Dragon Canon

At the moment, the realm of Qingming was lying in ruins.

When the massive flying vessel transmitted the signal unique to the Palace of Absolute Beginning and landed at the flying vessel landing pad, the Palace cultivators rushed to the scene upon hearing the news.

It had been a long time since they had seen a flying vessel from the sect. Up until this point, they were relying on the merit hall entirely to handle their daily needs. Now that a large flying vessel had suddenly arrived, everyone was thrilled as a matter of course. They felt that the sect had finally recalled that they existed.

The flying vessel’s hatch opened, and Wei Yuan stepped out. For a few moments, the hundreds of people at the landing pad were utterly, completely speechless. Then, a thunderous, roaring cheer erupted!

The moment Wei Yuan’s feet touched the ground, the entire realm of Qingming seemed to come alive. The heavy, gloomy atmosphere was swept away, and everything began reviving and bursting with vitality. Every plant, animal, and other living creatures were rejoicing.

Throughout the new city, every youngster stopped what they were doing and turned in unison to look toward the flying vessel.

Meanwhile, vitality and spirituality were awakening within the Great Realm as well. Various spirit plants suddenly began to sprout and take root on the fertile soil that were originally empty. Numerous puppet warriors began to shed their coat of stone and regain their vitality as well—though they still lacked sentience.

From the depths of the black pond, a muffled heartbeat, as deep as an earthquake, began to echo—a new, terrifying creature was beginning to take shape.

The jade mountain became transparent once more, and within it, the All-Gate of Reincarnation slowly opened. Many vengeful spirits and souls who had been wandering aimlessly within the realm of Qingming suddenly found their directions and, like moths drawn to a flame, threw themselves into the gate.

Among these beings, there were several thousand souls that were exceptionally dense and heavy. The sheer amount of karma and karmic debt they carried caused even the water level of the black pond to rise by a full layer!

None of these souls harbored any resentment, but they all possessed an exceptional amount of obsession. It was precisely this obsession that had prevented them from reincarnating, kept them from straying from the realm of Qingming, and caused them to wander aimlessly within the realm.

During the reincarnation process, judging by their pre-death obsessions and residual memories, Wei Yuan learned the identities these souls had held in life. They were the 5,000 suicide soldiers who had followed Cui Yu into battle and faced death with composure that day.

In fact, their obsession was so strong that, though they instinctively gathered near the All-Gate of Reincarnation, they hesitated and refused to enter. It wasn’t until Wei Yuan had sent a thought to them and soothed all of the souls that they were willing to step through the gate.

Moments later, humans began emerging from the pond one by one. They possessed no cultivation and looked dazed and confused as they checked out their surroundings. They instinctively left the jade mountain and set foot on the vast, barren land that was the Great Realm. For some reason, this world gave them an indescribable sense of familiarity and attachment, as if they had returned to their homeland.

Qingming reactivated, and the Great Realm came back to life. As Wei Yuan’s aura kept rising and his spirituality boiling over, the silhouette of a massive, ferocious-looking Avatar began to surface.

A terrifying aura suddenly radiated out of Wei Yuan, instantly enveloping everything within dozens of li and causing everyone to tremble with fear.

In a corner, a cat that had been lazily napping suddenly jolted awake. Its fur bristled, and it let out a series of meows as it backed away step by step. The snake had also coiled itself into a tight ball. Only Trueman Chu He—who had drunk too much of his homemade medicinal wine today—remained drowsy. He merely blinked a few times before drifting back to sleep; not even the snake could drag him away.

Above Wei Yuan, a massive figure began to take shape, casting a shadow over the entire valley. It was only moments away from materializing now.

However, Wei Yuan hadn’t forgotten the advice of the two True Lords, Dan Ming and Xuan Yue. He also sensed that the timing wasn’t quite right—specifically, his fortune had not yet reached an optimal level. So, he calmed Qingming and the Great Realm, causing the boiling ocean of spirituality to gradually return to calm. The colossal Avatar that stretched for dozens of li in the sky and was just one step away from taking form, let out an earth-shaking, defiant roar before slowly dissipating.

Although his Avatar had dissipated, Wei Yuan’s aura soared to unprecedented heights. Drawing on Qingming’s power, his perception instantly reached every corner of the realm, revealing its state in the aftermath of the Great Karmic Curse in the entirety.

Nearly 50,000 people had perished across Qingming, and nearly every household was in mourning. Aside from the human casualties, the blue waters in the realm stone Qingming had also turned black and putrid, while patches of grayish-black, rotting land had taken shape here and there across the realm. Every spirit plant and crop that had once grown on these patches had perished. The smallest of these patches ranged over 100 zhang, whereas the biggest were easily over 10 li. They looked like black spots that marred the once unblemished Qingming. Restoring them would likely take a considerable amount of time.

With the blue pond transformed into putrid water, Jia Wood Nurtures Life had weakened so much that it was practically non-existent. As a result, the ordinary people within the realm had fallen ill on a massive scale. Had it not been for Sun Yu, a major plague would likely have already broken out.

Before Wei Yuan, Sun Yu, Feng Tingyu, Cui Yu, Yu Zhizhuo, and the others all bore visible wounds. The pale flame brought about by the Great Karmic Curse wasn’t so easily dispelled after all. In more precise terms, it took dozens of units of Dao energy to extinguish just one unit of pale flame.

Looking at his fellows from the Palace of Absolute Beginning, the people standing in the square, and the entire realm of Qingming, Wei Yuan’s eyes misted over. He took a deep breath, and his voice echoed throughout the entire realm:

“I! Have! Returned!”

Cheers immediately erupted across the whole realm! Every city was in an uproar! Thousands of wisps of blue qi converged from every corner, instantly filling his sea of consciousness with fortune! A bird’s head emerged from the full moon and absorbed a portion of the blue qi, only for them to regenerate in an instant!

Wei Yuan paused for a moment before continuing, “From this moment on, this is the land of our destiny. We will thrive and multiply on this land for generations to come. No one and nothing can take this land from us—not the foreign races, not the immortals, not even Heaven and Earth!!!”

Wei Yuan’s voice boomed like a thunderclap, rumbling and echoing throughout the world. Suddenly, vast dark clouds gathered in the sky, swirling rapidly until they formed a gigantic vortex spanning 1,000 li in radius.

At the vortex’s center, an eye slowly opened. This time, it had no pupil—only an overflowing glow of purple lightning.

During the Great Karmic Curse, the eye of karma that appeared had embodied the will of the Ancestor Warlock. This time, however, it was the pure will of Heaven and Earth!

Within the realm of Qingming, the Palace cultivators, some well-travelled cultivators, and those outside who had turned their gaze toward the scene, were all struck by the same sense of astonishment. How could Wei Yuan have summoned a heavenly tribulation with just a single sentence? Could it be that this phrase secretly resonated with the Great Dao and transformed into something akin to a Buddhist’s Vow?

From the heavenly eye, purple lightning streamed down, drop by drop, as if the heavens were weeping. With each drop of purple tears that fell, it transformed into a bolt of purple lightning that struck directly at Wei Yuan’s head.

Wei Yuan gazed at the colossal eye of heaven, sensed the cold, merciless will of Heaven and Earth, felt the entire world targeting him and rejecting him. He simply couldn’t understand: the world was so vast, and he was merely fighting for one place for ordinary mortals to survive. Why had it come to this?

At that very moment, Wei Yuan suddenly recalled the time when he had journeyed northward in pursuit of light and returned southward riding the wind in the Liao realm. Back then, the entire world too had been suppressing him and rejecting him. He had once asked Zhang Sheng this very question, and his master had given him an answer:

“If the world wants us dead, then we’ll change the world!”

Maybe Heaven and Earth had their own logic, but Wei Yuan, born a human, felt he owed it to the human race to do his part.

Wei Yuan soared skyward, shooting straight up 1,000 zhang to meet the first bolt of purple lighting! The intensity of this purple lightning was on par with the lightning tribulation faced by Avatars during their breakthrough tribulation; every single strike was powerful enough to reduce an Avatar to ashes!

As a bolt struck, purple lightning flames ignited all around Wei Yuan. His entire body abruptly plummeted 300 zhang, and even the breath exhaling from his mouth and nose was purple lightning!

Across the Great Realm, leaping purple flames were everywhere on the earth. However, a ceaseless wave of spirit qi and Dao qi quickly extinguished the purple heavenly lightning. Wei yuan steadied himself in midair and rose slowly once more, meeting the second bolt of purple lightning.

This time, Wei Yuan plummeted 500 zhang.

Despite this, he soared into the air once more, gazing coldly at the eye of the world, even though he knew it was as useless as it was pointless—Heaven and Earth was a lofty existence that cared not one whit for the thoughts of Wei Yuan, a mere ant.

A world like this....

The more enraged he became, the calmer he grew—so calm he was on the verge of transforming Heaven and Earth himself and replacing this corner of the world.

The third and fourth bolts struck in quick succession, yet the thunderous light within the eye of the world hadn’t decreased in the slightest.

By the time the fifth bolt of purple lightning struck, Wei Yuan was knocked down 900 zhang and nearly crashing to the ground. Still, he staggered back into the air and returned to a height of 1,000 zhang.

The sixth bolt of lightning struck without mercy, and the thunderous light within the eye of the world was still full!

Beyond the skies, someone sighed. “... This is going too far.”

Another said, “Let’s wait and see.”

The other towering wills remained silent, simply watching all this unfold.

Seeing that Wei Yuan could no longer resist, countless wisps of blue qi suddenly appeared from the void, coalescing above his head and forming a blue barrier of light that deflected the lightning tribulation!

The blue qi flowed endlessly, constantly and vanishing and reappearing beneath the lightning.

At the moment, countless mortals within the realm had put down their work and stepped out of their homes to look up at the figure in the sky bravely withstanding the heavenly tribulation—for them. All he had done was spoken a few words on behalf of the mortals, and that was enough to earn him a heavenly tribulation? Was this the world’s way of saying that the nearly one million people living in Qingming were born to die?

“To hell with the damn heavens! The more you want us dead, the more I’ll live just to spite you!” Someone suddenly roared, and the roar was soon echoed by countless others. In an instant, every mortal in the realm was roaring in fury!

The heavenly thunder rolled ceaselessly, while the blue fortune surging through Wei Yuan grew ever stronger. This was yet another instance—following the Great Karmic Curse—where the sentient beings of the human realm had stood against the will of Heaven and Earth. And this time, too, the blue qi remained unceasing and unyielding!

The purple will in the eye of the world still showed no sign of weakening. At this point, even Wei Yuan sensed that something was amiss.

Heavenly tribulations were supposed to be finite. It was so for an Avatar ascending to become a World Ruler; it was so for any cultivator attempting to break through to another cultivation level. It should never be endless like this, refusing to stop until it had struck him dead.

Heaven and Earth also followed the Great Dao. It was precisely because Heaven and Earth had no feelings that they could act in accordance with the Dao. But now, they had broken their own law.

All of Wei Yuan’s anger and hatred erupted in that moment. With the Immaculate Pure Land in hand and the Crimson Night Slayer of Immortals attached to its tip, he drew upon a trace of aura of every immortal object to empower himself. Then, in a single thrust, he channeled the human fortune of the entire Qingming into his spear. Spear and man became one as he plunged into that purple thunder eye in an instant!

The spear thrust was called Reversal, and it was Wei Yuan’s very first spear technique. The resolve he had when he first wielded it—he had never forgotten it for a single moment!

A gash was torn open in the sky, and both the leaden clouds and the lightning eye began to fade. Wei Yuan himself was plummeting to the ground, his body engulfed in purple flames.

The crowd instantly rushed to his side. Fortunately, aside from being charred black all over, Wei Yuan did not appear to be in mortal danger. His current cultivation accumulation far exceeded that of an ordinary Avatar, not to mention that the surge of human fortune was so unprecedentedly overwhelming that it had startled even Wei Yuan himself.

When the cultivators of the Palace of Absolute Beginning scrambled to help Wei Yuan to his feet, he suddenly spotted Xu Wenwu. The man was looking up at the sky with a thoughtful look on his face, and suddenly, Wei Yuan had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, Xu Wenwu said, “This heavenly tribulation isn’t that hard to deal with. If you had just set up a couple lightning rods and hid underneath them, then they could never have struck you. Instead, you chose to fly up into the sky during a massive thunderstorm. Honestly, Big Bro, you’re practically begging to get struck by lightning!”

The cultivators of the Palace of Absolute Beginning had all read Xu Wenwu’s materials. For a moment, they were all at a loss for words.

At the moment, every part of Wei Yuan’s body—inside and out—was in agony, and he was so furious he didn’t even want to speak. He silently resolved that the next time he faced a heavenly tribulation, he would definitely tie this fatso to a lightning rod first and sacrifice him to the heavens!