When Wei Yuan flew into Guantun County, he happened to see the second fleet of flying ships arriving, carrying a full hundred thousand dan of assorted supplies. By now, Guantun County had been transformed into a massive storehouse, where a full two hundred thousand civilian laborers were digging fortifications under the food-for-work relief program.
The fortification network Wei Yuan had used against the Liao Clan at the Northern Mountain Gate years ago had been transplanted to the State of Ji without modification. Centered on Guantun County, two fortified defensive belts were extending to either side, cutting the entire commandery in two.
Seen from above, the two fortification belts resembled outstretched wings welcoming Wei Yuan's arrival. Yet from another angle, they looked like a pair of shackles, quietly waiting for prey about to enter the snare.
Like a falling star, Wei Yuan plunged into the center of Guantun County and landed within the yamen. The moment he touched down, he naturally sensed where Zhang Sheng was, so he crossed the main hall and headed toward the study.
At the very instant he was about to push the door open, Wei Yuan suddenly stopped. A momentary daze washed over him, as though the entire world had turned into a painting on paper and he was merely a figure within it.
Wei Yuan sent his divine sense into the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. At this moment, the entire domain was plunged into a bizarre stillness, as if time had ceased to flow.
In that absolute silence, a solitary, frail young girl lifted her white skirts and ran in panic. She was the sole moving figure in the entire world, impossibly conspicuous.
Wei Yuan appeared behind her, seized her hand, and yanked her back. "In such a hurry? Where are you trying to go? The heavenly tribulation isn't over yet!"
Like a helpless ragdoll, the girl looked up at Wei Yuan with innocent, tear-filled eyes like the purest gems in the world, pleading, "The tribulation is already over! Let me go, please! Pretty please! What about me like this? Can I go now?"
Her frail, pure face shifted slightly, morphing into a face intimately familiar to Wei Yuan—Xiaoyu!
Xiaoyu in women's attire suited the look remarkably well, as if it had always been meant to be.
Wei Yuan gazed at Xiaoyu in women's clothing, then chuckled and hoisted her up by the collar, walking toward Central City. "What's the rush? We can take our time weathering this tribulation. Without a heavenly demon, how could it be called a heavenly demon tribulation? If you run off, who knows what miserable ordeal might come next! Besides, right now, you're of great use."
Their figures faded into the distance, leaving only Wei Yuan's voice echoing across the open plains: "I hear this tribulation can be drawn out all the way until Ascension?"
Heavenly demon: *There are already plenty of demons around—can't you act human for once?!*
Outside the study door, the world before Wei Yuan's eyes returned to normal, as if the oddity had never occurred.
He gently pushed the door open. The first thing that caught his eye was an almanac displaying the date: March fourteenth. Wei Yuan cast his divine sense back to the yamen's main hall; the almanac there also read March fourteenth.
Wei Yuan paused, instantly pulling up the visual memory from the main hall via the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. The date on the almanac was indeed March fourteenth.
Wei Yuan did not move. The Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World seethed as he extracted a sliver of memory from the heavenly demon, instantly replicating it countless times. He sampled copies at random while churning out more at a frantic pace.
In a flash, Wei Yuan copied tens of millions of memories and inspected millions of duplicates at once.
As innumerable memories converged, the date on the almanac blurred, twitched, and shifted to March fifteenth.
Wei Yuan exhaled softly, coughing out a puff of bloody mist. The Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World stopped replicating memories, and in an instant, every single memory reverted to March fourteenth—even the heavenly demon's current memory showed March fourteenth.
In the few steps from the main hall to the study, Wei Yuan had walked backward from March fifteenth to March fourteenth. Had the heavenly demon not been exempt from this world's karmic causality, leaving behind that one sliver of memory, Wei Yuan's own connection to that karma might have been erased as well.
So the deadly tribulation had already arrived.
Bearing a colossal weight of mortal luck, like a boat sailing against the current, Wei Yuan pressed forward and entered the study.
Inside, Zhang Sheng sat upright despite being bathed in blood down half her body. The wealthy patriarch turned his head and said with a smile, "You're a step faster than expected. You arrived just in time. Had you come tomorrow, it would have been too late."
He narrowed his eyes and glanced at Wei Yuan, his gaze instantly piercing through Wei Yuan inside and out. Astonishment spread across his face, and he looked him over several times.
Wei Yuan walked straight up to Zhang Sheng. Gently wiping the blood from her face with his hand, he spoke in a low voice: "I'm here. It's all right now. But we still have to wait a little longer—until they make their move—before I can strike back."
Zhang Sheng kept her eyes shut tight and said, "All right. I'll wait."
Wei Yuan gently stroked over her eyes. Looking at the blood on his hands, his voice trembled slightly. "Your eyes..."
Zhang Sheng sat upright, completely relaxed and unbothered. "I have the Heart Sword Heavenly Eye; I can see everything. A flesh wound will heal soon enough."
Wei Yuan said, "Once the dust settles here, let's go to the Desolate Realm together. Your physical body remains a vulnerability; it's best to reinforce it."
Zhang Sheng shook her head. "My talent as your master is limited; I cannot excel at everything. What I cultivate is the ultimate sword, the Sword of Return to Silence—an unstoppable momentum that never looks back. If my physical body is too resilient, it becomes an encumbrance instead."
Wei Yuan said, "That's being stubborn. You should strengthen it at least a little. The physical vessel is the boat that crosses the sea; the sturdier the vessel, the more it can carry, and the higher the attained status."
Zhang Sheng smiled faintly again. "But have you ever considered: what if I don't want to work that hard, or what if I don't want to strive anymore? What then?"
Wei Yuan froze for a moment, then answered without thinking, "That's fine. I've always been diligent. I should be able to cultivate enough for both of our attainments."
The smile at the corner of Zhang Sheng's mouth slowly blossomed across her face, like wild flowers blooming across a spring meadow. She stretched languidly and leaned gently against Wei Yuan's shoulder.
The sunlight gradually slanted and sank behind the mountains. Lanterns flickered on, and stars dotted the sky.
The two leaned close against each other like this; the world was no longer perilous, nor cold. A single bean-sized lamp flame in the room warmed three feet of mortal life.
A helpless voice sounded in the room: "Er, excuse me, but this old man is wounded pretty badly too."
Only then did Wei Yuan realize there was someone else in the room. He turned to look at Zhang Sheng and saw that she had fallen sound asleep at some point. Wei Yuan reached out to test her breath. Finding it even and steady, he finally relaxed, but broke out in a sudden cold sweat.
The wealthy patriarch sighed, with three parts resignation.
Wei Yuan suddenly asked, "What was the story you were just telling?"
The Palace Master, looking like an affluent gentleman, said, "The tale of the Buddhist Sword coming into the world. That's all—it's over."
Having heard this, Wei Yuan said thoughtfully, "She is where ten thousand swords return, which is why others fear and resent her?"
The Palace Master sighed. "The Sword Dao hasn't even manifested yet! Before anyone could start competing for it, the outcome was already decided. Who could stomach that? Honestly, even I feel uncomfortable about it!"
Wei Yuan pondered, glanced at the sky, and retrieved Compassion, placing it on the table. "Senior, I know nothing of the Sword Dao. Do you think it's too late for me to start learning now? If they can't stand my master having it, I could inherit the Sword Dao instead. Take a look at my spear—the material is pretty decent. With a little grinding, it could pass for a sword."
No matter how experienced the Sword Palace Master was, seeing the sword intent upon Compassion left him stunned.
Wei Yuan, however, was deadly serious. A weathered sword intent suddenly surfaced around him, immensely clumsy and ancient, bearing the marks of the Grand Dao of Time. Then he asked, "Does this strike, Beginning of a Thousand Autumns, pass muster?"
Bai Kaishui's eyes snapped wide as he blurted out, "The Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns! How do you possess its sword intent inheritance?!"
Yet he immediately shook his head. "Still not enough! Right now, you only have the right to contend for the Sword Dao, but practically zero hope. Only if the complete Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns were in your hands would you be qualified to claim the Sword Dao."
Wei Yuan frowned slightly, but his brow soon smoothed out. "Is that so? Then it's not far off. Let me think: Master cultivates the Sword of Return to Silence, so I can stand at the source of the Sword Dao, or atop its ultimate peak. What do you think, Senior? Should I cultivate the culmination of all swords, or the inception of a single blade—"
The Sword Palace Master's expression morphed from surprise to outright shock. As Wei Yuan spoke, he was already deep in thought, and along the orbit of his Fourth Grotto-Heaven, a sword actually began to materialize! Grounded in every heavenly tribulation Wei Yuan had ever endured, and having absorbed the true meaning of the Desolate Realm's extreme yang disintegration along with the Nether Cold Realm's shattered return to silence, it coalesced into a Sword of True Tribulation.
The Sword of True Tribulation continued to evolve, passing from destruction into new life, moving from the zenith of yin into the first stirring of yang, gradually shifting toward ceaseless vitality. Wei Yuan was truly comprehending the inception of a single blade!
Suddenly, everything in the room froze once more, turning into a world within a painting. Another intangible, indescribable presence wound its way down from above.
Wei Yuan finally looked up, catching sight of a pair of emotionless eyes beyond the celestial vault.
Finally!
Wei Yuan rose to his full height. Behind his head, a resplendent sun rose, carrying a dense aura of the Desolate Realm. The blazing sun ascended slowly, reducing everything in its path to ashes.
Wei Yuan used a strand of Heavenly Shaman karmic luck as the spark to manifest this great sun, instantly igniting all the mortal luck he had amassed over so long!
By now, it was deep into the night.
Yet under the night sky of the State of Ji, a great sun rose slowly. In an instant, it illuminated the entire country, shocking the whole realm!
People stepped out of their doors, only to find themselves standing in what felt like a summer afternoon. High above, a blazing sun hung in the sky, scorching and incandescent, its surface flames visible to the naked eye.
Wei Yuan picked up Compassion. His body bent like a bow; his strength surged like a deluge. Emptied of his accumulated luck, he seized the karmic thread of an instant and hurled the spear!
The spear leaped like a dragon, pierced through the great sun, and soared straight into the vault of heaven!
The eyes beyond the sky receded, and in the void appeared Immortal Monarch Liumiao in the guise of a youth. Horrified beyond measure, he tried to dodge, but endless vengeful spirits and deathly qi spewed uncontrollably from his body, pinning him to the spot, entirely immobilized.
The spear transformed into light. Within the light lay Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, along with hundreds of millions of human figures—some toiling, some resting, some rejoicing, some deep in contemplation. Hundreds of millions of strands of azure qi converged into a single spear, bursting through Immortal Monarch Liumiao's chest in a flash!
Wei Yuan exhaled and bellowed, his voice ringing across heaven and earth: "First, I'll sever one of your claws!"
Wei Yuan looked again at the incredulous Immortal Monarch Liumiao, his tone heavy and resolute: "It was not I who killed you today, but hundreds of millions of mortals! From the moment you slaughtered ordinary mortals, you should have known this day would come."
Countless black fumes and vengeful souls dragged Liumiao down, sinking endlessly until he vanished into the bottomless abyss in the blink of an eye.
Chapter 1004