Hitting You Is Just Hitting You

When Li Zhi rushed over, all he saw was Wei Yuan standing motionless in midair, gazing down at the ground with a grim expression. "What happened?" Li Zhi asked. Wei Yuan frowned. "Someone has been watching me from the shadows, occasionally testing me with an attack, yet at other times lending me a hand." "Who is it? A friend in the dark?" Li Zhi had not expected anyone could be so insidious as to contend with Wei Yuan without falling behind. Shengxin's face flashed across Wei Yuan's mind. He felt that the style of the figure spying from the shadows bore some resemblance to Shengxin. Yet he immediately cast the thought aside. The reason was simple: how could Shengxin possibly possess such capability? To influence the Heavenly Dao and manipulate tribulation lightning was something none of the Heavenly Shamans Wei Yuan had encountered could achieve, including Ronglong. It was not that Ronglong lacked power, but that his innate divine abilities simply did not lie in that domain. Among the Palace of Grand Beginning's two living immortals, Zhu Yan specialized in combat and stealth attacks; meddling with the Heavenly Dao was entirely out of the question for him. Yanshi could barely brush the fringes of it, but his ascension to immortality had not been consummate, so while divining heavenly secrets was passable, he was still far from being able to control tribulation lightning. Perhaps if Immortal Monarch Tinghai had not fallen back then and had cultivated for a few hundred more years, there might have been a slim chance. Before figures like these, what was Shengxin? Thus, Wei Yuan disregarded him completely. Moreover, throughout Wei Yuan's life, time had always been on his side. Those who could once match him stride for stride at the same realm were all reduced to scrap ends once he advanced. For instance, among those Wei Yuan had once addressed as Senior Brother, quite a few were still stuck at the Dao Foundation realm to this day. Wei Yuan pondered for a moment before saying with some uncertainty, "It's likely some shadowy immortal continually testing for my weaknesses to land a fatal blow. Never mind, leave him be for now. I just fed him a huge load of crap anyway." "Can we truly ignore him? With him lurking in the shadows, shouldn't we think of a way to deal with it?" Li Zhi was quite concerned. Wei Yuan chuckled. "It's fine. Let him test all he wants! I have no weaknesses!" Li Zhi: "..." Dazed for a moment, Li Zhi finally sighed. "Back then, the gap between the two of us wasn't that big. How is it that as we cultivate, the distance keeps growing wider and wider? You can even strike back at an immortal at any moment now? If there's ever a chance, I'd really like to see for myself just how formidable your methods are." Wei Yuan laughed. "Trust me, you wouldn't want to try. Even I wouldn't dare test it on myself." Li Zhi nodded, and the two took flight toward Qingming once more. Having weathered this round of battle, their path ahead was finally clear and unobstructed as they crossed from Northern Qi into Eastern Jin. The moment they entered Eastern Jin, Wei Yuan stopped hiding his presence, swaggering across the sky in broad daylight. In an instant, countless gazes swept toward them, but the moment they saw it was Wei Yuan, and then clearly made out the three Scenery Command cultivators dangling from his hands, they shrank back as though touching red-hot iron. In the blink of an eye, the realm cleared, and not a single buzzing fly remained. The effect was so dramatic that even Wei Yuan was a bit surprised. Turning his head, he asked, "Am I really that terrifying now?" Only upon turning did Wei Yuan realize that Li Zhi had long since steered far away, keeping a distance of a hundred li, unwilling to approach Wei Yuan lest anyone misunderstand that there was any close tie between them. Wei Yuan paid it no mind and continued flying forward, no longer deliberately slowing his pace as he headed west. A pair of eyes suddenly opened on the side of his face, gazing toward a certain place beyond the heavens. There in the void, a mountain stream flowed gently, winding past lush pine forests and passing through stone crevices with clear, tinkling murmurs. The moss in the water was steeped in moonlight, and gossamer mist trailed like wisps of smoke; now and then, a spiritual deer bowed its head to drink, letting out a soft, plaintive bleat. Beside the stream sat two figures of transcendent, otherworldly bearing, sipping tea and playing weiqi. One was Xu Youyi, and the other was an unknown immortal. Xu Youyi's hand holding a stone paused slightly in midair. "What a sharp lad. I merely cast a casual glance, yet he detected it and even traced his way here." The immortal opposite smiled faintly and waved a hand gently. A shroud of misty clouds rose up, blocking the pair of eyes that had manifested several yards away. He said, "What a formidable, familiar divine ability! Ten thousand years ago, the King Buddha used it to survey the Six Realms, leaving the immortals trembling in fear! After such great difficulty, the King Buddha fell and went into reincarnation—who would have thought we would see it again today? We have enjoyed our leisure for a mere ten thousand years, alas!" Xu Youyi snorted. "The King Buddha of old was naturally terrifying. That Wei Yuan is the reincarnation of the King Buddha is already known to many. We simply did not expect him to awaken so quickly that even his past-life divine abilities have already returned to his body. Alas, he is still young and impetuous, thinking only of showing off. If he had hidden these abilities to make us misjudge the extent of his awakening, we might have suffered a grievous loss when clashing with him in the future." The immortal opposite chuckled and said, "It is good for us that youngsters are impetuous. Didn't we also suffer setbacks like that in our youth? Naturally, we should let the young man suffer some losses today—why bother warning him? "There is one more matter, though I know not whether I should speak of it." Xu Youyi's brows shot up, and he snapped testily, "When you ask that, don't you already know whether you should say it! But keeping it bottled up would torment you worse than death. Out with it!" The immortal laughed. "You truly know me best. What I meant to say is, three immortals have already fallen by his hand. Regardless of the reasons, he can already be classed among the powerful True Immortals and cannot be treated lightly. Look at his current movements—isn't he trying to provoke you into going out to clash with him? If you keep viewing him as a junior and do not face him with all your might, I fear you will be the one suffering a grievous loss." Xu Youyi snorted and fell silent. ... Seeing that he was about to cross the border without any movement from Xu Youyi, Wei Yuan suddenly felt several familiar gazes turn toward him. Looking down, he saw the military aura of Qingming below, where a battalion of Qingming soldiers was stationed. The encampment was of considerable scale, situated on the flat ground before a mountain, with plains stretching for dozens of li all around offering no natural barrier to defend. According to traditional military strategy, the commander of this camp would be deemed utterly incompetent. Yet this was Qingming's unique method of encampment. The perimeter consisted of trenches and bunkers; low walls were built around the inner camp; and artillery positions were established within. It relied entirely on fortifications and firepower for defense, and the range of the heavy cannons defined its defensive perimeter, doing away with the need to waste labor and wealth constructing city walls. From the central command tent below, a figure walked out, looked up at the sky, and waved. It was none other than Xiaoyu. Wei Yuan had his hands full, so he sprouted a new arm, waved back at Xiaoyu, and continued flying forward. He felt quite helpless. Lately, Xiaoyu had shown no interest in being a city lord, having far too much fun leading troops into battle across the land. Everywhere he went, he took cities and seized territory, and he even plundered the populace! Yet the plundered commoners were deeply grateful to Xiaoyu and contributed karmic luck to him, which truly felt unfair. Wei Yuan surmised that Xiaoyu was doing this precisely for that karmic luck. However, in Wei Yuan's view, governing a city yielded far more karmic luck than leading an army on campaign; it was just that governing a city was a steady trickle accumulated day by day, not easily noticeable under ordinary circumstances. Still, since Xiaoyu enjoyed it, let him have his way... Wei Yuan shook his head helplessly. Only after flying past the camp did he suddenly remember something: the scale of this camp was indeed accurate—roughly fifty thousand men, with thirty thousand front-line combatants and twenty thousand auxiliaries. But the location was completely wrong! This place was over a thousand li from the Western Jin border! What was more, a wisp of true intent from the Heavenly Demon Wondrous Idol faintly emanated from the central camp. Bao Yun was there too, though she hadn't shown herself. What were those two up to now? Wei Yuan felt a faint headache coming on. Whenever the two gathered, nothing good ever came of it. Returning inside the central command tent, Xiaoyu smiled faintly. "I've already greeted Wei Yuan. We can make our move." The three people in the camp perked up: one was Bao Yun, and another was Star Lord Shaoyang. That was to be expected, but beside Bao Yun sat a pure, aloof young woman in white whose origins were unknown. Xiaoyu pointed at the map. "Our target this time is Guanxi Commandery of Eastern Jin. It is a bitter, frigid region, but it holds twenty million people. Although the population isn't huge, most are sturdy youths engaged in forestry and mining. Plundering—no, liberating them will be of great value." Bao Yun immediately said, "The floating boats and airships are ready. Don't waste time—march!" ... Having just returned to the Lu clan ancestral grounds, before he even had the chance to interrogate Xu Huaixuan properly, Wei Yuan suddenly sensed someone summoning him outside. Walking out of the room, he saw Xu Youyi standing in the courtyard, his face full of fury. Wei Yuan bowed in greeting. "Senior has paid an unannounced visit. May I ask what brings you here?" Xu Youyi snapped peevishly, "Last time, you abducted several million people from my border and destroyed a dozen border cities—I let that slide! Later, the King of Jin from Eastern Jin even sent envoys to sue for peace, offering an entire month's worth of tax revenue in gifts and provisions alone. Not to mention those bizarre treaties regarding commerce and navigation! Ugh, Eastern Jin doesn't even have a sea, so heaven knows what navigation you were after! "All of that was done, so why on earth have you invaded again?!" Wei Yuan asked in surprise, "Such a thing happened?" With a wave of Xu Youyi's hand, over a hundred images instantly appeared between them: heavy-armored Qingming soldiers marching into a city, Qingming flying boats blotting out the sky, and heavy chariots rumbling slowly forward, leaping right over obstacles in their path. There were also scenes of Qingming soldiers escorting throngs of commoners. Leading their families and dragging their children, the commoners formed long lines, every single one of them beaming with joy. Before them lay an enormous floating vessel. Several cultivators stood blocking the path for inspection, snatching away the commoners' large bags and small bundles and tossing them aside. The commoners were still smiling, yet framed by this scene, their smiles seemed somewhat numb, especially now that they possessed nothing at all. Cold and unfeeling, the fully armed Qingming cultivators tossed bundles into carts and hauled them away cartload by cartload to parts unknown. "Your Qingming soldiers are plundering Guanxi Commandery right now! The evidence is indisputable—what else do you have to say!" Xu Youyi barked, harsh in voice and countenance. Wei Yuan said calmly, "Senior certainly put thought into cutting these clips, but how could you leave out the audio?" Wei Yuan tapped with his finger, and sound suddenly rang out from the images. An armed Qingming cultivator bellowed in a resonant voice: "No need to bring anything! Once you reach Qingming, every household gets housing, basic grain rations, and meat with every meal! Whether you want work, Body Casting, or farming—no matter what you want, as long as you're willing to work, you will have plenty to eat and warm clothes to wear! Your descendants can even attend academy for free and step onto the immortal path!" Then came cheers from all around, and someone shouted, "I've been hoping you'd come for ages!" "Indeed, indeed! We have awaited the King's Army for so long!" exclaimed an elderly scholar with graying hair. The Qingming cultivator laughed. "All right, hurry up and keep in line, and drop the fancy literary talk! In Qingming, any kid who's had two years of schooling is sharper than you!" The old scholar's face flushed with slight embarrassment, and he argued defensively, "Those children who've studied must surely come from prominent households!" Growing impatient, the cultivator replied, "Didn't I tell you schooling is free in Qingming! I have fourteen grandchildren in total. Six of them are five or older, and right now every single one is studying at the academy! Body Casting is free for children too!" Having listened to this audio, Wei Yuan smiled faintly. "Senior, what do you think?" Xu Youyi snorted. "Those juniors were playing tricks; I will deal with them myself when I return! But it is also a fact that your subordinates invaded without warrant, plundered a commandery, and seized my people! You must give me an explanation for this today!" Wei Yuan paused, looking thoughtful, before saying, "Senior truly wishes to know the reason?" "Naturally!" Wei Yuan nodded, enunciating each word with deliberate care: "Hitting you is just hitting you. Why would I need a reason?" Xu Youyi's expression instantly changed!