Having sent off the immortal chicken, dismissed Xu Youyi, and used various means to subjugate three Scenery Command elders plus an ascension seed of Northern Qi's Xu family, the miscellaneous matters of this trip were largely resolved. Only a few loose ends remained.
One was Xiaoyu and Bao Yun acting on their own authority, which had always left Wei Yuan somewhat brooding. Inquiring once or twice was fine, but pressing too often was bound to cause friction.
Wei Yuan pondered the matter, feeling that when a general was in the field, he was not bound by every command from his sovereign. Perhaps that was part of the reason—at least, that was how he convinced himself.
Being out in the field meant military conditions shifted in the blink of an eye while the rear lay tens of thousands of li away. If every decision required requesting permission and waiting for a reply, even the most advantageous situation would be ruined.
At present, Qingming was far away in the Western Regions, hundreds of thousands of li from Yizhou and over a hundred thousand li from the Lu clan's ancestral land in the northern frontier. The Xiaoyu Legion was nearly two hundred thousand li from Qingming. Governing such a vast and scattered territory was truly a headache.
Back when he was at the Dao Foundation stage, Wei Yuan had refined Qingming, anchoring Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains to it. Although Qingming now spanned well over ten thousand li across, his avatars could roam freely within its borders. Within the central five-thousand-li core of Qingming, formations could be laid out at will to connect with the Splendor of the Many Realms. Ordinary cultivators, meanwhile, could enter the Splendor of the Many Realms through dreams to toil—no, to temper their spiritual senses and raise the ceiling of their skeletal roots.
If nothing else, the fact that enhancing one's spiritual sense could elevate cultivation talent was more than enough to make tens of thousands of cultivators gladly brave water and fire without hesitation.
Now, assistance from the Splendor of the Many Realms was required everywhere across Qingming. This was especially true for certain exceptionally gifted body cultivators, whose use of the realm was exaggerated beyond one rivaling ten thousand; a single one of them could consume more computing power than a hundred thousand Dao Foundation cultivators could ever burn through.
Even so, the living beings within the Splendor of the Many Realms already numbered twenty million, and every night an equal number of Qingming cultivators—and even mortals—came in to put in overtime, so computing power remained relatively abundant.
Wei Yuan was accustomed to grasping every development inside Qingming in real time, so having to wait days for news from places like the northern border of Western Jin or Yizhou felt thoroughly unnatural.
He felt it was high time to follow the example of the otherworldly realm and establish an instant communication system unique to Qingming. Thanks to his illustrious experience as an (intern) researcher at the Umbrella Corporation back then, Wei Yuan was no stranger to otherworldly technological systems and knew a bit of everything.
Setting up a similar communication system in this world was not actually that difficult. An immortal's divine sense could easily blanket a thousand li, and above the Immortal Heavens, it had the effect of making vast distances feel like mere paces. If immortals served as transmission nodes across the Immortal Heavens, then...
Wei Yuan made a rough estimate: covering the entire realm with such a communication network would require roughly three hundred immortals.
Wei Yuan quietly scrapped the idea.
Hours later, having abandoned hundreds more half-baked notions, he finally had to admit that the gap between this world and the otherworldly realm was simply too vast. This was not something he could figure out on his own, not even if he ran ten thousand tasks in parallel.
Still, Wei Yuan had not achieved nothing. At the very least, he believed any system needed a name before it could be built. This system would need to cover Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, the Six Realms, the Eight Desolations, and all of time from antiquity to the present... Trimming the head and tail and rounding it all off, the project had its name: the Qingming 18G Communication Project.
The moment Wei Yuan entered the name into the Splendor of the Many Realms, he felt a distinct surge of computing power. A certain heavyweight body cultivator had already shifted her attention over, rapidly breaking down requirements, structuring tasks, and evaluating various possibilities.
In just one hour, this body cultivator came up with over a dozen viable directions, then began distributing tasks to test and verify them.
Spurred on by her momentum, more and more computing power poured in to parse tasks, continuously generating new ones based on the completed results.
Like a widening ripple, Wei Yuan's plan began sweeping up more and more people. Half a day later, the broad directions of research had branched into hundreds of subfields. Several thousand tasks were completed while over ten thousand new ones were queued up, everything marching forward in an orderly fashion.
By this point, that body cultivator was like a colossal vortex, dragging more than a hundred thousand cultivators into her orbit. She received the returning data, generated even more tasks, and handed them back down.
Finally, after pulling in several hundred thousand cultivators, she reached her limit. Grouping together tasks from various related fields, she hurled a massive pile straight out of the vortex!
Wei Yuan perked up, stepping squarely into position to shoulder the heavy burden. Unexpectedly, two invisible giant hands reached out from the sea of computing power and shoved him aside.
Just as Wei Yuan was about to flare up in anger, he saw the newcomer catch the mountain of tasks, gently unravel it, and turn it into another massive vortex that drew in even more cultivators. This vortex was virtually the same size as the previous one—unmistakably another body cultivator.
Faced with two terrifying vortexes, Wei Yuan quietly stepped aside. After all, nobody in their right mind argued with a body cultivator.
Wei Yuan figured that since he had provided the most core component of the entire project, there was no need to obsess over handling every detail personally. He still had plenty of things to do; establishing this communication system was merely ranked near the top of his list.
Leaving the Splendor of the Many Realms, Wei Yuan set off immediately, quietly slipping through the secret realm passage into Yizhou to meet the King of Ji.
Inside the royal palace, lamps burned day and night. Attendants bustled back and forth, memorials flew in and out like leaves, yet a mountain of them still remained piled high.
Though weariness showed on his face, the King of Ji was still soldiering through the towering stacks. Looking up to see Wei Yuan, he blinked in surprise before offering an apologetic smile. "What brings you here so suddenly? I still have over five hundred memorials to review. I won't be able to entertain you with music and dancers."
"How many government affairs do you process in a day?" Wei Yuan asked casually.
"Major matters range from three to five hundred, all of which I must review personally," the King of Ji said. "Minor matters run into the thousands; some aren't as vital, and others aren't urgent. But without looking over them myself, I cannot rest easy, so I handle around two thousand affairs every day. Fortunately, several capable young people were promoted at court recently, and they have helped share the load.
"Minister Sun has also been tremendous since transferring to Censor-in-Chief. Single-handedly, he brought down nearly half the senior grand secretaries and key ministers. Now, whatever I wish to do meets with far fewer obstacles. The time is almost ripe, and I plan to conduct a retrospective investigation into past imperial examinations. Hmph! Half the country's successful candidates came from a single commandery, and thirty percent from a single county! Utterly preposterous!
"Once this case is resolved and a few hundred heads roll, the entrenched corruption of past dynasties will be largely swept clean. Only then will I be able to collect taxes properly, with resources left over to reorganize the military and pacify the realm."
Wei Yuan nodded inwardly. The State of Ji had never left his sight. Since reclaiming state power, the King of Ji had governed with diligence and determination, achieving remarkable results.
The initial setbacks against Li Zhi had provided him with an excuse to carry out executions and dismissals, launching major purges nearly every year that implicated thousands. Back then, Li Zhi's forces advanced like a hot knife through butter, throwing the court into panic. Taking advantage of the turmoil, the King of Ji and Sun Chao'en brought down several top ministers in one breath, finally tearing an opening in the once-impenetrable bloc of grand secretaries and civil officials.
The officials had assumed Li Zhi would conquer the entire kingdom, only for him to halt after taking five commanderies. By the time they realized what was happening, it was too late—the King of Ji had already seized firm control of military authority.
Over the past few years, another eunuch official had risen meteorically. Originally leading the covert guard to spy on the bureaucracy, he was sent to the front lines as a military supervisor during a critical moment in the war. When the enemy attacked, the commander fled without fighting, leaving this man with no choice but to lead the defense. Against all odds, he held out against Li Zhi's besieging army for over a month, handing Li Zhi one of his few defeats.
From then on, his ascent was unstoppable. He commanded forces across various fronts, and when Li Zhi halted his advance, he turned inward to suppress rebellious gentry clans throughout the country.
This man was named Wang Zhi. Initially unknown, he deliberately attributed most of his merits to Sun Chao'en, though Sun Chao'en had long since revealed his background in secret reports.
As a result, the court of Ji had settled into a tripartite balance between the civil officials, the favored courtiers, and the eunuch faction. The military generals, once marginalized, were also clearly rising under the King of Ji's active promotion of young officers.
If the King of Ji were given another decade, he might truly turn the situation around. True wealth and power were still far off, but achieving peace and prosperity for his people seemed well within reach.
These thoughts flickered through Wei Yuan's mind before he said, "No need for music and dance; I came on important business. Come, step into the formation."
With a wave of his hand, Wei Yuan deployed dozens of formation plates. Some settled onto the floor while others hovered in midair, forming a three-dimensional array. The King of Ji was knowledgeable enough to recognize its sophistication; looking at it with shock, his regard for Wei Yuan shifted once more.
He stepped into the center. Wei Yuan activated the grand array, conjuring several rings of light that enveloped the king and severed him from the Heavenly Dao.
"Now that karmic ties are severed on both ends, recall the map of the State of Ji that you saw on the Immortal Heavens that day."
Though perplexed, the King of Ji complied. Beneath his feet, a detailed miniature map of the mountains and rivers of Ji materialized. With a sweep of divine sense, Wei Yuan drew the map away entirely, leaving the King of Ji's mind completely blank regarding it, unable to remember such an image ever existed.
"That will do." Wei Yuan dismissed the formation, showing a hint of exhaustion.
Without asking questions, the King of Ji watched Wei Yuan vanish, then returned to his desk to continue reviewing memorials.
Leaving the royal palace, Wei Yuan returned to Yizhou, then mobilized the surrounding armies to mask his presence behind the martial qi of a hundred thousand soldiers. He moved with extreme speed; the moment gazes from beyond the heavens drifted down, he had already concealed himself amidst the army's martial qi.
By obtaining the map from the King of Ji's memory and comparing it against the arrangements Liumiao and Cangwu had made across the State of Ji, Wei Yuan gleaned a trace of the profundities behind the World-Refining Grand Array. Though only scratching the surface, it was sufficient when combined with the archives of the Palace of Grand Beginning.
Afterward, Wei Yuan returned to Qingming, then proceeded to the Lu clan's ancestral land, standing before the secret realm once again.
Submissive members of the Lu clan passed by from time to time, offering bows from afar before hurrying off, not daring to disturb his contemplation.
A few looked toward the peak of their ancestral mountain, reluctance faintly visible in their eyes. Yet as long as the mountain stood and the secret realm remained, the Lu clan still clung to a breath of life. Perhaps after countless years, a chosen child of destiny would be born to re-establish the Lu clan's legacy.
Such a prospect was unimaginably faint, but it was hope nonetheless.
Little did the Lu clansmen know that Wei Yuan was currently contemplating how to use his newly learned World-Refining Grand Array to refine the entire ancestral mountain along with its secret realm into the core of a new grotto-heaven.
Chapter 1169