Chapter 197: Stage Ascension

In the golden light streaming through a rift in the clouds, the aura of that blood‑soaked figure forced the ancient demon, who had lain hidden for a thousand years, to instinctively retreat into the silt of the deep sea.

Such a terrifying thunder punishment already far exceeds Zhou Yi's current cultivation level; it hardly resembles the trial a Great Luo Golden Immortal should face when advancing to Quasi Saint rank.

The blood‑soaked youth kept falling back in the fierce battle, yet his surrounding aura grew ever more imposing. Although the three Quasi Saint deities held the advantage, Zhou Yi's body was undergoing a startling metamorphosis, and a nascent form of the Great Dao that embodies the ultimate principles of heaven and earth was already taking shape.

Amid the sky‑filled tribulation light, Zhou Yi casually wielded the Nine‑character secret technique together with the supreme arts inherited from the emperors.

Gradually, he stopped clinging to existing moves and forged the myriad arts into an entirely new system; every great emperor must carve his own path, and even the strongest preceding Dao lineage cannot perfectly match an individual.

The pinnacle of the three Quasi Saints now served as an excellent whetstone.

Just as in the past when he clashed with Taiyi Shen, although he was completely suppressed, thanks to the regenerative power of the "Zhe" character secret, Zhou Yi never showed any sign of defeat.

This endless skirmish, whose duration was unknown, finally caused the illusory shadows manifested in the tribulation cloud to gradually fade.

When Zhou Yi, half‑kneeling in the void with his battered body, saw his aura climb to an unprecedented peak, there was no hint of joy in his eyes; he stared fixedly into the depths of the Thunder Sea, where a far more terrifying presence was awakening.

Through the Chaos mist, three treasures burst forth, radiating world‑ending power. The Tai Chi Diagram stabilizes yin and yang, the Pangu Banner tears the heavens and earth, and the Chaos Bell anchors space‑time; the shadows of these three Honghuang Treasures are a hundred times more dangerous than the previous Quasi Saint alliance.

Zhou Yi swallowed the treasured True Dragon Immortal Pill without hesitation; had it not been for Tai Qing Sheng Ren guarding him with the genuine Tai Chi Diagram, he would have been crushed long ago by Taiyi Shen's Chaos Bell.

Now it is merely a counterfeit of the Heavenly Tribulation's manifestation, yet the immense law it contains still leaves one breathless.

Zhou Yi understood that this Heavenly Tribulation was no ordinary matter, so he had long tucked all his last‑resort life‑saving elixirs into his body.

The moment these vitality‑infused divine pills entered his mouth, the deep, bone‑visible wounds on his body healed instantly, and even his depleted mana felt as if a battery had been fully recharged.

With these celestial rarities and the restoration technique from the Nine Secrets, killing him completely is practically harder than ascending to heaven.

A blinding flash erupted within the thunderstorm clouds; Zhou Yi, bearing a bronze ancient bell, sliced through the waves of the Thunder Sea, clashing head‑on with the three Heavenly Dao manifested treasures.

This tribulation was ten times more perilous than before; his body was repeatedly shattered into blood‑filled mist, and each reconstruction forced him to endure cramps and skin‑ripping agony.

Even the immortal bell that had accompanied him for years could not withstand the impact; its body cracked into spider‑web‑like patterns—this treasure is a creation forged by heaven and earth!

Zhou Yi is no longer a cultivation novice; he has long held a unique insight into training systems.

According to his analysis, the Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon in Zhetian, when placed in the Vast Wilderness World, is at most a Preheavenly Treasure, but because it carries the great emperor's Dao lineage, a full activation grants it about seventy percent of its true power, making it stronger than ordinary Preheavenly Treasures.

Yet compared to a Preheavenly Spiritual Treasure, it's like a regular pistol against a laser cannon, let alone the top‑tier spiritual treasures that come with anti‑heavenly effects, such as the fiery red lotus in the Sea of Blood Ancestor's hand that can incinerate all cause and effect.

Only an Immortal King‑level weapon can truly spar with a Honghuang Treasure. A Quasi Immortal Imperial Weapon would roughly be a 50‑50 match with a Preheavenly Treasure; as for the legendary Immortal Emperor Weapon—

Zhou Yi himself has never seen one, but it's likely comparable to the Kai Tian Axe, a Chaos Treasure; speaking of that, throughout the entire Honghuang, aside from Hongyuan Dao Ancestor, he can't think of anyone else who might conceal such an ancient relic from the Chaos era.

The bronze bell before him has a notable pedigree, yet it has not been fully refined into a dedicated Imperial Weapon.

At this moment, the celestial Dao patterns embedded within the bell's body crumble inch by inch under the treasure's bombardment, granting Zhou Yi an excellent opening.

He endures the soul‑tearing pain and engraves the Dao principles he has grasped in his lifetime into the bell as if burning them onto a CD.

When the final Thunder Light struck, the reforged Immortal Bell emitted a clear, resonant tone, each pattern flowing with his unique Dao resonance.

After enduring this life‑death nirvana, the bronze Immortal Bell and Zhou Yi merged completely, becoming the vessel for his Dao techniques.

Within the thunder‑electric tempering, the treasure broke its shackles, ravenously devouring the power of the Heavenly Tribulation and evolving toward the level of an Extreme Dao Imperial Weapon.

From the depths of the Tribulation Cloud came a earth‑shaking roar, as if Heaven's punishment was enraged at failing to crush this defier of destiny. Vague silhouettes of the Six Paths stepped out of the Thunder Sea, each footfall causing the world to tremble, and the void cracked inch by inch like a shattered mirror.

"Saint's method?" Zhou Yi's pupils narrowed sharply.

He had once faced the pressure of Tai Qing Sheng Ren and witnessed the tactics of the Zhunti Saint; now these phantoms exude a pure Saint Qi.

Who could have imagined that crossing a tribulation would make the Heavenly Dao summon even Saint projections?

The Six Paths' silhouettes instantly formed a converging formation; a single combined strike shattered Zhou Yi's Saint Body into fragments. Relying on the Immortal secret technique and his treasured Immortal divine pill, he barely reassembled his remains.

From afar, the Dark River Sect leader gasped; after living so long, he had never seen a tribulation draw forth primordial overlords like the Primordial Qilin and Primordial Phoenix, let alone the three great Preheavenly Treasures and Saint projections.

"This is no tribulation; it's Heaven's Dao trying to erase the defier of destiny." The Dark River Sect leader gripped his Abyssal Primordial Slaughter Twin Swords, both horrified and secretly delighted.

If Zhou Yi were to fall here, he could easily seize the Hongmeng Purple Qi and witness this arch‑enemy being buried by the Heavenly Dao itself.

Within the Thunder Sea, Zhou Yi's blood‑soaked fighting form swayed more violently. Each clash with a Saint projection caused the newly formed Saint Body to split with spider‑web cracks, spilling golden‑red Dao blood like rain.

The Dark River Sect leader licked his lips, as if already smelling the Hongmeng Purple Qi; this human co‑ruler who kept him sleepless now trembled like a dying candle in the wind.

The sect leader contemplated another possibility: if Zhou Yi truly survived this world‑shattering thunder tribulation, just the thought of Zhou Yi's power soaring made the wrinkles on his forehead deepen.

When Zhou Yi first failed to breakthrough, he himself could not handle him; if this kid truly crosses that threshold, the Dark River Sect leader grips the Blood River Sword hilt and mutters fiercely, "This time I will cut him out at the roots."

He schemed that even if Zhou Yi succeeded in the tribulation, he would strike a fatal blow during the opponent's weakened period.

At this moment, Zhou Yi's life truly hung by a thread; under the assault of three Heaven‑Opening Sacred Artifacts and six Saint Projections, his flesh's reconstruction slowed ever more, yet oddly his surrounding pressure grew, his aura rising step by step like an erupting volcano.

"Break!" With a thunderous roar, Zhou Yi's body erupted with blinding golden rays, shattering the encirclement and soaring straight upward. Inside, a faint buzzing first sounded, then instantly transformed into a resonant Dao tone that rang across heaven and earth like a massive bell.

Amid ten‑thousand‑foot rays of glow, a bronze furnace phantom slowly materialized. After a booming "Bang", the furnace exploded into a sky full of sparks.

Countless law chains intertwined within, eventually fusing into a Great Dao seal.

Zhou Yi casually summoned the Chaos Immortal Bell hovering above his head, and the sky‑filled thunder tribulation was gulped down entirely by this artifact.