Dreammare's Heavenly Dipper Drought Tribulation

Dreammare's Heavenly Dipper Drought Tribulation

Bang!

The twenty-four Inner Mansion Primordial Spirits resonated with one another, their magical power flowing unhindered and surging through him. It even seemed to roar like towering waves. The consciousness within Dao Ming's body jolted, and Xuanji's heart leaped with joy. He had finally broken through Hexu's restraints.

Early-stage Loose Immortal!

Xuanji had now entered the Loose Immortal realm, a state entirely incomparable to his former Hexu cultivation. The first major hurdle in cultivation was transforming the Golden Core into a primordial spirit, but that was merely the foundation for beginners. Advancing from Hexu to Loose Immortal was a vital transformation, changing from mortal to immortal, ascending from the mundane. Its difficulty was simply unimaginable. If Hexu cultivation still involved cultivating oneself and increasing one's magical power, then from the Loose Immortal realm onward, it was about comprehending the truths of nature, communicating with Heaven and Earth, and wielding their immense power. A Loose Immortal's body was several times stronger than a Hexu cultivator's; magical power came second.

Human strength was finite, while the power of Heaven and Earth was infinite. To borrow that power and make it one's own was what made someone an immortal. Thus, immortal arts and supernatural abilities, as well as formations and restrictions, were all far beyond those of the mortal realm.

As he advanced to the early stage of the Loose Immortal realm, Xuanji's body underwent a great change. His meridians, Inner Mansion, bones... all disappeared. He now stood in a pitch-black space tens of thousands of meters across, dotted with countless specks of light, each in three colors. A primordial spirit, godlike in appearance, sat at the very center. It had twenty-four heads and forty-eight arms, and its lower body rested upon a three-colored, three-tiered lotus throne. Golden, black, and azure radiance shone from it, while its upper body gleamed brilliantly.

"This... The twenty-four Inner Mansion Primordial Spirits have actually merged into one, and the Inner Mansion has become an Inner World, a universe. My magical power is the stars!" Xuanji stared in shock. None of this had been what he expected, but it was no bad thing. Although their number had diminished, their quality had improved. His primordial spirit's cultivation was only at the early Loose Immortal stage, yet its power was not the least bit inferior to that of a mid-stage Loose Immortal. It might even be stronger—truly terrifying! The difference between early and mid-stage Loose Immortals was enormous, an impassable chasm.

What truly delighted Xuanji was that after the primordial spirits merged, his cultivation speed had increased, and he no longer had to divide himself into twenty-four parts. The improvement was so great that he could hardly get used to it.

Rumble!

A thunderous crack burst out like a bolt of lightning. Xuanji's consciousness became muddled, lost in confusion. He had no idea how much time passed. When his senses returned, he looked around and froze, his face full of disbelief.

A desert!

Yellow sand filled the sky. Tornadoes swept across the land in every direction, and sandstorms raged in the distance. The blazing sun hung overhead, its heat unbearable. Most horrifying of all, Xuanji had not a trace of magical power. He was no different from an ordinary person, and his once absurdly powerful body felt as it had in his previous life. The sunlight scorched him. Heat seared his whole body, and sweat soaked him through, evaporating as soon as it formed.

His throat was parched beyond endurance. All Xuanji wanted was to plunge into the cool water of a lake.

"What's going on? Wasn't I cultivating in the Primordial World? How did I end up here?" He was completely bewildered. Everything was strange, and he had no clue what was happening.

"Forget it. If this goes on, I'll die. I'd better get out of this desert and find water." His strength was fading fast. Xuanji pushed himself to his limits and ran forward. The landscape was the same in every direction, and he did not even know where he was, so he chose a path that sloped gently downhill to conserve his strength.

The sand came up past his knees. The farther he walked, the softer the ground became. Xuanji knew that if he stopped, or even slowed down, the sand would swallow him whole. Then he would be doomed.

He raced against time, with death on his heels. Despair crept over Xuanji as his strength rapidly ebbed. His throat burned with dryness, and the sand rose higher around his legs. Yet the desert stretched endlessly before him. Even if he wanted to turn back, he could no longer do so. Death began to close in, and despair tightened its grip.

Fear and drought filled his heart!

Suddenly, a flash of insight came to him. Xuanji realized what might be happening: the Eight Tribulations of Heavenly Dipper! The first tribulation was the Drought Tribulation. Aside from his fear of death, the desolation in his heart was precisely what the tribulation demanded. The Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend tribulations were different. If the Earthly Fiend tribulations involved lightning, fire, and wind striking the body, then the Eight Tribulations of Heavenly Dipper could hardly be simple—they must be trials of the mind, illusions of the heart.

"That's right! It's all fake. This is an illusion. So that's how it is! The Eight Tribulations of Heavenly Dipper are trials of the mind. Those with weak resolve will never pass. Hmph! I've already endured the Firmament Gale slicing me to pieces. This mere drought illusion won't defeat me!" Xuanji stopped running and let the sand slowly bury him. He threw his head back and roared at the sky. Now he was certain it was all an illusion. His fear vanished, and he steadied himself.

The Eight Tribulations of Heavenly Dipper were indeed illusions of the mind, but they were no simple matter. They could make the unreal seem real. Still, this was only the first tribulation, the weakest one. Xuanji had cultivated all the way to this point. He would not claim his will was as hard as iron or his Dao Heart unshakable, but once he understood what was happening, passing the Heavenly Dipper Drought Tribulation would not be difficult.

The sand slowly climbed past his waist, his chest, and his neck, nearly burying him completely. Xuanji remained calm. Buddhist scriptures from his previous life surfaced in his mind. He contemplated their Chan teachings, his heart clear and unstained by dust. He truly had no hindrances in his mind; with no hindrances, there was no fear. He left behind distorted dreams and delusions, reaching the true meaning of the emptiness of the five aggregates. Having read too many novels about the Primordial World in his previous life, Xuanji had felt a certain antipathy toward Buddhism. He had cultivated Daoist arts, but this tempering of his mind through the Drought Tribulation made him realize that Buddhist meditation had its own wonders, especially in training the mind, where it surpassed Daoism.

Daoism cultivated the primordial spirit, harmonized the dragon and tiger, grasped Kan and filled Li, fused Yin and Yang, and united the three souls and seven spirits. Buddhism cultivated the relic and golden body, whose power surpassed the primordial spirit's by a narrow margin. But when it came to aligning with nature and comprehending the Dao, the primordial spirit was superior. Moreover, the deeper one's cultivation, the more apparent the flaws in the relic and golden body became. It was ultimately a side path, a deviant road. One could still attain the Dao through it, but it was at least ten times harder than following the orthodox path of the primordial spirit. Even so, its advantages could not be denied.

After this, Xuanji decided to set aside his prejudices and cultivate both Buddhism and Daoism, drawing on each tradition's strengths and making them his own. Only by embracing a hundred rivers could he travel farther. After all, compared with the Primordial World's divine beings, who were blessed with extraordinary talent and deep roots, the gap between him and them was enormous. Even if their cultivation levels were equal, their cultivation speeds would not be in the same league—and now their cultivation levels were worlds apart.

Beneath the sand, waves of pressure pressed in from every side. A fierce feeling of suffocation and scorching dryness enveloped Xuanji. A mysterious force tugged at his state of mind, making him feel every sensation with perfect clarity. At the same time, a voice seemed to speak from the depths of his heart: "This is all real. Death is right before your eyes." Strangely, the voice inspired trust and familiarity, as though it were his own heart speaking. His once-firm resolve began to waver. His tightly shut eyes trembled, and pain appeared on his face.

"An illusion! An illusion! It's all fake, even what I feel in my heart. I've refined my primordial spirit—how could my true heart be in my heart? Hmph!" His mind suddenly cleared. Xuanji had long since cultivated his primordial spirit. His true heart rested within it; the heart was merely the body's shell, while the primordial spirit was the root.

An unprecedented firmness of mind gathered into a mighty force and burst outward, sweeping away like a shock wave. In an instant, Xuanji felt his whole body lighten. He opened his eyes. The desert was gone, replaced by a flat expanse beneath a dim sky, stretching as far as the eye could see. Just as he was wondering where he was, a figure appeared several meters in front of him. It was a person who looked very much like him—more accurately, exactly like him. But the other man's gaze was icy, his expression grim, and a dark, sinister smile kept appearing at the corner of his mouth, sending a chill down anyone's spine.

"Not bad! You actually made it through the Heavenly Dipper Drought Tribulation. But that was only the prelude. The next seven tribulations will each be several times harder than the last. If you lose yourself in one and can't break free, your primordial spirit will self-destruct in the outside world, and your body will be shattered!" His icy words sent a chill through the air.

"Who are you? Why do you look like me?" Xuanji stared at the "himself" in front of him, astonished. At the same time, he felt something strange he could neither explain nor put into words. Yet he had an overwhelming urge to get to the bottom of it, no matter the cost. It was deeply unsettling.

"Me? I'm the Nightmare in your heart. Every living being has a Nightmare of their own. When you sleep, it can weave pleasant dreams and nightmares, but those are only lowly Nightmares, like ordinary crabs with little intelligence. I, on the other hand—well, I'm like a crab demon. There's one last thing you need to know: a hundred years pass between each of the Eight Tribulations of Heavenly Dipper. Get ready, and don't die too easily. If you do, I'll be finished too." Nightmare fixed Xuanji with a cold stare, then abruptly turned and disappeared.

"Wait...!" Xuanji still had plenty of questions. The moment Nightmare vanished, he hurried to stop him. But then the world began to spin, growing dim and hazy. His consciousness blurred, and darkness clouded his vision. When everything came back into focus, he opened his eyes and saw the Sea of Chaotic Stone Forests before him.

"Ah!" He sighed helplessly. The mysteries of the Primordial World were deep and vast, and he himself was no less so. For the first time, Xuanji clearly realized how little he knew about himself. Countless secrets were waiting to be unlocked.

He forcibly calmed his mind and began to assess his condition. After passing the Heavenly Dipper Drought Tribulation, his Heavenly Dipper Profound Art had advanced another step. His mind was more refined, and he could wield his magical power with effortless fluency, directing it wherever he wished. At a single thought, his power surged through him like towering waves.

After familiarizing himself with his condition, Xuanji immersed himself in cultivation once more. His current cultivation was only at the early Loose Immortal stage—far too weak. He had originally planned to cultivate only to the early Earth Immortal stage and leave it at that, but now that his cultivation speed had increased dramatically, it would not take long to reach the peak of the Earth Immortal realm. He estimated he would reach it around the time his Primordial Avatar advanced to the early Heavenly Immortal stage.

The leap from Earth Immortal to Heavenly Immortal was difficult. Even with the Primordial Avatar's rapid progress, it was impossible without at least three or four months. That was more than enough time for Xuanji to cultivate to the peak of the Earth Immortal realm.

The Eastern Wasteland was now in turmoil, the chaos already taking shape. Xuanji naturally wasn't going to miss out. How could he leave without reaping some benefits?