Longzang

Chapter 260 A True Warrior
At this moment, Yuan Qingyan was like an ant on a hot pan, pacing back and forth in the study, yet he was at a loss. He wasn't alone in the study; General Xu was sitting by the tea table, earnestly drinking his tea.

"General Xu, it's not that I'm unwilling to help, it's just that Lord Li... Lord Li has been making excuses and just won't give us any grain. Do you think we should make do for a few more days?"

General Xu put down his teacup and said, "Does Lord Yuan think they are unwilling to give it, or unable to give it?"

Yuan Qingyan's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't say such things carelessly, so he said, "I don't know either."

General Xu slowly put down his teacup and said, "The soldiers can't fight without meat, and besides, this month's pay is already two days late. Lord Yuan, Wei Yuan just robbed several thousand people into the territory. They are all strong and healthy men, and they've been trained. If these people become his in two months, it will be difficult to explain."

Yuan Qingyan gritted his teeth and said, "They are already short of food, yet they dare to rob so many people. I am certain that they will run out of food within three days! It's just that my colleagues in the bureaucracy don't want to see me make a contribution, so they are deliberately sabotaging us."

General Xu immediately said, "Lord Yuan, please remove that 'door' from your name. We're not on the same side!"

A flash of hatred crossed Yuan Qingyan's eyes, but he couldn't vent it. Now that he couldn't get the military rations, the generals and officers were starting to complain, and their attitudes were no longer as respectful as they had been at the beginning. This Xu fellow, however, remained consistently sarcastic and unpredictable, without the initial arrogance followed by obsequiousness.

General Xu stood up, one foot already out of the study, but he turned back and said, "Lord Yuan, if I were about to run out of food, I wouldn't be robbing people at this time."

Yuan Qingyan calmed down and said, "Thank you for the reminder, General Xu. I'm waiting for the intelligence to come back; we should have news in three days."

General Xu said no more and left.

At this moment, many people were waiting for Wei Yuan to run out of food, while Wei Yuan was waiting to collect the food.

After herding the thousands of people back to the realm, a whole host of tasks lay ahead. These six thousand-plus men were all of exceptional strength, with the majority having achieved Blood Fusion and three hundred at the Great Perfection of Body Forging. All of them had undergone systematic training, especially the three thousand-plus men led by Wang Ziyan, who were all cavalry. Naturally, Wei Yuan seized the opportunity to acquire three thousand warhorses, instantly doubling the number of warhorses within the realm.

When people reach a certain boundary, the first thing to do is to sever their desires.

Wei Yuan first promised that they would regain their freedom in three years. At that time, they could stay or leave as they wished, and those who wanted to bring their families to reunite with them were especially welcome. But before the three-year period was up, no one could leave.

Three years is for those who join the army in combat; if they don't want to serve, they have to wait eight years to be released.

As for the means of restraint, it's nothing more than a medicinal soup. After drinking this soup, one must take an antidote once a month, otherwise, the death will be extremely gruesome. The soup was made by Sun Yu, so it's trustworthy.

Those prisoners who came to the border region had already resigned themselves to their fate, so there weren't many troubles. Then came the process of incorporation, registration, and identifying the special talents among them.

These were all trivial matters, yet extremely important. Wei Yuan personally took care of everything, and only after finally finishing did he realize that three days had passed.

In the midst of his busy schedule, Wei Yuan easily forgot about time. It wasn't until someone came to report that he realized the grain in the realm was ripe!

This batch is of common grain, covering 5,000 mu (approximately 333 hectares), with a yield of slightly over 200 jin (approximately 100 kg) per mu. The True Man of the Hoeing Fields has already inspected the land and said that there is still a considerable amount of residual poison from the witch's domain in the soil, so the first batch can only yield this much. After several rounds of planting, when the land is fully ripe, the yield can double again.

But this batch of grain will yield one million catties! Another 15,000 mu will be harvested soon, and another three million catties will be harvested in ten days.

When the field matured, it gushed forth a large amount of spiritual energy, saving Wei Yuan a month of arduous cultivation. Wei Yuan now understood that farming could yield spiritual energy twice: one wave was the steady flow over time, and the other was the one-time harvest when the field was fully mature. The total amount from both waves was roughly the same.

When he saw the grain being harvested, Wei Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief; the heavy weight on his heart had finally been lifted.

Everyone involved in the harvest was genuinely smiling; food was always the top priority. With food, the sky gained color.

The ripening of the first batch of grains added a full two thousand strands of fortune to Wei Yuan, five hundred of which were advancement fortune! Based on Wei Yuan's understanding of fortune, this was practically equivalent to being worshipped as a god. If he were to switch to cultivating divine techniques now, Wei Yuan could directly reach the realm of Imperial Cultivation. Of course, the power of incense offerings and vows comes and goes quickly; once abandoned by the believers, even if Wei Yuan became the Imperial Cultivation True Monarch, he would be dragged down.

As for the Great Fortune, it can only be contributed after one has cultivated to the point of having a primordial spirit. The limit for ordinary people is to advance their fortune. In very rare cases, fortune may condense on its own, but this is extremely uncommon.

Watching the people busy in the fields, Wei Yuan also felt a heartfelt joy. All the fields were like a golden ocean, with golden waves rippling, illuminating the entire realm.

At this moment, Cui Yu flew into the sky and called out loudly, telling those who had finished harvesting the grain to hurry to the nearby fields. He had already led his men to clear new land, and now the harvested grain, after being processed by magic, could become seeds and be planted on the spot.

Having endured the agonizing wait of counting grains of rice, Cui Yu was now unwilling to wait even a day longer. Several disciples of Master Chuhe began processing the seeds on the spot, and Cui Yu led his men to plant them.

Cui Yu's heart was even blacker than Wei Yuan's. He opened up 100,000 mu of new land in the second phase. When the land was being cleared, they worked day and night, which greatly advanced the body-forging progress of tens of thousands of people.

This task was originally supposed to be done by Xiaoyu, but since he has been away for some time, all the work has been divided among several people, with Cui Yu taking on most of it. Surprisingly, Wang Yu took on the remaining small part. He was a bit inexperienced at first, but he improved rapidly under Cui Yu's careful guidance.

Wang Yu usually accompanied Wei Yuan on campaigns, and whenever he had free time, he helped Cui Yu manage the mortals, managing to do both without neglecting either. However, this also meant that he lived a life similar to that of an ascetic, with almost no time for cultivation.

Wei Yuan did not interfere much, but let them do as they pleased.

However, this field matured much earlier than expected, and the remaining crops matured faster than anticipated. Wei Yuan inspected the field and then examined his primordial spirit, finally discovering that since the emergence of the Yin-Yang of his Dao Foundation, the vast land seemed to resonate with it, its spirituality slowly increasing. Qingming was also affected; the power of Jia Wood generating Xuan was enhanced, and the growth rate of all spiritual plants within the realm increased.

Wei Yuan was actually more worried than happy about this. His Dao Foundation Yin-Yang Rank was too high, and he didn't know if it could be considered his own. Wei Yuan had been tormented by the vast rivers and mountains for many years, and now that he had finally found his way and everything was just getting on the right track, he naturally didn't want any more changes.

Just then, the messenger of the Marquis of Xiang arrived, inviting Wei Yuan to meet him in seven days at a remote temple in the northern part of Bianning County. The opportunity also lay there.

Wei Yuan had a map of the entire Shattered Realm in his mind, and he had traversed most of the region, but in his memory, the northern part of Bianning County was just a range of towering mountains, completely uninhabited. Who would build a temple there?

However, there was still some time, so Wei Yuan waited a few more days until he received his new gun before setting off.

When Wei Yuan went to meet the Marquis of Xiang, he didn't bring too many people with him; he only invited his teacher and senior sister to accompany him.

The meeting place was about four thousand miles away from the boundary, well outside the range sealed by the Immortal Sword. In Wei Yuan's understanding, with his teacher's repressed personality, the sword energy he had been holding back for so long would probably be earth-shattering if released in a single moment.

As for the new gun in their hands, it was the result of three days and three nights of collaborative effort between Yu Zhizhuo and Sun Yutong, during which Xu Wenwu offered advice and continuously improved the design. After its completion, Xu Wenwu even slept with it for one night, almost as if, as described in the folk tales, the unparalleled master craftsman had thrown himself into the furnace.

Fortunately, while Xu Wenwu was ignorant and incompetent, Yu Zhizhuo and Sun Yu were not. Throwing themselves into the furnace would only add impurities and serve no other purpose. They might add some carbon, but the proportion would be difficult to control, so it was better not to add anything.

So Xu Wenwu decided to sleep with the divine weapon for one night, making it a truly ritualistic experience. Originally, Yu Zhizhuo and Sun Yu thought this guy was just fooling around, but who knew that after one night, the new gun would actually have all sorts of miraculous effects! The two high-ranking cultivators of the Taichu Palace were greatly surprised, and after racking their brains, they went back to study feng shui and fortune, but that's another story.

Besides all the miraculous effects, according to Sun Yu, the gun also contained a next-generation version of the God-Eating Demon Incense, called the Demon-Melting and God-Destroying Incense. Sun Yu repeatedly warned that once this shot was fired, it would be a fatal enmity, with no room for reconciliation.

Wei Yuan also expressed his understanding, after all, cutting off someone's path to success is much more ruthless than blocking someone's path to wealth.

So Wei Yuan took the two men and a gun and went to keep the appointment.

He felt very brave and not afraid of death at all.

(End of this chapter)