Longzang

Chapter 144 Open-minded Thinking

Dealing with a village doesn't require everyone to work together. Ji Liuli and Bao Yun split up to deal with the surrounding smaller villages.

Two minutes later, the group reunited, leaving behind only ruins. Many of the Wu tribe members survived and fled into the wilderness, but all their villages were destroyed.

The next place was a small tribe of several thousand people, built on the shore of a small lake.

This time, Wei Yuan made his move, manifesting a vast expanse of rivers and mountains that covered the area. Bao Yun used the Seven Wonders Tree to enhance it, and the manifested range once again surged to a thousand feet, transforming this world into a pure realm.

Part of the vast landscape also covered the small lake and the paddy fields beside the village. Suddenly, the surface of the small lake boiled, and several large fish, several feet long, leaped out of the water, two of them even jumping onto the shore. These large fish had serrated barbs all over their backs, looking ferocious. At this moment, their scales were open one by one, and blood was constantly seeping out, making them look extremely painful.

This fish is highly poisonous, but the poison is used in witchcraft, so it is an essential dish on the shaman's table.

In the paddy fields grew things that looked like small trees covered in tumors. Stimulated by the fresh air, the tumors swelled up and burst one after another, oozing a pale blue, viscous liquid.

Once the wood tumor matures, it turns into powder, which, when mixed with water, becomes the staple food of most shamans.

The water in the paddy field was boiling, and countless dead insects floated to the surface. Even the shamans wouldn't eat these insects; they were said to be food for slaves and the poorest of the poor.

The village was in chaos. Several Dao Foundation Warriors were shot down by Wei Yuan's Golden Cauldron as soon as they took flight. Many ordinary witches fled the village and ran into the surrounding wilderness. Wei Yuan did not stop them or deliberately pursue them. He simply killed all the cultivators in the witch clan and destroyed the village.

In less than two minutes, the village was completely destroyed. One shaman and five warriors were all killed, and none of the villagers who had achieved the Body Forging skill were spared.

Afterwards, the group destroyed two more villages along the way before returning to the territory. This wasn't because Wei Yuan was merciful, but because there was no time. The longer they delayed, the stronger the warning signs became in their hearts. If they delayed even a little longer, the Great Witch's Blood Curse would probably fall.

Upon arriving at the crowd's location, Xiaoyu excitedly greeted them, saying, "Come on, try out my newly made gun!"

Xiaoyu, oblivious to the somewhat somber atmosphere among them, excitedly led them to the stone valley behind the mountain. In the valley, another stone table stood, upon which rested a thin steel pipe, gleaming with a faint blue light, about the thickness of a thumb, with one end sealed.

Xiao Yu loaded gunpowder and pre-made iron bullets into a steel pipe, held the pipe like a sword, pointed it at a large tree in front of him, and then ignited the gunpowder with his Dao power. With a bang, the iron bullet, carrying a chilling sword intent, sank deep into the tree trunk, several inches deep.

Everyone had sharp eyesight and could see that the iron bullet's trajectory was stable after leaving the muzzle, unlike Wei Yuan's stone spear last night, which was somewhat erratic.

Xiao Yu twirled the iron pipe with a sword flourish and said smugly, "How was that?"

Wei Yuan was very interested, so he asked about the method in detail. Xiao Yu did not hold back and explained the production process in detail.

Xiao Yu took two sword blanks from the secret vault of the Lan Shen Palace, melted them with the Great Sun True Fire that came with the immortal swords, carefully adjusted their properties overnight, and finally forged them into this steel pipe. She then used her Dao power to refine it again, and the final steel pipe weighed only half the original weight of the two sword blanks, while its quality was greatly improved, making it equivalent to a mid-grade magic sword.

As Wei Yuan looked at it, he began to feel that something was strange.

This thing looks like a steel pipe, but it possesses an inner Daoist aura, and that aura is that of a sword. Therefore, in the eyes of cultivators, this thing is a sword, even if it is twisted into a rope or rolled into a ball, it is still a sword.

So Xiaoyu just fired a shot while holding the immortal sword?
This idea is interesting, Wei Yuan thought to himself.

The sword—no, the spear—that Xiaoyu made is of quite good quality; it can kill a Blood Fusion Realm expert, but it won't be as effective against a Bone Forging Realm warrior. Wei Yuan estimates that this spear might have some difficulty penetrating the bones of a Bone Forging Realm warrior. However, with a few more strikes, even a Bone Forging Realm warrior might die.

This spear is slightly less powerful than a regular Liao bow, but it's much easier to control. You just need to aim it correctly, and it consumes far less Dao energy than controlling a magical arrow. An ordinary Liao cavalryman can only fire one Gale Arrow in a battle, but with this spear, firing dozens is no problem.

Xiao Yu was smug, thinking that if this gun could be mass-produced, it would immediately form a formidable ranged force. Wasn't this mass production?
Wei Yuan was initially excited, but upon closer examination, he realized there were still many problems.

For example, this thing needs to be activated with Dao power, so only martial artists who cultivate the primordial spirit can use it. Once you've cultivated to the primordial spirit, it's naturally more convenient to use a bow and arrow, as its rate of fire far exceeds that of a gun that requires reloading gunpowder and bullets.

In Xu Wenwu's world, there were guns with even faster firing rates and greater power, each with its own specific name. But at this moment, the group felt that without solving the power problem, even a faster firing rate would be useless.

Ji Liuli suddenly had a new idea: he would get a steel pipe and refill it with gunpowder. This time, he would fill it all the way up in one go, and then embed an iron bullet in it.

Ji Liuli aimed at a large rock a dozen feet away, pointed at it, and the steel pipe shot out like an arrow, embedding itself in the rock with a thud! Only after the steel pipe entered the rock did the gunpowder ignite with a loud boom, and an iron bullet shot out, breaking out from the other side of the rock!
Wei Yuan's eyes lit up. Was this a stab followed by a spear thrust? It was impossible to defend against!

Everyone started brainstorming new ways to play, but none of them agreed or disagreed with Xiaoyu's idea of ​​large-scale equipment.

Xiao Yu didn't even consider that his sword and spear were forged from the blanks of two low-grade magic swords, using the Great Sun True Fire. Where else could one find such resources? All things considered, the cost of this sword and spear was roughly around a thousand taels of immortal silver, and its power was only enough to kill a Blood Fusion Realm expert.

If you used that thousand taels of silver to hire an assassin, you could kill a hundred Blood Fusion Realm experts. Although Xiao Yu's dream of mass production was shattered, everyone was inspired. For example, Wei Yuan was thinking, what if he made a spear following this idea?
Without hesitation, Wei Yuan immediately went to fetch the embryos of two magical staffs, asked Xiao Yu for a ball of Great Sun True Fire, and began to smelt them on the spot.

Inspired by Ji Liuli's flying sword strike, Xiao Yu began to reforge the steel pipe, intending to shape it directly into a sword shape, without having to follow the rules of Xu Wenwu's world.

Zhang Sheng, of course, wouldn't follow their nonsense. He pulled Ji Liu away to check the feng shui of the earth's veins, preparing to thoroughly explore the mineral resources within the region.

Bao Yun stayed behind to help Wei Yuan, and the two worked together. Soon, the magical staff was melted down into a spear, and many impurities were removed. With Bao Yun's blessing, the temperature of the Great Sun True Flame increased again, allowing Wei Yuan to refine it with ease.

Refining materials and enhancing their properties are fundamental skills for all disciples of the Taichu Palace. This step is not difficult; the challenge lies in generating Daoist charm and inscribing formations on magical artifacts to add unique characteristics.

Fortunately, Wei Yuan didn't intend to add any fancy features; he only planned to enhance two basic ones: sharpness and toughness. These are the most common features of magical weapons, and these two formations were used in the intensive training graduation exam, so Wei Yuan was very skilled at inscribing them and could complete the task without the aid of any formation tools.

As Wei Yuan and Xiao Yu inscribed the array, a green branch appeared on the Exquisite Treasure Tree. The two immediately felt their minds clear and their inspiration flow freely, increasing their chances of successfully refining the weapon by 30%.

Half an hour later, Wei Yuan finally finished forging the magical spear. The spear looked like an ordinary spear, but Wei Yuan had grown taller in recent years, and the original spear was a bit short, so he lengthened it by another foot.

Strangely, Wei Yuan only forged one spear shaft, which, with the blessing of the treasure tree, had already reached the level of a mid-grade magic weapon, but he forged three spearheads in one go, and the spearheads were only low-grade magic weapons.

Actually, this spear is made up of two magical artifacts: the shaft and the spearhead. If you don't nitpick, it can be considered a combined magical artifact. The spear shaft is hollow, filled with gunpowder, and then the spearhead is attached. That completes Wei Yuan's spear.

Inspired by Ji Liuli, Xiaoyu forged a two-foot-long sword blade from a steel pipe, and then added an extra foot-long blade, joining them together to form a magic sword. The blade was hollow and filled with gunpowder.

When wielded, this sword is empowered by the immortal sword, the Great Sun. After it flies towards the enemy, the gunpowder detonates, and the sword tip shoots out again, creating a secondary attack.

The only drawback is that the sword must be drawn quickly. The Immortal Sword Great Sun is made of true solar fire, and any delay will directly ignite the gunpowder. Xiao Yu had already learned this lesson and paid the price with a lot of hair.

As Bao Yun watched the two most outstanding young disciples of the Tai Chu Palace refine insidious magical artifacts, she seemed to be deep in thought.

She felt that she hadn't truly understood Xiaoyu's nature in the past.

The spear forged by Wei Yuan had a slightly strange aura; after all, the spearhead and shaft were of different grades, which would make anyone wary. The sword in Xiao Yu's hand, on the other hand, was a single, seamless piece, completely undetectable as a segmented weapon. If Bao Yun hadn't been watching him forge it, she might have easily overlooked it without careful observation.

The difference between Wei Yuan and Xiao Yu was evident during the weapon forging process.

Xiao Yu casually added a lot of rare materials she had prepared herself to the sword, resulting in a significant improvement in the quality of the immortal sword, making it a top-quality mid-grade magic weapon.

However, this caused the cost of his sword to skyrocket from one thousand taels when it was made from steel pipe to five thousand taels. With that money, he could have bought a brand new high-grade magic weapon or hired a very famous cultivator to cut something.

Xiao Yu had no idea that the sword was ridiculously expensive. He enthusiastically poured gunpowder into the sword, attached the blade, and then said to Bao Yun, "Come on, help me test the sword."

“Okay.” Bao Yun stood opposite Xiao Yu.

Xiaoyu checked the distance and waved, saying, "Get any closer, my sword aim might not be very good."

Bao Yun did as she was told and took a few more steps forward, stopping ten feet away.

“This distance is just right.” Xiao Yu held her sword, her expression turning solemn, even somewhat reverent. As a sword cultivator, when holding a sword, one should be sincere and earnest, treating the sword with utmost respect.

Seeing that Xiaoyu was serious, Baoyun also prepared her Dao power in advance, waiting for Xiaoyu to make the first move.

Xiao Yu adopted a common starting stance, holding his longsword horizontally, aiming the blade at Bao Yun, staring at the blade, and lightly stroking the blade with two fingers of his left hand. Where his fingertips passed, a blazing True Sun Fire ignited, and at the same time he chanted: "Alone I have fought across eight thousand miles, one sword can be worth a million soldiers!"

Before Xiaoyu could finish reciting the two powerful lines of poetry, and before her fingers had even brushed half of the sword's edge, a loud bang was heard, and the sword tip was already in front of Baoyun amidst the smoke and fire!

Bao Yun was taken aback and instantly raised her hand to catch the incoming sword blade, but she was a little flustered.

Wei Yuan's eyes lit up, and his mind suddenly opened up.

(End of this chapter)