Taiyi Dao Fruit

"As I have heard, once the Buddha was in Savasti, at the Zhi Tree Gei Gudu Garden, with a great assembly of monks..."

Atop the snowy mountain shrouded in white, a stone pavilion stood steadfast. A monk sat cross-legged in the snow outside the pavilion, hands pressed together, reciting scripture.

In the windy, dark night, the sacred sound took form; golden characters flew forth, converging into a massive swastika that slowly revolved, casting Buddha Light from above. It caused a white ape immense agony.

"Stop reciting!"

The White Ape knelt on the ground, clutching its head. The Golden Hoop atop its head emitted a faint golden light, tightening incessantly and eliciting from it cry after cry of pain.

"...after the meal ends, collect the robe and bowl. Having washed the feet..."

"Wash feet! Wash your mother's stinky feet!"

The White Ape cursed in pain, "Little bald donkey, just you wait. One day, this deity will flay you and remove your sinews, and make you watch wide-eyed as I devour your flesh, and gulp down your organs! Ahhhhh!"

The more it cursed, the more intense the pain became, causing the White Ape to smash its head on the ground, scattering snow in all directions.

After reciting the 'Diamond Sutra' for around half an hour, the White Ape cursed for just as long until, at last, it fell to the snow, grimacing in pain, on the brink of exhaustion.

The monk stood up, brushed off the snow from his body, and walked into the stone pavilion to report to a white-clothed Buddhist inside, "Wuzhiqi's demonic nature is difficult to tame. Relying solely on the Spell isn't enough to convert him."

"No rush, this is merely a minor scrape, hardly the main act."

Buddhist Zhen Ru remained clad in pristine white, hair as white as his face, without a single flaw. He gazed at the Golden Hoop on the White Ape's head and said indifferently, "After all, Wuzhiqi is an old demon accumulated over years. Pain alone cannot suppress its demonic nature, and the Mazer never thought it would be so simple to make it submit."

"It refuses to submit, resists the Dao Fruit, and does not wish to undergo the Promotion Ceremony, how then can we make it transform?" asked the monk Hui Neng.

Perhaps aware of its own fate, Wuzhiqi had been forcefully resisting the Dao Fruit within the Golden Hoop for some time now. Even with Hui Neng forcibly activating the law transmitted by Zhen Ru, he still couldn't merge the Dao Fruit into its being.

Even when subjected to pain akin to the tearing of its Divine Soul, it never once ceased to resist.

This made Hui Neng's task of conversion rather unsmooth.

"It resists because its treacherous heart is not dead. It hopes to negotiate for freedom through this, yet it is steeped in grave sins. How could the Mazer let it be free again?"

Buddhist Zhen Ru shook his head, "The Mazer is willing to be lenient towards Jiang Shizhu, not forcing anything. But with Wuzhiqi, we can't think that mere pointless compassion will convert it. Just wait a bit longer..."

At these words, Hui Neng looked puzzled, unsure what change might come from waiting.

With Wuzhiqi's current obstinacy, not to mention a short while, even a year or two might not bring it to submission.

Unless Zhen Ru resorted to drastic measures, erasing entirely its will to resist, relying only on Buddhist Law and spells would be a very prolonged endeavor.

As Hui Neng pondered, thunderous rumbles pierced through the winter sky.

Far off, Thunder Light zigzagged like dragons and snakes intertwining, the silvery glow intermittently outshining the roiling Calamity Cloud. Gradually, a touch of purple infused the air, adding a terrifying aura to the thunder.

"Heavenly Tribulation?" Hui Neng murmured to himself, "Is someone confronting Tribulation?"

This Purple Thunder was no ordinary, natural thunder; only the Heavenly Tribulation could manifest such thunder, suggesting someone was braving the Tribulation, seeking to temper themselves or to advance their Dao Fruit.

But this Heavenly Tribulation seemed too fearsome.

Even separated by such a vast distance, Hui Neng could feel the breath of utter destruction, and even he feared he might not withstand a single bolt of this thunder.

Buddhist Zhen Ru also turned to look at the distant Purple Thunder but spoke words that seemed unrelated.

"The Dao Fruit manifests cause and effect, and different Dao Fruits have their own Promotion Ceremonies, but their essence remains the same, all complying with the cause and effect of the original owner of the Dao Fruit to undergo fusion. In other words, fusion is the goal, and the Promotion Ceremony is merely a means. If there were a Dao Fruit that could actively fuse, then the existence or absence of a Promotion Ceremony would become irrelevant," he said.

As soon as the words fell, a "boom" sounded, and the thunder had completely turned purple, flashing with both destruction and vitality.

The vast Heavenly Might spread boundlessly and, upon reaching this point, suddenly triggered an unbelievable change.

"Could it be..."

Hui Neng abruptly turned back, looking towards the White Ape lying prostrate on the ground, fixating his gaze on the Golden Hoop atop the White Ape's head, clearly seeing strands of golden light flowing over the Golden Hoop like water.

"The Dao Fruit has been activated."

Wuzhiqi extremely resisted the fusion of the Dao Fruit, was unwilling to accommodate it, and also resisted the Golden Hoop Dao Artifact, thus without Hui Neng's prompting, the Golden Hoop was no different from a mundane object.

But now, without Hui Neng's prompting, and even while Wuzhiqi itself was still resisting, the Golden Hoop responded spontaneously and even drew upon the Dao Fruit without undergoing the Promotion Ceremony.

Or to put it another way... the Dao Fruit seemed to want to fuse actively.

Just as Buddhist Zhen Ru had said exactly.

"Is this the right moment?" Hui Neng said in surprise.

"This is cause and effect," Buddhist Zhen Ru said indifferently. "Cause and effect are interconnected; when one cause arises, one effect follows. An arch-enemy will soon appear; naturally, the Great Sage Equalling Heaven's Dao Fruit will not continue to slumber."

That is to say, the Heavenly Tribulation was a sign that the arch-enemy of the Great Sage Equalling Heaven was about to come into being.

This thought flashed through Hui Neng's mind.

"Boom!"

Although it was the end of the year, a festive time, Yuxu Temple was filled with a solemn atmosphere, a terrifying Qi Mechanism brewing in the sky.

Yuxu Temple was famous for its small number of disciples, but the Sect's foundation was absolutely not inferior to great powers such as the Dinghu Sect. Under such circumstances, each disciple of the Sect could receive extremely generous resource investment.

Such as the Spiritual Energy of the Cave Heaven Blessed Land, where other Sects only used it to cultivate Spiritual Medicine, Yuxu Temple could directly condense spirit stones for its disciples to cultivate, and even if there were a need to craft Heavenly Tribulation, the required Spiritual Energy would be covered by the Sect.

Just like now, when the Qi Mechanism erupted in the Yuqing Hall, the Arrays of Yuxu Temple operated, automatically channeling streams of Spiritual Energy, merging them with the celestial thunder, producing a Heavenly Tribulation.

It started with silver-white electric snakes, then, under the guide of an Invisible Power, they climbed upwards, forming a nine-heavens Heavenly Tribulation.

"The Promotion of the Dao Fruit can actually lead to a change in the Heavenly Tribulation..."

Within the Yuqing Hall, Jiang Li watched the statue echoing with the thunder and couldn't help but exclaim in astonishment.

It was not any other existence that further evolved the thunder, but the Dao Fruit of Qingyuan Miaodao True Monarch within the statue. When Jiang Li activated the Dao Fruit, the Promotion Ceremony had already begun, using the surrounding Spiritual Energy to shape the Heavenly Tribulation, which then transformed into Thunder Disaster.

A cold sense of being targeted appeared in Jiang Li's mind, allowing the thunder to reach directly into his Divine Soul, and even the Yuqing Hall couldn't sever this link.

"Has the Heavenly Tribulation been triggered so quickly?"

Outside the Yuqing Hall, Guangyuan Daoist's apparition reappeared, sensing the might of the Heavenly Thunder and couldn't help but marvel, "Truly, the younger generation is to be feared. They experienced a great battle during the day and have now already recovered to their prime. But this Heavenly Tribulation... isn't it a bit too strong?"

In the past, the Thunder Disasters invoked by Yuxu Temple's forbears were, at most, Red Thunder and Green Thunder. This Purple Thunder had never been seen before.

Considering its power, if a real fourth-rank were to face this Heavenly Tribulation, there would likely be little chance of survival.