Longzang

Chapter 1172 I’ll Beat You
When Li Zhi rushed over, he only saw Wei Yuan standing in the air, looking at the ground with a cold expression.

"What's wrong?" Li Zhi asked.

Wei Yuan frowned and said, "There's a guy who's been watching me in the shadows. He'll occasionally try to attack me, but sometimes he'll also lend me a hand."

"Who is it? Is it a secret friend?" Li Zhi hadn't expected that someone could be so insidious, able to hold their own against Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan's mind flashed with Sheng Xin's face, sensing a resemblance between the lurking figure and Sheng Xin in their modus operandi. But he quickly dismissed the thought; the reason was simple: how could Sheng Xin possess such power?

The ability to influence the Heavenly Dao and control tribulation lightning is something none of the Heavenly Witches Wei Yuan has seen can do, including the Molten Dragon. It's not that the Molten Dragon lacks ability, but rather that its innate supernatural powers lie outside this realm.

Of the two immortals still alive in Taichu Palace, Zhu Yan specializes in magical combat and sneak attacks, but she's definitely not cut out for manipulating the Heavenly Dao. Yan Shi can barely manage to get close, but his ascension to immortality wasn't perfect, so while he can passably predict heavenly secrets, he's far from being able to control tribulation lightning. Perhaps if Immortal Lord Tinghai hadn't perished back then, and had cultivated for several hundred more years, there might have been a slight chance.

What is the Sacred Heart compared to these people? So Wei Yuan simply ignored him. Moreover, throughout Wei Yuan's life, time has always been on his side. Those who could compete with him at the same level back then have all become scraps after Wei Yuan advanced in rank.

For example, many of the people whom Wei Yuan called his senior brother back then are still at the Dao Foundation stage.

Wei Yuan pondered for a moment before saying uncertainly, "It must be some shady immortal who's constantly testing my weaknesses so he can kill me in one blow. Never mind him for now, I just fed him a huge one too."

"Can we really just ignore him? He's secretly watching us; we need to find a way to deal with him, right?" Li Zhi was quite worried.

Wei Yuan chuckled and said, "It's alright, let him test me! I have no weaknesses!"

Li Zhi: ...

After a moment of confusion, Li Zhi sighed, "Back then, we weren't that far apart. How come the gap between us widened as we cultivated? You can now strike an immortal at any time? If I have the chance, I'd like to try out just how powerful your methods are."

Wei Yuan laughed and said, "Believe me, you wouldn't want to try it. Even I wouldn't dare to try it myself."

Li Zhi nodded, and the two flew towards Qingming once more. After this round of battle, the path ahead was finally clear, allowing them to enter the Eastern Jin Dynasty from the Northern Qi.

Upon entering the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Wei Yuan no longer concealed himself, swaggering through the sky and parading through the city. Instantly, countless eyes turned towards him, but upon seeing that it was Wei Yuan and then recognizing the three imperial guards he was carrying, they immediately shrank back as if they had touched red-hot iron.

In the blink of an eye, the world became clear, and there was no more buzzing of flies.

The effect was so good that even Wei Yuan was somewhat surprised, and he turned to ask, "Am I that scary now?"

But when Wei Yuan turned around, he realized that Li Zhi had already hidden far away, more than a hundred miles away, and refused to get close to Wei Yuan, for fear that people would misunderstand that there was some intimate relationship between the two.

Wei Yuan didn't mind and continued flying forward, this time without deliberately slowing down, heading west.

Suddenly, a pair of eyes opened on his profile, gazing towards a distant place. There, in the void, a mountain stream flowed gently, winding through lush pine forests and passing through rocky crevices, its sound melodious. The moon shone through moss-covered water, and wisps of mist clung to the surface. Occasionally, a deer would lower its head to drink, uttering soft cries.

Beside the stream, two people with ethereal and otherworldly airs sat, enjoying tea and playing chess. One was Xu Youyi, and the other was an unknown immortal.

Xu Youyi paused slightly in mid-air, holding her son's hand, and said, "What a perceptive person. I only glanced at him casually, and he actually discovered me and found our way here."

The immortal opposite smiled slightly, waved his hand gently, and a cloud of smoke rose up, obscuring a pair of eyes that appeared several feet away. Then he said, "What powerful, what a familiar divine power! Ten thousand years ago, King Buddha used it to monitor the Six Realms, and all the immortals trembled in fear! King Buddha finally perished and was reincarnated, but I didn't expect to see it again today. That's why he has been carefree for ten thousand years. Alas!"

Xu Youyi snorted and said, "The King Buddha back then was naturally terrifying. Many people already know that Wei Yuan is the reincarnation of the King Buddha. It's just that no one expected him to awaken so quickly, and even his supernatural powers from his past life have already taken hold. It's a pity that he is still young and impetuous, only thinking about showing off. If he hides these supernatural powers and makes us misjudge the extent of his awakening, we might suffer a great loss when we fight him in the future."

The immortal opposite smiled and said, "Young people are impetuous, which is a good thing for us. Didn't we all suffer losses in the same way back then? Today, we should let the young man suffer a loss too. Why remind him?"
There's something else, but I'm not sure if I should say it.

Xu Youyi raised her eyebrows and said irritably, "Didn't you know whether you should say that or not when you asked it? But keeping you bottled up is worse than killing you, so speak!"

The immortal laughed and said, "You understand me best. What I want to say is that that guy has already lost three immortals. No matter what the reason, they can all be classified as powerful true immortals and should not be taken lightly. Look at his actions this time, isn't it just to provoke you to go out and fight him? If you still treat him as a junior and don't go all out, you're afraid you'll suffer a great loss."

Xu Youyi snorted and stopped talking.

……

Wei Yuan was about to fly across the border, but still hadn't heard from Xu Youyi. Suddenly, several familiar gazes fell upon him. Looking down, Wei Yuan saw that it was actually the Azure Nether Army's aura below, with a battalion of Azure Nether warriors stationed there.

The camp was quite large, situated on a flat area in front of the mountain, with no natural defenses within a radius of dozens of miles. According to traditional military strategy, the commander of this camp could be considered incompetent.

But this is precisely Qingming's unique method of setting up camp. The outer perimeter is made of trenches and fortresses, the central camp is fortified with low walls, and the interior is equipped with artillery positions. It is entirely defended by fortifications and firepower, and the range of heavy artillery is the defensive coverage area, so there is no need to waste manpower and resources to build city walls.

From the central command tent below, a person stepped out, looked up at the sky, and waved. It was Xiaoyu.

Wei Yuan's hands were never empty; he then created another new hand, waved it at Xiao Yu, and continued flying forward. He was also helpless. Xiao Yu had recently lost interest in being the city lord, enjoying leading troops in battles and conquering many cities and territories wherever she went. She even plundered the people! And the people she plundered were grateful to Xiao Yu and would contribute their luck, which was truly unfair.

Wei Yuan guessed that Xiao Yu came for these fortunes. However, in Wei Yuan's opinion, being able to govern a city would yield far more fortune than leading troops into battle. It's just that governing a city is a gradual process that accumulates over time and is not usually apparent.

But if Xiaoyu likes it, then let him go... Wei Yuan shook his head helplessly.

As he flew over the military camp, he suddenly remembered something. The size of the camp was correct, about 50,000 men, 30,000 of whom were main combatants and 20,000 were auxiliary troops. But the location was wrong; it was over a thousand li away from the Western Jin border!

Moreover, within the central army camp, a faint trace of the true meaning of the wondrous appearance of the Heavenly Demon could be emanating. Bao Yun was also there, but she did not appear.

What are these two up to now? Wei Yuan had a slight headache; he knew that their getting together couldn't be anything good.

Back in the central army camp, Xiaoyu smiled and said, "We've already spoken to Wei Yuan, so we can make our move."

The three people in the camp perked up: Bao Yun and Shao Yang Xing Jun. That was fine, but Bao Yun was also accompanied by a beautiful, aloof girl in white, whose origins were unknown.

Xiao Yu pointed at the map and said, "Our target this time is Guanzhong Prefecture in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. This prefecture is a harsh and cold place with a population of 20 million. Although the population is not large, most of them are young and strong, and they are engaged in forestry and mining. It would be very valuable to rob, no, to rescue them."

Bao Yun immediately said, "The floating boats and airships are ready. Let's not delay, let's set off!"

……

Having just returned to the Lü family ancestral land and before he could even properly interrogate Xu Huaixuan, Wei Yuan suddenly sensed someone summoning him from outside. So he went out of his room and saw Xu Youyi standing in the courtyard, her face full of anger.

Wei Yuan bowed and said, "Senior, what brings you here so suddenly?"

Xu Youyi said irritably, "I've already let bygones be bygones the last time you robbed millions of people from my border and destroyed more than ten of my border cities! Later, the King of Jin of the Eastern Jin also sent envoys to establish friendly relations, and the gifts and provisions alone amounted to a whole month's worth of tax silver. Then there are those strange treaties on trade and navigation. Uh, the Eastern Jin didn't even have a sea, so I don't know what you're trying to do with navigation!"

"We've done all that, so why are you attacking again?"

Wei Yuan asked in surprise, "Is that so?"

With a wave of her hand, Xu Youyi instantly displayed hundreds of images between the two of them. These images included heavily armored soldiers entering the city, flying ships that blotted out the sky, and heavy chariots slowly moving forward before leaping over obstacles.

Then there are images of Qingming soldiers escorting large groups of people. The people, with their families in tow, are lined up in long queues, all beaming with joy.

Ahead of them was a huge airship, and then several cultivators blocked their way, snatched the people's bags and packages, and threw them aside.

The crowd was still laughing, but their laughter seemed numb in the context of the scene, especially since they had lost everything. The fully armed Qingming cultivators were cold and ruthless, tossing various packages onto the vehicles, which then drove off one by one, disappearing without a trace.

"Your Qingming soldiers are looting Guanxi County. The evidence is irrefutable. What else do you have to say?" Xu Youyi demanded, her voice sharp and stern.

Wei Yuan said calmly, "Senior, you certainly put a lot of effort into these segments, but how could you leave them without voiceovers?"

Wei Yuan pointed, and suddenly a voice came from the image. The Qingming Armored cultivator said in a loud voice, "You don't need to bring anything! When you arrive in Qingming, every family will have a place to live and basic food rations, with meat at every meal! Whether you want to work, want to cultivate your body, or want to farm, whatever you want, as long as you are willing to work, you will be able to eat your fill and stay warm. Your descendants can also attend school for free and embark on the path to immortality!"

Then came cheers everywhere, and some people said, "I've been waiting for you to come!"

"Yes, yes! We have been waiting for the king's army for a long time!" This was an old scholar with gray hair.

The Azure Nether cultivator laughed, "Alright, hurry up and catch up with the group, stop wasting your time! Any kid in Azure Nether who's had two years of schooling is better than you."

The old scholar's face flushed slightly with embarrassment, but he forced himself to say, "I suppose these educated children all come from wealthy families!"

The cultivator grew impatient and said, "I already said that education in Qingming is free! I have a total of fourteen grandchildren, six of whom are over five years old and are currently studying at the academy! Body tempering for children is also free!"

After listening to the audio, Wei Yuan smiled and said, "Senior, what do you think?"

Xu Youyi snorted and said, "I will deal with those juniors who were just making a fuss when I get back! But it is also true that your men invaded the county town without authorization, looted the city, and robbed people! You must give me an explanation for what happened today!"

Wei Yuan paused, seemingly lost in thought, and then said, "Senior really wants to know the reason?"

"That's natural!"

Wei Yuan nodded and said, word by word, "I'll hit you if I want to. What reason do I need?"

Xu Youyi's expression changed instantly!
(End of this chapter)