Longzang

Chapter 927: A Great Harvest
Deep in the Western Regions, a new city is taking shape. Warriors in bright armor patrol the four borders, while many others, having removed their heavy armor, are building watchtowers to mark the city's boundaries.

Inside the city lord's mansion, a pale-faced young master in a brocade robe was examining a sand table map. The map was meticulously crafted, revealing every detail of the terrain. On the map, the city was located on the eastern edge, and within a three-thousand-mile radius to the west, countless large and small red dots represented the cities and villages of the Wu tribe.

On the southern edge of the map, there are some small purple dots, which represent the mountain people's forces.

The young nobleman held chess pieces representing different military forces and branches, attempting to arrange them on the map as he advanced westward. On the other side of the map stood an old general, holding chess pieces representing the Witch Clan, deploying them to defend.

The young prince launched a multi-pronged attack, but each attack was defeated individually. Then, when the final battle came, his forces were insufficient, and his army was routed.

The old general then said, "In a battle between two countries, conventional warfare is the primary strategy, while unconventional tactics are secondary. Since our military strength is superior, we must force the enemy to engage in a direct confrontation. The purpose of using unconventional tactics is also for this purpose. We must not neglect the essentials and pursue the trivial by relying solely on unconventional tactics."

The young master, however, was somewhat unconvinced and said, "War is not like playing chess. I attack from multiple directions; how could you possibly see everything?"

The old general sighed inwardly and said, "It was my oversight."

The young master set up another game, this time again dividing his forces into multiple groups.

The entire city resembled a massive construction site. The city lord's mansion was already built, and barracks were currently under construction. Judging from the layout and the distances between buildings, this city was extremely ambitious, planned as a metropolis of five million people. With hundreds of thousands of people busy on such a large construction site, it didn't seem like a large population at all.

At that moment, a flying boat appeared on the distant horizon, heading towards the new city.

Above the city, Choi Sung-hyo surveyed the entire city, seeing clearly where things were done well and who was slacking off. But when he saw the distant flying boat, his eyes narrowed, and he immediately flew to meet it. Another figure also flew out of the city, following closely behind Choi Sung-hyo.

A moment later, Cui Chengxiao and another old man stood on the flying boat. The boat was riddled with wounds, bloodstains, and damage, with a large hole in the hull from which all the cargo had fallen out.

Several flying swords were embedded in the airship, one four-foot-long sword pinning a crew member to the deck. The crew member was still alive, screaming in agony, but no one on the entire airship came to his aid. The surviving crew members were all in the lower deck near the array, focused on increasing the airship's speed.

The old man's face had turned ashen as he said, "Who dares to be so bold as to touch my Cui family's flying boat?!"

This old man was a newcomer to Yujing, and was also an elder of Song Cui, sent to assist Cui Chengxiao. Cui Chengxiao walked up to the sailor, drew his flying sword, and the sailor cried out and finally died.

Cui Chengxiao didn't even glance at him, only observing the flying sword. The four-foot flying sword was exactly the same as the flying sword that Qingming had tested that day, except that this time the flying sword did not have the Qingming mark on its blade.

Cui Chengxiao's face was cold, and he said in a chilling voice, "You, Zhang Sheng, actually dare to make a move!"

The old man said, "Was it done by people from Qingming? Have they gone mad?"

Cui Chengxiao said slowly, "It seems that Cui Yu is holding a grudge against us and is stirring up trouble."

The old man said, "That child's talent is average. After the repair of the sea of ​​consciousness, the talent of the child is much stronger than his. Now that the new city has been established, we don't need Qingming anymore. It's really not worth wasting precious resources on him."

"I'm just afraid that Qingming and his people don't think that way."

The old man sneered, "This is no-man's-land anyway, what do they think matter? But since they attacked my Cui family's flying boat, they must give an explanation! They won't remember this unless they lose a few lives. For each member of my Cui family's crew who was injured, they shall pay tenfold!"

Cui Chengxiao used his divine sense to search, then reached out and pulled the airship captain onto the deck, asking, "Who attacked?"

Upon seeing Cui Chengxiao, the captain calmed down slightly and said, "The cargo this time is so large that one airship couldn't hold it all, so two airships came..."

Choi Sung-hyo immediately interrupted, "What about the other one?"

"They were entangled by the enemy's airships, but we managed to escape and are rushing over to report the news."

Before the captain could finish speaking, Choi Sung-hyo had already disappeared.

Cui Chengxiao and the old man flew at full speed, their figures flashing in and out of sight, covering several miles in a single blink. A thousand miles passed in the blink of an eye, and finally, a flying boat engulfed in flames could be seen ahead, slowly plummeting towards the ground. Two other bluish-gray flying boats remained in the air, continuously launching flying swords at the falling vessel.

Upon seeing Cui Chengxiao and the old man arrive, the two flying boats ceased firing, raised their flags, and slowly retreated. On the flying boat flags were three large, elegant characters: Flying Sky Gang.

The two airships were half the size of the Cui family's airships, but they were entirely covered in steel armor, which had a black hue and was made of armor plates mixed with Nether Crystal. These two small airships were clearly designed for aerial combat, and the Cui family's cargo airships were naturally no match for them.

The old man was furious and about to make a move when he suddenly saw that Cui Chengxiao remained motionless. So, while his anger remained unchanged, he reined in his horse at the edge of the cliff, waiting for Cui Chengxiao to make the first move.

Choi Sung-hyo's face was ashen. He felt three pairs of eyes fixed on him from the shadows, each carrying a threat. One was extremely cold and vicious, seemingly carrying innate malice. The other was so sharp that it made Choi Sung-hyo's skin sting slightly.

These first two gazes were of extremely high quality, but their level of understanding seemed to fall short; they could at most make him wary, but not enough to make him back down. What truly stopped Cui Chengxiao in his tracks was the third gaze. This gaze was almost imperceptible; if Cui Chengxiao hadn't possessed innate supernatural abilities, he wouldn't have been able to sense it at all. This gaze was both of high quality and of sufficient level, clearly belonging to a powerful expert at the Yujing realm who was extremely skilled in stealth and surprise attacks.

With such a powerful figure lurking nearby, Cui Chengxiao dared not act rashly, lest he be met with a swift and devastating blow. He was even more worried about the old man beside him; he himself was straining to sense everything, yet the old man was clearly oblivious. Therefore, if this hidden expert targeted the old man, a single strike could severely injure him.

Cui Chengxiao hesitated only for a moment before the two armored flying boats entered the Shattered Realm. Cui Chengxiao said to the old man, "Save the people first."

The old man was startled, then realized that there must be a formidable enemy lurking nearby, which was why Cui Chengxiao hadn't moved. Without a word, he rushed towards the burning flying boat, extinguished the flames with a wave of his sleeve, and then supported the boat as it slowly descended.

Cui Chengxiao stood in the air and said in a deep voice, "With your abilities, you must not be an unknown person. Why are you behaving like a rat, hiding your head and tail, and not daring to show yourself?"

He repeated himself several times, but there was no response. After a while, even the faint glances disappeared.

Choi Sung-hyo felt a surge of anger trapped in his chest, unable to vent it.

At this moment, a Cui family cultivator flew over at full speed from behind, shouting, "Elder, something terrible has happened! A group of bandits suddenly appeared and attacked four of our patrol teams, killing and wounding more than three hundred people, before escaping. This group of bandits calls themselves the Battle Heaven Gang!"

Choi Sung-hyo felt that the name sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it before.

……

Wei Yuan held up a bright red steel plate and carefully assembled it onto the huge steel frame.

Wisps of green smoke rose from his hands, but Wei Yuan paid no attention. The many powerful sorcerers were filled with admiration, and stray wisps of luck continuously fell upon Wei Yuan.

Behind Wei Yuan, a tidal wave of music surged forth. Hundreds of powerful sorcerers were shouting incessantly at the individual components in front of them, heating them up.

Wei Yuan picked up the crimson components one by one and carefully assembled them. The temperature, which could ignite an ordinary power sorcerer, would at most scorch the surface in his hands.

Gradually, a complex machine took shape. After Wei Yuan assembled the last parts, while it was still warm, he cast two streams of top-tier Desolate Witch's luck upon it. However, the machine's surface only shimmered with a layer of light before becoming still, clearly lacking the final touch. Wei Yuan gritted his teeth and cast down the luck he had obtained from the Molten Dragon. The entire machine instantly burst into light, and a beam of light shot straight into the sky.

With a deafening boom, a thunderclap resounded in the sky, and countless dark clouds came from all directions, instantly covering a vast area, blocking out the sunlight, and turning day into night.

Just as the heavenly tribulation was about to take shape, a black and red streak suddenly came from the distant horizon, like a giant blade tens of thousands of miles long, and cleaved the tribulation clouds in one fell swoop!

Wei Yuan was greatly surprised. It turned out that during the Flame Explosion, the Flame Demon Heavenly Pillar could also interfere with the Heavenly Tribulation of this realm! This made Wei Yuan re-evaluate the strength of the Flame Demon.

Before the massive black and red blade, even the Heavenly Tribulation of the Desolate Realm became like grains of sand. The Flame Demon's first strike failed to shatter the Heavenly Tribulation, and a second strike followed. Just then, a colossal phantom rose into the air, crashing straight into the giant blade, ultimately perishing along with its edge. The Heavenly Tribulation clouds, taking advantage of this opening, barely managed to close, and then a bolt of lightning struck down, hitting the newly constructed machine squarely.

In the blink of an eye, the third giant blade arrived, this time without any phantom to meet it, and the heavenly tribulation clouds were shattered in one fell swoop.

Fortunately, the machine began to glow, its color slowly changing, and after changing twice, it returned to its original red color.

It was still just a hair's breadth away... Wei Yuan glanced at the celestial tribulation that had begun to dissipate, gritted his teeth, and directly unleashed the azure energy of a million people. At the same time, he shouted, and four powerful shamans carried a large bucket and flew up to the top, pouring the black-red flame demon blood, which was full of sacrificial power, onto the machine!

Finally, a dragon's roar resounded, and a small dragon with a black background and flames all around rose from the machine, circled once in the air, and then returned to the machine.

With a soft click, the entire outer shell and internal components of the machine merged into one, becoming faintly transparent, with a black fiery dragon swimming inside.

Wei Yuan let out a long breath and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He had planned everything perfectly, but he never expected that during the Flame Explosion, the active Flame Demon Pillar would be able to interfere with the Heavenly Tribulation of this realm!
If the Heavenly Tribulation was insufficient, the items he refined would not be tempered enough, making it difficult for them to truly align with the Great Dao, and the spirituality they possessed would be directly downgraded. Fortunately, Wei Yuan had ample luck at hand, and by investing all the Desolate Witch's luck, he was able to make up for the shortfall and complete the refinement perfectly.

Wei Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief and felt less nervous.

For some reason, Wei Yuan had been inexplicably tense lately, and only hard work could alleviate it slightly. He always felt as if something was chasing him from behind, and if he relaxed even a little, he would be overtaken and never be able to catch up again.

With the core mechanism complete, the rest was simple. Wei Yuan directed the shamans to install the pre-prepared components, and in the blink of an eye, a large crossbow took shape. This crossbow was quite different from ordinary ballistae; it had three sets of bow arms, all facing forward.

The Molten Dragon appeared beside Wei Yuan at some point, staring intently at the giant crossbow. After a moment, it said, "Haven't you come all this way for nothing?"

"We've reaped enough rewards," Wei Yuan said, continuing to direct the installation.

(End of this chapter)