Wei Yuan took a deep breath, barely suppressing his roaring, turbulent emotions.
Having spent so much time in the Desolate Realm and watching his physical body grow tremendously stronger, Wei Yuan had grown increasingly inclined to solve problems with muscle. The trouble was that Shaman muscles were not the muscles of the Hall of the Bright King; they only served to supply raw emotion, entirely devoid of the capacity to think.
Wei Yuan looked away from Xiaoyu and turned toward Perfected Chuhe, asking what difficulties they had encountered with opening new farmland.
In his absence, the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World had remained dormant, and Qingming had lacked sufficient vitality; reclaiming farmland to grow grain was precisely where things were most prone to go wrong.
Perfected Chuhe sighed. "Indeed, not much farmland has been opened recently—only two million mu."
Wei Yuan’s spirits immediately lifted. Only two million mu in over half a year? That progress lagged far behind the past! When he left, they already had thirty million mu of fertile farmland; if they didn't reclaim seven or eight million mu in a year, how could that be considered acceptable?
Immediately assuming a solemn expression, Wei Yuan asked, "What is the reason?"
Perfected Chuhe sighed. "Speaking of which, it's all my fault. Having nothing to do while picking through rice, I went through the records of the outside world, and happened to notice a wondrous thing called chemical fertilizer. Although the records didn't go into detail, the matter itself wasn't difficult. So I gathered Senior Brother Sun Yu, Junior Brother Xu Henshui, Junior Brother Yu Zhizhuo, and several others. We put our heads together for a few days and discovered that treating certain minerals with cold-yin Dao power could produce something similar to fertilizer.
"So I picked a thousand Dao Foundation apprentices with suitable affinities and opened a Peixian Workshop dedicated to producing fertilizer. A single Dao Foundation apprentice can produce several hundred jin of fertilizer a day. The work itself isn't hard; the only tricky part is that the fire beneath the processing vats cannot be allowed to go out. But as long as rotating shifts are properly arranged, there's no problem. Once we had fertilizer, grain yield exploded that season. And in the season that just passed, because fertilizer was used in greater amounts and for longer, the yield became somewhat exaggerated—the yield per mu has surpassed five hundred jin, straight-up doubling.
"Right now, Qingming's grain reserves are simply too massive. We've been thinking about retrofitting some abandoned mine shafts to store grain. That's why we haven't dared to clear any new fields for the past two months. There's truly so much grain we have nowhere to pile it; clearing more land would merely waste manpower."
A breath caught in Wei Yuan's chest, yet all he could do was nod with a smile and praise the old Daoist's competence.
The problem was that among Qingming's records of the outside world, only a small portion came from Xu Wenwu; most had been written by Wei Yuan himself. How on earth had he overlooked chemical fertilizer back then? Could his former position as an Umbrella Corporation researcher truly have been fraudulent?
Wei Yuan faintly sensed that the direction of events was turning bizarre. Thus, he prepared to find something where only he could play an indispensable role, laying the groundwork to regain his prestige.
Following up on Old Daoist Chuhe's words, Wei Yuan asked, "Since fertilizer requires so many Dao Foundation cultivators, has there been any growth among the template Dao Foundation cultivators in the realm during this time?"
This time, Feng Tingyu chimed in, saying, "Just a month ago, we held a Dao Foundation Grand Ceremony and added five thousand Dao Foundations."
"Oh, the Dao Foundation Grand... What did you say? Another Dao Foundation Grand Ceremony so soon?! Isn't the interval a bit short?" Wei Yuan was thoroughly astonished. He had held a Dao Foundation Grand Ceremony right before he left, and that one had been unprecedentedly successful.
Feng Tingyu said, "It's mainly because everyone's Body Casting progress sped up, accumulating over twenty thousand cultivators waiting for advancement. After discussing it, we went ahead and held a Dao Foundation Grand Ceremony."
Wei Yuan said, "Wait! Twenty thousand people produced five thousand Dao Foundations... Twenty thousand and how many? Nine thousand?"
"Eight hundred."
Fortunately, Feng Tingyu lacked Xiaoyu's scheming mind and didn't keep him in suspense, giving the answer directly: "This time, there was a new template: Moon Splendor Sky Mist, which primarily cultivates Lunar power. This template is extremely easy to get the hang of, and allows one to work in the newest Peixian Workshop, so an exceptionally large number of people chose it. In the end, out of fifteen thousand candidates, four thousand five hundred succeeded. Out of the remaining five thousand-plus, five hundred succeeded."
"What does this template look like? Project it for me to see."
A beam of light shot out from Feng Tingyu's shoulder, manifesting in midair as a cluster of pristine moonlight. Wei Yuan understood at once—this Dao Foundation didn't even bother forming a gaseous state; it simply cultivated a blob of light. The threshold was low beyond belief, no wonder the success rate was so exceptionally high. Yet flimsy though it was, it was still a Dao Foundation, and it cultivated Lunar power, an essence of fairly high caliber—it just lacked concentration.
If the Lunar Moon Splendor Wei Yuan cultivated was a vat of strong liquor, then this template was a drop of liquor mixed into a vat of water; either way, it could still be called liquor.
"Who made this template?" Wei Yuan asked. Even Wei Yuan had to feel a touch of admiration for just how low the bottom line of this Dao Foundation was.
Feng Tingyu said, "Xiaoyu. Originally, he fashioned a Lunar Moon Splendor Sword, but later decided that since this Dao Foundation wasn't meant for fighting duels, shaping it like a sword was entirely unnecessary and only added needless difficulty. So he stripped away the sword shape, turning it into what it is now."
Even Xiaoyu had caught on? Wei Yuan cast another glance at Xiaoyu, this time focusing his ocular power, and saw that Xiaoyu was enveloped in dense karmic luck, clearly having reaped enormous benefits from Moon Splendor Sky Mist.
At that moment, Wei Yuan suddenly felt a stir of restlessness within his Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. Directing his vision inward, he found a crowd of immortal plants gathered together while Fuyao was watering them. Other than that, there was nothing unusual. Wei Yuan withdrew his divine sense.
The instant his divine sense left, the place immediately grew raucous.
The young woman with crimson eyebrows gnashed her teeth and roared, "Don't anyone hold me back! I'm going to kill that wretched woman if it's the last thing I do!"
The crowd of immortal plants flailed in a panic, desperately pinning the young woman down and pleading, "There's no need, no need! Let us plan this out carefully; you mustn't be rash!"
The Ice Glaze girl also urged, "If you strike now, won't you just alert the enemy? We have to wait until everything is foolproof, and then hit her where it hurts!"
Yet the young woman couldn't bear it, struggling with all her might. Her clothes were disheveled, both sleeves torn away to reveal two snow-white arms. At the shoulder of her garment, a faint black mist still lingered, continually eroding it. But with two fists against a dozen hands plus a tangle of branches, she was firmly suppressed.
Meanwhile, in Qingming, Wei Yuan decided to make a final effort by turning to something uniquely his own creation. Thus, he asked, "Are there any problems with the issuance of Qingyuan? Why don't I see the managers of the money house?"
Feng Chutang answered, "The Qingming Money House is currently under my temporary administration. Because the original six managers committed treasonous acts, they have all been taken down—two executed along with their clans, three put to death, and one imprisoned."
Wei Yuan was stunned. Not a single one of the six men he had personally promoted remained?
Feng Chutang continued, "Zhang... your master previously lobbied various states with immense success. At present, the two states of Jin and Zhao have issued over a dozen currencies, all pegged to Qingyuan. Consequently, demand for Qingyuan has skyrocketed. The current total issuance stands at nine hundred million yuan, of which over three hundred million has been hoarded by the other currency issuers. The exchange rate of Qingyuan to immortal silver keeps climbing and is now one to one tael and six qian. Right now, massive amounts of immortal silver are flowing into Qingming, with reserves having surpassed two hundred million taels."
Wei Yuan asked a few questions and soon understood the underlying mechanics. He couldn't help berating himself inwardly: why hadn't he thought of instigating others to issue currency?
Originally, the interior of a state like Zhao was practically monolithic; the common folk were self-sufficient, and Qingming couldn't sell grain or cloth to them even if it wanted to. But now, from the King of Zhao and the Crown Prince down to Li Si and Cui Shutong, everyone was issuing currency—which was tantamount to throwing the doors wide open to Qingming on the monetary level.
Now that Qingming had stepped into the house, the only question left was how to haul things out. As for the commoners at the bottom, there was no longer any need to target them specifically. As long as currency fluctuated and commodity prices soared, their land-bound self-sufficiency would be thoroughly shattered. Qingming wouldn't even need to lift a finger; officials across every tier of Zhao would do the job for them.
At this point, Wei Yuan finally realized that over the past few months, without him acting as a stumbling block, Qingming's development had practically taken flight.
Having reluctantly accepted this heartbreaking reality, Wei Yuan prepared to plan out their future development properly, lest he inadvertently become a stumbling block once more.
Before Wei Yuan could speak, Xu Henshui spoke up: "There is actually one matter that needs advance planning. At present, pills for Body Casting are somewhat lacking, which is fine enough. However, dharma idol cultivators are growing in number, yet there aren't enough pills to elevate their cultivation, requiring individuals to petition the Palace on their own. In addition, the sheer number of Dao Foundation cultivators is enormous; although most hold template Dao Foundations, they still require Foundation Solidification, meaning the required quantity of pills is astronomical—so much so that even the Palace cannot supply them.
"Right now, many of Qingming's materials have nowhere to be sold. I believe we can substantially raise the purchase price of medicinal herbs, exchanging equipment, fine brocade, or Qingyuan for dharma idol and Scenery Command grade spiritual herbs. With profit to be made, people will transport herbs here even from thousands of mountains and rivers away."
Wei Yuan nodded repeatedly, though his heart grew heavy. This fellow had beaten him to the punch again. Why couldn't his own tongue have moved a little faster...?
Yet right then, Xu Henshui added, "In fact, we were already discussing this two months ago. It's just that during this period we were busy purging external enemies. Now that we've finally cleared away all external enemies before this month, this matter can be put on the agenda."
A peculiar feeling welled up in Wei Yuan's heart. Good thing he hadn't spoken first; the cultivators had already considered this all along. But why did they have to clear away all external enemies before this month?!
If Wei Yuan hadn't been unaware of when he would be able to return, he might truly have suspected that these fellows deliberately fought everyone there was to fight before his return just to leave him with nobody left to fight.
Exchanging mortal supplies for Dao Foundation and dharma idol cultivation resources was naturally viable. In the past, few people did so, primarily because mortal goods were inherently high in volume and low in value, and whether it was steel, grain, or cloth, the various states never had enough for themselves, let alone a surplus to trade. Consequently, Dao Foundation resources were traded for Dao Foundation resources, and dharma idol resources for dharma idol resources.
Having suffered successive setbacks, Wei Yuan could hold back no longer and played his trump card: "On this journey to the Shaman Domain, I also made major gains. I have a method that can elevate the quality of a dharma idol and broaden one's Dao path. Below the Immortal Idol, everyone can achieve some degree of improvement."
Hearing this, the eyes of the Palace of Grand Beginning cultivators instantly shone with light.
After all, though many of them possessed Immortal Idols, they actually hovered between Immortal Idol and Heavenly Idol—take a step forward and it was Immortal, take a step back and it was Heavenly. Sun Yu, Yu Zhizhuo, and others were all in this position, far from guaranteed Scenery Command. They too needed to elevate the quality of their dharma idols to increase their hopes of advancing to Scenery Command.
The sole exception was Old Daoist Chuhe. His situation was deeply contradictory: in terms of talent and natural bone structure, he certainly couldn't reach Scenery Command, but in terms of karmic luck and fortune, he had enough to reach the heavens. Currently, Old Daoist Chuhe shared a karmic bond with the Immortal Chicken; if the Immortal Chicken grew up smoothly and their karmic bond remained unbroken, advancing to Scenery Command would pose no problem for the old Daoist. But if the Immortal Chicken flew off halfway, the old Daoist would remain stuck where he was, or perhaps even take a step backward.
Seeing that he had finally captured everyone's interest, Wei Yuan sneered inwardly. Then, casting the topic aside, he pivoted: "However, I now need to reorganize my Dao path, and then rebuild the heavenly tribulation base to prepare for my tribulation."
The expressions of the cultivators changed instantly! This fellow was going to undergo tribulation again?
Yet at this moment, the cultivators were all shrewd and reserved; Xiaoyu, who lacked deep shrewdness, was being held in check by Star Lord Shaoyang. Feng Tingyu had no shrewdness whatsoever, so she failed to grasp the implication of Wei Yuan's words.
In the end, it was Wang Hu, who had only recently arrived and was unfamiliar with Qingming's ways, who asked rather blankly, "You're going to undergo tribulation? You've already reached dharma idol perfection?"
Someone finally asked... Smiling faintly, Wei Yuan said, "I'm only a hair's breadth away, which won't take much time. That's why I need to start preparing now."
This was the thirteenth year of Tianqi; by all accounts, Wei Yuan wasn't even thirty years old. And he was already about to step into Scenery Command?
At this very moment, the cultivators suddenly felt that all their sweeping battlefield campaigns and masterminded stratagems had lost all meaning. Even Xiaoyu felt thoroughly dispirited, finding life truly devoid of meaning.
Wei Yuan looked around with a smile, his Dao heart clear and serene.
Chapter 939