"Look over here! Yeah, you, the one dressed up like a gentleman!" The scholar turned around and saw a burly man with a fierce, fleshy face waving at him.
Beside the burly man stood a writing desk laden with brushes and paper. Behind him was a filing cabinet neatly stacked with piles of forms. Next to the desk stood a wooden sign boldly inscribed with three large characters: "Registration Station."
Along both sides of the road at the town entrance were eight or nine identical desks, each staffed by two or three burly fellows.
The scholar walked over and asked with genuine curiosity, "Does entering Qingming truly require registering in the roster?"
The burly man glared, his voice gruff and loud. "What else? You think this place is somewhere you can come and go as you please? Quit the chatter and get over here to register. This grandpa hasn't finished his quota for today!"
With that, the man slapped a sheet of paper into the scholar's chest. "You look like someone who can read and write. Save me some breath—fill it out yourself!"
The scholar pointed toward a small plaza nearby and asked, "What are those people doing?"
Several thousand people were packed tightly into the small square, lined up in dozens of long queues awaiting registration. There were a full hundred desks scattered across the plaza. Every registrar scribbled at lightning speed, so despite the length of the lines, the crowd moved along fairly quickly.
The burly man followed the scholar's pointing finger and said, "Those are refugees preparing to join Qingming. You're different. You aren't here to join, are you?"
The scholar scanned the form and frowned slightly. "Why must it be so troublesome? Forget it. I won't enter the town; I'll just be on my way."
The burly man bellowed instantly, "Halt! You don't leave until you're registered!"
Indignant, the scholar demanded, "I am not even going inside. Why do I still have to register?"
"Where'd all these questions come from? Because I say so, that's why! If I tell you to register, you register!"
The scholar wanted to argue further, but the burly man had already raised a fist and roared, "One more peep out of you and I'll slap you with obstructing official business—beat you half to death first, then toss you into the dungeon!"
The scholar replied in fury, "Is there no law here? You arrest people just on a whim?"
The burly man sneered. "Quit spouting nonsense! Who says we don't have law? You only get arrested if you refuse to register. If you'd filled it out properly from the start, we wouldn't have this hassle. Quit wasting my breath. Are you filling out this paper or not?"
Seeing several burly men closing in around him, the scholar recognized that the odds were against him. Helpless, he had no choice but to pick up the brush and paper.
The sheet contained more than a dozen columns, demanding exhaustive details that took no small amount of effort to complete. At the very bottom ran a line of small print: *Should there be any falsehood, may Heaven strike with thunder.*
At the very end was the signature line, requiring the registrant's name in both Human and Shaman scripts.
After meticulously writing everything out, the scholar signed his name and said, "How could I know Shaman script? I cannot sign this!"
The burly man picked up the form without even glancing at it, ripped it in half with a crisp tear, and said, "Fill it out again."
The scholar flew into a rage. "Why this time?"
The burly man replied deadpan, "No smudges or corrections allowed. Do it over!"
Under the watchful eyes of muscular bruisers flanking him, the scholar swallowed his indignation and took a fresh sheet. The moment he finished signing his name, the burly man snatched it away and tore it up again. "Do it over!"
This time, he didn't even bother inventing an excuse.
The scholar's face turned livid with rage, his hands trembling uncontrollably. Yet the people handling official business all around them acted as if blind to the scene.
Officials in official robes strolled past, laughing and chatting with the burly man, but not a single one paid the scholar any mind. The scholar finally realized that bureaucrats everywhere were cut from the same cloth; here in Qingming, there was simply nowhere to seek reason.
He filled out four forms in a row, and all four were shredded. Only on the fifth attempt did the burly man scrutinize the signature before nodding with satisfaction.
Having wasted a full two hours here, the scholar was too exhausted to speak. He walked numbly into the small town. The moment he stepped inside, he suddenly lifted his sleeve to look, and spotted several fine threads of karma—invisible to ordinary eyes—clinging to his cuff.
The corners of his lips curved faintly upward in an elusive smile. He murmured to himself, "So that's how it is! I didn't expect you to have such a clever little scheme."
Five threads of karma clung to his cuff, corresponding exactly to the five forms he had filled out. Four of them were so faint they were barely visible, but the fifth was unmistakably distinct.
The scholar strolled casually through the town, quickly realizing that several pairs of eyes were tracking his movements. A thought struck him, and he gazed toward the distance. Forcing his sight past layers of obstruction, he caught a glimpse of a corner of tribulation clouds along the distant horizon.
"Someone is actually undergoing tribulation? Hmm, I couldn't get a clear look at those clouds. I'll need to inspect them closely." The scholar narrowed his eyes, preparing to look again, but the world shifted abruptly around him. Everything in the distance sank back into thick mist and cloud, obscured from view.
He glanced down at the threads of karma on his sleeve and chuckled helplessly. "It can even work like this? I truly underestimated you. Qingming is indeed worthy of being an immortal stone—wondrous, as expected."
At this moment, the threads of karma were tied to something unseen. Whenever the scholar attempted to gaze afar, the power of the domain would autonomously block his view. After trying a few times, the scholar nodded slightly and said, "He must have noticed me already. But why hasn't he made a move? In that case, I might as well go see for myself."
The scholar stepped into a roadside shop and vanished on the spot. The trackers tailing him sensed something amiss and rushed inside, but where could they find any sign of him?
Meanwhile, the scholar strolled at an easy pace. With every step he took, the scenery shifted before his eyes. In the blink of an eye, he had already toured Yong'an and walked into Ding'an City, which was still under construction.
Yong'an was grand in scale, currently home to hundreds of thousands of residents. Crowds thronged its streets, and rows upon rows of buildings stretched beyond sight. Yet with just a few steps, the scholar emerged from the city.
In Ding'an City, however, he halted his steps, watching quietly as the new gatehouse was being erected. People bustled past him continuously, yet all seemed entirely blind to his presence.
The gatehouse foundation had only just been laid. Iron cages formed of steel bars had been erected, framed externally with wooden boards, while cultivators poured bucket after bucket of slurry inside.
This was an entirely novel method of construction. The scholar actually watched for a full quarter of an hour. He closed his eyes, silently calculating the time required to complete the gatehouse, and for the first time, his expression shifted.
Scanning the construction site with his divine sense, he breathed a faint sigh of relief and murmured, "Fortunately, its defensive strength is slightly inferior to traditional city walls..."
Before he could finish the sentence, he saw a team of cultivators fly over carrying more than a dozen steel plates, laying the thick sheets directly onto the wall before pouring another layer of slurry over them.
The scholar was rendered speechless for a moment.
Just like that, glancing here and peering there, an hour slipped by unawares. Only then did it suddenly dawn on him: *Wait, where are the tribulation clouds?*
Wasting no more time, his figure vanished in an instant, reappearing moments later outside the Hall of Heroic Spirits. He examined the building, whose upper half had partially collapsed.
Wei Yuan's voice resonated from within the hall: "An honored guest comes from afar; why not enter and converse?"
Stepping through the doors, the scholar saw Wei Yuan standing before rows of spirit tablets, gazing intently at the names inscribed upon them. Many of the tablets were dim and lusterless, yet some drifted with faint golden light, and others still were translucent like jade, exuding a misty halo across their entire surfaces.
A knowing smile touched the scholar's lips as he paced inside.
Without turning his head, Wei Yuan spoke slowly, "Those enshrined here are all people who died in the war against you. They knew full well that stepping onto the battlefield offered only one outcome—death—yet they went without hesitation. Only, I doubt even they expected that they would have to face another trial of life and death."
Sweeping his gaze across the hall, the scholar smiled gently. "Your heroes are our mortal foes, so I would like nothing more than to set this place ablaze."
As if deaf to the words, Wei Yuan continued, "Outside stand another million tombstones, occupying two entire mountains. Had you not come, they would not have died."
"Had I not come, other tribes would have. Besides, even if we did not come, you would have come to us."
Wei Yuan nodded. "There is truth in that. Since you only arrived here now, you must have toured Qingming. What do you think?"
"Quite unexpected. In some aspects, one might even say... astonishing! These are things no ordinary human could ever conceive. You must have made contact with beings from some wondrous world, have you not?"
Wei Yuan was slightly taken aback. "Impressive! You could even deduce that. But with your wisdom, why insist on attacking me? And why venture alone into danger for the sake of a woman and child? You ought to know that having stepped foot here, you will not easily leave."
The scholar let out a self-deprecating laugh. "I truly never expected that one day I would be threatened to my face by a mere Dharma Idol. The last one to speak to me like that was named Long Zhe."
Wei Yuan finally turned around, his eyes blazing like torches. "Our major realms are equivalent. Originally, I was two minor realms behind you, but now the difference is only one. With such a meager gap, I see nothing remarkable about you."
"So you were the one undergoing heavenly tribulation just now. No wonder. You arranged so many distractions throughout Qingming simply to buy time until you could see your tribulation through?"
Wei Yuan admitted it candidly. "Even I did not anticipate that the heavenly tribulation would arrive at such a moment. Otherwise, I wouldn't have needed to show you so much."
The scholar smiled faintly. "Do you think this was a mere coincidence?"
"What do you mean?"
"Because I came today, your tribulation came today. Had I arrived tomorrow, your tribulation would have struck tomorrow."
Wei Yuan sneered. "You really know how to boast!"
This heavenly tribulation had been triggered by the three-eyed bird beast digesting Leiying's dharma idol soul. Wei Yuan did not believe any entity in this world could manipulate the shadow within the moon.
Back then, under the Karma Great Curse, the three-eyed bird had been capable of tearing open space to cast him and Zhang Sheng to the Far North—the sole path of survival. Just a sliver of power sent across the void had been that terrifying; its true status had to be above even that of a Heavenly Shaman.
The scholar was not angered. "If I am not mistaken, this tribulation of yours defies all reason and is vastly harder than what others face, isn't it? And not just this once—the previous ones were likely the same."
Wei Yuan replied flatly, "That isn't hard to guess. If you wish to shake my Dao heart with this, you can save your breath."
The scholar made a casual grasping motion in the air. Several wisps of calamity qi manifested in his palm, hair-thin strands of gray qi that writhed continuously.
The scholar smiled faintly. "If it were mere guessing, no one would ever guess that you would undergo an inner demon tribulation that belongs exclusively to Scenery Command, would they?"
A flash of cold light gleamed deep within Wei Yuan's eyes. Feigning indifference, he replied, "There are only so many varieties of heavenly tribulation in total. Make enough wild guesses, and you're bound to hit the mark eventually. Besides, you only claimed it was an inner demon tribulation after standing right here. Though I do not know how to read calamity qi, you clearly do. So drop the act. If you had sent me a letter beforehand telling me I would undergo an inner demon tribulation at an exact hour today, only then would I believe you possessed such skill."
The scholar replied, "I won't beat around the bush with you. Influencing your personal tribulation is indeed nearly impossible. But increasing the burden of a tribulation upon a thief of Heaven is not so difficult—and it accords with the will of Heaven and Earth itself. So long as you continue usurping Heaven's authority, your tribulations will never be easy. Hmm, but even if you intercepted Shaman souls that should have returned to Heaven and Earth, it still shouldn't have escalated to facing an inner demon tribulation outright. You must have done something else intolerable to Heaven and Earth for your tribulation to be this severe."
The scholar looked Wei Yuan up and down, thoughtful. "So the one standing before me right now... couldn't be an inner demon, could it?"
"You're the inner demon! Your whole family is inner demons!" Wei Yuan blurted out what was on his mind before he could stop himself.
Chapter 591