Chapter 270: Chapter 219: The Beginning of Change, The World Changes for 1 Man (Part 2)

What he hadn’t expected was that his video wasn’t banned in time. Instead, it spread rapidly across the internet.

After all, news of Japan’s operation had already reached interested circles worldwide. Countless people were watching Japan, waiting for the outcome.

The outcome of a single human being, a man of flesh and blood, facing off against a modern military.

So, even though the captain’s personal social media account didn’t have a large following, it was quickly discovered by all sorts of internet sleuths and began to go viral.

"My god, is that blood on the wall behind him? What on earth happened?"

"I heard Japan locked down a ten-kilometer urban zone around Tokyo Tower because of him. How is he still able to upload a video?"

"From what he’s saying, did he destroy the Japanese military’s command system?"

"..."

Speculation ran rampant among netizens.

Meanwhile, the top echelons of every nation soon received concrete intelligence from their spies in Japan.

"Japan deployed a large number of heavy weapons to bombard Yi Beidou’s position, but he escaped. Using some unknown method, he not only broke through Japan’s blockade but also located their central command headquarters. All the top brass inside the command center were killed by Yi Beidou. The state of their bodies is said to have been horrific."

"In an urban environment, especially a bustling metropolis, an individual like this is truly uncontrollable. It’s impossible to eliminate him without being willing to destroy large swathes of the city. Provoking him within city limits is an exceptionally irrational act."

"The atomic bomb the Starry Sky Country dropped on Nagasaki, Japan had a destructive radius of sixteen kilometers, with the most intense devastation in an area roughly four kilometers in diameter. Not accounting for radiation, eliminating someone like him in a city might require accepting urban losses equivalent to two-thirds, or even the entirety, of such a devastating bombardment."

"His physical strength, stamina, stealth capabilities, and unique mental powers have all reached an inconceivable level. While he can’t face a large-scale military head-on, the military can do very little to stop him either. In a way, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him a ’human-shaped nuclear bomb.’ He is someone who must not be provoked."

"The only effective countermeasure is to deploy an equally powerful individual to check his power."

"..."

This incident had long since become more than just online gossip for onlookers. The highest echelons of every government were watching closely, and they became even more invested in the concrete results after Japan deployed its military.

When the relevant authorities delivered their analysis of Yi Beidou’s actions in Japan to their superiors, it reportedly caused many sleepless nights.

The world’s leaders knew about the Saint Realm, Reincarnators, Corpse Dissolving Immortals, and Ancient Ones. They had some understanding of the power these individuals wielded, but such beings needed to avoid karmic entanglement to preserve themselves.

Their cultivation was for the sake of their next life, which meant they always held back. As long as even a sliver of hope for Longevity remained, they wouldn’t willingly put themselves in peril.

Ever since human society developed a robust system of governance, these hidden figures had never shown themselves so publicly—especially not the most powerful of them, the Ancient Ones.

Thus, in the modern era, there was no precedent for an individual of this caliber clashing head-on with a modern military.

Only someone like Yi Beidou, who had absolutely no hope for or interest in a next life, would do something so audacious.

Yi Beidou’s actions completely redefined what the world’s leaders understood about the limits of individual combat strength.

They realized that with Yi Beidou’s public emergence—one man challenging an entire nation—and the news spreading widely among the general populace, the world was on the brink of unavoidable change.

Yi Beidou might just become the one to change the age.

His name shot to the top of every nation’s most-wanted list, even surpassing the codenames of the many Ancient Ones they only vaguely knew of.

Those others had their scruples, but this man acted with utter impunity.

But what terrified them most wasn’t Yi Beidou’s threat to cities and armies. It was his terrifying ability to sense and locate their leaders.

To the powerful figures in their ivory towers, the deaths of ordinary soldiers were just numbers. The same went for damage to the city.

Like wild grass, they can be burned but never fully eradicated; they simply grow back with the spring breeze.

Ordinary people were nothing more than a crop to be harvested.

They only felt true fear when their own lives were directly threatened.

Japan was the perfect example.

During the war of aggression, Japan’s national strength was nearly depleted and its people were suffering immensely, yet its leaders had no intention of ceasing hostilities. The only thing that truly forced their surrender was the atomic bomb dropped by the Starry Sky Country.

Because for the first time, those powerful men in their high castles felt a direct threat to their own lives.

The current situation was similar.

When Yi Beidou’s video and the news of the deaths of Mr. Tengsen and his entourage reached the highest levels of the Japanese government, it caused an immediate uproar. The Japanese cabinet convened an emergency overnight meeting to discuss the matter.

「Meanwhile.」

「Near Tokyo Tower.」

Lin Zhenhua and the others were hiding in the hotel’s underground bunker, their faces etched with an inexplicable tension, completely in the dark about the situation outside.

"The internet is back on!"

Someone suddenly shouted. Shortly after, they all received a notification that the operation on the surface had concluded and they could return to their rooms in the hotel.

While waiting to be evacuated, Lin Zhenhua and the others eagerly took out their phones to check the situation.

Soon, their eyes widened in shock.

What did they see?

It wasn’t news of Yi Beidou’s death, nor was it a bulletin about his escape. Instead, it was news that Yi Beidou had turned the tables and was now threatening the leaders of Japan.

’This... Is this a mistake?’

At the same time, Yi Beidou left the manor and found a secluded spot.

The Blood-Colored Demon Flame flickering around his body subsided, returning to its normal blue-white hue.

His Tribulation Star Possession state had ended.

However.

VMMMM!!

He opened his hand, and two blood-colored Tribulation Stars materialized above his palm, radiating an ominous light.

Being besieged by an army and bombarded with heavy weaponry was a tribulation for him. Slaughtering his way into the manor, massacring the entire command staff, and broadcasting the video to the world was a tribulation for Japan.

One tribulation, one star. That made two Tribulation Stars.

’I can gain power by visiting tribulations upon others. I wonder if I can handle being possessed by two Tribulation Stars at once?’

Yi Beidou murmured to himself.

Then, a wild thought surfaced in his mind.

’If I went on a rampage and slaughtered every living thing, could I use that endless stream of Tribulation Stars to break through to an unprecedented realm?’

’At that point, I would become this world’s tribulation incarnate.’

But the moment the idea arose, Yi Beidou’s own vigilance kicked in, and he immediately suppressed the thought.

If he really did that, he would degenerate back into a demon, driven by his physical instincts. He would lose his own path and become a mere killing machine.

’It seems Tribulation Qi isn’t so easy to master. While it doesn’t cause a physical backlash like a Secret Technique, my mind is still affected by its ominous influence.’

Yi Beidou thought to himself.

When Tribulation Qi entered his body, it stirred his innate Celestial Demon nature. If the combination of the two were to cause a backlash against his spirit, all of his cultivation would be wiped out.

At that point, he would lose his own consciousness and truly become tribulation incarnate, walking the mortal world.

He had to be vigilant about this.

’Have those four escaped Japan yet?’

Yi Beidou extended his senses, preparing to trace the karmic threads from before, but he immediately noticed something was off.

His sense of the four Saint Realm experts was faint and ephemeral, their distance immense.

’They were certainly decisive, leaving the country immediately.’

’Under these circumstances, pursuing them would be difficult.’

’But they can run for a time, not for a lifetime. Now that tribulation has marked them, how could they possibly escape?’

「Meanwhile, in international waters beyond the maritime territory of Japan.」

A man and a woman stood at the bow of a massive freighter.

The sea wind whipped around them and the ocean stretched out vast and deep, yet neither had the slightest effect on them.

The woman was young and beautiful, a Caucasian with blonde hair and blue eyes.

The man was a tall, powerfully built Asian.

They were holding phones, having just received an intelligence report on Yi Beidou’s actions in Japan.

"What a terrifying individual. To think things have gotten to this point, and ’that person’ still hasn’t made a move. It seems even he is wary of this man. According to our intelligence, Yi Beidou seems to hold a grudge against the Pioneer Organization. If we could get him to join us, many things would become much easier."

The Caucasian woman said in a low voice.