Longzang

Chapter 338 Plant of Fortune
The upheaval within the sect placed unprecedented pressure on Wei Yuan, forcing him to improve the strength of his realm as quickly as possible.

Wei Yuan took stock of his current assets.

The population of Qingming has reached 300,000, more than half of whom are in their prime and ready for military service. In the past few months, the young men of the Xu family have begun to show the talent of descendants of immortal lords. The vast majority of them have mastered the Six Books of Body Forging in less than three months, and several hundred of them have already advanced in their cultivation.

The city of Wu is still being cleared. The Wu tribe left behind a vast amount of resources, much of which can be used directly. However, the city's living environment is well-suited to the Wu tribe, with water everywhere in the residential areas and even inside the houses. Therefore, it must be demolished and rebuilt.

There are currently over 1,500 Foundation Establishment cultivators in the entire realm, and another 100 can be added every month. This is Wei Yuan's greatest asset. However, the aptitude of these people is not very good, and most of them will be stuck at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment for their entire lives.

Over the past few months, Wei Yuan has given the forging workshop his full support, which has finally resulted in a force of 20,000 fully equipped soldiers. However, if the goal is simply to ensure each soldier has a rifle, that would amount to 60,000 men. If each rifle is equipped with only one bullet, that would be 100,000 men.

At this critical moment, Wei Yuan prioritized the foundation-building work for the third phase of the Cui family.

He spared no expense in bestowing upon them his own fortune, adding two strands of luck to each elder and one strand to each of the ordinary disciples. He also arranged for Xu Wenwu to train, eat, and live alongside the elders.

Although the elderly had some complaints about the living conditions within the boundary, as it was only one person per room instead of one person per courtyard, they were satisfied when they saw that the other members of the Cui family shared a room with eight people.

Master Chuhe, Sun Yu, Yu Zhizhuo, and others took turns explaining the fundamental principles of Dao to them. Surprisingly, although Zhang Sheng only attended one class, he left a very deep impression on the young people of the Cui family. Anyone who dared to cause trouble would be met with the teacher's sword-like words, and his way of speaking was so appealing to the young people that they couldn't learn it.

For a time, a trend of imitating Zhang Sheng's speech emerged among the young people. However, most of them lacked the temperament, and their speech was somewhat incoherent.

For example, this sentence, "Go back and ask your elders to come and argue with me. Those who are new to the Dharma don't need to come. It's not fair to win," sounds like a joke to them no matter how they say it.

Under such meticulous nurturing, the third-generation disciples began foundation-building after only half a month of cultivation, and the results were exceptionally good. Eleven of the fifty elders successfully forged their Dao foundations, all wielding the Great Bright Demon-Subduing Sword and extending their lives. More than fifty of the remaining disciples also successfully forged their Dao foundations. Of the eighty who transferred from the second generation, thirteen ultimately succeeded, ten of whom signed blood contracts with Wei Yuan, selling themselves into servitude.

The overall success rate is approaching 20%, a rate that is even close to that of a fourth-tier sect like the Crimson Tide Sect! And these people were originally unable to forge a Dao foundation, making it impossible for them to pass the Immortal Sect's unified examination.

Sure enough, just one day after the third batch of students left, news came from the Cui family that the old lady of the Cui family wanted to see Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan immediately boarded the flying boat and headed to the Cui family with Cui Yu. The specially made flying boat was extremely fast, covering 200,000 li south in a single day, and arrived at the Cui family's Anxi County, located in the southern border region of Zhao.

Anxi County was the ancestral home of the Cui family branch. As was customary, it did not pay tribute to the Zhao state, so it was extremely prosperous, and even ordinary people could be seen wearing bright clothes.

The city was bustling with people. The main road was paved with blue bricks and had drainage ditches. Three- or four-story buildings were everywhere on both sides of the road. Unlike the impoverished people in Jindu, the shop owners had ruddy faces and many were plump and strong, clearly enjoying a good diet.

The Cui family is divided into three branches, now collectively known as the Three Cuis, all of which are prominent clans. Unlike the Three Lis, the Three Cuis share the same ancestry, but gradually dispersed to various places during the changes in the world, each establishing their own business, somewhat similar to the three major gates of the Taichu Palace.

Among the three Cui families, the most prominent was the Song Cui of Qinghe, whose ruler was also the head of the Cui family. However, Song was the only one of the nine states that did not border any other ethnic group, so for many years it had been striving to obtain an exclave. But on this matter, the other states were united in their firm opposition, and thus countless wars had been fought over this issue over the past thousand years.

The branch of the Cui family, headed by Cui Yu, was located in the southern part of the Zhao state, with influence spanning both the Ji and Zhao states. Their celestial lord had perished a century ago, and no new generation had yet taken his place. However, the Cui family shared the same roots, and the other two branches of the Cui family still had celestial lords who would naturally offer protection if necessary. Therefore, the Cui clan of Ji and Zhao had continued to develop as usual for the past century, methodically nurturing their descendants without being affected in the slightest.

After entering the city, Wei Yuan and Cui Jian were led to the Cui family mansion. The so-called ancestral home was actually so large that horses could run around inside, occupying half of the county town.

After entering the gate, we walked for four miles before arriving at the Phoenix Perch Hall, where the ancestor was to be received.

After getting off the carriage, Cui Yu said, "It seems that the ancestor values ​​you very much. This Phoenix Perch Hall is only used when receiving important guests."

Wei Yuan looked up at the grand hall, which was at least ten zhang high, and walked in slowly with Cui Yu. A maid led the two through the main hall to a quiet and elegant courtyard at the back, where they sat down. After a moment, a lady with white hair and a youthful face entered and sat down in the main seat.

If you didn't notice her full head of white hair, she would look like a middle-aged woman. After she sat down, she glanced at Wei Yuan, who instantly felt as if she had seen right through him, and was startled.

The cultivation level of the Cui family matriarch is probably no less than that of Ancestor Xuan Yue! After looking at her, the matriarch withdrew her seemingly all-seeing gaze and said, "Truly a dragon among men, not bad, not bad. In this period of time, you have cultivated over a hundred Dao Foundation cultivators for my Cui family, and the results this time are particularly evident. It's just that Great Bright Demon-Subduing Sword, it's a bit special..."

Wei Yuan hurriedly said, "I believe that having a foundation in the Dao is better than not having one, which is why I devoted myself to researching and developing the Great Bright Demon-Subduing Sword. Forgive my bluntness, but without this sword, I'm afraid many people would not be able to forge a foundation in the Dao."

The old lady smiled slightly and said, "In the past, we were thinking about how to improve the grade of the Dao Foundation, but your sword has opened up a different path."

Wei Yuan blushed slightly. But despite his embarrassment, he would continue down this path, and he had a new idea. This new idea should have a good chance of success; they could try it out in the next episode.

In Wei Yuan's view, there are still many areas where the lower limit of the human-level Dao Foundation can be improved.

Without a foundation in the Dao, one lacks sufficient Dao power, rendering many mature Dao techniques unusable and many tasks impossible; one can only shovel slag.

The old lady said, "However, the essence of humanity lies in gathering people. With so many new members in the family, many difficult things have suddenly become easier to handle. Although there are many idlers among them, most are still willing to do something. With them, some of the old stewards in the family can no longer rely on their seniority and must work diligently. This is indeed an unexpected joy."

Wei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the old lady did not blame him for deceiving people by using water-adulterated foundation, which strengthened his confidence to continue on this path.

"I summoned you here for two reasons: first, to see you, and second, for the sake of the Xu family."

Wei Yuan felt a chill run down his spine, knowing that the real show was about to begin.

The old lady said slowly, "The Xu family will definitely cause you trouble. There is only so much we, the Cui family, can do to help you. We can only prevent the Xu family from bullying you too much. As for the rest, it's up to you. If you can make the Xu family back down, that would be the best."

The old lady coughed lightly, and two old servants entered the room, working together to carry in a small tree about a foot tall. The tree's leaves were bright red, with five distinct segments, and moved swiftly even without wind.

It took two old servants with the cultivation level of Dharma Aspect to exert all their strength to seal it and prevent its aura from leaking out.

“I know you love spiritual plants. This Five-Clawed Dragon Blood Wood is also a celestial plant. This wood was born from dragon blood and is a symbol of destiny.”

Wei Yuan remained silent. Immortal plants were far too precious for him; he didn't believe his contributions to the Cui family were great enough to warrant receiving one.

The old lady said, "This Dragon Blood Tree is not for you, but a loan for three months. After you return, plant it in your domain, and it will boost your fortune and bring good luck. Furthermore, if the Dragon Blood Tree bears fruit during these three months and the fruit falls as seeds, new Dragon Blood Trees will grow, and the boosted fortune will be solidified. If it does not bear fruit, the boosted fortune will disappear after the Dragon Blood Tree is returned."

Wei Yuan was overjoyed and quickly got up to express his gratitude.

After leaving Fengqi Hall, Wei Yuan didn't linger for a moment. He declined the invitation to stay and play for a few days, and went straight to the flying boat with Cui Yu to return overnight.

On the flying boat, Wei Yuan pondered the old lady's words repeatedly, knowing that the Xu family would definitely attack, but the True Lord probably wouldn't make a move. However, he had to guard against the possibility that they might be hiding in the shadows, launching a surprise attack. Or perhaps they might entrust their magic power to someone else to unleash the attack on their behalf.

In short, unless the Xu family is severely punished, they are unlikely to back down. This is Wei Yuan's understanding of the phrase "back down when faced with difficulties."

Inside the flying boat, Wei Yuan was holding the Five-Clawed Dragon Blood Wood in his hands. Since only Cui Yu was around, he moved his hands and the Dragon Blood Wood was transferred to the Wanli River and Mountain.

As expected of a celestial being, the Dragon Blood Tree completely suppressed its fierce aura as soon as it entered the vast landscape. It found a place to take root and stayed far away from the three great celestial plants, as well as from the girl Yin Yang.

Wei Yuan transmitted a thought to each of the three immortal plants. He believed that with their patient persuasion, the Dragon Blood Tree would obediently bear fruit; otherwise, it would be ungrateful.

(End of this chapter)