In the ancestral lands of Song Cui, a fiery meteor plummeted from the sky, crashing straight into the cave heaven. From its depths erupted a roar of incandescent fury, the terrifying immortal power instantly jolting countless lesser creatures to death.
Upon a throne of cold jade, Cui Zhengxing manifested. He was bare-chested, without a single patch of intact flesh remaining. Lacerations overlapped with severe burns, and fragments of spirit treasures were still embedded in several wounds. For an immortal physique to be battered to such a state spoke volumes of how grave his injuries were.
A streak of immortal light rose from below to envelop his entire body, dissolving all the spirit treasure shards, yet the scars across his flesh could not be erased in short order. His immortal power running virtually dry, Cui Zhengxing produced a jade box and opened it with the utmost care.
Originally, five immortal pills had rested inside, but now only three remained. He swallowed two in succession, and only then did his aura stabilize slightly. He had picked up the third pill as well, but after a moment of hesitation, placed it back.
Cui Zhengxing deliberately selected an immortal robe woven with divine-sense shielding properties, draped it over himself, and only then stepped out of the cave heaven to summon the elders for an assembly.
By the time the elders gathered, Cui Zhengxing had regained his dignified composure. "This Venerable One clashed with Wei Yuan on the front lines," he said slowly. "Through a momentary lapse in vigilance, I fell into the enemy's cunning trap. Furthermore, with Wei Yuan possessing overwhelming numbers, I suffered a minor setback. However, a newly emerged tactic of theirs warrants serious vigilance: detonating spirit treasures, which unleashes formidable might. I seized one such spirit treasure. Take a look and see if you can decipher anything."
A spirit treasure had already appeared in Cui Zhengxing's hand—one of the many Wei Yuan had displaced to his side using temporal arts.
He had suppressed this particular one to study it.
The treasure was a jade bowl, yet its rim was uneven and its jade quality was far from fine. The elders were all seasoned figures who had seen much of the world; even the shoddiest spirit treasure in their hands far surpassed this one.
At once, an elder skilled in artifact crafting remarked, "This spirit treasure is of exceedingly inferior quality and serves virtually no practical purpose. Only the fundamental materials remain. It appears they originally intended to forge a storage-type spirit treasure, but failed to complete the refinement, turning it into a defective piece. If it weren't used to detonate, it could only be melted down in the furnace—and even in a detonation, it shouldn't possess much power."
Cui Zhengxing suddenly found himself choked with bitter grievance. The detonation of these spirit treasures had not only possessed power, but an astonishing amount of it! He had already discerned traces of Zhu Yan in it. In that moment, he couldn't help cursing furiously in his heart: *What is wrong with you? A dignified immortal, of all things you could create, you just had to concoct a divine power for blowing up magical implements! Did you think the Palace of Grand Beginning wasn't squandering its fortunes fast enough?*
Another elder observed, "It seems Wei Yuan scraped together every inferior spirit treasure he could get his hands on and unleashed them all at once. Such a tactic can work once, but cannot be repeated. Even shoddy spirit treasures are finite in number."
That possibility was truly far too terrifying; Cui Zhengxing hastily banished it from his mind, followed by a fierce conviction: Zhu Yan absolutely could not be allowed to live!
In truth, everyone knew that Wei Yuan even more so could not be spared; they simply had no means of dealing with him.
In Qingming Immortal City, Wei Yuan led Cui Fengyi into a workshop. Inside sat rows of long tables, each lined with ten spiritual embryos, which were being worked on by ten artifact craftsmen apiece. Each artisan refined only a small segment; once completed, the long table would fly away and advance to the next step of the assembly line.
Before long, a set of ten spirit treasures on one table was completed. The cultivator in charge of quality control inspected them one by one, ultimately keeping two while tossing the remaining eight into a scrap bin.
Cui Fengyi's eyelid twitched. *Spirit treasures can actually be forged like this?* Then her eyelid twitched again as she realized that the items in the scrap bin were precisely the spirit treasures used for detonations! No wonder Wei Yuan had claimed he could have as many spirit treasures as he wanted—he hadn't been boasting.
At this rate of production, before long there wouldn't even be enough immortals around to blow up...
Wei Yuan said at that moment, "That Elder Cui was willing to sacrifice herself for the million-strong Song army is something I truly admire. However, now that Elder has arrived, why not do a little work for me?"
"Please speak, Realm Lord."
"I have dozens of newly minted varieties of spirit treasures here. Elder Cui is knowledgeable and experienced, so perhaps you wouldn't mind helping me test them."
Cui Fengyi knew this was no negotiation. At the same time, wanting to take the opportunity to pry into the secrets of Qingming's spirit treasures, she agreed on the spot. Wei Yuan smiled faintly, then summoned several female cultivators and instructed them to take Cui Fengyi away to take her measurements.
Cui Fengyi was completely baffled, unable to understand why testing spirit treasures required measuring her body. But with her daughter in his hands, she had no choice but to bow her head, following the female cultivators into a secret chamber.
Once one female cultivator shut the door firmly behind them, she turned around and said coldly, "Strip naked!"
The other female cultivators brought out strange, peculiar tools—not a single one of which Cui Fengyi recognized.
Once Cui Fengyi left, a cultivator came to report to Wei Yuan that the latest spirit treasure suits were completed and invited Wei Yuan over to inspect the results.
A total of four sets had been produced in this batch, all intended for the forced Scenery Commands. With the full set equipped, one's presence transformed entirely; treasure radiance surged to the heavens all around, giving them the undeniable appearance of an attained expert. In terms of outward presentation, they were not inferior to a true Scenery Command in the slightest. What was more, all eight spirit treasures in each set were worn on the outside, creating an imposing presence that no wild Scenery Command could ever hope to match.
However, after looking them over, Wei Yuan suddenly noticed an issue and immediately asked, "Why are all four sets identical? Won't people immediately know they're from the same faction?"
The cultivator in charge of the refinement was somewhat perplexed. "They *are* from the same faction!"
"No good. Subsequent spirit treasures must all look different. Modify these four sets as well—just changing the appearance will do."
Altering just the appearance was a minor task. Though the cultivator remained puzzled, he went to carry it out regardless. Little did he know that Wei Yuan wanted the ninety-nine Scenery Commands to appear as if they hailed from every corner of the world. Only then would their unison congratulations carry true grandeur, and only then would it look splendid on a shadow-retaining sphere.
Wei Yuan had been using shadow-retaining spheres more and more lately, and the germ of an idea was already taking root: he planned to have people specialize in researching the use of shadow-retaining spheres, all to leave behind more and greater deeds of the Realm Lord for posterity.
The Ascension Grand Ceremony for Xuanyue was scheduled for three months after the day of his ascension. Having just ascended to the immortal heaven, Xuanyue still needed to mend the damages to his mind-manifested world, reinforce his cave heaven, and familiarize himself with his newly gained divine powers so that he could demonstrate them during the ceremony. Three months was already remarkably swift.
When Zhu Yan ascended, the Palace of Grand Beginning had been in dire straits, so no ceremony was held. Moreover, Zhu Yan's innate divine power was already notorious, having caused several immortals no end of suffering; even if a ceremony had been held, it was likely no one would have shown up.
Xuanyue was different. The Palace of Grand Beginning now recaptured the glorious era of three immortals coexisting in the world. What was more, those coming up behind them—Zhang Sheng and Wei Yuan—were each fiercer than the last, followed by Baoyun, Feng Tingyu, Ji Liuli, Xiaoyu, and others queuing up in turn. If that weren't enough, should Chuhe ascend to immortality, it would reopen the path of attaining sainthood through merit, perhaps allowing him to stand shoulder to shoulder with the sages.
Therefore, as soon as news of Xuanyue's Ascension Grand Ceremony spread, the immortals sent congratulatory gifts in droves. Even those with longstanding vendettas against the Palace of Grand Beginning dispatched presents.
The primary reason remained the resounding notoriety of Old Scoundrel Chunqiu. The immortals all feared that if their gift failed to arrive, Xuanyue would hold a grudge and come knocking on their doors to cause trouble later. Everyone had seen his posture during his ascension: renouncing lifespan, forsaking profound mysteries, demanding only slaughter. In the mortal world, he would be the definition of a desperate rascal who had nothing to lose!
The only silver lining was that Xuanyue clearly had little lifespan remaining. Compounded by how violently he had broken through the heavenly tribulation during ascension, he had surely compounded injury upon injury, further eating into his remaining years. Thus, the immortals figured that if they just endured him for a century or two, Xuanyue would likely transform into precious earth anyway, so there was all the less reason to provoke him.
Three months flew by in the blink of an eye, and the day of the Ascension Grand Ceremony finally arrived!
The mountain gates of the Palace of Grand Beginning stood wide open. A thousand steps of jade descended from within the clouds, flanked on either side by glazed everlasting lanterns whose halos drifted like mist. On the plaza before the mountain gates, immortal cranes flew in carrying assorted spirit fruits, arraying them atop green jade tables. Several black banners fluttered without a breeze, the golden seal script embroidered on them shifting in an elusive glow. From afar, bells and chimes rang thrice, their pure tones parting the layered clouds to reveal the upturned eaves of a golden roof. The disciples bustling to welcome guests were all clad in plain white Daoist robes, shuttling up and down the steps with silent footsteps, their hems trailing soft shadows in the morning light.
The two Palace Masters of the Sword Palace brought a retinue of Scenery Command elders and outstanding dharma idol disciples to observe the ceremony. The Great Baohua Pure Land dispatched Bodhisattva Baoxing along with numerous young monks. Even the Academy sent representatives, though neither of its two immortals showed their faces.
Aside from them, Xu Youyi and Cui Wantong arrived in person to offer congratulations; no other immortals were present. The main reason was that on an occasion like this, everyone knew Wei Yuan would certainly attend. Consequently, the immortals who had underhandedly moved to intercept Wei Yuan during his ascension chose not to show themselves, terrified that once on the Palace of Grand Beginning's turf, the door would be bolted behind them so they could be beaten like trapped dogs. After all, Wei Yuan had more than one immortal life on his hands.
In truth, had it been Xuanyue alone, the immortals would have felt comparatively at ease. But they truly could not trust Wei Yuan, knowing full well that this fellow was capable of anything. Settling personal vendettas at his patriarch's Ascension Grand Ceremony was well within his playbook.
Stepping into the Palace of Grand Beginning, Wei Yuan swept his divine sense outward, taking in every attending immortal at a glance. He could only let out a deep sigh. How could he not know what the absent immortals were thinking?
Yet there was nothing he could do. He could only internally curse the assembly of immortals for measuring the heart of a gentleman with the yardstick of a scoundrel, insisting on thinking so vilely of him.
Still, cursing aside, Wei Yuan felt thoroughly helpless. His ninety-nine Scenery Commands were now reduced to performing a single function: extending congratulations. With three spirit treasures packed in each of their magic treasure pouches, it seemed there was nowhere to use their might after all.
Chapter 1471