Longzang

Chapter 962 Catching the Inner Demon

The Immortal Cultivation Workshop was originally established by the Old Daoist Chuhe, specifically for producing fertilizer for immortal plants. After more than a year of operation, it has grown to a considerable size and has recruited over three thousand Dao Foundation cultivators. Currently, the number of Immortal Cultivation cultivators is second only to the Heavenly Craftsmen of the Weapon Forging Workshop, making it the second largest industry in Qingming.

Despite the old Taoist's best efforts, the demand for fertilizer was simply endless. Qingming could only fertilize ten million mu of land to its full potential, less than a third of all existing land. However, fertilizer supply was limited by the number of cultivators, and increased production could not keep up with the land area.

Fortunately, with the help of everyday life, mathematics had already taken root in people's minds. The old farmer calculated that with the current fertilizer yield, if five million mu were given sufficient fertilizer, and the remaining twenty-five million mu were given only one-fifth of the fertilizer, the total grain yield would be maximized. The latest harvest has already exceeded ten billion jin.

But the more grain Qingming has, the more people it has; the more people it has, the faster it expands; the faster it expands, the more farmland it can cultivate; the more farmland it has, the more fertilizer it needs. And so the cycle begins again.

Moreover, the old Taoist priest discovered that the fields he had cultivated and the land he had fertilized had all developed a slight karmic connection with him, resulting in a small amount of fortune flowing into his account. Although the fortune per acre was negligible, even the Imperial Realm Lord couldn't discern it, the sheer number of Qingming fields added up!

During this period, Master Chuhe clearly felt that his Dharma form was different. Large clearings had appeared in the forest, which were then cultivated into various fields. Every day, the Treasure-Seeking Rat rode its immortal sword to plant and fertilize the land. With each bit of growth of the crops, Master Chuhe's cultivation level increased by a bit.

Since its founding, no cultivator in the Taichu Palace has ever been able to establish a connection with millions of acres of land. Master Chuhe is the first, and not just any land, but thirty million acres. This is a path to immortality comparable to that of the Immortal Chicken!
Therefore, the old farmer devoted himself to producing fertilizer and tried every means to increase production.

Sure enough, once something gets big, variables begin to appear. A sudden explosion occurred at the Immortal Cultivation Workshop, resulting in over a hundred Immortal Cultivation cultivators being killed or injured, and over a thousand mortal laborers being killed or injured. The old Taoist was instantly covered with extremely dense karmic energy.

When Wei Yuan arrived, Master Chuhe had already cordoned off the area and rescued the seriously injured. Sun Yu led a large group of beautiful disciples to the scene and began providing on-site treatment.

When Wei Yuan entered the explosion site, he saw that several cultivators, under the guidance of Bao Yun and Xiao Yu, had set up an array and were working hard to recreate the scene of the explosion.

The epicenter of the explosion was a warehouse in the Peixian Workshop, which stored hundreds of thousands of kilograms of fertilizer. As a result, the explosion not only leveled this huge warehouse, which was dozens of feet in diameter, but also razed all the buildings within a mile radius, and the impact range even extended dozens of miles away.

Fortunately, the explosions were all caused by mortal forces, with very little spiritual energy; otherwise, it would have required the presence of an immortal to restore the situation. With the combined efforts of Bao Yun and Xiao Yu, the scene was barely restored. A basket of prepared fertilizer in the warehouse had, for some unknown reason, not only changed color but had also solidified into lumps.

Several cultivators were unsure what to do with the waste, so someone suggested crushing it up, grinding it into a fine powder, and mixing it into regular fertilizer. Everyone agreed that this was feasible, so they elected a strong and robust man to step forward, wield a sledgehammer, and smash it down with all his might. In the end, half of the cultivation workshop was gone.

After watching the video, all the cultivators were speechless. When they saw the hundreds of thousands of kilograms of fertilizer piled up in the warehouse in the distance, the old Taoist Chuhe's expression changed instantly.

Wei Yuan's expression changed, and he immediately flew over. He first sealed off the warehouse and withdrew all the cultivators. Then he entered the warehouse and scanned the entire warehouse with his divine sense. Sure enough, he found more than a dozen boxes of fertilizer that had deteriorated.

Some of these fertilizers were clumped together, while others were mixed with impurities such as sulfur and oil. When tested, they all exploded with a single tap. Wei Yuan noticed Yu Zhizhuo's strange expression and asked, "How does it compare to our existing explosives?"

Yu Zhizhuo said, "It's slightly inferior to spirit wood silk explosives. But the production volume is much larger..."

Fertilizer and explosives are mortal substances. While spirit wood, when broken down into fine fibers and then soaked in limestone to create explosives, is indeed extremely powerful, its production is relatively limited due to the use of spirit wood as a raw material. Although it has accumulated over a long period of time and now has several million kilograms in stock, it is nowhere near the production capacity of fertilizer, which is tens of thousands of kilograms per day.
Wei Yuan immediately ordered his men to take away 100,000 catties of fertilizer and hand it over to the forging workshop and the two academies for study. The next steps, such as compensation and other related matters, were naturally handled by the officials below.

The True Man of the Hoeing Fields thus incurred considerable karmic retribution, but fortunately, he was protected by immense fortune, preventing the consequences from becoming too severe. Wei Yuan then used the Red Lotus Bodhi to guide and transfer most of the karma away.

Now that we know the fertilizer can explode, but production cannot be stopped, the next step is naturally to redesign the processes for storage and transportation to ensure safety.

Wei Yuan pulled Chuhe Zhenren aside and carefully examined him again to ensure that the remaining karma was within the old Daoist's capacity to bear before he felt at ease. The Immortal Rooster also realized the seriousness of the situation, so it sent a wisp of its divine sense to Chuhe to ensure timely rescue should the karma flare up.

The time spent with Chuhe was the happiest period of Yanshen Chicken's life, so it naturally couldn't let this multi-functional humanoid pet die.

After handling all the affairs, Wei Yuan couldn't help but wonder: the old Daoist Chuhe had indirectly caused the deaths of a group of Foundation Establishment cultivators, resulting in such immense karma and resentment. Meanwhile, the people under the rule of those in power were suffering terribly, with starving corpses everywhere; why didn't they bear the karmic consequences of their actions?

There is no answer to this question, nor is it written in the book, so Wei Yuan can only think about it.

However, the fate of Master Chuhe also served as a reminder to Wei Yuan that if he were to act perversely in the future, his end would likely not be good either.

This accident unexpectedly provided Wei Yuan with a massive amount of explosives, allowing him to put many of his past plans on the agenda. The Qingming military's development has been too rapid, and gunpowder is simply insufficient. Therefore, the amount of explosives used for civilian purposes has been limited, with most relying on manual operations by Dao Foundation cultivators. In any case, Qingming may lack many other things, but it has the most template-based Dao Foundation cultivators. Now, with enough explosives, many projects can be put on the agenda.

According to Yu Zhizhuo's plan, the greatest use of explosives was for mountain clearing and mining, making them most suitable for mountain dwellers' territories. Wei Yuan naturally let Yu Zhizhuo handle this matter, as he had other important matters to attend to: conquering his inner demons.

Having finally finished dealing with this huge mess, Wei Yuan was about to capture his inner demon when he was interrupted again: Hulegaoen requested an audience.

Wei Yuan was getting impatient. This guy had already revealed his secret, so he was practically useless now. According to historical records, Wei Yuan felt it was already a miracle that he hadn't been cooked like a dog at this point.

However, Wei Yuan was still young, so he patiently met with Hulegaoen.

Seeing Wei Yuan's long face, Hulegaon smiled bitterly and said, "Sure enough, all men are the same! They turn their backs on you after they've had their fill!"

Wei Yuan instantly got goosebumps and immediately shouted, "Shut up!"

If a natural beauty like Consort Yuan had said those words, Wei Yuan would have been completely captivated. But since it came from Hulegaon, a guy who was considered strange even by the standards of the Liao people, and especially since it was said to him, Wei Yuan found it impossible to suppress his murderous intent.

Hulegaon, after being reprimanded, said quietly, "She's a woman too, why can't I say such things?"

"Is this guy female?" Wei Yuan was skeptical. He scanned her with his divine sense and suddenly heard a scream. Then, he flew into a rage, sealing Hulegaoen's cultivation with a single finger and shouting, "Guards! Guards! Drag her away and behead her! Cut her into several pieces!"

The cultivators standing on either side had no idea what had happened. They assumed that the realm lord had been ambushed, so they immediately grabbed Hulegaoen and prepared to send him to the death cell.

Qingming has a special death penalty for alien Dharma Masters, called "Equal Distribution of Rain and Dew".

When a cultivator of the alien Dharma Aspect realm like Hulegaoen is executed, it is done by a young Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Taichu Palace, specially selected by Qingming, to share in the Heavenly Merit—a means of promoting the younger generation of the Taichu Palace. Hulegaoen was at the late stage of the Dharma Aspect realm, enough to warrant thirty cuts.

Hulegaoen cried out repeatedly, "No! I haven't finished telling my secret! I still need your help, you can't do this to me!"

Wei Yuan ordered someone to bring him the Spirit Spring Jade Dew to wash his eyes, while simultaneously having someone pull Hulegaoen back, saying, "Don't blame me for not warning you! You'd better be able to reveal a secret that can save your life! Otherwise, if you delay me from catching the inner demon, I'll chop you up alive!"

Knowing that Wei Yuan was truly enraged, Hulegaon immediately revealed the secret as quickly as possible. Wei Yuan listened with skepticism, asking, "Really?"

"Absolutely true!"

Wei Yuan frowned and ordered his men to take Hulegaoen away first. Now he finally had time to catch his inner demon.

Amidst the bustling world, more than ten arrays stand, firmly trapping over a dozen mortals. The immortal plants are trying their best to determine which one is the true inner demon.

When Wei Yuan arrived, he saw a frail woman trapped in a formation. She was beautiful and delicate, a sight to behold. She was kneeling on the ground, wearing a thin pink dress that revealed her bare shoulders, and she was trembling.

A celestial plant that had taken human form stepped into the formation and said, "With this Demon-Transforming Water poured down, won't the demons still reveal themselves?!"

As they were talking, a glass of cold water was splashed on the girl's face! The girl shivered and said in a trembling voice, "So cold!" Then she looked up and looked back, and her big, tearful eyes met Wei Yuan's, which made Wei Yuan's heart tremble.

The Ice Crystal Divine Tree immediately concluded: "No need to look any further, this is simply a demon within!"

The male cultivator who was actually the Immortal-Eating Vine disagreed, saying, "He didn't even show himself underwater when he transformed into a demon; he's clearly just a mortal!"

"No, she is the inner demon!" Bingli Shenmu insisted!
(End of this chapter)