Longzang

Chapter 1175 The Most Important Thing Right Now
Wei Yuan sat upright in the secret realm, carefully reading through the history of the Lü family.

When an immortal falls, the celestial realm will gradually dissipate and return to the natural world. The grotto-heaven he cultivated throughout his life is one of the most valuable treasures, on par with the path of cultivation.

When Lü Changhe fell, formidable enemies arrived one after another, and Wei Yuan had no chance to reclaim his grotto-heaven. As a result, most of it was taken away by the immortals in heaven.

Xu Shuhe, on the other hand, had most of his grotto-heavens burned up in the battle with Wei Yuan. He was already poor, and now he was left with only his immortal body, missing a leg.

The ancestral land of the Lü family and the secret realm left behind by Lü Changhe are essentially part of Lü Changhe's mental world. After his mental world manifested, most of it rose above the Immortal Heaven, while a small part remained in this world. The secret realm serves as a bridge connecting the two worlds.

The ancestral land and the secret realm also have the responsibility of guarding the geomantic feng shui of the northern frontier, making the land as warm as spring for thousands of miles. This was accomplished by the founding immortal ancestor of the Lü family and the two generations of immortals who followed.

The first immortal of the Lü family ventured deep into the Liao region, setting up the first boundary stone and transforming it into the ancestral homeland of the Lü family. This was a momentous event at the time, as the founder of the Taichu Palace was not born until five hundred years later.

Initially, this place was only a few hundred miles wide, but thanks to its warm, spring-like climate and increasingly fertile soil, the first generation of immortals of the Lü family managed to support seventy million people here. Although most people barely survived, the sheer number of them ensured that many talented individuals with cultivation abilities emerged.

The first generation of immortals of the Lü family relied on the continuous production of Dao soldiers here to withstand wave after wave of attacks from the Northern Liao, and eventually gradually expanded to a prefecture.

Subsequently, all the immortals of the Lü family built their secret realm here. When they passed away, the secret realm would become part of the ancestral mountain, increasing the family's heritage.

This is a common practice in the immortal realm; the Taichu Palace has simply taken it to its extreme. Most immortal cultivation families lose four or five immortals at most every few thousand years, but the Taichu Palace has lost dozens, creating a unique mountain sect in the world, second only to the Great Treasure Flower Pure Land with its more than 100,000-year history.

After reviewing the Lü family history, Wei Yuan couldn't help but sigh. Every ancestor who could establish a power base was a remarkable figure of their time. The Lü family's first ancestor was also a formidable man, but unfortunately, by the time of Lü Changhe, the family had lost its essence.

After thousands of years of nurturing, the ancestral land of the Lü family is most suitable for the Lü family's own path of cultivation. People living here are influenced by heaven and earth, and their talents will lean towards the direction of ice, snow and frost in the Taiyin path.

Normally, the best approach for such a precious land would be to nurture it along its original path, and then relocate more people to live there. Each generation here would produce more geniuses than other places, and over a thousand years, this would accumulate to a considerable number.

All the prominent families of the time have come this way. Each generation accumulates more wealth, and ultimately, through the strength they have built up over thousands of years, they have eliminated their rivals and become renowned families of their time.

If Wei Yuan wanted to, the most efficient way would be to first take in a thousand concubines and have them have thousands or tens of thousands of children in this place. Then the next generation would have hundreds of thousands of children, the next generation would have millions, the next generation would have tens of millions, and so on. In a few hundred years, the Wei family would rise to prominence in this place with hundreds of millions of people!

Wei Yuan shook his head, dismissing this inexplicable thought. However, the idea actually came from Wang Fo, which made Wei Yuan somewhat curious about Wang Fo's path to enlightenment.

Building up a fertile land for future generations is a long-term strategy, while resisting the Northern Liao is an immediate benefit, but in Wei Yuan's eyes, these are not so important. Having experienced countless life-or-death crises, Wei Yuan had long understood one principle: the present is most important; what does the long term matter? In the long run, everyone is dead.

Moreover, as long as this place exists, the Lü family will never be completely eradicated. In addition, with the Lü family bloodline of the Western Jin royal family, the Lü family will continue to survive.

Another reason is whether Lü Changhe is truly dead.
This question had been lingering in Wei Yuan's mind. Of the Jin royal family members he knew of, the crown prince, the former King of Wei, and the former King of Fu had been secretly replaced by Lü Changhe. And there were countless other cases Wei Yuan was unaware of.

A thorough investigation is impossible; Hongye taught Wei Yuan a lesson back then. His child was among those fewer than a thousand mortals, but Wei Yuan simply couldn't find him. Now, those thousand people have multiplied to several thousand, and Wei Yuan has long since given up on the search.

So, is Lü Changhe really dead?
Wei Yuan put down the Lü family history, and suddenly the thousands of books around him spontaneously combusted without any wind, turning into ashes.

He gave a slight sneer. More than a year had passed since he conquered the Lü family's ancestral land, and the other side remained completely silent. It seemed they were certain that his mission was over.

However, as long as the secret realm and the ancestral land are refined together, it will be equivalent to completely eradicating the roots of the Lü family. Wei Yuan wants to see if the Venerable Lord can still remain calm.

At that time, all of Lu Changhe's arrangements will be lost. Even if he awakens a reincarnation in someone else, he will eventually find that without the blessing of earth veins and feng shui, his talent is no different from that of an ordinary cultivator. No matter how great his wisdom is, he will never be able to reach the top.

If one cannot cultivate to the point of near-immortality after awakening, the probability of reincarnation in the next life will decrease, the chance of awakening will decline, and the innate supernatural powers that come with awakening will also weaken. If this happens two or three times, Lü Changhe will completely dissipate in the river of time. With the plan settled, Wei Yuan approached Xu Shiqi and the other two Xu family imperial experts, smiling and saying, "Gentlemen, today is the first day of the hundred-year agreement. I have prepared my tasks; please follow me."

A moment later, Hou Yuan led them to the highest peak of the secret realm, where three array points had already been set up. However, upon seeing the array points, the three Imperial Realm experts exchanged bewildered glances, somewhat unable to believe their eyes.

The array's core was surrounded by swirling celestial light, clearly indicating an extremely sophisticated formation far beyond the capabilities of the three individuals. That in itself wasn't the problem; what truly stood atop the array's core were three small, single-person cells!

Wei Yuan pointed to the three small rooms and said, "From now on, these will be your workspaces. You don't need to do anything else, just keep pushing the formation to operate."

Xu Shiqi was still somewhat incredulous, and slowly said, "Although the three of us are not as talented and ambitious as the Realm Lord, we believe that we are at least above average among the current Imperial Realm experts. For this kind of matter of manipulating formations, any Dharma Aspects would suffice; why use us?"

We have already signed a blood pact; as long as you don't break it, we will serve you faithfully for a hundred years. Why not find something slightly more important for us?

The other two Imperial Realm cultivators nodded in agreement. They felt that as high-level cultivators, they naturally couldn't be compared to those Foundation Establishment Ancestors or Dharma Aspect Old Monsters; doing such manual labor was simply beneath them. Only major tasks like guarding a region and resisting foreign invaders suited them.

Seeing that the three Imperial Realm experts were all looking at him expectantly, Wei Yuan smiled slightly and said, "Right now, activating the formation is the most important thing. It requires the help of the three of you. Moreover, the three of you are probably not enough. You can only barely get the formation running."

Xu Shiqi and the other two did not believe it, but they could not disobey Wei Yuan, so they had no choice but to reluctantly enter the individual workroom. Then Wei Yuan closed the iron gate made of Xuan Tie Ling Gang and locked it from the outside.

Just as the three of them were feeling an indescribable humiliation, an extremely heavy pressure suddenly fell on them, as if the entire ancestral land was pressing down on them!
They were shocked and immediately channeled their full power to desperately resist the mountain-like pressure. The pressure was terrifying; the slightest lapse in concentration would likely result in them being crushed into mincemeat. Finally, with the combined efforts of the three, they managed to withstand the immense pressure, but they had to maintain at least 90% of their power at all times.

The entire secret realm began to tremble slightly, gradually increasing in an extremely subtle manner.

Wei Yuan observed for a while, then finally nodded and turned to leave.

……

In the midst of the bustling world, there is a hidden grand hall. The hall is extremely magnificent, with a dome over a thousand feet high. In the center is a huge round table a hundred feet high, on which people walk like ants.

Twelve chairs were arranged around the round table. Several chairs now held figures, while most remained empty. These figures were strangely peculiar: a majestic giant, a serene fairy, an ancient dragon, a little girl like a porcelain doll, and even a desolate planet!
The little girl spoke first, saying, "The Refining World Array is initially completed, but there are still many problems. First of all, activating the array is extremely difficult, requiring a vast amount of magical power. If we had advanced to the Imperial Realm, it would be no problem, but right now it's a bit difficult. This array was activated a little too early."

The ancient dragon said, "It's alright. The Realm Lord said he has found three powerful batteries, which should be able to start the machine smoothly. So we just need to think about what to do next."

The aloof fairy said coldly, "Some things must be done by Yu Jing; they can't be accomplished simply by accumulating a large number of Dharma Aspects and Dao Foundations. That scoundrel Wei Yuan doesn't understand anything; all he does all day is make demands without ever considering whether he can actually complete them."

The little girl was startled and said, "Be careful what you say, just in case..."

The aloof fairy snorted and said, "What's there to be afraid of? He doesn't even know where this place is. Even if he did, with his mathematical skills, he wouldn't be able to find a way in."

The little girl was relieved, her face slightly flushed, and said, "It's not that I'm afraid of anything else, it's just that we're having a gathering here and discussing things, and we're using homemade images. If he sees them, I'll feel a little ashamed."

The colossal celestial body then said, "We're all equally ashamed, so don't worry, we won't let him in. He hasn't even finished that 'First Exploration of the Desolate Realm' book yet; even if you gave him another hundred years, he still wouldn't be able to get in!"

The dragon said slowly, "Don't forget the Desolate Roar. If he manages to master it, it will greatly enhance his understanding of the Desolate Realm."

The hall fell silent for a moment, then two voices rang out simultaneously: "He can't get past the third note!"

(End of this chapter)