Wei Yuan rapidly processed the mountain of government affairs. Then, as a side thought, he recorded an image of himself smoothly handling sixty-four tasks at once and sent a copy to Xiaoyu.
Given Wei Yuan's understanding of Xiaoyu, seeing this footage would surely drive him to strive with vigor. With Xiaoyu's potent divine sense, dividing his mind to manage multiple tasks was hardly a difficult feat; he ought to be able to ramp up to a hundred and twenty-eight before long.
By then, with Xiaoyu's temperament, he would definitely be unable to resist coming over to show off fiercely before Wei Yuan. At that point, Xiaoyu would be treated to the spectacular sight of Great Domain Lord Wei casually sipping tea while breezily handling two hundred and fifty-six tasks. His Dao heart would likely shatter all over the floor once more.
Wei Yuan's baiting technique was crude, yet effective, straightforward, and suitably efficient—it would produce results in just a few days. If it dragged on too long and Xiaoyu got to witness the multitasking proficiency of the others—especially Feng Tingyu—Wei Yuan feared he would lose a great source of amusement.
Just then, a minor matter that didn't appear all that important suddenly caught Wei Yuan's eye.
In a residential district of Yong'an City, multiple people had come down with vomiting, diarrhea, and persistent high fevers, suspected to have been caused by eating unclean food. Doctors from the local district clinic had already examined them, but for the moment could not determine the cause, and treatment progressed very slowly. The clinic had escalated the report to the headquarters and was awaiting further instructions.
Wei Yuan read through this official docket twice. He could not shake the feeling that something was off, yet he could not pinpoint the problem right away.
Wei Yuan had always placed immense trust in his intuition. Since something seemed amiss here, he might as well hand it off to someone capable, breaking the impasse through sheer force. In a sense, Xiaoyu possessed ample karmic luck and an irritable temper—perfect for stepping into traps and leaping into pits... no, for breaking through predicaments.
And so Wei Yuan casually tossed this docket over to Xiaoyu as well.
***
Xiaoyu was currently bickering with Star Lord Shaoyang while handling sixteen tasks; Star Lord Shaoyang was doing the exact same thing. As a result, both were thoroughly distracted, and the sixteen tasks they had gradually begun to master turned into a flustered mess.
The vast majority of tasks assigned by the system were links in a massive overall workflow, and therefore carried extremely stringent deadlines. After all, if one link wasn't completed, the next link couldn't begin.
Thus, Xiaoyu and Star Lord Shaoyang felt as though they were playing whack-a-mole right now: the moment they hesitated, the mole popped back into its hole and hurled curses back out at them.
Whenever a task timed out, Xiaoyu's overall rating dropped by a grade. When two more timed out, the system began issuing performance remarks—and its choice of words was remarkably blunt, falling just short of questioning Xiaoyu's intelligence directly.
The system stated that Qingming kept no freeloaders. If Xiaoyu was merely a crony shoved in through connections, he should hurry up and scram to an eight-task room, rather than squatting on the latrine without shitting and bringing shame to the person who sent him here.
Xiaoyu was furious and embarrassed, his face flushed scarlet. Star Lord Shaoyang was in much the same state. The two exchanged glances and were just about to cease their bickering and focus on their work when two new tasks suddenly barged in.
Already swamped, having two tasks abruptly dumped on them added fuel to the fire, causing two more tasks to time out and be crossed off immediately.
Xiaoyu and Star Lord Shaoyang glared at each other, each convinced the other was holding him back. They each picked up one of the incoming tasks. Upon inspecting them, one remained calm while the other's temperature shot up.
The two looked at each other again, swapped tasks, and scrutinized them closely. This time it was Xiaoyu whose temperature soared, while Star Lord Shaoyang remained utterly serene.
Xiaoyu stared at the footage of Wei Yuan effortlessly juggling sixty-four tasks, grinding his teeth in rage. What truly infuriated him wasn't the recording itself, but the task attached to it: it required Xiaoyu to watch attentively for a full cup of tea's time to properly learn how to multitask.
Once Xiaoyu and Star Lord Shaoyang had both had their fill of Wei Yuan's smug mug, they instinctively sensed that the other task concealed deeper secrets—it wasn't as simple as ordinary mortals suffering an upset stomach.
Xiaoyu immediately established a plan of action: first return to Yong'an City to examine the sick, then head to Sun Yu's clinic—first to see what conclusions had been reached, and second to pay respects to his martial uncle's... dharma idol.
With his course set, Xiaoyu departed the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World and awoke from sleep. He flew straight to the Yong'an City clinic, which was already packed to the brim with patients vomiting and purging. Xiaoyu examined the patients and spoke with the physicians, but found no clues.
Without delay, Xiaoyu proceeded to the clinic headquarters where Sun Yu was stationed.
At that moment, Sun Yu had gathered a group of disciples for a meeting. Before him on a sand table lay a map of the city district, where several hundred red dots marked the residences of the afflicted.
Sun Yu drew a circle directly on the map, enclosing the several hundred red dots within it, and instructed, "Inspect all water sources within this boundary, and then examine the markets selling vegetables and poultry—especially the live-animal markets. You must check them thoroughly."
The disciples took their orders and departed. Watching from the side, Xiaoyu felt genuine admiration. Indeed, every trade had its specialist: once Sun Yu understood the illness, he made precise, targeted arrangements.
Seeing Xiaoyu arrive, Sun Yu greeted him warmly. Upon learning the reason for his visit, Sun Yu explained that the patients primarily suffered gastrointestinal afflictions; in such cases, investigating water first and then vegetables and poultry would most likely pinpoint the source of the outbreak.
While listening to the explanation, Xiaoyu suddenly felt a stirring in his senses. He glanced toward the adjacent courtyard and saw a giant scorpion several fathoms long crouching there, spewing poisonous smoke at a row of artillery shells before it.
Xiaoyu observed the Cauldron-Bearing Giant Scorpion intently for a time before bidding farewell and taking his leave.
What Sun Yu's scorpion spewed was alchemical fire. Furthermore, as he cured diseases and saved lives, he had accumulated a substantial amount of karmic luck, such that the venomous fire spewed by the giant scorpion now carried the true intent of ceaseless vitality. Star Lord Shaoyang possessed discerning vision; one look told him that if he took a single blast of that breath, he might very well suffer a drop in cultivation grade.
Therefore, barring deep, bitter enmity, one had best not tangle with Sun Yu; taking a single hit would make death preferable to life. Even though Star Lord Shaoyang had full confidence of victory, it would be a pyrrhic one, and after winning, his own Dao path would be finished.
Leaving the clinic, Xiaoyu headed to the Pill Monastery to consult Xu Henshui about healing pills, and while he was at it, to observe his martial uncle's dharma idol. Suspecting nothing, Xu Henshui readily displayed the Bell Orchid Fairy.
The fairy itself had not initially caught Star Lord Shaoyang's eye, but now the Bell Orchid Fairy was enveloped in a hazy, seven-colored celestial radiance, with a pillar of light piercing straight into the vault of heaven above its head—unmistakably blessed with immense karmic luck!
Her karmic luck was so terrifying right now that while Star Lord Shaoyang was certain he could win, the horrifying karmic backlash of defeating her was something even his true body in the heavens could not withstand. Weighed down by karmic debt, Xiaoyu's Dao path would be ruined once again.
Such an abundance of karmic luck stirred even Star Lord Shaoyang's heart. For the life of him, he could not fathom how a mere plant cultivating into immortality could possibly possess such colossal karmic luck.
Unaware of the turmoil within Xiaoyu's thoughts, Xu Henshui warmly provided several pill recipes and directed Xiaoyu to the Medicine Garden to collect the medicinal herbs. Gathering his thoughts, Xiaoyu set off toward the Medicine Garden.
***
Meanwhile, Wei Yuan was in the midst of calculations that had him teetering between heaven and hell when a piercing, frigid sword intent suddenly lanced straight toward the space between his brows!
Wei Yuan was meditating in his cultivation chamber. As the sword qi shot forward, he remained seated without flinching; only two mirage demons materialized on either side of the room, their long hair whipping out to ensnare the assassin's wrists and halting her dead in her tracks.
The assassin reacted with lightning speed. Leaping into a kick, her skirts swirling like crashing waves, she swept a devastating blow straight toward Wei Yuan's face.
Eyes still closed, Wei Yuan casually caught the assassin's foot. Through the thin, supple spirit beast leather boot, a stray thought flashed across his mind: *So soft.*
Four more mirage demons appeared in the cultivation chamber. Their long hair bound the assassin like a spider's web, and the mountain-like magical power of six dharma-idol-level mirage demons pinned her immobile in midair.
Wei Yuan opened his eyes, looked at the intruder, and sighed. "We bear each other no grudge, and we even have some acquaintance. What are you doing this for?"
The intruder was none other than Shangguan Qianmo of the Sword Palace. Although not that much time had passed since their last encounter—in the eyes of a dharma idol cultivator, it was scarcely more than the span of a single closed-door seclusion—she had no idea that Wei Yuan was now a completely different person.
Shangguan Qianmo remained locked in an awkward pose—frozen in flight with sword drawn, one leg raised high in mid-kick—unable to budge no matter how she struggled.
Deep pools of magical power were not her specialty, so she was thoroughly suppressed by six dharma-idol mirage demons with not a shred of leeway to resist. She could only watch helplessly as her skirt slid down her shin, bunching up at the base of her thigh. She could not lower her leg, nor could she hide her face.
Her delicate, translucent face flushed crimson in an instant, her glazed eyes welling as if about to weep. Flustered and mortified, Shangguan Qianmo snapped, "I just wanted to teach you a lesson... Put me down!"
Wei Yuan let go of her foot and had the mirage demons reposition her into a more dignified posture. He asked sternly, "What did I do that you had to travel ten thousand li just to teach me a lesson?"
Shangguan Qianmo huffed, turning her head aside. From her brow to the tip of her nose to the corners of her lips, haughty stubbornness was written all over her face, clearly unwilling to speak.
Yet against prideful Sword Palace disciples who prized face above all else, Wei Yuan had his ways. He ordered the mirage demons to twist Shangguan Qianmo right back into her original pose, then produced an image-recording stone and prepared to activate it.
Shangguan Qianmo gasped in horror. "Don't record that!"
"Then talk properly."
"...Xiaoyu of the Xiao family manifested Star Lord Shaoyang. With this sword-wielding Star Lord, he easily ranks among the top three of the Sword Palace's younger generation. This is a monumental event for the Sword Dao. The Xiao family intended to hold an Immortal Manifestation Grand Ceremony, and the Sword Palace dispatched me to attend.
"Yet after I spent several days rushing to the Xiao family, I heard that Xiaoyu had already run off to Qingming to see you! I was furious, so I came to teach you a lesson."
The more Wei Yuan listened, the stranger it sounded. He cut in, "Going to the Xiao family wasn't just to attend the ceremony, was it? Your real purpose was a matchmaking meeting?!"
Shangguan Qianmo fell silent.
Wei Yuan frowned slightly, instinctively smelling something unusual. If Xiaoyu and Shangguan Qianmo truly became Dao companions, with Shangguan Qianmo's overbearing temper and the Sword Palace backing her, Xiaoyu might very well be kept firmly under her thumb. When the time came, the entire Xiao family might tilt toward the Sword Palace, and the Palace of Grand Beginning would suffer accordingly.
However, Wei Yuan showed none of his thoughts on his face, saying aloud, "This is a wonderful thing. Let me see where Xiaoyu is right now... Oh, he's at the Medicine Garden. I'll have my subordinate lead you there."
The mirage demons retracted their hair; five of them vanished, leaving the remaining one to step before Shangguan Qianmo and say, "Fairy, this way, please."
Shangguan Qianmo then followed the mirage demon, heading toward the Medicine Garden.
Once she was gone, the more Wei Yuan pondered, the more he felt something was off. Although the Sword Palace had once shown him favor, in matters of such gravity concerning the Xiao family's future alignment, Wei Yuan wouldn't consider past kindness at all; he would prioritize Qingming and the Palace of Grand Beginning above all else.
For the Sword Palace to dispatch Shangguan Qianmo, it had to be a deliberate move with absolute confidence. Perhaps there were even people among the Xiao family's upper echelons pushing hard for this union.
It was just that neither the Sword Palace nor the Xiao family had likely anticipated that the moment Xiaoyu came out of seclusion, he would bolt straight for Qingming without a second word. Unwilling to let it go, Shangguan Qianmo had chased after him across ten thousand li.
Now that Wei Yuan had caught wind of it, he would not sit by and let it happen.
He pondered for a moment, then mobilized his avatar stationed at the Medicine Garden to seek out Perfected Chuhe and give him detailed instructions.
Chapter 820