Longzang

Chapter 102 The Academic Master's Methods
The deal was initially agreed upon, so the shopkeeper didn't bother him any further and left. On his way back to the accounting office, as he passed the kitchen, a head suddenly popped out and asked, "How's that person?"

The innkeeper's flippant expression vanished, replaced by a serious one. He said, "He's probably a ruthless man! Although he seems a bit dim-witted, and perhaps he really is, I can't see through him at all, and I can't even grasp the slightest hint of his Dao foundation. This guy is simple-minded and dirt poor; all that showing off was to get a few days' rent waived. Such a fine knife is rare. But a fine knife can also easily injure people, so you absolutely mustn't provoke him. Treat him like a top-tier assassin for now."

The man in the kitchen said somewhat resentfully, "But his sword is really good..."

The shopkeeper's face immediately darkened: "It wasn't easy for me to find a good cook, and I don't want to replace him now, so you better behave yourself!"

The head reluctantly retracted.

As soon as the shopkeeper left, Wei Yuan suppressed the joy on his face, but a faint smile lingered at the corners of his mouth.

He took out a feng shui array plate and a bunch of small items, silently calculated the directions, dug a few small holes in the wall of the room, put a few small spiritual items in them, and then sealed them up again. After setting it up, Wei Yuan picked up the array plate and shook it, and a feng shui array was activated.

Anyone who enters the courtyard will be cursed by the feng shui formation, and everything will go wrong, including but not limited to backlash from the magic, malfunctioning magic tools, and forgetting the next line of a spell halfway through.

Then Wei Yuan carved a ghost face in an inconspicuous corner of the wall, and poured a small bag of beast blood on it. When in Rome, do as the Romans do; this was a spell Wei Yuan had cast on the Wuyu tribe. In this region, the spell was naturally twice as effective, exceptionally efficient. If anyone sneaked in, it would activate the curse.

This curse doesn't directly kill, but rather it cloudes the mind, ignites hidden desires, and causes one to succumb to instinct, leading to all sorts of irrational acts. For example, after drawing a poisoned knife, one might lick it first to intimidate the enemy or demonstrate cruelty.

Wei Yuan busied himself, setting several traps. As a top student of the Taichu Palace's innovative faction, it was only now, as he was setting them up in person, that Wei Yuan realized he possessed far too many insidious methods, making it difficult to choose which to use. These methods were all vicious and ruthless; even seasoned veterans of the martial world would have to bow down in respect. Those teachers who taught him the art of teaching back then were truly something special.

The feng shui array and curse set up by Wei Yuan may seem simple, but in reality, because the activated array plate was bestowed by a Celestial Lord, its status is terrifyingly high. Therefore, once the curse is activated, it will not only hit its target, but its effect will also be outstanding.

After setting everything up, Wei Yuan placed the array plate on the table, took out the jade paper with Yun Feifei's image on it, carefully picked out a wisp of primordial spirit energy sealed inside, slowly put it into the array plate, and then pointed a finger at the array plate. A faint light flashed on the array plate, and then it calmed down, and Yun Feifei's wisp of energy disappeared.

This array plate was bestowed by the Immortal Lord, and its purpose is to fish for destiny. After placing Yun Feifei's aura into it, all people or things related to Yun Feifei will be drawn closer to Wei Yuan under the impermanent pull of destiny. The closer the connection with Yun Feifei, the easier it is to be attracted. Unless one's own status is extremely high, or one is currently experiencing a period of great fortune, it is difficult to escape the double fishing of the Immortal Lord of Listening to the Sea and Wei Yuan's celestial destiny.

If one possesses great wisdom and is highly proficient in the Dao of Destiny, one will naturally find oneself being fished by destiny, and thus break free from the predicament through various means. However, Wei Yuan felt that as a newly established Dao Foundation cultivator, he was not worthy of such a figure appearing in the mission.

With everything arranged, Wei Yuan now simply waits for someone with the right intentions to come to him.

Wei Yuan used himself as bait, sitting idly and fishing, waiting to see which fish would deliberately take the bait. Just like Taigong fishing, he caught those fish who thought they could drag the fisherman down with them. Of course, the fish thought the same thing.

At this moment, Wei Yuan had nothing to do, so he read a book under the lamp. The innkeeper's affectation was evident in the fact that there was a book box in the room containing several books, all of which were thread-bound ordinary paper books, quite antique, and each book had obvious wear marks on the edges of the pages, indicating that they were not just for decoration, but were actually being read by someone from time to time.

Wei Yuan picked up a book at random and opened it. Unexpectedly, it was not an official history book, but a folk version of the Yin-Yang Dao that Wei Yuan had read back then, with added embellishments.

Those books placed in the inn's bookcase are naturally all high-quality. For example, the one Wei Yuan held contained many imaginative and whimsical ideas, giving common minor Taoist techniques a unique twist, which impressed and inspired Wei Yuan. However, the highest-ranking characters in the book were only True Lords; they couldn't go any higher. To arbitrarily fabricate stories about Immortal Lords would likely get the author struck by lightning.

Wei Yuan appeared to be reading, but in reality, his mind was working hard in his sea of ​​consciousness. He would occasionally turn the page just to make the performance more realistic.

In his mind, Wei Yuan selected a stone on the ground and kneaded it continuously. The stone slowly deformed and gradually transformed into a square, three-legged cauldron.

Since constructing the Taiyin Full Moon, Wei Yuan's mastery of the Dao Foundation has advanced a step forward. With conscious awareness, he can now slightly alter things within the Dao Foundation. For example, he can mold stones into stone cauldrons and stone swords.

Since Wei Yuan's foundation was large enough, he could just make a cauldron and put it there. When it came to fighting, he could visualize it and then smash it out. Regardless of its power, it would at least look quite intimidating.

As for the sword, things were much easier. Zhang Sheng's three swords were too famous to be of much use. But ever since Xiao Yu cultivated the Immortal Sword Great Sun, she would often carry her sword and wave it around in front of Wei Yuan, doing this for almost half a year before she got bored and stopped. It wasn't until some time after Xiao Yu stopped coming that Wei Yuan realized something was wrong. Who carries their Dao Foundation around all day like that?
Thanks to Xiao Yu, Wei Yuan was very familiar with the Immortal Sword Great Sun, and visualizing it was not difficult for him at all.

Wei Yuan had been so busy since he completed his Dao Foundation that he hadn't had a chance to go for a stroll with Xiao Yu, which was somewhat regrettable. Besides, even if he wanted to, the vast land wouldn't allow it. The main problem was, where should he place the Dao Foundation? Should he hold it up or step on it? Let alone the vast land, even carrying a small jade mountain on top of it would be extremely conspicuous. Wei Yuan still felt quite ashamed and couldn't bring himself to do such a thing.

Fortunately, the Hall of Myriad Forms not only housed the vast landscape of the land, but also the old Daoist sweeping the floor. Even if Xiao Yu couldn't recognize Wei Yuan's Dao Foundation, the old Daoist would offer guidance, so there was no fear of him being blind. After completing the creation of the stone cauldron and stone sword, the title of "Double Master of Cauldron and Sword" was finally fulfilled. Wei Yuan was now simply waiting for the fish to bite. With nothing else to do for the time being, he sat against the jade mountain, conjuring the Dao Foundation Chapter of the Madman of Heaven and Earth in his hands, and began to carefully study it. The full moon in the sky was also watching, studying along with him.

Wei Yuan had only been practicing for a short while when a shrill scream suddenly rang out from not far away. The sound carried Dao power and was exceptionally penetrating, instantly waking up half of Qu Liu Town! Wei Yuan's thoughts were immediately interrupted by this scream.

This was a lawless place, and Wei Yuan didn't intend to care who died, so he continued reading.

Just as he had sorted out his thoughts and was about to have an inspiration, there was a loud bang, the whole inn shook, and a strong wind blew in all directions, overturning a large number of the surrounding shacks!

The overflowing Dao power did indeed provoke Wei Yuan, almost causing him to instinctively throw his longsword as if it were a short spear. Having his train of thought interrupted twice in a row, even the good-tempered Wei Yuan was furious. So he put down his book, picked up his longsword, went out of the house and onto the roof, standing on the roof and looking in the direction from which the tremor came.

A masked giant leaped into the air, attempting to escape. A shorter figure on the ground chuckled sinisterly, raised a wooden staff, and pointed it into the air. A wisp of green energy shot from the staff's tip, instantly striking the fleeing giant. The giant fell silently to the ground, his body reduced to a skeleton upon impact.

In that instant, Wei Yuan saw that what was holding the staff was not a human hand, but a bird's claw!

The short figure walked to the giant man's skeleton, picked up something, and strode away. Where the two fought fiercely, all the shacks and tents within a dozen or so feet were overturned, but the people seemed used to it, picking up their belongings without a care in the world, showing no panic. Under one of the overturned tents, a man and a woman were busy writhing and entangled, not stopping even with the roof gone. Under another tent, several things were writhing and entangled; Wei Yuan could barely recognize one as a person, but he didn't know what the others were.

In the vicinity, Wei Yuan was the only one standing on the rooftop, glaring menacingly. Immediately, many eyes turned towards him, most filled with malice. Wei Yuan let out a sinister laugh, and a phantom image of a square cauldron appeared above his head. A flash of golden light, and countless people screamed and covered their eyes.

After establishing his authority, Wei Yuan returned to his room and continued reading the book he hadn't finished under the lamp, reading until dawn without realizing it.

At dawn, after pondering the Madman of Heaven and Earth all night, Wei Yuan finally felt somewhat exhausted.

As dawn broke, the innkeeper knocked on the door and entered the courtyard, personally bringing Wei Yuan his breakfast.

After putting down breakfast, the shopkeeper slid a piece of paper from his sleeve, placed it in front of Wei Yuan, and whispered, "Master Li, this person is worth five hundred taels of immortal silver! In addition, you can choose one of the three magic artifacts as extra rewards."

"A fish bit the hook so quickly?" Wei Yuan remained calm and picked up the portrait to examine it.

The portrait depicts a middle-aged man with a dignified face, prominent thick eyebrows, and a small black mole the size of a fingertip near the corner of his mouth. The portrait is quite well-painted, but because it is not on jade paper, it cannot be viewed from various angles, nor does it record any trace of his spiritual aura.

The shopkeeper lowered his voice and quickly said, "This man is named Wang Lang, and he is skilled in Taoist arts. On the surface, he is in the business of selling immortal materials and pills, but in reality, he regularly sends a group of young women, including female cultivators, to the west every month. He arrived in Quliu Town yesterday, and his camp is set up three miles outside the town. Among the goods he brought this time are three female cultivators."

Wei Yuan remained calm and asked, "What use are these women?"

"Some are for the Wuyu tribe's sacrificial rites, and some are sent to the brothels in the west. As for female cultivators, both the sacrificial rites and the brothels have a demand for them, and they will take as many as they can get."

Wei Yuan frowned: "You want to kill him over such a trivial matter?"

"Your Highness has keen insight! Actually, a certain lord specifically requested one of the female cultivators from this shipment."

"That's not even worth five hundred taels of silver, is it? Besides, you'd have to add a magic weapon to that."

The shopkeeper whispered, "Wang Lang's identity is a bit troublesome. He works for the Xu family, so this matter must be handled cleanly!"

"Which Xu family?"

The shopkeeper pointed to the ceiling: "Which other Xu family could be in the west of Ningzhou? Of course, it's the Xu family that controls most of Ningzhou!"

(End of this chapter)