Tribulation

Zhang Sheng finally completed the newly assigned task and clicked submit. A moment later, the evaluation came back: Good. Her mood brightened instantly, and she took on the next task. This time, the system informed her that because her previous task had been rated Good, it would begin assigning node-type tasks. A node-type task required Zhang Sheng to break down the task's contents. This time, it was split into three parts: one part for her to handle herself, while the other two were to be assigned to others. Finally, she would compile all three portions of the work and merge them into a complete array to finish the task. Zhang Sheng had never heard of such a task before. Then, through the light orb, she sensed over a hundred independent consciousnesses. She needed to select two people from among them to distribute the tasks to. Each person had detailed profiles and past task records, through which Zhang Sheng was to choose her assignees. While Zhang Sheng was browsing through the profiles, several dozen consciousnesses vanished from the network, presumably picked by others. Not far away, Cui Yu had just finished a task. He let out a long breath and pumped his fist with vigor! This was his first time handling sixteen tasks simultaneously, completing them with precision, and ultimately earning an evaluation of Excellent. Processing sixteen tasks at once with his divine sense running at super-high speeds left Cui Yu feeling slightly dizzy, as though he hadn't slept for days. Just then, Cui Yu suddenly felt a spark of spirituality erupt from the depths of his sea of consciousness, bursting forth like an erupting volcano! At the same time, thunder cracked outside, and dark clouds gathered in an instant! Cui Yu could hardly believe it. Had his Dao Foundation's spirituality reached perfection just like that, and was he about to form a dharma idol? But this was inside Wei Yuan's mindscape world, and his physical body wasn't even here—how could he form a dharma idol? That young girl suddenly appeared, took Cui Yu by the hand, and vanished in an instant. Zhang Sheng was equally shocked. Was there heavenly tribulation even here? She rose from her seat, wanting to follow and see. Just as she rushed out of the hall doors, the young girl appeared before her again, and a path of light unfolded in front of them. Zhang Sheng followed the girl onto the light path, and after just a few steps, they arrived at an open, desolate expanse. In this wilderness, there were six distinct grounds in total. Five corresponded to the Five Elements, while the last one had no discernible elemental affinity, though several iron poles stood erected upon it, and the ground was blanketed with iron shavings. Above Cui Yu, the tribulation lightning had already gathered; within the deep blue tribulation clouds, water-like ripples seemed to undulate—his heavenly tribulation this time was water lightning. Cui Yu was seated in an ochre-yellow ground, enveloped by an intensely rich power of heavy earth. Using earth to overcome water would naturally weaken the tribulation's might. The other grounds also appeared to be arranged with specific counters in mind. Zhang Sheng spotted a signpost standing in the distance, inscribed with several large characters: Turn Misfortune to Good Tribulation Ground. Zhang Sheng froze. Even undergoing heavenly tribulation had a standardized process now? At this moment, the tribulation began. Waves of water lightning crashed down, instantly provoking counter-surges from the heavy earth power in the ground, weakening the lightning tribulation layer by layer. Cui Yu suddenly roared, and above his head appeared a golden-armored warrior wielding a sword, who swung his blade to cleave into the water lightning! Zhang Sheng shook her head slightly. The armor and attire of Cui Yu's dharma idol warrior were quite distinctive: a Liuren Heavenly Soldier. However, among dharma idols, this kind of heavenly soldier was only slightly above the lowest rank, the Human Idol, and could barely qualify as an Earth Idol. Cui Yu's natural talent and bone structure were limited after all; though he had formed a dharma idol early on, his path forward should have ended here. This heavenly soldier was quickly battered and bruised by the water lightning, on the verge of destruction. Yet at that very moment, one Liuren Heavenly Soldier after another stepped out from Cui Yu's body, until there were sixteen soldiers in all! Holding identical immortal swords, they advanced to meet the tribulation lightning. At first, the soldiers moved in unison, but soon each took independent action, covering and coordinating with one another, actually taking on the semblance of a military formation. By now, Wei Yuan had sensed the disturbance within Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. Sending his divine sense down, he discovered Cui Yu undergoing tribulation. Cui Yu's sixteen-soldier dharma idol astonished Wei Yuan greatly, and this specialized tribulation ground astonished him just as much. The mortals within Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World seemed to come up with things that stunned Wei Yuan every so often now. However, Wei Yuan did not notice Zhang Sheng and the young girl, nor did Zhang Sheng realize that Wei Yuan's divine sense had descended. Wei Yuan assessed the intensity of the lightning tribulation, concluded that Cui Yu was fully capable of enduring it, and chose not to intervene. As the tribulation ended, the sixteen Liuren Heavenly Soldiers stood in formation above Cui Yu's head, an extraordinary sight. Then Cui Yu's figure faded, exiting Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. Wei Yuan immediately headed straight for Cui Yu's quarters. By now, Dao power surged all around Cui Yu, a faint light glimmering between his brows. His condition was quite peculiar: his Dao power had already far surpassed the Dao Foundation realm, yet fell just shy of a true dharma idol. Wei Yuan immediately examined Cui Yu's body and sea of consciousness. A moment later, Sun Yu, Xu Henshui, and others arrived one after another. After careful examination, Wei Yuan found that Cui Yu's current state was indeed extraordinary: having weathered the tribulation, his primordial spirit had already transformed into the sixteen heavenly soldiers dharma idol, but his physical body remained in its original state. On the path from Dao Foundation to dharma idol, Cui Yu had effectively covered eighty percent of the distance, with only the final two steps remaining. Sun Yu was well-versed in the medical arts and said, "His primordial spirit having formed a dharma idol will in turn nourish and propel the growth of his physical body. Once his physical strength catches up after a period of time, he can unite spirit and body to achieve a true breakthrough into the dharma idol realm. By then, his chances of success will be at least eighty to ninety percent." With Cui Yu's original talent, his chances of breaking through to the dharma idol realm had been only around fifty percent. Curious, Wei Yuan asked, "How did you suddenly come to make a breakthrough?" Cui Yu was still somewhat bewildered and said, "I felt my talent wasn't enough, and since I wouldn't be able to reach Scenery Command anyway, there was no need to strive endlessly for perfection. So when I suddenly felt an opportunity arise, I thought I'd just give it a casual shot. I never expected it would actually trigger a heavenly tribulation." Xu Henshui said, "The Liuren Heavenly Soldier is an officially recorded dharma idol, and above it are the Heavenly Generals. In the past, people have formed multiple heavenly soldiers or generals, but never as many as sixteen. In my view, this dharma idol can certainly be ranked in the Heaven Tier." Wei Yuan was naturally delighted that Cui Yu could achieve such a critical breakthrough, so he exchanged merit points at the Hall of Merits for pills that could increase the success rate of forming a dharma idol and gave them to Cui Yu to ensure the outcome. Cui Yu also wrote a letter home. The Cui family naturally had similar breakthrough pills, and theirs were even better than those from the Palace of Grand Beginning, called Idol Transforming Pills. Delighted to hear that Cui Yu was on the verge of breaking through to the dharma idol realm, the Cui family sent three Idol Transforming Pills all at once. Next, Cui Yu set about strengthening his physical body, waiting for the optimal moment to break through to the dharma idol realm. Wei Yuan, meanwhile, began organizing a merchant caravan, preparing to travel to Western Jin to buy people. Because he had only one transit pass bestowed by the King of Jin, Wei Yuan made the caravan exceptionally large, ordering five hundred wagons capable of carrying several thousand jin each from Zhao in one go. On this day, Wei Yuan was in his study mapping out the caravan's route against a chart when the door suddenly pushed open and Bao Yun walked in. Since returning from the Northern Mountain Gate, Wei Yuan had been busy day in and day out. Meanwhile, Bao Yun's new city was on the domain's front line against the Shamans, undergoing day-and-night construction and reinforcement, so Bao Yun had been equally busy around the clock, skipping even less important daily meetings. This was the first time the two had met since Wei Yuan's return. Seeing Bao Yun, Wei Yuan was naturally overjoyed and asked, "How is your new city coming along?" Bao Yun replied, "The main structure is mostly finished, and we're currently refining the fortifications. The rest can proceed according to the planned schedule, which gave me a bit of time to come see you." Pointing at the map, Wei Yuan said, "I was just pondering the caravan's route. You came at just the right time; we can examine it together." Bao Yun came up beside Wei Yuan, and they discussed the caravan route together. Because of the caravan's massive scale and the plan for multiple future round trips, Wei Yuan intended to set up relay stations at several points along the way. In normal times, these relay stations could take in displaced refugees. Refugees from the surrounding regions could first gather at the stations, and when the caravan passed through on its return journey, it could collect them. This would drastically improve the efficiency of taking in refugees. Bao Yun suggested establishing additional smaller relay stations in areas farther from the caravan's main route. These smaller stations could organize smaller caravans to transport people and goods to the primary relay stations. In this way, the embryonic form of a trade network spanning Western Jin began to take shape. Having settled the caravan issue, Wei Yuan let out a breath of relief and smiled. "You really are amazing. I hadn't thought of those secondary relay stations." Bao Yun said, "The number of refugees may be far greater than you anticipate, so we need to prepare early. Both food and housing must be in ample supply." "Food isn't an issue, and housing can be made do with for now. Look, I plan to reclaim new farmland in these two areas, which will make for the sixth and seventh batches of one million mu. The earliest few hundred thousand mu of fields have already matured, and their yields can increase considerably. But I've never quite understood why there are always so many refugees." Bao Yun said, "I asked my great-grandfather about this once. He said that the more mortals there are, the more potential seeds for cultivation there will be, and the nation's karmic luck will be more abundant, giving a higher probability of producing a child of karmic destiny. That is why all kingdoms usually pay close attention to maintaining their populations. But if they cannot become seeds for cultivation, mortals are of little use. "If they can only reach Body Casting, the resources invested roughly equal the eventual return, unless they can cultivate to Body Casting mastery. If they cannot even reach that, there is no need to put them through Body Casting at all; it is better to just leave them to fend for themselves." Wei Yuan had an epiphany, thinking to himself that it was indeed so. Maintaining population size was necessary to ensure the number of cultivators, yet the vast majority of mortals had no hope of achieving a Dao Foundation. In the eyes of rulers, such people were essentially useless. A benevolent ruler might arrange some relief, but most of the Nine Kingdoms simply left them to fend for themselves—which was why refugees were scattered everywhere. Such matters were barely written in history books; only prestigious clans like the Bao family would make a point of explaining them when educating their core scions. Just as Wei Yuan was deep in thought, Bao Yun suddenly said, "I heard Martial Aunt Zhang Sheng returned with you, and I haven't paid my respects to her yet. I'll head over now to greet her." Wei Yuan's hand twitched, and the brush in his grip nearly ruined the map. Not giving Wei Yuan a chance to stop her, Bao Yun walked out on her own and leaped lightly, landing in Zhang Sheng's courtyard. Zhang Sheng had been lying on her bed in deep sleep with her eyes closed, but now she suddenly opened them, sat up, came into the outer hall, and opened the door. Bao Yun stood in the courtyard. The cold moonlight bathed her figure like a sheer dusting of frost, making her look exceptionally beautiful. Seeing Zhang Sheng, Bao Yun's eyes suddenly lit up with a sparkle. She offered a graceful bow and said softly, "Greetings, Martial Aunt."