Longzang

Chapter 711 Initial Improvement
Understanding the universe through numerical symbols is a tremendous challenge in itself. The Abbot of Haotian Temple provided over two hundred formulas to illustrate the Great Dao of this world.

Each formula represents a point of the Great Dao. However, the Great Dao is boundless, and it is impossible to exhaust all the principles of the universe. Even immortals can only reach the pinnacle in a certain aspect, or a few aspects, and then ascend to transcend the constraints of heaven and earth, reaching a higher level and looking down upon all living beings.

Wei Yuan can only try his best to memorize all the information and study and analyze it slowly when he gets back.

The Abbot of Haotian Temple essentially laid out all the principles that even Yu Jing would have studied for hundreds of years before Wei Yuan in a single afternoon. Any few of these profound truths would be considered treasures of any sect below the second tier, the kind that only the sect leader's successor could learn.

In many top-tier sects, these are either closely guarded secrets or require accumulating a large amount of so-called contributions and merits to exchange for.

Thus, the Abbot of Haotian Temple essentially laid bare the entire foundation of a blessed sect before Wei Yuan. If measured by Heavenly Merit, it would amount to at least tens of thousands. Wei Yuan frantically memorized it, simultaneously copying it down using mortal fire.

The Crouching Dragon and the Young Phoenix remained silent, copying away in quiet contemplation.

Wei Yuan quickly discovered that the simpler the equation, the harder it was to understand the underlying principles. Conversely, complex equations were easier to comprehend.

Understanding the essence of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth is only the beginning. What is more difficult is the calculation of the void world where the world of mind resides. That really left Wei Yuan completely bewildered. It was entirely understood through numerical Dao symbols, which was beyond the scope of normal perception and divine sense.

Wei Yuan instinctively felt that perhaps changing his physical body, such as learning to think with different parts like Feng Tingyu, might have a miraculous effect.

The calculation of the mental world is not the most difficult part; the most difficult part is calculating how to locate the mental world from one's own physical world, and describing the relationship and even the transformation between the two. The Abbot of Haotian Temple only briefly touched upon this part, giving a few concepts, without going into depth. Perhaps he knew that even if he wrote it, Wei Yuan wouldn't understand.

The half-day course ended in the blink of an eye, and Wei Yuan was completely in awe of the Abbot of Haotian Temple.

Even the most difficult problems are instantly understandable to him, requiring no thought whatsoever. Wei Yuan, on the other hand, finds memorizing them exhausting and headache-inducing, let alone thinking about them.

As Wei Yuan walked out of the side hall, he was completely bewildered, not understanding what he had learned in the past half day. It seemed as if he had learned a lot, but upon closer reflection, it seemed as if he hadn't learned anything at all.

At this moment, Wei Yuan suddenly had a very disrespectful thought: How will Ancestor Xuan Yue ascend to immortality in the future? The Ancestor seems, probably, should, and definitely cannot understand these formulas.

However, from Tinghai Yanshi down to the True Lords of the various palaces, everyone was brimming with confidence in Xuan Yue's ascension to immortality, as if it were a matter of course, as simple as eating and drinking. Could it be...?

Wei Yuan quickly erased the phrase "fools are lucky" from the beginning, leaving no trace.

On the way back to the town, Wei Yuan saw a flying boat slowly flying ahead, also heading in the direction of the town. This was a flying boat from Qingming, and it was still full of military equipment and supplies, with no troops inside.

Wei Yuan returned to the town by flying boat, killing several Liao tribesmen who tried to ambush him along the way, and arrived safely.

This airship brought dozens of cannons, and the rest was ammunition. The battle consumed so much ammunition that no matter how many came, it wasn't enough, so almost all seven airships shuttling back and forth were used to transport ammunition.

On the return journey, besides tens of thousands of corpses, the airship also carried a thousand elite Qingming warriors. These men had participated in numerous bloody battles, and Wei Yuan planned to rotate them back in batches for rest and reorganization, with other units taking their place.

As the flying boat disappeared into the horizon, the Liao tribe launched a new offensive. But this time, the Liao cavalry encountered a major problem. Flying swords came from countless small strongholds, and the artillery fire became even more intense. The trenches all over the ground made it impossible for the Liao cavalry to charge. The humans scurried around in the trenches like rats, making it difficult to aim.

At this point, the Liao people discovered that they could no longer gain an advantage in archery duels with the human people.

The Liao tribe dispatched several cavalry units to harass the heart of the Taichu Palace, but any that dared to venture deep into the territory were met with massive bombardment from the mountain gate's magical formations, resulting in heavy casualties. Each town was a node in the mountain gate formation; without eliminating these towns, it would be difficult to effectively compress the mountain gate formation.

After suffering heavy casualties in the first wave of attacks, the Liao people changed their strategy. A large number of elite Liao soldiers put on iron armor, rushed into the trenches, and began to engage in fierce hand-to-hand combat, which they were not good at.

The Liao people are naturally stronger than the human race. Although foot combat is not their forte, exchanging fire with the human defenses formed by strongholds and trenches would be suicidal. Charging into the trenches for foot combat would actually reduce the casualty ratio.

Thus, through a series of mutually destructive charges in the latter half of the battle, the Liao people finally managed to reduce their casualty ratio to around four. In this battle, the Daoist soldiers suffered over 20,000 casualties, while the Liao army lost 100,000. Wei Yuan's brows were furrowed, deeply troubled. The Daoist soldiers of the Taichu Palace were few in number, and their reserves were nearly exhausted, with replenishment becoming increasingly scarce.

While Wei Yuan's Seventh Garrison achieved remarkable results, things did not go so smoothly on other fronts. Some towns suffered heavy losses, with casualties approaching those of the Liao people.

Seeing Wei Yuan's expression, He Fang comforted him, "Junior brother, there's really no need to worry. Even if the Liao people know that fighting hand-to-hand in the trenches is the most effective way to fight, it's hard to sustain it for long. This is different from mounted archery; fighting hand-to-hand in the trenches is risking your life."

After one battle, the surviving veterans would certainly be extremely resistant and absolutely unwilling to go through it again. And the other troops, upon hearing this, would also have doubts about their fighting spirit. The Liao barbarians are also flesh and blood; they too are afraid of death. And they've come to attack us; this kind of life-for-life fighting style, I believe, cannot last."

Hearing this, Wei Yuan felt slightly relieved. He then urgently ordered Qingming to install a batch of stockpiled directional flying sword mines on the new transport airships. This weapon should be quite effective in trench warfare.

As soon as the battle ended, Wei Yuan went to the northern mountain gate to see if he could apply for a few more flying boats. The current capacity of seven flying boats was already stretched thin.

In the azure sky, another flying boat from the northern mountain gate arrived. A group of porters unloaded the large wooden crates, loaded them onto trucks, and then transported them to the Reincarnation Furnace.

While being unloaded from the truck, a wooden crate suddenly slipped and fell to the ground. After rolling once, the side wall broke open, and what fell out of it were Liao ethnic corpses!
The porters and strongmen were all dumbfounded, and many passing cultivators also stopped to watch, their expressions showing surprise.

Several cultivators maintaining order quickly flew over, dispersed the crowd, and shouted, "What are you looking at! Go back to work, are you all just sitting around doing nothing?"

A young Foundation Establishment cultivator retorted defiantly, "What's wrong with looking? What right do you have to tell me what to do? I'm also a Foundation Establishment cultivator, no worse than you. What right do you have to point fingers here?"

The cultivator maintaining order was furious. He drew his magic sword and shouted, "Unauthorized spying and disobedience! I think you're a spy sent by another country! Men, seize him and take him back for torture to verify his identity!"

The young cultivator, also stubborn, shouted, "If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext! You convict someone just like that, how arrogant you are! By what right, are you the father of the Realm Lord?"

The cultivator beside him quickly pulled him back, saying, "Watch your words!"

The young cultivator exclaimed, "Am I wrong? Qingming has laws. This guy can just convict someone like that. Who does he think he is?"

The cultivator in charge of order grinned maliciously and gritted his teeth, saying, "You mere template trash, I'd like to see how many moves you can last against me!"

He drew his sword, about to unleash a strike, when suddenly a cold voice rang out from the side: "Stop! Take them all back for questioning!"

The cultivators turned their heads and saw a Dao Foundation Warrior standing in the air, dressed in a black military uniform with red decorations and an expressionless face. They all shivered instantly.

Now all the Qingming cultivators know that the Dao Foundation warrior wearing the specially designed captain's uniform is a clone puppet left behind by Wei Yuan, so naturally they dare not resist and obediently follow him.

Another Daoist warrior appeared and directed the porters to repack the corpses, seal them, and push them into the Reincarnation Furnace.

Several months have passed quickly, and the north is already in the twilight of summer.

Wei Yuan attended lectures every seven days. Apart from fighting, he devoted the rest of his time to studying the profound principles of the universe and the Dao. He struggled in the ocean of digital Dao symbols, suffering greatly, even more so than when he took pills.

After all, taking pills is passive; you can just endure it and it will pass. But delving into the Great Dao is actively subjecting yourself to torture; it's completely different.

After months of bloody fighting, the Liao tribe's offensive showed no signs of abating, and hundreds of thousands of corpses had already been sent to the Reincarnation Furnace. The chaotic energy surrounding the human world was also gradually increasing.

On this day, Han Li and Long Wushuang, who were diligently cultivating in the Battle Saint Hall, suddenly felt one of the invisible shackles binding them disappear. Their long-suppressed cultivation began to erupt, their Dao Foundation developed spirituality, and they finally entered the late stage of Dao Foundation.

(End of this chapter)