Longzang

Chapter 728 Why not?

Wei Yuan withdrew his divine sense and watched as the strongmen loaded large wooden crates onto the flying boat. Then, the flying boat took off as usual and returned to Qingming.

Suddenly, the sky began to twist and distort, half of it shimmering with sunlight, the other half shrouded in thunderclouds, with lightning striking down relentlessly. Such a celestial phenomenon clearly indicated that celestial beings from beyond the heavens were once again engaged in battle.

With immortals clashing, something naturally had to happen on earth as well. Wei Yuan immediately assembled chariots, led three thousand iron cavalry, and charged out of the town, heading straight for the Liao army camp in the north. Several wagons, tightly wrapped, were also part of Wei Yuan's force.

The troops moved swiftly, heading straight for the Liao army's camp. The Liao sent out cavalry to engage them, but the heavy arrows could not penetrate the chariots. Instead, the chariots bombarded the chariots, causing heavy casualties.

Unable to hold them off, the Liao forces finally dispatched their elite heavy cavalry. However, the wagons in Wei Yuan's formation opened, revealing hidden rotary cannons. Powerful flying swords rained down like a storm, ruthlessly reaping the lives of the Liao cavalry. Four waterfalls of flying swords swept through the Liao cavalry ranks, coupled with the continuous bombardment from dozens of chariot cannons. By the time they reached the halfway point of their charge, over a thousand of the Liao's elite heavy cavalry had already fallen.

The heavy casualties forced the Liao generals to withdraw their troops temporarily. Wei Yuan then led his army straight ahead, fighting his way to within forty miles of the Liao camp.

Within the Liao army camp, under the cover of military might, tens of thousands of light cavalry and scouts were poised to strike, ready to capture this small force once Wei Yuan drew closer.

However, Wei Yuan suddenly stopped advancing, and then the last truck opened its cargo compartment, revealing a heavy cannon that was twice the size of a normal infantry gun!

At Wei Yuan's command, dozens of cultivators began to work around the heavy cannon. They moved with lightning speed, raising both barrels of the cannon at the same time and loading shells.

With a wave of his hand, Wei Yuan unleashed two cannonballs that roared down toward the Liao camp!

After firing the cannon, the ten Foundation Establishment cultivators carried it away, abandoning even the truck. Then, Wei Yuan's battle formation turned and fled towards the town.

The cannonballs flew at high speed in the air, much faster than infantry cannonballs. Many Liao tribe Dharma Masters were a beat too slow to intercept them, and their spells missed their target. Tracking arrows couldn't keep up with the speed of the cannonballs.

In the blink of an eye, the cannonball flew into the sky above the camp. Two sandstorm spells accurately hit the cannonball, as the cultivators of the Imperial Realm intercepted it. However, when the spells landed on the cannonball, their light dimmed abruptly, losing ninety percent of their power, and they failed to destroy the cannonball!
A furious roar echoed through the military camp: "Nether Crystal! Damn the Witch Clan!"

The two cannonballs miraculously broke through the imperial defenses, landed and exploded, leveling everything within a ten-zhang radius.

The military camp was sparsely laid out, and the two heavy artillery shells only caused a few dozen casualties. But this was the first time the Liao ethnic group's main camp had been attacked since the start of the war!

Instantly, the eyes of all the Liao generals turned bloodshot, and countless Liao cavalrymen charged out of the camp to pursue Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan commanded the convoy to flee at full speed. At this point, they could cover more than 200 li in an hour, and in less than half an hour, they could escape back to the range of the town's defensive cannons.

The Liao cavalry were naturally much faster than the caravan, but the heavy cavalry were not so fast, barely managing to catch up before they could escape back to safety. So the Liao light cavalry and scouts began to charge the fleeing caravan.

At this moment, the chariots' advantages became apparent. Even at high speeds, their accuracy remained unaffected, unlike cavalry whose accuracy dropped rapidly with increased speed, relying mainly on closing the distance and raining down arrows to kill the enemy. However, once the Liao cavalry approached, Wei Yuan, along with three thousand iron cavalry, could operate flying swords and spears with one hand. So, they held shields in one hand and fired with the other, continuously felling the approaching Liao cavalry.

The battle report from Renjian Yanhuo, after the retreat to the town, has been completed. The human race suffered 400 wounded and 150 killed, losing one chariot and two others that malfunctioned and were destroyed upon abandonment. The Liao race suffered 2,000 killed and 2,000 wounded.

This casualty ratio far exceeded that of previous defensive battles, demonstrating the overwhelming advantage chariots had over the Liao cavalry. Analysis by Renjian Yanhuo indicates that chariots far surpassed the Liao cavalry in both offense and defense, especially at high speeds, leading to the conclusion that more chariots should be produced.

Another impractical, theoretical report... Wei Yuan casually tossed the report into the pile of old papers.

Wei Yuan certainly wanted more chariots, but the current constraint on chariot production wasn't steel, but power—that is, the ability to drive the cultivators. The nearly one hundred chariots at the Northern Mountain Gate represented eight or nine hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, and some of them were even six-wheel drive light chariots.

This battle was merely a tidbit in the celestial beings' war, and it provided initial validation of some of Wei Yuan's battle plans.

However, this time, the cannonballs were thrown into the Liao tribe's camp, which was tantamount to slapping them hard in the face. If nothing unexpected happens, the Liao tribe will definitely retaliate, and then it will be a series of wars of attrition.

Wei Yuan patiently awaited the Liao tribe's attack. At this time, his top priority was to continue digging trenches, advancing from both sides, preparing to connect the three towns into one, ultimately forming a defensive line of over four hundred li to block the Liao cavalry's movements and completely drag the Liao tribe into the quagmire of war.

In the Azure Sky, Wei Yuan's Dharma Aspect Warrior activated a specially made alchemy furnace, from which countless Small Qi Cultivation Pills spewed forth, which he then collected into his medicine chest using his magical power. This batch of Small Qi Cultivation Pills was enhanced with Qi Luck, resulting in a 50% increase in yield compared to normal, and the quality was also significantly better.

However, this is the limit of his avatar. If Wei Yuan's original body were here, not only would the output double, but the quality would also be greatly improved.

As expected, once these Lesser Qi-Nourishing Pills are distributed, the people who take them will contribute their own Qi as their cultivation level increases. This inflow and outflow is equivalent to exchanging one strand of human Qi for two strands of human Qi. This extra Qi is the reward for the Dharma Aspect Warrior's hard work in refining the pills.

The Dharma Aspect Warrior left the alchemy room, checked the time, and gave a shout. His spirit horse trotted over. The Dharma Aspect Warrior mounted the horse and galloped towards the airship's takeoff and landing area.

When he arrived, a small airship came into view and then slowly descended.

A smile appeared on the Dharma Warrior's face. He patted the spirit horse and said, "There's something special in these boxes. If you can find it, you'll get an extra treat tonight!" "A Five Elements Spirit Ginseng, fifty years old, water element," the spirit horse immediately offered its terms.

Wei Yuan was in a good mood and said, "No problem!"

The airship landed, and the strongmen carried out identical wooden boxes. The boxes emitted a strange, strong fragrance, but the smell was not pleasant. In fact, the contents of the boxes were no longer a secret; most people knew what was inside and had a pretty good idea of ​​the function of the Reincarnation Furnace.

Once you get down to business, it's not a big deal. It's just a matter of transporting the alien corpses back to nourish our own land, which is no different from burying them in the ground to slowly turn into fertilizer. It's just a matter of how fast or slow it is.

The strongmen carried wooden crates onto specially made trucks, which were then transported to the Reincarnation Furnace. Suddenly, the spirit horse pointed to one of the crates and exclaimed, "That's it!"

Wei Yuan beckoned, and the strongmen carried the wooden box to the side. They then erected a curtain to cover it before opening the box, where countless naked corpses immediately spilled out.

Among these ordinary corpses, one was special—the physical body of the youngest son of the Left Wise King. At this moment, he looked no different from the other Liao corpses; only his appearance could distinguish him.

To prevent the Left Wise King from sensing anything, Wei Yuan only began transporting the Dharma body now that the Turtle-Snake Immortal Refining Diagram was about to begin construction. Moreover, the Dharma body was mixed in with ordinary Liao corpses, and Wei Yuan did not participate in the entire process, so even he himself did not know which box it was put into.

This was something Wei Yuan learned from Huang Yun Zhenjun's plan, used to prevent anyone from calculating heavenly secrets. Unless one has an extremely high level of understanding of cause and effect, it's difficult to predict using this method. And trying to calculate Wei Yuan using the principles of cause and effect could very well lead to one's own downfall, given the extraordinary karmic burdens Wei Yuan carries.

Even the Dharma Warriors here need a sudden inspiration to find the wooden box; otherwise, they can only use the cumbersome method of opening and inspecting all the boxes.

Wei Yuan asked Lingma how it could accurately identify the different wooden boxes. Even Wei Yuan himself would find it difficult to discover that it had prepared a backup plan to open and inspect all the boxes long ago.

But Lingma said, "It's just a guess. It's okay if I guess wrong, but there's a reward if I guess right. Only a fool wouldn't guess."

Wei Yuan personally carried the physical body of the youngest son of the Left Wise King to the construction site outside Ding'an City. With the spirit horse, traveling back and forth within the Azure Netherworld became much more convenient.

Outside Ding'an City, a large pit, thirty feet in circumference and several feet deep, had been dug in the small valley to serve as the foundation for the Immortal Refining Array. Bao Yun was working day and night to revise and optimize the construction plan, breaking it down into hundreds of small tasks each day and assigning them to different people. Most cultivators only knew that they had made a small item, but they didn't know what it was for.

Wei Yuan brought the physical body and stored it in Ding'an City. Then he checked the construction schedule with Bao Yun. The construction of the Immortal Refining Diagram was much more complicated than expected, and it would take about ten months to complete.

Wei Yuan still has several hundred years of cultivation ahead of him at this stage, so there's no rush for these ten months. The Immortal Refining Diagram, as a superior version of the Reincarnation Furnace, will be immensely beneficial once completed.

Before refining the physical body, Wei Yuan estimated that the war with the Liao tribe would continue to be a stalemate, with both sides competing on various levels. Now, Wei Yuan has already sensed some clues: the Left Wise King is keeping a close eye on the northern mountain gate, probably wanting to snatch back both the physical body and the primordial spirit.

The problem is that Feng Chutang has already absorbed the primordial spirit and dharma form, thus elevating Feng Chutang to the level of a top-tier genius. Furthermore, True Monarch Feng Yuan is also extremely powerful, with the potential to ascend to immortality, perhaps only slightly slower than Xuan Yue. Therefore, no matter what price Northern Liao offers, Taichu Palace will absolutely not hand over Feng Chutang.

Wei Yuan sensed that, if his prediction was correct, the day he refined the Dharma Body would be the day the battle intensified once again.

Having figured this out, Wei Yuan changed his strategy, restraining himself as much as possible and no longer taking the initiative to attack. He stayed safely behind fortifications and fortresses, waiting for the Liao tribe to attack.

Autumn arrived in the blink of an eye, and the chill in the wind grew stronger. Several more stalemates were fought in between, with Wei Yuan focusing solely on repairing city defenses and building up firepower, slowly bleeding the Liao people dry. As massive amounts of cement and steel were poured into the fortifications every day, the casualty ratio between the two sides began to slowly increase, stabilizing at over one to five, and starting to approach six.

On this day, just as Wei Yuan was wondering when the first snow would come, he suddenly heard the voice of Immortal Lord Yan Shi: "Come back to the mountain gate to see me."

Wei Yuan hurried back to the mountain gate. Immortal Lord Yan Shi was still living in that small courtyard, still using the chipped teacup. Upon seeing Wei Yuan, Yan Shi looked him up and down and said, "The Left Wise King and the Little National Preceptor have gone all out this time. I've been fighting them for almost two months. After all, I haven't accumulated enough experience, so this battle is quite difficult. Zhu Yan and Dan Ming each have opponents and can't spare the time."

"Old Master Chunqiu... Your ancestor can't come for the time being. If he comes, there will be a bloodbath. I didn't tell him this. I only said that there was nothing wrong in the north, and told him to focus on renovating the Azure Sky Palace on this mountain. Why build it so high if there's nothing wrong with it?"

Wei Yuan's heart tightened, knowing that with Xuan Yue's temperament, she would flock to any place where there was a killing intent.

Yan paused for a moment, then said, "Besides the mental world upon which immortals rely to achieve immortality, they can also possess countless smaller worlds. When immortals fight, they primarily rely on their mental worlds for attack and defense. If an immortal can destroy a smaller world, the opponent's immortal power will weaken by one point."

Wei Yuan listened quietly, knowing that Immortal Lord Yan Shi would surely have something to say next.

Sure enough, Yan Shi said, "There are quite a few chaotic mental worlds on the other side. I'll pick one or two of lower rank for you. You just need to block their attacks. How about it? This is a battle between immortals. Do you dare to give it a try?"

Wei Yuan said in a deep voice, "What is there to be afraid of?"

(End of this chapter)