Once the spirit vein was refined, Wei Yuefu installed it within his manor, merging it into the local ley line.
If he ever wished to relocate it, he could simply store it away, though a certain amount of loss would be unavoidable.
Fortunately, it could be nurtured back to health once it was integrated into another ley line, so the loss would not be catastrophic.
Within the spirit vein's range, Wei Yuefu finally felt somewhat more comfortable. The stifling, deathly stillness permeating heaven and earth receded slightly.
It seemed the gathering and cycling of spiritual energy produced by Heavenly Circulation and Homage from All Quarters insulated him from that part of the world's distress.
Taking note of this, he sensed the conditions of this miniature spirit vein.
With the vein at its center, the core area had a radius of ten meters. Cultivating within this zone offered a massive boost in efficiency.
He could even sustain the presence of his little brother and the Yellow Turban Strongman with ease, without expending any additional spiritual power of his own.
Even his little brother felt exceptionally comfortable here.
Next came the area of influence, which extended roughly a hundred meters outward beyond the core.
The area of influence could not enjoy the gathering effect of Homage from All Quarters, but under the cycling influence of Heavenly Circulation, its concentration of spiritual energy was enhanced, though it gradually diminished with distance.
At the outermost perimeter was a one-way isolation zone with an even larger range—a radius of five hundred meters.
The spiritual energy in this zone was exceedingly thin, lower even than in normal surroundings. Its purpose was to block spiritual energy from leaking out, ensuring that the internal circulation remained intact.
This formed a protective barrier generated during the vein's cycling process, which drew in ambient energy through an outward siphon effect.
Fortunately, Qi Refiners were few, and commoners had virtually no interaction with spiritual energy, so the impact was negligible.
Wei Yuefu could only marvel at how benevolent the world was.
It was down to its very last breath, yet it still provided them with an environment in which to grow.
He surmised, however, that the world must have recovered a bit of vitality after this first Descent Mission. Otherwise, neither the innate spirit root nor the spirit vein looked like ordinary treasures.
Of course, such things might not be considered much in a world of high martial arts or high magic, but in a low-magic world like this, they were priceless boons.
With the spirit vein in place, Wei Yuefu discovered that a new function had been unlocked.
It was called the Tianya Pavilion—an undeniably poetic name.
He clicked to open it, and a line of text materialized, prompting him to choose a code name first.
Seeing this, Wei Yuefu narrowed his eyes. Why did this look so much like an online forum?
Then again, wasn't this a standard feature in otherworld descent tropes?
After thinking it over, he selected his handle: Peacocks Fly Southeast.
If the opportunity arose later, he could also bring out "The Ballad of Mulan." After all, he already had "Peacocks Fly Southeast," one of the Twin Jewels of Yuefu.
Naturally, if Wei Yuefu wanted to get even more abstract, he could ride the peacock motif straight into using Kong Xuan as an alias.
They both had "peacock" in them anyway; a bit of a stretch wouldn't hurt.
Once he had registered his handle, he entered the special interface of the Tianya Pavilion.
Just as he had guessed, the thing really was nothing more than a forum.
Inside the Tianya Pavilion was a leaderboard—the standings displayed on the interface. At present, however, only the Heavenly Ranking existed, with nothing below it.
There were only three people on the entire ranking, which meant... there were only three World Proxies in total.
[1. Emperor Wu of Great Xuan]
[2. Master Yaozhang of the Xiao Clan]
[3. Peacocks Fly Southeast]
The handles of these other two completely dumbfounded Wei Yuefu. Why had they laid their cards faceup on the table?
He wondered whether they were impostors or the actual emperor and the young master of the Xiao clan.
The former went without saying, and Wei Yuefu had also heard of the Xiao clan—not because it was a particularly prominent lineage, but because of Master Yaozhang's renown.
Master Yaozhang, Xiao Shendu, was handsome and refined, and his literary compositions were an absolute marvel.
Among his peers, there was virtually no one who could stand as his equal.
The Xiao clan's fame rested entirely on Xiao Shendu's shoulders.
Thinking about this, Wei Yuefu could not help wondering: wasn't this a bit too coincidental?
If neither of them was a fake, did that mean a Qi Refiner's aptitude correlated to some extent with their worldly capability?
Wei Yuefu certainly possessed capability of his own. How else could he have seized the right moment to pledge allegiance, rising from an ordinary commoner to a county baron and an official of the regular sixth rank?
After closing the ranking, he noticed only a single thread in the Tianya Pavilion. He took one glance and tossed it to the back of his mind.
The poster was Emperor Wu of Great Xuan, and the content was an appeal urging the other two to come to the capital, promising them high office, generous stipends, and unending wealth and glory.
The recruitment pitch was exceptionally well-crafted. At first glance, it did not feel condescending at all; instead, it framed them all as Heavenly Envoys who ought to join forces when descending into other worlds.
Attached was a photograph taken inside a palace hall. Although no face was shown, the dragon robe, the imperial throne, and the downward angle left no doubt that the poster was indeed the Emperor of Great Xuan.
As for how an ancient could take a photograph... people in antiquity were ancient, not stupid.
And these so-called Heavenly Envoys were simply World Proxies—Wei Yuefu just understood it through his own perspective as a transmigrator.
Still, the Emperor of Great Xuan was not wrong: the allocation of Dao Seed points depended on the mission completion rate of all the World Proxies.
This time, all three of them had completed their missions, which was why they each received 5 points.
If the completion rate had been lower, the Dao Seed points would have decreased accordingly.
He suspected that the completion rate directly affected how much vitality the world could recover.
The more it recovered, the more it could share with them.
If it recovered little, it would hardly be able to keep itself alive, let alone spare extra rewards for anyone else.
Wei Yuefu glanced through the thread. Master Yaozhang of the Xiao Clan had not left any replies, so there was no telling whether the account was genuine or not.
Presumably, he was lurking just like Wei Yuefu. But if it really was Xiao Shendu, he was probably on the verge of tears right now.
After all, he had exposed his identity right out of the gate. If it was an impostor, it wouldn't matter much—in fact, it would just frame someone else, leaving the real Xiao Shendu to suffer the misfortune.
Wei Yuefu ignored Emperor Wu's recruitment thread and posted two threads of his own:
[Intel: An Overview of the Martial Arts System]
[Inquiry: What's the Situation with the Rebellion in the North?]
He added prefixes to both threads to differentiate their content.
Not long after they were posted, a reply arrived.
The respondent was Master Yaozhang of the Xiao Clan. Under the intel thread, he had left a line of classical prose that roughly translated to a message of gratitude.
The diction was ornate and the literary style exquisite, instantly convincing Wei Yuefu that this was indeed the man himself.
Meanwhile, the inquiry thread also received a reply, this one from Emperor Wu of Great Xuan.
Three concise characters: "We did it."
Wei Yuefu was rendered speechless. That... actually made complete sense.
Emperor Wu of Great Xuan had journeyed there in the flesh. As a Heaven Grade Qi Refiner, armed with his destiny, divine abilities, and spells, pulling off something like that was well within his power.
Moreover, since he was an emperor himself, he naturally knew every vulnerable pain point of a feudal dynasty inside and out.
It was entirely plausible that, within just seven days, he could ignite the powder keg and set a snowball effect in motion, plunging the entire situation into utter collapse and bringing about the end of a dynasty.
Chapter 20