Longzang

Chapter 491 Falling Short
In just over ten days, the Wu tribe's canal was extended by more than a hundred miles, truly reaching the five-hundred-mile dividing line. From here, it would only take a day to reach Qingming and launch an attack.

The breach in Ding'an City has been mostly repaired, and new city walls have been rebuilt. At this moment, in several sections of the city wall that are not yet fully completed, many Dao Foundation cultivators are carrying large stones weighing hundreds of kilograms over and placing them into cages made of steel bars.

The new city wall was constructed by woven steel bars into a grid pattern. Large stones were placed inside, followed by crushed stones, and cement was poured in after each layer was added, which made the construction exceptionally fast.

As an important material that Xu Wenwu repeatedly mentioned, cement had long been on the agenda, but its importance had always been ranked after gunpowder, firearms, wrought iron, and medicine gardens, so not much manpower and resources were invested, resulting in slow progress.

With the Rain Kingdom's massive invasion, the importance of cement has finally increased. A disciple from the Heavenly Crafts Hall was specifically assigned to this task, along with more than ten Foundation Establishment cultivators as assistants. A breakthrough has been achieved, but the performance of the resulting formula is rather mediocre. Based on experience and the judgment of the Dharma-image Bird, Yu Zhizhuo believes this problem, like with gunpowder, stems from an issue with the proportions of the ingredients in the formula.

There's no easy way to find the optimal ratio; it just requires repeated testing.

After Ding'an City was destroyed, the importance of cement suddenly rose to the top. So Yu Zhizhuo used all his Dharma Aspect abilities on it and finally succeeded in improving the formula. Although the new cement was not as good as Xu Wenwu described, it was already usable.

Therefore, Wei Yuan specially allocated 5,000 Body Forging cultivators to produce cement on a large scale and rebuild Ding'an City.

The newly built city wall with cement is actually not as sturdy as the traditional method. Fortunately, although Xu Wenwu did not remember the cement formula, he had seen cement before and knew the literal meaning of the words "reinforced concrete".

For a genius cultivator like Yu Zhizhuo, a precise name conveys enough information.

So Yu Zhizhu devised a method of building a city wall using steel reinforcement cages, with huge stones as the foundation, crushed stones as buffers, and cement as the main material. The construction progressed rapidly. As for the cement being substandard or the strength being insufficient in some areas, Yu Zhizhu's solution was to simply thicken the city wall by one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters).

Then, in order to counter the explosive arrows of the Wu tribe, Yu Zhizhuo, referring to the bunker concept mentioned by Xu Wenwu, built bunkers at intervals on the city wall, using reinforced concrete for the walls and steel plates for the front and top walls. The city gate was even built into an iron fortress.

In addition, the witch tribe's archers and giant beasts that throw water balloons are also huge threats, as their range is farther than that of short-barreled cannons.

In response, Human Fireworks proposed an improvement plan: to cast a batch of cannon barrels and connect them directly to the existing short-barreled cannons, lengthening the barrels and increasing the propellant charge.

Wei Yuan found several cannons and tried this method. Sure enough, the range was significantly increased, and a single shot could reach thirteen or fourteen li (approximately 13-14 kilometers). This method was crude, but it was indeed effective.

The downside is that the impact point is not very accurate, and the cannon is also easy to damage, so it can probably only fire a hundred or so rounds at most.

But that's not a problem. It doesn't matter if the cannon misses a little. As long as it hits, those slow-moving giant beasts of the Wu tribe won't dare to show themselves easily anymore.

Furthermore, according to human statistics, since the advent of short-barreled cannons, on average, each cannon would be destroyed after firing fifteen shells, and it simply could not last for a natural lifespan of one hundred shells.

Another new weapon was the spray nozzle missile, which Wei Yuan developed based on the inspiration he drew from the spray nozzle. This missile had been very effective in the last war, so Yu Zhizhuo made special improvements to it. After repeated optimizations by Renjian Yanhuo, the new version of the spray nozzle missile was finalized.

The new jet missile is larger and heavier. It is launched from the railgun in the front, then the jet is activated again in the middle for a second acceleration, and finally guided by the divine sense of the Dharma Aspect cultivator. Its speed is comparable to that of a flying sword. After landing, it can kill all the Dao Foundations within a twenty-foot radius. Even if the Great Witch is in the center of the explosion, he will be seriously injured.

In the weapon forging workshop, Wei Yuan was discussing the advanced use of this spray cannon missile with Yu Zhizhuo and Sun Yu when he suddenly had a thought and sensed two flying boats approaching the boundary. They then flew directly towards the take-off and landing field.

With the aid of Qingming, Wei Yuan scanned the area with his divine sense and discovered that they were two flying boats from the Taichu Palace. He then told Yu Zhizhuo and Sun Yu, and flew towards where the flying boats had landed.

The two Taichu Palace airships were not large, and they had just come to a stop when Wei Yuan arrived. There were obvious signs of battle and repairs on the hulls of the airships, indicating that they had been rushed over without timely repairs.

The airship's cabin door opened, and a smiling young cultivator stepped out first. He looked around and said, "This place is indeed dangerous."

Wei Yuan was both surprised and delighted. He stepped forward and said, "Mr. Feng? What brings you here?"

This young cultivator was none other than Feng Chutang, who had taught the two historical subjects, General History of Humanity and others. Wei Yuan's knowledge of history came half from Zhang Sheng and half from Feng Chutang.

Feng Chutang smiled and said, "I heard that Qingming is in a critical situation. I just came out of seclusion and escorted the disciples of Tianqing and Shuiyue Palaces here for training. I can stay here for a while and review the witchcraft of the Wu Clan."

Wei Yuan was both surprised and delighted.

Feng Chutang was considered on par with Ji Liuli and Zhang Sheng among the previous generation of cultivators, possessing talent that was in no way inferior, and even surpassing Xu Henshui and Feng Tingyu. In fact, in terms of talent, there was another extremely formidable figure from the previous generation, namely Wang Hu, the senior disciple of the Mingwang Hall.

If Feng Tingyu is just a bit more muscle in the head, then this Senior Brother Wang Hu's head is all muscle, so he can't be ranked alongside the three.

Feng Chutang looked Wei Yuan up and down and praised, "As expected of the number one young person below the two Immortal Lords! But I heard that your teacher had some problems. How is he now?"

Wei Yuan said, "Master has already reorganized his Dao heart and will soon begin his cultivation anew."

"Oh? Her Dao heart is alright? Come on, take me to see her." Wei Yuan hurriedly said, "There are many fellow disciples on the boat."

"I almost forgot if you hadn't mentioned it." Feng Chutang waved his sleeve, and the doors of the two flying boats opened wide. Thirty or forty disciples stepped out, some of them cultivators and others in Taoist robes, of varying ages, some still showing signs of youth, others with a hint of world-weariness in their eyes.

The other flying boat was escorted by Master Lan Hua, who was also familiar to Wei Yuan.

A bright and beautiful young girl jumped in front of Wei Yuan and said, "Senior Brother Wei! I'm back!"

Wei Yuan recognized her immediately as Fei Yutong, a genius disciple of the Water Moon Palace. Last time, she was on the verge of a breakthrough when she was summoned back to seclusion by a True Person of the Palace. This time, upon seeing her again, she was already at the late stage of the Foundation Establishment realm. Although she had only just entered the late stage of the Foundation Establishment realm, she was two years younger than Wei Yuan; this progress in cultivation was truly terrifying.

After exchanging a few words with Fei Yutong, Wei Yuan's subordinate cultivators came to escort the Tai Chu Palace disciples to their residences. After exchanging greetings with Master Lan Hua, Wei Yuan and Feng Chutang flew towards Zhang Sheng's residence on the main peak.

During the journey, Feng Chutang said, "I have roughly heard what happened, but this matter cannot really be blamed on you. Even without the matter of the Great Curse of Cause and Effect, your teacher's Dao heart would have run into problems sooner or later. Now that he has been able to break through and rebuild, and return to the right path, it can be considered a good thing."

Why does Mr. Feng say that?

Feng Chutang laughed and said, "Your teacher and Ji Liuli are both ambitious. They are not satisfied with just achieving the appearance of an immortal. They always want to go further, so they are both cultivating an invincible power. There is nothing wrong with cultivating an invincible power, but there are many rules to follow. It is absurd for the two of them to be together every day. It would be strange if something happened."

Upon careful consideration, Wei Yuan realized that this was indeed the case. Fortunately, his period of cultivating invincibility was short, and it occurred after Zhang Sheng was seriously injured; otherwise, a conflict might have broken out.

"Since Mr. Feng is so learned, why didn't you remind them back then?" Wei Yuan's tone was tinged with reproach.

Feng Chutang said helplessly, "I've reminded them, but every time I do, it just leads to a big fight. Those two don't know their own strength when they fight, nobody wants to spar with them."

The two flew at a leisurely pace and soon arrived at Zhang Sheng's residence, landing in the courtyard.

Wei Yuan knocked on the door, and Zhang Sheng's voice came from inside: "Come in."

As Wei Yuan and Feng Chutang entered, they saw Zhang Sheng standing with his hands behind his back by the window, gazing at the distant green horizon.

After the two entered the study, Zhang Sheng slowly turned around and said to Feng Chutang, "You actually came too."

“Hearing that the situation here is dangerous, I naturally had to come.” After saying that, Feng Chutang also looked Zhang Sheng up and down and said, “I remember when you were called Zhang Sheng, you were not even ten years old. I didn’t expect that so many years have passed in the blink of an eye. Should I call you Zhang Sheng or Zhang Sheng now?”

Zhang Sheng said calmly, "Whether you're male or female, it's all just appearance. There's no such thing as superiority or inferiority. As long as I can beat you up, that's good enough. So call me whatever you want. But I'm more used to Zhang Sheng now."

Feng Chutang snorted and said, "You talk as if you've ever beaten me."

"Have you ever won?"

"Does this count?" Feng Chutang waved his sleeve, and an image appeared before him. It showed two children rolling and wrestling, then the little boy grabbed the little girl and shoved her into the mud, freezing the moment in time.

Zhang Sheng let out a cold laugh and also displayed a video.

That seemed to be the latter half of Feng Chutang's image; two children were fighting in the mud, but the little boy had a black eye, like a panda. The little girl's face, however, was unharmed; although covered in mud, her bright and beautiful features could still be vaguely seen.

Wei Yuan was dumbfounded, never expecting that his teacher had such an interesting history.

Zhang Sheng sneered again, pointed at Wei Yuan, and said, "You only got there by luck, nothing special. You're probably no match for my disciple now, so what right do you have to be arrogant?"

Feng Chutang's expression was somewhat strange. She said, "Could this be your new Invincible Heart?"

"of course not."

Feng Chutang breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good. Hmph, you can't even beat your own disciple, so what right do you have to be arrogant?"

Wei Yuan felt as if an undeserved disaster had befallen him. Why were you two arguing about your own things and dragging me into it?
Upon seeing this, Feng Chutang smiled and patted Wei Yuan on the shoulder, saying, "Your teacher is a history teacher. When it comes to arguing, when have I ever lost? When I have time later, I'll teach you how to argue properly."

To truly infuriate someone, the key is to use the principles of yin and yang. Someone like her, who resorts to violence after just three sentences, has already fallen into a low-level trap.

(End of this chapter)