Once again, it was the season of warming spring and blooming flowers.
Several months had passed since Immortal Monarch Yanshi ascended to immortality. The Palace of Grand Beginning's Northern Mountain Gate had stabilized, the Little State Preceptor had retreated into the depths of the great grasslands, and the Silver Moon Great Khan had withdrawn his troops back to the Tianhan Sea. The crisis in the north was thereby resolved.
Qingming was scorching hot all year round, without distinct seasons. Yet at Wei Yuan's current realm, he could already sense the cycles of life and breath across the greater heaven and earth, no longer confined by the domain of a lesser world.
At this moment, Wei Yuan hovered in the air west of Qingming, looking down upon the construction site at the foot of the mountain. With the appointed hour arriving, he descended onto a high platform and struck the giant bell with force. Wagons laden with enormous wooden crates then rolled up to the intake chutes one after another. Workers pushed the crates into the openings, sending them sliding deep into the massive structure before them.
The fourth Samsara Furnace was finally complete.
As more feed was dumped in, a melodious sound akin to heavenly music began to faintly resonate in the surroundings. An ordinary person would notice nothing out of the ordinary, but through Wei Yuan's eyes, immense quantities of yin-yang qi could be seen drawn into the Samsara Furnace, after which the fire of chaos ignited within.
The yin-yang qi was exceedingly thin, and the chaos fire was so faint it was virtually imperceptible. Even if a mortal stood directly in the flames, they would feel nothing at all, aside from perhaps feeling a bit restless and irritated.
Yet such faint chaos fire could dissolve worldly matter and convert it into fundamental spiritual qi—a truly wondrous feat. The Samsara Furnace's ability to produce chaos fire and seize creation from heaven and earth proved that Feng Chutang, who had designed it, possessed skills nothing short of astonishing.
If the Samsara Furnace was already so formidable, one could only imagine how much more terrifying the Creation Pool must be. And taking that line of thought further, the Heaven Refining Demonic Immortal's Heaven Refining Grand Formation of old might truly have been capable of melting down heaven and earth.
As the fire of chaos burned, four Jade Toads perched at the four corners atop the Samsara Furnace began to slowly exhale spiritual qi, returning it to heaven and earth. There was an art to these four Jade Toads; when Wei Yuan had once tried replacing them with jade dragons, phoenixes, or qilins, none proved as effective as the Jade Toads.
With the Samsara Furnace now in operation, wisps of chaos qi correspondingly surfaced around the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, attaching themselves to this realm.
With the completion of the fourth Samsara Furnace, the cultivation speed within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World increased yet again. For Wei Yuan to cultivate to the Heart Idol realm of the late Dharma Idol stage would now take a mere thousand years.
At just two hundred and twenty-one years old, Wei Yuan doubted he would live for a thousand years. Still, having previously required over six thousand years, narrowing it down to one thousand was already quite an achievement.
With four Samsara Furnaces completed, Wei Yuan did not plan to build any more for now. These four furnaces had nearly exhausted the fuel reserves he had accumulated previously. Since the Samsara Furnaces did not generate spiritual qi on their own, building more without fuel would be pointless.
Only at this moment did Wei Yuan truly understand why armaments makers craved war so desperately.
A schedule reminder from the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World informed Wei Yuan that it was time to return to the main mountain.
Patriarch Xuanyue's Azure Great Hall was now finished, and disciples and followers of Sky Azure Hall scattered across various places were summoned back to the mountain to attend the completion ceremony.
This was a major event, so Wei Yuan specially prepared a small flying boat to carry all Sky Azure Hall disciples currently in Qingming back to the sect to witness the grand occasion together.
The journey was fairly smooth, save for a few inspections when passing through various nations. Later, finding the vessel too slow, Wei Yuan outfitted it with a dozen-odd booster nozzles, vastly increasing its speed—though the wild ride left several lower-cultivation disciples thoroughly dizzy and disoriented.
A few days later, the flying boat arrived at the main mountain. Many of the Sky Azure Hall disciples had not returned for two or three years and were exceptionally thrilled.
Upon arrival, a day remained before the ceremony, so everyone returned to their respective quarters to rest. Early the next morning, they gathered once more on the square before Sky Azure Hall.
Across the square, dense fog hung so thick that even the divine sense of a Dharma Idol Perfected Person could hardly pierce it. The main Azure Hall lay hidden within that fog.
At noon, True Monarch Xuanyue descended from the heavens and stood in the center of the square.
Looking upon the hundreds of disciples from both halls before him, he nodded repeatedly, his face beaming with unbounded joy as he exclaimed, "Good, good, good! There are worthy successors—worthy successors indeed!"
The square held not only disciples of Sky Azure Hall, but also those of Water Moon Hall. Looking back at the dozens of childish faces behind him, Wei Yuan suddenly felt a surge of emotion. Fifteen years ago, had he not been the same age? Among the new disciples, two were visibly very young, appearing to be no more than six or seven.
Yet the youngest person present was neither of those two children, but Wei Ying, whom Perfected Lanhua was leading by the hand. Wei Ying also looked about six or seven at this point, though in truth she was not even two years old yet.
Yesterday, as soon as Wei Yuan arrived at the Palace of Grand Beginning, Perfected Lanhua had spotted Wei Ying. In her words, the girl looked exactly like Fei Yutong when she was small, only even prettier.
Upon learning that she was Fei Yutong's reincarnation and seeing her innate talent, Perfected Lanhua flatly refused to return her to Wei Yuan. The entire way, she either held her hand or carried her in her arms, showing more devotion than if she were her own flesh and blood.
Wei Yuan naturally stood in line with the Perfected Persons. The gazes of the young disciples behind were glued to him, whispering among themselves from time to time as they recounted his legendary deeds from years past.
Feeling the multitude of gazes falling upon his back, Wei Yuan experienced an indescribable satisfaction, feeling even more delighted than if he had successfully survived a heavenly tribulation.
Right then, he suddenly felt a different gaze lightly prick his back. Wei Yuan turned around, his eyes meeting Zhang Sheng's in the row behind him.
Zhang Sheng wore a faint, knowing smirk, having clearly seen right through Wei Yuan's secretly gloating heart.
She stood at the head of the Dao Foundation cultivators, not actually far from Wei Yuan, and many disciples were stealing glances at her as well. Clad in a plain robe, Zhang Sheng was like a pine coated in frost—clean and translucent, like half-furled clouds and mist. Her brows were like distant mountains and her eyes like bright mirrors, yet her glances radiated a piercing chill, like a blade drawn from its sheath, glinting with a sharp edge, yet secretly harboring warmth. If one looked past an aura that was practically that of a peerless immortal sword, Zhang Sheng was undeniably breathtaking—a beauty beyond the wildest dreams of any young cultivator.
Yet inside and out, Zhang Sheng was so unified that she was virtually a peerless immortal sword in human form, an aura that could not be overlooked. No matter how beautiful she was, the young disciples dared not entertain any inappropriate thoughts; even stealing a look from afar required all their courage.
Under all those watchful eyes, Wei Yuan did not dare linger either. Just as he was about to turn away, he suddenly saw Zhang Sheng curl her lips, puckering her mouth at him.
A deafening roar erupted in Wei Yuan's mind, as if he had been struck by heavenly lightning! What did it mean to do this out in public, right before everyone's eyes?!
Although from Zhang Sheng's position the disciples behind could not see, and the Perfected Persons in front had not turned around, still...
The Patriarch is watching! Wei Yuan screamed internally.
Zhang Sheng's eyes sparkled like stars, and she puckered her lips gently once more. Her meaning was clear: It's meant for the Patriarch to see.
In an instant, Wei Yuan's mind fell into utter disarray. Endless panic and irrepressible delight surged in turn, causing wild tempests one moment and flashes of lightning the next within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World.
The mortals were all thrown into terror, and a small faction among them was especially frightened: could the nursery rhyme they had just taught a few children today have already been discovered by the Creation Immortal Venerable?
True Monarch Xuanyue's face flushed red, as though he had downed three large jugs of mellow wine. "Good, good, good!" he repeated over and over.
Most of the disciples were thoroughly baffled, having no idea where these latest exclamations of "good" had come from.
Yet amid such joy, there was also a touch of sorrow. Looking across the crowd, True Monarch Xuanyue saw that while the younger Dao Foundation and Body Casting disciples had grown considerably in number, the line of Perfected Persons—even with Wei Yuan added to their ranks—numbered only five.
Sky Azure Hall and Water Moon Hall had each lost one person, someone who could never come again.
Brushing aside the haze in his heart, True Monarch Xuanyue said, "Today, the Azure Great Hall has been rebuilt. I will not speak of a foundation for ten thousand generations, but at the very least, a foundation for the next century is secured. In a hundred years, I hope one of you will succeed this old Daoist and raise the hall a few stories higher! Well then, this old Daoist has said his piece."
With a wave of True Monarch Xuanyue's wide sleeve, the clouds and mist parted to reveal the brand-new Azure Great Hall, soaring to a height of one hundred and eighty zhang!
Before such a magnificent and ostentatious hall, calling the several hundred disciples ants would be flattering them; they were no more than specks of dust.
Wei Yuan was equally stunned. He still remembered back when True Monarch Xuanyue had dragged him around borrowing money, the plan was to build it to a hundred and ten, or maybe a hundred and twenty zhang—yet now that it was built, it had become one hundred and eighty zhang!
In such a hall, the main gates alone stood a hundred zhang tall, and inside were cultivation spots sufficient for nine hundred and ninety-nine young disciples to cultivate simultaneously.
The completion of the main Azure Hall elevated the standing of the entire sect's mountain gate. It was now capable of overpowering all the other halls and standing shoulder to shoulder with the Three Abbeys.
The expressions of the Water Moon Hall disciples were far more complicated. Although both halls shared the same Patriarch, comparing their sixty-zhang main hall to this one made it painfully obvious who was the favored child and who was merely adopted.
Afterward, the disciples toured the Azure Great Hall, taking in the unimaginably dense spiritual qi within.
Cultivating in this hall, the speed at an ordinary spot approached that of a supreme immortal cave. From this day forward, every Sky Azure Hall disciple's cultivation speed would at least double. This was a true foundation for generations to come.
Having toured the hall, Wei Yuan was filled with emotion. True Monarch Xuanyue disliked empty formalities, so he soon declared the ceremony concluded and dismissed the disciples to go their own ways.
True Monarch Xuanyue then summoned Fenhai, Zhang Sheng, and Wei Yuan into the rear hall, ordering his treasured tea leaves brought out and brewed into four cups, one for each of them.
True Monarch Xuanyue looked at the three of them one by one. Looking at Wei Yuan and Zhang Sheng, his smile was so wide his mouth couldn't close. But when his gaze fell upon Fenhai, half that smile vanished, and his expression darkened as he scolded:
"Fenhai, it's about time you applied yourself! Your grand-disciple has caught up to your cultivation—what kind of disgrace is that? Day in and day out, neglecting your duties, slacking on your cultivation, failing to delve into the Dao arts, doing nothing but heating bathwater for others?!"
Perfected Fenhai's face was a study in conflicting emotions, but not daring to talk back, he could only say, "I haven't paid off what I owed before. This disciple will probably have to boil water for another ten years."
True Monarch Xuanyue frowned. "Just make sure it doesn't hold back your cultivation. In a few years, Zhang Sheng will achieve the Dharma Idol realm as well. If you, as her master, still can't take a step forward, where am I supposed to put this old face of mine?"
Perfected Fenhai murmured subserviently, not daring to argue. He could only lament that time flew by, and the days when he had first entered the sect were gone forever. Back then, though True Monarch Xuanyue had been stern, the fondness in his eyes whenever he looked at him had been impossible to conceal.
Now, the Patriarch's heart and eyes were completely filled with others.
Fenhai sighed inwardly, yet when he glanced over and saw Zhang Sheng and Wei Yuan, the corners of his own mouth lifted in a smile.
Chapter 690