Dragon Canon

Once the drills were complete, all the cultivators laid down their weapons and picked up tools to begin building the city walls.

The newly constructed Xuanwei Six stood on the only route the Shamans could take to attack the realm. How crucial was this location, exactly? It was as crucial as the commanding general of the previous offensive splitting his forces specifically to try to capture it.

Unfortunately for the commanding general, he had clearly misjudged Wei Yuan’s military strength. He hadn’t anticipated that Wei Yuan would reinforce his ranks with over a hundred Dao Foundation stage cultivators in such a short time. As a result, the 10,000 troops he left on the surface were swiftly routed by Wei Yuan with an equal force. Had the Shaman reinforcements not arrived in time, the entire 20,000-strong army would have been annihilated.

Having once again experienced the benefits of underground fortifications, Wei Yuan naturally seized every opportunity to build an underground stronghold. These cultivators were at a critical stage of their training, so as soon as they finished drilling, they were sent to Xuanwei Six to dig tunnels, under the pretext of “foundation-solidifying.”

In truth, every cultivator knew that Qingming wasn’t just a territory of the human race. To them, it was their only home. Consequently, every single one of them threw themselves into training, combat, and labor with all their might.

Wei Yuan could have issued a suicidal order like having ordinary people charge at the Shamans with guns and fire a single shot, and no one would have objected. In the previous major battles, there had even been several instances where the troops, despite losing over half their members, continued to fight to the death without retreating.

The Cui clansmen were newcomers and so hadn’t yet grasped the situation. Confused, they simply followed the crowd in donning their tools and spent the entire night digging tunnels. At first, they assumed this was just part of their training, but as dawn approached and they packed up to return to their quarters, they realized it was exactly what it looked like: manual labor.

Of the five who had paid for immunity from death, all but the direct descendant from the eldest branch had dug tunnels all night. Cui Yu believed that they had merely purchased the right to stay off the battlefield—nowhere had it been stated that they were exempt from manual labor.

However, wherever a group of spoiled brats gathered, there was bound to be a loose tongue. Not even an hour had passed before everyone knew that the five men had paid for immunity from death.

When they first arrived, these hedonistic children had thought that war was a distant prospect. But after a whole night of digging, some began to sense that something was amiss—they were digging fortifications, weren’t they?

Not only that, they kept coming across corpses and severed limbs that hadn’t been cleared away while digging. Only then did they realize that war was right around the corner. After asking their accompanying cultivators about past battles, many of them began to panic in earnest. Those with some financial resources decided on the spot to seek out Cui Yu as soon as work was done and buy a pardon.

As the bell signaling the end of the workday rang, cultivators crawled out of the underground like ants one after another. The Cui clansmen also headed back to camp to catch a brief rest and prepare for the next day’s training.

A girl was tugging at the sleeve of another Cui clansman and speaking frantically about something. After listening to her until the end, the man scoffed coldly, “Lend you money to buy a pardon for your little brother? And how are you going to pay it back?”

Tears were already welling up in the girl’s eyes. After glancing back at her younger brother’s timid yet hopeful expression, she gritted her teeth with resolve and replied, “I’ll pay you back... with myself!”

Just as the man began to waver, someone beside him yanked him away, muttering, “Quit it! A single pardon costs two hundred immortal silver, you know? Two hundred! That’s enough to buy dozens of girls like her!”

The man felt that his companion had a point and walked away without looking back. The girl desperately tried to grab him, but he easily shook her off.

The girl pulled herself together and went to find others, but be it asking for a loan or trying to sell herself, she met with no success whatsoever.

As dawn broke, Wei Yuan arrived at the drilling grounds once more and prepared to activate Life is a Flash. It was at this moment Cui Yu showed up in a hurry and handed him a new list. Wei Yuan was surprised when he read it, asking, “So many people are buying a pardon?”

“Yep. A total of seventeen, so that’s another three thousand four hundred taels in our account. Those without cash can pay with mystic artifacts or other items, but we don’t accept credit.”

“Some of them are probably bankrupting themselves! Spending all that money just to halve their chances of establishing a Dao Foundation—is the battlefield really that terrifying?”

To his surprise, Cui Yu replied, “It is that scary. Yesterday, I briefly mentioned the casualty rates from the past few battles and gave myself a scare.”

Wei Yuan fell silent. Considering their casualty rates, he wouldn’t have allowed a family member to set foot on the battlefield either.

“They don’t want to die, and their chances of establishing a Dao Foundation are slim. In that case, why did they come at all? They might as well just go back.”

Cui Yu sneered. “As if it would be that easy. The clan had paid them incentives beforehand to come here. It is why the Ancestor is fine with most of them dying. If they dare return without producing results, forget being spared, they might even be flogged to death for their failure and cowardice.”

“I won’t bother with them then.” Wei Yuan had no time to worry about some good-for-nothing from the rich and powerful. As soon as the drills were done, he had to accompany Yu Zhizhuo to the armament workshop.

Thanks to the influx of over a hundred Dao Foundation stage cultivators, the realm’s steel production had increased dramatically. Alas, it was still far from enough. Now that they had finally welcomed a high cultivator from the Mastercraft Hall, it only made sense to ask for his guidance as soon as possible.

After the drills, Wei Yuan met up with Yu Zhizhuo. They then flew together to the armament workshop.

They were still a dozen li or so away from the armament workshop when Yu Zhizhuo looked at the column of smoke ahead and remarked, “The furnace temperature is a bit low. You won’t be able to refine mystic artifact-grade materials with it.”

Wei Yuan was immediately impressed. Anyone could judge the temperature by looking at the fire, but to determine a furnace’s temperature just by looking at the smoke from a distance—that was the mark of a true master.

Last night, Zhang Sheng had privately given Wei Yuan a detailed introduction of his new senior uncle. Like Ji Liuli and Zhang Sheng, Yu Zhizhuo was a cultivator who had long attained perfection of the Dao Foundation stage but had deliberately delayed his advancement to the Avatar stage because he sought to also perfect his primordial spirit and state of mind. He was definitely a figure of great promise.

Not only that, Zhang Sheng had mentioned that much of Wei Yuan’s cultivation resources in his early years had come from the Mastercraft Hall, facilitated by Yu Zhizhuo himself. However, his master had only touched on this briefly and did not go into the specifics.

There was one thing Zhang Sheng did not mention, though: he had written a letter to Yu Zhizhuo long ago, yet never received a reply from the man. Consequently, he had no idea why the man had suddenly come to Qingming. Could it really be for the sake of the nether soil?

Upon arriving at the armament workshop, before Yu Zhizhuo even had a chance to examine the furnace, his gaze was drawn to the fifty cultivators forging iron in perfect unison. He watched quietly for a moment before asking, “How long are they working like this every day? An hour?”

Wei Yuan answered, “Er... sixteen hours[1], actually.”

Even someone as well-traveled and knowledgeable as Yu Zhizhuo couldn’t help but be startled. “Why so many hours?” he asked.

“They’ve just established their Dao Foundations and need to solidify them,” Wei Yuan explained.

Yun Zhizhuo snorted. “How on earth can forging iron help solidify one’s Dao Foundation? Are you... mass-producing steel plates?”

“Your insight is as sharp as a torch, Senior Uncle! These steel plates are crucial for manufacturing firearms, and firearms are crucial to the survival of this realm. The more, the better.”

“Fire... arms?”

“I was just hoping to give you a demonstration. Please, follow me.”

Wei Yuan led Yu Zhizhuo to the firing range, then ordered his men to bring over a batch of steel-barrel guns of various models. Wei Yuan picked up a gun that was loaded with two catties of gunpowder, aimed at a wooden target that was ten zhang away, and ignited the powder.

There was a thunderous boom, and a fist-sized projectile shot out, blasting a huge hole in the wooden target clad in standard Shaman armor!

Yu Zhizhuo said nothing. He teleported in front of the wooden target and examined it closely for a long time. He even picked up the projectile to inspect it. After that, he tried out the guns himself, firing dozens of shots in a row before finally, reluctantly, settling down.

“What do you think?” Wei Yuan asked.

“It’ unbelievable! This is akin to unleashing a Dao Foundation-stage attack at the Body-tempering stage!”

A thin strand of pale gold sword shot out of Yu Zhizhuo’s fingertip, slicing one gun in half horizontally, then another vertically.

The pale gold sword qi was literally cutting through iron like mud, leaving behind cross-sections that looked as smooth as a mirror. Wei Yuan felt that it bore a striking resemblance to Zhang Sheng’s immortal sword, Void Cutter.

Yu Zhizhuo examined the cross-section of the steel plate closely before cutting off another piece, holding it in his hand. The steel fragment rapidly heated up, turning red-hot in no time and melting into a pool of glowing molten steel. He studied the color of the molten steel for a bit before giving it a casual pinch, causing the temperature to plummet, and the molten steel to solidify into a steel ball.

Yu Zhizhuo then picked up a gun loaded with two catties of gunpowder—the type Wei Yuan had used during the demonstration earlier—covered the muzzle with his bare hand, and ignited the gunpowder directly!

Wei Yuan was stunned, but not one wisp of smoke escaped from between Yu Zhizhuo’s fingers. The blast was fully contained within the barrel, causing the entire gun to swell and warp.

Yu Zhizhuo released his grip. His palm bore some scorch marks, but he easily removed them with a casual wipe against his robe. After setting down the deformed steel barrel, he said, “The steel quality is too good considering the gun’s power. It doesn’t need to be this sturdy. Simply cut the number of hammerings by half and add a single quenching step in the middle, and the steel quality will be good enough to meet expectations. This way, you can double your daily steel plate production.”

Wei yuan was ecstatic. As expected of a high cultivator of the Mastercraft Hall, he had doubled their steel plate production capacity in just a few sentences!

“How did you come up with this ‘firearm’ in the first place?”

Wei Yuan considered his options for a moment before deciding to simply tell the truth. “I accidentally captured a visitor from the Beyond and had him write down everything he saw and experienced there. In that world, cultivation is impossible, and everyone is mortal. Firearms are the weapons used by the mortals of that world.”

“There’s a world like this? Where are the records? Bring them to me so I can take a look.”

“The records are stored in the central peak. I’ll have someone make a copy right away and send it over to you.”

Yu Zhizhuo picked up another gun and aimed it at a target. While toying with it in his hand, he said slowly, “This thing’s power is a bit lacking, but they can pose a serious threat if there are enough of them.”

“I intend to issue one to every person in the realm. When the Shamans arrive, they’ll learn what the saying ‘every citizen a soldier’ means.”

“Increasing the quantity won’t be difficult. I already have a rough idea in mind, but let me finish reading the records written by that otherworldly visitor first.”

Wei Yuan immediately replied, “I’ll accompany you to retrieve the original copy right now, and I’ll send you a copy later. Speaking of which, it’s time for our daily meeting. Would you like to join us, Senior Uncle?”

Yu Zhizhuo already knew that the members of the Palace of Absolute Beginning met regularly every day, primarily to exchange innovative ideas and, on the side, to handle major matters within the realm. Having just tested out the firearms, Yu Zhizhuo’s interest in Qingming had greatly increased, and he wanted to hear what the others who had arrived earlier had to say as well. So, he followed Wei Yuan back to the central peak.

Once everyone had gathered, Sun Yu spoke up, “I’ve had a bit of free time these past two days, so I’ve been studying that immortal medicine[2] Xu Wenwu brought to our world, Amoxicillin. To my surprise, it is quite extraordinary, so much so that, for mortals, it truly deserves to be called an immortal medicine.”

“Wait, this so-called immortal medicine actually works?” Everyone was curious to hear his findings.

Sun Yu took out two small dishes and placed them on the table. Both were coated within a thin layer of oil. He then said, “I sprinkled one dish with some Amoxicillin, but left the other one empty. After a day and a night, the micro-insects in the dish with the medicine are nearly all dead, while the other dish is teeming with life.”

1. You can’t be an MC without being a slave driver. ☜

2. Refer to chapter 105 if you’ve forgotten. I certainly did lol. ☜