Seeing that Wei Yuan remained unmoved, Monk Peacock said, "This poor monk merely employed a minor technique, but it is nothing more than a dharma gate allowing Patron to reflect upon your original heart and clearly perceive your true self. Whatever was seen was primarily determined by Patron's own heart."
It was fine until the original heart was brought up; when it came to that, Wei Yuan refused to believe a single word of it.
Monk Peacock sighed. "Since Patron Wei cannot be reasoned with, this poor monk shall..."
He stopped mid-sentence, asking in astonishment, "Why has Patron conceived killing intent?"
Holding down the restless Maiden Yin-Yang, Wei Yuan said, "I didn't!"
Monk Peacock spoke again. "Back in the secret realm, Patron never harbored killing intent. Why is your murderous aura so potent today? This poor monk came in earnest goodwill—could there be some misunderstanding?"
Wei Yuan said, "Back then, I was unwilling to fight among ourselves and let the foreign races profit for nothing. As for now... heh. If I don't harbor killing intent, my combat strength won't max out."
Monk Peacock was enlightened. "So that is why. It seems Patron Wei has first awakened the Wrathful Aspect. Yet the Buddha has many aspects; which one awakens first does not matter. In the end, all aspects will become complete, and then all aspects will turn to void, attaining karmic attainment."
"Thank you for the guidance, Master. However, I have no intention of entering the Pure Land for the time being. Master, please take your leave."
"Then this poor monk shall return to diligently cultivate the Buddhadharma. I will come again in the future." Monk Peacock offered a bow and departed.
Only after the monk left did Maiden Yin-Yang quiet down.
Li Zhi did not dally, summoning a flying boat to depart for Four Sages Academy. Before leaving, he transferred one-third of the authority over Zhenshan Domain to Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan was now essentially a partial Domain Lord—he could do anything except uproot the boundary stone.
The Zhenshan boundary stone was buried deep beneath the Castellan's Manor, heavily guarded. Li Zhi had already given instructions prior to his departure, so Wei Yuan proceeded without hindrance all the way to the doors of the secret chamber.
Over a dozen guards worked together to pull the mechanisms, opening a steel door weighing over ten thousand jin. Behind the doors lay a subterranean great hall, where the Zhenshan boundary stone was revealed in its true form.
This was the first time Wei Yuan had ever come into contact with another boundary stone. It was shaped like the head of a giant ape, a full three zhang across, looking remarkably lifelike.
Stepping up to the boundary stone, Wei Yuan placed his hand upon it. Immediately, he sensed a faint consciousness within the stone that felt both fear and a touch of kinship toward him.
This boundary stone had already developed faint spirituality. As expected of Li Zhi's family heirloom; had its spirituality been just slightly stronger, it could have been classified as an extraordinary-grade boundary stone.
For all things in the world, cultivating spirituality from nothingness was the hardest part. Moving from existing to strong was comparatively easier, mostly relying on steady nurturing to elevate it day by day, month by month.
Sweeping over it with his divine sense, Wei Yuan checked the boundary stone's basic status and the current condition of Zhenshan Domain.
The Zhenshan boundary stone was a superior-grade boundary stone whose spirituality had already formed. It had reached rank two, with an upper limit of covering one hundred and eighty li of domain; currently, it covered a little over one hundred and twenty li.
The boundary stone possessed two traits.
The first was Mountain Stabilizing, a trait that enhanced the defense of humans within the domain.
The second was Boundless Mountains, which increased the domain's radius by eighty percent compared to ordinary superior-grade boundary stones.
The third was a function-level ability named Spirited Mountains, which slightly increased the concentration of spiritual qi within the domain.
The abilities of boundary stones were categorized in ascending order of power as functions, traits, and divine marvels. The Zhenshan boundary stone boasted two traits and one function, making it considerably remarkable. In particular, Boundless Mountains—an ability that could expand the domain's range—was practically a divine art.
Yet compared to Qingming's three divine marvels and one trait, Zhenshan truly paled in comparison. It was just that Qingming's final divine marvel remained blank, with no indication of how to activate it. Even without that last marvel, however, Qingming fully lived up to the name of an immortal stone.
Presently, Zhenshan Domain had reached the upper limit permitted by the stone's current degree of nurturing, capable of expanding by only one li every thirty days. Only as time passed and the nurturing deepened could it advance to the next stage.
Wei Yuan experimented by manifesting Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains. Instantly, the spirituality within the Zhenshan boundary stone grew wildly excited, sending faint tremors coursing through the earth of the entire domain!
Wei Yuan cursed inwardly. He had forgotten that this boundary stone already possessed spirituality. He had only intended to see whether manifesting Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains could boost the stone's capabilities, but now Zhenshan wanted to recognize him as its master!
Wei Yuan hurriedly drew forth a wisp of Qingming's aura and pressed down Zhenshan's spirituality, preventing a repeat of what had happened when Qingming acknowledged him. Zhenshan's nascent spirituality seemed profoundly aggrieved, but dared not disobey, quieting down obediently.
Only after suppressing Zhenshan did Wei Yuan let out a breath of relief. If he accidentally made Zhenshan recognize him as its master, he wouldn't know how to face Li Zhi when he returned.
Even so, blessed by Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, the origin qi of heaven and earth manifested throughout Zhenshan Domain. The boundary stone's nurturing progress surged dramatically, and the domain resumed expanding at a rate of one li per day, on par with Qingming's current pace.
Having grasped the stone's condition, Wei Yuan exited the secret chamber, closed and locked the steel door, and summoned all the civil and military officials of Zhenshan to get a clear picture of the domain and its surrounding circumstances.
The State of Zhao had granted Mountain Pacifying Military Commissioner Li Zhi a special charter to raise twenty zhen of troops, totaling one hundred thousand men. The Military Commissioner concurrently held the rank of General Pacifying the West, under whom were two generals with miscellaneous titles and ten Brigade Generals. Zhao disbursed two million liang of immortal silver annually for military expenditures, with the remainder raised independently.
Hearing this, Wei Yuan could not help feeling a bit envious. In comparison, Western Jin not only failed to provide a single copper of military pay, but was also stingy with official troop quotas, still giving him only four zhen to this day.
Wei Yuan could not understand why the people in the imperial court hoarded official quotas so tightly. Did they honestly think that withholding quotas would stop him from building an army?
Zhenshan Domain currently maintained forty thousand elite troops, mostly from Southern Qi, all converted from Li family retainers.
At this, Wei Yuan felt another wave of envy. Li Zhi had started out with forty thousand elites and three or four Dharma Idol cultivators personally guarding him. When Wei Yuan started out, all he had in his hands was a begging bowl... oh, no, a formation plate bestowed by an Immortal Monarch.
Wei Yuan tucked away his jealousy and continued listening to the generals' reports. After establishing the boundary stone, Li Zhi had progressively recruited sixty thousand militiamen from the local population of Zhao. These men already had a foundation in Body Casting, requiring only a little training and familiarity with military orders before they could take the field.
Needless to say, these tens of thousands of experienced militiamen hadn't fallen from the sky either; they were roughly at the level of the Xu family's private army. Qingming currently had about three hundred thousand militiamen of the same caliber, all captured by Wei Yuan one by one.
On the civilian side, Li Zhi had recruited one hundred thousand displaced refugees and opened one hundred thousand mu of farmland, having just harvested a single season.
Zhenshan Domain lacked Jia Wood Life-Mystic, so a crop season took three months, the same as anywhere else in the human domain, whereas in Qingming crops matured in two months.
Wei Yuan then went to the military camps, inspecting the entire army thoroughly.
When Wei Yuan had come to Li Zhi's rescue previously, many of Zhenshan's veteran soldiers had been present, witnessing with their own eyes how Wei Yuan had routed the Mountain Folk army with overwhelming force. With Wei Yuan now temporarily taking command of Zhenshan, naturally not a single soul across the ranks raised any objection.
After inspecting the elites, he inspected the militiamen. Wei Yuan then tested Outlaw of Heaven and Earth, finding that it still worked on soldiers in Zhenshan Domain, though the effect was far less pronounced than on Qingming soldiers.
Wei Yuan grew pensive. It seemed that after living in a different domain for a long time, people would inevitably be marked by the boundary stone.
Once he finished inspecting the militiamen, the city, the farmland, and the mines, the troops transferred from Qingming arrived.
Aside from ten thousand Longxiang and Dragon Wing elites dedicated to foreign campaigns, Wei Yuan had also brought four thousand Hall of Heavenly Secrets Dao soldiers.
Originally, the five thousand Dao soldiers given by True Monarch Yanshi had produced nearly a thousand Dao Foundations. After sending those Dao Foundations back, Wei Yuan had felt that the remaining Dao soldiers still had untapped potential. So he had retained everyone who hadn't achieved Dao Foundation and begun a three-month program of special training.
The one leading these Dao soldiers now was Xu Wenwu.
Having suddenly become such a high-ranking officer, Xu Wenwu had been so thrilled he could barely contain himself. Then, after being swayed by Wei Yuan's smooth encouragement, he resolved to embark on the path to becoming a legendary general. A legendary general was supposed to share joys and sorrows, eating and sleeping alongside the troops, so he had already lived in the barracks for a month.
For this expedition, specialized officers naturally handled all preparations and marching matters; Xu Wenwu needed only to issue orders. Yet Xu Wenwu had no desire to be a freeloader riding on others' coattails, so he studied diligently under these officers. His command ability had improved by leaps and bounds—it was just that his personal strength was still a bit weak.
Wei Yuan ordered the Qingming army to rest for the night and deploy tomorrow.
Come nightfall, Wei Yuan was sitting in Li Zhi's study, browsing through the official correspondence between Li Zhi and Zhao, when a tiny silhouette suddenly appeared on the windowsill. It turned out to be the flying sable.
The flying sable conveyed that since Wei Yuan now had Domain Lord authority, he should share a little with it. With that authority, even a mere sliver, its underground movement within the domain would accelerate severalfold.
The flying sable only had this small hobby. After a moment's thought, Wei Yuan agreed, though he required it to bring whatever it found underground for him to inspect first. If the sable truly wanted something, Wei Yuan would compensate Li Zhi at a discounted value.
Whatever was found outside the domain would belong entirely to the flying sable.
The flying sable agreed immediately. Just as it prepared to leave, a wave of fragrant breeze enveloped the study, and a lithe woman leaped inside, crying out:
"Brother Zhi, I'm here! Aren't you surprised? Aren't you shocked?"
The girl who had rushed in had a sweet appearance, looking quirky and mischievous, with a voluptuous, sultry figure.
The fatal part was that all her clothes were clutched in her arms; she didn't have a stitch on her body, yet she had leaped right into the study like that!
Wei Yuan stared at her silently.
The sable stared at her silently.
The cat on the windowsill stared at her silently.
A large snake on the rafters poked its head out, staring at her silently.
The girl froze like a wooden chicken, the clothes in her hands tumbling to the floor.
Just then, with a chant of the Buddha's name, a green-robed monk walked past behind the girl, stepped out of the study, and melted into the night, making it clear that he had truly just been passing by.
Chapter 428