Once mortals were well-fed, had plenty to drink, and learned to read, their lives suddenly began to feel empty.
Thus, storybooks were currently all the rage across Qingming. This had originally been within Wei Yuan's expectations, but for some reason, the tally of storybook sales was significantly lower than what Myriad Realms Flourishing had projected.
Wei Yuan had initially planned to use storybooks as a primary battleground for war-of-words campaigns, so he took the matter quite seriously and dispatched people specifically to investigate the cause.
The investigators he sent were elite and capable, and they quickly reached a conclusion: a considerable portion of the literate population had simultaneously embarked on the path of Body Casting. In order to cultivate, they worked themselves half to death every single day. As soon as these people got home, they just wanted to sleep and did not read storybooks at all. If they read anything, it was only the simplest, most blunt pulp that could be absorbed thinking with one's lower half.
Wei Yuan found this quite reasonable, so he stopped fretting over it and set the matter aside for the time being.
Over the past few days, a brand-new storybook suddenly grew popular, bafflingly blowing up into a sensation.
In the town alleys, a woman was asking her husband, who had worked all day and just stepped through the door, "If I turned into a caterpillar, would you still love me?"
The man had spent the entire day consolidating his Dao Foundation and was exhausted to death, lacking the appetite even to eat. Hearing this question, an inexplicable irritation flared up in him, and he roared furiously, "Then I'll turn into a woodpecker and snatch you up in my beak, you meddlesome woman!"
The woman had never expected such an answer. Wanting to cry yet not daring to, she stomped back into the bedroom in a fury and slammed the door shut.
Sitting alone in the room, her eyes grew wet with tears. She wondered when it would ever be like the storybook described—when a young and promising Realm Lord would suddenly fall in love with her and treat her three children as his own.
For the past few days, Wei Yuan had been sneezing every now and then. He could not understand why, with his current dharma body, he would still show symptoms of catching a cold. Wei Yuan had also considered whether someone had taken advantage of the chaos to place a curse on him, but after asking Eldest Senior Sister, he learned that this was highly unlikely.
Wei Yuan currently bore immense mortal karmic luck, and within his mindscape world lay more than one immortal artifact. Even if Immortal Monarch Yanshi were to personally cast a curse, he would have to pay a price; how could ordinary run-of-the-mill immortals possibly affect Wei Yuan with a curse?
As for an alien plot, that was even less likely. His two old friends, Huixin and Shengxin, had both been captured alive and thrown into prison. Sneaking into Qingming was one thing, but those two had actually dared to participate in the assembly; if Wei Yuan still couldn't catch them, he might as well smash his head against a wall and die.
That day, Huixin was the first to step onto the stage. As the chilly aura of the Taiyin Laurel shrouded her, it immediately discovered her true Shaman race form and secretly alerted Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan then laid an inescapable net, waiting until both fellows finished competing before quietly taking them down.
Wei Yuan remained quite wary of Shengxin. After subjecting him to layer upon layer of restraints, Wei Yuan specifically fed him a potent digestive pill that accelerated his bodily functions. In just half a day, Shengxin was starved until his eyes gleamed green. Wei Yuan felt that a Shengxin starved half to death was a good shaman.
Neither immortal nor alien—pondering it back and forth, Wei Yuan still could not comprehend why he kept sneezing. The only possibility was that tens of thousands of mortals were murmuring about him simultaneously. This was an unconventional path of karmic luck, which had triggered a response in Wei Yuan.
However, this thought seemed far too absurd, so Wei Yuan simply dismissed it.
This afternoon, while Wei Yuan was making final preparations to plant Buddha Sword Peak, the door suddenly burst open. Xu Henshui rushed in furiously, shouting the moment he crossed the threshold, "I have always treated you generously! How—how could you treat me like this?!"
Wei Yuan was thoroughly baffled and asked, "What did I do?"
"See for yourself!" Xu Henshui hurled a publication at him.
Wei Yuan deftly caught it. It was the latest special edition on the World's Number One Dharma Idol Assembly, freshly released by *Bagua Weekly*, the most widely circulated periodical in recent times.
All the periodicals and journals controlled by Qingming had published similar special editions, but their combined circulation did not equal that of *Bagua Weekly* alone. Across all publications combined, over a hundred thousand copies of this special edition had been distributed.
The special edition devoted detailed sections to each of the Twelve Celestial Idols, complete with hand-painted portraits of each figure. These prioritized spirit over mere likeness, capturing an exquisite vivacity. Bao Yun's portrait, for example, captured the fleeting instant when she glanced back while riding a cloud—showing only a slight profile, yet enough to leave one thoroughly captivated.
Each and every portrait had been commissioned by Wei Yuan at great expense from master painters.
So what could possibly be wrong with this publication? Puzzled, Wei Yuan opened it and turned to Xu Henshui's page. Depicted there was an elegant, graceful nobleman, handsome as fine jade, with a peerless countenance.
Xu Henshui ground his teeth. "Turn to the next page!"
Wei Yuan turned the page. It recorded the dharma idol. Xu Henshui's dharma idol was named the Black Jade Bell Immortal—a fairly conventional name, not one bestowed by the Heavenly Dao.
The problem lay in the image of the dharma idol.
Special personnel had been tasked with recording all Twelve Celestial Idols, capturing multiple images from various angles before selecting one or several to include in the publication.
The dharma idols of the other cultivators appeared either imposing or mysterious, with key details obscured to prevent others from intentionally targeting their weaknesses.
In the center of Xu Henshui's dharma idol, however, sat a black flower with scorched edges. The Night-Walking Bell Immortal leaned half of its body out from the flower, smiling sweetly. This was supposed to be a brilliant snapshot, but the colors seemed improperly adjusted and were far too dark. The Bell Immortal's facial features were entirely obscured—from a distance, it was a solid patch of black, the only striking feature being a mouth of gleaming white teeth floating in the dark night.
Wei Yuan had never expected this. He had to exert all his strength just to swallow down a bout of wild laughter.
Xu Henshui's face flushed crimson. He raged, "Do you dare claim this wasn't intentional?!"
Wei Yuan said earnestly, "I truly didn't know! I'll have someone look into it right away. But—"
Wei Yuan glanced at Xu Henshui, noticing a faint glow shimmering around him—an unmistakable sign of karmic luck gracing his body. Thoughtful, Wei Yuan said, "Then again, Martial Uncle, you've gained far more karmic luck than anyone else! Do you really want to recall this issue?"
Xu Henshui suddenly felt both blessed and vexed, torn on what to do. Wei Yuan hurriedly consoled him, "Karmic luck comes first; nothing else matters. Even bad publicity is good publicity—dark fame is still fame—"
Xu Henshui roared, "So you really do think I look pitch-black!"
Wei Yuan found himself utterly unable to defend himself. Fortunately, Bao Yun's voice rang out from the doorway: "This has nothing to do with him. I did it!"
Xu Henshui glared at Bao Yun, gritting his teeth. "You... you..."
In the end, he had no recourse and stormed out the door. Before leaving, Xu Henshui took a careful look at Bao Yun and realized her karmic luck was indeed inferior to his own, so he made no further mention of retracting the publication.
Wei Yuan and Bao Yun did a final check of the precautions for planting Buddha Sword Peak. Seeing that nothing was overlooked, they flew out from the immortal city and arrived outside Ding'an City.
At this point, the grand formation was fully constructed, with military barracks and various anti-air defensive positions firmly in place. Moreover, hundreds of literati stood upon a specially prepared viewing platform.
They were either editors employed by various publications or independent commentators who drew regular stipends from the Development Bureau. They had been summoned here to witness the grand undertaking of planting Buddha Sword Peak, so they could return and write articles for publication.
In addition, nearly a million residents of Ding'an City surged forth to watch, while numerous cultivators flocked in from all corners of Qingming.
The hour arrived. Under the gaze of countless eyes, Wei Yuan descended from the sky and casually tossed down a section of golden finger bone!
The finger bone expanded upon meeting the wind, growing larger by the blink of an eye until it transformed into a thousand-zhang precipitous peak, descending slowly. Meanwhile, the ground swelled continuously, shaping itself into a colossal four-fingered fist spanning tens of li, poised to receive the middle finger descending from the heavens.
Nearly a million mortals and Body Casting practitioners witnessed this moment. Their vision could not stretch so far; all they could see was a solitary peak descending from the heavens.
The instant the peak touched the ground, heaven and earth shook violently, and the Great Dao manifested! Astounding sword intent burst forth from the entire peak, piercing straight into the sky! Layers of rock peeled away from the mountain face, revealing three massive characters: "Buddha Sword Peak"!
At that moment, even the Sword Dao manifested a corner of itself, allowing countless mortals to inexplicably grasp fundamental truths of the Sword Dao, laying the foundation for them to embark on the path of cultivation.
Amidst the sky-soaring sword qi, Wei Yuan's sleeves billowed as he descended against the torrential flow of sword qi. With a single tap of his foot, he landed calmly upon the summit.
At this moment, throughout heaven and earth, inside and outside Qingming, a million mortals and Body Casting practitioners, over ten thousand Dao Foundations, more than a hundred dharma idols, and even numerous concealed gazes from beyond the heavens witnessed this scene.
This scene was not only captured by countless shadow-recording orbs, but etched into the hearts of everyone present.
At this moment, Wei Yuan trampled the Buddhist Sword underfoot!
Chapter 1032