Longzang

Chapter 1206 Determination
After the tribulation dissipated, Wei Yuan left ten Four Symbols Time Selection Formations as a precaution, withdrew the remaining Foundation Establishment cultivators, and then sent out tens of thousands to search for and rescue the mortals and cultivators who had perished in the tribulation. The rest rested and he specially sent a Golden Core Dharma Image to explain the cause and destruction process of the tribulation to them and to soothe their Dao hearts.

Wei Yuan dispersed the heavenly tribulation using the justification of defying the heavens and avenging the innocent cultivators and commoners who had died unjustly. This slogan naturally resonated widely within the Azure Netherworld.

In fact, ordinary people are one thing, but Dao Foundation cultivators are all people who have embarked on the path of immortality, and they have a much deeper understanding of the power of heaven and earth than ordinary people.

As cultivators at the very bottom of the cultivation world, with template-like foundations offering no room for further advancement, they originally believed that dying in the Heavenly Tribulation was simply bad luck, their fate. Who could have imagined that today, the Realm Lord, relying on the power of the grand formation and gathering the strength of the masses, would actually defy the heavens and break through the Heavenly Tribulation!
In an instant, countless cultivators were shaken, as if a new world had opened up before them.

Wei Yuan had long held a high position. When he first arrived in the Western Regions, he started from a village or town, gradually transforming the world and benefiting ordinary people. Few could match his understanding of human nature.

He knew that many things seemed unchanging and many people seemed high and mighty, but in reality, as long as a thought arose in a person's mind, perhaps with a gentle push, the order would collapse.

From the moment the hundreds of thousands of templates on the Lü Clan Ancestral Mountain stopped blindly revering heaven and earth, the blue lake in Wei Yuan's sea of ​​consciousness expanded rapidly, tripling in size in less than a month! In addition to the expansion in area, the lake also became much deeper, with clear blue water, and now only the bottom can be vaguely seen.

This represents an increase of over 50,000 Dao Foundation Qi. Currently, around the Lü Clan Ancestral Mountain, there are a total of over 300,000 Dao Foundation cultivators, nearly 20% of whom have contributed Qi.

Those who can cultivate to the point of establishing a foundation in the Dao are all people with unwavering resolve. Obtaining fortune from them is far more difficult than from ordinary people, which is a significant advantage over ordinary people. Ordinary people sometimes only need a few full meals to receive good fortune.

There are now millions of templates in the Azure Netherworld, and Wei Yuan had previously collected less than 20,000 units of luck, so the difficulty is unimaginable. Many young templates, especially those who have risen in recent years, have taken their achievements for granted and everything in the Azure Netherworld as a matter of course. They don't care who the Realm Lord is, let alone worship him. Obtaining their luck is even more difficult.

However, the fate of mortals also has its own difficulties. The main problem is that it is useless when it is lacking, and if it is of great use, the quantity needs to be extremely large, at least starting from a million.

But as the number increases, the difficulty also rises sharply. If you can feed ten or a hundred people temporarily, all you need is some surplus wealth and a compassionate heart.

However, to transport a million people, you would need at least tens of millions. If you want to ensure that millions or tens of millions of people have enough to eat, what you need is not compassion, but great talent for governing a country.

Therefore, Wei Yuan himself did not expect that by leading hundreds of thousands of young templates to overcome a heavenly tribulation, he would actually gain enormous fortune, enough to cut off a celestial leg.

After the calamity, the ancestral mountain of the Lü clan has been reduced to a scorched mountain. The famous Seven Beauties and Thirteen Peaks are now reduced to four bald peaks, each missing half of its original size. The remaining beauties have simply disappeared.

However, with hundreds of thousands of Dao Foundations, everything was easy. Tens of thousands of Dao Foundations were deployed, and within a few days, the outer mountains within a thousand miles were thoroughly searched, rescuing a few injured and disabled cultivators.

In truth, even a mere whiff of the Heavenly Tribulation True Fire would severely damage the foundation of these cultivators' cultivation, rendering them irreparable. However, Qingming's current policy is to save as many as possible, regardless of the expenditure of manpower and resources.

Although only a hundred or so wounded cultivators were rescued in the end, all of them knew in their hearts that if they were ever in danger, Qingming would save them as well.

By employing this multi-pronged approach, Wei Yuan was able to acquire so much fortune.

The disaster relief work was naturally handled by those below, while Wei Yuan remained in the mountains to continue refining the immortal mountain. At the same time, he sent out thousands of divine thoughts to re-examine the Book of Destiny.

Only after being reminded by the Heavenly Tribulation did Wei Yuan realize that the impact of resetting the destiny was probably much greater than he had expected, and it was far more than just picking up a scrap and compiling a collection of previous works.

Thus, he devoted himself to revising and refining all the chapters he had already written. Several months passed in the blink of an eye, and it was now the twentieth year of the Hongjing era, the end of spring.

……

At the border of Gansu and Ningxia, in a secluded little temple, an old monk and a young monk are sitting in the courtyard, sipping tea and playing chess.

Seeing the young monk suddenly make a move and place a piece in some inexplicable spot, the old monk was taken aback. After thinking for a long time, his expression gradually changed, and he said, "Your move is quite reminiscent of that Qingming fellow."

The young monk smiled and said, "I have studied his chess records for many years and only learned a little bit. There are a few moves of his that seem to be beyond human comprehension. Not that they are brilliant, but that they are simply not human ways of thinking. In fact, they are not only not human, but also not like the thinking of any living being."

The old monk nodded and said, "This person is indeed a genius, but his chess skills are still unpredictable. Once he reaches the level of an immortal, these moves will not be enough."

The young monk said, "What about that sudden calamity that occurred several months ago? I watched it from the Pure Land and found it completely inexplicable. You are right here, so you should be able to see it more clearly."

The old monk hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, "It should be related to one's fortune and destiny, and there are signs that one's path to enlightenment is manifest in the world. Qingming is known for his fortune. In terms of the fortune bestowed upon him, there are probably few in the world who can match him. Moreover, he killed three immortals with the way of fortune."

This old monk believes that Qingming likely created a great path related to destiny, which Heaven resented, thus attracting the Liusu Heavenly Profound True Fire Tribulation.

The young monk smiled slightly and said, "Opening up a path is a meritorious act. With his abilities, it's not surprising that he can open up a path related to destiny, after all, he has countless connections with that one. That one has become increasingly proficient in the way of destiny in recent reincarnations, gradually becoming incomprehensible to others."

When will that one return to their position?

The young monk shook his head: "No one knows where he went, only that the lotus seat is still there and the position is not empty."

"How is Ling Mountain?"

The young monk sighed and said, "In this degenerate age, all sorts of strange phenomena are terrifying. External demons are rampant, and we don't know how they've managed to shake the very foundation. Now, half the mountain has collapsed. The flowers on the mountain have turned into carnivorous creatures, the clear streams have become stagnant water, and all sorts of strange and foul-smelling things are crawling at the foot of the mountain..."

On the collapsed mountain, countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who had not yet attained enlightenment would perish, their centuries of cultivation destroyed in an instant, unable even to reach the underworld.

The old monk was filled with grief and sighed, "We have cultivated ourselves diligently for generations, but who would have thought that in the end we couldn't even protect Mount Ling?"

"Ultimately, it's because the faith of the followers is weak that external forces have the opportunity to take advantage. This time, the Western Jin dynasty's power is weak and powerful ministers are rampant, which is the perfect opportunity to promote the Pure Land Buddhism. We..." Before he could finish speaking, the earth and sky suddenly shook, and the two monks' expressions changed simultaneously, and they stood up in unison!

A stream of fire, invisible even to ordinary immortals, streaked across the sky, instantly covering millions of miles away!
The Pure Land trembled again, the tremor feeling much stronger than in the mortal world. Large swathes of earth and rocks slid down Mount Ling, and several lotus platforms on the peaks shattered. The fragments, along with the Dharma images on the platforms, rolled down the mountainside and into the dust and mud.

In the eyes of the two monks, the cause and effect of this incident were crystal clear: the fire originated from the Lü family ancestral mountain and ended at the Pure Land sacred mountain, resulting in the shattering of three lotus thrones. Consequently, the two Bodhisattvas and one Arhat who had not yet returned to their positions would never come back.

These three positions are all related to fortune.

The young monk's face showed anger. He said, "At a time like this, he still has to interfere and kick us when we're down. It's truly despicable! Since that's the case, then we must speed up the promotion of our sect. There's no need to be polite to him!"

The old monk nodded, but hesitated, saying, "I'd better go and try to persuade him. If he can promote the Buddhist teachings in Qingming, it would be a great merit."

"Trying to get something from a tiger!"

"Anyway, I'm not far from giving up this physical body. At worst, he'll harm me, and I'll just have one more layer of karmic bondage."

The young monk's long eyebrows twitched, and suddenly tears welled up in his eyes. Without saying a word, he stood up and bowed three times to the old monk.

The old monk sat upright and calmly accepted the three bows.

……

At the ancestral mountain of the Lü family, Wei Yuan sat in his study, picked up his brush, wrote the last paragraph, and then read it over and over again, quite satisfied.

On the desk in front of him, there was a book that still smelled faintly of ink. The book was closed, and the cover had four large characters: "The Primordial Heavenly Mandate," signed by Wei Yuan.

After months of deliberation and revision, this book is actually finished. It just needs to be entered into the Hall of Merit of the Taichu Palace on an auspicious day, and then it will be complete.

However, in the process of writing this book, Wei Yuan gained a deeper understanding of the Way of Destiny and also discovered many things he had been confused about before.

He then realized that if he couldn't write something clearly, it was because he hadn't figured it out himself; there was no other reason.

It took several months to write the book. In fact, Wei Yuan systematically organized his insights into the path of destiny throughout his life. It was a complete work, and in this field, he officially surpassed his ancestor... although his ancestor never intended to delve into the path of destiny.

Having gained new insights, Wei Yuan casually added a few more chapters to the unfinished "Three Realms Auspicious Scripture." Looking at the scripture he had just finished writing, he felt that something was still missing.

This period of contemplation lasted for several days. Finally, Wei Yuan picked up his pen again and added a few more paragraphs. After completing these paragraphs, he was finally satisfied with what he wanted to convey and put down the last stroke.

As Wei Yuan made this stroke, he suddenly felt a sense of lofty etherealness. The tip of his brush touched something, but it was very brittle and shattered at the slightest touch.

Even with Wei Yuan's current supernatural abilities, he didn't know what had happened and couldn't figure it out.

It is said that a certain template-based Dao Foundation has devised a new algorithm that, by harnessing the power of the prosperity of all realms, can deduce almost everything in the world, though it requires massive computing power. Theoretically, if the current prosperity of all realms were several million times larger, it would be sufficient to meet the minimum requirements.

Wei Yuan read the beginning and the end of that article, but thought the author was being whimsical, so he put it aside and forgot about it.

Wei Yuan wasn't stubborn, nor would he obsess over mathematics. He stopped dwelling on the matter, shook out the newly written scripture, put it into the Pure Land Temple, placed it on the table, and then admired it repeatedly, knowing that it was about to contribute to his luck again.

……

Halfway up Mount Ling, a young monk was struggling to climb. At this time, the mountain had cracked open, the streams had dried up, and many of the mountain paths had disappeared, leaving only steep cliffs.

The young monk climbed with great difficulty, his hands, feet, and knees were badly injured and were covered in blood, leaving a bloody trail on the mountain.

He used his last bit of strength to finally climb over a broken wall, where a small platform appeared before him. On the platform, a lotus seat was suspended in mid-air, with several lotus seeds floating above it.

The young monk finally showed a look of joy and walked towards the lotus throne. But after taking only two steps, he suddenly heard a crisp cracking sound, and the lotus throne shattered! It shattered right before his eyes!
The young monk was stunned, tears streaming down his face. They were not for himself, but for the lotus seat that no longer existed, for Mount Ling, and also for his master who had cruelly pushed him away back then.

He wiped away his tears, thankfully there was chaos on Mount Ling and no one saw him. Otherwise, if the current Buddhist disciple were like this, he would probably be criticized again. Those mounts always liked to complain to the Buddha.

He was preparing to find another lotus platform that was still standing when suddenly the ground beneath his feet cracked, and the mountain wall he was standing on collapsed. He fell backward, crashing down with countless rubble and dirt.

……

Inside the Pure Land Temple, Wei Yuan suddenly realized that he had missed a few sentences and that the true meaning was not clearly conveyed. So he added two more sentences and was finally satisfied.

The scripture sat quietly on the desk, and after Wei Yuan left, it began to receive incense offerings from an unknown source.

(End of this chapter)