Wei Yuan stood by the banks of the Ningshui River, watching the King of Ji standing at a loss not far away. Wei Yuan did not recognize the King of Ji personally, but he recognized the regal colors and tailoring of his garments.
At this moment, the King of Ji seemed unable to see his surroundings, nor could he see Wei Yuan standing right before him. Wei Yuan grew thoughtful, realizing that no one else could see the king either.
Within the Flourishing of All Realms, the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven was glowing faintly, continuously channeling its power into Wei Yuan. Had anyone possessed an Omniscient Eye at this moment, they would have seen a pair of eyes faintly opening above Wei Yuan's head—eyes harboring bottomless, churning turbid currents.
Through these eyes, Wei Yuan saw the King of Ji.
Wei Yuan walked over and reached out to touch him, but his fingers passed straight through the king's body, grasping nothing at all.
Wei Yuan frowned slightly, and a spark of sword light lit up at his fingertips. This gleam had taken another small step toward the Beginning of One Sword; though still a vast distance away from the true Beginning of One Sword and far inferior to Zhang Sheng's World's Sword Tomb, it was merely a hair's breadth from the Buddhist Sword, capable of holding its ground without defeat on sword intent alone.
And sword intent was merely one of Wei Yuan's many methods.
Though illuminated by the sword light, the King of Ji still sensed nothing, seeming to listen intently to something else. Frowning, Wei Yuan shifted techniques, his fingertip transforming into a flame from the Blue Lamp Before the Buddha that cast its glow three feet around him, yet it still failed to illuminate the King of Ji.
Wei Yuan circled the King of Ji several times in deep thought. Then a ball of moonlight shone at his fingertips, yet still to no avail.
For the next quarter of an hour, Wei Yuan pondered while gazing at the sky, circled the king, and even crouched directly above the King of Ji's head in contemplation, but exhausting his repertoire yielded no results.
Finally, the King of Ji's figure vanished; even when Wei Yuan channeled the power of the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven once more, nothing was visible. Wei Yuan's insight was far beyond what it once had been; he understood that while the king had appeared to be here, he had in truth been on another dimensional plane.
Wei Yuan himself did not know why he had been able to see him—perhaps standing within the dimension of the Yellow Springs' power had happened to intersect with it.
Though the King of Ji had appeared only briefly, Wei Yuan's repeated probing with the power of the six grotto-heavens had completely drained his vast divine sense. In his exhaustion, the six distinct powers suddenly converged within the Flourishing of All Realms, and the fifty million mortal karmic luck Wei Yuan had just accumulated was ignited by the six powers, illuminating a glimpse of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth!
With just that fleeting glimpse, Wei Yuan let out a muffled groan as his vision went black. The entire Flourishing of All Realms plunged instantly into harsh winter, downpours transforming into billowing snow!
A colossal deluge of information rushed into the Flourishing of All Realms, draining every bit of worldly origin qi accumulated in his sea of consciousness in an instant before he could barely withstand it.
Wei Yuan was curled up on the ground. Despite the formidable strength of his dharma body, blood poured from his nose and mouth, and his entire frame convulsed, leaving him temporarily paralyzed! Only after a long while did he spit out a mouthful of clotted blood and slowly regain the ability to move.
Wei Yuan could not help feeling terrified. Directly beholding the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth was truly terrifying; he had nearly been sent straight into the cycle of reincarnation. If his mortal karmic luck had been under thirty million, Zhang Sheng would have had to search for his reincarnated form.
The Dao information that rushed in had far exceeded the capacity of the Flourishing of All Realms. Only Wei Yuan could have survived it; anyone else—not to mention a newly ascended Scenery Command cultivator like Chuhe, but even senior experts like Zhidan or Zhu Yuanjin—would have exploded on the spot!
Only now did lingering fear creep into Wei Yuan's chest. Yet it had all unfolded naturally and was an opportunity in its own right, so fear served no purpose.
Supporting himself, he slowly sat up and inspected his sea of consciousness, only to discover an intricately structured glyph nested with hundreds of inner and outer layers. When Wei Yuan's divine sense brushed against it, he instinctively understood its origin and function.
With the power of six grotto-heavens as the guide and fifty million mortal karmic luck as the foundation, Wei Yuan had finally obtained his first divine ability after entering Scenery Command. Only, this divine ability had been directly imprinted from the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth; it seemed... comparable to an immortal art?
The art did not appear particularly formidable at first glance, named Pupils of the Six Realms.
Once opened, anything associated with the six powers—the sun, the moon, the Yellow Springs, the Pure Land, the sword dao, and the thick earth—could hardly hide or remain concealed before Wei Yuan. Any arrays or restrictions employing these forces would also become far easier to decipher under the Pupils of the Six Realms, dropping a whole level in difficulty.
Wei Yuan felt this technique did not seem all that impressive. If he could knead the powers of the six realms together, mix in some mortal karmic luck, and hurl it out to smash people, now that would be impressive. Furthermore, the Pupils of the Six Realms consumed an immense amount of energy; even with Wei Yuan's vast, ocean-like Dao power, he could only activate it twice. After two uses, his Dao power would be thoroughly exhausted, leaving him like a dead fish.
This Pupils of the Six Realms truly left Wei Yuan a bit perplexed. It seemed he would have to find an opportunity to use it in practice later to see what made it truly special.
Intuition told Wei Yuan that this technique ought to be an immortal art; it just didn't appear very flashy. As a Scenery Command...
At the thought of Scenery Command, Wei Yuan was suddenly startled. He hastily checked the Flourishing of All Realms and found the heavenly demon still there, finally breathing a sigh of relief. He resumed his train of thought: as a dharma idol cultivator, having his very own immortal art ought to be unprecedented and unmatched for all time, right?
Thinking this way, his Dao heart truly cleared up.
Once his Dao heart cleared, his thoughts naturally grew sharper. Wei Yuan paced a few circles. He knew that carrying tens of millions of mortal karmic luck at any given time made him like a giant whale swimming in a river—every movement stirred the surrounding karma. Therefore, the King of Ji's appearance here was by no means a coincidence. Even if it was an apparition across realms, it had to be connected to this place, or else he wouldn't have been able to see it.
Put simply, Wei Yuan now held pivotal weight over the trends and great fortunes of an entire region. Any bizarre occurrence around him had to have a cause, and it had to relate directly to Wei Yuan. Ordinary individuals could no longer shake his karma.
After a moment's thought, Wei Yuan devised a plan. He summoned hundreds of Dao Foundation iron cavalry, who brought several hundred thousand jin of explosives to set up an ambush right where the King of Ji had been standing. With the power of the newest spiritual wood thread gunpowder, this ordnance was potent enough to blow a commandery capital's gatehouse sky-high and severely wound a Scenery Command expert. Even if a true immortal descended, they would be left bruised and disheveled.
Since the King of Ji had appeared here, it meant this place was most likely an important nexus, even if Wei Yuan did not yet understand its purpose. Thus, an important figure from the enemy camp was very likely to come here. Whatever they were plotting, Wei Yuan was prepared to give them a surprise.
Once the trap was laid, the officers restored the ground to its original state; the training of the Qingming Military Academy was exceptionally professional in this regard. Finally, Wei Yuan left behind dozens of pixel Dao soldiers specifically tasked with detonating it.
Each of these Dao soldiers had distinct attributes. If they remained silent and motionless, they could persist for months. And as long as a single Dao soldier was not eliminated, it could detonate the entire cache of explosives.
Wei Yuan was thoroughly satisfied with this trap combining Dao arts and technology. He finally departed, leading his forces north along the Ningshui River to intercept the rebel army's main force from crossing.
If the main rebel force could not cross the river while being pursued from behind by the State of Ji's imperial army, they would be unable to slaughter the cities.
Rebels made the best cover for slaughtering cities. If imperial troops slaughtered cities, the King of Ji's throne would be forfeit.
Therefore, if Wei Yuan wanted to protect the populace, the best way was to directly cripple the rebels. Although striking right now was not Wei Yuan's original intention, how could everything in the world go according to plan? Since he had struck, Wei Yuan had no intention of leaving the rebels any way out. From now on, the rebels could only bear the surname Li.
***
In the King of Ji's palace, Cangwu and the King of Ji reappeared in the Imperial Study. Without a word, Cangwu unfurled a map and gazed at it for a moment. This map was also an immortal artifact, upon which several light spots of different colors slowly drifted. Each light spot represented a different force, including both rebels and imperial troops. Among them was a crimson light spot, which was the Spear Saint of the Great Desolation.
The Spear Saint of the Great Desolation had a mysterious background; even Cangwu was unable to divine his origins. Although divination was not Cangwu's forte, his immortal status was an undeniable reality, and being unable to divine anything was telling in itself.
After studying the map for a while, Cangwu held out his hand to the King of Ji. "Hand over the military tally."
The King of Ji's mouth twitched. "What do you want the military tally for?"
"Hand it over!" Cangwu barked harshly.
The King of Ji remained motionless.
Cangwu whipped his head around, eyes bloodshot as he glared at the King of Ji!
The King of Ji said placidly, "Immortal, mind your dignity."
Murderous intent flashed through Cangwu's eyes multiple times, but he forcibly suppressed it. Shoving the King of Ji to the ground, he snatched the military tally and vanished in an instant.
The King of Ji lay on the floor for a long time before struggling to his feet. He wiped his mouth, coating his hand in blood. Yet he suddenly burst into hearty, joyous laughter. Though this encounter was insignificant, in the end, he was the victor.
***
Cangwu's figure appeared on the banks of the Ningshui River. Glancing around, he sneered, "Trifling tricks!"
With a casual wave of his sleeve, he instantly reduced dozens of Dao soldiers to ash. Yet three specks of faint light still ignited!
Cangwu only had time to curse halfway through an expletive before an earth-shattering explosion swallowed him, blasting mud and debris a thousand feet into the sky!
In the Imperial Study, the King of Ji was just looking for a cloth to wipe the blood from his face when Cangwu reappeared in the room—only this time his clothes were tattered, his face charred black, and a patch of his eyebrow had been blown clean off.
Chapter 1045