Dragon Canon

With Cui Yu and Cui Luoyu around, the spoiled scions of the Cui Clan didn’t dare stir up any more trouble despite there being several hundred of them. There was an art to being a spoiled scion in peace—such as knowing exactly who they could provoke and who to avoid—and even the most reckless ones knew better than to cross these two.

The disciples from the Skyblue Hall and the Water Moon Hall had also come to pay their respects to Wei Yuan. There were thirteen of them in total: six from the Skyblue Hall and seven from the Water Moon Hall. Wei Yuan exchanged pleasantries with them for a few moments before asking them about the conflict.

Originally, only six disciples were supposed to come to the western regions for training. However, that number had later increased to nine. The two Truemen had prepared their travel funds based on that number. However, just before departure, recalling the terrifying amount of Heaven Merits Wei Yuan had accrued in the region, the two Truemen changed their minds at the last second and included another two prodigious disciples they were grooming as future pillars of the sect into the group.

As a result of the impromptu decision, the group was short of funds even for the ship fare. Fortunately, the Cui Clan decided to be generous and waived the ship fare for the two prodigious disciples. But now, it was the Skyblue Hall Trueman who was embarrassed, feeling like he had taken advantage of the Cui Clan. So, he voluntarily offered to forgo the meals. In truth, the Cui Clan hadn’t even considered listing meals as a separate item on the ticket price.

There were two reasons why the two Truemen were bringing so many disciples to train in Qingming. One, it was because it was far safer than the northern regions. Two, it was because they hoped that their disciples could earn a small share of Heaven Merits—even just a couple points would be incredibly beneficial and could be exchanged for a lot of things.

Every point of Heaven Merit could be exchanged for a great deal. For the scions of prominent families like Cui Yu, Heaven Merit was a badge of honor and a title to adorn their status. But for the disciples of the Skyblue Hall, three Heaven Merits were a lifeline, and ten Heaven Merits were enough to set them on the path to success.

Wei Yuan scanned the group one by one. The lead disciple of the Skyblue Hall was named Ren Suxing. He was already in his thirties. In fact, he was three generations[1] senior to Wei Yuan and only one generation behind Zhang Sheng.

There weren’t many disciples in either the Skyblue Hall or the Water Moon Hall. That was why Wei Yuan had heard of Ren Suxing and easily recalled his profile.

Ren Suxing was currently at the late-stage of the Dao Foundation stage, and his Dao Foundation was a Heaven-tier Immortal Sword. Therefore, it wasn’t impossible for him to become an Avatar. However, it was clearly going to be a difficult task. He had been stuck at the late-stage for three years already, and heavens only knew how much longer he would remain there.

Technically, Zhang Sheng had been in the late-stage of the Dao Foundation stage for a long time as well. However, Zhang Sheng and Ren Suxing were not the same. Zhang Sheng’s ambitions were taller than the sky itself. The reason he refused to become an Avatar in the first place was because he desired to perfect his four immortal swords, and now he was seeking to perfect the sword array that accommodated them. Everyone knew that Zhang Sheng would soar to new heights the moment he became an Avatar, and his progress would be no slower than anyone else’s.

Ji Liuli was much the same. For countless years, her cultivation had made no headway whatsoever. She had focused all of her efforts in mending her Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda. As a result, the pagoda kept becoming more and more mystical and unfathomable, with no end in sight.

Ironically, the two peerless prodigies’ tireless work in refining their Dao Foundations ended up leading those who came after astray. Countless cultivators from their cohort and even those from the preceding and succeeding generations began emulating their examples and focused on refining their Dao Foundations in pursuit of a flawless ascension. In the end, the seniors in the sect could no longer stand by and watch and stepped in, teaching them exactly what it meant to be inferior from birth. Only then did some of them attempt to ascend and add a few more Avatars to the Palace of Absolute Beginning.

To Ren Suxing’s credit, his immortal sword—Sudden Rain—radiated a treasure glow and looked a lot more impressive than the original. If the Heaven-tier was split into nine grades, then one might say that he had successfully upgraded it from the eighth grade to the seventh grade. His chances of attaining an Avatar had also increased from 10% to 12%, a feat that had taken him a full three years.

Another person Wei Yuan noticed was a girl from the Water Moon Hall. She was clearly still growing and two years younger than himself. She was a prodigious disciple of the next generation, and her name was Fei Yutong. She gave off an impression of extraordinary purity and fragility, with a touch of delicate beauty. Her complexion already bore the luminous radiance of lunar essence.

Fei Yutong came from a mid-tier noble clan. Her family had nurtured her with secret techniques until she was ten before finally allowing her to participate in the immortal sect unified exam. Her cultivation progressed rapidly after she joined the Palace, and she had already reached the middle-stage of the Dao Foundation stage two years ago.

After the brief chat, Wei Yuan declared, “Let’s eat first!” He then ordered the men to take his fellow disciples—who had gone without food for three or four days—away to eat.

While settling the Cui clansmen in, Wei Yuan abruptly realized that there were actually three Avatar Truemen aboard the flying ship. However, none of them were willing to disembark, insisting that everything should be settled on board and that they would leave once all the supplies had been unloaded.

Wei Yuan understood this was the Cui Clan’s way of avoiding appearance of impropriety. Last time, they had visited in a smaller ship with a smaller group of people, so it didn’t matter. But this time, the ship, the people, and even the supplies they had brought into Qingming were on a different scale. Thus, the situation was different. If the Avatar Truemen were to show their faces as well, then it would be a direct slap in the face of the Xu Clan.

In fact, this batch from the Cui Clan should have arrived a long time ago. As with most situations, things are complicated when there is a large group of people. Countless people tried to join the group right up until the moment of departure, leading to all sorts of requests and gift-giving. A small number of people were also scared off by the high mortality rate from the previous batch and backed out at the last minute. As a result, the departure was postponed for nearly a month, and the number of passengers had swelled from the original 200 to 370.

This time, the Cui Clan had brought 20 300-year-old Five Phases Spirit Ginsengs. A middle grade spirit plant, every year of its age added roughly one tael of immortal silver to its value. It had a wide range of uses and was essential for balancing the properties of primary ingredients in many elixirs.

This batch of Five Phases Spirit Ginsengs was a payment in advance. In other words, it was a gift that hit Wei Yuan right in the heart.

Next were 10,000 grains of plantable black pearl rice. Also a middle-grade spirit plant, it was typically reserved for consumption by Avatars. Last time, the Cui Clan had secretly given him three grains. This time, they forewent all pretenses and gave him 10,000 grains outright, saving him two whole years of breeding and cultivation work.

These were the only two items the Cui Clan had sent this time, but they both struck Wei Yuan right in the heart. As expected of a distinguished, top-tier clan, their generosity was extraordinary, and they knew exactly how to please their miracle worker.

Only after settling the Cui Clan’s 370 “ancestors” did Wei Yuan finally find the time to speak at length with Cui Luoyu.

After the previous batch of Cui clansmen had returned, the high cultivators within the clan had thoroughly interrogated them about the entire cultivation process. Naturally, the fact that some of them had purchased pardons to avoid dying on the battlefield could not be concealed. Only one person from the group who had purchased a pardon had formed a Dao Foundation. Everyone else who ascended had set foot on the battlefield.

This stark contrast finally convinced the Cui Clan’s matriarch to relent and expand the death quota for this batch from 30 to 100. The batch was originally going to accommodate 400 people, but 30 people had hastily dropped out upon catching wind of this news.

As mentioned earlier, Cui Luoyu had come with another mission. After a detailed discussion, Wei Yuan finally learned that there was a group of elderly individuals who wished to establish their Dao Foundations.

These people had originally no hope of attaining a Dao Foundation. They were advanced in age and had long since resigned themselves to their fates. However, they had seen new hope in Qingming’s successes.

The reason they wished to cultivate a Dao Foundation was simple: to extend their lives.

If they could establish a Dao Foundation, even a body emptied by decades of indulgence could live for another twenty or thirty years.

The fact that they were able to find their way to Cui Luoyu meant that these individuals either held mid-level managerial positions themselves or had influential relatives. In fact, several of them were descendants of True Lords.

Cui Yu made it very clear to Wei Yuan that these old men and women had money to spare. However, they could not enter the battlefield—or if they had to, they must not die no matter what. After all, the entire reason they came here was to extend their lives. It would be incredibly ironic if they were to die on the battlefield instead.

Furthermore, they also wished for a guaranteed success rate and to preserve their dignity, meaning that their presence must be kept a secret as well.

Wei Yuan hadn’t expected such a business opportunity, so he asked, “Tell me more about the guaranteed success rate. What is the percentage that I have to meet in order to fulfill their expectations?”

Cui Luoyu replied, “Thirty individuals will be boarding the next ship. They hope that at least forty percent of them will establish a Dao Foundation. If you succeed, they are willing to pay you five thousand taels of immortal silver per person! Of course, any tier of Dao Foundation is acceptable.”

Wei Yuan nodded. “I understand. However, I need to think this over carefully and consult the cultivation scriptures. It will take some time before I can give you an answer.”

Seeing that Wei Yuan was rising to his feet to leave, Cui Luoyi hurriedly stopped him in his tracks. “Wait! I know this is asking a lot. I... sigh. I’ll be completely honest with you: as long as two people can establish a Dao Foundation, they’ll come—and they’ll pay ten thousand taels of immortal silver upfront!”

Wei Yuan smiled. “The Cui Clan has been good to me, so I will certainly give my utmost in this matter. Two should be no problem, but I need time. It’s very likely they’ll have to stay in Qingming for some time.”

Cui Luoyu was overjoyed. “That’s no problem at all—they’ll be happy to stay for as long as is necessary! It will be a tremendous boon for you and me if my two seniors succeeds in establishing their Dao Foundations. For instance, while I can’t speak for everything else, they are in control of many low-grade spirit objects and plants. They’ll be able to supply them to you for as many as you need!”

Wei Yuan was somewhat surprised by his claim. “Aren’t you afraid of upsetting the Xu Clan?”

“Of course, we won’t be trading them to you openly—instead, we’ll smuggle them. We’ll use the route through the state of Zhao—the Xu Clan’s influence doesn’t extend that far.” Cui Luoyu was clearly quite familiar with such matters.

After sending Cui Luoyu away, Wei Yuan pondered for a long time before ordering his men to summon several of the cultivators who had reached the peak of the Body-tempering stage, and were preparing to advance to the Dao Foundation stage. These individuals all came from the Xu Clan’s private army. They had extremely solid Body-tempering stage foundations and already possessed some hope of establishing their Dao Foundations without help.

After the group had stood still, Wei Yuan waved his hand and summoned an immortal sword before each person. The blade had a faint bluish tint and emitted wisps of moisture; they were none other than Drizzle, the disgrace of immortal swords and inferior even compared to White Drizzle.

“Each of you will take an immortal sword. I will also impart a cultivation method to you. Once you return, practice the method and contemplate the sword deeply. With luck, you may just forge your Dao Foundations into this immortal sword.”

The cultivators were both astonished and delighted. They immediately cradled the Drizzles with great care and returned to their respective quarters to practice diligently.

This was an experiment by Wei Yuan. The Immortal Sword Drizzle was so weak and its structure and underlying principles were so simple that theoretically, it should be much easier to forge a Dao Foundation in its image compared to many other Human-tier Dao Foundations. As long as one’s foundation was decent, it should be quite easy to master. Moreover, having a fixed goal in mind should keep the cultivators from overthinking things and theoretically improve their chances of success.

Assuming that this experiment succeeded, Wei Yuan planned to arrange for the elders of the Cui Clan to receive them. His patrons had paid him handsomely for it. They deserved something a little bit more special.

Although Drizzle was a disgrace among immortal swords, its power weaker than most Human-tier Dao Foundations, it was still an immortal sword. Its appearance alone outshone 99% of Human-tier Dao Foundations out there.

After all, his patrons merely sought to extend their lifespans and show off in front of others. It wasn’t like they planned on using Drizzle to fight.

1. I couldn’t use years because they only hold exams and accept students like once per three years if I remember correctly? ☜