Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 180 Chi You's Army

On Mount Chiyou, after three days of rest in the army, strictly speaking, Xuan Chong himself fasted and paid homage to Heaven (to determine the coordinates of Heaven and Earth).

After Xuan Chong restored all the hundreds of precise sensing indicators that the Body Fixation Technique had anchored to to normal levels.

Xuan Chong selected twenty elite warriors to accompany him into Chiyou Mountain. The group climbed the mountain, which was shaped like an inverted bowl.

The hexagonal grid-like Chiyou Mountain reminded Xuan Chong of the uranium mining scenes in the northern grasslands described in a science popularization channel in his previous life.

This type of uranium mine doesn't involve normal underground digging. Instead, wells are drilled one by one at hexagonal intervals with sides of 30 meters, and boxes are placed inside—one for soaking liquid and the other for oozing liquid. This method of extraction is very clean. The surface of the mining area, specifically the areas between these boxes, is suitable for raising sheep and growing corn.

However, looking at these pools now, which are completely barren, Xuan Chong felt that there must be a leak, but the layout of the pools remained unchanged.

At the foot of Chiyou Mountain, everyone felt dizzy. Xuan Chong said, "Everyone, don't look at the mountain. Put on your anti-interference goggles."

These anti-interference eyepieces have lenses with frosted stripes. When you wear them, your vision will be blurry, like the pixelation in a game will be reduced. You can still discern the direction of the target, but you can't identify the target's outline. They effectively block certain types of visual interference.

Xuan Chong stared at the patterns on the mountain. Besides the hexagonal rust bands, there were also some regular fine lines. At first glance, these lines seemed very regular, but the width and gaps of the lines had slight variations, which made the lines form areas of light and dark, thus giving people a feeling of crazy and chaotic lines shaking.

Xuan Chong determined that this was not a real shaking of the mountain, but rather an optical illusion created by the hexagonal grid pattern on the mountain.

The water ripples in each grid canal rise and fall regularly, and the light and dark areas in the canals change.

This happened after I stepped inside; at that moment, Mount Chiyou seemed to come "alive," and some mechanisms were activated.

The soldiers who came with Xuan Chong felt dizzy and couldn't see through the ripples on the mountain. However, for Xuan Chong, whose perception and processing speed was now beyond that of ordinary people, he was still able to process these patterns and was not blinded by this "illusion".

After everyone put on their goggles, Xuan Chong carefully examined the illusionary ripples on the mountains caused by the fluctuations in the water channel.

Suddenly, Xuan Chong determined the pattern of the water ripples spreading in the ditch and predicted the point where the ripples would converge, so he drew his bow and arrow.

The first shot hit a point on the east side of the canal, and the splashing water disrupted the process of the ripples converging.

This seemed to disrupt the mountain's code for sensing the external environment. The others who followed Xuan Chong up the mountain immediately broke free from the illusion that "the mountain was shaking." However, the ripples in the ditch continued to weave, attempting to maintain this illusion. Then, Xuan Chong shot them with an arrow once again.

After Xuan Chong pointed to all the sources of the fluctuations with his arrows, suddenly all the water in the mountain channels began to flow in one direction. Following the direction of the water flow, Xuan Chong found the way to open the gate.

The gate is hexagonal and hidden deep beneath the soil. When it is opened, the top layer of soil is also neatly lifted up.

With the appearance of this entrance, which is two zhang long, it resembles the gate of a space base that has not been opened for a long time.

Xuan Chong paused for a moment, then ordered his soldiers to mark the spot. He then used his weapons to block the doorway, preventing it from closing as he entered.

However, just after Xuan Chong stepped into the cave, the hexagonal red rust patterns on the entire mountain disappeared.
Xuan Chong curiously touched the door frame, but immediately pulled his hand away because the door frame was electrified.

And the platform at the entrance seemed to sense the visitor, immediately tilting into the tunnel, like a winnowing basket tilting slightly and shaking itself against a trash can. Xuan Chong, who was in the winnowing basket—oops, I mean, on the slope—fell into the tunnel. The door slammed shut, but was stopped by a knife that had been placed beforehand, leaving a crack.

Just then, an electric discharge began in the canal, and under the reducing effect of the current, metallic-colored objects appeared in the canal.

These metallic objects quickly began to flow, the liquid metal surging along the canal towards Xuanchong.

To everyone else, the liquid metal on the mountain surged over like living things, instantly melting all the swords and knives that Xuan Chong had ordered to block the gate.

As soon as Xuan Chong stepped inside, the door closed behind him. Outside the mountain, everyone saw a large lump of liquid metal sealing the entire door.

Xuan Chong was like Sun Wukong trapped in the Golden Palace of the Yellow-Eyebrowed Monster, constantly knocking on the door, but there was no response from outside.

Just as Xuan Chong was preparing to pile up some explosives at the entrance to blast his way out of the pass, lights appeared in the tunnel, and a glowing arrow that appeared in mid-air appeared in front of Xuan Chong.

Xuan Chong touched the suspended arrow symbol made of glowing dust and murmured: Aerosol?
Xuan Chong pondered whether or not to use explosives to directly open up the tunnel.

However, it was ultimately determined that there was no hostile intent within the mountain, and they decided to follow the instructions.

The lights on both sides of the tunnel lit up one after another, as if welcoming the return of the ruler.

Xuan Chong went down and saw a large gate, which was exactly the same as the "illusion animation" he had just seen on the mountain, created by the changing waves in the ditch.

Xuan Chong paused for a moment, realizing that this was the second decryption process. As long as the point of convergence of the ripples was accurately predicted, the ripples on the door would stop changing.

As Xuan Chong pressed down one by one, fixing each pattern in place, the gate slowly opened when Xuan Chong finally touched the last spot.

Xuan Chong was stunned. The space behind the door was also a scene composed of a large number of dense patterns.

These mechanical patterns are constantly changing, like numbers jumping and transforming. Xuan Chong turned his head and saw that the scene here was full of technological creations.

Xuan Chong silently thought to himself, "So the 'Chi You soldiers' are indeed a technological product?"

He tentatively asked, "Hello, is anyone there?"

At that moment, a voice came from the hall: "Commander, welcome to your loyal command post."

Master Xuanchong's face stiffened because the operating platform was in standard Mandarin.

The system remained silent.

Outside the tunnel, the Wu family army's camps had lost their commander Xuan Chong, and their malevolent aura had greatly diminished. The cultivators who had previously scattered immediately began to break the formation.

Of course, due to the influence of the Mountain and River Stele, its destructive spell structure, which could blast open a mountain, was still unstable, and the Foundation Establishment stage cultivators began to display their unique abilities.

In the jungle, the wooden mechanical puppets of the cultivators began to rise, while the beasts recruited by the beast-taming cultivators also launched an attack, gathering in a dark mass of two to three hundred. In the Great Dao, cultivators attacking armies is extremely rare, but it is certainly not unheard of.

A representative from the sect stepped forward and said, "It is best for everyone to follow the will of Heaven. Bai Jianxian has already been trapped by our sect's formation. Without the support of the human realm, fighting will only lead to your death."

Jamud: "Military orders are absolute, and I cannot agree."

At this moment, the cultivator riding on the head of a giant wolf said, "Activating this demonic weapon is a dead end. Don't make a mistake!"

Jamud had already lowered the command flag, and the arrows, carrying a murderous aura, charged into the daring beasts, especially the wolves, who were instantly pinned to the ground. A bear roared and charged forward, but was quickly pierced by the spear.

The beast-taming disciples hesitated, but the other cultivators said, "This place is quite far from the mortal world, and the enemy's number is not even a thousand. Our numbers are more than one-twentieth of the army's. We can use our immortal techniques to fight against the enemy's fierce aura."

Jamud's lips twitched. Indeed, there were positive examples like this in the cultivation world. For instance, a group of young heroes who came down from the mountain encountered soldiers causing trouble in the area. They stepped forward and drew their swords, thus tempering their Dao hearts.

These sixty-three Foundation Establishment stage cultivators (ten more cultivators from various sects came to support them) called out their magical artifacts and launched them at the army formation. Although the power of some magical artifacts was greatly reduced as their spiritual light penetrated the baleful aura, some flying swords still managed to penetrate the shields and cut into the soldiers' bodies with strong kinetic energy. Of course, once these magical artifacts were stained with the soldiers' blood, they became ineffective.

Just as the cultivators began to group up and deal ranged damage, the Dragon Horse Cavalry Legion galloped three meters into the air like a flying swallow. A disciple of the Linjian Sect shouted, "Everyone, let's form a sword formation!" However, before he could finish speaking, the crows in the sky launched a round of "noise bombs".

Thick smoke and piercing shrieks enveloped the entire sword formation, and the military aura disrupted the resonance between the spiritual swords. Cavalry charged in, and three disciples of the Immortal Sect were instantly blown away.

Soon, Wang Hengzong unleashed a series of array flags, covering an area of ​​fifty feet around the cultivators; these Heavenly Net mazes confused the charging cavalry. Left with no other option, Jiamude had to sound the retreat, and the cavalrymen emerged from the array in twos and threes.

The three cavalrymen were knocked off their horses by the magic and instantly burned to ashes.

The knights quickly regrouped and reformed their formation. As the baleful aura condensed again, the situation changed once more. The cavalrymen were certain that as long as they formed a battle formation, the power of these magical spells would be reduced to only one-tenth of its original strength.

A fireball that can instantly burn elm wood to ashes in the mortal realm will only leave charred marks on the armor.

The cavalry began to charge repeatedly, carefully avoiding the defensive formation, and the two sides were constantly locked in a tug-of-war. The wooden mechanical puppet had transformed into a giant serpent. This behemoth could not be dealt with by swords, spears, or halberds in a short time.

Angri advised Jamud, "Mud, don't get entangled in a fight with them. We just need to wait for the general to come out of the mountain."

Jamud nodded upon hearing this, ordered his troops to assemble, and shouted at the array shrouded in rosy light: "You hypocrites who call yourselves righteous and honorable! Today's events are the cause of tomorrow's destruction of mountains and temples!"

…The army corps is still waiting for news from its commander…

At this moment, within the base, squares appeared on the platforms surrounding Xuan Chong.

The Chi You Five Weapons System is different from the "bow, spear, halberd, and dagger" that Ang Ri had previously told us about. The five interfaces we see now are "guided munitions", "individual soldier mechs", "land vehicles", "ocean ships", and "space star network fleet".

The surrounding dark patterns moved, unlocking each of the five weapons and equipment. The Chi You Mountain itself was a starship inserted into the planet's interior.

The hillock above, shaped like an inverted bowl, is merely an entrance fortress built by nanobots; beneath this fortress lies a 30-kilometer-long interstellar warship. This warship currently has a deep well, like an umbilical cord, connected to the Earth's crust, and continuously obtains energy through cooling by groundwater, thus achieving self-sufficiency.

The fleet's assistant—well, not a projected "image assistant"—was a mechanical face formed by constantly shifting, dark lines in the command room. This display technology was somewhat eerie.

Xuan Chong: "Let me explain the current situation. (Switches to Sichuan dialect)"

Assistant: "Based on the current orbital period of this planet around its star, the Plowshare-class A3443 has been dormant here for 36,000 years; currently, all production and construction facilities are in deep dormancy. Commander, please complete the energy accumulation for the fleet."

Xuan Chong paused slightly, realizing that this warship even had a model and a serial number, meaning that it was a mass-produced type 36,000 years ago.

Xuan Chong switched to Henan dialect again: "I've only just arrived, and there are many things I can't remember. Can you tell me what it was like 36,000 years ago?"

The assistant responded in Mandarin: "I'm sorry, Commander, the war information from 36,000 years ago has been sealed by the Heavenly Court; the relevant data of this fleet has been destroyed. If you want to know the truth, please return to the command post of star Ding 3343 in the Crimson Sky Star Region for verification."

At this moment, the dark patterns simulated a star map. After the star map appeared and indicated and marked the positions of the stars, Xuan Chong did not change his tone this time, but asked cautiously, "Is it this star?"

Assistant: "Yes."

After undergoing training in the Freeze Technique, Xuan Chong's perception and memory were greatly enhanced, making him as acutely aware of the stardust in the sky as he was of a dead mosquito on his own wall.

Xuan Chong: "At this point, there is only a crab claw-shaped nebula in the vicinity of this star."

The assistant was silent for a moment, then changed the star on the star map that was originally marked as the command center, marking it as "destroyed".

Xuan Chong laid his cards on the table: "Assistant, why did you choose me as the commander?"

The assistant's images and text on the wall changed, radiating outwards in ripples, clearly scanning Xuan Chong again. He then replied, "You did not inherit the appointment order from the Star Command, is that correct?"

Xuan Chong: "Yes. That's why I wanted to inquire about the situation."

Assistant: "Your physical development follows the framework of the Human Foundation Theory, proving that you are a true member of the Starry Sky Clan. Your current inner circulatory state matches all the negative entropy cycles of this planet, proving that you have completed your adaptation to the environment of this region and meet the requirements of the war zone command authority inheritance procedure. Your carbon-based genes have been implanted with Vermilion Bird-level energy weapons, as well as firewalls to stabilize your physiological state, which can be identified as a reserve force cultivated by the Starry Sky Military Group."

"You have reached the core threshold of the interstellar inspector assessment. Therefore, although you have not accepted the star appointment, this ship will now obey your orders."

Xuan Chong rubbed his hands together: "Um, may I open the armory here?"

Assistant: "Okay."

Xuan Chong asked excitedly, "Can I order this warship to take off?"

Assistant: "Yes, but we currently lack 'exotic fuel,' so we need to restart the heavy nucleus atom furnace production line to produce enough energy blocks. The production line is currently lacking raw materials."

After looking at a bunch of signs, Xuan Chong scratched his head: "Isn't the existing nuclear power system enough?"

Assistant: "Steam engines cannot support rocket launches, not even a series of steam engines connected in series." — Xuan Chong understood: This was a matter of energy density; only sufficiently high-energy matter could propel such a large spacecraft into the atmosphere.

Xuan Chong: "What is needed to set up an atomic furnace production line?"

Assistant: "The planet needs to achieve Level 3 industrialization. The specific industrialization indicators are as follows."

Xuan Chong glanced at it and immediately stopped. Good heavens, this would require four billion people. And each person would carry an information system to achieve highly digitized organization and scheduling.

Let alone the level of related social organization, we can't even manufacture the devices that everyone can use for digitization.

To complete the above tasks, the minimum social start-up standard is to unify a certain cultural region on the Xiren Star and then cultivate the land for hundreds of years.

Xuan Chong suspected that some of the humans on Xiren Star were seeds dropped from this very spaceship years ago; after all these years, instead of returning to modern civilization, they had become a feudal dynasty. This wasn't just about restarting warships; it was about restarting civilization itself.

Xuan Chong closed the weapon interface. He unlocked the production interface and discovered that activating the surface production base required one million "First-Level Realm" (university-level science and engineering talent). He then swiped it off again.

Xuan Chong was afraid he was too slow, so the system assigned him a task. (A small line of text appeared on the screen: You're overthinking it.)

The civilization corresponding to this fleet is the heretical sect among the cultivators of the Xiren Realm; compared to the cultivators' "cultivation of Qi, refinement of spirit, and return to emptiness", the heretical sect also has three realms: "seeing mountains as mountains, seeing water as water", "mountains are not mountains, water is not water", and "mountains are still mountains, water is still water".

The specifics of these three realms aren't that complicated. The question "Why can airplanes fly?" can illustrate it; elementary school students shout Bernoulli's principle, university students talk about fluid mechanics, and as for professors...?
The fleet's database contains "techniques" that lead directly to the three realms, but Xuan Chong took a closer look and found that he still didn't understand much about the first realm, and the internal mathematical formulas of the second realm were purely abstract.

Xuan Chong glanced at the information about the so-called "Second Realm" and found himself dizzy. Even if he were to truly study under powerful figures like Qian Xuexi and Hua Luo, whether he could even begin to grasp the basics would depend on his own comprehension. Thankfully, he was currently in a "history class," so the system wouldn't create unnecessary complications by assigning tasks like "understanding all this." (System: I told you your cultivation aptitude wasn't good enough!)
After skipping over a bunch of grayed-out options that wouldn't start, I finally found the one that could be started after searching for the green options below.

Xuan Chong exhaled and silently recited: "Ling-level space mech, ready to be activated, armament is a Yi-type level 3 electromagnetic cannon."

Assistant: "The cannon's standard range is 670 kilometers, and 3,400 kilometers when firing extended-range projectiles." Currently, there are 340 projectile guidance heads remaining, and some testing production lines can be started; if sufficient rare earth materials are supplied, 24 projectiles can be produced per month.

However, Xuan Chong paused slightly before touching the button and asked the system, "Hello, did I break the rules?"

System: "Your words have reminded me."

Xuan Chong's lips twitched, and he wished he could slap himself.

The history teacher solemnly explained: "This 'electromagnetic weapon system' is strictly prohibited from being used against mortal targets on human battlefields where melee weapons are used. It is limited to combat against cultivators and the Evil Moon Demon. Violation will result in a deduction of academic credits based on the magnitude of the impact."

Xuan Chong thought for a moment, exhaled, and nodded: "That's right."

Xuan Chong turned around and looked at the slowly unfolding internal passage of the warship, saying, "It's really too immoral to use this thing to bully the ancient people who are striving for self-improvement."

(End of this chapter)