Wei Yuan immediately locked his divine sense onto the girl undergoing tribulation, only to discover that the culprit who had snuck into the Dao soldiers' ranks was none other than Xu Shiba, who had been left to roam free. Moreover, the tribulation she was facing was not for advancing to the Dao Foundation, but a heavenly tribulation for breaking through from the mid-stage to the late-stage!
Could a heavenly tribulation even occur at this stage? As far as Wei Yuan could recall, besides himself, almost no one drew tribulations in such a flamboyant fashion.
Still, all that mattered was that the outcome was good. Bathed in the baptism of the heavenly tribulation's aftershocks, over forty percent of the Dao soldiers successfully cast their Dao Foundations—a result far exceeding Wei Yuan's expectations.
Just as Wei Yuan prepared to step forward and seize Xu Shiba for a thorough interrogation, boundless sword light flashed before his eyes. Over a hundred immortal swords formed a colossal hand, which pinched Wei Yuan between two fingers and hoisted him right back to where he started.
Tribulation clouds gathered in the sky once more. There was another heavenly tribulation?
This round of tribulation was comparatively more normal. Seven strikes of tribulation lightning fell one by one, without merging or mutating. Another young girl soared into the sky, likewise brandishing a greatsword, and struck down the sevenfold lightning with seven swings of her blade.
Then, heaven-and-earth origin qi descended. Multitudes of Dao soldiers who were merely a step away from a breakthrough were once again steeped in the origin qi, finally crossing that last threshold!
Watching the vast swathes of Dao Foundation light, Wei Yuan felt almost numb.
Once the heavenly tribulation finally ended, Wei Yuan waved a hand, snatching the two girls right before him. Both were about the same height, reaching slightly above Wei Yuan's shoulders—quite tall for girls.
The girl who had undergone tribulation second stuck out her tongue at Wei Yuan and called out, "Daddy!"
Wei Yuan's face turned ashen. Under the public gaze, however, he couldn't resort to violence. Fortunately, Zhang Sheng had already vanished; otherwise, Wei Yuan felt he might have exploded on the spot.
The girl who had braved the tribulation to achieve a Dao Foundation was the reincarnation of his junior sister. She had given herself the name Wei Ying, completely disregarding whether Wei Yuan agreed—just like Xu Shiba taking Xu Wenwu as her father back in the day.
Below, an ocean of light from Dao Foundations still shimmered; this was the urgent matter requiring immediate attention. Wei Yuan said to the two girls, "Go down first and consolidate your Dao Foundations. No wandering off! I will question you later!"
The two girls scurried off in a flash, not daring to look back.
Wei Yuan lowered his altitude, looking at the Dao Foundations bobbing one after another within the sea of light, hardly able to believe his eyes.
A total of ten thousand reserve Dao soldiers had taken part in the ceremony. After two baptisms of heaven-and-earth origin qi, nearly eighty percent had cast a Dao Foundation! Among them, over ninety percent of the Xu family youths succeeded, while the sacrifices also attained a fifty percent success rate.
These seven thousand-plus were not production-type Dao Foundations, but Dao soldiers born specifically for battle. Even if template Dao Foundations were used, they employed templates like the Remnant Fire Sword to guarantee baseline combat strength. Counting the five thousand Dao soldiers from before, Qingming had actually reaped twelve thousand Dao Foundations from this Dao Foundation Grand Ceremony!
Although the Qingming cultivators apart from the Dao soldiers mostly possessed template Dao Foundations—and several hundred among them had foundations like Germicidal Disinfection Qi—it did not change the fact that Qingming's overall strength had taken a massive leap upward.
*Over seven thousand Dao Foundations... over seven thousand...* Wei Yuan marveled inwardly as he scattered karmic luck, aiding the Dao soldiers in stabilizing their cultivation realms.
The two heavenly tribulations had long since drawn the gazes of the various aristocratic clan elders. When they saw the subsequent sweeping sea of light, they were struck dumb with shock!
Those weren't useless Dao Foundations—they were Dao soldiers! The Dao soldiers of the Palace of Grand Beginning were famous across the world, and many clan elders recognized the distinct Dao charm upon them.
The stronger each Dao soldier was individually, the stronger the collective became; and the stronger the collective, the stronger the individual. With over seven thousand Dao Foundations added in one go, the empowerment this host of Dao soldiers received had reached a horrifying degree.
When they first noticed the Dao charm, the elders had been muttering among themselves that if even a supreme treasure like the Dao Soldier Hall could be granted to Wei Yuan, everyone would need to reassess how strongly the Palace of Grand Beginning backed him.
Now, faced with this ocean of light, the same thought crossed the minds of every elder: *If not to Wei Yuan, whom else could the Dao Soldier Hall be given to?*
Before Wei Yuan had recovered from the shock, he suddenly sensed all sorts of karmic luck flying toward him. Only then did he realize what was happening, but it was already too late to conceal the Dao soldiers below.
Wei Yuan had originally only intended to demonstrate a bit of strength before the world, baring a couple of fangs for all to see. Who would have thought that opening his mouth would reveal nothing but fangs?
This was no longer a show of strength; it was a question of whether he would scare everyone out of their wits.
Fortunately, Wei Yuan had learned plenty from his seniors at Sky Azure Hall. For instance, when shocked and at a loss for what to do, the best course was to stand with hands clasped behind one's back, speaking and moving as little as possible—at least maintaining an unfathomable impression.
The Dao soldiers gradually drew their newly formed Dao Foundations back into their bodies, then formed ranks and marched away to rest in their barracks. In the center of the Dao soldier barracks stood the Dao Soldier Hall; within a certain range of the hall, cultivation was swifter, and recovery was faster.
Watching the files of Dao soldiers depart, a thought suddenly crossed Wei Yuan's mind: with over ninety percent of these Xu family youths achieving Dao Foundations, was this how the human race was truly meant to be?
Viewed from this angle, perhaps one ought to reevaluate what Xu Wangu had done back then, and maybe there were even many things worth drawing upon.
The grand ceremony finally concluded. The results were utterly staggering: a total of fifteen thousand Dao Foundation cultivators had been born. Both the sheer number and the ratio were unbelievable.
As soon as the ceremony ended, elders from numerous aristocratic clans and sects lined up wanting to see Wei Yuan, but were all turned away by their own clan disciples serving in Qingming, such as Cui Yu, Bao Yun, and Xu Henshui.
The only ones who did not clamor to see Wei Yuan were the Southern Qi Li family. Several elders surrounded Li Zhi, discussing something with conflicted expressions.
Wei Yuan, on the other hand, immediately grabbed Xu Shiba and Wei Ying, hauling them up to the immortal city to interrogate them properly.
In truth, strictly speaking, both little ones were still a few years shy of ten. Xu Shiba was slightly older, but only around six or seven. They grew at an extraordinary rate, and along with it, their speed of Body Casting was far faster than ordinary people.
A thought suddenly occurred to Wei Yuan: Xu Shiba was already in the late-stage Dao Foundation. If a few more years passed and she successfully advanced, wouldn't she become a ten-year-old dharma idol cultivator?
Recalling her greatsword, which bore the true intent of the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns, Wei Yuan felt his reputation as a genius was already hanging by a thread.
"Why did you two run over to stir up trouble at the Dao Foundation Grand Ceremony?" Wei Yuan pulled a stern face, a murderous edge creeping into his voice.
The two grinning girls quickly realized Wei Yuan wasn't joking, and their smiles gradually vanished.
Xu Shiba replied dutifully, "We didn't come to cause trouble on purpose. We received a hint saying our Dao opportunity lay within this Dao Foundation Grand Ceremony. The hint stated very clearly that we had to face our tribulation during the grand ceremony in the eleventh year of Tianqi."
"Who gave you this hint?" Wei Yuan pressed.
"My Dao Foundation. Here, this is it." Xu Shiba manifested the greatsword and handed it to Wei Yuan.
This greatsword was virtually identical to the one Xu Shiqi had wielded back then, and buried deep within it was a sliver of true intent from the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns. That true intent was like a seed, poised to sprout and blossom at any moment.
Wei Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly. If what Xu Shiba said was true, then back when he brought the Xu family youths out of the secret realm, the seed had already been planted, simply waiting for this day to take root and sprout.
Chapter 841