Longzang

Chapter 1161 The remnants
A vibrant life begins to rise on the distant horizon, and the True Lord of the Farming Arrives on a cloud.

Ordinary cultivators could only see the figure of the old Daoist Chuhe flying by, but in the eyes of Wei Yuan, Yan Shi, and others, what they saw was a large expanse of golden light under the feet of True Monarch Chuhe, and his body was also radiating clusters of bright yellow merit energy.

A hint of surprise flashed in Baiyou Zhenjun's eyes as he asked, "Which junior brother from Jianmu Hall is this? I don't remember him."

Yan Shi said, "That is Chu He, Huang Yun's disciple. When you came out of seclusion last time, you were still in the Dharma Form stage, but now you have cultivated to the Imperial Realm stage."

Bai You nodded in praise, "Achieving sainthood through merit is one of the two orthodox paths of the Jianmu Hall. It's truly remarkable that he has cultivated so much merit. Senior Sister Huang Yun must be overjoyed, right?"

Yan Shi sighed, "You haven't come out of seclusion for a long time, and there are many things in the palace that I haven't had time to tell you. Junior Sister Huang Yun was seriously injured while guarding the northern mountain gate not long ago and has already passed away in Qingming."

"Huh?" Bai You was taken aback and said, "Back then, Senior Sister Huang Yun clearly had the appearance of ascending to immortality, and she was blessed with a strong life and great fortune. How could she have suddenly perished?"

Yan Shi sighed, "The secrets of heaven and destiny are not immutable. While we follow the times, there are naturally those who want to reverse the course of events. The outcome depends on the struggle between the two sides at that time."

While Bai You remained silent, the old Taoist priest, Chu He, flew over and immediately bowed upon seeing Yan Shi. However, he did not recognize Bai You.

Yan Shi didn't mince words and immediately asked, "To whom has the Jianmu Palace's technique for harvesting fortune been passed down? In the past hundred years, have any True Lords been traveling abroad and not returned?"

"The art of harvesting fortune? Where would my Jianmu Temple have such a thing?" Old Daoist Chuhe was completely bewildered.

Baiyou Zhenjun said, "It is the White Dew Qi Gathering Method of your Jianmu Palace."

The old Taoist priest was even more puzzled: "Isn't that used to harvest the medicinal and spiritual energy produced by immortal herbs and spirit birds? How could it be a technique for harvesting fortune?"

Bai You Zhenjun said, "That is originally a method of harvesting fortune. It uses little Dao power and only collects medicinal power, spiritual dew, and primordial energy. If you use more force, you can harvest fortune as well."

The old Taoist priest's eyes lit up: "There's such a use? I'll have to try it later."

However, according to the old Taoist Chuhe, the White Dew Qi Gathering Method is a technique for controlling scenery, which he has only just learned and is not yet proficient in.

At this time, there were still two Imperial Views in the Jianmu Hall. However, one of them was nearing the end of his life and had been focusing on teaching the younger generation in recent years. His cultivation had begun to decline steadily and he was planning to pass away.
The other one stayed by the sapling of the Jianmu tree day and night, cultivating alongside it, and had not left the Taichu Palace for decades. This was a secret method of the Jianmu Hall; cultivating alongside the Jianmu tree not only nurtured the divine tree but also benefited one's own cultivation.

Currently, everyone in Jianmu Palace regards Old Daoist Chuhe as the next Palace Master. He will officially succeed as Palace Master once he reaches the late stage of the Imperial Realm. Apart from these three Imperial Realm cultivators, there are no other high-ranking cultivators traveling outside.

The trail went cold, and Yan Shi couldn't deduce the origins of the person who stole the treasure. Clearly, a powerful being had intervened to erase the cause and effect.

However, Bai You Zhenjun was, after all, the Abbot of Wuliang Temple. Although she couldn't find the person who stole the fortune, she still had preventative measures. She immediately added something to Qingming's Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Array. From then on, the array was no longer simply monitoring heaven and earth; as long as someone with abnormal fortune entered or left Qingming, the array would detect it.

Bai You Zhenjun simply unleashed a large amount of starlight to complete the formation, and then said, "The luck here is too intense; I'm not comfortable staying here. I'll head back now."

After Bai Youzhenjun left, Yan Shifang said, "Her supernatural powers allow her to hear the changes of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. The luck of people here is too strong, which is like countless noises to her, making it impossible for her to stay for long. I don't think we can find anything out about this matter for the time being, so let's leave it at that. I can't leave the Immortal Heaven for too long either."

Wei Yuan then bowed and saw off Immortal Lord Yan Shi.

Wei Yuan initially felt that Immortal Lord Yan Shi's attitude was a bit strange. He didn't seem to care much and just checked it briefly before letting it pass. It seemed that there was something else going on.

Just as he was pondering this, the old Taoist priest, Chuhe, said excitedly, "It just so happens that some of my fellow disciples have arrived. Let's come and meet them together?"

Wei Yuan inquired and learned that rearranging the boundary stones, clarifying the fields, and building water conservancy projects were all meritorious deeds, but the workload was enormous. The old Taoist priest felt that he could not handle it alone, and also felt that good things should not be enjoyed by one person alone. So he summoned seven of his former fellow disciples from the Jianmu Hall to help with the grand undertaking.

These seven cultivators from the Jianmu Hall were all at the late stage to the perfect stage of the Dharma Aspect realm. Each of them also brought several to a dozen disciples and grand-disciples, making a total of nearly a hundred people. They also brought over a hundred spirit birds and beasts, each with its own purpose, making it a truly grand and imposing group.

Wei Yuan was naturally pleased. He met with the cultivators and offered them words of encouragement.

The seven Dharma Images of Jianmu Hall are all much older than Wei Yuan, some even older than Xuan Yue Zhenjun. The cultivation of the Jianmu Hall lineage is quite slow, but it is safe and stable, and the lifespan is longer than other lineages, so everyone is used to cultivating slowly. However, Bao Yun is an exception.

The people inside the temple mostly cultivate trees, grow medicinal herbs, and nurture spiritual creatures, living a life of peace and tranquility. As a result, over time, the number of highly accomplished cultivators has grown to a considerable size, comparable to that of the Creation Temple.

According to the old Taoist Chuhe, he and these seven Dharma Images were collectively known as the Eight Heroes of Jianmu, and they maintained frequent contact and shared a deep bond. Wei Yuan naturally welcomed the help of the cultivators from Jianmu Palace and arranged accommodations and all necessary food and lodging. As for the tasks, the various realms would naturally assign them when the time came, so Wei Yuan didn't need to worry about it.

After bidding farewell to the cultivators, Wei Yuan suddenly remembered something. Back when he was still studying at Taichu Palace, Bao Yun had told him many anecdotes about Jianmu Hall. According to Bao Yun, there were only the Seven Sons of Jianmu in Jianmu Hall at that time, and he had never heard of the Eight Heroes of Jianmu.

Currently, almost all the Dharma Aspect and Dao Foundation disciples from Shuiyue, Tianqing, and Jianmu Halls are in Qingming, and more and more are coming from Zaohua Temple. These disciples deal with mortal affairs every day, and more or less they have been influenced by human fortune. Those who arrived early have seen significant improvements in their aptitude. Among them, Xu Yi's Dharma Aspect is constantly transforming and is already close to becoming a Celestial Aspect.

The next two weeks passed uneventfully, then Xiaoyu from the front lines sent an urgent report: the Lü family's defenses had completely collapsed, their ancestral land was about to fall, and they requested Wei Yuan to go and take charge of the situation.

This was no small matter, so Wei Yuan immediately led a hundred Golden Core cultivators and three thousand Dao Foundation cultivators onto a large flying ship to rush to the front line.

At this moment, Wei Yuan had accumulated millions of units of azure energy, but this energy was insufficient to withstand an attack from an immortal, let alone a powerful being. Therefore, Wei Yuan gathered many cultivators and went together.

Such a number of cultivators are already capable of generating military aura. An army composed entirely of Dao Foundation cultivators is unheard of. Only the ancient Human Emperor, during his conquest of the world, once formed a personal iron cavalry composed entirely of Dao Foundation cultivators at the height of his power.

These cultivators, mobilized simultaneously, were more than capable of crushing the remaining cultivators of the Lü family. Wei Yuan intended to use overwhelming superiority to shatter the last glimmer of hope the Lü family held.

Qingming was not far from the northern frontier, and arrived at the front line in just one day.

At this time, the five passes and more than ten cities of varying sizes surrounding the ancestral home of the Lü family were all blown to rubble, and countless corpses were buried underneath, which could not be cleared in time.

According to frontline reports, the Lü family had mobilized its last elite forces, with many members of the direct lineage going to the battlefield. These core members fought to the death, and as a result, under Qingming's relentless artillery barrage, casualties were extremely heavy, with less than one in ten surviving. Qingming's count alone indicated over 100,000 casualties, and the actual number was certainly much higher.

The remaining members of the Lü clan have now retreated to the last major city at the foot of the ancestral mountain, where they are now surrounded by the Qingming army.

The passageways to the city and the palaces throughout the ancestral mountain were already within the range of the Azure Nether Artillery's fire, constantly monitored by the divine senses of Dharma Aspect cultivators. The moment anyone was detected moving, a barrage of artillery fire would follow.

Wei Yuan stood in the air, surveying the city ahead while listening to the reports from Xiao Yu and the generals.

The city originally housed 300,000 people, all of whom were high-ranking officials, along with their servants and attendants.

This city, as the main city of the Lü clan, was built to be extremely tall and magnificent, and its protective array was incredibly powerful, supplied with spiritual energy from the ancestral mountain, capable of withstanding an attack from an immortal. All members of the Lü clan fled into the array, attempting to use its defenses to escape this calamity; the city already had nearly 1.5 million inhabitants.

However, the city has little food reserves, while the population has increased several times over. There is no need to attack; a siege of the city for a month will be enough to eliminate the food shortage.

However, things could change in the meantime, and Wei Yuan wouldn't wait for the city's food supplies to run out. Besides, even the strongest formation has its limits; the Azure Nether Heavy Missile's power is equivalent to a strike from a Dharma Aspect, while the heavy artillery is equivalent to a strike from a Dao Foundation.

Theoretically, no matter how many times the Dao Foundation attacks, it cannot shake the great formation. However, the prosperity of all realms has long concluded that under the cover of heavy artillery, the protective formation will continue to vibrate. As long as there are enough attacks, some array plates or array patterns will eventually malfunction, or the pipelines that transmit spiritual energy will fail.

If even the slightest malfunction occurs anywhere, the grand formation will be continuously weakened until it is completely destroyed. The previous fall of numerous fortified passes has already confirmed this conclusion.

Therefore, Xiaoyu deployed three thousand heavy artillery pieces in one go, with another thousand in reserve at the rear, to be replaced as needed for any damaged artillery units at the front. As for shells, a million rounds were prepared, along with a thousand heavy missiles.

With such firepower, plus the three thousand templates and one hundred Golden Core cultivators brought by Wei Yuan, they should be able to break through the great formation and destroy the city's defenses within three days. At that time, Qingming's five hundred thousand heavy infantry will flatten the ancestral mountain.

Seeing that everything was ready, Wei Yuan circulated his Dao power, and his gentle voice spread throughout the city: "I am Wei Yuan. You can still surrender now."

The answer was a magic arrow, which shot straight at Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan stood still. The magic arrow had only entered a hundred feet when it spontaneously combusted without wind and turned to ashes.

After destroying the magic arrow with the Evil Yang True Intent, Wei Yuan finally raised his hand and pointed forward!
The roar of cannons shook the heavens and the earth!
Countless shells flew towards the formation, exploding into dazzling sparks.

Three days later, the Lü family of Ganzhou, one of the seven prominent clans and thirteen prominent families, was left with only one title:
Remnants.

(End of this chapter)