Longzang

Chapter 530 Reward
Zhu Xiaocun's vision gradually brightened, and he slowly began to remember what had happened. However, he only remembered the overwhelming attacks that landed on him, and then his dharma form seemed to have inhaled a puff of poisonous smoke, after which he remembered nothing more.

He opened his eyes and saw that he was in a prison cell. His physical form was tightly bound, and his body was loose and powerless, making it difficult to even move a finger.

A young man stood before her, his brows furrowed with a strange air of world-weariness, looking at her.

"Who are you? I am the Imperial Censor, the Imperial Envoy of the Court! How dare you kidnap an Imperial Envoy? Do you intend to exterminate your entire family?" Zhu Xiaocun said sternly, showing no fear whatsoever.

The young man smiled slightly and said, "Lord Zhu, since I dared to capture you, I am naturally not afraid of exterminating your entire clan."

Zhu Xiaocun regained some of his senses at this point, and as the young man before him gradually matched the portrait, he exclaimed, "You are Wei Yuan!"

Wei Yuan laughed and said, "That's right, I am Wei Yuan, and this is Qingming. I heard that Lord Zhu intends to strip me of my military power, act as the military governor, and investigate my crimes while he's at it?"

"This is the King's decree, how dare you disobey it?!" Zhu Xiaocun glared angrily.

Wei Yuan suddenly had a sword in his hand. He drew it out, examined it, and then sheathed it again, saying, "Lord Zhu, is your confidence in accepting this task solely based on this imperial sword?"

Zhu Xiaocun sneered and said, "I am here not only relying on an imperial sword! I rely on the eternal legitimacy, the imperial system, and the hearts of the people! Wei Yuan, it is easy for you to kill me, but can you silence the voices of the people?"

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "I was going to ask you what gave you the confidence to stop a million-strong army of the Wu Clan. But now it seems there's no need to ask. You can't stop them. You'll just leave and abandon the people of Qingming to the Wu Clan."

"May the hearts of the people, as you speak of, be those of the pure and upright. The voices of the people refer to those of officials who speak out. Ordinary people are not considered people."

"Ordinary people are ignorant and foolish, only able to see their own petty struggles. What do they know? It is we, the scholars who have inherited the teachings of the sages, who must speak out for the world and for all people!"

"Lord Zhu, have you ever considered whether your so-called voice for the people is truly their voice? Have you ever talked to them, visited their homes, or experienced even half a day of their lives?"

Zhu Xiaocun snorted and said, "What they're thinking about is nothing more than firewood, rice, oil, and salt. You can figure that out with a little thought. Why bother asking or looking?"

Wei Yuan didn't argue with him, saying, "I have benefited greatly from Lord Zhu's words today. From now on, the people of Qingming will have their own channels to speak out, and we don't need anyone to speak for us."

"You are going against the Heavenly Order, committing a heinous crime!" Zhu Xiaocun roared in anger.

Wei Yuan calmly said, "Does Lord Zhu know why I went through all this trouble to bring you to Qingming?"

"Why?"

Wei Yuan grinned, revealing a set of white teeth: "Because in the Azure Netherworld, your souls cannot escape."

Zhu Xiaocun finally realized that he could not escape his fate, and struggled to shout, "Wei Yuan, your perverse actions will surely leave you infamous for eternity, and you will be spurned by all scholars in the world!!"

Wei Yuan smiled and said, "Oh right, I forgot to mention that there is one advantage to Lord Zhu dying in Qingming: his death is completely worthless and not worth mentioning!"
How will history record Lord Zhu's death? Will he have died at the hands of bandits and disappeared without a trace?

No, Lord Zhu's rank is too low; not a single word will be mentioned in the historical records.

Zhu Xiaocun was enraged, roaring furiously at Wei Yuan's retreating figure, straining his chains so hard they rattled, drawing blood from his wrists and ankles. But Wei Yuan was already gone, leaving only his powerless roars in the cell.

In the forging workshop, Ren Suxing had just finished cutting a cannon barrel. He was quite satisfied with the barrel, wrote "superior" on it, and carefully placed it on the shelf.

These long cannon barrels will be used to manufacture a new generation of city defense cannons, which currently only four or five people in the entire forging workshop are capable of producing.

At this moment, a cultivator hurried over and said, "Senior Brother Ren Suxing?" "It's me."

"The latest rewards have been issued. Senior Brother Ren has made great contributions and is on the list. Please gather at the foot of the main peak at noon to receive your reward. Don't be late."

Ren Suxing was somewhat puzzled, not understanding why he had received a reward. Seeing that it was not far from noon, he packed his things and headed to the main peak.

It was noon.

Ren Suxing stood on the open ground below the main peak, surrounded by more than a dozen people, mostly disciples of the Taichu Palace, and six or seven unfamiliar cultivators.

At this moment, Cui Yu appeared and said, "You all have outstanding military merits and other achievements, and you are loyal to the realm. You deserve to be rewarded. This reward is the Heavenly Merit of the Primordial Palace and the gifts of Heaven and Earth. There will be two cages in a moment. Everyone, stand in the designated positions and attack with the designated spells. Cage No. 1 will be ended by Xu Yi, and Cage No. 2 will be ended by Ren Suxing."

In the blink of an eye, two cages were pushed out. The cages were concealed by magic, and nothing could be seen inside. It was impossible to tell whether they were Dharma images or great shamans.

In the past, Wei Yuan would often distribute Heavenly Powers casually during battles, but now he has evolved to directly capturing people to wholesale Heavenly Powers.

Including Ren Suxing, everyone involved had participated in more than one major battle and possessed considerable cultivation; otherwise, their merits wouldn't have ranked so high. No one would refuse heavenly merits, and the allure of gifts from heaven and earth is irresistible.

Even the smallest gift from heaven and earth offers a glimmer of hope for improving one's foundational aptitude for cultivation. Even the faintest hope is still hope, and it is the foundation of a cultivator's future.

The process of bestowing rewards went very smoothly until Ren Suxing unleashed his final Daoist technique into the cage, causing the primordial energy of heaven and earth to pour down from above. No one knew what was inside the cage.

Everyone was extremely excited. Ren Suxing sensed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth cleansing his body and mind, and felt the spiritual energy within his body becoming increasingly pure. His spirits lifted, and his eyes regained their light. After being in Qingming for so long, he had finally taken another small step forward on his path of cultivation.

Ren Suxing had been stuck at the Dharma Form stage for many years. He thought his path to enlightenment had come to an end and he was just waiting for his lifespan to run out before trying to break through to the Dharma Form stage. But he never expected that he would actually have another chance to advance.

At this moment, the two cages were carried to a desolate place, and then Sun Yu appeared, turning the cages and the people into ashes with a single burst of alchemical fire. Wei Yuan appeared, examined the ashes, and then calculated the cause and effect of the qi. Seeing that there were no flaws or loopholes, he nodded.

Sun Yu asked, "What should we do with the escorting soldiers of the delegation? Should we kill them all?"

Wei Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "Killing them would be too wasteful. Besides, these ordinary soldiers are not acting out of their own hands and have not committed any serious crimes. Let them be assigned to front-line units first. If they survive three battles, then they can be assigned to regular units."

"Won't the news leak out?"

Wei Yuan smiled slightly and said, "What news could possibly leak out? These people were bought from bandits, and that's what everyone says. Besides, no envoy should dare to come to Qingming anytime soon. The so-called Qingliu aren't really fearless."

Sun Yu nodded and noted the matter down with Cui Yu, preparing to deal with it later.

"Is my secluded retreat ready?" Wei Yuan asked.

"Everything is ready. Senior Brother Xu will personally guard the outer layer."

Wei Yuan nodded and said, "My Dharma puppet is guarding the inner layer, so there should be no problem. I am going to the Netherworld, and I don't know how long I will be gone. If I haven't come out of seclusion in three days, try to wake me up."

Sun Yu nodded, then said, "Bring back more local specialties from there, such as rare great shamans or something."

(End of this chapter)