With the core array successfully activated, Wei Yuan saw hope. Together with Ji Liuli and Feng Tingyu, who had rushed over, he began laying down additional formations across the entire Lu clan's ancestral mountain.
The scale of the grand array was magnificent beyond measure. The Splendor of the Many Realms had pooled over half of its computational power, calculating with all its might for more than a month just to produce the diagram for the core formation. Ji Liuli overcame countless difficulties throughout the process; whenever she hit an impasse she truly could not resolve, she sought out Immortal Monarch Yanshi. Only through the combined efforts of these two generations of prodigies from the Heavenly Mechanism Hall was the Qingming version of the World-Refining Grand Array finally completed.
The grand array comprised a single array heart, twelve control centers, three hundred and sixty array eyes, and over ten thousand nodes. An undertaking of this magnitude was unprecedented in the entire history of the Palace of Grand Beginning.
Fortunately, with the Splendor of the Many Realms, task allocation was a trivial matter. Wei Yuan summoned a full twenty thousand template Dao foundation cultivators from the military. The Splendor of the Many Realms assigned specific tasks to every individual and cross-checked the locations they laid down, allowing progress to advance at an astonishing pace. That summer, in under four months, the grand array was completely installed.
Throughout construction, the activated array heart remained in operation, providing calibration coordinates and linking spiritual energy for the entire formation.
An array of such immense scale was merely the most fundamental foundation derived from the calculations; new array sectors could be continuously appended to it in the future.
Normally, the heart of such an array required an immortal to preside over it. Presently, it was Wei Yuan himself combined with the three Scenery Command elders of the Xu family, barely functioning as the equivalent of a makeshift immortal. Though Wei Yuan could already slay immortals in combat, when it came to the crude, grueling labor of driving a formation's operation, the frail reality that he was still merely at Scenery Command was laid bare. After all, his Dao power had yet to transform into immortal power; he still had to drag the three Xu family Scenery Command elders along to make up the numbers before he could drive the array heart.
The twelve control centers all required Scenery Command experts to oversee them. However, Ji Liuli's ingenious design transformed the three least crucial centers into composite dharma idol formations, allowing thirty-six Golden Core dharma idol cultivators to form an array that functioned as an early-stage Scenery Command expert.
The three hundred and sixty array eyes were straightforward: they simply required three hundred and sixty dharma idols. Golden Core dharma idols could serve as substitutes, but they could only hold out for a few hours and needed to rotate in three shifts of four hours each.
Finally, the ten thousand-plus nodes could be powered by template Dao foundation cultivators.
According to the traditional array designs of the cultivation world, only about a thousand nodes would normally be needed. But where could Qingming find over a thousand standard Dao foundations? In terms of raw numbers they had enough, but they could hardly commit all of them just to drive an array. Ji Liuli had therefore dispersed the nodes as widely as possible to lower the threshold, making it viable for template Dao foundation cultivators to take up the burden. Thus arose this array powered by ten thousand Dao foundation cultivators—a scale that might not be never-to-be-repeated, but was undeniably unprecedented.
Once the grand array was finished, Wei Yuan stepped into the array heart. It had been established deep within the ancestral mountain: multiple tunnels were bored, and the central massif was hollowed out into a hall a thousand zhang across, within which the array heart was laid. Such a colossal project could only have been accomplished by an immortal—or by Qingming.
Entering the array heart, Wei Yuan sat cross-legged. Several days passed until he suddenly sensed the opportune moment had arrived. He linked the array heart with the entire formation, activating the World-Refining Grand Array.
Across the thousand-li expanse of the Lu clan's ancestral mountain, ten thousand sparks of starlight ignited one after another. Then, three hundred and sixty points of brilliant radiance flared to life, transforming into pillars of light shooting straight into the vault of heaven!
In contrast, the twelve control centers shone only with a hazy glow, their halos barely visible.
Aside from the three centers guarded by dharma idols, the twelve control centers still required at least nine Scenery Command cultivators.
This was where the foundation of the Palace of Grand Beginning showed its depth. True Monarch Xuanyue naturally arrived, while Zhu Yuanjin, Zhidan Sanren, and Old Daoist Chuhe each occupied a position, followed by three Hall Masters from the palace—making seven in total. For the remaining two spots, Cui Yu and Bao Yun each summoned an elder from their respective clans to fill in, thereby completing the required positions. As a result, Xiaoyu was a step too slow, leaving no spot for the elder summoned from her family.
At that moment, the Lu clan's ancestral mountain seemed as though a river of stars had poured downward, radiance gleaming everywhere. The firmament was magnificent, ten thousand clouds stained in vibrant hues; the entire ancestral mountain seemed ablaze, steaming with vigorous immortal qi. Several peaks split open abruptly, bursting forth with jade-green tides, while the southern horizon hung low, suffused with dense vermilion mist. In an instant, the Lu clan's ancestral mountain transformed in myriad ways, laying bare its profound heritage.
Yet the moment the grand array began to operate, heaven and earth suddenly shook. Ten thousand li of tribulation clouds materialized out of nowhere, streaks of lightning pouring down like waterfalls from the Heavenly River, crashing toward Wei Yuan at the array heart!
Wei Yuan slowly opened his eyes, pupils pure silver-white. He immediately mobilized the immense might of the grand array, compounding it with the ten million mortal fortune accumulated over this period, transforming it into a pillar of light a hundred zhang thick that blasted straight into the celestial vault!
The tribulation lightning dissolved layer upon layer within the torrent of light. The formation's beam surged upstream, blasting directly into the center of the heavenly tribulation! Countless tribulation clouds vanished upon contact with the array light. Surrounding clouds rushed in to fill the void, but the overall expanse shrank rapidly, falling from ten thousand li to nine thousand, eight thousand...
The blast of array light from the World-Refining Grand Array lasted several dozen breaths before gradually subsiding. In total, Wei Yuan had expended twenty million mortal fortune, leaving him with only a million in hand. However, the tribulation clouds in the sky now spanned less than a thousand li, and the lightning had faded from its original purplish red to a pale white.
Wei Yuan swept his divine sense over it and sneered. A tribulation of this level was even inferior to the one he had undergone back in the Dharma Idol realm; it seemed this hurdle was passed.
In truth, the power of that tribulation just now had been terrifying, comparable to an Ascension Tribulation. Yet Wei Yuan had shattered it head-on by channeling the strength of tens of thousands of cultivators bolstered by mortal fortune—perhaps the very first time such a feat had occurred in this world since immortals first walked it.
In that instant, above in the heavens and below on earth, numerous consciousnesses fell into contemplation: as it turned out, gathering the strength of the multitude truly could conquer Heaven.
Wei Yuan wanted nothing more than to throw his head back in three resounding laughs that would shake the Nine Provinces. Regrettably, he was deep inside the mountain, and having just clashed with the tribulation, the array was in an unstable state from which he could not step away. Otherwise, he certainly would have soared into the sky, standing right in the vortex of the tribulation clouds to leave a memorable silhouette for posterity.
Just as he was feeling that regret, Wei Yuan suddenly sensed something amiss. Why hadn't the remaining tribulation clouds dispersed?
The clouds across the sky began to spin rapidly. The vortex core expanded swiftly, revealing a deep, fathomless eye. Wei Yuan recognized this eye!
Back when his spirit dwelling was first formed, this very Heavenly Eye had manifested, bringing down all manner of targeted tribulations, clearly possessing a will of its own. Seeing the Heavenly Eye again, Wei Yuan felt a slight shiver, yet harbored no fear.
Back when his spirit dwelling was newly formed, he had withstood the tribulation. Now, situated within the array, supported by multiple senior Hall Masters from the Palace of Grand Beginning, watched over from the Immortal Heaven by two Palace Masters, and joined by ten thousand Dao foundation cultivators and hundreds of dharma idols—such a lineup, frankly speaking, could overcome even an ordinary Ascension Tribulation.
Yet no further tribulation descended this time. The eye merely cast a cold glance at Wei Yuan before slowly fading away. This tribulation had ended.
It just ended like that? A tribulation so clean and decisive, without endlessly escalating—Wei Yuan hadn't seen one like it in so long that he felt quite unaccustomed to it.
Regardless, with the tribulation concluded, the World-Refining Grand Array began operating normally. As the pressure on Wei Yuan grew increasingly heavy, he had no choice but to rein in his thoughts and concentrate wholeheartedly on driving the formation.
As the array engaged, Wei Yuan's divine sense expanded along with it, gradually blanketing the entire ancestral grounds. Only then did he discover that the subterranean portion of the ancestral lands was far vaster than the mountain range above!
Chapter 1171