Dragon Canon

In this round of advancement, the realm of Qingming had gained another ninety Dao Foundation stage cultivators. However, everyone in the pinnacle of the Body-tempering stage had already made at least one attempt to forge their Dao Foundations. Those who still failed had essentially no hope of achieving it.

All things considered, the performance of the Cui clansmen was quite acceptable. A total of fifteen Dao Foundation stage cultivators had emerged from this batch, with the most significant being Cui Changfeng, the only heaven foundation of the group. In fact, his cyan lotus was no less impressive than Cui Yu’s immortal sword. One had to wonder what kind of luck he had stumbled onto to go from a good-for-nothing to a genius.

In fact, the cyan lotus could have been classified as an immortal foundation if it had boasted just a bit more extraordinary phenomenon and power. Had that been the case, Cui Changfeng would have been a bonafide novel protagonist.

But the matter with the Cui Clan wasn’t over yet. The new Dao Foundations had strictly appeared among those who had participated in the major battle. Not a single person who had paid for death immunity had forged one. The problem was that out of the seventy Cui clansmen who had been sent to the battlefield, thirty had been killed in action. It was a terrifying casualty rate to say the least.

On the other hand, Cui Changfeng had forged a heaven foundation outright after paying a huge sum of money. This made the remaining Cui clansmen realize that the only way they could forge a Dao Foundation was one, put their lives on the line, or two, rely on their fathers. It was useless to rely on themselves.

Cui Changfeng’s situation gave Wei Yuan quite a headache. In the end, he decided to coordinate with Cui Yu and claim that the scion already possessed a hidden bloodline in the first place. The only role Qingming played was its awakening.

Two days later, another Cui Clan flying vessel arrived at Qingming. This time, it was a medium-sized ship measuring a full twenty zhang and, to Wei Yuan’s surprise, carrying two Avatars. A ship this size was difficult to conceal, so their approach had likely alerted the Xu Clan.

But this time, the Cui Clan didn’t care.

After the ship landed, two elderly men from the Cui Clan ordered the men to unload the cargo. This was the extra reward the Old Lady had promised Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan inspected the items one by one. The shipment included 100,000 catties of rice seeds for mortal consumption, 1,000 catties of various basic medicinal herbs, 300 pieces of apothecary equipment, 10 ordinary pill furnaces, 5 middle-grade pill furnaces, 2,000 fire bricks suitable for furnace linings, 1 catty each of 5 types of metal sand, and finally, 1 sapling of a Red Jade Lantern.

Apart from the spirit plant, everything else the Cui Clan delivered was mundane. Most of them were quite heavy and came in large quantities as well. The most valuable items of them all were the five types of metal sand and fire bricks. The fire bricks were no ordinary fire bricks either; capable of withstanding Sun's true fire at the Dao Foundation stage. Furnaces built with them were specifically used for smelting mystic artifact forgings.

As for the five types of metal sand, adding just a single grain to a furnace of ordinary molten iron would imbue it with its unique properties. They were extremely rare, with each catty worth a thousand taels of immortal silver.

Grain, medicine, and iron; they were precisely what Wei Yuan urgently needed right now. As expected of the Cui Clan, their efficiency was truly impeccable.

The Red Jade Lantern was a high-grade spirit plant. It produced fruits that could extend one’s lifespan a little. However, its cultivation requirements were exacting, such as needing to twine around a high-grade spirit plant and absorbing its vitality to grow.

It was obvious that there was a deeper significance behind this particular gift. The Cui Clan had only sent it because Wei Yuan had “revealed” that he possessed an intact immortal tree. The spirit plant would grow dozens of times faster after attaching itself to the immortal tree, but the immortal tree itself would experience little to no adverse effects because the disparity in their ranks was too great. It was akin to a mortal human being bitten by a mosquito.

After that, the Cui clansmen boarded the flying vessel one by one, but eight of them refused to leave, choosing to stay behind and participate in the second round of training. Among them was the younger brother of the young woman who had forged an earth foundation.

The two Avatars did not force them to leave. Instead, they handed Wei Yuan a list and explained that more flying vessels were already on their way to Qingming. They should arrive a couple days later. The next flying vessel would be carrying two hundred disciples, and there were twenty names on the list that were to be spared at all costs. The rest were expendable.

After Wei Yuan put the list away, the elderly man surnamed Cui said to him, “The Old Lady believes that the death toll for this battle is a bit too brutal. In the future, when our clansmen head to battle, it would be best to show them a little more consideration and keep the death toll under ten percent.”

“In that case, you probably won’t get as many Dao Foundation stage cultivators as you could have.”

The elderly man replied meaningfully, “The Cui Clan isn’t that short on Dao Foundations.”

Wei Yuan understood. For a colossus like the Cui Clan, the number of Human-tier Dao Foundation stage cultivators with no hope of advancement was of no consequence. Never mind Dao Foundations, the number of worthless Avatars was of no consequence to them either.

After Wei Yuan nodded in understanding, the elderly man continued, “The Old Lady also wishes to ask: could there be more cyan lotus?”

Wei Yuan returned a wry smile. “How could there be more? We just got lucky and happened to activate his hidden bloodline.”

The old man said, “The Old Lady has one final request: if that tree proves too hot for you to handle, you may consider seeking protection from the Cui Clan. Specifically, you may select a suitable Heaven-tier daughter of direct descent from this generation and marry into our family. You may establish a branch family right here, with you as its head. In the future, you may join the Elders Council as well. You will enjoy all benefits and privileges equal to that of Cui Yu.”

Wei Yuan replied, “Please convey my thanks to the Old Lady for her kindness. However, it is just one immortal object. The Palace alone should be able to protect me.”

The old man replied slowly, “I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you. The Palace of Absolute Beginning is a vast and powerful institution possessing many immortal objects for sure, but it is by no means certain that they’ll be able to protect you.

“Anyway, take this record with you. They contain the profiles of the three legitimate daughters we’ve selected for you; all of them Heaven-tier. Should you change your mind, you may choose one from among them.”

Wei Yuan had intended to refuse, but after giving it some thought, he ultimately accepted the jade paper and put it away.

The elderly man looked quite satisfied with his response. Having said everything he wished to say, he boarded the flying vessel and departed there and then, leaving behind a pile of supplies and the eight Cui clansmen who had chosen to stay behind for the second round of training.

After the flying vessel was gone, Cui Yu finally spoke up. “I thought you wouldn’t take that jade paper.”

Wei Yuan was baffled. “Why wouldn’t I? Just because I took it doesn’t mean I’m going to look at it. Refusing it right to his face would’ve been a slap in the face to your Cui Clan, and it wouldn’t have looked good to the two Truemen either. Who knows what they’d say about me once they got back.”

Cui Yu patted Wei Yuan on the shoulder and replied, “I don’t know what they’ll say when they return, but I do know this: ‘the Cui Clan sent over the profile of their legitimate daughters to Realm Lord Wei, and Realm Lord Wei gladly accepted it.’ Rest assured, this news will reach Sister Bao’s ears in a few days at most.”

Wei Yuan remained unmoved. “Just because I accepted it doesn’t mean I’ll actually look at it.”

“If you weren’t planning on looking at it, then why did you accept it in the first place?” Cui Yu retorted[1].

This time, Wei Yuan found himself momentarily at a loss for words. Logically speaking, there was no need for him to respond to such an inane question. But if he didn’t respond, it felt like he would be in even deeper trouble than he already was. Suddenly, the jade paper felt uncomfortably hot in his hand.

Finally, Wei Yuan shoved the jade paper into Cui Yu’s hand, disgruntled. “Take it!”

Cui Yu tucked it into his robe and replied, “I’ll hold onto this for Sister Bao.”

With that, the matter involving the Cui Clan was temporarily settled. Cui Yu and Xu Wan’er led the man to distribute the supplies. The newly acquired rice seeds also needed to be planted in newly cleared fields.

One hundred thousand catties of seeds wasn’t as much as it sounded. It was enough to plant 5,000 mu of fields only; a low enough quantity that it wouldn’t provoke the Xu Clan into action. However, the seeds provided by the Cui Clan held a secret: it was a special variety with a yield of 300 catties per mu. While its yield was low and the taste was poor, it grew extremely quickly and could be harvested in just two months. It could also thrive almost anywhere without special care.

With this batch of rice seeds, Wei Yuan would no longer have to worry about food supplies in six months’ time.

Wei Yuan returned to his quarters, where several jade papers lay on the corner of his desk. He hesitated for a moment, but he ultimately picked them up.

The jade papers detailed the comprehensive results of the previous battle. In fact, the figures had been tallied several days ago, but Wei Yuan had been reluctant to look at them and had put them off... until now.

In the previous battle, the Shamans had mobilized a total force of 110,000 troops. 80,000 had directly engaged in combat, with 40,000 middle guard and rear guard serving as reinforcements. The Shamans had successively dispatched 25,000 elite troops to attack Xuanwei Six. Wei Yuan had deployed 2,000 elite troops, 5,000 ordinary Body-tempering stage soldiers, and 4,000 civilians from the city to defend Xuanwei Six. Ultimately, Yun Feifei blew up the underground, leading to mutual annihilation.

On the ground, the Shamans had successively deployed a total of 60,000 troops and suffered 27,000 casualties. In this battlefield, Wei Yuan had stationed 20,000 Body-tempering stage soldiers, 5,000 elite troops, and 500 Dao Foundation stage cultivators. In the end, 11,000 were killed in action.

The Shamans had suffered such tremendous losses that their morale was greatly shaken. Because of this, Rock Heart was unable to absorb his forces’ army aura to empower himself. It was one of the key factors in his swift defeat.

There were now less than 100,000 people left within the realm of Qingming. Over 40,000 had perished in battle in an unbelievably short amount of time; a number so massive it was as if the first wave of people who joined the realm had all died. In fact, the vast majority of Wei Yuan’s main forces consisted of people who had advanced in their cultivation after joining the realm.

Joining Qingming offered benefits beyond just a daily meal. Those living here were also protected from the corruption of the Shaman realm and provided with a dry and warm living environment. Thus, they no longer suffered from all manner of bizarre illnesses. Furthermore, thanks to the constant nourishment provided by Jia Wood Nurtures Life, those plagued by numerous ailments were slowly recovering, and those whose Body-tempering stage cultivation had become stagnant were advancing rapidly. That was how Wei Yuan came to have a large number of newly added body-tempering stage cultivators at his disposal.

At the moment, there were fewer than 1,000 elders over fifty in Qingming. They were all survivors who had endured years of torment in the Shattered Realm, and every one of them was a Body-tempering stage cultivator. In the Shattered Realm, those unable to temper their bodies rarely lived past thirty, and only those who had reached the pinnacle of the Body-tempering stage stood a chance of surviving past fifty.

However, this group of elders had been on the verge of death when they initially entered Qingming. Their bodies had long been ravaged beyond recognition, and their cultivation had dwindled to less than a tenth of its former strength.

Since Qingming was established, the Shamans had lost 100,000 soldiers on this land, more than half of whom were elite troops, and seven Great Warlocks. It was an overwhelming result that was, if not ten times greater, at least three or four times greater than that of the newly established administration of Ningxi.

At times, Wei Yuan would be caught in the throes of fury and hatred, and he couldn’t help but wonder if it would have been better if he had simply uprooted Qingming and fled back then. His Dao Foundation would have been damaged, and it was going to take a long time to repair it. However, the Shaman forces would have done him a favor by sweeping across the entire western regions and slaughtering every official—big or small—sent by Western Jin to establish its new commanderies and counties, as well as the hundreds thousand or so Jin troops who had chosen to stand idle and do nothing while the people suffered.

But had he done so, the millions of people stranded in the Shattered Realm would have died, every last one of them.

1. My good brother here is rehearsing questions Bao Yun 100% would ask when they meet LOL. ☜