Longzang

Chapter 547 Am I afraid?
Having successfully tricked Youwu, Wei Yuan decided to stop while he was ahead and did not pursue the matter further.

In this battle, Wei Yuan's heavily armored legion, led by the Longxiang Army, directly shattered the morale of the Wu army.

However, the Qingming Army, though seemingly formidable, was actually somewhat weak inside. The Longxiang Army had only a few hundred soldiers who had changed into heavy armor mixed with Nether Crystal, and they were all placed on the outermost perimeter, with one soldier placed every other soldier.

However, the great shaman only noticed the warrior whose body was radiating a ghostly blue light, ignoring the warrior silently enduring the pain beside him.

Of the ten heavy armor legions, only two were truly pure heavy armor legions. The armor worn by the other legions looked similar, but in reality, it was all medium armor weighing less than thirty pounds. Wei Yuan simply had the craftsmen polish and oil it to make it look like brand new heavy armor.

As expected, the Wu tribe was frightened by Wei Yuan, thinking that each legion was as fierce as the Longxiang Army at the forefront, and their morale collapsed.

In fact, Wei Yuan also used a tactic: the missiles and artillery fire were more intense than before, and the Wu army's field troops had all been hit by several missiles before they charged forward. This meant that when they arrived, they were already in a sorry state, and naturally, they were no match for him in the ensuing battle.

Despite their repeated tricks, the Dragon Legion, equipped with some of the Nether Crystal Heavy Armor, thoroughly demonstrated the terrifying combat power of a heavy armored legion.

Undeterred by the great sorcery, the ten thousand Longxiang soldiers were able to concentrate on the battle. Thus, they withstood the siege of nearly ten times their number of enemies, killing over thirty thousand sorcerers while only losing a thousand of their own.

If no other factors interfere, Wei Yuan is confident that he can decisively defeat this army of over 100,000 witches in one more hour. This is the key reason why the witches are forced to withdraw.

In summary, the Qingming army suffered over 30,000 casualties, mostly fortress defenders, while only 9,000 heavily armored warriors perished. The Wu army, on the other hand, lost 150,000, marking the first time their casualty ratio reached 1 to 5.

After the battle, Wei Yuan summoned all the cultivators of Tai Chu Palace again to discuss the next battle plan based on the data from this battle.

Yu Zhizhuo said first: "From my observation, the armor mixed with Nether Crystal weakened the power of the spell by 80%. With the addition of military aura, even without the instantaneous beings, and with all the civilians being first-level body-forging warriors, a great shaman could only kill a thousand people even if he exhausted all his magic power. And that is the most ideal situation."

In reality, this force only needs ten Foundation Establishment stage captains, and even Great Shamans would have to take a detour. These Foundation Establishment cultivators don't even need talent; the Human rank is enough.

"How many Nether Crystals would be needed for such armor?" Bao Yun asked.

Yu Zhizhuo said, "One or two Nether Crystals are enough for a hundred sets of armor. The only problem is that there are not enough craftsmen. To make such heavy armor, one must be a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and it takes a single craftsman at least five days to make one set of armor."

Wei Yuan immediately said, "I will allocate another five hundred Dao Foundations to you as craftsmen, specifically to forge the Nether Crystal Heavy Armor."

Sun Yu frowned and said, "I also need manpower. There is a severe shortage of doctors right now. If we could have more disciples, not to mention the distant future, we could save two or three thousand more wounded in this battle alone."

Xu Henshui also said, "Is it enough to just have a physician? Don't we need any elixirs? Nephew Wei, you need to give me a few more assistants. I don't ask for much, just a Fire Elemental Foundation is enough."

Sun Yu snorted and said, "You say you don't have high requirements for a Heavenly Foundation Establishment cultivator? If you want an assistant, train one yourself! There are plenty of Human Rank Dao Foundation Establishments, do you want one?"

Xu Henshui was somewhat annoyed and was about to retort when Zhang Sheng spoke up: "Qingming is different from Taichu Palace; it does indeed need a human-level Dao foundation more. If you have time, you'd better research a Dao foundation for your own use, similar to the Innate Life-Giving Water. Then you won't lack assistants."

Xu Henshui snorted and said irritably, "My Creation Temple can't produce a Dao foundation like the Innate Life-Giving Water."

"Hmm?" Zhang Sheng's sharp eyes fixed on Xu Henshui.

Xu Henshui met his gaze without hesitation, but after a moment, he felt somewhat guilty and turned to look outside the hall. Wei Yuan also had a headache. At this moment, manpower was needed everywhere: the old Daoist Chuhe's herb garden needed disciples, the spirit fields needed people, and people were needed for city construction, roads, trade, and banditry. Although Qingming now had over five thousand Dao Foundation cultivators, it was still far from enough.

After a series of battles with the Wu Clan, Qingming has lost more than 500 Dao Foundation cultivators. If it weren't for the two training courses that replenished the ranks of 800 Dao Foundation cultivators, Qingming would be in dire need of manpower.

But after weighing the options, Wei Yuan gritted his teeth and said to Yu Zhizhuo, "I'll give you another three hundred Dao Foundations to make weapons!"

Yu Zhizhuo suddenly gained eight hundred Dao Foundations, which meant Wei Yuan had poured all the new Dao Foundations he had acquired in the past two months into this. Everyone immediately understood that Wei Yuan was ramping up military preparations, preparing for a counterattack.

After the meeting, Yu Zhizhuo retrieved his calculations from the mundane world and spent another half a day summarizing them, finally completing the improved version of the Daoist technique targeting the Nether Iron.

The improved Daoist template is extremely complex, no less so than Wei Yuan's Golden Light Water Blade Technique. Yu Zhizhuo named it the Melting Gold Daoist Scripture. It will be submitted to the Hall of Merit once Wei Yuan tests its effectiveness in the Netherworld.

The Melting Gold Dao Tome is specifically designed for all metals of the Netherworld, Water, and Cold elements, and can significantly lower their melting points. Originally, Nether Iron had a melting point twice as high as steel, and only powerful beings like those at the Imperial Realm could unleash such intense true fire to melt it.

Now, with the use of Taoist scriptures, the melting point of Nether Iron is only 30% higher than that of steel. If one possesses certain fire-based supernatural abilities, such as the True Fire of the Sun, then even a Dharma Aspect cultivator can melt Nether Iron.

Having obtained the Daoist book, Wei Yuan once again entered the Netherworld.

As soon as Wei Yuan left, Xu Henshui, who was originally about to return to the Creation Pill Room, suddenly stopped and slowly turned around, only to see Zhang Sheng standing behind him.

Zhang Sheng stood with his hands behind his back and said calmly, "Your attitude today is quite arrogant. Is it because you see that I have resumed my cultivation that you think you can rise again?"

Xu Henshui laughed and said, "You and Ji Liuli, one of you is starting over in your cultivation, and the other has a problem with his Dao heart and can't get out of seclusion, but I'm going ahead! What, you don't like it? It's okay, Wei Yuan is your disciple anyway, you can let him come and beat me up."

Zhang Sheng said, "I waited for him to leave this world before coming to find you, so that he wouldn't interfere."

Xu Henshui was taken aback and asked, "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, let's find a secluded place where I can see just how amazing your lily of the valley is."

Xu Henshui could hardly believe his ears and said, "You've only just built your foundation this time, and you haven't even finished consolidating it yet, have you? You think you can fight me like this?"

"Fighting against opponents of higher levels is perfect for honing my foundation. What, are you scared?"

"Hahaha, you think I'm scared?"

A moment later, the two stood on a deserted mountain peak in the southeast of the realm. Now it was Xu Henshui's turn to stand with his hands behind his back. He was not in a hurry to reveal his Dharma form and said in an old-fashioned manner, "Junior, let's see your Dao foundation."

Zhang Sheng reached out and grabbed, and suddenly a Great Bright Demon-Subduing Sword appeared in his hand.

Xu Henshui stared in disbelief: "This, this immortal sword..."

(End of this chapter)