A few days later.
Wei Yuan was summoned to the Hall of Heavenly Craft. True Monarch Jinshi sat in the center of the hall, gazing at an antique flowerpot before him. Inside the pot was soil of an oily black tinged with deep greenish-blue.
The moment Wei Yuan stepped into the Hall of Heavenly Craft, his gaze was drawn to the flowerpot. The bloodline within his body began to surge, approaching a boil in the blink of an eye.
True Monarch Jinshi said, "The immortal storage ring has been opened. This was inside."
"What is this?" Wei Yuan asked.
Danmingzi's voice rang out from outside the hall. "This item was crafted from true dragon blood, steeped into soil from a submarine volcano in the deepest depths of the Eastern Sea."
True Monarch Jinshi said, "Senior Brother Danming is indeed much more knowledgeable about such matters."
Danmingzi entered the hall, took a seat beside True Monarch Jinshi, and gently stroked his long eyebrows as he spoke slowly, "This blood is no ordinary dragon blood, but dragon liver blood. Once mixed with soil from a Southern Sea volcano, it becomes exquisite treasure soil for planting immortal flora. Any ordinary immortal plant cultivated upon it has the hope of advancing a grade."
Wei Yuan had known that Longying had to possess treasures, likely dragon treasures at that, but he had never imagined one so rare as to stir even the master of the Monastery of Creation.
True Monarch Danming continued, "This batch of treasure soil originally contained three drops of dragon liver blood. Taking the liberty, this old Daoist extracted one drop and refined it. Its medicinal properties can now be released gradually, allowing someone of frail constitution to ingest it and mend a damaged foundation. However, if another drop is added, it will yield the effect of rebirth through the Mysterious Female, shedding the old foundation to reshape the physical body, elevating one's innate constitution to a higher level.
"Yet in all things, benefits come with drawbacks. Doing so will incur karmic ties with the true dragon, which may cause one's karmic luck to decline slightly."
Hearing this, Wei Yuan understood immediately. The refined dragon liver blood was practically made specifically for Zhang Sheng. Without a second thought, he said, "Then please refine another drop!"
Extracting two drops of true blood would inevitably inflict a loss upon the treasure soil, but as to how great that loss would be, Wei Yuan simply didn't bother to ask.
Before Danmingzi could reply, the figure of True Monarch Huangyun manifested beside True Monarch Jinshi, calling out, "Hold on!"
True Monarch Huangyun pointed toward the flowerpot and said, "The union of dragon liver blood and the water-fire earth of the Eastern Sea forms supreme-grade treasure soil. For my Hall of Jianmu, it is an invaluable treasure. The Bao family builds its lineage upon the Wood-phase immortal path, and the Dao Foundations and dharma idols of the prodigies within their clan are mostly immortal flora and treasure trees. Thus, this pot of soil holds extraordinary significance for them. Even for a True Monarch, being able to transplant their core dharma idol into this soil could potentially elevate their natural aptitudes a notch.
"If you were to give this pot of soil to the Bao family, no demand you make would be excessive. Furthermore, if a Dao Foundation is an immortal plant, even if mostly destroyed, receiving this soil would not only restore it completely, but allow it to advance further. However, there must be at least two drops of dragon blood remaining in the soil; with one drop less, it loses such miraculous efficacy."
The moment Wei Yuan heard this, he understood what True Monarch Huangyun was referring to.
Looking at the three lofty True Monarchs, Wei Yuan could not help but feel a headache brewing. How did they seem to know every little detail about his affairs?
Was there anything they didn't know?
Yet now the dilemma lay right before him. There were only three drops of dragon liver blood in total, and either side required two drops; a single drop was useless. Wei Yuan suddenly felt as though he had been hit with an impossible question.
The three True Monarchs each seemed to hold their own stance: Danmingzi faintly leaned toward the Sky Azure Hall, True Monarch Huangyun stood on the side of the Bao family, while True Monarch Jinshi remained impartial.
Wei Yuan turned the matter over in his mind, then asked, "Does the Palace have any more dragon liver blood?"
Danmingzi shook his head. "We have true dragon blood, but no dragon liver blood."
True Monarch Huangyun also said, "For treasure trees and immortal flora, dragon liver blood cannot be replaced; even true dragon blood will not do."
Wei Yuan's headache worsened.
After weighing the options, Wei Yuan finally said, "Senior Danming, please refine another drop of dragon blood."
Seeing that Wei Yuan had made his choice, the figures of True Monarchs Danming and Huangyun dissipated.
Once the two True Monarchs had departed, True Monarch Jinshi took out a weapon and handed it to Wei Yuan. In appearance, this weapon somewhat resembled Flawless Transmigration, but it was larger in size with a thicker caliber—even in Wei Yuan's large hand, it was a snug fit.
In addition, the barrel and receiver were longer, and there was a bulging section along one side housing the action, where ammunition could be loaded. Apart from the action, fine grooves ran along the body, which both provided a firm grip and served as engraved arrays.
True Monarch Jinshi pointed with his finger, and three metal cylinders appeared before him, drifting over to Wei Yuan. He then said, "This is your new gun's... ah, that ammunition."
True Monarch Jinshi was clearly not yet accustomed to the word "ammunition."
Wei Yuan accepted them, loaded one cylinder into the gun, and with a stir of Dao power, ejected it back out. Both chambering and extraction were silky smooth.
"This old Daoist is truly not adept at such crafts. These three rounds of ammunition are merely prototypes, but take them and use them as you will. Each round carries the strike power of the late dharma idol realm." With that, True Monarch Jinshi handed Wei Yuan the schematics for the three rounds.
Dense arrays and the formulations for the casing and core were recorded upon jade paper. With a single glance, Wei Yuan spotted seven or eight precious materials. A single round like this had to be worth at least several tens of thousands of taels of immortal silver. Having grown used to ammunition costing one tael of silver a round, Wei Yuan could not help but wince at the expense.
True Monarch Jinshi said, "This old Daoist has reforged this gun, adding numerous materials so that it is comparable to a Scenery Command spirit treasure. However, after you return, you will need to choose some immortal spiritual qi to infuse into it, then reforge and activate it with dharma idol fire. Only then will its divine anomalies be awakened, allowing it to transform into a true spirit treasure that can be stored within your sea of consciousness."
"Many thanks, True Monarch!" Wei Yuan had originally thought it could only be remodeled into a top-grade magical treasure, never expecting the Master of the Hall of Heavenly Craft to display such extraordinary prowess and elevate it straight to a spirit treasure.
True Monarch Jinshi said, "Consider this gun compensation for Zhizhuo's essence of metal nature. Furthermore, I will dispatch a few more disciples to temper themselves within your domain."
Wei Yuan was overjoyed. This was a godsend.
Returning to his dwelling, Wei Yuan immediately set to work reforging the newly acquired firearm.
Once activated with immortal spiritual qi, this gun would naturally harmonize with heaven and earth, combining with Wei Yuan's fate pattern, karmic luck, and present surroundings to spontaneously generate matching divine traits, along with its own name.
Gain accompanied loss in all things, so Wei Yuan was deprived of the joy of naming it himself.
True Monarch Jinshi had already provided the array for the refinement. Wei Yuan took some time to lay out the formation, and then came to the step of selecting which immortal spiritual qi to use to activate the weapon.
At this stage, Wei Yuan was stuck once more. There was no other reason—he simply had too many varieties of immortal spiritual qi on hand. And in their desire to become the spirit treasure's core, the immortal plants were already bickering, on the verge of coming to blows.
Facing such an opportunity, even the four orchids could no longer remain composed.
The orchids banded together to confront the other immortal plants. For a time, strength in orchid numbers made their faction formidable and grand in scale. Yet Wei Yuan had a feeling that if these orchids ever subdued the other plants, they would immediately turn on one another.
Although immortal flora had higher and lower ranks, Wei Yuan felt that was merely humanity's classification. Each plant's divine anomalies had their unique uses, achieving maximum efficacy when applied in the right place. Thus, Wei Yuan had quite a headache over it, and so he assigned a new mission to the Three Great Research Institutes within the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains.
This mission was no small matter. The devotees of every immortal plant sprang into action, striving to prove that their own revered plant was the strongest.
Only now did Wei Yuan realize that faith was simply faith. If it involved logic and reason, it wouldn't be faith—it would be what Xu Wenwu called "science."
The intensity of arguments among the devotees of various factions went straight to maximum from the start, as if holy wars had broken out. To ensure their own plant would triumph in the end, they first had to seize leadership over the Three Great Research Institutes, and then write their plant into the submitted mission reports.
The mortals soon grasped the key to the struggle, and in an instant, the conflict progressed into its second stage: contesting leadership over specific groups.
The struggle in this stage became far more complex. Because Wei Yuan had vetoed physical combat right from the beginning, the devotees had to exert their intellects, rendering the conflict exceptionally convoluted.
The mortals engaged in polemics from every conceivable angle—majority rule versus minority rule, divisions of lineage, the noble and lowly status of different professions, original sin, and so forth—until they were ultimately debating the very definition of leadership.
Those who lost the arguments did not give up. Some prepared to launch armed struggle, while others began questioning the authority of the Three Great Research Institutes, setting out to establish research institutes of their own. Yet over the question of what kind of research institute to establish, this group splintered again, ultimately giving rise to several new research institutes.
In the blink of an eye, several new research institutes sprang up within the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, until every immortal plant had its own dedicated research institute. The orchids held an obvious advantage in this regard, having four institutes to their name.
What caused real headaches was that small handful preparing for armed struggle. Many of them hailed from the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths Battle Saint Hall; they were brawny and fiery-tempered by nature, and debating was hardly their forte. Consequently, they were swiftly routed once the arguments began, leaving them half-dead from frustration.
Because Wei Yuan had rejected physical combat from the outset, some among them grew resentful, believing that heaven and earth were unjust, the gods and immortals were unjust, and the Domain Lord was unjust.
In the end, they pointed their spearheads at Wei Yuan, deeming him the black hand pulling strings behind the scenes, and raised slogans:
"My fate is determined by me, not heaven!"
"Immortals, gods, and Domain Lords—are they born of noble blood?!"
They plotted to destroy Wei Yuan's immortal statues, overthrow Wei Yuan's brutal rule over the mortal realm of the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, and enthrone the Jade Toad as the lord of this realm. They secretly began sculpting toad statues to erect throughout the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains to consolidate faith.
Just before launching their uprising, they suddenly stormed into the Creation of Heaven and Earth Research Institute and unearthed a large seal in the courtyard, engraved with the words: "Having received the mandate from the Toad, may longevity and prosperity reign forever."
This crowd brandished the great seal as they rallied support far and wide, clamoring that the celestial hour had arrived and that it was time to re-establish the cosmos.
Truly unable to endure it any longer, Wei Yuan struck down several bolts of lightning, teaching these overly immersed fellows on the spot what it meant that heaven and earth were indifferent.
After lingering for a long while, Wei Yuan saw that the mortals truly could not produce a unified answer. Thus, he adopted a compromise: using the Yin-Yang Maiden's yin-yang aura as the base, he took a bit of every other immortal spiritual qi, blended them together, and sent the mixture into the array.
And so the origin qi of heaven and earth manifested and poured down, merging within the array with the various factors of heaven, earth, and man, and various karmic luck. A spark of sentience formed, and thus this gun gained its own spirit, and its own name.
The gun's name: Brutal.
Chapter 420