Dragon Canon

Wei Yuan perked up. Had the guy finally realized his mistake and written a letter of surrender?

Alas, his reward for opening and reading the letter was anger. It wasn’t a letter of surrender; it was a letter urging him to surrender. Yuan Qingyan had calculated that Wei Yuan must have run out of supplies at this point, so he wrote a letter to him persuading him to submit to the imperial court. He claimed that, if Wei Yuan was willing to hand over Qingming, he would gladly cede the position of commandery administrator to him.

The letter’s tone was earnest, but given Wei Yuan’s temperament, it came off as less of a plea for surrender and more of a declaration of war. Yuan Qingyan surely knew this—was he deliberately provoking him because he was confident in his victory?

However, Wei Yuan was no longer the man he once was. As a prominent general of the consort kins, he believed he could eventually deal with Yuan Qingyan without raising a fuss. So, he pulled himself together, picked up the Wicked Ministers once more, and studied how to fabricate baseless charges to frame the good and loyal.

At this thought, Wei Yuan spat several times for his careless usage of terms. As if Yuan Qingyan was in any way related with either adjective.

After a brief rest, it was time for the meeting between the cultivators of the Palace of Absolute Beginning once more. Although it was called a meeting, it was really an exchange of research progress. Everyone’s mind had broadened significantly after reading Xu Wenwu’s records of experiences, allowing their imaginations to run wild and delving into increasingly bizarre and eccentric subjects. That was why Wei Yuan always attended these routine meetings no matter how busy he was.

The inspiration for his brilliant HFSL had also come from these meetings.

In the blink of an eye, everyone was gathered. In truth, the main hall used for these meetings was already quite cramped. Wei Yuan had long wanted to rebuild a dedicated meeting hall at the foot of the central peak, but just couldn’t find the time to do so.

Before the meeting could begin, a cultivator suddenly rushed in and presented a calling card, saying, “A little monk has arrived outside, asking to see the Realm Lord by name.”

“Me? Tell him I’m busy and send him away!” After what happened, the word “monk” alone was enough to give Wei Yuan a headache.

Just then, a Buddhist chant rang from outside the door. Then, a voice said, “Benefactor Wei is indeed busy. In that case, this humble monk has no choice but to make an unannounced visit.”

A monk pushed open the door and stepped inside. He wasn’t yet of age, boasting a strikingly handsome face with rosy lips and pearly teeth. One could say he was good-looking enough to outshine most so-called beauties in the world. Yet there was something peculiar about his demeanor. He did not possess the Zen-like serenity or radiant Buddhist nature of an enlightened monk, nor did he appear detached from the world or embody the emptiness of the Four Great Elements[1].

He exuded an ethereal quality, but his will was also sharp and outwardly manifest like a jade dagger.

One thing for certain, the fact that this little monk was able to penetrate all the way to the heart of the realm of Qingming and arrive at their doorstep, right under the noses of the disciples of the Palace of Absolute Beginning, clearly indicated he possessed considerable cultivation.

Upon seeing Wei Yuan, he chanted a Buddhist mantra and said, “Benefactor, you have acted against the natural order and committed grave sins. This humble monk has come specifically to offer you deliverance. I only hope that you will lay down your butcher’s knife and turn back to the shore. It is not too late to repent now.”

The little monk’s voice was melodious and pleasing to the ear, and his words carried a natural, persuasive power. However, the more Wei Yuan listened to his spiel, the more he thought it was absurd. In the end, a surge of anger had welled up within him.

He said I’ve acted against the natural order and committed grave sins? Does this little monk have poor eyesight, or has he mistaken me for someone else?

As if he had heard Wei Yuan’s inner thoughts, the little monk adopted a serious expression and said, “It seems you are not convinced, Benefactor Wei. Allow this humble monk to list your crimes then.”

Wei Yuan merely sneered. He couldn’t wait to hear what the monk had to say.

“During your war against the Shamans, you have repeatedly driven civilians onto the battlefield and caused immeasurable bloodshed—this is your first crime. You’ve forcibly relocated over one hundred thousand residents of Willow Ash Town to your domain and caused more than a thousand to perish along the way—this is your second crime. You’ve disguised yourself as a horse bandit to plunder military provisions and slaughtered over a hundred innocent soldiers—this is your third crime....”

As the charges were read out one by one, Wei Yuan’s eyebrows gradually furrowed.

So, leading the entire population of the realm of Qingming and fighting the Shamans with all they got was wrong? He called that “driving civilians onto the battlefield”?

It was true that Wei Yuan had not sought the people’s consent before the war began. When crisis struck, with the exception of children, he had pushed everyone—whether willing or not—onto the battlefield. After all, Life is a Flash gave everyone a certain degree of combat effectiveness.

But this war was life or death—how could he possibly accommodate everyone’s wishes? If he had to ask each person individually whether they were willing to fight before going to war, then there would be no point in fighting at all; he might as well just surrender to the Shamans and be done with it.

If this was a crime, then countless others in this region across tens of thousands of li had committed far graver sins than him. Why hadn’t this monk go knocking on their doors? Was it because he thought Wei Yuan was an easy target?

After listing a total of eleven grave sins, the little monk raised his voice and declared harshly, “So many have died because of you. What more do you have to say, Benefactor?”

The little monk’s eyes blazed with intensity and spirit. He looked prepared to have a serious debate with Wei Yuan. Debating Buddhist sutras was, after all, his specialty.

Wei Yuan feigned deep thought. He then looked at the monk and uttered a single word: “Scram!”

The little monk’s cultivation was ultimately lacking. His face slowly flushed red as he chanted a Buddhist mantra and began rolling up his sleeves. “It would seem that Benefactor is a stubborn and unreasonable man, but that is fine. This humble monk is somewhat skilled in martial arts.”

In the crowded room, Zhang Sheng, Ji Liuli, Yu Zhizhuo, Sun Yu, and Feng Tingyu all pricked up their ears and looked up in an instant. Trueman Chu He was the only one who remained calm and composed because his two spirit pets were working in the fields.

Wei Yuan had been in a foul mood these past few days, and he was allergic to monks to boot. Upon hearing this, a grin slowly spread across his face, revealing two rows of teeth so white they gleamed with a cold light. “Is that so?”

A short while later, Wei Yuan tossed the little monk—his face bruised and swollen, and his body covered in shoe prints—out of the border, saying, “Scram as far away as you can! For the sake of the Exquisite Blossom Pure Land, I’ll let you off the hook this time. But if I ever see you again, don’t blame me for deliberately slapping you in the face!”

The little monk struggled to his feet, but he remained defiant. He yelled, “You’re neck deep in the sin of killing; I’m sure the resentment has already seeped deep into your primordial spirit! How am I wrong?”

Wei Yuan let out a long laugh and extended a hand. A hazy radiance reminiscent of a Buddha’s light suddenly emanated from it, and it was warm, clean, and utterly devoid of impurity.

Wei Yuan sneered coldly. “Look closely. Can you spot a single speck of resentment in this mystic body of mine? If you can find it, I’ll be impressed!”

The little monk looked closely, and true enough, it was crystal clear, immaculate, and free of impurities. It was comparable to a pure and crystal-clear Dharma Body one obtained after attaining an Ariya-phala. Naturally, he was baffled: Wei Yuan had killed so many people—where had all that resentment and karmic retribution gone?

A long laugh escaping his throat, Wei Yuan strode away with a mystic body that had just been fully purified by a Bodhi treasure tree, leaving the little monk standing bewildered in the wind.

1. Emptiness of the Four Great Elements is a Chinese idiom and a Buddhist term, indicating that everything in the world is empty. Buddhism regards Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind as the fundamental elements constituting matter (known as the ”Four Great Elements”), and posits that all phenomena arise from the combination of causes and conditions and inherently lack a fixed, independent nature. The term first appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty translated scripture ’The Sutra of Forty-Two Sections’ and has been used in literary works such as the Ming Dynasty novel ’Jin Ping Mei’ by Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng and the modern play ’Peking Man’ by Cao Yu. ☜