Guidance

When the match concluded, Monk Qiuyue produced a small pouch and said, "Inside this pouch is a handful of immortal soil, which this poor monk obtained in his younger years from a hidden realm beyond the heavens. Planting spirit items in this soil increases their chances of advancing in grade. Applying even a trace of it to ordinary spirit flora will, to a great extent, induce a mutation. "Observing your aura, little friend, I sense that you harbor many spirit plants within you. This humble offering might prove useful. Please accept it as a token of gratitude for your guidance in the way of Go." Wei Yuan intended to decline politely, but a wisp of aura seeping from the cloth pouch was already stirring the spirit flora within him into restless excitement. Recognizing immediately that this was no ordinary treasure and would be of tremendous benefit to him, he thickened his skin and accepted it. Wei Yuan was hardly a slave to empty decorum. Had it been an inexpensive, useless gift from a senior, he might have feigned polite refusal. But since it was such an extraordinarily useful object, Wei Yuan took it at once, lest the monk change his mind. Mister Chenzhou spoke as well. "In the battle prior to this, I observed your miraculous command of troops, not a whit inferior to the famed generals of this age. The art of war and the way of Go share identical principles; one can roughly deduce your mastery of troop deployment from your play upon the board. "I possess nothing truly extraordinary here, save for a remnant volume of ancient military strategy entitled *Treading Shadows*. This text can be wielded by any cultivator of the dharma idol realm, its efficacy dependent on the user's cultivation. It dramatically enhances marching speed, sustaining the effect across five thousand li. If held by a master of the Scenery Command realm, its power increases even further. "It was already a fragment when it fell into my hands, and I surmise there ought to be three other sections. It is merely that fortune has not favored me, and despite searching for many years, I could not find the rest. I am by nature an idle cloud, a wild crane, with little use for such a book. You, little friend, garrison the borders of the human domain and must continually do battle against alien tribes. A famed artifact belongs in the hands of one with whom it shares an affinity, and in my eyes, this text shares an affinity with you." A sweep of Wei Yuan's divine sense was enough to grasp the book's general function. A dharma idol cultivator holding this text could lead an army of ten thousand across eight hundred li per shichen, or a cavalry force of ten thousand across a thousand li, without their military qi faltering along the way or fearing ambushes and sneak attacks. In this manner, an elite force could march ten thousand li into battle within two days—a capability of monumental strategic significance. If held in Wei Yuan's own hands, or those of a Scenery Command cultivator, its potency could increase to carry twenty thousand men. Faced with such a divine artifact, Wei Yuan had no way to refuse either. He accepted it without the slightest hesitation or coyness. In its present state, the text was already at the level of a Scenery Command spirit treasure; if the lost sections could ever be assembled, it would undoubtedly become an immortal scripture. Having presented his gift, Monk Qiuyue felt something was still lacking and added, "This poor monk feels that I must address you as 'Mister' once more. Only then will everything be complete..." Wei Yuan hurriedly adopted a solemn expression and demurred. How could he possibly accept such a title? Just then, Monk Qiuyue noticed an odd look on True Monarch Xuanyue's face, accompanied by a rather sly smile. At this moment, the great monk's Zen mind was clear and luminous. He immediately activated his innate divine ability—one akin to the ability to know another's mind, which allowed him to occasionally catch the inner thoughts of others. The closer his connection to the person, the clearer the voice. As the ability took effect, he overheard the inner monologue of that old scoundrel Xuanyue: *...If this monk calls Yuan'er 'Mister', wouldn't that make him my great-great-grand-disciple? Well, when we cross paths in the martial world hereafter, it wouldn't be improper at all for this old Daoist to call him 'Little Monk'...* Monk Qiuyue's bald head flushed red in an instant, flames practically spurting from his eyes. His flawless Zen mind, newly restored to clarity, cracked with several sharp fractures! The divine ability shattered instantly, cutting off whatever followed. But he had no need to hear more; it was bound to be nothing pleasant. Monk Qiuyue glared at True Monarch Xuanyue, barely swallowing down his fury out of respect for Wei Yuan. *That old thief seeks to obstruct my attainment of the Dao,* he fumed inwardly. *This grievance shall not be forgotten!* True Monarch Xuanyue was baffled by Monk Qiuyue's glare, though he felt a pang of guilt. *Could this bald thief somehow know what I was thinking?* he wondered. *Nonsense, that's impossible!* Once Wei Yuan had received the gifts of gratitude, the Seventh Elder and the two grandmasters lingered no longer, setting out on their departure. For Scenery Command cultivators, every additional moment spent in the Shattered Lands was an ordeal. Furthermore, they were eager to return and review the games move by move. The joy in that far surpassed any other. After parting ways, a sudden stir rippled through Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness. Countless motes of light drifted in from heaven and earth, ultimately coalescing into two thick pillars of purple karmic luck! These two strands of karmic luck resembled pillars of purple crystal, floating serenely within his sea of consciousness. Wei Yuan was taken aback once again. To think that playing a few games of Go could yield karmic luck! As it turned out, karmic luck derived from a True Monarch was purple, clearly an entire grade above azure qi. It suddenly struck Wei Yuan that if the game records were published and widely circulated, wouldn't he reap an immense amount of karmic luck? Thinking along these lines, Wei Yuan felt that perhaps he ought to seek out and sweep through a few more grandmasters, Go Immortals, and Go Sages in the future. The more game records there were, the greater the karmic luck. If the way of Go functioned like this, did the zither, calligraphy, and painting work the same way? However, after letting his thoughts wander briefly, Wei Yuan found no shortcuts for those other arts and had to let the matter rest. True Monarch Xuanyue stayed behind a while longer, offering pointers on the difficulties in Wei Yuan's cultivation and instructing him to visit Water Moon Hall at the main mountain as soon as he had free time. Although Wei Yuan's primary method for elevating the spirituality of his dharma idol was no longer seated meditation in seclusion, the original cultivation texts preserved in Water Moon Hall contained former Immortal Monarchs' comprehensions of the True Meaning of Great Yin. That was the most precious treasure of all. The True Meaning of Great Yin was remarkably close to the Great Dao, ranked only one tier below Yin and Yang, making it exceedingly precious. Wei Yuan had previously assumed that studying the Myriad Aspects of Great Yin Moon Splendor merely meant absorbing some cultivation insights. Since his Spirit Nurturing Realm of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World had clearly found the correct path, he had been in no hurry, repeatedly postponing his return to the main mountain. Whenever he had a bit of spare time, he had flown to the Northern Mountain Gate to see his patriarch and master. Only now, guided by True Monarch Xuanyue, did Wei Yuan understand the true worth of the Moon Splendor Ten Thousand Facets Chapter. Having concluded his guidance, True Monarch Xuanyue offered a few words of encouragement before preparing to depart. Prior to his leave, Wei Yuan respectfully presented him with two sets of magic-treasure-grade robes. These were precisely what the True Monarch urgently needed, so he accepted them with delight. In passing, he gave Fenhai a sound scolding, grumbling about how the man had squandered immense quantities of silver and resources over the years, only to cause trouble and run up greater debts once his cultivation advanced, rather than making any contribution to the hall. Had Perfected Fenhai not stumbled into an exclusive trade boiling water for others a few years back to bring in some meager earnings, Xuanyue would have expelled him long ago. Wei Yuan was an entirely different story. While he had consumed a great deal in his early days, he now earned just as aggressively. Setting everything else aside, merely training Dao soldiers for the Palace of Grand Beginning had added nearly a thousand Dao Foundation cultivators to Sky Azure Hall, seven or eight hundred of whom were practically pure profit. The gains from that alone were beyond measure. All in all, Sky Azure Hall's voice in the conflict at the Northern Mountain Gate had grown significantly. True Monarch Xuanyue no longer had to take the field in person every day just to fulfill the military merit quotas assigned by the palace. With the reinforcement of over two thousand Dao-Foundation-grade Dao soldiers, the pressure on the Northern Mountain Gate had eased considerably, and the loss of territory had been halted. Furthermore, several factions that had previously adopted a wait-and-see stance began to waver, and the supplies shipped to the Northern Mountain Gate had increased. Seeing Patriarch Xuanyue in such fine spirits, Wei Yuan asked, "Didn't you borrow tens of millions of immortal silver back then, Patriarch? How could you still be short of spare robes?" Xuanyue merely waved it off, saying, "Immortal silver comes in heaps, but it spends just as fast. We suddenly gained so many Dao soldiers; equipping them with food, clothing, lodgings, and cultivation necessities consumed several millions right off the bat. The main hall of Sky Azure Hall requires reconstruction, and making it presentable will cost another few millions. "Beyond that, I plan to install a grand karmic luck formation and a spirit gathering formation in the mountain gate's main hall, and open up several spiritual mountain herb fields. These expenditures are no small matter, yet they can be passed down to future generations—that is where immortal silver is best spent. "Besides, your patriarch didn't cultivate toward immortality for nothing. Isn't this dharma body far sturdier than any immortal robe? Sky Azure Hall is not yet restored, and there are so many disciples and grand-disciples to look after. There is no need to waste silver on robes."