Dragon Canon

The mortals in the Great Realm argued at a breakneck pace, and with hundreds of them speaking at once, Wei Yuan could not bear listening to them for too long. It was like hearing a thousand fingernails scratching against a porcelain vase all at once.

However, there were some useful insights to be gleaned from their bickering. For instance, Wei Yuan now knew that the Ice-Glass Divine Tree was actually a tea plant....

Wei Yuan had originally no intention of interfering with the lives of the mortals residing within his Dao Foundation, but the argument looked like it was going to drag on forever. So, he had no choice but to send out a mental command and order them to shut up.

Once the command was issued, peace and quiet finally returned.

Wei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. When he inspected the Great Realm again, he discovered that the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree and the Ice-Glass Divine Tree were now situated far apart from one another, each occupying its own territory. A great deal of fertile soil had accumulated at the base of the Ice-Glass Divine Tree, and devotees continued to bring more soil, raising its base higher and higher. In terms of presence at least, it was now a cut above the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree.

By now, the Ice-Glass Divine Tree had fully revived and even sprouted several new branches adorned with dozens of leaves. Wei Yuan couldn’t help but take a closer look at the leaves.

The Ice-Glass Divine Tree immediately shook off two leaves and sent them flying into Wei Yuan’s palm. Unwilling to fall behind, the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree also delivered two pale-red blossoms into his hand.

Moments later, Wei Yuan sat across from Cui Yu in his study. There was a cup of clear tea in front of Cui Yu, and the fresh scent of bay laurel filled the room.

Wei Yuan said with a smile, “I just acquired some fine tea. Try it—it should be beneficial for your Dao Foundation.”

Cui Yu lifted the teacup and immediately sensed how icy it was. Despite his cultivation, a layer of frost instantly covered his entire palm and elicited a shiver in him. Strangely, the tea inside remained clear, pristine, and without a speck of ice even though it froze everything that came into contact with it.

Inside the cup lay a blue leaf and a small pale-red flower. Cui Yu recognized the pale-red flower immediately—Wei Yuan’s Bay Laurel Immortal Tree was no longer a secret after all. As for the blue icy leaf, he had no idea what it belonged to, but it was clear at a glance that its grade was no less than that of the Bay Laurel blossom.

Cui Yu tilted his head back and drained the cup in one gulp. He then froze in place as a line of ice appeared in his throat and trailed downward. In the blink of an eye, his entire body was covered in a layer of frost!

Wei Yuan observed Cui Yu’s aura but did not intervene. The man’s aura plummeted at first, then slowly began to recover from a low point. His Dao energy clearly had less impurities than before and added a hint of iciness to it.

Color returned to Cui Yu’s face, and the frost covering his body melted away. He exhaled deeply and remarked, “What a domineering immortal power! It almost turned my Dao Foundation into an ice sword!”

“Has it become an immortal foundation?” Wei Yuan asked.

“It’s still a little short, but the improvement is already very noticeable. Whether I cross that final threshold or not doesn’t really matter anymore,” Cui Yu replied.

“You can have another cup.”

Cui Yu waved his hands repeatedly. “No, I’ve already reached the limits of my improvement! Drinking any more would just be a waste of immortal resources.”

Wei Yuan hadn’t expected that the argument between the mortals within his Dao Foundation would reveal another use for the Ice-Glass Divine Tree. Moreover, the Ice-Glass Divine Tree and the Bay Laurel Divine Tree were actually quite similar to each other. For starters, they both fell under the yin category. The Bay Laurel Immortal Tree’s white-gold lunar essence was also a substance of extreme cold. When paired together, their medicinal properties mutually enhanced each other so much that they could purify even a Dao Foundation.

After the improvement, Cui Yu needed to hurry and solidify his Dao Foundation, so he bade Wei Yuan goodbye and took his leave.

After seeing Cui Yu off, sealed the remaining ice leaf and bay laurel flower into a box, then summoned a cultivator. He ordered the man to deliver the box to the northern mountain gate and hand it over to Zhang Sheng.

Since there was still some time before dawn, Wei Yuan decided to listen in on the mortals some more. The changes caused by tens of thousands of sentient mortals gathered together had, frankly, exceeded Wei Yuan’s expectations.

With a flick of his perception, Wei Yuan heard countless voices, many of which were directed straight at him.

“O Immortal Master, that man to my left just secretly cursed you.”

“The leader ate the offerings meant for you. I saw it with my own eyes!”

“Someone is questioning the authenticity of your grotto-heaven. He claims that the spirit plants growing in the ground are all fake.”

“Immortal Master, the guy in front of me is cursing you in his heart!”

The more Wei Yuan listened, the more flabbergasted he became. So, he projected his perception into the Great Realm and looked down from beyond the heavens. There, he saw several hundred people bowing and praying before his statue. The offering table before the statue was laden with numerous sacrifices such as immortal fruits, immortal vegetables, and even the three common meat offerings: ox, sheep, and pig. However, every offering on the table bore the true intent of cauldron; they had clearly been fashioned from the stones within the Great Realm.

Wei Yuan frowned slightly. He had originally thought these people would remain as quiet as those Dao Foundation puppet warriors had been back then. After all, as long as he didn’t die, the spirits within the Great Realm were essentially immortal and ageless.

Whether or not Yin Yang possessed any sentience, she basically stood completely still. However, once the sentient Dragon Guards and Dao Foundation warriors appeared around her, no living creatures remained within 100 zhang of her. She also became imperceptible to anyone more than three zhang away from her.

The three Dragon Guards and the sentient Dao Foundation warriors also stood motionless.

Wei Yuan had originally assumed these sentient mortals were merely intelligent puppets or ornaments that would only move when he issued a command, but now it seemed these mortals clearly had a mind of their own, and their behavior were gradually becoming ridiculous.

Wei Yuan then surveyed other places and discovered several hundred people were hauling stone to construct a new statue.

He felt a deep headache coming on. With over tens of thousands of mortals in his Dao Foundation, they had already set up over a dozen objects of worship—were they trying to force him to switch to the Dao of incense prayer and divine worship?

It was at this moment Wei Yuan noticed that division of labor existed among the hundreds or so workers. Some were hauling stones, others were processing them, and one single person was holding a blueprint and directing the work.

They’ve invented paper already? Wei Yuan swept his perception over it and discovered that the paper still contained the true intent of cauldron. It was simply flat and soft enough to be rolled into a scroll. Drawn on the paper was an unfinished statue: a giant jade toad.

Wei Yuan silently withdrew from the Great Realm.

At dawn, a letter appeared before Wei Yuan, accompanied by a chest containing 30,000 taels of immortal silver. After reading the letter, Wei Yuan headed to the dungeon and approached Xu Chunyuan.

Xu Chunyuan let out a bitter chuckle. “I’m assuming that this old man will likely meet his end today, since you’re going so far as to pay me a personal visit, Lord Wei.”

“You are still quite valuable, Elder Xu. Someone offered thirty thousand to make sure that you can’t be bought back to the clan.”

Moments later, Wei Yuan emerged from the dungeon with his Dao Foundation enriched by twenty wisps of otherworldly fortune. As for the worldly reward, it was divided equally among the spirit plants. The newly sprouted Langya Divine Tree and the four immortal orchids had not held back when competing for the reward.

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed. The majority of the 300,000 captives had been reclassified as criminal subjects, while 30,000 of them had signed blood contracts and become troopers. All the refugees had arrived in Qingming, and they all had to start as a trooper as well.

By this time, the fourth Dao Foundation class had completed their first attempt at forging a Dao Foundation. Among the 500 members of the Cui Clan, four succeeded, while five out of the 200 Qingming cultivators managed to do so. Among the 800 Dao Soldiers, thirty had successfully forged their Dao Foundation—a success rate that had already exceeded the normal standards.

However, in Wei Yuan’s eyes, this success rate was still somewhat low. After this round, the remaining individuals should come to terms with the fact that they lacked talent and diligently cultivate the Dao Foundation templates instead. Even the weakest Dao Foundation cultivators still possessed a Dao Foundation, which made them superior to those who could never establish one in their lifetime.

The overall quality of the Dao Soldiers of the Palace of Absolute Beginning was a cut above that of ordinary cultivator’s, and they had fought for their lives on the battlefield. Their foundational abilities were far superior to those of other cultivators. However, the Palace of Absolute Beginning also rated these individuals as incapable of establishing a Dao Foundation on their own—otherwise, they would not have been entrusted to Wei Yuan.

Over the next month, the plan was to teach each person a Dao Foundation template that corresponded to their individual constitution, then have them cultivate according to it. After one month of cultivation, they could attempt to establish their Dao Foundation once more.

Within that month, the amount of newly reclaimed farmland finally reached one million mu, and all of it had been sown, which put Wei Yuan’s mind at ease just a little. As the farmland expanded, the putrid water within the realm stone Qingming gradually thinned, and the amount of clear, blue water increased. Consequently, Jia Wood Nurtures Life gradually regained its potency as well.

By this time, the standing army within Qingming had expanded to 40,000, while the mixed military-civilian force numbered 150,000, all equipped with basic firearms.

Wei Yuan did not know that, while he was buried in the effort to develop his domain, his remark—“All Avatars of the Xu Clan are garbage”—had already spread far and wide, at a speed far greater than he could have imagined.

Overnight, the grotto-heavens and the immortal sects, the aristocratic families and noble clans, and the royal families across all states had learned of his existence—a man who, despite being a Dao Foundation only, openly dismissed the Avatars of a distinguished clan as worthless.

Although Wei Yuan had not targeted them specifically, and although there were hierarchies among the Seven Surnames and Thirteen Honored, their overall strength remained roughly on the same level. The immortal sects and grotto-heavens did not consider themselves significantly stronger than the Xu Clan either. Essentially, they were all on the same tier of strength.

This was doubly true after Xu Wangu, Immortal Ancestor of the Xu Clan, had defeated Pei Tinghai and regained his youth, which caused all major powers to raise their assessment of the Xu Clan by half a tier. Although it was rumored that Xu Wangu had run into some trouble and was currently hiding in a grotto-heaven, unable to venture into the outside world, as long as he wasn’t facing an imminent crisis to his lifespan, any trouble could likely be resolved given enough time.

Those in the know immediately recognized that Wei Yuan was using his feud with the Xu Clan to cultivate his own aura of invincibility. But at the same time, they also recognized that his method wasn’t just extreme, it bordered on suicidal.

However, every clan and sect had its share of prodigies cultivating their aura of invincibility. It was just that most aimed for invincibility within their own cultivation level, whereas Wei Yuan had crossed an entire major stage to challenge everyone.

Consequently, in the blink of an eye, countless hot-headed young geniuses set their sights on Wei Yuan, eager to test their skills against him. This was something Wei Yuan had never anticipated prior to issuing his challenge to the Xu Clan.

At the moment, Wei Yuan was solely focused on the development of his realm. He was completely unaware that a storm was already brewing outside his doorsteps.