A mere three months after the launch of the Dharma Idol Loans and Dao Base Loans, the cultivator karmic luck Wei Yuan had garnered was already equivalent to ten million mortal karmic luck. The results far exceeded all expectations.
Negotiations with the King of Ji had been dragging on for nearly a year by now. Sun Chao'en had traveled back and forth four times, bringing back modest gains with every trip, gradually steering the terms toward normality.
Originally, Wei Yuan had moved in lockstep with the central army; wherever he went, fifty thousand of the Xu family's elite youths followed. However, the unexpected boom of the Dharma Idol and Dao Base Loans had filled the final void in Wei Yuan's karmic luck. By now, no matter how one calculated it, his mortal karmic luck had surpassed one hundred million—and that was without factoring in the karmic luck from Scenery Command cultivators, Outsiders, and Desolate Shamans.
Within his sea of consciousness, there was also a particularly blazing, radiant, and bountiful strand of karmic luck, like a miniature sun illuminating an entire domain. This karmic luck came from Yaolan. Verging on the zenith of Desolate Shamans, it had actually grown close to what the Molten Dragon had possessed back then.
Wei Yuan had been utterly surprised when he received it.
Everything had come so suddenly, yet felt entirely natural.
Yaolan had battled bloody skirmishes against the Flame Demons for years. Gradually, from the fortress's Strength Shamans, she had learned of the past between Wei Yuan and the Molten Dragon. After reading scriptures handwritten by Wei Yuan and gaining a deeper understanding of him, this top-tier karmic luck had formed.
Upon receiving it, a swirl of mixed emotions had welled up in Wei Yuan's heart, far too complicated for words. He could only carefully treasure it away.
With hundreds of millions in karmic luck gathered within him, Wei Yuan no longer needed the Qingming central army escorting him. Free of the army's martial aura, he began strolling brazenly before Cangwu whenever he pleased.
On this day, after finishing his official duties, a thought struck Wei Yuan. He stepped out of his study, rose into the sky, and began inspecting the front line. Flying alone above the desolate expanse, he sensed the contrasting auras drifting in from every direction and observed the encampments dotting the ground below like scattered stars.
Less than a year had passed since the boundary stones were laid. Most of these camps housed practitioners of the Heaven-Earth Earthmoving Art led by Perfected Chuhe, alongside masters of the Creation Blooming Flower technique.
As more and more fields were opened, Old Daoist Chuhe's karmic luck and merit soared in a straight line. Now, with his spiritual mansion fully established and his true spirit on the verge of returning resonance to heaven and earth, he had already reached the threshold of late Scenery Command.
The old daoist's cultivation speed was extraordinary across history, leaving even Wei Yuan in the dust. Though his combat prowess remained mediocre—incapable of besting even the celestial idols of Baoyun or Ji Liuli—he was draped in boundless merit and roamed freely between heaven and earth; not even an immortal like Cangwu dared lay a finger on him.
Besides, should a fight truly break out, the old daoist possessed a formidable adoptive father and a swarm of brothers, giving him little reason to fear ordinary Scenery Command cultivators. His hidden trump cards went well beyond the immortal chicken, too. The reason he wandered daily between the State of Ji and Yizhou was a premonition that great fortunes awaited him here; he just didn't know whether he would run into several more brothers or another adoptive father.
In Wei Yuan's eyes, each of the tents dotting the land represented future plots of fertile farmland, boundless grain to nourish people, and the cornerstone of a thriving realm.
The scope of Wei Yuan's vision had widened considerably. Yizhou had achieved self-sufficiency, while Qingming flourished like an earthly paradise. Yet if he were to take over any one of the nine states, Qingming's current grain output would fall woefully short.
Thus, Wei Yuan had finally begun his expansion. Since many privileged rulers cared nothing for the lives of common mortals, Wei Yuan had no intention of concerning himself with theirs either. He would sweep them aside, step forward to claim this land, and create yet another paradise for the world's commoners. As for who originally owned the land or whether taking it was justified, Wei Yuan couldn't care less.
As the sages said: *The treasures of the world belong to the virtuous.*
And as the sages also said: *The absoluteness of truth is determined purely by caliber and range.*
In the midst of his inspection, Wei Yuan's hairs suddenly stood on end. He halted instantly, hovering in place.
Yet he hadn't fully stopped. His silhouette blurred distinctly, shifting at extreme speeds every instant before snapping back to his original position. Maintained in this posture, Wei Yuan could burst away in any direction at a moment's notice.
Before him, Cangwu materialized. His tall, imposing frame still exuded the awe-inspiring majesty of an immortal, but his expression was rather sour. He let out a cold snort. "Since you've already come out, what's the point of being so skittish?"
Wei Yuan smiled faintly. "It would be troublesome if someone ambushed me. My constitution is frail; I can't help being cautious."
"Then why not stay cooped up at home?" Cangwu retorted petulantly.
"Then why aren't you staying put in the heavens?" Wei Yuan fired back just as dryly.
The two stared at each other, neither willing to leave and neither making a move.
Wei Yuan's aura shifted, unequivocally displaying the cultivation of a perfected dharma idol. At the same time, an azure spear appeared in his hand.
Sensing Wei Yuan's dharma idol aura, Cangwu's face darkened once more, and he couldn't help cursing, "Do you have any shame at all? Are you even a dharma idol? What decent person ever had a dharma idol like yours?!"
Wei Yuan's smile did not waver. With utter calm, he replied, "This killer move of mine can only exert its maximum power from the body of a dharma idol. Whether I truly am one doesn't matter, as long as heaven and earth recognize me as such. I haven't finished transcending my Scenery Command heavenly tribulation, so what else could I be if not a dharma idol?"
Cangwu seethed with hatred. "How unjust heaven and earth are! Why hasn't a bolt of lightning struck you dead?!"
Wei Yuan burst into laughter. "It's struck me countless times already! The problem is that it can't kill me—what can I do about it, hah—"
Out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning crashed down from the firmament, instantly charring Wei Yuan into a Desolate Realm native!
Cangwu burst into uproarious laughter, seized by immense delight. "Every word and action of yours can now alert heaven and earth! Now you know what it means for Words to be Followed by Law, hahaha—er?!"
Midway through his laughter, Cangwu froze. He stared at Wei Yuan, their eyes locking, and deep regret surged in his heart!
Just now, when Wei Yuan was abruptly struck by lightning, his mind had blanked for a fraction of an instant. Had Cangwu launched an ambush in that fleeting split second, he surely could have severely wounded Wei Yuan.
Yet Wei Yuan had already recovered his senses and raised his guard to the maximum; an ambush was no longer possible. Such a once-in-a-millennium opportunity had slipped right through his fingers!
At this moment, Wei Yuan possessed hundreds of millions of mortal karmic luck, and the spear in his hand was forged from the broken sword Hanyuan. Precisely because it contained the power for only a single strike, its might far exceeded that of Hanyuan itself. With all these advantages stacked layer upon layer, as long as it hit Cangwu and landed with full force, it could strike him straight down from the immortal heavens, reenacting the monumental feat of a dharma idol slaying an immortal.
However, Cangwu was not Liumiao; there was no karmic retribution lock on him, so the chance of Wei Yuan landing a direct blow was under ten percent. On the other hand, if Cangwu attacked Wei Yuan, the instantaneous karmic connection of life and death would raise Wei Yuan's near-death counter-thrust to an eighty percent hit rate. That was an eighty percent probability Cangwu wouldn't gamble on even if beaten to death.
Thus, once laden with mortal karmic luck, Wei Yuan had taken to wandering about aimlessly, while Cangwu tailed him like an annoying fly, constantly seeking an opening for an ambush. Between exchanging polite pretenses and trading barbed jabs, they relentlessly mocked one another.
When it came to acerbic sarcasm, their roles completely flipped. Wei Yuan possessed the silver tongue and thick skin of a true immortal, and their bickering over these days had given Cangwu a full taste of what shameless arrogance looked like.
Cangwu's verbal sparring had barely reached the dharma idol stage to begin with, and he still cared about his dignity. As a result, he was repeatedly driven half to death with fury by Wei Yuan yet remained powerless against him.
That was why Cangwu had rejoiced so unreservedly when Wei Yuan was struck by lightning—and why he had squandered the fleeting opportunity.
The two faced off in silence for another moment, and their expressions began to invert once more. This time, Wei Yuan grew annoyed, while Cangwu beamed brighter and brighter.
Wei Yuan realized that Cangwu's Dao heart, previously riddled with holes from his relentless mockery, had miraculously regained its clarity.
Cangwu realized this as well, followed by a surge of lingering fear. He hadn't expected his Dao heart to be influenced so profoundly without his realizing it.
Had that flaw grown to a certain extent, Wei Yuan might well have seized the opportunity to affix a karmic thread to him and launch an attack along it.
Such a sliver of karmic tie was naturally insufficient to channel a lethal strike like Counter-Slay, but after confronting each other for so many days, Cangwu understood Wei Yuan better than almost anyone else alive. He knew full well that while such an attack wouldn't be devastating in power, it would be thoroughly disgusting.
In truth, Wei Yuan's attack had already been prepared. Emulating the karmic attacks of the Unrivaled Under Heaven dao domain, he had blended the true intents of rot, decline, decrepitude, rampant breeding, reproductive essence of non-human races, the daily life of Lip Demons, kitchen refuse, and so forth, waiting to hitch it all onto Cangwu.
Wei Yuan had never expected that after Cangwu's hearty burst of laughter, the flaw in the immortal's Dao heart would vanish! What was worse, the fellow was now on high alert; who knew when another chance would present itself?
Wei Yuan had an inkling of realization: Cangwu was not fated to die just yet, and he would have to seek another opportunity.
Cangwu shot Wei Yuan a venomous glare before turning and vanishing. He had been patiently angling for a long time and had finally coaxed a slip from Wei Yuan today. Though he had missed the golden chance, it proved that his angling tactic worked. What he needed to do now was return and refine his karmic angling methods, cast stronger bait, and see if Wei Yuan would bite.
Wei Yuan was thinking the exact same thing.
Chapter 1089