Longzang

Chapter 633 The Great Way is Everlasting
In the blink of an eye, it's autumn again in the north. The grass grows and the eagles soar. The Liao people of the north have once again begun their annual large-scale southward invasion. Their military power is so overwhelming that the northern kingdoms can hardly breathe, and their borders have shrunk significantly.

The northern gate of Taichu Palace is now in a very prominent position, almost like an isolated island, with only a small piece of land bordering other countries.

However, compared to a year ago, the situation at the northern mountain gate, though perilous, was not in mortal danger. The defensive lines were gradually contracting, and each territories abandoned inflicted heavy casualties on the Liao people. The defenses were extremely resilient, causing the Liao commanders on the other side to hesitate.

At this time, several thousand new Dao Foundation cultivators were added to the Dao soldiers at the northern mountain gate of Taichu Palace, greatly enhancing the defensive capabilities of the grassroots front.

These Dao Foundation cultivators, who originated from Dao soldiers, even if they cultivated template Dao Foundations, could always find suitable positions on the battlefield and kill enemies without hesitation. There was even a group of people who cultivated the least useful Bright Light Dao Foundation, but they still used the Dao Foundation's ability to slightly raise the temperature to either smelt weapons or improve the battlefield environment, effectively enhancing the combat power of the surrounding soldiers.

Amidst the raging flames of war, the northern gate of Taichu Palace held off nearly half of the Liao army on its own, yet it did not collapse as the various nations had hoped.

In the following months, Qingming conducted two more training sessions for Dao Foundation Establishers. Wei Yuan invested a total of 27,000 Daoist Qi and Luck, adding more than 500 Dao Foundation Establishers to the Cui family, Bao family, and Li family of Southern Qi; he also trained 4,000 independent cultivators and recruited more than 100 Dao Foundation Establishers.

Qingming himself had 15,000 Body Forging Masters participating in the training, and 1,200 new Dao Foundations were added. Due to Wei Yuan's deliberate guidance, more than 400 cultivators cultivated the three Dao Foundations of Chuhe Zhenren (Water, Wood, and Earth), 500 cultivated the Dao Foundation of Yu Zhizhuo (Gold and Fire), and the remaining 200 cultivated combat Dao Foundations and self-selected Dao Foundations.

Sun Yu's clinic now has a sufficient number of disciples, so he raised the bar for accepting disciples and apprentices, and only accepted about ten people in these two sessions.

Xu Henshui remained aloof as always, and few people bothered to modify the templates he provided; ultimately, only three people chose them. However, Xu Henshui soon discovered that even if the Dao Foundation disciples were of mediocre talent, having more of them had its advantages, as manpower was needed for tasks such as charcoal burning, transportation, and guarding the premises. He was filled with regret, but it was too late to change anything.

After two training sessions, Qingming's Dao Foundation cultivators have finally exceeded eight thousand, of which over a thousand are combat cultivators and the rest are template cultivators. Judging by quantity alone, without considering quality, Qingming can already vaguely see the shadow of the original Taichu Palace.

Although Wei Yuan felt sorry for the amount of luck he had invested, he was still very gratified to see thousands of new Dao Foundations being added to the ranks, much like an old father watching his child grow up.

Of course, the one million taels of immortal silver he earned from training the foundations of various families was merely icing on the cake for him. Wei Yuan didn't care about this small amount of money; after all, he had already plundered five million taels from conquering just one Red Sand Oasis, so he really looked down on this hard-earned training fee.

In the past few months, Wei Yuan ordered another batch of mulberry seedlings from Jianmu Palace, enough to plant a million mu (approximately 667 hectares), which were then distributed to various prefectures. The large mulberry fields will be ready for harvest next year, causing a slight decrease in silk prices.

As soon as the price of silk dropped in the production area, major caravans increased their purchases and transported it all to Qingming, since Wei Yuan's purchase price remained unchanged.

At this time, Qingming's monthly production of 500,000 bolts of brocade was stable, of which 200,000 were sent to the human realm and 300,000 were sold to the witch clan.

After subduing the Leize tribe, the Xu family's westward trade route was once again blocked, and all their brocade could not be exported, only sold domestically. Eventually, the price of brocade within the pass stabilized at seven taels. The price of silk for each bolt of brocade was three taels, plus two taels for craftsmen's fees and various other miscellaneous expenses, leaving each family with less than half a tael in profit per bolt of brocade.

The situation stabilized, and the entire brocade weaving industry was in a state of neither starving nor thriving—precisely the situation Wei Yuan hoped to achieve at this stage. Now, various forces and small and medium-sized sects have begun to vigorously cultivate mulberry seedlings, and Wei Yuan is waiting for more fields to be converted into mulberry fields before initiating the next phase of his actions.

It's autumn, and the weather is unpredictable, sometimes cold and sometimes warm.

Inside the Yao family mansion, the patriarch sat in the main hall, flipping through account books while constantly wiping away sweat.

Seven or eight clan elders sat in the room, all with solemn expressions. A full hour later, the Yao family patriarch finished reviewing all the account books, wiped his brow, and said, "At least tens of thousands of bolts of brocade flow from Qingming to various prefectures every month, and even more are sold to the Wu clan. In other words, Qingming may now be able to produce 300,000 bolts of brocade per month."

An elder exclaimed in surprise, "How could there be so many? Our clan only produces 90,000 horses a month now. Could it be that Qingming has suspended its supply to the Wu tribe and is selling them exclusively to the inland areas?"

The Yao family patriarch coldly said, "You would refuse to sell for fifteen taels and insist on selling for five taels? Wei Yuan isn't a spendthrift, why would he like to do a losing business?"

The clan elders remained silent after hearing this. The Yao family patriarch pondered for a long time, his fat face twitching, then suddenly slammed his hand on the armrest and said, "It's settled then! We'll sell all the brocade shops and exchange them for mulberry fields!"

The elders were all shocked and expressed their disapproval. The Yao family had worked hard to build up to this scale, and if they were to sell now, they would lose at least tens of thousands of taels of silver.

The Yao family patriarch said in a deep voice, "There's no need to discuss this matter any further! Judging from the scale of Wei Yuan's silk collection, Qingming will only produce more and more brocade in the future. Keeping the brocade business in our hands won't make us any money. We might as well sell it all while it still fetches a good price and exchange it for mulberry and grain fields. This is the foundation for our family's millennia-long legacy!"

The elders exchanged glances, remaining silent. The patriarch had seized opportunities in recent years, expanding the clan several times over and leaving their old rivals far behind. He now held immense prestige within the clan, making these elders, frankly, little more than puppets—they could offer advice, if any.

The head of the family pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "I heard that Tang'er from the third branch of the family has grown into a beautiful young lady? She's stunningly beautiful? Let me see her."

Just as the servants were about to go and announce the news, the head of the household added, "Call over all the good-looking young men in the clan who are not yet betrothed. Oh, and even those who are already betrothed but not yet married, call them over too!"

A moment later, a dozen or so young girls stood in the main hall, each with bright eyes and white teeth, and outstanding appearance.

The Yao family patriarch rose from his seat, circled the girls several times, carefully selecting them. Finally, he chose the three with the most outstanding appearance, and then the one with the highest cultivation talent, before finally being satisfied. He said:
"Excellent, just enough to make a fortune in all four seasons! The four of you go to Qingming for me, first to pay your respects to the Great Master Chuhe, and then ask him to introduce you to Lord Wei Yuan. After you've met him, you don't need to come back. Whoever stays by his side will be richly rewarded!"

At this moment, an elder hesitated for a moment and said, "Patriarch, the second young master of the Wang family proposed to Shuitang a few days ago, and I have already agreed."

The patriarch's face darkened, and he said, "What is the Wang family? To be the wife of the Wang family's young master is nothing compared to being a maidservant to Lord Wei. Go and cancel this marriage. I doubt his family would dare to compete with Lord Wei for a woman."

At this moment, another clan elder said, "I heard... that Lord Wei also has a nickname, Three Guns, and it seems he has a hidden illness. Sending the girl there might not be appropriate for us."

The patriarch said impatiently, "What do you know! Three shots are still shots, it's not like there wasn't one. The great way is constant, speed inevitably means more shots, just enough to distribute the benefits evenly!"

The elders dared not utter a sound, nor could they refute it. Since the Yao family rose to prominence, the patriarch had frequently slept with ten women a night and had gained considerable insight into the Dao of Yin and Yang. They knew in their hearts that the Yao family was about to completely side with Qingming.

At this moment, in the Azure Sky, Wei Yuan had his first major gain since subduing Leize.

The jade paper contained detailed information about the Shuli Kingdom in the Netherworld. The information confirmed that Shuli had recently suffered a severe injury of unknown cause, and currently only three avatars guarded the kingdom, their strength equivalent to a top-tier blood witch. Compared to his peak of nine avatars, Shuli's current strength had plummeted to its lowest point.

The intelligence also mentioned that Shu Li had mobilized his entire legion to completely surround a Dark Iron Mountain, a key point of suppression within the kingdom, and was on high alert. An avatar was stationed there at all times.

Subsequently, the intelligence detailed the strength and spells proficient of the three avatars, as well as the number and strength of the alien beasts in the legion, and even included a defense map outside the Dark Iron Mountain.

This intelligence came from the shaman of the Leize tribe. The Leize tribe and Shuli both belong to the Rain Kingdom, and the shamans are familiar with each other. There are also shamans from the Leize tribe active in the Shuli kingdom.

Wei Yuan asked Lei Dong for information about the Shuli Kingdom. After waiting for several months, just when he was about to lose patience, he suddenly received this detailed information.

Lei Dong explained that to obtain information about the Netherworld, it was necessary to send a wizard in to deliver a message. After collecting the information, the wizard had to come out of the Netherworld. The process of going in and out took a long time, which is why it took several months.

At this moment, Zhang Sheng had refined all the immortal swords suitable for the Netherworld to Earth Rank, greatly increasing his strength and significantly accelerating his excavation speed. He was on the verge of opening an exit to the outside world. Obtaining this intelligence at this time meant that Shu Li was in the open, while Wei Yuan was in the shadows.

(End of this chapter)