Longzang

Chapter 1219 The Age of Dao Contention
Below the ancestral mountain of the Lü clan, Wei Yuan saw a completely different scene.

He sat cross-legged in the void, above which lay endless mist, within which a giant hand appeared and disappeared. This hand stretched towards the heavens, as if trying to grasp something, but in the end, it was all in vain; a sense of desolation and vicissitude washed over him.

Beneath Wei Yuan was a patch of light, from which countless threads were sprinkled down, falling into the mist and gradually dissolving it. As the mist dissipated, a crystal would roll down and be brought before Wei Yuan.

This crystal is Immortal Essence, a product of the immortal energy that dissipated after an immortal's fall, combining with the mortal world. The immortal remains were continuously refined, and the immortal power that dissipated upon contact with the mortal world became Immortal Essence, which was then immediately collected by Wei Yuan.

If the immortal essence is not collected in time, it will dissipate and change the surrounding environment if left for too long, gradually turning the mortal world into a treasure land.

This small piece of immortal essence is enough to transform into a treasure land several miles in radius, and it is also a top-grade pill material. One piece of immortal essence is just enough for Wei Yuan to refine a Yujing Great Pill.

Beyond these fine threads, in the distance, there are four enormous pillars of light, connecting the earth and the sky, one end plunging into the clouds and the other reaching into the distant, boundless heavens, supporting this world.

A different scene unfolded around Wei Yuan. Long scrolls slowly descended and unfurled around him; some were paintings depicting celestial phenomena, while others were scrolls of text bearing celestial inscriptions.

Each scroll unfolds, creating countless phenomena, with many spirit birds and spirits flying around Wei Yuan. Some even manage to enter his sea of ​​consciousness by chance, immediately causing a spiritual rain to fall. Where the spiritual rain falls, life flourishes, and occasionally, a spirit is born.

Countless stars floated before Wei Yuan, totaling over eight thousand. If the myriad divine thoughts used to maintain the operation of the great formation were included, Wei Yuan's total number of divine thought divisions had now exceeded twenty thousand!

However, not all divine thoughts truly belong to Wei Yuan.

While Wei Yuan was refining the remains of an immortal on the sacred mountain, various mysteries occurred, and his divine sense was greatly enhanced, with more than five thousand additional divine senses appearing out of thin air. If he were outside the great formation, Wei Yuan's divine senses would now number fifteen thousand, a truly astonishing improvement.

Based solely on the differentiation of divine thoughts, Wei Yuan believed that differentiating into myriad paths was the threshold to becoming an immortal; without reaching this number, it would be difficult to pass the tribulation of ascending to immortality.

The differentiated divine thoughts can manipulate magical artifacts, drive clones, study Taoist scriptures, and handle official duties; they are truly infinitely mysterious.

Although a single divine thought can only manipulate Dao Foundation artifacts, and even those can't be too good, their power becomes extremely terrifying when there are many of them. Wei Yuan has already begun making arrangements to have the weapon forging workshop refine Dao Foundation flying swords specifically for his own use; the quality just needs to be acceptable, not too good.

As requested by Wei Yuan, Yu Zhizhuo naturally devoted himself to the task, first crafting a set of Five Elements Flying Swords. Two thousand swords of each of the five elements—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—were completed after a year.

Next are the three extraordinary swords of ice, wind, and thunder. These are much more difficult to forge, will take another year, and there will only be one thousand of each.

To ensure Wei Yuan's spiritual senses had a place to rest, Yu Zhizhu specially crafted ten thousand attribute-less flying swords. These blank flying swords were much easier to produce, with three thousand produced each month, and were expected to be completed and delivered to Wei Yuan in another three months.

Once all the flying swords have arrived, Wei Yuan can unleash a barrage of flying swords upon his opponent with a single thought.

At this moment, Wei Yuan was presiding over the grand formation, handling official business, and still had some spare time to ponder.

The wars in the world can be roughly divided into two levels. One level is the war between armies on the ground. Although there are Dao Foundation and Dharma Form practitioners involved, it is mostly at the level of physical body building, which can be said to be a war between mortals.

The other level, above the Imperial Realm, requires a battle to be decided outside the heavens, where even immortals may directly intervene. This level of struggle is the key to determining the overall outcome.

Back then, the Western Jin Dynasty was corrupt and its officials were rotten to the core. It was rotten from top to bottom, but it was still able to stand firm. Although it suffered repeated defeats in the north, it could barely hold on and retreat slowly. It could hold out for at least another hundred years before the Liao people attacked the capital.

Despite facing internal and external troubles and widespread rebellions, Ji managed to hold off the mountain people for decades before losing two prefectures.

The reason for this lies in the fact that although the mortal armies of both countries are corrupt and ineffective, the immortal families within their borders remain powerful, and the number of immortals is sufficient to withstand the true immortals of the opposing foreign race. As long as the immortal level is not lost, the overall situation is unlikely to collapse.

Xu Wangu defeated Tinghai back then, thus gaining rebirth. However, Tinghai did not perish on the spot, and the Palace Master of Taichu Palace was still missing. Furthermore, Yanshi and Zhuyan could forcibly ascend to immortality at any time. Therefore, after this battle, Xu Wangu immediately retreated into his cave and never showed his face again. The Xu family also became quite restrained when facing Wei Yuan.

Otherwise, given Qingming's small size at the time, if the Xu family had mobilized all their forces under Yujing... they would have returned empty-handed.

After all, below the level of Immortals in the Primordial Palace, the advantage of the High-Level Cultivators of the Imperial Realm is quite obvious, enough to bind the three Xu families together for a fight. As long as Xu Wangu doesn't come out, relying solely on True Monarch Xuan Yue and his friends is enough. Although True Monarch Xuan Yue himself doesn't know how many friends he has, and these friends are quick to attack each other... Back then, Qingming, with the strength of a single region, desperately held off the attack of the Rain Kingdom of the Witch Clan. The reason for this was partly due to the countless beings on the ground fighting to the death to hold the line; but the key was that Xuan Yue and the other members of the Primordial Imperial Realm, as well as the Imperial Realm cultivators of various aristocratic families who came to support them, withstood the attacks of the Nether Witch and the Wild Witch, while Wei Yuan himself sacrificed two hundred years of his lifespan, resulting in the death and injury of two of the Witch Clan's great geniuses.

Although Hongye wished to die, it depended on Wei Yuan being able to kill her. If Wei Yuan showed even the slightest sign of weakness in the fight, and Hongye felt that dying at his hands would be a humiliation, then things would take a different turn.

Therefore, the struggles in the world are divided into three levels: immortals establish the foundation and lay the groundwork; mortals, like ants, gradually devour and occupy territory. And between immortals and mortals, there is the struggle for the Dao.

The struggle for Dao extends from the foundation of Dao to the realm of Imperial View. By the time of Imperial View, the struggle already involves immortals and is closely related to the overall situation. However, in certain battles, Dharma Forms can also influence immortals, as seen with Wei Yuan, who once carried the fortunes of billions.

The Dao Struggle connects the past and the future, influencing each level in turn. If we disregard extraordinary geniuses, then there is no such thing as cross-level battles.

If the Dao Foundation wins, it can assist the Dharma Image; if the Dharma Image wins, it can assist the Imperial View or join the Dao Foundation's battlefield, crushing everything in its path.

In the past, the higher one climbed in the ranks, the more polite and courteous one became, always stopping short of making a point.

After all, the relationships between the Seven Surnames, Thirteen Noble Families, Nine Kingdoms, Four Great Immortal Sects, and Twelve Supreme Sects are intricate and intertwined. When two Yu Jing meet, they can always find some kinship or mutual acquaintances.

In such a conflict, one must consider both personal feelings and face. If one can preserve personal feelings, then one can talk about face; if not, one should lower one's head, lose some face, and at least retain some personal feelings.

For thousands of years, only the Taichu Palace has been unconventional. Its founder appeared out of nowhere, and it's impossible to establish a connection with him. The second, third, and fourth palace masters were all unparalleled in their time, acting arbitrarily and without regard for feelings or reason. Yet, they all possessed extraordinary cultivation, each aiming to dominate the world, causing immense suffering to the various families and nine kingdoms.

Moreover, ever since the time of the Demon Lord Su Chan, he has particularly hated the word "demon" coming out of other people's mouths. Back then, he visited more than a dozen sects and mountain gates, just to force them to change their way of addressing him and respectfully call him Immortal Lord.

That round of calamities did not even spare the Four Saints Academy. The academy's cultivation history book, "The Record of Immortal Path," was forced to be revised, and the academy was forced to swear never to change it back.

After that, the Four Saints Academy added dozens of annotations to this point and even wrote a special biography for Su Chan, subtly satirizing Yin and Yang in various ways, but they just couldn't change that one point... But that's another story.

The fourth Palace Master, Xihe, went even further. Originally from a minor sect of the demonic path, she rose to power like a dragon soaring through the heavens, first unifying the seven sects of the demonic path, and then forcibly joining the Taichu Palace. After becoming the Palace Master, she put forward a slogan: "Wherever my sword points, all are demons."

Therefore, Xihe spent his entire life eliminating demons and protecting the righteous path. Although the aristocratic families and immortal sects deeply resented him, they were helpless to stop him.

Finally, it was the turn of the Celestial Lord of Clear Sky. He came from the Bao family and had impeccable lineage. However, driven by his desire to avenge Xihe, he had long been bloodthirsty and had even killed some of the Bao family elders.

It wasn't until the last few centuries, with the seemingly nonexistent master of the Taichu Palace ascending to power, that the situation changed, and the palace began to recruit scions of powerful and influential families on a large scale. However, before the world could find peace for long, Wei Yuan emerged, and signs of great chaos reappeared.

At this moment, Qingming was not invincible in the wars of the mortal realm, but at least in terms of military might, no country except for Southern Qi could stop Qingming's army.

The issue of war among mortals is no longer relevant. Above the celestial realm, since Zhu Yan ascended to immortality, the Tai Chu Palace has reversed its passive and defensive situation. However, the situation in the heavens is extremely complex, with intertwined interests among various parties, still requiring various alliances and counter-alliances.

However, in the struggle for Dao, Qingming is still at a clear disadvantage and still needs to rely on the power of Taichu Palace. To be honest, the mainstay of Qingming now, apart from Zhang Sheng and Bao Yun, are all Taichu Palace disciples first and then Qingming cultivators.

This difference in status usually doesn't matter, but Wei Yuan always hopes to cultivate Qingming's own group of cultivators so that they can enter the game of Dao competition with dignity.

The reason Wei Yuan prioritized strengthening his Golden Core Dharma Form at this moment was because he had already begun preparations for the Dao Competition. At this juncture, Qingming, relying on hundreds of millions of wealthy and robust mortals, especially the new generation, had cultivated over twenty million Body Forging cultivators, and on this foundation, a million Dao Foundation cultivators. Although the templates themselves were weak, their sheer numbers were enough to overwhelm any opponent.

What's missing now is the Golden Core Dharma Aspect. A Dharma Aspect cultivator is not only the backbone of a force but also its face. And the failure of Qingming's Golden Core is already well-known throughout the countries.

After nearly ten years of seclusion, Wei Yuan felt that the world was now in an era of struggle for power. After sweeping through the mortal realm, Qingming also needed to establish a firm foothold in the struggle for power and eventually become a behemoth!
As for the loss of face for the Great Lord Wei, it was a minor matter and not worth mentioning.

(End of this chapter)