Yuan Qingyan’s face shifted through shades of livid green and pale white, the corners of his eyes twitching. He was on the verge of striking brazenly, eager to cut Wei Yuan down where he sat!
Holding his teacup, Wei Yuan sat upright and motionless, his eyes clear and bright as stars, showing not the slightest hint of fear.
Yuan Qingyan was certain that striking Wei Yuan down would take no more than a wave of his hand, yet judging by Wei Yuan's composure, the young man seemed entirely confident he could withstand a thunderous blow. Across from him, Cui Yu and the other juniors sat in unruffled ease, with not the slightest inclination to leap up and shield their lord. It was as if, in their minds, Wei Yuan could calmly parry whatever attack Yuan Qingyan might unleash.
Yuan Qingyan found it hard to believe. He was an advanced cultivator of the dharma idol stage! Meanwhile, not a single person across from him, Wei Yuan included, possessed a dharma idol. If he struck with all his might across a mere zhang of distance, how could he fail to kill Wei Yuan?!
Only...
...after killing Wei Yuan, he would have to abandon his post and flee as an outlaw.
Wei Yuan was, after all, a newly appointed Military Commissioner under the King of Jin, a senior frontier dignitary of the proper second rank. No matter how heinous Wei Yuan’s crimes might be, until a joint tribunal of the Ministry of Justice and the relevant bureaus held a trial and the King of Jin handed down a verdict, no one had the authority to kill him. If Yuan Qingyan slew a superior officer without authorization, his crime would warrant the extermination of his entire clan; no one would be able to shield him. Besides, Yuan Qingyan was a mad dog—who would even want to shield him?
To serve as an official by becoming an isolated outcast and a mad dog meant that one's greatest backer was actually the King of Jin. The hound was the King of Jin’s hound, biting only those whom the King directed him to bite. Right now, Wei Yuan had just been invested as Military Commissioner, basking in the monarch’s deep favor. If Yuan Qingyan sank his teeth into him now, he would become a disobedient hound, and would most likely be slaughtered first by the King of Jin himself.
Yuan Qingyan weighed the advantages and harms, caught in hesitation. One misstep, and every effort of the first half of his life would vanish like foam.
Yuan Qingyan said nothing, nor did Wei Yuan speak; he merely held his teacup and watched him with placid eyes.
Below Yuan Qingyan, a minor official let out a dry laugh, hoping to offer a remark or two to ease the tension, but a sidelong glance from Wei Yuan silenced him instantly like a cicada in winter. He dared not flaunt his cleverness or try to make himself the center of attention any further.
Wei Yuan had plenty of patience; he could wait until the end of time.
At last, Yuan Qingyan's eye twitched as he said, "I thank Lord Wei for his concern. If Lord Wei has business, speak it plainly. My official duties are pressing; I fear I cannot keep Your Excellency company for long."
The moment he spoke, the subordinate officials below let out sighs of relief, though several faintly revealed their disappointment. Meanwhile, noble scions like Cui Yu wore disdain openly across their faces, not bothering to disguise it in the least.
They all still remembered how overbearing Yuan Qingyan had once been, yet today he had no choice but to meekly bow his head before Wei Yuan.
Once a head had bowed like this, it could never be held high again.
Wei Yuan, by contrast, remained seated upright throughout, his spine ramrod-straight, never bending once. Yet that posture had been bought by plunging headlong into bloody battles against the Shamans with a heart set on death, by brazenly clashing in life-and-death struggle against numerous Great Shamans with dharma idols, and by cutting down ten thousand of the world-renowned Northern Border Iron Cavalry on the battlefield. Had he lost a single one of those engagements, he would never have been able to sit so straight.
Many people wished to keep their spines straight, yet in the end, the vast majority had their backbones crushed under the weight of the world.
Wei Yuan slowly set down his teacup and said, "Being busy is a good thing, but one must be busy with proper business."
Yuan Qingyan said coldly, "Lord Wei's words are layered with riddles. Pardon this official, but I do not quite understand."
Wei Yuan said, "Originally, I intended to pay visits to all my old acquaintances one by one. But of the governors of the four commanderies, there is one I do not know well, while the remaining two—Lord Chen, Chen Dao, and Lord Li, Li Weisheng—have already been assigned to other posts. By now, they must be packing their bags, so I felt it ill-mannered to disturb them. Hence, I could only bring this matter to you, Lord Yuan."
Yuan Qingyan's heart skipped a beat! Chen Dao and Li Weisheng were both being reassigned? How had he received no word whatsoever, while Wei Yuan had learned of it first?
The news itself was not extraordinary, but who learned of it first and who learned of it last made all the difference in the world.
Yuan Qingyan said, "What instructions does Lord Wei have?"
His tone had softened a fraction further without him realizing it.
Wei Yuan said, "There is indeed a minor matter. Lately, I have heard that many passing merchant caravans have encountered mounted bandits within Lord Yuan's jurisdiction, and the Heaven-Battling Gang has been particularly rampant. I am quite curious—why do these bandits avoid everywhere else and operate solely within your borders, Lord Yuan? Quite a few petty men have slandered you to my face, claiming the Heaven-Battling Gang's lair lies right within your commandery, and that they must be colluding with you.
"I, of course, do not believe such talk."
Once again, Yuan Qingyan could barely hold himself back from leaping up and barking curses. Across the entire Western Regions, who didn't know where the Heaven-Battling Gang came from? People simply simmered with fury, not daring to speak aloud.
"Matters within this official's borders are my own affair. There is no line of authority between this official and Lord Wei. There is no need for Lord Wei to trouble himself over this."
Wei Yuan smiled and said, "Then I ask Lord Yuan to sweep your borders clear of these bandits so they do not trouble the merchant caravans seeking to come to my lands. Otherwise, we might very well end up having a line of authority between us."
With that, Wei Yuan did not even offer a parting courtesy, rising directly to take his leave.
Cui Yu, Xu Yi, and the other generals rose with a rumble. Likewise giving Yuan Qingyan not so much as a parting word, they crowded around Wei Yuan and strode out. Fire burned beneath their wind-swift feet, their gait arrogant and domineering, shaking the corridors and rattling the pillars and beams beneath their tread.
Inside the reception hall, Yuan Qingyan did not move for a long time, the white hairs at his temples suddenly striking to the eye. The officials in the hall dared not leave and dared not speak, not even daring to breathe loudly.
Suddenly, Yuan Qingyan seized his teacup and raised it high!
Yet the officials did not hear the expected crash. Yuan Qingyan simply held the cup aloft, frozen in place. The cold tea seeped out continuously, dripping onto his head and tracing down his cheek, but he was entirely oblivious.
***
Bianning Commandery, the governor's manor.
The newly constructed manor was once again in disarray. Numerous servants bustled about, hoisting strapped wooden trunks onto freight carts. Carts loaded with luggage lined up one after another, stretching almost beyond sight.
Several burly servants worked together to carry a trunk, chanting rhythmic work calls as they shuffled step by step toward a noticeably superior freight carriage.
Standing in the covered corridor, Li Weisheng watched that small chest get loaded onto the carriage and its door shut before he finally looked away, sighing, "To think I have only served as commandery governor for a few months, and now I must pack up and move again."
Beside him, Sun Chao'en said, "Lord Li has risen two ranks in under half a year. That is the stuff of officialdom legends!"
Li Weisheng replied, "Truly, I have had good fortune. I thought I would have to remain in this place for two or three years at least, yet who could have expected that one to rise so rapidly! As things stand, more than half the purpose of us coming here to establish a seat of governance and set up the commanderies has evaporated, leaving us with no choice but to depart."
Sun Chao'en chuckled. "Has Your Excellency not been entrusted with even greater responsibilities because of it? Entering the inner halls of power like this is something countless men could envy for a lifetime and never attain."
Li Weisheng broke into a smile. "Though my stay was brief, my harvest has indeed not been small, and for that, I must thank you, Lord Sun."
Sun Chao'en bowed deeply. "Without a towering tree like Lord Li to shelter me from the wind and rain, all of my petty cleverness would have amounted to nothing."
Li Weisheng patted Sun Chao'en's arm. "There will come a day when we serve as officials in the same court once more. With this friendship between us, we shall naturally watch over and assist each other when that time comes."
Sun Chao'en bowed deeply once more. "My only hope is to be of some use to Lord Li and help Your Excellency ascend to even greater heights."
Li Weisheng gave a hearty laugh. "Between you and me, no such words are needed!"
He gazed toward the west and said, "I hear the Military Commissioner recently visited Lord Yuan?"
"He visited twice before being invested as Military Commissioner, but never saw Lord Yuan. A few days ago, word came that they finally met and exchanged a few words, speaking of mounted bandits."
Li Weisheng said, "Oh? Have those checkpoints of Lord Yuan's been taken down?"
"Some were dismantled by his own men; others vanished under mysterious circumstances."
Li Weisheng gave a soft chuckle, pausing a moment before saying, "Really, why bother courting such trouble? Lord Yuan is actually capable, and clever as well. What a pity."
Sun Chao'en picked up, "He has everything going for him, except his luck is terrible."
Li Weisheng turned the phrase over in his mind and suddenly felt a chill of dread prickle through him. Breaking into a cold sweat, he said, "His luck is truly rotten. Had I been placed in Ningxi Commandery, I fear my fate would have fared no better. Now everyone knows that Wei Yuan is a flood dragon that no one can keep pinned down, but who could have known back then?"
He summoned his steward and instructed, "Find the gifts Lord Yuan sent, pack them up, and return them. Tell him I appreciate the sentiment, but must decline."
The steward acknowledged the order and hurried off.
Li Weisheng turned to Sun Chao'en. "With someone whose fortune is that foul, it is best not to entangle oneself too deeply."
Sun Chao'en nodded. "As it should be. Besides, those gifts of his aren't worth much anyway."
Li Weisheng burst into laughter, saying repeatedly, "Lord Sun, you are too biting!"
Sun Chao'en replied, "Nothing can be done about it; I simply hold grudges that deeply!"
***
In the blink of an eye, late autumn drew near, the golden wind keen as a blade.
The Shattered Lands lay close to the Wu domain, where there was practically no distinction between four seasons; the heat remained roughly constant throughout the year, with only a brief span when rainfall slackened slightly, barely dividing the year into wet and dry seasons.
Within the domain, more than two hundred thousand mu of grain fields ripened in waves, sending everyone into a frantic flurry of activity to harvest all the grain and store it in granaries before the heavy rains arrived.
The earliest fields had already been harvested twice, yielding slightly more, while the newly cultivated two hundred thousand mu had ripened for the first time, yielding somewhat less. Even so, it was vastly higher than fields newly broken in other domains.
In the past, when humanity opened up land in the Wu domain, sowing twenty jin of seed per mu usually yielded barely over a hundred jin. But Qingming possessed Jia Wood Life-Mystic; not only did crops mature far faster, but their yield doubled as well, matching mature fields cultivated by humans for many years.
This batch of grain totaled over forty million jin in harvest. Over the past month and more, what the domain had built with frantic desperation was not housing for people, but granaries.
The ripening of the grain fields brought Wei Yuan another massive surge of spiritual qi, inching his cultivation forward. Through this change, Wei Yuan gained a rough understanding of the progress required for his current advancement.
Overall, the spiritual qi required for the Revival realm was double that of the previous stage, alongside the formidable hurdle of nurturing the spirituality of his Dao Foundation. Drawing inspiration from Xu Wenwu's notes, Wei Yuan divided his cultivation progress into one hundred small ticks, allowing him to evaluate his progress with greater precision.
With the spiritual qi provided daily by the living creatures and spiritual plants within the domain, he could fill four ticks each year, meaning he could break into the next realm in twenty-five years. This pace was actually several times faster than his Foundation Solidification period, primarily thanks to obtaining the two immortal plants, the Red Lotus Bodhi and the Nether Soil Pure Lotus. The spiritual qi contributed annually by these two immortal plants alone amounted to over two ticks, while all the other spiritual plants combined yielded less than two.
Yet when crops like spirit rice and mortal rice ripened, they provided several times more spiritual qi on top of that. Calculated on that basis, it would only take fifteen or sixteen years to advance.
Moreover, Qingming was still expanding; cultivated acreage would continue to grow, and Wei Yuan's cultivation would only become faster and faster.
With tens of millions of jin of grain in storage, Wei Yuan naturally felt deeply reassured, his confidence growing stronger. By now, trade routes were open, with more than a dozen merchant caravans shuttling between the State of Zhao and the domain, delivering all manner of supplies the territory required and sweeping Wei Yuan's storehouses clean of suits of armor.
Yet the caravans' appetite grew ever larger; some even hauled whole wagons laden with immortal silver to purchase armor.
Unable to obtain ready stock immediately, they placed orders to reserve the next batches. Wei Yuan had not paid close attention and failed to cap the quantities; as a result, in a single day, orders piled up like mountains. By the time Wei Yuan realized what had happened, he already owed one hundred thousand breastplates, and his storehouses held an extra deposit of more than five hundred thousand taels of immortal silver.
By this time, Western Jin was blanketed in yellow leaves, the feeling of autumn thick in the air.
Wei Yuan had squandered a million taels of immortal silver to the last coin, exchanging it for armor like rolling clouds and battle banners blanketing the fields. At this hour, the autumn skies hung high and the grass grew tall; men were hearty and horses well-fed. It was just the right season to journey to the capital.
Chapter 309