Longzang

Chapter 298 Slaughtering Cultivators Like Dogs
In front of everyone, Sun Yu prepared some new gunpowder and then detonated it.

With a loud bang, a blast of hot air hit my face, accompanied by a slight tingling sensation. The new gunpowder was indeed incredibly powerful, possessing a touch of thunderous might, and producing almost no smoke.

After the demonstration, Sun Yu waited for everyone's comments. This was also an important part of the Tai Chu Palace training program. Learning from others can be beneficial, and sometimes comments from laymen can spark inspiration or help in identifying shortcomings.

Wei Yuan had a smattering of knowledge about alchemy and pharmacology, but he had nothing to say about formulas and properties. If he had to say anything, it would only be like Xu Wenwu's: "Holy crap!"

However, Wei Yuan's focus was on another aspect: the new gunpowder was much more powerful, but the cost had increased more than tenfold.

After mass production, the price of the original gunpowder had dropped to a few hundred catties for one or two taels of silver. Wei Yuan estimated that the new gunpowder would probably only cost five catties for one or two taels of silver.

After watching Sun Yu's demonstration, Yu Zhizhuo said, "If the goal is instantaneous power, then there's still some room for improvement. This gunpowder can be made so refined..."

Yu Zhizhuo grabbed a handful of new gunpowder and, using his Dao power, transformed it into perfectly round, sand-like particles. The particles were loose and not solid. Upon testing again, the power had indeed increased by 20% out of nowhere.

Sun Yu continued, "This formula can be improved in two directions. One is to improve the quality of Thunder Sand, Inch Gold Charcoal, and Fire Glue, which can increase its power. Further, Thunder Sand can be replaced with Mystic Thunder Stone, which would make it even more powerful. The other direction is to move closer to the original formula, which can produce cheaper gunpowder. Finding the best balance between power and price requires a lot of experimentation."

Wei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. Previous wars had shown that the number of muskets was the key to turning the tide of battle. Muskets were inherently insufficient in power; a small number of well-equipped ones were less effective than powerful individuals directly unleashing their magical attacks.

Wei Yuan is now extremely sensitive to the situation on the battlefield. The key to how firearms can change the course of war lies in enabling ordinary people to go to the battlefield and have the ability to fight. This is a measure that can fundamentally reverse the course of the war.

Without firearms, out of the realm's hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, only fewer than 20,000 would be capable warriors. With firearms, that number exceeds 100,000. With firearms and the "Instantaneous Beings," Wei Yuan effectively possesses 100,000 elite troops in a short period. Even without the "Instantaneous Beings," he still has 100,000 ordinary soldiers.

For ordinary people with normal diets, it takes at least two to three years to reach the Muscle Realm. Archers need an additional three years of training, while swordsmen and shieldmen only need about six months. Only spearmen are the simplest, requiring only one year of training.

Training a steel-pipe rifleman takes only three days, or even half an hour if pushed to the limit. A steel-pipe rifle can hit a target the size of a door from ten zhang away; just aim roughly in the direction, and whether you actually aim is irrelevant.

The new gunpowder was incredibly powerful, which excited all the cultivators. Their minds were racing, and they offered many suggestions. After an hour, they came up with several directions for improvement.

For example, Yu Zhizhuo suggested that Xuanlei Stone could be replaced by a lightning-struck phoenix tree. There was a lightning tree in the realm; placing a Phoenix Blood Phoenix Tree next to it, allowing it to be baptized by lightning day and night, would result in a lightning-struck phoenix tree after six months. Its properties were slightly weaker than Xuanlei Stone, but its price was only one-tenth that of Xuanlei Stone.

Finally, determining the optimal ratio of the formula is crucial. There seems to be no easy way; it can only be achieved through trial and error. Previously, Sun Yu divided each ingredient into ten smaller portions and experimented little by little. For example, eight parts Thunder Sand to one part Inch Gold Charcoal; eight parts Thunder Sand to two parts Inch Gold Charcoal... Relying on this laborious method, he experimented more than 1,700 times before arriving at the current ratio.

Wei Yuan finally understood why Sun Yu kept complaining about not having enough manpower even though he had already assigned more than ten people to him.

Speaking of this, Sun Yu said to Ji Liuli, "Senior Sister Ji, I'm afraid I'll need to borrow your Demon Suppression Tower to save me some effort."

Ji Liuli's Demon-Suppressing Tower also possesses the ability to interpret heavenly secrets. After discussing it in detail for a long time, Ji Liuli immediately set up an array, placing the Demon-Suppressing Tower in the center. Currently, half of the spiritual items she uses for setting up the array were obtained by Wei Yuan through exchanges, and Wei Yuan cannot always let her subsidize him out of her own pocket.

Beneath the Demon-Suppressing Tower, Sun Yu used his Dao power to simulate the properties of several raw materials and sent them into the formation. The two constantly adjusted the formation, struggling for a long time, until finally, a burst of flame rose beneath the Demon-Suppressing Tower—the raw materials Sun Yu had simulated with his Dao power had ignited!

Although it wasn't an explosion yet, after carefully examining it, Ji Liuli said, "It truly possesses eighty percent of its divine essence; this method is feasible!"

Seeing Sun Yu's great excitement, Ji Liuli added, "If you want to rent the tower, it's a thousand taels of silver per hour."

Before we knew it, it was already dawn.

The cultivators dispersed, each going to have breakfast or do their morning prayers. Wei Yuan wanted to leave, but Yu Zhizhuo grabbed him, asking, "Where is the Realm Lord going?"

Wei Yuan struggled futilely: "I'll go study..."

Yu Zhizhuo dragged Wei Yuan away, saying, "There are plenty of treasures and beauties underground. Lord, I just found some nice things underground. Let's go take a look."

Two hours later, Wei Yuan didn't see anything good, but he did see another million catties of various ores.

Yu Zhizhuo beamed with joy, directing the cultivators to install supports and beams in the passage opened by Wei Yuan, while praising, "After my junior brother advanced, his Dao power has increased greatly. My dozen or so junior brothers combined are not as strong as you alone. It's a pity you can't be in two places at once, so I can only block you from time to time."

Wei Yuan's heart stirred, and he conjured a faceless warrior, saying, "What do you think of this?"

A halo appeared in front of the faceless warrior, using the same Torrent Water Blade Technique, but with lower power, equivalent to a full-force attack from an ordinary cultivator, though still capable of cutting through rocks.

After Wei Yuan advanced to the mid-stage of the Dao Foundation Realm, the range of Dao techniques that these faceless warriors could use also increased. The originally simple water flow technique now also included water blades, finally becoming a true rapid water blade technique.

The faceless warrior continued to dig deeper into the rock strata, bit by bit, as the water flowed continuously.

Yu Zhizhuo's brows were already furrowed, and after a cup of tea, his expression became somewhat solemn. After an incense stick, he showed surprise, and after two incense sticks, he was shocked.

A normal human-level cultivator would exhaust their Dao power in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to unleash such magic, while an earth-level cultivator could only sustain it for the duration of an incense stick, and two incense sticks would likely result in their death from exhaustion. "Nephew, how long can this puppet spell last?"

Wei Yuan said, "From morning till night."

He then conjured a point of light and handed it to Yu Zhizhuo: "This is the Mind Control Technique."

Yu Zhizhuo stopped his inner power cultivation technique and did a simple test. The faceless warrior followed his instructions, stopped his magic, and moved to the other side to continue digging. Yu Zhizhuo was still hesitant when two more faceless warriors appeared in front of him.

"There are two more here. I'll hand them over to my martial uncle," Wei Yuan said.

Yu Zhizhuo's face immediately broke into a smile, and he slapped Wei Yuan hard: "Go do your thing!"

Three puppet cultivators who can work from morning till night are far more useful than Wei Yuan, who comes and goes without knowing when he'll be available. From now on, Yu Zhizhuo can plan the entire underground excavation, and the progress will advance by leaps and bounds. Only the most difficult sections will require Wei Yuan.

For Wei Yuan, the Dao power he naturally recovers every moment is equivalent to that of three Dao Foundation cultivators at the Human Rank. Therefore, even though these three faceless warriors fought from morning till night, Wei Yuan's own Dao power remained unchanged.

Wei Yuan said, "By the way, Uncle-Master, we should adjust the production slightly later. For every three portions of iron and copper, we should take one portion to make various tools."

"Okay, come with me, I'll show you something else good."

Seeing that Yu Zhizhuo was heading upwards and that the good stuff wasn't deep underground, Wei Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief. Speaking of which, he did admire this Uncle Yu; he could spend more than ten hours a day underground, and the rocks and mineral veins were more attractive to him than a peerless beauty.

The two returned to the ground, and Yu Zhizhu led Wei Yuan toward his private workshop.

The courtyard was surprisingly equipped with seven different arrays, and contained more than a dozen anvils, workbenches, and hundreds of tools, including over thirty hammers of various sizes, ranging from the smallest as small as an ant to the largest weighing several thousand kilograms. All the hammers were at least high-grade magical artifacts, and there were even two magical treasures among them.

Yu Zhizhu solemnly took out a steel pipe that shimmered with a dark blue light and handed it to Wei Yuan, saying with a smile, "I used a lot of my personal savings to make this thing."

Wei Yuan took it and examined it carefully. The steel pipe was six feet long, hollow inside, open at both ends, with an inner diameter about the size of an egg, and about the thickness of a teacup. Wei Yuan was tall and had large hands, so it fit him perfectly in his hand.

This steel pipe exudes a faint, chilling aura; it is actually a top-grade magical artifact. Although it looks unremarkable, it actually weighs over 700 jin (approximately 350 catties), and even Wei Yuan needs to use some strength to wield it freely.

Yu Zhizhuo then took out two spearheads, one long and one short, and attached them to both ends to make a short spear.

"The original plan was to leave openings at both ends in preparation for possible breech-loading ammunition in the future. However, Sun Yu has developed a new type of gunpowder, which makes many of our ideas possible. Let me show you the original concept first."

Yu Zhizhuo brought out a box filled with gunpowder sealed in oil paper. Each piece of gunpowder was one foot long, and they were all exactly the same size, thickness, and length.

Yu Zhizhuo led Wei Yuan to the shooting range, took the steel pipe, attached it to the gun's butt, and said, "This gun has three characteristics: indestructible, frosty, and spotless."

Both "Undamaged" and "Frosty Guardian" are understandable; one is a sturdy advancement, and the other prevents the spear from overheating and being damaged, protecting the spear's formation while also adding frost power to the attack, slowing down the opponent's movements. But what about "Spotless"? Isn't that something commonly seen on Taoist robes? Taoist robes with this property basically don't need washing and can also ward off poison and curses.

However, upon further reflection, Wei Yuan had some doubts about Han Shuang. These steel pipe guns were generally used as clubs after firing one shot, at most with a new spearhead attached to be used as ordinary spears; whether the gun got hot or not was completely irrelevant.

Yu Zhizhuo gave him a look that said, "I knew you wouldn't understand," and pulled out another box, which turned out to be full of gun barrels.

Yu Zhizhuo reached out and pressed down, and five pieces of gunpowder and a spearhead flew out automatically. The gunpowder columns entered the barrel from the muzzle in a single file, and then the spearhead was in place by itself. Yu Zhizhuo held the spear and pointed directly at the stone target ten zhang away.

Amidst the roar, the stone target, clad in mid-grade magic weapon armor and possessing defense equivalent to that of a Earth-rank cultivator, was pierced through by a single spear thrust!
Yu Zhizhuo did not stop. Instead, he shouted, and the gunpowder and gun barrels flew up and automatically aligned themselves. Then they were loaded and fired. The roar of the gunpowder and gun barrels was continuous. In the blink of an eye, more than ten shots were fired, smashing half of a huge rock covered with steel plates.

Upon seeing this, Wei Yuan suddenly realized that the purpose of keeping everything spotless was to ensure a smooth loading of the medicine! Uncle Yu's imagination was truly boundless; he was a genius.

The rapid firing just now, converted to the standards of the outer world, had a rate of fire exceeding five hundred rounds per minute, which is definitely the standard for a machine gun.

This muzzle-loading single-shot machine gun has never appeared in the outer world before.

Yu Zhizhu handed the gun to Wei Yuan and said, "This gun is a top-grade magic weapon, no less powerful than the magic swords used by my junior disciples Xiao Yu and Cui Yu. I named it 'Immaculate Pure Land' and gave it to you. However, now that we have new gunpowder, I need to make some new gunpowder packets and reconsider the dosage, as the power will increase. But even with the maximum dosage, this gun can withstand it."

Wei Yuan accepted the Immaculate Pure Land and thought to himself, "Isn't this name just a way of sending someone to be reborn?"

With this gun in hand, killing ground-based structures is as easy as killing dogs, and even space-based structures can't withstand a volley of bullets; it's truly a deadly weapon in group battles.

Holding the gun, Wei Yuan felt a mix of pride and helplessness. Even without this gun, he could kill Di Ji as easily as killing a dog.

(End of this chapter)