Plunder

Immortals and mortals were distinct; it had been so even in antiquity. Research in Qingming had already concluded that humanity could effectively be divided into three distinct kinds of organisms: mortals were one, those from Dao Foundation to Scenery Command were another, and immortals were the third. Aside from sharing a similar appearance, the three could virtually be regarded as entirely different species. Over the past years, Wei Yuan had obtained the heritage of the ancient cultivators, finally adding another missing puzzle piece to the cultivation system. The completeness of his knowledge framework rose to another tier, yielding major breakthroughs in many critical areas. Several years ago, research into immortal heavens and immortals had reached a pivotal juncture, giving birth to a startling, earth-shaking conception in Wei Yuan's mind, which he subsequently began to put into action step by step. Two regions were suited for carrying it out: one was the Liao domain, and the other was the Mountain Domain. However, disaster had abruptly struck the Liao domain—something Wei Yuan dared not touch—leaving the Mountain Domain as the only choice. At the time, Hule Gao'en had merely been an idle piece on the board, but it was precisely because of this grand plan that he was later entrusted with great responsibility. Wei Yuan produced another map, unrolled it across the table, and gestured for the two to join him in examining it. Drawn upon this map were the earth veins of the vast Mountain Domain, compiled from data Qingming's various forces had seized and plundered over the years, combined with their own surveys. Certain earth veins had been highlighted with heavy strokes; taken as a whole, it formed a colossal formation diagram spanning nearly a hundred thousand li. The diagram contained seven nodes. Xiaoyu looked closely and discovered that five of the formation eyes corresponded exactly to the five node cities already constructed. The sixth was the Zhenshan Fief. The seventh formation eye remained blank; judging from its position, it penetrated deepest into the domain of the Mountain Folk, forming an immense triangle with the other five cities. Yu Zhizhuo was vastly superior to Xiaoyu in the Dao of formations. After studying the formation patterns for a while, he said, "This formation seems to be... converging the spirituality of the world?" Wei Yuan praised, "Martial Uncle Yu's mastery over formations is truly remarkable—you are practically unrivaled in the Palace of Grand Beginning. This grand formation is meant to extract and gather the earth spirituality that has lain buried within the leylines and spirit apertures of the Mountain Domain for eons, and then enlighten it to birth a sentient innate earth spirit body!" Explained to this extent, Xiaoyu understood, but the shock on his face did not diminish in the slightest; instead, it deepened. He suddenly blurted out, "A grand formation spanning a hundred thousand li, drawing out all the subterranean earth spirituality... Don't tell me you want to create an Immortal Lord?!" Back when Qingming marched north into the Liao domain and took the Three Rivers Khanate under its wing, the local tribal chieftains had recounted that an Immortal Lord had once emerged from that land, draining the luck and vitality of the earth veins completely, which turned tens of thousands of li into a wasteland of cultivation for nearly a hundred thousand years. All the cultivators of the Palace of Grand Beginning had been aware of that incident at the time. And if Wei Yuan's grand formation used six great cities as its eyes, with tens of millions—or even more—people stationed within to anchor and compress it, its pulling power would not be one whit inferior to an Immortal Lord's. In that case, the sentient being this grand formation ultimately brought forth... could it truly be an Immortal Lord? Wei Yuan said, "Of course not an Immortal Lord." *That makes sense...* Xiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief, yet felt a trace of disappointment. Wei Yuan continued, "In the worst case, it will enlighten an innate sacred beast of earth from the Yuangu era. But with enough luck, it might bring forth an innate sacred earth physique—" Xiaoyu's face froze, and his jaw slowly, inexorably dropped open. The sacred earth beast that had once appeared in this realm during the Yuangu era was the Qilin. As for the innate sacred earth physique, only one and a half had ever existed. One was the Human Sovereign of that era: the Yellow Emperor. The other half was slightly weaker in cultivation; categorized by the classifications of the Yuangu era, she would have held a subordinate rank of the innate sacred earth physique. However, she had fallen short of ultimate success, perishing right as she ascended to the position, and her fruition had dissipated with her. The Yellow Emperor was bolstered by the mantle of Human Sovereign, so that was naturally out of the question. That left only one remaining possibility... "You... you plan to..." Wei Yuan smiled faintly and said, "Yes. I intend to use the spirituality and karmic luck of a hundred thousand li of the Mountain Domain to bring forth... Houtu." Xiaoyu's shock knew no bounds. Even Yu Zhizhuo, who had possessed some prior inkling of the plan, was shaken to the core upon hearing this. An innate sacred earth physique was not an Immortal Lord, yet surpassed an Immortal Lord, wielding divine abilities and might beyond imagination. Xiaoyu finally managed to suppress his shock and said, "This is too insane! Who on earth came up with this?" Wei Yuan offered a faint smile and did not reply. Xiaoyu was instinctively suspicious, but could find no flaw in it. Wei Yuan had steadily advanced this plan all along; only now, with all five node cities constructed and Qingming stationing seven million personnel—troops and logistics combined—had he disclosed it to a small, inner circle. Could Wei Yuan truly have conceived it himself? Even in his stunned state, Xiaoyu found it hard to accept. Such an enormous undertaking had mobilized nearly half the power of Qingming; naturally, it could not have been an impromptu whim. Yet for even someone in the inner circle like Xiaoyu to be kept in the dark only proved how deeply Wei Yuan kept his secrets, and how far in advance he laid his groundwork. Yu Zhizhuo stared at the formation diagram, lost in thought for a moment, and then asked, "Is this truly wise?" Wei Yuan smiled. "It isn't great, but it must be done." Yu Zhizhuo suggested, "What if we break it apart and do it piecemeal? That way, we can all shoulder a portion of the burden." Wei Yuan shook his head. "The human race of this realm needs an Immortal Lord, and the realms beyond heaven also need an Immortal Lord. Breaking it apart would require re-laying the board. Setting aside whether the Mountain Folk would catch on, just making the adjustments would take at least ten years. We do not have the time." "Yet taking all of this upon yourself again—how can that be right?" Yu Zhizhuo's voice rose considerably. Wei Yuan said, "I already carry so much karma on my shoulders; one or two more matters make little difference." Yu Zhizhuo sighed. "Is this really just 'one or two matters'? This is... If only you had smoothly ascended to immortality last time, how wonderful that would have been. We wouldn't need an Immortal Lord now." Wei Yuan smiled. There were no 'ifs' in the world. Besides, ascending to immortality had been impossible back then anyway; the Venerable Master was bound to intervene and stop it. Xiaoyu listened with complete bewilderment. Unable to hold back any longer, he asked, "What on earth are you two talking about?" Yu Zhizhuo paused, startled. "Isn't the formation drawn clearly enough? That's what we've been discussing. Didn't you look closely?" Xiaoyu's face remained blank. Yu Zhizhuo frowned. "This is a matter of paramount importance, Xiaoyu. Don't fool around; we're discussing serious business. Look at this formation—" Xiaoyu continued to stare blankly. A realization suddenly dawned on Yu Zhizhuo, and his brow furrowed. "Wait... don't tell me you really didn't understand it? The scale of this formation is utterly magnificent, but its underlying principles and structure are actually very simple. Anyone with a brain can grasp it, to say nothing of those without brains—" A murderous aura flared from Xiaoyu. He was sorely tempted to throw all caution to the wind and simply claim he had no brain. But among the upper echelons of Qingming today, being 'brainless' was Feng Tingyu's exclusive moniker. As the second cultivator after Ji Liuli to finish reading Preliminary Exploration of the Desolate Realm, 'brainless' had become a term reserved exclusively for praising someone's supreme intellect. Another example was Wang Hu. Anyone who knew him understood that while he appeared honest and simple, he was actually a depraved monster, and when it came to sheer cunning, few could hold a candle to him. Most importantly, he possessed one strength that could practically rival the Realm Lord's: utter shamelessness. Seeing Xiaoyu's expression, Yu Zhizhuo finally confirmed that Xiaoyu truly hadn't understood. The mathematical foundation of this formation lay in Chapter Seven of Preliminary Exploration of the Desolate Realm. Although Yu Zhizhuo could not fathom how anyone could fail to understand Chapter Seven, the reality was right before his eyes, leaving him no choice but to accept it. Thus, Yu Zhizhuo explained it in detail. Xiaoyu finally understood. The essence of this grand formation was simply this: plunder a hundred thousand li of the Mountain Domain to artificially forge an innate sacred physique for humanity. After such plundering, this hundred-thousand-li stretch of the Mountain Domain would essentially be ruined, requiring tens of thousands of years to slowly recover. One could well imagine how terrifying the karmic repercussions within would be.