According to common knowledge taught in class, an immortal artifact recognizing a master required nothing more than a few conditions: karmic fortune, cultivation realm, bloodline bond, karmic affinity, and art compatibility. Wei Yuan knew that apart from karmic fortune, he likely did not qualify in a single one—and fell far short of qualifying, at that. Given Qingming's status, even a True Person of the Dharma Idol realm probably would not be able to subdue it; only a True Monarch could make an attempt or two. If one wanted certainty, it had to be an Immortal Monarch.
Having activated Qingming, Wei Yuan realized just how difficult it was for Qingming to recognize a master, and in his heart, he held Yun Xihe in even greater contempt.
That fellow probably had not even known about the concept of recognizing a master, which was why he had conscientiously played the part of a flesh-and-blood god for over fifty years until his primordial spirit was finally melted away by incense aspiration power.
In truth, even if he wore down the Immortal Monarch's divine intent, Yun Xihe would never have been able to make Qingming acknowledge him as master. Furthermore, the reason the immortal had left behind a wisp of divine intent was originally to pass down the activation formation, seeking a fated bearer for Qingming. It was only an accident at the moment of his demise that caused the divine intent to inherit the agony and madness of death, turning a legacy into a death trap. By wearing down that divine intent, Yun Xihe had also severed the legacy of the activation formation.
It did not matter that Qingming could not recognize a master right now; Wei Yuan had no intention of making it do so anyway. How could a tiny, newly minted Dao Foundation like him possess such an immortal treasure? Even if Zhang Sheng came, it would not work; neither would Fenhai.
Qingming was likely the very prize the Immortal Monarch sought with his placed chess piece. With this in hand, whether Yun Feifei lived or died did not matter in the least; he could simply leave her here to fend for herself.
Wei Yuan pressed down lightly and lifted, intending to pull Qingming out. Yet with this slight motion, the surrounding earth-pulse spiritual qi suddenly fluctuated in unison. Wei Yuan paused in surprise. Probing carefully, he discovered to his astonishment that Qingming had somehow merged into one with this land—it had effectively been planted! Thinking further, he reasoned that Qingming must have been in contact with the earth for far too long; over tens of thousands of years, it had spontaneously taken root in the ground.
With this discovery, many questions found their answers. For instance, why tens of thousands of people in Quliu Town were tortured by their environment to the point of dying breaths, while the seventy to eighty thousand people across the towns surrounding Lanshen Palace were still living fairly well, the townsfolk only slightly weakened. The root cause was that Qingming had already taken root. Although it had not been activated, it was an immortal artifact after all, capable of softening the surrounding environment enough for people to barely survive.
Earlier, when the Wuyu Clan army swept through, they had destroyed all the boundary stones that had not been uprooted in time, after which damp winds and poisonous miasma naturally took over. Wei Yuan had thought it was clear qi leaking from the grotto-heaven fragment that made the surrounding area less inhospitable; now it seemed he had been mistaken—the true cause was Qingming.
At this moment, Wei Yuan hesitated: should he uproot it or not?
If he pulled out Qingming, the surrounding environment would rapidly deteriorate. The tens of thousands of mortals living around Lanshen Palace would die one after another within a year, and Quliu Town would also be affected—if nothing else, at least half of the poor in the northern district would perish within six months, unless another boundary stone replaced it. Yet opening new territory was a monumental undertaking for the human race, nibbling away step by step at foreign lands along the border. By the time humanity paved boundary stones this far out, who knew what year or month it would be?
As for mortals migrating on their own, that was out of the question. It was thousands of li to Hanyang Pass; not a single person could make the journey alive.
Yet if he did not pull it up, this place was extremely close to Wuyu and a full five thousand li from Hanyang Pass. Unless the nearby Xu family offered all-out support, holding it was impossible, and in the end it would still have to be uprooted. Even if Wei Yuan did not, the Wuyu Clan would come to do so.
Wei Yuan had not expected to encounter such a dilemma. While he pondered in uncertainty, his hand unconsciously caressed Qingming. Right at this moment, the continent in his sea of consciousness suddenly vibrated faintly, and Qingming began to vibrate as well!
In the center of the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, the Jade Mountain began to shift, gradually turning transparent and slowly altering its shape until it became an enlarged version of Qingming. Meanwhile, a sense of joy emanated from Qingming, and at its core, a speck of light gradually bloomed.
Was it trying to recognize him as master? Wei Yuan was startled. Had this stone not just rejected him quite decisively? Why had it suddenly abandoned all modesty?
Wei Yuan hurriedly lifted his hand, interrupting the process. How could he possibly stomach such an immortal artifact? Recognizing him as master would be the real disaster.
Qingming was already planted and had been activated by Wei Yuan. If it recognized a master now, it would truly merge into one with this territory, and with Wei Yuan's meager Dao power, he would not be able to budge it. What was more, Wei Yuan was recognizing it through the resonance of his Dao Foundation; Qingming recognized the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, not Wei Yuan himself. Therefore, once it recognized a master, if Wei Yuan wanted to leave, he could—by leaving the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains behind!
Wei Yuan did not know if he could abandon the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains and flee on his own, but he figured it was impossible. Even if he could, his master would surely cleanse the sect afterward. Wei Yuan had plenty of self-awareness: what was precious was the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, not Wei Yuan. If his Dao Foundation could not leave, how could Wei Yuan expect to?
Fortunately, breaking contact indeed interrupted the master-recognition process, allowing Wei Yuan to breathe a sigh of relief. He circled Qingming several times, unsure of how to deal with this trouble for the moment. The best of both worlds would be to uproot Qingming and have the Xu family evacuate the mortals. But evacuating hundreds of thousands of mortals was far too momentous an affair for Wei Yuan to have any standing to negotiate; it would require high-level figures from the Palace of Grand Beginning to step forward and coordinate.
However, judging by the current situation, the Xu family clearly had no desire to relocate the mortals of the Shattered Lands; otherwise, they had had ample time over the past two years to do so.
At that very moment, in the small hut outside, the red-robed woman had tried several different lines of persuasion, but Xu Wan'er refused to wipe away the Soul-Restraining Formation. No matter what she said, the reply remained the same: "We should still wait for Senior Brother to return before making a decision."
Flustered and exasperated, the red-robed woman yelled, "Just because he touched you a few times, you've turned like this?"
Xu Wan'er's delicate face flushed bright red in an instant, and she began to stammer, yet her stance remained resolute: "Of—of course it's not like that... We must still wait for Senior Brother to return... to decide..."
Just then, the Junior Brother suddenly spoke up: "Sister Wan, we've known each other for so many years. Save me, I'm dying!"
Xu Wan'er ultimately could not bear it. She went over to the Junior Brother's side, laid him flat, and tended to the wound on his abdomen. Eldest Senior Brother's blade strike had been exceptionally vicious, the Dao power tearing his internal organs to shreds. Even with Xu Wan'er desperately pouring in Dao power, she could barely keep him clinging to life.
At this point, Eldest Senior Brother also spoke: "Wan'er, I watched you grow up too. Can't you save me as well?"
Xu Wan'er turned to look, only to see Eldest Senior Brother with nothing but his two eyes showing aboveground; everything else was buried in the dirt. Remembering how Eldest Senior Brother had often played with her when she was young, Xu Wan'er felt a pang of pity. She walked over to examine his injuries, only to find that his Dao Foundation had cracked in several places, teetering on the brink of shattering completely.
Alongside her shock, Xu Wan'er inwardly marveled. Eldest Senior Brother had reached Spirit Nourishing early on; his cultivation was profound, and his combat prowess formidable. In her childhood, he had once been her idol. Later, when Eldest Senior Brother fell for Yun Feifei, she had been secretly heartbroken for a few days, but after going out for a stroll to clear her head, she had inexplicably recovered.
Now, after just two blows from that senior brother from the Palace of Grand Beginning, Eldest Senior Brother's Dao Foundation had cracked? A senior brother hailing from the Palace of Grand Beginning truly possessed extraordinary grandeur!
With both sides needing treatment, Xu Wan'er was in a flurry of panic, while the red-robed woman looked livid.
Right then, a jade pendant beside Yun Feifei suddenly flashed, lines of text surfacing upon it. This was an emergency transmission jade pendant used within Lanshen Palace, similar to the one in Xu Wan'er's hand. Lanshen Palace had only four people left; the only one who could be sending a transmission at this time was Third Junior Sister, who had fled to Hanyang Pass. But the transmission range of the jade pendant was limited, and Hanyang Pass lay far beyond that range. How was this message transmitted?
The red-robed woman fretted in vain; unable to move, she could only watch the pendant flicker.
At that moment, a soft chuckle came from the doorway: "Junior Sister Yun, you truly are hiding here!"
Another young woman stepped through the doorway. She was charming and beautiful, if slightly voluptuous in figure and somewhat vulgar in her flirtatious glances. She held an array disc in her hand, with a transmission jade pendant resting upon it.
The red-robed woman's heart sank. A jade pendant did not need an array disc at all—this array disc was meant to trace the direction of the transmission!
Entering the room, the newcomer's eyes lit up, and she smiled. "So senior and junior brothers and sisters are all here! Ha, what kind of sight is this? So you sent me away just to indulge in such delightful antics!"
Eldest Senior Brother cried out, "Third Junior Sister! You've come just in time! Yun Feifei has betrayed our master and ancestors, and Xu Wan'er colluded with external enemies! Quickly seize them both!"
Third Junior Sister did not move. She merely examined Eldest Senior Brother, sweeping her divine sense across his sea of consciousness. With his Dao Foundation cracked, Eldest Senior Brother had no defense whatsoever, and the sweep of her divine sense wrenched a wretched cry of pain from him.
Third Junior Sister let out a scoff and said faintly, "Eldest Senior Brother, so even you have a day like this! Not only unrequited in love, but your Dao Foundation is nearly ruined too. Ah, Eldest Senior Brother, it isn't that your junior sister wants to criticize you, but you've never been decisive. Look at you—Senior Sister Feifei's skirt was already hitched up by you, so how haven't you succeeded yet? Falling short by this little bit means you'll never have the chance again!"
The more Eldest Senior Brother listened, the worse it sounded. "Third Junior Sister, you..."
Third Junior Sister's face twisted with malice. "Back then, I had nothing but deep affection for you, yet far from appreciating it, you humiliated me. And now you expect me to save you? Why don't you ask your precious Junior Sister Feifei to save you? Oh, I know—Senior Sister Feifei loves Little Junior Brother, not someone with neither family background nor looks, who's getting up in years to boot!"
Eldest Senior Brother's eyes blazed with fury, but being completely immobilized, he could do nothing but bellow curses and rebukes.
Third Junior Sister did not panic at all. Turning toward the red-robed woman, she said, "It's rare for all us senior and junior brothers and sisters to gather today; this spares the young master some trouble. The young master possesses methods to possess a physical body with a soul; your looks shouldn't go to waste, so being a plaything suits you well. What a pity that old ghost died early, otherwise I would have made him suffer living torment for decades!"
The red-robed woman's expression darkened. "So it was you who betrayed the sect! That young master of yours—he must be right outside the door, isn't he?"
Third Junior Sister laughed. "A wise bird chooses a good branch to roost. My young master's fame is renowned far and wide, and you all know him—he is none other than the Jade-Faced Immortal Sword, Young Master Xu Jingfeng!"
A cough came from outside, and a young swordsman pushed open the door and stepped inside, smiling faintly. "I am the Jade-Fa—"
He touched the bandages on his face that were still seeping dirty blood, feeling that the words 'Jade-Faced' were somewhat inconsistent with reality, which deepened his hatred for that Li Zhi by another three tenths.
Skipping the customary self-introduction he usually loved most, Xu Jingfeng said, "It is rare for everyone to gather in one place, sparing this young master the trouble of running about. It seems the grandmaster was right when he said this young master is favored by fortune, where every wish comes true—it is indeed true!"
Chapter 113