Dragon Canon

Realm Lord Wei hadn’t just secured a thousand taels of immortal silver after a night of relentless underground activities, but also achieved remarkable results.

The one thousand taels of immortal silver was not intended to purchase the excavated ore.

In theory, all the ore belonged to Wei Yuan unless otherwise agreed upon. Originally, Yu Zhizhuo was supposed to excavate them chisel by chisel with his junior brothers and helpers, but Wei Yuan’s presence had spared them that labor.

Wei Yuan’s Dao spell was inherently more efficient than that of ordinary cultivators, not to mention that his Dao energy reserve was over a hundred times greater than that of Human-tier Dao Foundation-stage cultivators. As if that wasn’t enough, he had an endless well of energy that he could draw upon as long as he was within the realm of Qingming. That was how he managed to achieve an end result equivalent to a thousand Dao Foundation stage cultivators mining for an entire night.

In addition to the ore, the excavation process yielded a large amount of useless debris. Some were transformed into pillars on the spot using Dao spells to support the mine shafts, while the rest were transported to the surface. It was because they made excellent construction materials be it for building fortifications or dwellings.

According to Yu Zhizhuo, he should’ve been the one to carry out all this work, but since Wei Yuan had handled it for him, it was only right that he rewarded him with some immortal silver. He told Wei Yuan to treat it as an early red packet.

Wei Yuan didn’t care about the amount. He hadn’t intended to receive payment for his work in the first place, but he had, so how could he possibly complain about the sum?

Transporting the ore from the underground to the surface was another major challenge. The few dozen Dao Foundation stage cultivators he had initially assigned to Yu Zhizhuo simply wouldn’t suffice. Although a Dao Foundation stage could carry 1,000 catties at a time, the workload was estimated to be tens of millions of catties. That was why Wei Yuan called in another 3,000 flesh-tempering stage cultivators to aid with the project. Although an early-stage Body-tempering stage cultivator could only carry 300 catties per trip, with this amount of people, they could move nearly one million catties in a single round trip.

With so much ore, Wei Yuan had no choice but to build more furnaces. More furnaces meant molten iron and copper, and more molten iron and copper meant a demand for more craftsmen. However, the realm did not have enough Dao Foundation stage cultivators to fulfill that demand, again.

Wei Yuan and Yu Zhizhuo discussed the matter at length before finally deciding to construct ten more ten-thousand-catties furnaces. At this point, every Dao Foundation stage cultivator had multiple jobs, and it was simply impossible to expand the operation any further.

Wei Yuan found this deeply troubling. At the moment, the realm was like a stretch of dough: they had to add water when it’s dry, and flour when it’s wet. Throughout this process, the dough just kept growing bigger and bigger. It was impossible to say how massive it would be when it finally became a steamed bun.

Returning to his quarter, Wei Yuan finally had some free time to assess his own cultivation progress.

Spirit qi was constantly rising from the Great Expanse, primarily originating from the spirit plants within the domain. The Shamans’ souls had been continuously enhancing the foundation of the jade hill and the black water inside as well, though the impact it had on his Dao Foundation or spirit qi remained to be seen.

His biggest source of spirit qi remained the herb garden. A new Red Jade Lantern had been added to it, and the spirit qi it contributed alone could save Wei Yuan a year’s worth of arduous cultivation. However, the spirit qi of all the other spirit plants in the garden combined still couldn’t compare to the few plots of nether soil being leased by Trueman Chu He.

He had no idea what Trueman Chu He had planted there, but the moment the seeds sprouted and spirit qi gushed forth, he was saved a whole year’s worth of arduous cultivation! Because of this, Wei Yuan deeply regretted his stinginess back then.

Another major source of spirit qi was the spirit fields of Liang rice. Every day, the spirit qi wafting from the 5,000 mu of spirit fields was only growing richer. When they matured and bore fruit, they would contribute a massive, additional surge of spirit qi.

Finally, there was the 20,000 mu of ordinary fields meant for the ordinary mortals. Surprisingly, they contained a faint trace of spirit qi as well. However, 10,000 mu of these fields only saved him one month of arduous cultivation. It was clear there was a qualitative difference between the ordinary fields and the spirit fields.

The population of Qingming had decreased by tens of thousands after the recent major battle, but the remaining people were also stronger and healthier than before. The recent influx of tens of thousands of Body-tempering stage cultivators also did wonders to solidify his Dao Foundation, not to mention those who had contributed their fortune. A single one contributed about 10 times worth of spirit qi compared to another person at the same cultivation level.

Over 90,000 people had contributed their fortune to him. All in all, they had saved him roughly a decade of arduous cultivation.

Taking all these factors into account, Wei Yuan was only 16 years away from entering the middle stage of the Dao Foundation stage now—truly a cause for celebration. At this rate, he could barely catch a glimpse of Cui Yu’s heels.

Finally, there was an immortal tree in the Great Realm.

According to an immortal canon, there was once a cultivator who had stumbled upon an immortal tree, which then revived inside their sea of consciousness. Overnight, not only had the cultivator’s Dao Foundation advanced from the Earth-tier to the Immortal-tier, his cultivation had surged from the early stage to the pinnacle of the late stage. Three days after that, he manifested his Avatar naturally and effortlessly and solidified it. It had taken him merely three days to reach the point where others would have taken two hundred years to achieve.

Now that was what you called an immortal tree!

Ever since he read the immortal canon, Wei Yuan’s dissatisfaction with the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree had grown day after day. Not only did it offer no benefit, it had repeatedly stolen his worldly reward. In fact, it had grown so plump it had to split off seven wisps of sword qi just to maintain its body shape.

If it had been even slightly less out of the ordinary, Wei Yuan estimated that he could have solidified his Dao Foundation within the year. His cultivation speed would have been on par with the average, and he wouldn’t have to act evasive every time he spoke to his Master about it.

Wei Yuan was still deep in thought when suddenly, someone knocked on the door. He sensed Trueman Chu He’s aura outside.

It was quite early in the morning. Trueman Chu He could not have paid him a visit without good reason. As the old Daoist alone accounted for eighty percent of the spirit qi contributions from the herb garden, his standing in Wei Yuan’s eyes had risen sharply to say the least. Wei Yuan opened the door to welcome him inside, all while scheming in his mind how he could discretely lease him a couple more plots of nether soil.

If the old Daoist dared to lease ten thousand plots of nether soil for him, then Wei Yuan dared to advance to the Avatar stage next month.

Trueman Chu He sniffed the air and said, “This old Daoist has caught the scent of something extraordinary once more. Might I be permitted to step inside and take a look?”

The request was a bit odd, but everything in the realm was rather rudimentary at the moment. Wei Yuan himself lived in a simple house without even an outer hall. Since people came and went constantly and he had no secrets to hide, he invited Trueman Chu He inside.

As soon as Trueman Chu He entered the house, his gaze immediately fell upon Wei Yuan’s writing desk and could not be torn away. On the desk sat a white jade tray holding a roll of white-gold bark. Petals were constantly flickering to life and fading into nothing around it. It was quite the wondrous sight to say the least.

The old Daoist’s voice trembled slightly. “What kind of spirit plant is this?”

Wei Yuan followed his gaze and answered, “Ah, that’s not a spirit plant. It’s more like... a medicinal herb.”

“A medicinal herb? What kind?”

“... Laurel bark.”

With Wei Yuan’s permission, Trueman Chu He carefully picked up the bark the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree had shedded and examined it from every angle for a long while. Finally, he set it down and let out a sigh. “It’s too bad it lacks even a shred of vitality. Otherwise, there might be a sliver of hope of cultivating a new immortal tree from it.”

Puzzled, Wei Yuan asked, “Why is that?”

Trueman Chu He explained, “Immortal objects are self-contained and self-sustaining; no matter how many pieces they are divided into, their Great Dao remains as one. Take an immortal tree for example: you could chop it into ninety-nine pieces and scatter it across different worlds, but if even one piece revives, then all the other pieces will die simultaneously and turn into lifeless, spiritless objects... just like this piece of shed bark.”

Wei Yuan’s thoughts raced. According to Trueman Chu He’s explanation, if any other remnants of the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree were to fall into someone else’s hands, then once the immortal branch in his possession revived, all the other branches would turn into dead wood. Thus, he was the only one possessing the complete Bay Laurel Immortal Tree.

Thinking it this way, back when Immortal Lord Tinghai fished the mortal realm and reeled in a branch of the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree, was it actually not a coincidence?

Wei Yuan suddenly felt a sense of foreboding—could everything had been predestined?

Trueman Chu He had not come merely for a piece of bark, but for a matter of greater importance. He said solemnly, “Lately, this old Daoist has been overcome by sudden flashes of insight. It feels like something extraordinary is taking shape and sprouting. But whenever I try to think deeper into the matter, my body would tremble, and my heart would race with fear. Clearly, there is grave danger surrounding that object.

“This old Daoist had already sought out that girl, Ji Liuli, to perform some calculations, yet nothing had come of it. It seems that this opportunity has been obscured by something. However, this old Daoist can affirm that it truly exists, and it is not far from here. Over the past few days, I’ve inquired around to see if there are any secret realms or ruins in the vicinity.”

Wei Yuan’s heart stirred. He had already excavated the ruins of the Swelling Water God Palace, but secret realms—weren’t those grotto-heaven fragments several hundred li away from the realm of Qingming exactly what he was looking for?