Longzang

Chapter 277 Someone in the Court
Three months have passed since Qingming was established, and Wei Yuan has begun to assess the surrounding situation.

The northwestern Wucheng was severely damaged, with six or seven out of ten residents gone and three or four out of ten ordinary soldiers killed or wounded. It is now undergoing difficult reconstruction, with massive amounts of supplies and large numbers of civilian soldiers arriving every day. Reconstruction will take some time, and Wei Yuan plans to let them continue building for now.

In the east and south, the Western Jin Dynasty set up a series of military fortifications, but they were all ineffective.

This place is different from the North. In the North, military fortifications are often strategically positioned around cities, while Qingming was originally surrounded by wasteland. The military fortifications are quite far apart from each other, so they basically fight independently and can be easily defeated one by one.

When Yuan Qingyan set up this long, serpentine formation, he had a specific purpose in mind. He was betting that Wei Yuan wouldn't dare to openly attack the military camps, otherwise it would be considered a rebellion. Therefore, he only sent about a thousand men to each camp, which made him feel quite at ease, and he was even worried that Wei Yuan wouldn't come to attack.

However, Yuan Qingyan never expected Wei Yuan to be so audacious, brazenly posing as a bandit and openly robbing military camps several times, causing widespread panic among the troops. His trusted confidant, Li Shuangchen, whom he had planted in the army, was even killed in battle. The bandits even declared that anyone who remained loyal to him to the death would be executed.

After several setbacks, Wei Yuan believed that Yuan Qingyan had run out of tricks. As long as Yue Jinshan's main force remained inactive, he had no strength to harass the realm.

As for the Western Jin Dynasty's all-out attack? Wei Yuan still has connections in the court!
Now that the area around Qingming is stable, Wei Yuan has reorganized his team and is preparing to explore the fragments of the cave. During this time, Wei Yuan has already gathered all the relevant information he can find.

However, the aristocratic grotto-heavens are different from those of sects, and are often kept secret. Wei Yuan could not find much information about them, only that this grotto-heaven was highly valued at the time, was very large in scale, and connected the mental worlds of the three Imperial Realm True Monarchs.

The Wuyu Clan seemed to know something, and they destroyed the cave world without regard for the cost, then calmed down. Before the cave world collapsed, the Xu family must have already moved all the important items away, so they didn't bother with the fragments afterward.

The Broken Cave Heaven was originally extremely dangerous, but the opportunities inside were pitifully scarce, so Wei Yuan had no interest in them. Only some desperate rogue cultivators liked to explore such areas, hoping to find something that major sects had slipped through their fingers.

But things are different now. Something that even an old farmer can smell must be incredibly valuable.

The fragments of the grotto-heaven were not far from the realm, and when a realm lord went out to explore, the entourage was naturally different from that of a rogue cultivator. Wei Yuan sent several hundred people ahead to build a small path to the site before the main exploration team officially set off.

To ensure a safe exploration of the fragmented cave, Wei Yuan led a thousand warriors and a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, planning to establish a large camp outside the cave for support, rest, and resupply. According to records, this fragmented cave should be quite large, perhaps covering a radius of a hundred miles.

After all preparations were completed, Wei Yuan asked Ji Liuli to choose an auspicious time and set off for the fragment of the cave.

They arrived at the entrance to the cave without exchanging a word.

The entrance to the grotto was located in a small valley. As soon as Wei Yuan entered the valley, he felt a gust of cold wind hit him. The valley was gloomy and much colder than outside. Outside, it was summer all year round, while inside the valley, it was like late autumn.

The trees and plants in the valley have undergone obvious changes. Many trees have lost their leaves, their branches have twisted, and they have grown long thorns, like cacti. The flowers are brightly colored but eerie, and the grass grows extremely lushly. Occasionally, small animals such as deer and rabbits will enter and be cut and slashed until they are exhausted and fall to the ground, slowly being covered by the surrounding grass.

Seeing the strange grass, Wei Yuan's heart skipped a beat, but he immediately shook his head. This kind of grass was fine against ordinary beasts, but the elite soldiers of the Wu Clan all wore steel boots and wouldn't be injured.

Master Chuhe does possess several powerful demonic plants, but they are so powerful that even he cannot control them. Once planted, they would become unpredictable under the influence of Jiamu Shengxuan. Wei Yuan is not yet in dire straits and does not want to take that risk.

Wild grasses hunt small animals, but some rabbits have grown several times their original size, with dark gray fur and blood-red eyes, effortlessly nibbling at giant, razor-sharp grasses. They possess a certain grandeur, as if blessed by all living beings in an instant.

Upon seeing the valley environment, Wei Yuan ordered them to set up camp at the valley entrance. The group then unloaded the pre-cut iron plates from the carts, felled trees to build walls around the area, and nailed the iron plates to the wooden walls for defense.

When setting up the camp, Wei Yuan and the other cultivators from Taichu Palace went deep into the valley to explore the entrance.

There was a small lake in the valley, and the entrance to the cave was at the bottom of the lake, shaped like a swaying shadow. The group did not enter rashly. Master Chuhe first sent a spirit snake into the water to explore the cave. After a while, the spirit snake returned, and the old Taoist said, "There is no danger at the entrance, but some places are unstable, revealing a bit of void. We need to be careful."

Ji Liuli set up an array on the spot to stabilize the entrance, while Wei Yuan summoned dozens of Dao Foundation cultivators to dig a canal on the side of the small lake and divert the lake water to a low-lying area nearby.

Such a large-scale project, which would take ordinary people several months, was completed in just half a day by a number of Dao Foundation cultivators.

By the time all preparations were complete, it was already late at night. Wei Yuan wasn't in a hurry and ordered everyone to rest for the night, waiting until sunrise when everyone was refreshed and ready to continue their exploration. In addition to the normal preparations, Wei Yuan also set up a "fishing for luck" formation, using the energy from the fragments of the cave, to see if he could draw out anything.

As dawn broke, Wei Yuan calmly finished his breakfast when he suddenly sensed something and saw a powerful aura rapidly approaching from the east.

Did a fish actually take the bait?

Wei Yuan secretly marveled at how useful the fishing formation passed down by the Immortal Lord was. Although the array plate created by the Immortal Lord had exhausted its magical power, Wei Yuan now possessed more than one type of immortal spiritual energy of equal rank, making the fishing formation equally effective.

The newcomer was an elderly man in a blue scholar's robe, with a refined face, but slightly droopy eyes, giving him a stern appearance. He called out from afar, "This is the territory of the Xu family. Who dares to trespass?"

This shout echoed far and wide, shaking heaven and earth, and in terms of magical power, it surpassed that of the True Man of the Hoeing Fields. However, the True Man of the Hoeing Fields also had to consider a snake and a cat in his fights, so he rarely had a worthy opponent.

The old man flew over the valley in the blink of an eye and was taken aback when he saw the large camp that had been set up at the entrance of the valley. He seemed not to have expected such a large-scale operation.

In the camp below, Wei Yuan gave Cui Yu a nudge. Cui Yu stepped forward and said loudly, "Old man, seeing that your cultivation is mediocre and you're quite old, you must be very tired after traveling for so long."

The old man was taken aback, then his face gradually turned pale. He barely suppressed his anger and said, "I am Xu..."

Cui Yu interrupted him: "Knowing that your surname is Xu is enough. Nobody cares what your given name is. Oh, you want to say something, right? Then go ahead and say it, keep it brief."

The old man's eyebrows shot up in anger, and he roared, "Ignorant brat, you're just spouting nonsense! I..."

Wei Yuan interrupted him, turned around and called out, "Let's go, let's set off!"

The old man surnamed Xu was furious and blocked his way, saying coldly, "This place is where my Xu family's grotto-heaven fell. Everything here belongs to my Xu family! It's not for you petty scoundrels to lay your hands on. Get out of here!"

The last word, "Get out," was delivered with a thunderous force, causing those with weaker cultivation levels to feel dizzy.

Wei Yuan sneered: "If your Xu family couldn't hold onto this place, you would have given it to the Wu Clan long ago. You still have the nerve to call it Xu family territory?"

The old man's face darkened, and he said, "This place belongs to the Xu family for a day, and for all eternity thereafter. Even if my Xu family cannot hold onto it for a while, you cannot touch it! What, you disagree?"

Wei Yuan suddenly smiled and said, "I'm convinced, why wouldn't I be?" But a halo in his hand was slowly lighting up and spreading.

The old man's eyes sharpened, instantly drawn to the halo in Wei Yuan's hand. He never imagined that a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator could unleash such a terrifying technique.

His attention was completely drawn to Wei Yuan, and he didn't notice that a ballista had been brought out of the camp. Cui Yu personally took the lead, aimed at the old man, and slammed the trigger!

The giant arrow flew like lightning and arrived in front of the old man in an instant!
The old man surnamed Xu was startled, and with a slight sidestep, he dodged the arrow. His swift retreat showed he was quite skilled.

But just as the giant arrow grazed past him, Cui Yu clenched his fist, and the arrow suddenly exploded. Caught off guard, the old man surnamed Xu was blasted away, his body covered in blood from countless fragments.

The old man was both shocked and furious. In the blink of an eye, he realized that Wei Yuan had already fled far away. Just as he thought to himself that something was wrong, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his mind, almost causing him to fall to the ground. He had no choice but to activate his life-saving technique. His figure flashed continuously, each flash covering several miles away, instantly escaping thousands of miles, making it impossible for Wei Yuan to catch up.

Cui Yu was overjoyed. Although five points of Heavenly Merit were not much, it was still a start.

(End of this chapter)