Longzang

Chapter 551 Forced into the Palace
Wei Yuan discovered that Yu Zhizhuo accepted the concept of large-scale production in the outer world almost without any hindrance, and was quite obsessed with it.

The weapon forging workshop originally had over three hundred Dao foundations, and now with the addition of the eight hundred new Dao foundations transferred by Wei Yuan, the total number of Dao foundations has exceeded one thousand. In terms of the number of Dao foundations alone, it has surpassed many third-grade blessed land sects.

With ample manpower and sufficient materials, Yu Zhizhuo cleared a large open space and built four Four Symbols Furnaces side by side.

He wasn't even entirely satisfied with the Four Symbols Furnace and made some improvements. The most significant improvement was the installation of a central spirit-gathering array, which simultaneously provided spiritual energy to all the Four Symbols Furnaces.

This magic array requires at least 49 Foundation Establishment cultivators to maintain its operation. Fortunately, there are enough people now, so Yu Zhizhuo has assigned 150 cultivators with strong Dao power and fast mana recovery speed to three shifts to take turns maintaining the magic array.

With the help of thousands of Dao Foundation cultivators working together, the Four Symbols Furnaces were completed in less than three days. Yu Zhizhuo then specially invited Wei Yuan to witness the ignition of the Four Symbols Furnaces.

The ceremony was very simple. Yu Zhizhuo stood on the high platform and directly announced the activation of the magic array, and the Four Symbols Furnace was ignited. Hundreds of fire-elemental cultivators, who had been arranged in advance, simultaneously poured their Dao power into the blast furnace, and flames instantly shot out from the furnace mouth!
In the blink of an eye, the Four Symbols Furnaces were activated one by one. Only then did Wei Yuan realize that Yu Zhizhuo hadn't even thought of letting him go on stage and say a few words!

Before Wei Yuan could even mutter to himself, he was suddenly drawn to the two steel bars laid out on the ground in front of the Four Symbols Furnace. These things looked somewhat familiar. Could they be the steel rails that Xu Wenwu had mentioned?

Wei Yuan turned his gaze and saw a railcar parked at the end of the track, which was specially used to transport molten steel. This confirmed his guess: Yu Zhizhuo had indeed built a railway! Although it was only one mile long, it was the first railway in Qingming, and even in the entire world.

It seems that Yu Zhizhuo was well aware of the terrifying weight of the Nether Iron, so he specially built a track to support it.

The molten Nether Iron flowing from the Four Symbols Furnace will be used in another base nearby, which was originally a blast furnace for refining ordinary steel. Once the Nether Iron arrives, it will be portioned and added to the ordinary steel blast furnaces, and the final product will be special steel with a small amount of Nether Iron added.

This type of steel has a much higher melting point than ordinary steel and excellent strength, making it an excellent material for forging weapons. Although it only contains a small amount of Nether Iron, it is already a material suitable for Dao Foundation level magical artifacts.

For strategic reasons, Yu Zhizhuo planned to use most of the first batch of molten steel to forge bayonets and swords. This would allow them to form combat power immediately and be ready for the next major battle. The construction of the new city defense cannons, on the other hand, was too slow and had not yet been finalized.

The steel furnaces mixed with Nether Crystals are located in another area, where the steel plates produced are all used to manufacture heavy armor.

Wei Yuan plans to produce several hundred more sets of Nether Crystal Heavy Armor within seven days, bringing the total to one thousand sets. In addition to traditional firearms, all weapons will be equipped with steel swords and bayonets reinforced with Nether Iron.

Both the Nether Crystal Heavy Armor and the Nether Iron Longsword are high-quality magical artifacts; even the one Wei Yuan used when he first went to the battlefield was inferior to this.

Wei Yuan plans to build a thousand-strong elite heavy armored force, all at the Dao Foundation stage, equipped with top-grade magic weapons, armor, and battle swords. With the enhancement of the Peerless Dao Domain and Wei Yuan's Dharma Image, their combat power will rival that of late-stage Dao Foundation cultivators!

Even cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage like Cui Yu and Ren Suxing would have to consider how to escape immediately if surrounded by four or five people from this force.

Just as Wei Yuan was frantically preparing for battle, Hongye rushed back to the Rain Kingdom. The surrounding witch kingdoms and large tribes all sent envoys to inquire about the situation at the front.

Surrounded by dozens of attendants, he slowly entered the Holy Vault.

The Holy Vault is the sanctuary of the Rain Kingdom for receiving the highest-ranking guests and for holding various ceremonies. It resembles an unimaginably large leaf, gracefully covering the earth.

Its roof is transparent, like a solidified piece of sky, clear and ethereal. Sunlight pours down through the roof, casting dappled light and shadow in the hall, like a flowing painting.

As Hongye slowly entered the Holy Vault Hall, more than a dozen Netherworld Witches and Wild Witches were already waiting at the long table in the center of the hall, along with two genius Dao Witches. However, because of the death of Juling, not a single Spirit Witch was present. Many of the witches wore unfriendly expressions; they all knew that the Spirit Witches were already gathering a large army, and if Hongye made any mistakes in undertaking the Ancestral Witch's mission, the Spirit Witch army would flood down the Rain Kingdom like a torrent.

Hongye remained calm and took her seat in the main seat. The main seat was higher than the others, allowing Hongye to look down at the assembled shamans one by one.

Although Hongye's current realm is only that of a Great Witch, nearly half of the Nether Witches and Wild Witches subconsciously looked away, not daring to meet his gaze. Only two Dao Witches stared intently at Hongye without fear.

The attitude of the two genius Taoist sorcerers made Hongye frown slightly. After thinking for a moment, he said, "The war at the front is urgent. Your timing in visiting the Rain Kingdom at this time is... quite good!"

A sorcerer said, "I heard that Lord Red Leaf suffered a major defeat a few days ago? You lost over 100,000 warriors, while the enemy suffered less than 50,000 casualties?"

Hongye waved her hand, releasing several images—all of them depicting moving human legions on the battlefield. Some soldiers were marked with prominent symbols. Seeing the imposing presence of these heavily armored warriors, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly froze.

Hongye slowly said, "I must admit that the humans I am facing are quite formidable. Even the nine armies of the human Tang Kingdom are probably no better than them. Moreover, these humans are particularly cunning. In fact, the real elites in such a large heavy armored legion are only three or four hundred, and I have marked them all. They mixed their most elite warriors into the army formation, making my front-line commanders think that the entire legion was made up of such elites."

Hongye adjusted the image, shifting her gaze to several human heavy armor legions advancing behind them, and said, "Of these ten legions of ten thousand men each, only the two on the left and right are truly heavy armor legions. The rest are medium armor, and many are even wearing light armor. They only look like they are heavy armor."

Similarly, my inexperienced frontline commanders mistakenly believed the humans truly possessed a hundred thousand heavily armored legions, so they chose to retreat and regroup. If you don't believe me, you can send some troops to the front lines to experience firsthand the human race's fighting prowess.”

Hongye's words were clearly threatening, meaning, "If you think it's easy to beat, then come and try it yourselves." But some of the shamans didn't buy it.

One of the ancient sorcerers sneered, "Lord Hongye keeps saying that the frontline commander made a mistake, but where is Lord Hongye during this great battle? Is he hiding and afraid to show his face, lest a yang or yin bullet fall on his head?"

A murderous glint flashed across Hongye's face as she coldly asked, "Aren't you afraid?"

The shaman laughed and said, "Of course I'm not afraid! I'm not even worthy of taking a hit, what's there to be afraid of?"

Hongye's expression finally changed, turning grim, and she said, "Did you come here to provoke me?"

"No, we're not that bored. We just heard that Lord Hongye suffered heavy losses, so we came to see if there's anything we can help with. Like any extra territory we might have."

Hongye said without hesitation, "Victory in the war is in sight, and I can fulfill the Ancestral Witch's request myself, so there's no need for you to worry about it. What you need to consider now is what will happen to you once I have completed the Ancestral Witch's instructions? I'm afraid half of you here will be homeless."

Once Hongye becomes a Celestial Witch, the Rain Kingdom will, as is customary, expand several times over, and all surrounding kingdoms and tribes will be annexed. Even if the tribal chiefs are unwilling, it won't matter; Hongye will take it for herself.

At this moment, several sorcerers loyal to Long Zhe sneered: "You can talk after you can win!"

Hongye's face no longer concealed her murderous intent, and she even seemed ready to attack on the spot. But at that moment, Youwu Shuli, who had been sitting at the back, suddenly changed his expression, hurriedly stood up, and left the hall.

Hongye heard Shuli's voice: "There's something unusual happening in my kingdom, I need to deal with it."

(End of this chapter)