In the dead of night, the newly built Xuanwei Sixth City in the northwestern part of the domain was already asleep, with only a few scattered lights visible within the settlement.
At the edge of the city lay a new encampment where the newly arrived disciples of the Cui family were quartered. Though the hour was late, a lamp still burned inside the large tent at the center of the camp.
Wei Yuan lifted the tent flap and stepped inside, only to see Cui Yu bent over a desk, writing furiously, a tall stack of ledgers piled beside him.
"Not resting yet?" Wei Yuan walked up to the desk and casually picked up a booklet to flip through.
The booklet was a detailed dossier of a Cui family disciple. It recorded not only his background and relatives, but also his bone and karmic luck test results, his cultivation history, and even every minor and major deed of his life. The detail was such that not even a condemned felon on the brink of execution could have had a more thorough record.
Cui Yu rubbed his face and said, "Training starts tomorrow, so I need to go over everyone's file and divide them into two categories: those who can die and those who can't. A few of these guys are useless, but they're doted on by elders back home. It doesn't matter if they can't establish a Dao Foundation, but it's best if no accidents happen to them. I plan to put them all in the rear—let them take part during drills, then transfer them away when battle starts."
"Senior Brother has indeed thought of everything." Wei Yuan handed over a sheet of jade paper and said, "I just received a Body Casting technique from Martial Uncle Yu of the Hall of Heavenly Craft. The Dao Foundation it forms is a ball of mortal fire. Martial Uncle Yu said its advantage is that it's exceptionally easy to cultivate, with an extremely low threshold—the easiest to form a Dao Foundation out of any Body Casting technique he has ever seen."
Cui Yu blurted out instinctively, "What's the use of a wisp of mortal fire? Stoking a furnace to smelt iron?"
The moment the words left his mouth, he paused with an "Eh?" and looked up at Wei Yuan.
Wei Yuan's expression remained neutral as he said, "As long as their physique and innate bones don't conflict with the Fire element, I intend to have all the cultivators preparing to cast foundations switch to this technique. That way, a few more might actually establish Dao Foundations."
"A mortal fire Dao Foundation might be easy to form, but Foundation Solidification will be tough. Without eight to ten years..." Cui Yu stopped midway as understanding dawned on him. A mortal fire Dao Foundation was best suited for stoking furnaces and controlling flames. A prolonged Foundation Solidification phase was hardly a bad thing.
Cui Yu flicked the jade paper and asked, "What do you mean by giving me this technique? You don't actually expect the Cui family members to tend your furnaces, do you? Let me tell you, that's out of the question! No matter how useless they are, their surname is still Cui."
"If they switch to this technique and then get rolled through a few rounds on the battlefield, the chances of them forming a Dao Foundation will be far higher."
"That makes sense too." Cui Yu fell into contemplation.
"Has the casualty quota arrived yet?" Wei Yuan reminded him.
Only then did Cui Yu remember. He hastily rummaged through the mountain of papers on his desk, finally unearthing a sealed envelope. He tore it open right in front of Wei Yuan, scanned it, and handed it over, saying, "Take a look."
The letter listed only two names. Aside from those two, the rest were to bear responsibility for their own lives and deaths, granting Wei Yuan free rein.
Seeing the contents, Wei Yuan showed a peculiar expression. "As long as three Dao Foundations emerge, it doesn't matter how many die?"
Cui Yu nodded. "Yes. These people aren't as precious as you think, and the Old Ancestor is very determined."
"Aren't there direct branch members among them? Even someone from the first branch of the direct line."
"There is only one from the first branch of the direct line, and he's already listed. As for the other fellow, I reckon his family spent a fortune pulling strings. In truth, many in the Cui family aren't worth much. Large clans branch out easily. My father was already very restrained, refusing to let immortal sect bloodlines easily disperse outside, yet I still have three brothers and seven sisters. In the local branches of the Cui family, having several dozen or even a hundred children is completely normal. Every household concentrates its resources on nurturing the talented ones; as for the rest, they're left to fend for themselves so long as they don't starve. Occasionally, the family initiates a 'raising Gu' mode—like the batch sent here to us."
Wei Yuan looked at the letter in his hand and frowned. "Can we truly disregard casualties?"
"Oh, right. Three people came to see me tonight. The price they offered was decent, so I promised they wouldn't die, though I didn't guarantee a Dao Foundation. A few others had no money but still wanted to live; I turned them all away."
"All right. Pull those five out into a separate squad, and mix the rest in with the other Body Casting cultivators. When the time comes, send them all to the battlefield. Whoever survives will depend on their own luck."
Cui Yu added with deep meaning, "The Old Ancestor doesn't care about the attrition, only results. Give her the result she wants, and it won't matter if everyone else dies."
Wei Yuan nodded. "Don't worry, there will be results."
"As for that kid from the first branch of the direct line, it'd be best if he can establish a Dao Foundation too. We can charge extra."
Wei Yuan nodded. "Have him see me tomorrow. I'll give it a try."
Before leaving the camp, Wei Yuan couldn't help asking, "They all share the Cui surname. How can the clan bear to raise Gu like this?"
Cui Yu said, "Everyone wants gifted descendants, so the only way is to have many children. Once you have dozens of children, aside from the one or two most outstanding and likable ones, the rest are hardly different from strangers—worse than strangers, even. At least strangers won't eat your food and drink your wine, nor will they run wild outside under your name and ruin your reputation. Furthermore, sons have grandsons, grandsons have great-grandsons, and in a century, a household of a few dozen can balloon into tens of thousands. No one can afford to feed so many freeloaders.
"That's why our Cui family trains deathsworn, raises clan armies, stages trials, and wages foreign campaigns—all of which serve to cull these freeloaders along the way."
***
At dawn, a man walked through the gate of Wei Yuan's residence at the edge of the city. This was the same fellow who, upon disembarking from the flying boat, had demanded that Wei Yuan come greet him, only to turn obsequious the moment he saw Cui Yu. Now, standing before Wei Yuan, his arrogance had surfaced once more.
Wei Yuan paid no heed to his attitude, asking a few routine questions about his cultivation before remarking flatly, "Your family has already paid to keep you alive. I can also guarantee that you form a Dao Foundation, but it will cost extra."
The man nearly leaped out of his skin with pleasant surprise. "I can really establish a Dao Foundation? I'll pay! Whatever it takes, I'll pay!"
Wei Yuan said, "Two thousand immortal silver."
Wei Yuan had thought this price through. In the merit system of the Palace of Grand Beginning, an ordinary Dao Foundation cultivator was valued at one hundred merit points, which converted to one thousand immortal silver. Wei Yuan simply doubled that figure.
Gritting his teeth, the young dandy pulled a finger-sized piece of spiritual jade from his belt and slammed it down before Wei Yuan, declaring grandly, "Only more, never less!"
"Follow me." Wei Yuan put away the spiritual jade, picked the man up, and stepped out, flying straight toward Xu Wenwu's quarters.
Only upon landing did Wei Yuan notice that the fellow was ashen-faced and trembling like a sieve. Yet when his divine sense swept over him, there was no ailment to speak of. So he asked, "What's wrong with you?"
"F-flew too fast... I... can't take it."
Wei Yuan mentally scoffed. *This one is truly frail.*
By this time, Xu Wenwu had finished washing up and was just about to head out for a heart-to-heart with the Celestial Star Nightshade. Wei Yuan dropped the young Cui man in front of Xu Wenwu and said, "From today on, he eats and sleeps with you. Whatever you do, he does. You can also give him some of your daily chores."
Xu Wenwu beamed. "I get a lackey too? Though this guy looks a bit weak."
The young dandy was furious, but he could barely stand on his feet and had no energy to talk back.
Wei Yuan patted the young dandy's shoulder and said, "Work hard. The more work you do, the sooner you'll form your Dao Foundation. Slack off, and you might not even manage it in a year."
As he patted the shoulder, Wei Yuan discreetly sent in a strand of azure qi.
Eating and sleeping alongside Xu Wenwu, the man would need two days at most to absorb a strand of azure qi. After three strands, even a sow could turn into a demonic beast. If he still couldn't establish a Dao Foundation after that, just what kind of waste would he have to be?
As for selling a Dao Foundation for two thousand immortal silver, Wei Yuan had carefully considered that price as well. Although he could charge more, the number of people who could afford it would drop drastically, ultimately resulting in lower revenue. Someone in the Palace of Grand Beginning had calculated this long ago, even publishing several Dao texts on the topic that quite a few people exchanged merit for.
Despite all sharing the Cui surname, most were far from wealthy; a few were from concubine branches who couldn't scrape together even two taels of immortal silver from head to toe. Gatekeepers of affluent households had more money than them.
***
Day broke, and Wei Yuan arrived at the drill grounds. Over a thousand cultivators were already arrayed on the vast field, all at the perfection of Body Casting, with a small fraction still cultivating their origin souls. The hundred-odd newly arrived Cui family members were among them.
By now, the cultivators stood in orderly ranks, bearing custom-made sabers and shields, with thick steel-tube guns slung at their waists. Once Wei Yuan arrived, several Dao Foundation cultivators in the field began shouting drill commands. In cadence with the numbers called out, all the cultivators repeated three simple motions: fire, charge with shields forward, slash with sabers, over and over in an endless cycle.
After practicing like this for about a quarter of an hour, a bell chimed across the drill grounds. The training cultivators began a countdown, and then Ephemeral Multitude was activated!
In an instant, boundless origin qi of heaven and earth poured down upon the drill grounds. Light rippled across every cultivator as Dao Foundations rapidly took shape one after another. The cultivators all sat cross-legged, experiencing what it felt like to possess a Dao Foundation.
A standard routine had now been established in the domain for training Body Casting cultivators: Ephemeral Multitude would be activated three times daily. During the first activation, the cultivators meditated and contemplated the Dao Foundation; during the subsequent two, they trained to fight while empowered by it.
The Cui clan members had initially been somewhat indolent, compliant in appearance but defiant at heart, reluctant to obey. But once Ephemeral Multitude descended upon them, every single one fell into line and began training in earnest.
Wei Yuan observed coldly from the side. In truth, these Cui family disciples had never starved growing up; their bloodlines and physical constitutions were fairly decent. With earnest training and an expenditure of karmic luck, perhaps thirty-odd Dao Foundations could be forged from them.
However, Wei Yuan obviously had no intention of actually producing thirty Dao Foundations for the Cui family; that would devalue them. He planned to deliver six or seven to the Cui family in the first batch. It wouldn't matter if the rest failed to form a foundation, as they could continue into the second batch—though the second class would naturally require an additional fee.
Running batch after batch like this, if someone still failed to establish a Dao Foundation after three consecutive rounds, they would be beyond Wei Yuan's help.
Yet if wealthy patrons had money to burn and insisted on throwing it at the problem, Wei Yuan was not inflexible. In Qingming, as long as immortal silver was paid, not only could a sow climb a tree, it could do a backflip and soar into the sky. There was no reason a human couldn't form a Dao Foundation.
At that thought, a dangerous notion suddenly crossed Wei Yuan's mind: *If I raised a cat and it suddenly learned to do a backflip, whom would be best to invite over to see it?*
As for casualties—leave it to fate.
Wei Yuan gazed toward the northwest. Another massive army of Shamans had moved in the previous night, accompanied by a vast influx of Shaman civilians and slaves serving as laborers. With war looming, it would be the finest baptism for these Cui family disciples.
Chapter 231