Longzang

Chapter 528 The Stolen Immortal Treasure
At the Western Jin Dynasty palace, just as dawn was breaking, mournful wails and surging sounds echoed from the main hall of the court assembly.

Inside the main hall, Sun Hanlin crawled forward, dragging his two blood-stained legs. With each step, a long trail of blood was left behind him, a shocking sight.

Sun Hanlin, with tears streaming down his face, lamented, "...I said at the time that I was sent on a mission by the King, representing the Prince of Jin. But Wei Yuan actually said that no matter who was behind me, he could attack whomever he wanted, and even if Your Majesty came, it would be useless!"

Then he broke both my legs and left me to die. I barely managed to escape, risking my life countless times, before I was able to return to see the Holy King..."

Seeing Sun Hanlin's miserable state, the upright civil officials in the court were all furious.

"I saw through Wei Yuan's wolfish ambitions long ago, but I never expected him to be so audacious!"

"To insult an imperial envoy deserve the execution of his entire family!"

"Take back his military power, transfer him back to the capital, and then send executioners to capture and behead him!"

The Prince of Jin frowned slightly, feeling a headache coming on from the noise. When he first promoted this group of people, the atmosphere in the court did indeed change.

These upright civil officials were all quick-witted and hated evil, and ordinary people could not argue with them. They were naturally at odds with powerful families such as the Xu and Lü families, and were good at preaching and labeling. With them around, the two powerful families restrained themselves, and Prince Jin immediately felt that the constraints on him had been greatly eased.

However, with the increase in the number of upright officials, some problems also emerged. The most prominent issue was that once these upright officials gained power, they liked to recruit fellow townsmen, classmates, teachers, and fellow students, and soon there were more and more upright officials in the court, and the formation of cliques and factions became increasingly rampant.

Because of Sun Hanlin's predicament, today's court assembly lasted much longer than usual, but ultimately no conclusion was reached. This was because Wei Yuan's envoy had also arrived and insisted that he had never even seen this Sun Hanlin.

Chunhua Palace, filled with the fragrance of incense, was quiet yet imbued with a subtle atmosphere.

Marquis Xiang stood in the hall, watching Consort Yuan coax the young King of Chu, who had just finished drinking milk, to sleep.

After the young King of Chu fell asleep, Consort Yuan looked up at Marquis Xiang and asked, "I've heard that there are some people in the court attacking Wei Yuan recently. Is that true?"

"In recent years, Your Majesty has recruited many upright officials who dare to speak out, granting them the right to critique the officials. Recently, Wei Yuan has been using refugees to resist the Wu tribe, and these people have taken notice of him. Therefore, Your Majesty has specially dispatched Imperial Censor Zhu to Qingming to thoroughly investigate this matter."

Consort Yuan frowned slightly, her tone becoming somewhat impatient, and said, "I know all these things, I don't need you to repeat them! What I want to ask is, whose intention is behind this? Is it the King, the Left Prime Minister, or someone else?"

Marquis Xiang was somewhat embarrassed and said, "This... still needs further investigation..."

Consort Yuan's voice turned cold as she asked, "Among these upright officials who dared to speak out, were there any of our people planted?"

"……No."

"Among those upright individuals, who is someone who can be won over or bribed?"

Marquis Xiang was even more embarrassed and could only say, "I don't know yet."

Suddenly, with a cracking sound, the jade ruyi in Consort Yuan's hand suddenly split open!

Consort Yuan, as if nothing had happened, handed the jade ruyi to the maid beside her and said, "Without resources from Zhao, Uncle can't accomplish anything, is that it?"

"This one……"

"I'm tired, Uncle, please make yourself at home." Consort Yuan picked up the young Prince Chu and headed towards the back hall. Marquis Xiang could only chuckle awkwardly twice before leaving Chunhua Palace.

The capital city, the Crown Prince's residence.

The Crown Prince was engrossed in his work at his desk, having already spent an hour reviewing official documents. At that moment, a soft chime sounded, and a maid announced, "Minister Zhang of the Ministry of Rites has arrived."

"Invite him in."

A moment later, Minister Zhang sat down in the study, took a sip of the Crown Prince's treasured tea, and said, "Your Highness, rest assured, Zhu Xiaocun is my most outstanding student. At such a young age, his methods are already more shrewd than mine were back then. With him on this mission to Qingming, no matter how clean Wei Yuan is, he will be able to find several charges against him that would lead to his execution."

The Crown Prince smiled and said, "That's excellent. We'll have to rely on Lord Zhang for this matter."

"Of course, of course! But there is one thing I don't understand. Wei Yuan came from humble beginnings, yet now he commands a large army. I've heard that even Prince Ying and Yue Jinshan privately praise his military prowess. Wei Yuan has always been stationed on the frontier and has rarely visited the capital. Why would the Crown Prince suddenly want to deal with him?"

The Crown Prince smiled and said, "It's not that I want to deal with him, but now is just the right time. When my father appointed him as a military governor, it was out of necessity. Now that the Wu tribe's army is pressing in, and Qingming is in turmoil, it's the perfect opportunity to reclaim some of the power that the court has given him."

Minister Zhang suddenly realized what was going on, chatted for a few more minutes, and then took his leave.

At this moment, a beautiful and graceful woman entered the study carrying a bowl of soup and said, "Are you tired? I've made you some medicinal soup. Drink it while it's hot."

The Crown Prince took the bowl and finished drinking, then asked, "When will the Left Prime Minister be available? I would like to discuss some matters with him as soon as possible."

The woman said, "My father said that the situation is sensitive these days, and the king may have become suspicious, so we should not meet for the time being."

The Crown Prince nodded and said, "Very well, let's see how Wei Yuan deals with that fierce dog, Zhu Xiaocun."

……

In Qingming, the eastern town of Zhike, the town was brightly decorated and lavishly furnished, showing no sign that Qingming was suffering from the ravages of war.

One convoy after another arrived in the town and were led to the freight yard outside the town to park their vehicles. At this time, all the inns in the town were full. Many people had arrived late, and only a few leaders of the group were able to stay in the town. The rest of the people had to set up tents outside the town to spend the night.

Every now and then, a high-ranking cultivator would fly in alone and land outside the town, where he would announce his name and identity before being welcomed into the town.

The town was bustling with people, incredibly lively. Countless torches lined both sides of the main street, illuminating it like daytime even at midnight. The shops on both sides of the street had been requisitioned, displaying various types of armor, swords, grains, medicinal herbs, and other Qingming specialties. Numerous people stopped at each stall, listening with great interest to the specially arranged guides explaining the goods.

With Wei Yuan hosting this treasure appreciation event, every nearby power that could get there in time would surely be present. Even those with absolutely no connection to Qing Ming would send someone to see what kind of treasure had appeared that would prompt Wei Yuan to hold such a grand treasure appreciation event.

Since so many people had come, Wei Yuan naturally wouldn't let such a good opportunity pass by, and only displayed one immortal treasure. With so many people present, Wei Yuan also conveniently displayed all the products that Qingming could currently trade abroad, and took the opportunity to see if there were any trade opportunities.

As expected, everyone was very interested, especially the breastplate produced by Qingming, which attracted numerous inquiries, with some even offering to pay in immortal silver to reserve it on the spot.

The actual treasure appreciation event lasted only half an hour. Wei Yuan didn't mince words and got straight to the point, displaying the Yin Bullet in front of hundreds of guests.

When the effect of reducing one's lifespan by ten thousand years appeared, the entire audience was instantly in an uproar!

The crowd's expressions varied, some excited, some shocked, but a few looked unusually grim. However, most people were simply enjoying the spectacle, relaxed and excited.

They all knew very well that their own Ancestor Yujing was not worthy of taking a hit from this celestial treasure.

After everyone clearly saw the life-reducing characteristic and discussed it for a while, Wei Yuan then demonstrated the second characteristic of Yin Bullet: guaranteed hit.

The room fell silent. The men who had been mocking him became serious and could no longer laugh.

Inside the venue, some people were itching to make a move, but when they thought of the several powerful experts from the Imperial Realm sitting around them, they had to give up any such thoughts.

After showing off his wares for a while, Wei Yuan announced loudly, "Today's treasure viewing is just an excuse. My real intention is to take this opportunity to invite everyone here to exchange goods. All the tradable items are in town, and you are welcome to look around. However, Qingming is currently at war with the Wu Clan, so please do not leave this town. Otherwise, misunderstandings will not be good for anyone."

At this moment, someone suddenly shouted, "I've heard that Qingming can cultivate those who originally had no hope of establishing a Dao Foundation into one. Is that true?"

Wei Yuan stopped and said, "How can they all be cultivated to the Dao Foundation stage? If they're unlucky, only seven or eight out of a hundred will succeed."

The man immediately became excited: "It's really true! If my family wants to ask the Realm Lord to nurture our Dao Foundation, what price would we have to pay?"

Wei Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "At the beginning, you only need to pay some basic fees. After the foundation is forged, you can charge fees based on the number of successful people."

"What if no one lays the foundation for the Dao?"

"Since no one has succeeded, there will naturally be no extra fee. But this has never happened before."

"Is there any flaw in the foundation of your Dao?"

Wei Yuan said, "We do recommend some of our unique template Dao Foundations based on the students' individual circumstances, which can greatly increase the chances of successfully forging a Dao Foundation. All template Dao Foundations are human-level Dao Foundations, just like normal Dao Foundations."

"Can it also extend lifespan?"

"Of course!"

The man asked several more questions, which Wei Yuan patiently answered one by one. In an instant, everyone present, from nearly a hundred large and small powerful families, was captivated.

After answering the man's question, Wei Yuan left the venue. The crowd immediately surrounded the Qingming cultivator in the venue, beginning to inquire in detail about the foundational training.

A small door in the corner of the hall opened, and the person who had just asked Wei Yuan a question quietly slipped out. He then removed his disguise and revealed his true form, which was none other than Cui Yu.

Cui Yu discovered that as long as he was wearing someone else's face, saying those things, and doing those things, he didn't feel ashamed at all; on the contrary, he enjoyed it.

Qingming's treasure-appreciation event ended in chaos, but the echoes lingered long afterward.

The crowd bought hundreds of thousands of taels of silver worth of supplies from Qingming in one go, and the number of people who signed up for the Dao Foundation training exceeded 50,000! Some families and chambers of commerce signed up several thousand people at once.

The price for training a Foundation Establishment cultivator in Qingming is now 50% higher than the price paid to the Cui family, but people are still flocking to it. Because they simply cannot accommodate so many people, Wei Yuan had to use a lottery system to select 3,000 places from tens of thousands of applicants to form a new Foundation Establishment training class.

The frenzied registration scene made Wei Yuan realize that the price for training Dao Foundation cultivators was too low.

Wei Yuan's original offer was based on the merit system of the Taichu Palace and had been approved by the Cui family. But now it seems that the Taichu Palace underestimated the value of ordinary Dao Foundation cultivators, and the Cui family did the same.

Whether it's a celestial palace or a powerful clan, they are all high above, only seeing those with celestial foundations and heavenly foundations, considering those below the earthly foundation as insignificant. But it's different in those medium-sized or even small families and forces. Earthly foundation cultivators are the backbone of the family, and human foundation cultivators also have great use.

Wei Yuan immediately assigned Renjian Yanhuo a task: to calculate how much a human-level Dao Foundation cultivator was worth.

While Wei Yuan was busy making money, news of the Treasure Appreciation Conference spread like wildfire throughout the nine kingdoms.

In the secret realm of the Xu family ancestral land, Xu Wangu, dressed as a young boy, looked at the image of the Yin Bullet before him, carefully sensing the aura within. His face was expressionless, but the entire hall was constantly shaking.

The elders lying below were all trembling, none of them daring to raise their heads.

After a long silence, Xu Wangu finally managed to squeeze out a few words through gritted teeth: "This thing is meant for me to see!"

An elder below boldly said, "Actually, it may not necessarily be aimed at the Immortal Ancestor. I doubt that Lü Changhe can withstand this attack."

Xu Wangu's tone softened a bit, and he said, "That's true, nobody wants to touch this thing. But such a treasure cannot remain in Wei Yuan's hands. You should devise a plan, whether it's an exchange or a theft, in short, find a way to get this celestial treasure over here."

Just as the elders received their orders, another elder entered the main hall and reported, "Reporting to the Immortal Ancestor, we have just received news from Qingming that the immortal treasure that can reduce one's lifespan by ten thousand years has been stolen and its whereabouts are currently unknown!"

(End of this chapter)