Longzang

Chapter 438 Heavenly Tribulation Mutation
The design of the new city was ingenious; all the main gates were only a few feet high, and the city walls were only three feet high, unlike other fortified cities that were often ten or twenty feet high.

Wei Yuan mobilized 100,000 Body Forging cultivators, who immediately began building the city on the spot, and the city was built at a rapid pace.

The city lord's mansion was built on the highest point in the city, making it look like a miniature city. Before the fields around the city could be cleared, trenches and fortifications were dug.

Bao Yun and Wei Yuan stood atop the northwest main gate, holding city construction plans and discussing the details. The northwest direction was the main defensive area of ​​the city, so a protruding platform, each only three zhang (approximately 10 meters) long, was built on either side of the main gate.

Bao Yun had been away from Qingming for almost a year, and Qingming had changed tremendously in that time. So at first, she didn't quite understand why the city was built so low, assuming it was still going to be used for underground battles against the Wu tribe. But after seeing the defense map that Wei Yuan showed her, she realized that the defense system had changed.

The core of the defense consisted of two giant crossbows deployed in the city lord's mansion. These were giant crossbows that Wei Yuan had seized from Hanyang Pass, and both mobile ones were placed in Ding'an City.

The main defensive force on the city wall was the short-barreled cannon newly launched by the Institute of War Equipment for Equal Treatment of All Beings.

This type of cannon is mainly used to kill a large number of enemy soldiers. Its range is only a few miles, but its power is enormous. The shells it fires weigh a hundred pounds, and a single shot can produce thousands of fragments. Within a radius of ten feet, the first two layers of the cast body will be basically destroyed.

In addition to these, there are various flying sword launchers and muskets. Directional flying sword mines can also be temporarily deployed on and around the city walls.

This kind of defense system does not require very tall city walls.

Wei Yuan stared at the defense map, mentally simulating the attack of the Wu Clan army. Within the illusory image of human life, each defensive strongpoint came to life, continuously inflicting casualties on the enemy.

Wei Yuan made continuous minor adjustments to the defenses based on the deductions, such as moving the position of a certain flying sword launcher forward by ten zhang.

Bao Yuan initially admired Wei Yuan's meticulous optimization and adjustments, but then his admiration turned to doubt. He asked, "You even adjusted the position of a flying sword spear. Isn't that a waste of time? When the war starts, the front-line generals will make the adjustments themselves."

Wei Yuan replied that it was no trouble at all. In any case, such adjustments would only waste the mental energy of a dozen or so mortals, equivalent to the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Bao Yun said, "Your habit is not good. Those who achieve great things do not concern themselves with trifles. Even if you cultivate to the point of attaining the Dharma form, your time and energy are always limited. You cannot do everything. You must focus your energy on the most important things."

Wei Yuan found the advice reasonable and humbly accepted it, but did not change his ways.

The more ordinary people in the world use their spirituality, the more they become. Among the earliest group of ordinary people, dozens have already cultivated to the Dao foundation, their thoughts are as swift as lightning, and one of them is equivalent to dozens of ordinary people.

Moreover, the operational model of the Human World has undergone continuous iteration and updates, gradually moving towards a way that even Wei Yuan finds somewhat difficult to understand. Some large-scale tasks, after being broken down by the Immortal Plant Nodes, can become as many as hundreds or even thousands of sub-tasks.

The stronger the immortal plant, the more sub-tasks it can generate. The more abstract each sub-task becomes, sometimes even seeming completely meaningless. The result is that mortals feel like they are racking their brains, but they are only thinking about particularly bizarre questions, such as how to put an elephant into a jewelry box.

That's still good; often they don't even know what they're thinking about, they just know they're thinking.

Only when mortals complete their own sub-tasks can they piece together a meaningful result with the immortal plants.

The girl Yin Yang can instantly break down tens of thousands of sub-tasks and then instantly aggregate them.

Compared to the mission-based model, the various research institutes still operate in a manner understandable to humans, but they are gradually beginning to be influenced by the immortal plants. The Dao Foundation cultivators in the research institutes think much faster than mortals; they are often responsible for breaking down large research projects and then distributing sub-tasks.

Besides research, mortals also have to busy themselves with planting vegetables, harvesting, building cities, worshipping gods, cultivating, forming cliques, slandering other people's research institutes, and reporting bad things to Wei Yuan, etc.

After finishing with the city's defenses, Wei Yuan and Bao Yun went to the City Lord's Mansion to help Bao Yun prepare her new home. Unlike Wei Yuan, Bao Yun's current cultivation required an environment rich in spiritual energy. Therefore, her residence needed to be equipped with a powerful spirit-gathering array, and at least two kinds of immortal plants needed to be planted. She had already prepared all the materials, and Wei Yuan was just helping with the setup.

After a busy afternoon, the two finally finished the basic setup. Bao Yun lay down on the couch, stretched, and her relaxed posture immediately made Wei Yuan look away, but not completely away.

Bao Yun brought all the furniture into the room, and even Wei Yuan admired how much she could hold in her bracelet. However, a question arose in Wei Yuan's mind: why did she need to put so much furniture in her bracelet?
Bao Yun shifted her position on the couch, making room for Wei Yuan to come and sit down.

Wei Yuan came over and sat down, sitting very carefully and not touching her body.

Bao Yun sat up and said, "I really like this place. You built this city for me, do you want me to stay here forever?"

"If you like it, stay here. If you don't like it anymore, you can leave anytime you want."

Bao Yun gently bit her lip and said, "Playing hard to get, is that it? Okay, I like it now, so..."

Bao Yun placed one hand on the back of Wei Yuan's neck and slowly pulled him down, bringing the two of them closer and closer.

They reached a distance close enough to feel each other's warmth. Bao Yun closed her eyes and tilted her head back slightly.

Wei Yuan remained motionless.

The two remained frozen in place, separated by only a sheet of paper. A cup of tea passed in the blink of an eye, and the distance between them remained unchanged.

Bao Yun gently blew a breath, the airflow brushing against Wei Yuan's lips, almost making him think he was touching them, but he immediately knew he wasn't.

Bao Yun sat up and asked, "Why are you being so well-behaved?"

Wei Yuan didn't know how to answer, so he could only smile wryly. He couldn't very well say that he sensed her body was poised to strike, and that if he moved forward even a little bit, she would kick him down, could she?
But Bao Yun clearly wasn't going to let Wei Yuan off so easily. She slowly moved closer and asked, "Why aren't you reacting at all? Am I not pretty enough?"

This question was relatively easy to answer, but the next question would definitely be a death trap. Wei Yuan could only pretend to think about it in order to buy himself some time.

Just then, the heavens and earth suddenly trembled in the azure sky, and the primordial energy of heaven and earth manifested, pouring down towards the secluded cultivation site. At the same time, dark clouds covered the sky, and two heavenly tribulations gradually took shape.

Wei Yuan's expression changed, and he said, "Uncle Yu and Uncle Sun are about to achieve Dharma Form! I have to go and guard them!"

This was a big deal, so Bao Yun put away her playful mood and rushed over with Wei Yuan.

From a distance, the two heavenly tribulations appeared very close, yet they were clearly distinct and did not interfere with each other.

Yu Zhizhuo cultivated the Metal element as his foundation, hence his lightning tribulation was predominantly red, with fire within the lightning. Sun Yu, on the other hand, cultivated the Water and Wood elements, hence his lightning tribulation was blue with hints of gold.

Wei Yuan estimated the intensity of the tribulation lightning and felt reassured. Although these two tribulations both possessed the element of elemental restraint, making them much stronger than ordinary tribulations, they were still primarily lightning-based. With Sun Yu and Yu Zhizhuo's abilities, coupled with the lightning protection equipment at the tribulation site, surviving the tribulation would be no problem. However, just to be on the safe side, Wei Yuan still flew over, just in case anything unexpected happened, so he could intervene in time.

As expected, an unexpected event occurred.

As Wei Yuan approached, the flames within Yu Zhizhuo's Heavenly Tribulation intensified, transforming into a Thunderfire Heavenly Tribulation. On Sun Yu's side, the golden light simply materialized into physical golden blades, each one incomparably sharp!
(End of this chapter)