Longzang

Chapter 156 All Beings in an Instant
Qingming can consume the green water in the pool to greatly enhance the strength of the human race in the realm. The duration depends on the realm lord's will and the amount of nurturing power. This is the instantaneous life.

Even mortals can instantly advance to the Blood Fusion Realm, equivalent to the level of the Great Tang's elite border troops, far surpassing the troops that Liao Jingwu relied on to advance to the next level. Reaching the Great Perfection of Body Forging will propel one to the Foundation Establishment Realm, which allows for at least a one-level advancement. Only those above the Dharma Aspect Realm experience negligible improvement.

When all living beings appeared in an instant, Wei Yuan was stunned for a full moment before he came back to his senses.

The wood element gives birth to the mysterious and fleeting beings; this Azure Netherworld was simply created for an era of great strife. One wonders what the immortals were thinking when they crafted this object.

Before he could even process it, Wei Yuan sensed a group of people approaching the boundary from the southeast.

Wei Yuan immediately called Yun Feifei, and together they headed to the southeast of the realm. Then, a group of people appeared in the distance, walking along a semi-abandoned road. This group of people walked very fast, and it was clear that they all possessed cultivation.

From afar, a burly man and a beautiful young woman stepped out from the crowd and approached Wei Yuan and Yun Feifei, saying, "We are cultivators from the surrounding area. We encountered Fairy Yun by chance in Quliu Town and heard that a celestial immortal from the Immortal Palace has erected a boundary stone here to rebuild the human realm! We admire him greatly and have come here to seek refuge. We hope that the immortal will not abandon us!"

Wei Yuan was overjoyed and quickly returned the greeting, then inquired about the group of people.

The burly man was named Wu Yang, and the alluring young woman beside him was his wife. Both of them had already reached the late stage of the Foundation Establishment realm. However, when Wei Yuan used his Qi Observation Technique, he could only see a blurry mass, almost without any shape, and knew that their path to becoming Dharma Forms was hopeless.

However, outside the Immortal Palace, very few Dao Foundation cultivators can achieve the Dharma Aspect. As long as they can, even if it is the lowest level Dharma Aspect, they are qualified to establish a sect. They might even be able to establish a fourth-grade sect in a remote area, like the White Maple Academy.

Although Wu Yang and his wife couldn't reach the Dharma Aspect stage, their cultivation level was still there, and their basic combat strength remained. They brought over three hundred cultivators with them, including a dozen at the Foundation Establishment stage, dozens at the Great Body Forging stage, and the rest at the Bone Forging stage.

It is said that some other cultivators, having heard the news, are also arriving one after another. Those cultivators are not highly skilled and travel much slower; the slowest of them might take another day or two to arrive.

These hundreds of cultivators were a godsend, and Wei Yuan naturally did his best to win them over. Seeing that Yun Feifei was extremely respectful to Wei Yuan, Wu Yang knew that the rumors about Wei Yuan's achievements were probably mostly true, so he abandoned his probing intentions.

The people of the Western Regions are known for their fierce and unyielding nature, where strength reigns supreme. When Wu Yang first met Yun Feifei, they clashed, and Wu Yang unsurprisingly lost. If Wei Yuan couldn't subdue Yun Feifei, she certainly wouldn't be so obedient.

Seeing that these cultivators all looked exhausted, and some of the lower-level cultivators were even dressed in tattered clothes, Wei Yuan knew that these people were about to die.

Cultivators are not mortals after all; they would never be in such a state in the human realm. But this is the Witch Realm, where those who have achieved success in cultivation are considered high-grade sacrifices by the Witch Clan. Therefore, many cultivators actually live worse lives than mortals.

Wei Yuan immediately said, "You have all come a long way, so please have a good meal first after you enter the realm, and then rest well. Other matters will be arranged after you have rested."

Wei Yuan silently manifested a vast landscape. This place was outside the boundary, but in an instant it transformed into a pure and tranquil realm. All the cultivators immediately felt their spirits lift, sensing spiritual energy continuously flowing into their bodies. Their previously depleted Dao power began to regenerate, and their injuries stopped worsening. Even if the Witch Clan came now, they would have the strength to fight!
Wu Yang and his wife exchanged a glance, both unable to hide their astonishment. Having lived in the shattered lands of the Western Regions for so long, how could they have ever witnessed such divine skill? This ability to change the world was something they would never have believed, even if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes.

The alluring young woman was a decisive person. She immediately knelt down and said, "My husband and I have finally met a wise ruler. We hope that Your Majesty will not despise us and will take us into your service. We are willing to serve as your humble servants, and we will go through fire and water for you!"

Wu Yang realized what was happening and followed suit, bowing down as well. The couple took the lead, and all the cultivators behind them knelt down in the blink of an eye, forming a dense mass of kneeling figures, all shouting "Our King!"

Wei Yuan was taken aback. Was this considered bowing down in reverence?
He thought about it carefully and felt that now was not the time.

Wei Yuan quickly helped the couple up, and they, in return, got up and followed Wei Yuan back to the realm. Fortunately, the realm wasn't far. After entering the Azure Netherworld, Wei Yuan quietly took over the vast land and rivers; otherwise, constantly supporting over three hundred people would have been a considerable burden.

Upon entering the realm, the cultivators felt a different sensation. Many looked up at the azure sky above and suddenly burst into tears. The sky in the Witch Realm was always gloomy; even on sunny days, the sun seemed veiled by a thin gauze.

The sun in the Witch Domain wasn't scorching, but it was muggy and humid, with steam rising everywhere, as if the water would never dry. People who had lived in the Broken Domain for a long time were used to wearing clothes made of oilseed linen, which, although very uncomfortable, didn't absorb water.

Upon entering this bright, sunny, and dry world, the cultivators momentarily thought they had entered a fairyland.

Wei Yuan declared loudly, "This is the Azure Nether Realm. From now on, everyone can settle down and live here. However, the Witch Clan will never tolerate me. Right now, their army is pressing in. Whether we can protect this place depends on your efforts!"

"It's the Witch Clan again! Let's fight them!"

"I'm going to die anywhere anyway, so I might as well die here. At least I'll have peace of mind!"

The cultivators were filled with indignation and made a great fuss.

Wu Yang turned to the cultivators and said, “Brothers, we’ve had enough of the dark, damp days of the past few years, living under constant threat of being captured by the Witch Clan. Now that we’ve finally arrived in this paradise on earth, and our King has taken us in, when is a better time to fight to the death? If we can defeat the Witch Clan and survive, we will all be loyal subjects of the King!”

Having said that, Wu Yang turned and bowed, saying, "Your subject is willing to die for your king, so that he may live forever!"

All the cultivators bowed down again, chanting in unison, "May our king live forever!"

Wei Yuan was taken aback, not expecting this to happen again. This was in the Realm, and Senior Sister Zhang Sheng was watching! Did these Western Region cultivators want to die even faster? They had already said the time wasn't right... "What are you doing? Get up, all of you get up!" Since they were in the Realm, Wei Yuan stopped pretending in his haste and directly manifested a vast landscape, empowering everyone and lifting them all up.

Including Wu Yang and his wife, hundreds of cultivators stood up involuntarily, and they were all shocked to realize that Wei Yuan's Daoist techniques were unfathomable!
Previously, the cultivators had been somewhat opportunistic and conformist, but now that they had truly witnessed a glimpse of Wei Yuan's strength, they were immediately subdued, and even the most troublesome troublemakers became obedient.

Suddenly, another wisp of azure energy rose from within Wei Yuan's Dao Foundation, joining the previous five.

Wei Yuan was taken aback. At this moment, he finally realized that the azure energy was related to the group of cultivators before him, but he didn't know whether it came from a single person or from all of them. So, where did the azure energy come from?

Upon reflection, Wei Yuan realized that it seemed that he had used the power of the vast land to lift everyone up from the ground, which completely shocked the cultivators, before this wisp of azure energy appeared.

Does Qing Qi gain power only by winning the hearts and minds of the people?

Wei Yuan instructed Yun Feifei to lead the cultivators to rest and have a meal first, while he himself took Wu Yang and his wife to the main peak to meet the people of Taichu Palace. As for the form of address, Wei Yuan solemnly instructed them on the way that for the time being, they could only call him "Master" and could not use any other titles, let alone call him "King" or anything like that.

After meeting the cultivators of Taichu Palace, Wu Yang and his wife secretly broke out in a cold sweat.

They initially believed that with their late-stage cultivation and the hundreds of cultivators they brought with them, they would be second only to the king in the realm, at most slightly lower in status than Yun Feifei, who was clearly the king's concubine. However, they never expected the Taichu Palace to send so many people, each possessing an aura as deep and unfathomable as the sea; perhaps even among them were legendary immortal cultivators!

With time running out and the Wu Clan army pressing in, and these cultivators already subdued, Wei Yuan didn't hold back and directly assigned two hundred cultivators to Cui Yu's command, leaving Wu Yang and his wife with only a little over one hundred men.

The treatment of Foundation Establishment cultivators was much more lenient, allowing them to choose for themselves. As a result, most of the Foundation Establishment cultivators switched their allegiance to Cui Yu, three followed Yun Feifei, and only one old acquaintance remained with Wu Yang and his wife. This immediately showed Wu Yang and his wife what it meant to choose the best tree to perch on.

Wu Yang's expression was not very good, but he was also self-aware enough to know that he could not compete with Yun Feifei, let alone Cui Yu. At present, having a team to lead was already a pretty good result.

After dividing the forces, Wei Yuan began to prepare equipment again. The forces within the realm were now divided into three groups. The first group consisted of aristocratic scions like Cui Yu and their guards, who were well-equipped, possessing not only mid-grade or higher magical artifacts but also numerous talismans and other life-saving measures. The second group comprised the Western Region cultivators, including Yun Feifei, who had initially joined the force. These individuals had already fought several battles and possessed basic equipment.

Finally, and in the largest numbers, were the people Yun Feifei recruited from Quliu Town. Many of them had originally struggled to survive in Quliu Town, possessing only one or two magical artifacts, and most of them had no armor at all.

As Wu Yang and his group finished eating and drinking and began to rest, more cultivators arrived one after another. Some arrived in small groups of a few, while others formed teams of over a hundred. Larger teams were led by a few Foundation Establishment cultivators, while smaller teams consisted entirely of Body Forging cultivators. One team of over thirty people was entirely composed of the most basic Muscle/Tendon Realm cultivators, only slightly stronger than the farmers from Shayang Village who had trained for three months.

No matter who comes to join him, Wei Yuan now welcomes all. He divided the newcomers into two groups, assigning one group to Cui Yu and the other to Xiao Yu. Xiao Yu was initially very reluctant, but once the people were in his hands, she devoted herself to arranging and training them.

Within a day and a night, more than two thousand cultivators arrived, many of whom originally lived scattered in the wilderness but came spontaneously after hearing the news.

Among cultivators, fewer than a hundred have achieved the Great Perfection of Body Tempering, and similarly, only a little over a hundred have reached the lowest level of Muscle Tempering. The rest are in the Blood Fusion and Bone Forging stages. This is the current state of the cultivation world; the vast majority of people remain stagnant after entering the path.

With so many more people suddenly appearing in the realm, equipment has become a major problem.

In this urgent situation, Wei Yuan couldn't worry about anything else. He ordered his men to distribute the armor and weapons stripped from the witch clan, regardless of whether the dead witch's armor was bad feng shui. There was a feng shui formation within the realm, so the feng shui wouldn't be bad.

Weapons were one thing, but the armor was basically unwearable for humans. So Wei Yuan simply disassembled the Wu tribe's armor, taking one piece for each person's chest and back, using similar-shaped pieces to make a helmet, and then wrapping a few plates around their arms and thighs. That was considered being armed.

Wei Yuan gathered all the young masters and ladies together and checked the equipment of the newly arrived cultivators one by one to see if it was securely wrapped. No one was allowed to remove their armor that night. Those with strength were to dig trenches, while those who were injured or too weak were to take the time to rest.

Ji Liuli and Zhang Sheng were busy manufacturing gunpowder to forge two new guns for Wei Yuan. This time, they learned from their mistake and made the gun barrels thicker to prevent a repeat of the incident where Tianyu bent the gun.

After a busy night, the Wu tribe army finally appeared outside the border at dawn.

The situation is different now compared to the first great war. Wei Yuan first withdrew the territory twenty miles back, and then withdrew another twenty miles back to the new border to set up defenses. If the Wu Clan army wants to fight a decisive battle, they will have to penetrate deep into the territory.

Even the fastest Poison Lizard Knight, charging at full speed, would be completely weakened by the boundary by the time he reached the position, a distance of twenty miles.

Wei Yuan and the others stood on high ground and looked into the distance. Dozens of miles away, the green aura in the formation of the Wu Clan army was rolling and constantly overflowing in all directions, making the boundary in this direction somewhat thin.

Xu Wenwu had been released from the dark room and was standing beside Wei Yuan. Looking at the endless enemy army, Xu Wenwu's legs trembled.

Wei Yuan then asked, "How do you think this battle should be fought?"

Since it was a matter of life and death, Xu Wenwu dared not hold back and desperately searched through his years of movie-watching experience to prepare something to say.

(End of this chapter)