After the Marquis of Xiang departed, it took Wei Yuan a long while to calm his thoughts.
It had indeed been some time since he left the royal capital, yet he subconsciously felt as though everything had happened only yesterday. As for the message relayed from Consort Yuan, Wei Yuan could only politely decline. Affairs within the domain were tangled and demanding, leaving him no time to travel to the capital. Besides, even if he wanted to go, he needed a proper pretext.
Wei Yuan selected a spot on the vast expanse of Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, dug a small pool several zhang across and two zhang deep, called down a light drizzle, and placed the water-vat-sized seed inside. He watched as the rainwater gathered, gradually submerging the seed.
The rainwater carried a distinct, fetid stench of decay. Ever since the battle with the Xu family, Western Jin's state fortune had visibly declined.
The water was tinted a murky yellow-green, but the seed seemed to relish it, absorbing water at a rate visible to the naked eye. Soon, a spark of vitality sprouted at its center, puffing out a wisp of spiritual qi.
Not far from Jade Mountain, the Bingli Divine Wood stood quietly. Snow drifted within several tens of zhang around it, dusting the ground with a thin white layer.
The celestial laurel tree stood right at the edge of the snow. A wisp of pale-red sword qi drifted sluggishly over, giving the Bingli Divine Wood a gentle poke. Seeing no reaction, it poked the divine wood again.
After several such prods with zero response from the Bingli Divine Wood, the pale-red sword qi swelled with greater power and slashed toward an outermost pale-blue leaf.
A layer of ice crystals suddenly surfaced over the leaf, blocking the strike.
Yet that single clash produced a tremendous sound that echoed across a hundred li, instantly drawing Wei Yuan over from inspecting the seed at the pool.
The celestial laurel tree had never imagined that a single sword strike would toll like an ancient ten-thousand-year bell. Terrified, it tried to flee, but its trunk shuddered, and it remained rooted to the spot!
Only then did it realize that a thin sheet of ice had crept across the ground without its noticing, freezing all its roots fast in the soil.
Before it could struggle free, Wei Yuan was already standing beside it, staring expressionlessly. Without a word, Wei Yuan merely pointed at the Bingli Divine Wood.
A clear sword mark marred one of its leaves, cut all the way through to the vein, with a flicker of pale-red sword qi still glinting upon the wound.
The celestial laurel tree shook its branches frantically, trying to explain that its strike hadn't harmed the tree at all—this wound had clearly been sliced open by that bitch of a tree itself!
Alas, the thought was far too complicated to convey through shaking branches. Wei Yuan didn't seem particularly inclined to listen either; he simply extended his hand.
The celestial laurel tree placed a blossom into his palm.
Wei Yuan remained unmoved.
After an extended standoff, the celestial laurel tree reluctantly placed that wisp of pale-red sword qi into Wei Yuan's hand. Wei Yuan walked over to Maiden Yin-Yang and wound the sword qi around her wrist.
A radius of a hundred zhang around Maiden Yin-Yang was forbidden ground; not a single immortal plant dared draw near.
Having finished this, Wei Yuan picked up a stone, slowly refined the true intent of the Cauldron from it, and set about fabricating components.
Seeing that Wei Yuan was no longer paying attention, the celestial laurel tree grew more furious the more it brooded. It thrust out a fresh shoot from its trunk, tipped with a slender, newly formed sword qi, and brandished it provocatively before the Bingli Divine Wood.
The Bingli Divine Wood suddenly raised a branch, drew it across one of its own leaves, and opened another wound on itself!
The celestial laurel tree realized things were bad. Just as it panicked, unsure of what to do, the Bingli Divine Wood clapped two leaves together, immediately ringing out with a loud, sonorous, crystal-clear clang like a sword striking steel!
Wei Yuan appeared in an instant. He looked at the new wound on the Bingli Divine Wood, then turned his gaze back to the celestial laurel tree. Expressionless, he held out his hand once more.
The celestial laurel tree decided it was merely an ordinary tree and remained entirely motionless.
Yet Wei Yuan had his ways. He pointed toward Maiden Yin-Yang. Left with no choice, the celestial laurel tree parted a seam in its bark, poked out a new shoot, and sluggishly deposited the sword qi into Wei Yuan's hand.
Once Wei Yuan had left, the celestial laurel tree, having nowhere to vent its rage, hurled a blossom at the Bingli Divine Wood. In response, the Bingli Divine Wood shook its branches and leaves, flashing a gesture considered deeply vulgar and insulting in the immortal plant realm!
The celestial laurel tree stood dumbfounded, its entire worldview shattered.
Then Wei Yuan appeared before it again. This time, the celestial laurel tree genuinely had no idea what it had done wrong.
Wei Yuan stepped out of Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, opened the medicine cabinet he had recently redeemed, and placed a roll of fresh celestial tree laurel bark inside. Among the ingredients of the Kunyuan Longevity Pill recipe he had just learned, one adjuvant was celestial tree laurel bark.
The celestial laurel tree's bark had split and shed long ago, yet the tree had kept it wrapped around its trunk. Wei Yuan had discovered it, adding another roll to his collection.
After putting the immortal medicine away, Wei Yuan reassessed his cultivation progress. Gaining two new immortal plants had contributed one small increment each to his annual progress. Yet the greatest harvest among the immortal plants remained the Dragon Blood Tree; this borrowed tree had already fruited five times.
At present, it was severely weakened, nearly dropping from the immortal rank, and was unlikely to bear a sixth crop of fruit anytime soon.
Five new Dragon Blood Tree saplings contributed another two increments, followed by the one hundred and thirty thousand people newly incorporated into the domain. When all was tallied, even if Wei Yuan did nothing at all, his spiritual qi would advance by twenty-one increments each year. The time required to complete the middle stage of Dao Foundation was now under five years.
In terms of individual contribution, the greatest was not the spirit plants, but the mortal rice.
Five hundred thousand mu of mortal rice normally yielded only one increment of spiritual qi, but every harvest contributed an additional share. Crucially, it ripened every two months, which meant it produced an extra six shares of spiritual qi a year!
Wei Yuan made up his mind, preparing to clear another five hundred thousand mu of new fields.
Amidst this brief period of calm, the Cui family's fourth batch of candidates arrived. This time, there were five hundred people, including as many as two hundred elderly individuals. With the agreed-upon duration having expired, Wei Yuan returned the Dragon Blood Tree, which was carried back by the Cui family Dharma Idol cultivator.
Yet no sooner had the Cui family flying boat departed than the flying boat of the Li family of Zhao arrived. Representing Zhao Li this time was still Marquis of Xiang Wang Qian. The Li family of Zhao was, in truth, the royal house. They had sent two hundred disciples at the peak of Body Casting with requirements similar to the Cui family's, though they set no limit on the mortality rate.
Zhao Li had risen from the battlefield and stood today as a powerhouse among the Nine Kingdoms; their martial traditions ran deep, and they had no fear of casualties.
As for Wei Yuan's compensation, aside from immortal silver, Zhao guaranteed unimpeded trade routes.
With the fourth Dao Foundation class commencing, Wei Yuan also selected one thousand Body Casting peak cultivators from within the domain to forge their foundations alongside them. Having absorbed a large population in a short span, the domain possessed over a thousand peak Body Casting cultivators among the sacrifices, refugees, and surrendered soldiers alike, totaling more than five thousand.
After the recent battle, cultivators fleeing to the domain steadily increased, providing an ample supply of fire-attribute cultivators. Consequently, Wei Yuan constructed several blast furnaces in one go, reaching a daily molten steel output of two hundred thousand jin.
Seizing this rare window of peace, Wei Yuan threw himself into clearing land and forging iron, striving to bolster his military might in the shortest possible time.
Yet Wei Yuan did not know that the annihilation of the Xu family's three-hundred-thousand-strong army had produced reverberations far exceeding his expectations.
Inside the Western Jin royal palace, the King of Jin held a steel-tube gun, clumsily loading ammunition before taking aim at a decorative rockery not far away and firing.
With a booming crash, a corner of the rockery shattered, sending stone fragments flying in all directions.
"Is this the fire gun Qingming came up with? The power is acceptable, but the accuracy is troubling," the King of Jin remarked, attempting to reload. However, the ammunition refused to slide in.
Beside him, Zhao Tong glanced at a sheet of jade paper and reminded him, "The barrel must first be cleared with dao power."
The King of Jin released a burst of dao power, blowing a cloud of black ash out of the barrel. Sure enough, the ammunition could now be inserted. Checking the firing instructions on the jade paper, Zhao Tong added, "You must also draw the ammunition to the very bottom."
Channeling his dao power, the King of Jin drew the ammunition all the way to the base of the bore, venting the air through a small hole in the barrel. Once ready, the King of Jin fired another shot, this time blowing away a massive chunk of the rockery.
After firing several shots in succession, the King of Jin lost interest and lowered the gun. "Equivalent to a casual strike from a Dao Foundation cultivator, yet beyond thirty zhang it has virtually no accuracy. Did Wei Yuan truly rely on this to wipe out the Xu family's three hundred thousand troops?"
Zhao Tong said, "Wei Yuan did not possess merely one or two such weapons, but tens of thousands! When tens of thousands fired in unison, three to four thousand of the Xu family's vanguard cavalry were wiped out instantly."
"They couldn't have fired many volleys before the cavalry reached them, could they?" the King of Jin asked.
"Your Holy Majesty is perceptive; indeed they could not. The slower ones fired three or four shots, the faster ones five or six. Wei Yuan had set up obstacles ahead of his positions, which slowed the cavalry's charge."
The King of Jin asked, "Then why didn't the Xu family flank them instead of insisting on a frontal assault?"
Zhao Tong replied, "In truth, when this old servant observed the military qi of both sides back then, Wei Yuan was visibly weaker. Infantry versus cavalry—even if the military qi were matched, had this old servant been commanding, I too would likely have charged frontally. So long as the charge succeeded, the battle would be won."
The King of Jin nodded. "Send some of these guns and ammunition to the Ministry of Works and order them to replicate them as soon as possible. Send some to Prince Ying as well, and have him form a ten-thousand-man fire gun battalion to see if it is useful."
Noticing Zhao Tong hesitating, the King of Jin asked, "Speak your mind. Why hold back?"
Zhao Tong said, "Forming a new army battalion will require considerable expense. The state treasury has no silver left this year, and this old servant fears those civil officials will cause trouble again."
"Then take it from our privy purse."
"Holy Majesty, there are no silver reserves left in the privy purse either."
The King of Jin froze, then frowned. "Then form five thousand first... no, three thousand!"
Picking up an oiled-paper cartridge, the King of Jin turned it over in his hand. "Those officials, high and low, have grown fat and bloated. Can't they be made to donate some military funds?"
Zhao Tong lowered his head. "Since the start of this year, high officials in the capital and the prefectures have already donated three times, amounting to a total of four hundred and ten thousand taels."
A surge of vexation gripped the King of Jin, and he slammed the cartridge heavily onto the ground. With a boom, the cartridge detonated!
Amidst the flash of fire and sulfurous smoke, the King of Jin's voice turned icy cold. "Wei Yuan claimed a barren wasteland, and in less than a year of effort, he equipped tens of thousands of men! How is it that here with us, equipping a mere three thousand proves so difficult?!"
Zhao Tong trembled all over, not daring to utter a sound.
Just then, Consort Yuan's melodious voice drifted in from the side: "The land Wei Yuan holds yields only five taels of silver, yet all five taels go to him. Your Majesty's land yields a hundred taels, but only a single tael reaches Your Majesty's hands. That is the reason."
A sharp light flashed in the King of Jin's eyes. Slowly, he said, "The aristocratic clans truly deserve to die!"
Chapter 350