Dragon Canon

On the way back to the realm, Wei Yuan spoke calmly of his experiences in the Arhat’s Pure Land as if nothing had happened. Finally, he showed off the Red Lotus Bodhi.

“This is an ultimate treasure that has taken form before a Buddha. It possesses the wondrous ability to purify karma. It will become increasingly useful as time goes on. However, you must learn some secret techniques of karma to prevent any karma you do not wish to relinquish from being purged,” Ji Liuli warned him.

Zhang Sheng added, “That Red Lotus Universal Salvation Mantra counts as a secret technique of karma, but it comes from the Buddhist. You’ll need to learn a Daoist secret technique of Karma to balance it out.”

The two said little else beyond that, and Wei Yuan’s heart, which had been hanging in suspense this entire time, finally settled a little.

Both Zhang Sheng and Ji Liuli rated the Red Lotus Bodhi highly, yet there was also a subtle air of aloofness in their attitude, as if they saw it as nothing more than a passing cloud. To them, once they achieved cultivation success, any kind of immortal treasure would be within their grasp. And if they were to ascend to immortality, they could even transform their everyday belongings into immortal treasures. It would be a literal case of the saying, “When one human attains the Dao, even the chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.”

However, there was a slight difference between the two. Ji Liuli didn’t care because she already possessed an immortal object of the same rank, and could acquire even more if she wished. After all, while it was hard to gauge how True Lord Yan Shi fared in terms of Daoist power, his wealth firmly placed him among the top two in the Palace of Absolute Beginning, rivalling even the abbot of the Mother Nature Monastery.

Zhang Sheng was indifferent simply because this item was too far beyond his reach. It was just like a poor family would never concern itself with the price of an estate with a vermillion gate and high eaves.

The journey back was smooth and peaceful. After returning to the realm of Qingming, Wei Yuan finally got out of sight of his master and Big Senior Sister.

Back in his own room, Wei Yuan’s mind sank into his sea of consciousness and appeared in the Great Realm. He raised his hand to take a look, and sure enough, the Red Lotus Bodhi lay safely in the palm of his hand.

It truly is a divine object... Wei Yuan mused to himself. Divine objects naturally possessed a spirit, and many could shift freely between the real and the unreal. The Bay Laurel Immortal Tree was one such example, and the Red Lotus Bodhi was no exception.

When the Red Lotus Bodhi entered the Great Realm, the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree trembled all of a sudden. It quickly sent a streak of sword qi over to take a look before withdrawing it. After that, the immortal tree became much quieter, and its arrogance imperceptibly diminished by a whole third.

Suddenly, Wei Yuan felt a sense of intuition. He wandered aimlessly until he arrived at a certain spot and sensed that this was the right place to plant the bodhi seed. When he looked up, he saw that this location was exactly 33 zhang, 3 chi and 3 inches away from the jade hill.

When Wei Yuan placed the Bodhi seed on the ground, it sank into the earth of its own accord and settled at exactly 3 chi and 3 inches below the surface.

Did the number 3 hold special significance for the Red Lotus Bodhi?

With the Bodhi seed planted, Wei Yuan prepared to leave. Logically speaking, the more extraordinary a divine or immortal object was, the longer it took to grow. Just look at the variant Star Dragon Tree—it still hadn’t sprouted to this day. It would be perfectly normal for a divine object like the Red Lotus Bodhi to remain dormant for several years straight.

But just then, Wei Yuan suddenly sensed a formless, intangible force appearing out of nowhere and siphoning something from his body. He stopped in his tracks in surprise, but the formless force continued to draw something from him ceaselessly. Whatever it was drawing out was extremely thin, but it was dark, viscous, and carrying a hint of dampness and killing intent.

A realization dawned on Wei Yuan: it was the human karma between him and others. It was a mix of those he had killed with his own hands, and those who had died because of his commands—for instance, some people had died while migrating from Willow Ash Town to the realm of Qingming.

Although it was just a small amount of resentment, and his stock of blue fortune had been purifying his karma this whole time, some deep-seated resentment had still settled upon him. It was such a small amount that it was imperceptible under normal circumstances, but given enough time, once the accumulated resentment had reached a certain threshold, the consequences would gradually manifest itself. In ancient times, this was one of the reasons why generals who had waged war for years often met with untimely deaths.

At the moment, the resentment accumulating in Wei Yuan’s body was being drawn out and absorbed into a certain spot 3 chi and 3 inches below ground. Besides that, some of the black mist drifting in the surroundings were manifesting one by one before being drawn underground as well. These black mist were normally completely invisible to Wei Yuan’s senses, but now, he could see them clearly.

Beneath the ground, the Red Lotus Bodhi was continuously absorbing the negative karma and resentment. It gradually swelled until a crack split open on its surface and revealed the luminous white flesh within. A tender sprout emerged from the flesh, growing segment by segment.

The moment it broke through the soil, a surge of spirit qi gushed out! It was such a dense stream of spirit qi that it was almost tangible. To Wei Yuan, it looked like a fountain in the sunlight—dazzling and brilliant, accompanied by streaks of rainbow.

The fountain of spirit qi would not stop gushing out until a teatime later. This one outburst alone saved Wei Yuan three years of cultivation!

Wei Yuan’s heart swelled with joy. No matter how he looked at the tender, pea-sized shoot, he found it to be utterly pleasing to his eye. As expected of a Bodhi tree that had taken form before a Buddha, a wild immortal plant could not hope to compare to it!

Feeling completely satisfied, he was just about to leave when a sudden gust of wind stirred around him. Then, within a radius of 333 zhang countless wisps of black mist appeared en masse before being pulled toward the Red Lotus Bodhi. The tender sprout grew taller by the moment, sprouting branches and unfurling leaves. In the blink of an eye, another fountain of spirit qi erupted in the Great Realm.

That saves me yet another three years of arduous cultivation! Wei Yuan thought to himself with immense delight.

After the surge of spirit qi was over, the Bodhi tree took a small break. Once ready, it began swaying its branches and leaves and absorbing all karmic resentment within a radius of 333 zhang.

By now, Wei Yuan had learned to be patient. Moments later, another fountain of spirit qi erupted, saving him another three years of arduous cultivation.

But the Bodhi tree still wasn’t done. It began drawing out a small stream of karma from inside the jade hill. This karma was the residue left behind by the Shamans after they had been absorbed into the black pool, but had not yet been fully processed. The Bodhi tree was sweeping them all out.

Wei Yuan had slain over a hundred thousand Shamans since becoming the master of Qingming. To say that he had accumulated a massive amount of karma would be an understatement. Although the black pool had absorbed most of it, and the Bodhi tree was merely absorbing a tiny fraction of the residue, it was still more than enough to fuel its growth. Spirit qi gushed out of the plant like a great whale breaking through the surface and saved Wei Yuan six years of arduous cultivation in one go!

Only then did the Bodhi treasure tree finally settle down, ready to grow in peace and quiet. By now, it had become a small tree that was exactly three chi and three inches tall, and not much shorter than the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree next door.

At that moment, the ground suddenly shifted in a certain spot, and a dark-colored sprout broke through the earth. In the blink of an eye, it sprouted two new branches and grew to a height of over one chi.

It was the variant Star Dragon Tree. It finally sprouted!

Frankly, Wei Yuan was close to digging it up and taking a look if it continued to remain dormant. If it really couldn’t grow, then boiling it into soup was also an option.

The variant Star Dragon Tree certainly lived up to the vast amount of fortune Wei Yuan had invested in it. The moment it broke through the soil, it had contributed a whole month’s worth of arduous cultivation. After that, it continued to emit wisps of spirit q that were visible to the naked eye.

The Red Jade Lantern seemed overjoyed by the emergence of the variant Star Dragon Tree. It immediately swam over and circled around it. Alas, the plant was still too small at this stage. Once it grew a little more, then the Red Jade Lantern might climb on it.

Not far away, the normal Star Dragon Tree[1] had also grown a bit taller, now standing at two chi.

Wei Yuan soon noticed that all spirit plants within 333 zhang of the Bodhi tree had grown significantly taller, while those outside this radius remained unchanged.

The change was especially obvious with the patch of Wood Spirit Ginsengs. It so happened that half of them lay within the circle and half outside. Those within the circle had all grown an inch taller, whereas those outside remained exactly as they were. For a spirit plant like the Wood Spirit Ginseng, an inch of growth equated to decades of growth.

Thus, before even mentioning the rest of its abilities, the Red Lotus Bodhi had saved Wei Yuan a total of fifteen years of arduous cultivation. In his estimation, it would only take him a year or so to complete the foundation solidifying stage now. At this pace, he had barely caught up to the average standard of the Palace of Absolute Beginning.

But joy was always fleeting. As soon as he left the Great Realm, Wei Yuan had to face reality once more.

He called Cui Yu to his room and said, “I need information on the Western Jin royal family, especially who the crown prince is, how many princes there are, and their respective backgrounds. The more detailed, the better.”

Taken aback by the strange request, Cui Yu blurted out instinctively, “Are you planning to get involved in the struggle for the throne?”

1. I thought the author of Stranger Danger has a problem with keeping his terms consistent but it’s NOTHING compared to this guy. The fuck even is a Bay Laurel Star Dragon Tree? As if my own mental issues aren’t enough to deal with already. ☜