Longzang

Chapter 386 No More Trouble

As supplies from Hanyang Pass were gradually transported back, the eight hundred Daoist soldiers also returned to Qingming. After a brief experience of being bandits, the soldiers were all very excited and quite interested in changing professions.

Wei Yuan quickly ushered them all to cultivation, preventing their thoughts from wandering further. If the Dao soldiers handed over by the sect turned into bandits, their master would likely come to clean house.

More members of the Cui family arrived one after another, bringing the total to five hundred. They, along with eight hundred Dao soldiers and two hundred realm cultivators, were the members of this session of the Dao Foundation Accelerated Training Class.

Expanding to 1,500 people at once put some pressure on Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan originally had different procedures for dealing with Dao soldiers and realm cultivators. Simply put, they would have one more chance to forge their Dao foundation according to their own wishes. If that failed, they could then choose the Dao foundation template provided by Wei Yuan.

However, after discussing with the cultivators of the Taichu Palace, Wei Yuan ultimately decided to use the same procedure for the Cui family members, giving them an extra chance. Although this would consume the remaining water in the Qingming Pool, Wei Yuan instinctively felt that maintaining basic fairness within the same group was also important.

This issue provides an additional Dao base template, namely the launching flying sword that Wei Yuan just made.

This flying sword has no complicated shape or unnecessary functions; its only extraordinary feature is that its rear half can explode, propelling the front half to accelerate and increase its power. If loaded into a specially made magical gun, it becomes a powerful flying sword projectile.

It is precisely because of its simplicity and unpretentiousness that it has further expanded the scope of the human-level Dao foundation, making another significant contribution to the expansion of the immortal path in the human realm.

However, multiple flying swords can be forged. In other words, after the Dao foundation is forged, depending on individual talent, there may be one, three or five, or even more.

With Wei Yuan as a shining example, the cultivators of Taichu Palace had already begun to rack their brains and research new Dao foundations. They soon discovered that as long as one was shameless, developing a new Dao foundation was not difficult at all.

So Yu Zhizhuo took out five Geng metals, and Sun Yu obtained the innate life-giving water.

The old Taoist priest originally wanted to create a water or wood element Dao foundation, but since he already possessed six Jia-Yi divine wood energies, breaking through the lower limit would be difficult. Therefore, after much deliberation, he developed a Beast Taming Immortal Heart. This Dao foundation excels at gaining the favor of spirit beasts, making it easier to tame powerful spirit beasts as spirit pets.

However, these three are Wei Yuan's elders after all, so they still have some face to save. Although the new Dao Foundation template is better than the ones Wei Yuan developed, its name is much inferior.

After settling those who were to lay the foundation for the Dao, the 300,000 Xu family members and government soldiers prisoners of war were also dealt with. Most of those who could return had already gone back, and the rest were helpless and alone, totaling 299,000.

Wei Yuan chose an afternoon to gather everyone together. Three hundred thousand people gathered in one place—it was a sea of ​​people. When Wei Yuan ascended the platform, everyone fell silent, knowing that what he was about to say concerned their own fate.

Wei Yuan channeled his Dao power, adding a touch of dragon energy he had obtained from the dragon bones. True dragons possess an innate dragon might, and their suppression of lower-level beings is exceptionally terrifying, far more pronounced than that of the Laurel Immortal Tree or the Ice Glass Divine Wood. Therefore, as soon as Wei Yuan spoke, those closer to the platform trembled uncontrollably, and many even collapsed to the ground.

"Look, who is this?"

Two cultivators escorted Xu Chunyuan up to the high platform, causing an immediate commotion below. People quickly recognized Xu Chunyuan, and the news spread like wildfire until everyone knew.

Wei Yuan said, "This man was originally the garrison commander of Hanyang Pass, and he is standing here now. So the Xu family can't save you, and no one else can! Now, I want to talk about the arrangements for you. Under this system, as long as you complete the tasks assigned to you diligently, you may be able to get rid of your current status, and you may even become soldiers under my command."

Next, Wei Yuan announced a new identity system. This system had two tracks: merit and cultivation level, with everyone starting as a criminal. Criminals were like prisoners, and the punishments for their mistakes were extremely severe, with dozens of crimes punishable by beheading. Once criminals accumulated enough merit, they became soldiers. These soldiers were not ordinary soldiers, but rather similar to prison camps or suicide squads within the military.

After soldiers came civilians, and then registered officers and soldiers. This is the hierarchy of social status.

As your Body Forging cultivation level increases, you'll receive corresponding benefits, including more responsibilities and faster accumulation of merit. Each Body Forging stage has numerous exclusive tasks.

If one's physical body reaches the level of bone forging and one is willing to sign a blood pact, then one can directly bypass the status of a criminal and become a soldier.

The merit required for promotion varies for each rank. It doesn't take much to go from criminal to soldier; if you are diligent and don't commit any crimes, you can be promoted in a year at most. But it takes three years to go from soldier to civilian, and six years to go from civilian to officer.

Wei Yuan hasn't refined this mechanism yet. His initial idea is to subdivide the criminal stage into more than a dozen stages, with the first few stages being fast and the later ones slowing down. The first few stages can be upgraded in a few days, while the later ones will take ten, twenty, or even a hundred days.

There are many similar systems in historical records, and they are also mentioned in Xu Wenwu's materials.

With the announcement of the new identification system, all the prisoners quieted down considerably, and the previous unease subsided considerably. Otherwise, according to convention, with so many prisoners suddenly appearing, if there wasn't enough food, some would likely have to be slaughtered. Now, with this complex system, it was clear that Wei Yuan didn't intend to kill them.

The most important task for the convicts right now is to cultivate the land. They will work with the newly joined refugees to reclaim wasteland on the edge of the boundary. That area is far from the boundary stone, and the change of heaven and earth has only just begun. The newly cultivated land may not even yield two hundred catties of grain. However, there are enough people now, and Wei Yuan's first step is to cultivate a million acres of land before considering anything else.

Then, some literate, physically capable, and relatively intelligent criminals and refugees would be sent to Yu Zhizhuo to undertake tasks such as quarrying, mining, building furnaces, and constructing bridges.

The remaining people were conscripted to build the city walls and dig underground fortifications. Wei Yuan remained wary of the Xu family and, frankly, didn't trust the Western Jin Dynasty either. If it weren't for the fierce fighting from the Liao people in the north, the Western Jin army might have reached the border at any time.

However, Wei Yuan and the other cultivators had some disagreements, mainly regarding the nine Pure Spirit Trees that Wei Yuan had brought back. Although the Pure Spirit Trees were merely spiritual plants, they could significantly improve the surrounding environment and enhance spiritual energy.

According to Master Chuhe's idea, all nine trees should be planted in the medicine garden. This would allow the Nine Palaces Spirit Gathering Array to be set up, greatly increasing the concentration of spiritual energy in the medicine garden, and the growth rate of all spiritual plants in the garden would increase accordingly.

The others had no objections, except for Yu Zhizhuo, who proposed an alternative: the Nine Palaces Spirit Gathering Array would still be effective if placed in the weapon forging workshop, improving both the quantity and quality. However, the cultivators still felt that, according to tradition, such spirit trees should be placed in the medicine garden.

However, Wei Yuan ultimately only planted three spirit trees in the herb garden, setting up a small Three Talents Gathering Spirit Array. This array's effect was only about 20% of the Nine Palaces Array. The remaining six spirit trees were planted in ordinary fields, especially around several corrupted plots of land.

This can inhibit the expansion of humus, protect ordinary fields, and increase the yield of ordinary fields. Calculations show that this can yield an additional two million catties of grain per season.

This matter led to an unusual argument among the cultivators.

One point of contention was that the cultivators believed that mortals only needed to be kept from starving; ensuring they were fed was considered a benevolent act in the world. They argued that such an important resource as the Pure Spirit Tree had more pressing uses and shouldn't be used on mortals.

Only then did Wei Yuan realize that the cultivators had been quite critical of his constant allocation of resources to mortals, and this finally erupted when it came to the important matter of the Qingling Tree's distribution.

Even if immortals and mortals are treated equally, from the perspective of the entire realm's output, there are still disagreements about whether setting up the Nine Palaces Formation in the herb garden or distributing it across mortal fields would yield greater benefits. If viewed from this perspective, Yu Zhizhuo's plan becomes extremely competitive.

The breastplates, weapons, and tools produced by the blacksmith's workshop are in high demand and short supply, especially the breastplates; they sell as many as are produced. The increased production and improved quality translate into quantifiable amounts of immortal silver. Using the extra immortal silver to buy grain, the amount would certainly exceed two million catties.

To be honest, Wei Yuan couldn't win either of these arguments. In the end, he had to use his status as a realm master, plus the fact that the spiritual plant was a direct gift from True Monarch Huang Yun, to end the debate.

Wei Yuan couldn't explain why, it was just an instinctive feeling that if his fields didn't produce enough grain, he would panic.

After the argument ended, the cultivators were all in harmony again, having forgotten all the unpleasantness from before.

Sun Yu said, "The Great Curse of Cause and Effect came suddenly this time. I think it might not be a coincidence."

Chuhe Zhenren's eyes lit up, and he slowly asked, "You mean, there's a traitor inside?"

Sun Yu nodded: "Otherwise, there's no way to explain it. I recently took advantage of my recovery to cast a divination to predict the secrets of heaven, and the divination results do indeed show that the Great Curse of Cause and Effect is related to the traitor."

Yu Zhizhuo said, "Investigating this matter is neither easy nor difficult. It only requires some time and resources. First, we need to set up a grand formation to calculate the secrets of heaven and prevent internal traitors from disrupting them. Then, we need to investigate everyone who can ascend to the main peak. Most of the time, we should have results. If that doesn't work, we can expand the scope. There are only about two thousand people in total, so we should be able to find them."

Feng Tingyu suddenly said, "Some people left the realm around that time, and we can't let them go either."

All the cultivators nodded in agreement, finding the idea reasonable, but their views on the Mingwang Palace remained unchanged despite Feng Tingyu's occasional flashes of inspiration.

Wei Yuan had already thought about this matter and considered it repeatedly. He said, "There may be an inside traitor, but he must be very well hidden. If we launch a large-scale search, we might be able to find him, but there is also a high chance that we will arrest the wrong person. There are many similar cases in history that eventually became sensational cases with far-reaching implications."

At this point, Wei Yuan smiled and said, "Anyway, even the Great Curse of Cause and Effect couldn't kill me, so there aren't many things that can kill me anymore. Even if we catch an insider, there's not much benefit in it. I think we have so many things to do now, so let's not make things harder for ourselves."

After thinking for a moment, the cultivators, though still unwilling, all agreed with Wei Yuan's idea.

Ningzhou, a city that lasts for millennia.

Exhausted, Fan Donghe walked out of Suye Hall. Suye Hall was a key location for the Xu family to gather intelligence and eliminate traitors, and it was always feared. Since the day he returned, Fan Donghe had to report to Suye Hall every day and undergo interrogation for several hours.

Fan Donghe was, after all, a Dharma Minister with formidable combat power, and there was no evidence of him defecting to the enemy, so the stewards of the Suye Hall treated him fairly politely and did not torture him. After questioning him each day, they would let him go home to spend the night.

But others didn't receive the same treatment. Those officers who had been released by Wei Yuan were all brought back immediately after the Xu family took over Hanyang Pass, and the core question they were asked was: why did Wei Yuan release them?

There was no answer to this question. The officers gave all sorts of different answers, which naturally did not satisfy the officials, so they resorted to torture. More than a thousand officers were captured from Hanyang Pass this time, and the Suye Hall was overcrowded. The torture chambers were simply not enough, and many single torture chambers had to be crammed with four or five people, all squeezed together for torture.

The officers knew this matter could be serious or minor, but if it fell into the hands of the Suye Hall, it would only escalate. Therefore, they did everything in their power to mobilize their families, hoping to get themselves out of trouble. As a result, the various officials and stewards of the Suye Hall made a fortune.

(End of this chapter)