Lord Haoshan's matter made Zhou Yu somewhat wary, but he did not take it too seriously. Instead, he proceeded according to plan and began enhancing the strength of his Seven-Star Vine avatar.
Time passed. Meanwhile, in the Desolate Era World—
Zhou Yu's re-cultivating true body and Second Primal Spirit had both reached Void Returner Perfection.
In terms of time flow, the Desolate Era World was considerably slower than the Swallowed Star World.
Starting Fiendgod Body Refining from scratch, Zhou Yu had needed only a little over fifty years. Of course, those fifty years had mainly been spent accumulating the foundation needed to break through bottlenecks. Accumulating energy itself had not taken much time.
The main reason was that Zhou Yu could easily accelerate time for his true body and Second Primal Spirit. Under time acceleration, absorbing stellar power to accumulate divine power was still very fast.
"It's time to undergo the tribulation."
At this moment, Zhou Yu's true body and Second Primal Spirit both arrived in the void of the Three Realms. Not far away, True God Zhou Yu stood with his hands behind his back atop a towering mountain, watching the scene unfold.
Buzz!
Zhou Yu's true body and Second Primal Spirit simultaneously raised their auras to their peaks. Vast Heavenly Dao fluctuations descended, and invisible winds began to sweep through the void.
The first tribulation of the Heavenly God Tribulation, the Wind Tribulation, had begun.
"This Wind Tribulation is rather powerful. Even an ordinary Top-Tier Celestial Immortal would probably die instantly if touched by even a little of it."
Standing at the center of the Wind Tribulation, Zhou Yu quietly marveled.
Such a powerful Wind Tribulation was merely the beginning. Once it developed to its peak, it would become even more terrifying.
Still, it was not surprising. Aside from the Heavenly God Tribulation, Zhou Yu was also undergoing a Celestial Immortal Tribulation this time.
For ordinary body-refining cultivators of the Three Realms, even undergoing a Celestial Immortal Tribulation at the same time was nothing much. A Third-Grade Celestial Immortal Tribulation had a negligible effect on the power of a Heavenly God Tribulation.
But Zhou Yu had cultivated the qi-refining technique he obtained during his simulation in the Huntian World, the Nine Turns Immortal Ascension Art. What he was undergoing now was a Second-Grade Celestial Immortal Tribulation.
A Heavenly God Tribulation plus a Second-Grade Celestial Immortal Tribulation—how could its power possibly be weak?
Of course, this level of power was nothing to Zhou Yu. Manipulating the Power of Space, he easily blocked the many terrifying winds.
At the same time—
Within a mysterious space in the Three Realms, invisible fluctuations emerged. The Black-Robed God King of the Seamless Gate abruptly looked toward the direction where Zhou Yu was undergoing tribulation.
"Immortal Ganyu has begun undergoing tribulation? Right near Cang You's cave abode?" The Black-Robed God King rapidly considered the matter.
In the Three Realms, no one could hide their tribulation from the Seamless Gate. Cultivators who were unwilling to join the Seamless Gate would generally suffer its interference or even assassination attempts while undergoing tribulation. Unless a mighty figure was willing to protect them, nowhere was safe.
Of course, the Seamless Gate generally interfered with cultivators undergoing Celestial Immortal Tribulations.
Heavenly God Tribulations themselves had very little hope of success.
"This Immortal Ganyu is almost certain to succeed in his tribulation. Once he does, two terrifying Empyrean Gods will be born. Furthermore, when he killed Blood Hand before, he showed no mercy at all. It is clear that he is determined to stand against us." The Black-Robed God King narrowed his eyes.
He was not surprised that Zhou Yu's Second Primal Spirit was undergoing a Heavenly God Tribulation. As long as the true body and Second Primal Spirit's two True Spirits reincarnated together, they could naturally obtain bodies. The difficulty of becoming an Empyrean God had never been whether one possessed a body, but whether one was suited to walking this path.
What was truly surprising was that his true body and Second Primal Spirit had both reached Void Returner Perfection so quickly.
"This True God Cang You has not even comprehended the Heavenly Dao after all these long years. He should not be all that strong." After pondering for a while, the Black-Robed God King still decided to give it a try.
At present, both sides had an unspoken understanding not to unleash battles at the True God and Dao Ancestor level. Then they simply would not have True Gods or Dao Ancestors make a move.
Elsewhere—
Zhou Yu's Heavenly Tribulation continued. After the Wind Tribulation passed, the Fire Tribulation posed no threat to him either. Although the Lightning Tribulation produced the most powerful Pure Yang Golden Light Lightning, Zhou Yu still passed it with ease.
Finally, the Heart Demon Tribulation descended, and Zhou Yu's true body and Second Primal Spirit both fell into it.
"The memories have been cut off." True God Zhou Yu watched from afar, unsurprised.
He had tested it long ago. Whenever his different avatars fell into illusion-type techniques, their memories would automatically be isolated from those of his other avatars. It would not result in one avatar being killed by an illusion technique and all his other avatars dying as well.
However, at that moment, True God Zhou Yu's expression changed.
In the extremely distant void, a massive spatial rift suddenly appeared. From within the rift, countless black dragons wreathed in towering lightning flew out.
"Two Realms Tribulation Dragon Life-Death Formation!" Zhou Yu naturally recognized the formation at once.
The Seamless Gate had used this formation when attacking the Six Paths of Reincarnation.
The Two Realms Tribulation Dragon Life-Death Formation could be formed by a True God or Dao Ancestor commanding a great number of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, or by numerous Empyrean Gods and True Immortals themselves. Even in the latter case, its power could reach the level of an ordinary True God or Dao Ancestor.
Of course, a single formation could not deal with a True God or Dao Ancestor. But the target of this Two Realms Tribulation Dragon Life-Death Formation was not True God Zhou Yu.
The black dragons roared as they charged directly toward Zhou Yu's true body and Second Primal Spirit, who were undergoing the Heart Demon Tribulation.
During tribulation, cultivators trapped in the Heart Demon Tribulation were at their weakest. If attacked, they would be killed without any ability to resist.
"Ignore True God Cang You. Kill Immortal Ganyu, who is undergoing tribulation."
The Empyrean Gods and True Immortals controlling the Two Realms Tribulation Dragon Life-Death Formation had a very clear objective: to destroy Zhou Yu's true body and Second Primal Spirit.
Even if they were stopped, at this level of battle, any stray shockwave would be enough to annihilate an unprepared Empyrean God.
Not to mention that those who had yet to pass the Heavenly God Tribulation could not yet be considered true Empyrean Gods.
"Courting death!"
Zhou Yu's gaze instantly turned cold.
Boom!
He struck out with his palm, and the surrounding void immediately collapsed.
The black dragons attacking Zhou Yu's true body and Second Primal Spirit were all annihilated into nothingness in an instant.
"What?"
The Empyrean Gods and True Immortals forming the Two Realms Tribulation Dragon Life-Death Formation were all slightly startled. Had they not said that True God Cang You was rather ordinary in strength?
But before they could think further, Zhou Yu sent another palm strike through the air at the formation itself.
"Hold it!"
The many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals erupted with power, trying to block the attack, but the force contained within that palm was simply too fierce.
The vast Two Realms Tribulation Dragon Life-Death Formation was blasted apart. One Empyrean God and True Immortal after another coughed blood and flew backward.
"All of you, die!"
Zhou Yu attacked again. Although both sides had an understanding that True Gods and Dao Ancestors would not act, he had not been the one to move first this time.
Others had come right over his head to cause trouble. Was he supposed to just watch?
At that moment, a black-robed figure suddenly appeared in front of those Empyrean Gods and True Immortals who had been sent flying.
While resisting Zhou Yu's attack, he waved his hand and collected the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals one after another.
It was naturally the Black-Robed God King. Although he believed Zhou Yu was not particularly strong and had thus planned this operation, he had not come without any precautions.
After all, Zhou Yu had not acted for countless years. Who knew whether he had improved?
"I truly underestimated True God Cang You this time. I never expected this man to be so formidable as well." The Black-Robed God King inwardly sighed. Zhou Yu was simply no weaker than him.
However, just as he was thinking this—
A strange power suddenly appeared. The Black-Robed God King blocked it again, but he only managed to stop part of it. The remaining force passed through amid shifting spacetime.
"Not good!"
The Black-Robed God King's expression changed, but it was already too late to react.
Terrifying power instantly swept over the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals who had yet to be collected by the Black-Robed God King.
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
Without a sound, a full thirty-seven Empyrean Gods and True Immortals were annihilated in the void.
"True God Cang You, you have quite the nerve." The Black-Robed God King was enraged.
Thirty-seven Empyrean Gods and True Immortals! Even in a Realm War launched in some remote realm, that was about how many Empyrean Gods and True Immortals would die.
"The one with nerve is you."
A cold snort rang out, followed by a gray-robed figure striding over.
"Yao."
The Black-Robed God King immediately calmed down. The Yao Emperor, one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of the Ancient Human Race, possessed strength at the level of a Top-Tier True God or Dao Ancestor. He was no weaker than the Black-Robed God King.
With the unfathomable True God Cang You added to the mix, he held no advantage.
"True Gods slaughtering Empyrean Gods and True Immortals—this is the fine work of your side. We are not finished." After leaving behind those harsh words, the Black-Robed God King turned and departed.
Neither the Yao Emperor nor Zhou Yu stopped him. If a battle erupted now, it would only draw more and more True Gods and Dao Ancestors into the conflict. Neither the Yao Emperor nor Zhou Yu wished to start the final decisive battle at this time.
Before you continue