Twilight approached; the dying sun was red as blood.
Cooking smoke rose everywhere across the seat of Bianning Commandery, accompanied by the occasional crow of roosters and bark of dogs. If not for the dense green mist visible just beyond the city walls, it might have seemed like an earthly paradise.
At the city gates, a long line of people still waited to enter. Soldiers rummaged through their luggage, occasionally slipping anything halfway decent into their own tunics.
Perched atop the ramparts sat an indolent general, looking rather young, watching the queue below with lazy detachment. The original gate captain stood at his side, bowing and scraping subserviently.
The young general yawned and said, "Looks like plenty of people, but hardly any fat on them! Every last one of them is in rags. Strip them bare, and how much could they possibly yield?"
The captain lamented, "Tell me about it! That's all we've been getting these days. Once in a blue moon a caravan rolls through, but they always have backing—just tossing a couple of coins our way out of habit, like tipping beggars."
Having aired his grievance, he instantly plastered on a flattering smile. "Only by following you, General Yue, can we eat well and live large!"
Yue Qilin yawned again. "It's almost supper time anyway. Eating is what matters. Tell your men to stop inspecting. Let them all in and shut the gates! Then we're heading to your place for dinner! I've been craving your wife's cooking."
A broad grin split the captain's face. "My woman may not be a looker, but her cooking is second to none! Tonight she's preparing salted greens with flash-boiled aged tofu—guaranteed to give your palate a treat!"
Yue Qilin patted him on the shoulder. "Good! If it's as good as you say, I'll have my newly wedded concubine learn a few tricks from her."
"Rest assured, General! She'll teach her every last trick!"
Down below, the soldiers stopped checking luggage, waving the entire queue through in one sweep. Among the crowd were quite a few sturdy, well-built men carrying tattered bundles, who melted into the city streets the moment they stepped through the gates.
***
Inside the commandery governor's manor, lanterns blazed brightly to the sound of melodious music.
A large banquet table was laid out in the main hall, where Bianning Commandery Governor Li Weisheng was hosting a dinner for his colleagues. As the second-ranking official in the commandery beneath only the governor, Vice Prefect Sun Chao'en naturally sat beside him.
One official asked, "Why hasn't General Yue arrived?"
Li Weisheng replied indifferently, "General Yue dislikes boisterous gatherings and has no stomach for common fare. If he doesn't come, then so be it."
Taking their cues from his tone, several officials immediately began listing Yue Qilin's faults, though they kept their remarks measured and avoided crossing any lines.
After three rounds of wine, Li Weisheng said, "Lord Sun, I heard you dispatched a memorial to the capital first thing this morning. What matter was so urgent that it warranted such diligence?"
Sun Chao'en chuckled. "Unlike you, Lord Li, I lack deep roots and have no backers at court. Shouldn't I be a bit more diligent? There wasn't much in the memorial. Haven't rumors of an immortal tree been coming from the west lately? In my youth, I once read in an ancient text of an immortal tree called the White Jade Scarlet Cherry, which closely matches these reports. This White Jade Scarlet Cherry is an exceedingly rare tree capable of extending longevity."
"Rumors are not necessarily true; you were too hasty, Lord Sun. Was that all the memorial contained?"
"Naturally not. I also impeached Governor Yuan. The immortal tree is in his jurisdiction, yet he was completely oblivious, realizing nothing until the clamor became public knowledge. That alone—mismanaging his realm and failing in his oversight—is enough to land him in hot water. Furthermore, I impeached Commander Yue Jinshan. With the Shamans making frequent moves of late, he has accomplished nothing, practices nepotism, and monopolizes authority. The appointments of officers in the military redoubts aren't even communicated to civil officials! He harbors disloyal ambitions!"
Li Weisheng had just raised a cup of wine to his lips, only to freeze, dumbfounded. "Lord Sun, that's... a bit much to impeach at once."
Sun Chao'en said, "One eats the sovereign's grain and attends to the sovereign's business; that is all."
Li Weisheng spoke again: "At present, there is a pressing problem, and I hope you gentlemen can think of a solution. The number of displaced refugees arriving from within the pass has grown daily, and the city is already struggling under the burden."
At this moment, a young official seated at the lowest place, his face bearing a scholarly air, remarked, "The Wu domain is harsh and engulfed in war. Why don't these people live peacefully within the pass? What are they doing fleeing beyond the pass?"
The officials kept their expressions still, though inwardly they sneered in derision. This fellow truly never lifted a finger; if they could survive within the pass, who would travel thousands of li beyond it?
This official was surnamed Cai, a newly appointed imperial scholar from the previous year who had been assigned to Bianning Commandery after passing the examinations.
Bolstered by the praise he had received earlier, the scholar raised his voice: "Human lives are at stake. These people have journeyed thousands of li to Bianning Commandery, surely without a grain of rice left to their names. Meanwhile, our commandery still holds ample surplus grain. I propose we set up porridge sheds, open the granaries to distribute grain, and then direct these commoners to reclaim the surrounding wastelands. In this way, next year's situation can be secured."
Li Weisheng remained silent in thought.
Sun Chao'en then said, "Although the commandery has grain, every measure has its designated use. Military rations must come from it, as must provisions for the local militia and militiamen. Not a single grain is surplus. If we release grain today for a few starving refugees, and release grain tomorrow for a few more, how much grain will ever be enough? We are not immortals; we cannot conjure food out of thin air."
The Cai scholar looked embarrassed and argued, "I have reviewed the ledgers. The grain recorded on the books is clearly abundant—more than enough to last until next autumn. As long as enough wasteland is reclaimed this year, it can all be replenished into the official granaries by next year."
Sun Chao'en said indifferently, "I wonder where Lord Cai saw such ledgers? Why has this official never seen them?"
Before the scholar could answer, Sun Chao'en added, "To release grain without an imperial decree—is Lord Cai genuinely acting for the court, or are you hoping to use the court's funds and grain to buy a reputation for yourself?"
These words carried severe weight. His face flushing crimson, the scholar defended himself, "What does my personal reputation matter..."
Li Weisheng cut him off: "Releasing grain is a matter of great consequence. Even this governor cannot act on his own authority. It would be best to submit a report upward and await the decision of the court ministers."
Disheartened, the Cai scholar sat back down in silence.
Several officials exchanged knowing glances. They knew the truth: that grain existed only on the ledgers. The granaries were completely empty, their contents having long since been resold. As for whom it was sold to, all were well aware, yet none asked or spoke of it—after all, they had all taken a cut of the silver.
***
In Qingming, Wei Yuan had not rested for several days. Each day he hurried back and forth between the forge, the mines, the herb gardens, and the training grounds, tending to nearly everything in person, as if only this could make him forget certain things.
It was the hour when dawn had not yet broken, when yang arose and yin descended, the moment when life force was at its richest and most vibrant. An air of solemnity hung over the drill grounds, where more than two hundred cultivators sat cross-legged, awaiting the most important moment of their lives.
Most of the cultivators were clad in tatters, clearly originating from the Shattered Lands. However, several dozen among them were smartly dressed in matching attire; these were the disciples of the Cui family.
Wei Yuan walked through the drill grounds, weaving among them. As spiritual energy surged, he activated Ephemeral Multitude once more to grant everyone a final experience.
With the aid of Qingming, Wei Yuan could perceive the condition of the sea of consciousness within each person and roughly gauge their chances of establishing a Dao Foundation.
This batch of domain cultivators was far inferior to the previous two. Only about half could successfully forge a Dao Foundation; even with Wei Yuan bolstering them with karmic luck, fewer than seventy percent would succeed.
Those within the domain who originally possessed sufficient talent had merely been held back by lack of cultivation methods and resources, and they had already cast their Dao Foundations. Those only now beginning were essentially lacking in natural aptitude and root bone, burdened with innate flaws. Even though Wei Yuan used karmic luck as a foundation to elevate them by a step, and then used Ephemeral Multitude as a lamp to illuminate their path forward, many would still fail to cross the hurdle of the Dao Foundation.
Wei Yuan felt a quiet pang of pity. These cultivators had all survived multiple bloody battles; one could say they had crawled out from piles of corpses, each possessing an unyielding will and iron resolve. Yet their innate foundation was simply too poor—like building a house on shifting sand, useless no matter how brilliant the architect.
The members of the Cui family were another story.
Most of these noble scions had experienced only the single bloody battle that had just concluded. Seventy of them remained, including more than twenty who had bought their survival.
Thus, the Cui family's actual battle losses were thirty dead out of more than seventy, a casualty rate of nearly half. Yet the improvement brought by surviving such a brutal ordeal was remarkably evident: the primordial spirits of every survivor had expanded significantly, and their willpower was incomparable to before. In truth, they did not yet realize that this growth of the primordial spirit was their true harvest, in some respects even more important than a Dao Foundation.
Among the Cui family disciples who had taken to the battlefield, eight had hopes of condensing a Dao Foundation even without relying on karmic luck. In the sea of consciousness of one young woman, the embryonic form of a sword faintly materialized, showing promise of an Earth Tier.
Wei Yuan still remembered how, on that earlier day, this girl had tirelessly promoted herself in hopes of buying protection for her younger brother, only to find no taker.
Wei Yuan walked past them and quietly supplemented several of them with karmic luck, bringing the total to roughly fourteen Dao Foundations. As for that young woman, Wei Yuan bestowed an extra strand of karmic luck, which might just push her to the Earth Tier.
By contrast, the twenty-odd who had bought their lives were a dismal sight. Their primordial spirits were dim and lusterless, their wills thoroughly shattered, and several were still incapable of attaining a serene and empty mind. Wayward thoughts surfaced one after another, leaving Wei Yuan wondering how they had even managed to cultivate their seas of consciousness in the first place.
These people carried a heavy aura of medicinal pills, showing that they had ingested countless pills from childhood. As a result, the medicinal properties had congested and failed to disperse, actually damaging their foundations. Not everyone could consume pills like regular meals without leaving the slightest trace of pill toxin, as Wei Yuan had once done.
When it came to root bone, these twenty-odd were actually the highest among the entire crowd. Yet with feeble primordial spirits and murky states of mind, it was like having a solid foundation but using mud and dry straw for building materials; naturally, nothing could be erected upon it.
Among them, only one young master in brocade possessed an impressive root bone and a robust primordial spirit, standing out like a crane among chickens. It made the three strands of karmic luck Wei Yuan had previously invested in him worthwhile.
A bell tolled nine times, the ultimate limit of numbers.
Ephemeral Multitude closed, Jia Wood Life-Mystic opened, and the crowd began condensing their Dao Foundations.
From time to time, origin qi of heaven and earth poured down from the void. Those who succeeded in forging a Dao Foundation were led to the side, where dedicated senior cultivators explained matters regarding stabilizing it.
Delighted cheers erupted intermittently across the drill grounds, alongside heavy sighs, and even bitter weeping. Formations had long been laid across the grounds, so those who had not yet completed their foundation could not hear outside sounds at all, nor could they sense the fluctuations of others' Dao power.
Though many cultivators filled the grounds, only the Cui family disciples clamored and made a fuss.
The domain cultivators remained entirely silent. Those who succeeded simply pumped a fist in celebration; those who failed remained calm, awaiting their next opportunity.
After another moment, cursing and grumbling began to break out. Some even grabbed hold of domain cultivators, demanding an explanation for why those who had paid money failed to forge a Dao Foundation, while these injured bastards from collateral branches and concubine lines could succeed.
Only when Cui Yu appeared with a dark face and kicked several of the ringleaders to the ground was the disturbance quelled.
Just then, a pillar of light shot into the sky from atop the brocade-clad young master's head. Huge lotus petals bloomed slowly around him, and a domineering aura swept across the drill grounds.
The young master rose to his feet, threw his head back, and laughed heartily: "Who said I, Cui Changfeng, couldn't forge a Dao Foundation? Once I return, won't this azure lotus blind the dog eyes of those old fogies?"
Watching the slowly fading azure lotus, Cui Yu looked thoroughly sullen and turned toward Wei Yuan.
Wei Yuan was equally stunned. Had he used too much force and catalyzed a Heaven Foundation? Yet upon second thought, something felt off. Given this fellow's original root bone and state of mind, let alone three strands of karmic luck, even thirty strands could not have spurred a Heaven Foundation. There had to be another reason.
Catching sight of Wei Yuan, the young master strode over and reached out to slap him on the shoulder, saying, "You're not bad, kid! Reliable work. Those thousands of taels of immortal silver this young master spent were well worth it!"
Before his hand could land on Wei Yuan's shoulder, Cui Yu kicked him over and followed up with a flurry of punches and kicks.
Yelping in pain, the young master cried out, "Brother Yu, easy, take it easy! We're both Heaven Foundations now, and so many people are watching—leave me a little face..."
At this moment, Cui Yu cursed the blind heavens and the unjust Great Dao, and his blows grew three parts heavier.
Chapter 240