Customs

“I have no wish to see the living beings of this world plunge into misery and warfare drag on without end. Therefore, I proceed slowly and methodically, waiting until the enemy's root system rots away, hollowed out from within while appearing solid on the surface, so that they may be felled in a single stroke...” Having sealed the letter, Wei Yuan dispatched someone to deliver it to the Palace of Grand Beginning. In this letter, Wei Yuan roughly outlined his recent strategy, meant specifically for the two Immortal Monarchs, Yanshi and Zhu Yan. In truth, Wei Yuan could easily have flown up to the Immortal Heaven himself to speak with Yanshi face-to-face, but he felt that writing a letter was better and comparatively formal. Naturally, Wei Yuan did not think that these letters would all turn into historical records in the future, nor did he intend to let later generations discover his farsightedness, wisdom, and martial brilliance. By now, the situation around Qingming had stabilized. The Liao domains of the Three Rivers Khanate had begun steadily yielding Liao karmic luck, while Shaman karmic luck was rolling in like a torrent—it was just somewhat heavy on the wine. Seeing that the situation was stable and all preparations were complete, Wei Yuan decided to accompany Hule Gao'en deep into the lands of the Mountain Folk to search for the legacy of that ancient cultivator. This journey was destined not to go smoothly, and Wei Yuan went with the mindset of doing what humanly could be done and leaving the rest to fate. Since acquiring the Mountain Folk's karmic luck, the vitality in the Land of Extinction had risen by another tier, and Wei Yuan's spiritual perception had grown even keener. At this moment, Wei Yuan already stood outside the great door of the Martial Ancestor's grand design, but whether to push that door open and step inside was something he had been hesitating over. He decided to first see what things the Martial Ancestor had deliberately concealed before making a choice. The ancient cultivator's legacy was one such thing, and a relatively less important piece of the design, making it well-suited to tackle first. There were many ways for mighty figures to erase karma, each employing distinct methods. Over the years, Wei Yuan had dedicated himself to studying knowledge in this area. As his understanding grew broader and deeper, he had come to realize that wiping away every trace left in the world was not yet the most brilliant approach. The truly masterly approach was to sacrifice the plum tree to preserve the peach—substituting a plausible facsimile in place of the original. As time passed, the false karma would become the true karma. For instance, Wei Yuan had now faintly noticed that his memories regarding his childhood seemed to have some problems. For this expedition to the Domain of the Mountain Folk, Hule Gao'en had made meticulous preparations. Not only had he arranged a full set of travel gear and clothing, but he had also fabricated an identity and background from a borderland tribe. Altering appearances and learning the language were trivial matters. It took Wei Yuan only a single day to master the Mountain Folk tongue, after which he altered his form, transforming himself into a Mountain Folk tribesman over a zhang tall. Mountain Folk of this stature were quite rare, nearly twice as tall as ordinary Mountain Folk. At a glance, he clearly possessed the bloodline of a mountain giant, commanding a status far nobler than that of common Mountain Folk. Hule Gao'en disguised himself as an ordinary Mountain Folk tribesman, serving as Wei Yuan's servant. With preparations complete, the two took a flying boat first to Yizhou, then crossed from there into the Domain of the Mountain Folk, where they disembarked from the vessel and flew toward the designated mountain range. The map was already firmly in Wei Yuan's mind; the journey covered roughly three hundred thousand li. Several days later, the two finally arrived at Jinshi City outside the mountains. It was a small city, and the final city before venturing into the mountains. Jinshi City was built within the belly of a mountain. Over the past thousands of years, the Mountain Folk had hollowed out the entire mountain, turning it into a natural dwelling. The entire city had more than a dozen entrances and exits; in an emergency, sealing these gates was all it took to turn the mountain into a natural fortress. This was also the most exasperating aspect. Cities built into mountains like this were exceedingly difficult to assault. Each siege required high-level cultivators to bombard it relentlessly with high-powered Dao arts, literally shearing down the entire mountain before it could be taken. The reason Wei Yuan had recently paused his expansion in Yizhou was also that the Mountain Folk along the border consisted of small tribes without large mountain cities, making them easy to take. But having fought to this point, further expansion meant confronting a series of mountain cities. If a mountain city could not be taken by storm, the past strategy of the human race was an endless war of attrition, bleeding the Mountain Folk dry bit by bit in field battles until the surviving tribesmen could no longer sustain the city's defenses and were finally forced to abandon it themselves. Wei Yuan and Hule Gao'en passed the guards at the gate and smoothly entered Jinshi City. Jinshi City lay in the heartland of the Mountain Folk, so its defenses were relatively relaxed. The guards never imagined that a Liao and a human would sneak in; they merely collected an entry tax and let the two through. The entire mountain interior had been hollowed out, with every twenty zhang constituting a level. On the domed ceiling of each level hung ore lamps radiating brilliant light, illuminating the roadways as bright as day. From bottom to top, Jinshi City was divided into nine tiers. The higher one's status, the higher the tier one inhabited. The lowest tier was a dumping ground for garbage and sewage, yet an astonishing number of Mountain Folk lived there. Out of the three hundred thousand Mountain Folk in all of Jinshi City, over fifty thousand dwelt on this very bottom tier. The second tier from the bottom was somewhat tidier than the lowest, but the odor was hardly any better. Sewage from the upper tiers flowed through this level before draining into the bottom city's cesspool, and the foul stench rising from the pit made the second tier from the bottom even more putrid than the very bottom. A full hundred thousand Mountain Folk lived on this second tier from the bottom. The bottom two tiers accounted for half of all the Mountain Folk in Jinshi City. The topmost tier was where Jinshi City's high priest and prophet resided, and the altar dedicated to the One True God was also erected here. The second tier was the domain of the city lord's clan. All the nobles lived on the third and fourth tiers. Given the status of Wei Yuan's disguise, he was permitted to lodge on the third tier. As Wei Yuan's servant, Hule Gao'en followed along to stay there as well. The Mountain Folk inn's rooms were simply stone chambers carved from the rock, yet they were outfitted with ventilation shafts that drew in gentle breezes. They vented stale air, cleared foul smells, and regulated temperature. Wei Yuan found this quite intriguing, making a mental note to study the design thoroughly upon returning to Qingming and popularize it there. Wei Yuan had barely settled in when a Mountain Folk messenger arrived, announcing that the city lord had heard a scion of noble blood had arrived and wished to invite Wei Yuan to join him for a banquet that evening. This was an excellent opportunity to learn more about the Mountain Folk, so Wei Yuan gladly accepted. In any case, there was only a single early-stage Scenery Command cultivator in this city. If things went sideways, Wei Yuan could swat him dead with a flick of his hand, then flee into the Immortal Heaven to escape the Domain of the Mountain Folk. Hule Gao'en would have to suffer a bit, of course, needing to hide on his own and slowly sneak back to Qingming. The banquet was held on the second tier. This tier was over thirty zhang high—twice the height of the tiers below, and three times that of the bottom tier. It was decorated in magnificent splendor. The Mountain Folk were exceedingly fond of gold and red, so even the walls were plastered with gold leaf, dazzling the eyes under the illumination of countless ore lamps. In the center of the feast lay a whole roasted ox resting on the floor. From head to tail, this ox was over two zhang long, roasted until its skin and meat were crisp. Numerous Mountain Folk nobles sat circled around it, while servants continuously carved slices of meat from the roasted ox, plating them and serving them before each noble. Over thirty nobles attended the banquet, the majority belonging to the city lord's clan. Like Wei Yuan, the city lord was roughly a zhang tall, clearly possessing giant blood; he was even a hand taller than Wei Yuan. The city lord's offspring, however, did not measure up. Nearly half were merely the size of ordinary Mountain Folk, and the tallest son barely reached the city lord's shoulder. Once Wei Yuan was seated, the city lord bowed his head to praise the True God, concluding: “...Saha is the True God's sole incarnation in this world. Praise be to Saha!” Wei Yuan chanted along, but behind him, Hule Gao'en shuddered, his magic power surging as if he were about to strike on the spot! With a shift of divine sense, Wei Yuan suppressed Hule Gao'en's magic power directly, forcing him to calm down. Once the full ritual was concluded and the feast commenced, Wei Yuan asked the city lord, “Honored City Lord, what interesting legends surround Jinshi City?” The city lord chortled, parting his beard to devour a large chunk of meat, and then said, “There are far too many legends to count. You can ask the prophet tomorrow. Tonight, you'll stay on this tier of mine. You can take your pick from my dozens of wives, and among my dozen or so daughters, you must choose three to spend the night with.” Wei Yuan was stunned; he had never imagined such a custom existed, and Hule Gao'en hadn't warned him at all. Among the Mountain Folk, women were mere appendages, sometimes valued less than large livestock or spirit beasts, and transferring or selling them was a common occurrence. The problem was that the Mountain Folk were quite similar to the Shaman race: what they considered a beauty was, in the eyes of a human, purely grotesque.