To wage a war across the literary realm, a multi-pronged approach was best.
Wei Yuan was inherently resourceful, and with countless "crouching dragons and phoenix fledglings" in the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World offering counsel and schemes, several thousand strategies were proposed in no time. After integrating them and weeding out the chaff to keep the essence, dozens of actionable strategies were finalized.
Because there was little connection among these measures and it was hard to weigh one's merits against another, Wei Yuan simply crammed them together and labeled them a "policy package."
A moment later, Xiaoyu looked somewhere between amused and cross. Weighing the policy package in his hand, he asked, "So, in your eyes, I'm the one cut out for this?"
Wei Yuan said hurriedly, "Everyone else has their hands full. Only you are free—ah, I mean, you're very busy, but the capable always shoulder more work! Besides, when establishing journals, weeklies, poetry gatherings, and literary salons, presentation is everything. On that front, it has to be you!"
Xiaoyu gave a heavy snort, clearly unconvinced. Then he said, "Some of these strategies of yours are utterly insidious and foul, and others are outright base and vulgar. How did you come up with them? I never would have guessed you were this sort of person!"
Wei Yuan laughed. "As the sages say, food and sex are human nature. After toiling all day, commoners love nothing more than reading this stuff. We'll feed them what they like first, and once they're hooked, we can sneak in our own agenda. Besides, are you sure you don't want to be on the cover of the inaugural issue of *Gossip Weekly*? There's a ton of karmic luck in it! The first cover will bring heaps of karmic luck down the road!"
Xiaoyu bristled with annoyance. "Just what kind of trash is written in this *Gossip Weekly* of yours? It's all lowbrow filth! And you want me on the cover?"
"It has the highest circulation, the biggest volume, and the most karmic luck."
Xiaoyu hesitated.
Everyone understood the logic. The common folk vastly outnumbered the scholar-gentry; among a thousand ordinary people, there might only be a single scholar. The karmic luck they generated differed by orders of magnitude.
Commoners toiled from morning till night, exhausted half to death and barely fed. Who had the leisure or desire to read classical poetry and refined essays? People only cared to read tales of scoundrels running off with their daughters-in-law or mother-in-laws to drown in a river for love. The premier issue of the weekly featured a story about a great Confucian named Fang who jumped into a river with three women. Compared to the real historical incident, it added one extra character and dialed the drama and intensity up several notches. It was penned by an anonymous bachelor from the crouching dragons and phoenix fledglings in the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World.
Seeing Xiaoyu waver, Wei Yuan offered, "How about this? Let Bao Yun join in. Whatever content you feel uncomfortable with, you can hand over to her."
By now, Bao Yun was no longer the shy young maiden of yesteryear. Coming from an illustrious family, she was worldly and experienced, and with the Heavenly Demon Wondrous Idol cultivated into her being, even Wei Yuan found her quite a handful. Moreover, the Bao family had no shortage of talent; Bao Yun would take to handling these shady matters like a fish to water.
Xiaoyu finally nodded. With an almost obsessive persistence, he went over every detail with Wei Yuan once more.
This time, Wei Yuan did not merely intend to strike back. He wanted to rebuild the entire dissemination system, seize control of discourse in the literary realm, and ultimately achieve a state where a single voice ruled the land.
Thus, alongside *Gossip Weekly*, there was the *Hanlin Academic Journal*, dedicated to promoting new and masterful works by literary luminaries, and *Subtle Words of Ink*, devoted to scriptural exegesis and commentary. These two publications were aimed strictly at scholars.
Similar to *Gossip Weekly* was *New Selection of Storybooks*, a title any literate peasant would grasp instantly.
*Current Affairs of the World* focused on major events across the realm, into which plenty of editorial bias could be smuggled. Then there was *Water Moon and Mirror Flowers*, which primarily served private agendas with only a smattering of genuine current events mixed in. The latter's specialty was fake news and authentic gossip.
*Water Moon and Mirror Flowers* later exploded in popularity, becoming known as the *Water Moon Paper* or the *Mirror Paper*. Because its headquarters sat on Huaxuan Street in Yong'an, it also went by the name *Huaxuan Street Daily*. The more aliases it gained, the greater its influence grew—something Wei Yuan had not foreseen at the time.
With multiple publications launched in unison, they seized every corner of the literary battlefield in one fell swoop.
Next were a grand poetry gathering and a grand literary assembly. Wei Yuan would fully fund all travel, food, and lodging expenses, offering top-tier hospitality and carefully selecting handsome men and beautiful women from the State of Zhao to serve as attendants, inviting scholars from all across the realm to participate.
The two gatherings would respectively crown the "Southern Jin Poetry Immortal" and the "Foremost Figure of the Eight Commanderies' Literary Realm." Great Confucians naturally looked down their noses at such titles, but with the official backing of both Jin and Zhao, they held immense allure for young scholars and mid-tier literati.
Within Qingming, the Qingming Nine States Aid and Development Agency was officially established. Its primary mission was to fund pro-Qingming figures within the nine states, smear anti-Qingming figures, and indiscriminately attack patriots of the nine states.
This flurry of initiatives left Xiaoyu dizzy. Yet when Wei Yuan crunched the numbers, it hardly cost anything at all—selling a few boatloads of canned rations would recoup everything. The slanderers on the agency's payroll did not even earn a single can of food per person on average.
Having accepted the task, Xiaoyu went straight to Bao Yun to divide up their duties. Wei Yuan returned to poring over the eighth chapter of *Preliminary Exploration of the Desolate Realm*. Once he chewed through this chapter, he would grasp the fundamental principles of heavenly tribulations, securing his path toward the fourth grotto-heaven.
Lately, the crouching dragons and phoenix fledglings in the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World were growing in number, and the direction of their thinking was turning increasingly dangerous. Someone had already written lines like "The people are of supreme importance; the Creation Immortal Venerable is of least account." Another was drafting an opening that proclaimed, "Heaven and Earth are unkind, treating all creations as straw dogs; the Immortal Venerable is unkind, treating the common people as straw dogs."
Wei Yuan felt he needed to bring the heavenly tribulation grotto-heaven online as soon as possible to tighten the screws on these fellows.
As he was buried in his studies, a familiar, subtle fragrance suddenly drifted into his nostrils. Wei Yuan barely had time to think *Oh no* before a familiar figure tackled him. The two tumbled together in a tight embrace, as if a soft pillow were wedged between their chests.
With a half-smile, Bao Yun murmured, "I heard you took in a little sister who can bear a litter of eight. Does that mean I should go learn the Floating World Dragon Diagram too?"
Wei Yuan took fright and barked, "You are not allowed to go!"
Zhao Fusheng harbored wild ambitions. Although Wei Yuan held leverage over him, he still had to remain on guard and could never let Bao Yun meet him.
Bao Yun smiled softly and said, "I've already learned it!"
A dreadful premonition welled up within Wei Yuan—equal parts worry and terror, mingled with an urge to shrink away and not hear it. But Bao Yun leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "I'll teach you right now..."
Two hours later, Wei Yuan's mastery of the Desolate Roar's third tone had suffered a slight regression.
Bao Yun did not know the Floating World Dragon Diagram at all, nor did she need to. Before perfecting the third tone, Wei Yuan was nothing more than a ball of yarn beneath a cat's paw, batted about at her whim.
"Why are you here?" Wei Yuan finally found the chance to ask.
Bao Yun replied, "Xiaoyu came to me, saying you plan to strike back against the scholars' smear campaign, and assigned me some tasks. I came to discuss it with you."
"Oh? Is there a problem?" These sundry affairs would have thrown an ordinary person into a panic, but in the eyes of geniuses like Bao Yun, who could effortlessly juggle thousands of tasks at once, it was merely a matter of spending a little time. Wei Yuan saw nothing difficult about it.
Bao Yun produced several sheets of jade paper and said, "These tasks are all fine, but they lack a crucial component: there's nothing on food and carnal desire. That's what the common people love to see. If you don't give it to them, who are you publishing these periodicals for? People wouldn't even use them as toilet paper—they'd complain it's too rough."
Wei Yuan was taken aback. How could there be no matters of passion and desire? The proportion had clearly been quite high—so high that serious matters were almost squeezed out entirely.
Wei Yuan took the jade sheets and examined them carefully, only to discover that everything Xiaoyu had assigned to Bao Yun was clean and refined. All the crude content that could only be whispered over evening drinks had been withheld by Xiaoyu, who took it all upon himself.
For a moment, Wei Yuan could not tell whether Xiaoyu was being considerate of Bao Yun, or if he simply relished this sort of work deep down. Wei Yuan had a faint feeling that the crystal-clear Xiaoyu of the past, who once lived in the water, had changed as well.
Nevertheless, after his study of the "Floating World Dragon Diagram" with Bao Yun, Wei Yuan's mind was clear. Another vital matter occurred to him: the Thirteen Taibaos were far too few and had proven largely useless. Regardless of where the royal court literati from Zhao placed their loyalties, they would eventually have to return. Expanding their own ranks was an urgent priority.
Thus, Wei Yuan and Bao Yun conferred for another two hours and ultimately decided on a massive expansion of the literary Taibaos. If thirteen were not enough, they would start with three thousand!
As for the recruits, Wei Yuan planned to recruit openly across all of Qingming, while quietly reserving some covert slots for the crouching dragons and phoenix fledglings within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World.
Wei Yuan was convinced that history would ultimately prove that the fiercest vitriolic pens came from the common folk.
***
State of Ji, Guantun County.
Spring was in full bloom, and all living things were flourishing. Zhang Sheng suddenly felt drowsy, as though she had dozed off for a brief instant of daze.
She slowly opened her eyes and saw the man who resembled a wealthy patriarch still sitting across from her. Bearing a smile, he said:
"...Today, I... will... tell a..."
Zhang Sheng suddenly felt the scene before her flatten out, rippling constantly, as though the entire world had turned into a sheet of paper fluttering in the wind.
Something unknown descended from high above, beyond the paper. If it struck true, the world within the paper would instantly turn to ash.
Above Zhang Sheng's head, three Daoists manifested simultaneously. The middle-aged Daoist held a small apricot-yellow banner, while the elder Daoist held a small red banner. With a gentle wave, something vanished from the descending strike, diminishing its power, but the two Daoists above Zhang Sheng's head disappeared as a result.
The young Daoist showed no fear. Rising tall, a small banner appeared in his hand. Using his finger as a brush, he strove to write something upon it. Several blank spaces were visible on the banner, but the moment he finished half a character, the entire banner combusted into nothingness, and the young Daoist vanished alongside it.
The strike from high above slowed slightly, its aura shifting once more, no longer so lofty and inscrutable.
It passed straight through the world within the paper, pierced through Zhang Sheng, and vanished into the world on the other side of the paper.
The world within the paper swelled once more, gradually returning to normal. Across from her, the wealthy patriarch continued speaking: "...story of the emergence of the Buddhist Sword."
The world before Zhang Sheng's eyes suddenly took on a faint red hue. She raised a hand to wipe her eyes, only to find her palms covered in blood!
With a muffled grunt, blood seeped from her throat, chest, and lower abdomen.
Across from her, the green jade pendants dangling from the wealthy patriarch's ears, the mutton-fat white jade adorning his cap, the six thumb rings on his left hand, and the jade bracelet and aloeswood prayer beads around his right wrist all vanished without a sound. The sword at his waist let out a sorrowful wail, and its hilt abruptly clattered to the floor, having snapped clean off.
The patriarch's face flushed red, turned pale, and flushed red again, repeating this cycle three times before finally settling.
Fortunately, the world had returned to normal.
With a stir of her divine sense, Zhang Sheng saw the almanac placed in the public hall of the county yamen's front courtyard. Today was the fifteenth day of the third month, the night of the full moon. Yet when the wealthy patriarch had knocked on her door, it had been more than ten days ago.
The wealthy patriarch paused for a moment before continuing, "Since there is a Buddhist Sword, there naturally exist a Dao Sword, a Confucian Sword, a Heavenly Sword, a Legalist Sword, an Earthly Sword, and others.
"These swords are not truly swords; they are all manifestations of the Sword Dao. The emergence of the Buddhist Sword signifies that the time has come once more for the Sword Dao to manifest. Above the heavens and beneath the earth, there is no one who does not wish to contend for it!
"Yet your dharma idol directly occupies the place where ten thousand swords return. Who could possibly tolerate you?"
Zhang Sheng said, "Since none can tolerate it, why bother coming?"
The wealthy patriarch smiled pleasantly. "Have you not heard that if one learns the Dao in the morning, one may die content in the evening? Thus, even knowing I could not stop it, I still had to come. If this humble Bai could, in his lifetime, catch a glimpse of 'what homeland lies where ten thousand swords return,' then this life is fulfilled!"
Chapter 1003