Chapter 247

In the study, Chen Dao picked up a stack of official documents and placed them before Yue Jinshan.

"Old Yue, there have been eleven fires in granaries of various sizes across the region this month alone. Isn't that a bit too many?"

Yue Jinshan did not speak at first, reading through all the documents in detail. Chen Dao waited patiently, showing no intention to rush him.

Once he had finished reading all the documents, Yue Jinshan finally said, "There have been seven fires in the granaries of Bianning Commandery. Only two are related to the frontline border troops, and the other two were not under my command."

"You are the Provincial Military Commander of Ningxi Prefecture; aren't all these your subordinates?"

"Since Official Chen says so, then I will replace several Assistant Regional Commanders tomorrow. I ask that Official Chen follow up with the official document."

Chen Dao said helplessly, "Old Yue, your methods are still lacking. Let me speak plainly: it is your nephew who is guarding Bianning Commandery. I have heard that General Little Yue covers the sky with one hand in military affairs, leaving the Commandery Magistrate unable to intervene at all. Among the seven granaries, at least four were military granaries. Does General Yue have nothing to say about this?"

Yue Jinshan's expression remained unchanged as he said calmly, "Which unit doesn't have a few fires in their granaries every year? These just happened to occur this month; it is purely a coincidence."

Chen Dao took a sip of tea, his expression unmoved, and asked, "What if this Provincial Governor does not believe it is a coincidence and insists on investigating?"

Yue Jinshan finally showed some emotion, sneering, "Provincial Governor, do you truly intend to investigate?"

"With over a dozen granary fires in a month, there must be an explanation."

Yue Jinshan sneered, "Very well, let me ask you: the fifty thousand border troops I brought from the Northern Territory, every one of them has achieved Blood Merging; they are elite, are they not?"

"Your unit is indeed elite under heaven; this is recognized by both the court and the public."

"A soldier in the Blood Merging Realm, when deployed in battle and training in Body Forging during leisure, must have meat, milk, and eggs every day, otherwise they need at least ten catties of military rations. That is not excessive, is it?"

Chen Dao nodded, "Body Forging requires several times more than an ordinary person, and since spiritual energy is scarce here without supplements, this figure is quite normal."

"Since it is normal, the court allocated three months of military rations, yet in my hands, each person only receives three catties per day. Official Chen, are you telling me to turn the three-month defense period into one month, or to turn fifty thousand people into fifteen thousand?"

"General Yue has been in the military for many years; surely you have a solution."

"There is a solution, but it is inevitable that one's hands will get a little stained with soot."

Chen Dao pondered, "But there are also generals whose hands are not stained with soot."

Yue Jinshan sneered, "Official Chen, I know of these generals you speak of; there are only two types. One type doesn't get stained with soot but gets stained with soldiers' blood. You go to their camps and take a look; if you can count even half the soldiers, I lose. As for the other type, one of them happens to be your contemporary, Official Chen. This person comes from the Four Sages Academy, writes flowery prose, entered the military through literature, and is known as a Confucian general—a model of the 'pure stream'."

Chen Dao, who had always been deeply calculating, frowned slightly.

Yue Jinshan said unceremoniously, "This contemporary of yours, Official Chen, is neither greedy nor corrupt, does not take empty pay, and is known throughout the world for his integrity. If the court gives him one and a half catties, he truly distributes one and a half. But for an ordinary person doing daily labor, one and a half catties a day is not enough. If his soldiers only eat one and a half catties a day, won't they become as thin as monkeys? He even has the nerve to call this 'tempering the heart and starving the body'! He guards the interior commanderies, so bringing a few thousand soldiers to the state of monkeys won't cause an incident. But what if he were transferred to guard the border?"

Chen Dao coughed lightly and said, "General Yue..."

Yue Jinshan acted as if he hadn't heard, sneering, "If this contemporary of yours were sitting in my position, Official Chen, I fear you would have to wear your armor every night just to sleep. With those fifty thousand monkeys of his, I would only need to send two thousand elites to kill him until he couldn't find north!"

"Let us return to the main business."

"A Confucian general of the 'pure stream' is admired by all under heaven. If I, Yue, say a few more words, isn't it just to spread his reputation?"

Chen Dao sighed and said, "General Yue, say a little less. That the court allocated military rations and three-tenths reached your hands is already the result of my running about and operating. No matter how much that contemporary of mine struggles, he will always only have one and a half tenths."

Yue Jinshan snorted and said reluctantly, "Official Chen should understand my meaning: if you want to get things done, your hands must be stained with soot. If you don't get stained with blood or soot, you end up like that contemporary of yours. If there are too many people like that, Western Jin will be finished sooner or later."

Chen Dao rubbed his forehead and sighed, "General Yue... forget it. There are too many granary fires; we must handle it, otherwise, no one can be held accountable. How about this: General Yue, pick two, and I will handle them. How is that?"

Yue Jinshan frowned, but still pulled two documents from the stack and placed them before Chen Dao, saying, "These two fellows are not my people; they just wanted to fish in troubled waters and make a profit for themselves."

Chen Dao placed those two documents on the other side of the desk and said slowly, "The laws and systems of the court have been formed over many years and cannot be easily changed. Under this legal system, whether it is soot or blood, it is inevitable that everyone's hands will be stained with something. But once something is stained, it is a violation of the law, and if someone wants to investigate, it is only right. However, who to investigate and who not to investigate is a matter for this Provincial Governor."

"Just as this Provincial Governor wants to investigate this fire incident, but since I have had a pleasant conversation with General Yue today, the choice of person will be decided by General Yue. But next time, I fear I will have to choose for myself."

Yue Jinshan snorted, rose, and left. After stepping out the door, he slammed the study door shut, shaking the entire study and causing a large amount of dust to fall from the ceiling, filling the air with smoke and dust.

But Chen Dao was surrounded by three inches of clear energy, and not a speck of dust could touch him. The sunlight pierced through the dust and fell upon him, his demeanor graceful, with an air of being detached from the world. In this murky, dusty world, he was like a white lotus.

Chen Dao picked up another document and read it carefully. This document was submitted by the Ningxi Commandery Magistrate, Yuan Qingyan, stating that he had received news that the Azure Void was short of grain and feared there might be actions soon. He requested that the prefecture city send more troops to strictly blockade the area, not allowing a single grain to flow into the Azure Void. At the same time, they could drive the refugees to go into the Azure Void to increase their burden.

Chen Dao shook his head to himself. With over a dozen granary fires and over a million catties of military grain missing, looking across the entire Shattered Realm, who else could consume so much grain?

However, Yuan Qingyan was in a corner and did not know this. Thus, after pondering, Chen Dao approved the document and sent it down to the respective departments for execution.

Wei Yuan returned fully loaded, and just as he entered the realm, he was grabbed by Yu Zhizhuo.

"Junior Brother Wei Yuan, I need your help with the mineral vein."

A mineral vein? Wei Yuan's ears perked up.

It could be said that the mineral vein was the most important thing besides grain. Although Wei Yuan could use the power of the Azure Void to explore the earth's veins, he could only see a hundred zhang at most, and Wei Yuan knew nothing about the distribution of mineral veins. In his spiritual sense, those rocks all looked exactly the same; how would he know which stone contained what?

For Yu Zhizhuo to invite him like this meant there was an important discovery. Wei Yuan naturally would not refuse; he instructed people to receive and settle the supplies he had snatched back, then followed Yu Zhizhuo as he flew away.

The two flew toward the north, where there were many rolling mountains.

On the way, Yu Zhizhuo said, "I have been surveying the earth's veins for the past few days without much success, but I discovered a special rock stratum in the northern mountainous area. If we can break through this rock stratum, it is very likely there will be something. Let me first tell you some common knowledge about earth's veins."

Regardless of whether Wei Yuan wanted to listen, Yu Zhizhuo began to speak incessantly, starting from the chaos transforming into yin and yang, describing how various types of innate supreme primordial energy mixed and evolved, how they repelled and attracted each other, and how they produced various combinations and changes—at least several thousand types. This was still the primordial change; by the time the three gave birth to the myriad things, the changes were thousands multiplied by thousands, and this was even a simplified version.

!.

It was not until they flew to the destination, drilled into a mining tunnel that had already been opened, went dozens of zhang deep underground, and stood before a section of the rock stratum that Yu Zhizhuo finally reached the third type of change, with over a million types left that he hadn't had time to explain.

Before Wei Yuan was a dark, greenish stone wall, the rock stratum exceptionally delicate, like a piece of raw jade. The rock face was about three zhang wide and one zhang high, full of axe and chisel marks. Before the stone wall were over a dozen Dao Foundation cultivators. Several were Yu Zhizhuo's junior brothers, and the rest were Dao Foundation helpers transferred from the realm.

In a few days, this mining tunnel could be dug dozens of zhang deep, and more than one tunnel had been dug. The Heavenly Craft Hall truly had expertise in surveying mineral veins.

Yu Zhizhuo said, "This stone wall is actually part of an entire rock stratum. After breaking through this rock stratum, there might be a surprise. It is just exceptionally tough, making it extremely difficult to excavate."

Yu Zhizhuo waved his hand and sent out a sword energy, which actually only cut three chi into the rock face. He struck several more times, only to dig out a piece of rock the size of a tabletop. A Dao Foundation beginner cultivator carrying a specially made mining pick went up, swung it with force, and then only chipped off a piece the size of a fist.

Wei Yuan had a bad feeling in his heart.

Yu Zhizhuo stepped aside and said, "I observed that the Rushing Water Blade Art used by Junior Brother that day was infinitely powerful and particularly persistent, just right for excavating here. Please, Junior Brother, make a move and first dig a ten-zhang exploration hole diagonally downward."

Following Yu Zhizhuo, all the Heavenly Craft Hall disciples stood up, looking at Wei Yuan with eager eyes, full of expectation.

Wei Yuan was expressionless, his heart dead as ash. He assumed a stance, a halo of light suddenly appeared, illuminating the entire underground. Then, a brilliant stream of water shot onto the rock wall. Under the cutting and grinding of countless water blades, a large hole indeed appeared on the rock face at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming deeper and deeper.

"Stop!" Yu Zhizhuo watched for a while and decisively called for a stop.

Wei Yuan stopped, puzzled. At this time, it had only been the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, and a hole the size of a water vat and half a zhang deep had already appeared on the rock face. On the ground, a layer of extremely fine rock sand had piled up, like green flour.

Yu Zhizhuo said, "Earth overcomes water; water blades cutting rock are ultimately a bit lacking. But water also gives birth to metal. As long as you replace the water blades in your Dao technique with metal blades, the efficiency will greatly increase. I have an improved Metal Blade Art here, which has been improved layer by layer by predecessors through the ages, and now the Dao technique structure is approaching perfection. I will pass this Metal Blade Art to you now; you just need to add it to the Dao technique structure of the Rushing Water Blade Art, and you can add several more."

A moment later, Wei Yuan shot out another stream of water dotted with golden light. The speed of cutting and excavating indeed greatly increased, and he even had the energy to enlarge the hole to make it convenient for cultivators to enter and exit. The hole the size of a water vat could only be crawled into and then crawled out of backward. Now Wei Yuan opened the hole larger, allowing people to crawl on their knees and also turn around in the hole.

Once the exploration hole was opened, the Heavenly Craft Hall cultivators could crawl in and use their spiritual sense to scan the surrounding earth vein structure. Finding the mineral vein and then opening an extraction channel was the basic mode of mineral exploration.

Although the exploration hole was successfully opened, Wei Yuan felt an indescribable depression in his heart, and he didn't know why.

He had nowhere to vent his repression. Suddenly, immortal energy filled the air within several zhang of him, and a stream filled with pale red flower petals shot out, instantly deepening the exploration hole by twenty zhang!

Yu Zhizhuo's eyes lit up, and he almost threw himself at Wei Yuan, praising, "Junior Brother has good methods! Truly the demeanor of an immortal family. Are there any more?"

Wei Yuan was expressionless: "No! Even if there were, I wouldn't use them!"

He had just taken advantage of the Laurel Immortal Tree being off guard to release this stream of water blade art filled with the aura of the immortal tree. At this moment, the Laurel Immortal Tree already felt insulted and was using seven sword energies together to scold Wei Yuan.

But under Yu Zhizhuo's soft and hard tactics, explaining the great righteousness and tempting him with profit, Wei Yuan was still dragged to another mining area. This was a real mineral vein.

That night, the sound of Dao techniques roared all night. Wei Yuan moved thousands of zhang underground, his Jin Guang Water Blade Art specializing in treating all disobedience, chipping off millions of catties of ore, making Yu Zhizhuo exclaim repeatedly that the "student has surpassed the master."

After finishing work, a sensible disciple from the Heavenly Craft Hall brought up a money bag, sweeping away Wei Yuan's fatigue and accumulated depression.

(End of chapter)