Where there are many people, there are bound to be stubborn donkeys—far more than anyone could ever imagine. In ordinary times, these stubborn donkeys kept low profiles, blending seamlessly into the background, impossible to spot until a crucial moment arrived. But the moment a carrot was dangled, every single one revealed their true colors.
Once the system designed by Feng Tingyu was put into effect, it immediately set off a tremendous uproar among Qingming's research cultivators.
Each of the three premier journals had its own figurehead. *Heaven and Earth* was naturally led by True Monarch Chuhe, assisted by Yu Zhizhuo, focusing primarily on the great Dao of heaven and earth and the natural properties of all things. *Immortal Path* was led by Ji Liuli, who had just ascended to Scenery Command, assisted by Baoyun, Xiaoyu, Sun Yu, Xu Henshui, and others, concentrating on various questions regarding the path of immortal cultivation.
*Mysteries of the Two Academies*, meanwhile, embraced all streams to form an ocean, being all-encompassing while leaning heavily toward mathematics, theory, and the like. Feng Tingyu naturally stood at its helm. In addition, Wei Yuan was honored as the honorary editor-in-chief. The cover of the inaugural issue featured the very scene where Wei Yuan had slain an immortal.
Though no shadow-recording orb had captured that moment back then, the artist had given full rein to his talent, depicting Wei Yuan as exceptionally heroic and the enemy immortal as utterly disheveled. From styling and composition to lighting and poses, everything was so flawless that Wei Yuan could find no fault with it.
Upon learning he was named honorary editor-in-chief, Wei Yuan gladly accepted the role and prepared to do some real work. He asked Feng Tingyu to bring over a batch of manuscripts, intending to thoroughly review them and guide the juniors. But Wei Yuan's kind intentions were met with a tragic rejection.
Wei Yuan had nowhere to vent his stifled frustration, since Feng Tingyu had acted out of consideration for him.
Although he could not review manuscripts, Wei Yuan completely restructured the incentive system Feng Tingyu had proposed. First, the covers of the three premier journals would mostly feature portraits of the cover article's author.
Next, Wei Yuan specially launched a publication distributed across all of Qingming, with Qingming paying out of pocket to guarantee its print run. Named *Personages*, this journal highlighted mighty experts across various fields as well as newly prominent figures. The lion's share of its coverage, however, was reserved for those who had published papers in the premier journals.
The rest consisted of standard tactics, such as hosting an annual grand banquet exclusively for authors who had published in the premier journals. He also commissioned a set of intricate, gorgeous, and exorbitantly valuable trophies, pendants, goblets, and chalices for published authors to show off in their homes. Even within the Splendor of the Many Realms, if premier journal authors so desired, their names could be displayed in purple—a title color strictly reserved for Scenery Command—to signify that they stood equal in esteem to Scenery Command experts.
Feng Tingyu's incentive system had focused on substance, largely showering contributors with military merit. But Wei Yuan's revamped system had only two words at its core: showing off!
Consequently, the moment tens of thousands of templates saw the newly announced system, they went completely wild.
A few days later, a storybook burst onto the scene, sweeping aside all competition with its staggering sales.
The tale told of a poor scholar whose family had fallen into ruin. Looked down upon by his betrothed's household, he was subjected to all manner of humiliation and suffered a broken engagement. Enraged, the poor scholar stormed away from home and spent several days of grueling toil writing three articles, publishing them in each of the three premier journals.
On the day of the formal engagement cancellation, after his betrothed's family took turns heaping insults upon him, the poor scholar finally unveiled his triple purple titles, shocking the entire assembly! When the crowd refused to believe it, they were slapped across the face in turn.
His betrothed wept and begged in regret, offering to bring along her three distinctly charming younger sisters to marry him together. But the poor scholar remained unmoved, berating them for tens of thousands of words.
Concise and straight to the point, the poor scholar spent half the book scolding them before flicking his sleeves and striding away. Outside, the Realm Lord's daughter was waiting for him...
A stray thread of Wei Yuan's divine sense happened to sweep past. With a slight stir in his heart, the storybook vanished from every single bookstore in an instant. Shocked at first, the people soon realized the problem and breathed sighs of relief, grateful that their Realm Lord was broad-minded. Had it been any other immortal, taking liberties with their name would have brought down a celestial thunderbolt on the spot.
Yet the emergence of this storybook proved beyond doubt the effectiveness of the system Wei Yuan had crafted. Factions everywhere began popping up, founding their own journals and doing everything possible to push their tiers higher.
The inaugural issues of the three premier journals had published vast numbers of articles concerning the path of Golden Pellet dharma idols. The cover of the second issue was simply given to a template Dao Foundation cultivator who had proposed a new visualization method capable of effectively controlling the volume of a Golden Pellet, theoretically lowering the threshold to form one by ten percent.
That ten percent was not to be underestimated. Lower down the ladder, the cultivator base was enormous. Lowering the threshold by ten percent could very well increase the number of Golden Pellets by thirty to forty percent. Thus, once his paper was verified as effective, he was featured on the cover of that issue of *Mysteries of the Two Academies*, instantly becoming a celebrated figure throughout Qingming.
On the night the journal was published, this previously obscure template cultivator vanished into thin air. When he reappeared before the public, he was already accompanied by three wives and four concubines. Every single one was as fair as a flower, their maiden families either wealthy or noble, with half belonging to prominent clans of Zhao.
The only drawback was that these wives and concubines had been shoved onto him against his will, brooking no refusal, and required immediate consummation. After seven rounds of wedding chamber consummations in a single night, this little template had nearly had his Dao Foundation shattered.
From that day forth, snatching a husband straight from the journals became the latest fashion in Qingming.
The miserable plight of this template cultivator galvanized every frustrated, stubborn donkey, all of whom yearned to share his burden. Innumerable scholars and cultivators threw themselves into labor, either burying themselves in their studies or sleeping in their workshops. Articles sprang up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, swiftly multiplying until they were as thick as hairs on an ox.
***
Within the Splendor of the Many Realms, high upon the round moon.
A pretty young lady wearing a crimson-and-gold jacket was carefully shoveling earth, trying to dig out a bit more space for her living quarters. Her original spirit manor had grown too cramped to live in; even turning around took effort.
She dug with great trepidation, as though every inch of soil harbored great terror. As she shoveled, she refined tables, chairs, beds, and other furnishings. In a corner of the cave abode lay a glittering heap of gemstones.
Had Wei Yuan been present, he would have been thoroughly astonished. Most of these gemstones were green, with a few pale blue; every one of them was the karmic luck of Dao Foundations and dharma idols. Whenever she finished crafting a piece of furniture, she would take a gem of karmic luck to consecrate it.
The results varied wildly, each piece turning out differently. At worst, it merely improved the material slightly; at best, the object gained immediate spirituality, transforming into a spirit treasure.
The young lady took boundless delight in this, though it was hard to tell whether she genuinely wished to live in greater comfort or simply enjoyed consecrating things to see what would happen.
Yet as she worked, that small pile of gemstones in the corner suddenly began vanishing into thin air!
Alarmed, she pounced forward. But even as she scooped them all into her chubby little paws, the gemstones continued disappearing one after another until less than half remained!
Her lower lip trembled, and she looked ready to burst into tears. Then she recalled her identity. Gritting her teeth, she wiped away her tears, flew out of the round moon, and set off to find the culprit who had stolen her karmic luck.
A streak of crimson-and-gold light shot out from the full moon grotto-heaven and landed on the central continent, transforming into an elegant young nobleman clad in a black-and-silver robe, holding a folding fan. The fan was painted with a laurel tree, flanked by the two characters "Yeyue." At a glance, many recognized him as Young Master Yeyue, who had recently gained quite a reputation—dashing, mysterious, and powerful, leaving countless young women lovesick in his wake.
Upon entering the Splendor of the Many Realms, Yeyue ignored the young women gathering around him and hurried through the city. He dropped by his old rival Bingli's place, resorting to violence to check the records, and finally understood the reason.
As it turned out, that karmic luck had been contributed by people cultivating the Taiyin Golden Pellet path she had authored. Having their path extended, they had naturally been boundlessly grateful.
Over the past few months, however, articles concerning Golden Pellet dharma idols had grown as numerous as hairs on an ox, and many picked apart the flaws and oversights in the Taiyin path. With so many such articles appearing, the Golden Pellet dharma idols practicing the Taiyin path naturally grew furious. Not only did their gratitude fade, but in some it had turned to resentment.
In the blink of an eye, the pretty young lady scanned through all the articles, growing angrier with every passing line. These articles were far beyond picking bones out of eggs; they were hunting for flaws under a microscope. Someone had even criticized her literary style!
What did a path of cultivation have to do with literary style?!
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Collecting all the articles, she found an excuse to give Bingli another thrashing before taking her leave.
Clutching her face, Bingli glared at the departing figure of the pretty young lady, gnashing her teeth in hatred without uttering a word. When spiritual entities took human form, the Great Dao had its own rules: generally speaking, the greater one's strength, the larger one's transformed size. Since both of them possessed celestial spiritual qi of similar quality, a larger frame simply meant possessing more celestial qi.
The departing young lady was several times taller than Bingli, her wrists thicker than Bingli's waist.
The moment she returned to the round moon, the young lady dove into the study she had just constructed and began drafting a brand-new Taiyin Golden Pellet Great Dao! When it came to understanding the Taiyin Dao, she did not believe anyone could surpass her.
Wasn't it just about refining a Dao Foundation into something possessing spirituality? She dared not make grand claims about other paths, but on the path of Taiyin, how hard could it be?
Spurred on by irritation and having tasted the sweet benefits of karmic luck, she resolved to enter the board herself this time, drafting a Golden Pellet Great Dao named "Mirror Lake Water Moon"!
The concept of Mirror Lake Water Moon drew from the true meaning of gazing upon the moon by a lakeside. The moon hung high in the sky, reflected in the water, both illusion and truth.
She was determined to embody the round moon, shining over all of Qingming, while cultivators would essentially cultivate a mirror-like lake to reflect the moon above. In this way, they would all partake in a bit of her spirituality. Broadly speaking, this was also a kind of Golden Pellet dharma idol.
The pretty young lady figured that so long as someone was alive and not utterly stupid, they ought to be able to cultivate a Golden Pellet, right?
Chapter 1225