When immortals place their stones upon the board, their moves leave no trace.
Wei Yuan understood everything after merely a moment's thought. Back then, the Xu family youths had played a vital role in helping Qingming establish a foothold, and that battle against Yue Jinshan's iron cavalry had completely shattered Xipu's confidence in eradicating Qingming.
The Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns had also seen Wei Yuan through difficult straits time and again, though its sword intent clashed slightly with his own, which was why he rarely used it.
Furthermore, the karma tied to the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns was simply too immense. The emergence of a single Xu Shiba was enough to strip the true intent of Sweeping Away the Four Barbarians from Xu Wangu's grasp. Wei Yuan strongly suspected that the few stances of true intent he had acquired were merely being held in his safekeeping for someone else.
Yet the Xu family youths had always worked diligently and conscientiously for Qingming, asking for almost nothing in return. Xu Shiba's sudden return with Wei Ying to undergo their tribulations had allowed the vast majority of the Xu family youths to cast their Dao Foundations, gifting Wei Yuan an absurdly formidable legion of Dao soldiers.
If he truly was being used in some way, the figure behind the scenes had already paid the compensation. Once he realized this, Wei Yuan's heart settled into peace.
Wei Ying's Dao Foundation was also a greatsword. However, it did not contain the true intent of the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns. Instead, it bore a peculiar sword intent—distinct softness woven into utmost firmness, giving the impression of advancing ten paces only to retreat one. Wei Yuan's discernment was extraordinary now, and a careful look told him that this was a new Dao Foundation forged by combining the intent of the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns with the Ten Thousand Manifestations of Lunar Moonlight.
In theory, when yin and yang engender each other and the utmost soft is born from the utmost firm, the realm should be a tier higher. But theory was merely theory. The Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns was overwhelmingly tyrannical and dominant, something far beyond what simple mutual generation of yin and yang could match.
Distinct karmic luck coiled around both girls' greatswords. Clearly, undergoing tribulations under the gaze of thousands and prompting the Xu family youths to elevate their realms had yielded feedback, bestowing a mantle of karmic luck upon them.
Wei Yuan returned the greatswords to Wei Ying and Xu Shiba, then asked about their future plans.
Xu Shiba was quick on the draw. "Naturally, we're going to fight it out with the Shamans!"
Wei Ying put on an obedient front and said, "I will follow Papa's every command."
Wei Yuan felt a severe headache coming on. After scolding Wei Ying, he said, "This battle is no ordinary matter. The opposing immortal will step onto the field personally. Even if it's only through indirect means, it will still be exceedingly difficult to withstand. You must obey my arrangements, or I won't have the strength to keep you safe."
Wei Ying currently looked sweet and well-behaved, her large eyes naturally filled with a dazed innocence that made anyone want to tease her. She nodded. "I understand. Papa still has many young aunties to look after and cannot spare attention for his daughter. Your daughter will be very good and take care of herself."
Wei Yuan's face darkened. He could not help but warn her, "You know those 'young aunties' yourself, and you naturally know what kind of temperaments they have. Calling them aunties—are you worried your Dao heart won't shatter fast enough?"
Xu Shiba chimed in briskly, "I get it! They all cultivate an Invincible Heart! Even a passing dog would get bitten!"
Wei Yuan covered his face with his hand and sighed. "You... why don't you just wander the world? You aren't needed here."
Xu Shiba stuck out her tongue and whispered, "I was actually hoping to cultivate an Invincible Heart too."
"Don't you dare!" Wei Yuan cut her off immediately.
In the end, Wei Yuan still arranged a courtyard in the immortal city and settled the two young girls there. Afterward, he spoke plainly to Xu Shiba, stating that while he had indeed received some kindness from her father in the past, their karma was now fully settled, and she must conduct herself with care.
Xu Shiba nodded, though it was impossible to tell whether she had truly understood.
Only then did Wei Yuan free his hands to handle the aftermath. The impact of this Dao Foundation Grand Ceremony was unprecedented. The various great families were intensely curious about Qingming's city of towering buildings, and once they learned of Qingming's produce and commodities, their shock only deepened.
Qingming's development could be said to run entirely counter to the traditional philosophy of the aristocratic clans. Every clan poured their efforts into cultivating spiritual materials and immortal items, the higher the rank the better; there were even instances where an entire spiritual mountain was devoted solely to growing a single ancient immortal plant. For all medicinal herb gardens, the richer the spiritual energy nurtured within, the higher the rank of the spirit herbs grown, but the smaller the quantity.
The same held true for weapon-forging and pill-refining. When it came to medicinal pills like the Essence Nurturing Pill used for Body Casting, the clans paid them little heed; having just enough for their own disciples was fine, and they were mostly left to apprentices for practice.
Yet Qingming's primary products were almost all mundane goods: forged armor, canned rations, Lesser Essence Nurturing Pills, machine brocade, machine-woven cloth, as well as fire guns, ammunition, and the like.
These mundane goods were necessities for every clan. As a result, the elders of the Xu family, the Southern Qi Li family, and the Qinghe Cui family showed immense interest. These elders might seem to possess modest cultivation, but they actually held great authority or carried crucial missions; otherwise, they would never have been entrusted with leading delegations to Qingming. Through Xu Henshui, Cui Yu, and the others, they sought to purchase batches of supplies to bring home.
Wei Yuan naturally opened the doors of convenience. Then, the clan elders discovered that due to the sheer volume, purchasing these common supplies actually cost more than buying spiritual materials and immortal items—far more, in fact. At this point, the sharper among them began to understand why Wei Yuan bothered producing such ordinary goods.
The most convenient way to purchase goods from Qingming was to take out a loan of Qingyuan and gradually repay it through trade. Although Xu Henshui, Cui Yu, and the others held significant status in Qingming, their individual strength had limits; they could not provide guarantees for such vast sums of Qingyuan.
The clan elders were sensible people, well aware that their family prodigies were not worth tens of millions. Fortunately, the Qingming Bank also offered a collateral model, which was easy to understand—little different from a pawnshop.
Thus, the clan elders pooled together several formidable spiritual items and treasures to pledge as collateral at the Qingming Bank. With additional guarantees from Xu Henshui and the others, the requirements were met, and each clan managed to borrow nearly ten million Qingyuan.
The Southern Qi Li family was a bit slower to catch on, but they caught up rapidly. Seeing that their collateral fell short, the Li family elder actually offered ten beautiful and talented young maidens from their clan as collateral, leaving the bank managers flabbergasted. Not daring to be negligent, they escalated the matter up the chain of command until it finally reached Wei Yuan.
After personally inspecting the collateral, Wei Yuan rendered a verdict: each maiden was valued at five hundred thousand taels of immortal silver. By this valuation, each girl's talent and Dao Foundation accounted for roughly ten thousand, while her face accounted for four hundred and ninety thousand. The managers understood this well, though none dared say it aloud.
With the three great families leading the way, smaller factions and sects followed suit, pledging goods and people left and right to borrow varying amounts of Qingyuan. This forced Wei Yuan to fire up the banknote printing press once more.
Yet what puzzled the various clans was that the Qingming Bank actually accepted repaying Qingyuan loans with immortal silver. Moreover, they permitted clans to deposit immortal silver in advance as collateral, allowing the pledged silver to directly offset the loan once it matured, bypassing the repayment procedures altogether.
One had to realize that under current market rates, one Qingyuan could already be exchanged for one tael and three qian of immortal silver. Doing this was practically throwing money away with eyes wide open. Had the Qingyuan loans not been bound by set terms, the clans could have simply borrowed Qingyuan, repaid it with immortal silver, cycled back and forth, and amassed staggering fortunes in an instant.
The great families generally assumed Wei Yuan was simply being generous and chose not to exploit the loophole. The smaller factions thought Wei Yuan foolish for failing to notice the flaw.
Regardless of whether they were great families or minor factions, not a single soul pointed it out to Wei Yuan.
Wei Yuan did not care. Most likely, these people had never experienced an otherworldly realm and had no concept of the heavenly tribulation known as inflation.
***
Inside the governor's manor of Yongan City, a hazy cyan light hovered over Xiaoyu. Looking at the more than five hundred orbs of light before him as though watching candle flames in the night, he processed them with absolute ease. Without needing to think, the answers arose naturally.
By contrast, a dozen days ago, when Xiaoyu had processed a hundred and twenty-eight tasks, he had been exhausted half to death, faltering before the night was even through.
Now, flush with wealth, Wei Yuan had already erected arrays in major locations across the cities—such as the governors' manors, the immortal city, clinics, pill pavilions, and the Weaponsmith Workshop—allowing cultivators to invoke the functions of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World through these formations. The cultivators of the Palace of Grand Beginning no longer needed to enter dreams to use it.
Looking at the orbs of light whose numbers far exceeded his original capacity, Xiaoyu sighed softly with a melancholy expression. "So this is what it feels like to have karmic luck upon oneself. To think that I, too, could one day..."
Beside him, Lord Shaoyang cut him off. "Stop with the sentimental whining and get to work! Wei Yuan had karmic luck upon him years ago—are you only realizing its power now? If you've got time to whine, it means your workload isn't full. If you're that idle, I'll toss you another sixty-four!"
Scrambling to manage the orbs hurled at him, Xiaoyu noticed the rare, grave seriousness on Lord Shaoyang's face. Curious, he asked, "What are you working on now?"
Without looking up, Lord Shaoyang replied, "Yin and yang engender each other, and all of us in the Star Palaces know one another well. Though I govern Shaoyang, I am thoroughly familiar with the way of Taiyin. Even if I can't compare to Lord Taiyin herself, I still know far more than ordinary immortals.
"A single Remnant Fire Sword derived from the Great Sun could gather such immense karmic luck. I plan to create an immortal sword template following the way of Taiyin. Surely the karmic luck from that won't be lacking either."
Xiaoyu blinked. "That works too? But we already have so much karmic luck right now, we can't even use it all—"
"Shut up!" Lord Shaoyang snapped in a rare outburst of fury. "You ambitionless wretch, you call this small trickle of karmic luck 'much'? Karmic luck is never enough; however much you have, you can burn through it all!
"The immortal path is arduous! Every single thread must be fought for!
"Don't forget, Lord Taiyin also has an avatar adrift in this realm. What if her avatar is right here in Qingming? I need to take advantage of the fact that her avatar hasn't awakened yet and rush out this Taiyin sword template! Even if she creates a better one in the future, we'll have already seized a share of the karmic luck."
Xiaoyu asked in surprise, "Wasn't that Lord Taiyin just an illusion created by Baoyun? Why are you taking it so seriously?"
"Illusions arise from the heart. What she said actually originated from me. The more I thought about it later, the more suspicious it seemed. It's very possible her avatar is tied to us; otherwise, the illusion wouldn't have mentioned it. That said, Baoyun's dharma idol lies outside the ordinary path, yet it's excessively formidable. Even I fell into her trap. I'll have to deal with her far more cautiously in the future."
Xiaoyu still felt something was off. "Aren't we basically stealing Lord Taiyin's karmic luck? Do you two not get along?"
Lord Shaoyang's face remained expressionless. "How is it stealing? It's not like I know whether her avatar is in this realm. Besides, karmic luck has no master; it belongs to whoever is virtuous enough to claim it."
"Didn't you just say her avatar might be nearby—"
"That was an illusion, it doesn't count. You think being ranked eighth is something to be proud of? If not, shut your beak and get back to work!"
Chapter 842