Paid Content

Wei Yuan's heart stirred. Turning his head, he saw the Dream Eater standing beside him, covering its mouth with a stifled chuckle. With a darkened expression, Wei Yuan demanded, "Where's the rest?" "What follows is paid content." Wei Yuan froze in disbelief. Then fury surged within him, and he prepared to butcher this unscrupulous fiend on the spot. Suddenly, rapid footsteps sounded from the side. Wei Yuan turned his head to see Ji Liuli as an adolescent sprinting straight toward him. Taken completely off guard, the two collided. Seeing the young Ji Liuli knocked flying by the impact, Wei Yuan caught her arm and pulled her back, setting her down gently. The young Ji Liuli looked around with a bewildered expression. Her gaze swept right over Wei Yuan, but her eyes never focused on him—she simply looked past him, oblivious to his presence. Wei Yuan reached out and poked her nose testingly. Sure enough, it yielded slightly under his finger; the touch felt entirely real and ordinary. The young Ji Liuli let out a startled cry. A razor-sharp burst of blue light flashed before her, slicing right past the tip of her own nose. The strike came without the slightest warning. Fortunately, Wei Yuan's dharma body was formidable, and his reflexes were lightning-fast—he pulled his hand back just in time to avoid having his fingers severed. The young Ji Liuli's eyes shone with shifting hues as she scanned the area, muttering to herself, "Here we go again! You void fiends, show yourselves and die!" Yet no matter how many Dao arts she invoked, she still couldn't see him. Watching her puff her cheeks in frustration—so unlike the fierce, invincible Eldest Senior Sister he knew—Wei Yuan couldn't resist reaching out again, taking hold of her cheek, and giving it a playful tug. This time, myriad dharma blades and Dao swords materialized around Ji Liuli, slashing and stabbing frantically in all directions. But Wei Yuan had already retreated over a hundred feet away. Delighted by his successful prank, he felt immensely refreshed, his Dao heart instantly growing clearer. He was just about to throw his head back and laugh out loud three times when he remembered the Dream Eater was right beside him. Hastily composing himself, he put on a solemn, dignified front once more. The scene shifted again. Ji Liuli stood atop a sheer, solitary peak, gazing out at the boundless world before her. The mountain winds howled, whipping her robes around her, as though she were the only soul left between heaven and earth. For reasons he couldn't explain, what Wei Yuan sensed from this scene was despair—and loneliness. Loneliness was easy enough to understand; geniuses were always lonely. Looking across Zhang Sheng's life, most of her time had been spent either reading or practicing sword arts, aside from the first ten years of taking odd jobs everywhere to feed her disciples. Naturally, she was lonely. As for Wei Yuan himself, he possessed neither the demeanor nor the self-awareness of a genius cultivator. He loved a lively atmosphere. When idle, he would drop by to see what the "sleeping dragons and fledgling phoenixes" were up to, keeping meticulous track of every rebel's movements. Whenever he had spare time, he frequently wrote letters to his former sect-mates, though he sent far more than he ever received, and over the past several months, he hadn't seen a single reply. What Wei Yuan could not fathom in the least was where Ji Liuli's despair came from. Right now, Ji Liuli remained motionless on the sheer peak; this was the entirety of her current dreamscape. After watching a while longer, Wei Yuan called over the Dream Eater and asked, "Where is her heart tribulation? Is this all there is?" "I'm not an inner demon, so how should I know where her heart tribulation lies? How about I introduce an inner demon to you?" "No need, thanks!" Wei Yuan refused immediately. If he allowed an inner demon into her dreams, there was no telling when they would ever be able to purge it. "Everything that might be connected to her heart tribulation is right here. There might be more elsewhere, but I can't discern it. If you want, you can take your time watching." Wei Yuan shook his head. "Save them for now. I'll watch them later when I have time. There's nothing else to see, right?" "Nothing for the heart tribulation, but there's plenty of paid content. Sure you don't want to reconsider?" Wei Yuan rejected it on the spot with utmost righteousness. Never mind watching that paid content; even thinking about it made him feel embarrassed. Right now, he was pondering whether he should find an opportunity to secretly refine the Dream Eater. It simply knew far too much. Withdrawing from the dreamscape, Wei Yuan saw the Dream Eater hovering before him, scrutinizing him. But knowing what its true form looked like, Wei Yuan was well aware that its lovely pair of eyes was merely decorative. "Why can't we find where her heart tribulation lies?" "She's probably unconsciously avoiding it. My dream realm isn't fully developed yet; it requires her to construct it herself. Once she has experienced enough dreams, the dream world will become more vivid and real, and her heart tribulation will gradually manifest. It takes time. "If you want to speed things up, there is a way: place her in an extremely dangerous dreamscape and see what she does. For example, throw her into the lair of some evil cult..." Wei Yuan instantly shook his head. "Better not. No rush; let's take it slowly. Call me if anything out of the ordinary happens." The Dream Eater called after Wei Yuan's departing back, "Don't go! You could play the cult master... remember to think over my suggestion!" Wei Yuan ignored it, leaving the Nether Cold Realm and returning to Qingming. By this time, the opening ceremony of the Qingming Military Academy had concluded. The cadets were leaving the drill grounds in small groups, heading back to their quarters. This was their last moment of leisure; evening classes would commence right after dinner. Cui Yu, Bao Yun, and the others were studying the curriculum and training schedule for the coming days. Wei Yuan did not disturb them, checking instead the memories of the Dao Foundation warrior he had stationed here. To his surprise, he discovered that the one addressing the cadets had not been Cui Yu, but Perfected Chuhe. Truth be told, as long as the old Daoist wasn't in a brawl, he looked remarkably dignified and possessed first-rate eloquence. Starting from an individual's Dao journey, he broadened the scope to the family, the state, and finally the world under heaven. Progressing from the small to the grand, he delivered a brilliant speech that gave the cadets the distinct illusion that joining the military was their heaven-ordained destiny. New uniforms, new armor, brand-new advanced cultivation techniques, affluent lives for their families, and an elevated social standing and perks—all made the profession of an officer appear dazzlingly radiant, second only to the Creation Immortal Venerable. No, even the Creation Immortal Venerable fell short; after all, the Immortal Venerable created the world merely to serve all living beings. Furthermore, Qingming boasted sturdy shields, powerful cannons, and superior armaments, bolstered by domain power and legions of professional physicians from the medical halls—making it difficult to die even on the battlefield. Even if one truly laid down their life for the domain, so long as their merit was sufficient to enter the Lingxiao Heroic Spirits Hall, there remained a sliver of hope that their Origin Soul could revive, granting rebirth through the Divine Dao. In short: serving as a soldier in Qingming was truly a case of a hundred-legged centipede that died, yet refused to stiffen. The old Daoist's silver tongue was genuinely extraordinary. His ability to befriend minks, cats, and snakes was grounded in genuine skill. Right then, a cadet asked why Wei Yuan was nowhere to be seen on the lecture schedule; they wanted to learn how to wage war from Wei Yuan himself. Wei Yuan immediately felt a deep sense of camaraderie, thinking this lad was truly a talent. However, the old Daoist had replied that the Domain Lord was not suited to teach them, and that Cui Yu and the others were far better choices. Most of the cadets raised an uproar, but the old Daoist remained unhurried, speaking with calm composure: "A sage possesses knowledge from birth—is that something one can learn? The Domain Lord conducts war with unpredictable variations, guided purely by intuition and instinct. That is an innate gift, completely beyond anyone's ability to imitate. "Take how the Domain Lord crushes the enemy: it usually boils down to a single shout—'Follow me! Charge!'—and then he charges right through. When your turn comes, why don't you try shouting 'Follow me! Charge!'? I guarantee you'll smash your head straight into an iron wall!" The cadets found this profoundly convincing, and Wei Yuan had to admit the old Daoist had a point. No wonder he was held in such high regard by True Monarch Huangyun. At this juncture, Qingming was thriving with each passing day and everything was on the upswing. Taking in displaced refugees, opening up farmlands, and mining ores, Wei Yuan prepared to savor this rare period of tranquility. In his spare time, he could also lend a helping hand to his Eldest Senior Sister. At that moment, outside the royal capital of Zhao, atop Mount Zuoyin, stood a courtyard—plain without being crude, quiet without being desolate. Here, mountain breezes and babbling springs provided music, while flying birds and spirit foxes served as companions. In the courtyard, two men were playing weiqi. One was an old man who seemed to hold the entire world within his breast; the other was a middle-aged man of imposing presence, though his temples were already greying. The board set between them was quite bizarre—neither the nineteen-line grid commonly used by players across the world, nor the rare yet lauded twenty-one or twenty-seven-line boards. The board had an irregular shape, somewhat resembling the contours of Zhao and its neighboring regions. As the two placed their stones, certain areas were remarkably tranquil, allowing stones to take root the moment they touched down. Other spots, however, proved exceptionally arduous; playing a single piece would cause ripples across the board, after which the stone would vanish. Only by placing several stones in succession could one gain a firm foothold. The middle-aged man suddenly shifted his focus, ignoring the south where the conflict raged most fiercely, and placed a stone toward the northwest. That area was mostly empty, occupied by only a scattering of stones. As this stone landed, the board trembled briefly, but the piece actually took root. The middle-aged man's brows relaxed, and a smile finally broke across his face. "The fruit is ripe. It is time I plucked a few." The old man was somewhat taken aback. Staring at the northwest corner for a long while, he muttered, "That's not right. By my calculations, this place is fraught with peril; without immense perseverance and formidable methods, one could never gain a footing. How did it suddenly become so effortless?" The middle-aged man chuckled. "Though you survey the heavenly secrets, Old Master, heaven's secrets are ever-shifting and easily swayed by the great fortune of humanity. In the western reaches at least, my decision is, to a certain extent, where the grand trend lies." The old man's brow furrowed deeper. "Strange. In five hundred years of observing the heavens, I have never encountered such a thing. Could an immortal have intervened to veil heaven's secrets?" The middle-aged man smiled. "My Li family is not without Immortal Ancestors. If another immortal made a move, how could I remain unaware?" "This move is exceedingly perilous. You see, I need only strike at your heartland..." The old man placed another stone in the south. The struggle in the south had already been fierce, and with this reinforcement from the old man, the balance should have tipped immediately. Yet as soon as the stone landed, it vanished, failing to take root. The old man stared in stunned bewilderment, exclaiming, "Could the State of Ji be falling into chaos?" The middle-aged man gave a low chuckle. "That is precisely why I placed this idle move at this time. Though the Western Regions are barren, they remain a vast expanse; we cannot allow anyone to seal off the gateway." "However..." "Rest assured, Old Master. What sort of man do you take me, Li Shenji, for? I naturally know my boundaries and will not give the court historians cause for gossip. He has just won a great victory over the Shamans, and his renown is at its peak. If I were to attack him directly, criticism would be unavoidable. But if what I claim is unclaimed land, who can say anything against me? For instance, like this..." With a crisp clack, he placed another stone directly adjacent to the existing one, pressing tightly against it. Clouds and winds abruptly surged across the board, and the original stone flickered between light and shadow. The old man peered intently at it, yet no matter how hard he looked, he could not pierce through the storm to discern heaven's secrets. Gazing at the fog-shrouded Western Regions, the middle-aged man burst into hearty laughter. "If one cannot prevail when heaven's secrets are murky and the tides unclear, how could one ever be called an enlightened lord?"