What Is the Source?

With the first sub-grotto-heaven successfully in motion, Wei Yuan pressed forward, immediately setting to work calculating the second orbit. Having the foundation laid by the first made the second far easier. Wei Yuan did not need to remain in secluded cultivation for long stretches; every so often, he could walk through the territory and handle various affairs of governance. In central Yong'an City, Wei Yuan had established the Realm Lord Hall specifically to deal with all matters of government spanning both immortals and mortals. In front of the hall, the Castellan's Manor stood to the left, while the Hall of Political Affairs lay to the right. The first thing Wei Yuan reviewed was the issuance of Qingyuan. Over a year had passed since Qingyuan's debut. Demand was extraordinarily brisk; notes had already been printed in four successive additional runs, and circulation now exceeded one hundred million. As the issuing authority of Qingyuan, Qingming Bank had expanded its staff to nearly ten thousand people, yet they remained overwhelmed, utterly harried just handling the various deposits and exchanges. When major merchant firms wished to stock up on goods from Qingming, they had to borrow an initial sum of Qingyuan. That business alone accounted for a demand of sixty to seventy million. Furthermore, the scions of various noble clans living and studying in Qingming required large sums of Qingyuan, demanding another twenty to thirty million. The final sector was the payroll distributed through Qingming's internal merit system. Originally, an able-bodied mortal in Qingming—excluding cultivation—could earn an average of one merit point a year. This was because Qingming had taken in too many new refugees, causing the population to swell tenfold overnight. As a result, the competition for almost every job increased tenfold. The merit rewarded for the same piece of work dropped repeatedly until it fell to a quarter of its original rate, yet countless people still fought tooth and nail for the work. However, with the issuance of Qingyuan and the establishment of a territory-wide wage system, the average annual merit per person had surged from one point to three in less than a year! Behind such an astounding increase lay an eightfold expansion of the labor force and a slightly lower average standard of Body Casting. In other words, with all else remaining equal, these mortals had accomplished three times the work of the past. Three times the merit plus an equivalent amount of Qingyuan meant that in the past year, an ordinary mortal's earnings in food and money had multiplied to six times the previous year's. Consequently, everyone overflowed with heartfelt gratitude, and Wei Yuan's azure qi poured forth in an endless, surging torrent. Once he grasped the underlying mechanics, Wei Yuan felt somewhat sheepish. These mortals toiled diligently; working more meant earning more, which was nothing beyond what they rightfully deserved. Yet on top of that, they still contributed karmic luck to him. Then again, outside Qingming, mortals rarely even had the chance to work, and no matter how much they toiled, they still received only a meager pittance barely enough to stave off starvation. Once settled in security and prosperity, mortals turned first to Body Casting cultivation, and second to childbearing. Those able to reach Qingming were mostly in their prime. Though women were relatively few, several hundred thousand infants were born over the course of the year. With virtually every birth, the parents contributed an additional strand of karmic luck. Ten million people now held merit records in Qingming, and payroll distributions alone accounted for the issuance of thirty million Qingyuan. External merchant firms keenly sniffed out commercial opportunities. Shops they opened offered discounts for payments made in Qingyuan. Thus, Qingyuan flowed back into the merchants' hands, which they could then use to repay Qingming Bank. With the issuance of Qingyuan, the number of cultivators voluntarily coming to work in Qingming just to earn the currency surged more than tenfold compared to the past. Toward these aspiring cultivators, Qingming welcomed all comers, handling them with a standardized procedure of blood pacts and template oaths, only with fixed terms of service attached. These terms were meticulously calculated: the general standard was ten years of service to Qingming, followed by thirty years after the contract's expiration during which they were forbidden to oppose Qingming. After thirty years, they were free to do as they pleased. The influx of cultivators drove the demand for Qingyuan steadily higher. Even after several additional print runs, it still fell short of demand. Wei Yuan kept strict control over the printing of Qingyuan, so many individuals began operating currency exchange businesses among the populace, collectively known as Qingyuan brokers. Officially, Qingyuan and immortal silver remained at a one-to-one exchange rate, but on the black market, a single Qingyuan could already fetch one tael and two qian of immortal silver. Though precedents existed in the outworld, Wei Yuan had merely been an ordinary man spending money within an illusion born of resentful energy back then, feeling nothing of the deeper truth. Now, standing in the shoes of the issuer, he perceived things quite differently. Immortal silver was the most universally accepted fundamental material in the cultivation world. It was produced by cultivators nurturing mortal silver with Dao power for a sufficient duration, causing it to undergo a metamorphosis. To convert a single tael of immortal silver, spiritual energy had to be delivered in full—either through low-level cultivators nurturing it over prolonged periods, or high-level cultivators stewing it fiercely over intense flames. Hence, immortal silver had intrinsic value and remained exceedingly stable. Yet what of Qingyuan? The actual cost to print ten million Qingyuan was merely a few thousand taels of immortal silver. With one hundred million Qingyuan currently in circulation, that equated to one hundred million taels of immortal silver's worth of goods or services pouring into Qingming. These people either provided merchandise or served Qingming, yet all they received in return was a handful of paper notes. On the surface, Qingyuan was pegged to immortal silver, but in reality, Wei Yuan had not hoarded an equivalent amount of immortal silver to back it; he had not even gone out of his way to purchase any. In other words, Qingyuan was actually built upon the credit of the Qingming realm, and indeed of Wei Yuan himself. A thought suddenly crossed Wei Yuan's mind: if he were to abruptly declare Qingyuan void, or announce that it could no longer be redeemed for immortal silver from Qingming, would the Qingyuan in everyone's hands not turn into scrap paper? And wealth worth a hundred million would fall squarely into his pockets. Even if he were not so ruthless, and merely adjusted Qingyuan to redeem for half a tael of immortal silver per note, that would still instantly credit fifty million taels of immortal silver to his books. Doing so might seem a bit crude; if done more delicately—skimming only ten percent, five percent, or even less—people might not notice a thing, while the issuer quietly reaped vast fortunes. The issuance of Qingyuan had only just begun. If tens of billions or even hundreds of billions were issued in the future, skimming even a few percentage points each year would yield hundreds of millions in wealth out of thin air. Wei Yuan shuddered in shock. This way of seizing wealth was far faster than horse bandits! Horse bandits had to rob household by household, fence their loot at slashed prices, and risk encountering resistance, casualties, and death. Now, merely by printing Qingyuan, Wei Yuan earned more than all the horse bandits across the Western Regions combined! Moreover, Wei Yuan discovered that so long as enemies could not defeat Qingming, how much was seized—and whether it was taken fast or slow—depended entirely on his own conscience. But he sensed that if he sat in this seat for too long, his conscience would inevitably vanish sooner or later. As Qingyuan's use grew increasingly widespread, counterfeit Qingyuan also made its appearance. Fortunately, authentic Qingyuan carried the aura of the immortal orchid, making it virtually impossible to forge convincingly. Counterfeits could only deceive inexperienced rustic cultivators in remote areas, having no bearing on the greater situation. Wei Yuan planned ahead, enacting laws early on: counterfeit Qingyuan was confiscated on sight upon discovery; those who knowingly spent counterfeits were guilty of a felony; and those who manufactured or sold counterfeit Qingyuan were summarily put to death. Nevertheless, over a year of operation had revealed numerous issues with Qingyuan. Among them was the declining efficiency within Qingming Bank, its operations gradually slowing as bureaucratic airs thickened by the day. Just as Wei Yuan was immersed in studying these Qingyuan issues, his Primordial Soul suddenly shuddered. Qingming abruptly exhaled an enormous surge of karmic luck, plunging straight into the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World! This strand of karmic luck was red tinged with gold, entirely seamless and unified. In sheer volume, it was already equivalent to a million strands of azure human fortune. Having studied karmic luck extensively, Wei Yuan instantly recognized that something extraordinary had come into the world, or some significant treasure capable of altering Qingming's entire development had emerged, to cause such an eruption of karmic luck. Moreover, this karmic luck had a reddish cast, something truly unprecedented. Before Wei Yuan could investigate the source of this karmic luck, Yu Zhizhuo rushed into the Realm Lord Hall like a whirlwind. The moment he crossed the threshold, he bellowed, "Nephew, come with me at once! I have a fine treasure to show you!" No explanation was needed; from that surge of karmic luck alone, Wei Yuan knew the treasure had to be extraordinary. Casting aside all administrative duties, he immediately flew off with Yu Zhizhuo toward the Weaponsmith Workshop. A moment later, Wei Yuan stood before a colossal treasure artifact mounted on a support frame. This treasure artifact was the size of a small house—one zhang high, one zhang wide, and three zhang long. Its craftsmanship was exquisite. From the array patterns alone, Wei Yuan could tell at a glance that it utilized three-dimensional array runes; the labor alone was extraordinarily costly. Yu Zhizhuo gazed upon the artifact with profound emotion and said, "When you returned from the world fragment last time, you recorded every detail of that outworld. After studying it thoroughly, I was deeply inspired. "So I mobilized a cohort of junior brothers and sisters, led several thousand apprentices in bitter research for over a year, and received frequent guidance from the Hall Master. Several key components were even personally forged by the Hall Master. In this way, after overcoming more than four thousand obstacles great and small, we finally built it. "This treasure is named: the Inline-Three-Cylinder Spiritual Qi Engine." For a moment, Wei Yuan had the illusion that he had returned to the outworld's realm of resentment. He rubbed his eyes. Indeed, this house-sized behemoth before him was the source that had provoked the resonance of the Heavenly Dao, and that reddish karmic luck had sprung from it. Seeing Wei Yuan's bewildered expression, Yu Zhizhuo's mood brightened instantly. His face flushed red with excitement as he roared, "Men, prepare to start it up!" Three Hall of Heavenly Craft disciples stepped forward. All three were Dao Foundation cultivators with solid foundations and excellent skeletal structure, each possessing a Heaven Foundation. The three disciples climbed onto the artifact, lifted the hatches on the top, and slipped inside, one man per cylinder. Then they pulled the covers shut and latched them tight. Yu Zhizhuo executed a continuous flurry of incantation gestures, activating the artifact's arrays one by one. Following a dazzling sequence of maneuvers, the artifact suddenly roared with a thunderous boom, and the driveshaft at its base began spinning at high speed, driven by an intricate mechanism! Wei Yuan possessed only mediocre artifact-crafting skills, so he could barely discern that the three cultivators within were steadily feeding Dao power into the arrays, using them to drive the machinery and spin the driveshaft at extreme speeds. In both rotational speed and raw power, the artifact far exceeded what three disciples should have been able to produce. Wei Yuan felt that if an ordinary Dharma Idol cultivator were to crank it by hand, straining with every ounce of strength, they would likely only match this level—and could not sustain it for long. Yet the three disciples seated within maintained a steady output of Dao power, their breathing calm and prolonged, appearing capable of enduring for quite some time. Yu Zhizhuo said, "Compared to a traditional wind-riding array of equivalent rank, this treasure produces double the output; three mid-stage Dao Foundation cultivators can match a single Dharma Idol. Moreover, its spiritual qi utilization efficiency is three times higher—the spiritual qi consumed by a Dharma Idol to fly one thousand li allows this treasure to cover four thousand li! "And this is only the beginning. With continuous improvements in the future, its efficiency can be raised even further. Who could have imagined that a mere change in the way spiritual qi is harnessed, combined with a few simple mechanical structures, could bring about such an enormous leap!" Wei Yuan finally understood the source of the karmic luck. If this treasure could be mounted onto flying ships, Qingming would only need enough Dao Foundation cultivators to rival war flying ships piloted by Dharma Idols. And if there was one thing Qingming had in abundance, it was template Dao Foundations. This spiritual qi engine did not actually require fuel as high-grade as disciples from the Hall of Heavenly Craft. With proper refinement, template cultivators could operate it just as well. What they lacked in individual power could be made up in sheer numbers; they could simply fit several engines onto a single flying ship. However, beneath this engine lay intricate machinery and array structures, bearing no comparison to the previous war chariots. For now, three cylinders represented a mature design; one could not simply tack on as many cylinders as one pleased.