Longzang

Chapter 1156 The Most Beloved

Setting up a completely new education system was a fundamental and paramount task, occupying almost all of Wei Yuan's time. The very question of what to teach and how to teach it was a matter of fundamental importance concerning the next century, and could not be taken lightly.

Wei Yuan made the arrangements too hastily. As a result, it was easy to add courses to the academy, but difficult to find qualified teachers. Moreover, a large number of problems were exposed in a short period of time. For example, many teachers who were hired temporarily did not follow the given syllabus. Instead, they began to preach their own theories. Those who studied Buddhism taught Buddhist teachings, those who practiced Taoism taught Taoist techniques, Confucian scholars taught to venerate sages, and those who practiced other religions had many tricks up their sleeves. Some even guided students to worship themselves and attempt to become saints through incense offerings.

Fortunately, the Zhou Tian Star Array monitored the heavens and earth, and Wei Yuan had many avatars traveling in the world, so he discovered many problems in just a few days.

Wei Yuan then struck swiftly and decisively, taking down all the teachers who disobeyed the teaching guidelines, introduced their own ideas, and arbitrarily changed the curriculum. The lighter punishments were caning and imprisonment, while the heavier ones were forced labor and exile. Several heretical cultivators were even beheaded in public.

This move drew some criticism. Some felt that Wei Yuan was making a mountain out of a molehill, while others wanted to advise him not to be so harsh and cruel.

As a result, all the advice was rejected by Wei Yuan, who then stated that the course "General Knowledge of Immortal Path" was of paramount importance. The enlightenment of cultivation was related to Qingming's grand plan for the next thousand years, and could not tolerate any carelessness or falsehood. Anyone who smuggled in their own ideas in this course would be committing treason.

This definitive statement immediately silenced all dissent. Although many people dismissed it, feeling it was merely children's early education and there was no need to make such a fuss.
Others believe that the path of cultivation should be diverse and open to all. They have spent decades in seclusion in the deep mountains and forests, so they must have extraordinary abilities. What's wrong with teaching their own methods? Are decades of arduous cultivation in the deep mountains inferior to a universal cultivation method that is publicly published in the heavens and anyone can buy a copy of?

These people dared not speak out, and Wei Yuan, unable to hear them, simply ignored them. He then introduced the Azure Netherworld Instructor Assessment and Certification System, stipulating that teachers instructing young children must undergo an annual examination, with only those who pass allowed to teach. The first examination for this batch of temporary teachers was scheduled for three months later.

This move naturally caused a stir among the teachers, but Wei Yuan neither heard nor paid any attention to it. Even if he did hear it, he would still ignore it.

Amidst his busy schedule, Wei Yuan continued to receive battle reports from Xiao Yu at the front lines. About seven out of ten reports were about the Eastern Jin Dynasty. They were about how they had captured some bandits posing as border soldiers in a border town of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, or how they had killed a fierce bandit posing as an Eastern Jin general yesterday.

Wei Yuan read several letters in succession, which made him inexplicably angry. He couldn't help but reply with a single sentence: "I have heard that there are no border cities within three hundred miles of the border."

After sending the letter, Wei Yuan waited for the envoy from the Xu family of the Eastern Jin Dynasty while continuing his work on reforming the academy system. However, instead of the Eastern Jin envoy, he was greeted by an envoy from the Zhao state.

The identities of the envoys from the State of Zhao were quite mysterious. They were Princess Wuyang, the cousin of King Li Shenji of Zhao, and the princess's daughter.

Princess Wuyang had divorced several years ago and came on a diplomatic mission with her eighteen-year-old daughter, which was rather strange. However, out of respect for Zhao Li Xianren, Wei Yuan still personally received her.

Princess Wuyang was of Zhao-Li blood and was only slightly less beautiful than Consort Yuan. She looked fresh and youthful, and was only in her early twenties. When she stood with her daughter, they looked like twin flowers, and it was hard to tell who was older. However, her appearance was comparable to that of Princess Ningguo and the Sixth Princess.

Princess Wuyang's cultivation was not weak; she had already reached the perfected Dharma Aspect stage. She was also unrestrained and bold; her eyes lit up when she saw Wei Yuan, and she smiled before even speaking.

However, apart from cultivation, their minds were rather empty, which was a great disservice to the magnificence of the peaks.

Wei Yuan reluctantly dealt with them, while simultaneously sensing a clear malice. What did the Zhao state want by sending such a pair of people before him? What did they take him for? Did they think he was some kind of morbid curiosity?

Just as he was feeling indignant, Princess Wuyang noticed that Wei Yuan had lost his patience, so she reluctantly took out a letter and handed it to him.

As she handed over the letter, she casually scratched the back of Wei Yuan's hand with her fingernail.

Wei Yuan opened the envelope. A trace of immortal energy lingered on the letter; it was actually handwritten by the Immortal Zhao Li. The letter was quite straightforward, telling Wei Yuan that if he didn't do something, the next messenger wouldn't be from Wuyang, but from someone even more formidable. After reading the letter, Wei Yuan told the mother and daughter to go back and rest, and then choose their own time to return to Zhao. Only after they left did Wei Yuan carefully read the letter again, collecting the scattered immortal energy information between the lines, forming a tiny wisp of true meaning. Only then did Wei Yuan understand the true meaning of the Immortal Zhao Li.

What Zhao Li Xianren really wanted to ask was how the attack from the Glazed Light River was neutralized that day.

But this was Wei Yuan's top secret. He was no longer the naive young cultivator he once was; he knew that revealing his true identity would cause him endless trouble. Furthermore, the more mysterious the woman in black was, the less the other side could figure out her background, and the less they would dare to act rashly.

Therefore, Wei Yuan did not intend to respond to Zhao Li Xianren's letter; he would wait until Zhao Li Xianren dared to come to Qingming himself. However, it was clear that Zhao Li Xianren dared not expose himself to the Three-Eyed Bird Head's gaze.

Even now, Wei Yuan is still reeling from the shock of that day, feeling as if it were all a dream. Furthermore, according to the common knowledge of cultivation in this world, Wei Yuan's background is definitely not good.

The last seed of self-salvation before a world falls into oblivion sounds incredibly powerful and mysterious, making it a perfect protagonist in any extraterrestrial fantasy novel. But the problem is, this world is a world of cultivation. How was the world Wei Yuan came from destroyed? Even the entire causal chain of events could be erased. If the one who destroyed that world knew of Wei Yuan's existence, would they let it go unpunished?

Because of this identity, this heavy karmic burden fell directly on Wei Yuan's head, whether he liked it or not.

Wei Yuan stared blankly for a while, then the letter in his hand spontaneously combusted without any wind, turning to ashes. Having burned Zhao Li Xianren's letter, Wei Yuan decided to think of something happier first. In the past, when he contributed his Dharma form to Bird Mother, or even his Yu Jing Yuan Shen's sea of ​​consciousness, he would be bestowed with celestial fortune. And that celestial fortune was of extremely high rank, actually the aura overflowing from the origin of heaven and earth.

This time, the offering was the true spirits of two immortals, arguably the most valuable items on par with their immortal bodies. Although it resulted in a blow that destroyed the Glazed Light River, wasn't there anything else in return? For example, a few strands of fortune as a treat?
Just then, Wei Yuan suddenly received a call from Zhang Sheng.

He immediately put aside what he was doing, flew to the Immortal City, and arrived at Zhang Sheng's residence.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, Wei Yuan felt an unusually familiar aura. Then he saw a small black bird fly past him, circle around the courtyard, and fly into the house through the window.

Before entering the house, it glanced back at Wei Yuan, revealing three eyes on its head!

Wei Yuan was taken aback and rushed into the room, where he saw Zhang Sheng sitting cross-legged on the couch, surrounded by wisps of sword energy. This was a common sight during her cultivation, but today it was different. Several small black birds were moving around Zhang Sheng; some were circling, some seemed to be foraging for food, and two even flew to the floating sword energy and perched on it, then drifted and swayed with the sword energy as if they had no weight at all.

"What, what's going on?" Wei Yuan was clearly not calm.

Zhang Sheng opened his eyes and said, "I was just about to tell you this. Earlier today, I was cultivating in the bustling world of the myriad realms when I encountered a woman in black. She was very kind to me and talked to me for quite a while. I don't know why, but I couldn't feel the slightest bit of wariness towards her, and I answered almost everything she asked."

After she finished speaking, she gave me a few strange little birds and told me to keep them with me. When I withdrew from the bustling world and my consciousness returned to my physical body, these little birds actually followed me out, which was quite strange. They were neither birds nor beasts, nor spirits; I didn't know what they were. Do you recognize them?

Wei Yuan felt extremely uncomfortable. Although he had never seen these black birds before, he had not only seen but also used many things that were several ranks lower than them, namely, the luck from beyond the heavens.

But the birds beside Zhang Sheng were more than just high-level celestial fortune. They were all born with spirituality and had already taken human form!
Wei Yuan had never even heard of such a high-level, innately spiritual fortune. All the extraterrestrial fortune he had received in the past combined probably wouldn't even amount to a single bird, yet Zhang Sheng had collected five or six!

Wei Yuan felt conflicted. After all, theoretically speaking, she was his own mother.

(End of this chapter)