It was late at night, and all was quiet. Wei Yuan was sitting on the edge of the central peak where he could overlook the entire realm. He was holding a map and looking deep in thought.

There was a narrow pass where the Shamans had to pass through in order to advance upon Qingming. It was only a li wide. If they set up camp there, they could slow down the Shaman army’s advance significantly. However, there was a problem. It would take another five days before Qingming’s domain would extend that far.

To the south lay a small lake that was teeming with life. He wondered if it would remain so when the domain reached it.

To the east lay a small human town where several thousand mortals lived. For now, he saw no need to relocate them and disturb their lives.

Problems like these kept arising one after another. Some could be resolved immediately, while others required adaptation on the fly.

Wei Yuan looked to the west where the sky looked dark and heavy. Something massive and dangerous seemed to be lurking behind those shadows. Despite all they had achieved, his anxiety had only been growing worse with each passing day.

Five days had passed since Qingming was established, and they had killed two Great Warlocks during this time. However, not a single Trueman from the Palace of Absolute Beginning had shown up.

Big Senior Sister could have broken through to the Avatar stage at any time, but for whatever reason, she was intentionally suppressing her advance.

His shifu, Zhang Sheng, had also reached a point where he could break through to the Avatar stage anytime he wanted. However, he didn’t because his fourth immortal sword wasn’t yet complete. Assuming that the amount of worldly reward was the same, two more Great Warlocks should be enough for the immortal sword to reach full maturity. However, that was assuming that there weren’t other conditions that needed to be met.

Both Bao Yun and Xiao Yu were in the vitality restoring stage. Progress wise, the swordsman was the faster of the duo. The Immortal Sword The Sun was the one and only thing Xiao Yu needed to cultivate. On the other hand, Bao Yun’s Seven Wonders Exquisite Treasure Tree had seven different branches. It was faster to cultivate one than it was seven as a matter of course.

There were other cultivators in the realm that required his attention as well. For example, there was Yun Feifei and her three sect fellows. Honestly, Wei Yuan still hadn’t figured out what to do with her sect fellows yet. Until then, he would keep them locked up.

On the other hand, Xu Jingfeng had value. He might be worth trading to the Xu Clan at critical times. However, that could only be done after he figured out exactly how much value Xu Jingfeng possessed.

Five more days, and Qingming’s domain would reach the one hundredth li mark—also the realm stone’s current limit. It was a wide area to say the least. The map Wei Yuan was currently studying was also the most detailed, yet there were still vast amounts of blank spaces that needed to be explored and filled in.

There was much work to be done. Big or small, they all had to be tackled eventually.

Once again, a new day had come.

The sky was still dark when Wei Yuan arrived at Yun Feifei’s residence. She was currently living in a simple wooden house with a bed and literally nothing else. Her voice came when he knocked on the door, “Come in.”

He did just that. The room was pitch black, but to a cultivator’s perception, it might as well be daytime. Yun Feifei was sitting on her bed, clearly meditating until a moment ago.

“I want you to go to Willow Ash Town and recruit some men if possible. Of course, make sure you don’t run into the Xu Clan,” Wei Yuan instructed.

“What?” Yun Feifei asked as if she was distracted.

Wei Yuan walked closer and repeated himself, but the first words had just left his mouth when Yun Feifei grabbed his neck with both hands and pulled him down with her.

Or at least, she tried to. Wei Yuan did not move an inch despite the young woman pulling with all her might. Deciding she needed to change her tactic, she continued to cling onto her neck while her bare legs wrapped around his waist like pythons. For all his prowess, Wei Yuan had no idea how she had slipped out of her skirt.

Yun Feifei engaged her core and twisted with all her might. Wei Yuan did not move an inch. She then tried to throw him onto the bed, but still he didn’t budge in the slightest.

The woman felt like she was trying to wrestle a mountain.

This was as far as Wei Yuan could allow her to mess around. It would be troublesome if someone’s perception happened to sweep through this area after all. While saying, “Will you settle down already?” He gave her a crisp, loud slap to the butt.

Of course Yun Feifei wasn’t willing to settle down. Suddenly, she made a lunge for Wei Yuan’s mouth, trying to bite his lips.

He leaned back just enough for the bite to miss its mark by milimeters. However, at the last possible moment, Yun Feifei stuck out her tongue just far enough to poke him on the lips!

Before Wei Yuan could react, Yun Feifei climbed off his body and sorted out her clothes in the blink of an eye. It was so fast that Wei Yuan almost failed to see it[1]. As if her dress seemed to possess a mind of its own, it took but a single thought for Yun Feifei to put it on or take it off.

“See you soon!” Satisfied with the win, Yun Feifei did not hesitate to run away. It was a small victory, but as the saying goes, small wins lead to big successes. As long as she kept making progress, who said she couldn’t overcome her enemies, formidable as they were, and take her pound of flesh from Wei Yuan?

With that done, Wei Yuan went to Xu Wan’er house next. As soon as he stepped through the door, the woman jumped him with every intention of wrestling him to the floor. This time, though, he was prepared. Like lightning, he grabbed her forehead and held her still. Then, he said, “Interrogate Xu Jingfeng and see if you can pry a little something from his mouth. I want to know what price the Xu Clan is willing to pay to keep him alive. I don’t want what he thinks he’s worth; I want the truth.”

“What’s my leeway?”

Wei Yuan failed to understand her meaning. “What do you mean?”

“How far can I take the torture?”

Finally getting what she was saying, he answered, “Anything’s fine so long as it isn’t permanent. Well, minor disabilities are also acceptable.”

“Okay. But my injuries aren’t healed yet, so....”

Wei Yuan did not believe her, of course. He had improved much in the art of healing, and he was certain she had fully healed after his latest treatment.

Realizing that the tactic wouldn’t work, Xu Wan’er declared, “Hit me like you hit Yun Feifei!”

Wei Yuan barely resisted the urge to look away. “What do you mean? I didn’t hit her.”

“Are you kidding me? I heard it all the way from here. Surely you weren’t slapping her face?” Xu Wan’er’s eyes shone so bright he almost couldn’t bear to look at them directly.

“I... er....” Wei Yuan was both speechless and puzzled. Yun Feifei’s residence was pretty far away, and there were two walls in between their houses. How in the world did she hear anything?

Xu Wan’er didn’t care to explain herself. She turned around, arched her back, tilted her head upward, and stuck out her butt. She urged, “Hurry up. I’ve got work to do!”

It was at this moment a wisp of perception slowly spread out in this direction. It was a massive web that spanned the sky and the earth and left no stone unturned.

The situation was urgent. Wei Yuan had no choice but to snap out of his paralysis and send Xu Wan’er to work as soon as possible[2].

The perception passed through the wooden house and continued forward at the exact same pace as before, seemingly noticing nothing.

The sky was still dark, and it couldn’t be more than a teatime since he paid the two women a visit. Yet for some reason, Wei Yuan felt weary to the bone. Who would have thought that it was this exhausting to get someone to do some work? He could not help but compare himself to a territorial lord or city lord in Xu Wenwu’s world—did they have an easier time than him?

That was a world where being late by a minute was enough ground to deduct one’s pay. The mortals of that world had to be a lot more obedient for such an implementation to be possible, right?

On the way back, Wei Yuan suddenly realized that the sensation of hitting[3] Xu Wan’er was completely different from Yun Feifei’s. In particular, his hands were still tingling with the sensation of Yun Feifei’s rear. It was simply an expedient measure to get the girls to work, which was why he only realized now that something wasn’t right. Specifically, Yun Feifei felt especially smooth and bouncy to touch. It was almost as if she wasn’t wearing anything[4].

On the other side of the mountain, a lone lamp illuminated the craggy road ahead.

Xu Wenwu was carrying a lamp with one hand and navigating through the darkness like a lone prophet. It was like he alone held the last glimmer of light of the world while everyone else was drowning in darkness. It was like they were waiting for him to bring the flame back to the world.

The second Xu Wenwu stepped inside his stone house, he noticed that a young woman was standing inside. There were also a cup of water and a plate of snacks on the table.

Stunned, his aura of a hidden prophet vanished like it never was. He stammered, “W-what are you doing here?”

“You’ve done well for the past two days. This is your reward.” Bao Yun left the room after saying that.

It took Xu Wenwu a while before he finally snapped back to reality. When he picked up a snack, he thought to himself: I didn’t think an immortal fairy would personally prepare a plate of snacks for me.

Suddenly, he felt that coming to this world wasn’t such a bad thing after all; at least in his previous life, no girl would ever agree to go out for a snack with him.

Of course, in his previous life, he wouldn’t even dare to exchange glances with a girl of Bao Yun’s caliber, much less ask her out. That was why Xu Wenwu had only ever asked girls he thought was a good match with him. Alas, they did not share his opinion.

In any case, he carefully took a bite and savored it carefully. A moment later, he decided it wasn’t as good as Wei Yuan’s porridge.

There was no particular reason. It just wasn’t as tasty as the porridge, though he couldn’t explain why.

Xu Wenwu couldn’t figure out what was going through his own mind. Logically speaking, even a steamed bun should taste like a divine delicacy considering the circumstances, right?

Eventually, he sat down at his desk and put an end to his wandering thoughts. Then, he picked up his brush and prepared to write something—only to find his mind completely blank. A quarter of an hour passed in the blink of an eye, and still the paper remained blank.

That day, Xu Wenwu would not finish his work until late into the night. He had to use the few thousand words he had written the day to barely meet the thirty-thousand-word quota.

A new dawn approached, and Bao Yun prepared food, water, and snacks as usual. But for some reason, Xu Wenwu still longed for that bowl of porridge. He just couldn’t stop thinking about it.

For the first time, Xu Wenwu felt the agony of writing[5]. Throughout that day, he ate his snacks thirty-four times—though by the end, he was just picking at crumbs—drank water over ninety times, and paced around the room hundreds of times. And yet, all he managed to write when the day drew to a close was a measly two thousand words.

Never in his wildest dreams did Xu Wenwu think there would come a day where he couldn’t even make up some bullshit.

When night fell, and it looked like sleep was going to elude him, Xu Wenwu finally panicked and started writing frantically. Even he didn’t know what he was writing.

......

Under the cover of night, a figure staggered through the dense forward.

As the forest floor was covered with puddles, he was forced to plod along at an agonizingly slow pace. Always, one of his feet was sinking deeper than the other.

Suddenly, he let out a muffled groan and lifted his leg. Several finger-sized fishes had bitten right through his pants and were sucking blood from his calf.

A mixture of disgust and fear peeked through his features, but he ultimately managed to rein in his emotions. He took out a pinch of white powder and rubbed it onto the fishes. One by one, they fell back into the water and swam away in a panic.

The man leaned against a tree and panted for a moment. Suddenly, he wiped a hand across his face and came away with a handful of worms. He ground them all into worm paste. At the same time, he felt his face slowly growing numb and losing all sensation.

The man had a very handsome face, but it was haggard with fatigue and exhaustion right now. There was also an open wound on his cheek where the flesh was beginning to turn white. It showed no signs of healing at all.

He was surrounded by water, but his lips were so dry they were cracked. It was because not a single drop of this water was drinkable. He could drink the sap that oozed out of a tree after the bark was peeled, but doing so would leave a trail for his pursuers to track.

He struggled to his feet and kept walking.

From time to time, the wind would whistle unnaturally above his head. It sounded like someone was looking for something. However, these people never descended into the forest. Thus, they were unable to locate the young cultivator wading through the puddles.

The sky slowly brightened, and he finally made it to the edge of the first. A mountain was standing in the distance, and the environment did not feel as humid and suffocatingly warm as before. He perked up. The mountain was his destination.

Above the dense forest, the black-robed figures grew increasingly frantic as they scanned the forest with their perception again and again. During this time, the young cultivator consumed a pill that caused his Dao energy to gush out like a volcano. He then leaped into the air and flew toward the distant mountain at top speed.

Caught off guard, the young cultivator was able to put a lot of distance between himself and his pursuers before they reacted. Shocked and outraged, the black-robed hurried after him and gradually closed the gap.

Just then, an invisible force descended from the sky and slowed the pursuers momentarily. At the same time, the young cultivator sped up without warning and widened the gap instantly.

The black-robed figures abruptly stopped in their tracks. It was because Wei Yuan was standing in their way, spear outstretched.

One man barked, “This has nothing to do with you! Get out of our way, or face the consequences!”

Swinging his spear, Wei Yuan said coldly, “Do you know who I am? I am....”

The black-robed figures were still waiting for Wei Yuan to give his name and title when suddenly, they felt an odd presence above their heads. When they looked up, they saw a dozen flaming cauldrons falling straight toward their heads!

Caught completely off guard, the black-robed figures did everything they could to evade the sudden attack. However, the golden cauldrons still managed to hit two of them and cause them to spew blood. Right on cue, Wei Yuan rushed forward like a ghost and skewered both men with his spear.

Seeing that they were at a disadvantage, the remaining pursuers did not hesitate to turn around and escape. The leader of the group was the strongest and fastest to escape. He yelled while looking back at Wei Yuan, “You will pay eventually, Lee Zhi! Don’t think I don’t recognize you just because you’re wielding a spear!”

Wei Yuan put away his spear, thinking that it had only been a few days since he used that title. The black-robed figure had to be someone he had made the acquaintance of at Willow Ash Town.

1. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Almost. ☜

2. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ☜

3. I would use the word spank ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) but this is from Wei Yuan’s perspective. He hasn’t been fully corrupted by Xu Wenwu yet and so probably wouldn’t know such a word. ☜

4. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ☜

5. Yeeeeeeeeeep. It’s the kind of misery everyone should go through at least once in their life. ☜