Longzang

Chapter 773 Pui

"There is no one else here, so the Immortal Venerable does not need to care about other people's opinions."

This was the first time Wei Yuan truly looked at Fuyao. She was born with an ethereal and clear-minded nature, detached from worldly strife, as if she were a part of the universe itself, like the clearest spring water, never tainted by the filth of the world. This was the essence of a fairy orchid.

"This isn't about what others think; it's about principles and bottom lines!" Wei Yuan said very seriously.

Fuyao was somewhat puzzled and asked, "What's the difference?"

Wei Yuan said, "Such matters require mutual consent; there should be no coercion or other motives involved. You're asking me to save someone for this reason, isn't that just a transaction?"

"The reason why the Immortal Venerable does not want to save people is simply because he feels that they are not worth the effort. So I will make up for it with myself. What's wrong with that? Compared with the women outside, Fuyao is not inferior to them in the slightest. Moreover, it will be of great benefit to the Immortal Venerable."

Looking at her serious yet calm demeanor, as if discussing something as trivial as how to cook dinner tonight, and genuinely not thinking it was a big deal, Wei Yuan felt a headache coming on. Convincing this girl, who was as innocent as a blank sheet of paper, would likely require a great deal of persuasion.

In the end, Wei Yuan decided to skip the formalities and said, "In short, this won't work! I'll consider it carefully, but I'm not sure if I'll have the necessary equipment to save him. If we can save him, you won't need to do anything."

Fuyao frowned slightly and asked, "Why does the Immortal Venerable seem so hesitant? Could it be that you feel this matter is inappropriate?"

"Not good? That's extremely bad!"

"Who defines good and bad, and how is it defined? Forgive my bluntness, but does the Immortal Venerable have this idea because of the concept of etiquette?"

Wei Yuan was taken aback and asked, "Where did you learn all this?"

"This world is filled with countless books, and more are being added every day. Fuyao reads them whenever she has free time. The books say that the traditional rites and ethics are the most harmful, they devour people without spitting out the bones."

“The idea that etiquette can devour people is an overcorrection, or it's an excuse for some bad people to commit evil. Even without etiquette, they would still do evil, they just wouldn't find another excuse. Without etiquette, how are people different from livestock?” Wei Yuan said.

"In the eyes of Heaven and Earth, all sentient beings are equal. Why do humans think they are superior to other creatures? In the eyes of divine beasts and sacred beings, aren't we humans just livestock?"

Faced with Fuyao's earnestness, Wei Yuan felt a headache coming on and said, "Forget it, I'm not talking to you. What's his current state? Is he just sitting here or what?"

"I will take him to Jianmu Island to settle him, where his physical body can remain intact. Then we will await news from the Immortal Venerable."

"Okay, so be it."

Wei Yuan's figure flashed and disappeared.

After Wei Yuan left, Fuyao pointed her finger, and a strange flower grew on the ground. Its petals were as large as cartwheels, enveloping Long Wushuang's corpse.

At that moment, a vague figure appeared behind Fuyao and asked, "Did he agree?"

"No, I just said I'd consider it."

The blurry figure said, "I didn't expect his Dao heart to be so firm. Even with you taking action, you still couldn't subdue him."

"The Immortal Venerable's Dao Heart... is just so-so."

"Why do you say that?"

Fuyao didn't answer, but instead picked up her clothes and put them on one by one. The figure seemed oblivious to what was happening, only asking, "What do you mean? What happened?"

"Nothing, I should go now."

However, after taking only two steps, Fuyao frowned slightly and muttered to herself, "Etiquette and morality are useless. All living beings are equal. I'll have to have a good talk with him about this next time."

Wei Yuan returned to Jade Mountain, looked up at the full moon in the sky, and then saw that the full moon was also looking at him.

Wei Yuan bowed to the full moon and said, "I have a capable subordinate named Long Wushuang who needs the help of heavenly fortune. Would you be so kind as to grant me another one to save him?"

The three-eyed bird head coldly looked at Wei Yuan and transmitted a chilling thought: Current debt: seventy-five.

Wei Yuan was shocked, never expecting that he had incurred such a huge debt again! More than seventy strands of celestial fortune were far more valuable than the twenty million taels of immortal silver he had received back then!

Wei Yuan forced himself to bow again: "Human life is at stake, please make an exception." The three-eyed bird head then transmitted a thought: Not worth it.

After some thought, Wei Yuan understood the meaning of the three-eyed bird head. The world of cultivators was becoming increasingly prosperous; Han Li and Jun Weizhi were advancing to the Dharma Aspect stage, and more and more people were awakening various innate Dao bodies, Saint bodies, and other special physiques. With Long Wushuang's current aptitude, advancing to the Dharma Aspect stage might not offer any advantage. Generally speaking, as a large number of cultivators emerge, exceptionally talented individuals will gradually appear.

However, if Long Wushuang could reach the level of Han Li and Jun Weizhi in terms of Dharma Aspect, Wei Yuan would feel it wouldn't be a loss. But the Three-Eyed Bird Head clearly believed that his talent did not reach the level of a Celestial Aspect.

However, at the Dao Foundation stage, Long Wushuang's talent, if not on par with Jun Weizhi, was at least slightly superior to Han Li's. How come he couldn't do it at the Dharma Aspect stage?

Thinking of this, Wei Yuan suddenly remembered that he hadn't seen a single strand of profound energy in the past two months! With this in mind, Wei Yuan roughly understood why Han Lijun's unknown Dharma Aspect was of such a high grade.

However, Wei Yuan did not intend to pursue the matter further. What's past is past, and the two of them had made great contributions to his return.

But Wei Yuan immediately remembered something else. Since he hadn't seen any Xuan Qi, and Dugu Cangqiong was also fighting on the front lines, why hadn't his talent moved forward?
Since the three-eyed bird head did not intend to bestow celestial fortune, Wei Yuan could not force the relationship between the two parties to be one of grace, nor could he make demands on it at will.

Once outside the mortal realm, Wei Yuan summoned his generals and began mustering troops, preparing to march on Hanyang and Nanping prefectures to reclaim lost territory. Li Chengfeng had already withdrawn his troops some time ago, and if the Xu family intended to make further moves, their army should already be assembling. Time was running out for Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan first looked at the intelligence sent by Li Chengfeng. At this moment, the two counties were occupied by the Sixth Princess of the Great Zhao, whose troops numbered 150,000 elite soldiers and 100,000 miscellaneous soldiers, and had taken over the defense of Hanyang and Huangping counties.

After reading the battle report, Wei Yuan sent someone to notify the generals of each unit to come to the central military camp in the city for a meeting.

The generals are now stationed in newly built military cities in the northern part of Qingming.

The Immortal City is relatively private, inhabited mainly by cultivators from the Primordial Palace, who generally dislike outsiders disturbing their cultivation. Unless it involves fundamental matters of cultivation, Wei Yuan no longer summons the generals to the Immortal City.

The military city had been built to a very impressive scale, with a three-story hall standing in the central army camp, which was where Wei Yuan held meetings. Cui Yu, Xu Yi, and others had already moved their military affairs here. Yu Zhizhuo, Sun Yu, and others also had offices here, specifically handling matters related to military equipment.

The military city is 600 li away from the core boundary stone, located directly north of Qingming. It can be accessed to the east to reach Hanyang Pass, and to the west to defend against the Wu tribe.

As soon as Wei Yuan made his decision, the Dao Foundation warriors stationed in various locations simultaneously notified all the major generals to proceed to the main hall for the military council. By the time Wei Yuan arrived, all the generals had already gathered.

Wei Yuan walked into the main hall from the back and sat down in the central seat. At this moment, nearly a hundred generals and civil officials were standing in the hall, and for a moment, a military atmosphere arose in the hall.

Seeing so many people, Wei Yuan was quite surprised at first, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized that Qingming's population was now approaching 15 million. Because of the existence of countless beings, the threshold for recruiting and training soldiers was extremely low. In the past, any able-bodied young man was enough, but now it had been raised to the point where one needed to complete the muscle forging process.

At this time, Qingming had over a million trained warriors and 300,000 sets of heavy armor, meaning that Qingming could directly deploy a million-strong army when necessary. Moreover, with firearms in place, the minimum combat strength of any unit would be very high. During the war with the Rain Kingdom, countless civilians who had only been trained for a dozen days were sent to the battlefield, yet they still inflicted considerable casualties on the Witch Clan.

Currently, the Qingming Army has a standing elite force of 300,000, including 200,000 heavily armored soldiers. It is perfectly normal for a force of this size to have a hundred members attending court meetings.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Wei Yuan immediately began to make arrangements. The first military matter was addressed to a civil official: "Mr. Liu, as the saying goes, an army must have a just cause. We are now recovering lost territory, and we already have the righteous cause. I would like to ask you to write a proclamation and spread it throughout the world first thing tomorrow morning to boost the morale of our army."

The civil official had a short beard and was quite handsome. His name was Liu Tong, and in the literary world, his reputation surpassed even that of Cai Shizhi. Yet, he had willingly become the military advisor of the Qingming Army. Upon receiving Wei Yuan's order, he immediately agreed.

Wei Yuan looked at the map and said, "Now the sixth princess of Zhao is leading the army. Hmm, there's a saying in military books: 'Subdue the enemy without fighting.' Let's write her a letter first. If we can get her to withdraw her troops on her own, that would be best, saving us trouble."

Liu Tong naturally took on this task without hesitation, asking, "What does the letter say?"

Wei Yuan said, "There are three main points. First, all looted property must be handed over and not taken away. Anyone who keeps any will be considered to be at war. Second, all prisoners must be handed over without disguise or concealment. Third, to ensure the smooth implementation of the first two points, the entire army must undergo a body search. No one is exempt. That's all there is to it."

Liu Tong was also stunned for a moment before saying, "The military governor is indeed benevolent!"

Wei Yuan chuckled and immediately began to muster his troops. This time, Wei Yuan selected a rather strange force: 60,000 main force troops, 20,000 heavily armed and 40,000 lightly armed. This was all well and good enough, nothing out of the ordinary.

Strangely, Wei Yuan appointed 200,000 logistics and supply transport troops, along with 5,000 light cavalry.

The gathering of hundreds of thousands of people is no small matter. Even with Qingming's current mobilization capabilities, it will take several days. The vanguard set off ten days later. During this time, the letter had already been delivered to the Sixth Princess, and a reply had already arrived.

Seeing the exquisitely crafted envelope, and having long heard that the Sixth Princess and the Crown Prince were born of the same mother, and that the Queen's beauty had once surpassed that of Consort Yuan and Consort Ning, Wei Yuan was quite interested in the Sixth Princess. The fact that the Sixth Princess had replied so quickly suggested that things must have gone very smoothly.

Wei Yuan eagerly opened the letter, only to find a single, flamboyant character on the paper: "Pah!"

(End of this chapter)