Longzang

Chapter 470 A Different Taste
In the human realm, spring turns to summer, while in the Western Regions, it begins to rain continuously, marking the start of the rainy season.

Braving the light drizzle, Wei Yuan hung a breastplate on the warrior in front of him and then personally tightened the armor strap. This was the 100,000th heavily armored warrior of Qingming. Currently, Qingming has a total of 10,000 cavalry, 40,000 mounted infantry, and 50,000 heavy infantry.

The heavy infantry of Qingming differed from the heavy infantry of the Western Jin Dynasty. Thanks to the mass production of forged steel plates, Qingming's breastplates were of very high quality and were even lighter than multi-layered chainmail or fish-scale armor. In addition, the infantry mainly used flying swords and spears, emphasizing mobility, so the armor on their arms and legs was also appropriately reduced.

Finally, the Qingming heavy armor warrior's armor weighed eighty jin, which was far less than the one hundred and twenty jin of heavy armor in the Western Jin Dynasty.

All the heavy infantry possessed the Blood Fusion Realm cultivation level, allowing them to move with incredible speed even while carrying hundreds of kilograms on their backs. According to Wei Yuan, Xu Tongshou, the military governor of Anbei, commanded 150,000 troops, but only 10,000 were cavalry and 20,000 were heavy infantry. Lü Wenbai, the military governor of Yunxiang, commanded 120,000 troops, including 20,000 cavalry and 20,000 heavy infantry.

In terms of heavy armored soldiers, Wei Yuan has surpassed the combined strength of the other two military governors, but his cavalry is still lacking.

Wei Yuan helped the soldier in front of him put on his armor, patted him on the shoulder, and then the officer next to him shouted, "Right turn, run, back to camp!"

This thousand-strong heavily armored unit ran back to their camp right in front of Wei Yuan, their heavy but perfectly synchronized footsteps shaking the earth.

At this moment, Cui Yufei flew over and landed beside Wei Yuan, and the twelve Six Ren Heavenly Soldiers around him returned to their bodies one by one.

Cui Yu handed over a list and said, "This is the list of those who are to be promoted to the Foundation Establishment stage this period. My family has sent another 500 people. There are 1,100 civilians within the realm who have accumulated enough military merits and are ready to be promoted. There are 2,000 people from the original sacrificial offerings in the new city and the young men from the Xu family who have reached the Body Forging Perfection stage."

Wei Yuan glanced at the list and said, "Okay, you can arrange the promotion after you've made the preparations in the next few days. Has your Dharma Aspect been consolidated?"

Cui Yu said, "It's basically stable. There are fewer than expected twelve heavenly soldiers. Uncle Xu and Uncle Sun are still analyzing the possible reasons. In addition, several friends in the Fighting Saint Hall are also studying this matter. According to the hall master, it may be because the Dharma form cultivated in the mortal world is the most ideal state. Once outside, it will be affected by various factors, especially by the influence of the physical body and bones, so it will definitely be a little worse than the ideal state."

Wei Yuan was taken aback: "You've become friends with the people from the Fighting Saint Hall?"

Cui Yu replied matter-of-factly, “Yes! In the mundane world, they are no different from normal people. I once found that I got along very well with them. The head and deputy head are both very thoughtful people with unique insights. It’s just that the two of them don’t get along and often have conflicts. Now they have each gathered a group of people and often quarrel.”

Wei Yuan thought of the two mortals who were the first to cultivate to the Dao Foundation: one with ordinary talent, and the other a genius. But hearing from Cui Yu that the two of them were still having conflicts made Wei Yuan feel somewhat strange.

At this point, Cui Yu had successfully broken through to the Dharma Aspect stage. For a twenty-year-old to achieve this level of cultivation was quite remarkable. Although the final Dharma Aspect did not contain sixteen celestial soldiers, but only twelve, Cui Yu could simultaneously control all twelve celestial soldiers. Each celestial soldier could act and fight independently, making his Dharma Aspect completely different from the multiple celestial soldier Dharma Aspects of other cultivators. Its power was greatly increased, and it could still be rated as a Heavenly Rank cultivator.

"By the way, Uncle Xu asked me to tell you that he needs five of each of the five elemental ginseng that are over a hundred years old to prepare medicine, which can slightly increase the chances of forming a Dao foundation."

"Okay, I'll go to the herb garden to get it right away."

Five Elements Spiritual Ginseng is a basic spiritual plant, and Wei Yuan has exchanged for quite a few over the years, planting them all in the herb garden. Currently, the growth rate of spiritual herbs in Qingming's herb garden is more than ten times that of the outside world. In the past two years, many spiritual herbs have increased in age by the equivalent of thirty or forty years, greatly increasing their value. The best herb garden has extremely abundant spiritual energy, comparable to the top-grade herb garden of the Taichu Palace.

Now that Qingming has grown significantly and its resource throughput is enormous, it can no longer be freely accessed as before. Important resources can now only be obtained through Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan got up and flew away, entering the herb garden a moment later.

The house that Chuhe Laodao built next to the medicinal herb garden has been renovated many times and is now quite large. It not only includes a high-quality medicinal herb garden of several tens of acres, but also has three ponds, two deep wells, and more than ten fruit trees transplanted, turning it into a small orchard.

As soon as Wei Yuan stepped into the courtyard, he was greeted by a wonderful aroma. It was a unique meaty fragrance mixed with the fresh scent of herbs and trees, which invigorated Wei Yuan and whetted his appetite.

He pushed open the door and saw an octagonal table set up in the main hall, with a copper hot pot in the center. The charcoal was made of spirit wood and was called "inch-gold charcoal," and the pot was made of fire crystal red copper. The water in the pot was already boiling, and the old Taoist was holding a piece of fresh meat, using his immortal sword to slice off thin, cicada-wing-like pieces of meat and drop them into the pot.

The meat changed color as soon as it hit the water, and then a small white paw reached into the pot, scooped up the piece of meat, dipped it in some seasoning, and slurped it down.

The old Taoist priest wielded his sword with lightning speed, and slices of meat fell into the pot like snowflakes. The weasel, the cat, and the snake surrounded the pot, constantly scooping up the meat and eating it with gusto.

The snake's eating manners were somewhat unrefined; it would often flick its tongue and take a large bite, meat and broth alike. At this point, the weasel would slap the snake's head with its paw, warning it that eating meat meant eating meat, not drinking the broth. After a few more sips, the clear broth, rich with medicinal herbs, would be gone. The room was steaming, warm, and fragrant. The old Taoist priest, basking in the glow of health, busily chopped meat and vegetables, sharing the meal with his three spirit pets, without any distinction between them, having reached the pinnacle of his life.

Seeing Wei Yuan enter the room, the old Taoist priest chuckled and invited him to sit down. He then said, "This is a nest of spirit bamboo pigs that Brother Diao found underground. The meat is incredibly sweet and delicious, truly a delicacy! These aren't usually easy to find. I've already started raising them, and soon we'll have an endless supply of bamboo pig meat. These spirit bamboo pigs usually live a hundred feet underground and feed on spirit bamboo roots and shoots. If it weren't for Brother Diao's skill, we wouldn't have been able to catch such a fine creature!"

Wei Yuan gladly took a seat. The meat smelled delicious; he couldn't possibly miss it.

Fei Diao looked at the old Taoist priest with confusion, not understanding why he had suddenly been demoted two generations.

Wei Yuan ate a few slices of meat, roughly tasted the flavor, and then put down his chopsticks. His appetite was now enormous; his physical body needed a large amount of spiritual food to nourish itself, and this little bit of meat was certainly not enough to fill him up. Normally, his body mainly relied on spiritual rice. Therefore, he wasn't competing with his three spiritual pets for food.

Wei Yuan then inquired about the situation in the herb garden, and the old Taoist knew it like the back of his hand.

Xu Henshui currently has over a hundred usable plants of each of the five elemental ginsengs he requested. In addition, in the less desirable medicinal gardens on the outskirts, the old Taoist has planted over a thousand plants of each type, and replants five hundred plants every year, preparing them as the foundation of the Qingming Medicinal Garden. Once these herbs have accumulated a century's worth of medicinal power in a dozen or so years, they will be able to produce their own ordinary elixirs and medicines.

An unexpected surprise was that the original Dark Star Dragon Sunflower had undergone increasingly noticeable mutations under the old Taoist's care, absorbing large amounts of Netherworld Soil and now transforming into the Netherworld Shadow Dragon Sunflower—a top-grade spiritual plant, only one step away from becoming a celestial plant. Even the red jade lanterns on its body had improved, and were also close to becoming top-grade spiritual plants themselves.

As a result, the old Taoist priest gained a dark forest within his Dharma form, taking another significant step forward in the Myriad Transformations Realm and greatly increasing his combat power. However, because his original base strength was not high, despite the astonishing increase, the old Taoist priest's combat power ranking remained very stable, and there was no possibility of him being surpassed by anyone.

The herb garden's impact extends beyond the surface, affecting the underground as well. According to the communication between the old Taoist Chuhe and the flying sable, the herb garden's influence underground has now exceeded one hundred feet, second only to the three hundred feet underground at the Azure Nether Boundary Stone. Other areas in Azure Nether only average ten feet underground.

Within a hundred feet of the herb garden, many species never before seen began to appear, including several kinds of spirit beasts. The spirit bamboo pig captured by the flying sable was one of them. This low-level spirit beast had delicious meat, grew extremely fast, and could give birth to dozens of cubs in a single litter, producing several litters a year.

With his experience in beast taming, the old Taoist priest Chuhe plans to start raising bamboo pigs in captivity, and after a year, he will have no shortage of spiritual meat.

Furthermore, the underground spiritual veins in the herb garden had changed, with some tiny spiritual veins appearing. Wei Yuan retrieved the spiritual ginseng and, while inspecting the herb garden again, suddenly sensed something and received several military reports.

Meanwhile, in the northwest of the border region, a troop of scouts galloped into Ding'an City and arrived at the city's camp. Many of the scouts were wounded, clearly having just gone through a bloody battle.

After entering the military camp, the captain arrived at a military tent. Upon entering, he saw a samurai sitting behind a desk, his face expressionless. The captain, a seasoned veteran who had seen countless battles and bloodshed, felt somewhat uneasy in front of this Daoji samurai.

Many legends circulate throughout the scout camp about this military tent and the mysterious warrior within. He appeared here a month ago and hasn't left the tent for a whole month, nor has he been seen eating or drinking. Whenever scouts return, he's always there.

The captain suppressed his unease and began to report the military intelligence gathered during the reconnaissance, while the Daoji warrior began to take notes.

After the Dao Foundation Warrior finished recording, a military intelligence report appeared simultaneously in Wei Yuan's divine sense. This report, along with the military intelligence reports compiled in the past few days, suddenly gave Wei Yuan a different feeling.

In the past ten days or so, clashes between the two sides' scout cavalry have increased significantly, with dozens of riders killed or wounded every day. The Witch Clan has clearly intensified its hunt for the Azure Nether scout cavalry.

Sun Lie, the commander of the Azure Sky Scouts, was once an unknown figure, but he had grown into a ruthless character through bloodshed. He immediately dispatched a large number of counter-hunting troops and even organized a hunting force of 500 riders to follow behind his own small scouts, specifically to turn around and kill the witch clan's hunting force.

After several hunting teams of over a hundred riders were wiped out, the Wu tribe also dispatched hunting teams of several hundred riders.

The scout cavalry were the most elite unit in the Azure Nether Army, and their numbers were not large. The interdiction and counter-interdiction between the two sides intensified, and the Witch Clan continued to escalate their operations despite their heavy losses.

After reviewing all the military intelligence reports, Wei Yuan keenly realized that the Wu Clan wanted to narrow their vision.

He immediately issued a command using his divine sense. Then, the Dao Foundation Warrior from the scout camp left the military tent and came to Sun Lie's main tent, saying, "The Realm Lord has ordered: spare no effort to advance and scout five hundred li ahead."

(End of this chapter)