Lucia cleared the Death God’s Tomb and is on the way to a teleportation gate? I knew it wouldn’t take her too long, but did she really have to clear it on the same day she entered? I think it’s time for me to relocate myself. With Pill Valley’s backing, the whole Immortal Continent is my oyster. I can go anywhere I want and have the same exact quality of life. However, I’m not sure where Lucia’s going. Is she coming here? Is she going to a different country to raid tombs there? I don’t even know why she went to Huang Country in the first place when her goal was to rescue Softie. If only Lucia were more predictable, I’d be able to make plans around her.

As for what I’m planning, isn’t it every Immortal Continent’s inhabitant’s goal to become an immortal? Why can’t I become one as well? I might not follow the traditional paths of qi and cultivation, but even the followers of those paths can fail at becoming an immortal. Immortality doesn’t seem that hard to attain with enough research and resources. I’d probably want to replace my heart with a spirit stone of sorts that could absorb vitality from my surroundings. Or I could create a complex enough jade slip that’ll accept my whole mind. If I die, someone can plug the jade slip into a readymade body, and I’ll come back to life. There’s lots of ways to go about avoiding death, but the most important part is accumulating strength. I still remember that immortal, the one I paid off with hot chocolate. Once I’m able to release attacks as powerful as his, that’s when I’ll truly be strong enough to live forever.

Unfortunately, though I want to relocate myself right this instant, I’m about to undergo my tribulation to enter the sky-realm. I probably shouldn’t have read the news before I started. Isn’t a clear mind supposed to be important when it comes to things like this? Well, supposedly, a sky-realm tribulation consists of one lightning bolt. Lucia had to face four because she’s a terrible person. As for me…, I only have to face one, right? I like to think of myself as a decent person. Either way, it doesn’t matter since I’ll be having a hundred sky-realm experts assist me. Honestly, I’m not even sure why heavenly tribulations exist. The explanations in the records I’ve found are very vague.

Anyways, before I start, I’ll set up the defensive formation. I’d like to think it’s able to stop one of Lucia’s attacks, but I’m not that confident. It should be enough to stop a weakened tribulation lightning bolt though. And each of these sky-realm experts passed their own tribulations. With one hundred of them, even if a hundred lightning bolts came down, I’d still be fine. “Alright, get into position. I’m starting it.”

From my interspacial ring, I retrieved a rainbow glass bottle. Inside, there was a pill that Pill Valley gifted me. They said it was handmade by one of the immortals behind Pill Valley, but I suspect they used my stove to create this, but I’m not going to call them out on it. The value of the medicinal ingredients inside is undeniable. This pill can raise an earth-realm expert into a sky-realm expert with ease. I’m not sure if it’ll work for me since I don’t cultivate qi, but Pill Valley insisted it would. I’m not one to blindly trust other people, so I investigated the medicinal ingredients inside, and I’ve come to the conclusion that even if it doesn’t work, it shouldn’t kill or cripple me.

The pill dissolved in my mouth the instant it touched my tongue but not like a sugar cube. It turned into an almost endless stream of cold liquid. When I swallowed, warmth, instead of coolth, spread throughout my body, radiating from my stomach. The warmth increased in intensity until it felt like my blood was boiling. I took in a deep breath and forced the heat towards my heart, guiding it like mana. From there, I guided it towards my liver, spleen, split the stream in two towards my lungs before sending them off to my kidneys. In theory, the energy should reinforce my organs, allowing me to circulate my mana through them a few more times, raising the circles of magic I could perform.

“It’s coming!”

Evidently, the tribulation was on its way, a telltale sign that I had succeeded. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the medicinal energy still hadn’t run out, and I kept my eyes closed as I continued circulating the heat throughout my body. There was a crashing sound followed by a muffled thud. The defensive formation I set up was powered by spirit stones, but its strength was dependent on the people operating it—and there were a hundred sky-realm experts doing that. I didn’t even feel any tremors from the strike. Now, if I had good karma, the tribulation should be over.

There were a few more crackling sounds, but that should’ve been the energy from the last lightning bolt trying to find its way into my formation. With my eyes still closed, I focused on absorbing the rest of the medicinal pill’s energy. Oddly enough, there were some more dull thumps, but those ended shortly.

“It’s over!”

As I thought, I’m a good person. The last vestiges of heat were absorbed by my heart, and I opened my eyes. The world seemed to be a lot clearer, more detailed. The pill hadn’t just reinforced my organs; it apparently helped my eyes too. I stood up, and the sky-realm experts retreated from the defensive formation. Surprisingly, I only consumed a thousand spirit stones. In Lucia’s monetary terms, it was the equivalent of a hundred used panties. Hmm? A sky-realm tribulation shouldn’t be that easy to pass? Well, why not? I had the help of a hundred sky-realm experts; if I struggled to pass, I might as well kill myself out of shame. Should I feel sorry for the people who had to struggle on their own like Lucia? Why? If they wanted to pass this easily, they should’ve recruited the help of a hundred sky-realm experts like I did. So what if they didn’t actually want to be here? They’re the ones that traded periods of their lives to me in exchange for sky-realm-ranked weapons. Strength manifests in many forms: This is the power of money and influence.

“That was truly amazing, Sister Ilya,” Softie said. She didn’t help operate the defensive formation due to her injury, but she was watching from the sidelines. “Fourteen heavenly tribulation lightning bolts tried to wipe you out of existence, and you’re not even harmed.”

Wait a second. Fourteen? Ten more than Lucia? What the hell? How is my karma worse than hers!?