Within his Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, stones were already piled beside the jade mountain, but Wei Yuan had not yet decided whether to mold a cauldron, a bell, or something else entirely. If the chance arose, he felt he ought to visit the Hall of Myriad Manifestations again to look for inspiration—and incidentally see if that sweeping old Daoist was still around.
By the time he returned to Lanshen Palace, dawn had broken. Wei Yuan vaulted off his mount, reclaiming only three strands of fortune and leaving one within the steed's body. The beast's height shrank from fifteen feet back down to ten, its vitality merely languid rather than collapsing dead on the spot.
Xu Wenwu was the first to rush over, shouting, "Big Brother's martial might is divine!"
Nowhere to be seen during the battle, yet the very first to come sprinting out to greet the triumph—it seemed this Xu Wenwu was not an absolute fool after all.
Wei Yuan clapped him on the shoulder, then pointed at the warhorse behind him. "Mount up and ride it for two hours."
Xu Wenwu froze. "Ride where?"
"Anywhere. In circles if you like. Just keep riding for a full two hours."
Xu Wenwu dared not disobey and swung onto the saddle. Although the great battle was over, how could he dare ride far? If he ran into a straggler from the Wu, a second strike would not even be needed to kill him. Thus, Xu Wenwu merely cantered the horse in wide loops around the great hall.
The surviving human cultivators were now gathered on the open ground beside the hall. Only thirty or forty were still able to sit; the rest lay sprawled upon the earth, receiving treatment from Yun Feifei and Xu Wan'er.
Seeing Wei Yuan approach, a fervent light flared in the eyes of every cultivator. All who could move struggled to their feet, and even those who could not stand managed to sit upright.
Wei Yuan looked across them one by one. Counting even the dying and critically wounded, only one hundred and ninety-seven remained. Before the battle began, there had been six hundred and seventy.
Beholding this sight, not a shred of joy remained in Wei Yuan's heart. Every inch of land here had been seized with the blood and lives of countless human cultivators. And this was only because Jia Wood Life-Mystic was constantly replenishing their vitality and Dao power; had it been any other boundary stone, not a single one of these people would likely have survived.
By now, Qingming's domain had expanded to ten li, and the area around the great hall was nearly indistinguishable from a pure human clear domain. Bolstered by the power of Life-Mystic, the recovery rate of every cultivator's injuries was multiplied, and those suffering from poisons or curses were also improving. In an ordinary boundary stone's domain, barely half of those afflicted with curses and poisons would have lived.
Though their casualties were grievous, light shone in the eyes of all who had survived.
Wei Yuan walked over to several of the most severely wounded men and held his palm just above their injuries. Tiny motes of tender green light emerged around his hand as the domain's Jia Wood Life-Mystic power converged upon the first man. His vitality surged several times over in an instant, and the rate of his wounds' healing increased tenfold, the previously fatal injuries knitting closed before their very eyes.
Once the man's condition stabilized and his life was no longer in peril, Wei Yuan turned to the next. In the blink of an eye, five men who should have succumbed to untreatable wounds were dragged back from the brink of death. It was nothing short of a miracle!
The gazes fixed on Wei Yuan grew incandescent, and he felt as though he ought to say something. History books offered plenty of examples to draw upon, but in this moment, Wei Yuan felt that all historical precedents and allusions were too hollow to convey what was in his heart.
After a moment's thought, he spoke. "Before this battle began, every one of you must have believed we were doomed to lose. But we held our ground, and we won!"
The cultivators pumped their fists into the air and bellowed with fury and wild exhilaration!
Raising his voice, Wei Yuan pumped his arm and roared, "The Wuyu Clan will not let this rest. But we will hold this ground, and we will win! We will win every single battle, and we will slaughter every bastard that crosses our border!"
Another thunderous roar erupted from the cultivators!
Wei Yuan leapt onto a large boulder, his spear pointing straight at the heavens as he shouted, "In the days to come, we will raise an army and march right into the Wu domain..."
Amidst the thunderous bellows of the cultivators, a shrill, piercing shout suddenly rang out: "...and seize their coin and take their women!"
The field instantly fell dead silent. The cultivators stared at one another in utter bewilderment. Seizing coin made sense, but what in the world would anyone want with Wuyu women?
Seeing Xu Wenwu—who was supposed to be exercising the horse, yet had somehow trotted back—Wei Yuan's face turned somewhat green. It was rare for him to make such an impassioned speech, and he had finally rallied their morale, only for this fool to blurt out such nonsense and completely ruin the mood.
Sensing the sudden silence, Xu Wenwu realized he had said something wrong, though he had no clue what. Still, quick on his feet, he vaulted off the horse, raised his arms, and cried out, "Are kings and Immortal Monarchs born to their station?! From now on, we follow Big Brother through fire and water, undaunted by ten thousand deaths!"
What kind of act was this now? Wei Yuan was caught between tears and laughter. With a flick of Dao power, he sealed Xu Wenwu's mouth.
Yet Xu Wenwu simply opened wide, swallowed the strand of Dao power, and saw his cultivation tick upward slightly.
Before Wei Yuan could even react, the fellow threw himself flat against the dirt and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Long live the Emperor!"
The gathered cultivators immediately dropped to their knees as well, crying in unison, "May our King live forever!"
Xu Wenwu looked up at the cultivators around him, instinctively sensing that something was amiss. Had he said the wrong thing again?
In ancient times, a human king was an Immortal Monarch, and an Immortal Monarch was a human king. Once one attained immortality, their lifespan extended far beyond ten thousand years. Thus, shouting "long live" to an ancient human king was tantamount to cursing him with an early grave.
In the present day, Great Tang was universally recognized as sovereign under heaven, a principle deeply rooted in the minds of the people. Though nine kingdoms governed their divided realms while the Tang throne sat vacant, the righteous legitimacy remained intact. One could establish an independent state, but one could only style oneself a king, and still had to honor the Tang Emperor as sovereign under heaven. Xu Wenwu's cry of "Emperor" was practically asking for Wei Yuan's nine familial clans to be executed—the kind of treason that would bring the heroes of the realm to unite against him.
Seeing the cultivators kneeling in homage, with even Yun Feifei and Xu Wan'er dropping to their knees, Wei Yuan was caught completely off guard. How had this already turned into an open rebellion?
*Now is not the time...* Wei Yuan forced himself to calm down.
His ability to slay two dharma idols in succession was ultimately due to an Immortal Monarch intervening from afar. Without the power of an Immortal Monarch, the Palace of Grand Beginning would not even need a patriarch to put down a rebellion; sending Zhang Sheng or Eldest Senior Sister alone would be more than enough.
After giving careful thought to the pros and cons, Wei Yuan suddenly paused. *Why am I taking this seriously at all?!*
"Get up, all of you, get up quickly! What is the meaning of this? I am nothing more than a humble disciple of the Palace of Grand Beginning. I am one now, and I will remain one in the future." Wei Yuan went around trying to pull them up, but none would budge.
The two cultivators with the highest cultivation and greatest prestige among the survivors exchanged a glance, then spoke in unison: "By planting the boundary stone and reopening this land, my lord has become its master. This is a rule handed down through hundreds of thousands of years among our human race; it does not hinder my lord from remaining a disciple of the Palace of Grand Beginning. We ask only to follow my lord and protect our clans and kin. Whatever my lord's identity may be, from this day forth, you are our master."
Wei Yuan looked to his left, then to his right. One of these two had been recruited by Yun Feifei from the surrounding towns, while the other was the head of Xu Jingfeng's bodyguards. They should have had nothing to do with each other, yet given their seamless coordination, they had clearly reached an understanding in secret long before this.
A bloody battle had just ended. Every cultivator who took part had come prepared to die, and nearly seventy percent of their number had fallen. Every single person present could claim with a clear conscience that they had stared death in the face without flinching. Wei Yuan could not treat their earnest desire lightly.
Wei Yuan sighed inwardly and said, "Everyone, stand up first. I will hold this place; I will not leave. If you are willing to brave the risks with me, then we shall carve out a realm where we may live and multiply together!"
The moment these words left his mouth, the two leaders bowed once more. "We swear to follow our Lord to the death!"
The crowd of cultivators thundered in response, "We swear to follow our Lord to the death!"
Caught unawares, Wei Yuan found himself roasted over the fire once again. Only after repeatedly declining and deflecting did he finally manage to change the title from "Lord" to "Master," barely bringing it in line with tradition.
By the time the cultivators rose, Wei Yuan was exhausted in body and spirit. He felt that slaying a dharma idol had not been half as tiring as this.
Broad daylight now filled the sky as sunlight suddenly spilled down, illuminating the surrounding ten li in vivid, brilliant colors. Every tree and blade of grass radiated vibrant life. The hills were a lush emerald, the grass a velvety green; even the broken walls and shattered ruins took on an exceptional beauty beneath the sun. Beyond ten li lay a dark, damp, murky world. Compared to that outside realm, this small, sunlit expanse truly resembled a paradise on earth.
For now, everything awaited rebuilding. There was not so much as a single roofed dwelling to be seen, yet it was a land of hope for countless souls.
Chapter 122