Longzang

Chapter 973 A Major Event Occurs
The current situation in the State of Ji has come to light. Spring planting is just around the corner, but the land is desolate for thousands of miles due to the continuous war, with no one to cultivate it. The county towns that were burned down by the rebels even had their boundary stones removed, and hundreds of years of nurturing have been destroyed in an instant.

Wei Yuan felt a pang of heartache, but he had no good solution. The rebels clearly had ulterior motives; they wanted to create a vast, barren wasteland. Once the boundary stone was removed, the environment would gradually revert to its original state as a mountain dwelling. Land cultivated for many years would lose all its fertility and vitality in just two or three years. Re-erecting the boundary stone would mean starting the process of nurturing the land all over again.

From this point of view alone, Wei Yuan felt that the so-called rebels were no different from the foreigners, but were even more hateful.

Wei Yuan left twenty fortified positions to assist Liu Muzhi in controlling the county town, while he himself ordered the rear fortress to transport several cartloads of grain, totaling ten thousand catties. Fortunately, the fortress was only eleven thousand li away from Liu Muzhi's Guantun County, and they would arrive in a few days.

The poor people are resilient. Although the city has basically run out of food, Liu Muzhi told Wei Yuan that as long as he is sure that food will be delivered in a few days, the people can survive for six or seven days on water alone.

After inspecting the city's defenses, Wei Yuan said to Liu Muzhi, "I'll give you a blueprint. You should plan the defenses according to the blueprint and organize the able-bodied officials and civilians to start construction. The grain will arrive in a few days, and five hundred soldiers will accompany you to help you defend the city. All you need to do is send a few eloquent and courageous men to deliver some supplies to Liu Heihu."

What should I send?

Wei Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "Just send him a set of women's clothes, and then tell him that I'll be waiting for him here!"

The classic novel "The Romance of Three Men" was already deeply ingrained in people's minds, and Liu Muzhi had naturally read it. Therefore, he naturally knew the story behind giving women clothes, and was immediately taken aback, saying, "This, isn't this like throwing an egg against a rock?"

Wei Yuan said, "If we can mobilize Liu Heihu's hundreds of thousands of troops to travel back and forth, thus depleting his fighting strength, he will soon be defeated, and countless civilians will be saved as a result. This is a great merit. It is worthwhile to make sacrifices for this."

Liu Muzhi gritted his teeth and said, "Not to mention hundreds of thousands, as long as we can mobilize 100,000 rebel troops to run back and forth, their defeat will be greatly accelerated. Even if we have to sacrifice the entire county's population, it will be worth it!"

Wei Yuan was surprised again and said, "Lord Liu is not following the usual path. If what we said today gets out, I'm afraid there will be a lot of criticism."

Liu Muzhi said frankly, "I am not one of those incompetent and pedantic scholars who only know how to rigidly adhere to the rules of the sages. It is only right to make sacrifices for the greater good. As long as this greater good is not the greater good of a few people, that's fine."

For some reason, Wei Yuan suddenly seemed to see a shadow of Fang Hetong in Liu Muzhi. Both of them were talented, but their directions of pursuit were different, though their sense of righteousness was the same.

Wei Yuan nodded and left Guantun County, returning to the fortress first. Bashidaoji followed slowly behind, re-surveying the terrain along the way.

Upon returning to the fortress, Wei Yuan recalculated the transport volume of supplies and personnel. The teleportation array could transport several hundred people or tens of thousands of kilograms of supplies per day. Normally, this would seem like a considerable amount, but Qingming was no ordinary force. The bulk of their military supplies consisted not only of food and fodder, but also of weapons, ammunition, tanks, and artillery.

Given the limited transport capacity of the portal, it would take Wei Yuan a full year to mobilize a complete heavy armored force of 10,000 men, and supplies would still be insufficient.

Fortunately, the War Equipment Research Institute for Equality of All Beings had begun researching this issue since the fortress was first built, and now, under Wei Yuan's constant urging, they have finally managed to produce something.

In truth, all the immortal plants and researchers at the research institute were quite speechless about the Creator Immortal. Originally, everyone hoped that the Creator Immortal could be more diligent, but now the Immortal is indeed diligent, but only in supervising and urging progress.

The solution proposed by the Institute of War Studies was a hodgepodge, leaving Wei Yuan speechless.

This thing has an airbag on top, inspired by airships from outer space, with a flying boat suspended below it. The flying boat's structure is as simple as possible and its weight is reduced to the extreme, with all unnecessary equipment removed. Wings are then installed on both sides of the flying boat, and two jet propulsion units are added at the rear. Each propulsion unit requires eight Daoist bases to operate, called jet operators.

Such a vehicle, equipped with thirty Daoist priests, can travel ten thousand miles a day, flying continuously day and night for fifty days. When fully loaded, it can carry five thousand shi of goods.

However, this thing is exceptionally fragile; even a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator could easily pierce it down from the sky with a few flying swords. Wei Yuan's strategy was to fly as high as possible, to over three thousand zhang (approximately 667 meters), a height that even ordinary Dharma Aspect cultivators could not easily reach.

Zhang Sheng would personally escort the first two transport trips. Anyone who dared to attack the vehicle along the way would be considered to be declaring war on Qingming. Not only would he hunt them down to death, but he would also exterminate their tribe. This was extremely domineering.

Given Zhang Sheng's current power, any ordinary cultivator at the peak of the Dharma Aspect realm would be annihilated in a single exchange unless they adopted the same stance as when facing Yu Jing. Then, their affiliation will be marked, and they will be held accountable. Any attempt to deny it will result in immediate attack, with the primary objective being to eliminate anyone who refuses to listen to explanations.

Zhang Sheng first escorted them twice, then handed them over to Ji Liuli and Feng Chutang to transport twice more, followed by Feng Tingyu and Wang Hu. After these few evil stars passed by, it is estimated that most of the unruly Dharma images along the way should have been wiped out.

Wei Yuan was quite satisfied with the plan and immediately approved it, commencing construction in Qingming. Due to the extreme cost-cutting measures, construction was exceptionally rapid, with a batch expected to be completed within two months. The main advantage was that existing flying boats could be used; all that could be dismantled inside was removed.

The first batch of Weiyuan ships consisted of four vessels, each capable of transporting 20,000 shi of goods at a time.

Just then, a rather strange plan suddenly emerged from the everyday chaos: to equip these flying boats with a machine gun capable of firing extremely powerful flying swords. However, these flying swords would require the power of the Moonlit Essence, essentially a higher-level version of the Moonlit Skystorm Dao Foundation. Therefore, Xiaoyu was specifically requested to come to the fortress to assist in obtaining data from the mountain people's regional tests.

Such weapons exist? Wei Yuan immediately sent a message to Xiao Yu through the Human Smoke Fire, asking him to come to the Mountain Folk Fortress as soon as possible.

The airborne cannons in the plan were quite fragile and unstable, but extremely powerful. A single strike could severely injure a Dharma Aspect, and even a newcomer to the Imperial Realm would be injured. They were also lethal to the Mind Realm. If each airship were equipped with a few of these cannons, travel would be much safer. Xiao Yu, without suspicion, rushed to the fortress after receiving the news and emerged from the portal two days later.

After a warm welcome, Wei Yuan led Xiao Yu to the point of human habitation, letting him examine the plan on his own. Wei Yuan himself, however, immersed himself in the calculations of the fourth grotto-heaven.

Xiao Yu lay down comfortably at the node, closed her eyes, and in the blink of an eye, her vision shifted, and she found herself amidst the mortal realm. This was a special passage that Wei Yuan himself could open when he was here; there were only three, and these passages allowed entry into the mortal realm far away in the Azure Sky. After all, the node's ability to access the mortal realm was limited, making its use quite restrictive.

Upon entering the human world, Xiaoyu found herself in a desolate land. The surroundings were barren, the sky was endless darkness, and the ground shone with light, the source of which was unknown.

Just as Xiaoyu was wondering, Shaoyang Xingjun suddenly appeared and said urgently, "Let's go!"

He grabbed Xiaoyu and rushed toward the gate they came from!
However, a crimson sword aura suddenly appeared above the entrance, cleaving it in two! The entrance transformed into countless tiny streams of light, eventually vanishing into nothingness.

Upon realizing that his escape route was cut off, Shaoyang Xingjun turned ashen-faced. Xiaoyu, however, was bewildered and looked around blankly, her eyes innocent and confused, just like Feng Tingyu who had just woken up.

A young girl emerged from the void, her eyebrows tinged with crimson, her eyes a pale gold. Her waist-length hair was platinum-gold, each strand like a ribbon of moonlight, and her skin was porcelain white and translucent, as if the moonlight were cascading down from the ninth heaven, her entire being enveloped in a hazy halo. She wore a matching platinum-gold robe, and wherever her toes touched the ground, ripples spread, and clusters of laurel trees sprouted, their fragrance wafting through the air.

Shaoyang Xingjun forced himself to remain calm and bowed, saying, "I truly never expected to see Taiyin here. It's been so long, this is a wonderful surprise!"

The girl sneered: "Surprise? More like a shock!"

The Star Lord of Lesser Yang forced a smile and said, "Sister, what are you saying? I haven't seen you in the Star Palace for so long, I miss you terribly..."

The girl's crimson eyebrows furrowed, and she shouted, "Your way of missing me is to steal my luck, is that it?! Very well, today I'll show you what true cruelty is!"

The sudden unrestrained manner of this exquisite young girl stunned Xiao Yu. Then, before his eyes, sword light danced wildly, endless crimson sword energy like a raging torrent, fiercely slashing towards Shaoyang Xingjun!

Shaoyang Xingjun was both shocked and furious. He suddenly had the Great Sun Immortal Sword in his hand and desperately tried to defend himself. However, the scarlet sword light was too numerous and too turbulent, and in the blink of an eye, it shattered his protective immortal light into pieces!

Lord Shaoyang exclaimed in surprise, "How did you become so powerful? This is not scientific!"

"Science? What is science?" The girl was taken aback, and even her sword energy stopped.

Lord Shaoyang breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Science is..." He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes filled with sword energy!
It turned out the girl had taken the opportunity to launch a sneak attack!

Shaoyang Xingjun couldn't even utter a cry before turning and fleeing! The girl chased after him fiercely, but Shaoyang Xingjun's speed was lightning fast, even faster than the sword energy. In the blink of an eye, the two circled the arena dozens of times. One couldn't escape, and the other couldn't catch up. Neither could gain the upper hand over the other.

Shaoyang Xingjun exclaimed, "You were originally the fastest among the star officials, but now your combat power has greatly increased, yet your speed has slowed down, and you are no longer as fast as me. How about we call it quits? I guarantee that Yuehua Tianlan is the last Taiyin Yuehua Dao Foundation! There will never be a next time!"

"Keep dreaming!" The girl was even more furious that she couldn't catch him, so she kept chasing after him relentlessly. Xiaoyu stood in the middle, at a loss.

Just then, yin and yang energies appeared from nowhere and gently wrapped around Shaoyang Xingjun's legs, then dropped down, instantly reducing Shaoyang Xingjun's speed by half!
The girl with the scarlet eyebrows caught up instantly, grabbed Shaoyang Xingjun, and shook him violently, almost breaking his egg yolk.

The girl was still not satisfied, so she grabbed Shaoyang Xingjun by the collar and dragged him into the void.

As Shaoyang Xingjun struggled, he cried out indignantly, "Who dares to plot against me? Step forward if you dare! If I don't show you my abilities, I'm not Shaoyang... Ouch! Sister, be gentle..."

An ordinary-looking girl stepped out of the void, calmly walking past Xiaoyu and Shaoyang Xingjun like a ghost.

Xiao Yu didn't understand where this girl came from, while Shao Yang Xing Jun ignored her completely.

Xiaoyu suddenly realized that the girl was showing herself to him, meaning that even if she stood in front of Shaoyang Xingjun, he would not be able to see her.

Wei Yuan, who was studying the plan for the Fourth Grotto Heaven in the Human World, suddenly looked up and vaguely sensed that something extraordinary had happened in the Human World, and he urgently needed to go and see.

(End of this chapter)