When the morning court assembly ended, the King of Jin returned to the imperial study. Several others accompanied him inside, taking their seats after offering their salutations.
"You all saw Wei Yuan today. What did you think?"
Seated to the King's left was an elegant, refined man of indeterminate age, carrying an effortless air of contentment wherever he went. It was as though being in the imperial court or sleeping in the wild mountains could do nothing to disturb his state of mind. This was Prince Cheng, who had attained the rank of True Monarch over a century ago.
Opposite Prince Cheng sat a man who appeared somewhat younger. His eyes were like lightning, his entire presence like an unsheathed sword of extreme sharpness. Yet this sword seemed to merge seamlessly with heaven and earth; though it was right before one's eyes, one could sense no threat from it until the very moment it struck down.
This was Prince Ying, likewise a member of the Western Jin royal family, who had similarly cultivated to the Scenery Command realm and was the pivotal figure who had recently turned the tide of battle.
Seated below the two princes were the Left and Right Prime Ministers, while Liu Quangong attended by the King of Jin's side.
At the King's inquiry, Prince Cheng replied, "He possesses an innate, unyielding stubbornness in his bones and refuses to suffer humiliation. But that is only natural for a young man. Only with such drive and pride could he achieve such military feats."
Prince Ying also said, "With him guarding the realm's gate in the Western Regions, our pressure will be significantly relieved. I believe we can transfer Yue Jinshan back to the northern border. There are no spare troops left in the north; reinforcements are urgently needed."
The Right Prime Minister countered, "This boy is born with rebellion in his bones. We cannot afford not to be on guard! If he grows too powerful in the future, I fear he will be impossible to control."
Prince Ying's expression darkened at once, but the Right Prime Minister acted as if he had not even noticed.
The King of Jin remained impassive and said, "Several memorials have claimed that Wei Yuan maintains close ties with Zhao and harbors treasonous intentions. What do you all think?"
The Left Prime Minister said, "Qingming has only just been established and had nothing to its name. Furthermore, the Xu family blockaded the trade routes to the east. Trading southward with Zhao for necessities was an act of sheer necessity. The memorials submitted by the censors are somewhat biased."
Surprised, the King of Jin said, "I did not expect you to speak up for Wei Yuan. Tell me, then—what course of action should we take regarding him?"
The Left Prime Minister answered, "The court harbors much criticism of Wei Yuan primarily because, first, he does not hail from an aristocratic clan and was born of humble origins; second, he is truly young, and many in the court could easily be his grandfather, so they naturally look down on him. Moreover, there has always been a saying that commoners rise no higher than the seventh rank, yet Wei Yuan enters officialdom directly at the second rank, which inevitably stirs up jealousy."
The King of Jin gave a slight nod.
The Left Prime Minister continued, "Your subject believes we should maintain a check on Wei Yuan around the perimeter of Ningxi, but this check is merely for the court to see, to quell public outcry, rather than genuinely restricting Wei Yuan. If you employ a man, do not suspect him; if you suspect him, do not employ him. Great Jin's focus currently lies in the north, so there is no harm in leaving the west to Wei Yuan. For reasons unknown, the Shamans have suddenly slowed their offensive, but sooner or later they will attack again. Back then, even the Xu family could not defend the Western Regions—could Wei Yuan truly manage it?"
The King of Jin chuckled softly. "Then let it be done as you say."
***
Inside the Crown Prince's Estate, the current Crown Prince sat behind a writing desk, flanked on either side by a row of civil officials and military generals, resembling a miniature court assembly.
The Crown Prince's Estate lay not far from the royal palace. It was a size larger than an ordinary prince's estate and hardly smaller than the royal palace itself. According to Jin regulations, the Crown Prince was supposed to reside in the Chengqian Hall within the palace. However, in recent years, the Crown Prince had begun shouldering state affairs and received permission to open his own establishment. As the civil officials and military officers under his employ grew numerous, entering and exiting the palace became exceedingly inconvenient, so he had moved out.
At this moment, a scholar below who appeared only in his early thirties spoke up: "That Wei Yuan is wild and intractable, born unwilling to serve beneath anyone. I believe there is no need to recruit him. He is a sword without a hilt—whoever grasps it is bound to be injured!"
A scholar seated opposite him sneered. "Could it be that Vice Minister Zhang only says this because he failed to suppress him?"
Vice Minister Zhang flared up in fury. "Academician Liu! If you can suppress him, I will host a banquet and apologize immediately!"
An elderly minister stepped in to smooth things over, then said, "First, Wei Yuan is not of noble birth, nor is he a disciple of a sage. Elevating him so abruptly to such a high rank—would that not chill the hearts of the realm's aristocratic clans? Second, he is still young, his cultivation is ordinary, and he clearly lacks tempering. That he has achieved what he has today is entirely due to the Palace of Grand Beginning backing him. How could it be of his own ability? For a wet-behind-the-ears youth to hold a second-rank post is utterly preposterous! His Majesty's judgment in this matter was truly lacking."
Another old minister added, "Whoever recruits Wei Yuan makes an enemy of all the aristocratic clans under heaven, and an enemy of all scholars in the realm!"
The Crown Prince pondered in silence.
At this moment, the room was packed to capacity, leaving scarcely enough space to place a single new seat.
***
When Wei Yuan returned to the post-house, daylight had only just broken, and the attendants promptly brought in breakfast.
The morning court assembly began early and ended early. Breakfast at the post-house was split into two meals: one taken before departing for the assembly, and the other upon returning. Lunch would be an entirely separate affair.
Upon the large table before Wei Yuan sat twelve main dishes, eight side plates, six staple courses, and four soups, totaling thirty courses.
Such was the breakfast of a first-rank dignitary.
Looking at the table full of food, Wei Yuan was momentarily dazed. Soon after, he summoned Cui Yu, Xu Yi, and the other disciples of aristocratic clans, and together they cleaned the entire spread down to the last plate.
To scions of such great clans, a breakfast like this was completely ordinary. Yet over the past few months in the realm, they had craved good food for so long, having barely eaten anything decent. As a result, the noble youths all turned into ravenous wolves, their distinguished breeding nowhere to be seen.
Before midday had even arrived, Wei Yuan's reputation for being crude, unlettered, and ignorant of etiquette had already begun to spread.
After breakfast, Wei Yuan entered the study of the post-house and spread a map across the table. This was the newly demarcated commandery map of the Western Regions. The four commanderies remained, though their boundaries had shifted; the three southeastern commanderies had all receded, and Ningxi Commandery had been reduced to a crescent sliver. Just ten li outside Quliu Town lay the jurisdiction of the Military Commissioner of Dingxi.
Yet although Ningxi Commandery was merely a narrow strip, scarcely more than ten li wide at its narrowest point, it enveloped the realm like a thin skin. In theory, the Commandery Governor of Ningxi could establish checkpoints to completely blockade the realm. In fact, Yuan Qingyan had done exactly that previously, except that every checkpoint he erected was wiped out by Wei Yuan's men disguised as horse bandits.
For now, the King of Jin wished to win Wei Yuan over, so he would turn a blind eye. But the day Wei Yuan was no longer needed, all these matters would be dragged out and used to convict him anew.
Wei Yuan's gaze fell upon Anzhao Commandery. Western Jin had set up a boundary stone here, though he did not know the extent of its domain, nor what would happen when the two realms met.
A moment later, Wei Yuan rolled up the map and resumed contemplating his sword.
During his encounter with underhanded pressure in the imperial hall today, Wei Yuan had relied entirely on raw physical power to withstand it. Since forming his Dao Foundation, he had rarely drawn upon physical strength, almost forgetting that he possessed an exquisite body.
After his breakthrough, Wei Yuan's Dao power had become as vast as a sea. Arts like the Rushing Water Blade Art, for instance, relied purely on unleashing torrents of Dao power to overwhelm opponents through sheer force. Over this recent period, Wei Yuan had come to firmly believe that brute force overcame all finesse and simplicity triumphed over cunning, nearly forgetting that he possessed countless other means aside from pure Dao power.
For example, among the Three Immortal Plants, he had only made modest use of the sword qi from the celestial laurel tree, leaving its other wondrous functions largely undeveloped.
A dharma idol warrior, when properly utilized, offered endless possibilities. Although the Yin-Yang Dao Foundation could not yet move, a wisp of its aura could serve as the core for many arrays or elevate his mental state, lending ordinary dao arts and techniques a profound aesthetic conception.
There was also the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns, a true art directly aligned with the Grand Dao. Simply mastering the true intent of three stances could allow one to attain Unity, yet Wei Yuan had not even scratched the surface.
Even with what little Dao power remained, there were myriad ways to play his hand. For instance, though less than a tenth of his Dao power currently remained, it was still thicker than that of an ordinary Heaven Tier Dao Foundation. Yet he intentionally suppressed his Dao power, driving it down to the level of an ordinary Earth Tier foundation. If someone truly treated Wei Yuan as an ordinary Earth Tier cultivator, things would become quite amusing.
Furthermore, during his candid talk with Zhao Tong, he had claimed only twenty to thirty percent of his Dao power remained. If Zhao Tong believed him, the eunuch would naturally make a severe underestimation of Wei Yuan's normal upper limit of Dao power.
Being unable to manifest the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains was a wholly unprecedented experience. It felt as though a new world had opened before his eyes, granting him glimpses into endless wonders.
In no hurry, Wei Yuan contemplated his sword with a calm mind, his control over his Dao power and his own body steadily improving with each passing moment.
At noon, as Wei Yuan concluded his contemplation, an attendant brought in two visiting cards.
One came from Prince Wei, the fifth son of the current King of Jin. The other came from Prince Ying.
Both invitations were heavyweights.
Though Prince Wei was the fifth son, there was an age gap of more than twenty years between him and the Crown Prince. It was said that in his earlier years, the King of Jin had devoted himself entirely to the immortal path and rarely visited the inner palace, resulting in few offspring. Only after several decades on the throne, following the passing of his first queen, did his thinking change, and his progeny began to multiply.
Prince Wei's mother had been titled Queen Xi, the King of Jin's second queen. Yet fate had been cruel to her; she passed away just the second year after being crowned queen, leaving behind Prince Wei as her only son.
From a young age, Prince Wei had been brilliant, mastering whatever he attempted with ease, and was born with immense karmic luck—said to be not a whit inferior to the Crown Prince's. Blessed with both extraordinary talent and karmic luck, Prince Wei's cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds. Though not yet thirty, he was already brushing against the threshold of a dharma idol. However, bent on emulating the ancient sages, he forcibly suppressed his cultivation realm, determined to thoroughly polish his dharma idol to reach the pinnacle in a single stride.
The King of Jin clearly favored Prince Wei, and as Prince Wei's dharma idol neared completion, rumors had already begun circulating about deposing the Crown Prince.
Prince Ying was one of the royal clan's two True Monarchs. Currently serving as Grand General, he oversaw all northern military operations and commanded the various border armies. The Snow-Treading Army he had personally built in his early years was among the finest forces under heaven, once ranked among the Nine Armies of Great Tang.
Later, however, Prince Ying fell from grace and was cast into prison. Many generals in the Snow-Treading Army were implicated, and the army of one hundred thousand was broken apart, its troops distributed among the other armies. The Snow-Treading Army was subsequently struck from the rolls of the Nine Armies.
Prince Ying spent a full ten years in prison before his release, only to be placed under house arrest in his manor. It was not until the recent collapse of the war front that the King of Jin restored Prince Ying to command, putting him in charge of northern military affairs. After a month of bitter fighting, he had finally checked the rout.
Prince Wei had a long-standing reputation for courting talented individuals. With Wei Yuan's formal investiture as military commissioner all but assured following his audience with the King, Prince Wei hosting a banquet was within expectations. Regardless of what Prince Wei truly thought, he had to make a gesture for the sake of his reputation.
Prince Ying's invitation, however, left Wei Yuan puzzled. This was a truly formidable figure who had once built one of the Nine Armies of Great Tang from scratch, an overbearing power in his day!
His subsequent fall and imprisonment were shrouded in mystery. When Wei Yuan had researched key court figures, he could find not a shred of information regarding that period of history.
Prince Wei's banquet was scheduled for this evening, while Prince Ying's dinner was set for tomorrow, so the two did not conflict.
Wei Yuan thus maintained his composure and spent the entire afternoon contemplating his sword. Barring any surprises, tonight would be a turbulent night. The great drama of the royal capital had only just begun to unfold.
Chapter 312