Chapter 437: Mutated Heavenly Tribulation

The design of the new city was ingenious. The main gates were all only a few zhang tall, and the city walls only three zhang tall unlike other fortified cities, which often reached a height between ten to twenty zhang.

Wei Yuan mobilized 100,000 Body-tempering stage cultivators to quarry stone and build the city on the spot, progressing it at a breakneck pace.

The city lord residence and office was built at the highest point within the city and resembled a miniature city in its own right. Before they had even begun clearing the fields around the city, the cultivators first dug trenches and constructed fortifications.

While holding the city’s architectural blueprint, Bao Yun and Wei Yuan stood atop the northwest main gate and discussed the details. The northwest direction served as the main defensive line, so a bastion[1]—each only three zhang wide—was built on either side of the main gate.

It had been nearly a year since Bao Yun had left the Realm of Qingming, and the city had undergone tremendous changes during this period. At first, she didn’t quite understand why this city was being built so low to the ground, assuming they were still preparing to fight underground against the Shamans. But after examining the defensive layout Wei Yuan presented, she realized that Qingming’s current defense system had changed dramatically.

The core of the defense lay in the two giant crossbows set up at the city lord’s residence; the very ones Wei Yuan had recovered from Hanyang Pass, specifically the mobile ones.

Meanwhile, the core defense of the city walls consisted of the short-barreled anti-personnel cannons newly introduced by the Research Institute of War Equipment for Equality of All Beings.

These cannons were designed primarily to inflict massive casualties on enemy foot soldiers. Though their range was limited to just a few li, their destructive power was immense. Each shell weighed a full hundred catties, and a single shot produced over 1,000 shrapnel fragments. It could effectively wipe out all cultivators at the first two stages of the Body-tempering stage within a ten-zhang radius.

In addition to the cannons, there were various flying sword launchers and steel-barreled guns. Fixed-Direction Flying-Sword Mines could also be temporarily deployed both on the ramparts and at the base of the walls.

With a defense system like this, there was indeed no need for particularly high city walls.

Wei Yuan studied the defense map, mentally simulating a scenario in which a Shaman army launched an assault. Within the Fire of Humanity, multiple defensive firing points came to life and relentlessly inflicted casualties upon the enemy.

Based on the results of his simulations, Wei Yuan continuously made minor adjustments to the defensive deployment, such as moving the position of a certain flying sword launcher ten zhang forward.

At first, Bao Yun was impressed by Wei Yuan’s meticulous optimization of the defensive deployment down to the finest detail, but it wasn’t long before her admiration turned to confusion. “Aren’t you wasting time by adjusting the position of even a single flying sword launcher? When the war begins, the frontline officers will make those adjustments themselves, won’t they?”

Wei Yuan insisted that it wasn’t a bother. This level of adjustment would only consume the brainpower of a dozen or so ordinary mortals for the period of a single teatime.

Bao Yun felt it was a problem. “This is not a good habit, you know. Those who accomplish great deeds do not get bogged down by trivialities. Even if you had become an Avatar, your time and energy are always limited, and it is impossible for you to do everything. You should focus your energy on the most important matters.”

Wei Yuan found her words deeply reasonable and accepted them with an open mind, but did not change his ways.

The mortals in the Fire of Humanity grew increasingly sentient the more they employed their spirituality. Now, among the earliest group of mortals, dozens had already attained their Dao Foundations and possessed minds that moved as swiftly as lightning. A single one of them could match dozens of ordinary mortals.

Moreover, the Fire of Humanity’s operating model had been undergoing continuous iterations and updates, gradually evolving into something that even Wei Yuan found somewhat difficult to comprehend. Some large-scale tasks, after being broken down by the immortal plant nodes, would be split into as many as hundreds or even thousands of sub-tasks.

The more powerful the immortal plant, the more sub-tasks it could create, and the more abstract each individual sub-task became—to the point where a certain sub-task could seem completely meaningless or incomprehensible. As a result, the mortals found themselves thinking frantically, but the problems they were grappling with were often incredibly bizarre—such as how to fit an elephant into a jewelry box.

It was only after the mortals had completed their individual sub-tasks, and the results were submitted and combined at the immortal plant that a meaningful outcome was produced.

Yin Yang, of course, were leagues above the immortal plants. She was capable of singlehandedly creating tens of thousands of sub-tasks in an instant, and consolidating them just as quickly.

Compared to the “task mode”, at least the research institutes were still operating in a way that was somewhat understandable to humans. However, they were gradually succumbing to the immortal plants’ influence as well.

The Dao Foundations of the research institutes thought much faster than your ordinary human being. They were often responsible for breaking down large-scale research projects and then distributing the sub-tasks.

Aside from research, the mortals were also busy growing vegetables, harvesting crops, building city walls, worshiping deities, cultivating, forming cliques and factions, slandering rival research institutes, and making false accusations against them to Wei Yuan, among other things.

After taking care of the city defenses, Wei Yuan accompanied Bao Yun to her city lord residence to help her set up her new home.

Unlike Wei Yuan, Bao Yun’s current cultivation required an environment rich in spirit qi. Therefore, her residence needed to be equipped with a powerful Spirit Gathering Array, and at least two types of immortal plants needed to be planted. She had already prepared all the necessary materials; Wei Yuan was simply there to help with the setup.

The two worked busily all afternoon until the basic setup was finally complete. Bao Yun then lay down on the bed, stretched, and relaxed her body. It was a sight that immediately made Wei Yuan look away, though he didn’t tear his gaze away entirely.

Bao Yun had brought all the furniture in her room with her. Even Wei Yuan was impressed by just how much space her bracelet could hold. However, a question also arose in Wei Yuan’s mind: Why on earth had she stored so much furniture in her bracelet for no particular reason?

On her bed, Bao Yun shuffled to one side to make a small space and motioned for Wei Yuan to come sit down.

Bao Yun sat up and said, “I really like this place. Did you build this city for me because you want me to stay here forever?”

“If you like it, stay here. If one day you don’t like it anymore, you can leave anytime.”

Bao Yun bit her lips lightly and said, “You’re playing hard to get, huh? Lucky for you, I really like it right now, so....”

Bao Yun placed one hand on the back of Wei Yuan’s neck and slowly pulled him down toward her, bringing them closer and closer.

Once again, they were at a distance where they could feel each other’s warmth. Bao Yun closed her eyes and tilted her head back slightly.

Wei Yuan didn’t move.

The two of them remained frozen like that, their lips only a paper’s breadth away from each other. A teatime passed in the blink of an eye, yet the distance between them remained exactly the same.

Finally, Bao Yun blew a gentle breath. Wei Yuan almost mistook the air brushing against his lips for a touch, though he realized immediately afterward that it wasn’t.

Bao Yun sat up and asked, “Why are you being so well-behaved all of a sudden?”

Wei Yuan didn’t know how to answer, so he could only offer a wry smile. He couldn’t possibly say that he could sense her body primed and ready to kick him right off if he moved even a little closer, could he?

But Bao Yun clearly had no intention of letting Wei Yuan off that easily. She leaned in slowly again and asked, “Why aren’t you reacting at all? Don’t I look good?”

The question was relatively easy to answer, but Wei Yuan knew that the one after that could only be a no-win question. He had no choice but to feign deep thought to buy himself some time.

Just then, the entire realm shook violently. Worldly origin qi manifested and began pouring down at the location where Yu Zhizhuo and Sun Yu were cultivating in seclusion. At the same time, dark clouds gathered in the sky, and two heavenly tribulations began to take shape gradually.

Wei Yuan’s expression changed. “Senior Uncle Yu and Senior Uncle Sun are about to attain their Avatars! I have to go stand guard!”

This was a matter of grave importance, so Bao Yun immediately dropped her playful behavior and hurried over with Wei Yuan.

From a distance, the two heavenly tribulations appeared extremely close to one another. However, they were also clearly distinct and did not interfere with each other.

Yu Zhizhuo cultivated a Metal-element Dao Foundation, so his lightning tribulation contained a reddish hue, with fire flickering within the lightning. Sun Yu, on the other hand, cultivated both the Water and Wood elements, so his lightning tribulation was blue with flecks of gold.

Wei Yuan assessed the intensity of the tribulations and felt reassured. Although both tribulations contained elements that restrained his senior uncles’ favored elements—which made them far stronger than your average tribulation—they were still primarily composed of lightning.

Given Sun Yu and Yu Zhizhuo’s abilities, coupled with the lightning-protection measures that had already been set up at the tribulation site, they should have no trouble weathering it. However, just to be on the safe side, Wei Yuan flew over to their side so that he could intervene promptly should any unexpected complications arise.

Sure enough, things took an unexpected turn.

As Wei Yuan drew near, the flames within Yu Zhizhuo’s tribulation abruptly flared with incredible intensity and transformed into a thunder-and-fire tribulation. As for Sun Yu’s tribulation, the golden light had outright transformed into golden blades, each one razor-sharp beyond compare!

1. This is the first time ever I’m putting an English definition here, just in case people don’t understand: A bastion is a projecting part of a fortification. ☜