that all ten mosquitoes actually possessed Chu Sheng’s aura!

"How is this possible!!!"

Even the most advanced avatar Skill shouldn’t be able to create clones with completely identical auras and realms!

Under the shocked gazes of the Sakura Ancient Gods, the ten "Chu Shengs" paid them no mind.

They simultaneously raised their incomparably sharp proboscises, which glinted with a dark golden light, and unceremoniously lunged toward the Life Essence pouring into Amaterasu’s body.

God-devouring Needle!

’For this Lord Mosquito, suck it all dry!!!’

Amaterasu was dumbfounded.

The other Sakura Ancient Gods were also dumbfounded.

But they quickly recovered, roaring as they charged at Chu Sheng.

This was the power they had worked so hard to obtain through the blood sacrifice!

How could they let a mosquito suck it all away!

However, Chu Sheng’s timing was too perfect.

The celestial thunder was already descending.

The Sakura Ancient Gods had to focus all their energy on defending against the Celestial Tribulation, leaving them no spare effort to interrupt Chu Sheng!

Seeing the Life Essence he had painstakingly collected being sucked away by a single mosquito, Amaterasu had no choice but to change his strategy.

"Tengu Child, Mu Huaji, Rain Maiden, continue to fight the Celestial Tribulation with me."

"Susanoo, you go kill these damned mosquitoes! We absolutely cannot let them absorb any more Life Essence!"

Sending Susanoo, whose strength was second only to his own, to kill Chu Sheng, who was merely at the Emperor Realm, was naturally not a problem.

But Amaterasu soon discovered that this decision was useless.

Or rather, no matter what decision he made, he couldn’t stop these mosquitoes from absorbing the Life Essence!