Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 173 Uncle's Debt Repayed by Nephew

At the end of June in the second year of the Tianyou calendar, when the outer gamma rays precisely fell on the evil moon, creating a shimmering "lotus pond," the brilliant minds in Yaodu, eager to unleash their extraordinary wisdom, had no time to spare.

On the Zhen side, the Xuanchong Legion quickly cleared the levels. They fought their way through the Black Prison, layer by layer, and embarked on an expedition towards the Garden of the Highest Heaven.

In the fifth-floor tower, the foul-smelling tentacles were eradicated by the self-proclaimed "Purification Army." One by one, rotting, pus-filled monsters were blasted apart by crossbow bolts.

The radiance emanating from the lotus seed in Xuan Chong's hand was now sufficient to illuminate the entire army. The light even left lotus petal marks on the soldiers' armor. It possessed both ample range and immense intensity.

The sixth floor door appeared, but Xuan Chong did not enter immediately. Instead, he observed the environment around the fifth floor. He threw the lotus seed in his hand into the sky, and a bright light shone out. The ceiling, which resembled a monster's mouth, did not use slime to stick the lotus seed to the wall.

On the contrary, the lotus seeds shone brightly, like information hacking, piercing through the rotting flesh ceiling; all living beings were purified, and the green, rotten flesh dome was torn open like a curtain.

The fifth sealed dungeon revealed its true nature under the bright light of the lotus seed: it was not underground, but above the nine heavens!
Outside the square, rolling clouds drifted along the steps; and high above, the stars were clearly visible. Xuan Chong walked to the edge of the platform, looking down at the mountains and rivers centered on Zhenzhou, and his abundant inspiration allowed him to feel the "spiritual energy flow" of the mountains and rivers beneath his feet.

However, Xuan Chong was furious when he saw it; looking down from the fifth floor, he discovered that there was a clear isolation barrier around the Zhendi.

When Xuan Chong pierced through the Nine Netherworlds earlier, he glanced up at the mountains and rivers above and felt that the earth was being "drawn as a prison." Of course, since he was underground at that time, it was not visually obvious.

Now that Xuan Chong, an insignificant ant on earth, has been elevated to the highest heavens, it is clear that the atmospheric conditions have been altered by an abnormal force.

Some of these clouds were clearly severed near the border of Zhenzhou. A man-made array blocked the interaction between the "fluids" of the inhabited areas of Zhenzhou and the outside world.

Xuan Chong couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, it's one thing for you guys to just stand by and watch without helping, but you're actually blocking my light at the door?!"

Xuan Chong quickly made a list of the famous mountains and rivers that had been used to set up the mountain and water isolation barrier and supply the earth's vein power, which were also the strongholds of the Immortal Sect. Xuan Chong went out to prepare to retaliate.

According to military records, when mages set up an array, they should find the array point and build garrison points at the four opposite corners. Garrisoning troops there for a hundred days will cut off the spiritual energy, and the feng shui array will break without being attacked.

Xuan Chong's understanding of the "Immortal Conquest" technique in military texts is as follows: It's similar to "Go" (the game of Go). As long as you surround the spiritual energy with "evil energy," the spiritual energy will dissipate. This method is effective not only for the spiritual arrays deployed by immortal sects when they go out, but also for the sect's main arrays.

The so-called imperial army besieging a certain sect does not mean sending 100,000 troops to a remote place to block the entire mountain. Instead, it means setting up camps diagonally opposite the mountain gate, hundreds of miles apart. The longer the camps are set up, the more they block the spiritual energy exchange between the mountain gates.

The spiritual arrays that Zhenzhou is currently facing lack any foundation. With just a hundred people stationed there for a few hundred days, the spiritual energy can be completely neutralized, causing the arrays to collapse on their own.

The sect's grand formation is naturally much more durable. Each of the opposite corners would require a thousand troops, and it would take a full year and a half to completely block the mountain gate!

In times of peace, sects will beg for mercy before they are completely blocked. However, in times of chaos, sects will leverage the military forces of other powers to eliminate the troops blocking their gates.

Xuan Chong gazed at the shimmering light on the edge of the Zhen River and sighed at the stubborn sect cultivators who were still causing him trouble: "Everyone says immortals are good, but little do they know that even immortals can bewitch the mind."

…Xuan Chong, looking further afield, saw shimmering light appearing in other directions as well. …

At this very moment, an internal power struggle has erupted within the Daoist sects. One faction is led by the Wangheng Sect, and the other by the Cixin Sect; the place in the Bohai region where the rosy clouds are now shining is the site of this Daoist conflict between the two factions.

As early as the time of the Heavenly Guardian Era, major sects had already dispatched Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining stage cultivators to join the army.

Due to the rules of the army, the upper limit of supernatural powers that cultivators are allowed to use in the regular army of generals appointed by the imperial court is the Foundation Establishment stage; spells exceeding the Foundation Establishment stage, even if permitted by the tokens granted by the army, cannot be constructed due to the mixture of spiritual energy and a large amount of baleful energy.

Therefore, the battles between these low-level immortal disciples cannot be seen from high altitudes (outer space).

The grand spectacle of two factions of cultivators who have achieved the Golden Core stage emerging from the mountains to fight for their paths is indeed capable of causing fluctuations in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Although the sectarian disputes dared not get too close to the current location of the evil energy in the human world, the scope was very vast, and Xuan Chong could clearly see this "spectacular" movement of the radiant light.

Of course, it can also be clearly seen on the map of mountains, rivers and states in Yaodu.

…The perspective falls on the distant view that Xuan Chong can see…

At this moment, in the mountains of the central part of the Great Yao, the Golden Core cultivators engaged in combat seemed to sense that they were being watched. One of the Sword Sect cultivators used the Qi Observation Technique to look back at the sky and immediately discovered Xuan Chong high above.

Xuan Chong was currently on the fifth level of the Green Dungeon, which was actually hundreds of thousands of meters above the ground, with auspicious clouds surrounding him in the sky.

As this Golden Core cultivator from the Sword Sect raised his head, the other sixteen cultivators who were fighting each other also raised their heads. It was as if they were witnessing the birth of a treasure, looking up at the scene of the Humanity's War Lord conquering evil spirits.

As Xuan Chong gradually advanced to the fifth floor of the Evil Moon Tower, the area beneath his feet had grown from a small hall of only one thousand square meters to the size of two or three aircraft carrier decks.

This vast area is actually formed by the convergence of spiritual veins that Xie Yue plundered from the earth!

Without Xuan Chong's conquest, these spiritual veins would have been drained away and absorbed by Xie Yue.

Now, Xuan Chong, in the name of the Lord of Zhendi, has raised an army to attack Xieyue. This has earned the approval of the will of the Xiren Realm planet.

With each layer of evil energy that Xuan Chong's army destroyed, these spiritual veins converged at Xuan Chong's feet, supporting a solid foundation. Once all seven levels of the platform were successfully conquered, these spiritual veins would return to the mortal realm, transforming into an unprecedented spiritual mountain. Of course, without a doubt, this treasure land would be fiercely contested by cultivation sects.

No matter how much the immortals fight over it, they all need official recognition and certification. The imperial court now has the power to grant such recognition, and the general who led the army to seize the spiritual veins from the evil moon has the ability to prevent the imperial court from granting such recognition.

Immediately, among the immortal sect elders standing on the Wu family's side, a Golden Core elder carrying a whisk on his back laughed loudly: "Everyone, the most virtuous should possess the treasures of heaven and earth; let us not fight and see where Heaven will ultimately decide where Mount Ling will be."

The elders of the immortal sects, including Wang Hengzong, cursed inwardly: "What do you mean by 'the virtuous should claim it'? You all made the right investment and foresaw the outcome in advance, so of course you don't care!"

However, the immortals who joined Wangheng Sect in sealing off the feng shui of Zhendi now regret their actions. They originally thought it was a good idea to block the "power of celestial evil" within Zhendi. As for the Wu family? They were abandoned as pawns.

If the numerous immortals had known earlier that the Wu family, a military strategist, possessed such capabilities, they could have pinpointed the source of the evil and fought their way out. Why would they have bothered getting involved in this mess with the Wangheng Sect? Wouldn't it have been much better to simply send their disciples to assist them?
Of course, several Golden Core cultivators skilled in divination frowned, as they felt they had been outmaneuvered by some fellow cultivators; this scheme seemed to have been set up during the "Dan Tasting Conference" in Yaodu.

However, the divinations of various immortal sects were obscured, and even the most prominent figures in the cultivation world failed to foresee the Wu family's reaction after the incident. In their divinations, the Wu family was to perish as the plague arose, but the reality is that the auspicious clouds now rising high in the sky demonstrate that Xuan Chong's fortune is so strong that it almost blots out the sky.

However, why couldn't everyone see such great fortune before? Why was it only now, when it was practically appearing in the sky, that it was observed by the Qi Observation Technique? — Who exactly is the mastermind behind this colossal joke?

The old Taoist priest from the Five Elements Immortal Sect, who was an astrologist, was so angry that his beard bristled. He had spent his entire life calculating the secrets of heaven, but he had failed to foresee the destiny of "the Vermilion Bird constellation looking south."

If he could have foreseen that "Wu Fei" would have such great fortune, he could have taken him under his wing in advance and then sent him down the mountain to be born to face the calamity when it was complete. Wouldn't that have allowed the Five Elements Immortal Sect to take off in one step?
Of course, the Qinghua Sect was in the most awkward position; they did some divination and found that Wu Fei really did have a connection with their sect, but it seemed that he was kicked out because of "insufficient aptitude". Later, when Wu Fei and Wu Hengyu were fighting together in the south and north, their sect did another divination on Wu Fei. The result of the divination was that a general who had been involved in worldly affairs, even if he had some spiritual root, would have long been corrupted by evil energy.

What exactly are cultivators hiding from in the mortal world? Isn't it the fear that their innate spiritual eyes will be blinded, turning them into killing machines who "only know supernatural powers, not destiny, only know how to pursue profit, and don't know how to avoid calamity"?
The sect leader of Qinghua Sect gazed thoughtfully at the rolling auspicious clouds in the sky.

…Regarding the mastermind behind the scenes…

In the capital of Yao, Xian Daoren opened his third eye. Blood was dripping from the vertical eye between his brows, yet he remained open. As one of the masterminds behind "obscuring the secrets of the Wu family," he was now speechless as he stared at Xuan Chong's "royal aura."

He only concealed the first layer, namely the inherent military family fortune, but he didn't know about Xuan Chong's now soaring "royal aura".
Xuan Chong grew up in this world under the watchful eyes of Xian Daoren. Xian Daoren initially believed Xuan Chong had a connection with "Qingbao Daozun" and sent Yao Sangu to guide him. He never imagined that such a "king" was secretly developing right under his nose.

"Who is concealing the secrets of heaven!" The Daoist Master, whose three eyes were filled with bloody tears, was calculating with his fingers almost cramping up. The calculation was so intense that all his fingers were broken.

The blue evil moon began to shine fiercely on him, and his hair and nails began to deform, with blue veins covering his entire body like worms.

This was a distorted form of punishment. The Manifestation writhed in agony, struggling to control himself, but ultimately couldn't resist and transformed into a large blue bird. The corrupting blue power traveled along him to "Thousand Usurpers."

Meanwhile, Yao San Niang, who was presiding over the illusion in the city's grand dream, suddenly sensed something was wrong. She noticed a strange blue light emanating from the lotus lantern. However, before she could react, a golden light shot directly from her eyes and disappeared into the lotus lantern.

Immediately after, on the other side of "Wanbian," the instant he transformed into a large blue bird, he was struck by golden lightning, leaving eight-tenths of his body charred. These golden lightning bolts were like merciless scalpels, precisely slicing through his mutated parts.
After a long period of painful struggle, Xian Daoren recovered, but his entire body was immobilized by a hexagonal golden mesh.

…System: You continue to be the mastermind behind my front desk…

Here in Xuan Chong's territory, the conquest continued. The sixth gate was knocked open; this gate, resembling a city gate, had "copper nails" that were all mushroom heads. As the gate opened, the mushrooms exploded, releasing clouds of spores. Of course, before they could spread, Xuan Chong raised his hand and swept away all the dust with a burst of fire.

Compared to the fifth level, the sixth level is much larger, and at a glance, it is a small plain with a village in the center, where many residents live.

Xuan Chong's heart skipped a beat, because these people were not yet completely corrupt. As the villagers looked at the approaching army, a glimmer of hope appeared in their originally despairing eyes, mixed with a hint of wishing that the visitors would suffer the same fate as they did.

Xuan Chong had witnessed this kind of emotion many times when he was controlling the plague.

Xuan Chong wanted to ask questions, but because the residents' tongues were swollen, they could only utter "ah, oh, eh" and could not speak a complete sentence.

In response, Xuan Chong, holding the restoration gem, asked, "Is it possible to perform a group restoration?" However, the system then provided a guide: "No need for that, just use lotus seeds."

Therefore, Xuan Chong requested the requisition of the village's wells. He also ordered his troops to station themselves in the village while he dealt with the plague situation there.

Many patients in the village had all sorts of strange sores on their bodies, mixed with pustules from bites by unknown insects, but Xuan Chong's medical techniques could stop the worsening of these conditions.

The soldiers carried the villagers to the makeshift medical area, initially disgusted by the filth. But they gradually grew accustomed to it. Then came the terror of the plague; the most severely ill patients, hunched over and deformed, were only identified as human by the Wu family army after a long search of the livestock sheds.

The army had exhausted all the wells in their efforts to clean the patients of their filth; fortunately, boiling water didn't require fire, only lotus seeds needed to be thrown into them.

Xuan Chong has already obtained a local person who can speak. His name is Shen Qing, and he was imprisoned by Wu Hanluan back then.

He told me that all the people in this village had been imprisoned here by Wu Hanluan; although they had survived the corruption over a long period of time and retained a trace of their spirituality, the shadows planted in their hearts were very thick.

It means: "Wu Hanluan has caused everyone great suffering, you'd better deal with it!"

Xuan Chong pretended not to understand and immediately spoke in an official tone, saying to him, "This place has been cursed by evil spirits from the outside world. You were deceived by the evil spirits back then and, as accomplices, inadvertently spread the evil spirits here. My uncle had no way to detain you back then."

Xuan Chong didn't give Shen Qing any chance to refute, emphasizing to him, "Now I will heal you and take you out. Now I'll give you a chance to explain the situation here." (Xuan Chong's philosophy is that conflicts can be dealt with superficially, but the core issue must be resolved. The core issue now is that everyone is sick and trapped here.)
Just then, soldiers rushed over: "General, the village is dry!"

Xuan Chong turned to look at Shen Qing, who said, "The well here can only produce this much water each day."

Shen Qing felt the wind, and the few remaining hairs on his head, caused by scabies, drifted down casually: "Sir, whenever the wind stops in the village, it seems that the water veins have also been cut off, which means that monsters from outside are about to come and eat people."

His tone was nonchalant, but a barely perceptible resentment lingered beneath. After all, it was Wu Hanluan who had imprisoned him. Now that Xuan Chong was telling him not to blame Wu Hanluan, how could he not feel resentful? So even if Xuan Chong had been defeated, he wouldn't actually feel too bad; he harbored a sliver of resentment that the Wu family had reaped what they sowed.

Xuan Chong naturally understood the complex meaning behind Shen Qing's words.

A mature leader should know that if you want others to "set aside the dispute," you don't rely on debate, but on present force and future guidance.

Therefore, they won't dwell on Shen Qingxin's inner thoughts and criticize him. Because he hasn't seen the future yet, but once he does, he will be completely convinced!
Xuan Chong endorsed himself: "Although I can't say it publicly, in fact, Wu Hanluan does owe everyone in 'this village'. I inherited Wu Hanluan's authority and can't openly deny Wu Hanluan, but I have to pay back all the debts Wu Hanluan has owed."

The lotus seed water was ready by then, and Xuan Chong handed him the bowl.

Shen Qing took a sip, paused for a moment, then gulped it down. After finishing, he looked at Xuan Chong and asked, "Is there any more?"

Shen Qing hadn't tasted such sweet, clear, and unpolluted water in a very, very long time.

Xuan Chong looked at him; his hair had begun to regrow and the scabs were starting to form. He nodded.

Xuan Chong's clear voice echoed throughout the village: "Everyone in the village has some, you too!" Xuan Chong gave Shen Qing an order: "Help me call everyone in the village. Distribute this clean water among everyone in the village."

Just then, a bugle sounded outside, and Xuan Chong put on his battle robe and hurried outside.

(End of this chapter)