Looking at Bao Yun, who appeared tense even in her sleep, Wei Yuan suddenly felt a pang of guilt. With her natural talent, reaching at least Scenery Command was no issue. In a cultivator's vast lifespan, Bao Yun—at merely nineteen—still had millennia ahead of her.
With her exceptional talent and top-tier family background, Bao Yun ought to have advanced smoothly toward a dharma idol under her clan's arrangements, gradually accumulating merit points, connections, and prestige, before seeking the right opportunity to break through into Scenery Command, steadily becoming a renowned cultivator of her generation.
Yet burdened by Wei Yuan, Bao Yun's life now consisted of preparing for battle, going to war, preparing for battle again, and going to war once more.
For a girl not yet twenty, her life was filled with blood, slaughter, and endless exhaustion.
Wei Yuan let out a quiet sigh in his heart and lightly stroked Bao Yun's face.
This delicate little face truly deserved the description of being so tender that a breath might break it. Her eyelashes curled like fine feathers, fluttering ever so faintly; her nose was dainty yet high-bridged; and her soft, tender lips were slightly parted, exhaling a warm, steady breath.
Yet the sheer lethality of her face was simply too formidable. The moment Wei Yuan touched it, his state of mind suddenly went awry, and he hurriedly recited classical scriptures in his head to suppress the inappropriate thoughts springing up.
The sages said: look not at what is improper. But the sages never said: touch not what is improper.
With Bao Yun sleeping right in front of him, oblivious to everything, hardly anyone in the world could hold themselves back—and Wei Yuan was certainly not among those few. His hand developed a mind of its own, slowly drifting downward, poised to cross the final boundary of propriety.
At that moment, Wei Yuan suddenly noticed that Bao Yun wasn't pretending to sleep; she was genuinely fast asleep.
How could she sleep so deeply that she didn't react even when Wei Yuan's claws landed on her?
Wei Yuan sensed something was off. Examining her more closely, he finally confirmed that Bao Yun had entered the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World as well.
Ever since Cui Yu set the precedent, practically every cultivator from the Palace of Grand Beginning dove into the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World whenever they had free time.
Although having to toil away after falling asleep each night was a bit pathetic, compared to the noticeable increase in spirituality, the cultivators all wished they could sleep from dawn till dusk and ideally spend all thirty days of the month soaking inside the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World.
So it was only natural for Bao Yun to enter the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. Wei Yuan suddenly grew curious. He sent his divine sense into the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World to look for her, while his hand remained resting right where it belonged.
At present, the center of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World was a landmass spanning several thousand li, upon which the central city had been built.
In addition, a few scattered islets dotted the sea, one of which lay merely dozens of li from the central city—an island Wei Yuan had raised up at the request of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World.
Right now, the island was already quite lively. Over a thousand mortals had erected shanties and begun solemnly digging foundations. Looking at the pits, each over a zhang deep, Wei Yuan could hardly believe his eyes. What kind of building needed foundations so deep?
Wei Yuan then noticed bags stacked beside the mortals' living quarters, with the word "CEMENT" written boldly across them.
Wei Yuan felt rather perplexed: was the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World also planning to erect buildings with cement? Was that really necessary?
Back when it was still the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, the simplest way for mortals to build houses was to mold a batch of cauldrons—square ones, slanted ones, and pillar-like ones. Then, by piecing the cauldrons together, they formed a cauldron house. Constructing an entire courtyard took less than two days.
Even to this day, many research institutes still used this method to construct buildings, and people often bantered with phrases like "Hurry up and come into Uncle's cauldron."
Gazing at the neat, square pits and crisscrossing straight roads on the island, Wei Yuan was momentarily dazed. What were these mortals trying to do? Build a utopia, or replicate a world beyond the heavens?
Wei Yuan questioned a few mortals, but they all looked completely blank, unaware of what their ultimate goal was; when the time came, tasks would naturally be assigned to them.
Wei Yuan had no choice but to let them be and continue searching for Bao Yun. This time, after scanning the central city, Wei Yuan located Zhang Sheng, Cui Yu, and Xu Henshui, yet Bao Yun was nowhere to be seen.
How could such a thing happen? Could there be a second Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World in Qingming? Wei Yuan projected his divine sense, sweeping through the city once more, but still found no trace of Bao Yun.
If she wasn't in the central city, where else could she be? She certainly wasn't on the newly raised island.
Thinking of islands, Wei Yuan suddenly remembered that when True Monarch Huangyun passed away, a Jianmu sapling had sprouted in the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. Where had that tree gone?
At this thought, Wei Yuan recalled that the tree stood isolated far across the sea, several hundred li away from the central city.
Wei Yuan had grown accustomed to the assistance of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World when pondering matters. Whenever he needed to recall something, the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World would automatically search through information; whenever he wanted to contemplate a problem, the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World would analyze the topic, reason and verify on his behalf, and provide suggestions.
Hence, when Wei Yuan wondered where the Jianmu tree had gone, he subconsciously waited for an answer from the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. In the end, no answer came, and he waited in vain for quite a while, which was tantamount to spacing out.
Once Wei Yuan realized this, he searched his own memories and recalled the location of the Jianmu sapling. Yet having grown so used to the aid of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, abruptly relying on his own memory felt noticeably arduous and sluggish.
These were two entirely different experiences, as vast a contrast as soaring through the nine heavens on a jet thruster versus trudging barefoot through a muddy swamp.
Having located the Jianmu tree, Wei Yuan also searched his memory to confirm there were no other unknown islets, then shifted his divine sense over.
Within his own dharma idol, Wei Yuan could naturally arrive with a single thought. There, beneath a towering tree shaped like a canopy, he saw a young woman sitting cross-legged. Sixty-four spheres of light floated before her, and she was handling them with rapt attention.
The girl was naturally Bao Yun. Her expression was focused, her brows composed and still. However, a light sheen of sweat beaded at her temples, showing that she was clearly beginning to strain.
Wei Yuan manifested before her. Sensing his arrival, Bao Yun offered a faint smile and went back to burying herself in work.
Only after completing the tasks before her one by one did Bao Yun breathe a sigh of relief. Looking at Wei Yuan, she smiled warmly. "I never imagined Junior Brother's dharma idol could be so marvelous. You truly live up to being the greatest genius in the history of our Palace of Grand Beginning! Your dharma idol is truly terrifying—your Spirit Nourishing stage isn't even at completion yet, and your mindscape world is already nearly formed.
"Mm, everything here is wonderful, except it's a bit desolate. Where are Cui Yu and the others? Do they each get their own island too?"
Wei Yuan coughed, saying somewhat awkwardly, "Actually, there's a city here..."
Bao Yun sprang to her feet. "A city? Where? Take me there!"
Seeing Bao Yun unexpectedly solemn, Wei Yuan shifted his thought, bringing Bao Yun to the plaza of the central city in an instant.
At present, there were seven hundred thousand mortals in this city. People bustled to and fro, a cacophony of clamor rising straight into the skies. Crowds moved shoulder-to-shoulder throughout the streets, and many narrow alleys were packed to the brim. Looking at the throngs of people, the myriad buildings, and the signboards bearing grander pretensions than even the Four Great Immortal Sects, Bao Yun was utterly stunned.
Bao Yun suddenly asked, "Are they all here when they enter?"
"Probably... yes," Wei Yuan replied somewhat vaguely. He hadn't paid much attention to this matter. But thinking about it now, it felt a little strange, as though some force had intentionally kept him from focusing on it.
Bao Yun looked at the individuals busy with their own tasks, looked at the noisy crowds in the distance, and looked at two people fiercely dueling inside a martial arts hall. She suddenly asked, "Are you controlling all these people?"
Wei Yuan shook his head. "They have their own spirituality and can act independently. I generally don't interfere—after all, I wouldn't have the time."
Bao Yun asked again, "Then what about the tasks I receive while cultivating my Origin Spirit?"
Wei Yuan explained the process of task assignment and submission, the crux of which lay in the immortal flora nodes.
Bao Yun asked further, "Are the initial tasks all created by you?"
Wei Yuan shook his head. "No, I only submit a tiny fraction."
In fact, the processing capacity of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World was currently immense, handling tens of thousands of tasks at every moment. Right now, Wei Yuan's requests didn't even make up one ten-thousandth of the total.
Deep in thought, Bao Yun looked around and observed for quite a while before saying, "This isn't the place to talk. Let's go outside."
"All right." Wei Yuan withdrew his divine sense from the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World and returned to reality.
The moment Bao Yun opened her eyes, she said urgently, "Junior Brother, you must be careful! I see signs that your mindscape world might slip out of control. If a true spirit ever breeds within your mindscape world... Junior Brother, you—"
At that exact moment, Wei Yuan's hand was pressed firmly atop a mountain peak, flattening it into a plateau.
In an instant, thick-skinned as Wei Yuan was, his face burned as if on fire. He distinctly remembered that before entering the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, his hand hadn't been placed here!
Wei Yuan could swear to the heavens that his hand truly hadn't been in this position!
Wei Yuan moved to pull his hand back, but Bao Yun caught him firmly by the wrist!
Her face flushed faintly, and shifting her gaze away, she said softly, "...So Brother Yuan was craving my body all along. Alas, I'm just a poor girl living under someone else's roof. If Brother wants it, how could I dare refuse? There was really no need to be so sneaky..."
Wei Yuan's face burned with embarrassment, making him wish he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Never mind that the girl currently appeared utterly bashful with a racing heart—in reality, her hand held fast to the proof of Wei Yuan's guilt, not giving him the slightest chance to break free or deny it.
Chapter 552