Dragon Canon

In the study, Chen Dao picked up a stack of official documents and placed them in front of Yue Jinshan.

“Old Yue, there have been eleven fires in granaries large and small across the region this month. Isn’t that a bit too many?”

Yue Jinshan said nothing at first. He picked up the documents and read through them all carefully. Chen Dao waited patiently, showing no sign of urging him on whatsoever.

When he had finished reading all the documents, Yue Jinshan said, “Seven of the fires occurred in the granaries of Bianning Commandery. Only two were related to the border troops on the front lines, and the other two were not under my command.”

“You’re the Commander-in-chief of the Ningxi Commandery. They’re technically all under your command.”

“If you put it that way, then I will replace several of the staff generals tomorrow. I ask that you issue a directive as well, Lord Chen.”

Chen Dao sighed helplessly. “You’re still a bit short on tact, Old Yue. Let me put it to you plainly: your nephew is stationed in Bianning Commandery. I’ve heard that Young General Yue holds absolute power over the military affairs there, so much so that the commandery administrator himself couldn’t get a foot in the door. Of those seven granaries, at least four belong to the military. Have you anything to say about this, General Yue?”

Yue Jinshan remained composed as he replied indifferently, “Which unit doesn’t experience a few granary fires every year? These just happened to occur this month—it’s pure coincidence.”

Chen Dao took a sip of tea, his expression unreadable as he countered, “And if this inspector-general does not believe in coincidences and insists on investigating?”

For the first time since the conversation began, Yue Jinshan showed some emotion and let out a cold chuckle. “Are you sure you want to do that, inspector-general?”

“Nearly a dozen granary fires had broken out in a single month. There must be an official explanation.”

Yue Jinshan sneered. “Very well, let me ask you this: the fifty thousand border troops I brought from the northern frontier are all in the blood-tempering stage. Do you agree that they count as elite?”

“Your troops are the finest in the entire realm. This is acknowledged by both the court and the people.”

“A blood-tempering stage soldier needs to fight during wartime and temper his body during peacetime. They need to consume meat, milk, and eggs every day, and if not that, at least ten catties worth of military provisions per day. Does this sound reasonable to you?”

Chen Dao nodded. “Body-tempering stage cultivators consume several times the energy that of an ordinary person. This region is poor in spirit qi, and there are no means to replenish it. The figure is quite normal.”

“If it’s normal, then why did the three months worth of military provisions the court has allocated me only amount to three catties per person per day? Are you suggesting that I should shrink the defense period from three months to one month, or reduce the number of my troops from fifty thousand to fifteen thousand?”

“You’ve served in the army for many years. I’m sure you have a solution, General Yue.”

“In fact, I do—it just means that my hands will inevitably get a bit sooty.”

Chen Dao replied thoughtfully, “But some generals don’t have sooty hands.”

Yue Jinshan sneered. “I am well aware of these so-called generals, Lord Chen. There are two types. The first type may not have sooty hands, but they are covered in soldier blood. If you can find one who can muster even half their troops, then I will concede defeat. The second type happens to be a peer of yours, Lord Chen. A graduate of the Four Sages Academies, his prose is as ornate as a bouquet of flowers. He joined the army through his literary talents and is known as the Scholar General. I suppose he counts as a prime example of the Qingliu.”

Chen Dao, well known for his extraordinary shrewdness and inscrutability, frowned slightly at the barbed remark.

Yue Jinshan continued bluntly, “This peer of yours is renowned throughout the realm for his incorruptibility. He doesn’t embezzle funds or claim salaries for non-existent posts. He is as clean as a whistle. The court allocated him one and a half catties of grain per person per day, and he distributed exactly that amount.

“But just one and a half catties of grain per day would not have satiated an ordinary person who is toiling day in and day out, much less a Body-tempering stage cultivator. I can only imagine how skinny and haggard his soldiers look. As if that isn’t enough, he has the nerve to call it ‘exercising the mind with suffering, exposing the body to hunger[1] ’!

“Fortunately for us, he’s only in charge of several inland commanderies. Even if he’s starved tens of thousands of soldiers into monkeys, it’s not going to cause too much trouble[2]. But what if he was transferred to guard the border?”

Chen Dao cleared his throat and said, “General Yue....”

Yue Jinshan pretended not to hear him and sneered, “If it were your peer sitting in my place at this moment, you’d probably have to sleep in full armor every night to get any rest, wouldn’t you Lord Chen? Frankly, I only need two thousand elite troops to rout his fifty thousand monkeys to the point he couldn’t tell which way is north!”

“Let’s get back to the main topic, shall we?”

“Why? A Confucian general of the Qingliu, revered by all under heaven! I’m helping to spread his good fame, am I not?”

Chen Dao sighed and said, “General Yue, please hold your tongue. The fact that thirty percent of the allocated rations ended up in your hands is already the result of my lobbying[3] and maneuvering. On the other hand, no matter how much my peer fusses about it, he’ll never get more than fifteen percent.”

Yue Jinshan grunted, but ultimately held himself back. “I do hope we understand each other now, Lord Chen. If you want to get things done, you’ll have to get your hands dirty or stained with blood. If you choose neither, then you’ll simply end up like that peer of yours. If there are too many people like that, then it’s only a matter of time before Western Jin is finished.”

Chen Dao sighed, pressing a hand to his forehead. “General Yue... never mind. Anyway, there are simply too many granary fires. It must be addressed, or no one will be able to bear the consequences. How about this: you pick two cases from this lot, and I’ll handle them. What do you say?”

Yue Jinshan frowned, but still pulled two documents from the pile and placed them before Chen Dao. “These two aren’t my men. They’re just trying to take advantage of the chaos to line their own pockets.”

Chen Dao moved the documents to the other side of the desk and said slowly, “The royal court’s laws and institutions are the products of many years of establishment and cannot be changed lightly. So long as they still exist, it is inevitable that everyone’s hands are stained by something, soot or blood. But the moment one’s hands are stained, one has also broken the law. It is only right if someone wishes to investigate, yes?

“However, who to investigate and who not to investigate—that is up to this inspector-general. For example, I intended to investigate this particular fire today, but since I had such a pleasant conversation with you, the choice of who to investigate ultimately ended up in your hands instead. General Yue. But next time, I’ll have to be the one to choose.”

Yue Jueshan snorted, rose, and left the study. Upon exiting, he slammed the door so hard it shook the entire study, causing large patches of dust to fall from the ceiling and filling the entire room with a cloud of smoke and dust.

However, an aura of purity three inches thick surrounded Chen Dao, keeping even a speck of dust at bay. He looked graceful and otherworldly as sunlight pierced through to haze and fell on his body. He looked like a white lotus who remained untouched in a dusty, dirty world.

Chen Dao picked up another official document and examined it closely.

The official document was submitted by Yuan Qingyan, the commandery administrator of Ningxi. He claimed that he received intelligence indicating that Qingming was running low on grain and might take action in the near future. He requested the seat to dispatch additional troops and impose a strict blockade so that not a single grain of rice would make it through to Qingming. On top of that, he proposed driving refugees into Qingming so as to increase their burden.

Internally, Chen Dao shook his head. Nearly a dozen granaries had caught on fire, and more than a million catties of military provisions had gone missing. Who else in the entire Shattered Realm could possibly consume this much grain?

It wasn’t Yuan Qingyan’s fault, though. He was isolated in his corner of the world and had little way of knowing what was going on outside. So, after a moment’s thought, Chen Dao approved the official document and sent it to the relevant departments for execution.

Wei Yuan returned to the realm of Qingming with a bountiful haul, but as soon as he crossed the boundary, Yu Zhizhuo had grabbed him by the arm.

“Junior Nephew Wei Yuan, I need your help with the mineral veins.”

Mineral veins? Wei Yuan’s ears perked up.

One could say that mineral veins were the second most important matter after grain. Although Wei Yuan could probe the earthly veins using the power of Qingming, he could see no deeper than a hundred zhang. Moreover, he knew nothing about the distribution of mineral veins. To his perception, the rocks looked exactly the same. How could he possibly know what was contained within any given stone?

For Yu Zhizhuo to go out of his way to invite him could only mean there had been a significant discovery. Naturally, Wei Yuan had no reason to refuse. After instructing his men to take care of the recovered supplies, he took off into the sky after Yu Zhizhuo.

The two headed north, where the terrain was mostly rolling hills and mountains. Along the way, Yu Zhizhuo said, “I’ve been surveying the earthly veins these past few days without much success, but I did discover an unusual rock stratum in the northern mountains. If we can break through that layer, there’s a good chance we’ll find something. First things first, let me explain the basics of earthly veins to you.”

Regardless of whether Wei Yuan wanted to listen or not, Yu Zhizhuo launched into a lengthy discourse, beginning with the transformation of Primal Chaos into yin and yang. He explained how various types of primordial ultimate origin qi mixed and evolved, how they repelled and attracted one another, and how these interactions produced all sorts of combinations and variations, numbering at least several thousand. This was just the primordial stage as well. At the stage where “three gave birth to all things[4]”, the several thousand combinations were further multiplied by several thousand—and this was just a simplified estimate.

By the time they flew to the edge of the region, entered a pre-dug mine shaft, descended dozens of zhang underground, and stood before a rock stratum fault line, Yu Zhizhuo had only begun to explain the third combination. There were over a million more to be covered.

Before Wei Yuan stood a wall of dark-green stone. Its rock stratum was unusually fine, resembling a block of unpolished jade. The rock face was roughly three zhang wide and one zhang high, and it was covered in marks caused by chiseling and hewing.

A dozen or so Dao Foundation-stage cultivators were standing in front of the stone wall. Several of them were Yu Zhizhuo’s junior brothers, and the rest were helpers from the realm.

In just a matter of days, the group had dug a mine shaft that was several dozen zhang deep. It wasn’t the only mine shaft they had dug either. As expected of the Mastercraft Hall, they were experts in prospecting mineral veins.

Yu Zhizhuo explained, “This stone wall is actually a part of an entire rock stratum. If we break through it, we might be in for a pleasant surprise. However, it is exceptionally tough and difficult to chisel through.”

Yu Zhizhuo flung a wisp of sword qi at the wall and only cut about three chi into the rock face. He struck a couple more times, yet only managed to carve out a piece of rock the size of a tabletop. An early-stage Dao Foundation stage cultivator then stepped forward with a specially made mining pickaxe in hand. He swung it with all his might, but only succeeded in chipping off a fist-sized chunk.

Wei Yuan was beginning to feel a vague sense of foreboding.

With the demonstration done, Yu Zhizhuo stepped aside and said, “I observed that the Rushing Water Blade spell you used the other possessed boundless power and exceptional longevity—perfect for this excavation. Therefore, I ask that you demonstrate your might once more, Junior Nehphew—starting by carving out a ten-zhang-long exploratory tunnel at a downward angle.”

Following Yu Zhizhuo’s lead, every Mastercraft Hall disciple rose to their feet and looked at Wei Yuan with expectation.

Wei Yuan’s face was blank, but his heart felt as cold as ashes. He took a stance, and a ring of light flashed into existence, illuminating the entire underground chamber. The next moment, a dazzling stream of water shot forward and slammed into the stone wall. Assaulted by a relentless torrent of Water Blades, a large hole appeared on the rock face at a visible rate and grew deeper and deeper.

“Stop!” Yu Zhizhuo suddenly called a halt after observing for a moment.

Wei Yuan, unsure why Yu Zhizhuo had called for a halt, canceled the Dao spell. A teatime had passed since he began his work, and already a hole the size of a water jar and half a zhang deep had appeared on the rock. A layer of extremely fine rock dust had piled up on the ground, resembling cyan flour.

Yu Zhizhuo said, “Earth overcomes water. It would seem that Water Blades are ultimately not quite up to the task of cutting through rock. However, water also produces metal. If you replace the Water Blades in your Dao spell into Metal Blades, I believe its efficiency will increase significantly.

“I have an improved Metal Blade spell here that has been refined layer by layer by my predecessors throughout the generations. Its spell structure is nearly perfect today. I’ll pass it on to you now. Simply apply it to the spell structure of Rushing Water Blade, and it’ll work. Feel free to add more than one.”

Moments later, Wei Yuan fired off a torrent of water speckled with golden light. As predicted, the Dao spell’s cutting and excavation speed had increased significantly, so much so that he even had the leeway to widen the spell and create an opening big enough for a cultivator to pass through it. Previously, the opening was so narrow that one had to lie flat on the ground and crawl inside like a worm. If they wished to exit, they would have to do so feet first. But now that Wei Yuan had enlarged the opening, people could crawl through on their knees and even turn around inside the tunnel.

When an exploratory tunnel was complete, the Mastercraft Hall cultivators would crawl inside and scan the surrounding earthly veins with their perception. And once a mineral vein was located, they would then clear a passage to the mine face[5]. This was the standard prospecting procedure.

The exploratory tunnel was successfully excavated without any trouble whatsoever, yet an indescribable sense of frustration welled inside Wei Yuan’s heart. He could not explain why.

With nowhere to vent his pent-up frustration, immortal qi suddenly swirled within several zhang of him. The next moment, a torrent of pale red petals shot out, instantly deepening the exploratory tunnel by twenty zhang!

Yu Zhizhuo’s eyes lit up, and he nearly threw himself at Wei Yuan. He praised, “Most impressive, Junior Nephew! You truly have the bearing of an immortal! Do you have any other techniques you would like to show us?”

Wei Yuan replied expressionlessly, “No. I’m not using them even if I do have them.”

Just now, he had taken advantage of the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree’s inattention and imbued the Rushing Water Blade spell with its aura. Consequently, the humiliated tree was using all seven wisps of its sword qi to scold the crap out of Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan said that he was done, but Yu Zhizhuo kept cajoling him, appealing to his good senses, and showering him with promises of great profit. In the end, he was dragged off to another mining site with a genuine mineral vein.

That night, a Dao spell roared all night as Wei Yuan conquered thousands of zhang of underground land and overcame all opposition with his metallic water blades. He excavated millions of catties of ore and caused Yu Zhizhuo to exclaim, “Green comes from blue[6]!” again and again.

After the work was finally done, a wise Mastercraft Hall disciple handed Wei Yuan a money bag and instantly swept away all of his fatigue and pent-up frustration.

1. A line from the Works of Mencius. The full passage reads like this: ”Thus, when Heaven is about to confer a great office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil. It exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty. It confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his minds, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompetencies.” It’s not my own translation, I’ve taken it from this website: 關於孟子的一段譯文 . There are multiple versions in there too, but this one is translated by James Legge. ☜

2. Not all corruption is bad, you know? ☜

3. Turns out the word “lobby” traces all the way back to the 1550s. Quite incredible. ☜

4. A line from Tao Te Ching. ☜

5. In mining, the face is the surface where the mining work is advancing. In surface mining it is commonly called the pit face, while in underground mining a common term is mine face. ☜

6. Meaning the pupil has surpassed the master. Heh. ☜