Chapter 391: A Fierce Melee

After embracing Lee Zhi again, Wei Yuan led his troops back to Qingming. This time, he had led a 10,000-li surprise attack against the Mountain Dwellers who were completely unfamiliar to him, with unexpectedly good results.

On the return journey, Wei Yuan kept reviewing the entire course of the battle.

Mount Eshan was exactly 10,000 li away from Qingming, and Qingming currently spanned 300 li. This meant that within a radius of 15,000 li, Wei Yuan’s combat power would be increased, and his Dao Foundation would be stronger. Empowered by the Great Realm, his soldiers’ firing rate had improved, and their barrage of gunfire had been relentless, resulting in surprisingly high casualties.

Recalling the unexpectedly immense power of the Immaculate Pure Land when he had confronted the little monk, Hong Lian, Wei Yuan had a vague feeling that he might have underestimated the destructive potential of a continuous barrage of flying swords. It was just like when he first developed the Rushing Water Blade spell—at the time, he hadn’t anticipated its power would be so great either.

Even ordinary steel-barrel guns, provided that they could maintain a sustained barrage, proved surprisingly effective in open areas on the battlefield. Perhaps he should consider increasing their rate of fire?

The effectiveness of firearms on the battlefield depended on numerous factors: the rate of fire, the handling, the power of the projectiles themselves, the production difficulty, and so on. Wei Yuan could list dozens of factors to consider with just a casual thought, and he couldn’t help but feel a headache coming on. However, this was a matter of great importance. He had to think it through clearly without neglecting even the most minute detail.

Suddenly, Wei Yuan recalled that there were tens of thousands of ordinary mortals within the Great Realm. All these people had retained some memories from their past lives, so there was no need to educate them all over again. They generally had nothing to do all day every day. In fact, they were so idle that they would bow in worship just for being handed an object, and that single bow would take them nearly half a day. There weren’t even enough immortal plants for them to worship, which was why they had to carve their own statues and idols.

If they were so free, why not have them join in on the research? It was just a casual move; it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t come up with anything[1].

So Wei Yuan entered the Great Realm, transmitted his thoughts, and shared the existing design for flying swords and guns with them. He then instructed the mortals to attempt improvements and study Xu Wenwu’s materials in tandem.

After assigning the task, Wei Yuan put the matter out of his mind. After all, he didn’t expect these people to actually come up with anything.

Up to this point, Qingming had made progress in the development of firearms mainly thanks to one, Xu Wenwu’s materials, and two, Yu Zhizhuo’s designs and craftsmanship.

As for ammunition, gunpowder was the key. Without Sun Yu’s improved gunpowder formula, firearms would have remained a situational weapon to this day. However, just thinking about the new formula made Wei Yuan wince. The new gunpowder cost several times more than the old, and with the increased rate of fire, ammunition consumption during battle had naturally skyrocketed. Every time he heard a gunshot, Wei Yuan could feel that his immortal silver was burning in tandem with the gunpowder.

This was also why Wei Yuan had been demanding increasingly exorbitant ransoms as of late.

No sooner had the army returned to Qingming than Yu Zhizhuo sent someone to find Wei Yuan. He was asking him to come and help capture the spirit creature. This got him curious: Just what could be this spirit creature that had Yu Zhizhuo so preoccupied?

Traces of the spirit creature had appeared in a new ore vein 400 li northwest of the realm of Qingming. Yu Zhizhuo had been following the earthly vein, probing over 100 li in one go, before finally discovering the ore vein.

According to Yu Zhizhuo, this vein contained a vast amount of associated spirit ores. It was a top-grade ore vein of inestimable value, and he recommended building a city to defend it.

The area where the vein was located still belonged to the Shaman realm and was frequently roamed by Shamans, making it quite dangerous. To protect the prospecting team, Wei Yuan had specifically dispatched 2,000 elite soldiers under Yu Zhizhuo’s command. During this time, they had repelled several harassment attempts by small Shaman contingents before the mining site was finally established.

When Wei Yuan arrived, Yu Zhizhuo was setting up an array. He had even enlisted Sun Yu and Trueman Chu He to assist him.

The entrance to the mine was at the base of a small hill. The soil had been cleared away to reveal ore speckled with red, along with layers of ores bearing golden streaks.

“Senior Uncle Yu, what kind of spirit creature are we hunting that it requires such a major operation?” Wei Yuan asked.

“It’s an Essence of Metal that looks just like a blue glow. It can move freely through ore veins, which is extremely rare. I’ve already set up an array to confine it to a certain area, but that area itself is still too large. It’s difficult for just the few of us to capture it—it’s slipped away several times already. That’s why I asked you to help.”

Wei Yuan, of course, didn’t refuse. He followed Yu Zhizhuo down into the mine shaft and took up a defensive position in a spacious natural cavern. Wei Yuan stood in the center of the cavern. No sooner had Yu Zhizhuo left than he saw a blue glow emerge from the cave wall ahead. A small orb of light peeked out cautiously, and upon seeing Wei Yuan, it let out a “peh!” and spat out a piece of ore.

Wei Yuan casually caught the ore in his hand,then flicked forward to appear right in front of the blue light and capture it.

The blue light neither flickered nor dodged. It waited until Wei Yuan’s fingers were about to touch it before finally and unhurriedly slipping away. Not only that, it spat a handful of mud onto Wei Yuan’s hand as it left.

Wei Yuan was enraged! He had never encountered such an insolent spirit creature until now!

But when he pulled back his hand and looked, he saw that his right hand was clutching a crystal clear gemstone, inside which a tiny immortal mountain was bobbing up and down. Although he didn’t know what it was, he could tell at a glance that it was no ordinary spirit material. It had to be expensive, very expensive, super duper expensive!

That wasn’t all. The muddy sludge in his left hand radiated an overwhelming spirit qi. Within it were many golden granules that looked both like spirit gold or origin copper. All of them were rare spirit materials.

Just after being spat on twice by the spirit creature, Wei Yuan had suddenly gained several thousand taels of immortal silver. Instantly, all his resentment vanished, and he felt that its insolence was entirely justified.

Wei Yuan now suspected that there might be another reason Sun Yu and Trueman Chu He hadn’t been able to capture this spirit creature for so long.

This time, a rock fell from the ceiling, heading straight for his head. He caught it and added yet another thousand taels of immortal silver to his possession.

After several exchanges, Wei Yuan discovered that the spirit creature was unbelievably fast. Even when it was right within his palm, whether through a sudden shift in form or burst of speed, it could always effortlessly slip away and humiliate him in the process.

Although Wei Yuan welcomed the humiliation, he couldn’t keep letting it slip away indefinitely. Steeling his resolve, when the spirit creature appeared again, the world around him suddenly turned black and white, and everything took on a grainy texture.

The spirit creature let out a startled cry and tried to burrow into the rock wall, only to be bounced back out. It was a surprisingly hard hit that caused it to stagger backward and drop countless spirit materials and treasure ores in the process. The clinking and clanking nearly caused Wei Yuan’s Dao heart to falter, tempting him to bend down and pick them all up.

Fortunately, Wei Yuan knew his priorities. Activating the Yin Yang Domain just once consumed three wisps of otherworldly fortune, and they were far more valuable than any spirit materials or treasure ores. He reached out with his large hand and seized the spirit creature. The tips of his fingers were coated in the blue, icy energy of the Ice-Glass Divine Tree, and it instantly froze it into a block of ice.

Back on the ground, Wei Yuan handed the spirit creature to Yu Zhizhuo. Although it appeared to have no physical form, it possessed innate spirituality.

Yu Zhizhuo was overjoyed. He carefully sealed it away, then let out a long breath and said to Wei Yuan, “You’ve really done me a huge favor, Junior Nephew!”

“What use is this thing?” It wasn’t just Wei Yuan who was curious. Sun Yu and Trueman Chu wanted to know as well. They had spent three full days trying to catch this little thing and enriched their wealth by nearly 100,000 immortal silver to no avail.

Yu Zhizhuo didn’t hold anything back. “With it, one can slightly adjust the physical properties of a material within a certain range. The adjustment itself isn’t particularly valuable, but by comparing the differences before and after the adjustment, one can quickly grasp a material’s properties. Some immortal materials may exist in only a single small piece in the entire world, making it extremely prohibitive to study their properties. But with this treasure, the problem is easily solved. It’s a priceless treasure for artifact refinement.

“With this spirit creature, nothing else stands in the way of my path to the Avatar stage. All I need to do now is to gain a little more knowledge regarding material properties, and I’ll be able to achieve a breakthrough. Assuming I haven’t hit the limits of my potential, it can serve as the foundation of a grotto-heaven as well.”

Everyone was deeply moved. However, this item was of special use only to a master artifact-refining craftsman such as Yu Zhizhuo. For anyone else who did not practice the craft, its value was greatly diminished.

Yu Zhizhuo bowed to Wei yuan and said, “This is a favor that led to my attainment of the Dao—I cannot thank you enough!”

Returning to Qingming, Wei Yuan was in high spirits. If Yu Zhizhuo could attain the Avatar-stage, the strength and foundation of the realm would surely rise to a new level. Moreover, judging by the tone of his words, with this Essence of Metal, he might even have a shot at becoming a World Ruler.

Upon returning to his residence, Wei Yuan had barely pushed open the courtyard gate when a wisp of sword qi pressed against the back of his head. Then, a clear, cold, yet melodious voice rang out, “You talk a big game, but your skills leave much to be desired!” 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Wei Yuan didn’t panic and replied calmly, “If you’ve got the guts, then put your sword down. Let’s settle this in hand-to-hand combat.”

“And why would I do that?” The person behind him kicked Wei Yuan to the ground, pinned him down, and said coldly, “If this were a battle to the death, you’d already be dead!”

Such a soft foot... Wei yuan quickly banished that inappropriate thought from his mind.

Lately, the mortals in his Dao Foundation had been praying daily, and the content of their prayers was beyond outlandish. After overhearing them for some time, Wei Yuan couldn’t help but have some strange thoughts himself. It was about time he set these mortals straight.

“If this were a true life-or-deat battle, then you’d be the one to die for sure. What’s the matter? Are you the type who can’t duel without your immortal sword or spirit treasure?”

“Nonsense! Like I need to rely on external power!”

Wei Yuan sneered. “Don’t you? Your physical body doesn’t look all that impressive to me. From which third-tier blessed hand have you stolen your Body-tempering method, pray tell?”

1. And so it has finally, truly, begun.... ☜