The excavation ritual was completed, yet the heavenly tribulation never descended after all.
Wei Yuan's understanding of the Heavenly Dao had grown quite profound by now; a minor matter like this was simply not worth calling down a tribulation. Furthermore, in the preceding tribulations, Wei Yuan had dealt severe blows to the Heavenly Dao. For an inconsequential tribulation to fall now would only serve as a whetstone to sharpen his edge.
Wei Yuan looked up at the sky. His gaze pierced through the mountain rock and layers of the firmament, seemingly catching sight of a certain exalted entity seated high above. This had essentially been a test for the Heavenly Dao on Wei Yuan's part. That the tribulation had failed to fall was actually worse than if it had; it proved that the Heavenly Dao was no unfeeling, impersonal thing—it had actually learned how to scheme.
Once the ritual concluded, the thousands of template cultivators who had performed meritorious service were guided out through the rear passage by dedicated personnel.
Yu Zhizhuo stomped on the immortal skeleton beneath his feet and remarked offhandedly, "I observe that this immortal harbors treacherous intentions..."
Halfway through the sentence, he realized something was amiss and hastily stopped. Under Wei Yuan's bright, piercing gaze, he could only let out a few dry chuckles. Having broken the ice, Yu Zhizhuo dropped all pretense and handed over another sheet of paper, saying, "Take a look at this."
Listed on the jade paper was the output of various base metals produced in Qingming over the past year. Essentially, whatever existed in the Outer World, Qingming could produce, and Qingming also had quite a few things that the Outer World lacked. It was just that the output and production methods differed. Many metals in Qingming were conjured out of nothing using Dao arts. Aluminum, for example, was not as widely used as in the Outer World, and its production required lightning cultivators. Yet there were no lightning cultivators among the templates, and lightning cultivators among rogue practitioners were few and far between, keeping costs persistently high.
What drew Wei Yuan's attention most was steel. At present, Qingming produced sixty million jin of steel a day. Across the Nine Kingdoms, that was an astronomical figure, but converted over, it came to only thirty thousand tons a day, barely over ten million tons a year.
"This steel is a bit lacking," Wei Yuan said. In his mind, Qingming's output ought to have at least another zero tacked onto it.
Yu Zhizhuo shook his head. "It is already plenty. If the workshops operate at full capacity, next month's output could multiply several times over. The problem is, there is nowhere left to use steel. Smelting any more would only mean piling it up in warehouses to rust."
Behind every other base metal were two figures: current output and potential capacity. The most favorable case was silver, where output accounted for half of total capacity.
Yet silver possessed one major, unique use: template cultivators used Dao power to refine it into immortal silver. As more and more Qingyuan was issued, Qingming was forced to ramp up the refining of immortal silver to store in the vaults, serving as the reserve to stabilize the currency.
Even so, silver production fell far short of exhausting its capacity.
Seeing this sheet, Wei Yuan understood Yu Zhizhuo's underlying message.
Yu Zhizhuo shoved the paper into Wei Yuan's hands and said with deep earnestness, "I am not doing this for myself, but for the three hundred Golden Cores, the four hundred thousand templates, and the three million Body Casters within the Qingming Heavenly Craft Complex! As the Realm Lord, you cannot completely disregard everyone's wishes, can you? Wouldn't that make you a tyrant?"
Wei Yuan was caught between laughter and tears. Was everyone's collective wish simply to march out and wage a war?
Yet Yu Zhizhuo was dead serious. "The surging tide of circumstance rolls on like a mighty river. Having reached this juncture, we must either channel and guide it, letting it discharge across ten thousand li, or dam and block it until one day the dykes burst and floods drown ten thousand li. To put it even more gravely, this concerns everyone's Dao path! You must grant this boon."
Wei Yuan finally nodded. "I will consider it. Let me think on it first."
This was only proper; all Yu Zhizhuo sought for now was for Wei Yuan to place the matter on the agenda. He then tapped the immortal skeleton beneath his feet again and asked, "How do you plan to handle this thing? Since I happen to be here, I can help you oversee the grand array and refine it in one breath, lest delays breed trouble."
An immortal's remains, their lingering consciousness and spirituality wiped clean, buried deep for thousands of years, had lost nine-tenths of their value, but the remaining tenth was still extraordinary.
Wei Yuan already had a plan formed in his mind. He returned to the center of the World-Refining Grand Array, while Yu Zhizhuo returned to the Heaven-Slaying Hub. The two grand arrays complemented each other, merging into one. Magnificent Dao power cascaded from above like a heavenly waterfall and generated subterranean fire below, soon causing the immortal skeleton to float upward, shrinking smaller and smaller.
Then the two grand arrays shifted again, turning into two fields of yin and yang qi—white above, black below—revolving against each other like millstones to grind down the immortal skeleton, which had already shrunk to a li across, bit by bit. Between yin and yang burned invisible flames, reducing the ground bone powder to ash, leaving only the final essence, which transformed into streaks of flowing light dancing within the array.
Nine days later, the entire immortal skeleton had turned into dozens of streaming lights, darting continuously back and forth, yet entirely unable to escape this space.
Yu Zhizhuo said, "The moment has arrived. You are certain you want a Water-attribute immortal foundation?"
"Yes," Wei Yuan said.
Yu Zhizhuo manifested his dharma body, turning into a dark-skinned Daoist enveloped in the scent of smoke and fire, holding a massive iron hammer. The Daoist's aura touched the heavens, but what truly caught the eye was that iron hammer.
It was a legacy left behind by the Patriarch of the Hall of Heavenly Craft—the hall-guarding treasure of the Hall of Heavenly Craft, ranked as an upper-grade immortal tool even among immortal artifacts. Within the Palace of Grand Beginning, it ranked second only to the Patriarch's final immortal sword, standing on par with the Abbey of Creation's Heaven-Mending Cauldron.
Yu Zhizhuo had gone out of his way to borrow the Heavenly Heart Hammer precisely for this moment. Drawing upon the momentum of the Hall of Heavenly Craft's Patriarch portrait, he brought the hammer down. The numerous spiritual essences and immortal lights abruptly unleashed a blinding brilliance, forcing even Wei Yuan to turn his head aside.
When he looked back, there were no more streaks of light in the space, only a continuously churning mass of spring water.
Yu Zhizhuo reverted to his original form and let out a long breath. "Fortunately, I did not fail the mission!"
Wei Yuan was likewise delighted as he cradled the cluster of spring water, thoroughly pleased. "With this treasure, the Heaven of Joy and Bliss can be elevated a notch. Those bald thieves will never expect such a change. I can feign weakness to lure them over, then hit them with a vicious blow!"
Yu Zhizhuo asked, "This skeleton could have been refined into an immortal foundation of any of the Five Elements. Why didn't you want Fire or Metal? That would have made slaughter and combat far easier."
Wei Yuan said, "The divine ability granted by this foundation will bless Dao Foundation dharma idols. They are far too fragile. I am not asking them to inflict massive casualties—keeping them alive comes first! Therefore, this profound marvel shall be named the Spring of Longevity."
The moment the name was spoken, countless streaks of light immediately split off from the Flourishing of the Many Realms. Every single immortal plant contributed a bit of its origin into the spring water, infusing it with a faint platinum luster.
Wei Yuan tossed it with a wave of his hand. The mass of spring water plunged into the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, landing right before the small temple, transforming into a small spring pool bubbling with water. This spring pool stood opposite the original Merit Lotus Pond, one on the left and one on the right, sharply distinct.
Having acquired this Water-attribute immortal treasure, the status of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss noticeably rose. It attempted to float upward, but Wei Yuan's dharma body firmly pinned it down.
Unable to ascend, it instead turned to inhaling the waters of the Sea of Bitterness and worldly primordial qi, as though springing to life. The edges of the heaven continually absorbed flecks of flowing light, slowly beginning to expand and extend.
Wei Yuan sensed the current capacity of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss. His dharma body situated in the Sea of Bitterness reached out and extracted the accumulated Buddhist power from within the heaven, then scooped up a handful of water from the Sea of Bitterness, refining it in an instant. This water from the Sea of Bitterness was the fruit of Wei Yuan's comprehension during this period. The longer he spent comprehending, the more Sea of Bitterness water he could refine, and the larger his territory within the Sea of Bitterness became.
Adding the Sea of Bitterness water to the Buddhist power, he refined them directly with the Flourishing of the Many Realms, then cast them into the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, where they instantly transformed into three points of flowing light.
As the flowing lights landed, the main hall originally left behind by Shanle trembled violently and surged upward a notch, splitting apart to the left and right. Huge fissures instantly appeared across the hall's structure, literally torn open.
Yet the interior space of the main hall doubled. The original four Arhats all shifted to the right side, while three new Arhats took their places on the newly vacated divine pedestals on the left. Having acquired the Spring of Longevity, the tier of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss had risen, adding three more Arhat seats.
It was merely that the main hall had been left behind by Shanle and clashed with Wei Yuan; thus, the leap in tier had damaged the hall instead.
However, Wei Yuan was in no hurry to repair it, much less refine it. After all, this was a Buddhist treasure consecrated by Shanle's heart's blood. Shanle would certainly be able to sense it, though under Wei Yuan's blockade, he would not perceive it with utter clarity.
Therefore, in Shanle's eyes right now, it would appear that the Heaven of Joy and Bliss was overburdened, its essence damaged, and even the core treasure he had left behind was ruined; the entire realm could plummet out of the Sea of Bitterness at any moment if Wei Yuan failed to step in and salvage it in time.
Wei Yuan felt this was still not quite enough. Thus, he mobilized the power of the Central Earth Grotto-Heaven, shaking loose tens of millions of Mirage Demons and dropping them onto one corner of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss. The souls of Mirage Demons were even stronger than those of ordinary humans, and tens of millions of non-believing Mirage Demons clinging to the Heaven of Joy and Bliss became an utterly crushing burden.
Overburdened and thrown off balance, one corner of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss gradually sank, and the entire realm began to slowly tilt and capsize.
Wei Yuan then shifted the weight of the Central Earth Grotto-Heaven onto another corner, causing the Heaven of Joy and Bliss to tilt back the other way. Rocking back and forth like this, the turmoil in the Heaven of Joy and Bliss grew increasingly violent, stirring ripples across the Sea of Bitterness.
In the third layer of the Sea of Bitterness, at the center of a great sun, the giant Buddha manifested by Shanle's true body slowly opened his eyes, pinching his fingers to divine the situation. Looking downward, he saw a region of turbulent waves in the Sea of Bitterness, highly abnormal.
Divining further, an angry expression crossed his face, and he let out a heavy grunt.
From above came Baoxing's voice: "Why harbor wrathful thoughts?"
Shanle said, "I sense that the Heaven of Joy and Bliss is severely damaged. Even the core treasure I left behind is ruined. The Heaven of Joy and Bliss is already showing signs of falling out of the Sea of Bitterness."
Baoxing chanted a Buddha's name and said, "It seems what Qingxu Heaven said was true. The previous campaign indeed struck a heavy blow to the foundation of the outer demon Wei Yuan. Was Chanming perhaps exaggerating?"
Shanle said, "It is not that I cling sentimentally to the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, but Wei Yuan has surely begun patching it up right now. By underhanded means, he forcibly controls the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, and it is indeed possible for him to keep it from falling.
"However, with him repairing the Heaven of Joy and Bliss right now, he must be stretched to his limit! He has only just entered the Sea of Bitterness, not even a hundred years. How much could he have comprehended? He certainly has little accumulated reserve. In the last battle, he was relying entirely on the legacy of the King Buddha.
"Now that the Heaven of Joy and Bliss is on the verge of capsizing, he will surely be unwilling to let go and will exert all his strength to maintain it. This is the perfect moment for a surprise attack, to exhaust all his reserves in the Sea of Bitterness in one stroke and purge him from the sea! Perhaps we might even salvage the Heaven of Joy and Bliss."
That final sentence laid bare Shanle's true thoughts.
Baoxing said slowly, "Your thinking is not wrong, but the Heaven of Joy and Bliss has been in the outer demon's hands for some time now; it must be riddled with scars and holes. Even if retrieved, it will no longer be the Heaven of Joy and Bliss it once was."
Shanle's expression darkened, and he said wistfully, "I know, but it is different... Even if it has been defiled inside and out by demons, as long as it can return, it will still be good."
Baoxing persuaded him no further, saying instead, "Since you have thought it through, so be it. However, the outer demon is cunning. To guard against treachery, it would be wise to perform a divination."
"Naturally." Shanle formed hand seals, thousands of Buddhist rays converging between his giant palms. For this divination, he paid a steep price.
In the Sea of Bitterness, Wei Yuan's heart stirred. The white sea of human destiny immediately enveloped the entirety of the Heaven of Joy and Bliss. In the blink of an eye, vast swaths of human destiny vanished, but they successfully blocked the power of karmic divination on the outside.
On the third layer of the Mountain of Light in the Sea of Bitterness, the giant Buddha slowly lowered his head, looking at the countless floating runes in his palm, and said, "This battle brings modest fortune."
Baoxing was somewhat surprised. "The outer demon truly harbors ill intent if it is still only a modest fortune under such circumstances. It seems thunderous measures are needed to strike a decisive blow! Last time, the Bodhisattva of Dige Heaven suffered a minor loss as well. We can invite him to act again this time to ensure absolute victory."
"Excellent!" The giant Buddha clapped in approval.
In the Sea of Bitterness, Wei Yuan looked at the visibly diminished sea of human destiny with a pained expression, murmuring to himself, "Just blocking a single divination burned through ten million units of human destiny? Have those Bodhisattvas up there gone mad? You bastards had better send plenty of people, or you won't even cover my deficit."
Chapter 1267