Dragon Canon

For the next two full days, Wei Yuan had nothing to do, King Ying’s troops had nothing to do, and the border army continued to scavenge for scraps.

There weren’t many left.

All three parties had turned a blind eye to the treasure troves at the center of the hunting grounds. Therefore, when 200 bare-bottomed men wandered to the area, they were pleasantly surprised to discover that two treasure troves were still intact.

As for their 50 skirmish cavalry, they had died silently at the hands of the Liao amid the chaos of the previous days, their armor and clothing now worn by others.

In the main hall of the field camp, the King of Jin kept his eyes cast down. He still refused to declare that the autumn hunt was over, and as long as he remained still, no one else could move.

Fortunately, everyone here was a cultivator. So, they just focused their mind inward and quietly practiced their cultivation. After all, Wei Yuan’s big face had been on display since that battle, and so much time had passed that they were close to counting the exact number of hairs on his eyebrows. There truly was nothing to look at.

Only King Fu, a child in body and heart, couldn’t stand it after just one day of sitting and began clamoring for food and water. The King of Jin found him too noisy and ordered his men to escort the prince out of the main hall. Later, Wang Qian heard the news and hurried over to take him back to his palace, feed him and hydrate him.

When the First Consort heard the news, she rushed over and asked him what had happened. Then, without a word, she raised her hand and slapped him across the face!

It was an extremely hard slap that instantly left a handprint on King Fu’s face. The young prince immediately burst into tears and wailed, “How dare you hit me! I’m going to tell Father!”

Wang Qian stood nearby, wanting to intervene but hesitating to do so.

Ignoring King Fu’s wailing, the First Consort said to the maidservant beside her, “Someone must have instigated King Fu into acting so thoughtlessly. I want all the eunuchs and maidservants who served King Fu personally drowned in the pond.”

She turned and walked away after giving her orders, giving Wang Qian no chance to say a single word.

King Fu stamped his feet and wailed some more, but those present at the scene were all the First Consort’s maidservants. They paid him no mind whatsoever and began hauling away his eunuchs and the maidservants one by one.

Wang Qian sighed. He could only turn and leave.

On the morning of the third day, that feeling of being watched finally vanished, and Wei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. Having maintained a perfect pose for two full days and nights, even he was feeling a bit of aches and pains in his back and waist.

He was just stretching when suddenly, he felt a pool of hot, sticky liquid pour over his head. An indescribable stench of decay, ruin, and re-fermentation of rotting matter assaulted his nostrils, crawled up his palate, pierced through his jaw into brain, and exploded across his skull, leaving him with the unique sensation of having swallowed a huge mouthful of purge fluid mixed with mustard.

His senses were so keen that they bordered on the supernatural, yet at this moment, they were nothing more but a curse. An ordinary person might not even notice the taste, but Wei yuan could discern the subtle nuances within it and pick up on the slightest changes, each one as clear as day.

To give an example, it was like he had taken a bite of shit and then instinctively identified its age and origin, whether it had a hint of greens or ribs, whether the shitter had any hidden ailments, so on and so forth.

Unable to bear it any longer, Wei Yuan knelt down and retched, emptying every drop of clear and yellowish fluid inside his stomach.

Worse, the invisible, viscous substance was still falling endlessly. In a moment of desperation, Wei Yuan’s primordial spirit transformed into a sky-devouring treasure toad and swallowed the remaining viscous mass in one go. Then, he viciously shook his head until he had severed it from the vast, viscous mass that existed high above in the Void.

“Heavens, it’s finally over....” Wei Yuan’s face was terrifyingly pale. For the first time, he truly felt the pangs of weakness and was too weak from vomiting to even stand up.

Hsu Yi came over to help him up, while the rest of the riders raised their spears and kept watch on their surroundings, unsure where the enemy had come from.

Wei Yuan waved his hand and said weakly, “It’s not an enemy attack. My body... just experienced a minor change, that’s all. I’ll be fine in a little while.”

At the same time, the sky over the Great Realm was no longer a deep, impenetrable darkness. Instead, it was shrouded in a churning, dark red hue. It resembled a pool of sky that covered the entire sky of the Great Realm, and to the casual observer, it might look like the afterglow of a setting sun—a sight that was both hauntingly beautiful and utterly despairing.

The dark red sky was the embodiment of Western Jin’s national fortune. Looking at the pervasive aura of decay and decline, Wei Yuan could only heave out a sigh.

Western Jin’s national fortune was a source of power and foundation even as it neared its demise. For instance, it made the Great Realm more complete—after all, how could there be wind and rain without a sky? However, this was typically a step that should only come after one had become a World Ruler True Lord.

In other words, Wei Yuan now possessed, to some extent, the supernatural powers of a World Ruler True Lord.

However, it was also a constraint and a shackle. The entire national fortune of Western Jin had transformed into a sky that hung upside down over the Great Realm, becoming the Heaven of its Earth even as it slowly seeped into the Dao Foundation. To give an example, the Great Realm was now a beast caught in a spider’s web. The spider web was nowhere strong enough to trap it, but it certainly was enough to hinder its movements. Unless the national fortune was completely reversed and refined, it would be impossible for him to form an Imaginary World and become a World Ruler.

By now, Wei Yuan had attained considerable mastery in the Dao of Fortune. After Western Jin’s national fortune had settled upon the Great Realm, he observed the fluctuations of the state’s external national fortune and eventually came to a realization: this dark red patch actually accounted for one-tenth of the entire national fortune of Western Jin!

Fortune was an intangible existence that was present everywhere yet nowhere at the same time. Whether it resided in the heights of the Void or the recesses of the Great Realm, it was still Western Jin’s national fortune and an integral part of a whole. It was just that this particular portion was bound to Wei Yuan: if it thrived, Western Jin would thrive. If not, then Western Jin would falter.

However, this portion of national fortune was also different from the overall fortune after settling within the Great Realm. If Wei Yuan could refine it more effectively, then he could keep most of the benefits to himself and allow only a small portion to trickle down to Western Jin as a whole. Even if he were to transform it into the vibrant splendor seen during the founding era of Jin, he could still claim at least half of the benefits. Of course, the reverse also held true.

However, looking at the current state of Western Jin’s national fortune, Wei Yuan felt that the state was not far from collapse. No matter how hard he pushed the tides, he did not believe that the situation would improve by much.

In other words, this national fortune was nothing but a burden to him. It couldn’t even help him neutralize the Great Karmic Curse! If the Shamans were to cast the spell at this moment, Western Jin would surely suffer horrific natural disasters and widespread suffering. Not only that, the karmic debt and backlash that would result from all these disasters would deal him a severe blow—one even more terrifying than the curse itself[1]!

1. You thought Wei Yuan couldn’t get any unluckier than he already had after the threat of the Great Karmic Curse? You thought wrong. XD ☜