Longzang

Chapter 141 Mortal Fire
Dusk has fallen again.

Xu Wenwu walked out of the stone house and continued to walk his horse. Several great immortals from Taichu Palace had also returned and began to process today's 30,000 words.

Having learned from yesterday's experience, Xiaoyu has mastered the trick of filtering and identifying before memorizing, and thankfully, she has avoided the situation of needing to cleanse her primordial spirit again.

Xiaoyu kept complaining as she read: "Useless, verbose, full of nonsense! What is all this nonsense? I've read for so long and there's hardly a single useful sentence!"

Wei Yuan shared the same sentiment; of the 30,000 words written today, only 900 were useful, and the rest were all sealed away as junk. Then, the group briefly exchanged their day's findings.

Wei Yuan explored three hundred miles towards Quliu Town, basically figuring out the terrain and landforms, as well as the small groups of humans or witches scattered in this area.

This exploration once again confirmed the limitations imposed on Wei Yuan's Dao Foundation. Now that the Myriad Rivers and Mountains and the Azure Netherworld have become one, the effectiveness of the Myriad Rivers and Mountains will gradually weaken after leaving the boundary.

During his reconnaissance trip, Wei Yuan repeatedly tested the degree of weakening of his Dao Foundation. He then calculated that when he was about 1,500 miles away from Qingming, the vast land would be weakened to below normal. When he was 3,000 miles away, the vast land would be almost impossible to manifest. At that time, Wei Yuan would only have a physical body and would be unable to use his Dao Foundation.

This range will continue to expand as the realm expands. Currently, the Azure Nether Realm is thirty miles wide, which means that Wei Yuan can only move within a hundred times the range of the realm. Beyond that, his Dao Foundation cannot be manifested, and he can only exert two or three tenths of his combat power.

The fifty-fold increase in the boundary is another dividing line. Within this boundary, the vast lands and rivers can receive the Azure Nether buff, making them stronger than before. Outside this boundary, they will be weaker than normal.

Upon receiving this result, Wei Yuan felt both joy and worry. He was happy that he still had some room to maneuver and wouldn't be trapped in the realm to death. He was worried because he couldn't go anywhere else for the time being, and if he wanted to go further, he would have to manage his current territory well. For every mile the realm extended, Wei Yuan would have a hundred miles of new land to explore.

There's not much to scout in Wei Yuan's direction; it's mainly for testing the degree of Dao Foundation attenuation. Bao Yun and Ji Liuli, on the other hand, are scouting much further ahead.

Ji Youli explored nine hundred li in one go, basically figuring out the distribution of the Wu tribe's strongholds along this route. This direction was not the Wu tribe's focus, so he discovered eight strongholds of varying sizes and two small tribes along the way. The strongholds had a total of five thousand troops stationed there, and each of the two tribes had more than four thousand people.

Bao Yun, on the other hand, was incredibly efficient, traversing 1,500 li in one go. About a thousand li from the Azure Netherworld, there was already a tribe of 50,000 people and four smaller tribes of several thousand each.

This area was originally part of Ningxi County's territory. After the human race's defeat, the witch race gradually began to infiltrate, seemingly preparing to reclaim the lost land.

On the edge of Bao Yun's exploration area, she discovered a witch clan military camp, garrisoned with ten thousand warriors. Bao Yun also sensed traces of activity by some high-ranking witches near the camp. Since it was getting late, she decided not to continue the adventure and returned before nightfall.

Many witch clan members' abilities are greatly enhanced at night, and the daylight hours in the Witch Domain are much shorter than in other regions, by at least an hour each day. Although Bao Yun's concealment skills are comparable to those of a Dharma Aspect True Person, there's no need to risk her life. Therefore, she plans to explore deeper the next day during the daytime.

The 1,500-mile mark is precisely the watershed moment for Wei Yuan's Dao Foundation to reach its full potential. However, by tomorrow, as the domain expands to 40 miles, the watershed will shift to 2,000 miles. If they wait another day, Wei Yuan's combat strength can be further enhanced.

However, time is of the essence. After killing the Great Witch, the Witch Clan has entered a temporary period of vulnerability. Opportunities are fleeting, so it is impossible to wait for Wei Yuan to slowly improve his abilities.

After discussing it, the group decided that Bao Yun would continue the investigation the next morning, followed by Wei Yuan and Ji Liuli. Once they found out that there was no Great Shaman in charge of the camp, they would launch a surprise attack on the spot and try to wipe out the camp in one fell swoop.

Xiao Yu will stay behind to guard the realm, while Zhang Sheng will accompany the three westward. However, he will not need to take action this time, but only as a precaution. Although Zhang Sheng's immortal sword has been sealed and its power halved, it can still injure a Dharma body if used at full strength.

After nightfall, all the human cultivators who were originally outside the boundary retreated back into the boundary. Wei Yuan would sense if any members of the Witch Clan entered the boundary, but outside the boundary, they were easily ambushed by the Witch Clan.

After discussing their plans for the next day, the group went about their respective tasks.

Wei Yuan needed to survey the entire area, checking the growth of the two Heavenly Star Dragon Sunflowers and the progress of the horse's training. He also needed to check on the seriously injured; if their conditions worsened, Wei Yuan could still save their lives using the power of his domain.

However, when Wei Yuan inspected the stone house, he was surprised to see that the light was still on inside, and Xu Wenwu was writing furiously at his desk.

Wei Yuan found it strange. Hadn't this guy already finished writing his quota for today? Why was he still writing? He went inside to ask, and Xu Wenwu said that writing 30,000 words a day was really too difficult. Since he was in good condition this year, he might as well stay up late and write more so that he could be more relaxed tomorrow and not be so stressed.

Wei Yuan also thought it made a lot of sense. He didn't want to push Xu Wenwu to this point, but now that Bao Yun was in charge of this matter, Wei Yuan couldn't interfere. As for whether the effect would be good or bad, he would observe for a few days before making a decision.

Wei Yuan left the stone house, thought for a moment, then went to the cultivator camp to get a bowl of meat porridge cooked by Liang Mi and took it to Xu Wenwu. This guy's body forging was limited, and he must be hungry after fighting all night.

Xu Wenwu was startled when he saw Wei Yuan, and almost dropped the pen in his hand.

Wei Yuan didn't say much, but simply placed the porridge on the table and then imbued it with a series of energy that kept it warm all night.

After Wei Yuan left, Xu Wenwu suddenly wiped his eyes a few times, then picked up the bowl and drank it all in a few large gulps. The piping hot meat porridge instantly invigorated Xu Wenwu, and his cultivation level increased slightly.

Xu Wenwu slammed the bowl down, then continued working late into the night, determined not to rest until he was utterly exhausted. Wei Yuan returned to the main peak, picked up a boulder, and used his immortal sword, Pseudo-Sun, to cut it into neat bricks. He then refined the bricks with his Dao power, making them smaller and exceptionally sturdy. Now that Wei Yuan didn't need to cultivate, he decided to build something himself. The others couldn't just sit and meditate in the ruins forever.

In less than half an hour, Wei Yuan had cut more than a thousand bricks, but building a house was still a long way off. Suddenly, he heard Ji Liuli's voice, ordering everyone to go to the north of the main peak.

Thirty miles north of the main peak, beyond the boundary, lies a stone valley, about ten miles long. In an open area within the valley, medicinal mortars and pestles are laid out, and on a newly crafted stone table, a dozen or so piles of black powder are stacked.

Once Wei Yuan and the others had all arrived, Ji Liuli pointed to the black powder on the stone table and said, "Gunpowder."

Wei Yuan was taken aback. They actually managed to do it?

Everyone's spirits lifted, eager to see just how powerful the legendary gunpowder really was. They watched as Ji Liuli flicked a spark from his fingertip, igniting a small pinch of black powder. Then, with a bang, a huge flame appeared, eventually turning into black smoke.

"I tested different ratios, and the power was somewhat different; you can't mix them arbitrarily."

Ji Liuli then ignited several more piles of black powder, and the flames indeed varied in height and size. The largest pile was more than twice the size of the smallest.

The first row of gunpowder has been tested. Ji Liuli pointed to the second row of gunpowder on the stone table and said, "These are the optimal proportions. You can test their power."

Wei Yuan carefully picked up a ball of gunpowder in his hand, finding it quite novel, and then rubbed it between his palms a few times. Suddenly, a burst of intense heat erupted from his palm, and as his fingers were stretched slightly, smoke and fire shot out from between them.

Wei Yuan spread his hands, feeling somewhat embarrassed. How could this thing be so fragile? Wasn't it supposed to burn? He brushed the black ash off his hands, and his palms remained crystal clear, without even a scorch mark.

Seeing this, Xiaoyu also tried rubbing it in her hands, and it exploded in her hands as well, leaving her palms numb and with a few faint yellow marks. Xiaoyu remained calm and, under the guise of patting away the black ash, quietly rubbed off the charred skin.

Xiao Yu then remembered that Wei Yuan's physical body was abnormal. He was fine holding gunpowder, but that didn't mean she was fine. She still got a small layer of skin burned.

Zhang Sheng and Bao Yun would never do something so foolish. They each used their Dao power to wrap a ball of gunpowder and lit it, thus knowing its power.

Ji Liuli took out three more ingredients, threw them into the medicine mortar, and crushed them with a pestle. All the ingredients were crushed into fine powder. Then, he blew them out of the mortar with his Dao power, and they were mixed evenly in the air. Ji Liuli opened his mouth and blew, and the powder turned into grains the size of sand.

This time, Ji Liuli made enough gunpowder to fill a soup pot, which was then condensed into a sphere and held in his palm.

Ji Liuli ignited the gunpowder ball in his hand with his Dao power. With a loud bang, the ball exploded, and the flames were then contained within a radius of about one foot by Ji Liuli. The Dao power ball expanded slightly before settling down, filled with billowing smoke. Ji Liuli released his Dao power, and the smoke immediately surged upwards. A gust of hot wind swept over everyone.

"That's about all the power I'll get," Ji Liuli said.

Wei Yuan recalled his feelings just now and said, "The smaller the range, the greater the power, right?"

"Indeed."

Zhang Sheng said, "If that's all there is to it, then there are many alternatives. For example, if you drip Xuan Water into the Earth Fire Heart, the water and fire will clash, and the power will be a hundred times greater. It can even shatter the shell of a meteorite from outer space."

Ji Liuli was somewhat surprised: "You also know how to refine weapons?"

Zhang Sheng blushed slightly and mumbled, "I know a little bit."

Bao Yun seemed thoughtful and said, "The current power is only our initial test, and there are probably many aspects of the formula that can be optimized. If we add something, perhaps we can multiply its power. As for what to add, we can try it one batch at a time."

Zhang Sheng nodded and said, "This matter can be entrusted to the Heavenly Crafts Hall. They have many cultivators who are responsible for adjusting the formulas, and they can try more than 10,000 new formulas in a month."

"This thing is mediocre, why bother?" Xiaoyu asked, puzzled.

Wei Yuan replied, "There is one advantage: it's cheap. One drop of Xuan Water plus one drop of Earth Fire Heart is enough to make thousands of stones of gunpowder. The power of so much gunpowder exploding together is much greater than that of two drops of Water and Fire Essence."

"No matter how much fire you have, it's useless. No matter how much mortal fire you have, can it burn a Dharma Image to death? Even I can't be burned to death," Xiao Yu said. He possessed the immortal sword Great Sun, and although his physical body wasn't particularly strong, he was exceptionally resistant to fire, second only to Wei Yuan in this aspect.

At this moment, Bao Yun said, "Now that we have gunpowder, why don't we try using guns and cannons?"

(End of this chapter)