Longzang

Chapter 558 Take the initiative
Although Wei Yuan did not say it explicitly, Zhang Sheng knew that there was something wrong with the Dharma image, so he did not ask any further questions.

She watched for a while, and suddenly a celestial sword, a pseudo-sun, flew out and embedded itself in the Nether Iron Wall. Then Zhang Sheng waved his hand again, and seven more celestial swords, pseudo-suns, flew out, forming a circle and embedding themselves in the Nether Iron Wall.

The false suns were only inserted a little bit, barely managing to stay in place. Then, Zhang Sheng pointed and cast a sword formation diagram over the eight false suns, connecting them into one. With the sword formation's enhancement, the eight swords became one, their power increasing dramatically.

Zhang Sheng's fake Sun is of much higher quality than Wei Yuan's original. With the eight swords combined, a golden-red true sun fire ignites at the center of the sword formation.

Zhang Sheng's sword formation technique was already incredibly advanced; he managed to generate a true solar fire that was no weaker than Xiao Yu's with just eight pseudo-suns. Wei Yuan's eyes gleamed as he memorized the sword formation's structure, planning to create a few true solar fires for himself to play with later.

This True Sun Fire was of a similar grade to Long Ying's Southern Brightness Fire, and Long Ying couldn't help but glance at it a few more times.

Under the scorching heat of the sun's true fire, the Nether Iron quickly softened. Zhang Sheng raised his hand and took the Scarlet Night Immortal-Slaying Sword. With a casual dig, he dug out a cylindrical piece of Nether Iron.

At this moment, Zhang Sheng stopped digging and pointed to the pile of Nether Iron waiting to be moved in the corner of the room, saying, "This pile of Nether Iron already weighs hundreds of thousands of catties, and we can't use it all. Why put our mind and manpower into this? We should use it to figure out how to deal with the Witch Clan."

Wei Yuan explained, "I was teleported here by the secret techniques of the Witch Clan. The Witch Clan's original intention was to suppress and kill me, or at least block my path to the Netherworld, preventing me from exploring freely. So, without digging out, there is no possibility of freedom. Moreover, we should now be in some Netherworld Witch Kingdom. Once we find the path, war will break out."

Zhang Sheng said, "The Netherworld Kingdom? That certainly requires caution. But the environment here doesn't seem to be in the Netherworld Kingdom; it's more like your human world."

Wei Yuan pointed to the fairy orchid in the corner and said, "It seems to be particularly adapted to the environment here, and has expanded its own domain, replacing the original kingdom."

Zhang Sheng frowned and said, "The kingdom is the primordial spirit of the Netherworld Witch. In that case, the Netherworld Witch must have already noticed something. We must be on guard."

As they spoke, Zhang Sheng felt the orchid looked somewhat familiar, so he reached out and touched it. The texture felt familiar, yet he couldn't place where he'd touched it before. The orchid trembled, wanting to distance itself from its predator, but too afraid to actually leave the ground. In such a small space, it had nowhere to escape.

Fortunately, Zhang Sheng wasn't very interested in the fairy orchid. Looking around, he pondered, "Even a sorcerer like Youwu wouldn't be able to easily dig through this kind of Nether Iron. I'll test how thick it really is first."

Zhang Sheng unleashed a sword aura that struck the Nether Iron Wall with a resounding clang, its power extremely penetrating. But when she listened intently, she heard no echo.

Zhang Sheng then placed four more immortal swords on the ground, enhancing the sword formation. With a flick of his finger, the four swords resonated simultaneously, overlapping and amplifying layer by layer.

Wei Yuan felt a slight dizziness, while several Foundation Establishment cultivators who were working simply collapsed. This time, Zhang Sheng finally received a response. She drew a line on the ground with her sword, silently calculated for a moment, and said, "The mountain wall is at least fifty zhang thick. Let's dig slowly. If we want to clear a path out quickly, we might as well dig for Nether Crystals underground."

Wei Yuan said, "This Nether Mountain doesn't seem to be a natural formation. I suspect it was slowly cultivated by the Nether Witch over thousands of years. So, the more I dig, the weaker the Nether Witch will become. The environment here is harsh; are you adapting well, Teacher?"

"My dozen or so swords with the cold attribute are slowly improving in quality here. Before long, a low-rank flying sword will appear."

Wei Yuan had some doubts about Zhang Sheng's Dao Foundation and asked, "Why is Teacher forging so many low-level immortal swords? Why not reduce the quantity and improve the overall quality? There should at least be one immortal foundation!"

Zhang Sheng smiled and said, "I gained this insight from your Dharma Image. No matter how good a sword is, there is always an end to it. Every small step forward at the peak requires a hundred or a thousand times the price of the past. But quantity is different. As long as you can afford it, you can increase it as much as you want. So the righteous path is actually about winning through quantity."

Of these five hundred-plus immortal swords I've forged, I dare not say there will be no one like them before, but there's certainly no one before me. When I was forging the sixty-fourth, I hesitated about whether to add an immortal foundation sword. But if I did, I would stop at sixty-four. Actually, the choice isn't difficult; quantity is definitely the priority. If I were to throw out my five hundred human-grade flying swords, even a Dharma Avatar would have to flee for its life.

"If I still had a Celestial Foundation, I could wield over five hundred Celestial Swords simultaneously, exceeding the limits that the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth could tolerate. At that point, even Ancestor Xuan Yue would likely be able to kill me in the Heavenly Tribulation."

Wei Yuan also understood the principle that too much of a good thing can be bad. Zhang Sheng then said, "This place is very beneficial to my Dao foundation. I will stay here and oversee things. You go and attend to military affairs."

Wei Yuan then repeatedly warned Zhang Sheng to be extremely careful and not to be reckless, until he became annoyed by Zhang Sheng's words, before returning to Qingming.

Meanwhile, in the Land of Rain, Red Leaf had already dealt with the group of ill-intentioned witches and was now gathering all her subordinate ghost witches and several important high witches to discuss the war.

Hongye played all the relevant war footage and then said, "It's truly unexpected that the little Qingming could withstand our advance. They have heavy armor, and so do we! From now on, conscript all armorers, weapon refiners, and blacksmiths in the country and send them to the front lines to forge heavy armor with all our might."

"I'll see what a tiny territory can possibly compare to my Rain Kingdom!"

Hongye spoke with an air of authority, but in reality, the shamans were somewhat uneasy. Although Qingming was small, it had indeed held off the army of the Rain Kingdom, and Wei Yuan only received support from tens of thousands of troops from the Zhenshan Realm. The human kingdoms of Jin and Zhao were both holding back, observing the war.

Clearly, they won't remain inactive forever. As soon as the Witch Clan shows signs of decline, or Qingming is on the verge of defeat, they will definitely intervene.

All the shamans had no objections, and the matter was settled. Half a day later, a large number of shamanic artisans were forcibly conscripted and taken to the front lines.

In the Western Jin Dynasty's Hall of State Affairs, a sand table map was placed in the center of the hall. This was a priceless treasure; at this moment, the terrain displayed was azure, and once all the battle data was entered, it would automatically appear on the map.

At this moment, the two sides are engaged in fierce battle on the map, and the Prince of Jin and his ministers are watching intently. The battle footage shows a troop of 10,000 heavily armored warriors advancing in formation, using a barrage of projectiles to inflict heavy casualties on the Wu tribe, pushing step by step into the depths of the Wu army's lines until the morale of the Wu army collapses.

Only after the great battle ended did the Prince of Jin breathe a sigh of relief and say, "This Wei Yuan is truly a genius of his time. I have rarely seen such a disciplined military formation in my life."

At this moment, the Minister of War stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, as far as I know, many of these soldiers were refugees not long ago. Qingming's population has only expanded significantly in the past year, so these soldiers have been trained for no more than a year. What kind of elite troops can be produced in less than a year?"
Therefore, I believe that this great victory was due to our superior firearms and tactics. We have heavy armor, and now we also have firearms, but the training of our soldiers is unparalleled.

The King of Jin said slowly, "So, my dear minister, you mean that we can also win like this?"

The Minister of War shouted, "If Wei Yuan can defeat us, how can we not win!"

The King of Jin nodded and said, "That makes sense. What does the King of Cheng think?"

King Cheng sat motionless beside him and said, “I think the Minister of War is right. The three new armies in the north have been training for half a year. What is there to practice with muskets? The accuracy of these weapons is unknown even at a hundred feet. The main thing is to rely on dense fire and orderly formations. As for shooting, anyone can learn it in a few days.”

Wei Yuan had already demonstrated the use of musket formations to break through cavalry once before, using Yue Jinshan's Northern Frontier Iron Cavalry. Surely we can copy that?
Therefore, I believe it is time to take the initiative and teach the Liao people a lesson. The King of Ying trains his troops every day, but he only trains and doesn't use them; what's the point of having such troops?

The ministers all echoed this sentiment. Their reasoning was the same: if the elite Wu tribe forces were so easily defeated by Wei Yuan's hastily trained army, then the Liao tribe, already overwhelmed by the Wu army, must be even more helpless. The so-called new army led by the Prince of Ying was actually composed of battle-hardened veterans; with greater numbers and better equipment, how could they not be victorious?
As the ministers spoke, the topic veered off course, and they began to mention some old stories about the King of England, subtly accusing him of being afraid to fight and possibly harboring rebellious intentions.

Having said all that, the Prince of Jin no longer hesitated and drafted an edict ordering the Prince of Ying to take the initiative and crush the Liao people's arrogance. At the same time, the Prince of Jin also sent a copy of the video footage of the Qingming Battle to the Prince of Ying. Although not explicitly stated, the meaning was clear:
Look at others, and look at yourself!

A few days later, an urgent report came from the north: the King of Ying led 50,000 new troops north to fight a decisive battle with 80,000 Liao cavalry south of Langshan Mountain, where the entire army was wiped out.

(End of this chapter)