Chapter 406: Development Direction

The return journey used Bao family's flying vessel, one of the core family's specialized designs, faster than the one Wei Yuan had rented on his way here, and they sailed without obstruction.

With nothing happening en route, Wei Yuan cultivated inside the vessel, forgetting self and world, and in an instant, half a month passed.

On this day, General Wan Li Heshan suddenly trembled; Wei Yuan awoke and re-sensed Qingming.

With Wei Yuan's return, Qingming rebooted; spiritual energy surged forth in countless streams across General Wan Li Heshan, reviving spiritual plants and greatly accelerating their growth. At this moment, mortals rejoiced, and several thousand wandering souls arrived, passing through the Gates Between Realms to complete reincarnation.

Most of these wandering souls came from refugees, a few from bandits, and a dozen or so who had naturally died of old age within the realm. Before leaving, Wei Yuan had set up a talisman array to temporarily house wandering souls; those with sufficient spiritual essence who refused reincarnation could remain within the array until Wei Yuan returned, when they could reincarnate through the Gates Between Realms.

The Bao family's flying vessel moved with great speed; as it drew nearer to Qingming, the tremors of General Wan Li Heshan grew more pronounced, spiritual springs gushing forth and converging into several small lakes.

The moment the flying vessel landed in Qingming, the sea of spiritual essence within General Wan Li Heshan began to boil; the Qingming Realm Stone shook, and high above, a terrifying colossal entity over a thousand zhang tall faintly materialized, coldly gazing down upon all below.

Countless mortals and cultivators within the realm looked up in awe; some even prostrated themselves. Some experienced cultivators guessed this was a Dharma Form—but none understood how a Dharma Form could be so vast.

This colossal entity was clearly no mortal thing; its form was slender, appearing and vanishing in the air, its body constantly revealing shifting landscapes of mountains, rivers, and streams as it flew and darted through the heavens.

Wei Yuan felt the spiritual essence of General Wan Li Heshan slowly rising, gathering toward the terrifying celestial beast. This beast was far larger than the one that had nearly formed a Dharma Form last time, its aura deeper and more terrifying. If Wei Yuan took just one more step forward, he could form a Dharma Form.

Yet Wei Yuan always felt the spiritual essence of General Wan Li Heshan had not yet reached its most perfect state. He thought once, calming the sea of spiritual essence; the rising essence gradually receded, returning to its original places.

The terrifying celestial beast in the sky was furious—it was the second time Wei Yuan had refused it. It sent a faint, indistinct thought: There will be no third time!

Wei Yuan remained unmoved, continuing to lower the spiritual essence; the colossal beast let out a roar and reluctantly dispersed.

The greatest gain from Wei Yuan's trip to the Bao family was actually these mortals—they were no longer mere decorations within General Wan Li Heshan, but had been organized, capable of genuinely solving problems, and with each successive study, their spiritual essence and knowledge were rapidly rising.

With the guidance and leadership of the girl Yin Yang, the mortals were no longer scattered; instead, centered around her, they began to take on clear, specialized roles, greatly increasing efficiency.

Wei Yuan wanted to wait a little longer, to see what these mortals would ultimately evolve into.

The colossal Dharma Form dissolved, its essence scattering, and instantly a torrential downpour fell across General Wan Li Heshan; both mortals and spiritual plants rejoiced, the spiritual essence slowly but steadily rising.

Wei Yuan stepped down from the flying vessel and first sensed the Qingming realm. His journey had taken one and a half months; in a few days, harvest season would begin, and some fields with richer spiritual energy had already begun early harvesting.

The pool water within the Qingming Realm Stone had grown clearer; the rotting patches were gradually shrinking. The Clear Spirit Trees had rooted firmly and begun normal growth, slowly altering the surrounding environment.

Wei Yuan returned to his residence and began reviewing the accumulated letters and official documents.

The Jin court's rewards arrived belatedly, permitting Wei Yuan to establish two additional frontier garrisons. This reward was meaningless—but Wei Yuan never expected the court to actually provide anything, given the empty treasury and even the Prince of Jin himself living frugally.

Han Yangguan had now been retaken by the Xu family and its garrison rebuilt. But this time, the Xu family's actions were strange: they did not transfer elite troops from elsewhere, only a few hundred officers, then recruited fifty thousand new soldiers locally. It seemed they intended to turn this region into a training base for new troops.

The rest were all routine matters, unnecessary to detail.

After handling the documents, Wei Yuan reviewed the official gazette again. One notice specifically mentioned Ji State: last autumn, Ji State suffered continuous rains, ruining much of the autumn harvest; since this spring, unrest had frequently flared within its borders, and refugees had reappeared in many areas.

Putting down the gazette, Wei Yuan spread out a sheet of paper to write a letter home—but after a moment's thought, he set down his brush and summoned a cultivator, ordering him to travel secretly to Yongzhou and quietly visit his hometown. Whatever he saw, he was not to interfere—only report back.

Immortals and mortals are distinct; for tens of thousands of years, cultivators and mortal families have developed multiple modes of coexistence. Major clans and aristocratic houses follow the model of immortals protecting their bloodline descendants.

Immortal sects like Tai Chu Palace, the Four Sacred Academies, and Jiang Gong follow another model: before reaching a certain realm, they sever ties with mortal families. Each sect has secret methods to cut off disciples' karmic ties with their mortal kin, forbidding interference in the lives of family members until they become True Lords.

Only after becoming a Fenhai Zhenjun are such restrictions lifted. But by then, the cultivator's former family members have long since died; the so-called descendants are all strangers.

As a disciple of Tai Chu Palace, after earning his first merit, Wei Yuan exchanged some elixirs and basic body-cultivation methods for his family—that was the limit; anything more would weaken the efficacy of severing karmic ties.

Such constraints exist only in immortal sects and celestial realms; ordinary sects and wandering cultivators pay little attention to them.

This practice stems from eighty thousand years ago, when a certain Tai Li Tinghai Xianjun emerged among humanity, unmatched in his ruthless methods. Over a century, all other races were driven to terror by his slaughter.

Afterwards, the Witch Clan secretly conspired with human traitors, discovering several unknown bloodline descendants of Tai Li Tinghai Xianjun, using them as a catalyst to launch a karmic curse during his great battle with a powerful enemy—triggering his karmic retribution and causing his immediate death.

Since then, humanity has developed sophisticated methods to sever the karmic bonds between immortals and mortals, preventing others from using mortal bloodlines to curse high-level cultivators.

Thus, Wei Yuan dared not disturb his family further. Only if future generations of his family produce several great cultivators, potentially transforming into an immortal clan, will it be time to rebuild the karmic connection.

After reading the gazette, Wei Yuan began contemplating the future development direction of the realm. Qingming's top priority was naturally the army. With the new gunpowder, firearms had finally become usable—but their cost was immense, and ammunition was the biggest drain.

Add to that full armor for each soldier; calculations showed a standard body-cultivation warrior's equipment cost at least fifty taels of immortal silver, and a single battle often consumed over ten taels in ammunition. Thus, a ten-thousand-man regular force required fifty million taels just for equipment, and with all other miscellaneous expenses, exceeded one hundred million.

Elite troops doubled that cost; elite cavalry cost four times that of elite infantry.

Equipping a grand elite army consumed unimaginable quantities of immortal silver. Wei Yuan had pondered this for a long time, but no matter the approach, he could not escape the two characters: immortal silver. His ideal combat model—high rate of fire, concentrated firepower, wide-area bombardment—was nothing more than burning through immortal silver.

After much thought, Wei Yuan realized he must find a way to earn money.

As he pondered, the flying weasel landed on Wei Yuan's desk and told him he loved this place and intended to explore everywhere. Wei Yuan warned him not to leave the realm, so he could know of any trouble immediately; if idle, he could also help locate mineral veins.

Seeing Wei Yuan plead so earnestly, the flying weasel felt guilty and agreed, then leapt out the window and vanished.

At this moment, Tai Chu Palace sent a letter—written by An Xuan Yue Ancestor. Last time, when three hundred Dao Soldiers were sent to Wei Yuan, he returned over sixty Dao Foundation cultivators, greatly relieving the pressure on An Xuan Yue's assigned defense zone; An Xuan Yue was delighted. Upon hearing this, Huang Yun True Person immediately dispatched three thousand Dao Soldiers to Qingming and promised to gift An Xuan Yue's Tian Qing Hall thirty percent upon success.

An Xuan Yue readily agreed and assigned the task to Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan calculated the dates: the three thousand Dao Soldiers would arrive in about ten days, and he regretted they would miss the harvest season, unable to experience the subtle cultivation benefits of refining their hearts among the fields and villages.

!.

Wei Yuan reopened the map, preparing to survey nearby areas for potential battles. But since capturing Han Yangguan, nearby officials had all become obedient, showing no signs of provocation, leaving Wei Yuan with a mighty army but no battlefield.

If all else failed, he could send these Dao Soldiers to mine shafts to refine their hearts. Each man polishing several thousand jin of ore daily, in a month, Wei Yuan's own heart realm would likely ascend another tier.

As he pondered, a sudden storm of magical power erupted into the sky from afar!

This was a Dharma Form cultivator in fierce combat—the battle was so intense it startled Wei Yuan! There were only a few Dharma Form cultivators in the realm—had an enemy infiltrated?

Wei Yuan's figure flickered repeatedly, arriving at the battlefield in an instant. A thousand-zhang storm of magical power hovered over a hundred zhang above ground; within it, shadowy figures darted like lightning, fighting fiercely—so fiercely that even Wei Yuan's keen eyes could not discern who was battling.

At this moment, Wei Yuan noticed the old Daoist Master Chuhe standing nearby. The old man's face was pale, his robe torn, his magic sword reduced to a half-hilt.

Wei Yuan hurried over and asked: "Who is fighting?"

Master Master Chuhe replied: "A weasel suddenly appeared—I went to speak with it, but it started fighting with a cat, then a snake joined in."

Wei Yuan was startled and looked closer—indeed, three spiritual beasts were battling within the storm. He immediately sent a mental command; after a brief pause, they ceased fighting.

The flying weasel flashed into place on Wei Yuan's shoulder; the cat leapt into his arms.

Both were astonished by each other's positions, then simultaneously bristled and resumed fighting, sending a sudden surge of magical power that flung Wei Yuan backward.

Wei Yuan sent another stern mental command; reluctantly, the cat and weasel separated. The snake coiled in midair, watching the flying weasel warily, its scales raised, several deep wounds visible. The cat continuously spat out fur, but more fur floated in the air than remained on its body, and blood spots marked its fur.

In comparison, the flying weasel had only minor injuries.

As Wei Yuan listened to Master Master Chuhe's account, he also heard each beast's version of events, gradually piecing together what had happened.

The incident began when Master Master Chuhe encountered the flying weasel and, struck by admiration, sought to subdue it.

"Hmm… he wants another two-legged servant…" Wei Yuan silently reconstructed the truth in his mind.

The flying weasel already had Wei Yuan as his two-legged servant; another servant meant more trouble, so he ignored the old man's desperate pleas.

But the cat could not bear it—unable to understand why the old man showed such devotion to any other spiritual beast besides himself. Though the two beasts could not speak each other's language, their meanings were clear, and their innate mutual dislike ignited instantly into combat.

Wei Yuan realized he must accelerate the development of spiritual beast language. He planned to spend the coming period communicating more with the cat, flying weasel, and snake, gathering more data samples for General Wan Li Heshan's mortals—only then could progress accelerate.

Suddenly, a stir arose within General Wan Li Heshan; Wei Yuan's spiritual sense swept through and saw a group of mortals gathered in a courtyard, cheerfully hanging a plaque above the main hall, its characters bold, powerful, and majestic:

Institute of the Primordial Beginning of Heaven and Earth!

(End of Chapter)