Chapter 786: The Only Answer

Advancing through the tribulation naturally had to be in the tribulation-crossing base specially set up in the Azure Void. This base was built with the power of the entire Azure Void, three hundred zhang in radius, with multiple sturdy supply points set up within the base, and various facility formations, specifically to deal with common disasters such as thunder, fire, water, and wind.

Normally, Dharma Form cultivators advancing to the Mind-Reflection Realm, eight or nine out of ten were the result of water-grinding work, and they advanced smoothly. Individual Mind-Reflection Worlds were strange and would have heavenly tribulations, but they would pass after just a little bit. This bit of thunder tribulation was nothing for cultivators who could reach the late stage.

Only Wei Yuan, the thunder tribulation lasted for seven times seven forty-nine days!

The meticulously built tribulation-crossing base only lasted for three days in the thunder and fire before thoroughly turning into ashes. Countless lightning rods melted one after another under the layers of heavenly thunder, together with the underground formation, vanishing into ashes, and the remaining time was Wei Yuan's hard resistance.

In the first few days, the Azure Void vibrated, and people were panicked. The cultivators of the Taichu Palace came to see it several times every day. But the intensity of Wei Yuan's thunder tribulation was more exaggerated than advancing to the Imperial View, so how could these Dharma Form cultivators dare to approach? They could only watch from afar.

After seven or eight days, everyone changed to coming once a day. After another seven or eight days, almost no one came anymore; everyone was busy, and each had a big pile of things on their hands.

So for the next nearly a month, the tribulation-crossing base had almost no one coming. When everyone passed by this place, they would look up and see the tribulation clouds still there, knowing that Wei Yuan was still being struck by thunder, so they continued on their way.

Then, in the human fireworks, research on the data obtained from the world beyond the heavens made progress, and several research cultivators suddenly proposed whether the electricity generated by the thunder tribulation could be stored for future use.

As soon as this proposal came out, all the cultivators felt it was great.

So when Wei Yuan came out of seclusion with a charred body, he saw a group of cultivators standing in the cables all over the ground, looking at the dispersing tribulation clouds in the sky with regret, their faces full of "why didn't it strike for a while longer" expressions.

On the day of crossing the tribulation, Zhang Sheng personally sent Wei Yuan into the tribulation-crossing base, and then floated back to the Xiancheng, going into seclusion himself, without even looking at him once in the middle.

After experiencing such a long thunder tribulation, Wei Yuan could only helplessly make an indecent gesture toward heaven and earth.

He examined himself; after the tempering of such a long thunder tribulation, the impurities in his flesh had been refined a lot, and now his whole body was almost a flawless clean body, even more formidable.

The human fireworks were now wrapped in chaos energy, and many spaces had been opened up around them, and Wei Yuan's perspective could now be pulled very far. Looking from afar, the human fireworks were like a dark gray planet, slowly rotating in the void.

Now the human fireworks could breathe the energy of heaven and earth by themselves, slowly evolving, and needed to be nourished for a period of time, waiting for the stability of the entire heaven and earth.

So Wei Yuan returned to the Xiancheng, and then discovered that without him during this period, the Azure Void was still operating freely.

At this moment, having just broken through, his mind was clear, so Wei Yuan came to the study and took out the data the young man had given him that day to watch. 【786

The young man appeared before Wei Yuan again. At this moment, he was standing in front of a one-way glass window, watching two people fighting. Their speed was incredibly fast and their strength immense; they were like two wild beasts, far exceeding normal humans.

The young man turned his head and said to Wei Yuan, "You've come. These two are the first generation of superhumans. Their physical strength is far greater than that of ordinary humans, already approaching the limits of ordinary carbon-based life. If they were released, they would easily shatter all kinds of human athletic records and become the greatest athletes."

The fighters outside the glass curtain wall changed again. This time, one of the two could release powerful electric currents from their hands, while the other could emit powerful shockwaves. The battle between the two caused considerable damage to the environment.

Amidst the roaring sound, the young man said, "These are the second-generation superhumans; the legendary superheroes are nothing more than this. But there is a problem: their stamina cannot last. This is normal; chemical energy simply cannot supply such high-intensity energy output. They need substances with higher energy."

The scenery outside the window changed again, revealing a tranquil garden where a calm young girl sat, reading a book.

The young man watched her quietly for a good while before saying, "She is the only third-generation superhuman. A strange kind of cell grows within her body, which can actually achieve limited fission within the cells, thereby generating massive energy. However, she can only live in a high-radiation environment, yet her normal body cells can hardly withstand it, so she won't live long."

The glass curtain wall turned black. The young man turned to Wei Yuan and said, "My father was the founder of the company, and ever since I joined the company, I have been in charge of the superhuman project. We successfully developed two generations of superhumans, and then created a miraculous young girl. But shortly after the project succeeded, she suddenly lost control, killed two directors who came to inspect on the spot, and then began killing indiscriminately."

In order to exterminate her, a troop of several thousand people was mobilized at the time, along with the cooperation of over a hundred first and second-generation superhumans. In the end, after paying half in casualties, they finally killed her.

"You must find it hard to imagine why she, who was so quiet and liked being alone so much, would suddenly go crazy and kill people, right?" Wei Yuan listened quietly.

The young man said, "... Since then, the company's attitude toward the superhuman project changed. They cut more than half of the funding and shifted the goal from creating a new generation of humans to searching for longevity and youth genes. Furthermore, the company also strictly controlled and suppressed superhumans on a global scale."

Decades passed, and the number of superhumans decreased instead of increasing, and the level of research continuously regressed; a second third-generation superhuman never appeared again.

"Actually, the fundamental reason is that the emergence of superhumans is random and cannot be transplanted. This means that those old guys on the board of directors are still ordinary people and cannot become superhumans. Since they couldn't become superhumans, they refused to implement the second-generation human plan and even wanted to eliminate all superhumans! It is just that stupid, barbaric, and greedy!"

The scenery outside the window changed again. Large patches of golden flames appeared in the sky, and half the firmament was burning! Countless humanoid creatures shining with golden light descended from the sky and began to destroy everything in the world. These figures were blurry and indistinct; Wei Yuan tried every means, but could not make them any clearer.

This was because the entire world had already been destroyed and causality was severed, so all memories regarding them had become blurry and indistinct.

The young man continued, "Their shortsightedness ultimately led to the extinction of humanity. When Judgment Day suddenly arrived, ordinary troops were no match for the invaders at all; only superhumans could resist the invaders. Unfortunately, the number of superhumans was too small. As the last superhuman was killed off, humanity and the entire world met their end."

"Latecomer, if you can see this, it means you have already stood at the pinnacle of power. Remember our lesson: do not be constrained by any existing rules or morality, do not indulge in pleasure; when the enemy descends, strength is the only answer."

Finally, the image turned into that afternoon garden; the young girl sat on a swing quietly reading a book, the young man walked toward her, and finally, everything returned to a blinding, all-destroying bright light.

Wei Yuan had already watched this segment many times, and every time he watched it, he had different feelings. That world still had many, many details; for example, at one period, minority groups received unparalleled attention, all kinds of strange groups emerged one after another, and people spent their time repeatedly in endless quarrels and buck-passing.

And some people were high above, looking down at the people below constantly bickering, the hatred between them growing larger and larger, to the point that they even forgot that such a group of people was still lurking above their heads.

However, the problems of that world did not exist in Great Tang at least; cultivators and mortals were completely two different classes, one could even say two different species. If any mortal were to go to a Dao Foundation ancestor and say that everyone is equal, they would most likely be slapped to death.

The experience in this fragment of the world also allowed Wei Yuan to comprehensively reflect on the development of Qingming, and the final conclusion reached was: no arguing, no tossing about, everyone like a dragon.

Besides the final ending, after Wei Yuan truly experienced life in the world beyond the heavens, he also gained a lot of inspiration. For example, Wei Yuan felt that the sign-in and attendance system was very worth promoting; the helplessness and fear of having one day's wages deducted and being counted as half a day of absenteeism for being five minutes late was very necessary to share with everyone.

Although the vast majority of cultivators, in order to advance further on the immortal path, did not need to sign in or punch a clock at all and would work overtime to hone their physical bodies and Dao Foundations, one could not rule out the few black sheep who did not want to work hard.

This kind of system was quite simple to implement; having a magic treasure capable of identifying the Primordial Spirit as the core would suffice. This kind of magic treasure could identify the Primordial Spirit and could also effectively put an end to bad habits like proxy punching; it was more accurate than fingerprints or irises.

With Wei Yuan's knowledge of artifact refining, he conceived the general design framework in the blink of an eye. However, when designing the punishment mechanism corresponding to the sign-in and attendance, Wei Yuan suddenly found it difficult: Qingming had no wages, so there was nothing to deduct.

After being stunned for a moment, Wei Yuan could only helplessly put away this system; he couldn't possibly issue wages to everyone just for the sake of attendance, could he?

However, wages could wait, but currency had to be put on the agenda. Immortal silver, this item, was currently used by the nine countries of Great Tang and had many uses itself.

But after Wei Yuan read many papers and materials in the world fragment, he discovered that the drawbacks of immortal silver were actually quite numerous. In addition, that world also had something called seigniorage, especially in a broad sense, which could create something out of nothing; it was truly magical.

Wei Yuan felt it was time to issue Qingming's own currency. By then, as the currency circulated continuously, those holding the new Qingming coins would have to come to Qingming to buy things, and all kinds of barriers and obstacles would collapse without being attacked.

The initial currency naturally needed an anchor to ensure its value, otherwise, it would just be a piece of waste paper. There were many kinds of anchors, but the primary requirement was that it be universally accepted, and that there be a particularly large amount of it in Qingming.

Wei Yuan pondered for a long time, picked up a pen and wrote down words like one tael, one catty, one shi, one thousand catties, etc., on paper, watching them repeatedly, and felt it was quite feasible.

The most abundant thing in Qingming was grain, and there was the saying that the people regard food as their heaven, so using it as an anchor could not be more appropriate. If grain was used as the foundation, the name of this new currency could be grain coupons.

(End of chapter)