Longzang

Chapter 184 Not Ruthless Enough

Upon returning to the realm, Xu Yi felt somewhat uneasy and asked, "Did I cause trouble?"

"No, what trouble could you possibly cause?"

“I shouldn’t have said I was a member of the Xu family when I was arguing with the envoy, and I certainly shouldn’t have told them my name.”

Xu Yi's quick thinking saved Wei Yuan a lot of trouble in explaining.

Actually, even if Xu Yi revealed her identity, it wouldn't be a big deal. She's from a powerful family; colluding with bandits is such a trivial matter, and even if she killed someone, as long as she could find a plausible reason, she wouldn't have to die. If she killed a civilian, she wouldn't even need a reason; she could just pay compensation, and not much at that.

In fact, Wei Yuan had been pondering the purpose of Yuan Qingyan sending the envoy on the way here.

After much deliberation, Wei Yuan felt that the most likely scenario was that Wei Yuan would fabricate charges against him. If he couldn't help but take action, it would just be what Wei Yuan wanted.

The boundary stone was erected by Wei Yuan. As the lord of the boundary, Wei Yuan should be the prefect, a position that will remain unchanged for a hundred years. Only after a hundred years, or when the lordship is transferred to another, will the prefect be replaced. At that time, the prefect will be appointed by the imperial court, and the boundary will officially come under the control of the Great Tang Dynasty.

This is a common practice of the Great Tang: the Realm Lord enjoys the benefits for the first hundred years. After a hundred years, when the ordinary Realm Stones mature, the Realm Lord is no longer needed, and the territory belongs to the Great Tang.

Wei Yuan's establishment of Qingming was a huge gain, so much so that even the Prince of Jin couldn't resist vying for it. If Wei Yuan were just a disciple of a small sect, he could have been easily apprehended. However, Wei Yuan was a disciple of Taichu Palace, highly regarded by the sect, and had caught the eye of a Celestial Lord, so he couldn't be dealt with arbitrarily.

Prince Jin wanted to take down Wei Yuan, but he needed to find a plausible reason to justify it. Thus, Niu Jinbao and Yuan Qingyan were appointed. Yuan Qingyan sent an envoy to hurl insults, hoping to find a scapegoat to pin the crime on Wei Yuan so that he wouldn't have to sacrifice himself like Niu Jinbao.

Once he understood this, Wei Yuan immediately ordered his men to chase after the entire delegation and silence them.

And it wasn't just a simple matter of killing them. All the armor and weapons were transported back to the realm for centralized processing, while the corpses were disposed of in a small lake in the northwest. That lake was outside the realm, and countless bloodthirsty and ferocious creatures lived in its waters. Two hundred corpses thrown in would vanish in less than half an hour, leaving not a trace.

Since Yuan Qingyan wants to pin a crime on Wei Yuan, then Wei Yuan will make sure he has no way to prove it.

From this moment forward, none of the messengers sent here will return alive. Like that messenger just now, even if his eyes were gouged out and his tongue cut out, there are magical techniques to heal him. Even if he dies, as long as a wisp of his soul remains in his body, or if someone in the group has the ability to collect souls, they can extract a lot of information upon returning home—all of which will serve as witnesses.

Wei Yuan intended for all the envoys to never return, leaving Yuan Qingyan with neither witnesses nor physical evidence.

Of course, this is only a temporary solution and does not solve the fundamental problem. For example, if Wei Yuan were in Yuan Qingyan's position, he wouldn't even send an envoy. He would simply find a few subordinates he didn't like, kill them, throw the bodies outside the boundary, say that Wei Yuan killed them, and then report it directly.

The entire process requires no boundary involvement and is therefore free from any interference.

You, Wei Yuan, feel wronged? It's alright, you can talk to the Prince of Jin about any grievances you may have.

The charge itself was easy to establish, but Yuan Qingyan's plan to blockade the grain supply lines was indeed extremely vicious, striking right at Wei Yuan's Achilles' heel. Wei Yuan pondered repeatedly but couldn't come up with a feasible solution. In fact, there were ways to solve the food shortage in historical records, but Wei Yuan didn't want to use them unless absolutely necessary.

Upon returning to the main peak, Wei Yuan asked Xu Yi if she had vented her anger. Xu Yi's face flushed slightly, she nodded, and then fled in panic as if she had been frightened.

Wei Yuan then left the main peak to find Sun Yu.

In just a few days, Sun Yu's courtyard had expanded considerably. It was now a five-courtyard complex, and a garden had been created, in which dozens of species of plants from the Western Regions had been transplanted.

A new pond was dug in the yard, and more than ten creatures of various kinds swam in it. Only three of them looked like fish, while the rest were strangely shaped and looked very fierce.

The pond seemed to be peacefully coexisting with the strange creatures, each one listlessly moving only occasionally. However, in Wei Yuan's eyes, these creatures all possessed a thick, dark green aura, indicating they were all spiritual beings. A palpable sense of danger lurked among them, each cautiously searching for weaknesses in the other creatures.

Sun Yu walked out of the room, carrying a large piece of pork, and casually threw it into the fish pond.

Suddenly, a high splash erupted in the fishpond, and countless figures darted back and forth like lightning. The piece of pork vanished instantly, bone and all!
As the water column receded, the dozen or so aquatic creatures returned to their peaceful state. If Wei Yuan hadn't witnessed it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed that these things had torn apart and devoured half a piece of pork in less than a breath. Let alone ordinary creatures, even a cultivator who had reached the Great Perfection of Body Tempering would be in grave danger if they fell into this pool.

Sun Yu is busy treating patients and saving lives every day, and no one knows where he got these things from.

Upon seeing Wei Yuan, Sun Yu wiped his hands and asked, "What brings you here?"

"I have an important matter I'd like to ask Uncle Sun for help with."

Sun Yu invited Wei Yuan into the house. Once inside, Wei Yuan explained the food shortage and asked Sun Yu if he had any solutions.

Sun Yu then said, "The best way is naturally to grow our own grain, and specifically, grain that's a specialty of the Western Regions. These past few days I've been researching medicinal herbs from the Western Regions, and I've also been studying the properties of the spiritual plants here. Some herbs are only marginally different from grains. However, the living environments of the Witch Clan and the Human Clan are too different. Several toxins commonly found in everything in this world are essential for the Witch Clan, but deadly poisons for humans." Sun Yu tried transplanting more than ten kinds of medicinal herbs into the realm, wanting to observe their changes. However, it's still early, and results are far off.

After discussing with Sun Yu for a while, Wei Yuan learned that when the human race expanded into the Western Regions in the past, they basically transformed the heavens and earth and then planted human food. The food of the Wu tribe has not yet been successfully transplanted.

Every year, the human race imports a large amount of medicinal materials from the witch race, some of which can be called elixirs, but what they are really after are the unique toxins and the primordial energy of heaven and earth.

As for animals, there were more options; several types of frogs and fish were barely edible. But the easiest to obtain, and harmless to eat, was a palm-sized beetle—the same kind Wei Yuan had often seen in Quliu Town. Locals liked to roast it.

Sun Yu's initial intention in transplanting medicinal herbs and raising ferocious fish and beasts was not to find better medicines, but to search for potent poisons in preparation for future revenge.

As they chatted, Wei Yuan discovered that the Dao foundations of Sun Yu's lineage were all related to medicine. Sun Yu's Dao foundation was essentially a pill furnace; any pill processed through his Dao foundation would have its medicinal properties enhanced. However, it would be a grave mistake to assume that Sun Yu was incapable of fighting.

Sun Yu's Dao Foundation can be divided into three parts: the alchemical fire, the alchemical furnace, and the elixir within the furnace, each with its own unique uses. The alchemical fire contains poisons that Sun Yu has refined over many years, which are adept at destroying Dao Foundations; the alchemical furnace is extremely powerful when used to smash people; as for the elixir within the furnace, it can transform both good and poisonous medicines into rare and famous elixirs, complete with elixir patterns and essences, making it impossible to defend against.

However, there are many capable fighters in the realm right now, so Sun Yu is not needed for the time being, and the enemy's death is not so frustrating.

Wei Yuan's visit to Sun Yu this time was not out of hope for his research which had only been going on for a few days, but rather to explore another possibility.

Wei Yuan's expression was serious as he said, "I want to know, what should we do if the worst happens and we have nothing left to eat?"

Sun Yu paused for a moment, then said, "Do you really want me to say it?"

Wei Yuan nodded.

Sun Yu sat up straight and pointed outside the courtyard to the morgue. Although the corpses of the Wu tribe had been cleared away and the morgue was now just an empty space, Wei Yuan understood what Sun Yu meant.

Sun Yu said, "I have studied all the witch races. Among them, the poisonous lizard is the most useless. Its whole body is poisonous and it also has a fatal disease that is incurable once it takes effect. Ordinary witch warriors have very few usable parts, but some internal organs can be used, such as the liver. The most useful ones are witch warriors and great witch guards, whose internal organs can be used almost all of them, and their brains are also very nourishing."

This conclusion surprised Wei Yuan somewhat, as he had initially thought the order should be reversed. However, Sun Yu was an authority on this subject, so Wei Yuan accepted his conclusion.

Sun Yu said meaningfully, "In war, people always die. From the perspective of heaven and earth, all living beings are equal, and those who do not become immortals are all ants. So, if we're talking about what can be used, it's naturally humans who can be used the most."

Wei Yuan remained silent for a moment before saying, "Is this the only way?"

"There is another method that can provide temporary relief, but it only addresses the symptoms, not the root cause."

"Please speak." Wei Yuan felt like he was grasping at every straw.

Sun Yu said, "I just found some powerful medicinal herbs that can be used to concoct a special sleeping potion. A single drop can knock out hundreds or even thousands of ordinary people, and they will not wake up for at least several days. The body consumes very little energy while unconscious. If we really run out of food, we can gather those who are not needed for the time being and give them the sleeping potion. This way, we can last for at least ten more days."

"How much of this drug is there, and what will be the consequences if I take it?"

"We don't know what the consequences will be yet, but the few people who tried the drug are still alive. As for the dosage, I'll make a few more batches; that should be enough to drug tens of thousands of people."

Wei Yuan's brows relaxed; this was the first piece of good news he had heard in the past two days.

Seeing Wei Yuan's expression, Sun Yu asked, "Are we really going to run out of food?"

"It's not certain yet, but the enemy has cut off all our supply lines, so I need to prepare for the worst."

After leaving Sun Yu's residence, Wei Yuan looked around Liang Mitian again before returning to the main peak. He actually knew there was another place with grain: the Western Jin army camp.

Wei Yuan opened the map and slowly drew two arcs that eventually converged behind Quliu Town, encompassing the entire town.

When faced with a true food shortage, Wei Yuan was not a rigid or pedantic person. He would rather lead hundreds of thousands of people to their deaths on the battlefield than starve to death.

At that time, Wei Yuan will let Yuan Qingyan know just how many loopholes his thousands-of-miles-long defensive line has. He will also let him know how cruel the real battlefield is. The mad dog is only mad because it hasn't been beaten hard enough.

(End of this chapter)