Longzang

Chapter 411 The Joys and Sorrows of Life (Thanks to Alliance Leader Yi Qingfeng)
A cry rang out, shaking the vast land and causing boundless spiritual energy to surge forth from the earth. All mortals simultaneously turned their heads, gazing beyond the heavens. There, Wei Yuan was watching over this world.

At this moment, all the immortal plants, mortals, and even all sentient beings underwent a change that was difficult to explain.

At this very moment, the spiritual ocean of the vast land began to boil. Wei Yuan's sea of ​​consciousness opened, and little by little spiritual energy emanated from it, beginning to communicate with heaven and earth.

Suddenly, dark clouds came from all directions, turning day into night in the blink of an eye. The thick, leaden clouds grew lower and lower, almost touching the mountain peaks on the ground.

The cold and ruthless will of heaven and earth gradually manifested itself, fixing its gaze on Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan's heart skipped a beat, knowing that the Heavenly Tribulation had arrived and the time for the Dharma Form had come. Looking up at the tribulation clouds in the sky, their momentum was even greater than when he had summoned the Dharma Form Heavenly Tribulation with a single word last time, which made Wei Yuan feel a sense of foreboding.

He made a quick decision, instructing all the cultivators of the Taichu Palace to take precautions, and then flew north.

Suddenly, a gigantic dragon head appeared in Wei Yuan's mind, with a dozen eyes on each side, staring intently at him. Its aura was both familiar and unfamiliar; familiar because Wei Yuan had encountered it twice before, unfamiliar because this time it was more real, more lofty, and more terrifying. If this dragon head alone were to materialize, it would be hundreds of feet tall!
"You have one last chance," the dragon head said.

"What benefits would I get?" Wei Yuan asked.

"Without my help, you won't survive this tribulation. Even a Dharma Body can't withstand this tribulation, let alone your meager Dao Foundation."

Wei Yuan sneered: "If I cultivate your Dharma form, wouldn't I become your puppet? There are quite a few people in the Great Treasure Flower Pure Land who are more powerful than you, aren't there?"

"Hmph, how can those grotesque fellows compare to me? As for the first point, you don't need to worry, I have already perished. Even if I were to be resurrected with your power, your strength would only be enough for me to regain a little bit of my spirituality. But you will receive an extra reward for creating something from nothing."

"For example?" Wei Yuan never listens to empty promises.

"I'll catch three more true dragon bloodlines for you."

Wei Yuan was somewhat tempted, but he had already realized the path he was meant to take, and there was no reason for him to change it.

The dragon head sensed Wei Yuan's intentions and was extremely angry, roaring, "Let's see how you overcome this heavenly tribulation!"

Wei Yuan had already flown to the location and made arrangements there long ago. He landed laughing as he landed.

The ground here was covered with black or blue crystals, and the soil was all scorched earth containing numerous tiny crystal grains. Around Wei Yuan, there were three Thunder Crystal Trees, one large and two small, forming a triangle around him. On the outer perimeter stood four thick metal poles, each tens of feet high, connected to cables as thick as bowls, which led to a small lake, the bottom of which was piled with a large amount of metal ore.

After laughing, Wei Yuan said to the dragon head, "Never heard of a lightning rod? With such a divine artifact, what do I have to fear from lightning tribulations?"

The dragon head was also stunned. After carefully looking at the surrounding arrangements, it understood something. Suddenly, it let out a cold laugh and disappeared.

Wei Yuan felt that its attitude was a bit strange. At this moment, with the heavenly tribulation approaching, he didn't have time to think about it. So he activated the magic array that he had set up beforehand and placed various recovery pills in the nodes of the magic array. This way, the pills would not be destroyed. Otherwise, all the storage magic treasures would not be able to withstand the heavenly tribulation.

That's not all. Wei Yuan opened his mouth wide, poured in several bottles of pills, and then held them in his mouth, deciding which one to take as needed.

Having completed his preparations, Wei Yuan straightened his clothes and waited for the tribulation lightning to descend.

Generally, when one advances from the Dao Foundation stage to the Dharma Form stage, those of higher rank will face one to three tribulations of lightning, which are not difficult to deal with and are also known as minor tribulations.

Once the Dharma Body is perfected, one must undergo the Purple Thunder Heavenly Tribulation, which is what Wei Yuan experienced fiercely last time. This time, Wei Yuan anticipates that the Heavenly Tribulation will continue endlessly, so he prepares early and plans to use a reverse attack to extinguish the Heavenly Tribulation when his body tempering is nearly complete.

The current fortune of Qingming is far greater than it was before, which is why Wei Yuan is full of confidence this time.

At that moment, a point of red light shone on Wei Yuan's face, and the surrounding temperature began to rise. Wei Yuan was startled, looked up at the sky, and found that the tribulation clouds had parted, revealing a huge fireball burning fiercely within. This was no ordinary fireball, but a massive, burning sun at close range!

Wei Yuan was dumbfounded!

This time, it wasn't a lightning tribulation that arrived, but the Great Sun Divine Flame True Fire Tribulation. This was a heavenly tribulation specifically targeting the Mind Realm. Regardless of its power, all of Wei Yuan's preparations against the lightning tribulation had become useless.

Wei Yuan would never believe anyone who said that Heaven and Earth weren't intentionally targeting him.

At the edge of the great sun in the sky, a drop of fiery water fell, signaling the start of the heavenly tribulation.

Having no other choice, Wei Yuan took out the fully loaded medicine spear and fired three shots, shattering the drop of true solar fire. But then, a second and a third drop fell.

In the northern part of the azure sky, gunshots rang out continuously, and fire droplets rained down from the sky. Wei Yuan retaliated with the bullets and flying swords within his Dao Foundation, engaging in a battle of attrition with the Heavenly Tribulation.

As the heavenly fire intensified, the surrounding temperature rose higher and higher. Wei Yuan's robes were the first to succumb to the heat and began to burn, followed by his beard, hair, and eyebrows. In the blink of an eye, patches of the Great Sun True Fire were pouring down from the sky, and flames began to appear out of thin air in many places across the vast land.

The mortals all gathered around their respective faiths, and Wei Yuan quickly gave orders, instructing himself and the mortals around the Jade Toad statue to immediately take refuge near the Ice Glass Divine Tree. During this True Fire Tribulation, both the Ice Glass Divine Tree and the Laurel Immortal Tree were effective against the True Fire of the Sun, but the Ice Glass Divine Tree was clearly more powerful. Wei Yuan's own statue was, at this moment, truly useless.

The edge of the vast land has already begun to burn, with patches of earth constantly turning to white ash and then dissipating. The true fire of the sun is different from the azure fire of the Great Mantra of Cause and Effect; it is pure, extremely hot heat that first turns the earth into scorching magma before burning it to ashes.

The true fire of the sun fell faster and faster, almost as if it were pouring out its fiery flow.

Beyond the heavens, numerous magnificent and lofty wills have already turned their gazes toward this calamity, and some are moved by it.

"Back when I was just a minor imperial guard, I couldn't withstand such fierce heavenly fire."

"This place is becoming increasingly unbearable."

"Perhaps it's not that they can't tolerate us, but that they can't tolerate him..."

……

After an unknown amount of time, Wei Yuan could no longer hear any sound, and his flesh began to melt. Heavenly fire raged across the vast land, merging into one. All immortals and living beings sought refuge near Jade Mountain, and from the Gate of All Realms, wisps of invisible, intangible soul wind blew forth, each capable of extinguishing vast swathes of heavenly fire.

The spirituality of the vast land was preserved thanks to the Soul Wind, but the sea of ​​spirituality was already boiling hot and was about to boil.

Wei Yuan's vision was already somewhat blurred, and he had lost track of how many days it had been. Suddenly, he vaguely saw a piece of skin and flesh fall off his head, burning to ashes before it even hit the ground.

At this moment, his mind began to blur, and several lingering figures flashed through his mind. He had never imagined that the True Fire Tribulation would be so powerful; such extreme heat was almost unstoppable.

Suddenly, Wei Yuan heard a series of human voices, as if countless people were praying devoutly.

At this moment, throughout the Azure Sky, people had put down their work and, guided by the cultivators of the Primordial Palace, prayed devoutly, using the power and fortune of humanity to help Wei Yuan resist the heavenly tribulation. Having survived the Great Curse of Cause and Effect, the survivors not only did not retreat, but were more determined than ever before, joining forces to fight against the heavenly tribulation, even if it meant sacrificing themselves to take its place!

With the old members of Qingming leading the way, the newly joined Qingming members, who had initially hesitated, now all prayed devoutly. Countless beams of azure light and the power of their vows rose from all directions and converged into Wei Yuan's sea of ​​consciousness.

It was yet another battle between humanity and nature.

Within the heavenly fire, vast swathes of azure fortune were also burning, turning into nothingness. The shadow in the moon seemed to be restrained by the true fire, lying dormant within the full moon, silently enduring the tempering of the true fire.

At that moment, a small figure pierced through the sea of ​​fire and tossed a small stone onto Wei Yuan. The stone vanished instantly upon landing, the temperature around Wei Yuan plummeted, and a large portion of the true fire was extinguished.

But this caused real fire to ignite on the small figure. It screamed in pain and disappeared, only to return moments later with a pebble it threw at Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan was enduring the agony of being burned alive every moment, but he clung to the figures in his heart, refusing to lose the last vestige of clarity in his mind. As long as his spirit remained intact, the vast land would continue to resist the heavenly fire.

……

After an unknown amount of time, Wei Yuan suddenly felt that the surroundings had become cooler, the heavenly fire had faded, and life suddenly burst forth between heaven and earth. Countless new shoots sprouted from the scorched earth, rushing to this new world!

In the azure sky, countless people suddenly noticed people moving around them. They were either going in and out of shops, or lingering among vendors, arguing endlessly over a few copper coins, or hurrying about.

The familiar neighborhood now overlaps with scenes from another neighborhood. However, the people in this neighborhood seem oblivious to the Azure Netherworld; they even pass directly through the bodies of the Azure Netherworld's inhabitants.

At this moment, it was as if two people were overlapping and intersecting, but in reality, they had no connection.

Such strange phenomena appeared everywhere in the Azure Sky, and that world was more prosperous than the Azure Sky of today, with its scattered lights and wisps of smoke.

Tangdu, the Golden Palace.

The young Emperor Xuan was sitting on the dragon throne, listening to the reports from his officials. Suddenly, the hall shook, the high platform collapsed, and the dragon throne overturned!

In the second year of the Tianqi era of the Great Tang Dynasty, Wei Yuan endured the Nine-Day Heavenly Tribulation, surviving the burning of the sun's true fire and thus attaining the Dharma form of "Human Fire".

(End of this chapter)