Chapter 276: Someone in the Court

Three months had passed since Qingming was established, and Wei Yuan began to take stock of the surrounding situation.

The Northwest Shaman City was severely damaged, with six or seven out of ten residents gone and three or four out of ten ordinary soldiers lost; it was currently undergoing difficult reconstruction, and massive amounts of supplies and large batches of civilian soldiers arrived every day. Reconstruction would still take some time, and Wei Yuan intended to let them build for now.

In the East and South, Western Jin had set up a series of military fortresses, but they were all in name only.

This was different from the North; the northern fortresses were mostly mutually supportive with cities, while the areas around Qingming were originally abandoned lands, and the fortresses were at considerable distances from each other. Fighting them basically meant fighting each one individually, making them very easy to break one by one.

When Yuan Qingyan originally laid out this 'One-Line Long Snake' formation, he actually had some thoughts in mind; he was betting that Wei Yuan would not dare to openly attack the fortresses, as that would be rebellion. Therefore, he only sent a little over a thousand men to each fortress, and he felt very reassured, even fearing that Wei Yuan wouldn't come to attack.

But Yuan Qingyan did not expect Wei Yuan to be so daring, directly putting on the skin of horse bandits and openly raiding the fortresses several times, now making the army panic. His own trusted aide Li Shuangchen, whom he had planted in the army, was directly killed in battle, and the horse bandits even released word that whoever died loyally for him would be sent to their deaths.

After several blows, Wei Yuan believed that Yuan Qingyan could no longer stir up any tricks. As long as Yue Jinshan's main force did not move, he had no strength to harass the domain.

As for Western Jin going all out to crusade? Wei Yuan now had someone in the imperial court after all!

Now that the surroundings of Qingming were stable, Wei Yuan reorganized his team, preparing to explore the Cave Heaven fragments. During this time, Wei Yuan had already collected all the relevant information he could find.

However, noble Cave Heavens were different from sect Cave Heavens, often kept secret and not publicized. Wei Yuan could not find much information, only knowing that this Cave Heaven was highly valued at the time, was large in scale, and connected the Mind-Reflection Worlds of three True Lords of Yu Jing.

The Shaman Yu tribe seemed to know something, shattering this Cave Heaven at any cost, and then it became quiet. Before the Cave Heaven crashed, the Xu family should have already moved away all important items, so they didn't pay attention to the Cave Heaven fragments afterwards.

Shattered Cave Heavens were originally extremely dangerous, yet the opportunities inside were pitifully few, so Wei Yuan had no interest in them; only some wandering cultivators driven mad by poverty liked to explore such areas, hoping to pick up things that leaked through the fingers of large sects.

But it was different now; things that could make the old Daoist Chuhe smell a scent were naturally self-evidently valuable.

The Cave Heaven fragments were not far from the domain. When the Domain Master went out to explore, the formation was naturally different from that of wandering cultivators. Wei Yuan sent hundreds of people to build a small road ahead, and then the exploration team officially set off.

For this exploration of the Cave Heaven fragments, to ensure everything was foolproof, Wei Yuan brought a thousand warriors and a hundred Dao Foundation cultivators, preparing to build a large camp outside the Cave Heaven to serve as support, rest, and resupply. According to the records, this Cave Heaven fragment should not be small, perhaps a hundred miles in radius.

After all preparations were ready, Wei Yuan asked Ji Liuli to choose an auspicious time, and they set off for the Cave Heaven fragments.

The journey was uneventful, and they successfully arrived at the entrance of the Cave Heaven.

The entrance to the Cave Heaven was located in a small valley. As soon as they entered the valley, Wei Yuan felt a gust of cold wind blowing in his face. The valley was gloomy, much colder than outside the valley. Outside the valley, it was like summer all year round, while inside the valley, it was like late autumn.

The trees, flowers, and grass in the valley had undergone obvious mutations; many trees had withered leaves, twisted branches, and grew long thorns, just like cacti. The flower colors were gorgeous and eerie, and the grass grew extremely lush. Occasionally, small beasts like fawns and rabbits would enter, only to be cut to pieces, bleeding profusely, falling to the ground exhausted, and slowly being wrapped and covered by the surrounding grass and leaves.

Seeing such eerie grass, Wei Yuan's heart stirred, and then he shook his head. This kind of grass was fine for dealing with ordinary beasts, but the Shaman tribe's elite troops had steel boots covering their feet and would not be hurt.

The old Daoist Chuhe did have several powerful demon plants in his hands, but they were too powerful, and even the old Daoist Chuhe couldn't control them. Once planted, no one knew what they would become under the 'Jia Wood Life Profound' force. Wei Yuan was not yet at a desperate situation and didn't want to take this risk.

The wild grass hunted small beasts, but there were also rabbits whose size had increased several times, with dark gray fur and blood-red eyes, chewing on the giant grass that was like blades without any effort. They quite had the style of rabbits blessed by 'Momentary Sentience'.

Seeing the valley environment, Wei Yuan ordered them to camp at the valley entrance. Everyone unloaded the iron plates that had already been cut from the carts, felled trees to build walls around, and then nailed the iron plates to the wooden walls for defense.

While establishing the camp, Wei Yuan and the cultivators of the Tai Chu Palace went deep into the valley to explore the entrance.

There was a small lake in the valley, and the Cave Heaven entrance was at the bottom of the lake, shaped like a swaying shadow. Everyone did not rush in; the old Daoist Chuhe first sent a spirit snake into the water to enter the Cave Heaven to explore. A moment later, the spirit snake returned, and the old Daoist said, "There is no danger at the entrance, but some places are unstable, revealing a bit of the void, so we need to be careful."

Ji Liuli set up a formation on the spot to stabilize the entrance, while Wei Yuan summoned dozens of Dao Foundation cultivators to directly dig a canal by the small lake, diverting the lake water to the low-lying area nearby.

This kind of major project that would take ordinary people several months was completed in less than half a day in the hands of many Dao Foundation cultivators.

By the time all preparations were finished, it was already late at night. Wei Yuan was not in a hurry, ordering everyone to rest for the night, and when the sun rose, everyone would be refreshed and then explore. In addition to the normal preparations, Wei Yuan also casually set up a 'Qi Luck Fishing' formation, using the energy of the Cave Heaven fragments to see if he could lure something out.

As the sky just began to brighten, Wei Yuan finished his breakfast calmly, when suddenly he felt something in his heart, and he saw a powerful aura flying rapidly from the East.

Was there really a fish on the hook?

Wei Yuan sighed inwardly that the fishing formation passed down by the Tinghai Xianjun was easy to use. Although the formation disk made by the Tinghai Xianjun had exhausted its magic power, Wei Yuan now had more than one kind of immortal spirit aura of the same status in his hands, and setting up a fishing formation had equally outstanding effects.

The visitor was an old man in green Confucian robes, with a refined face, but his eye corners drooped slightly, and at a glance, he was a stern person. He shouted from afar, "This is the land of my Xu family; who dares to trespass?"

This shout echoed far away, shaking Heaven and Earth; in terms of deep magic power, it was even above the old Daoist Chuhe. It was just that the old Daoist Chuhe still had to count a snake and a cat when fighting, so he rarely had opponents.

In the blink of an eye, the old man flew to the sky above the valley and saw the large camp already set up at the valley entrance, and he was also stunned, as if he hadn't expected such a large formation to be made.

In the camp below, Wei Yuan pushed Cui Yu. Cui Yu stepped forward and said loudly, "Old man, looking at your mediocre cultivation and your age, you must be very tired after traveling for so long, right?"

The old man was stunned, then his face gradually turned green, barely suppressing his anger, and said, "This old man is the Xu..."

Cui Yu interrupted him: "I know your surname is Xu, that's enough; no one cares what your name is. Oh, you want to say something, right? Then say it, be concise."

!.

The old man's eyebrows stood up, and he said angrily, "Ignorant child, only relying on the sharpness of your tongue! This old man..."

Wei Yuan interrupted his words, turned around and greeted, "Let's go, set off!"

The old man surnamed Xu was furious, directly blocking the front, and said gloomily, "This place is the Cave Heaven crash site of my Xu family; everything belongs to my Xu family! It is not something you petty people can covet; all of you get out!"

The last word 'get out' was like thunder, shaking those with weak cultivation until their brains were dizzy.

Wei Yuan sneered: "Your Xu family couldn't hold this place and long ago threw it to the Shaman tribe; how do you have the face to say it's Xu family land?"

The old man's face sank, and he said, "This place is surnamed Xu for one day, and it will be surnamed Xu for ten thousand generations hereafter. Even if my Xu family can't hold it for a moment, you can't touch it! What, are you unconvinced?"

Wei Yuan suddenly smiled and said, "Convinced, how could I not be?" But a halo of light in his hand was slowly lighting up, slowly spreading.

The old man's eyes tightened, and he was instantly attracted by the halo in Wei Yuan's hand. He could never have imagined that a mere Dao Foundation cultivator could cast a Dao technique that made him feel terrified.

His attention was entirely attracted by Wei Yuan, and he didn't notice a bed crossbow being pushed out in the camp. Cui Yu operated it himself, aiming at the old man, and stepped heavily on the mechanism!

The giant arrow was like lightning, instantly reaching the old man!

The old man surnamed Xu was startled, moved sideways slightly, and dodged the arrow. He retreated like the wind, clearly having some ability.

But just as the giant arrow brushed past him, Cui Yu clenched his fist, and the giant arrow suddenly exploded. The old man surnamed Xu was caught off guard, directly blown away, and countless fragments cut his whole body until he was bleeding profusely.

The old man was both shocked and angry. In the blink of an eye, he discovered that Wei Yuan had already dodged far away. Just as he secretly called out 'not good', his spiritual sense felt a sharp pain, almost making him fall to the ground headfirst. He had no choice but to activate his life-saving means, his figure constantly flickering, each flicker being several miles away, and in an instant, he fled a thousand miles away, making Wei Yuan unable to catch up.

Cui Yu's face was full of joy; although five points of Heavenly Merit were not much, it was a start.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 277 =====