On the Great Realm, a pile of stones had already been piled up next to the jade hill. However, Wei Yuan hadn’t decided if he wanted to make a bunch of cauldrons, bells, or something else out of them. Should an opportunity present itself, he felt that he should head to the Myriad Manifestations Hall again and seek his inspiration there. He would like to check if that elderly sweeper was still around as well.

The sky was bright by the time he returned to the Swelling Water God Palace. He then dismounted and retrieved three wisps of fortune only, leaving the last one inside his horse. The beast shrank from one zhang and five chi to one zhang and looked a little listless. That said, it didn’t fall dead.

Xu Wenwu was the first one to run up to him while yelling, “You’re astounding, big bro!!”

The guy was nowhere to be found during the battle, but he was the first to welcome him after he returned in triumph. It would appear that Xu Wenwu wasn’t a total idiot after all.

Wei Yuan gave him a pat on the shoulder before pointing at the warhorse behind him. He ordered, “Go ride him for two hours.”

Xu Wenwu was caught off guard by the sudden command. “Where to?”

“Anywhere is fine. Riding circles is fine too. Just make sure you ride it for two full hours.”

Not daring to disobey Wei Yuan, Xu Wenwu mounted the horse and started riding. Although the battle was over, he did not dare to go far as a matter of course. If he ran into a Shaman who escaped the net, they could literally kill him in one move. Thus, the guy spurred the horse into a canter and rode circles around the main chamber[1].

The survivors were currently gathered on a clearing next to the main chamber. Only forty or so men were capable of sitting up. The rest were lying on the floor and receiving Yun Feifei and Xu Wan’er’s treatment.

When Wei Yuan showed up, every cultivator’s eyes immediately lit up with fervor. Those who could move struggled to their feet, and those who really couldn’t stand were sitting up as well.

Wei Yuan slowly looked at each and everyone’s face. Even including those who were grievously injured or on the verge of death, he counted only 197 people. Before the battle had begun, there were 670 people in total.

Whatever joy Wei Yuan had felt after winning the battle fled him completely. This land was seized only thanks to the bloody sacrifice of countless human cultivators. In fact, there was a huge chance none of them would have survived if not for Jia Wood Nurtures Life constantly replenishing their vitality and Dao energy.

Speaking of which, Qingming’s domain had grown to ten li, and the area around the main chamber was almost purely the Pure Realm of Humanity at this point. Blessed by the Life Nurturing energy of Jia Wood Nurtures Life, everyone was healing several times faster than normal. Those who were poisoned or cursed were recovering as well. If Qingming was an ordinary realm stone, only half of these people would survive.

Despite the terrible casualties, every survivor’s eyes were shining brightly.

Wei Yuan walked over to a small group of cultivators. They were the most grievously wounded out of everyone. He then placed his hand over a patient’s wound without touching it. Specks of tender green light began floating around his hand as the energy of Jia Wood Nurtures Life rushed into the patient’s body. His vitality instantly grew several times greater, and his wounds healed over ten times faster than before. He was on the verge of death earlier, but now he was recovering rapidly.

After the patient was stabilized and no longer in danger of dying, Wei Yuan went to treat the next patient. In just a matter of minutes, five people who should have succumbed to their wounds and died were pulled back from the brink of death. It was practically an immortal miracle!

Everyone was looking at Wei Yuan with fervent eyes, so much so that he felt like he should say something. Although there were many historical examples in the annals that he could draw upon, Wei Yuan felt that all of them were too hollow to convey his true feelings.

After mulling over his words for a moment, he began, “I’m sure that all of you thought that we would lose before the battle was fought. But we held out, and we won!”

The cultivators swung their fists with all their might, roaring and bellowing—at that moment, everyone’s heart was filled with the wild fury of triumph!

Wei Yuan raised his voice and swung his own fist, roaring, “The Shamans will not give up just like that, but we will defend this place, and we will win! We will emerge victorious in every battle! We will cut down every single bastard who dares to take a single toe past our borders!!”

Once more, the cultivators roared their assent!

Wei Yuan leaped onto a large rock and raised his spear. He declared loudly, “This isn’t all! In the future we will muster a great army and march into the Shaman realm! We will—”

A high-pitched scream suddenly cut through the cultivators’ thunderous roars, “... claim their women and riches for ourselves!”

The roars suddenly came to a stuttering halt, and everyone wore confused expressions on their faces. They could understand robbing the Shamans of their riches, but their women?

The one who screamed the line was none other than Xu Wenwu. The guy should be riding his horse, but he had joined the fray sometime during the speech. Wei Yuan could not help but turn a bit green. Just when he had finally pulled off a good performance, and morale was high, the guy had suddenly blurted out something absolutely stupid and killed the mood completely.

Xu Wenwu himself recognized his mistake when he noticed that the crowd had fallen silent all of a sudden, even though he had no idea what he said was wrong. That said, he did have a quick wit. He dismounted, threw his arms into the air, and yelled, “Are kings and immortal lords given their high status by birth? From now on, we’ll follow big bro wherever he goes—through fire and water, come what may!”

And where did this come from? Shaking his head mentally, Wei Yuan gagged Xu Wenwu with a wisp of Dao energy.

It was then Xu Wenwu did something he wasn’t expecting at all: he opened his mouth and somehow swallowed the Dao energy, gaining a bit of cultivation. Then, before Wei Yuan could react, he fell to his knees and yelled, “Long live the emperor!”

The cultivators also did the same thing and chanted, “Eternity be with you, my king!”

Xu Wenwu looked around him and instinctively felt that something was off. Did he say something wrong again?

In fact, he did. In ancient times, a King of Humans was an Immortal Lord, and vice versa. When a cultivator became an Immortal Lord, their lifespan went far, far beyond just “long”. Thus, chanting, “Long live the king!” to a King of Humans in ancient times was no different from cursing him to an early grave[2].

Moreover, Great Tang was the undisputed ruler of the realm; a fact that was deeply ingrained in the hearts of the people. Although the empire was divided among the nine states, and the imperial throne remained vacant, their rightful claim to the throne still stood. While it was permissible for someone to declare independence, one could at most assume the title of King, and they must recognize the Tang Emperor as the supreme ruler of the realm. Therefore, Xu Wenwu’s use of the term “emperor” was, in fact, an unconscious attempt to rally the heroes of humanity against Wei Yuan and exterminate him to the nine relations!

Anyway, Wei Yuan wasn’t expecting the cultivators—even Yun Feifei and Xu Wan’er—to kneel before him at all. He was just motivating the troops! How did this turn into a rebellion all of a sudden??

Now isn’t the time yet.... Wei Yuan calmed down[3].

Ultimately, the reason he managed to kill two Avatars in a row was all thanks to the Immortal Lords’ remote intervention. Without them, the Palace of Absolute Beginning wouldn’t even need to dispatch True Lord Xuan Yue to quell his rebellion—Zhang Sheng or Big Senior Sister Liuli alone would suffice.

After carefully weighing the pros and cons, Wei Yuan suddenly realized something: Why am I even thinking about this?!

“Stand up. Stand up already! What are you all doing? I am just a minor disciple of the Palace of Absolute Beginning, and that isn’t going to change in the future either.”

Wei Yuan tried to pull his fellow cultivators to their feet, but they adamantly refused. Then, the two cultivators with the greatest cultivation and influence among the survivors exchanged glances with each other before saying, “You are the one who planted the realm stone and reopened this realm, milord. Thus, you are the natural master of this land. This is the rule that has been passed down within the human race for hundreds of thousands of years, nor does it stop you from remaining a disciple of the Palace of Absolute Beginning. We simply wish to continue serving you and protect our family and relatives, no matter your identity. From now on, you are and will always be our master.”

Wei Yuan glanced back and forth between the duo. One of them was a cultivator Yun Feifei had recruited from the nearby towns, and the other was Xu Jinfeng’s guard captain. By all means, there should not be any relation between the two cultivators whatsoever. And yet, the fact that they were coordinating so well could only mean that they had been secretly colluding with each other since heavens-know-when!

The bloody battle had just ended. These cultivators had come here fully resolved to fight to the death—in fact, nearly seventy percent had perished in the fighting. Without exaggeration, everyone present could declare with a clear conscience that they weren’t afraid of death. That was why Wei Yuan could not treat their resolve lightly.

Wei Yuan sighed in the bottom of his heart before saying, “Please rise. I will continue to defend this place, and I won’t leave. If you are still willing to risk your lives with me, then let us carve out a place where we can live and thrive together!”

As soon as he finished saying this, the two cultivators bowed again. “We will follow you to the ends of the world, Your Majesty!”

The rest of the cultivators also said the same thing, “To the ends of the world with His Majesty!”

To say that Wei Yuan was caught off guard would be an understatement. Why are they burning me at the stake again?? A few desperate attempts later, he finally managed to persuade the cultivators to change his appellation from “Majesty” to Master. It still wasn’t right, but at least it barely fell in line with the tradition.

By the time the cultivators finally climbed back to their feet, Wei Yuan felt utterly worn out in both body and soul. Not even killing an Avatar was this tiresome.

By now, the sky had fully brightened, and sudden rays of sunlight bathed everything within a ten li radius in a vivid glow. Every tree and blade of grass was brimming with vitality. The mountains looked lush and green, the grass felt as soft as a carpet, and even the crumbling walls and ruins appeared exceptionally beautiful in the sunlight. Outside, a vast, shadowy, damp, and dark-green world stood just ten li away. The stark contrast made this small, sunlit world felt like a paradise on earth.

At this moment, everything needed rebuilding, and not a single house with an intact roof was in sight. Even so, this place was a beacon of hope for countless souls.

1. I believe it is now time for me to complain a little about how Chinese use 殿 to describe everything, even though it could mean hall, chamber, palace. You have NO. IDEA. How many times I had to reread certain chapters and confirm that it is describing what it’s describing. Honestly I should probably go back to the 殿 in the Palace of Absolute Beginning and change things from there, I can recall at least one instance where “main hall” should probably be “main chamber”, even though I guess both are technically applicable... Yeah I definitely shouldn’t go back just ignore it, ignore it UGHHHHHHHHHHHH. ☜

2. Just to clarify, but the word-to-word translation of Xu Wenwu’s line was: “My Emperor (shall live) ten thousand years!” As an Immortal Lord can live far longer than ten thousand years, it is obvious from a Chinese’s perspective that Xu Wenwu accidentally cursed Wei Yuan to an early grave. However, it’s not quite as obvious in English, which is why I’m putting this reference here. ☜

3. If you can’t tell, he ain’t calm at all. XD ☜