No matter what kind of immortal sword Zhang Sheng produced, even if it were the reappearance of the Founding Ancestor's four immortal swords, it would not have shocked Xu Henshui this much.
Xu Henshui had seen plenty of this Great Bright Demon-Subduing Sword before. Whenever members of the Cui family came, quite a few chose to cultivate it—especially the elderly in need of life extension, nearly all of whom cultivated this flashy yet hollow sword.
This Dao Foundation was inferior even to a normal Mortal Tier. Xu Henshui felt it did not deserve to be called an immortal sword at all; it could only be called a mortal sword, and everyone who cultivated it was nothing but a sword-wretch.
Staring at the Great Bright Demon-Subduing Sword in Zhang Sheng's hand, Xu Henshui could hardly believe his eyes.
He stood dazed for a moment, then seemed to understand, letting out a long sigh. "Even if something went wrong with your Dao heart, you could have repaired it slowly. Why let yourself go to pieces like this?"
Zhang Sheng wore a faint, ambiguous smile. "You look down on this sword? Fine, let's have you try it."
Zhang Sheng raised a hand and pointed. The Great Bright Demon-Subduing Sword flared with blinding radiance and soared into the sky, then plummeted toward Xu Henshui like a shooting star! Its pomp and bluster were practically more grandiose than those of many true immortal swords.
Xu Henshui shook his head in resignation. Just as he was feeling a twinge of sorrow that the formidable rival who had oppressed him for years had fallen so low, he saw the sword in midair split into two, two into four, four into eight...
In the blink of an eye, five hundred and twelve radiant swords merged into an overwhelmingly brilliant sun that crashed upon the peak, leveling the mountain where Xu Henshui stood!
Xu Henshui burst out of the colossal sphere of light in utter disarray. His long hair was loose and disheveled, and his top-grade robes were tattered, revealing patches of jade-white skin. Above his head hovered a gigantic immortal orchid, with a graceful fairy standing at the blossom's center.
Xu Henshui's dharma idol was quite unusual. Typically, cultivators who based their Dao Foundation on an artifact or living creature would manifest an immortal to wield or govern the foundation once they attained a dharma idol, much like Shangguan Qianmo's sword-bearing immortal.
Xu Henshui was different: his orchid attained enlightenment to transform into a celestial maiden—the master-servant relationship was completely inverted. At this moment, however, several Great Bright Demon-Subduing Swords were impaled in the gigantic immortal orchid, and one had even struck right through the fairy's thigh, looking thoroughly wretched.
Xu Henshui was both furious and shocked. He blurted out, "How can you have so many immortal swords?!"
Zhang Sheng's faint smile lingered. "This is the new Dao Foundation I formed by 'letting myself go.'"
Xu Henshui asked tentatively, "Is it only this sword?"
"There are five hundred and twelve types in total. But don't worry, the vast majority are Mortal Tier."
Xu Henshui could not feel reassured in the slightest. "The vast majority?"
"Yes. There are a few Earth Tier ones and one Heaven Tier. Don't worry, none are Immortal Tier."
Xu Henshui felt even less reassured. He pressed on, "What is the Heaven Tier one? Let me see!"
A cyan immortal sword appeared in Zhang Sheng's hand. The moment it emerged, a misty drizzle began to fall around them.
Xu Henshui was naturally familiar with this sword. "Azure Silk Rain? Why didn't you choose Parting Sorrow or Zhanxu? Or even that fourth one you just cultivated?"
Zhang Sheng gave him that half-smile again. "Guess?"
A sudden flash of inspiration struck Xu Henshui's mind as he remembered Azure Silk Rain's greatest trait. He gasped, "Y-You... you intend to shave down Dao Foundations!"
Zhang Sheng smiled faintly. "Precisely. No wonder they say you have an orchid's wit and grace; you truly are clever. Well, your luck is just a bit lacking. If only you weren't from the same generation as me, how nice that would have been."
Xu Henshui felt the same way. His generation not only had Zhang Sheng, but also Ji Liuli and Feng Chutang; no matter what he did, he could never squeeze into the top three. If only he had been born a few years later...
Then Xu Henshui reconsidered and realized that being born a few years later wouldn't help either—there was Wei Yuan right behind them. If he wanted to claim the top spot, he would have had to crawl further into the past.
Looking at Azure Silk Rain now, the more Xu Henshui looked, the more wrong it felt, an indescribable discomfort creeping over him.
A moment later, he finally realized the source of his unease: if Azure Silk Rain could also multiply into over five hundred swords, who would ever dare fight Zhang Sheng in a duel of dharma?
If someone took several hundred slashes from that, even a peak immortal foundation would probably be carved straight down to a Heaven Foundation. Even if a Heaven Foundation cultivator didn't die, they'd be shaved directly into a Mortal Foundation.
As for a Mortal Foundation, it would simply be lethal, so there wouldn't even be any need to shave it further.
The moment he realized this, Xu Henshui's gaze toward Zhang Sheng changed completely. Gritting his teeth, he said, "You are truly insidious!"
Zhang Sheng said, "You're overthinking it. I can only manifest five hundred and twelve swords of Azure Silk Rain once my Dao Foundation reaches perfection. Until then, you are safe."
Xu Henshui's face turned green and white by turns. In the end, he bowed deeply to Zhang Sheng and said, "I was reckless today. For the sake of our sect brotherhood, please do not take it to heart."
"You are a senior brother. Over such a minor matter, naturally I won't take it to heart. Just don't let it happen again next time."
Just then, Wei Yuan returned from the Nether Cold Realm. Zhang Sheng shot Xu Henshui a glare, warning him not to speak a word of today's events. Xu Henshui naturally would not publicize something so humiliating either.
Strictly speaking, he hadn't lost; Zhang Sheng's Dao power right now was only sufficient for a single strike. Yet Xu Henshui was a dharma idol cultivator. Trading blows back and forth with a newly minted Dao Foundation cultivator, and having several swords stabbed into his dharma idol, would leave him utterly disgraced if word ever got out.
At that moment, both felt an immense divine sense sweep across the area—it was Wei Yuan's divine sense. The two immediately pretended nothing had happened, exchanged a few casual pleasantries, and went their separate ways.
Wei Yuan had no idea what the two had been doing there. Seeing nothing amiss, he drew his divine sense away.
Wei Yuan arrived at the Weaponsmith Workshop and dropped off over a hundred jin of nether crystal. This amount was enough to forge a hundred thousand sets of heavy armor, with the remainder sufficient to craft multiple spell-resistant armor plates.
Just then, Cui Yu sent someone to find Wei Yuan, reporting that the surviving refugees had finished assembling and were waiting for Wei Yuan to arrive.
The sixth battle had been different from the previous ones. Because the Shamans were routed quickly, half of the refugees deployed to fill the frontline positions had survived. Regarding these people who had narrowly escaped death, Wei Yuan felt that as mortals, they had already risked life and limb for Qingming once. That was enough.
Thus, Wei Yuan had Cui Yu count and register them all. In total, there were around thirty thousand, along with a small number of Qingming residents who had stepped forward ready to die.
Wei Yuan decided to integrate them all into regular military units, grant them priority instruction in the Body Casting method, tilt resources in their favor, and grant them a free opportunity for Foundation Casting in the future.
As for the gap on the front lines, it would be filled by newly arrived refugees.
Previously, Wei Yuan had had no choice but to spend human lives to hold back the brunt of the Shamans' assault. Now that the war was turning in their favor, while refugees still had to be used to fill the line, some would survive, and the survivors would receive the treatment they deserved.
However, there was no compensation for the more than seven hundred thousand refugees who had fallen in earlier battles. There was no helping it; the world had never been fair.
Before the thirty thousand surviving refugees, Wei Yuan announced these preferential measures. Hearing that they would no longer have to return to the near-suicidal front lines and would receive so many privileges, many refugees were so overwhelmed with emotion that they dropped to their knees and kowtowed, catching Wei Yuan completely off guard.
Looking at the several thousand newly added strands of azure qi, Wei Yuan felt deeply conflicted.
The proportion of these refugees contributing karmic luck was far higher than ever before, surpassing any other group—amounting to two out of every ten people worshiping Wei Yuan like a savior immortal. One could only say their expectations were truly so low: merely surviving a battle where half had perished, followed by a slight bit of preferential treatment, was enough to win their hearts entirely.
Leaving the refugee camp, Wei Yuan felt terribly downcast. He made his way to Feng Chutang's residence and knocked to request an audience.
Feng Chutang was inside his room reading. His aura was much better than before, yet he remained exceedingly weak, his complexion sallow and his eyes somewhat clouded.
Seeing Wei Yuan enter, Feng Chutang put down his book and asked, "What trouble have you encountered?"
Wei Yuan recounted what had just happened at the camp, then said, "In truth, I was the one who sent those people onto the battlefield. That they survived by a fluke is simply their own good fortune.
"They fought a bloody battle and escaped death by the skin of their teeth. What I promised them was merely what they rightfully earned. And what I actually have to give isn't much either—for now, it amounts to little more than handing out some extra firewood and rice. For just this pittance, is it truly worth them entrusting their karmic luck to me?"
Feng Chutang smiled faintly. "So that's what it is. The question you want to ask has long had an answer in history. Let us first speak of karmic luck. You yourself are blessed with immense karmic luck, and as the Domain Lord of Qingming, you hold a position capable of gathering human karmic luck. But have you ever considered why, when thirty thousand people bowed to you, you only collected five thousand strands of human karmic luck?"
Wei Yuan had genuinely never thought about this question. He had assumed some people were simply good at putting on an act—prostrating themselves on the surface while harboring who-knew-what in their hearts. But hearing Feng Chutang put it this way, that seemed not to be the case.
Feng Chutang did not keep him in suspense, saying directly, "The reason is that some people can contribute karmic luck, while others are naturally incapable of doing so. No matter how deeply moved to tears they are with gratitude toward you, it is of no use."
Wei Yuan had never heard of such a notion before. He asked instinctively, "Is there any basis for this?"
Feng Chutang said, "Of course there is no definite basis. Karmic luck is ethereal and elusive; even I cannot see it clearly. I can only make judgments based on historical records and what I have observed in daily life. For instance, if you were to obtain karmic luck from a Scenery Command cultivator, it would surely be completely different from that of a mortal."
Wei Yuan glanced at the few strands of purple qi within his Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World; indeed, it was just as Feng Chutang said.
Feng Chutang continued, "My own conjecture is that each person is born with a different fate-pattern, and so their karmic luck and lifelong fortunes differ as well. Most of these refugees from Zhao wouldn't have lived past three years anyway, even without stepping onto the battlefield; they would have died for one reason or another.
"Therefore, that 'pittance' you spoke of is judged by your standards and mine. To those refugees, it is something they could never attain in their entire lives. Naturally, they would contribute karmic luck."
Chapter 546