Countermeasures

Zhang Sheng remained unruffled in the face of crisis. He had Wei Yuan recount the entire sequence of events once more, not letting a single detail slip by this time. After reviewing everything, Zhang Sheng said, "There is still a glimmer of hope. First, the Shamans most likely do not know yet that you were the one behind this, so they will certainly investigate thoroughly. Second, casting the Karma Great Curse comes at an immense price for the Shamans; even their largest tribes would have to pour in the strength of their entire clan. Thus, the Shamans have always been extremely cautious when unleashing the Karma Great Curse. Unless they confirm that you are the culprit, this curse will not fall upon your head. "Therefore, we must approach this from these two angles. Regarding the first, we must leave as few flaws as possible so the Shamans cannot discern the truth. However, this can only buy us as much time as possible. Shamanic curse arts are unpredictable and treacherous; they might possess some indirect means of uncovering the truth. So from now on, you must never reveal this matter to a third person. I will seek out one or two trustworthy individuals to discuss countermeasures together." Wei Yuan nodded. After all, he had only recently completed his apprenticeship; when it came to worldly experience and connections, he was still far inferior to Zhang Sheng. Zhang Sheng continued, "The time bought on the first front is meant to prepare for the second. Terrifying as the Shamans' Karma Great Curse is, its price is equally immense. The first cost comes from the expenditure required to invoke the curse. I do not know the exact details, but in any case, the cost is beyond imagination. The second comes from karmic backlash. It is not without reason that we also call the Karma Great Curse the 'land-cleansing great curse.' "Several thousand years ago, there was a celebrated scholar who harbored deep hatred for the Shamans. He composed numerous poems and essays bitterly denouncing them. His literary talent was peerless, and all that he left behind became renowned masterpieces passed down through the ages. Of course, some of the famous lines are open to question—for example, the line 'Hungry warriors feast on the flesh of the Wuyu' makes little sense. For an ordinary person to eat Shaman flesh is virtually suicide, is it not? It would have been fine if he had replaced them with Northern Liao or the Mountain Folk, except those two clans had no feud with him." Zhang Sheng habitually began critiquing historical figures. With his life hanging in the balance, Wei Yuan hastily coughed a few times. Only then did Zhang Sheng come to his senses and quickly return to the point: "This scholar's poetry spread into the Shaman territories and happened to be seen by a Heavenly Shaman of that era. The Heavenly Shaman was incensed and unleashed the Karma Great Curse regardless of consequences. In the end, across several commanderies in the scholar's homeland, barely one in ten people survived, truly turning thousands of li into barren waste. The Heavenly Shaman had not anticipated that a single curse would wipe out several commanderies. The karmic backlash from the grievances of tens of millions of deceased victims sheared away more than half of that Heavenly Shaman's remaining lifespan." Wei Yuan understood and asked, "Should I socialize more and befriend major figures?" "Merely befriending them is useless. Casual acquaintances carry negligible karma; only deep ties will do. I just pondered that scholar's past: at the time, he governed six commanderies, where the common folk lived in peace and contentment, prospering far beyond earlier times. It was because the people's hearts were aligned with him that such immense karma existed." Wei Yuan mused, "Then if the people under one's rule were plunged into misery and destitution, would there also be karma?" Zhang Sheng nodded. "Of course there is karma, and they would also be slain by the Karma Great Curse. Heaven and earth are simply that unreasonable at times... Hm?" Zhang Sheng suddenly looked up. In the space above, a void manifested, and pure origin qi of heaven and earth poured down like a torrent, sinking into Zhang Sheng's body. It caused his fourth immortal sword to shift from illusory to corporeal, vastly accelerating its nurturing progress until it was nearly perfected. This was the bestowal of heaven and earth from the Great Shaman, arriving a bit earlier than Zhang Sheng had expected, and in greater abundance as well. Yet beside him, Wei Yuan showed no movement at all. Feeling puzzled, Zhang Sheng asked, "Did you not receive heavenly merits?" "I received four hundred heavenly merits." Zhang Sheng frowned slightly. "I received twelve hundred. What was allocated to you is indeed on the lower side, but you shouldn't be completely devoid of the bestowal of heaven and earth." "There probably was some, but it was all bestowed upon Qingming." The matter was peculiar, but since it pertained to the workings of heaven and earth, it far exceeded Zhang Sheng and Wei Yuan's current realm, so the two did not dwell on it. Zhang Sheng said, "Originally, the best solution would be for you to hide directly in the palace. No matter how powerful the Shamans are, they wouldn't dare hurl a Karma Curse directly at the mountain gates of the Palace of Grand Beginning. Even if they dared, it would be futile. Buried beneath the mountain gate of the Palace of Grand Beginning is the head of an ancient Heavenly Shaman; any Shamanic curse cast there will have its potency drastically diminished." Such a thing existed? Unfortunately, Wei Yuan's Dao Foundation was fused with Qingming, and he could not leave unless driven to absolute desperation. Moreover, having weathered countless storms, neither master nor disciple would ever resort to crippling their own foundation until the very last moment. With the overarching strategy settled, Zhang Sheng summoned Ji Liuli over. It appeared Eldest Senior Sister was indeed the person Zhang Sheng trusted most right now. After Wei Yuan finished recounting the whole affair, it took Ji Liuli quite some time to regain her composure. Then, her divine sense swept through Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness. With her unique innate Dao Foundation, she was able to peer into the interior of Wei Yuan's Dao Foundation to a limited extent. After seeing it, Ji Liuli fell silent, saying nothing for a long time. A moment later, Ji Liuli finally collected herself and sighed, "It truly is yin-yang! Only a final step away from the Dao of Chaos before heaven and earth opened. This is looking directly upon the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth! It makes even me tempted to reincarnate and cultivate anew." Zhang Sheng shattered her fantasy: "Even if you reincarnated ninety-nine more times, you still couldn't produce the Dao Foundation you have in this life." "True enough." Ji Liuli reined in her thoughts and adopted a serious tone: "For now, we still need to work on the first step. The Shamans will definitely perform divinations. While Yuan'er himself does not fear divination, if I were to ask Grandmaster to intervene and conceal the heavenly secrets, the Shamans would be even less capable of deducing anything. But from what I know, very few humans have entered the Nether Cold Realm at present, so the Shamans will sooner or later trace their investigation to Little Wei Yuan. When that time comes, the inability to deduce anything will actually be the biggest flaw. "Therefore, I will take action while Little Wei Yuan cooperates to create an appropriate concealment—one that allows the Shamans to successfully decipher it after expending immense effort and see what we want them to see. That way, we can dispel suspicion instead. I just took a look inside Little Wei Yuan's Dao Foundation, and the immortal laurel branch bestowed by the Immortal Monarch has not only regained vitality, but also gained spirituality. Oh, and it just stole and ate the bestowal of heaven and earth. If you have time later, Little Wei Yuan, you must discipline it properly." Wei Yuan was startled. He had thought the bestowal of heaven and earth had been consumed by Qingming, never expecting that the immortal laurel branch had intercepted it this time. Zhang Sheng nodded. "This plan is most sound—" "Little Wei Yuan is all grown up now—speak like a normal person!" Ji Liuli cut Zhang Sheng off. Zhang Sheng snorted and dropped the literary pretenses. "The method is solid! The status of the immortal laurel branch is exalted enough, it is sufficiently powerful, it was previously used to slay a Great Shaman, and its origins are clear. Even if it suddenly radiates vitality, there are many ways to explain it. Of course, the most important point is that if it were truly stimulated by yin-yang twin qi, its vitality would be far more than just this." Ji Liuli said, "Mm. Once the Shamans successfully detect the immortal laurel branch, they should shift their attention in other directions. While we cannot inform Grandmaster about this, I can ask Grandmaster to bless Little Wei Yuan with good fortune, which can buy us some more time. Little Wei Yuan, take advantage of this period to bolster your strength and forge plenty of karmic entanglements!" The three of them discussed further details thoroughly before parting to make their respective arrangements. This matter ended with Zhang Sheng and Ji Liuli; Eldest Senior Sister repeatedly emphasized that they could trust no one else, not even Bao Yun. Yin-yang was almost equivalent to the Dao itself, its status so elevated that even an Immortal Monarch could hardly avoid feeling greed. It was different from Wei Yuan's Dao Foundation; while Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains was unprecedented, no one other than Wei Yuan could command it or even learn from it. If someone else were to cultivate strictly according to Wei Yuan's method, it was questionable whether they could even spend a hundred thousand taels of immortal silver. However, something as pure and intimately aligned with the Great Dao as yin-yang carried a sliver of possibility of being plundered. Even if someone stole it and could not use it, merely drawing insights from it would yield immense benefits. The reason Zhang Sheng trusted Ji Liuli—aside from having spent years together and knowing her character—was primarily that her Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda was unique enough, possessing boundless future potential. If Ji Liuli were to seize yin-yang and reincarnate to cultivate anew, the odds were high that she would end up with a Dao Foundation inferior to the Nine-Layer Pagoda; the chance of truly forming a Yin-Yang Taiji was less than ten percent. Skilled at calculation as she was, Ji Liuli naturally wouldn't abandon her existing Nine-Layer Pagoda to gamble on an illusory chance. Otherwise, Zhang Sheng might not have dared to bet on her character. Wei Yuan returned to his room and sorted through his thoughts. The first step had nothing to do with him for the moment; he now needed to put effort into the second step. Wei Yuan thus prepared brush and ink, retrieved a sheet of jade paper, and dipped his brush in contemplation for a moment before writing: "To My Brother Li Zhi: ..."