In a quiet chamber swirling with pill fragrance, a tall and imposing Dao soldier walked before a bronze mirror, smoothed his robes, and then sat upright before a desk. Spreading out a sheet of jade paper, he raised his brush and wrote:
"Brother Xiaoyu,
Recently, I unexpectedly acquired several tens of thousands of heavenly merits, presumably more than what many of our fellow disciples have accumulated. Having no idea how to spend them has proved quite vexing..."
At this point, a violent tremor ran through the Dao soldier's body, and doubt flashed in his eyes. Skipping past the long-winded, sarcastic diatribe he had planned in between, he wrote the signature directly: "Wei..."
As he penned that single character, a streak like lightning flashed through his divine sense, shattering the illusion shrouding his origin soul.
He looked down at himself again, then raised his head. Before the desk stood a strange figure enveloped entirely in black robes—the very same mysterious Shaman who had contacted him not long ago.
The Shaman seemed to chuckle, his voice raspy and slurred. "To break my mental illusion so quickly... as expected of someone who has survived the inner demon tribulation. Is the person in that letter your greatest obsession?"
Wei Yuan, in the form of the Dao soldier, calmly put away the paper and said, "Of course not. Merely a former classmate. I just happened to have something to write to him about."
The Shaman did not press further, instead saying, "No need to be nervous. You are still you, and you are still in Qingming. I merely constructed a minor illusion to trap you while you were contemplating dao arts and your origin soul had detached from your body. Once you know the trick, it isn't hard to break."
The more he said so, the more vigilant Wei Yuan became. Just a moment ago, he had not only been in the core of Qingming, but also inside the immortal treasure that was the Hall of Merits sub-hall, yet he had still been trapped by this Shaman's sorcery. This was certainly no small matter.
Wei Yuan asked, "Did you plant something on me?"
The Shaman shook his head. "Having cultivated your dharmic body to your current realm, you are already close to untainted. If I had planted something, you would have sensed it soon enough. There is no need to guess—this is merely an innate shamanic art of mine. In truth, it has little practical use and is mostly employed for covert meetings, just like now.
"Given that you survived the inner demon tribulation, the intensity of this illusion is fairly ordinary for you; you could break through it at any time."
Wei Yuan said calmly, "Very well. What did you come to find me for?"
The Shaman opposite replied, "We have confirmed that Hongye was indeed struck by the Yang Bullet, losing eleven hundred years of his lifespan..."
Wei Yuan was taken aback. "How could it only be eleven hundred years?"
"The status of your Yang Bullet was not high enough. Struck against Hongye, its efficacy was bound to be heavily compromised. Our original maximum estimate was a lifespan reduction of twelve hundred years. The current result is close to expectations, and we are well satisfied."
Wei Yuan had refined the Yin and Yang missiles with his own hands, so he naturally understood under what circumstances their efficacy would be diminished. Shaken, he asked, "Are you saying that Hongye's true nature is that of a Heavenly Shaman?"
"It isn't quite that exaggerated. If he truly were a Heavenly Shaman, we wouldn't have dared move against him. But he does possess several Heavenly Shaman substances within him, which is why none of us had confidence in dealing with him and had to use your Yang Bullet."
"And my reward?"
"Rest assured, we will not break our promise. That boundary stone fragment has already been placed outside Qingming. Here is the location; go retrieve it yourself. Furthermore, the master is extremely pleased with your performance this time and indicated that the other fragment could also be given to you. We look forward to our next cooperation."
An image appeared before Wei Yuan's eyes: a mountain pool with mist rising from it, where spring water cascaded down the slopes in tiers of small waterfalls to merge into the pool's center. Verdant vegetation surrounded smooth green stones, and steam billowed above the pool—it was a hot spring.
Wei Yuan had long studied the terrain around Qingming, so he naturally recognized the mountain spring. The Shaman chuckled and said, "Now that our business is done, I should take my leave. Still, for you to remain so composed in this illusion for so long—as expected of one who survived the inner demon tribulation. Let us meet in reality next time; I wouldn't want to let you into my mental illusion again."
Wei Yuan merely smiled faintly, projecting an aura of inscrutable depth.
The illusion then shattered. Wei Yuan found himself still within the Dao Comprehension Chamber. The dao talismans on the four walls glowed, dao rhythms circulating. Within his consciousness, the Dao soldier was already quite refined, with every detail rendered lifelike.
It was just that an ordinary Dao soldier was merely a lone soldier, whereas Wei Yuan's Dao soldier sat before a desk upon which lay a half-written letter, with a bronze mirror propped beside it. On the other side stood a bookshelf lined entirely with the History of Tang.
For a moment, Wei Yuan could hardly distinguish what belonged to the mental illusion and what was reality.
The Shaman was clearly wary of Wei Yuan and had let slip a tidbit at the end: mental illusions could trap an enemy, but the foe could also exploit them to inflict severe harm on the caster. Encountering an opponent with unyielding willpower who was also skilled in mental illusions meant that trapping them in an illusion was equivalent to baring one's vitals before their blade.
For someone to have survived the inner demon tribulation at this stage, no overestimation of their mental fortitude would be excessive. Thus, the Shaman did not plan on letting Wei Yuan enter his mental illusion ever again.
What he did not know, however, was that Wei Yuan had not actually survived the inner demon tribulation in the ordinary sense. When Wei Yuan had undergone the tribulation, an invisible inner demon had descended from beyond the heavens into Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness—only to come face-to-face with over a hundred thousand mortals...
And so, for the first time, mortals within Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World died at the hands of an inner demon.
Thus, Wei Yuan himself did not know whether he counted as having passed the tribulation or not. In any case, he remained irritable, easily provoked, and emotionally turbulent, entirely unable to stomach insults or goading. He showed none of the signs of great enlightenment or willpower as mellow as jade and resilient as steel that typically followed conquering the inner demon tribulation.
Having inspected himself and found no harm, yet wary that the Shaman might still be watching from the shadows, Wei Yuan leisurely exited the Dao Comprehension Chamber. He ordered light cavalry dispatched at once to reinforce the designated area, and only then did he fly toward the hot spring, keeping his movements as composed and otherworldly as possible.
In the end, Wei Yuan flew to the hot spring without incident and found the jade stone at the bottom of the spring.
Warm and smooth to the touch, the jade stone caused the blood in Wei Yuan's veins to throb once more, resonating faintly with it. Bearing such a prized treasure, Wei Yuan did not dare linger outside Qingming and returned swiftly. He then contacted the main mountain of the Palace of Grand Beginning through the Hall of Merits, explaining that he had retrieved what appeared to be a fragment of the boundary stone once carried by the founder.
Wei Yuan did not have to wait long inside the Heavenly Secret Pavilion before the figure of a young Daoist appeared on the seat across from him—it was none other than True Monarch Yanshi.
"I heard you obtained a fragment of the founder's boundary stone? Let me take a look."
Wei Yuan took out the jade stone. True Monarch Yanshi examined it closely for a long while, then silently channeled profound workings to deduce its mysteries. A moment later, he nodded and said, "The aura has a slight variance, but that is only to be expected. The fragment was lost for far too long. The boundary stone the founder obtained before achieving the Dao was quite ordinary, and after being damaged, its grade dropped a tier, causing the fragment and the main body to drift ever further apart.
"Later, once the founder accomplished his cultivation, he used the blood of Heavenly Shamans to re-refine the boundary stone, not only repairing its defects but also elevating its grade by three successive tiers into an immortal stone, laying the foundation for the Palace of Grand Beginning. However, the present scale of our mountain is not solely the credit of the boundary stone; it is because the founder and several Immortal Monarchs passed away and transformed their bodies into precious soil that we came to have the world's foremost sect.
"Therefore, this fragment is of no use to the main mountain, but it will be of great use to you. The founder's gift you received upon entering the sect was the very boundary stone with which the founder established the mountain gate back then. It fits perfectly today. I also just deduced that this fragment will have no small impact on your future path of Dao, so you may keep it."
Wei Yuan asked, "Then what exactly is this fragment used for?"
True Monarch Yanshi said, "The same as any ordinary boundary stone. However, its bond with you should be unique, surpassing even your connection to Qingming. Your control over your domain will reach an utmost peak, allowing you to manipulate and alter the domain's environment on a vast scale."
A thought stirred in Wei Yuan's mind as he realized where he might put this treasure to use.
Chapter 596