It seemed the enemies had all made their moves... Vitality suddenly returned to Wei Yuan's eyes.
Yet one enemy remained. Wei Yuan looked up, gazing toward the Heavenly Eye.
The Heavenly Eye seemed momentarily puzzled, then appeared provoked by Wei Yuan. Raging tribulation fire ignited within its square pupil as it began preparing another round of heavenly tribulation.
At the Heavenly Eye's fury, the Phantasm Phoenix seemed to sense its master's will as well. It reared its head and let out a long cry that shook the nine heavens! Within a thousand li, countless phantasm beasts transformed into luan birds.
Wei Yuan's entire being gradually grew vivid, as though colors were being brushed onto an ink-wash world, turning him into the sole vibrant existence between heaven and earth.
He surveyed the surrounding world. His gaze traversed thousands of rivers and mountains, reaching far beyond the bounds of the heavenly tribulation, extending above the Immortal Heaven, and even looking into past and future.
Ever since Xihe had decapitated the Azure Dragon with a single sword strike, Wei Yuan had inexplicably gained an abundance of knowledge and insights regarding time. Though much of it was fragmented and scattered, he seemed remarkably adept in this domain; naturally, the various divine abilities he deployed began carrying a faint aura of time.
For a fleeting instant, Wei Yuan felt as though a certain figure had overlapped with his own, allowing him to see through the eight directions and universe, piercing through the many illusions concealed beneath reality.
Wei Yuan took a step forward, traversing through the heavenly tribulation, and appeared directly before the Phantasm Phoenix in an instant. The entire process was crystal clear—Wei Yuan had simply walked over step by step, yet it was so exceedingly fast that it was equivalent to a flash, though it was not a flash.
Before Wei Yuan, the thousand-zhang Phantasm Phoenix was like a towering mountain range, practically unscalable. Yet for some reason, an inexplicable panic welled up within it, and it could not even tell where that panic came from.
The Phantasm Phoenix pecked down! Its massive beak, tens of zhang across, was large enough to swallow thousands of Wei Yuans at once!
Wei Yuan stood suspended in midair, one hand behind his back and one pointing toward the sky. His fingertip aligned precisely with the tip of the Phantasm Phoenix's beak, tapping lightly against it.
The peck that could have gouged through mountains and split the earth froze abruptly, as if it had never moved since ancient antiquity! An expression suddenly appeared in its eyes, revealing sheer terror. Its spread wings trembled faintly, as if it wanted to flap them and take flight.
Yet a spark had already ignited at Wei Yuan's fingertip, setting the tip of its beak ablaze. With a roar, the spark erupted into raging flames, instantly engulfing the phoenix's entire head.
The sea of azure mortal karmic luck in Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness steadily depleted, while the blazing flames rapidly spread over the Phantasm Phoenix's body, setting it wholly alight!
The Phantasm Phoenix's shrill shrieks reverberated through heaven and earth. Its colossal form was burnt to ashes in mere breaths, ultimately transforming into a phoenix hairpin that fell into Wei Yuan's palm.
With the Phantasm Phoenix refined away, the heavenly tribulation seemed to have no further tricks for the moment. It merely summoned large swarms of phantasm beasts in a perfunctory manner to assault his spirit manor.
Naturally, no matter how numerous these ordinary phantasm beasts were, they were utterly futile. The Yin-Yang twin dragons in the central spirit manor had already retreated to the third tier, dissolving once more into chaos, and the operation of the heaven-and-earth mechanisms on the second tier had slowed considerably, giving the impression of merely going through the motions.
In an instant, all that remained before Wei Yuan were ten thousand li of tribulation clouds and the seemingly unreconciled Heavenly Eye. Incinerating the Phantasm Phoenix had consumed a hundred million strands of Wei Yuan's mortal karmic luck.
Now, the azure sea of karmic luck held less than half its original reserve, barely surpassing a hundred million.
Wei Yuan looked at the dry bones in the little temple of the Pure Land, looked at Jialuo's riddled body, and remembered the hundreds of thousands of living beings in the Flourishing of the Many Realms who had perished as collateral damage. Rage steadily mounted within him.
*Barely surpassing a hundred million?*
*With hundreds of millions in mortal karmic luck upon me, who truly dares to come fight?!*
Wei Yuan looked toward the Heavenly Eye, looked above the Immortal Heaven, looked beyond the flow of time, and said in a deep voice, "I still have the strength for a strike. Who wishes to fight?"
His voice was not particularly loud, yet it traveled ten thousand li away, reached above the Immortal Heaven, and even carried into past and future.
Wei Yuan waited for a moment, but received no response.
He drew a deep breath. Wind and clouds gathered across ten thousand li, and then he let out a great roar that shook the realms: "Who dares to fight!"
The realms fell silent; no wind or rain stirred.
Waiting another moment, Wei Yuan still received no reply, leaving his pent-up fury with nowhere to vent.
A faint aura of time appeared in Wei Yuan's eyes as his gaze peered beyond time, yet he still could not find any trace of his enemies. Mighty experts who intervened always calculated the timing flawlessly; failing to kill in one blow, they vanished immediately, leaving no karmic traces whatsoever, making it impossible for Wei Yuan to find or pursue them.
Wei Yuan took another deep breath. This time, the earth remained still and neither wind nor rain stirred, yet the tribulation clouds in the sky were pulled downward by a notch. Then Wei Yuan pointed at the Heavenly Eye in the heavens and declared, "Sooner or later, I will find you!"
The square pupil of the Heavenly Eye suddenly contracted.
A profound hush fell over the Flourishing of the Many Realms. Xihe, Maiden Yin-Yang, Jialuo, and Yuegui all looked out into the void in astonishment, gazing at Wei Yuan within this realm.
Wei Yuan received no response this time either. With his hands clasped behind his back, he looked up at the sky and said coldly, "If you have no other tricks, then don't stay here making an embarrassment of yourself! Scram!"
That final word crashed like thunder. A microscopic fissure instantly crept across the pupil of the Heavenly Eye.
At that moment, throughout heaven and earth, who knew how many jaws dropped in shock!
Without waiting for the Heavenly Eye to respond, Wei Yuan turned and left, heading straight back to the immortal city.
Xihe displayed a rare hint of astonishment and said, "Is he truly that bold? Actually daring to provoke the heaven and earth of this realm? Even I never did such a thing back then. Does he want to destroy heaven and earth, merge his body with the Dao to replace it, or leap beyond this realm to seek another heaven and earth?"
Maiden Yin-Yang replied thoughtfully, "Could it be that he didn't think that far ahead at all, and was simply mouthing off?"
Xihe was genuinely shocked this time. "But in his current state, it is Words Followed by Law! Even if he says he was joking, heaven and earth will not let it slide!"
Maiden Yin-Yang mused, "So brains are a fine thing. He has one, just not much of it."
Xihe remained silent for a moment before saying, "Making heaven and earth one's enemy... doesn't sound half bad, does it? Hmm, if that wretched woman hadn't ambushed me back then, after I quelled all the rebels and then subdued the foreign races, I probably would have fought heaven and earth too..."
On the surface of the primeval full moon, a slender young girl wriggled out with great effort. She shook the dust from her head and realized she had only caught the final sentence. In her haste, terrified that she had missed something and would be left behind again, she blurted out, "Isn't it just heaven and earth? Let's do it!"
While the immortals and cultivators within the Flourishing of the Many Realms reacted this way, outside the Flourishing of the Many Realms was equally inundated with shock. Divine senses darted back and forth across the void, all debating the matter.
Wei Yuan actually intended to contend against the Heavenly Dao of this realm—this defied everyone's expectations. As the foremost figure of the younger generation, Wei Yuan had once slain an immortal while merely possessing a dharma idol. No matter how peculiar the circumstances had been or how much external assistance he had received, that achievement alone had already lent him the faint aura of being invincible beneath the Immortal Heaven.
Yet fighting an immortal was one thing, and fighting heaven and earth was entirely another. Henceforth, Wei Yuan would inevitably face all manner of targeting from heaven and earth, but the Heavenly Dao of this realm had also been thoroughly thrown into disarray.
The Sweeping Spring Mist Phantasm Wind Tribulation was an exceedingly rare heavenly tribulation to begin with; the moment the tribulation formed, the Great Dao of heaven and earth would manifest on a grand scale. Under such a tribulation, very few Scenery Command cultivators across the world would dare claim they could survive.
Furthermore, with the behind-the-scenes assistance of many figures such as Lu Changhe and the sword immortal from beyond the heavens, the tribulation had been driven ever higher. By the end, after the Sword Dao Azure Dragon appeared, let alone a Scenery Command cultivator, even the weakest immortal could have been blown to death.
With the heavenly tribulation reaching such an extremity, the Great Dao of heaven and earth had manifested a faint will of its own. As the one undergoing the tribulation, every word Wei Yuan uttered had the potential to be directly engraved onto the Great Dao, which was why Xihe had said he was in a state of Words Followed by Law.
Thus, Wei Yuan's defiance of heaven was already engraved into the Heavenly Dao.
Changes in the Heavenly Dao were naturally sensed by top-tier cultivators and geniuses in an instant. Consequently, numerous mighty figures and true immortals engaged in closed-door cultivation emerged, inquiring into what had occurred.
The news of Wei Yuan contending with heaven spread through the Nine Kingdoms in a flash.
Countless young geniuses buzzed with discussion. Most of them gloated, feeling that Wei Yuan indeed knew no restraint and was accustomed to arrogance; this time, he had truly kicked an iron plate. How could a mortal contend with heaven? That was certain death.
At the thought of a genius falling—especially one falling from attempting the impossible—the young geniuses felt extraordinarily excited and delighted, considering themselves far wiser. Some even said bluntly, "Who told Wei Yuan to be so arrogant?"
As for how Wei Yuan had actually been arrogant, they could not say. But that did not matter; they felt that if they possessed such strength, they would certainly be arrogant beyond measure, so Wei Yuan had to be the same.
Many immortals were also astonished, unable to fathom why Wei Yuan would suddenly make such a reckless decision. How could man triumph over heaven? For Wei Yuan to do this was practically severing his own path to immortality!
When the time came, with heaven and earth actively targeting him, how terrifyingly difficult would his tribulation of ascending to immortality be? Perhaps the ascension tribulations of the human race's first immortal or the first Human Sovereign were nothing more than that.
The immortals inquired amongst themselves, and several even went directly to True Monarch Yanshi. However, Yanshi brushed them off with his trademark evasiveness. A few old friends who truly understood Yanshi knew that whenever he turned evasive, it usually meant he was in the dark himself. Thus, they sought another avenue and turned around to look for Immortal Zhao Li, infuriating Yanshi to no end.
Above the Immortal Heaven, at the ends of the void, and even beyond the flow of time, a heavy silence reigned.
The truly mighty figures were quietly contemplating at this moment. Wei Yuan's sudden disruption of the Heavenly Dao had caught them somewhat off guard. The various factions had already placed their pieces, the overarching situation was becoming clear, and the tides of victory and defeat had been determined. No one had anticipated Wei Yuan pulling such a stunt.
It was like a pool of spring water that had been perfectly limpid, only for Wei Yuan to plunge a claw in and stir it thoroughly turbid.
As a result, sudden variables arose in the grand game, and the chessboard grew murky and chaotic once more.
Beneath the level of the mighty figures, the vast majority of people—including the immortals—believed Wei Yuan was simply entering the fray himself to turn the tables. Yet none believed Wei Yuan could win, nor did they believe he could genuinely reverse the situation.
Just as discussions raged on, an immortal suddenly noticed that where Wei Yuan had originally stood, a faint sun had emerged. It resembled a dark-red eyeball, turning in a full circle and taking everyone into its gaze.
The Evil Sun!
Could an Evil Sun also erect a spirit manor? What was the true spirit within? Could it be... How could that be possible?! The immortals were all horrified, only then faintly sensing that Wei Yuan might not be entirely without a chance of victory.
Upon seeing the Evil Sun, the Heavenly Eye seemed to realize that persisting was meaningless. It finally faded away, and the ten thousand li of tribulation clouds dissipated along with it.
The heavenly tribulation had barely ended, yet Qingming did not settle down. Instead, it seethed with fervor. Company after company of warriors suited up in full armor to the sound of bugles, marching to assemble at designated locations.
In the blink of an eye, the army Qingming mobilized had exceeded a million soldiers. Countless war chariots began slotting in template Dao Foundations, making their final preparations before battle.
It had been a long time since Qingming's homeland had seen such massive movements, and it immediately drew the gaze of the Nine Kingdoms. Countless people speculated as to whom Qingming intended to wage war against this time.
Half a day later, Wei Yuan's voice resounded through Qingming: "Dispatch the troops to Ganzhou! We are going to root out Lu Changhe's nest! I never let vengeance sleep overnight!"
Chapter 1125