Longzang

Chapter 350 Long time no see
Several days later, a number of carriages left the border and headed towards Hanyang Pass. The carriages were filled with letters from Xu family prisoners of war to their families. Some letters reported that they were safe, while others requested ransom. There were more than 20,000 letters in total.

Inside a luxurious mansion in the north of Qianqiu City, a middle-aged man sat on a recliner, his eyes slightly closed, enjoying the rare winter afternoon sunshine.

A seasoned Dharma Master standing nearby was reporting: "The news has come back. Wei Yuan captured a total of 160,000 people this time, including 50,000 of my Xu family's private army and 115,000 government troops. 210 Daoist masters were also captured. In addition, many people in the clan are making a fuss. They received letters from their captured family members and do not want to fight anymore. Instead, they want to pay money to ransom their relatives."

The middle-aged man, his eyes still fixed on the distance, gave a soft "hmm."

The old man said, "We discussed it and found that the ransom each family was willing to pay was far higher than the bottom line proposed by Wei Yuan. Therefore, the conditions Wei Yuan offered seemed acceptable. However, we cannot let each family negotiate on their own. We must negotiate with Wei Yuan through a unified effort."

"Oh, so roughly how much can you collect?"

"Including the private army, the net profit from the inflow and outflow is about 2.7 million taels."

The middle-aged man's eyebrows twitched, and he said, "Fifty thousand were captured. Well, if we ransom thirty thousand, then most of the people who should have come back will have returned... Let Qingliu and Weiyuan go and tell them that we are prepared to take thirty thousand private troops, but we want to select five hundred of them."

"Yes, my lord."

"and many more."

The middle-aged man stopped the old man, tapped the armrest lightly, and said, "Giving him so much immortal silver, what if he uses it to buy weapons and provisions? Wouldn't that make him armed to the teeth? Losing so much immortal silver would also make the clan lose face. No way!"

After pondering for a moment, he said, "I heard that Wei Yuan is very fond of spiritual plants. Fortunately, I have an Ice Glass Divine Tree in my treasury, which is a pretty good immortal plant, worth at least 1.5 million taels. Let's use that as collateral!"

The elder was shocked and said, "Immortal treasures are priceless and have no market value. Isn't this just letting Wei Yuan get away with it for nothing?"

“It’s alright. This divine tree has only grown for fifty years. It will take at least three hundred years to become useful. Giving it to Wei Yuan is just a temporary arrangement. We can retrieve it anytime before it matures.”

"My lord, you are wise!"

"Go and talk."

In a sizable military camp in Ningzhou, a general with a full beard looked at the empty camp, appearing deep in thought. At this moment, a lieutenant hurried over and whispered, "General, news has come from the front that none of the eight thousand men we sent out have returned. I'm afraid... they are likely in grave danger."

The general snorted and said, "With the character of Lao Liu and his men, I don't believe they'd die in battle! Hmph, they probably didn't run fast enough and got caught."

The lieutenant said, "There's still no definite news from the front, and the camp is short of 8,000 soldiers. What are we going to do?"

To everyone's surprise, the general said, "What do you mean, 8,000 soldiers are missing? All of these soldiers are in the camp, not one of them has gone out."

The lieutenant suddenly realized, but also felt somewhat uneasy.

This military stronghold was a strategically important location, originally intended to house 15,000 troops, but 5,000 were misused. This ratio was considered quite generous in the Western Jin Dynasty, but now the camp only has 2,000 soldiers, with 13,000 misused!

Although he was forced into this situation, the lieutenant was still terrified.

Such situations as this military camp are now frequently occurring throughout Ningzhou, with many government and military commanders being forced to make a small fortune out of desperation.

The deal with the Xu family was successfully completed. Wei Yuan had no objections to the new terms, obtained the Ice Crystal Divine Wood, and then had the Xu family elder select several hundred people from the prisoners. During the selection process, many prisoners were making a fuss, but unfortunately, they were not on the list.

After selecting 500 people, Wei Yuan divided the more than 50,000 Xu family private troops into two groups for battle, and the winners could return to the Xu family.

But simply winning wasn't enough. Wei Yuan then selected 20,000 winners and asked each of them to designate one loser to stay.

So many people pointed to those they had grudges against, so that they would never be able to return to the Xu family.

After all this commotion, 30,000 redemption slots were finally selected from 50,000 people. However, those who remained were first defeated, and then chosen by the victors, thus carrying a double burden of deep-seated hatred.

The Xu family elder named Xu Qingliu watched Wei Yuan operate from the very beginning without offering any objections. Now that he was making a fortune, why would he say a word? In his eyes, those 20,000 people were already dead, abandoned by the family.

After the Xu family redeemed their people, most of the Daoji (traitors) in the government army also redeemed themselves. At this point, the remaining 130,000 people were completely abandoned, and they accepted this reality.

In addition, after taking Sun Yu's medicine, everyone has been not very hungry or craving food these days, but they are all obviously weak and despondent, and have resigned themselves to their fate.

The transaction with Tianyu was then successfully completed.

Tianyu arrived in a flying boat for the transaction, with three great shamans on board. This led Wei Yuan to seriously consider the possibility of the boat being destroyed, resulting in the loss of all its inhabitants, but Tianyu gaining the credit.

The transaction was ultimately completed smoothly.

Tianyu sent over a seed of an aquatic immortal plant, as large as a water vat. This seed is a specialty of the Witch Domain and has the potential to cultivate nine different immortal plants ranging from grade one to grade nine. What kind of plant it can be cultivated depends on the luck, timing, and energy of the land at that time.

Besides that, there were ten thousand catties of spirit ore, from which the refined ore could be used directly as the main material for magical artifacts. However, Tianyu did not bring any more offerings. According to him, all the offerings in the vicinity had been sold to Wei Yuan last time, and if he wanted more, it would take several months just to travel over.

After seeing Tianyu off, Wei Yuan wrote two secret letters and sent them to the Jin capital.

A few days later, Zhao Tong quietly appeared. This time, he didn't head straight for the main peak, but stopped at the outer edge of the boundary and sent someone to announce his arrival first. Wei Yuan immediately rushed over and said, "Eunuch Zhao, you can just come to me directly. Why bother having someone announce your arrival?"

Zhao Tong laughed and said, "That's what I was thinking too, but after taking just a couple of steps in, I was terrified and quickly retreated. I still want to live a few more years! Speaking of which, Lord Wei's territory is now a den of dragons and tigers; even ordinary cultivators can't enter without permission."

Wei Yuan laughed and said, "This is my father-in-law's back garden. You can stroll around as you please. Come on, shall we go to the main peak for tea?"

“We have important things on our minds, so we’ll just have a cup of tea, grab our things, and leave.”

Wei Yuan knew Zhao Tong's style, so he led Zhao Tong to the main peak and presented him with a tightly sealed box.

Zhao Tong first set up a barrier, then carefully opened the box. Inside were several fist-sized rubies, but a foul stench hit him, making him turn pale for a moment and almost gag.

Zhao Tong closed the lid, carefully affixed the talisman to seal it, and then sighed, "It's both a divine medicine and poison. Every time I see it, I both love and fear it."

After carefully putting the box away, Zhao Tong said, "Lord Wei is indeed a pillar of the state. The King was right about you, and so was I. I didn't give you any instructions for long, and you've already got results. Your decisive and efficient manner is truly pleasing to the eye! I won't bother you any longer; I'll go back and report now."

Wei Yuan stood up and escorted Zhao Tong to the edge of the boundary. Zhao Tong said, "That's enough, I need to get going. Lord Wei, you don't need to worry too much, just wait for good news."

Zhao Tong slowly ascended into the sky, flying faster and faster until he disappeared into the horizon in the blink of an eye. After flying several miles away, Zhao Tong suddenly vanished from Wei Yuan's perception.

Two days later, Marquis Xiang, Wang Qian, also arrived.

Wei Yuan also handed him a box, saying, "Inside are fifty-year-old goods."

Wang Qian opened it and looked at it, then sighed, "Extremely beautiful and extremely poisonous. Taking it is like drinking poison to quench thirst. There is no greater wonder of creation than this."

"That's all for now. We don't know when the next batch will be available, so it's best not to count on it," Wei Yuan said.

Wang Qian nodded: "Too much of this is as bad as too little. Fifty years is enough to do a lot of things, but any more than that might cause trouble. I don't have anything good here, only an ancient elixir passed down from my ancestors, which might be of some use to you."

What Wang Qian took out was not jade paper, but an ancient stone mirror. This ancient immortal formula was not written down, but existed as a transmission of true meaning.

Wei Yuan probed the ancient mirror with his divine sense and immediately saw a hazy world within it, with a blazing ball of elixir fire burning in the center. The flame was a bright golden color and extremely hot. Dozens of orbs of light floated around the flame, each containing a medicinal herb. Seven of these orbs were noticeably larger than the others, presumably the main ingredients. Among the main ingredients, three orbs were centered, resembling a round drop of blood, a feather, and a piece of something like moss.

Subsequently, dozens of medicinal herbs were added to the alchemical fire, continuously dissolving and changing their medicinal properties in an instant.

As the last ingredient dissolved, all the medicinal properties reached a critical point, and everything returned to oneness, transcending into a jade-like elixir containing a small pine tree.

This elixir is named Kunyuan Longevity Elixir.

The world within the mirror vanished, the true meaning of the ancient mirror was exhausted, and it shattered with a snap.

Wei Yuan was still savoring the experience. The alchemy techniques in the mirror world were completely different from those of modern alchemy, returning to simplicity and reaching the pinnacle of skill. However, Wei Yuan didn't recognize most of the dozens of medicinal herbs, and he had never even heard of the seven main ingredients.

Wang Qian said, "This ancient immortal formula originated from some unknown grotto-heaven and fell into the hands of our ancestors, and has been passed down to this day. The true meaning of the formula has been passed down three times, and this is the last time. The first two recipients of the true meaning were renowned alchemy masters of their time. Although they were unable to restore the ancient formula, they did develop several longevity pills."

Wei Yuan was taken aback and said, "I know nothing about alchemy. Wouldn't it be a waste to give me this secret formula?"

Wang Qian laughed and said, "Only by giving it to you will it not be a waste."

He then handed Wei Yuan a piece of jade paper, saying, "This is a prescription written by an ancestor of our family who loved alchemy, based on this ancient secret book. It has never been passed on to outsiders. I have secretly tested this prescription twice, making three pills, and personally verified its effectiveness. Please keep it."

Wei Yuan took it and scanned it with his divine sense. This medicine was called Jiamu Xiaonian Dan, which was made according to the secret recipe of Kunyuan Changsheng Dan and could extend one's life by five years.

The so-called secret formulas for alchemy are formulas written down by those who have received the true teachings and based on their own understanding. Many of the herbs that are no longer available or cannot be found today are replaced with similar ones.

"After I return to the capital, I will spread the word that I have given you the pill formula. Then you should quickly find someone to refine a few batches of Jiamu Xiaonian Pills and say that you have comprehended them. The old ancestor of the Xu family has never cared much about you. In this way, he may spare your life and see if you can refine something from the ancient formula."

Wei Yuan had long known of Wang Qian's profound wisdom and foresight, and he still deeply admired him at this moment.

Wang Qian coughed and said seriously, "Also, Consort Yuan asked me to pass on a message to you."

Wei Yuan was startled and instinctively shrank back, then pretended to be calm and asked, "What did Your Majesty say?"

Wang Qianqing cleared his throat. He was already very handsome, and his features were somewhat similar to those of Consort Yuan. Looking at him now, he even had two or three of Consort Yuan's shadow!

He said, "It's been a long time, I've missed you terribly."

Wei Yuan was immediately alarmed. How could it have been so long? They had only separated two days ago!

(End of this chapter)