Establishing an entirely new educational system was a matter of fundamental importance, consuming nearly all of Wei Yuan's time. What to teach and how to teach it alone were cardinal concerns that would shape the foundation of the next century, leaving no room for the slightest negligence.
Yet Wei Yuan had moved too hastily. While adding courses to the academy was easy enough, finding qualified teachers proved exceedingly difficult. In a very short span, a myriad of problems surfaced. Many of the makeshift teachers disregarded the prescribed curriculum and instead preached their own doctrines: Buddhists taught Buddhist dharma, Daoists taught Daoist arts, Confucian cultivators demanded veneration of the sages, and miscellaneous cultivators indulged in even wilder gimmicks—some went so far as to induce their students to worship them in an attempt to attain sainthood through incense offerings.
Fortunately, with the Great Array of the Heavenly Constellations monitoring heaven and earth and Wei Yuan's numerous avatars walking the world, these issues were uncovered within days.
Wei Yuan struck like thunder, seizing every teacher who defied the curriculum, smuggled private agendas, or taught whatever they pleased. The lighter offenses were met with flogging and imprisonment, while the graver ones resulted in penal labor and exile; several evil cultivators were even publicly beheaded.
This iron-fisted crackdown stirred some quiet grumbling. Certain individuals felt Wei Yuan was making a mountain out of a molehill, while others sought to remonstrate with him, advising against such draconian severity.
Wei Yuan dismissed every single remonstrance out of hand. He declared plainly that the General Knowledge of the Immortal Path course was of the utmost priority; foundational cultivation enlightenment concerned Qingming's grand strategy for the next thousand years and tolerated not a grain of carelessness or falsity. Anyone smuggling their own agenda into the classroom would be treated as committing treason.
That definition silenced all dissent on the spot. Although many secretly disapproved, feeling it was merely the basic instruction of young children—why make such a mountain out of a molehill?
Others believed that cultivation ought to allow a hundred flowers to bloom. Having holed up in deep mountains and old forests for decades, they surely possessed extraordinary insights, so what was wrong with teaching a bit of their own knowledge? Could decades of bitter mountain cultivation truly be inferior to a generic cultivation manual published openly in Qingming, available for anyone to buy?
Still, though they harbored resentment, none dared speak out. What Wei Yuan did not hear, he could not be bothered to address. Immediately afterward, he introduced the Qingming Instructor Examination and Certification System, mandating that any teacher instructing young children had to undergo an annual examination, permitted to teach only upon passing. The first examination for this current batch of temporary teachers was scheduled for three months later.
Naturally, this move sparked another round of grievances among the primary instructors, but Wei Yuan did not hear them, and so paid them no heed. Even had he heard, he would have ignored them just the same.
Amidst his packed schedule, Wei Yuan continually received battle reports sent back from the front line by Xiaoyu. Roughly seven out of ten concerned Eastern Jin—either she had entered some Eastern Jin border city today to round up horse bandits posing as border troops, or she had slain a ferocious bandit masquerading as an Eastern Jin general yesterday.
Wei Yuan read several reports in a row until an inexplicable fury flared within him. Unable to hold back, he penned a reply containing only a single sentence: *I once heard that within three hundred li of the border, there are no border cities.*
After sending the letter, Wei Yuan waited for the envoy from Eastern Jin's Xu family while continuing his busy work reforming the academy system. Yet instead of an envoy from Eastern Jin, an envoy from Zhao arrived first.
The identities of the emissaries from Zhao were rather delicate: Princess Wuyang, the cousin of King of Zhao Li Shenji, and her daughter.
Princess Wuyang had divorced several years ago. For her to come on a diplomatic mission accompanied by her eighteen-year-old daughter was peculiar beyond words. Still, out of respect for Immortal Zhao Li, Wei Yuan received them in person.
Bearing the bloodline of the Zhao Li clan, Princess Wuyang possessed looks that fell only half a step short of Consort Yuan's. She appeared fresh and tender, looking barely in her early twenties. Standing beside her daughter, they resembled twin lotus blossoms on a single stalk, making it impossible to tell at a glance who was older and who was younger, yet her beauty could easily rival that of Princess Ningguo and the Sixth Princess.
Her cultivation was formidable as well, already at the peak of the dharma idol realm. Bold and uninhibited by nature, her eyes sparkled the moment she laid eyes on Wei Yuan, her lips curving into a smile before speaking a word.
However, outside of cultivation, their minds were entirely vacant, doing a grave disservice to the magnificence of their peaks.
As Wei Yuan reluctantly made polite conversation, he sensed an unmistakable undercurrent of malice. What did Zhao mean by sending such a pair before him? What kind of man did they take him for? Did they truly think he possessed such exotic tastes?
Just as his indignation grew, Princess Wuyang noticed that Wei Yuan had run out of patience. Only then did she reluctantly draw forth a letter and hand it to him.
As she passed the missive, she casually traced her fingernail across the back of Wei Yuan's hand.
Wei Yuan opened the envelope. A strand of immortal power lingered upon the paper—it was handwritten by Immortal Zhao Li himself. The contents were exceptionally blunt, warning Wei Yuan that if he did not take action soon, the next envoy sent would not be Wuyang, but someone even more overwhelming.
Having finished reading, Wei Yuan dismissed the mother and daughter to rest on their own, leaving the timing of their return to Zhao entirely up to them. Once they were gone, he reread the letter carefully, gathering the traces of immortal power scattered between the lines. They coalesced into a tiny strand of true intent, and only then did Wei Yuan comprehend Immortal Zhao Li's true meaning.
What Immortal Zhao Li truly wanted to ask was how, exactly, the strike of the Glazed Light River had been neutralized that day.
Yet this was Wei Yuan's highest secret. He was no longer the naive novice cultivator who understood nothing back then; he knew that once his true origin was exposed, it was impossible to tell what catastrophic trouble would ensue. Moreover, the more mysterious the woman in black remained, and the less his adversaries could discern her background, the less they would dare act rashly.
Thus, Wei Yuan had no intention of replying to Immortal Zhao Li's letter. They could speak when Immortal Zhao Li dared to come to Qingming himself. Clearly, though, Immortal Zhao Li did not dare expose himself to the gaze of the Three-Eyed Bird Head.
In truth, even now, Wei Yuan had hardly recovered from the shock of that day; it all felt like a dream. Furthermore, according to the cultivation common sense of this realm, his origin could hardly be considered fortunate.
A world's final seed of self-salvation before sinking into silence sounded immensely powerful and mysterious—in the storybooks of the world beyond the heavens, it was practically the quintessential protagonist. But the problem was that this realm was a world of immortal cultivation. How had the world Wei Yuan came from been destroyed? Whoever destroyed it was capable of wiping away even the grand karmic cause and effect of an entire heaven and earth. If such a figure learned of Wei Yuan's existence, how could they possibly let the matter rest?
Because of this identity, that immense karmic burden had settled squarely upon his shoulders, whether he willed it or not.
Wei Yuan stood lost in thought for a moment. Without any wind, the letter in his hand caught fire and reduced to ashes. Having burned Immortal Zhao Li's letter, Wei Yuan decided to think of something happier. In the past, whenever he contributed a dharma idol or even the sea of consciousness of a Scenery Command primordial spirit to Bird Mom, he was bestowed otherworldly karmic luck. That otherworldly karmic luck possessed an exceedingly lofty status, being the emanated essence of heaven and earth's primal source.
This time, what had been offered was the true spirits of two immortals, treasures on par with immortal physiques themselves. Although it had bought the strike that shattered the Glazed Light River, could there really be nothing else? For instance, tossing him a few strands of karmic luck as light snacks?
Right at that moment, Wei Yuan suddenly felt a summons from Zhang Sheng.
Setting aside his immediate tasks, he took flight toward the immortal city and arrived at Zhang Sheng's residence.
The moment he stepped through the courtyard gate, an exceptionally familiar aura washed over him. Immediately after, a small black bird darted across his vision, circled once around the courtyard, and flew through the window into the chamber.
Before entering, it cast a backward glance at Wei Yuan. Startlingly, three eyes rested upon its head!
Wei Yuan was thoroughly astonished. Striding swiftly into the room, he saw Zhang Sheng sitting cross-legged on the couch, surrounded by hovering strands of sword qi. This was normally a common sight during her cultivation, yet today it was markedly different. Several small black birds were flitting around her—some circling, some appearing to forage, while two had actually settled atop the floating strands of sword qi, swaying to and fro along with the qi as though entirely weightless.
"What... what is going on here?" Wei Yuan was visibly shaken.
Zhang Sheng opened her eyes and said, "I was just about to speak to you about this. Earlier today, while cultivating within the Splendor of the Many Realms, I encountered a woman dressed in black. She was remarkably warm toward me, holding my hand and talking with me for quite a while. For some reason, I couldn't muster the slightest vigilance against her; I answered almost whatever she asked.
"When we finished speaking, she gave me these strange little birds, telling me to keep them by my side. But when I withdrew from the Splendor of the Many Realms and my divine sense returned to my physical body, these little birds actually followed me out. It is truly quite strange. They are neither fowl nor beast, nor are they spirits or monsters; I have no idea what they are. Do you recognize them?"
Wei Yuan felt an utter swirl of mixed emotions. Although he had never seen these specific black birds before, he had not only seen but extensively used things several grades below them—namely, otherworldly karmic luck.
Yet the birds gathered around Zhang Sheng were far more than mere high-grade otherworldly karmic luck. Born with innate spirituality, they had already assumed physical form!
Karmic luck of a grade so elevated that it manifested innate spirituality was something Wei Yuan had never even heard of. All the otherworldly karmic luck he had ever received combined would likely fail to piece together a single bird, yet Zhang Sheng had received five or six in one go!
Wei Yuan's feelings were exceedingly tangled.
After all, speaking strictly in theory, that was his own biological mother.
Chapter 1151