Chapter 259: The True Brave

Yuan Yuan Qingyan paced like an ant on a hot pan, unable to find a solution, while inside the study, General Xu sat beside the tea table, calmly sipping his tea.

"General Xu, it's not that I refuse to help—it's that Li… Li Yuan Daoren keeps evading me and won't release the grain. Could we just hold on a few more days?"

General Xu set down his teacup and said, "Do you think they refuse to give it, or simply cannot?"

Yuan Yuan Qingyan's heart tightened—he dared not speak carelessly—so he replied, "I don't know."

General Xu slowly placed his teacup down. "Soldiers can't fight without meat, let alone that this month's pay is already two days late. Yuan Yuan Daoren, Wei Yuan just seized several thousand men into the domain—all strong, hardened bodies. If two months pass and they become his, you'll have no excuse."

Yuan Yuan Qingyan gritted his teeth. "They're already short on grain—how dare they seize so many? I'm certain he'll run out in three days at most! It's just that my fellow officials don't want me to succeed, so they're deliberately sabotaging me."

General Xu immediately said, "Yuan Yuan Daoren, remove that 'they.' I'm not one of them."

Hatred flashed in Yuan Yuan Qingyan's eyes, but he could not lash out. Without military grain, every general and captain had begun to grumble; their attitudes were no longer as respectful as before. This Xu, however, remained consistently sarcastic—never had he shifted from arrogance to flattery.

The Xu general rose, one foot already across the study's threshold, yet turned back one last time. "Yuan Yuan Daoren, if I were running out of grain, I wouldn't be seizing men right now."

Yuan Yuan Qingyan calmed down. "Thank you for the warning, General Xu. I'm waiting for intelligence reports—they'll arrive in three days."

General Xu said nothing more and pushed open the door, leaving.

Many were waiting for Wei Yuan to run out of grain—while Wei Yuan waited for his harvest.

After driving the several thousand back into the domain came a mountain of tasks. These six thousand were all muscle-bound, over half had fused blood, and three hundred had fully forged their bodies. All had undergone systematic training, especially the three thousand under Wang Wang Ziyan, who were all cavalry. Naturally, Wei Yuan acquired three thousand warhorses, instantly doubling the domain's total.

When people arrived in the domain, the first thing was to crush their hopes.

Wei Yuan first promised them freedom after three years—then they could stay, leave, or even bring their families. But until the three years passed, no one could depart.

Three years applied only if they joined the army. Those unwilling to serve must wait eight years to redeem themselves.

As for enforcement, it was nothing more than a single potion. Once drunk, each person must take an antidote monthly—or die a horrific death. The potion came from Sun Yu—reliable.

All the captives who came to the domain had already accepted their fate, so there was little unrest. Then came enrollment, registration, and the careful selection of special talents.

These were tedious tasks, yet vital. Wei Yuan handled them all personally, and only when he finally finished did he realize three days had passed.

Time slipped away in the rush—until someone reported: the domain's grain had ripened!

This batch was mundane grain: five thousand mu, each yielding over two hundred jin. The Plowman True Person had surveyed the fields and confirmed residual witch-domain toxins lingered in the earth—this first harvest could only yield so much. After several cycles, once the land fully matured, yields could double again.

But this harvest alone totaled one million jin. Another fifteen thousand mu would soon ripen—another three million jin in ten days.

When this field matured, it released vast amounts of spiritual energy, saving Wei Yuan a month of arduous cultivation. He now understood: farming yielded spiritual energy twice—once as a steady trickle, once as a single surge at harvest. The total was nearly equal.

Seeing the grain gathered, Wei Yuan finally exhaled—the heavy stone on his chest had been lifted.

Everyone involved in the harvest smiled from the heart—grain was always first. With grain, heaven regained color.

The first harvest granted Wei Yuan two thousand destiny threads, five hundred of them advancement threads. From his understanding of destiny, this was nearly worshiping him as a god. If he now switched to a deity path, he could directly reach Yu Jing. But divine favor came fast and vanished faster—if his followers abandoned him, even a Yu Jing True Lord would be cast down.

As for great destiny, it only manifested after forming the Primordial Spirit. Ordinary people's limit was advancement destiny. Rarely, destiny might spontaneously coalesce—but it was exceedingly uncommon.

Watching the laborers in the fields, Wei Yuan felt their genuine joy. All the fields shimmered like golden oceans, waves rippling, illuminating the entire domain.

At that moment, Cui Yu soared into the sky, shouting for those who finished harvesting to hurry to the adjacent fields. He had already led teams to clear new land—now, the harvested grain, after Daoist processing, could become seed and be planted immediately.

Having endured days of counting grains, Cui Yu refused to wait even a single day. Several disciples of the Plowman True Person began processing seeds on the spot, while Cui Yu led others to plant.

Cui Yu's heart was darker than Wei Yuan's—he had opened ten thousand mu of new land at once. During the initial reclamation, they worked day and night, pushing the forging progress of tens of thousands forward significantly.

Originally, this task should have fallen to Xiang Xiang Xiaoyu, but he had been away for some time, and all duties were divided among several. Cui Yu took on most of them. Surprisingly, Wang Yu took the remainder. He was initially awkward, but under Cui Yu's careful guidance, he improved rapidly.

Wang Yu usually accompanied Wei Yuan on campaigns, and whenever he had free time, he helped Cui Yu manage the common people—without neglecting either. But this meant he lived like a hermit, with almost no time left for cultivation.

Wei Yuan did not interfere much, letting them act as they saw fit.

Yet this field matured far earlier than expected, and the remaining ripening progressed faster than predicted. Wei Yuan inspected the land and his Primordial Spirit, finally realizing that since the Yin-Yang foundation emerged, the ten-thousand-li landscape had resonated, slowly enhancing its spiritual nature. Qingming was also affected—the Jia Wood's mysterious force strengthened, accelerating the growth of all spiritual plants in the domain.

Wei Yuan felt more concern than joy. The Yin-Yang foundation's rank was too high—he didn't even know if it truly belonged to him. He had suffered for years under the ten-thousand-li landscape; now, after much struggle, he had finally found direction, and everything had just begun to stabilize. He feared any new variable.

!

At that moment, the Marquis Xiang's envoy arrived, inviting Wei Yuan to meet in a remote, abandoned temple in northern Bianning County in seven days—there lay the opportunity.

The entire shattered domain's map was in Wei Yuan's mind; he had walked over half of it. But in memory, northern Bianning County was a range of sheer peaks—utterly uninhabited. Who would build a temple there?

Yet there was still time, so Wei Yuan waited a few more days—until he received his new spear, then departed.

To meet the Marquis Xiang, Wei Yuan took no more than two companions: his Master and his Senior Sister.

The meeting site was roughly four thousand li from the domain—far beyond the Immortal Sword prohibition. In Wei Yuan's estimation, given his Master's repressed nature, after so long holding back his sword qi, its release would shake heaven and earth.

As for the new spear, it was forged over three days and nights through the joint efforts of Yu Yu Zhizhuo and Sun Yu, with Xu Xu Wenwu offering advice and refining the design throughout. After completion, Xu Xu Wenwu slept with it all night—so close to the legend of the master sacrificing himself into the furnace.

Fortunately, Xu Xu Wenwu was unlearned, but Yu Yu Zhizhuo and Sun Yu were not. Sacrificing oneself into the furnace added impurities and little else—perhaps a trace of carbon, but the ratio was uncontrollable, better left out.

So Xu Xu Wenwu instead slept beside the divine weapon for one night, fulfilling the ritual. Yu Yu Zhizhuo and Sun Yu had thought him merely clowning—until the next morning, when the spear truly gained strange powers! The two senior cultivators of Tai Chu Palace were stunned, baffled, and returned home to study feng shui and destiny—later events.

Besides these strange powers, Sun Yu said the spear contained the next-generation version of the Soul-Eroding Demon Incense, called the Fusion-Demon, Annihilate-Spirit Incense. Sun Yu warned repeatedly: once fired, this spear created an unbreakable, irrevocable mortal enmity.

Wei Yuan understood—cutting off someone's Dao path was far crueler than blocking their wealth.

Thus, Wei Yuan set out with the two companions and the spear.

He felt himself brave—unafraid of death.

(End of Chapter)