Longzang

Chapter 466 Overcoming the Tribulation
Zhang Sheng finally completed the newly assigned task and clicked submit. A moment later, the feedback was positive.

Zhang Sheng's mood instantly improved, and she accepted the next task. This time, the system informed her that because her previous task was rated as good, she would begin to be assigned node-type tasks.

For node-type tasks, Zhang Sheng needs to break down the task content. This time, he divided it into three parts: he handled one part himself, and the other two parts were reassigned to others. Finally, he combined the three parts into a complete magic array, and that was considered complete.

Zhang Sheng had never heard of such a task before. Then, through the light sphere, she sensed hundreds of independent consciousnesses. She needed to select two of these people to issue tasks to.

Each person has detailed information and past task records, and Zhang Sheng uses this information to select the recipients of the tasks.

While Zhang Sheng was browsing the information, dozens of consciousnesses disappeared from the network, presumably having been selected by others.

At that moment, Cui Yu, who was not far away, had just finished a task. He let out a long breath and clenched his fist! This was the first time he had handled sixteen tasks simultaneously, completed them precisely, and ultimately received an excellent rating. The simultaneous handling of sixteen tasks, with his mental energy operating at an extremely high speed, had left Cui Yu feeling slightly dizzy, as if he hadn't slept for several days.

Just then, Cui Yu suddenly felt a spark of spirituality explode deep within his sea of ​​consciousness, erupting like a volcano! At the same time, a thunderclap resounded outside, and dark clouds instantly gathered!

Cui Yu could hardly believe that he had already achieved perfect spiritual foundation and was about to become a Dharma body? But this was in Wei Yuan's mental world, and his physical body was not here. How could he become a Dharma body?
The girl suddenly appeared, pulled Cui Yu up, and disappeared in an instant.

Zhang Sheng was also shocked. Was there a heavenly tribulation here too?

She left her seat, intending to follow and see what was happening. Just as she rushed out of the palace gate, the girl reappeared before her, and a path of light appeared between them. Zhang Sheng followed the girl onto the path of light, and after a few steps, they arrived at a desolate wilderness.

There are six fields in this wilderness, each corresponding to one of the five elements. There is also a field whose attribute is not clear, but there are several iron poles standing there, and the ground is covered with iron sand.

At this moment, tribulation lightning appeared above Cui Yu's head, and ripples seemed to appear within the deep blue tribulation clouds. This time, his tribulation was water-lightning. Cui Yu was sitting in an earthen-yellow field, surrounded by an extremely dense earth power.

Using earth to control water can weaken the power of the heavenly tribulation. The other areas also appear to be strategically arranged. Zhang Sheng saw a sign in the distance with the words: "Tribulation Crossing Ground: Turning Misfortune into Good Fortune."

Zhang Sheng's expression froze. Was there going to be a standardized procedure for transcending the heavenly tribulation?
At this moment, the heavenly tribulation began, with wave after wave of water-based lightning striking down, immediately triggering a counterattack from the thick earth energy within the area, weakening the lightning tribulation layer by layer. Suddenly, Cui Yu roared, and a golden-armored warrior wielding a sword appeared above his head, slashing at the water-based lightning!

Zhang Sheng shook his head slightly.

Cui Yu's warrior armor and attire were quite striking, indicating he was a celestial soldier of the Six Rens. However, this type of celestial soldier was only slightly higher than the lowest level of human form in the divination system, barely qualifying as an earth form.

Cui Yu's talent and aptitude were limited after all. Although he had cultivated the Dharma Form early on, his path forward should be cut off at this point.

The celestial soldier was quickly struck by the water mines and was covered in wounds, on the verge of destruction. But at that moment, one after another, the Six Ren Celestial Soldiers emerged from Cui Yu's body, until finally there were a total of sixteen celestial soldiers!

Holding identical celestial swords, they faced the tribulation lightning. At first, the celestial soldiers moved in perfect unison, but soon they acted independently, covering and cooperating with each other, surprisingly resembling a military formation.

At this moment, Wei Yuan had already noticed the unusual activity in the human world. His divine sense descended and discovered Cui Yu, who was undergoing tribulation.

Cui Yu's Sixteen Heavenly Military Techniques greatly astonished Wei Yuan, as did this specially designed tribulation site. These days, the mortals in the mundane world seem to come up with something that surprises Wei Yuan every so often.

However, Wei Yuan did not discover Zhang Sheng and the girl, and Zhang Sheng was also unaware that Wei Yuan's divine sense had descended.

Wei Yuan assessed the intensity of the lightning tribulation and concluded that Cui Yu was fully capable of withstanding it, so he did not intervene.

As the heavenly tribulation ended, sixteen Heavenly Soldiers of the Six Ren lined up atop Cui Yu's head, a truly extraordinary sight. Then, Cui Yu's figure vanished, withdrawing from the mortal world.

Wei Yuan immediately rushed to Cui Yu's residence. At this moment, Cui Yu's Dao power was rising all over his body, and there was a faint light between his eyebrows. His state was very peculiar. His Dao power had far exceeded the Dao Foundation, but it was still a little weaker than a true Dharma Form.

Wei Yuan immediately examined Cui Yu's body and sea of ​​consciousness. A moment later, Sun Yu, Xu Henshui, and others also arrived. After a careful examination, Wei Yuan found that Cui Yu's current state was very peculiar. His primordial spirit had undergone a heavenly tribulation and transformed into the sixteen heavenly soldiers of the Dharma form, but his physical body was still in its original state.

From Daoji to Faxiang, Cui Yu has completed about 80% of the journey, with only the last two steps remaining.

Sun Yu, a physician with profound medical skills, said, "His primordial spirit has already formed a Dharma form, which will in turn nourish and drive the growth of his physical body. As long as his physical strength increases after a period of time, he can achieve unity of spirit and body and truly break through to the Dharma form. At that time, the success rate will be at least 80% or 90%."

Given Cui Yu's original talent, the chance of breaking through to the Dharma Aspect stage was only about 50%.

Wei Yuan was a little curious and asked, "Why did you suddenly want to break through?" Cui Yu was actually a little confused at this time and said, "I felt that I didn't have enough talent, and since I could never become a Yujing, there was no need to strive for perfection. So when I suddenly felt that the opportunity had come, I thought I would just give it a try, but I didn't expect to attract a heavenly tribulation."

Xu Henshui said, "The Six Ren Heavenly Soldiers are the registered Dharma Forms, and above them are Heavenly Generals. In the past, some people have cultivated multiple Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals, but never as many as sixteen. In my opinion, these Dharma Forms should be included in the Heavenly Rank."

Wei Yuan was naturally pleased with Cui Yu's crucial breakthrough, so he exchanged some pills in the Hall of Merit to enhance the chances of success and gave them to Cui Yu to ensure the success rate.

Cui Yu wrote another letter home. The Cui family naturally possessed similar breakthrough pills, even better than those from the Taichu Palace, and called the Transformation Pill. Upon hearing that Cui Yu was about to break through to the Dharma Aspect stage, the Cui family was overjoyed and sent over three Transformation Pills in one go.

Next, Cui Yu focused on improving his physical body, waiting for the optimal time to break through to the Dharma Form stage. Wei Yuan, on the other hand, began assembling a caravan to purchase people from the Western Jin Dynasty.

The King of Jin had granted only one pass, so Wei Yuan made the caravan extremely large, ordering five hundred wagons from the State of Zhao, each capable of carrying several thousand kilograms.

That day, Wei Yuan was in his study planning the route of a caravan using a map when the door suddenly opened and Bao Yun walked in.

Since returning from the northern mountain gate, Wei Yuan has been busy every day. Bao Yun's new city, located on the front line against the Wu Clan in the border region, is also under construction and reinforcement day and night. Therefore, Bao Yun is also busy day and night, and has even stopped attending some less important daily meetings. This is the first time the two have met since Wei Yuan returned.

Upon seeing Bao Yun, Wei Yuan was naturally very pleased and asked, "How is the construction of your new city going?"

Bao Yun said, "The main structure is almost finished, and we're just finishing up the defensive fortifications. The rest can be built according to the planned schedule, so I have some time to come and see you."

Wei Yuan pointed to the map and said, "I'm figuring out the caravan's route. You've come at the perfect time; we can study it together."

Bao Yun then came to Wei Yuan's side and discussed the caravan's route with him. Because the caravan was large and would be making multiple trips in the future, Wei Yuan planned to set up relay stations at several locations along the way.

Normally, relay stations can be used to accommodate refugees. Refugees from the surrounding area should first gather at the relay station, and then be taken on board by caravans on their return journey. This greatly increases the efficiency of receiving refugees.

Bao Yun suggested setting up more small relay stations in areas far from the main caravan routes. These relay stations could organize small caravans to transport people and goods to the main relay stations.

In this way, a network of trade routes that covered the Western Jin Dynasty began to take shape.

Having resolved the caravan issue, Wei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and laughed, "You're really something; I didn't even think of these relay stations."

Bao Yun said, "The number of refugees may be much larger than you expect, so we need to prepare early. We need to stock up on food and housing."

“Food is not a problem, and we can make do with the accommodation for now. You see, I’m planning to cultivate new fields in these two areas, which will be the sixth and seventh million mu each. The first few hundred thousand mu of land are already ripe, and the yield will be much higher. But I still can’t understand why there are always so many displaced people.”

Bao Yun said, "I also asked my great-grandfather about this. He said that the more mortals there are, the more potential seeds for cultivation there are, and the more abundant the nation's fortune will be, with a higher probability of producing a child of destiny. Therefore, all nations usually pay close attention to maintaining their population. But if they cannot become seeds for cultivation, then mortals are of little use."

If only body forging is possible, the resources consumed and the final reward are roughly equal, unless one can cultivate to the point of mastery of body forging. If even that is not possible, then there is no need to forge bodies for these mortals; let them fend for themselves.

Wei Yuan suddenly understood, realizing the truth of the matter. Maintaining a certain population size was essential to ensuring a sufficient number of cultivators, but the vast majority of mortals had no chance of achieving a Dao Foundation. Such people were considered useless in the eyes of those in power. Some benevolent rulers would arrange for relief, but most of the nine kingdoms simply let them fend for themselves, which was the origin of the widespread refugees.

Such things are almost never written about in historical records; only aristocratic families like the Bao family would specifically mention them when educating their core members.

Just as Wei Yuan was deep in thought, Bao Yun suddenly said, "I heard that Uncle Zhang Sheng came back with you. I haven't gone to pay my respects to her yet. I'll go and greet her now."

Wei Yuan's hand trembled, and he almost smudged the map with the pen in his hand.

Bao Yun didn't let Wei Yuan stop her. She went out on her own and lightly leaped into Zhang Sheng's courtyard.

Zhang Sheng, who had been sleeping soundly in bed with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes, sat up, went to the outer hall, and opened the door.

Bao Yun stood in the courtyard, the cool moonlight falling on her like a thin layer of frost, making her exceptionally beautiful.

Upon seeing Zhang Sheng, Bao Yun's eyes suddenly lit up, and she gracefully bowed, saying softly, "Greetings, Martial Uncle."

(End of this chapter)