Now This Looks More Like It!

As time passed, nine chimes of the bell rang out once more, inaugurating the second Ephemeral Multitude. This time marked the official start of the Dao Foundation casting attempts for the vast majority. Wei Yuan had already blessed everyone with azure qi, burning through ten thousand strands of ordinary azure qi in a single breath, which pained him considerably. In the sky, origin qi of heaven and earth began pouring down in scattered bursts, and ordinary cultivators were already seizing the chance offered by the Ephemeral Multitude to begin forging their Dao Foundations. At this moment, the origin qi of heaven and earth in one corner of the drill grounds was extraordinarily dense. Intertwining and compounding in cascading layers, it grew thicker and thicker until it condensed into billowing misty vapor. That area was filled entirely with young men and women of the Xu family, a dozen or so of the girls even having swollen bellies, on the verge of giving birth. Feeling a bit uneasy about them, Wei Yuan went over and bolstered each of them with another strand of karmic luck. Then he flew over to the Super VIP area to see who was just shy of the final push, topping up their karmic luck as needed. These Super VIPs had paid handsome sums, so Wei Yuan had to boost their Dao Foundation success rate. He needed outsiders to know that in Qingming, spending money truly yielded results. In the blink of an eye, the second Ephemeral Multitude drew to a close. Among the ten thousand candidates, three hundred had successfully forged their Dao Foundations, while over a hundred of the eight hundred Xu family youths had achieved breakthrough as well. Next came half an hour of rest, followed by the third and final Ephemeral Multitude. At this stage, the instructors went all out to hawk templated Dao Foundations. Having failed two attempts, the students had also faced the reality that they were rotten wood; having someone willing to carve them was already fortunate enough, leaving them in no position to be picky. Everyone seized the time to cram knowledge on templated Dao Foundations, while Qingming deployed all its reserve instructors—a total of fifteen hundred cultivators rushing about the grounds to answer questions and resolve doubts. In an instant, the entire drill grounds resembled the eve of a major standardized exam in the Otherworld: chattering, buzzing, alive with commotion. Everyone knew that the carp leaping through the dragon gate hung on a single fleeting moment. A moment later, the third Ephemeral Multitude began. Wei Yuan was completely absorbed in guiding the process when he heard Xu Wenwu remark beside him, "Out of over ten thousand people, how is there not a single one capable of facing a heavenly tribulation? What kind of Enlightenment Assembly is this? It's really as bland as plain water!" This blurt came without warning once again; Wei Yuan did not even have time to cover his mouth. At that moment, the sky above the drill grounds abruptly darkened. Heavy clouds converged from all directions, swirling and coiling incessantly, quickly forming a colossal vortex in the heavens! The spectating cultivators shuddered to their cores, as though staring down an apocalypse. The aura of the heavenly tribulation made the rogue cultivators tremble at the knees; some even collapsed limp onto the ground, voiding their bowels and bladders. Xu Wenwu remained blissfully unaware of what was happening, tilting his head back to gaze at the sky as he said, "Now this looks more like it! Though—" This time, Wei Yuan was quick of eye and hand, clamping a palm over Xu Wenwu's mouth. Hoisting Xu Wenwu, he flew into the sky and looked left and right, zeroing in on an empty plot at the edge of the drill grounds, beside the Xu family youths. In Wei Yuan's eyes, the entire world was a dull grayish-black; only that spot surged with five-colored vapor—it was Xu Wenwu's geomantic auspicious ground. Wei Yuan flashed there in an instant. Paying no mind to anything else, he grabbed a torn half of a straw mat from who-knew-where, spread it on the ground, shoved Xu Wenwu down onto it, and barked, "Settle your mind, calm your spirit, and prepare for your tribulation!" Only now did Xu Wenwu belatedly realize, crying out in shock, "Th-this is *my* heavenly tribulation?!" Wei Yuan asked blankly, "Whose else would it be?" Xu Wenwu had probably grown accustomed to flaming people online in the Otherworld, spending his days pontificating on forums where everyone supposedly made five hundred thousand a month, finding everything underwhelming—including the idea that any rich person had troubles they couldn't shake. Then, upon arriving in this world, he kept up his habit of speaking without a filter, ultimately triggering his own Dao-attainment heavenly tribulation. And thanks to that mouth of his, what should have been an ordinary Dao Foundation heavenly tribulation had been bumped up two full grades. Looking at the tribulation clouds, Wei Yuan thought it closely resembled the Cascading Waterfall of the Impermanent Heavenly River Tribulation, which took the form of a tempestuous storm. Just moments ago, Xu Wenwu had bellowed, "Let the storm rage harder!"—and the heavens had granted his wish. Moving like lightning, Wei Yuan set a bowl in front of Xu Wenwu, pulled out seven or eight different medicine bottles, poured out a brimming bowl of medicinal pills, and commanded, "Swallow them!" Xu Wenwu was horrified. "That's way too much! I can't swallow—" Time was pressing; how could there be room for his whining? Wei Yuan grabbed him by the throat, surged his Dharmic powers to force open Xu Wenwu's throat and esophagus until the passage was wide open from top to bottom, and poured the entire bowl of pills straight down. Then Wei Yuan hoisted Xu Wenwu and bounced him against the ground a few times, jarring all the pills down into his stomach. Xu Wenwu felt as if a raging fire had been lit in his gut, his entire face flushing crimson in an instant. Wei Yuan looked back up at the tribulation clouds, knowing full well Xu Wenwu had zero chance of surviving. Helpless, he gritted his teeth and cast the purple karmic luck he had obtained from Zhu Yuanjin onto Xu Wenwu. Xu Wenwu was truly unfortunate; what he had provoked was a water-phase heavenly tribulation, rendering Wei Yuan's pile of lightning rods utterly useless. Come to think of it, ever since Wei Yuan had developed lightning rods, he seemed never to have run into a pure lightning tribulation. In the blink of an eye, rain began to pour in torrents from the sky, turning the world pitch-black as dead of night! The downpour coalesced into a waterfall, cascading down toward Xu Wenwu. This water was the water of the Heavenly River—it could dissolve flesh, corrode bone, and wear down the divine soul; it was terrifyingly potent. The medicinal potency erupted in Xu Wenwu's stomach; whenever a layer of flesh was stripped from his body, a new layer grew back immediately. The process was agonizing beyond measure, yet Xu Wenwu actually managed to endure it, which made Wei Yuan see him in a new light. No matter how muddle-headed Xu Wenwu usually was, he knew he was at death's door. He summoned every ounce of willpower he possessed, striving with all his might to keep his consciousness from scattering, desperately struggling to survive beneath the Heavenly River's waterfall. Under the scouring of the Heavenly River water, Xu Wenwu's soul gradually detached from his body, turning translucent. Something seemed hidden at its innermost core. Before Wei Yuan could get a clear look, a toad enveloped in purple light leapt out from Xu Wenwu's body and swallowed his soul in a single gulp. Yet in an instant, the water of the Heavenly River washed over the toad, eroding nearly half its body into nothingness. The toad wailed in agony, but refused to spit out the soul. The purple light covering it neutralized much of the celestial water, but it still could not withstand the relentless deluge. At that moment, another tiny figure leapt from Xu Wenwu's body—a little girl of only two or three years old. Dragging a greatsword far larger than herself, she stepped and spun, letting out a sharp cry as she swung the greatsword in a full circle! Her sword qi surged like a torrent, rushing upstream through the Heavenly River and severing the entire celestial flow in a single stroke! The Heavenly River had clearly not run its course; it was merely paused for a brief respite. The little girl's figure vanished right after. Evidently, given the cheap, makeshift father-daughter bond between Xu Wenwu and Xu Shiba, she could only help him this far. Having gained a moment of respite, the toad rapidly morphed. First, it donned body armor and a steel helmet. Then, slabs of steel materialized from the void, converging around it until they surprisingly took the shape of an armored combat vehicle. The toad dove headfirst into the vehicle and pulled the hatch shut. Watching from the side, Wei Yuan felt as though he were dreaming. He had the celestial laurel tree prick him with a wisp of sword qi before he was convinced he wasn't asleep. The Heavenly River surged down once more, and Xu Wenwu's combat vehicle sank straight to the bottom. Wei Yuan inwardly cursed. Xu Wenwu had conjured up a combat vehicle, but hadn't accounted for the Heavenly River drowning it in water! Seeing Xu Wenwu on the brink of doom, Wei Yuan gritted his teeth and threw in his final strand of otherworldly fortune. Next, he hurled thousands of strands of human karmic luck, showering Xu Wenwu without regard for the cost! With all these varied fortunes mingling together, Xu Wenwu actually accepted every single one, turning into a massive hodgepodge of karmic luck. The gambit proved effective. Just when all hope seemed lost, that combat vehicle unexpectedly surfaced from the bottom of the Heavenly River, bobbing along the water. Xu Wenwu gasped for air, the bruised purplish hue on his face gradually fading. Then he opened his eyes and cried out, "That nearly killed me! Good thing mine is an amphibious combat vehicle." Wei Yuan looked at Xu Wenwu, then glanced up at the sky. The weather was gradually clearing up, the tribulation clouds scattering as long-missed sunlight spilled once again across the mortal realm. His Dao Foundation heavenly tribulation was finally over. Xu Wenwu's heavenly tribulation had truly been absurd. Only a rare few immortal foundations provoked the jealousy of heaven and earth upon breakthrough, bringing down a heavenly tribulation, and most of those tribulations were of modest grade. Yet the intensity of Xu Wenwu's tribulation far exceeded the ordinary immortal foundation tribulation, ranking only behind Zhang Sheng and Wei Yuan. Surviving such a tribulation could only be attributed to a tough fate and immense luck—and that luck had been bought by Wei Yuan pouring in countless amounts of karmic fortune. Yet Xu Wenwu's tribulation was never supposed to be like this in the first place. It was purely because of the man's loose tongue, which had nearly gotten him killed and bled Wei Yuan dry of a fortune in karmic luck. Especially the purple qi and otherworldly fortune—those were precious things capable of mobilizing Maiden Yin-Yang, yet they had been squandered on this tubby blob. Looking at Xu Wenwu, Wei Yuan asked deadpan, "So your Dao Foundation is... an armored toad?" Xu Wenwu was indignant. "A combat vehicle!" And so, an Otherworld combat vehicle made its very first appearance in this world in the form of a Dao Foundation.