Longzang

What is the origin of Chapter 816?
With the first sub-grandvehouse operating successfully, Wei Yuan pressed on and immediately began calculating the second orbit.

With the foundation laid by the first point, the second point became much easier. Wei Yuan no longer needed to go into seclusion for long periods of time; he could move around the territory every now and then to handle various political affairs.

Wei Yuan established the Realm Lord's Hall in the central city of Yong'an, where all matters concerning immortals and mortals were handled. To the left of the main hall was the City Lord's Mansion, and to the right was the Hall of State Affairs.

Wei Yuan first looked at the Qingyuan Publishing House.

At this time, more than a year had passed since the first issuance of Qingyuan coins. The demand for Qingyuan coins was extremely high, and four more printings had been made. At this point, the number in circulation had exceeded one hundred million.

As the issuer of Qingyuan, Qingming Money Shop has expanded its staff to nearly 10,000, but it is still extremely busy, and is overwhelmed by all kinds of deposit and exchange matters.

Major merchants who want to purchase goods from Qingming must initially borrow a sum of Qingyuan. This business alone requires sixty to seventy million yuan. Then, the study and living expenses of the scions of various noble families in Qingming also require a large amount of Qingyuan, another twenty to thirty million yuan.

The last part is the salary distributed through Qingming's internal merit system. Originally, mortals in Qingming who were capable of working, without considering cultivation, could earn an average of a little merit per year.

This was because so many new refugees had joined Qingming, causing the population to swell tenfold. As a result, the number of competitors for all jobs increased tenfold. Consequently, the reward for the same job was reduced again and again, eventually dropping to a quarter of its original value, yet countless people still vied for it.

However, with the issuance of Qingyuan and the establishment of a national salary system, in less than a year, the average annual merit points rose from one to three!

Behind this astonishing increase is an eightfold expansion of the labor force and a slight decrease in the average casting quality. In other words, without anything changing, these ordinary people are doing three times the work they used to.

With three times the merit points plus an equivalent amount of Azure Coins, the money and provisions an ordinary mortal earned in the past year were directly increased to six times that of the previous year. As a result, everyone was grateful, and Wei Yuan's Azure Qi flowed continuously and endlessly.

Having figured out the underlying principle, Wei Yuan felt somewhat embarrassed.

These mortals work hard, and the more they do, the more they earn—all of this is rightfully theirs, and they even have to contribute their luck to Wei Yuan. However, outside the Azure Netherworld, mortals don't even have many opportunities to work, and no matter how much they do, they only receive a meager amount to barely make ends meet.

After achieving stability and prosperity, ordinary people focus on two things: cultivating their bodies and raising children.

Those who can reach the Azure Sky are all young and strong. Although there are not many women, hundreds of thousands of babies are born every year. For almost every baby's birth, the parents contribute an extra bit of luck.

There are now ten million Qingming people with meritorious service records, and thirty million Qingyuan have been issued just for their salaries.

Out-of-town merchants keenly spotted a business opportunity: if their shops accepted payment in Qingyuan coins, they would receive a corresponding discount. These Qingyuan coins, in turn, flowed into the merchants' hands and could be used to repay Qingming Money Shop.

With the issuance of Qingyuan, the number of cultivators who voluntarily went to Qingming to work in order to earn Qingyuan has increased dramatically, more than ten times more than in the past.

Qingming welcomes all cultivators who wish to join, employing a standard procedure involving blood contracts and template oaths, albeit with a time limit. This time limit is carefully designed; generally, the contract requires ten years of service to Qingming, followed by a thirty-year period after which the individual must not become Qingming's enemy, after which their freedom is unrestricted.

The influx of cultivators caused the demand for Qingyuan to rise steadily, requiring several additional printings, yet the demand still could not be met. Wei Yuan also strictly controlled the printing of Qingyuan, leading to the emergence of many people engaged in the exchange of Qingyuan in the private sector; these people were collectively known as Qingyuan dealers.

Currently, the official exchange rate between Qingyuan and Xianyin remains one to one, but on the black market, one Qingyuan can now be exchanged for one tael and two qian of Xianyin.

Although there were precedents in the outer world, Wei Yuan was then in an illusion formed by resentment, just an ordinary person using money, and felt nothing at all. But now, from the perspective of the issuer of Qingyuan, Wei Yuan sees something different.

Immortal Silver is the most common basic material in the cultivation world. It is created by cultivators nurturing mortal silver with their magical power for a sufficient period of time, transforming it into immortal silver. To convert even a small amount of immortal silver, the spiritual energy must be sufficient, requiring either a low-level cultivator to nurture it for a long time or a high-level cultivator to quickly simmer it over a high flame. Therefore, immortal silver has a price, and it is extremely stable.

But what about Qingyuan?

The actual cost of printing ten million Qingyuan coins is only a few thousand taels of silver. Now that one hundred million Qingyuan coins are circulating, it is equivalent to one hundred million taels of silver worth of goods or services flowing into Qingming.

These people either provided goods or worked for Qingming, and all they received in return was a few banknotes.

On the surface, Qingyuan was anchored to Immortal Silver, but in reality, Wei Yuan did not hoard an equivalent amount of Immortal Silver, nor did he intentionally purchase any. In other words, Qingyuan was actually based on the credit of the Qingming Realm and even Wei Yuan himself.

Wei Yuan suddenly had an idea. If he suddenly announced that Qingyuan was invalid, or that it would no longer be possible to exchange Qingming for immortal silver, wouldn't everyone's Qingyuan become worthless? And the wealth worth one hundred million would fall into Wei Yuan's hands.

Even if Wei Yuan wasn't that unscrupulous, changing the exchange rate of Qingyuan to one yuan for half a tael of immortal silver would still result in fifty million taels of immortal silver being directly deposited into his account. This approach seems a bit too simple and crude. If he were more meticulous, for example, by deducting only 10% or half a tael, or even less, people might not even notice anything, while Wei Yuan, who issued Qingyuan, would be quietly reaping wealth.

The issuance of Qingyuan has only just begun. If it reaches tens or even hundreds of billions in the future, even if Wei Yuan only harvests a few percentage points each year, he can still amass a fortune of hundreds of millions. Wei Yuan was suddenly shocked; this money was being stolen much faster than bandits.

Bandits have to rob households one by one, sell the stolen goods at low prices, and there's always the risk of resistance and casualties. Wei Yuan, on the other hand, earns more from just printing Qingyuan coins than all the bandits in the Western Regions combined!

Furthermore, Wei Yuan discovered that as long as the enemy couldn't defeat Qing Ming, how much money to steal, and how quickly or slowly to steal it, all depended on his conscience. But Wei Yuan felt that if he stayed in this position for too long, his conscience would eventually disappear.

As the application of Qingyuan (a type of magical artifact) becomes more widespread, counterfeit Qingyuan also appears. Fortunately, genuine Qingyuan all have the aura of immortal orchids, making them almost impossible to imitate. Counterfeit Qingyuan can only fool unsuspecting rural cultivators in remote areas and does not affect the overall situation.

Wei Yuan, on the other hand, took precautions and established regulations early on: any fake Qingyuan would be confiscated on the spot, those who knowingly used fakes would be severely punished, and those who manufactured and sold fake Qingyuan would be executed.

However, after more than a year of use, Qingyuan also encountered many problems. These included the increasingly low efficiency and slow operation of Qingming Money Shop, and the growing bureaucratic atmosphere.

Wei Yuan was engrossed in studying the Qingyuan problem when suddenly his primordial spirit trembled, and a vast amount of fortune suddenly emerged from the azure sky, falling into the mortal world!
This aura, with its reddish-gold hue, was perfectly integrated; in terms of sheer size, it was equivalent to the fortune of a million Qingqi people.

Wei Yuan, a master of studying fortune, immediately knew that this eruption of fortune was due to the birth of something extraordinary, or perhaps a treasure powerful enough to influence the entire Qingming realm. Moreover, the fortune this time was predominantly red, something never seen before.

Before Wei Yuan could investigate the source of the fortune, Yu Zhizhuo had already rushed into the Lord's Hall in a flurry of activity. As soon as he entered the hall, he shouted, "Nephew, come with me quickly, I'll show you a good treasure!"

Needless to say, Wei Yuan knew from the aura he had just witnessed that this treasure must be extraordinary. He immediately abandoned all his official duties and flew with Yu Zhizhuo to the weapon forging workshop.

A moment later, Hou Yuan stood in front of a huge magical artifact fixed on a support frame.

This treasure was the size of a house, one zhang high and wide, and three zhang long. It was exquisitely crafted. Wei Yuan could tell at a glance from the array patterns that this treasure had used three-dimensional array pattern technology. The craftsmanship alone was of great value.

Looking at this treasure, Yu Zhizhuo was filled with emotion and said, "When you returned from the fragments of the world last time, you recorded the details of the outer world. I read them carefully and was deeply inspired."

So I mobilized a group of junior brothers and sisters, and led thousands of apprentices to study diligently for years. With the Palace Master's constant guidance, and the Palace Master even personally crafting several key parts, we overcame more than four thousand difficulties, big and small, and finally made it.

This treasure is called: Inline Three-Cylinder Spirit Engine.

For a moment, Wei Yuan had the illusion that he had returned to the illusory realm of resentment in the outer world.

He rubbed his eyes. Yes, the house-sized behemoth in front of him was the source of the resonance with the Heavenly Dao, and the faint red aura of fortune came from it.

Seeing Wei Yuan's blank expression, Yu Zhizhuo's mood instantly improved, his face glowing red, and he shouted loudly, "Someone, prepare to start!"

Three disciples from the Heavenly Crafts Hall stepped forward. They were all Foundation Establishment cultivators, with solid foundations and excellent physiques; all were at the Heavenly Foundation stage. The three disciples climbed onto the magical artifact, lifted the top lid, and crawled inside. Each of them took a vat, then closed the lid tightly.

Yu Zhizhuo continuously cast spells, activating the treasure's array one by one. After a dazzling series of operations, the treasure suddenly roared, and the pivot at the bottom of the treasure began to rotate at high speed under the drive of the complex mechanism!
Wei Yuan's weapon-refining skills were mediocre; he could only barely discern that three cultivators inside the artifact were continuously channeling Dao power into the array, using the array to drive the machinery and make the rotating shaft spin at high speed.

Both the rotation speed and the power of the magic weapon far exceeded the level that the three disciples should have. Wei Yuan felt that if an ordinary Dharma Aspect cultivator tried to crank it by hand, even if he risked his life, he could only achieve this level, and he couldn't even last that long.

However, the three disciples sitting inside the treasure vessel maintained a steady output of Dao power and had long, continuous breaths, suggesting they could last for a long time.

Yu Zhizhuo said, "Compared to traditional wind-controlling arrays of the same level, this treasure's output is twice as high, enough to make three mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators equal to one Dharma Aspect cultivator. Its spiritual energy utilization efficiency is three times higher; the spiritual energy consumed by a Dharma Aspect cultivator to fly a thousand miles can be used by this treasure to fly four thousand miles!"
This is just the beginning; with continuous improvements, efficiency can be further enhanced. It's truly unexpected that simply changing the way spiritual energy is utilized and applying some simple mechanical structures could bring about such a huge improvement!

Wei Yuan finally understood the source of his destiny.

If this treasure could be mounted on a flying ship, then as long as Qingming had enough Foundation Establishment cultivators, it could contend with war flying ships piloted by Dharma Aspects. And Qingming may not have much else, but it has the most template Foundation Establishment cultivators.

This spirit energy engine doesn't actually need the high-grade fuel that the Heavenly Crafts Hall disciples use. With some improvements, even template cultivators could use it. If the output isn't enough, quantity can make up for it; just install more engines on each flying boat.

However, the engine is under a complex mechanical and array structure, which is completely different from the previous war machines. At this time, three cylinders are a mature design, and it is not possible to install as many cylinders as you want.

(End of this chapter)