Dragon Canon

With the first harvest of Liang rice secured, the mountain of a burden weighing on the realm’s shoulders was visibly lighter.

Body-tempering stage cultivators had far greater appetites than those of ordinary people. Without spirit food to supplement their diet, they would have to eat five or six times as much as the average person to eat their fill. Otherwise, not only would their cultivation stall, they would become lethargic and find it difficult to carry out even daily activities.

That was why Wei Yuan always distributed a batch of rations post-haste prior to every battle to ensure the warriors were well-fed. Not only that, another batch of rations had to be distributed after the battle because everyone’s stamina would be sitting at almost rock bottom due to Life is a Flash. Otherwise, they would literally starve to death.

These two meals alone—one before and one after the battle—amounted to three days’ worth of food for an ordinary mortal, and this was after Wei Yuan had calculated the bare minimum he could provide his warriors without risking starvation.

By consuming 100,000 catties of Liang rice, the cultivators were saving the realm 300,000 catties of ordinary rations. Their cultivation would also improve.

At this very moment, Wei Yuan finally understood the meaning of the saying: “To the people, food is heaven.”

Deep within the Great Realm, the corresponding spirit field did not stop gushing spirit qi until two full hours later. After the mature millets were harvested, it ceased emitting any spirit qi.

With the members of the Jianmu Hall present, there was no need for Wei Yuan to worry about selecting and replanting the seeds. The Trueman’s four disciples were more than happy to serve as free labor.

After the negotiation, Wei Yuan handed Trueman Chu He the two Shadow Wheat seeds he had received from Xiao Nian and requested him to find a way to cultivate them on his behalf. He then went to the herb garden to set up the nether soil spirit fields.

Upon arriving at the herb garden and selecting a suitable location, Wei Yuan entered his sea of consciousness to mix the nether soil. The next moment, he found three figures standing atop the pile of nether soil stacked in his Dao Foundation like a hill.

The figure in the center was exceptionally tall and sturdy; a full head taller than even Wei Yuan. They wielded a saber and a spiked shield and exuded a formidable presence. The two on either side were more than a head shorter, barely reaching the shoulders of the figure in the center. Their builds were noticeably slimmer as well. But of course, by ordinary people’s standards, the pair were still quite tall and sturdy; roughly the same height as Wei Yuan.

When had these three humans appeared in his Dao Foundation?

The three humans were just standing there and doing nothing at all. Not only could Wei Yuan perceive them, he could clearly sense that they were a part of the Great Realm.

Wei Yuan walked up to them. Though clearly humans, their outlines were somewhat blurred, their armor’s design was indistinguishable, and they were missing faces.

The one in the center held a saber and a spiked shield. To Wei Yuan’s perception, they actually bore a slight resemblance to Song Chao—but only slightly. They neither possessed a face nor a shred of sentience. They were, as far as he could tell, merely a humanoid Dao Foundation.

This humanoid Dao Foundation possessed several properties commonly associated with sabers and shields, though. In Wei Yuan’s assessment, they were Heaven-tier.

The figures on either side appeared to be foot soldiers. Their Dao Foundations were your ordinary, run-of-the-mill Horse-slaying Long Sabers, a common Earth-tier Dao Foundation.

Although Wei Yuan hadn’t noticed how these three figures had appeared, everything that occurred within his sea of consciousness was automatically recorded in his primordial spirit. Wei Yuan retraced the records, he saw the three figures emerge one after another from the black pool, walking out of the jade hill, and coming to a half before the nether soil.

Wei Yuan made a guess then: were these three created from the vengeful specters who were absorbed by the black pool?

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. The human wielding the saber and shield bore a certain resemblance to Song Chao, and their Dao Foundation properties were largely identical to the man’s as well. That was the evidence.

Saber-and-shield Dao Foundations were quite rare. So far, Song Chao was the first and only one he encountered possessing such a Dao Foundation.

The two soldiers flanking the saber-and-shield human appeared to be your typical Western Jin troops, but the black pool had absorbed over a hundred such specters. Perhaps these two were the final result of that transformation.

Since they were Dao Foundations, Wei Yuan tried to control them. To his surprise, they actually moved!

Stunned, Wei Yuan immediately ran up to Yin Yang and tried to control her. Unfortunately, the girl remained as steady as a continent, not moving an inch.

Wei Yuan quickly found the answer after identifying the differences between both attempts. It wasn’t that the girl was immovable. He simply lacked the Dao energy to move her. If Song Chao was a boulder, and the two soldiers were pebbles, then the girl was the mountain itself.

Back in the realm of Qingming, standing in the herb garden, Wei Yuan suddenly pointed a finger in front of him. The next moment, a burly man gradually materialized into existence. He was clad in armor and armed with a saber and a spiked shield. Unless one was looking closely, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell that the equipment were actually part of his body.

As expected, a humanoid Dao Foundation was still a Dao Foundation, and all Dao Foundations could be manifested in reality. The Dao energy being consumed to maintain his existence was within reason as well, so Wei Yuan gave the Dao Foundation his first command:

“Till the soil.”

The saber-and-shield-wielding man immediately crouched down and began digging the earth earnestly.

There was a problem. A long saber wasn’t the most practical tool for digging, and the massive spiked shield was even more of a hindrance. After watching for a moment, Wei Yuan started to wonder if he should fashion a shovel or a hoe for the Dao Foundation. The Wei family had a farming background, and Wei Yuan had been immersed in it since childhood. Thus, his thoughts began to run wild as soon as the idea took root.

If he had a hoe, then he would need a sickle and a pitchfork as well. Also, the best tool for tilling the soil was still a plow. Speaking of plows, he needed an oxen to draw it—but where would he get one?

Wei Yuan then remembered that he still had two soldiers in his Dao Foundation.

He was still pondering about this when Xu Wenwu came his way. The guy was carrying a water jug and humming a tune. Occasionally, he even jumped on his feet, reaching a height of three or four chi high each time.

Upon seeing Wei Yuan, Xu Wenwu broke into a broad smile and jogged up to him. He exclaimed happily, “I’ve ascended, Your Majesty[1]!”

Before Wei Yuan could react, Xu Wenwu rolled up his sleeve and bared his arm. “Look, I’ve already mastered the er, whatsit called, the blood-tempering stage!”

Xu Wenwu took a knife and slashed hard at his own arm. Although his arm looked delicate and soft, it was actually as tough as old cowhide. The forceful cut left only a wound the size of a little finger.

Thick, black blood slowly oozed from the wound.

“See? I told you I mastered the blood-tempering stage—even the color of my blood has changed.”

“Not bad.” Wei Yuan offered him a few words of encouragement before asking, “Has Big Senior Sister tested your foundation yet?”

Xu Wenwu’s face fell. “She just glanced at me, said she was too busy, and kicked me out.”

Clearly, Ji Liuli noticed that Xu Wenwu’s foundation was talent. She just hadn’t said so outright. However, his Big Senior Sister’s definition for “poor foundation” differed from the standard—she considered anyone below the Heaven-tier to be trash, unworthy of cultivation.

“She’s been really busy lately. It’s fine, you can afford to wait until she has time. In the meantime, I’ll find you a suitable Body-tempering stage cultivation method to practice.”

The few words of reassurance was enough to assure Xu Wenwu. He then went off to water the Star Dragon Tree that hadn’t sprouted yet.

As he watered the plant, Xu Wenwu started muttering to himself, going on and on about the glorious future of following Master Xu. He urged it to sprout and grow quickly so that once it became a sentient spirit, it could roam the four seas and dominate the universe along with Master Xu. But of course, Master Xu had standards—it could only be a female spirit, not a male.

Suddenly, Wei Yuan had a feeling that the reason the Star Dragon Tree was so slow to sprout and growing increasingly gloomy might have something to do with Xu Wenwu chanting his unholy incantations at it every day.

Wei Yuan quietly infused the Star Dragon Tree with the otherworldly fortune he had recently acquired and set up three fields of nether soil. After notifying Trueman Chu He, he headed for the merits hall.

At the moment, the bay laurel tree inside the merits hall was completely bare, meaning that someone had already used up its fruit. After checking the records, he noticed that the last person to make an exchange was Feng Tingyu, who had traded for a large bag of dried spirit fruits. These dried spirit fruits could replenish spirit qi in the midst of battle and assist in one’s cultivation. It was almost as pricey as a spirit elixir.

But Wei Yuan had his doubts. He suspected that Feng Tingyu had exchanged for the dried fruits not to improve her cultivation, but simply to eat them.

It didn’t matter that there were no fruits left. Wei Yuan produced a handful of nether soil, scattered it on the altar tray to the right, and offered up the quietude energy within. A new fruit immediately appeared on the tree.

Wei Yuan then logged into the merits hall’s system and navigated directly to the Dao Techniques section. He then selected Advanced Dao Spells and began to study them in detail.

At the moment, Wei Yuan urgently needed to boost his combat power. No matter how you cut it, a cultivator’s combat power always consisted of these few elements only: Dao Foundation, mystic artifacts, physical body, Dao spells, spirit pets, friends, families, and sect elders.

To be honest, Wei Yuan believed that he himself was the main reason he was able to survive the jianghu. But for some reason, everyone often thought he was master-consuming.

With a great crisis looming, Wei Yuan urgently needed to boost his combat power. Cultivation couldn’t be rushed, but that was never a problem—once the realm was filled with immortal trees, he literally couldn’t suppress his cultivation even if he wanted to. Among the various elements, the easiest to improve at the moment was his Dao techniques.

Dao technique was an extremely broad and complex category. There were three pinnacle Dao paths in the Palace of Absolute Beginning alone that were tied to Dao techniques. Previously, everything Wei Yuan had learned were ordinary Dao spells only. Although they had exhibited some unusual characteristics due to the qualitative differences between his Dao energy and another cultivator’s, the alterations were ultimately limited and did not constitute a fundamental transformation.

At the moment, Wei Yuan’s opponents were either Avatars, Great Warlocks, or Dao Foundation geniuses such as that female Warlock or Sacred Heart. Thus, these standard, cookie-cutter Dao techniques were no longer sufficient. However, over the course of thousands of years, countless cultivators had developed numerous advanced Dao spells. Although many of them were derived from the standard templates, they boasted dramatically greater power and were completely incomparable to the originals.

These advanced Dao spells all required the exchange of merits. Their cultivation requirements also varied wildly and were far more stringent than those of the standard templates.

At the moment, Wei Yuan was looking for an advanced Dao technique that could make full use of his massive Dao energy reserves.

He was still examining the records when suddenly, Wei Yuan sensed a colossal surge of Dao energy rising skyward within the domain. It was a surge brimming with vibrant vitality and boundless sword intent!

Just then, Master Chu He’s voice resounded throughout heaven and earth. “Which petty scoundrel dares to spy from outside the domain? Why hide in the shadows when you possess such cultivation? Come, come, show me what you’re made of and test yourself against my eight immortal swords!”

As he spoke, the sword intent surged out of the realm of Qingming. Wei Yuan wasn’t fast enough to stop it at all.

1. I had to double-check but yeah, terms are very specific in this book (until the author forgets them) and this is one such case. ☜