Longzang

Chapter 274 This humble monk has some knowledge of martial arts.

Although Cui Yu was the most outstanding member of the Cui family in this generation, he was still of a lower generation, and there were others of even greater talent among his peers. Since joining Qingming, Cui Yu had basically used all of his family's contributions and monthly allowance to exchange for the intelligence that Wei Yuan needed.

Wei Yuan was aware of this matter, but he didn't have a good way to compensate him at the moment.

Given Cui Yu's current status and position within his family, he couldn't possibly obtain the core secrets of various royal families. However, Wei Yuan didn't need to know that much; the publicly available information was sufficient for the time being.

Wei Yuan originally had no interest in the succession struggle in Western Jin, but since Consort Yuan had made her hints so obvious in the end, if he didn't help her, who knew what she might do? If word got back to the Prince of Jin, wouldn't Western Jin mobilize the entire nation's army to wipe out Qingming?
How to help is a complex subject.

Wei Yuan first assessed his current advantages. Firstly, he commanded a large army and was stationed on the frontier. Secondly, his personal strength was considerable, enough to contend with a relatively weak Dharma Aspect. Thirdly, a little further afield, the Azure Netherworld was rich in resources, and as the realm expanded, its produce would become increasingly abundant.

In the struggle for succession, the most crucial factor is the first point. While individual strength plays an important role, it is not as important as the first point.

Wei Yuan exchanged a large number of history books through the Hall of Merit, wanting to see how those border generals who held heavy troops participated in the struggle for the throne.

As Wei Yuan watched, he felt increasingly uneasy. Why did none of these people have a good reputation, and why did they all have bad endings?

But he quickly understood the reason: not all of these people met with bad ends. Some of them succeeded and gained merit in supporting the emperor, so they lavishly embellished their actions, knowing that history could write whatever it wanted.

A few others were exceptionally successful and simply became true dragons themselves. Thus, their deeds were all listed in the founding annals of Emperor Taizu, not in the biographies of figures that Wei Yuan read, and certainly not in the biographies of treacherous officials.

As Wei Yuan read on, he finally understood that if the same thing succeeded, one would become the founding emperor or the restorer of the dynasty, or at least a founding hero. If it failed, the capable would be included in the biographies of treacherous officials, while those less capable would likely only receive a single sentence: "So-and-so raised an army, and was defeated."

After spending the entire day reading history books, Wei Yuan kept putting himself in the shoes of history, and ended up wiping away cold sweats several times.

As for Wei Yuan's own strength, although it would take another year to break through, that was just on paper. At this moment, the newly cultivated 100,000 mu of farmland had already been planted, and several thousand mu of spirit fields for millet would soon be harvested. After the new batch of millet was harvested, it could be used for planting, allowing for the cultivation of even more spirit fields.

In other words, at most six months later, after the next two batches of grain are harvested, the spiritual energy contributed will be enough for Wei Yuan to break through. If things go smoothly, perhaps three months.

Wei Yuan pondered the strength of the realm for a moment.

Strictly speaking, Ji Liuli, like Bao Yun, cannot be considered part of the realm's regular combat force. The same applies to Cui Yu; sooner or later, he will have to return to inherit the family business. Although the Cui family has even more outstanding geniuses in this generation, the Cui family's fortune is too vast for one genius to handle; Cui Yu will certainly receive a substantial share.

The same applies to scions of noble families like Wang Yu and Xu Yi; their better future lies in their families, not in following Wei Yuan into battle.

Ignoring powerful clans and aristocratic families, Wei Yuan currently has approximately seven hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators under his command, dozens of whom were recently captured. In addition, there are three thousand Body Forging Masters; these cultivators are exceptional within the realm, and outside the realm, they can only be considered moderately outstanding. Finally, there are tens of thousands of ordinary Body Forging cultivators.

Within the boundary, Wei Yuan used this force to withstand the attack of 100,000 elite Wu Clan troops. Although they immediately faltered outside the boundary, Wei Yuan could expand the boundary beyond that point.

At this time, the harvest of ordinary grains in the realm had been completed, and the granary contained more than four million catties of grain.

With soldiers and provisions, Wei Yuan felt for the first time the confidence to carve out a territory and wreak havoc on the court.

The moment this thought crossed Wei Yuan's mind, he was horrified. Why was he even thinking about these things? If it weren't for the sake of these living beings in the Shattered Realm, he wouldn't be bound to this place.

But it's a fact that we have a strong army, plenty of supplies, and ample provisions. Are we just going to waste time like this?
Just as Wei Yuan was struggling with his inner conflict, Yu Zhizhuo knocked on the door. His face lit up with joy upon seeing Wei Yuan, and he grabbed Wei Yuan's hand, saying, "Nephew, you've returned just in time! I've just discovered a copper vein underground and have been waiting for you for a long time!"

Yu Zhizhuo seemed extremely anxious, almost dragging Wei Yuan away. At this moment, Wei Yuan sensed the difference: Uncle Yu's hands were hard and rough, like his favorite mineral. Consort Yuan's hands were soft and agile, seemingly capable of transforming into anything in the world, omnipotent; his master's hands…

Wei Yuan quickly banished the dangerous thought.

Yu Zhizhuo's flying style was simple and unadorned, but his speed was extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, he had brought Wei Yuan deep into the underground mine tunnels. In just a few days, the mine tunnels had extended dozens of feet underground. But clearly, this progress was not satisfactory to Yu Zhizhuo, so he immediately dragged Wei Yuan down.

Before Wei Yuan lay a vein of minerals, mottled with green, containing strange mineral energy, primarily composed of metal and secondarily of wood.

Yu Zhizhuo didn't need to say much; he simply pointed forward, and Wei Yuan knew what he was about to do, so he unleashed the Golden Light Water Blade Technique. But a moment later, Wei Yuan exclaimed "Eh!" and stopped the water flow.

Under normal circumstances, after such a long run, he should have dug at least ten zhang (approximately 33 meters) into the mine, but he had only dug three zhang (approximately 3 meters) so far. Wei Yuan reached out and dug; the rock layer was like soft mud in his hands, and he dug out a large chunk of it.

After examining it carefully for a while, Wei Yuan felt that this ore seemed to be particularly resistant to Dao power. Even if he applied ten percent of his Dao power to it, it would only have a 30% effect.

At this moment, Yu Zhizhuo had already set up an array plate, which displayed a three-dimensional diagram of the underground mine. The diagram showed that the surrounding area had been dug out like a spider web.

“This vein is somewhat special; the ore is exceptionally resistant to Dao power, unlike ordinary Yuan copper. If we can separate this component, it will be a top-grade material for defensive magic treasures. However, we can discuss the separation later; let's start mining first.”

Yu Zhizhuo drew a winding path on the mine's schematic diagram and then said, "Let's dig like this first."

Wei Yuan unleashed another Water Blade Technique, but it still had little effect. In fact, the Water Blade Technique was extremely efficient at mining; even if Yu Zhizhuo's several junior brothers were tied together, they couldn't compare to Wei Yuan alone.

When it comes to mining ordinary veins, Yu Zhizhuo especially likes to bring Wei Yuan along when encountering special veins or when large-scale exploration is needed, which can increase the exploration efficiency by tens or hundreds of times.

Even if the efficiency is only 30% at this moment, it would be even less efficient if someone else did it, unless they did not use any magic and just relied on manual brute force to carve it.

However, a sudden inspiration struck Wei Yuan, and the water in his hand turned red, radiating intense heat. The mineral vein ahead instantly melted, like ice and snow meeting the blazing sun.

Wei Yuan had tried adding the newly acquired Red Lotus Bodhi aura, and the effect was indeed amazing. But after digging a few times, he realized he was in trouble.

Sure enough, Yu Zhizhuo's eyes lit up, and he rubbed his hands together excitedly. So when Wei Yuan emerged from underground, it was already the next morning. It just so happened that old saying from Wei Yuan's hometown applied: the hardest mule is always the first to die from exhaustion.

He returned to his residence exhausted, having also learned about more than a dozen kinds of ores along the way. At this moment, Wei Yuan was too tired to move at all, when suddenly another cultivator knocked on the door and brought in a letter, saying, "This is a letter from the Prefect of Ningxi to you."

Yuan Qingyan?

Wei Yuan's spirits lifted. This guy finally realized his mistake and wrote a letter to surrender?

But when he opened the letter, he was immediately filled with rage. It wasn't a letter of surrender, but a letter urging him to surrender. Yuan Qingyan had calculated that Wei Yuan should have run out of supplies, so he wrote to persuade him to submit to the court. If Wei Yuan was willing to hand over Qingming, he would gladly relinquish his position as prefect.

The letter was earnestly worded, but given Wei Yuan's character, it was more of a declaration of war than a plea for surrender. Yuan Qingyan couldn't possibly be unaware of this; was he deliberately coming to provoke him, confident of victory?
However, Wei Yuan was no longer the same as before. He was now a powerful figure among the imperial relatives and felt confident that he could deal with Yuan Qingyan quietly sooner or later. So Wei Yuan roused himself and picked up the "Biographies of Treacherous Officials" again, carefully studying how to fabricate baseless charges and frame loyal officials.

Thinking of this, Wei Yuan spat several times. What kind of loyal and virtuous person was Yuan Qingyan?
After a short rest, it was time for the Taichu Palace cultivators to hold their meeting. While called a meeting, it was actually a discussion of their research progress. After reading Xu Wenwu's travelogue, the cultivators' minds were broadened, and they became more unrestrained, researching increasingly bizarre and unusual things. Therefore, no matter how busy Wei Yuan was, he always attended the routine meeting.

His brilliant Hive Sword launchers were inspired by these meetings.

In the blink of an eye, everyone had gathered. In fact, the main building used for the meeting was already quite crowded. Wei Yuan had always wanted to rebuild a dedicated meeting hall at the foot of the main peak, but he had never been able to find the time.

Before the meeting could even begin, a cultivator rushed over, presenting a visiting card that said, "A young monk has arrived outside, requesting to see the Realm Lord by name."

"See me? No way!" Wei Yuan gets a headache just hearing the word "monk".

Just then, a Buddhist chant sounded from outside the door, and someone said, "Benefactor Wei is indeed very busy, so this humble monk had no choice but to come uninvited."

As they were talking, a monk pushed open the door and entered.

This young monk was quite young, with fair skin and rosy lips, and an exceptionally handsome appearance that could easily outshine most so-called beauties in the world. However, his demeanor was somewhat peculiar; he didn't possess the serene Zen spirit and radiant Buddhist nature of an enlightened monk, nor did he seem detached from worldly affairs or detached from worldly desires.

It possesses an ethereal quality, yet its sharpness is outwardly apparent, like a jade knife.

This young monk was able to penetrate deep into the core of the realm and arrive at the gate right under the noses of everyone in the Primordial Palace, which clearly shows that he has some skill.

Upon seeing Wei Yuan, he chanted a Buddhist prayer and said, "Benefactor, your actions are perverse and your sins are deep. This humble monk has come specifically to convert you. I only hope that you will lay down your butcher's knife and turn back to the right path. It is not too late to repent now."

The little monk's voice was pleasant and melodious, and he spoke with a convincing power. However, the more Wei Yuan listened to what he said, the more he felt something was wrong, and then anger welled up in his heart.

Am I committing heinous crimes and going against the tide? Perhaps this little monk has poor eyesight and has mistaken me for someone else?

The young monk seemed to have heard what Wei Yuan was thinking, and said solemnly, "It seems that Benefactor Wei is not convinced. Then this humble monk will list your crimes."

Wei Yuan just sneered, wanting to hear what this monk had to say.

"You waged war against the Wu tribe, repeatedly driving civilians to the battlefield and causing endless bloodshed—this is your first crime; you forcibly relocated over 100,000 people from Quliu Town, with over a thousand dying along the way—this is your second crime; you disguised yourself as bandits, robbed military supplies, and slaughtered hundreds of innocent soldiers—this is your third crime..."

As the count of crimes came up, Wei Yuan's eyebrows gradually furrowed.

So, leading the entire realm in a desperate battle against the Witch Clan was a mistake? Is this what you call motivating civilians?
Before the war began, Wei Yuan indeed did not consult the opinions of the people. Except for children, everyone, whether they wanted to or not, had to go to the battlefield in times of crisis. With the blessing of all living beings, any civilian would have a certain fighting ability.

But this is a life-or-death battle, how can we possibly take everyone's wishes into account? If we had to ask each person whether they were willing to go to the battlefield before the war even started, then there would be no point in fighting; we could just surrender to the Wu tribe.

If this is also a crime, then the surrounding area, spanning thousands of miles, has far more sins than Wei Yuan's. Why hasn't this monk come knocking? Is it because he's easy to bully?
The young monk listed eleven major crimes committed by Wei Yuan, then shouted sternly, "So many people have died because of you, what else do you have to say, benefactor?"

The young monk's eyes shone brightly, his spirits high, as if he were ready to have a serious debate with Wei Yuan. Monks debating scriptures—that was their specialty.

Wei Yuan appeared deep in thought, then looked at the monk and uttered only one word:

"roll!"

The young monk, whose cultivation was indeed lacking, slowly blushed and chanted a Buddhist prayer, then began to roll up his sleeves: "Since you are so stubborn and cannot understand reason, then this humble monk is also somewhat skilled in martial arts."

In the crowded room, Zhang Sheng, Ji Liuli, Yu Zhizhuo, Sun Yu, and Feng Tingyu all pricked up their ears and raised their heads instantly. The two spirit pets of the Farmer were working in the fields, so he remained calm and unperturbed.

Wei Yuan had been in a bad mood these past few days, and was also allergic to monks. Upon hearing this, he slowly grinned, revealing two rows of snow-white teeth that gleamed coldly, and sneered, "You know a little bit of martial arts, huh..."

After a short while, at the edge of the boundary, Wei Yuan tossed the bruised and battered little monk, covered in shoe prints, outside the boundary, saying, "Get as far away as you can! I'll spare your life this time for the sake of the Great Treasure Flower Pure Land. But if I see you again, don't blame me for slapping you in the face!"

The young monk struggled to his feet, still defiant, and shouted, "You are covered in the sins of killing, and your resentment must have seeped into your very soul! What did I do wrong!"

Wei Yuan let out a long laugh, extending one hand. Suddenly, a hazy light emanated from his hand, somewhat resembling Buddhist light. The light was warm and pure, without a trace of impurity.

Wei Yuan sneered, "Look closely, there's not a trace of resentment in my body, inside or out. I'll admire you if you can find it!"

Upon closer inspection, the young monk indeed saw that it was crystal clear, without any impurities, comparable to the pure and lustrous body of someone who had attained enlightenment. The young monk was immediately puzzled. He had clearly killed so many people; where had all that resentment and karma gone?
With a long laugh, Wei Yuan took his body, purified by the Bodhi Tree, and strode away, leaving the little monk bewildered in the wind.

(End of this chapter)