Chapter 1609 - 1120: Azure Dragon Command (2)

Chapter 1609: Chapter 1120: Azure Dragon Command (2)

"To be able to witness two Divine Beasts Ascend with my own eyes, that’s a blessing accumulated over three lifetimes of cultivation!"

"Speaking of which, that Extreme North Realm forbidden land suddenly turned into a Spiritual Energy–rich blessed land, and right after that the Divine Beast Black Tortoise Ascended; then the Death Forest in the Far East Realm suddenly burst with vitality, lush and green—sure enough, the Divine Beast Azure Dragon underwent Tribulation Crossing and Ascension. There were signs all along!"

"Two of the Four Symbols Divine Beasts have already Ascended. Does that mean our Wilderness won’t fall down every night anymore?"

"If we stop dropping into the Human World, that’d be great. Those bastards stole so much Spiritual Energy from us and still dare to dream of Spiritual Energy Revival? Hah, despicable, shameless paupers, don’t come leeching off us..."

......

Previously when the Black Tortoise Ascended and crossed its Tribulation, it was shocking but honestly not much to watch. After all, it was like a dead pig not afraid of boiling water, just lying there letting the lightning bash it.

But the Azure Dragon’s Tribulation was completely different. It looked mighty and domineering, and was a full ten out of ten when it came to ferocity. Entangled with the rolling Celestial Thunder, clouds surging, lightning flashing—utterly lively and spectacular.

All the living beings craning their necks to look at the heavens were filled with envy.

No wonder it could Ascend as the Azure Dragon—look at that viciousness, even Celestial Thunder has to give way three points.

Huo Jun endured the full set of eighty-one bolts of Celestial Thunder in his Tribulation Crossing. When the last few chains of purple lightning turned the dim sky as bright as day, the Power of the Celestial Dao buried in the heart of the Wilderness, belonging solely to the Azure Dragon, shot up like a meteor and merged as one with him!

[Special Quest: Azure Dragon]

[Quest 17: Demon Cultivator Huo Jun purifies his Spiritual Power, sheds his demonic nature, and Ascends as a Divine Beast — completed. Reward: Divine Artifact Upgrade Card +1 issued]

As the thunderclouds dispersed and the Azure Dragon officially Ascended, the special quest that had been hanging on Jiang Yuan’s panel for a long time finally had another completion.

"Nice! The Azure Dragon Ascended before spring arrived!"

"Our little courtyard has produced a second Divine Beast. Mr. Jiang really is too authoritative!"

"Azure Dragon’s Ascended; as for the White Tiger... forget it, counting on the White Tiger is worse than counting on Little Lark. I bet Vermilion Bird’s Ascension is just around the corner."

"Hehe, this is a huge happy event. Do you think Mr. Jiang will throw another celebration feast?"

"All you think about is eating! The Old Ancestor has already gone off to receive the Heaven-Swallowing Divine Dog’s inheritance, and you’re not thinking about how to participate in cultivating the Great Dao and advance sooner..."

......

The little courtyard was full of festive cheer; members scattered all over sent their "congratulatory messages," and Jiang Yuan, in high spirits, replied to them one by one.

Honestly, ever since he took Huo Jun in as a contract pet, he’d never really had to worry about him.

After all, as a Great Demon who’d cultivated for several thousand years, he knew perfectly well how rare the opportunity before him was. Among the Four Symbols Divine Beasts, the most worry-free one had finally Ascended; it really gave Jiang Yuan the sense of superiority of a parent whose kid turned out great without much discipline.

"Master really didn’t lie to me!" The Flowing Light Hibiscus chubby boy stood with hands on hips, head tilted back at the sky, watching that dragon get struck more and more beautifully by lightning, golden patterns blooming across its body, and finally Ascending into the heavens.

He shouted excitedly, "Getting struck by lightning makes you stronger; I want to be struck too! Who’s got lightning? Can someone come zap me once?"

"Anyone there? Hey! Mermaid brothers and sisters, can you help me out?"

"Even just a tiny bolt, just a little zap will do!"

The chubby boy’s yelling was so lively that he finally attracted two Merfolk who had just finished watching the Ascension spectacle. Hearing his request, the simple and cute Merfolk exchanged a look. "Getting lightning to strike you is a bit difficult. But I heard that during a trial, Celestial Path obtained a Cultivation Technique inheritance and can rub out little electric balls. How about you let him zap you first and see?"

He was skeptical. "Can an electric ball be the same as Celestial Thunder?"

"Of course there’s a world of difference, but if you can’t even withstand a mere electric ball, a real lightning strike would kill you in an instant!"

"Makes sense!" The chubby boy thought it over, then pleaded, "I’ll trouble you two sisters to call Brother Celestial Path over, please."

A moment later, Celestial Path came over and listened to Flowing Light Hibiscus’s request, not thinking too much of it. He’d just learned this technique himself, it didn’t really have killing power yet—zapping it once was no big deal.

He gathered a blue electric arc between his palms and with a "zzzt~" fired an electric blast at the chubby boy.

"Plop!"

The chubby boy didn’t even have time to scream; his whole body convulsed from the shock and he toppled into the water.

"Little guy, you alright?" Celestial Path was a bit dumbfounded. Then he saw blue arcs flicker intermittently across that lush patch of Flowing Light Hibiscus. It was a good while before the chubby boy floated back up.

He woozily crawled back onto the lotus leaf, muttering, "All tingly and numb, not that painful really, just my head buzzing. How about... you do it again?"

Once he was sure the boy was fine, Celestial Path let off another electric blast.

This time the arcs on the Flowing Light Hibiscus grew denser; it took even longer before the chubby boy floated back up. By the time Jiang Yuan came over to set up a receiver-broadcaster, Celestial Path was shaking the dazed little guy nervously.

"Sir! I think I’ve messed up." Celestial Path, straightforward as ever, explained the whole sequence. Jiang Yuan stepped forward for a look and froze—

[Flowing Light Hibiscus activated by faint electric currents. This Divine Plant once grew in the Celestial River and the Turquoise Pool, all tempered by Celestial Thunder. After falling into the mortal realm and losing thunder tempering, it gradually degraded into a mundane plant. Activated by faint electric current, you may try gradually increasing the intensity of lightning tempering. Only after it is tempered into a Flower Immortal Child will it qualify to be planted in the true Jasper Pool Immortal Realm]

Jiang Yuan: ...

He’d casually brushed it off back then, never expecting his offhand words to become prophecy—the chubby boy really did need to be struck by lightning to metamorphose. Otherwise, once the city towers within Kunlun Mountain were repaired and the Divine Mountain Immortal Realm’s glory reappeared, it wouldn’t even qualify to be planted in the Turquoise Pool.

"You didn’t mess up; on the contrary, you did very well!" Jiang Yuan grabbed a few pieces of Immortal Jade and handed them over. "Cultivate properly, and come zap it every day from now on!"

Celestial Path: Huhhh? Does Sir think it talks too much and wants its ears shocked numb so things get quieter?

Just then the chubby boy came around again, flailing his hands and shouting, "I’m fine! I still—I still can!"

"That’s great!" Celestial Path had been fretting over finding a suitable sparring partner to practice his new Cultivation Technique. He flipped his hand and fired another electric blast, and the chubby boy silently toppled back into the water.

Jiang Yuan hurried to finish setting up the seed parameters for the Conch Island seafloor farmlands. Just as he was about to return to the Fuyun Space, he saw the Azure Dragon’s massive body appear in the sky.

Oh right, there was that "inaugural speech" segment after a Divine Beast’s Ascension.

He hadn’t really listened to what Yan Xuan said back then; presumably Huo Jun’s speech wouldn’t be too different. He himself relied entirely on the system and couldn’t cultivate, so he wouldn’t understand it anyway—might as well go chop trees!

He was just about to click to travel to the third courtyard when he heard Huo Jun’s voice, rumbling like Celestial Thunder, speak with majesty: "In the past, a group of shameless villains invaded the Human World and planted the seeds of disaster that led to the Four Symbols Divine Beasts’ fall. Now, as the Four Symbols Divine Beasts Ascend one after another, the Wilderness must also be set right and returned to the Human Race."

Jiang Yuan: !!!

Holy—this Azure Dragon is that blunt, is that really okay?

Isn’t it said that the stronger your power, the more you’re constrained by the Heavenly Dao, unable to act as you please? You just Ascended and you’re already interfering in the migration like this—isn’t that a bit reckless? Even when Yan Xuan Ascended, he didn’t dare go this hard.

"Back then I foolishly believed that one had to stand upon one’s birthplace to receive the Power of Heaven and Earth’s blessing in order to Ascend. Only now do I understand—if you have no guilt in your heart, you can Ascend anywhere; on the other hand, if you’ve done shameful deeds and feel guilty, even if you seize the Power of Heaven and Earth by trickery, you still won’t survive the tempering of Celestial Thunder."

The Azure Dragon’s majestic gaze swept across all below as he intoned, "Cultivators must understand how to follow the trend, to comply with the Great Tide—that is to comply with the Heavenly Dao.

The current great tide of the Heavenly Dao is to set things right. Seize this chance to depart quickly and you can preserve your safety; if you have nowhere to go, you may head to the New World, where countless opportunities await you. But if you insist on opposing this Great Tide and walking against the heavens, once Heavenly Punishment descends, it will be too late for regret..."

Little Lark looked up and whispered, "Sister, does this count as a threat? Divine Beasts can do that?"

"An Ascended Divine Beast can sense the Great Dao; every word and deed aligns with the will of heaven." Vermilion Bird lifted her head slightly, expression grave. "When the Black Tortoise Ascended, things weren’t yet this urgent. The Azure Dragon is using Divine Power to threaten a rectification—this suggests the Great Tide is turning ill.

I only have a single remnant soul left; I truly can’t sense it clearly and am powerless to help. Come, we need to seize our time even more. The sooner you Ascend as the Vermilion Bird, the better it will be for the entire world."

Jiang Yuan noticed the difference between the two speeches, but not the reason behind it. After listening for a bit, he went back to his infrastructure projects.

The Demon Cultivators across the Wilderness, however, listened with increasingly heavy hearts.

The Divine Beast Azure Dragon had just Ascended and with a single command wanted to drive them away. If they refused, there would be Heavenly Punishment in the future—how were they supposed to live like that?