What Tricks?

Wei Yuan sat upright deep within Water Moon Hall. Before him was a massive jade wall, within which the true meaning left behind by the hall's founding patriarch flowed slowly. Previously, whenever Wei Yuan sought to comprehend the true meaning of the Moon Splendor Ten Thousand Facets Chapter here, it had always felt like viewing flowers through mist—perpetually falling just a bit short. Yet today, for some reason, the power of Lunar Moon Splendor had become remarkably clear. Without the slightest effort, Wei Yuan grasped many mysteries he had never perceived before, and his mastery over the power of moon splendor soared directly upward. Wei Yuan was both astonished and overjoyed. This was unmistakably a sign of a massive leap in comprehension! Gathering his emotions, he immersed himself once more in the path of the Moon Splendor Ten Thousand Facets. In an ethereal haze, Wei Yuan felt as though he were standing beside the founding patriarch, gazing up at the full moon in the heavens alongside him. The power of moon splendor grew clearer and clearer in Wei Yuan's heart, until its every circulation and shift could be reproduced in his mind. With his confidence rising further, Wei Yuan attempted to build a model to analyze the patterns behind its flow. Two hours later, Wei Yuan abandoned this naive idea. By this point, Wei Yuan faintly sensed an impending calamity. Within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, quiet began to settle as countless mortals instinctively raised their heads toward the heavens. The sky had turned a dark purple, swelling from time to time with bulges resembling pustules. Such a spectacle had appeared not long ago, abruptly halted back then by the return of the Creation Immortal Venerable. He had not expected it to manifest once again. Within the Holy Battle Hall, several individuals sensed it as well. But with their cultivations having surged, they were filled with confidence, quietly waiting for the coming shift. Wei Yuan knew a heavenly tribulation was approaching, though he did not know what manner of tribulation it would be. Yet sitting deep inside Water Moon Hall within his own sect's mountain gates, directly facing the true meaning of the Dao-founding immortal, he felt exceptionally secure. Continuing to comprehend the true meaning of moon splendor, Wei Yuan had long cast the tribulation to the back of his mind. Tribulation clouds manifested in the sky, rapidly gathering, and immediately a tribulation lightning bolt came crashing down! This bolt was merely the most ordinary sort of heavenly tribulation: pure and simple in nature, moderate in power, the kind most commonly encountered when a Dharma Idol attempted to break through into Scenery Command. Its sole distinctive feature was its speed. Almost the very moment the tribulation clouds appeared, the lightning crashed down from the sky in the blink of an eye! And this strike struck straight at the Qingming boundary stone! The entirety of Qingming erupted in an instant. The power of the domain surged like a raging ocean tide, gathering toward the boundary stone before transforming into a monstrous, towering wave that finally blocked the tribulation lightning! The violent upheaval of domain power in so short a span whipped up howling gales across Qingming, sending rivers overtopping their banks, while countless beasts, birds, and insects fled their dens in panic, scattering in every direction. The shanties built by numerous farmers were blown away by the fierce winds. Fishermen on the lakes capsized and fell into the water, while those gathering firewood or hunting in the mountains lost their footing and plunged into deep ravines. Even the guinea pigs cultivating the spiritual fields suddenly ran amok, mauling and killing many farming cultivators. Inside Water Moon Hall, Wei Yuan sprang to his feet, alarmed and furious. Heaven truly refused to let him off! He had taken refuge inside the Palace of Grand Beginning's mountain gates to avoid the tribulation, yet the tribulation had struck directly at Qingming! Without time to deliberate, Wei Yuan bolted out of Water Moon Hall, flying toward Qingming at full speed. The moment he cleared the sect gates, he brought out his redesigned flying craft and mounted it. It was a vehicle shaped like a missile, bearing only a pair of tiny wings. At its rear, sixteen thruster tubes were bundled together; running at full throttle, it streaked across the sky like a shooting star, flying toward Qingming. As he sped through the air, Wei Yuan actually grew calm. The Patriarch's divine intent had once remarked that the Heavenly Dao had its own temper—words that were surely meant for him. By taking the bronze lotus lamp as his third grotto-heaven, he had unknowingly brought together the Bodhi before the Buddha and the Blue Lamp Before the Buddha. It seemed that with just one more piece, he would possess an entire set of formidable Buddhist treasures. With such immense karma involved, how could the heavenly tribulation possibly spare him? Moreover, he had restarted the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven; once the Ancestral Shaman awoke, they would never let the matter rest. Since Qingming lay within the territory of the Wu domain, it was all too easy for the Ancestral Shaman to exert some influence over the heavenly tribulation. It seemed there was no taking shortcuts. Above Qingming, another tribulation lightning bolt crashed down, once again blocked by surging waves of water. A full fifteen minutes had elapsed between this bolt and the previous one—the normal pace of a heavenly tribulation. During Wei Yuan's past tribulations, over a hundred bolts would have fallen in that span. Wei Yuan felt slightly relieved, and a cold smile crept onto his face. The heavenly tribulation truly harbored ill intent, waiting at Qingming for him to walk right into the trap. Yet of all his past tribulations, which one had not been vicious, ruthless, and beyond all reason? And which one had he failed to pass? In the space of a breath, Dao power circulated through Wei Yuan's body, and a faint glazed sheen surfaced on his skin. Aside from dark gold, a light red hue also shifted across it. As his Dao power was urged onward, a third color would soon emerge. After his tempering in the Desolate Realm and attaining two and a half tones, Wei Yuan could release the most fundamental three-colored immortal light purely with his physical flesh. Such a body could not be damaged by the sunlight of the Desolate Realm, nor by the corrosive fluids of a Scenery Command flame demon or the true meaning of return to silence. Thus, no matter what this tribulation held, Wei Yuan was determined to meet it head-on with his flesh alone. If he was reborn through fire, perhaps he could achieve the third tone of the Desolate Roar directly in the tribulation's wake. Crossing the expanse of the sky, Wei Yuan naturally drew countless gazes, among which were gasps of wonder, but even more so shock, jealousy, and deep malice. This tribulation was of no small consequence, and numerous immortals turned their gazes upon it. With immortals watching, certain details naturally came to light—such as the fact that the Palace of Grand Beginning's Patriarch's sword had gone missing once again. With so many immortals watching, it became all the more difficult to strike, for doing so would amount to an open declaration of war against the Palace of Grand Beginning. Slating the rival sect's most outstanding disciple for death was an act far worse than obstructing someone's attainment of the Dao. No matter who acted, the Palace of Grand Beginning would fight them to the bitter end; otherwise, how could it still claim to be the foremost immortal sect? Yet the immortals also understood that if they failed to stop Wei Yuan here and allowed him to attain Scenery Command, then from that point on, only immortals taking the field in person would be able to subdue him. Consequently, from the shadows, every conceivable method was put to use, and every bit of hateful curse was spared no expense. Whipping straw effigies, stabbing paper figures, soaking items in dog blood, dunking Wei Yuan's birth chart into cesspools—useful or useless, every measure was deployed. Now, with the heavenly tribulation hanging over his head, Wei Yuan's five senses were exceptionally sharp, allowing him to hear the dense swarm of curses and insults. He had not realized so many people bore him such hatred. Yet Wei Yuan felt no fear, making no attempt to conceal his movements. At a time like this, the more immortals who knew, the safer he actually was. As for the heavenly tribulation, Wei Yuan believed that aside from the Ancestral Shaman, no immortal would be foolish enough to meddle in his tribulation. For this Scenery Command tribulation, Wei Yuan was confident that even an immortal would suffer greatly from taking a single hit. Four hours later, Wei Yuan arrived at Qingming. By then, Qingming had already endured nine bolts of tribulation lightning. The instant he stepped into the Qingming domain, Wei Yuan felt linked as one with the vast earth. He flew above the boundary stone, shielding it with his own body, and looked up at the sky, quietly awaiting the arrival of the next tribulation. Sure enough, the tribulation clouds in the sky began to transform, gradually turning a purplish black. Wei Yuan sneered inwardly. It was the same old tricks after all. This time, he would see just what new tricks the tribulation could play. His Dharma Body had no weaknesses left; earth, fire, water, wind, lesser yang, greater yin—whatever sort of tribulation lightning it was, it would all be the same. Moments later, the tribulation clouds finally took shape. In the eye of the clouds, a deep-purple pupil opened, casting a penetrating gaze straight at Wei Yuan! In an instant, Wei Yuan went ice-cold from head to toe, his scalp prickling with dread! The otherworldly eye gave Wei Yuan only a single look before retreating into the clouds, after which the entire expanse of tribulation clouds completely dispersed. Many cultivators watching from the shadows were left bewildered. They had always heard that Wei Yuan's tribulations were constantly novel, facing trials no predecessor had ever endured—so why had this one ended so abruptly? Just as everyone was left baffled, Wei Yuan's face turned ashen. He shifted the entirety of his divine sense into the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. Across its sky, massive purple patches had surfaced, looking like festering sores. Han Li, Jun Weizhi, and the others had already led a large host of cultivators into the air, charging into the purple lesions to wage a bloody battle against an endless swarm of monsters. Among the immortal flora, aside from the crimson-browed maiden and the young monk Honglian, all remained frozen in place, unable to stir or even assume human form. Standing in the sky above the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, his divine intent vast as an ocean, Wei Yuan swept across the entire realm again and again. The festering purple patches in the sky were not the crux of the matter. What he needed to do now was drag out the inner demon that had slipped into the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World! This Scenery Command tribulation was an inner demon tribulation.