Over the next several days, Wei Yuan made several rounds across Qingming, exhausting every means at his disposal, yet he still found no trace of the man. Even the book stored within the Flourishing of the Many Realms had undergone subtle changes, its author's name erased. Wei Yuan tracked down and questioned those who had read the book, but most had no recollection of who had written it.
With no other leads, Wei Yuan did not dwell on the matter. In any case, he had resolved to meet every change with stillness. So long as he remained strong enough and locked onto his strategic objectives without wavering, no amount of underhanded scheming would avail his enemies.
Besides, when it came to conspiracies and underhanded tricks, Tianqing Hall was hardly inferior to anyone. If nothing else, consider how currency issuance had become an all-pervasive craze across the Nine States—even a petty county magistrate could mint his own local magistrate scrip.
Even though the State of Zhao had previously suffered bitterly from it, they still had not learned their lesson. The King of Zhao had secretly issued currency twice more under assumed names, both ventures naturally ending in disastrous failure.
When the Nine States issued currency, the outcome was invariably the same: lining the pockets of the issuers, draining the national treasury, and ruining countless commoners.
And the instigator behind it all was, at this very moment, inside his grotto disciplining a humanoid mount.
A few young boys and girls felt deeply apprehensive. Aside from cleaning and building, their daily tasks consisted of practicing all manner of strange techniques, many of which resembled witchcraft and curses. With each new art they learned, they felt as though another thread of karmic bond formed between them and their fugitive Patriarch.
Unable to find the author of the book, Wei Yuan went to bid Zhang Sheng farewell, then returned to the Lu clan's ancestral mountain.
Several months later, amid swirling snows in the north, Wei Yuan quietly returned to Qingming to preside over the new year's Dao Foundation Grand Ceremony.
In the eighteenth year of Hongjing, the Qingming Dao Foundation Grand Ceremony elevated a total of 117,000 individuals to the Dao Foundation realm, shocking the entire world.
Wei Yuan departed as quietly as he had come; none knew when he returned to the Lu clan's ancestral lands. Qingming subsequently settled back into its normal rhythm. Except for several thousand Dao Foundation cultivators sent back to the various great clans, the remaining 110,000 dispersed across Qingming, becoming part of its foundation and dissolving into the mundane world without further ripple.
It was as if Qingming had done nothing at all. Quietly and peacefully, another year slipped by.
At the Dao Foundation Grand Ceremony in the nineteenth year of Hongjing, a total of 101,000 people were elevated to the Dao Foundation realm. The world was now utterly numb to it.
Yet when the ceremony concluded, auspicious rain suddenly fell from the heavens while propitious clouds surged from the earth. As the mist and fine drizzle rose and mingled, every person bathed within felt their spirits invigorated.
Ordinary folk took it merely as a heaven-sent omen of good fortune and rejoiced, but Wei Yuan perceived an exceedingly subtle change within the Heavenly Dao of Qingming.
This shift was so minuscule that even immortals would have failed to detect it. Had Wei Yuan not been the Realm Lord of Qingming, whose Heart Manifestation World had long merged with the Realm Stone, possessed profound attainments in the Buddhist Dharma, and constantly striven to transform Qingming—a process that simultaneously advanced the Three Realms Ruyi Sutra—even he would have been unable to sense this subtle nuance in the Heavenly Dao.
This was a shift in the fundamental Grand Dao, so Wei Yuan treated it with the utmost gravity. He initiated 9,999 tasks, sifting through the recent data changes across all of Qingming and the latest major occurrences to determine the cause.
Moments later, the results arrived. The Flourishing of the Many Realms listed hundreds of potential triggers, but the one ranked dead last with the lowest probability suddenly caught Wei Yuan's attention: the total number of template Dao Foundation cultivators in Qingming had just crossed one million.
A million Dao Foundations?
In the past, even a million high-tier Body Casting cultivators would have been an astonishing figure. The so-called Nine Armies of Great Tang possessed an average cultivation of merely Jade Bone, and altogether numbered under a million. Now Qingming already possessed one million Dao Foundation cultivators?
These Dao Foundation cultivators were dispersed throughout every walk of life in Qingming, their presence virtually imperceptible in day-to-day existence. Even mortal neighbors who lived side by side with them day and night would never imagine just how much of the food they ate and the goods they used had been crafted by template Dao Foundations.
A jolt went through Wei Yuan's mind as an unbelievable thought surfaced: Could it be that the sheer number of Dao Foundation cultivators has altered the Heavenly Dao itself?
Thinking deeper, there was genuinely some plausibility to it. Heaven and earth were like farmland, while cultivators were like crops. As Old Daoist Chuhe often said, planting different crops in a field would gradually alter the nature of the soil. Perhaps the ultimate truth was universal—could heaven and earth function the same way?
Pondering this, Wei Yuan quietly returned to the Lu clan's ancestral lands. Before departing, he wrote another memorial to the imperial court of Great Tang, declaring that he would soon travel to the capital for an audience with the Emperor.
Before this memorial had even left Qingming, its contents had already reached the desks of interested parties. However, since Wei Yuan announced his imminent journey to the capital for an audience every single year, people no longer ran around in a panic.
Yet high above in the Immortal Heavens, a faint ripple suddenly stirred. A divine thought traversed a vast distance, nudging a hidden will. Soon after, a gaze fell toward Qingming.
In the immortal's eyes at this moment, all of Qingming was shrouded in a faint mist, rendering the contents within hazy and obscured.
This was the work of the Great Array of the Heavenly Constellations. Wei Yuan had poured colossal sums into continuously upgrading the formation. After over a decade of construction, the great array could finally span the ten-thousand-li expanse of Qingming, and its power was sufficient to obscure an immortal's sight. Without expending a sliver of immortal power, even immortals found it difficult to see what was happening inside Qingming.
Even in the Immortal Heavens, formations spanning ten thousand li were exceedingly rare; existing ones had all required hundreds or thousands of years to erect. For Qingming, a mere mortal realm, to build an array of such scale in less than twenty years was truly terrifying.
Now, however, a small thread several hundred li in length extended out from Qingming, pointing straight north. When the gaze descended upon it, it could not clearly make out what lay within the thread either. Only by channeling immortal power did he pierce the obscuring haze, discerning that below lay a floating road designated specifically for large land-faring flying boats.
Floating roads were an innovation pioneered by Qingming and were no longer a secret. In the past, immortals who saw them merely praised the ingenuity of the concept, nothing more. Those who gave it further thought considered it utterly unnecessary to mobilize such vast resources for the cumbersome trifles of mortals.
Yet this floating road differed from those within Qingming. Every li or so, a formation eye had been installed, and every hundred li stood a station resembling a small town, fully equipped with amenities and garrisoned by cultivators and soldiers.
Linked together, the formation eyes along the route formed an overarching array whose primary function was, remarkably, to block the gaze of immortals. To see through the barrier, an immortal had to expend a touch of immortal power. Yet doing so risked leaving behind traces of karma; without using immortal power, however, one could not discern what was happening below.
In this manner, Qingming could conveniently transport important figures or cargo at high speed along the floating road beyond the sight of immortals. Or perhaps it served as bait to see which immortal harbored ill intent.
The consciousness let out a cold snort, sounding thoroughly displeased.
Evidently, this formation had been designed specifically against immortals, and was even optimized against several specific types of immortal power—one of which belonged to this very immortal.
Thus, as this immortal gazed downward, not only was the newly built stretch of several hundred li of floating road concealed by mist, but the mist also flickered with multicolored light, spelling out line after line of venomous insults dripping with sarcasm and barbed mockery. The immortal did not know whether other immortals could see them, but he himself saw them with perfect clarity.
The will fell silent for a moment before sending a thought down to the mortal realm: Qingming must be taken seriously; counter it without delay.
…
Southern Qi, royal palace.
The King of Qi sat in his study. Hovering above his desk were depictions of various products, machines, and detailed descriptions, many even accompanied by blueprints. All had originated from Qingming: some were armaments and magical implements, others everyday consumer goods, and quite a few were schematics for manufacturing machinery. The Dao-power markings stamped upon them had not even been erased, making it obvious they were retrieved directly from Qingming's archives.
The King of Qi wore a somber expression. When he finally finished reviewing them all, a sudden glare caught his eye, and he realized a sliver of morning light was streaming through the window. Without him noticing, day had already broken.
Deciding not to sleep at all, the King of Qi washed up and headed straight to the morning court assembly.
In the court hall, the Chancellor and the Ministers of the various boards already had contingency proposals prepared. The Minister of Works stepped forward and petitioned first, saying, "At present, Qingming is advancing at a breathtaking pace, producing an endless stream of ingenious wonders, while its military might grows ever more formidable..."
An elderly official beside him suddenly sneered. "How formidable can its military be? Could it possibly surpass our Great Qi?"
The Chancellor frowned slightly, but ignored the remark and continued, "We must respond early. Though Qingming lies far off, if we allow it to build momentum until its grand momentum is established, crashing through Jin and Song would not be impossible. When that day comes, it will be our turn to face them."
The old official countered again, "Qingming's wares are nothing more than clever novelties and trivial crafts! If we apply ourselves even a little, we can replicate them. When the time comes, it won't even require our direct intervention—finding a few skilled Dao Foundation cultivators will suffice to manufacture them. The Chancellor is crying wolf, bolstering the prestige of others while deflating Great Qi's own glory!"
The Chancellor also sneered. "Replicate? If Qingming's wares were so easy to make, how could they have earned so much money? How could Qingyuan have gained such rampant currency across the land?"
The old official immediately declared, "The Chancellor has finally struck the heart of the matter! In this old official's view, Qingming's true strength lies in Qingyuan and the banking system tethered to it!
"When we purchase foreign goods, we must pay in immortal silver, which we earn through the goods we produce ourselves. Qingming, however, needs only to print paper to obtain massive quantities of materials—faster than outright plunder! How could they not grow rich?
"Furthermore, everyone covets the convenience of Qingyuan, hoarding and spending it widely. As long as those Qingyuan notes do not return to Qingming, Qingming owes nothing in return! In other words, every note circulating abroad is equivalent to lending—no, gifting goods to Qingming for free! Gentlemen, consider just how much Qingyuan is currently circulating across the world!"
The old official's words visibly stirred the King of Qi. Straightening his posture, he asked, "Is there a way to counter this?"
"The root solution is to have everyone in the world return all the Qingyuan in their hands, redeeming them for immortal silver. In doing so, we will thoroughly break Qingming, leaving them with nothing to pay out and stripping them of their ability to bleed the world dry!"
Yet the ministers all shook their heads inwardly, and the King of Qi frowned. People had grown accustomed to using Qingyuan; why would they obediently listen to the King of Qi? And beyond the State of Qi, eight other states existed under heaven.
The old official remained confident and pressed on, "There is another strategy: we follow Qingming's example and issue currency ourselves. But this time, it must be issued in the court's name, all private scrip within our borders must be outlawed, and the monetary disorder rectified. Only then can we succeed.
"If Qiyuan can be issued, it will seize substantial territory from Qingyuan. The more we circulate, the less people will use Qingyuan. This is a strategy to pull the firewood from beneath the cauldron!"
The ministers wore peculiar looks, and the King of Qi's old face flushed red. After all, among the numerous private scrips circulating within Qi, several had been issued in secret by none other than himself.
Chapter 1190