Under one person: I, Zhang Zhiwei, the arrogant Zhang.

"I'm going to give it a try."

Zhang Zhiwei spoke calmly, as if he were talking about an ordinary little thing.

The "Imperial Preceptor" raised his head and gazed into the depths of the inner realm. His level of spiritual insight was not as high as Zhang Zhiwei's, so his perception was not as vivid. However, this did not prevent him from realizing that the horror of this calamity far surpassed that of the previous wind disaster. He asked in a serious tone.

"Big-faced thief, how confident are you that you can survive this ordeal?"

"I'm about 30% sure."

Zhang Zhiwei looked up at the sky, where the nine fireballs, like the sun, were getting closer and closer.

"Even with a 30% chance of success, we still have to go?"

"Can't you even get a 30% chance?"

"..."

The "Imperial Advisor" looked at Zhang Zhiwei speechlessly. Although they were originally one entity, it must be said that they were two beings with completely opposite personalities.

"Why bother?" the Imperial Advisor asked.

Zhang Zhiwei said calmly, "Some things aren't a choice. Knowing one's destiny does indeed mean one can act in accordance with it."

"But following the natural order is common, while going against it comes first. The mystery lies in the reversal. Being too rational often means being unable to see through things."

"What is truly rare is a rational person who, after seeing through everything, still chooses to make that seemingly irrational choice, and that choice is often his path."

As he said this, some faces suddenly flashed through his mind.

Master Sun, who ascended to immortality in broad daylight at Wudang, and Wu Man, the enigmatic hermit of Quanxing...

When Wu Man faced him, she chose to die willingly.

Although Wu Man would have died even if she hadn't actively sought death in his presence, at that moment, she truly had no desire to live.

Moreover, in the original storyline, Wu Man also willingly went to her death.

At that time, Wu Man had already understood her own path, seen through ignorance, and reached the state of emptiness of the five aggregates. Why then did she insist on going to her death?
Because his path leads only to a dead end.

Take one step forward, and though you die, you achieve your goal.

Taking a step back, though one survives, one's path collapses, one's realm falls, and one is no longer perfect.

Zhang Zhiwei continued, "Once you've identified the path ahead, you should walk it firmly, no matter what stands in your way, whether it's a calamity or an obstacle, it's all just wishful thinking."

He abruptly turned his head, staring directly at the "Imperial Preceptor," his eyes blazing with golden light:

"Monkey! If you wish to attain the true understanding of the Dharma, do not be misled by people. Kill whatever you encounter, whether inside or outside. Kill the Buddha, kill the patriarch, kill the god, kill the heavenly tribulation, and kill me. Only then can you attain liberation, be free from attachment to things, and achieve complete freedom."

Just then, a distant bell rang out between heaven and earth.

The sound of the bell seemed to come from the ages, yet it also seemed to resonate into the future, echoing throughout the entire spiritual world.

Zhang Zhiwei calmly looked up at the sky.

The "Imperial Advisor" also looked up.

The void above the interior seemed to stretch out, revealing a long passage. At the end of the passage, a huge fireball, as bright as the sun, slowly descended!
The "Imperial Advisor" sensed an irresistible, majestic divine power emanating from that enormous fireball. Without a doubt, this tribulation was far more terrifying than the last one. However, even so, the Big-Faced Thief shouldn't have said he only had a 30% chance of success.

But then, the "national advisor's" pupils suddenly shrank to the size of pinpoints, and a chill ran through him.

Because he discovered that there was something behind the first fireball.

And there's a whole series.

The ones in the distance were too dazzling for him to see clearly, but he estimated there were at least three or five.

One is already this terrifying, what would it mean if three or five were stacked together?
A sense of despair welled up in his heart, a feeling that "this time there is no escaping it."

Zhang Zhiwei's expression was much calmer than that of the Imperial Advisor.

He already knew the number of fireballs; it wasn't three or five, but a full nine.

Of course, the nine didn't arrive at the same time. The one right now is the smallest and the first to arrive.

In truth, this calamity wasn't going to come so soon. But just now, Zhang Zhiwei's mind was made up, and that thought of "going against the heavens" stirred up a great calamity in the dark, causing it to arrive ahead of schedule.

Once you've made that choice, there's no turning back.

He looked up at the enormous fireball that was slowly approaching, then glanced at the still raging windstorm.

By this time, the storm was nearing its end and its power had greatly diminished. To prevent new calamities from combining with the storm and creating other unforeseen circumstances, he decided to take action first and completely eliminate the storm!
Zhang Zhiwei stretched out his body, flames and lightning erupting all around him, transforming him into a vast and mighty thundercloud.

The thunderclouds rapidly expanded, emitting a deafening rumble, and transformed into a gigantic face with eyebrows reaching the sky and a jaw touching the ground, overlooking the entire interior.

This enormous human face is Zhang Zhiwei's. He opened his huge mouth with the force of a whale swallowing the four seas, as if he wanted to suck in the huge storm formed by the raging wind disaster!

"Holy crap! What a thief with a huge face!"

This scene left the "Imperial Advisor" speechless with astonishment.

Meanwhile, seemingly sensing Zhang Zhiwei's overstepping actions, the wind disaster suddenly accelerated its rotation! The continuous gale, like countless sharp blades, slashed towards that thunderous face!

But the giant face that Zhang Zhiwei had transformed into went against the wind. Even though the wind was howling violently and the gale was sweeping across the entire area, it was still smashed to pieces by that giant face!
Throughout the interior, howling winds and roaring thunder filled the air!

The "National Master," who had been fighting against the storm, watched as the massive storm crumbled and disintegrated like paper under the bombardment of that thunderous face, and felt a tremendous shock in his heart.

Such a fierce, big-faced thief, and you only have a 30% chance of winning?

Just how dangerous was this calamity?
The Imperial Advisor dared not think too much about it, but simply stared at the thunderous face sweeping across the interior, crushing the final storm.

"Even more ferocious than the storm just now. In other words, the difficulty for my inner demon to turn against my true self is even greater than overcoming the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations?" He couldn't help but complain to himself, feeling that the task on his inner demon's back was far too arduous. After the storm dissipated, there was a moment of tranquility in the inner realm, but this tranquility did not bring peace of mind; instead, it felt like the oppressive calm before a storm.

Sure enough, the next second, a wave of scalding heat suddenly descended, overwhelming everything and almost boiling the entire interior.

The "National Preceptor" was suddenly startled. He looked up and saw that a brilliant golden light suddenly burst forth from the pitch-black interior space above!

Those were clusters of incredibly blazing flames, which shone brilliantly in the lightning!
Immediately afterwards, the enormous fireball, as big as the sun, descended from the passage bit by bit, pressing down on Zhang Zhiwei with supreme majesty!
In the blink of an eye, accompanied by a huge muffled thud.

The thunderous face collided violently with the enormous fireball. Thunderclouds surged and sparks flew as two completely different forces clashed fiercely in the void of the inner realm. The aftershocks shattered everything around them, like a celestial river overflowing and lava flowing.

The entire interior scene trembled violently from the impact, sending chills down the spine and shaking the mind.

Inside the vast thunderclouds over the giant face, Zhang Zhiwei's true form stood quietly.

He has shed the divine body of the Heavenly Tong Sect Master. The power previously bestowed upon Uncle-Master Zhang Yi came precisely from the power of faith of the Heavenly Tong Sect Master.

At this moment, he is simply himself, Zhang Zhiwei of Longhu Mountain.

He gazed silently through the churning thunderclouds at the fireball opposite him.

As expected, this calamity was far more severe than the previous windstorm.

When he survived the previous storm, he dared to draw the storm into his body to temper himself. But faced with this calamity, he couldn't even entertain such a thought.

Drawing fire into the body is not called tempering, it's called self-immolation.

"However, although I can't use this fireball to temper myself, it's not impossible to break it!"

Zhang Zhiwei glanced up and saw the other eight fireballs slowly descending, forming a continuous array like "nine stars in a row".

To avoid the increased pressure from all these fireballs descending, he decided to strike first and try to destroy a few, hoping to alleviate some of the pressure!
He slowly raised the Three-Five Male and Female Demon-Slaying Swords in his hand, the blades gleaming coldly in the golden firelight. He formed a sword shape with his fingers and lightly brushed the blade with his fingertips, imbuing it with lightning magic.

One after another, streaks of purple "Purple Mansion Divine Lightning" appeared out of thin air, like serpents, clinging to the sword and bursting out with dazzling lightning.

Originally a three-foot-long demon-slaying sword, it was instantly transformed into a massive, ancient sword, forty to fifty meters long, by countless bolts of divine lightning. The sword's edge exuded a profound power, and its sharp sword aura caused even the void to tremble slightly wherever it pointed.

Zhang Zhiwei held his breath, closed his eyes slightly, and focused his mind on the sword.

The next second, the giant sword burst forth with a deafening roar.

The space suddenly cracked open, and the omnipresent flames were cleaved in two by this sword, like a plowshare, piercing straight into the core of the fireball.

"Crack!"

Zhang Zhiwei caught a clear, crisp sound.

That was the sound of a fireball breaking apart.

The Flying Thunder Sword, formed by combining multiple strands of Purple Mansion Divine Thunder with the divine weapon of the Three-Five Male and Female Demon-Slaying Swords, is a weapon of unimaginable power!

Especially when the Flying Thunder Sword exploded inside the fireball, terrifying energy burst out from within, causing the giant fireball to tremble violently, and its edges were quickly covered with dense, fine cracks that spread at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Finally, with an extremely muffled and deafening roar, the entire giant fireball completely split open from the middle!

The collapsing fireball was like a brilliant firework that bloomed and then suddenly withered. After exploding, it scattered a large number of golden characters and runes, mixed with specks of spiritual flames, like dancing musical notes, flashing and leaping in the air before finally dissipating.

Zhang Zhiwei stared quietly at the scattered runes, silently trying to discern their patterns and structure. He discovered that these runes bore some resemblance to the Cloud Talisman.

Yunlu is the script used by Taoist priests when drawing advanced talismans. It is said that it was a set of celestial scripts that ancient practitioners comprehended by observing the gathering and dispersing of clouds in the sky. It is a mark left by nature on the human world.

The runes drawn with cloud scrolls will disappear into nothingness after the runes are completed, hence they are also called "heavenly books". The heavenly book in the story "The Strange Tales of the Heavenly Book" is cloud scroll.

At this moment, the "Imperial Advisor" stared at this scene in disbelief. That terrifying fireball had actually been blasted apart by the Big-Faced Thief with a single Flying Thunder Sword strike?! It was simply unbelievable!
He noticed that after the sword shattered a fireball, the Three-Five Male and Female Demon-Slaying Swords transformed into a divine light and returned to Zhang Zhiwei's hands.

"So easy? He took one down with a single sword strike? What threat are the other fireballs to Big Face Thief? One strike each, right? Why did he say he only had a 30% chance of success? Big Face Thief doesn't seem like a humble person!" the "Grand Preceptor" thought to himself.

Thinking this way, the heavy feeling in his heart actually eased a lot.

The oppressive aura that had dissipated with the collapse of the fireball suddenly returned, and not only did it return, but the oppressive aura was more than twice as strong as before.

He looked up and saw two fireballs, several times larger than the previous one, crashing down.

Unlike the first fireball, which appeared slowly, these two descended almost directly, carrying an undeniable crushing power.

Immediately afterwards, streaks of crimson-gold flames, like chains, emerged from the two fireballs and frantically coiled around Zhang Zhiwei, trying to completely lock him up!

"Damn it, the first one was just an appetizer. These fireballs... are stronger than the last. No wonder Big Face Thief said he only had a 30% chance of winning."

The "Imperial Advisor" suddenly realized, then looked nervously at Zhang Zhiwei, wondering how he would deal with this again. Would he use the Flying Thunder Sword to blast the two fireballs apart again?

However, the "National Advisor" had no time to think, as the chain-like flames had already enveloped Zhang Zhiwei.

However, Zhang Zhiwei showed no fear. He drew his magic sword and unleashed a series of powerful lightning bolts, shattering the incoming chains of flame with overwhelming force.

Behind the chains of flame were two enormous fireballs, like a pair of malevolent eyes. Their edges were a blazing gold, while the center was a deep crimson, like the pupils of a demon god.

Those pupils stared at Zhang Zhiwei, then suddenly contracted!
Immediately afterwards, the golden flames that stretched from the sky to the ground converged into towering waves, crashing towards Zhang Zhiwei wave after wave.

The entire interior space began to distort and become chaotic, making it impossible to distinguish between heaven and earth. If this place had previously been burned into a void by the Samadhi True Fire, now it was as if an invisible hand had haphazardly crumpled it into a mess!
This astonishing scene gave the "National Advisor" the illusion that he was at odds with the entire world.

Although the two fireballs weren't aimed at him, he was still affected by the aftershocks of the battle.

The raging flames filled every inch of space, and he could only narrowly dodge attack after attack, like a petrel navigating through raging waves.

"Big-faced thief, big-faced thief, you've really ruined my life!!"

The "Imperial Advisor" dodged awkwardly while unleashing a torrent of curses. (End of Chapter)