Three days after issuing the task, Wei Yuan had harvested a total of eleven potential orbits and over thirty possible orbits. So-called "possible orbits" were those that theoretically existed, but could not be confirmed due to insufficient data or incomplete parameters.
The discovery of so many possible orbits had brought about another consequence: more and more people were noticing how sloppy Wei Yuan’s problem statement had been.
In just a few days, over a dozen essays appeared, pointing out omissions and flaws in the prompt itself. They argued that if Wei Yuan could only supply all the necessary parameters, many of those possible orbits would turn into viable candidates.
The trouble was, had those essays not mentioned them, Wei Yuan wouldn’t have even known such data existed. For instance, what changes would occur in the flickering frequency of the Thick Earth Grotto-Heaven's light when the Yellow Springs Grotto-Heaven moved closer to the Central Thick Earth, and so on and so forth.
Supposedly, this parameter could reveal the hidden, unknown relationship between two existing grotto-heavens, and by extension derive their potential influence on a third.
To Wei Yuan, this felt utterly absurd.
Yet the trend had already caught fire. A whole new series of essays emerged, delving into algorithms for data optimization, processing, and compression. The discussions grew so deep that within two days, an entirely separate discipline had been founded.
Wei Yuan’s mood at that moment was a mix of delight and fury.
He was delighted because his path was completely clear. Several dozen grotto-heavens—all the way to the peak of Scenery Command—had been planned out down to the finest detail. Only now did Wei Yuan truly understand what it meant to win while lying down. A man lies in bed, and the grand Dao falls from the heavens.
What infuriated him was that these fellows actually intended to orchestrate him as well. Would he have to format his data according to their prescribed standards whenever he posted a problem in the future?
This was no joke; those people were already debating unified data standards. If Wei Yuan posted a problem that failed to conform to standard specifications down the line, he might not even be able to publish it.
How could he tolerate that?!
A deep sense of crisis washed over Wei Yuan. After some thought, he decided that since he had so many grotto-heaven positions anyway, it seemed necessary to set aside a few specifically to deliver heavenly tribulations upon the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World.
Those fellows inside would have to undergo tribulation sooner or later anyway. When the time came, he would specifically use Metal-aspected tribulations to thrash Wood dharma idols, and Water-aspected tribulations to snuff out Fire dharma idols. He wouldn’t be able to vent this foul frustration until he blasted them into questioning their very lives.
With his path clear, Wei Yuan wrote a letter to the Palace of Grand Beginning, agreeing on a date to return and select the core of his grotto-heaven. Then, ignoring the snarky essays that continued to spew forth within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, he devoted himself to preparing his public lecture.
In the blink of an eye, the day of the lecture arrived. In theory, all Dao Foundation cultivators within Qingming were eligible to attend. A day in advance, cultivators from all across Qingming set out toward the lecture grounds.
A lecture given by the realm master drew immense interest not just from Dao Foundation cultivators, but even from the dharma idols within the realm. A few powers friendly with Qingming had even moved heaven and earth to secure a few entrance tokens, eager to hear what profound pearls of wisdom would fall from Wei Yuan’s lips.
By early morning on that day, the grounds were already packed to bursting. Fearing they might be late, many cultivators had simply slept in the square overnight.
Across the immense grounds, rows of prayer mats had been laid out in orderly phalanxes. The mats were numerous and the spaces between ranks tight, yet more than two hours before noon, every seat was taken, forcing them to hastily add thousands more.
Three-quarters of an hour before noon, service cultivators entered the grounds, handing a porcelain bottle to every seated cultivator. When curious cultivators pulled the stoppers, a potent, rich scent of alcohol washed over them.
Right at noon, the central altar’s grand formation activated, shooting sixteen golden beams into the sky that formed the phantasm of an immense altar. Wei Yuan then took the stage and ascended the altar. A hundred-foot-tall projection of his image appeared in the air, clearly visible even to those in the very back row.
Wei Yuan took his seat, appearing solemn and magnificent. His voice carried an echoing, dignified rumble as he spoke: "The first practice of this lecture: drain this cup!"
Wei Yuan raised his cup and drank it clean.
The tens of thousands of Dao Foundations below stared blankly. They only had bottles, not cups.
Yet cultivators fought heaven and earth; drinking straight from the bottle was no challenge at all. The cultivators tilted their heads and chugged, glug-glug-glug, emptying more than half the bottle in one breath.
As the fiery liquor entered their bellies, their blood began to simmer.
Perched high upon the altar, Wei Yuan felt a wave of emotion. He had not anticipated that over twenty thousand Dao Foundations would arrive from across Qingming! And that was only after leaving behind those who had to remain on guard duty.
Twenty thousand Dao Foundations gathered in one place formed an ocean of heads. Perhaps many years from now, this magnificent sight would become an iconic chapter in the history of cultivation.
The appointed hour had arrived. Wei Yuan drew a breath and projected his voice, applying the techniques of the Desolate Roar so that his words echoed across the entire grounds: "The body is a boat to cross calamity, a treasure raft to elude tribulation.
"Those of the world who cultivate immortality obsess over spiritual bones and innate talent, seeing only the nascent soul and sea of consciousness. Yet they do not know that the mortal vessel is the foundation of all things. So long as the physical body is thoroughly refined and transparent, divine abilities will naturally follow..."
The first discourse was crisp and concise, directly illuminating a future path for all template Dao Foundations: body tempering! Natural comprehension was secondary; the quality of one's Dao Foundation was secondary. As long as one persisted in tempering the body, rewards would follow.
Cheering instantly erupted, reverberating across the grounds and drowning out even Wei Yuan’s voice!
Many template cultivators had long accepted their destiny as stepping stones for others on the path to immortality. Discovering that progress was still possible filled them with unimaginable ecstasy! Delighted, they didn’t even wait for Wei Yuan to speak before throwing their heads back, glug-glug-glug, draining the fiery liquor to the last drop in the blink of an eye.
The alcohol produced by Qingming was of exceptional grade; even power shamans felt the buzz. Downing an entire bottle sent their spirits soaring. On the spot, Wei Yuan harvested several thousand strands of karmic luck.
The karmic luck of Dao Foundation cultivators was a deep azure tinged with violet, distinctly different from the azure qi of mortals.
Seeing how fiery the atmosphere had become, Wei Yuan had no choice but to drop the words "Second Discourse" from his planned remarks, renaming it simply "The Commencement."
This was a trick he had picked up while preaching to the power shamans. Power shamans were simple-minded; they loved being given a single, ridiculously simple secret technique that claimed to cure everything, like walking a hundred li a day to extend one's lifespan by fifty years.
Moreover, there could only ever be one secret method that solved all problems. If you gave them two, the results would diminish drastically.
With the atmosphere primed, Wei Yuan began teaching an altered version of the Desolate Roar, consisting of a single sound: *Aoww*.
Under Wei Yuan’s guidance, the crowd learned it in no time, and the grounds filled with a sea of howling. Seeing the heat had reached its peak, Wei Yuan nodded, signaling the orchestra to play with all their might. Wei Yuan roared first: "Aoww-aoww-aoww!"
Twenty thousand Dao Foundation cultivators craned their necks and bellowed in unison: "Aoww-aoww-aoww!"
The Desolate Roar vibrated their qi and blood, helping disperse the medicinal potency in the wine. On the spot, countless cultivators felt themselves growing stronger—terrifyingly strong! Everyone suddenly looked irritating to them!
The waves of sound merged into one, shooting straight into the clouds. The cultivators grew scorching hot, their blood boiling, their faces flushed red, their minds spinning. The cultivation effect was nothing short of miraculous!
Just then, an extraordinarily shrill, sky-rending crow rang out: *Cock-a-doodle-doo!*
Deep within the Medicine Garden, the immortal chicken's feathers bristled as it craned its neck and crowed, shaking heaven and earth! In certain minor worlds, such a crow could have called forth the sun itself.
Following that long cry, five-colored immortal light erupted from its body, and countless brilliant long feathers sprouted from beneath its plumage. It had broken through to the next stage!
Stimulated by the immortal chicken's crow, bursts of radiance exploded across the bodies of numerous cultivators, shattering the bottlenecks before them in one go! More than a thousand broke through right there on the spot!
While the cultivators stood dumbfounded, tens of thousands of strands of Dao Foundation karmic luck fell into the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, over half of which were top-grade. The template cultivators now revered their realm master with utter devotion.
In the eyes of the observing dharma idols, twenty thousand Dao Foundations had stirred their blood and significantly accelerated their body-tempering progress; over a thousand had succeeded directly in Foundation Solidification, and even the immortal chicken had advanced as a result! The efficacy of this public lecture was utterly inconceivable.
Shaken to the core, many cultivators from external factions scrambled to memorize every single detail, preparing to pass the teachings down to their clansmen upon their return. This path was simply terrifying. Had Wei Yuan really made it public so generously?
They found it hard to comprehend. Had they possessed such a method, wouldn't they have hidden deep in the wilderness, trained until they were formidable, and then stepped into the world to found a sect and bring glory to their ancestors?
These people naturally did not know that without the Five Sounds of the Desolate Roar written by the Molten Dragon and without comprehending the true meaning of the Desolate Realm's Great Dao, what they could learn was strictly limited to this single sound taught today. Drawing analogies to infer the rest was impossible.
Yet this single sound truly did grant a massive boost to the physical bodies of low-tier Dao Foundation cultivators, and the weaker the foundation, the greater the effect. Seeing these low-level cultivators grow stronger was precisely what Wei Yuan wanted, regardless of whether they belonged to Qingming.
Once the lecture concluded, Wei Yuan immediately went to check on the immortal chicken. That the Desolate Roar could affect the immortal chicken as well had been an unexpected delight.
Yet when Wei Yuan arrived, the immortal chicken had just eaten its fill of grain and fallen asleep. A slumber following a breakthrough could easily last several decades. Not wishing to disturb it, Wei Yuan quietly slipped away.
Returning to his quarters, Wei Yuan's heart swelled as he envisioned Qingming's future once those twenty thousand Dao Foundations completed their physical transformations.
Only after his mind finally settled did he begin tallying his karmic luck in detail. The harvest this time totaled twenty thousand strands of Dao Foundation karmic luck, over half of which were top-grade. Converted, that was roughly equivalent to twenty million strands of human azure qi.
Through this lecture, Wei Yuan had essentially harvested every single Dao Foundation cultivator in Qingming in one sweep. To gain fresh karmic luck, he would have to wait until their strength grew significantly in the future.
Looking at this karmic luck, Wei Yuan suddenly recalled the recent stir over calculating the grotto-heaven orbits. A thought stirred within him: *How could I leave my path entirely to others?*
Deciding without hesitation, Wei Yuan posed the problem he had set previously once more, then channeled all the karmic luck gathered from the lecture directly into it!
In merely a brief moment, a new orbital path surfaced. It was neither extraordinary nor flawed, neither extreme nor perilous—a well-balanced, peaceful, ordinary grotto-heaven orbit. Yet no one had calculated it before, and it was not among the list of possible orbits.
Seeing this orbit, Wei Yuan burst into three hearty laughs, his Dao heart clear and bright!
This orbit had truly and honestly been uncovered through his own methods, whether it adhered to conventional logic or not. Who was to say that the end of mathematics couldn't be mysticism?
Without this orbit, Wei Yuan would inevitably have harbored doubts about himself, leaving his mind blocked. But now that it existed, it proved that he did not need to rely on anyone else to resolve the matters of his own path. He could now freely use any orbit he pleased, with no further worry of dust settling upon his Dao heart.
After a long laugh, Wei Yuan submitted the entire process behind uncovering this new orbit into the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World.
And inside the Smoke and Fire, dead silence fell.
Chapter 941