Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 206: Continuing Southward.

Within the Great Yao, people today increasingly yearn for the good old days of Emperor Xu's reign.

At that time, the "chaos of the world" was just the beginning, but now, after the chaos of the enemy soldiers looting everything, the world is in turmoil.

In the human realm, the regular armies of various lords clashed with each other, while the defeated armies scattered in the mountains and mysteriously disappeared.

In the Niujian Mountains, a group of defeated soldiers from Yuzhou were running, barely clinging to life. They carried chipped swords, their armor mostly gone, leaving only helmets and breastplates; but they carried many bundles on their backs, containing some dry rations and money. Behind them, a village was burning.

Just as they were catching their breath, clouds suddenly appeared in the sky, and sinister laughter echoed from all around.

They stood back to back, knife in hand, on guard, as the eerie events continued one after another. It was still afternoon, but the sky was as dark as night. The laughter, shifting from left to right, finally hung suspended in the sky. An unknown force parted the clouds, revealing moonlight.

They looked up, and to some they saw the moonlight reflected as green, to others as purple, and to still others as red or blue.

As a result, some people became obese and swollen, with foul-smelling pustules emanating from their bodies; while those with pointed mouths and monkey-like cheeks had fingernails that turned into bird claws and bright feathers all over their bodies; the red ones were covered in muscles, while the purple ones found that the underwear they had just stolen from the village women was now welded to their bodies like branding irons, and the parts of the women they had cut off had also grown onto their bodies.

After the strange transformation, they heard urging and divine guidance. Then, the group disappeared into the mountains and forests.

A few days later, these lucky people who had been "blessed" navigated through various mazes and "visited" the sacred mountains and rivers.

Of course, it wasn't just those few; all sorts of demonic armies, appearing from who-knows-where, gathered in front of these sects.

The Great Yao Sect has suffered its third calamity, but this time Xuan Chong can't be blamed. They looked up at the immortal mountain, excitedly uttering through their irregular lips, "Hehe, fairy, oh ho!"

As numerous demons gathered, the evil moon shone above these prominent sects. After accumulating energy, the demons launched a coordinated attack on the spiritual veins and mountains.

The ancient celestial array activated, its radiant light illuminating all directions. Thunder and flames erupted towards the demons attempting to break through the array. These demons, originally defeated, were now receiving "celestial opportunities" as their spiritual energy surged after the array's activation. Each of them began to draw energy into their bodies, releasing fireballs from their hands and forming earthen shields. However, they all underwent strange transformations; some turned into bulls, while others became elongated, maggot-like creatures. Their bodies randomly combined within the chaos.

As the disciples of the Flying Sword Immortal Sect gazed upon the demonic army and monsters that even talismans and lightning could not contain, their resolve began to waver.

The sect's spiritual veins are constantly drying up, but the imperial army is fighting each other, creating seemingly endless demons.

The sect's bells rang continuously, urging the disciples to hold firm! Because if they were left unattended, with the demons entering the mountains, the entire sect's spiritual energy would be corrupted, the mountains would collapse, and the main peak of the spiritual vein would fly into the sky and be swallowed by the evil moon.

At this moment, all the major and orthodox sects in the world have no choice but to join hands to deal with this mess.

However, a major problem is that the mortal rulers supported by the seven major sects are themselves fighting against each other.

Justice is laid out on the table, but self-interest remains hidden in their hearts…

The Qinghua Sect, Cixin Sect, Wuyun Sect, Linghua Sect and other immortal factions sent their disciples to meet at the Linghua Sect.

The sect leaders gathered in a radiant array and began their discussion. The other disciples were unaware of the details of the debate. However, it ultimately stemmed from differing opinions on the chosen one, leading to considerable disagreement.

The Five Aggregates School and the Compassionate Heart School, one based on divination using celestial scriptures and the other on astrological calculations, arrived at completely different results.

The divination results from the Heavenly Book indicate that the world's power will eventually return to the duality of Yin and Yang, meaning that two imperial lineages will coexist.

The Star Derivation Technique, on the other hand, calculates that the Great Yao will split into five to ten pieces, and that over the next thousand years, the boundaries of each piece will frequently change, with usurpation and destruction of kingdoms occurring repeatedly.

These two verifications differ for those destined for heaven, but both verifications reveal a common issue: the "heavenly secrets" in the west seem uncertain.

The leader of the Cixin Sect looked at the fellow Daoists from other sects and sighed, "Fellow Daoists, have you all figured out which one (Wu Xiaoque) is at odds with the fate of your sect, so you've all become attached to appearances?"

The Five Aggregates School: "It is not that we are separated from the west, but that the Vermilion Bird is beyond our reach."

…The sparrows disliked the sacred mountain for being dirty…

The perspective shifts to the south, and it is now June of the second year of the Tongzheng calendar.

After Wu Fei settled Wu Lu in the four prefectures of Lingjiang to do his studies, Xuan Chong decided to continue south.

At this time, the Feather Clan merchant caravan arrived from the sea. Upon learning that the Wu family army had broken through the eight-hundred-mile-long Thorn Kingdom, they were surprised, because the southern Feather Clan kingdoms had always avoided this land.

The Feathered Kingdom people were initially unsure, but after seeing the servants of the Forest Feathered Clan, they believed that the Northern Xi people and those tree people known as "Green Evil Souls" had fought and won.

Through the stories told by these winged merchants, Xuan Chong learned more about the specialties of the Thorn region.

In the summer of the second year of the Tongzheng calendar, Xuanchong had already established a "model cooperation zone" in the Thorn Ridge area outside of the ceasefire agreement.

In the past, the Forest Winged Clan planted trees for the Tree Spirits, and although Xuan Chong instructed Ying Zhao to lead the clan in continuing this practice, Xuan Chong also established the tree-planting process for his own Winged Clan by erecting a monument.

They submit to their forest winged race, live in the forest, and have the forest fertilize the tree spirits.

They would set up several fortresses in the thorny areas, and the fortress residents would build water conservancy projects to regularly regulate the water flow to irrigate the treants in their own areas during the dry season.

After harvesting a batch of grass and sap in the spring, a batch of fruit is picked in the autumn. As for Yingzhao's original "belief in nature," Xuanchong tacitly allows them to continue their belief, but the premise for allowing the belief is that they achieve Xuanchong's performance.

Just like in ancient times, the Heavenly Emperor allowed all races to worship their own totem gods, but any totem god who dared to disobey the Heavenly Emperor's will would be captured by the Heavenly Army.

In the first half of the second year of the Tongzheng calendar, Xuan Chong established four fortresses along the way south of the Thorn Ridge, and enfeoffed the descendants of Haotian Dragon he brought from the north at these fortresses.

After Yuwen Li and other generals from Yan settled here, they looked at the boundless sea of ​​trees and bowed to Xuan Chong in gratitude. Of course, the dragon descendants were more resigned to their fate! For at least ten generations, their branch of dragon descendants would face severe survival pressure, and every time the Lingjiang regional army went to war with the Thornland Tree People, they would have to lead the charge for their king.

Wu Fei patted the dragon descendants on the shoulder, indicating that he wouldn't forget them after using them.

Therefore, they immediately signed some economic agreements with the tree-man and plant spirit forces that came seeking "fertile land".

For example, the agreement signed with the bamboo people was that the residents of the nearby fortress would offer a certain amount of "soil" in spring and autumn. In return, the local residents could enter the forest with axes and saws between October and December; however, during the logging process, no bamboo grove could be more than two zhang apart, and different species such as purple bamboo and golden bamboo were not included in the logging agreement and needed to be negotiated separately.

The economic agreements signed with those "Fairy Mother" tree spirits involved exchanging mountain honey and fresh fruit for soil.

Xuan Chong erected inscriptions and covenants on the relevant mountain peaks to document these agreements with the tree planters.

Xuan Chong: "Instead of simply exploiting them, establishing long-term cooperation based on harvest quotas is the only way for the Xi people to establish a lasting foothold here. Otherwise, being driven out is only a matter of time. (Xuan Chong: I won't mention that certain race with maxed-out innate wanderlust here.)"

After the inscription was erected, the earth trembled, raising the location of the inscription to a small mound. This signified the tacit acceptance of the Heavenly Dao by the Xiren Realm.

After the trading post was established and the stone tablet was erected, it was July of the second year of the Tongzheng era.

…People leave their traces as they pass by, geese leave their calls as they fly by…

In July, Xuan Chong ended his stay in the Thorn Ridge and selected a group of elites to continue south, heading towards the target he had seen from the stars; there, there was a spatial vortex no less powerful than the one that had descended from the Evil Moon during Wu Hanluan's "Yellow Springs Calamity." Of course, within this spatial vortex, there were also the roots that had fallen after the Chaos Green Lotus sprouted.

As Xuan Chong continued his southward journey, he was accompanied by eight hundred forest winged archers and even five hundred tree people. These tree people were all carried in carts.

Xuan Chong's main human force consisted of 2,538 men. Sitting on the large ship, after arranging the roots of each tree-man, Xuan Chong asked Ying Zhao, "Do you winged people resent me now?"

Yingzhao crossed his arms and said, “My lord, your light has blessed the entire forest. Moreover, you are leading me, and we are marching towards the direction where the Demon Moon shines upon the earth. This war will be sung in our people's poems, and we will follow you to the death.”

Xuan Chong nodded in agreement, assuring the foreign soldiers who followed him that they would be honored after the war. (They wouldn't understand titles, but they certainly understood honor.)
After the Battle of Wangfeng Mountain, Xuan Chong's troops gained the right to pass through the Thorn Ridge, the rear military supply line was unblocked, and a new way of supplying troops was obtained.

However, the next suspected point where the evil moon would fall to earth was still over four hundred kilometers away. (This tentacle hanging from the sky was erratic, its casual swing covering hundreds of kilometers, much like an emperor's chopsticks hesitantly selecting dishes at a royal banquet.)
However, Xuan Chong learned from the map provided by the Chi You ship that further south was the ocean. This vast country was a Roman-type nation surrounded by the sea.

Riding the Taiyue Luan, Angri was appointed as the new vanguard by Xuan Chong, who assigned him a force of three hundred men to clear the way ahead.

Xuan Chong was now very concerned about Ang Ri's former belief in "Moon Queen": in the polytheistic system of the southern winged people, there was a being called the Moon Queen. And Tai Yue Luan was the messenger of the Moon Queen.

Xuan Chong searched through all of Da Yao's "Sou Shen Lu" (Records of Searching for Gods) but found nothing. He then looked for information about Tai Yue Luan in "Wan Bo Zhi Guai" (Tales of Strange Things).

I managed to find it. In the ancient times, when the great sun was swallowed by the moon, an auspicious aura was on a high mountain, where a sage was born. He sent a one-legged phoenix to patrol the earth and gathered three-legged crows to stay in various places.

The reliable source of the name "Taiyue Luan" is this one-legged luan bird.

In the realm of fantasy, Xuan Chong can only associate things with Bifang and the three-legged golden crow. But in the realm of science fiction, he probably can only think of helicopters that can hover with their cables down, and fighter jets that use tricycle landing gear.

Having already witnessed that Chi You's army was an interstellar warship, there was no guarantee that there might be other powerful races in space skilled in creating magical artifacts, which might have produced some technological creations and become myths.

As for the current rumors among the Feathered Clan, it's said that in ancient times, they grew wings on their backs after receiving the light of the Moon Goddess. —Xuan Chong: "What the hell is this targeted gene mutation?"
The Feathered Clan is a very strange creature. They are not entirely human. After being burned by the Vermilion Bird Fire, their wings do not disappear, but instead become larger.

The wings, which are good for flying, appeared suddenly, as if they were added as components without any intermediate transitional forms. This suggests that if the winged race evolved naturally, then in the immature evolutionary stage of their wings, these wings were neither conducive to running on the ground nor very helpful for gliding and escaping.

Even the ability of winged people to fly could only be achieved with the textile technology of the civilized era; otherwise, their skeletons would not be able to hold the airflow, and artificial tail fins would have to be added to their legs to maintain balance.

Xuan Chong vaguely guessed that the Feathered Clan might have been modified, since the Hundred Tribes of Southern Xinjiang were also said to have been bestowed with "various unique qualities" by ancient sages.

Suddenly, Xuan Chong remembered a science fiction novel he had read in his previous life. According to the novel's setting: gene warriors were initially good cannon fodder, possessing handsome human appearances combined with striking animalistic features—for example, a slender, agile leopard woman with a leopard's tail and sharp claws; a tall eagle-man who could flap two pairs of wings. However, after two or three generations, these features deteriorated, while the original human genes became hybridized and deformed. In cybernetically transformed cities, these hybrids became the ugly, lowly masses.

"What's the name of this novel?" Xuan Chong rubbed his head, then had a sudden inspiration and asked the system.

System: "Reading novels is not allowed during class time."

Xuan Chong, like a student whose name had been called on, said dejectedly, "Oh."

System: "However, your point is correct. Genetic modification was originally intended to deal with short-term wars, to gain temporary benefits, but to cause harm for thousands of years."

…Continue south…

A month prior, at the end of August in the second year of Xuan Chong's reign, he completed the opening of a road through the inland shrubland and discovered signs of a city-state. At this time, Xuan Chong's main force numbered less than a thousand men. The rest were maintaining the stations along the route from Thorn Ridge to the Feathered Clan Kingdom.

Along the way, Xuanchong selected some groves and placed the tree people there, as well as the forest winged people, as villages to welcome future caravans.

After watching the guide brought by Angri provide relevant information and draw a map.

Xuan Chong rode a peacock to personally inspect the city-states on the map. When Xuan Chong looked at those cities, which were layered one after another as if piled up on mounds of earth, he exclaimed that they were indeed maritime civilizations.

Note: When a city is destroyed by war, during the reconstruction process, soil is transported directly from other places, used to cover the surface, and a new city is built. If the city is destroyed again, soil is piled up and construction continues.

This results in a modern monastery with a medieval monastery building underneath, and below that medieval monastery is a Roman-era shrine.

Unlike river civilizations, where city ruins changed with the shifting of river courses, Mediterranean civilizations built their cities around ports. As long as the coastline remained unchanged, they would continuously build on the original site, thus forming city mounds.

Xuan Chong had previously traversed over a thousand kilometers (passing through the four prefectures of Lingjiang and across the thorny plains), encountering only wild and undeveloped landscapes along the way. He had assumed that there were no major powers in the south, but this was a ingrained mindset from an agrarian civilization. Only when he saw vast stretches of cultivated land in the interior did he consider it a legitimate state. Little did he know that maritime trade could also accumulate wealth and allow for the construction of magnificent cities.

Xuan Chong asked Ying Zhao, "Xing'er, tell me, what's your relationship like with your clansmen in the south? If I were to visit them, which heads of families should I look for?"

Zixing is the localized name Xuan Chong gave to this queen; Xing'er is easier to pronounce.

Returning to Xuan Chong's statement, a low-EQ translation would be: "Hey, how long have the Forest Feathered People and the Southern Feathered Tribes been separated? How did they separate? Are there any new conflicts in the south now, resulting in multiple leaders, creating an opportunity for me to sow discord and play both sides?"

The simple-minded winged maid was naturally kind and didn't think of it that way.

After all, Xuan Chong's behavior over the past few months has led people to believe that he is too benevolent; he has ensured that supplies are provided equally to everyone in the army, and has not treated newcomers as slaves. Furthermore, both the Tree People and the Feathered Clan have carefully and repeatedly assessed his needs during the march.

The supply of calcium-rich shellfish needed by the feathered people is crucial to the health of their wings, and Xuan Chong ensures this on time and in sufficient quantities.

Back in the present, Zixing awkwardly picked up a brush and drew lines on the map along the coastline and on the vast islands further south. Based on her memory, she marked the ten major kingdoms of the coastal winged people.

Xuan Chong received intelligence that the Feathered Clan had ground cavalry and that there were giant chocobos in the southeastern jungle region.

The Feathered Clan's city-states are located by the sea and have many fishermen. Feathered Beastmasters feed them with various fish and tame them. These ground-dwelling birds have both wings and four legs, and when fed a sufficient amount of food, a few exceptions will emerge under special training, their wings will grow back to their enormous size, and they will regain their ability to fly.

This news greatly concerned Xuan Chong, as it seemed to be the griffin that Zhao Tu rode. Xuan Chong had always wanted to find the location of its kind, because griffins were such excellent mounts.

Cavalry attacks also need to consider ravine terrain and ultimately employ a flanking maneuver. In contrast, flying monster cavalry can directly attack artillery positions.

So Xuan Chong took notes of the key points in his notebook and made a note on the ballista modification.

…access…

Xuan Chong took a look at the recent diplomatic gifts prepared by the Feathered Clan city-state, which included silk and ceramics, as well as some gems salvaged from the Thorn Ridge River.

Well, while these gems are rare items in Da Yao, they are far less common than jade; however, they are very popular among the Winged People.

Both "jade" and "gemstones" are spellcasting materials in this world, linked to the blue bar. The reason for the difference in popularity is due to the different technical approaches taken in the two regions.

For the same mass, the spiritual energy density stored in white jade is about one-fifth that of magical energy stored in a perfect gemstone. —The starship's records do not distinguish between spiritual and magical energy, referring to these energy-storing materials collectively as natural crystal minerals.

However, after thousands of years, the cultivators of the Great Dao have developed a complete set of carving techniques, and the large pieces of jade they create have a spiritual energy storage capacity no less than that of a large number of scattered gemstones.

Secondly, the two sides utilize "natural forces" in different ways. The white jade carved by the immortal masters of the Great Dao has "negative entropy" at the feng shui points of famous mountains and great rivers. As for gemstones, they obtain energy from the sky when the winged people fly high into the sky.

Xuan Chong, through the detection balloon, determined in the experiment that the charge difference between the sky and the ground was continuously flowing through the gemstone, thus completing the accumulation of negative entropy.

Even if one doesn't care about silk and porcelain, gemstones are still a form of hard currency. But Xuan Chong was wrong—silk is the real hard currency.

(End of this chapter)