Dragon Canon

Looking out at the endless sea of 300,000 people, Wei Yuan genuinely felt stuffed.

At the moment, the civilian laborers, prisoners of war, and wounded soldiers were all housed within a makeshift enclosure. The area had been transformed into a hastily constructed prison surrounded by crude barbed wire and with a watchtower erected every few dozen zhang.

The prisoners were clearly divided into four groups. The civilian laborers, the private armies, the official troops, and the wounded each occupied a section of their own.

Walking among the crowd, Wei Yuan’s voice echoed throughout the entire prison compound. “Now that you’re here, don’t even think about going back. If an army of three hundred thousand couldn’t take my Qingming, how many do you think it would take to rescue you? Six hundred thousand? A million?

“This military commissioner is an official appointed by the royal court. I possess the authority to establish my own seat and oversee all military affairs. If you follow me, you’ll be a part of the royal army, and you’ll never suffer such a crushing defeat ever again.

“Of course, if you really want to go home, there is a way. In a few days, when the roads are reopened, you may write letters to your families and have them send money to ransom you. If you really have no money, that’s fine too—all you need to do is to work for me for a decade, or serve in my army for five years, to regain your freedom.”

At this point, Wei Yuan flashed a beaming smile and said, “As you get to know me better, you’ll find that I’m not hot-tempered at all. In fact, I’m quite the easy-going guy—”

Suddenly, a voice rang out from the crowd. “Do you think anyone will listen to your nonsense! When the Immortal Ancestor shows up, it’ll take him just one finger to crush you!”

Wei Yuan walked over to the source of the voice. There, he found a young man sitting on the ground with a face brimming with arrogance and malice. He showed not the slightest fear even though he clearly saw that Wei Yuan was approaching him. He even spat on the ground and said, “The Immortal Ancestor’s blood runs in my veins! For the crime of capturing me, I’ll kill every last one of you sooner or later!”

Wei Yuan patiently waited until the young man was finished, then pressed his gun to his temple. He triggered his Dao energy. Bang!

The young man’s head vanished completely, and his headless body slowly collapsed in a pool of spattered blood.

Wei Yuan beamed at the crowd, revealing rows of gleaming, snow-white teeth, and continued as if nothing just happened, “... I’m quite the easy-going guy, but if you piss me off, then I can’t promise what might happen next.”

Wei Yuan took out a round of ammunition, reloaded his gun, and continued strolling through the camp, saying, “New arrangements will be made for you all, and new rules will be established. For as long as you’re here, breaking the rules will result in only one consequence: this.”

Wei Yuan fired another shot, blowing a man’s head to pieces.

“Trying to assassinate me with hidden weapons? I have to say, this fellow really wasn’t very smart.” Wei Yuan loaded another round into his gun and continued, “This is the first time, which was why I explained why I killed him. There won’t be any explanations in the future. Perhaps some of you are wondering: what if my men made a mistake? What if they’re using this opportunity to settle a personal score? The answer is simple....”

Wei Yuan grinned wide enough to bare his teeth again. “As long as you’re here, and as long as they’re still my men, then no matter what they do, you have only one option: put up with it!”

A man suddenly charged at Wei Yuan, shouting, “I’ll fight you to the death!”

A third gunshot rang. The headless corpse managed a couple more steps forward before finally collapsing.

“Instead of giving it your all on the battlefield, you choose now to go crazy? It’s too late.”

Finally, Wei Yuan said, “If you really can’t take this, then get out of here quickly.”

After Wei Yuan took his leave, a large group of fully armed Qingming cultivators stormed into the prison compound. They began reorganizing the sections so that each one held 10,000 people. No one was allowed to leave their designated sections without permission, and each section was separated by barbed wire. To the prisoner’s surprise, the structure they proceeded to build within the prison compound wasn’t prison cells, but restrooms!

Although there were only two restrooms per section, this was still an occurrence the prisoners had never heard before.

Outside the prison compound, Wei Yuan said to Hsu Yi, “Keep a close eye on them, and give them only half a catty of rice per day for the next three days. They’ll all behave themselves by then. But you must ensure that everyone gets their share. Also, don’t hesitate to beat anyone who tries to lord over the others or act like prison bullies mercilessly!”

“Wouldn’t their ransom drop if we beat them too harshly?” Hsu Yi asked.

“On the contrary, only those who were beaten would give us good value.”

From the very beginning, Wei Yuan had no intention of keeping anyone with status or those so-called noble bloodlines. There was nothing within the realm of Qingming that would be of interest to these rotten apples. That was why Wei Yuan simply wanted to use them to secure a higher ransom. The ones most likely to stay were really the laborers and rank-and-file soldiers from both the private and the official armies, though the same couldn’t be said for the military officers. Most of them would probably choose to ransom themselves.

After Wei Yuan was gone, Hsu Yi made her rounds and noticed that many people were restless and just waiting for an opportunity to escape. So, she summoned a dozen or so squad leaders to her side and ordered, “Strip them all naked!”

The order caught the squad leaders off guard. One of them asked, “What about the women?”

“I said all of them!”

The squad leaders immediately led their men to carry out the order, and the prison compound instantly descended into chaos.

Moments later, Sun Yu arrived in a hurry. As soon as he entered the prison compound, he was treated to a rare view of hundreds of thousands of naked pigs. Outside the compound stood several hundred women who were lined up in rows, crying as they signed their blood contracts.

“What’s going on here?” Sun Yu asked.

Hsu Yi replied, “It’s just a little trick. If they try to leave the domain without clothes, they won’t survive even a day.”

The Shaman realm was littered with poisonous creatures. Even an ordinary mosquito was often as big as a human palm. Without clothes, the ordinary people wouldn’t even be able to get past the insects, much less everything else.

“A good trick! So, why did you call me here? Do you want me to poison them so they can’t move, or unleash a mini plague to give them a fever that lasts seven days, leaving them utterly weakened?” Sun Yu asked[1].

“Do you have a drug that can be mixed within their food and prevents them from using their mystic powers after consumption?” Hsu Yi asked.

Sun Yu chuckled. “That’s easy. I can offer you eight options, each one with its own pros and cons....”

Wei Yuan had just returned to his residence, preparing to carefully examine the feng shui of his courtyard and plant a Dragon Blood Wood, when someone came to inform him: “County Magistrate Niu Jinbao of Yong’an[2] and two other county magistrates are requesting an audience with you, my lord.”

“Niu Jinbao?” Wei Yuan had almost forgotten the man existed.

“Yes, they’re all waiting in the Guest Town right now. Magistrate Niu said that you were the one who personally demarcated the boundaries and designated the county seats back then. According to official custom, it means that you’re his mentor. It’s been nearly half a year now, so he’s come specifically to report on his duties and pay his respects to his mentor.”

The cultivator who delivered the message wore a peculiar expression. Wei Yuan was also wearing a peculiar expression.

Back when Western Jin first established the seat and commandery, this Niu Jinbao had stormed into Qingming with unbridled arrogance, intent on becoming the magistrate of Yong’an County. Had it not been for a stroke of luck, he would’ve lost his head right there and then. Wei Yuan was also still somewhat restrained and not nearly as creative as he was now. These days, he could strip even an Avatar or a commandery administrator bare, not even leaving them with a pair of underwear.

On second thought, Wei Yuan believed it wasn’t his fault that Xu Xi was stripped naked. A commandery administrator’s underwear was naturally made of much finer fabric than even the ceremonial robes worn by ordinary families on their wedding day. It was only natural that it got snatched away and worn by someone in the chaos.

As for Niu Jinbao, Wei Yuan had originally tied him up—along with every other official of the two eastern counties—and tossed them all to the west purely to spite Western Jin. That they also served as the first line of defense against the Shamans was just a nice bonus.

After that, Wei Yuan had completely forgotten about the whole affair. He never expected that, right after he’d just crushed the Xu Clan’s 300,000-strong army, these guys would not only come to pay their respects of their own accord, but also ask to be taken on as his students. What on earth?

To be clear, Wei Yuan was only seventeen this year, while Niu Jinbao was at least thirty-seven.

On the way to Guest Town, Wei Yuan took the opportunity to ask about their situation.

Back then, after he had been casually dumped in a village, Niu Jinbao had not given up on himself. Instead, he had established a county office and traveled throughout the surrounding villages to lead the common folk in clearing land and farming. The few times the Shamans had attacked the county, if their numbers were large, Niu Jinbao would lead everyone into the mountains to take cover; if their numbers were small, he would set up ambushes to strike from the shadows. Incredibly, he actually secured a few minor victories this way. Today, the villages within his jurisdiction numbered over 7,000 people, and he’d even organized a militia consisting of 100 men

He’d actually managed to create a bit of a stir in this wild, barbaric land[3].

After hearing this, Wei Yuan felt that the man, though rough around the edges, was actually quite astute and possessed some skill. Moreover, he seemed to be a lucky man as well. Despite the Shamans’ repeated incursions, he somehow managed to survive in the cracks between. Not only that, the people under his rule had also escaped unscathed.

Upon arriving at Guest Town, Wei Yuan took his seat at the head of the hall and ordered Niu Jinbao and the other two county magistrates to be brought in.

As the trio entered the main hall, as soon as Niu Jinbao laid his eyes on Wei Yuan, he immediately prostrated himself in a deep bow and exclaimed in a booming voice, “Please accept this disciple’s bow, Mentor!”

The bow came so suddenly that it caught Wei Yuan off guard and stunned the other two county magistrates. However, they quickly recovered, threw themselves to the ground in a fish-leap-like motion, and likewise addressed him as “Mentor”, their voices even louder than Niu Jinbao’s!

Next, Wei Yuan had intended to inquire the development of their respective territories, but the three magistrates—without even a moment’s hesitation—launched into a relentless barrage of flattery.

Just moments later, even Wei Yuan with his thick skin, couldn’t help but feel a bit overwhelmed.

At that moment, Wei Yuan’s face was flushing slightly, his blood was accelerating inside his veins, his mind and body felt clear and unobstructed, his thoughts flowed freely, his Dao energy felt pure, and his primordial spirit was flawless. For the first time, he truly understood the joy of holding office[4]. Just a quarter of an hour of flattery from these minor officials had improved his cultivation far more than meditating all night.

Alas, Wei Yuan simply had too many matters to attend to, so he had no choice but to cut the three of them off and proceed to his next engagement. As they parted, they all looked upon each other with newfound appreciation and reluctance to leave.

Before leaving, though, Wei Yuan summoned Cui Yu and introduced him to Niu Jinbao and the others. “This is General Cui, a direct descendant of the Cui Clan and also my senior brother. Feel free to have a good chat with him.”

Niu Jinbao and his two fellow magistrates immediately straightened up in solemn respect!

Cui Yu was completely baffled and had no idea what was going on. However, Wei Yuan gave him no time to respond and ushered him into a room. He kindly closed the door behind him as he left.

The vitality of the flesh chunks formed from the essence blood of True Lord Qiu Niu was slowly but surely fading. Although it could be preserved for a very long time, it would be best if they dealt with it promptly.

Wei Yuan summoned Sun Yu and Trueman Chu He to his side, cut off a small piece, and gave each of them a portion to study on their own. It was at this moment the old Daoist suddenly said, “I heard that such flesh and blood are highly sought after by the Shamans and can be exchanged for many valuable items. It’s just that such an arrangement might lead to some complications down the road.”

Wei Yuan’s eyes lit up. The old Daoist’s hint was so obvious it was practically a no-brainer.

Speaking of the Shamans, the only person Wei Yuan could currently communicate with normally was Tianyu. Thinking of him, he suddenly realized that he didn’t even have the guy’s contact information. After their last transaction, the two of them had gone their separate ways. Tianyu clearly had no intentions of dealing with Wei Yuan again and so hadn’t said anything about a future reunion.

Fortunately, this matter was easy enough to resolve. Wei Yuan rushed to the new city, selected 500 sacrifices with pure souls and strong primordial spirits, and led them into a hall filled with billowing incense smoke. A statue of Tianyu had already been placed on the sacrificial altar.

Wei Yuan said, “His name is Tianyu. Although he is a Shaman, he is also your savior. You should all be grateful and pay your respects properly!”

Half a day later, Tianyu arrived[5].

1. Ah, a doctor after my own heart. ☜

2. Refer to chapter 179 for those who forgot. ☜

3. Who would’ve thought, eh? Though to be fair, the guy’s personality was made for the western regions. ☜

4. Why take up a position of power and responsibility, if not to enjoy the asslicking of those underneath you? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ☜

5. The. Treachery. Of. Wei Yuan. Knows. No. Bounds! ☜