The path of immortal cultivation actually had its embellishments. For instance, Bao Yun refused to accept her previous defeat and arranged another brawl with the Traditionalist Faction. This time, Wei Yuan had also begun Body Casting, so he could finally trade blows back and forth.
None of the students was willing to defer to any other, so the only real order Bao Yun and Cui Yu could give amounted to "Charge!" Even the Reform Faction was a loose sheet of sand, and once the fighting started, it quickly degenerated into a chaotic melee.
Wei Yuan found that a chaotic brawl was completely different from the martial test, making the fight feel thoroughly awkward. Whenever he went to throw a punch, one of his own allies would happen to block his path; whenever he tried to dodge, someone would step on his foot. In short, everything went wrong, and he was undermined by his own teammates at every turn.
As the saying went: when disaster strikes one side, trouble pours in from all eight directions to make it worse.
Thus, Wei Yuan was surrounded and beaten black and blue yet again.
However, after beginning Body Casting, Wei Yuan's physique had grown significantly tougher. Even after being pinned down and beaten by over a dozen people for half a day, he suffered no damage to his sinews or bones; even flesh wounds barely broke the skin. If anything, the people beating him ended up utterly exhausted. Still, when the fight was over, Wei Yuan was covered in bruises, and his face looked rather battered.
After two brawls, the students taking centralized instruction were firmly branded with the Reform Faction label, locked in irreconcilable opposition against the Traditionalist Faction disciples. A few months later, Bao Yun and Cui Yu launched another battle of vengeance. In light of Wei Yuan's formidable performance in pinning down over a dozen opponents the last time, he was unanimously chosen to hold a whole front on his own.
By now, most of the students had finished tempering sinew and muscle and entered Blood Refinement; a small portion had even begun Bone Refinement. Consequently, their physical strength had surged dramatically—leaping several zhang or shattering stones with a punch had become commonplace. Palace of Grand Beginning disciples were a gathering of prodigies, each endowed with all manner of divine powers. The moment they exerted force, they were bathed in ribbons of light and iridescent halos. Regardless of actual combat effectiveness, their aura had to be maximized.
And so the clash sent them soaring through the air and burrowing into the earth amid dazzling radiance, with all kinds of phantom divine beasts, immortals, and demons flashing across the sky. When the Three Immortals pacified Yunzhou all those years ago, it hadn't been nearly so ostentatious.
Yet no matter how ethereal the opening looked or how brilliantly the lights shone, the brawl eventually devolved into hand-to-hand melee where sides blurred together—and teammates appeared around Wei Yuan once more.
And then, Wei Yuan was beaten black and blue.
Fortunately, subsisting on three Origin-Nourishing Pills a day had made Wei Yuan even tougher and thicker-skinned than before, so punches and kicks landing on his body were hardly unbearable. These arranged fights were considered spars, so both sides fought barehanded without using others' dharma treasures. Otherwise, if someone pulled out a dharma sword to stab at Wei Yuan, even he couldn't have withstood it. Wei Yuan also discovered that as long as weapons weren't involved, even blows from those in Bone Refinement didn't hurt that much.
Of course, Wei Yuan knew his limits. Knowing this was reality rather than an illusion like the martial test, he felt embarrassed to use Outlaw of Heaven and Earth.
When the brawl ended and Bao Yun saw Wei Yuan's state, she nearly burst into tears. However, Wei Yuan had pinned down more than twenty opponents by himself in this battle, allowing Cui Yu and Bao Yun to sweep aside opposition elsewhere and ultimately secure victory. This was the Reform Faction's first win, and everyone was jubilant—except for Wei Yuan.
Afterward, Bao Yun felt terribly guilty. She sought Wei Yuan out on her own initiative, consoling him in soft, gentle tones for quite some time, and personally forced ten thousand taels of immortal silver upon him. Wei Yuan had refused with all his might, but Bao Yun insisted it was merely a loan rather than a gift, appealing to fellow-disciple affection, their connection as fellow provincials, and finally even bringing up Zhang Sheng before Wei Yuan reluctantly accepted. In terms of cultivation realm, Wei Yuan was indeed lagging behind the whole class.
By this time, the hundred thousand taels of immortal silver in the class's public account had been mostly spent, and the results were glaringly evident. With sufficient resources and pills, most Reform Faction students progressed far beyond expectations, leaving the Traditionalist Faction well behind in average progress.
After spending over a year together, Wei Yuan now had a somewhat direct appreciation of the power of the aristocratic clans. He no longer held the bizarre notion that Bao Yun parting with tens of thousands of taels of immortal silver would impact her daily life.
Having taken Bao Yun's ten thousand taels, Wei Yuan's personal debt now exceeded thirty thousand taels. That included six thousand taels for coursework resources and fifteen thousand taels borrowed from the public account. Ever since his debt of immortal silver surpassed a thousand taels, Wei Yuan's mentality had undergone a subtle shift: the owed money felt like nothing more than a number. He no longer lost sleep over anxiety, and borrowing money had become far more natural and composed.
Winning this brawl gave the Reform Faction students a tremendous morale boost. A few days later, Cui Yu announced he was personally adding another fifty thousand taels to the public account, Bao Yun promptly followed with fifty thousand taels, and Xiaoyu followed with another fifty thousand taels. Thus, the morale of all the students surged to unprecedented heights—except for Wei Yuan.
Wei Yuan exhaled and inhaled lunar essence.
Days could always be endured. Enduring day after day, imperceptibly, it was already the third year.
According to the teacher of the Theory of Heaven and Earth, an invisible great star would move between several equally invisible great stars this year, portending misfortune and upheaval. As for how he knew an invisible great star was moving, the instructor spent three whole classes lecturing on it, listing out countless Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches and drawing innumerable shapes that barely resembled circles. Wei Yuan didn't understand a thing, and neither did anyone else in class.
The teacher of the Theory of Karmic Destiny claimed that the grand karmic fortune of heaven and earth was stirring with ripples: the fortunes of the era had peaked and were waning, national fortune was in turmoil, and human destiny was swinging wildly through highs and lows. He likewise listed a mass of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, and no one understood him either.
For the Theory of the Dao Foundation, Eldest Senior Sister Liuli stated that forming a Dao Foundation this year would grant an extra bonus to slaughter and warfare, sending the students into a frenzy of excitement and prompting them to take on extra training after class.
Finally, the teacher for the Theory of Arts was replaced. Rather than discussing pills and artifacts, the new teacher expounded extensively on shamanic invocations, divination, curse arts, and poison techniques. Suddenly, far fewer students meditated during class, and everyone listened with exceptional focus.
Wei Yuan used the newly learned art of divination to perform a reading for himself. The hexagram read: financial loss.
Wei Yuan felt he hadn't grasped the Theory of Arts properly.
Still, just to be safe, he decided that when he had free time, he should look up Yan Ming from the Eastern Sea to catch up and become friends. After all, they were fellow provincials.
All in all, the twelfth year of Longwu in Great Tang was destined to be an eventful autumn.
Not long after spring arrived, Wei Yuan noticed that the atmosphere within the sect had turned somewhat bizarre.
On this day, the time came once again for cleansing his foundation. Wei Yuan went to the Hall of Affairs as usual. The moment he stepped into the courtyard, he saw Eldest Senior Sister sitting inside the room, twirling an orchid in her hand.
The orchid was extraordinarily exquisite, suffused through and through with spiritual vitality and celestial grace, prompting Wei Yuan to look at it several times subconsciously. The more he looked, the more certain he became that it was no ordinary specimen. But he soon noticed a detail: the orchid actually had no roots. The bottom of its stem constantly dissolved into countless brilliant motes of stardust before vanishing, breathtakingly beautiful.
How could such an orchid exist in this world?
Before Wei Yuan could marvel at it, Ji Liuli snapped, "Hurry it up! What are you dawdling for?!"
Ji Liuli's words weren't directed at Wei Yuan. Only then did Wei Yuan realize there was someone else in the room, bustling before the medicine cabinet and stocking processed packets of herbs into their corresponding drawers.
This water-like man was simply too dazzling. Though Wei Yuan had only ever caught a glimpse of his profile before, he still recognized him immediately: Xu Henshui.
At that moment, he was pinching several stalks of herbs between his fingers, hesitating reluctantly to put them into the medicine cabinet. Ji Liuli sneered coldly, sliding her hand all the way up the orchid's stem until she gripped the blossom.
Chapter 50