Old friend, you've arrived faster than ever

Time flowed like water, and in the blink of an eye, fifteen days had passed.

During this half-month, Chen Yi had thoroughly consolidated his gains. Not only had he fully digested the remnants of the Violet Sky Divine Thunder essence within his body, but he had also greatly expanded his physical capacity by refining the Chaos Divine Thunder essence left behind by his previous immortal tribulation in the Western Sea Realm.

After all, he was about to face the immortal tribulation again soon, so he needed to prepare in advance—clearing space within his body to accommodate more.

Hmm, based on the amount of essence that could be refined from a single strand of Chaos Divine Thunder, given his current physical strength, he could absorb up to twenty-four strands at most. Any more than that, and he’d be overwhelmed.

Then there were his forty-eight immortal body clones. If he fused them all into two-star clones, he could barely manage to absorb another sixteen strands.

That brought the total to forty strands. If the immortal tribulation followed the rules—with forty-nine Violet Sky Divine Thunders followed by thirty-two Chaos Divine Thunders—then he had over a 98% chance of surviving it!

After all, he had long grown tired of the Violet Sky Divine Thunder. Years of tempering had given him immense resistance to it. Forty-nine strikes of it wouldn’t even be as stimulating as a single Chaos Divine Thunder!

Clearly, the immortal tribulation was well aware of this.

That’s why he feared it might play dirty. What if, despite the agreed-upon eighty-one tribulations being the final version, it suddenly threw in a hundred and eight? Or worse, what if the very first strike was a Chaos Divine Thunder, followed by eighty more of the same?

This wasn’t just Chen Yi’s imagination—it had happened before.

Take the Western Sea Realm, for example. The moment the immortal tribulation recognized him, it had immediately unleashed Chaos Divine Thunder—even leaving one strand lying in ambush!

How sneaky was that?

If he had trusted it blindly, he would’ve been utterly annihilated!

So, he had to assume the worst of the immortal tribulation, preparing for every possible scenario with absolute caution.

"Whew—"

Chen Yi exhaled deeply, transforming the forty-eight suspended multicolored beads into a bracelet and slipping it onto his wrist.

Next, he focused his divine sense—which had already risen to become the third-in-command of the chat group.

At the moment, the detection system was still throwing a tantrum. Having failed to locate the so-called "third-party" force despite its exhaustive search, it had decided to reset all secret realms during maintenance!

Hmm, admittedly, not a bad move.

Before the maintenance upgrade, his lurking divine sense might’ve actually been exposed.

But now?

Heh. Every reset of the secret realms had to go through the third-in-command’s approval—and Chen Yi certainly wasn’t going to raise any objections!

Once everything settled, the detection system would be in for a world of pain!

After confirming that nothing would go wrong, Chen Yi hesitated for a moment before tossing Mu Chen—who was peacefully cultivating nearby—into the void turbulence to keep the chat group clones company.

Since he was heading out in his true form this time and expected a prolonged battle with the immortal tribulation, he wouldn’t have the luxury of distractions. It was best to keep this unpredictable element far away from the Purple Star Continent.

With all potential risks eliminated, Chen Yi finally stepped out of the Illusory Star Cave Heaven with peace of mind.

Hum~

The Purple Star Heavenly Dao sensed his departure immediately and sent a concerned greeting.

"Brother Yi, are you off to face the tribulation again?"

"Mn." Chen Yi nodded slightly. "While I’m gone, focus on refining the laws. I’ll bring you a surprise when I return."

"Understood, Brother Yi! Safe travels!"

"See you!"

With that, Chen Yi vanished from the spot.

The Purple Star Heavenly Dao wasn’t worried in the slightest—if anything, it was looking forward to it.

After all, Brother Yi had already survived eighty-one tribulations unscathed. This time would be no exception!

The only question was what kind of surprise he’d bring back this time.

Telling me to refine the laws… Could it be True Immortal-grade law essence?

I’d better work hard, then. Otherwise, even if Brother Yi spoon-feeds it to me, I might not be able to digest it…

……

Beyond the cosmos.

The Void Expanse.

This place had no laws—only wildly rampaging void energy that could reduce an ordinary Tribulation Transcender to nothingness in an instant. Even a Pseudo-Immortal wouldn’t last more than a breath!

At the same time, the Void Expanse was boundless, stretching endlessly. One could even take a nap after tiring themselves out—truly a prime location for facing the immortal tribulation!

Upon arriving, Chen Yi finally let loose, stripping off his robe adorned with profound runes to reveal his flawless Dao body!

In an instant, a vast and overwhelming aura erupted, distorting the surrounding space. Even the frenzied void energy quieted down, collapsing inward layer by layer with Chen Yi’s true form at the center!

Boom! Boom! Boom!!!

In the blink of an eye—

A raging tribulation cloud surged in from the unknown, carving out a vacuum path as the violent void energy submitted meekly in its wake.

"Hahaha! Old friend, you’re quicker than usual this time!"

Chen Yi smirked devilishly, greeting it warmly as though it weren’t a sworn enemy he’d fought for years, but a long-lost companion.

BOOM!!!

The response came in the form of a thick, massive, and overwhelmingly fierce Chaos Divine Thunder!

"Tch, you bastard—still as shameless as ever!"

Chen Yi laughed and cursed, neither dodging nor resisting as the savage Chaos Divine Thunder engulfed him.

Like a colossal waterfall crashing down from a towering mountain, it mercilessly pounded against an unyielding boulder!

Expression calm, Chen Yi spread his arms wide, greedily absorbing the Chaos Divine Thunder.

Yet there was no time to refine its destructive power—he could only force it into the clone beads on his wrist and cram it into his own body…

There was no helping it. Unlike the lone Chaos Divine Thunder in the Western Sea Realm, which he could drain at his leisure until it was exhausted, this one had the full backing of the immortal tribulation cloud.

Before he could even absorb half of the first Chaos Divine Thunder, a second one was already brewing—descending without mercy!

BOOM!!!

Instantly, the pressure skyrocketed as the nearly depleted first strike overlapped with the second at full strength!

As expected. With his vast experience in tribulation survival, Chen Yi immediately summoned the forty-eight clone beads above his head, forming a tribulation-resistance array to mitigate the pressure!

"Absorb, absorb, absorb, absorb—"

BOOM!!!

The immortal tribulation gave him no respite—a third Chaos Divine Thunder struck without delay!

"Wait, wait, wait—"

"Slow down! If you go this fast, it’ll all go to waste!"

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!!!

The tribulation cloud churned violently, expanding as more and more lightning gathered within.

BOOM!!!

The fourth, fifth, and sixth strikes—

Three Chaos Divine Thunders descended simultaneously, clearly intent on ending Chen Yi’s life!

"Damn it! Did I give you too much leeway?!"

Chen Yi’s anger flared.

This immortal tribulation wasn’t just breaking the rules—it was even sneakier than before!

In the past, even when multiple strikes came at once, the destructive power within them didn’t overlap. It was like swapping a bottle of strong liquor for a vat—while he couldn’t drink it all at once, at least it didn’t burn his throat.

This time, the damnable Immortal Ascension Tribulation evolved again—three Chaos Heavenly Thunders struck simultaneously, their destructive energies fusing yet repelling each other, akin to boiling strong liquor until it scalds Chen Yi's throat!

"I was planning to take it slow with you, but since you keep pulling underhanded tricks, let’s fight!"

"Tribulation-Sovereign Halberd, come forth!!!"