The headless python that was the Great Warlock’s Avatar was still flailing in the air. It was just an instinctive response, though. Its destruction was inevitable.

Wei Yuan put away the dead branch and carelessly stuck it to the ground of the Great Expanse—but not the most fertile land where it was originally planted.

Finally receiving the order to stop, the scions halted their attacks and looked as white as a sheet. They were so tired they were just shy of sticking out their tongues and panting like dogs. Fortunately, as shoddy as their skills were, they had attacked long and hard enough to accumulate some damage.

Dark green blood were dripping everywhere on the battlefield. The land was originally fertile, but the Shamans’ fresh blood had turned it into an ashen wasteland.

Tens of thousands of Shaman corpses were scattered across the battlefield at the moment. It was a horrifying sight. A lot less human cultivators were standing on their feet compared to the start of the battle. On the flanks, Xiao Yu was returning with ninety or so cultivators. He himself was covered in wounds.

The pool inside Qingming had completely depleted. All of the nurturing energy it had accumulated from previous battles had been consumed just to maintain Life is a Flash for an incense stick.

It was at this moment rain started falling over the realm once more. Slowly, a single drop of blue water gathered at the bottom of the pool.

The domain had not yet converted the poison and green qi emanated by tens of thousands of Shamans into clear, harmless qi. At the moment, they were clinging to the ground surface in the shape of a thick, persistent fog.

Fortunately, the vast majority of cultivators in the realm were from the western regions and had prior experience dealing with such situations. They immediately pulled their unconscious comrades out of the fog and moved them to the Pure Realm of Humanity.

Wei Yuan did not wait to catch his breath. He immediately jumped onto his horse and charged out of the domain alone in pursuit of the routing Shamans.

The Great Warlock, Phantom, was retreating with the main force as well. However, the girl wielding the gigantic saber continued to chase her all the way into the depths of the Shaman realm. She was no match for Phantom to begin with, and she was no longer empowered by Qingming’s domain. That was why Wei Yuan had rushed out to support her. He was worried that tragedy would befall the girl.

Fortunately, he had just exited the boundary when the girl returned, her massive blade dragging behind her back.

Previously, the girl had looked completely unharmed. But now, green qi was enveloping her whole body, and her complexion was turning blue. Black blood was trickling down her forehead as well. All this had happened during the short period she had chased into enemy territory.

Wei Yuan pulled her onto his horse and raced back to the domain at top speed. As soon as they crossed the threshold, he immediately channeled Jia Wood Nurtures Life to cleanse her of all of the poison and curses eating away at her. Just moments later, most of the curse had dissipated, and the blood trickling down her forehead had regained its bright red color. It was only then he asked her about her origin.

The girl saluted him and introduced herself, “I am Feng Tingyu[1], a disciple of the Bright King Hall. By order of my founder, I am to accompany you on a ten-year training journey, Senior Brother Wei.”

“What? I’ve never heard of this.” Wei Yuan was a little confused. It wasn’t like he didn’t appreciate the reinforcements, but there had to be a million better places where she could have honed herself without a serious risk of death, right?

“Founder Xuan Yue has also agreed to this arrangement. Communications are down at the moment, and I had to come here on my own. Founder Xuan Yue’s orders may not arrive until later,” the girl replied.

Wei Yuan believed that she was telling the truth. He was just having trouble coming to terms with the fact that someone as petite as her was a member of a certain gorilla family. The eight chi long saber she was dragging behind her definitely fit the Bright King Hall’s style, though.

Wei Yuan produced a handkerchief and pressed it against her head wound, saying, “Don’t chase the enemy that far next time. You’re bound to get hurt without the domain’s suppression.”

“If I hadn’t chased after all,” the girl said, “she wouldn’t have attacked me with everything she had. I only allowed her to land one blow before striking back with three of my own.”

If he wasn’t sure before, he now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the girl was a member of the Bright King Hall.

Wei Yuan pointed at the central peak and said, “That is where all disciples of the Palace are resting. Seek out Senior Uncle Sun Yu and ask him to treat your wounds.”

After sending Feng Tingyu away, Wei Yuan threw himself into various post-battle matters. It wasn’t until late afternoon that he had everything arranged, and the casualty figures tallied.

Eight hundred human cultivators had fallen in this battle. That was nearly half of their numbers. Hundreds more were critically injured, but they could all be saved on account of Sun Yu’s presence and the healing potency of Jia Wood Nurtures Life. In other realms, most of these people would have perished from their wounds. This was what set Qingming apart from the others.

Once everything was settled, Wei Yuan prepared to summon all members of the Palace of Absolute Beginning for a meeting. As the realm lord, he could send a message to everyone within the domain with a single thought.

After setting up the meeting time, Wei Yuan went to check on the young masters and ladies.

At the moment, the youngsters were all gathered together and staring at their merit booklets with uncharacteristic silence. Upon seeing Wei Yuan arrive, Hsu Yi suddenly stepped forward and bowed deeply—so deeply, in fact, that his head nearly touched the ground.

Wei Yuan hurriedly pulled him to his feet. Hsu Yi silently opened the merit booklet and showed him.

It stated: 20 Heaven Merits.

Wei Yuan had anticipated this. When the rest of the youngsters showed him their merit booklets, he confirmed that everyone had gotten some Heaven Merits. Wang Yu had the most, with a total of twenty-two points. Two young masters had the least, with only two points each.

The two young masters were mortified. Wei Yuan had set up everything for them, and still they had only scraped together two points. They had never been more aware of the lack of skill than now. Silently, the two men vowed to devote every waking hour—except for eating and sleeping—to diligent practice and rigorous training. No matter what, they would never bring up the rear again.

Originally, they had all been equally carefree and frivolous, enjoying life without a care for the world. But now, faced with the exact same opportunity, some of them had scored twenty Heaven Merits, while others had only two—and that was simply impossible to take lightly.

As Wang Yu approached, Wei Yuan felt a slight stir in his heart. The wisp of advanced blue fortune was resonating with the young man. As it turned out, the blue qi had come from him.

Wang Yu didn’t speak much usually, leaving Wei Yuan with the impression that he was a fairly quiet person. Because of this, he hadn’t expected him to contribute so much fortune at all. This clearly showed the high regard in which Wei Yuan was held in his heart.

Hsu Yi, on the other hand, acted like he was his greatest admirer. He had even put on a show with his bow just now. In reality, the fortune he had contributed was not as much as Wang Yu’s, nor was it significantly more than that of the others.

A round of interaction later, Wei Yuan’s unique perception told him that thirteen of the thirty or so wisps of blue qi in his Dao Foundation came from the scions.

While chatting with them about battlefield matters, Wei Yuan slowly withdrew the fortune he had bestowed upon them. They weren’t horses after all; he couldn’t just rip the fortune away from them as he pleased. After all, it felt great to be empowered by fortune, but the withdrawal was a different story. It had to be done gradually.

Wei Yuan had originally intended to treat these scions well to save face for Cui Yu , and to win over the families behind them. But now, he realized that these young masters and ladies weren’t just capable of fighting—they could also contribute a significant amount of fortune!

This realization instantly made Wei Yuan attentive and considerate; more so than even their private maidservants at home.

Before the battle, Wei Yuan had to dig through his “savings” to scrape together just enough fortune—sixteen wisps to be exact—to empower them all. Now, he had recouped eleven of them. Was this what they called five-out-thirteen-in[2]?

Instinctively, Wei Yuan felt that it was an excellent exchange.

After he was done comforting the scions, Wei Yuan summoned Xu Wenwu next and imbued an exceptionally sturdy mortal horse with a wisp of blue qi. He then instructed him to ride it for two hours each day. Of course, he would still be riding Wei Yuan’s mount. It was extra work.

It was now time for the meeting, so Wei Yuan flew to the central peak where the members of the Palace of Absolute Beginning were already waiting for him.

As soon as he reached the summit, Wei Yuan spotted Feng Tingyu sitting high upon a rock. She had dumped her long saber casually on the ground as if it wasn’t a top-tier mystic artifact.

The meeting was brief. Wei Yuan had redistributed the military command and allocated additional troops to Cui Yu. He had originally intended to assign some cultivators to Feng Tingyu as well, but the girl, fearing they would be a burden, firmly refused. Wei Yuan had no choice but to drop the matter.

Next, Wei Yuan plotted a tour around the perimeter of the realm to persuade all humans living in nearby settlements to relocate and settle within Qingming. He could have entrusted these tasks to Yun Feifei and Xu Wan’er, but after discovering that humans could contribute fortune as well—over a dozen of them so far—he decided that he would handle such matters personally from now on.

There was a chance his actions might be viewed as an act of rebellion, but it was irrelevant. He was mainly doing this for fortune.

1. It’s a rather poetic-sounding name that reads something like, “The wind is listening to the rain.” ☜

2. Refer to chapter 57. It’s a joke on nine-out-thirteen-in. ☜