Dragon Canon

With nearly 100,000 people moving northward in tandem, the pace was naturally slow.

Wei Yuan had only given them only one ke to pack their belongings, yet many were still laden with possessions from head to toe, acting as if they valued their wealth more than their lives. Had he given them even a moment more, he was sure they would have dismantled their shacks to bring them along.

Throughout the journey north, the riders had remained silent and utterly impartial. Anyone who lagged behind was immediately whipped, those who dared to throw a tantrum were whipped until they were half-dead. Those who were beaten too severely, or too exhausted to walk, were allowed to ride in a cart—but only if they discarded every single item they carried. Literally, all of them—they were not permitted to keep even a single piece of immortal silver.

The riders of the Heaven Fighting Gang clearly didn’t care about these personal belongings; casually tossing even the immortal silver on the ground. However, they forbade anyone else from picking up the discarded items either.

Consequently, many people silently discarded their excess baggage and kept only their most precious possessions.

Wei Yuan did not travel along the main group. Instead, he returned to the realm of Qingming first. As he was bringing in a staggering 80,000 people into the realm this time—the total number of mortals were expected to exceed 140,000 after this venture—the accommodation of this many mortals was going to be a major undertaking.

Yong’an City had already reached capacity, so Wei Yuan had designated five new sites for city construction. When these people moved in, they would be settled across these five locations. All five sites were situated on the periphery of the realm, forming a protective ring around the center. Should enemies invade from outside, these five new cities would serve as the first line of defense.

As soon as he returned to the realm, Wei Yuan immediately sensed a new sign of life. It was coming from the herb garden—the Star Dragon Tree had finally sprouted!

After finishing the arrangements for the mortals’ resettlement, Wei Yuan rushed straight to the herb garden, where he saw a new sprout emerging from the ground. The sprout was star-blue in color, but its first leaf bore a distinct white-gold thread.

Wei Yuan recalled that the leaves of the thousand-year-old Star Dragon Tree he had seen at Bao Yun’s residence did not have white-gold threads. Could it be that this Star Dragon Tree, which sprouted first, had also undergone a transformation?

Wei Yuan inspected the new sprout closely, but spirit plants were not his forte. He was unable to discover anything[1].

Just then, a new sprout also emerged from the open space next to his jade hill within his Dao Foundation. Its leaves bore the same white-gold thread as the sprout in the herb garden.

As soon as the sprout in his Dao Foundation appeared, it began to emit wisps of pure vitality and spirit qi, shortening the time it took for Wei Yuan to reach the middle stage by ten or so days. Both surprised and delighted, he immediately searched his Dao Foundation carefully and, as expected, discovered an unusually abundant and fertile patch of soil next to the sprout.

Beneath this patch of soil, another sprout was taking shape, its aura profound and imbued with a sense of ancient oblivion; so unique that it was nigh impossible to find in a spirit plant. That was why Wei Yuan couldn’t fail to recognize it: it was the other Star Dragon Tree.

Wei Yuan proceeded to search the surrounding area meticulously with his perception and eventually discovered over a dozen faint traces of vitality. Though these signs of life were extremely weak, they already possessed distinct wood-type Dao energy, clearly corresponding to the Wood Spirit Ginsengs.

It seemed that the spirit plants growing within the realm of Qingming would gradually manifest their counterparts across the Great Realm. Their appearance also accelerated the intake and release of spirit energy and improved his cultivation speed.

It was clear that the wasteland surrounding the spirit plants had been transformed into fertile soil. However, the dead branch remained rooted in the white-gold pool. Occasionally, it would give off a faint flicker of vitality. But when Wei Yuan tried to sense it more closely, he could not detect anything.

After that, Wei Yuan withdrew from his sea of consciousness and returned to his duties.

At the moment, his top priority was to open more spirit fields. The first batch of Liang rice had already grown to over a chi tall and was beginning to head[2]; it would be ready for harvest in just another month. Next to the first batch of fields, Wei Yuan ordered the cultivators to continue clearing land, directly increasing the total area of spirit fields to five thousand mu.

Wei Yuan had already scoured the area within hundreds of li for every last grain of Liang rice seed. He had also emptied the Xu Clan’s stockpiles in Ningxi. For the time being, he could not expand the scale any further.

After he was done handling the spirit plants, Wei Yuan plunged headlong into the task of organizing the troops. This was a massive undertaking. In theory, anyone in the realm of Qingming between the age of eight months[3] and eighty years could be combat-ready, so it was necessary to organize them all into an army. They would labor in peacetime and take the field in wartime.

He didn’t know how long he had been working, but Wei Yuan had already committed the 1,022nd squad leader into his memory. This was the most basic unit according to the realm’s military system—a squad leader was in charge of ten soldiers.

He was currently organizing the existing troops within the realm. When the Willow Ash Town’s townspeople showed up, he would have to form tens of thousands of new units.

Meanwhile, a column of troops had appeared on the road leading to Yong’an City.

Yong’an City had been established less than a month ago, and the path leading beyond the border had been worn down by the constant traffic of people and caravans during that time. What passed for a road was really just two deep ruts, filled with mud and deep puddles.

The foot soldiers in the escort were all caked in mud and water. Only the few mounted officers looked somewhat presentable. The horse carriage plodding along it swayed constantly, creaking and groaning as if it might fall apart at any moment.

Suddenly, a dozen or so horsemen appeared ahead, galloping toward the convoy. They blocked the convoy’s path and shouted, “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”

The escorting officer’s face darkened as he snapped, “Are you blind? Can’t you recognize our banner or the armor on this officer’s body? I am acting on the royal court’s orders and escorting Lord Niu to his post. Who are you to dare block and ambush an royal official? Have you all had enough of living?”

The riders blocking the road exchanged glances, their confidence waning slightly. One of them said, “We are the city guards of Yong’an, on patrol along the border. However, we haven’t heard of any official arriving to take office. Why don’t you wait here while we report back to our captain and see what he says?”

At that moment, a voice from inside the carriage spoke up, “I am the official representative of Yong’an. How come I’ve never heard of a city guard?”

The patrol captain snapped upon hearing this, “Nonsense! We already have a city lord, Lord Xiao. If we have a representative, it would be Lord Xiao as well. Who on earth is this ‘Lord Niu’?”

The carriage door swung open, and a burly man with a cruel, thuggish face stepped out. Despite donning the robes of an official, he somehow gave off a rough, unsophisticated air.

When the magistrate saw two female cultivators among the patrol, his eyes lit up instantly. “You insolent rabble. How dare you impersonate royal troops! Guards! Arrest them all! Kill anyone who resists!”

Upon receiving their orders, the guards immediately surged forward.

This particular patrol squad of Yong’an City consisted solely of Body-tempering stage cultivators, while the royal commandant was in the Dao Foundation stage. Consequently, several members of the patrol squad were knocked down in the blink of an eye. Those still standing panicked and turned to flee. At the same time, they fired a signal flare into the sky, which exploded into a burst of red smoke.

Seeing that the patrolmen were trying to flee, the magistrate let out a savage laugh and leaped into the air. Upon conjuring a bear’s paw the size of a millstone, he hurled it dozens of zhang away, knocking the two fleeing female cultivators off their horses.

The remaining patrolmen dared not stop to rescue them, instead accelerating their flight to put distance between themselves and the scene. Then, right before the eyes of all the officers and soldiers, the magistrate tore open the robes of the two female cultivators with his own two hands and dragged them into his carriage.

The commandant stood frozen in shock. While such incidents were not uncommon, he had never heard of anyone committing such an act right in front of hundreds of officers and soldiers.

The magistrate had one foot inside his carriage when he turned around and said, “Commandant Liu, do you still not understand why the higher-ups had sent us to take up posts in this place? If we die in the line of duty, our families might still receive some merit. But if we return alive, the best outcome we can hope for is a quiet death in prison.”

Commandant Liu froze for a moment before a bitter smile crossed his lips.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. We’re all going to die anyway, so these two girls are our last bit of entertainment. If you don’t come, then I’m going to have fun all by myself!”

Commandant Liu gritted his teeth and climbed into the carriage as well. Angry curses immediately erupted from the compartment.

Meanwhile, Wei Yuan was busy marking up a map and meticulously planning where each unit would train and where they would be stationed. Suddenly, he sensed a commotion among the city guards of Yong’an City—they were rushing toward the outskirts in large numbers.

Frowning, Wei Yuan set down his work and flew toward Yong’an City. The city guards were leaving the boundary, and his perception of the areas beyond Qingming’s domain was quite blurry, especially when there were no large-scale enemy forces, nor any powerful cultivators or demonic beasts.

In the blink of an eye, Wei Yuan arrived at the scene of the incident. Below, he saw dozens of royal soldiers forming a circular formation, facing off against hundreds of city guards. Among the royal forces were two Dao Foundation stage cultivators. One of them wore the official robes of Western Jin, identical in color to those once worn by Sun Chao’en, meaning that he was most likely a county magistrate. Scattered around the two officials were dozens of soldiers, lying on the ground and moaning in pain.

The burly man in official robes were stamping his feet and shouting, “You rebels! I am an royal official personally appointed by the King of Jin himself! For you rabble to assault an royal official is a capital offense punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family! I risked my life to save the Right Counselor—if anything happens to me, the Right Counselor will surely make every man, woman, and child in this city pay with their lives!”

As the official ranted and raved, the city guards began to waver. Although the people of the western regions were famed for their ferocity, this area had been under Western Jin rule just a few years ago. It was hardly impossible that the court had sent someone to reclaim it either. No matter how fierce a bandit might be, they were naturally timid before the authorities.

Wei Yuan spotted Yun Feifei in the crowd and beckoned her over. He asked, “What’s going on here?”

Yun Feifei replied, “That guy surnamed Niu was leading over a hundred soldiers straight to Yong’an. He claimed he was taking up his post there. On the way, they were stopped and questioned by our patrol. When that scoundrel saw two pretty girls in the patrol, he actually attacked them, captured the girls, and assaulted them on the spot! After the patrolmen who escaped reported the incident, all the city guards who’re on duty rushed out to save them. I had just arrived myself.”

Wei Yuan glanced at the horse carriages that were smashed to pieces in the distance, then noticed the two young female cultivators whose clothes were disheveled. The girls were, at best, of average looks, but as Body-tempering stage cultivators, they had decent figures and postures.

At the moment, neither girl was crying. Instead, they were staring at the official and the commandant with eyes brimming with hatred. Here in the western regions, relationships were extremely loose. This was especially true after years of continuous warfare. Thus, the two female cultivators’ first reaction after being humiliated was not to weep and wail, but to grab their sabers and strike back at their attackers.

Wei Yuan said to Yun Feifei, “Go grab them.”

Yun Fei nodded, and in a flash, appeared right in the middle of the soldiers’ formation. The official and the commandant did their best to resist, but their Dao energy were simply far too weak compared to Yun Feifei. She was able to disperse all of their Dao spells with her mystic energy.

Once she had subdued the two men, she grabbed one in each hand and tossed them both down in front of Wei Yuan.

The official had a stocky build, with bulging jowls and a thick neck. He stuck out his chin and declared, “Your grandfather here is Niu Jinbao! If you’ve got the guts, then go ahead and chop me down right now. I’m the county magistrate personally appointed by His Majesty the King. If you kill me, you won’t live long either—I’ll be waiting for you on the road to the Yellow Spring!”

Wei Yuan frowned slightly and asked a few more questions. As far as he could tell, this fellow was just a fool. Time and again, he boasted about saving the Right Counselor’s life, being granted an audience with the King of Jin, and even receiving several jars of royal wine as a gift.

Meanwhile, Yun Feifei searched the official’s belongings and uncovered an official seal and a letter of appointment. The official seals of the nine states of Great Tang all had a fixed design and contained a unique Dao essence, making them quite difficult to forge.

It would seem Niu Jinbao was indeed the magistrate of Yong’an County, appointed by the King of Jin.

1. Dice roll: fail. ☜

2. Heading refers to the emergence of the developing panicle from the flag leaf sheath. The process begins when the internode at the panicle base (the neck node) elongates, pushing the panicle upward. ☜

3. Er, this isn’t a translation mistake. It’s probably eight years because eight months is ridiculous, but honestly I’m not sure. ☜