Chapter Sixty-Two: The Canopy of Civilization

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"The Ancient Yue Kingdom existed before the Yu Kingdom, its dynasty lasting more than a hundred thousand years. This celestial realm is able to manifest within the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands thanks to the Dragon Capital Emperor of the Ancient Yue Kingdom."

"It was he who forged the entire Yu Kingdom from falsehood into reality, elevating it to ascend to this place."

Li Feiyu asked curiously, "You speak as though recounting history, but perhaps you are unaware—beyond the Yu Kingdom's seas, a new nation has recently been founded, also named Ancient Yue."

"Ancient Yue?" Xu Zhong was startled at first, then smiled faintly. "It seems Feng Xun has ridden this favorable wind, establishing his realm beyond Yu Kingdom."

"The emperor of Ancient Yue is indeed called Feng Xun. I've heard that, by harnessing the power of creation, he carved out a stretch of land ten thousand miles wide atop the Endless Sea using but a single city, whereupon he founded city after city above it."

Tang Yuan continued after Li Feiyu, "Perhaps Brother Xu has been away from the New Lands too long and is unaware of the changes there."

"Our ship will first dock at the Ancient Yue Kingdom before setting sail for Yu Kingdom."

The new Ancient Yue Kingdom!

Xu Zhong began to look forward to it.

The weather over the Endless Sea was fickle; one moment, the sky was high and clear, the next, thick clouds had already gathered.

Great masses of thunderclouds were swept together by fierce winds, blotting out the sun and sky, and the patches of black clouds filled the gaps between the thunderclouds.

"No wonder this is where the Thunder Ancestor attained nirvana—there's divine resonance and supernatural power hidden within the lightning here," Li Feiyu and the others remarked, their gazes flickering. "Within this resonance, there seems to be a force of tribulation and fate."

They were all exceptionally gifted; gazing at the sky with its flashing lightning and peals of thunder, with ten thousand bolts raging, their spirits surged with excitement. They immediately sat down upon the upper deck, channeling their arts to heighten their wisdom, drawing thunder’s resonance from the sky, refining their techniques, or compensating for their own deficiencies.

At that moment, a tremendous wave rose from the Endless Sea.

The wave soared tens of thousands of feet high, pressing down in all directions, suppressing everything.

Divine and holy light radiated from the ship, protecting its hull, as ballistae rotated into position, their bolts aimed squarely at the massive wave.

The owner of this great ship poked her head out from the spell altar, raising her arm and calling out, "Everyone, be on guard! A sea beast is undergoing a thunder tribulation in the Endless Sea. Cowards and those afraid of lightning, best hide yourselves; but if you don’t fear, you may stay on deck and witness the majesty of a sea beast."

Li Feiyu and the others were more delighted than afraid. "I knew there must be tribulation hidden in this lightning—so a sea beast is crossing its calamity!"

No sooner had he spoken than an enormous horn, like a mountain of ore, pierced the sea’s surface.

"It seems to be a horned whale," Fang Yuan observed from afar, her eyes glimmering with spiritual light, as if she could pierce all illusions.

Xu Zhong employed his Underworld Vision technique and likewise saw only a fraction of the beast’s bulk—a body a hundred miles long, of which he could glimpse only three or four miles, like looking at a leopard through a bamboo tube. It indeed resembled a whale.

"It’s a dragon whale undergoing tribulation," Yun Yong, who had been silent, finally spoke.

"That dragon whale exudes a powerful dragon aura. Look—the nearby sea demons have absorbed some of that aura and begun to take on draconic forms themselves."

Beside the dragon’s horn swam exactly one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred fish. These fish were devouring the dragon aura, refining their bodies, and enhancing their talent and demonic power.

"Look, there’s a Dragon Gate in the sky," Fang Yuan pointed upward.

Indeed, a Dragon Gate arched across the heavens.

At its edges stood a blue dragon and a yellow dragon, one on each side.

"If it leaps through the Dragon Gate, it can transform into a true dragon," Li Feiyu said, his gaze intense. "Its cultivation has reached a bottleneck, but its bloodline restricts its growth, preventing it from breaking through."

The dragon whale burst from the Endless Sea, maintaining the body of a whale, but now a single dragon horn had grown from its head, and its tail had become that of a dragon.

Within its body, its bloodline was transforming toward that of a true dragon.

The instant it leapt from the sea, tribulation descended.

Within Xu Zhong’s mind, a peal of thunder sounded, tribulation settling upon him, making him somewhat uncomfortable.

"It’s clever, choosing to trigger its tribulation as we head for Yu Kingdom so we’ll help it share the burden," Captain Xuan Jiuyuan swept her arm. "Set the Celestial Star Formation—since it wants to drag us into this tribulation with it, we’ll act as its vanguard."

Spell altars rose from the ship, and the cultivator sailors activated the formation from atop them, standing in positions aligned with the one hundred eight stars of fate.

As the stars shifted, the divine light around the ship grew even thicker, rippling like waves, their shimmer capable of blocking any force.

"If it fails its tribulation, then tonight everyone aboard the Heavenly Leader gets an extra helping at dinner," Xuan Jiuyuan called, commanding three hundred sixty-five ballistae. "If it succeeds, then we’ll hunt a true dragon in the Endless Sea—and feast all the same."

Each ballista aimed at the dragon whale as it soared above the Endless Sea.

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Now, the dragon whale had broken from the sea, twisting amid the clouds, stirring wind and rain, unleashing tempest after tempest.

Its roars shook the heavens and earth, as its flesh and blood slowly changed beneath the thunderclouds.

"It’s about to endure its tribulation," Yun Yong said, gazing upward.

Within the clouds, the dragon whale leapt toward the Dragon Gate, ready to become a true dragon.

From the heavens, countless bolts of lightning crashed down.

Half struck the dragon whale, half struck the Heavenly Leader.

Boom!

Thunder crashed, lightning blazed. Celestial thunder drew up earth fire; thunder and fire flooded the sky, blocked only by the divine radiance sheathing the Heavenly Leader.

Within that divine light, electric serpents twisted and danced, slithering and shuddering before being devoured by the great formation.

Protected by the array, all aboard could safely witness the Dragon Gate!

The Dragon Gate, illuminated by the falling tribulation, became clearer and clearer—not just flanked by two dragons, but filled with deep, profound mysteries, and densely inscribed with ancient characters brimming with the dragon clan’s primal fortune.

The dragon whale roared, scattering the lightning that struck its body.

"It’s undergoing the Twelfth Tower Tribulation of the Equanimity Realm," Yun Yong said, seemingly well-versed in thunder tribulations. "The first bolt of lightning is meant to open the Gate of Creation within its body, enabling one to comprehend heaven and earth through that gate."

Equanimity means to be one with all things, with heaven itself—a state beyond life and death.

"It’s supposed to withstand the first thunderbolt. Without opening the Gate of Creation, it’s doomed," Yun Yong concluded calmly, sitting cross-legged on deck, gathering tribulation essence from the thunderclouds.

"Why is that?" Xu Zhong asked humbly.

"Equanimity means unity with all things, with heaven—a state where man equals nature," Yun Yong explained. "But man cannot truly become nature, thus creation is required."

"In the Equanimity Realm, creation is paramount. The first thunderbolt of the Twelfth Tower exists solely to open the body's Gate of Creation. Lacking creation, one loses the mark of equanimity and must perish beneath the twelfth tower."

Thunder rumbled, echoing throughout the sky.

Boundless lightning flashed, endless thunder poured down in torrents.

The dragon whale was bathed in the storm, lightning arcing across its body, tearing open wound after wound. Blood sprayed into the sky, staining the Endless Sea red, while the fish demons gorged on the dragon whale’s vital essence, taking the opportunity to cultivate.

Some cultivators reached out across the void, seizing drops of dragon blood, harvesting tribulation force as well.

Xuan Jiuyuan reached out and crushed a bolt of tribulation lightning, then smacked one of the cultivators on the back of the head. "You fool! Since it’s clearly going to fail, you could have feasted in abundance once it’s dead, yet you risk all for a paltry gain. Whoever you are, you get none of the dragon meat tonight!"

That cultivator was sent rolling three or four yards, his face turning dark before he fainted away.

The dragon whale roared in fury. Even with the Heavenly Leader sharing part of the tribulation, bereft of creation, its flesh could not recover under the ordeal and only grew weaker.

Boom!

A sudden explosion burst in the sky, billows of blood mist spreading in the shape of a dragon, faintly echoing with a dragon’s roar.

"Why won’t you help me?" The dragon whale, maddened, its eyes blazing red, charged the Heavenly Leader in a frenzy.

Behind it, endless lightning pursued.

"Damn it!" Xuan Jiuyuan cursed. "It means to drag us down with it!"

"Then nail it to the sky."

As her words fell, the ballistae loosed their bolts.

The missiles transformed into true dragons, piercing the dragon whale and pinning it in midair, sending it flying far, far away, deep into the thunderclouds.

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Crash!

The dragon whale perished within the thunderclouds.

The storm gradually dispersed, and the dragon whale’s body plummeted from the sky.

Its carcass, stretching three or four hundred miles, sprawled across the sea like a mountain range.

Its death drew an unending horde of monsters to feast upon it.

Xuan Jiuyuan was the first to soar from the ship, and in midair, she collected the three or four hundred miles of dragon whale, hauling it aboard.

She carved up the dragon whale, dividing it into countless pieces.

The sailors handed out portions of dragon meat to the passengers.

Xu Zhong too received a piece of dragon flesh.

Within the meat was the purest dragon essence, its muscle fibers resembling tiny, swimming dragons, each seeming to possess intelligence.

"This dragon meat is a rare medicine, suitable for refining pills—or, of course, you may simply swallow it whole," Fang Yuan said beside him, producing a medicinal cauldron and beginning to refine pills from the meat.

Xu Zhong set his portion aside for later.

For a while, the Heavenly Leader was filled with the mingled aromas of meat, medicine, and elixir, making everyone’s mouth water.

Some aboard broke through to new realms, elated.

The Heavenly Leader did not linger long in these waters, but continued on its way.

Xuan Jiuyuan, smiling broadly, held the dragon whale’s bones, though what treasure she intended to forge from them, no one could guess.

Not long after, the Heavenly Leader again encountered thunderclouds and sea beasts undergoing tribulation.

It seemed as if all the sea beasts of the Endless Sea were racing to cross tribulation.

This was not normal.

Sometimes, their ship paused amid the Endless Sea; sometimes, they were swept into tribulation themselves.

Some sea beasts succeeded, only to be slain by Xuan Jiuyuan; others failed, and she simply collected their remains.

"No wonder the other ancient divine clans resent humankind’s monopoly over this place," Xu Zhong mused.

Yet something was amiss.

Before the rise of Yu Kingdom, the Endless Sea had always teemed with countless sea beasts, but the resources had never been so abundant—nor had the divine clans contested so fiercely.

These changes seemed to stem from the emergence of Yu Kingdom.

On the second day, the Ancient Yue Kingdom came into view.

Xu Zhong stood at the rail, gazing into the distance.

Above the Ancient Yue Kingdom drifted all manner of auras, crossing and weaving into a great canopy suspended above the kingdom.

Countless sea beasts lingered near Ancient Yue, gathering these mysterious auras for their cultivation.

"What is that?" Xu Zhong wondered in astonishment, for he had never seen such a sight.

Li Feiyu, reading his confusion, answered, "That canopy is the spirit of civilization made manifest. The internal heritage of Thunder Ancestor’s new lands, hundreds of thousands of years’ worth, has been transformed from illusion into reality and now appears between heaven and earth, forming such a canopy."

"Such a canopy heralds supreme opportunity and treasures of heaven and earth."

At that moment, the dock came into view.