The abrupt development flabbergasted onlookers.

Greater than the Diabolical Tribulation of World Refinement, the mutated tribulation had converged into a current streaming in a single direction. In the blink of an eye, the seemingly endless storm of lightning dissipated completely, taking with it the scarlet tribulation clouds.

Though the sky had returned to a clear blue, the foreboding atmosphere of the tribulation lingered on. Heavier shadows loomed over the Divine Sea in place of the clouds, equally weighing on the crowd’s hearts.

An enormous beast lay coiled above the Divine Sea after the scene cleared, spanning almost the entire body of water. It looked extremely odd, unlike any exotic beast the immortals had ever encountered before. It bore the head of a tiger, the body of a turtle, the wings of a phoenix, and the tail of a dragon!

The tail was what had knocked the Exalted celestial emperor and his compass away. More surprisingly, there were two dragon claws attached to the bottom end of the dragon tail. It looked as if the tail had been hacked off from another dragon.

The terrifying chimera came with a terrifying aura. Dancing with rage, its scarlet tiger’s eyes were fixed on an empty point in the sky.

……

“What is that?!” Dongfang Hao goggled at the beast with shock in his eyes. He usually had a handle on everything, but even he was feeling a little out of his depth now. He could tell that the vicious beast would be able to crush him just by twitching its giant turtle feet.

The petrifying sight presented by the horrifying monster shoved bafflement over how mysteriously the lightning tribulation had vanished from everyone’s minds.

“A tribulation beast… Can this be Wushuang’s tribulation beast?” The Exalted celestial emperor took several steps back. Even he didn’t dare draw close now.

“What manner of monster is this? Why is there such a thing in a heavenly tribulation?” The Primus and Enlightened celestial emperors were apprehensive as well.

……

“It’s discovered me.” In his statue form, Lu Yun lifted his head to meet the monster’s eyes. “...the dragon tail is the lower half of the Azure Dragon King,” he muttered, recognizing the tail immediately.

The upper half of the dragon king’s body had managed to survive by becoming one with the Sal Tree of Life and Death in the tomb realm. The presence that Lu Yun had sensed when the Azure Dragon King fought Empress Myrtlestar perfectly matched that of the dragon tail attached to the beast!

Caught between death, neither dead nor alive!

When Lu Yun sailed through the Blood Sea after acquiring the Dao Flower, he and his companions, including the Azure Dragon King, had seen the great skeletal tail flailing about in the bloody depths, fighting another vicious beast.

It was then that the Azure Dragon King had given up on recovering its lower half. But now here it was, part of an enormous beast!

Lu Yun had trouble wrapping his mind around the discovery.

“Does... this tribulation have something to do with the Blood Sea?” He wasn’t afraid of the beast’s attention, just confounded by what everything entailed.

The lightning he’d absorbed from the tribulation had collected as a black lightning bead on the golden Sal Tree of Life and Death, merging with another piece of karmic fruit. He’d never felt so powerful before, like he’d gained the power of a peak origin dao immortal via the corpse puppet.

“If that’s the case...” An idea came to him, putting a smile on his face.

“Moooo!”

A powerful ox bellow split the air. Surging black lightning whipped through the air, overtaking the Divine Sea as a great figure emerged.

Kui!

Lu Yun had transformed into a kui and brought with him an endless realm of lightning. His transformation was thorough, changing him into the real thing.

Although he wasn’t as powerful as a real kui and couldn’t call upon as much strength, he possessed a black lightning bead instead. The power of the mutated tribulation it contained was even purer than a real kui’s innate lightning.

Inky lightning crackling around his pitch-black body of a kui, Lu Yun seemed even more like a tribulation beast than the giant chimera. His body solidly occupied a corner that spanned a thousand kilometers over the waters, yet was still dwarfed by the giant beast coiled high in the sky. The Divine Sea was as large as a great province in the world of immortals, measuring a million kilometers across.

……

“Kui! Is that the same one that appeared in Azure Province of Nephrite Major?” Countless immortals watching from outside the Divine Sea sucked in sharp breaths.

Back in Azure Province, the kui had only been thrown out of Nephrite Major with Scarlet Ape’s intervention and Zhao Changkong’s sacrifice. Thus, it was an unwelcome sight to register in Exalted Major.

“It looks like the kui devoured the lightning tribulation… That’s right, Kui is the primordial thunder god, keeper of lightning punishments in the primordial immortal court! Legend has it that the primordial world of immortals was the center of the many worlds. Kui was in charge of the lightning tribulation that all cultivators in the multiverse encountered upon ascension.”

Hope shone out of the Exalted celestial emperor’s eyes. Salvation had arrived in the form of the kui devouring the terrifying lightning, but was swiftly followed by persisting despair at the sight of the enormous beast. This thing couldn’t possibly originate from the world of immortals!

Beasts lurked within the tribulations for void-realm immortals, yes, and the more powerful the cultivator, the stronger and more tangible the tribulation beast. However, tribulation beasts were typically manifested by lighting. Once defeated, they returned divine tribulation essence, which was highly beneficial to an immortal’s constitution.

True geniuses encountered real giant beasts when ascending to immortality. Upon their victory, they gained powerful treasures from the carcasses that made the divine tribulation essence pale in comparison.

This beast, however, was something that no one had ever seen before. Even the great geniuses who had brought about great phenomena of ascension hadn’t encountered it.

……

“No! That’s not a kui, but Lu Yun...” Dongfang Hao paled. Gone was the lightning, but not the heavenly tribulation itself. He could clearly sense that the kui that’d emerged from nowhere was his greatest fear at the moment, Lu Yun!

“Which human king’s heritage did he acquire?! Or a human emperor?? How did he transform into a kui?!” He himself couldn’t determine if this was a true kui, but the Sword of Chaos wouldn’t lie to him. It was indeed Lu Yun.

“Oh, I didn’t expect you to recognize me.” In its next step of evolution, the Sal Tree of Life and Death was able to capture and reveal Dongfang Hao’s reaction. “Well then, I guess it’s time for you to complete your unfinished tribulation.”

Boom!

Black lightning spiraled from Kui’s single horn, striking Dongfang Hao with great ferocity.