Realm Lord Wei spent a night tearing across the subterranean depths. Aside from harvesting a thousand taels of immortal silver, his results were nothing short of spectacular.
That thousand taels of immortal silver was not payment for purchasing ore.
In theory, all the ore belonged to Wei Yuan unless agreed otherwise. Originally, mining had required Yu Zhizhuo to lead his junior brothers and fellow cultivators in hacking away by hand, but Wei Yuan's involvement had spared them that labor.
The Golden Light Water Blade Art Wei Yuan used was inherently far more efficient than ordinary cultivators' techniques. His dao power was over a hundred times that of Mortal Tier cultivators of the same realm, and being within Qingming granted him an endless supply of replenishment. The end result was equivalent to a thousand Dao Foundation cultivators digging for an entire night.
Besides ore, the excavation produced a massive quantity of useless rubble. Part of it was transformed on the spot through dao arts into pillars to support the mine shafts, while the rest had to be hauled to the surface. This broken stone made for fine building material, perfect for erecting walls and houses.
By Yu Zhizhuo's reckoning, that grueling work had originally been their own responsibility. Since Wei Yuan had done it all for them, the immortal silver was offered as a bonus to reward his hard work, equivalent to handing him a red envelope.
Wei Yuan did not care about the exact sum. He had never intended to take any payment in the first place; getting paid for working on his own land left him with no room to complain about the amount.
Transporting the subterranean ore to the surface posed another major challenge. Relying solely on the few dozen Dao Foundation cultivators initially assigned to Yu Zhizhuo was completely unfeasible. Although a Dao Foundation cultivator could carry a thousand jin at a time, the underground workload was measured in tens of millions of jin. Wei Yuan therefore transferred over three thousand cultivators who had cast their muscle and brawn. Though only at an early stage of Body Casting, each could still haul three hundred jin in a single run, shifting nearly a million jin per round trip.
With so much ore piling up, Wei Yuan had no choice but to build more smelting furnaces. More molten iron and copper then demanded more craftsmen, but Dao Foundation cultivators were in short supply across the territory.
Wei Yuan discussed the matter at length with Yu Zhizhuo before finally deciding to construct ten more ten-thousand-jin smelting furnaces. At that point, every single Dao Foundation cultivator was fully occupied, and the scale could simply expand no further.
Wei Yuan felt a deep headache coming on. The territory was perpetually caught in a cycle of adding water when there was too much flour, and adding flour when there was too much water. The dough was visibly ballooning larger and larger, leaving him to wonder just how massive a steamed bun it would ultimately produce.
Returning to his quarters, Wei Yuan finally found a moment of leisure to check on his cultivation.
Spiritual energy continuously welled up within Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, primarily originating from the spirit plants across the territory. The Shaman souls had been steadily enriching the foundation of Jade Mountain and the Black Waters, though their impact on his Dao Foundation's spiritual energy remained imperceptible for now.
The single largest source of spiritual energy was still the medicinal garden. With the addition of the Ruby Lantern, the spiritual energy it contributed alone shaved a year of bitter cultivation off Wei Yuan's journey. Yet all the other spirit plants in the garden combined had now become minor contributors; the true lion's share came from the few plots of Nether Soil rented out to Perfected Chuhe.
No one knew what Perfected Chuhe had planted in them, but the moment the sprouts broke ground, spiritual energy erupted forth, each plot saving Wei Yuan a full year of grueling labor! Wei Yuan now deeply regretted having been so stingy at the start.
Another major contributor was the spirit fields planted with millet rice. A full five thousand mu of spirit fields were growing richer in spiritual energy by the day, and once the crop ripened and bore grain, it would contribute an additional massive surge of energy.
Finally, there were the twenty thousand mu of grain fields feeding the mortal populace, which surprisingly produced a faint trace of spiritual energy as well. However, ten thousand mu equated to only a single month of Wei Yuan's bitter cultivation—a qualitative gulf compared to the spirit fields.
Although the population had decreased by several tens of thousands, the remaining people were hardier and healthier, and the tens of thousands of newly advanced Body Casting practitioners helped anchor his Dao Foundation. Those capable of contributing karmic luck also contributed far more spiritual energy, each equivalent to ten cultivators of the same rank. In all, the ninety thousand-odd people saved Wei Yuan roughly a decade of painstaking cultivation.
Adding it all together, Wei Yuan was now only sixteen years away from stepping into the mid Dao Foundation stage—a truly gratifying milestone that allowed him to just barely glimpse the tail of Cui Yu's horse.
Yet within Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, there still stood a celestial tree.
According to the ancient celestial records, cultivators in past eras had occasionally chanced upon a celestial tree that subsequently revived within their sea of consciousness. Overnight, such a cultivator's Dao Foundation would leap from the Earth Tier to an immortal foundation, and their cultivation would be propelled straight from the early stage to late-stage perfection. Three days later, their dharma idol would form naturally and immediately stabilize, traversing two hundred years of the immortal path in a mere three days.
That was what truly deserved to be called a celestial tree!
Ever since reading those records, Wei Yuan's dissatisfaction with the celestial laurel tree had grown by the day. Far from contributing anything, it repeatedly stole the bestowals of heaven and earth, gorging itself until it grew excessively plump and had to split off seven strands of sword qi just to keep its figure in check.
If only it behaved properly, Wei Yuan estimated that consolidating his Dao Foundation would have been a matter of months. Compared to anyone else, that pace was hardly slow, and it would give him something respectable to report to his teacher instead of having to offer vague, evasive replies every time.
As Wei Yuan was calculating it all out, a knock sounded at the courtyard gate, bearing the aura of Perfected Chuhe.
For the perfected cultivator to call so early in the morning, there had to be serious business. At present, Perfected Chuhe single-handedly accounted for eighty percent of the medicinal garden's spiritual energy contributions, and his standing in Wei Yuan's eyes had skyrocketed. Wei Yuan opened the door and welcomed the Daoist in, simultaneously turning over in his mind how he might smoothly lease him several more plots of Nether Soil.
If the old Daoist dared lease ten thousand plots of Nether Soil, Wei Yuan would dare advance to the dharma idol realm by next month.
Perfected Chuhe twitched his nose and said, "This old Daoist smells something extraordinary again. Might I step inside for a look?"
It was a somewhat unusual request, but conditions across the territory were still austere, and Wei Yuan's dwelling was just a single room without even an outer parlor. With people coming and going constantly, he had no secrets to hide, so he ushered Perfected Chuhe inside.
The moment Perfected Chuhe stepped into the room, his gaze locked onto the desk, utterly unable to pull away. Resting upon the desk was a white jade platter holding a curl of platinum bark, surrounded by petals that bloomed and vanished in a ceaseless, wondrous display.
The old Daoist's voice trembled slightly. "What manner of spirit plant is this?"
Wei Yuan followed his gaze and said, "Ah, that isn't a spirit plant. It's more of a... medicinal ingredient."
"A medicinal ingredient? What kind?"
"...Cassia bark."
With Wei Yuan's permission, Perfected Chuhe carefully picked up the shed bark of the immortal laurel branch, turning it over and examining it at length before finally setting it down. He sighed and said, "Not a shred of life remains. It is utterly impossible to cultivate a new celestial tree from this."
Puzzled, Wei Yuan asked, "Why is that?"
Perfected Chuhe replied, "A celestial object is complete within itself, constituting a world of its own. No matter how many pieces it is divided into, the Great Dao within remains one. Take a celestial tree for example: even if it were chopped into ninety-nine segments and scattered across different worlds, the moment any single segment revives, all the other segments will perish simultaneously, turning into dead wood stripped of all spirituality—just like this shed bark here."
Thoughts raced through Wei Yuan's mind. According to Perfected Chuhe, if any other remnants of the celestial laurel tree were held by other people, the moment his own branch revived, all those other branches would turn into lifeless timber. The complete celestial laurel tree would exist only with him.
Thinking back, when Immortal Monarch Tinghai had cast his line into the mortal realm and reeled up an immortal laurel branch, could that truly have been a mere coincidence?
Wei Yuan suddenly felt an eerie premonition: had all of this been orchestrated by some unseen hand?
Naturally, Perfected Chuhe had not come over a strip of bark. He had a matter of real gravity, and his expression turned solemn. "This old Daoist has recently experienced persistent premonitions, sensing that something extraordinary is taking shape and sprouting. Yet whenever I ponder it closely, my heart thumps and my flesh creeps; clear danger lurks around that object.
"I sought out that girl Ji Liuli to perform a joint divination, but we could divine nothing. It seems that fortune is veiled by something. Even so, this old Daoist is certain that it exists, and not far from here. Over the past two days, I have asked around about whether there are any secret realms, ancient ruins, or similar places nearby."
Wei Yuan's heart stirred. He had already excavated the ruins of Lanshen Palace, but when it came to secret realms, were not those fragments of a grotto-heaven a few hundred li away precisely what fit the description?
Chapter 248