Longzang

Chapter 380 Cultivating My Invincible Power
This round of heavenly lightning struck Wei Yuan so hard that he was scorched on the outside and tender on the inside, and his whole body smelled delicious.

Fortunately, his physical body was incredibly strong. Countless tiny parts of his body began to regenerate, and after being tempered by the lightning tribulation, much of his flesh and blood was regenerated, further increasing his strength. At this moment, Wei Yuan had essentially undergone a Dharma Aspect Heavenly Tribulation, and the strength of his physical body after the tempering was among the top in the Dharma Aspect realm.

Looking at Xu Wenwu, Wei Yuan suddenly felt that he should tell him this later, or not tell him at all.

Otherwise, if this guy suddenly comes up with a way to temper the body without undergoing tribulation, wouldn't Wei Yuan's tribulation be for nothing? In that case, Wei Yuan would definitely cough up blood on the spot.

Only then did the cultivators of Taichu Palace have a chance to speak with Wei Yuan. However, Cui Yu didn't say anything; he just came over and hugged Wei Yuan.

After the two separated, Wei Yuan looked Cui Yu up and down and said, "How come you're in a worse state than me, the one in question?"

Cui Yu said irritably, "Ever since I met a guy like you, I haven't had a good time!"

On his way back, Wei Yuan already knew what had happened in Qingming, and how everyone had worked together to defeat the Xu family for the second time.

Wei Yuan wasn't good at expressing himself, so he just squeezed Cui Yu's arm tightly and said, "Once we've settled things in the realm, I'll accompany you back to the Cui family and take down Cui Tianlin!"

Cui Yu smiled slightly and said, "But I'm not sure."

"Don't worry, we can't lose!"

After Cui Yu, came Sun Yu and Yu Zhizhuo, both of whom were senior disciples. Wei Yuan greeted them respectfully. The two men, recognizing Wei Yuan's cultivation level, suddenly felt they should put the Dharma Formation process on their agenda.

Finally, it was Feng Tingyu's turn. Without saying a word, she came up and gave Wei Yuan a bear hug, pressing him tightly into her arms and squeezing him for a while before letting go and sending Wei Yuan flying.

At this moment, eight hundred soldiers disembarked from the flying boat and unloaded the supplies.

Over the next few days, Wei Yuan was busy recounting the population of the territory and reorganizing his troops. After the second major defeat of the Xu family, refugees continued to arrive in Qingming from all over the country, sometimes in the hundreds, sometimes in the thousands. In addition to the 300,000 prisoners of the Xu family, the population of Qingming now reached 850,000.

Fortunately, another harvest was conducted within the realm during this period; otherwise, there would have been a real food shortage. Tens of thousands of acres of farmland within the realm were destroyed by the Great Curse of Cause and Effect, leaving 400,000 acres still available for harvest, yielding 80 million catties of grain in this round.

There seems to be plenty of grain, but there are still 30,000 warhorses seized from the Xu family's private army in the territory.

Human warhorses, while not requiring meat like Liao horses, still consume a considerable amount. The cost of one warhorse is equivalent to that of about twenty ordinary soldiers, requiring at least several kilograms of grain daily. Spirit horses, on the other hand, need to be fed spirit rice; even the most ordinary spirit horse costs the equivalent of about ten Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The prisoners have undergone initial screening, and most are willing to stay, provided that Wei Yuan grants them official military status in the future.

The situation is much more complicated with a few hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, as they will all need to redeem themselves. This time, Wei Yuan is no longer polite, raising the ransom to seven thousand taels of immortal silver per person, and refusing to release them until the ransom is paid. Even if these people manage to return, they will be bankrupt. If they don't pay, that's fine too; they can just stay locked up.

Incorporating prisoners was a tedious and lengthy process that could only be carried out step by step. Wei Yuan delegated these tasks, then reorganized the elite troops of the two garrisons, replenishing each garrison with 5,000 men, and named the cavalry Dragon Wings and the infantry Dragon Soaring.

Now that there are plenty of Azure Warhorses, Wei Yuan has configured the Winged Husbands with two horses per rider. The Dragon Cavalry are equipped with foot horses, and they plan to be fully equipped with flying swords and spears in the future.

However, the version that Wei Yuan is currently using is too powerful, and ordinary Dao Foundation cultivators simply cannot control it. Moreover, the design is very crude, as it is entirely driven by Dao power. He still needs to consult with Yu Zhizhuo to see how to improve it before it can be widely promoted.

To Wei Yuan's surprise, Wang Yu had passed away.

He was severely injured by the Great Curse of Cause and Effect that day. Although he survived, his injuries worsened day by day, and Sun Yu was powerless to save him. Just two days after Wei Yuan returned, Wang Yu finally succumbed to his injuries and was burned to ashes by the Azure Fire.

The other young masters and ladies from noble families were also seriously injured in the Great Curse of Cause and Effect, and Xu Yi was also severely injured.

The disciples of the Azure Sky Palace and the Water Moon Palace had only been there a short time, and most of them sustained minor injuries and recovered in a few days. This incident caused some discontent among the other cultivators in the realm. In addition, since almost none of the disciples from the two palaces held important positions, some people, unable to bear the gossip, have already returned to their sects. Five people from the Water Moon Palace returned, and Fei Yutong, whose cultivation had reached a bottleneck and needed to break through, was also recalled by the True Person of the Water Moon Palace.

Wei Yuan didn't care about it and put it aside after asking about it.

After a busy day, Wei Yuan took another stroll around the small courtyard where Zhang Sheng used to live. The courtyard remained exactly as it was, with no changes to the furnishings, and a history book that he had only read halfway through was still on the desk.

The four dragon blood trees planted in the courtyard had vanished, leaving only four charred, deep pits. Wei Yuan couldn't help but feel fortunate that he had acted decisively and planted all four in one go. If one had been missing, and with that extra bit of luck, Zhang Sheng might have perished on the spot.

Wei Yuan walked around the room, then sat down at Zhang Sheng's desk, spread out a sheet of jade paper, dipped his brush in ink, and subconsciously wrote on the paper: Junior Brother Xiaoyu...

However, after writing the heading, Wei Yuan realized that he had a lot to write, such as "I have recently acquired a bundle of immortal plants" and "I am quite troubled by the fact that I cannot finish using up my Heavenly Power flowers."

In the end, Wei Yuan put down his pen. There was too much to write, and writing it all down seemed a bit pretentious. He had to write it down one thing at a time, so that he could persevere.

Wei Yuan suddenly sensed something, turned his chair, and saw a woman in red sitting behind him in the guest seat. He didn't know when she had appeared.

At this point, Zhu Yuanjin's identity was no longer a secret; Xuan Yue Zhenjun had told Wei Yuan about it back at the Northern Mountain Gate. Wei Yuan immediately stood up, bowed respectfully, and said, "I haven't yet thanked you for your rescue, senior."

Zhu Yuanjin said calmly, "You don't need to thank me. I didn't get along with those old guys up there, and we had some unpleasantness, including your grandmaster, the old thief Chunqiu."

Wei Yuan was completely bewildered, having no idea who this old scoundrel from the Spring and Autumn period was.

Zhu Yuanjin said, "Your grandmaster's name before entering the Daoist sect was Su Chunqiu. We are all used to calling him Chunqiu the Old Thief."

Since it concerned the patriarch's remaining dignity, Wei Yuan had no choice but to pretend he hadn't heard. "Those old fogies have been insisting on guarding the northern mountain gate to the death, saying that it's the homeland where our patriarch's immortal body was transformed, and not an inch of it can be given up, otherwise it would be a desecration of our patriarch. Hmph, we've already lost over a thousand miles, hasn't even one of our patriarch's legs been desecrated?"

Wei Yuan didn't know how to respond, so he could only remain expressionless, pretending to be a block of wood.

Zhu Yuanjin, seemingly oblivious to the fact that no one was talking about this, continued, "What's the use of clinging to these worthless territories? We're just shirking responsibility and causing trouble for the Three Kingdoms! If you ask me, we should simply abandon the northern mountain gates and then unite with the enemies of the Three Kingdoms, especially the Zhao and Li families, who are the Xu family's sworn enemies. Let's watch the foreign tribes wipe out the Three Kingdoms first, and then we can reclaim our lost territories."

"If we don't wipe out a few of their families, these powerful clans will really think they're invincible!"

Wei Yuan's mind raced. After careful consideration, he discovered that this plan was quite feasible. No one could stop the millions of Liao troops marching south, which would inevitably cause a major reshuffle in the north. However, in this way, the number of ordinary people who would die along the million-mile border in the north would probably be in the billions.

"What do you think?" Zhu Yuanjin asked.

Wei Yuan did not answer directly, but said, "A few days ago, a single sentence from this disciple triggered a heavenly tribulation; that was my intention."

"Hmph, another stubborn little brat. Oh well, you people may be a bit dim-witted, but you often manage to do things that others simply can't." Zhu Yuanjin suddenly sighed, as if he had remembered something.

After a moment of silence, she said, "I will continue to guard this place for the next period of time. The Xu family's Qiuniu and Taotie were injured by me and won't recover easily. There aren't many True Monarchs left who can move, and the Lü family in the north is also eyeing us covetously, so we should be fine. However, you shouldn't be careless. Do you know how I intimidate the Xu family's True Monarchs?"

"Please give me some advice, senior."

A smile appeared on Zhu Yuanjin's lips as he said, "I will lie in wait in the shadows and launch a sneak attack only after True Monarch Xu makes his move. That will guarantee a hit. So if you die on the first strike, I can't save you. I can only try to cut as deep as possible and slice off as many of your most private parts as possible to avenge you."

Wei Yuan broke out in a cold sweat. Was this senior really not using him as bait to lure out her enemies?

Zhu Yuanjin added, "There's one more thing. Bao Yun's fate with you has ended. Oh, that's what Bao Manshan said. He also said that if you want to rekindle your fate, you should go to the Bao family as soon as possible."

Wei Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "What does 'the fate has run its course' mean?"

Zhu Yuanjin said, "As far as I know, she may be going to the Great Treasure Flower Pure Land to receive a Dharma image. I heard that an important figure has passed away in the Great Treasure Flower Pure Land this time, leaving the Dharma image of Immovable Tathagata vacant. Bao'er is the best candidate."

"What will happen if we accept this Dharma image?" Wei Yuan asked.

"It's nothing. Once she cultivates to the level of Yujing, and her mental world transforms into a pure land, she will completely become the reincarnation of the Immovable Tathagata. The former Baoyun will essentially be dead. With Bao'er's talent and her affinity with this Dharma form, she may achieve Yujing in less than ten years."

"When should I go?" Wei Yuan asked.

"Now is not the time; it would be pointless for you to go. The most urgent task is to cultivate an invincible aura, so that you can further enhance your Dao foundation and spirituality until you can go no further. Only then will it be time to advance to the Dharma Aspect. Before you reach the Dharma Aspect, you can go to the Bao family."

"Then how do you cultivate an invincible aura?" Wei Yuan asked.

"Zhang is the best at this, you can learn from her. Oh, sometimes when I listen to her talk, I feel like I'm going to explode."

"Since the teacher is not here, I would appreciate further guidance from the senior." With Zhu Yuanjin present, Wei Yuan naturally wanted to listen and ask as many questions as possible.

Zhu Yuanjin said, "Isn't that simple? Just tell everyone you meet: 'I have observed your Dharma forms, and you are all trash!' You'll be guaranteed to have no shortage of opponents. Then defeat them all, and you'll be invincible."

Or to put it another way: all forms of Dharma in the world are rubbish.

Wei Yuan secretly wiped away a cold sweat, feeling that saying the last sentence would make it even easier for him to die prematurely.

Seeing Zhu Yuanjin's expectant gaze, Wei Yuan could only say, "If you say that, wouldn't that also be insulting Master Fenhai?"

"Let him curse. Little Burning Sea might not be a match for you now. Why are you afraid of him?"

Wei Yuan secretly wiped away sweat. This wasn't a question of whether he could win or not; it was a question of betraying his master and ancestors. However, the thought of the phrase "betraying one's master and ancestors" made Wei Yuan feel somewhat guilty.

Zhu Yuanjin stood up and said, "I'm leaving now."

Wei Yuan suddenly asked, "Senior, what exactly did you do when you were young?"

Zhu Yuanjin smiled slightly and said, "You're quite perceptive. I used to be an assassin, and when I was at your level, I killed quite a few trashy Dharma Aspects. Later, in order to assassinate an important target, I went into the Taichu Palace under an assumed name to get close to the target. Later, I felt that staying in the Taichu Palace was not bad, so I have stayed until now and even became a deputy abbot."

Wei Yuan opened his mouth, but wisely refrained from asking whether the assassination attempt had succeeded. Knowing too much would make him vulnerable to being silenced.

After Zhu Yuanjin left, Wei Yuan composed himself and went to find Cui Yu to discuss the matter of sending troops. The two discussed for a long time before Cui Yu remembered something and asked, "Where are we going to attack?"

Wei Yuan pointed at the map and said, "Here, let's collect some interest first."

The spot Wei Yuan was pointing to was Hanyang Pass.

(End of this chapter)