Chapter 827: One-Upmanship

Xiang Little Wei Yuan's deduction of the third orbit proceeded with great difficulty, repeatedly interrupted by important official duties—each of which, upon seeing, made him laugh so hard he couldn't stop, his Dao heart wavering.

With the first batch of research funding disbursed, project proposals began arriving in succession. Of the forty-plus projects submitted, fully half concerned various template Dao bases, deeply pleasing Xiang Little Wei Yuan.

It seemed those who became Academicians were no ordinary folk, especially those outside the Tai Chu Palace: their proposals were either entirely new template Dao bases or deep explorations of existing ones; only one submission was an elixir project—capable of increasing the breakthrough probability of all Wood-element template Dao bases.

One project caught Xiang Little Wei Yuan's eye. It determined the suitable template Dao base for Foundation Establishment cultivators through resume reviews and questionnaires. The questionnaire contained hundreds of questions, many seemingly unrelated to cultivation, yet revealing inner personality traits.

According to this researcher, a mortal's personality significantly affects the success rate of forming a Dao base; cultivating a Dao base aligned with one's nature could raise success rates by one to three tenths. After narrowing the template Dao base range via questionnaire, specific arrays could then detect physical constitution and bone structure to identify the optimal match.

This project itself had extremely low cost and was especially suited for large-scale deployment.

During the last Dao Base Ceremony, Foundation Establishment cultivators mostly selected their own Dao bases, with mentors providing only reference. After the ceremony began, Xiang Little Wei Yuan was already overwhelmed just by boosting fortune and activating the Instant All-Beings technique—there was no opportunity for on-site guidance.

To address this, Qing Ming mobilized over a thousand cultivators for on-site guidance, yet still struggled. Many only realized too late that their chosen Dao base was unsuited to them, ending in regretful failure—wasting their own silver taels, Xiang Little Wei Yuan's fortune, and Qing Ming's nurturing.

With this project, Foundation Establishment cultivators would no longer self-select their Dao bases but be assigned by Qing Ming; the probability of successfully forming a Dao base would visibly soar.

Since this year's Dao Base Ceremony had not yet been held, Xiang Little Wei Yuan immediately approved the project, ordered Renjian Renjian Yanhuo to refine it, and planned to test all participating cultivators before the ceremony.

Among the newly submitted template Dao bases, Xiang Xiang Xiaoyu's Gui Xu Yin Yun Ji Wu Chang Sheng Can Huo Jian stood far above the rest. This template's power surpassed Great Radiance Subjugation Sword, had a lower threshold than Mingguang Sword, produced heat without light, had broad applications, concentrated power, and remarkably efficient spiritual energy utilization—in Xiang Little Wei Yuan's eyes, it had virtually no flaws.

The two First Academicians did not disappoint. Master Chuhe True Person submitted a comprehensive plan to improve rice varieties, totaling over thirty types—from common human refined rice to the pearl rice reserved for Immortal Chickens. Since the Immortal Chickens took residence in the Medicinal Garden, the old Daoist had been fixated on rice. After these improvements, rice yields per mu would increase by one to five tenths, further worsening Qing Ming's food crisis.

Qing Ming was indeed in a kind of food crisis. With thirty million people under its control, and following the most basic six-crop-per-year rotation with one season of rest, only ten million mu of farmland were needed.

But Master Chuhe True Person had tirelessly expanded farmland for years, and refugees showed extraordinary enthusiasm for land reclamation—so Qing Ming now cultivated thirty million mu. Combined with steadily rising yields, it could now fully feed one hundred million mortals.

The problem now was the sheer surplus: so much food that even converting it to pork-rat meat failed. Qing Ming's mortals had only eaten meat for less than three years, and many already felt nauseated at the sight of pork-rat meat.

A new issue surfaced: surrounding regions simply could not consume this much grain!

Under Qing Ming's cheap grain, the eight commanderies of Ningxi faced starvation; silk and cotton prices remained high, so farmers switched to mulberry and hemp cultivation—grain fields now covered less than a third of their former area.

Even so, the eight commanderies could absorb only a drop in the ocean; even with grain shipped to Zhao Guo via the Bi Shui Realm, the surplus remained unconsumed.

Eventually, a craftsman invented canned rice meals—each sealed in iron barrels weighing two to three hundred jin. These could be stored for years, finally solving preservation and transport issues.

Master Chuhe's rice improvements meant grain overflowed even more—but this was undeniably a vital move to strengthen Qing Ming's foundation, and Xiang Little Wei Yuan fully supported it. He immediately approved a grant of one hundred thousand Qing Yuan for the old Daoist's initial use.

Then came Feng Feng Tingyu's project: Systematic Iterative Improvement Plan for Template Dao Bases. The name alone suggested a mastermind's hand—it certainly hadn't been called that originally.

The project's content was simple: minor tweaks to existing template Dao bases, plus a roadmap for future iterations. It required numerous fully cultivated Foundation Establishment cultivators to conduct experiments, record data, and verify hypotheses. Funding was primarily for recruiting experimental cultivators and subsidizing their Dao Base Ceremony participation.

Though each improvement was minor, the sheer number—over seven hundred—demanded over two thousand cultivators. At three hundred Qing Yuan per person, funding requested reached over six hundred thousand, fully demonstrating the First Academician's weight in scale and expenditure.

In contrast, Ji Ji Liuli's project requested only fifty thousand—pale by comparison.

Seeing this project, Xiang Little Wei Yuan could almost picture how Feng Feng Tingyu had assembled it: her entire being in motion, brainstorming here and there, assigning more work to those with greater substance and less to those with less, ultimately producing this vast, chaotic project—so quintessentially Feng Feng Tingyu.

Seeing these projects, Xiang Little Wei Yuan was delighted, and promptly invited all halls of Tai Chu Palace and allied noble families, while launching a major recruitment drive among lone cultivators to join the ceremony.

Despite the Wu Clan army pressing near, cultivators flooded into Qing Ming like a tide, drawn by the Dao path—hundreds arrived daily.

At this moment, Feng Feng Chutang finally had her house arrest lifted, left the northern Shanmen, and returned to Qing Ming. Xiang Little Wei Yuan was delighted by her return and hosted a banquet to welcome her. As the feast began, Xiang Xiang Xiaoyu arrived uninvited—Xiang Little Wei Yuan warmly welcomed her and ushered her to a seat. They were both Feng Feng Chutang's disciples; honoring their master was only proper.

But after Xiang Xiang Xiaoyu sat down, the atmosphere grew strange. As they conversed, Feng Feng Chutang suddenly declared she would test Xiang Xiang Xiaoyu's cultivation—then a speck of frosty killing intent shot from her eyes, piercing Xiang Xiang Xiaoyu's third eye!

Above Xiang Xiang Xiaoyu's head rose a miniature sun, no larger than a washbasin; before it stood a tiny Lesser Yang Star Lord, less than three inches tall, who slashed the frost with a single sword.

Feng Feng Chutang remained seated, unmoving; above her head appeared a Ming Dragon, its coiled body larger than the red sun. Around the dragon lay ruins and rubble, saturated with the true meanings of Ming and stillness.

Both manifestations occupied the main hall of Xiang Little Wei Yuan's residence, kept extremely small. Such duels had rules: usually scaled to one thirty-sixth of normal size, sometimes one seventy-second, to align with heavenly and earthly numbers.

The Ming Dragon's rank equaled the sun; its realm's true meaning of Ming and stillness slightly fell short of the Lesser Yang Star Lord's, but its area was far greater. If both cultivators' bases were equal, the Lesser Yang Star Lord would have the advantage—but Feng Feng Chutang's cultivation was far deeper than Xiang Xiang Xiaoyu's, on the verge of entering the Mind-Phase realm. At this moment, Xiang Xiang Xiaoyu had no chance of victory.

Their sudden clash before Xiang Little Wei Yuan startled him. Then he sharply sensed a third spiritual force in the room—extremely hidden and obscure, nearly undetectable even within Wu Shuang Dao Domain.

A wind suddenly stirred within Feng Feng Chutang's ruin manifestation; the Ming Dragon lifted its head, gazing toward the corner.

There had been nothing—yet under the Ming Dragon's gaze, a slender figure emerged. Behind Bao Yun bowed and said: "Greetings, Master! Forgive me, I merely wished to test your new manifestation. Does your manifestation possess the ability to see through illusions?"

Feng Feng Chutang replied: "Not to see through illusions, but to sense hostility. No need to harbor killing intent—any thought of opposing me will trigger the Ming Dragon's awareness."

Xiang Little Wei Yuan immediately rose and called to Behind Bao Yun: "Perfect timing—come, eat while it's hot!"

Otherwise, Feng Feng Chutang had just returned to Qing Ming, and Behind Bao Yun and Xiang Xiang Xiaoyu had already shown up to spar—disrespectful to their elder, indeed.

But in the cultivation world, the rule is: within a hundred years of each other, cultivators of the same major realm belong to the same generation—hence the saying "one generation per century." By this tradition, Feng Feng Chutang, Zhang Sheng, Xiang Little Wei Yuan, and Behind Bao Yun should all be considered one generation.

Feng Feng Chutang didn't mind, chuckling: "The young are formidable. In a few years, I won't be able to beat Bao Ya."

Behind Bao Yun said: "Even after a thousand years, I'll still be your student."

Feng Feng Chutang laughed heartily: "With students like you, every teacher in the world would envy me."

He stopped laughing, turned to Xiang Little Wei Yuan, and said seriously: "My second reason for returning is that I heard the Dao Base Ceremony is restarting. I've designed several template Dao bases and had my father refine them—they can be added to the template library for others to choose."

This was excellent news; Xiang Little Wei Yuan quickly thanked him. Templates refined by Feng Feng Yuanzhen Jun were bound to be extraordinary.

Then Feng Feng Chutang said seriously: "Second matter: has your list of Academicians been expanded?"

Expanded? Xiang Little Wei Yuan was baffled. They'd just been selected three months ago—the novelty hadn't even worn off yet. Why expand already?

Xiang Little Wei Yuan caught Behind Bao Yun's gaze—she was watching him intently—and understood. "You're asking about expansion too?"

Behind Bao Yun nodded immediately: "I just closed a minor meditation. When I emerged, not only had you established two academies, but you'd already chosen all the Academicians! You don't want to play with me anymore, do you? Men are like this—once…"

Xiang Little Wei Yuan quickly interrupted: "How about we create some Honorary Academicians? One each for you two?"

Behind Bao Yun and Feng Feng Chutang both shook their heads: "No!"

(End of Chapter)