Dragon Canon

Zhang Sheng was feeling a little lost.

Since the day he created his Dao Foundation, his immortal sword, Void Cutter, had never tested its edge against any opponent. It was because Blue Rain was enough to handle the few battles he was embroiled in.

Today, Void Cutter finally got the opportunity to test its mettle, and its “opponent”… was a lump of metal?

If his sword was sapient, he wondered if it would fly off in a fit of rage.

“Please cut it, Junior Brother!” Yu Zhizhuo urged once more.

Zhang Sheng snapped out of his trance. He wasn’t really sad, he was just… lost. He could not understand how he, an outstanding talent of his era, an unmatched prodigy who had always overcome all obstacles with a Dao Heart of Invincibility, had arrived at this point.

However, he was a man of his word. From the moment he accepted this mission, there was no going back. Thus, he hid a sigh and unleashed a wisp of grayish sword qi—so fine that it resembled a strand of hair—from his left pupil. The sword qi circled around the lump of metal once before reentering his eyes in an instant.

Nothing happened at first. A few seconds later, the cut pieces of the metal finally slid off to reveal a flawless cube.

Yu Zhizhuo positively pounced toward the cube, not even bothering to thank Zhang Sheng for his efforts. His face was literal inches away from the smooth, mirror-like surface of the cube as he examined it with a hungry expression. Then, he hugged the cube and yelled, “Beautiful! Just beautiful!” like it was his lover. Laughing like a madman, he even kissed it here and there.

At this point, it was clear he had completely forgotten about his junior brother.

Thankfully, not everyone in the Mastercraft Hall was like him. The wiser disciples handed Zhang Sheng a heavy bag of silver right before he would explode in anger.

When the scholar put away the silver and turned around to leave, Yu Zhizhuo finally came to his senses and caught up to him. He said, “You are an unmatched prodigy, Junior Brother! The reputation of Void Cutter is well deserved as well! I cannot stress how much the Mastercraft Hall needs your immortal sword, so in the future, I will—”

“There won’t be a next time!” Zhang Sheng replied firmly before shooting into the sky and vanishing in an instant.

Moments later, Zhang Sheng stepped into the Mother Nature Monastery and handed the bag of silver to a disciple on duty, receiving three featherlight bottles of Vigor Nurturing Pills in return. After paying Wei Yuan’s house a visit, his sleeves were as empty as the wind in the sky once more.

The man looked up to the moon and asked himself: What am I cultivating for again?

Inside his house, Wei Yuan was equally lost. He didn’t understand why he had received a scolding from his master even though he had made major progress in his studies. Was it because he didn’t tell his master’s fortune?

In the past few days, Wei Yuan had devoted himself to the art of fortune-telling. Every day, he would tell his master’s fortune at least a couple of times and nearly used up his primordial spirit in the process. However, the results were more or less the same, and the common theme between all of them was financial setbacks. Since Zhang Sheng hadn’t asked to review his fortune-telling, he was more than happy to keep quiet about it.

Several days later.

Once more, a beaming Yu Zhizhuo was walking up the mountain of the Mastercraft Hall and introducing its scenery to Zhang Sheng.

Moments later inside a side hall, Yu Zhizhuo pointed at a palm-sized, finger-thick piece of metal on a table and said, “Please cut this object into a hundred pieces, Junior Brother.”

They weren’t alone in the side hall. At least a dozen or so Mastercraft Hall disciples were waiting to witness the legendary immortal sword in action.

A grayish qi flashed through the object, and Zhang Sheng replied indifferently, “I cut it into a hundred and fifty pieces. No need to thank me.”

“What? That’s too thin! You’re gonna have to do it again! Hey you, whatever you’re called. Yes, you! Head to the warehouse and get me another one of this, now!”

After he was done rebuking the disciple, Yu Zhizhuo turned back to Zhang Sheng and said, “My deepest apologies, Junior Brother. I should’ve explained the assignment better. But don’t worry about these pieces going to waste; I have another use for it. Since you’re doing twice the work, I’ll pay you twice the amount! Disciples!”

He was wasting his breath. A wise Mastercraft Hall disciple was already walking over with a huge bag of silver in his arms.

The killing intent in Zhang Sheng’s eyes vanished as soon as he gauged the size of the bag.

Several more days later.

Yu Zhizhuo rubbed his hands excitedly while exclaiming, “This is an extremely rare piece of wood called the Thunder Dragon Wood! Please chop it into thin strips, Junior Brother!”

Of course, a wise Mastercraft Hall disciple carried over a bag of silver at the appropriate time.

Later still.

“Check this out, Junior Brother! This is a tea leaf that’s grown for twenty-seven thousand years! It’s literally one-of-a-kind! The founder’s birthday is next month, so would you please inscribe this Spring Feast Painting and his favorite peony on it?”

When Zhang Sheng saw a pair of wise disciples carrying over a bag of silver on their shoulders, he obediently unsheathed his immortal sword and inscribed a peony on the tea leaf.

Even later still.

Zhang Sheng tossed a bag of Vigor Nurturing Pills in front of Wei Yuan.

The boy looked distracted, and he noticed it as a matter of course. He said impatiently, “Just say whatever is on your mind already!”

Wei Yuan could tell that his master was feeling short-tempered as of late, but this was a matter concerning his cultivation. He had to say it even if he risked a serious rebuke down the line. “I’m not cultivating well as of late. I can’t help but feel that something is wrong.”

Zhang Sheng had chopped a piece of ancient dragon flesh into minced meat just minutes ago. When he heard this, he abruptly lost his cool and raised his voice, “You of all people have no right to experience cultivation difficulties!!!”

Wei Yuan was silent for a few seconds, unsure how to react to his master’s outburst. Wasn’t it normal to encounter difficulties during one’s cultivation? How talented would someone have to be to never encounter a single problem in their cultivation journey?

Zhang Sheng also realized that his reaction was uncalled for. He forced down his irritation and said again in a much gentler voice, “It’s normal to run into difficulties in your cultivation. There’s no need to panic about it. Now, tell me everything.”

Wei Yuan let out a sigh of relief and thought to himself: This is the Master I know.

However, another voice in his head immediately added: But that is Master’s real face!

The boy hurriedly chased the traitorous voice out of his mind before explaining, “The size of my image is more than eight times bigger than the biggest recorded image in history, in every direction. By using the method my Heaven and Earth Theory teacher taught me, I calculated that my image is over five hundred times bigger than my classmates’, volume wise.

“As of late, I’ve pored over numerous texts and discovered that I'm filling up more or less the same amount of image as my classmates by tempering my body for ten days, or consuming oneVigor Nurturing Pill. However, my physical strength is only seven or eight times that of an ordinary disciple. In other words, around five hundred times the potency of the pills I took have vanished into thin air.”

“And here I thought you had an actual problem!” Zhang Sheng relaxed and gave him a light knock on his head that elicited a metallic reverb. “Your physical strength is seven or eight times that of a Palace of Absolute Beginning disciple, and you’re still not satisfied? Just how much stronger do you think you should—wait a second. What do you mean you’re only seven or eight times stronger than an ordinary disciple? I assure you that you are not. Just who are you comparing yourself to?”

“A Heaven Foundation disciple from the Bright King Hall,” Wei Yuan answered gloomily.

The Bright King Hall of the Palace of Absolute Beginning specialized in body-tempering techniques. Most of their disciples cultivated Dao Foundations such as mountains, boulders, vajrapanis and the like. In terms of physical strength, they were on par with the Buddhists.

Zhang Sheng fell silent for a moment before saying, “Maybe you didn’t lose as much spirit qi as you think. Personally, I don’t think it’s a big issue. I’ll speak to Master about it. He should respond a few days later.”

Just moments later, Trueman Fen Hai appeared in front of Wei Yuan with a terribly worried expression.

“What went wrong with your cultivation? Show me now, grand disciple!” The old man wasted no time in examining every inch of Wei Yuan’s body.

Several hours passed, but even Trueman Fen Hai couldn’t figure out where the spirit qi had gone to. The only thing he could confirm was that the spirit qi and medicinal potency were all inside his body.

In the end, he concluded that the potency was probably stored at a certain place in his body because he didn’t yet possess the capability to digest them. It wasn’t a bad thing at least. He promised that he would check the texts when he returned or consult True Lord Xuan Yue if he really couldn’t figure it out. He told Wei Yuan not to worry and just focus on cultivating.

When Trueman Fen Hai took his leave, Wei Yuan could almost see the hidden resentment in Zhang Sheng’s eyes.

In any case, his grandmaster’s words assured him greatly. And so Wei Yuan continued to eat his pills and consume his lunar essence.

Inside the image, lunar essence was gushing down the moon. The jade toad couldn’t swallow it all, so the spillover transformed into a fine drizzle instead. Bit by bit, the ground was being filled up and materialized into existence.

While swallowing the lunar essence, Wei Yuan suddenly noticed that something had crept onto the full moon. When he looked closer, he noticed that it was a tiny shadow.

The otherworldly fortune!