29 – Battle for Jinchuan part 3

I put the final piece on the Weiqi board. The tenth sequence is done. In which there’s no casualty on our end. This is the optimal road. However, to think it took ten attempts to make the optimal sequences of actions, in which none of us died, is this simply the gap between loose cultivators and those within a sect? We already have more than twice their numbers and catching them completely unaware. Especially the sword cultivator, if we reveal the golden core puppet early at the start, he can kill three of us before being stopped. Maybe I should try to predict one more sequence.

“Xiǎoyì (小逸|Little Wanderer), have you finished with the prediction? Perhaps we can play proper weiqi together.” The man that share my name walks leisurely towards me

“I don’t think that will be fair for you.” I confidently answer

“Ha! We will see about that. I will win this time.” He laughed as he sat opposite of me, already taking the black pieces as usual

We played in silence for a while. As usual, I divine the future as we play. Once again I divined his answer to my question and the answer is always the same. So I ask once more.

“Will you take me as your disciple?” I ask despite knowing the answer

“I told you many times, I won’t.” He answer without any changes in demeanor, making his reason unreadable as usual

“May I know why? I don’t think you'll ever tell me why.” I try to press. He has practically taught me everything I need to know in my journey towards immortality. Even more than that. Yet he always refuses me.

“It is not good when the master and the disciple are within the same cultivation realm. Both of us are Foundation Establishments, so it is not proper.” He gave his answer. Once he mentioned this in the passing. That if the master and the disciple are in the same cultivation realm, both will covet each other's resources and the relationship will break faster.

“I don’t think that is everything.”

“Perhaps we need to change the topic.” He stops the topic

“Very well. I heard that you have visited Jinchuan before. How does it compare to now?” I switch the topic to the city where we will fight the three cultivators

“Jinchuan was a very prosperous capital. Like the name, gold flows freely, as common as iron, even towards the mortals. The main gate is made of solid gold with a protective array and the city never lacks anything. There’s even so much gold that they gild the outer wall with gold.” He reminisce what Jinchuan looks like before the war few hundred years ago

“And now?”

“Now like everything, Jinchuan is a shadow of its former self. The main gate and outer wall were demolished for its gold. The city is now around half of its current size and the gold of all its mines are mined until there’s nothing left. There isn't even a sign left that shows the city’s original size and prosperity.” Yunyi lamented

“Is it because of the war?” I put another piece on the board

“The war against the Fanxuan realm, yes. We lost and they demand more than half of the world’s gold in return as tribute with many other things.” He answered and put another piece on the board. Emotion is still unreadable.

“But why gold? Isn’t normal gold almost worthless for cultivators?”

“Well to shame us of course. Your world has nothing of value that we have to take worthless gold in exchange. Is what they meant with that demand. Well, there’s other things too. If they demand too many cultivator resources, it will raise animosity even more that the second war will inevitably come. This way, they can look gracious.” Then he finally sighs for the first time.

“Back then, the last ruling Emperor of Xia, back where Xia ruled the entire world, took the demand for gold quite readily. Seeing it as a cheap price in exchange. But this is the one that broke the empire in half and ended Xia’s golden age.”

Both of us don't even play anymore. And I waited for him to continue. Hearing the detail of our world’s past from the one that witnessed it with his own eyes.

“Blaming the East side of Xia for the loss, the Emperor put the burden of appeasing all Fanxuan realm’s demands on the east. Even the demand for cultivator resources. It could be seen as the Emperor trying to hold the cultivation resources for some part of the world. To maintain the balance of power against Fanxuan. But of course, this breeds resentment of the East against the Emperor. Then finally, the east seceded and the civil war happened. Of two thousand Golden Core cultivators that participated in the civil war, less than two hundred remain. More than a dozen sects were wiped out. Even Nascent Soul Cultivators died even though I don’t know how many.” Then he looked me straight in the eye. Telling me to heed his words properly

“Around half of these casualties were brought by one man. So, if you ever heard of the name Xuan among your enemies, you must always run.”

Xiaoyi heeded the warning very seriously. As this is precisely why he is running away. The jade tablet belonging to Wang Yunyi is broken. The man that shouldn’t even die in more than ten predictions is the first to die. Then the one belonging to Yiye, the female cultivator with the Nether Threads, was quickly followed by Guzhou’s, the silver body cultivator. Already he is back within the group’s hideout. Empty as everyone is outside.

He tries to remember everything Yunyi tell he must do. Eyes darting, breath heavy as fear grips him. His divination has failed spectacularly and in the worst way possible. He is never good when things go outside the plan. So he mumble and repeats Yunyi’s word

“First, yeah first. Break the vase and kill the thing within.” Xiaoyi found a vase hidden within rocks as Yunyi predicted. Lifting it up and throwing it to the ground. Head sized centipede Gu wriggling in surprise. Then he stomps on the centipede until it is dead. Only then did the jade tablet belonging to Wuyi, the Gu cultivator, die. Did Wuyi store part of his soul in an insect? The mere thought makes him churn with disgust. 

“Next, take everything not nailed down.” He looked around. Does the furniture count? Or just treasures stored by the others and young sect leaders? Unable to decide on his own in this current state, he put everything not nailed down, furniture included, into his storage ring. Chairs, boxes, combs, mirrors, clothes for men and women. Everything. Belonging to loose cultivators within the group as they only have cheap storage rings that have very limited space.

“Last, open the hidden chamber and get whatever is inside.” The hidden chamber is the one he made for the Young Sect Leader. As Xiaoyi is the one that made the array, he opens it easily. He doesn't know what is inside as he never sets foot inside after the chamber is made. What he knows is that whatever is inside is what stops the Xian dynasty from interfering with Nether Bone sect’s activity in Jin. What he saw within however, is a woman in imperial dress. Waking up and rubbing her eyes as he entered.

“Is it time for a meal already? I told you I only eat food made by the best chefs in the world.” Then she began to list all manner of food from various regions. Not even caring if he is not the young sect leader.

Xiaoyi however, falls into a full blown panic. In front of him is one of the princesses of Xian. The Dynasty that rules the entire East Xia after they rise in rebellion against Xia.

What should I do? What should I do? He once thought that with his divination that he can take on everything. But there’s nothing that can prepare him from the sheer whiplash of what is happening. Well, Yunyi said he needed to get whatever was inside the hidden chamber. So he undoes the sealing array and opens the cell. Immediately his vision spins. He finds himself on the ground, the princess is on top of him, locking him down in some sort of wrestling position, and twisting his right arm painfully.

“Wait! Mercy… Wait!”

—

“Uegh” I groan as I stand up from the destroyed part of the wall. That one hit took 20 railgun bullets worth of Qi, a fifth of my overall Qi. I shudder as the very old man, whatever that thing that sends me spiraling has its attention on me again. Immediately I took aim with my divine sense and fire as it sped up to me very quickly.

BOOM!

The bullet hit the left side of his head. But the bullet didn’t pierce and he didn't even flinch. Already it is in front of me. The palm with necrotic Qi swinging. But Fumo appears from the side, his golden palm hits the thing’s rib. Moving it a few centimeters. I dodge his palm in a hair’s breadth. Whatever behind me is pulverized with the sheer force of his swing. I aimed at his head and fired again. But again, it doesn’t even flinch or even slow down. Another necrotic palm swinging.

Fumo summons a shield in the form of a golden bell and shields me. I summoned AT field to reinforce him. The palm hits, making a deafening sound before breaking through his bell and my field. Landing towards Fumo and sending us both spiraling way to another side of the city.

“I am out of ideas.” I cough as Fumo takes the full brunt of the strike.

“We must kill the puppeter!” He sits up and coughs, gold emanating from his wound as it cleanses the necrotic Qi and heals his wound.

The thing sped up towards me, my and Fumo’s eyes went wide as none of us were ready. But his attention suddenly turned and did a 180. Speeding up the other way. Towards Gujian who is pressing on the female cultivator controlling the puppet. His face is fully serious as he chases her with wave after wave of brilliant slashes that completely overwhelms her. So the puppet responds to the danger of its controller?

“Don’t move.” I put the barrel of my railgun on Fumo’s shoulder. Scaling up its caliber. If an 8mm (24mm actually) railgun doesn’t harm it, how about twice the caliber. I scale up my projection, it is now 16mm. (48mm actual caliber). The rail barrel is now almost twice my height.

“Close your ears.” I tell Fumo, who quickly closes his ears as I pull the trigger.

BOOM!

A bigger boom throws me back a dozen meters away from the knockback. The puppet, sensing the danger, turns around and tries to swat the projectile. Only to have its right hand obliterated by the impact. That one shot is equal to 4 railgun bullets. The puppet stops moving. Its attention back at us before danger to its puppeteer takes its attention away again. So that's how it goes eh? I stand and aim my oversized railgun towards the puppeteer. As if sensing me, the puppet stops and its attention on me. I stop aiming and turn my attention back to Gujian. I repeat this a few times. Making the puppet moving back and forth like an idiot. 

“Haha! Never thought I could cheese puppet AI like this.” Fumo raises his eyebrows beside me but keeps alert.

This is exactly what Gujian needs as without the puppet, the puppeteer is a bad match against him. As he keeps pressing down. Until finally, his upward vertical slash cut off her face before he beheaded her.

“That seems quite excessive isn’t it?” I comment at the face chopping

“Indeed.” Fumo agrees with me.

Finally, I heave a sigh of relief. So does Fumo. While Gujian finally took a breath after not taking any in his state of focus. But then I sensed it. A faint wisp from the puppeteer. Speeding towards the now inert corpse puppet.

“Gujian! Stop her!” I shout with all my might. Gujian, already out of his focus, is taken by surprise before giving a desperate chase.

“She is going towards the Corpse Puppet! Destroy it!” Fumo shouts as he try to intercept the wisp of soul

I took aim and fired. Gujian, already exhausted and out of his focused state, misses by a hair's breadth. While Fumo, slowed from the wound after taking a hit to protect me, fails to intercept the soul. The soul enters the puppet first. Immediately it moves, my bullet hits its right shoulder and obliterates its right arm. With a painful scream, an explosion of Necrotic Qi. Throwing Gujian and Fumo away.

“Master, I’m sorry for taking over your body like this.” A woman’s voice came from the corpse puppet. Then it looks straight to me.

“You are a threat to my senior brother!” The puppeteer singled me out and moved towards me.

“Oh shit.” I immediately fire

BOOM!

The puppet, now controlled properly, dodges the bullet with ease. The bullet continues straight. Towards Gujian who tries to attack the corpse puppet from behind. Blood spills from his mouth as he grit his teeth from switching his technique midslash. Cutting the bullet in half. His hands were shaking. All this happens in a single moment.

“Nuisance!” The puppet then turns around, its left palm, filled with Necrotic Qi swinging in one fluid motion. 

Fumo appears once more between the palm and Gujian. Summoning another golden bell shield as he tanks the blow. Like before, the palm easily breaks through the shield and lands straight towards his raised arm. Sending him and Gujian flying away. The puppet now chases after both of them. Determined to kill them both first. I aim and fire once more. But once again, the puppet dodges the railgun. The difference in power is now apparent. While my bullet can still damage it, the puppet now is properly controlled with a conscious mind and the speed of a Golden Core.

Oh fuck! Oh fuck! What do I do!? I wrack my brain to think! I need to get closer else they both die! And there’s only one thing I have in mind. A plan formed in my mind. But if this fails then perhaps I will be the one that died. I drop my oversized railgun. Picking the jade warhammer in my storage ring. Then I focus towards the Great Thundergod Steps technique.

Gujian and Fumo crash towards a building. Destroying it. Immediately the puppet is on them. Its left palm striking down. Both of them don't have time to react. With a flash of thunder I appear behind the puppet. Pushing the thunder from my technique not to my other leg but towards the warhammer. Then I do an upward swing. The warhammer landed straight… to the puppet’s nuts!

The puppet stops its motion. Its mouth opens with a wide O. So did Gujian and Fumo as they saw the thunderous warhammer hit its nuts! So am I! While this is exactly my plan, I didn’t expect to get the feedback of the nuts cracking sent back to my palm. I even almost dropped the hammer.

Nevertheless, the plan is successful! I bank on the puppeteer to sense pain as it is now controlling the puppet directly. And because it screamed in pain when my bullet hit its shoulder when the soul entered its body and how it dodged my bullet after that. Almost making me feel bad about this as the puppeteer is a woman and now she has experienced what it felt like to have a man’s nuts cracked.

Fumo roars as he strikes with his golden palm towards the puppet’s head. Sending the head spiralling to the other side. Gujian slashes six times in an instant. All landing on the same spot towards the exposed neck. Barely cutting halfway through. The puppet tries to regain its bearing. But I use the Thundergod steps again. Moving away then slamming my warhammer towards its nuts again. Stunning it again. Fumo suppresses the puppet with his palm, chant, and golden aura while Gujian focuses on cutting its neck.

The puppet screams in pain and explodes another Necrotic Qi. Sending us all tumbling backwards. This time, the puppeteer burns her soul for this surge of power. Its attention now solely on me and it charges. Only for flowering lotus to stop the puppet mid flight. Qingling, who was knocked out most of the fight, finally recovered and managed to stop the puppet in time.

“Destroy it now!” She screamed.

I finally summoned my oversized railgun again. doubling up the caliber to 32mm (Actually 96mm) and rail barrel length once more. Is this enough!? Let’s double it once more. Now the caliber is more than 60mm (actually 180mm) and the barrel length is long enough that this should be mounted on a spaceship. This should be enough right!?

“EVERYBODY CLOSE YOUR EARS!” I shouted and boosted it with my Qi so everyone heard. I pull the trigger. Then everything turns white.

I am now, somewhere on the ground. Ears ringing as tinnitus and jackhammer are making a lovechild within my head. Am I on my back or on my stomach? The first thing I see as the blur in my eyes fade is Fumo looking at me with concern. He speaks something and I can hear none of it. I immediately shot up sitting and puke to the other side. That one maneuver cost me 70 bullets. Now with less than 5 bullets of Qi within me which is around 3 percent Qi left.

“Did I do it!?” I shouted through the ringing

“You level the entire city. But yes, you obliterated the corpse puppet.” Came Qingling’s voice through telepathy

“Fuck! What about the people!?” I looked around at the obliterated city. There’s a line dividing where the city was and now a huge round crater where I fire the railgun.

“Rest assured. The mortals are secured on the empty mines beneath the palace. The array reinforcing the structure there is still somewhat intact so I command the soldiers to move them there.” Fumo also speak to me through telepathy

“It’s not over yet though.” Gujian’s voice breaks through the ringing as it finally starts to fade. He looks outside the wall. Where legions of undead are still marching. Oh yeah, that.

“What should we do now?” I ask, exhausted.

“I spent most of my Qi removing the Necrotic Qi and holding the puppet back.” Qingling answer

“I spent my entire Qi and Merit Essence on the fight.” Came Fumo’s answer

“I might last another minute or two.” Gujian adds

Fuck, all of us are exhausted.

“If our pills and talismans are not stolen, we might be able to replenish our Qi with pills.” Qingling laments. We have to fight hard to defend the city. Abandoning it now is like wasting all our efforts

“We can absorb Qi from our spirit stones.” Gujian adds

“It will take too long as we need to absorb it properly. We might be able to do it if the mortals can hold the line for longer.” Qingling responds

“How to absorb Qi from the spirit stones?” I ask as I have no clue

“We absorb it the way we cultivate, through breathing techniques and cultivation methods. Guide it towards our Dantian to be refined into our own Qi.” Qingling answers after remembering I am clueless about most stuffs

Through breathing techniques and other cultivation methods huh? I have none of that. The cannons are still firing. The soldiers are still fighting. 

“Wait, guide the Qi to flow to Dantian?” I ask as I stand. There might be something I can do

I project a grinder then throw all my thousand spirit stones. Let’s see, the old man said that all my Qi are on my head, Dantian. Whatever it is, I forgot. I grind all the one thousand spirit stones I have in my storage ring into a fine dust. Then project a table underneath to gather the fine spirit stone dust. Then I form a line with the spirit stone dust.

“What are you doing?” Gujian asks in genuine curiosity

“How my life peaked in university!” I declare, then… I snort the entire fine Spirit Stone dusts. The dust stings my nasal nerves like crack. A little too much. But I force myself to snort the entire thing I made from a thousand spirits stones. My eyes, spinning! My head, burning! But I am filled with POWER!

“WOOOOOO! BABY!” I slam my hand on the table. Crushing it as I felt electric. Full of power. Then I march, hopping, towards the gate.

Gujian raises his eyebrows. Then he took out a high grade spirit stone. Set it on his scabbard and crush it with his sword. Making the same line then snort everything.

“WUEEEE!” His head slamming up and down in a whiplash. 

“WULOLOLOLO!” He raises his sword then jumping left and right with his foot towards the gate

Fumo and Qingling look at the two reckless idiots. Those are the signs of Qi deviation. They took out their own spirits stones. But decided not to use it the same way. As it is best for them to prepare using the array they have prepared instead. And for that, they need proper clarity in their minds.

—

Jīn Wǎnqíng (金婉晴|Gold Grace of Clear Sky), the King of Jin, wipes the sweat on his forehead. Like the deer headed immortal said, the soldier's morale is bolstered with his presence. Even more so once they saw that he can use the cannons. Truthfully, he just did what he remembered when he bought the cannons during the presentation. Like the immortal said, it is easier than he thought. The soldier and the eunuch that came with him helps him using one of the cannons. Even better as he doesn’t need to aim. His ears are still ringing at the massive explosion within the city. His heart sank as he saw the city practically demolished but recovered after the soldiers told him his people were safe. But the legion of bone puppets in front of him is not even close to thinning. And the north and south sections of the wall have begun to overrun.

“Henyek!” An out of place voice came. He looks back, the deer immortal climbs the battlement. As he stands, he sees that the immortal is twitchy, a bit jittery.

“So that’s where the missing population are.” He noted before assessing the cannons I am using.

“WULILILI!” Came a strange battlecry as another immortal clears the north and south battlement swiftly with his sword

“Lord Immortal, I thank you for the…”

“Is this one hundred millimeters?” He interrupts, holding some kind of vase? Then comparing its size to my body. The thing in his hands is around half of my width. He opens his mouth as he considers, and what I see chill my entire body. Many sets of jaws.

“Definitely not. Now all of you, move over here.” He commands and we follows

“Fuck off with this gay ass limp dicked cannon!” Then with his power, he swept the cannon away from the battlement.

“MY CANNONS!” I shouted as the cannon fell down from the battlement. That thing cost an entire month of tax!

Then I am suddenly lifted. Some kind of new steel fortification appears on the battlement. The Deer Immortal put me on the seat. Moving my right hand to some kind of lever.

“Index finger for BRRRRT! The big red button for your thumb for big BOOM! Aim at the centered red circle.” He gives instructions and my thumb presses the big red button. The cannon on the battlement’s right fires and the explosion is much bigger than the Qi cannon I bought. My soldiers cheer at the crater it made and the bone puppets it destroys.

I looked back, commanding my soldier to reload. But I see a mechanism where the cannon loads on its own. My eyes went wide. I look back to the front. In front of me is a glass with a red dot at the center. I pinch my index finger and constant fire from under the cannon’s barrel mowing down the undead by the dozens. Oh this is glorious! I wonder if I can buy it.

—

The king got his cannon. The soldier gets his cannon. The palace staff get his cannon. As for me, I made a bigger battery. This one is a 200mm caliber (600mm actually) of conventional cannon with GAU/8 underneath the primary barrel. Standard battery for frigate spaceships before shifting to railguns. And lastly, music! I blast loud trumpet music to accompany the cannons. The American way! (It is something similar to Stars and Stripes from Fallout). Then the morale of the battlements is better than ever as my cannons sing and the music deafens them from the terror they face.

Behind me, I detect a huge force of Qi. Expanding and making a barrier around the wall. The same golden aura from Fumo now shared with the soldiers' own weapons and arrows. Making it more effective against the legion of skeletons. The one controlling the skeletons tries to form bigger ones. But they are destroyed easily enough with a volley from the king and his men. Or one shot from me. Each giant skeleton tumbling down brings more cheer from the soldiers fighting.

“Danxing! Gujian! This is Nether Bone Legion. Find and kill the banner bearer or the bone puppets will not stop respawning.” Qingling’s telepathy came from behind

“Alfight.” I bite my tongue. Now, where would a banner bearer that controls skeletons be. But then I saw a blinking light. I aim towards the source. Zooming in to see a man and woman. The latter is wearing a much better dress than any I ever see so far. Some kind of noble with her servant? Waving her hands. Then point to the right. At some mountain side. Was that where the banner bearer is? Eh, why the fuck not.

I fire my clearly not 200mm cannon towards the directed mountain side. Revealing a man waving some kind of black green banner with some symbols on it. Nice!

“Aim all cannon towards teh sonoabitch!” My words slurred. But they get the idea. I also keep firing my cannon towards the man. But he is protected with some kind of a barrier. Seeing that the cannons are not making a dent, I get up from the gunner seat. I need something bigger but I cannot switch to railguns as it takes too much Qi. Projecting conventional cannons is much more efficient and even then, projecting a few for the king and his men is already draining. Thinking of something more efficient and powerful, I naturally came to cruise missiles.

So I project one. Eh, let’s see. From the leaked documents I managed to read from some game forum, it's supposed to be around three times a man’s height. So I make one three times my size. What should I add inside again? Magnesium, Nitro something-something. Ah fuck it! Fill it with white phosphorus and napalm as those are easier to remember. My Qi will compensate the rest just like with the railgun.

Then I launch the thing. It flies majestically bright on the eerie brightness of the night.

Then it landed. Blooming like a small sun in the night.