Longzang

Chapter 223: Bullying the Master and Destroying the Ancestor
"My Taoist name is Chuhe, and I come from the Jianmu Hall of the Taichu Palace. I have some grudges with your master, the old thief Fenhai." The Taoist introduced himself with a smile, which made his eyes almost disappear.

Wei Yuan quickly bowed and said, "Greetings, Master Chuhe."

Wei Yuan was impeccably polite, his voice was sincere, and his expression was solemn. He dared not make the slightest mistake from head to toe.

Putting aside the fact that anyone who can have a grudge against the Burning Sea Immortal and still be alive and kicking, spreading rumors everywhere, must have some skill. The mere mention of the name "Jianmu Hall" is incredibly alluring, just like the Heavenly Craft Hall, and has been on Wei Yuan's mind for a long time. Now that the Immortal is in person, there's no way he can let this opportunity pass... no, offend it.

Wei Yuan outwardly maintained a polite demeanor, but inwardly he was muttering to himself, wondering how badly the old Taoist had been beaten back then, given that he had a grudge against Fen Hai. He hoped the old Taoist wouldn't take his anger out on him, a junior. He could tolerate being beaten up, but he feared the old Taoist might storm off in a huff.

However, the seemingly simple-minded Master Chuhe saw through Wei Yuan's thoughts at a glance, and asked with displeasure, "Do you know why the Azure Sky Palace is always described as one of the most powerful palaces? Why is it called one of the most powerful?"

Wei Yuan honestly replied, "This junior does not know."

Master Chuhe glared at him with his small eyes and said coldly, "That's because as long as my Jianmu Palace exists, you can forget about removing this one!"

Wei Yuan was dumbfounded. He never expected that a palace that relied on farming for a living could be compared to the Azure Palace in terms of fighting skills. Even the farmers were not honest.

However, Master Chuhe also felt that he had exaggerated a bit, and was a little embarrassed, so he added, "Of course, we should also add the Temple of Creation, the Hall of Heavenly Secrets, and the Temple of Haotian."

Wei Yuan was skeptical. Apart from Haotian Temple, the others didn't seem like they could fight.

Master Chuhe's face darkened, and he said coldly, "What, you still don't believe me? Why don't you call your master here and ask him yourself! I have eight immortal swords, each representing metal, wood, water, fire, earth, ice, wind, and thunder. Every time I've fought him to the point of mutual destruction, has he ever gained the upper hand?"

Wei Yuan was genuinely surprised. What would an old Taoist from Jianmu Palace do with eight immortal swords? The other swords were one thing, but the Thunder Sword alone was definitely a foundational immortal sword.

"Old man...don't you have a lot of swords?"

Master Chuhe said, "Not many, not a single one! Now you know I wasn't bragging, right? Your teacher also has four immortal swords, and he's already surpassed him. Once he achieves Dharma Form, that old thief Burning Sea won't have much of a presence anymore. Oh, you also cultivate immortal swords, right? How many do you have now?"

Isn't the Legend of Sword and Fairy series all about quality, not quantity? And when it comes to the number of Legend of Sword and Fairy swords, Wei Yuan hesitated, stammering, "Well, not many..."

Master Chuhe snorted heavily and said, "I originally thought you were a good young man, but I didn't expect you to be so unwilling to be down-to-earth! Just say what you've got. Even if it's just one or two wins, no one will laugh at you. What are you afraid of? Tell the truth!"

Wei Yuan had no choice but to say, "This junior has a total of one thousand and twenty-four immortal swords."

The old Taoist priest, who was stroking his beard and smiling, suddenly lost a few hairs.

Seeing that the old Taoist was about to lose his composure and explode at any moment, Wei Yuan, observing the situation, quickly took out a bundle of immortal swords and said, "This is just a small part."

The old Taoist opened his mouth, but for a moment he was at a loss for words. He felt a breath stuck in his chest, unable to exhale for a long time.

The old Taoist priest managed to force a smile and said, "These immortal swords are of poor quality. Bring out the good ones."

Wei Yuan looked ashamed: "These are the best ones. There are a few less desirable ones, would you like to take a look?"

The old Taoist priest opened his mouth again, but no words came out. After a long while, he finally said, "No need. Sigh, not to criticize you, but what use is all this garbage? A thousand pieces of garbage..."

The second half of the sentence suddenly disappeared.

The old Taoist suddenly realized that while one piece of trash might be considered garbage, a thousand pieces of garbage put together would no longer be garbage.

"Let me take a look at your fields first," the Taoist priest said, deciding to drop the subject.

When he walked into the fields, the farmer suddenly seemed like a different person. Sometimes he would squat down and stroke the seedlings, as gently as if he were stroking a lover's thigh. Sometimes he would talk to a few seedlings that weren't growing well, constantly encouraging them, as if they could truly understand him.

But strangely, the seedlings that had spoken with the old Taoist priest truly became more vibrant and grew much faster. And not just a little faster, but several times faster!
The old Taoist priest would occasionally get up to look at the sky, the direction of the surrounding earth veins, and the direction from which the wind blew. Sometimes he would dig up a piece of soil to examine it closely, and even take a little bit and taste it.

They were busy for a full quarter of an hour, leaving Wei Yuan standing to the side. Wei Yuan wasn't in a hurry and waited patiently. Just then, someone beside him said, "Junior Nephew Wei, may we go in with Master to take a look?"

Wei Yuan turned around and saw four cultivators, some Taoist and some lay, standing beside him. Their Taoist power was somewhat similar to that of Master Chuhe, indicating that they came from the same source.

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "Please make yourselves at home, my fellow disciples."

The four of them rushed into the field immediately. Only the youngest one remembered to be polite and bowed to Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan, observing from the side, noticed that the auras of these individuals were remarkably similar to those of plants. If one relied solely on divine sense, those with slightly weaker perception would mistake them for ordinary, ubiquitous vegetation. The deeper their cultivation, the more their aura resembled that of ordinary plants.

Wei Yuan could still somewhat distinguish the four disciples, but in Wei Yuan's perception, Master Chuhe was nothing more than a blade of grass, the kind that could be seen anywhere. Therefore, Wei Yuan was completely unaware of his arrival. Finally, the master and disciples finished inspecting the entire field, and Master Chuhe returned to Wei Yuan, saying, "Are there any other spirit fields? Take me to see them."

When they went in, the real person was all smiles, but when they came out, his brows were furrowed. Wei Yuan was startled when he saw this, but he didn't ask any questions. Instead, he led the group to the herb garden.

Master Chuhe praised the Wood Spirit Ginseng highly, but when he stood in front of the Heavenly Star Dragon Sunflower with platinum threads, he fell into deep thought. After a moment, he said, "The Heavenly Star Dragon Sunflower is originally a mid-grade spiritual plant. It has been over 100,000 years since it was discovered and has hardly changed. But this one has somehow acquired a trace of the laurel fairy spirit energy, so it can be called the Moon Tree Dragon Sunflower, which belongs to the top-grade spiritual plant."

His gaze fell on another patch of black ground, and he suddenly exclaimed in surprise. He went to the edge of the ground, sniffed it hard, and a look of shock slowly appeared on his face: "Did they add ghost soil to this?"

"A little bit was added."

"Where did this Netherworld soil come from? Let me see it."

Wei Yuan sensed that both Ji Liuli and Zhang Sheng nodded, and thus a handful of Netherworld Soil appeared in his hand.

However, this handful of soil was not originally brought from the Netherworld. Instead, it was a mixture of one part soil from the Netherworld and nine parts soil generated from the vast rivers and mountains. It was only after being stirred evenly that it materialized.

While stirring the soil, Wei Yuan always felt that he was missing a stick.

Upon seeing the handful of soil, Master Chuhe's expression changed repeatedly. He carefully took it, sensing the power of eternal silence within. After a long while, he finally said, "So that's how it is."

He looked at Wei Yuan and asked, "Why does your Dao Foundation contain the power of eternal silence of the Netherworld?"

Wei Yuan shook his head: "This disciple does not know."

"How many more of this kind of underworld can be manifested?"

Wei Yuan estimated that if all the soil were mixed according to the current proportions, it could cover several hundred acres, so he said, "There's still some left."

Master Chuhe grabbed a handful of dark soil and asked, "How much is left? How many plots like this can be laid?"

"Three pieces." Wei Yuan originally wanted to answer one piece, but then he thought about how he had given Sun Yu several dozen kilograms, so he changed his answer to three pieces.

The Master Chuhe immediately said, "Find me a place to stay, this old Taoist isn't leaving!"

Wei Yuan was overjoyed and immediately made arrangements for the summit. However, the True Man shook his head after seeing it and finally simply chose a piece of land next to the millet field and had several disciples build houses there.

"Why did you choose this place, Master? Wouldn't the herb garden be better?" Wei Yuan asked.

"Although the spiritual plants in the herb garden are of high quality, there are too few of them, and the spiritual energy is not enough for my disciples to cultivate. But it's different here. There are thousands of acres of spiritual fields, and the spiritual energy has gathered into streams. Besides, doing a good job here would be a great merit."

Wei Yuan was somewhat confused and asked, "Please teach me, Master."

Master Chuhe then said, “Those spiritual herbs are all supplied to tyrants and oligarchs, while the millet and rice in front of us are available to everyone. They are also the key for mortals to transform their mortal bodies and cultivate their spiritual forms. The vast majority of mortals are not incapable of cultivation, but they cannot obtain spiritual food. There is something you may not like to hear, but for this old Daoist, rather than planting more spiritual ginseng and more Heavenly Star Dragon Sunflower in your garden, it would be better to find a way to increase the harvest of millet and rice in these fields by 10%. Let more people transcend the mortal realm and enter immortality; this is truly a contribution to heaven and earth.”

Wei Yuan sincerely admired him: "You are truly virtuous and noble!"

Chuhe suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said, "We need to send someone to guard the other Heavenly Star Dragon Sunflower, the one planted in the Netherworld Soil. That one may have already brushed against the edge of the Immortal Tree!"

After settling everyone in Jianmu Hall, Wei Yuan returned to the main peak to see Zhang Sheng. After the usual greetings, Wei Yuan asked, "Master Chuhe said he has eight immortal swords and can fight Master Fenhai to a standstill. Is that true?"

Zhang Sheng, still engrossed in the history book, said calmly, "Don't listen to his nonsense! Apart from the Thunder Sword, which is somewhat decent, the other swords are utterly vulgar. With just those few swords, how could they possibly be a match for your master? But the Jianmu Palace also raises spirit beasts, and there are many carnivorous spirit plants among them. So when the Jianmu Palace fights with people, they often release a large group of spirit plants and spirit beasts, and then swarm in. That old Taoist was able to fight your master to a draw because he had two Dharma Aspect level spirit beasts."

It turned out to be the case.

At this moment, Zhang Sheng sat by the window, holding a book in his hands. Sunlight streamed through the window and fell on his hands, creating a halo of light like jade.

Wei Yuan suddenly noticed that his teacher's hands were slender and white, smooth and strong. In terms of the beauty of bone structure, skin and flesh, and spirit, they were in no way inferior to Bao Yun and Ji Liuli.

It was this same hand that swung its sword, severing the Northern Snow Eagle and saving Wei Yuan. At that time, blood gushed from between its fingers, like red plum blossoms against white snow.

At that moment, Wei Yuan was in a daze, but he felt that this hand was so beautiful.

He suddenly wanted to touch it.

(End of this chapter)