A Body with a Spirit of Its Own

Wei Yuan had no time to take stock of his gains; he had to treat his injuries immediately. Any later, and he feared he would truly die. He felt across his body. His armor, pockets, and all the odds and ends he carried had been entirely destroyed by the sword qi; not a single medicinal pill could be found. Even if there had been any, they wouldn't have been of much use—the pills Wei Yuan used were of the lowest grade, the sort that cost a few taels of immortal silver each. Although he held the Xu family's secret treasury in his hands, with over a hundred thousand taels of immortal silver still untouched, Wei Yuan budgeted meticulously for every single tael he spent, reluctant to spend even half a copper on himself. And so, looking at his wounds, Wei Yuan could only sigh in helplessness. A poor man had no immortal pills; he could only endure it with his flesh. Wei Yuan circulated the healing arts within the Moon Splendor Ten Thousand Facets Chapter, activating all the vitality in his flesh, and then borrowed a trace of the aura from the celestial laurel tree and the Red Lotus Bodhi to elevate his own state of being, lest anything untoward happen. The celestial laurel tree turned away, refusing to give any aura. The Red Lotus Bodhi was quite generous, shedding a leaf outright. Yet this pained Wei Yuan to no end, and he repeatedly protested that it wasn't necessary, not at all, that he could endure it on his own. The Foul Earth Nightshade suddenly swayed, parting with a wisp of origin qi of Nether Soil rebirth. Wei Yuan was caught between laughter and tears—was it trying to send him off to reincarnate? The other spiritual plants each emitted a bit of aura to varying degrees. These were formed over time through the refinement of the origin qi of heaven and earth, a grade higher than ordinary spiritual qi. Aided by the origin qi of these spiritual plants, the vitality in Wei Yuan's body surged to an unprecedented peak. Wei Yuan's wounds were horrific; some of his internal organs had been completely sliced open. At this moment, the injuries were covered in blood. But Wei Yuan's blood had turned a pale pink, now coagulating like jelly, not only sealing every wound but constantly squirming, pulling the flesh on both sides together. The various organs inside Wei Yuan's body seemed to have developed a spirituality of their own. Many fragmented pieces drifted about, searching for their promised land. Occasionally, fragments of lung and intestine crossed paths, sizing each other up with curiosity at this stranger they had never seen before. After exchanging courtesies, the two fragments went their separate ways, seeking the path back. By this point, Wei Yuan's body was completely beyond his control. Even his muscles had their own ideas, wanting to follow the ancient traditions of the Hall of the Bright King and grow straight into Wei Yuan's head. At this very moment, Wei Yuan could only lie flat on his back, unable even to look up at the sky. His two eyes were busy looking in different directions, to the point where they quarreled over which way the head should turn. But the head had ideas of its own. For some reason, Wei Yuan suddenly recalled the description of several heirloom immortal medicines of the Palace of Grand Beginning: reversing yin and yang, growing flesh upon bare bones. Now Wei Yuan felt that the scene probably wasn't very pleasant. Only his sea of consciousness still belonged to him, so Wei Yuan simply entered the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains to spare himself the vexation. The celestial laurel tree had quietly shifted to the other side of Jade Mountain. Wei Yuan was at a bit of a loss as to how to handle it. In the final life-or-death moment, the celestial laurel tree had not released any sword qi. Wei Yuan had thought it was throwing a little tantrum as usual, and believing he would fail to drag his formidable foe down with him and thereby imperil his master, he had flown into a rage. A bit of fussing and whining under normal circumstances was fine, considered playful banter. But acting up at a moment of life and death was something Wei Yuan could not tolerate. If he truly died, the celestial laurel tree would not dissipate along with his Dao Foundation; wouldn't that just benefit the enemy? Rather than aiding a foe, it was better to destroy it. In that split second of life and death, with the blade poised above him, Wei Yuan had cried out in his heart amid shock and fury, which had likely been overheard by the celestial laurel tree. Only now did Wei Yuan realize that it wasn't that the celestial tree was unwilling to lend its sword qi back then, but that it simply couldn't. All of its sword qi had been taken by the young girl and refined into the Crimson Night Immortal-Slaying Sword. It was like a little girl who had painstakingly saved her New Year's money, putting every single copper into her piggy bank, reluctant to spend any, only for an adult to confiscate it one day for other purposes, while she was scolded on top of it. Putting himself in its shoes, Wei Yuan felt he would feel aggrieved too. Immortal artifacts possessed spirits, and Wei Yuan felt he ought to treat it seriously. So he walked up beside the celestial laurel tree, which had turned its back on him. In truth, the celestial laurel tree looked identical from every angle, but Wei Yuan simply felt it was giving him the cold shoulder. Wei Yuan bowed deeply and said, "Back then, in the heat of a life-or-death crisis, I misunderstood. It was my fault. I offer my apologies." The celestial laurel tree seemed not to have expected Wei Yuan to actually apologize. Its trunk turned halfway, then stopped, unsure for a moment whether to stay angry or just forgive him. After struggling with itself for a moment, the celestial laurel tree flicked out a pale red blossom that smacked Wei Yuan in the face, before resuming its sulking. Wei Yuan was startled. The laurel blossom had already dissolved into pale red immortal qi and seeped into his body. As a result, not only did the vitality across Wei Yuan's body ascend another step, but its spirituality also surged dramatically. Many vital organs began harboring dangerous notions of carving out their own fiefdoms and declaring themselves kings. The head suddenly felt it could not bear to keep company with these foolish things, and prepared to detach from the body to flee on its own, but the facial features disagreed. The two eyes reacted even more fiercely: earlier, when they wanted to turn, the head had refused; now, whatever the head thought, they opposed it completely. At this point, right and wrong mattered not—only factions existed. Whatever the head insisted upon, they would oppose. At this moment, the invading force of the muscles increased sharply, even showing signs of strategy and tactics. The head was busy mounting a defense and had no time to sever itself. A few lesser organs harbored no such grand ambitions; they only wished to die right then and there, carrying a wisp of spirituality into the cycle of reincarnation early, to be reborn as humans and find release. That was fine enough; although there were organs daring enough to commit suicide, they were few. However, a certain vital part of his lower body—one that had undergone day-and-night refinement and had once measured lengths against Consort Yuan—suddenly awakened. Believing it possessed innate wisdom from a past life, it was diligently studying the immortal art of sprinkling beans into soldiers. Reflecting on the first half of its life, it felt that Wei Yuan was always bustling about, only to fuss over trifles, having long since deviated from the supreme truths of heaven and earth and the Great Dao of True Immortality. It was the vessel that connected the past to the future, bridging yin and yang; in terms of importance, within the supreme truths of heaven and earth it ranked as the "One," second only to chaos and superior even to yin and yang. Yet ever since its birth, it had hardly found a place to display its prowess. Previously, muddled and unconscious, that was one thing, but now, endowed with natural spirituality, it instantly sensed that something was amiss. What could be more important than passing down lineage for ten thousand generations? Even the sages had said: of the three unfilial acts, having no descendants is the greatest! It had to be that jealous, incompetent scoundrel of a head deliberately keeping it from showing its talents! It felt that sycophants and traitors were currently running rampant, and it needed to purge the monarch's court! Once its immortal art was mastered, it would sow its beans to turn them into immortal soldiers. Supported by tens of thousands of descendant immortal soldiers, it would stage a coup to seize supreme power over the body, depose the brain, cast it into the Cold Palace, and bestow all of its fiefdoms onto the muscles. For the rest of Wei Yuan's life, if he wanted to think, he would have to rely on it. The muscles agreed wholeheartedly, attacking even more vigorously. Unfortunately, a small ring of muscle around the head remained under its control; though hard-pressed to defend, their line of defense still held. The rebellious muscles wanted to turn their kin against the head, but didn't know how to go about it. Witnessing the sheer chaos unfolding across his body, Wei Yuan was also at a loss whether to laugh or cry. In particular, that certain part self-studying immortal arts was standing proudly erect at this moment, confronting the head from afar. Wei Yuan only wanted to bury his face in his hands. Fortunately, this pocket domain had not collapsed; otherwise, if Master or Eldest Senior Sister were to see this... Yet a strange thought suddenly crossed Wei Yuan's mind: it seemed that even if Eldest Senior Sister saw it, it wouldn't be a big deal—it wasn't like she hadn't seen it before. Wei Yuan was jolted with alarm, realizing that he had already been influenced by that rebel part. He hurriedly swept out those improper thoughts. But doing so only confirmed that part's suspicions: sure enough, that scoundrel of a head was sabotaging it! By now, its immortal art was mostly figured out. Gathering its spiritual qi, it prepared to raise the banner of rebellion and sprinkle beans into soldiers!