Chapter 410: The Fire of Humanity

A wail rang out, and the Great Realm trembled. Endless spirit qi gushed forth from the earth, and all mortals simultaneously turned their heads to gaze beyond the heavens. There, Wei Yuan was gazing down upon his world.

At that very moment, every immortal plant, mortal, and every other sentient being underwent a subtle, indescribable transformation.

The ocean of spirituality within the Great Realm began to boil once more. Wei Yuan’s sea of consciousness opened, and a trickle of spirituality seeped out, beginning to communicate with Heaven and Earth.

Suddenly, dark clouds surged in from all directions, turning day into night in the blink of an eye. The thick, leaden clouds descended lower and lower until they nearly touched the mountain peaks.

At the same time, the cold and merciless will of Heaven and Earth gradually manifested, fixing its gaze upon Wei Yuan.

A thought flashed through Wei Yuan’s mind. He knew that his heavenly tribulation had arrived, and the time to manifest his Avatar had come. He looked up at the tribulation clouds in the sky and noted that their scale was even greater than the last time he had summoned an Avatar-level heavenly tribulation with a single sentence. It certainly gave him a vague sense of foreboding.

He acted decisively, instructing the cultivators of the Palace of Absolute Beginning to prepare their defenses, while he himself flew northward.

At that moment, a massive dragon’s head appeared inside Wei Yuan’s consciousness, with over a dozen eyes on each side, all fixed on him. Its aura felt both familiar and unfamiliar to Wei Yuan—familiar, because Wei Yuan had encountered it twice before, but unfamiliar, because this time it felt more tangible, more transcendent, and more terrifying. If this single dragon’s head were to manifest in its entirety, it would span hundreds of zhang!

“You have one last chance,” the dragon head said.

“What’s in it for me?” Wei Yuan asked.

“Without my aid, you won’t survive this heavenly tribulation. Even a true Avatar wouldn’t be able to withstand it, much less a meager Dao Foundation like you.”

Wei Yuan sneered. “If I cultivate your Avatar, wouldn’t I simply become your puppet? Not to mention that there are surely many Avatars in the Exquisite Blossom Pure Land that are stronger than you.”

“Hmph. As if those mongrel abominations can compare to me! As for your first point, you needn’t worry—I have long since perished. Even if I were to revive using your power, your meager strength would only be enough to restore a tiny fraction of my spirituality. That said, you would be bringing me back from nothing, so I will give you an additional reward.”

“Such as?” Wei Yuan never took empty promises at face value.

“I’ll help you capture three more True Dragon descendants.”

Wei Yuan would be lying if he said he wasn’t tempted, but he had already realized the path he wished to take. There was no reason to change it now.

The dragon head sensed Wei Yuan’s resolve and, filled with rage, roared, “I’ll see just how you survive this heavenly tribulation!”

By this time, Wei Yuan had already flown to his chosen location. He had made preparations here long ago and landed with a loud laugh.

The ground here was covered with crystals ranging from black to blue. The soil here was scorched and dotted with countless tiny crystals. Surrounding Wei Yuan were three Thunder Crystal Trees—one large and two small—arranged in a triangle with him at the center. On the outer perimeter stood four massive metal poles, each dozens of zhang tall, and connected by cables coiled so tightly they were as thick as a bowl’s mouth. These cables led to a small lake, the bottom of which was piled high with metal ore as well.

After a long laugh, Wei Yuan said to the dragon head, “You’ve never heard of a lightning rod, have you? With this divine artifact, why should I fear a lightning tribulation?”

The dragon head was momentarily taken aback by his statement, but after carefully examining the surrounding arrangement, it began to understand. Suddenly, it let out a cold laugh and vanished just like that.

Wei Yuan found its attitude somewhat peculiar, but with a heavenly tribulation looming overhead, he had no time to dwell on it. He activated the mystic array he had set up long ago and placed various restorative elixirs within the array’s nodes. This would ensure the elixirs remained intact—none of his mystic treasure-grade storage artifacts were going to survive the heavenly tribulation otherwise.

That wasn’t all. Wei Yuan opened his mouth wide and poured several bottles’ worth of pills into it, holding them there. He would swallow whichever pill he needed when the heavenly tribulation finally struck.

Done with his preparation, Wei Yuan straightened his robes and waited calmly for the tribulation lightning to strike.

Generally speaking, when a powerful cultivator was advancing from the Dao Foundation stage to the Avatar stage, they would face between one to three lightning tribulations, none of which were particularly difficult to handle. It was also known as the Minor Heavenly Tribulation.

On the other hand, when an Avatar had reached the pinnacle, they must endure a Purple Thunder Heavenly Tribulation instead; the very one Wei Yuan had experienced so harshly last time. Wei Yuan had a feeling that this heavenly tribulation would be just as endless as the previous one, which was why he had made all these preparations well in advance. His plan was to annihilate the heavenly tribulation with Reversal once his body had been sufficiently tempered.

Qingming had far more human fortune today than it had before. That was why Wei Yuan was brimming with confidence.

Just then, a speck of red light fell upon Wei Yuan’s face, and at the same time, the temperature around him began to rise. Wei Yuan paused in surprise, looked up at the sky, and discovered that the tribulation clouds had parted, revealing a massive, blazing fireball within. This was no ordinary fireball—it was a burning celestial sun at close range!

Wei Yuan was speechless with astonishment!

As it turned out, what had arrived this time wasn’t a lightning tribulation, but the Great Sun Divine Flame True Fire Tribulation. It was a heavenly tribulation that specifically targeted the Imaginary World. Its potency aside, it rendered all of Wei Yuan’s preparations against a lightning tribulation utterly useless.

At this point, Wei Yuan would die before he believed that this goddamn world wasn’t targeting him on purpose.

From the edge of the great sun in the sky, a drop flowing fire, resembling a water droplet, fell—the heavenly tribulation had begun.

With no other choice, Wei Yuan drew his fully loaded powder stick gun and fired three shots in rapid succession, scattering the drop of the sun’s true fire. However, the second and third drop quickly followed.

In the northern skies of Qingming, the roar of gunfire echoed ceaselessly as a rain of fire fell from the sun. Wei Yuan retaliated with the flying swords in his Dao Foundation, engaging the heavenly tribulation in a battle of attrition.

The heavenly fire grew more intense, and the surrounding temperature soared. Wei Yuan’s robes were the first to succumb, bursting into flames. Immediately after that, his beard, hair, and eyebrows began to burn as well.

In the blink of an eye, entire patches of the sun’s true fire began to fall from the sky. In many places across the Great Realm, flames were appearing out of thin air.

The mortals had all gathered around their respective objects of worship. Wei Yuan quickly issued an order, instructing the mortals surrounding the statue of himself and the jade toad to urgently seek refuge near the Ice-Glass Divine Tree instead. The Ice-Glass Divine Tree and the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree were both capable of countering the sun’s true fire, but the Ice-Glass Divine Tree was clearly a cut above its rival. As for his own statue, Wei Yuan knew full well that it was useless.

The edges of the Great Realm had already begun to burn. The earth was constantly being reduced to white ash and vanishing into thin air. The sun’s true fire differed from the pale flame of the Great Karmic Curse; it was pure, searing heat that first melted the earth into scorching magma before consuming it completely.

The sun’s true fire fell more and more rapidly. By this point, it looked like it was pouring an entire river of fire on Wei Yuan.

Beyond the heavens, numerous monumental and lofty wills had already turned their gaze toward this spectacle. Some were visibly moved when they saw the heavenly tribulation.

“Back when this old man was just a tiny World Ruler, I couldn’t have withstood such a ferocious heavenly fire.”

“This world is becoming increasingly intolerant of us.”

“Not necessarily. It could be just him that the world cannot tolerate....”

......

Wei Yuan didn’t know how much time had passed. He had reached the point where his skin and flesh were melting, and he could no longer hear a single sound. The heavenly fire raged across the Great Realm, merging into a single, unbroken landscape. Such was its ferocity that all immortal plants and sentient beings were forced to take refuge near the jade mountain. It was because wisps after wisps of formless, ethereal soul winds were blowing out of the All-Gate of Reincarnation and extinguishing vast swathes of the heavenly fire each time.

It was only thanks to these soul winds that the spirituality of the Great Realm was enduring. However, the ocean of spirituality had grown scorching hot and was on the verge of boiling over.

Wei Yuan’s vision had grown somewhat blurry. He no longer knew the passage of time and lost track how many days had passed. Suddenly, he faintly saw a patch of skin and flesh falling from his head. It burned to ashes before it even hit the ground.

As his consciousness began to fade, several enduring figures flashed through his mind. He never imagined that a True Fire Tribulation would be so devastating; this extreme heat was almost impossible to withstand.

Suddenly, waves of human voices rang in Wei Yuan’s ears. It seemed as though countless people were offering their devout prayers.

At the moment, across the entire realm of Qingming, everyone had set aside their work and, guided by the cultivators of the Palace of Absolute Beginning, prayed with all their hearts. They were channeling the human power of prayer and fortune to help Wei Yuan withstand the heavenly tribulation. Despite having endured the Great Karmic Curse not long ago, the survivors did not cower in fear. On the contrary, they became more resolute than ever and combined their strength to resist the heavenly tribulation. If it was possible for them to take Wei Yuan’s place, they would gladly sacrifice even their own lives to save him!

With the long-time residents of Qingming setting an example, even those who had only recently joined and were naturally hesitant about getting involved now prayed with all their hearts. Countless wisps of blue light of prayer soared up from all directions and converged into Wei Yuan’s sea of consciousness.

Once more, human struggled against heaven.

Amid the heavenly fire, vast swaths of blue fortune were also burning and dissolving into nothingness. The true fire seemed to suppress the shadow in the moon to an extent, for it simply lay dormant within its resting place and silently endured the torment.

Just then, a tiny figure darted through the sea of fire and tossed a small pebble at Wei Yuan. The moment it landed, the pebble vanished into nothingness, and the temperature around Wei Yuan plummeted, causing vast swaths of true fire to die out.

But as a result, true fire also ignited on the tiny figure’s body. It let out a piercing scream of pain and vanished, but moments later, it returned carrying yet another pebble in its mouth, which it tossed onto Wei Yuan’s body.

At the moment, Wei yuan was enduring the agony of the true fire consuming his body every second. However, he clung tenaciously to the figures in his heart and refused to lose the last shred of clarity in his spirit altar no matter what. So long as his spirit remained unclouded, the Great Realm would continue to withstand the heavenly fire.

......

An unknown amount of time passed. Suddenly, Wei Yuan felt a coolness in the air. The heavenly fire receded, and vitality suddenly surged throughout the world. Countless new shoots sprouted from the scorched earth, rushing to emerge into this new world!

In the realm of Qingming, countless people suddenly noticed others moving about them—some entering and exiting shops, others lingering among street vendors, arguing over trinkets worth only a few copper coins, or hurrying along their way.

The streets and neighborhoods once familiar to the people were now overlaid with scenes from another realm. However, the people in this other realm seemed to take no notice of the residents of the realm of Qingming. Occasionally, they would even pass right through the bodies of a resident.

At that moment, it was as if the human worlds had overlapped, intertwining yet really separate.

The strange phenomenon was appearing everywhere in the realm. That other realm, with its twinkling lamp lights and wispy cooking smoke, seemed even more prosperous than present-day Qingming.

......

Golden Hall, Imperial Capital of Tang.

The young Emperor Xuan was seated upon his dragon throne, listening to the reports of his ministers. Suddenly, the hall shook, the dais collapsed, and the dragon throne toppled over!

In the second year of the Tianqi era of the Great Tang Dynasty, Wei Yuan endured a heavenly tribulation of nine suns and withstood the sun’s true fire without falling. Thus, he attained the Avatar, the Fire of Humanity.