Dragon Canon

After completing the foundation-solidifying stage, Wei Yuan's Dao energy had increased by an amount that would have counted as doubling for the average cultivator. Yet because his energy was over ten times more than an average early-stage immortal foundation, this increase counted as less than ten percent for him. His Dao energy was over ten times that of an average middle-stage immortal foundation. In short, it was a negligible increase.

In terms of total Dao energy, Wei Yuan had completely surpassed Zhang Sheng and Ji Liuli. He was also slightly better than Trueman Chu He and on par with the old Daoist’s snake or cat.

However, while the quantity of his Dao energy was certainly impressive, its quality was anything but. Impure and poorly refined, it was a classic case of quantity over quality; of having a flimsy foundation. He was exactly the kind of person teachers used as a cautionary tale in cultivation classes because assuming that two combatants shared the same amount of Dao energy, the one with flimsier energy would always be weaker in both offense and defense. They would experience a significant disadvantage in duels.

Wei Yuan recalled his lessons and found himself in complete agreement with his teachers. Assuming that his Dao energy reserves and his opponent’s were the same, he was definitely no match for many Avatars such as the plain-clothed swordsman, Xu Shiqi.

Even ordinary Dao energy could manifest all sorts of powers when empowered by an Avatar. That was why an Avatar could easily overwhelm a Dao Foundation stage cultivator given the same level of Dao energy and the same tier of Dao Foundation.

In the past, Wei Yuan had relied on a multitude of gimmicky techniques to defeat opponents who were theoretically way stronger than him, and the reason he had to do so was simply because he lacked a decisive, one-hit killing move, not unless he used the immortal tree. But that was in the past. Today, his repertoire of trump cards had expanded to include the Dao Foundation Yin Yang, the Crimson Night Slayer of Immortals, and the Myriad Vicissitudes Sword.

As for defense, Wei Yuan was definitely quantity over quality—though to be fair, his quantity was so absurd that it was a quality of its own. An attack capable of killing an immortal foundation in three hits would definitely fail to kill him even after thirty hits.

Because Wei Yuan’s physical body was strong, many of his enemies switched targets and attacked his Dao Foundation instead. After all, Avatar Truemen were not lacking in such methods. It wasn’t until after the fact that they realized that Wei Yuan’s Dao Foundation was even more impenetrable.

Speaking of which, the Myriad Vicissitudes Sword was truly one-of-a-kind. Xu Shiqi had said that just a small portion of this sword art was enough to found a noble clan, and having fought against it, Wei Yuan knew now that it was no empty boast.

The plain-clothed swordsman he had fought was just an empty shell that had died for many years. Despite this, he was worth 7,000 Heaven Merits, a number that had surpassed the Palace of Absolute Beginning’s standard tally for killing an Avatar. The most terrifying attack of them all was easily the one where he had turned his back on Wei Yuan to perform a full-powered swing. He suspected it could have cleaved even the Great Realm in half. Hell, he suspected it could have felled his grandmaster, Trueman Fen Hai, or the Great Warlock, Rock Heart, in one strike. That was how powerful it was.

It was at this moment Wei Yuan suddenly recalled something: Xu Shiqi hadn’t passed down the true intent of that sword strike to him!

Back then, the guy had said that there were several more sword techniques waiting for him[1]. No matter how you looked at it, “several” meant at least three, right? So why had he received two sword techniques only?

Wei Yuan’s opinion of Xu Shiqi plummeted dramatically because of this. The guy had looked so honest and trustworthy—how could he be so cunning?

If you were only going to give me two sword techniques, then just say so. Why act all vague and mysterious? I went down there to save lives, not for some sword technique... Wei Yuan ranted non-stop inside his head. Hell, he would have cussed the bastard out openly and vulgarly if his life hadn’t been as pitiful as it was.

As he ranted, Wei Yuan checked the sword manual.

The first technique, The Beginning of Myriad Autumns, was the move where the plain-clothed swordsman had swung his sword in a circle to gather all things, then cleave them all with a single stroke. The technique harnessed the natural order of Heaven and Earth, and once mastered, it could absorb all hostile objects—be it immortal swords or Dao techniques—within range into the sword and cut them all down.

The final technique, The End of All Vicissitudes, was the move where the plain-clothed swordsman had planted his sword on the ground and flicked it with a finger to produce a bell-like sound. It could stun the primordial spirit and dissolve Dao energy. Back then, the plain-clothed swordsman had used only half the move—flicking the blade with his finger—to fell hundreds and hundreds of flying swords in an instant.

The sound could stun the primordial spirit, but that wasn’t all it could do. If executed in reverse, it could unlock the mind and bring upon sudden enlightenment, allowing them to comprehend how the desolation and emptiness of reaching the end of all vicissitudes. It was really a technique that approached the intent of the Dao.

Wei Yuan suspected that, if someone were to tap the final sword one time too many, it could even strip an enemy of all worldly attachments and drive them into monkhood.

Both sword techniques were extraordinary, but without that sword strike capable of cleaving heaven and splitting earth, they felt as though they lacked a soul. It was one thing if Wei Yuan hadn’t witnessed it, but that massive sword had hung over his head like the incarnation of doom itself. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the experience had literally impressed itself upon his primordial spirit.

It was the very technique Wei Yuan had fixated upon when he first obtained the sword canon. He even fantasized that one day, upon achieving perfection on his path to immortality, he would refine the Great Realm into a sword. A single strike from such a blade would surely feel like Pangu slicing the cosmos into existence with his axe, wouldn’t it?

Alas, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Not only did Xu Shiqi not provide it, the secret manual given to him by the shadow in the moon didn’t have it either.

Xu Shiqi was even worse. Forget the world-splitting move, he also didn’t give him Paint The Sky Open, a sword technique capable of unsealing an immortal sword, or Embers of the Former Dynasty, a rustic, down-to-earth sword technique that clearly embodied a return to simplicity. Embers of the Former Dynasty especially would have been the perfect move to use in front of Xiao Yu. He would have been able to teach his sect fellow exactly what it meant by the common is the most refined, and the most refined is no match for the most common.

Of course, having three techniques was better than having none. Still, should they ever meet again, Wei Yuan was going to take everything Xu Shiqi said with a grain of salt.

Wei Yuan temporarily set his dissatisfaction aside. There was still one important matter he had to attend to. He returned to his room, unfolded a sheet of paper, and wrote:

“Junior Brother Xiao Yu:

Recently, I have had a sudden insight and casually perfected a sword technique of some merit. I would like to share it with you....”

Wei Yuan had originally intended to remind Xiao Yu to keep an eye on the merit ranking, but upon reflection, he realized he had written a similar not long ago. To bring it up again would seem a bit contrived, which was why he decided against it. Besides, his recent domination of the merit ranking should already have become the talk of the Palace, so it was only a matter of time before Xiao Yu found out.

The ten or so days that followed passed in a flash.

The Great Realm’s ascension had clearly affected Qingming to some degree. Its domain expansion was now 20% faster than before; capable of growing 12 li per 10 days. The growth rate of many spirit plants within the realm had also increased slightly. However, Wei Yuan continued to keep the domain’s growth in check. He currently had more land than he had men to develop them, so there was no need to rush things. He was also planning to wait until the Shaman city was fully rebuilt before covering the entire area in Qingming’s domain and giving them a nasty, nasty surprise.

While Yuan Qingyan was almost praying for the realm of Qingming to run out of food already, the second batch of Liang rice—4,500 mu of spirit fields to be exact—had ripened.

They had harvested 800,000 catties of millet in one go, an amount that was sufficient to feed the cultivators of the realm. Was. That was no longer the case with the recent addition of 47,000 children.

In recent days, Trueman Chu He had thrown himself into his work with fierce determination. Working day and night, he had surveyed the land for fertile soil, set up arrays, and expanded the original spirit fields by another 10,000 mu. Additionally, he had uncovered some spirit lands at the edge of the realm and opened several new plots of spirit fields, totalling over 2,000 mu.

Originally, there was only so much spirit qi to go around, so Wei Yuan estimated that at most 12,000 mu of spirit fields of Liang rice could be cultivated in those plots of spirit land. However, after the Great Realm had ascended, Qingming’s absorption rate of worldly origin qi had also increased. This meant that the spirit qi level within the realm had risen, which in turn increased the size of those plots. In the end, an additional 3,000 mu of spirit fields were cultivated.

Trueman Chu He was working so hard that even Wei Yuan felt a twinge of guilt. So, when the time was right, he gave the old Daoist some more nether soil, allowing him to expand the nether fields to 20 plots and plant a variety of rare and exotic spirit plants there.

The realm’s Jia Wood Nurtures Life energy level had also increased, and the herb gardens naturally benefited the most. At the moment, the spirit plants in the gardens were growing 5 times faster than those outside, already reaching the standard of an ordinary herb garden in the Palace of Absolute Beginning. If enhanced with Jia Wood Nurtures Life, then the growth rate could reach as high as 20 times that of the outside world, or approaching the levels of the Palace’s top-tier herb gardens.

The boys and girls he had brought back from the grotto-heaven were kept busy as well. He was planning to accelerate their cultivation anyway, so he assigned them all to the north of the city to pioneer new land. This batch aimed to open up 100,000 mu of new fields, averaging 2 mu per person. As big as the number sounded like, it was just enough to sustain their daily needs.

The original 100,000 mu of fields had already been cultivated. At the moment, they were covered in new sprouts and would be ready for harvest in less than 50 days. Combined with the newly cultivated 100,000 mu, one might say that the realm had an abundance of grain.

However, there was a catch—this abundance was measured by an ordinary mortal human’s standards. If they started cultivating, then the grain consumption would be several times greater than normal.

Once this harvest was brought in, Wei yuan planned to raise each person’s daily ration to 5 catties. Although it fell short of the 10-catty standard required for full-speed Body-tempering, it was already on par with the regular forces of Great Tang. Ten catties was the standard for elite border troops—a figure Wei Yuan had always kept in mind.

Time passed exceptionally quickly when one was busy.

One day, there was movement in the merit hall. A batch of classical texts and six volumes of secret manuals had been teleported over into the realm of Qingming. They were all jade books[2], and they looked exceptionally fine just by their appearance.

The classical texts all concerned the Dao of karma and could only be exchanged using Heaven Merits. Besides that, Wei Yuan had paid the price of 3,000 Heaven Merits to obtain the Palace’s permission to teach the six universal basic cultivation methods for body-tempering within the realm of Qingming.

Although the six basic cultivation methods were not closely guarded secrets—even teaching them privately was considered an acceptable practice—Wei Yuan did not intend to teach just one or two people. No, he was planning to teach them to tens of thousands, even a hundred thousand people. He definitely needed official permission for this, or the sect would bring the purge hammer down on his treacherous head and retrieve the cultivation methods.

This single piece of written permission had a cap of 100,000 students. Interestingly, both Wei Yuan and the old Daoist responsible for reviewing the application felt they had come out ahead of the exchange[3].

1. He did not. Refer to chapter 287. Wei Yuan is totally misinterpreting Xu Shiqi’s words. ☜

2. Jade books consist of a front cover, a jade paper, and a back cover, if you don’t remember. :D ☜

3. This is probably the hardest chapter I had to translate so far. Ugh, it took so bloody long a 5k word ATG chapter is faster than this. ☜

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