That Tianyu had nearly been bowed to death was a pure accident.
He had indeed saved these more than one hundred thousand people, so it was only natural for him to receive their bow. With this karmic link established, there was a foundation to receive karmic luck born of gratitude. However, the azure karmic luck that was profoundly nourishing to Wei Yuan turned into lethal poison upon Tianyu's head. Tianyu's Dao Foundation was not Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains; how could he possibly bear thousands of strands of azure karmic luck?
As a result, before he could even endure three bows, his life and Dao were nearly extinguished.
Once he understood the reason behind it, Tianyu stared blankly for a long time, utterly speechless. Those people were genuinely grateful to him from the bottom of their hearts, to the point of generating faith-based karmic luck; their devotion could not have been more sincere.
Thus, in front of Wei Yuan, Tianyu could neither curse them nor let it slide. A Power Shaman wasn't particularly clever to begin with, so unable to find a way to vent his frustration, he could only depart in sullen gloom.
Meanwhile, the influx of over one hundred thousand newcomers into the domain instantly pushed Wei Yuan's cultivation speed to another level, adding a net progress of another notch each year. Now, Wei Yuan needed only seven years to bring his cultivation to perfection.
And this was merely the contribution of the one hundred and twenty thousand unranked people. The medicinal effects within the ranked sacrifices had not yet worn off; only after the drugs completely subsided could emotions such as trust, admiration, veneration, and blind devotion emerge. Wei Yuan merged them together with the ten thousand superior sacrifices discovered in Shaman City into the new city inhabited by the Xu family youths.
Inferior sacrifices were generally meant for rapid use, so the medicines administered by the Shamans were exceedingly potent and virulent; taking them over prolonged periods inflicted permanent damage. After inspecting them, Sun Yu found that half of these individuals suffered various degrees of impairment. The milder cases exhibited sluggish reactions, while the severe ones suffered from intellectual disabilities.
With the domain's population expanding so rapidly during this period, Sun Yu was entirely overwhelmed on his own. Wei Yuan also wished to assign Sun Yu a few disciples, but although there were many cultivators in the domain, those with respectable aptitudes were few and far between. In his helplessness, Wei Yuan could only pick several dozen clever and quick-witted youths to serve as Sun Yu's assistants.
Wei Yuan then prepared fifteen jin of Nether Soil, delivering five jin each to the old Daoist, Sun Yu, and Yu Zhizhuo, greatly delighting all three.
Wei Yuan, however, had difficulties he could not voice. He had given too little before, and now it was no longer possible to give much more at once; he could only increase it gradually.
With the passageway to and from the Palace of Grand Beginning reopened, Sun Yu also received news sent from the palace. Back then, a junior sister had indeed survived, but shortly after returning to the palace, she had emptied Perfected Ningxi's medicinal repository and vanished. At present, the Palace of Grand Beginning was stretched thin for manpower and temporarily unable to pursue her.
Upon learning news of the culprit, Sun Yu remained silent for a long time, after which everything returned to normal.
The domain's various miscellaneous affairs were so numerous that Wei Yuan was run ragged. Fortunately, as manpower gradually increased, many mundane tasks could be delegated, allowing Wei Yuan himself to focus on organizing the military.
Wei Yuan's preliminary plan was to reorganize two elite divisions. Each division would center on five hundred Dao Foundation cultivators as its core, supported by five thousand Body Casting warriors who had reached the Bone Tempering stage. One division would be infantry, and the other cuirassiers.
The two elite divisions had already reached the standard of the Nine Armies of Great Tang, while their proportion of Dao Foundation cultivators far exceeded that of the Nine Armies. In terms of equipment, every Dao Foundation cultivator was equipped with a fire gun and fifty rounds of ammunition. Ordinary warriors were allocated ten rounds.
The purpose of fielding an overabundance of Dao Foundation cultivators was not merely for magical combat, but also for their firing speed and marksmanship, which vastly outstripped those of Body Casting cultivators.
With only simple training, a Dao Foundation cultivator could achieve a rate of fire of sixty manual muzzle-loaded shots per minute, hitting with unerring precision within thirty zhang; even moving targets traveling at the speed of a galloping steed were nearly all hit.
In comparison, Body Casting warriors had a firing rate of only ten shots per minute, and their accuracy against moving targets within thirty zhang was only fifty percent; they had to let targets close within fifteen zhang to ensure every shot hit.
As for achieving a manual muzzle-loading rate of fire of six hundred rounds per minute, truly only Yu Zhizhuo alone was capable of it.
With nearly fifty thousand Xu family youths and one hundred and twenty thousand unranked sacrifices, the domain's defensive strength was unprecedentedly formidable; without an army of several hundred thousand, any attempt to breach it was out of the question. These two elite divisions were actually meant for battles outside the domain.
A few days earlier, when they conquered Shaman City, Wei Yuan's forces had pursued the enemy to the edge of the domain, only to watch helplessly as the Shamans swaggered off into the distance. Until reaching great accomplishment in Bone Tempering, Wei Yuan strictly forbade his troops from leaving the domain.
After all, without Ephemeral Multitude and the empowerment of the domain's power, the combat capability of these troops in the Wu domain would retain at most thirty percent.
Wei Yuan spent an entire night just to settle on a preliminary equipment plan for the two elite divisions, repeatedly wavering between heavy armor and firepower. In the end, recalling the fate of Yue Jinshan's ten thousand iron cavalry and the otherworldly realm described by Xu Wenwu, Wei Yuan finally resolved to abandon full heavy armor in favor of cuirasses that balanced defense and mobility.
Next was determining the officers for each rank. This was meticulous work, so Wei Yuan did not dare be negligent. Pondering over a thick roster name by name, he spent another full day formulating a plan. After conferring with Cui Yu and others, the roster was finalized.
With this accomplished, the basic framework of the domain's military system began to take shape. The elite divisions would serve as standing forces, primarily focusing on daily training and capable of fighting outside the domain when necessary.
Next came the soldier-farmer units, mainly composed of the Xu family youths and warriors at the first and second tiers of Body Casting. They balanced cultivation and labor in daily life, converting into defensive forces when foreign enemies invaded.
Lastly were the civilians, primarily engaged in work. Yet at critical moments of life and death for the domain, they too would be empowered by Ephemeral Multitude and thrown into battle; thus, Wei Yuan routinely scheduled training sessions for them once every several days.
After establishing the fundamental framework of the military system, Wei Yuan initiated an immense, complicated, grand, and supremely vital endeavor: screening the domain's population for individuals with cultivation potential to impart the Six Books of Body Casting.
The people of the domain were unlike the Xu family youths. Those youths possessed extraordinary aptitude, nearly all capable of practicing the Six Books of Body Casting. Among the ordinary mortals in the domain, however, perhaps not even one in a hundred possessed sufficient aptitude to practice it, which was why thorough screening was required. If their aptitude fell short, they were better off cultivating more fundamental techniques.
Due to the shortage of hands, this task took an immense amount of time; Wei Yuan estimated it might not be finished even in three months.
Time slipped away unnoticed amidst the bustling work. One day, while Wei Yuan was reviewing the roster of newly appointed officers, his heart suddenly gave a lurch: the karmic luck he had placed upon the three hundred pregnant young women abruptly vanished for the most part, leaving only thirty-some strands!
Wei Yuan immediately rushed out from the main peak and flew toward the new city, heading straight for the camp where the young women resided.
It was already late at night. The camp was eerily quiet, with lanterns illuminating only a few crucial entrances and exits, but aside from guards, no figures were walking about. The young women were all quiet; without orders, they rested peacefully, awaiting the birth of their children.
Wei Yuan had already summoned Sun Yu when departing, so just as he landed, Sun Yu flew in as well. Sun Yu swept the area with his divine sense, his expression turning solemn as he said, "So many stillborns!"
Inside several large rooms, the bellies of most young women had flattened considerably, pale gray liquid pooling beneath them. The fluid did not look like blood, yet reeked of a bloody stench. A sweep of Wei Yuan's divine sense confirmed that it was indeed blood. For some unknown reason, however, the blood was devoid of any vitality, as if completely drained dry by something.
After a meticulous examination, Sun Yu placed his hand on one young woman's abdomen and applied a pulse of Dao power. A tiny infant corpse slid out from beneath her. Its flesh was shriveled like a mummified corpse, smeared all over with pale gray dead blood.
After giving birth to the infant corpse, the young woman's aura plummeted drastically, nearly cutting off completely. Yet just as death approached, a burst of vitality surged from within her body, pulling her back from the brink.
Sun Yu placed the infant corpse into a silver basin and induced labor in several more young women. Every single one delivered a corpse-like infant.
Without exception, the moment they birthed the infant corpses, their vitality plummeted precipitously. Even the life-prolonging medicinal pills Sun Yu had administered in advance proved useless. Fortunately, at the final moment, vitality was mysteriously rekindled within their bodies, preserving their lives.
This was the effect of the karmic luck Wei Yuan had bestowed upon them; at the threshold of life and death, the karmic luck transformed into vitality, preserving the young women's lives.
With his own methods failing, Sun Yu's expression was naturally grim. Had Wei Yuan not had the foresight to protect the young women's lives with karmic luck, these several young women would already be corpses. The rest of the young women were presumably the same—they would die upon giving birth to the infant corpses.
Or, more accurately, they were already dead, clinging to life merely for the sake of the already dead fetuses within their wombs.
This time Sun Yu did not act rashly. "I need helpers," he said.
Wei Yuan immediately summoned numerous young women, assigning each to look after one who carried a dead fetus. Sun Yu briefly explained how to manage the aftermath, then moved continuously from one to the next, inducing the delivery of each infant corpse.
Sun Yu's medical arts were miraculous; with a single press of his hand, an infant corpse could be smoothly delivered. Even so, it took a full two hours to extract all the stillborns.
The young women whose fetuses remained alive numbered only thirty. Their bellies bulged high, the fetuses having grown considerably larger, visibly only days away from delivery.
Had he not experienced the entire process firsthand, Wei Yuan would never have believed they had only been pregnant for just over four months.
To be safe this time, Wei Yuan simply bestowed three strands of azure qi upon each of them.
With great difficulty, everything was dealt with. All the infant corpses were placed in silver basins and set in the courtyard. Several hundred mummy-like infant corpses gathered together made for an indescribably eerie and horrific sight.
Sun Yu walked out afterward and stood beside Wei Yuan. "These infants are deeply sinister," he said. "Not only did they expel all of their own primordial qi and vitality, but they also sucked their mothers dry. Meanwhile, their mothers tried everything possible to satisfy these infants' needs, not caring even if it cost their own lives. I questioned several of them just now, and they all said they suddenly felt an overwhelming impulse from the depths of their hearts, willing to give everything for these children, even death."
"Can you not find the source of the anomaly?"
Sun Yu shook his head. "No. If Teacher were still here..." He shook his head vigorously, pushing the thought aside.
Wei Yuan said, "Before the children are born, another incident will very likely occur. I'll do my best to protect them with karmic luck, though I don't know whether it can save their lives this time."
Sun Yu replied, "Judging by the size and growth rate of the fetuses, it should happen within the next few days. I might as well stay here during this time to keep watch around the clock."
"Very well. I will ask Teacher to come hold down the fort. Ah, and I'll call over the Perfected Person's snake as well."
Having arranged everything, Wei Yuan finally left the new city and returned to the main peak with a heavy heart. What had happened to the young women was far too bizarre—most crucially, there was not a single trace to follow.
Back at his quarters, Wei Yuan felt somewhat restless. He simply set aside the matters at hand and sat down in meditation to cultivate. It had been quite a while since he last practiced the Myriad Aspects of Great Yin Moon Splendor.
In the blink of an eye, the night deepened. Wei Yuan was already lost to both self and surroundings, his state of mind limpid and clear. Above the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, a full moon shone brightly, casting down gossamer strands of moon splendor.
All of a sudden, Wei Yuan's pristine, unblemished mental state shattered. He saw a cloth-robed swordsman treading the moonlight toward him, who then shifted his sword behind his back, turned, and swung a mountain-like greatsword downward at his head!
This was the very strike that had nearly slain Wei Yuan in the past!
Wei Yuan was violently shaken and jolted awake from his trance. The phantom apparition before his eyes vanished instantly, but in his ears, he heard a distinct, clear cry of an infant!
Where did that crying come from?
Wei Yuan turned his head, fixing his gaze in the direction of the new city.
Chapter 333