A Distinguished Guest from Afar

Wei Yuan suddenly felt a deep well of malice, though he had no idea where it came from. Currently, however, many outside cultivators resided within the Splendor of the Many Realms. Following the great battle, those who had lost kin inevitably harbored some resentment toward Wei Yuan, even if they dared not voice it aloud. Wei Yuan naturally paid no heed to a little resentment. With so many people, even Pangu himself could not have satisfied everyone. Looking across the long history of cultivation, when had an opportunity of this magnitude not been accompanied by rivers of blood, leaving fewer than one in ten alive? Yet even though Wei Yuan wanted to ignore it, that resentment lingered like an unyielding ghost, constantly hovering above his head. Unable to shake it off or track down its source, he grew furious. *Did I steal your first love or something? What did I do to make you hate me this much?* Such a minor episode naturally could not derail the grand plan. Setting his jaw, Wei Yuan unleashed all his divine sense strands and set about researching how to break the stalemate beyond the heavens. Going all out, he was surprised to discover that his divine sense could now divide into one hundred and fifty thousand strands. He did not even know when he had made such tremendous progress. Perhaps because the foundation of the Splendor of the Many Realms had been laid so solidly in preparation for a flawless immortal ascension, Wei Yuan had begun advancing across all fronts accordingly. Operating one hundred and fifty thousand strands of divine sense at full power was equivalent to roughly a dozen immortals working in unison, and progress on the research project accelerated at flying speed. In under a month, two breakthrough directions were identified. The first was to involve more cultivators, and Qingming already had a vast number of readily available Golden Cores. Thus, Wei Yuan specially designed a brand-new batch of Mortal Tier avatar puppets. Though their functions were specialized and singular, they came in dozens of diverse varieties. The Golden Core cultivators were long accustomed to coordinating with one another, so operating these exceedingly rudimentary Mortal Tier avatars posed no difficulty. Nascent Soul cultivators could pilot Earth Tier avatars, and late Nascent Souls could handle Heaven Tier avatars. At present, the number of Nascent Souls in all of Qingming could be counted on one hand, but in the foreseeable future, Nascent Souls would surely be as common as stray dogs. The truly groundbreaking concept came from a newly advanced Golden Core cultivator, who proposed that the otherworldly realm had to become self-sufficient rather than relying entirely on natural evolution. To put it concretely: launch large-scale construction in the otherworldly realm, build industry, and mass-produce armaments. Industry, naturally, required energy, and energy in the otherworldly realm came from the Sea of Chaos. Aside from the Leaf of the Great Dao, however, the other life forms in the Land of Vitality were still far too weak, possessing only limited ability to draw from Chaos. For rapid development, there needed to be a powerful, enduring, reliable, high-tier Chaos converter. This converter was named "Wei Yuan." Honestly speaking, when Wei Yuan first read the proposal, he nearly struck the author dead with a bolt of lightning. But once he cooled his temper, he realized it appeared to be the only way. The Leaf of the Great Dao—which ought to be called the Tree of the Great Dao now—was still slow at converting Chaos. Furthermore, much of the world's origin qi it produced had to be used for its own growth, leaving only a meager portion to expand the Land of Vitality. And so, Wei Yuan recalled all his avatars to the Splendor of the Many Realms, while his true body went off to the Land of Vitality, cursing up a storm. Right beneath the Tree of the Great Dao, Wei Yuan built three thatched huts: a bedroom, a study, and a reception hall. Grass had yet to grow in the Land of Vitality, but that didn't stop him from constructing thatched cottages. Once the three thatched huts were erected, the place carried a faint touch of Bai Kaishui from the Sword Palace. Wei Yuan settled down beneath the Tree of the Great Dao. His divine senses reached outward in all directions like gossamer silk, plunging into the Sea of Chaos to begin converting the chaotic energy. Yet after running the process for several days, Wei Yuan discovered that his conversion efficiency did not seem particularly high—far inferior to that of the Tree of the Great Dao. He was solely relying on the vast number of divine sense strands to overwhelm the Tree of the Great Dao in total output. Noticing the poor efficiency, Wei Yuan examined the root of the problem in detail. Unfortunately, his aptitude fell short; no matter how thoroughly he investigated, he could not figure out where the issue lay, and had no choice but to give up for now. In Qingming Immortal City, one of Wei Yuan's avatars sat in a study. Lifting a brush, he inscribed the character for "sword." The character was forged of sinew and iron, weathered and mottled in every stroke, like an ancient divine sword eroded by the passage of time, brimming with Daoist charm. Outside the study window, a clear voice rang out: "A fine character!" Wei Yuan's avatar looked up and said, "A distinguished guest from afar—why not show yourself?" One wall of the study suddenly vanished, revealing a green-eyed woman standing in the courtyard. Wei Yuan's avatar cupped his hands. "So it is Senior. Please, have a seat and take some tea." The green-eyed woman walked slowly into the study, took a sip of immortal tea, and remarked, "Good tea." Wei Yuan smiled slightly. The tea had been seized as spoils from Silver Moon. While it could not compare to the finest immortal teas of the human race, it fell short by only a small margin. Qingtong took another look at Wei Yuan's avatar and was visibly moved. "A fine body." "Senior has keen eyes!" This avatar of Wei Yuan's had only just been forged from exceptionally precious materials, housing a complete divine soul within. After its completion, Zhang Sheng had suspended the Qingping Sword above its head for thirty-six days, letting sword qi penetrate and cleanse every part of the avatar so that no stray wandering spirits could seize an opening. When refining this body, Wei Yuan had deliberately infused it with the true intent of the Beginning of One Sword, followed by the complete Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns, complemented further by the sword intent of the Qingping Sword. As a result, this avatar's mastery of the sword had reached the absolute pinnacle, its dharma body and sword qi seamlessly integrated into what could truly be called an innate sword physique. This avatar alone was worthy of ranking among the world's foremost geniuses. Pristine and pure to the utmost, it felt to Wei Yuan like an additional body he had been born with, scarcely distinguishable from his true form. With this body stationed in the immortal city, while it could not thunderously slay miscellaneous immortals like his true body, exterminating ordinary Scenery Command experts beneath the immortal realm required little effort. Their pleasantries concluded, Wei Yuan asked, "What brings Senior here today?" The green-eyed woman produced a box and set it on the small table. "I happened upon a little trinket and thought it might be of some use to you, so I came to give it to you." Wei Yuan accepted the box and opened it to find an unremarkable piece of broken stone inside. The moment his eyes fell upon the stone fragment, Qingming suddenly shook. The boundary stone sunken deep into the earth let out a crisp crack and actually split, revealing a tiny notch on its surface! Wei Yuan had long since refined Qingming and immediately noticed that the notch matched the fragment in his hands perfectly! Wei Yuan took a deep breath, reining in his emotions, and asked, "What is the origin of this object?" The green-eyed woman replied, "I heard it was originally a shard of the boundary stone erected by the Patriarch of the Palace of Grand Beginning back in the day. While traveling through the Liao domain, I happened upon it and called in a favor to acquire it. Handing it to you now can be considered returning it to its rightful owner." Wei Yuan rose and bowed deeply to Qingtong. "The Patriarch's boundary stone is now whole. I can never repay Senior for such immense kindness. If there is anything Senior requires of me, as long as it lies within my power, I will spare no effort!" The green-eyed woman said, "There is indeed one matter that requires Realm Lord's assistance." "Please speak freely, Senior." The green-eyed woman said, "I have a cherished junior of modest aptitude, and so they walk the path of Golden Core and Nascent Soul. However, I have found that advancing from Nascent Soul to Scenery Command is extraordinarily difficult; something seems to be missing in between. Is there another realm that Realm Lord has yet to make public?" Wei Yuan was taken aback, then sank into contemplation. The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed that an additional realm could indeed be inserted. The green-eyed woman continued, "The second matter is that for a Nascent Soul to achieve breakthrough, it requires the blessing of the Three Realms Dao Path. Yet that junior of mine cannot enter the Three Realms Dao Path. Therefore, I wish to request a position within the Three Realms Dao Path, and then establish a small shrine outside the domains. It will still honor you as master day-to-day, and you will not need to manage it—just leave us to our own devices." This request was rather peculiar; it was equivalent to setting up an independently operated branch shrine within the Three Realms Dao Path.