Longzang

Chapter 684 is a little wicked
Ji Liuli appeared in the center of the Dao soldiers' formation and stomped down, killing a group of Dao soldiers.

But these Taoist soldiers died, and before they died, they burst out with a large amount of thick green sap, which almost splashed onto Ji Liuli's feet.

She was startled, but then another circle of Dao soldiers appeared in the sky, one after another, circling in unison. However, one of the Dao soldiers would occasionally step outside the circle.

Ji Liuli remained expressionless, unleashing a burst of golden fire that burned the group of Dao soldiers from afar. Sure enough, the Dao soldiers, engulfed in the true fire, exploded into blobs of green liquid.

But at this moment, two teams of Dao soldiers appeared simultaneously, forming the characters "琉璃" (Liuli). It was "琉璃" (Liuli) instead of "流离" (Liuli), and there was an extra black dot next to the character "琉" (Liuli).

Ji Liuli burned it.

Then two more teams of Taoist soldiers came out, and Ji Liuli burned them again.

Finally, Ji Liuli's Dao power was about to run out when he saw hundreds of soldiers arranged in a pattern. It was a square frame with a strand of hair hanging from it, which kept swinging but wouldn't fall off.

"Enough!" Ji Liuli shouted angrily.

Wei Yuan appeared and cautiously asked, "Not fighting anymore?... So, it's a draw?"

Ji Liuli nodded, and Wei Yuan immediately breathed a sigh of relief, while cheers erupted amidst the bustling crowd.

Wei Yuan asked again, "Then, what about paid content?"

"Dream on!" Ji Liuli turned and left.

After Ji Liuli left, Wei Yuan came to Zhang Sheng, bowed, and said, "Thank you, teacher."

Zhang Sheng burst out laughing. Wei Yuan realized something was wrong and immediately used his divine sense to examine himself. He then discovered that he had a bruised and swollen face, and one of his eyes was black and blue.

Ji Liuli's Dao power is extremely domineering. If you are injured by her, your body's self-healing ability will almost drop to zero. Even with Wei Yuan's body, self-healing is very slow. It seems that the injury on his face will not heal for several hours.

Zhang Sheng casually wrote down a prescription and said to Wei Yuan, "Go and get some ointment to apply yourself; it will help you recover faster."

Wei Yuan then sent a Dao Foundation Warrior to Xu Henshui's alchemy temple to prepare medicine, while he himself returned to his residence to recuperate from his injuries.

In this great battle, one was injured physically, and the other was injured mentally, resulting in a draw for both. However, after this battle, the Dao hearts of the cultivators of Taichu Palace suddenly became much clearer, and their cultivation greatly improved. Old Daoist Chuhe was eating hot pot again.

At this point, Ji Liuli had reaffirmed her title as the senior disciple, leaving only the battles against Feng Tingyu and Bao Yun. However, whether or not these two battles were fought was irrelevant, as Ji Liuli's path was practically the nemesis of all normal Dharma forms, and she herself had no weaknesses.

Wei Yuan's true intent attack actually contained some causal elements, and could only be released through the Peerless Dao Domain.

Ji Liuli and Wei Yuan were just sparring, which is why she had so many concerns and awkwardness. If it were a real life-or-death battle, she would fight without hesitation in the mud, and she could deal with the disgust after the battle.

It took Wei Yuan three whole days before he was able to leave his residence and see people again. If it weren't for the healing ointment that Xu Henshui had carefully concocted, his injury would have taken another three to five days to heal. Wei Yuan thus personally experienced the terrifying power of Ji Liuli's Profound Yellow True Intent; this thing could almost suppress someone's physical body to the point of dropping a level.

Upon leaving his residence, Wei Yuan received a message from Feng Chutang that the research on the Transformation Pool had made progress.

Wei Yuan rushed to Feng Chutang's place. At this time, Feng Chutang looked radiant and full of life, exuding a vibrant and upward vitality.

More than ten array diagrams floated around his desk, each one incredibly complex, while the original diagram of the Transformation Pool lay on the desk.

Feng Chutang smiled and said, "These past few days, my inspiration has been flowing freely. After consulting ancient books and classic texts, I have finally gained some insights into the Transformation Pool."

Wei Yuan was also quite shocked when he saw those array diagrams. The original diagram of the Transformation Pool, along with its annotations, was just a picture and a few thousand words. How could Feng Chutang have deduced more than a dozen complex array diagrams from such a small amount?

Feng Chutang said, "This Transformation Pool is not simple. Its concept and ideas are ingenious and can open up a new path. What I have is just a little bit of the basics."

Feng Chutang raised his hand and pointed, recombining all the array diagrams floating in the air into a building shaped like an ancient incense burner.

"This is a refining furnace that I redesigned based on the Transformation Pool. It can be called the Reincarnation Furnace. This furnace does not need ordinary fire. It uses the yin and yang of heaven and earth as its fire. It can refine the remnants and souls of all living beings and turn them into spiritual energy to give back to this world."

In the past, after each great battle with the Witch Clan, we would pile the corpses in the morgue, allowing the toxins to naturally dissipate and eventually transform into spiritual energy, which would then be absorbed by the realm's天地 (heaven and earth). In this sense, the Azure Netherworld can also be seen as a vast pool of transformation. With this furnace, the remains of the Witch Clan and war beasts can be placed within it, and they can be refined in about three to five days. Furthermore, the amount of spiritual energy transformed will be greatly increased, making it ten times more efficient than the Azure Netherworld's natural transformation process.

Wei Yuan felt that there was something wrong with the Rebirth Pool and the Reincarnation Furnace, and said, "Uncle-Master, this Reincarnation Furnace seems to be a bit evil."

Feng Chutang said solemnly, "All things are born in accordance with the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. When sentient beings embark on the path of cultivation, they seize the essence of Heaven and Earth to strengthen themselves. When they perish, their Dao power and immortal energy dissipate, and their physical bodies transform into cave heavens or directly return to Heaven and Earth. Therefore, transforming spiritual energy is the most fundamental path of the Great Dao. Where does evil come from?"

Wei Yuan wasn't a pedantic person, and seeing how seriously Feng Chutang spoke, he believed her. This little bit of evil was nothing compared to how he refined 800,000 witch clan members in one go.

Finally, Feng Chutang pointed to a corner of the original map of the Transformation Pool and said, "There is a small mark here. I consulted the Daoist classics, and it seems to be a mark of the ancient Refining Heaven Demon Immortal. If I am right, then this Transformation Pool is very likely a part of the Refining Heaven Array that the Demon Immortal once made famous throughout the world."

"What is the reputation of this Celestial Immortal Refining Heaven?"

Feng Chutang said, "He slaughtered all living beings, killing indiscriminately regardless of race. The number of people who died at his hands is at least tens of millions, and of course, there are many more from other races. He cultivated by using karma and brought this path to its extreme. Therefore, it is best if we do not mention the origin of the Transformation Pool."

The two then discussed the construction of the regeneration reactor for a while.

Feng Chutang's Reincarnation Furnace could refine the remains of ten thousand Wu Clan members at once, making it quite enormous, with a total cost approaching five million taels of immortal silver. However, once completed, this furnace would greatly accelerate Qingming's transformation of heaven and earth and its accumulation of resources, so Wei Yuan agreed to it.

Next, Feng Chutang adjusted and perfected the design drawings amidst the everyday life of ordinary people, making improvements to the details.

It must be said that the Institute of Materials Mechanics and Structural Design is developing rapidly and now has more than a thousand employees. Whether it's Sun Yu building a new medical clinic or Xu Henshui expanding Danguan Temple, both projects are now commissioned to the institute for design.

Most of the tasks still come from Yu Zhizhuo. The weapon forging workshop is developing extremely rapidly, changing almost every few days, so there are a lot of buildings and mines that need to be designed.

Wei Yuan then took stock of Qingming's remaining immortal silver and discovered that after completing the construction of the Reincarnation Furnace, only three million taels remained. Currently, Qingming has millions of taels of immortal silver flowing in and out of its resources every month, netting a profit of hundreds of thousands of taels.

Armor and elixirs are highly profitable, but brocade, which is produced in the largest quantity, doesn't generate much money. In addition, Qingming also needs to purchase large quantities of minerals, medicinal herbs, spirit wood, and other resources, so the amount of immortal silver he has accumulated is not as much as he had imagined.

Wei Yuan had already weighed the pros and cons. The completion of the Reincarnation Furnace would promote the development of Qingming, and Qingming was closely connected with Wei Yuan's Dharma Image. Wei Yuan estimated that the completion of the Reincarnation Furnace would directly accelerate the progress of human life.

At this time, the design of the cyclic furnace still needed to be optimized, but many basic materials were certain. So Wei Yuan summoned the caravan and distributed the purchase orders.

This enormous order naturally drove many merchant caravans wild, while the Zhao caravans were in dire straits. This was because Zhao had completely banned trade with Qingming. Therefore, they could only watch helplessly as the Ji caravan snatched the order away.

With the construction of the Reincarnation Furnace underway, Wei Yuan focused on his cultivation as usual. Meanwhile, he had completed the analysis of the data from his battle with his senior sister, and Renjian Yanhuo began to offer targeted suggestions for improvement.

Wei Yuan handed over this part of the work to Renjian Yanhuo, while he continued to study the Five Elements Dao Soldiers, trying to combine the formation with the Five Elements Dao Soldiers to greatly enhance their power.

After reasserting his status, Ji Liuli calmed down and spent more and more time at Sun Yu's clinic, where he began to improve gunpowder.

……

Western Jin Dynasty, Crown Prince's Palace.

As usual, the Crown Prince sat in the small, crowded council hall of the mansion, reading a memorial. After finishing it, he frowned slightly and said, "Wei Yuan is once again making large-scale purchases of various supplies, exceeding one million taels of silver? What is Wei Yuan up to this time?"

All the ministers lowered their heads and looked at the ground, and none of them spoke.

The crown prince was somewhat annoyed, but he suppressed it for himself and then asked, "What about our spies that we planted in Qingming? They haven't sent back a single message?"

A general said, “Your Majesty, our spies have suffered heavy losses in recent months, most of them disappearing inexplicably. Even the most experienced spies have perished. Only one leader’s magical artifact transmitted back a final image: the room suddenly went dark, and then the leader disappeared without a trace.”

We probably only have fewer than ten spies left in the Azure Sky. Firstly, they dare not act rashly, and secondly, they are not in the core area and cannot gather any information. I fear they may also be in danger, which is why I have not given them any orders.”

The Crown Prince frowned slightly and said, "I heard that Wei Yuan has been selling brocade to Ningzhou, which has caused the entire brocade industry in Ningzhou to decline. We can't let him sell brocade so easily. We need to investigate which companies are selling Qingming's brocade and then use some tricks on them."

(End of this chapter)