Conferred God: Started from Swallowing the Heaven-Repairing Stone

Ao Bing has always been the one to use his power to suppress others, but this time it's the turn of Sage Zhunti to use his power to suppress him.

If he refuses, he will be putting his personal interests above the greater good, showing too much selfishness. In the future, he will not be able to use his power to suppress others, and no one will listen to him.

After all, based on Ao Bing's previous persona, he should prioritize the interests of the prehistoric world in everything he does. If he doesn't, it would be a breach of his persona and inevitably lead to backlash.

"This plan is brilliant. If we join forces, we can project thousands of main stars into the starry sky, which will not only strengthen the primordial world but also restrain the dragon-human race, leaving him no time to attend to other matters. It is a win-win situation."

Upon hearing this, everyone was full of praise, thinking to themselves that he truly deserved to be called the Sage Zhunti, and was indeed an expert in playing tricks and schemes, even able to come up with such a plan.

According to his plan, he had truly put Ao Bing in a difficult position. If he disagreed, his character would be ruined. If he agreed, he might lose control of the starry sky, with extremely serious consequences.

It should be noted that with everyone working together, they can project over a thousand primordial stars, which is three times the number of existing primordial stars.

Without a doubt, this is an extremely terrifying force, capable of influencing the situation in the starry sky.

If they joined forces and supported one person, the combined power of a thousand main stars could definitely create a Starry Sky Sub-Lord. Not to mention being able to rival Ao Bing, they could also greatly weaken his power.

If the person they support were Donghuang or Dijun, that would be a much bigger problem. It would be easy for them to rival Ao Bing, but if things went wrong, they could sideline Ao Bing and seize control of the starry sky.

Therefore, Zhunti's plan was extremely vicious, directly seizing Ao Bing's weakness.

Moreover, the main star is just the beginning, because these great beings of the primordial world will soon break through and officially step into the Primordial Chaos Realm.

As they break through, the level of the main star they project will also increase, reaching the level of a Great Luo Golden Immortal of the Destruction Realm.

In this way, they can further enhance their influence in the starry sky through these primordial stars.

If they then join forces to support another person, well, Ao Bing will truly be at a disadvantage, and his promising situation will inevitably be ruined.

Of course, while this plan is vicious, it's not entirely without merit. All the drawbacks depend on these powerful individuals supporting others; if they all supported Ao Bing...

For Ao Bing, this matter would be entirely beneficial, with no downsides. It would further enhance his authority in the prehistoric world, making him a de facto but nominal Heavenly Emperor.

Therefore, whether this matter is ultimately good or bad depends on Ao Bing's abilities and whether he can win over these powerful individuals. If he can, then it will be entirely beneficial. If he cannot, then it will be entirely detrimental.

…………

"This plan is ingenious, but it can only be used to intimidate people and make them hesitant to act recklessly. We must never use this matter to blackmail them into giving up their interests."

At this moment, a composed and powerful individual quietly transmitted his voice to the crowd. As soon as he finished speaking, everyone immediately understood his meaning.

Sage Zhunti's plan was indeed feasible, and they could follow it without any problems. However, once they followed it, Sage Zhunti's influence would be exhausted, and from then on, the people absolutely must not listen to him.

So as not to become a knife in his hand, which he would use to stab Ao Bing.

Ultimately, the reason everyone was plotting against Ao Bing was simply because they felt he was going too far and trying to meddle in everything. So they wanted to find a way to control him, make him calm down, focus on his immediate interests, and stop interfering in other matters.

The group's purpose was that simple; they had no intention of completely turning against Ao Bing or fighting to the death.

After all, they weren't stupid. Ao Bing's strength was undeniable. If they really fought to the death with him, even if they won by joining forces, how many of them would survive his counterattack?

That's what everyone thought, but Sage Zhunti clearly didn't think that way. He had a rare opportunity to suppress Ao Bing, so he was definitely thinking of killing Ao Bing with one blow to eliminate any future trouble.

This conflicted with everyone's goals; they didn't want to risk their lives to fight Ao Bing for the sake of Western interests.

Therefore, once the plan to project the stars is successful, they can sever ties with Saint Zhunti. No matter what Saint Zhunti wants to do next, they will not cooperate and may even try to sabotage it.

Ultimately, they and the Sage Zhunti were not on the same path, but rather rivals. Without the threat of Ao Bing, the two Western Sages became their main adversaries in spreading their teachings throughout the endless world.

Joining forces with him was a last resort; how could we possibly listen to him afterward?

Not only should they not listen to him, but on the contrary, they should join forces with Ao Bing to deal with the two western stars.

That's right. After projecting the stars, what everyone should do is not to turn against Ao Bing, but to befriend him as much as possible.

They're not stupid, and neither is Ao Bing. Once they realize things are hopeless, they certainly won't force the issue. Instead, they'll choose to win them over, offering them some benefits in exchange for their support and to solidify their rule.

Otherwise, why abandon thousands of main stars and insist on opposing them, forcing them to support a star lord to rival them...

Everyone felt that Ao Bing wasn't that foolish. And since they could gain a lot of benefits from him without even turning against him, why wouldn't they want to? There was no need to fight him to the death.

……

"Projecting stars?"

"That's a really good plan!"

Just as everyone had reached an agreement and before they could even take action, a detailed plan for the matter was presented to Ao Bing.

Someone secretly tipped them off, and as soon as they received the news, it was sold to Ao Bing. There was no way around it; there were thousands of powerful beings in the prehistoric world, each with their own thoughts and interests, resulting in thousands of conflicting ideas.

Some people are ambitious and want to make a name for themselves in the new era and seek greater benefits.

However, some people are different. They only want to cultivate themselves in peace and pursue a higher realm. They do not want to get involved in any intrigue or power struggles, so as not to delay their cultivation.

However, spiritual practice becomes increasingly difficult as one progresses; without sufficient good fortune, it is impossible to reach the end.

Therefore, even if they were unwilling to get involved in various conspiracies and schemes, they had no choice but to get involved due to the pressure of reality.

But while mixing is one thing, the specifics of how to mix them are worth studying.

Some people entrust their foundation to trustworthy fellow practitioners in exchange for a stable source of fortune, which they can then use for their own cultivation.

Some people think even deeper, believing that Ao Bing is the protagonist of the new era and that cooperating with him will bring greater benefits.

Therefore, they wanted to give their foundation to Ao Bing in exchange for a stable fortune. Stability sounds easy, but it's incredibly difficult to achieve. In the current environment of the prehistoric world, how many people can truly maintain stability?

Even with two sages in power in the West, they were almost forced into decline in the new era; what chance do others have? A slight misstep could lead to them being devoured whole.

Only Ao Bing, possessing both the Lesser Primordial Wilderness and the Starry Sky, is currently the most stable person in the Primordial Wilderness.

Therefore, cooperating with him is the safest option, as you don't have to worry about your interests being inexplicably swallowed up one day, leaving you with nowhere to turn for help.

Based on this idea, many powerful beings were unwilling to get involved in the messy affairs of the prehistoric world, thinking that they should simply leave their foundations to Ao Bing in order to sell them for a good price.

There were nearly a hundred powerful individuals who shared this idea. And their thoughts were undoubtedly inclined towards Ao Bing.

So when the Sage Zhunti was plotting against Ao Bing, in order to gain Ao Bing's trust, these people directly betrayed him and told Ao Bing all about his plan.

Upon suddenly learning of this, Ao Bing was naturally furious. Then, he realized that this was an open conspiracy, and there was no way to resolve it.

Even if he discovered it, he couldn't stop it. Just as no one could stop the cultivators of the endless worlds from striving for a better future, Ao Bing couldn't stop the primordial world from moving towards a better future.

Since this matter benefits the primordial world, from his perspective, even if he knows it will harm his own interests, he has no choice but to agree.

"You, Zhunti, have already turned against me before I've even made a move against the West, trying to seize my starry sky."

"You think you can play like this? Watch me make you lose everything."

After calming down, Ao Bing quickly came up with a solution, because he still had one trump card left: setting up a heavenly tribulation.

This was the key to his dramatic comeback!

In fact, even without this incident, Ao Bing would still have set up heavenly tribulations in various parts of the prehistoric world to further refine the rules of heaven and earth.

However, whether or not this event occurred, the heavenly tribulation set up would be completely different. Without this event, the heavenly tribulation set up by Ao Bing would stop at the Mythical Great Luo realm.

In other words, as long as one cultivates to the level of a mythical Great Luo Immortal, there will be no more heavenly tribulations from now on.

But after this incident, the heavenly tribulation set up by Ao Bing will definitely change. The end of the heavenly tribulation will be extended from the mythical Great Luo to the Primordial Great Luo Golden Immortal.

In other words, according to Ao Bing's current thoughts, he needs to cultivate to become a Primordial Golden Immortal in order to completely escape the Heavenly Tribulation.

It sounds like they've simply added two more realms to the tribulation process: those who cultivate to become mythical quasi-saints must undergo tribulation, and those who cultivate to become primordial golden immortals must also undergo tribulation.

In reality, Ao Bing's actions were specifically aimed at the powerful beings of the prehistoric world.

Don't forget, they are now at a crucial stage. They are not just half a step away from becoming a Grand Luo Golden Immortal, but only one more period of seclusion away.

One only needs to go into seclusion once, and after regaining consciousness, one will naturally cultivate into a Primordial Golden Immortal. It is quite simple and there is no difficulty at all.

But that was before. With Ao Bing setting up the Heavenly Tribulation, they needed to overcome the tribulation of attaining enlightenment if they wanted to cultivate into Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortals.

Only by overcoming this barrier can one step into the realm of primordial chaos. If one fails to overcome it, both body and soul will perish, and countless years of arduous cultivation will turn into nothingness.

Whether the great supernatural beings of the primordial world were capable of overcoming the tribulation of attaining enlightenment was hard to say, because the Heavenly Dao only set an upper and lower limit for the power of the tribulation; how it fluctuated within this range depended entirely on Ao Bing's will.

If all the tribulations of attaining enlightenment were at their lowest power level, then the great supernatural beings of the prehistoric world could easily overcome them.

However, if the only one who can reach the upper limit of all the tribulations of enlightenment is the one who achieves enlightenment, then the great supernatural beings of the prehistoric world will be in danger. Not to mention being completely wiped out, they will lose more than half, or even more.

This tribulation of enlightenment is Ao Bing's ultimate weapon for controlling the great supernatural beings of the primordial world.

Trying to force him to cede benefits by projecting stars is simply a pipe dream. This time, he's going to make everyone lose both their money and their resources.

……

"You want to play dirty tricks on me? Just you wait and see if you can keep up this game."

With a cold laugh, Ao Bing looked back at the primordial land, uttering a voice as emotionless and indifferent as the Dao itself:
"The great calamities of the primordial world are all due to cultivators. To prevent the past from repeating itself, today, I, the Human Dragon, on behalf of the Heavenly Dao, hereby establish a Heavenly Tribulation. Every cultivator who achieves great success and breaks through to a higher realm must undergo the corresponding Heavenly Tribulation."

"Those who survive will live, those who do not will perish."

"Test cultivators with heavenly tribulations and select the best to proceed."

As soon as the words were spoken, heaven and earth responded, and countless laws of the Great Dao emerged, intertwining to give rise to endless heavenly tribulations, like a net that enveloped the entire primordial world.

This is the net of heavenly tribulations. Whenever a cultivator breaks through, this net will immediately sense it and send down the corresponding tribulations.

"Star Lord, this is inappropriate. While setting up a heavenly tribulation is necessary, it must be adapted to the circumstances. How can the heavenly tribulation that cultivators of the Endless Worlds must undergo be the same as the heavenly tribulation that cultivators of the Lesser Primordial World undergo?"

Upon hearing this, the group of powerful cultivators who were discussing their next steps were all greatly alarmed. They instinctively realized that the appearance of the heavenly tribulation was extremely disadvantageous to them.

No matter how they thought about it, they couldn't find a reason to oppose setting up the heavenly tribulation. This heavenly tribulation was not so much set up by Ao Bing, but rather set up by the Heavenly Dao through his words.

Didn't you see how the Heavenly Dao responded immediately the moment Ao Bing spoke? Who couldn't sense that eagerness?
Knowing it's the will of Heaven, it would be foolish to oppose it. Therefore, they cannot openly oppose it, but must find loopholes in the matter and, in the name of righteousness, force Heaven to retract its decree.

"I anticipated this matter and already have a plan, so fellow Daoists need not worry. Although everyone must undergo tribulation, the tribulations we undergo are of different levels."

"According to their different powers, I have divided the heavenly tribulations of the same level into nine grades. The first grade is the weakest, and the ninth grade is the strongest."

"When ordinary cultivators undergo tribulation, they naturally undergo a first-class heavenly tribulation, while when geniuses undergo tribulation, the difficulty of the heavenly tribulation will be increased to varying degrees depending on their performance."

"In addition, the difficulty of cultivation varies because the worlds they are in are different. Therefore, in order to be fair, the further inside the six worlds you are, the greater the power of the heavenly tribulation during the tribulation."

“Cultivators in the sixth level of the world start with only a first-class Heavenly Tribulation; however, cultivators in the fifth level of the world start with a second-class Heavenly Tribulation. Cultivators in the fourth level of the world start with a third-class Heavenly Tribulation.”

"And so on. In short, it is essential to ensure fairness, so that all those undergoing tribulation, regardless of their talent or the strength of their world, experience the same level of difficulty during their tribulation." (End of Chapter)