Qingming welcomed its first batch of mortals.

The first wave wasn’t particularly large. It was a little over three thousand people, and they had arrived in trickles. They had all previously lived in nearby villages. Wei Yuan had already designated an open area by a small lake in the southeastern part of the realm as their first city.

The land was located about one hundred and ten li away from the realm stone and close to the border. However, when the tens of thousands of Shaman corpses currently sitting in the realm had been fully converted, the domain’s boundaries would extend another twenty li. The lakeside featured vast stretches of open land that had once been cultivated but had fallen into ruin after the war. It was terrible, but at least reclaiming it would require far less effort than starting from scratch.

Everyone was utterly exhausted from the journey, but their spirits were instantly lifted upon entering the domain. Many ailments that had plagued them for years vanished without a trace as well. When they reached the lake and saw the vast, level lands around it, many were so overcome with emotion that they burst into tears.

Wei Yuan received another wisp of blue qi.

Though they were called “mortals”, many of them were actually Body-tempering stage cultivators who, unwilling to leave their families behind, chose to stay behind rather than venture out into the world. Moreover, in human settlements, having a Body-tempering stage cultivator in the family offered a significant advantage in resolving neighborhood disputes or handling conflicts over land or water. If one had reached the blood-tempering stage, then they would have more than enough power to become the village tyrant.

Wei Yuan had already designated the area for their settlement. He had driven boundary stakes into the ground and assigned dozens of cultivators to maintain order and assist them in building their homes.

The humans of the western regions lived in extreme hardship. In Willow Ash Town, tens of thousands of people lived in shanties that were little better than dog pens. Consequently, these people had minimal demands for housing—as long as it offered shelter from the rain, they were satisfied.

At the moment, Wei Yuan had a substantial stockpile of building materials, all salvaged from the Shamans’ military encampments. That day, the Shamans had only managed to build a small portion of the camp before they suffered a crushing defeat. As they routed, they abandoned a vast amount of materials. Naturally, they all fell into Wei Yuan’s hands.

When the group of mortals arrived at the site where the city was to be built, Wei Yuan had spent a full half a day inspecting the area, personally overseeing every detail. Their accommodations for the first day were makeshift—nothing more than tents and shacks—as it would take some time for the proper dwellings to be constructed.

With the population within the domain suddenly doubling, food supplies quickly became tight, and even water was becoming an issue.

It had only been a few days since the small lake was covered by Qingming’s domain. Although its color had faded slightly, its waters remained a deep, unhealthy green. A sweep of his perception told him that the lakewater was still undrinkable, and it would likely take a month for it to fully purify.

That said, Wei Yuan had already ordered a stone reservoir to be built in advance. It had already been filled with two days’ worth of rainwater. Also, the rainwater within the realm was drinkable, so in the future, the households could collect rainwater themselves to alleviate the immediate crisis.

As for housing, Wei Yuan took a page from Xu Wenwu’s notes. He had chosen to build four-storey wooden buildings for the relocated mortals to live in. The realm was home to countless giant trees, and each one provided at least ten zhang worth of wood once felled. Building multiple four-storey wooden buildings out of them would be a breeze.

It was only after he had inspected everything that Wei Yuan returned to the central peak. He then took out the Xu Clan’s intelligence and studied them carefully.

Since obtaining the intelligence on the caravans, Wei Yuan had gained a whole new perspective on Lie Flat Inn’s intelligence network. Thus, during his second visit, he forked over a hundred taels of immortal silver and purchased every piece of intelligence relating to the Xu Clan. That was how the booklet in his hands came to be. The booklet listed dozens of figures from every level of the Xu Clan, covering everything from personality traits and daily preferences to private quirks and oddities. In short, it had everything.

While poring through the booklet, Wei Yuan actually felt as though he was reading a novel.

Moments later, Wei Yuan finished reading the intelligence report. He now had a clear outline in mind. Originally, he had intended to first round up the mortals in other areas before finally moving against Willow Ash Town. But since the Xu Clan had already burned the bridges, Wei Yuan decided to bring his plans forward. Nearly one hundred thousand mortals lived in Willow Ash Town, and he could not abandon them no matter what.

Wei Yuan had just descended from the central peak when he spotted a bolt of blue lightning streaking through a mountain forest. He called out to it. Moments later, Xu Wenwu rode up to him and dismounted. Panting a little, he said, “I’ve finished my ride for the day.”

The blue warhorse now stood at a zhang tall with snow-white hooves and a flowing mane. It looked mighty handsome to say the least. The horse had only been eight chi tall when he entrusted it to Xu Wenwu two days prior. Now, having expended a full wisp of blue qi in two days, it had transformed from an ordinary, mortal horse into a novice spirit steed.

By comparison, the other warhorse that utilized otherworldly fortune had only expended less than half a wisp of black qi so far. It was also still at the level of a mortal steed. According to his estimates, it would take another five days before it fully digested the fortune.

A mortal horse that was transformed using otherworldly fortune was also more ferocious and violent. Wei Yuan’s own crimson warhorse was now a mid-grade spirit steed and on par with the black steed that had once been ridden by the young Liao chief. Without exaggeration, it could bite an ordinary Liao horse to death on its own without needing Wei Yuan to intervene.

On the other hand, the blue qi was easier to absorb. The steed became gentle yet robust after its metamorphosis, with superior endurance that was suitable for long-distance travel. Both types of fortune had their strengths and weaknesses. In terms of potency alone, the otherworldly fortune was clearly superior. However, otherworldly fortune was rare, whereas blue fortune had a stable source.

Seeing the state of the blue horse, Wei Yuan knew that Xu Wenwu hadn’t been slacking off. Thus, he said, “I brought you something.”

Xu Wenwu’s eyes lit up the moment he saw the brand new novels. The novels from his world had all been written by mortals. Limited by their nature, they naturally lacked the flair of those crafted by cultivators.

Wei Yuan asked a question, “Do you want to cultivate?”

“Of course I do!” Xu Wenwu replied without hesitation until nervousness struck him. “But... Do I really have the talent?”

After all this time, Xu Wenwu finally realized that his natural talent wasn’t all that great, and his insight was a direct carry-over from his previous life—the less said about it, the better. Xu Wenwu used to think that ancient people were stupid, unable to write even a proper eight-legged essay[1]. But after seeing the test questions fielded by the Palace of Absolute Beginning’s literary test, he finally realized that in this world, he would likely struggle to even become a licentiate.

Wei Yuan said encouragingly, “I’ll ask Big Senior Sister to assess your foundation and fortune later. You’ll find out then.”

Xu Wenwu nodded and ran off with the novels in his arms.

By the time he tended to various chores, night had fallen in seemingly the blink of an eye. The mortals who had arrived had settled in for the night. Looking down from the central peak, one could see the scattered campfires lighting up the lakeside.

The preliminary headcount had been completed as well. A total of 3,200 mortals had arrived today, including several dozen elderly individuals over fifty, with the rest consisting of young adults and children. In the western regions, it was extremely rare for a mortal to live past the age of forty.

Among these people, roughly a thousand had tempered their bodies, with more than two hundred having finished the flesh-tempering stage.

Under the effects of “Life is a Flash”, these two hundred or so individuals could instantly advance to the peak of the Body-tempering stage—the standard of the Nine Armies of Great Tang. The thousand or so people who had tempered their bodies would also reach the level of elite border troops, while the true mortals would be at the standard of regular border troops.

After the three thousand mortals had arrived, Wei Yuan distinctly sensed an increase in the fine rain within Qingming. The rate at which water was accumulating in the pool had nearly doubled. Correspondingly, the Great Realm also saw improvement, increasing its rate of absorption of ambient spirit qi.

More than ten days had passed since Qingming recognized a master. As its condition stabilized, Wei Yuan gradually gained a clearer sense of his own cultivation under its influence.

The amount of spirit qi required to cultivate the Great Realm was so immense that, had Wei Yuan chosen to remain in the Palace of Absolute Beginning and diligently cultivated without consuming any pills, it would have taken him roughly fifty years to complete the early stages of his Dao Foundation and plant the roots of his Avatar.

The ambient spirit qi in this region was far inferior to the mountain gate, of course. Had the Great Realm remained as it was, it would have taken him roughly three centuries to reach the same milestone. In other words, if Wei Yuan had devoted himself solely to cultivation and done anything else, he would barely reach the middle-stage of the Dao Foundation stage before passing away from natural causes.

However, Qingming had bound itself to the Great Expanse, increasing its manifestation range to three thousand zhang. It was slowly and constantly absorbing ambient spirit qi all the time. Efficiency wise, his cultivation speed was actually approaching that of secluding himself in cultivation at the Palace of Absolute Beginning without consuming any pills. Assuming that Wei Yuan did nothing else starting today, he would reach the middle stage of the Dao Foundation stage in just fifty years. He might even come close to reaching the Avatar stage within his lifetime.

However, after the strange, mindless Shamans had entered his jade hill, his cultivation had inexplicably yet surely advanced by a significant margin, saving him three whole years of arduous practice. And with the arrival of the three thousand mortals, even before they had done anything, his cultivation speed had received yet another boost. Specifically, the Great Realm was absorbing even more spirit qi, saving him yet another year of painstaking cultivation. Now, it would only take him forty-six years to complete the foundation solidifying stage.

If just three thousand mortals could save him a year of cultivation, what about thirty thousand? Three hundred thousand?

Wei Yuan was still examining his Dao Foundation when suddenly, he sensed a hint of vitality emerging within the realm. As if on cue, the amount of spirit qi being absorbed by the Great Realm increased slightly. Though this extra bit of spirit qi was negligible—amounting to only a dozen or so days of cultivation time—it was vibrant and full of life, making it impossible for Wei Yuan to ignore.

1. The eight-legged essay (Chinese: 八股文; pinyin: bāgǔwén) was a style of essay in imperial examinations during the Ming and Qing dynasties in China. The eight-legged essay was intended to assess candidates' merits for government service, often focusing on Confucian thought and knowledge of the Four Books and Five Classics, in relation to governmental ideals. ☜