Descent

The new county magistrate was unfamiliar with the place and already notorious, the prominent local families were stingy and covetous, and the yamen functionaries were all invested in their own stakes. Relying on this information gap, Wei Yuefu quickly brought about the outcome he wanted to see, with guided public resentment woven into the mix. This allowed the new magistrate's efforts to survey landholdings and equalize corvée and tax levies to proceed smoothly, even as grievances echoed everywhere. The reason it progressed so quickly was simple: first, the local families served as ready-made political achievements; second, the yamen clerks acted in accordance with Wei Yuefu's instructions. The clerks took going too far to an absolute art. As for what would happen if Li Chongzhao actually finished the work? Once the man was sent away, they could simply issue new orders and reverse the policies. Wasn't public resentment meant to be used for precisely this? Wei Yuefu could also smoothly take over all the records and data left behind by Li Chongzhao. At the current pace, what originally required a year would now take only three months. Thus, he had already begun pulling strings for Li Chongzhao. As soon as there was enough political merit, he would send him off on a promotion. Ideally, Li would be sent to the capital to take up a nominal sinecure—a promotion in name, but a demotion in truth. This was actually not difficult. After all, every post in the capital was spoken for; positions with real power and lucrative perks were hard to come by. Positions that benched someone on the sidelines, however, were a dime a dozen. The only trouble was the Crown Prince. Still, the same logic applied: he only needed to start the trouble, and those at odds with the Crown Prince would naturally jump in. As for whether the fallout might reach him, that was certainly possible—just like this recent undeserved disaster. Yet most of the time, the sky was high and the emperor was far away. Since he was not in the capital, their reach naturally fell short. For Wei Yuefu, however, he had no mind to dwell on these political intrigues right now. Because the Descent Mission was about to begin. ----- [Qualifying trials for new World Proxies concluded. All World Proxies, please prepare to undertake the Descent Mission in one shichen.] ----- In Wei Yuefu's view, this prompt meant that with the world recovering somewhat, it now had enough surplus capacity to recruit new proxies. With more people, the world's recovery would accelerate, but it might also lower the mission completion rate and reduce Dao Seed points. Of course, if the total Dao Seed points available grew along with the headcount, then even if the proportion dropped, getting more in absolute terms would be fine by Wei Yuefu. Just as the thought crossed his mind, everything around him began to freeze. When Wei Yuefu opened his eyes, he had already crossed over. He looked around. He was still "Ding Shoucheng," and he was right where he had been on the eve of departure. Time had not passed here by seven days just because seven days had elapsed back home. As it turned out, while he carried out a Descent Mission, time paused in his home world. And during his seven-day rest back home, the world he descended into remained paused as well. He reckoned that the vast majority of the world's resources went into world-crossing and temporal control... Soon, the new mission surfaced. ----- [Mission Objective: Destroy the Dragon Marrow Blood-Tempering Pill by any means.] [Mission Reward: One heaven-and-earth marvel, one heaven-and-earth treasure.] [Time Limit: 15 days] ----- Wei Yuefu was rendered utterly speechless. A name like "Dragon Marrow Blood-Tempering Pill" sounded like a rare item reserved exclusively for a protagonist. Barring any surprise, he was going to clash with Shen Qianjun again. Back in Songyang County, he had been a local power and could scheme using interest groups. Going to the prefectural capital now, he would no longer hold such a commanding advantage. Not to mention that Shen Qianjun had background and connections in the prefectural capital, raising the difficulty by more than a little. Still, he had come to understand one thing: unless he killed Shen Qianjun outright, they would likely remain entangled for quite a while. Yet he reckoned that nine times out of ten, he couldn't kill him. If the problem itself could truly be resolved head-on, why would the Descent Mission beat around the bush like this? Wasn't it precisely because killing him directly was impossible that the mission took a circuitous route to weaken him first? Meanwhile, his little brother reverted to its Layered Tower Art primordial spirit state, and the long-lost passive advancement state reappeared. Seeing this, Wei Yuefu equipped Pagoda Stance and Bright Hall Force into the little brother's equipment slots. Pagoda Stance transformed into golden and jeweled ornaments adorning the ears, neck, and other parts of the little brother's chibi white elephant costume. Bright Hall Force turned into six miniature tusks, arranged symmetrically. Now it truly looked like a chibi-style six-tusked white elephant. Still, Wei Yuefu was somewhat surprised. He had assumed equipment would take the form of sabers, spears, swords, halberds, armor, or bows and crossbows. He hadn't expected it to simply build upon the original body. Pity there were only two equipment slots; otherwise, adding the Eight Treasures Golden Body might have brought about further changes. In truth, as Wei Yuefu saw it, the Eight Treasures Golden Body might not match as harmoniously as Pagoda Stance and Bright Hall Force. After all, those three belonged to the same set, whereas the Eight Treasures Golden Body hailed from Dayun Guangming Temple, making it somewhat out of place. "Ying?" The little brother patted its altered chibi white elephant costume, finding it thoroughly novel. Then it floated above Wei Yuefu's head, beaming with joy. Wei Yuefu chuckled at the sight. Though the little brother was carefree, its formless nature meant it normally had nothing to play with. The chibi ornaments on the white elephant costume could be detached and used as toys. At the same time, Wei Yuefu estimated how long it would take for his three skills—Layered Tower Art, Pagoda Stance, and Bright Hall Force—to reach major mastery. At the current rate, combining Ding Shoucheng's talent with his newly acquired Heaven Grade aptitude and supplementing it with great medicine, Layered Tower Art, which originally would have required three months, now took only two. As for Pagoda Stance and Bright Hall Force, those two would take longer. Since those two skills served as equipment, their advancement efficiency was only half that of Layered Tower Art. Which meant about four months. Without opportune encounters or serendipity, there was certainly no way to achieve major mastery this time. After all, he had only fifteen days. Even so, barring accidents, one of Ding Shoucheng's two dormant talents should awaken this time. 'It seems that as the world recovers, the duration of Descent Missions to other worlds will grow longer and longer,' Wei Yuefu mused inwardly as he looked at the time limit. This was advantageous to Wei Yuefu; after all, martial arts cultivation was a matter of slow, painstaking effort. Though his aptitude and resources were hardly lacking now, he was still constrained by time. Of course, from the perspective of this world's martial artists, Wei Yuefu was already absurdly fast. Reaching major mastery in two months was simply beyond their wildest imagination. And it was for this exact reason that Shen Qianjun could wield such overwhelming dominance—his advantages were great enough to completely overshadow any flaws. "Shoucheng, what are you dawdling for? Everyone's waiting on you!" Tian Muchuan's voice came over. "Coming, Lord Tian!" Wei Yuefu answered at once upon hearing the call, giving a crack of the whip to the donkey pulling his cart. He was traveling alone, but he had received quite a few gifts during these days, and he couldn't leave them behind.