Dragon Canon

After returning to the realm of Qingming, the more Wei Yuan pondered about the visit, the more he felt that something was wrong. The little monk was young in age, but his cultivation was profound, and he possessed many mystic abilities that only an Avatar should have. When he had beaten him up, it had felt like hitting a piece of niupi candy[1]—tough and resistant to force. No wonder he could venture deep into the domain and dared to claim before Wei Yuan that he was somewhat skilled in martial arts.

A monk this young and talented had to be rare even within the Exquisite Blossom Pure Land. He deserved their careful cultivation. So, the question was: why had a prodigious disciple of the Exquisite Blossom Pure Land wandered into the realm of Qingming for no apparent reason? The Palace of Absolute Beginning and the Exquisite Blossom Pure Land had always kept to their own spheres, never crossing each other’s paths. The direction at which they were expanding the human borders was entirely different as well. Wei Yuan was certain he had never offended any heir of the Pure Land, so there was only one explanation: the monk had been drawn here by the Red Lotus Bodhi.

It was easy to imagine what was going to happen in the future. If a little monk could be drawn here today, perhaps a whole group of them might appear tomorrow. It was entirely possible for a bunch of big monks and old monks to follow behind the group as well.

Meanwhile, in the damp, toxic lands of the Shattered Realm, a little monk was walking alone aimlessly.

Suddenly, a crisp voice rang out behind him, “Where are you headed, little master?”

The little monk turned around in confusion to see two alluring and enchanting women standing behind him. The women’s eyes lit up the moment they saw his face—such handsome features were quite rare in this world. Unfortunately, one of his eyes was still bruised and the corner of his mouth was swollen, and his moon-white monk’s robe was covered in shoe prints, which marred his dignified appearance.

The woman on the left asked softly, “Where did you suffer such injustice, little Dharma master? We sisters possess a modicum of mystic power. Shall we go and avenge you right away?”

The woman on the right said, “Look at those injuries—it breaks my heart. Come, don’t move. Allow this older sister to wipe the blood from your mouth....”

As she spoke, she extended a soft, milky-white hand to wipe the blood from the little monk’s lips.

It was only then the little monk snapped out of his daze. He took a step back and said with a frown, “It stinks!”

The two women were taken aback. From the moment they appeared, the air had been filled with the scent of flowers, along with whiffs of bamboo and pine. The elegant scents had dispelled even the foul odors of the Shaman realm. So, what was the little monk talking about?

The little monk pointed at them and said, “The two of you stink real bad, and it’s not just the smell of stinky men. There’s the stench of all sorts of other things....”

The women’s faces turned ashen instantly. The hand of the woman on the right turned bluish black as she lunged forward, snarling and smiling at the same time, “Don’t worry, little monk. Once I’ve sucked you dry, you’ll become a part of this stench yourself—”

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Several dull thuds echoed through the air, and both women fell backward onto the ground. The little monk stood between them and chanted a Buddhist mantra.

In fact, both women possessed Heaven-tier Dao Foundations and were in the late stage. However, they had collapsed inexplicably in the blink of an eye. All they had seen prior to collapsing to the ground was a pink fist growing bigger and bigger before their eyes, followed by the world spinning. Throughout this time, their mystic power had been entirely useless.

At the moment, both women were in the same condition: their left eyes were black and blue, the corners of their mouths were split, and each of them had two shoe prints on her chest. Judging by the soles, they could only be a monk’s shoes.

Looking at the wounds on the women’s faces, the little monk felt an inexplicable sense of relief, and the confusion that had plagued him for so long vanished instantly. So, he sat down cross-legged and began reciting a passage from the sutras to the two women, driving them to the brink of madness.

He had recited the single scroll of sutra from dawn till dusk, then from dusk till dawn. While their physical bodies were unharmed, the two women felt like their sanity was on the verge of achieving deliverance.

Fortunately, the recitation wasn’t endless. When he had finally reached the end, the little monk’s frustration vanished entirely, and he felt clear and bright inside and out. A faint red glow radiated from his entire body, like ripples in a sea of blood, startling the two women and keeping them from acting recklessly.

Suddenly, a profound realization struck the little monk. He said, “Thank you, Bodhisattvas. This humble monk has attained enlightenment thanks to you two!”

The two women trembled as if they had encountered a natural enemy. But if they didn’t continue the conversation, they had a feeling that the little monk might try a little something. So, one of them asked in a trembling voice, “What have you realized, little Dharma master?”

The little monk replied solemnly, “It is not that I lack understanding of the Dharma, but my martial arts are still lacking. That is why I have failed to pull a certain stubborn benefactor back to the shore. This humble monk shall return at once for intensive training. The next time I’m here, I vow to deliver that wicked beast from the sea of bitterness!”

With that, the little monk drifted away into the distance. He looked pretty good.

“We wish you success, master!” The two women waved at the little monk’s retreating figure before turning around and running like hell.

..................-

In the realm of Qingming, Wei Yuan set aside his worries about monks and continued to pore over the history books. After a full day of studying, he had finally digested nearly a hundred biographies of powerful ministers.

In fact, he had read these history books under Zhang Sheng’s guidance as a child, but of course he had merely skimmed the surface and understood little of their true meaning. Now that he was rereading them as an adult, not only was he gaining new insights, but he saw a completely different world within the pages.

Closing the final volume, Wei Yuan shut his eyes. Since the founding of the Great Li Dynasty, the lives of thousands of powerful ministers and treacherous counselors from the past hundred thousand years flowed slowly through his mind.

In the eyes of later generations—or perhaps in the eyes of the historians themselves—every single one of these men were treacherous ministers. However, Wei Yuan’s perspective was different. What he saw from these history books was the fact that everyone who rose to the rank of counselor was, without exception, outstanding figures of their time.

These days, as Wei Yuan read history, he no longer focused solely on the events themselves. Instead, he put himself in their shoes and tried to understand why these men had acted as they did in their era. When viewed in this light, some matters naturally yielded different answers.

Wei Yuan had been in charge of Qingming for some time now. When he looked at history again, what he saw was no longer just a few hundred words describing people and events, but rather grain, military equipment, soldiers, military preparedness, foreign races, cliques, and so on.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Hsu Yi reported from outside, “It’s almost time for the next batch of Dao Foundation advancements.”

Wei Yuan replied, “Bring me the list.”

His reply caught Hsu Yi slightly off guard, but she entered the room and handed over the roster. This time, a total of 170 candidates were slated to advance to the Dao Foundation stage. Of these, only 70 hailed from the realm of Qingming, while the remaining 100 were all prisoners who had been captured in recent operations.

After several rounds of advancement, nearly everyone within the realm capable of forging a Dao Foundation had already done so. Those who remained were basically praying for a miracle. Only those who had recently reached the pinnacle of the Body-tempering stage had a relatively high chance of forging a Dao Foundation.

Now, the only ones still with potential were a handful of teenagers or those whose progress had been delayed in the past due to a lack of cultivation resources. This group ranged from the blood-tempering stage to the bone-tempering stage, with the majority in the blood-tempering stage.

As for the captured prisoners, they were originally soldiers. Regardless of their background—some of them were part of the Xu Clan’s private army, while others had served under Yue Qilin—they were well-fed and clothed, their cultivation had long reached the peak of the Body-tempering stage, and they were all very young. Consequently, it was easy to select over 100 who had mastered the Body-tempering stage and held promise for establishing a Dao Foundation. The remaining 300 or so soldiers also possessed decent overall aptitude.

Wei Yuan singled out the 100 soldiers and approved only 10 names for advancement. The rest, he crossed them out of the list.

Hsu Yi was surprised by this gesture and asked, “May I ask why you’re doing this? They all have a very good chance of successfully forging a Dao Foundation!”

Wei Yuan replied, “We in the Palace of Absolute Beginning may not realize this, but forging a Dao Foundation is actually extremely difficult in the outside world. Think about it—how much did the Cui Clan pay us for the dozen or so Dao Foundations from the last batch? One might say that there is no such thing as an insignificant Dao Foundation. In the past, we had little choice in the matter. The circumstances were such that we had to grant anyone with even a sliver of potential the opportunity to forge a Dao Foundation. Moreover, we were sending them straight into a battlefield to fight a war with little chance of survival, so it made sense to grant them that opportunity.

“But things are different now. Now that we have the leeway to be more selective, it no longer makes sense for us to grant favors lightly. Otherwise, people will only come to look down on us. These prisoners are newcomers who haven’t earned a single merit yet. Why should they be granted the same opportunities as those who had already fought various life-and-death battles for the sake of Qingming? That’s why I’m only giving them 10 spots. The rest will be brought over to watch from the sidelines.

“We need to make them understand that as long as they earn enough merits, the chance of forging a Dao Foundation is right within their grasp! Not only that, they must understand that only by earning merits will they have that chance!”

Hsu Yi tensed. For the first time, she felt that Wei Yuan had changed. No longer was he the easygoing, naive youth who always looked out for those around him. He was now a little more inscrutable than before.

Her heart trembled slightly, and for the first time, she felt a hint of fear.

Within Wei Yuan’s sea of consciousness, a wisp of blue qi gradually thickened until it transformed into a wisp of advanced fortune.

Wei Yuan was taken aback. He had merely given a few offhand remarks—how had he gained an advanced fortune from that? Did Hsu Yi enjoy being talked down to or something? How strange!

In any case, Hsu Yi’s demeanor was definitely more respectful than what it was before. She asked, “What makes these ten people special? Do you know them?”

Wei Yuan shook his head. “I don’t know a single one of them. They’re just lucky—or should I say, the rest of them are unlucky.”

Hsu Yi grew even more curious. “You can tell their luck is poor just by looking at the roster? Is this a new secret technique of feng shui? Quite impressive!”

Wei Yuan chuckled. “Do you think someone whose name I just casually crossed off can be counted as lucky?”

1. Niupi Candy (Simplified Chinese: 牛皮糖; Traditional Chinese: 牛皮糖; Pinyin: Niúpí táng;) is one of the traditional snacks of Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province. It is known as “a unique specialty in Yangzhou”. The taste of Niupi Candy is sweet, the outer layer of sesame is even, the cut surface is brown and bright, and it is translucent, elastic, fragrant, chewy and non-tooth-sticking, and has a good reputation both at home and abroad. Niupi Candy is made from white sugar, white sesame, starch, peanuts, etc., and has various flavors such as peanut niupi candy, pine nuts niupi candy, original taste niupi candy, strawberry niupi candy, hawthorn niupi candy, orange niupi candy, etc. ☜