Longzang

Chapter 1046 Massacre of the City
The affairs of Shuiyue Palace at the moment were very simple. Wei Yuan spent two days to finish them, and then assigned a task to the Zhenren who stayed behind: a detailed plan for the expansion of Shuiyue Palace.

Wei Yuan's requirements were very detailed, the timeframe was tight, and this was a rather significant matter. Wei Yuan planned to initially invest five million Qingyuan, with additional funds to be allocated later depending on the situation. This was equivalent to the total budget of the Taichu Palace for seven or eight years.

Therefore, the person in charge was both excited and somewhat apprehensive, fearing that he might mess up this important matter.

Wei Yuan offered her some words of encouragement, telling her to go for it without worry and that it wouldn't matter if she couldn't do it. But deep down, Wei Yuan knew she was bound to mess it up. Without the support of the myriad realms' prosperity, even a True Lord wouldn't be able to complete this task in such a short time.

After leaving a large pit, Wei Yuan left Benshan, turned on the sixty-four spray nozzles, and was then kicked to the Ji Kingdom by the ancient human emperor.

Wei Yuan wasn't in a hurry regarding the Ji Kingdom. It was already winter, and the first snow had fallen, making it the perfect time to concentrate manpower on construction projects. Unlike Qingming, where there were six harvest seasons a year, the cultivators who were engaged in earthmoving and cultivation had no free time at all.

During this winter, Wei Yuan plans to construct multiple roads, over ten medical clinics, ten blast furnaces, and four mines. He also plans to build fertilizer plants and weapons workshops. Additionally, he has recruited 50,000 Body Forging cultivators to establish the Ji Kingdom's garrison, which will be deployed along the border as fixed outposts for defense and patrols.

Dozens of Shuiyue Palace disciples scattered across the land of Ji Kingdom and disappeared instantly.

In Ningshui County of Ji State, a sizable rebel army had just captured a county town and slaughtered all the garrison.

Liu Heihu stood atop the city wall, watching the smoke and fire rising from the city walls and the occasional screams of agony. He frowned slightly and said, "Tell the brothers to keep their guard down. They should only take money and provisions, and no killing or arson is allowed! How can military discipline be in such a state? If we encounter a strong army in the future, it will be a dead end!"

Several of his officers immediately flew into the city, and within moments the screams had mostly ceased, and some of the fires had even been extinguished.

Just as Liu Heihu was feeling somewhat satisfied, a swift horse suddenly appeared in the distance, flying towards them. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that the horse was actually riding on all fours, its hooves barely touching the ground.

This was Lu Jiande's personal messenger cavalry, capable of traveling ten thousand miles a day, specifically used for delivering urgent military intelligence. In the blink of an eye, the messenger arrived at the city walls. The rider leaped up and landed in front of Liu Heihu, handing him a sealed military order, saying, "This is a military order from Lord Lu. Please open and read it, General Liu."

Liu Heihu took the military order, opened it, and his expression immediately changed.

A hot-tempered late-stage Dharma Aspect general glanced at the military order and immediately flew into a rage, shouting, "Another massacre?! What do they take us brothers for? Even extraterrestrial demons aren't this ruthless! They're fucking depraved!"

The messenger's face turned cold, and he said, "This is Lord Lu's military order. Do you dare disobey it? Are you courting death?"

The Dharma Master immediately flew into a rage, grabbing the messenger by the neck and choking him until his face turned purple. He barked angrily at the messenger, "What is Lu Jiande anyway! Without our big brother's support, he's nothing! I only listen to our big brother! If you keep bastarding, I'll smash your head in!"

Seeing that the cyclist was about to perish, Liu Heihu coughed and said, "That's enough."

The magistrate reluctantly put the messenger down. The messenger was both shocked and frightened, and his previous arrogance was gone. Liu Heihu bowed in the direction of the rebel headquarters and said, "Please tell Lord Lu that this city will be completely slaughtered. Please rest assured, sir."

The messenger cavalry didn't dare linger for a moment and sped away. Liu Heihu looked at the gradually calming county town, his brows furrowed.

The irritable Dharma Image said, "Brother, it's only been a little over a year since things got better, why are we going to massacre the city again! To be honest, we could barely accept it at first, but who can stand massacring cities one after another? We brothers aren't animals, how can we keep doing this kind of thing?"

Liu Heihu sighed and said helplessly, "This is not Lu Jiande's intention, but rather..."

As he spoke, he pointed to the sky.

The generals all fell silent, except for the irritable Dharma Image, who muttered, "This kind of thing can become an immortal?"

Suddenly, leaden clouds filled the sky, swirling into a huge vortex, as if the heavens were being punished by opening their eyes!
In the center of the cloud vortex, a gray-robed immortal stood out of thin air. He sneered and gently reached down to grab it. The violent dharma form let out a miserable scream and spewed out a stream of white vapor from each of its seven orifices. Within the white vapor, a face in extreme pain was faintly visible.

Then his skin cracked open, and pieces of flesh fell off, piling up at his feet. Amidst the flesh stood a stark white skeleton. His avatar was trapped inside the skull, struggling and screaming in agony, trying several times to burst out of its eye sockets, but each time it was locked by an invisible barrier and could not escape.

Gray flames erupted from his skull, gradually refining the Dharma Avatar into ashes. Thus, the hot-tempered late-stage Dharma Avatar cultivator was reduced to bones, dying a agonizing death, utterly powerless to resist.

Liu Heihu pressed down with both hands, his magical power overflowing, forcibly pressing several brothers with bloodshot eyes to the ground. He himself also knelt down and refused to get up, repeatedly begging the Immortal Lord to spare his life.

Cangwu stood with his hands behind his back in the air and said calmly, "Since you know it's my order, why don't you do it? What are you waiting for?"

Liu Heihu kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "Immortal Lord, rest assured, I will ensure that not a single chicken or dog is spared!"

He jumped to his feet, kicking his brothers one by one, and yelled, "Are you all deaf? Get to work!"

The men had no choice but to grab their weapons and lead their troops into the county town, where they began to slaughter. Liu Heihu kept patrolling back and forth, repeatedly emphasizing, "Kill those who can move, and give those who can't move a couple more blows."

Many rebels hesitated, but seeing the ever-present swirling clouds of calamity above and the seemingly tiny immortals below, they had no choice but to continue wielding their blood-stained blades, mechanically hacking away. Only when the entire county town fell silent did Cangwu nod and disappear into the swirling clouds of calamity.

Liu Heihu breathed a sigh of relief and wiped his face, only to find it sticky. He glanced at his palm, which was covered in blood and bits of flesh, unsure whether it was already on his hand or had been wiped off his face.

The entire county town was filled with deathly aura. In Liu Heihu's eyes, everywhere was shrouded in damp white mist. When the rebel soldiers passed through the mist, their bodies would be covered with many things that looked like spider silk.

Even the rebel generals couldn't see the white mist, but Liu Heihu knew it was formed from resentment and karma. Within the mist stood many bewildered figures; these were souls unable to reincarnate, destined to dissipate after a period of wandering as lonely ghosts.

Liu Heihu dragged his heavy steps to the top of the city wall. The skeleton of the violent Dharma Image still stood there, two lines of dark red, turbid tears of blood flowing from its two eye sockets.

The youngest general said in a trembling voice, "Eldest brother, third brother's death... was too tragic..."

Liu Heihu gritted his teeth and said, "Send someone to Guantun County and tell him everything that happened here."

The generals looked at each other, and finally said to the eldest one, "Second Brother has a family to support, let him go!"

The generals all chimed in, leaving no room for objection, and the matter was settled. Liu Heihu patted his second son on the shoulder and said, "After you go there, don't come back. I will send someone to take your family there."

……

Guantun County.

Wei Yuan was watching the training of a new batch of militia at the drill ground. This batch of militia totaled 30,000 men, and they had been training for more than half a month. They were starting to look promising, at least their ranks were orderly when marching.

Wei Yuan nodded secretly. As long as the formation remained intact, the morale of the army would not waver, which was the most important factor for victory in the cultivation world. At the same time, advancing slowly with arrows and engaging infantry against cavalry both required a neat formation.

At this moment, an attendant ran over, gave a brief report, and then brought up a rebel general.

Wei Yuan sized him up. The man wasn't very tall, had a messy beard, and a face full of wrinkles. If you didn't look closely, you might mistake him for an old farmer.

"Lord Wei, I am delivering a message on behalf of my elder brother, Liu Heihu. The Immortal and Lu Jiande are once again carrying out a massive massacre east of Ningshui, leaving no one alive! My brother wants to ask if you have any way to stop them. If not, could you take us brothers in?"

Upon hearing that another large-scale massacre of mortals had occurred, Wei Yuan's face darkened. He immediately ordered someone to bring a map and had the rebel general mark the area where the massacre had taken place.

From subsequent inquiries, Wei Yuan learned that Liu Heihu's forces still numbered over 70,000, most of whom were farmers and hunters. The continuous massacres had turned a small number of people into demons, but most were on the verge of losing control and could no longer endure it.

After listening, Wei Yuan did not make a decision immediately, but instead fell into deep thought in front of the sand table, pondering for a full hour.

Finally, he reached out and slammed his hand on the sand table, drawing several routes that pointed to the areas controlled by the rebels.

Moments later, the entire Guantun County sprang into action. Elite troops from Qingming donned the heavy breastplates they were no longer accustomed to, mounted their long-neglected warhorses, and re-equipped themselves with lances, swords, and muskets. They left Guantun County at the crack of dawn the next day.

These troops, numbering three thousand per unit and totaling four units, all heavily armored cavalry, marched towards the rebel territory. Behind these troops were two supply convoys, one to the south and one to the north.

Although it was not yet time for Wei Yuan to be fully prepared, tens of millions of mortals could not wait any longer, and the enemy was also unprepared.

In early winter, Zhang Quanliang, the General Who Conquers the East and Marquis of Mingkong, who was stationed at Tiexian Pass in Ji State, suddenly received a strange intelligence report: the rebel army's main camp outside the pass was suddenly filled with shouts of battle and flames. An army of unknown origin stormed into the camp, and the two sides fought all night until dawn.

Zhang Quanliang hurriedly sent men to investigate again, and the news they received was that the camp where 30,000 rebel troops were stationed had been trampled over, with countless dead and wounded, and not a single survivor could be seen. Judging from the traces at the scene, it seemed that an infighting had occurred between the two rebel groups.

Zhang Quanliang then mobilized his light cavalry to cautiously scout the area, and the results confirmed his suspicions: there were at least ten thousand corpses at the scene, all of them rebel soldiers.

Zhang Quanliang examined the body repeatedly, but apart from finding many blackened marks and strange steel balls and lead pellets on the corpse, he had no other clues and had no idea which army had annihilated this rebel camp.

But having been in officialdom for a long time, he didn't know who was behind it. He immediately returned to the pass and submitted a memorial to Prince Ji, stating that after a month-long bloody battle with the rebels outside the pass, they had finally annihilated the rebel army, beheading more than 10,000, and the siege of the pass had been lifted.

After the memorial was written, Zhang Quanliang immediately ordered someone to send the news of victory to Jidu by express courier.

When Prince Ji received the memorial, he was at a banquet, enjoying a dance contest between Cai Miao and Xu Shang with Sun Chaoen and his officials. Zhang Quanliang's memorial immediately pleased Prince Ji, as it was the third major victory report of the day.

(End of this chapter)