Longzang

Chapter 480 Opinions
The Wu tribe advanced slowly but steadily, covering ten miles each day, following the progress of the canal.

A massive city has already formed nine hundred miles from Qingming. Vast quantities of resources flow in continuously along the river, and small tribes arrive one after another. Every day, the Wu tribe is establishing new military camps.

At this moment, on the sand table map in front of Wei Yuan, one can see a straight river piercing the azure sky, with its front end less than eight hundred miles away from the boundary.

On the map, a small lake appeared 700 li away, which was not there before.

More than 500,000 laborers from the Wu tribe, escorted by an equal number of troops, ventured into this area and dug the lake in just three or four days, continuing to deepen and widen it. Clearly, when the canal extends here, it will become another reservoir.

If viewed on a map at this moment, Qingming resembles a pristine, verdant gem embedded in the earth. Its western side is a pale green, gradually transitioning to a dark green. However, a thin, dark green thorn is constantly piercing the pale green gem, near its center.

The Land of Rain is like a moving mountain, slow and steady, enough to crush and destroy everything in its path.

Bao Yun flew into the main peak and entered Wei Yuan's residence. There she saw a chessboard in front of Wei Yuan, and he was playing chess against himself. With each move, he recorded it in the chess notation next to him.

Bao Yun had a good foundation in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting since childhood, so she stood aside and watched for a while. However, after watching only a few moves, she felt dizzy and her brain was overworked. There were just too many variations in this game of chess, and many moves were no longer just imaginative, but completely incomprehensible.

On the chessboard, the black and white sides were locked in a fierce battle, fighting each other in every area. Every small battlefield was a battleground, yet these small battlefields were interconnected, with each move affecting the whole situation. The complexity of the situation was something Bao Yun had never seen in any ancient chess manual.

After pondering for a long time, Wei Yuan placed another piece on the chessboard, which ignited the last piece of pure land on the board.

Wei Yuan let out a long breath, noted the move down in the chess manual, and then prepared to put the manual away.

"Aren't you going to stop watching?" Bao Yun couldn't help but ask, as she was engrossed in the movie.

"Okay, that's enough." Wei Yuan pointed to the air, and a jet of water mixed with ice appeared out of thin air, pouring over his head. The water instantly turned into steam, filling the entire room, making it almost impossible to see the person opposite him.

After filling the room with steam, Wei Yuan's body temperature gradually decreased, and he felt a little better. He was so hot that he even wanted to cut open his head and pour water into it.

He mobilized almost all of his human resources to play this game, and it took him three whole hours to get to this point.

Bao Yun's chess skills are actually not low. Seeing that the game has only gone through less than two hundred moves, and has just reached the most intense point, with thousands of brilliant moves already made and endless possibilities to follow, why did she suddenly stop playing?

Seeing Bao Yun's question, Wei Yuan said wearily, "Let's stop here. As soon as it's light, I'll send someone to deliver the chess manual to Chen Zhou, Qiu Yue, and your great-grandfathers. But Seventh Elder probably won't understand it. Can you help me think of a few more great masters? At least Yu Jing level, preferably someone who can fight."

Bao Yun immediately understood Wei Yuan's plan and said, "Actually, adding Seventh Grandfather to Chen Zhou and Qiu Yue would be enough. How does the quality of your round compare to the Graffiti chapter?"

Wei Yuan said, "His chess skills are already one rank higher."

"That's fine then. If they can't figure it out, they'll definitely send it to other top players. We don't need to send it up ourselves; that would be beneath us. By the way, when did you become such a good chess player?"

Wei Yuan said, "It's not that I'm powerful, it's that my Dharma form is special, it can play chess. Speaking of which, how is your foundation, and how much luck have you accumulated?"

"There are now 70,000 people in Ding'an City, plus 40,000 garrison troops. It's very strange that almost everyone who sees me gains some luck..."

Wei Yuan thought to himself that it wasn't surprising at all. If Miss Bao didn't know how lethal her face was, Wei Yuan would never believe it.

This young lady is top-notch in terms of looks, figure, temperament, talent, family background, and academic achievements. She has no shortcomings whatsoever. Perhaps her only flaw is that she sometimes likes to act like a drama queen, but not everyone can see this side of her.

Furthermore, given that she genuinely repelled a powerful enemy during the last attack by the Witch Clan, it's not surprising that she gained good fortune. The cultivation technique she practices also requires good fortune.

Bao Yun's perception of fortune is relatively vague, unlike Wei Yuan who can directly count the azure, purple, and black qi within her Dharma form. However, she has now accumulated enough fortune to essentially fill the gaps in her Dao foundation. She is only a little short of reaching its full potential; once the opportunity arises, she can attempt to break through to the Dharma form.

Bao Yun's requirements for the Dharma Form differ from Cui Yu's. She demands perfection in every aspect before she can break through, and her standards in this regard are no lower than Zhang Sheng's and Ji Liuli's. Wei Yuan has already discovered that the more one pursues perfection, the more likely problems are to arise. This is true for Zhang Sheng, Ji Liuli, and Bao Yun, while those like himself and Cui Yu, who are less particular and more easygoing, find it remarkably easy to break through to the Dharma Form.

However, Zhang Sheng and Bao Yun were both dragged down by Wei Yuan, a fact that Wei Yuan selectively forgot.

As dawn approached, a time when the Witch Clan was at their most exhausted, Wei Yuan flew out of the Azure Sky and, as usual, circled the Witch Domain to check on the progress. Last night, the Witch Clan had advanced ten miles as usual, and both the number of troops and laborers had increased.

After reviewing the footage, Wei Yuan analyzed and processed it amidst the everyday life of the people, taking stock of everything he saw. In the end, Wei Yuan's field of vision revealed seven million members of the Wu tribe. Although most were civilians and laborers, the number of warriors alone reached 1.2 million.

They were able to tally up enough military rations for about twelve days, but that wasn't a problem. As long as the canal existed, the Wu tribe's frontline army would never lack food or weapons.

Upon returning to Qingming, Wei Yuan suddenly felt the heavens and earth tremble, as if all things in the world were slowly shifting, and the way of heaven and earth was beginning to change!
This is a forbidden weapon of the Wu tribe: the spear!
In an instant, the rules of heaven and earth slowly shifted, and the true essence of various spear techniques gradually dissipated, eventually leaving only two or three tenths of their original value. Wei Yuan took out a spare magic weapon spear from his storage magic treasure. This was a genuine spear, which Wei Yuan had originally kept for his Reversal Technique.

Wei Yuan channeled his Dao power and casually thrust out his spear, but as expected, its power was greatly reduced. He retreated several miles and left the boundary. When he tried to wield the spear again, he found that without the protection of the boundary's power, the true essence of the spear within the magical weapon had almost completely dissipated, and circulating his Dao power was extremely difficult, as if he were using a fire poker.

Wei Yuan's expression became somewhat strange. He had boosted his luck and made a few random guesses before suddenly wondering if it was related to his Immortal Path Twilight.
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. It was probably because the Netherworld Witch Saint of the Witch Clan feared his Immortal Path Twilight, which was why he had banned guns. After all, none of the cultivators used guns, and those who had reached the Foundation Establishment stage were extremely rare.

The higher one's cultivation progresses, the more difficult it becomes to advance, and the more important lifespan becomes. Many highly skilled cultivators are simply lacking in talent and luck, and can only rely on accumulating lifespan through cultivation, hoping for an occasional flash of inspiration or a breakthrough opportunity.

The more precious the longevity-extending drugs are, the more disgusting the twilight of the immortal path becomes. Yan Xin understands this best. With just one shot, he went from a young boy who had just tasted meat to an old man who could not have sex.

Wei Yuan had not expected that the Witch Clan would use the precious Heaven and Earth Forbidden Technique on a gun, just to guard against the Immortal Path Twilight.

As for firearms, flying sword guns, and short-barreled cannons, although some are called guns, they are not affected by the prohibitions of heaven and earth. The flying swords fired by flying sword guns still have some sword intent, while the bullets of firearms are driven by gunpowder and have no true intent inside. If you have to say, they probably have some lead and copper true intent.

Wei Yuan shook his head helplessly, took out the Crimson Night Immortal-Slaying Sword, attached it to the Brutality Sword, and then a dim yellow light shone from the tip of the sword. Seeing that the Immortal Path Twilight could still be used as usual, Wei Yuan was relieved.

Just then, a dark green light suddenly shot into the sky from the distant Witch Domain! Then, boundless green energy began to surge from the earth, and the green energy in the newly dug canal was as dense as a wall!
The power of heaven and earth in the Witch Domain was almost boiling, and it expanded violently from the center of the dark green pillar of light. The Azure Netherworld in the northwest was forced to retreat step by step, and in one breath, it retreated to the foot of Ding'an City.

The realm was actually forced to shrink back by forty miles?!

Wei Yuan manifested his Dharma form, merging with Qingming, and barely managed to resist the erosion of the Witch Domain's power. He was shocked and looked into the distance; the origin of that dark green pillar of energy should be nine hundred miles away. An altar had been under construction there a few days ago, and it seemed that one of the altars had been activated and a large-scale sacrifice had been performed, strengthening the Witch Domain's power.

The Azure Netherworld trembled, immediately alarming cultivators, who flew into the sky, unaware of what had happened.

Wei Yuan immediately flew to Ding'an City, found Bao Yun, and said, "Change the plan. Now the city's protective formation is the priority. We should focus all our efforts on strengthening the city's protective formation."

Bao Yun immediately summoned all the officials and generals in the city and assigned them the tasks. Wei Yuan returned to the main peak and convened the cultivators of Tai Chu Palace to discuss countermeasures.

This sacrificial ceremony by the Wu tribe was unprecedented; it actually managed to compress the boundary, hitting Qingming, a newly established force whose development was still insufficient, right where it hurts. If this happens a few more times, the entire city of Ding'an will be exposed outside the boundary.

Once all the cultivators had arrived, Wei Yuan drew several circles on the map, with the innermost one already a hundred miles around the boundary stone.

At this moment, the human world was also calculating with all its might. Wei Yuan, adding his own estimates, marked the numbers one, two, and five on the first three circles, and then said, "If the sacrifice just happened again, the boundary will retreat to the first line. If it happens twice more, it will be the second line. If it happens five more times, then Ding'an City will be completely outside the boundary."

Li Zhi, having studied statecraft and possessing extensive knowledge of foreign tribes, stated, "Such sacrifices must be incredibly costly; in terms of sheer lethality, it's far more effective to directly cast a blood curse. I believe the Witch Clan's target in employing this sacrifice is Ding'an City. Once they are fully prepared, they will compress the boundary, exposing the entire city of Ding'an. At that point, combined with the blood curse, they can inflict heavy casualties on the city's garrison. Therefore, my opinion is..."

Abandon Ding'an City.

(End of this chapter)