Though the inner layer of Wei Yuan's face burned as if on fire, nothing showed on the surface. He merely stood with hands clasped behind his back, then quietly tucked away his dharma idol dragon guard.
Wei Yuan watched the young nobleman below with focused interest. It had been a long time since he had seen anyone dare to walk all over him like this. Ever since he had achieved his dharma idol, even Scenery Command True Monarchs treated him with a measure of respect. This young nobleman truly was a rare specimen, one worthy of careful observation.
The young nobleman glanced toward the sky and said offhandedly, "No need to bother anymore, everyone. We've already been found out."
Then he strolled into the courtyard and looked up at Wei Yuan with complete nonchalance.
Before he could speak, Wei Yuan asked, "Who is your father?"
The young nobleman had the words "Do you know who I am?" right on the tip of his tongue, only to have them choked right back down.
Instinctively, he replied, "It doesn't matter who my father is, but my eldest brother-in-law is the Marquis of Ping'an of Great Zhao! And my second brother-in-law is the King of Zhao!"
Wei Yuan studied the young nobleman's face, having already retrieved all his information. He was the owner of this merchant caravan, and this time, likely driven by novelty-seeking curiosity, he had personally traveled to Qingming.
In truth, the caravan's real backer behind the scenes was the Marquis of Ping'an. As for that second elder sister, she was merely an ordinary consort to the King of Zhao, ranking lower-middle among his many consorts.
While traveling to and from Qingming carried high risks, the profits were staggering. It appeared this young master had come to Qingming to pad his credentials; two runs with the caravan would suffice for his track record, after which he would return home to claim a lucrative post.
Yet Wei Yuan wondered: this young master was both incompetent and overbearing, possessing no ability of his own beyond relying on family connections, and even his eyesight wasn't particularly good. Could someone like him really have won over so many people—from the head of the transport team all the way to the managers of the porridge stalls—in such a short time?
Wei Yuan had no intention of wasting too much thought on this, choosing instead to simply bulldoze through. He swept his gaze across the heavily armed, lavishly equipped escort guards and said, "Daring to stand off against my troops—impressive."
The moment the words left his mouth, Wei Yuan cast a Heavy Earth Art over them. The body of every guard suddenly grew heavy by more than a thousand jin. Unable to withstand such pressure, their legs snapped one after another with sickening crunches, and every single guard collapsed to the ground instantly, wailing in agony.
An elder from the caravan snorted and leapt into the air, bellowing in fury, "For the Domain Lord to strike at mere servants—isn't that beneath your dignity?"
Before he could finish his sentence, Wei Yuan pointed toward the sky, and in an instant, a bolt of lightning crashed down onto the elder!
At the critical juncture, the elder managed to cast a spell to parry it, but before he could make another move, lightning bolts rained down in rapid succession. In the blink of an eye, Wei Yuan shattered the elder's defense with dozens of strikes, and with dozens more, battered him into severe injury.
To the onlookers, it looked like merely a flash of lightning that lingered a moment longer than usual, and then the elder suddenly turned charred black from head to toe and plunged headlong to the ground.
This elder was also a dharma idol cultivator, the caravan's pillar of stability, to whom even the young nobleman had to show deference. Yet in a single exchange at Wei Yuan's hands, he was beaten unconscious.
Taking advantage of the elder's last glimmer of consciousness, Wei Yuan remarked coolly, "Dharma idol though you may be, it doesn't seem you held out a single breath longer than these guards."
Livid with rage, the elder's vision went dark, and he lost consciousness completely.
Wei Yuan raised a hand to strike, initially intending to cleave the warehouse in two to reveal the grain piled within. But upon second thought, according to the laws yet to be promulgated, after committing an offense of such magnitude, all the caravan's assets ought to be confiscated. Thus, if this palm came down, he would only be destroying his own property.
Wei Yuan pulled back his half-extended hand, painfully giving up such an imposing, domineering gesture, and ordered his men to go open the doors and inspect the warehouse.
When the doors swung open, the warehouse was indeed filled to the brim with rice. With every piece of evidence now falling into place, Wei Yuan did not bother wasting words on the caravan's people and had them all arrested.
After an initial hearing, by dusk, the transport team's head and deputy head, along with the managers of all twenty porridge stalls—against whom the evidence was conclusive and undeniable—were all hanged, their bodies suspended in the southern town as a public warning.
As for the people in the caravan, distinguishing who the mastermind was, who were accomplices, and who were unwitting required careful sorting. Wei Yuan ordered them interrogated thoroughly and dossiers compiled, demanding that nothing be overlooked. This dossier was prepared precisely to deal with the State of Zhao.
The incident had reached its conclusion, but Bao Yun noticed that Wei Yuan's spirits were low, so she quietly came looking for him.
In the night, Wei Yuan stood atop the main peak, gazing at the vast expanse of the firmament and the shifting constellations, quietly lost in thought.
Bao Yun came to his side and asked, "Still angry over what happened today?"
"Not angry enough for that. I simply cannot understand how, in such a short time, all twenty managers of the porridge stations were brought to heel without a single exception."
Bao Yun sighed softly. "Human nature is greedy. It is an innate trait that no one can change."
"In both incidents, the ones pulling the strings were from the merchant caravans, and both came from Zhao!"
Bao Yun said, "Qingming is a treasure trove right now, so it is only natural that everyone wants a slice of the pie. Merchants prioritize profit, often forgetting honor at the sight of gain and stooping to any means. But this doesn't necessarily mean it was ordered by the King of Zhao. If the King of Zhao were to do something like this, his moves would be on a far grander scale."
Wei Yuan pondered, then said, "Qingming is still too easily infiltrated. But by my calculations, if I were to pay them compensation matching what the caravan promised those managers, even three or four Qingmings wouldn't be enough."
Bao Yun said, "It is useless. No matter how much you offer, they can always offer a bit more, or even several times more. After all, you have to support the entirety of Qingming, while they only have to buy off the specific people they want to target."
"Then what should be done?"
"There are always ways: establish supervisory inspectors. Verifying and punishing cases one by one might have some effect, but it is impossible to eradicate corruption entirely."
Yet Wei Yuan knew that oversight would eventually degenerate as well. History was replete with precedents where multiple supervisory bodies were established in succession to monitor one another. Some had even established Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern Depots, alongside seven guards like the Embroidered Uniform, Black Uniform, Silver Uniform, and Red Uniform Guards. The final outcome was always that when the depots and guards shared interests, they split the spoils; when they didn't, they tore into each other like rabid dogs, throwing the entire imperial court into utter chaos.
For the common people, several more towering temples had simply been placed over their heads, crushing them under even more unbearable hardship.
History held no answer to this dilemma. In the end, Wei Yuan could only say, "We will cross that bridge when we come to it."
Both of them had countless affairs demanding their attention, so Bao Yun did not stay long. She said to Wei Yuan, "I should go. Come, give me a hug!"
As they embraced, Bao Yun suddenly whispered, "I am so afraid that after some great battle, I will suddenly never see you again, or you will never see me again."
A chill tightened in Wei Yuan's heart. He held her tightly, then reached out and gave her waist a pinch.
Bao Yun rolled her eyes and took Wei Yuan's hand, moving it downward. Thus, Wei Yuan's hand traced an elegant, shapely, and somewhat exaggerated curve.
Before Wei Yuan could make another move, Bao Yun pushed him away, planted a gentle kiss on his cheek, and flew off into the sky.
After Bao Yun left, Wei Yuan contemplated in silence for a moment, then went to Feng Chutang's residence, where they talked for two full hours in a single stretch.
Before parting, Wei Yuan said, "I will do that matter."
"It may not have any effect. You must think it through."
"Even one more shred of opportunity is better than none." Wei Yuan pushed the door open and departed.
...
Nine hundred li away in the Shaman lake region, Hongye seemed not to notice the strange looks from the Nether Shamans flanking him. He calmly completed the daily routine sacrifice, then stepped off the altar and returned to his newly constructed temporary palace.
The palace was built entirely of black volcanic rock, towering and fiercely imposing. Inside, it was dry, warm, and steaming with heat—an environment not at all favored by ordinary Nether Shamans.
Dressed in a white robe and seated above a cluster of flames, the Sacred Shaman said, "The humans possess the resolve to fight to the death and will not yield an inch. If this war continues, even if you manage to conquer Qingming, your Land of Rain will be severely weakened, and you may no longer be able to suppress the neighboring tribes. Look, even the Desolate Ancestor Tribe dared to sit out the battle this time."
Hongye's expression darkened. "They think that by clinging to Long Zhe's coattails, they can treat me with contempt. Soon enough, I will make the Sun of the Great Desolation understand how gravely mistaken he is!"
"Even if you take the entirety of Qingming, you won't be able to enter Ningzhou. Further in lies Xu Wangu's territory."
"Once I conquer Qingming, I will no longer fear Xu Wangu."
The Sacred Shaman's expression shifted. "You mean to say... you have found a way out?"
Hongye said slowly, "The Ancestral Shaman's will promised that so long as the flaw in the heavens can be mended, a position for a Heavenly Shaman will be freed up!"
This time, the Sacred Shaman's face changed drastically. Only after a pause did he ask, "What do you need me to do?"
"First, find a way to counter that magic treasure."
"That can be done."
"Second, I want Long Zhe's weakness!"
The Sacred Shaman shook his head, however. "That cannot be done. Long Zhe has no weakness!"
Hongye suddenly roared, "Impossible! It definitely has a weakness! Otherwise, it wouldn't have taken him so long to defeat me last time. I can feel that a flaw exists in its power, and every so often, it drops abruptly!"
The Sacred Shaman grew pensive. "From the sound of it, the crux seems to lie in the Nether Cold Realm. Still, while it may be one thing in the Native Realm, within the Nether Cold Realm, it is the strongest Heavenly Shaman. If it secretly hid its weakness inside the Nether Cold Realm, no one can do anything about it."
"If we cannot defeat it by force, we can steal it!"
"That would come at an immense price..."
A dangerous light flared in Hongye's eyes. "That is precisely why I sought you out. When I was a Nether Shaman, I only suffered a narrow defeat against Long Zhe after a bitter struggle. Once I become a Heavenly Shaman, do you think Long Zhe will still be a match for me?"
The Sacred Shaman pondered, speaking only after a moment: "Very well. I can find a way—I happen to have a suitable candidate in mind. However, I will need..."
Hongye cut him off: "Whatever you want, I agree!"
Chapter 507