Zhang Sheng stood with her hands clasped behind her back. In that instant, it felt as though heaven and earth had ceased to exist, leaving only her standing alone.
"A royal aura has emerged in the State of Ji. You may seek it yourself—why come here first?" Zhang Sheng had no interest whatsoever in royal auras, not bothering to ask a single question about it.
Had it been anyone else, Li Zhi would have assumed they were playing hard to get. With Zhang Sheng alone, he harbored no doubt; he knew she truly possessed no interest in it at all.
Li Zhi said respectfully, "According to my calculations, what has emerged in the State of Ji this time is the aura of a Sovereign of Men. Brother Wei has always possessed profound attainments in human karmic luck, so I thought he might be interested in the aura of a Sovereign of Men as well. That is why I made a special trip here to invite him to investigate it with me. If we find anything, we can simply divide it equally."
At the mention of Wei Yuan, Zhang Sheng turned around and said, "He is not here at the moment. He is busy traveling all over, preparing to secure some welfare for the common folk of our territory, and will probably not be back anytime soon. This foothold of ours is still quite crude; all supplies rely on transport through the secret realm passage, so quantities are limited and construction is slow, barely sustaining ten thousand people. Still, if you need anything, feel free to ask."
Li Zhi sighed and said, "It is a pity Brother Wei is not here. Master, you need not worry about me; I am accompanied by scholars from the academy on this journey, so there shouldn't be any danger. Moreover, though the aura of a Sovereign of Men is precious, very few people can actually make use of it. To the royal families of the Nine States, it is deadly poison, so I doubt many will fight over it.
"Oh, I will leave a communication array disc for Brother Wei. If he returns early, he can contact me, and he might still make it in time."
Zhang Sheng did not refuse. Extending her hand, she said, "Hand it over."
Li Zhi held up the array disc with both hands and placed it upon Zhang Sheng's hand, which was opened like an orchid, taking extreme care not to brush against her skin in the slightest.
Having delivered the array disc, Li Zhi turned and departed. After flying dozens of li, he saw two old Confucian scholars playing chess at the edge of a forest. Seeing Li Zhi arrive, the two scholars asked no questions, sweeping Li Zhi into the air with them and vanishing into the horizon in the blink of an eye.
A day later, the three appeared outside a remote county seat. Looking at the county seat that had been razed by a great fire, both old scholars frowned. Then, channeling divine light into their eyes, they peered intently forward, instantly filled with shock and fury. One old scholar barked, "What vicious methods! It is wicked enough to slaughter a whole city, but to trap the souls so they cannot be delivered into reincarnation! Hmph, whoever did this had better not cross my path!"
The other old scholar said, "How could the aura of a Sovereign of Men emerge in a place like this?"
The first scholar replied, "The aura of a Sovereign of Men is ever-shifting, born in response to destiny. Most of the time it is only a fleeting glimpse; it would not be strange for it to appear anywhere. As long as it appears, there must be a reason. Even if we cannot obtain the aura of a Sovereign of Men, simply deciphering the cause of its emergence would be a great harvest."
Li Zhi looked up toward the gate tower, where the gate placard had been mostly consumed by fire, vaguely revealing the character 'Bao.' For some reason, he suddenly remembered that little girl who had thrashed him soundly back during the immortal sect joint examination.
He had heard that the King of Qi had taken an increasing interest in him recently, intending to arrange a marriage... Li Zhi's mind wandered for a moment.
"Let us go inside and take a look."
The three entered the city and saw charred rubble and ruins everywhere, with corpses strewn all about, some already reduced mostly to white bones. These corpses looked to have died in agony, each facing in different directions.
Li Zhi suddenly shuddered all over, feeling as though something was calling to him. A golden Sword of the Son of Heaven actually emerged above his head, backed by a grand hall with a precious throne within.
Seeing Li Zhi's dharma idol manifest, both scholars were overjoyed and immediately hurried toward the direction Li Zhi sensed. A moment later, the three stood in the main hall of the county yamen.
Eerily enough, though the entire city had burned down, only the main hall of the county yamen was preserved intact. Inside the hall stood a throne; its craftsmanship was crude, resembling a prop commonly used by an opera troupe, yet at this moment in the eyes of the three, it emanated a faint glow.
Li Zhi fell into a daze, as though seeing an ancient Sovereign of Men seated there, overwhelming the world with his aura as he commanded vast armies in bloody battle against alien races.
The old scholar's voice trembled slightly. "The aura of an ancient Sovereign of Men? A remnant actually still lingers!"
The other scholar immediately took an ancient sword from his pack and drew it slightly from its scabbard, bringing it near the throne, but the throne showed no reaction at all. He drew the sword further out, yet it was still useless.
The scholar frowned and said, "Could it be that even this replica Human Sovereign Sword, forged from the aura of a Sovereign of Men, cannot collect a genuine aura of a Sovereign of Men?"
At that moment, as if guided by ghosts and gods, Li Zhi took two steps forward. In that instant, all three saw a tall, formidable man with an archaic, rugged face appear upon the seat. Bare-chested and painted with body oils, he bore the markings of an unprecedented sacred beast. His eyes suddenly opened, looking toward the three, and in an instant, both scholars felt as though struck by lightning, unable to move a muscle!
The figure then rose, walked straight toward Li Zhi, and stepped into his body. The Golden Throne Hall dharma idol reappeared above Li Zhi's head, only this time, a vague silhouette was seated upon the throne within the hall!
Both scholars were shaken and ecstatic. Exchanging a glance, the older scholar's expression suddenly changed. "Not good! We must leave, quickly!"
Each of the two scholars tossed down a book, and sweeping Li Zhi along, they vanished from the spot!
After they left, the two classics flipped open on their own. With every turning page, they instantly burned away, reducing to ashes in the blink of an eye, and right there, a youth dressed in gray emerged.
He looked around and muttered to himself, "To be willing to destroy two top-grade spirit treasures—they certainly are ruthless enough. But what are these sour pedants doing here instead of staying in their own territory?"
He surveyed the main hall of the county yamen and found that apart from being undamaged, there was surprisingly nothing amiss at all. Yet right now, having nothing amiss was the greatest anomaly of all. The gray-robed youth's expression gradually darkened. The other party had laid the bizarreness right before his eyes, yet he couldn't even tell what was wrong?!
***
Wei Yuan emerged from the secret realm exit, followed by over a hundred Dao Foundation cultivators who originated from the youths of the Xu family. The secret realm exit had now turned into a massive construction site, where tens of thousands of people worked day and night. Several large blast furnaces for iron smelting and three cement manufacturing workshops had already been built.
A boundary stone had already been planted at the exit. Although it was only an ordinary boundary stone with a limit of two hundred li and transformed heaven and earth very slowly, Body Casting cultivators could move freely within its range. Otherwise, the Mountain Folk territory was filled everywhere with toxic fumes and unseen killing intent, and before long, mortal folk would die mysteriously.
Many ores in the Mountain Folk territory invisibly affected their surroundings; staying near them for even a little while would cause mortals to contract all sorts of strange ailments. By planting an ordinary boundary stone, Wei Yuan neutralized these invisible influences, allowing mortals to operate there as well.
Judging by the scale of construction, the secret realm exit was the true core fortress. In truth, over fifty floating boats and airships now shuttled between Qingming and the State of Ji each month, but most supplies were delivered to the secret realm exit, with only about ten percent reaching Guantun County. Thus, on the surface, Guantun County had built a few fortifications, but nothing eye-catching.
On this visit, Wei Yuan had brought a hundred silver-gray Sky-Obscuring Pillars with him. These pillars could effectively interfere with divine sense sweeping; once erected together, not even an immortal could see clearly what lay inside Guantun County.
Not long ago, Zhang Sheng had led several thousand soldiers out from the Xiang River to attack a pass of the State of Ji. After fighting for days without taking it, she could only withdraw in dejection. With that groundwork laid, Wei Yuan could erect these Sky-Obscuring Pillars and develop in peace, leaving his adversaries to stew in their own suspicions.
The only catch was that Zhang Sheng's defeat was a bit too fake: she had assaulted the fortress for three days straight, inflicting thousands of casualties on the pass walls while suffering fewer than a hundred herself, before retreating in disarray.
Fortunately, Sun Chao'en had now smoothly entered the court of the State of Ji, having been appointed Senior Compiler in the Hanlin Academy, and was deeply favored by the King of Ji. What followed next would be up to his own devices.
Returning to Guantun County, Wei Yuan ordered the Sky-Obscuring Pillars erected according to their designated positions. He then returned to the newly constructed City Lord's Manor and began drafting a memorial to the Tang court, requesting an appointment as the Great Tang Military Commissioner of Xianghan.
This was the third memorial Wei Yuan had written on the matter, and it would be the last. Yet the Tang court had shown no response from start to finish.
***
Tangdu, Imperial Palace.
The King of Jin, serving as regent, flipped through the memorial before him over and over, his brows knit tight. Beside him, Emperor Jing stole a glance, vaguely making out that the signature was once again Wei Yuan.
The King of Jin suddenly handed the memorial to Emperor Jing and asked, "How should this one be answered?"
Emperor Jing took it and read it carefully, then remarked, "Haven't there been four or five similar memorials already? This Wei Yuan is truly persistent. Who asks for their own official post like this?"
The King of Jin frowned slightly and corrected, "It is three."
Emperor Jing was rather dismissive. With at least several hundred memorials to review every day, how could he possibly remember exactly how many memorials someone had submitted? Before the King of Jin, however, he had no choice but to put on a show of humble deference.
Seeing the King of Jin pause his work and quietly await his opinion, Emperor Jing, who had not yet reached twenty years of age, spoke up: "Since we didn't grant the first two, could we possibly grant this one? Just toss it aside and ignore it."
Disappointment flickered in the King of Jin's eyes. Sighing, he said, "Three tries is the limit. Wei Yuan sending three memorials in a row is his way of probing our attitude toward him. If we do not approve it this time, I fear he will no longer be a military commissioner of our Great Tang."
Emperor Jing flew into a rage. "Then that fellow harbors wild ambitions! He absolutely cannot be kept!"
The King of Jin looked at Emperor Jing and said slowly, "There are only so few regional military commissioners outside holding real military authority in Great Tang, and Wei Yuan is one of them. For a minister of such importance, have you not even read his background and career record?"
Chapter 1012