Half a Day's Absence

With the selection settled, everyone in the village, whether mobile or not, dispersed. Even a thatched hut let out a sigh and drew its shutters closed. The bald youth walked toward the outside of the mountains alongside Wei Yuan and Xuanyue. Although Wei Yuan was naturally wary of bald heads, this was not something he had any say over, so he could only accept it. "May I ask what master's origins are?" Wei Yuan inquired respectfully. The youth laughed. "What 'master'? I hardly deserve such a title. My former master was a bit paranoid. Once he became the First Deputy Palace Master, he got completely carried away and insisted on storming off to seek vengeance. On top of that, he was something of a neat freak—anyone with the slightest tie to his enemies had to be wiped clean. In a single breath, he wound up slaying four Arhats, over a dozen Vajras, countless mighty warriors, and tens of thousands of monks. "This enraged the Great Treasure Radiance Pure Land, which mobilized the Victorious Fighting Buddha alongside three Dao-protecting Buddhas. My master was outmatched, and his body perished while his Dao dissolved. But he died and went merrily into reincarnation, whereas I fell into the hands of those bald monks. They claimed my baleful qi was too heavy, my karmic debts too entangled, and that I needed purification. So they set me before a Buddha to listen to scriptures for hundreds of years. "Later, the Palace Master finally returned from beyond the heavens and went to the Great Treasure Radiance Pure Land to demand me back. As a result, I ended up in this current state. Ah, you have no idea—back in my day, I was truly fearsome! With just a single shake of my body, dharma idols would instantly dissolve into bloody water. It's no good now. After listening to all those scriptures, I don't even know how to fight anymore." Wei Yuan grew increasingly alarmed the more he listened and hurriedly asked, "And who might this Palace Master be?" "The current one, of course! Among all the past Palace Masters, he's lived quite a long time. But that old fellow is cunning as a fox; whenever an opportunity arises, he slips away beyond the heavens to avoid calamity. No one can do anything about him, and who knows what he's scheming now. Alas, after he brought me back, he vanished again, leaving me to sulk in this little village. To tell the truth, I actually miss those days of listening to scriptures a bit." A foreboding sensation mounted within Wei Yuan. Subconsciously, he asked, "Before which Buddha did Senior listen to scriptures?" The moment the words left his mouth, Wei Yuan knew he had slipped up and wished he could slap himself across the face! Yet it was already too late to take it back. With a bright, radiant smile, the youth replied, "The Great Joy King Buddha, naturally!" An obscure passage of scripture suddenly rose in Wei Yuan's mind. Written entirely in exceedingly complex runes, its meaning nonetheless dawned on him naturally. Its rough import was: *Whosoever chants my name, meditates upon my name, or even hears my name, shall draw near to the supreme true intent;* *Praise me, draw near to me, become me.* Seeing Wei Yuan's face abruptly turn ghastly pale, Xuanyue asked with concern, "What is wrong? Did you have some sudden premonition?" Wei Yuan forced a smile and said, "No, it is nothing." Conflicts on the level of the Grand Daos of Samsara and Karma were bizarre and unpredictable, with countless traps at every turn; no one could tell whether a thought at any given moment was a piece played by an immortal. Nevertheless, Wei Yuan believed that since the Palace of Grand Beginning had overpowered the Great Treasure Radiance Pure Land over a thousand years ago, as the foremost figure of the younger generation, the palace would hardly fail to protect him if something truly went awry. Given True Monarch Xuanyue's temperament, if he learned of this, he might very well sneak into the Great Treasure Radiance Pure Land to find a way to steal and destroy that dharma idol of the Joy King Buddha. Wei Yuan felt it would be better to seek a solution after the Patriarch achieved immortality. Halfway along the road, the youth said, "I will temporarily reside within your body. If you encounter mortal peril, you may awaken me. But remember, you have only one chance to awaken me." At this moment, Wei Yuan noticed the sky darkening, as if a mountain storm were brewing. Hardly any daylight remained, and the surrounding forests took on a bleak, decaying cast. The youth said, "You noticed? We are essentially lingering on our last breaths here, waiting for an opportunity in future generations. If we don't encounter a new master, we slowly recuperate in this place to preserve our vitality. Last time Xuanlu went out, and this time I am going out; each departure consumes quite a bit of the immortal qi accumulated here. When immortal spiritual qi runs low, signs of decay will manifest." Only then did Wei Yuan realize that securing the help of an immortal weapon was an extraordinary opportunity in itself. And the price for this, naturally, had been paid by Xuanyue. "I have not yet asked for Senior's name." "Just call me Liandeng." With that, the youth transformed into a streak of flowing light that sank into Wei Yuan's left hand, turning into a lotus petal on the back of his hand. Once they emerged from the secret realm, Xuanyue said, "Since you carry an immortal weapon on you, I will escort you part of the way." True Monarch Xuanyue then carried Wei Yuan as they flew toward Qingming. Along the way, Wei Yuan asked, "Were all those things in the mountain village immortal weapons left behind by past immortals?" Xuanyue nodded. "Most of them are, though a small portion had their Dao bodies destroyed, leaving behind only an artifact spirit. Those cannot come out; they can only maintain their spirituality within the secret realm. Although their spirituality still slips away bit by bit, it extends their time considerably." "With so many immortal weapons, why haven't you or the other Patriarchs used them when taking action?" Xuanyue replied, "Immortal weapons also have their ranks. Unless they reach the tier of peerless divine armaments, none can transcend the shackles of the Grand Dao. Moreover, employing one carries a massive cost and incurs great karmic entanglement; even I could not unleash more than a few strikes. Furthermore, since we are not their original masters and have not won the weapons' acknowledgment, we cannot draw out their full might even if we take them. Only after achieving immortality can one command them smoothly. "Yet for anyone capable of achieving immortality, who wouldn't possess a magical treasure they had refined and nurtured over long years? Once they successfully attain immortality and their accustomed treasure survives the immortal tribulation, it naturally becomes an immortal weapon. There is no need to use another's." "Then do these immortal weapons resting here serve no purpose at all?" "You cannot say that either. In ordinary times, they serve as memorials to our predecessors, but should a moment of life and death arrive, their seals can be undone. A single immortal weapon equates to the full-strength blow of its original master. Back when the Fourth Immortal Master passed away and the Fifth Palace Master had not yet achieved immortality, he was forced to expend two immortal weapons, heavily wounding two formidable foes to ensure the Palace of Grand Beginning's mountain gate did not fall. "The main mountain also holds a contingency sealed by the Founding Patriarch. Therefore, if anyone truly wishes to annihilate our Palace of Grand Beginning, they would at least have to leave behind the life of someone on the level of the First Heavenly Shaman for it to be possible." Only then did Wei Yuan catch a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg of the Palace of Grand Beginning's foundations. Upon returning to Qingming, Xuanyue remained there for the time being, waiting for Wei Yuan to return from his exploration. Xuanyue would have dearly liked to brave the dangers in Wei Yuan's stead. However, his mindscape world had already reached great perfection. Without having attained immortality, he lacked the means to convert illusion into reality, meaning he could not enter Wei Yuan's Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. If Xuanyue entered, it would be equivalent to an invasion of worlds; the crushing weight of his mindscape world alone would inflict severe damage upon the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. Even with Xuanyue's temperament, at this moment he could only sit obediently and await the outcome. By now, several thousand mortals were stationed within the otherworldly fragment, with hundreds of research projects advancing simultaneously. An eight-story building had been erected right beside the teleportation portal; over three thousand people worked continuously within that building alone. Merely maintaining its lighting required the consumption of five hundred wisps of azure qi each day. Factoring in the other bases, strongholds, and the upkeep of the light-roads, the basic maintenance cost for this world fragment reached two thousand wisps of karmic luck every day. Doing absolutely nothing for a month would burn through sixty thousand wisps of karmic luck. Thus, whenever Wei Yuan looked at the bright lights across the shattered world, his heart bled. Every single beam of light here was purchased through the burning of karmic luck. Fortunately, gathering the refugees had brought in a considerable amount of new karmic luck. Looking at his accumulated reserve of three million wisps of azure qi, Wei Yuan felt much more at ease, figuring it could last him for a good while longer. After entering the world fragment, Wei Yuan assembled his combat forces and began the final preparations for entering the skyscraper. The first step was to thoroughly clear the area between the inner and outer light-roads, securing a hazard-free zone three hundred zhang wide to completely eliminate the possibility of monster ambushes and reinforcements. This step was largely complete, with only a few sectors left uncleaned. After sparing no effort to clear those remaining sectors, Wei Yuan gained two more wisps of Dao profound qi. At the same time, rear research indicated that the more territory they cleared, the more the world fragment's suppression of natural laws loosened, causing a noticeable drop in the monsters' strength. Clearing the perimeter took ten days. The next step was to secure the immediate surroundings of the entire skyscraper. This was a vast area several hundred zhang across, where monsters charged out from inside the building from time to time, making it exceptionally dangerous. Wei Yuan advanced steadily, nibbling away territory ten zhang at a time. Each time a parcel was claimed, light poles were erected to illuminate the surrounding space, gradually transforming the area around the skyscraper into a brightly lit plaza. Perhaps because the natural laws of heaven and earth had loosened, this time Wei Yuan saw no sky-light appear, nor did he see those black birds again. Just as the path to the skyscraper's entrance was on the verge of being opened, the research institute in the rear produced a new finding. They had deciphered a portion of the script used in this world. The string of runes on the skyscraper's name wall meant: *Umbrella Biotechnology...* Seeing this name, Wei Yuan felt rather disappointed. Biotechnology? Just looking at the state this world fragment had been reduced to was enough to guess the level of its original living organisms; it fell short of their native realm, with its path to immortality, by thousands upon thousands of leagues. As for the information technology Xu Wenwu had mentioned, to be frank, Wei Yuan had little need for it now. After experiencing the previous illusion, Wei Yuan knew that a cultivator's divine sense operated at speeds far outstripping ordinary mortals. The computational power of a dharma idol was already terrifying, and immortals were essentially mobile supercomputers. Rather than studying how to manufacture computer chips, it made more sense to produce more Dao Foundations—not only could they calculate, but they could also fight. What Wei Yuan wanted most at this moment was materials science, yet unfortunately, that was not what this was. Collecting his thoughts, Wei Yuan stood before the skyscraper's entrance, backed by over a thousand cultivators from the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. At that moment, the bald youth appeared beside Wei Yuan, also sizing up the high-rise. Wei Yuan asked, "Senior Liandeng, what do you think?" The youth praised, "Juicy and plump!" Wei Yuan had never imagined such an assessment. He wanted to probe further, but Liandeng refused to elaborate. Now that everything was in order, Wei Yuan was about to step through the main entrance of the building when the youth suddenly pulled him back. "Wait a bit longer. There's another side dish that hasn't arrived yet. It'll be here in a moment." Wei Yuan froze, stopping in his tracks to wait patiently. In a short while, a familiar figure hurried over—it was actually Ji Liuli. She patted her chest and said, "I lost track of time reading and barely made it! I'm going in with you so I can shoulder a fair amount of the pressure for you." *Eldest Senior Sister is a side dish?* Wei Yuan turned his head, only to find that Liandeng had vanished, and the lotus petal on the back of his hand was gone as well. Wei Yuan wanted to object, but Ji Liuli said, "No worries! I have the Patriarch suppressing karmic luck for me; my life won't be in danger in there. Set your mind at ease!" Wei Yuan nodded and walked side by side with Ji Liuli through the building's entrance, vanishing instantly. Heaven and earth shifted. A closed, smooth steel door appeared before Wei Yuan. The surrounding area was packed with people, all sharply dressed in suits and looking neat and proper, yet every single one wore an anxious expression, glancing at the time every few moments. The display beside the door flickered with numbers: 23, 25, 26... pausing briefly at nearly every floor. The waiting crowd grew frantic with anxiety, muttering quiet curses from time to time. Wei Yuan also felt inexplicably restless, his eyes fixed on the jumping numbers, staring so hard they nearly popped out. With great difficulty, the numbers finally counted down from large to small, arriving at 1. The elevator doors slid open, and Wei Yuan darted inside in a single bound. The elevator was instantly jammed full, and an overload alarm began to wail. Amid a chorus of reproaches from the people around them, the two outermost commuters reluctantly stepped out, and only then did the elevator smoothly ascend. Wei Yuan felt an overwhelming sense of urgency, yet people got off at nearly every floor. Grinding upward floor by floor, the elevator finally reached Wei Yuan's level. He broke into a dead sprint, bolted through the company doors, and screeched to a halt before the attendance machine. A green light swept across his face and scanned his irises before an icy, unfeeling voice rang out: "Six minutes late. Recorded as half a day's absence."