Coordinates

The moment he returned to Guantun County, Wei Yuan collapsed heavily to the ground, the Demonic Blade flying from his grip. Qiyue could only let out faint whines and groans, incapable of even crying out properly. Wei Yuan struggled to his feet. Picking up the Demonic Blade to examine it, he saw several small nicks along the edge, and a faint fracture ran along the spine. Had Qiyue not absorbed seventy percent of the strike from the colossal mechanism golem, Wei Yuan's injuries would have been far worse. With the situation dire and urgent, Wei Yuan carried Qiyue to Ji Liuli, entrusting the Demonic Blade to her care to stabilize its true spirit before sending it to Qingming for repair. Wei Yuan himself ordered his men to retrieve a full hundred top-grade healing pills meant for Dharma Idol cultivators from the storehouse, placing them into a specially crafted medicine-ingestion machine. Once loaded with pills, the mechanism dissolved them on its own, converting them into a dense medicinal mist that was far easier to inhale and absorb. Consuming a hundred Dharma Idol dosages all at once was something only a Dharma Idol cultivator like Wei Yuan could endure. Biting down on the machine's hose, Wei Yuan took a deep breath like a great whale drawing in the ocean, swallowing every wisp of medicinal mist into his belly! A heavy downpour mingled with hailstones instantly broke out across the sky of All Realms Prosperity. Raindrops nourished the earth, mending wounds and restoring vitality—this was the medicinal potency of the Dharma Idol pills. The hailstones, however, were a dark silver, brimming with potent corrosive acid. If left unattended after falling, each would corrode a patch of ground. These hailstones were the pill toxicity inherent in the medicine. Wei Yuan used his divine abilities to condense it into hail so that it would not immediately harm his mindscape world. Within the mindscape world, tens of thousands of cultivators and mortals mobilized. Bearing specially made back-baskets, they scoured the ground to gather the hailstones. Once their baskets were full, they dumped them into handcarts along the streets. As soon as a cart was filled, a specialist would fly off with it toward a workshop at the edge of the city, emptying the hailstones into massive, multicolored pits. The lower layers of hail were already beginning to melt into a pale green liquid, with unmelted hailstones bobbing within. The deep pits in the workshop were strictly categorized, dedicated to storing all manner of harmful substances—including, but not limited to, the poisons Wei Yuan had ingested, pill toxicity, excessive sensitizers, curses, and waste generated by the various grotto-heavens. Since he had yet to find a practical use for these substances, they were kept in storage for the time being—waiting for the right moment to drop one massive, nasty load on his enemies. The torrential rain poured for a full hour before Wei Yuan finally felt a surge of renewed vigor, barely managing to suppress his injuries. With no obvious wounds remaining on his body and his mobility fully restored, he rose at once and set out from Guantun County once more, heading out to rescue the rebel force operating under the name of the Spear Saint of the Great Desolation. Having planted an avatar of his own in each army, Wei Yuan was naturally well aware that every unit was besieged by enemies outnumbering them severalfold, or even dozens of times over. Furthermore, their foes were not merely rebels and imperial troops, but also vast numbers of Dao soldiers. These Dao soldiers were formidable and fearless of death; the vast majority of Qingming's casualties had been caused by these Dao soldiers dragging them down in mutual destruction. Across the three battlefields in total, the central camp was in the most stable condition thanks to the protection of its encampment and fortifications. After a night of fierce combat, the rebels and imperial forces had left behind over a hundred thousand corpses while inflicting fewer than five hundred casualties on the central camp. The other cavalry force of a thousand riders had remained mobile, fighting as they retreated and breaking through the encirclement multiple times, but had now lost more than half their numbers. The most perilous situation belonged to Xu Wenwu. His unit was heavily surrounded by as many as a hundred thousand Dao soldiers and tens of thousands of imperial troops, completely devoid of fortifications. The soldiers had no choice but to use fallen warhorses and barding as makeshift breastworks, locked in endless melee against enemies storming their position. Fortunately, Xu Wenwu's dharma idol provided artillery fire support, repelling wave after wave of enemy assaults under the saturation of his bombardment. Xu Wenwu himself disregarded his own body, shoveling handful after handful of qi-replenishing pills into his mouth; otherwise, his giant mecha would be unable to generate more ammunition. By this point, barely a hundred soldiers remained at Xu Wenwu's side, and the situation had become critical in the extreme. Meanwhile, the avatar Wei Yuan had placed beside Xu Wenwu had been struck by more than a dozen Dao arts in the latest assault before enemy Dao soldiers finally severed its head, cutting off Wei Yuan's vision. Wei Yuan was not particularly worried about Xu Wenwu, however. Every move Wei Yuan made would draw the enemy's attention, whereas Xu Wenwu's front had only rank-and-file troops and two ordinary Dharma Idol masters, without any truly formidable powerhouses. Even if his entire force were wiped out, Xu Wenwu could rely on his transcendent dharma idol to carve a path through the encirclement and flee back to Guantun County. In contrast, it was Wei Yuan himself who would be in grave danger while en route to provide relief. After a moment of quiet reflection, Wei Yuan reined in his aura continuously, eventually dampening it to match the state he had been in when he had just fled back heavily injured. Then, carrying the last traces of Ling Canglan's karmic luck, he strode out of Guantun County. This was a calculated move born of deep deliberation. With his aura appearing withered and feeble, the enemy might suspect he was merely feigning weakness while actually at peak vitality. Yet the enemy was very likely to think one layer deeper, reasoning that Wei Yuan was playing a game of feigned deception—that under the guise of an obvious feint, he truly was desperately weak. If they came to clash with Wei Yuan head-on based on that assumption, they would walk right into a Counter-Slay spear strike delivered at the pinnacle of the Dharma Idol realm and backed by top-grade Scenery Command karmic luck. If the enemy thought yet another layer deeper, they would hold back from attacking Wei Yuan; think another layer further still, and they would attack him—an endless loop of second-guessing. Wei Yuan felt the enemy would probably think an even number of times. At this juncture, in terms of sheer lethality alone, when fighting a late Scenery Command opponent, the might of Counter-Slay would surpass even that of the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns. It was just rather costly on heavenly demons. His plan settled, Wei Yuan walked at an unhurried pace. The vast medicinal potency within him had yet to be fully absorbed, surging like ocean swells through his body. With every step he took, the medicine penetrated an inch deeper into his flesh and bone; with every passing moment, his strength grew by another fraction. According to his operational sequence, Wei Yuan planned to first relieve the unit that still had strength to spare, then lead them back toward the central camp to smash through the siege lines and escort them inside. With this fresh force reinforcing them, the situation at the central camp would be fully stabilized. In Wei Yuan's plan, Xu Wenwu ought to break out alone by now and return to Guantun County. Though losing Xu Wenwu's elite cavalry of a thousand was a bitter sacrifice, the State of Ji had suffered ten to dozens of times more casualties than Qingming, visibly tipping the entire theater in Wei Yuan's favor. Furthermore, Ji could hardly replenish its losses, whereas Qingming faced no such shortage. It had only been in the past ten years that the people of Qingming had truly had enough food to eat and warm clothes to wear. Consequently, the number of Body Casting cultivators was undergoing an explosive boom, increasing by a million Body Casting cultivators every single year, with the growth rate accelerating each year. When necessary, Qingming could easily field an army of five million Body Casting cultivators, and even by the elite standard of second-tier Body Casting, there would still be over two million. Thus, losing a thousand-odd men could be replenished in mere moments. Once the nearly two hundred thousand troops besieging Xu Wenwu marched back to the central camp, the defenses there would have long since stabilized. Wei Yuan would then personally lead a mobile force of twenty thousand out from Guantun County to launch a relief operation and bring the besieged troops back. From beginning to end, the elite forces Wei Yuan displayed numbered only twenty to thirty thousand, meant to bait the State of Ji into launching an all-out assault. If Ji refused to commit to a general offensive, Wei Yuan would incite scholars at court to launch scathing verbal and written attacks against the Minister of War, branding him as timid as a mouse, terrified of the enemy like a tiger, colluding with foreign powers, and corrupt in conduct. This strategy had been rigorously tested by All Realms Prosperity and stood as the approach with the highest overall success rate and best cost-effectiveness. Far away on the battlefield, Xu Wenwu let out a thunderous roar. The final volley of missiles from his honeycomb launcher erupted in a swarm, screaming after the opposing Dharma Idol general, while he swung his empty autocannon like a massive club, smashing it violently toward the enemy Dharma Idol! The enemy Dharma Idol general raised a massive greataxe, bracing himself against Xu Wenwu's blow. He then swept his axe horizontally, cleaving the last few resisting Qingming soldiers nearby in two! Several missiles slammed into the Dharma Idol general in quick succession, blasting his back into a mangled mess of blood and flesh, yet he managed to hold his ground. The dharma idol hovering above him was an armored warrior. Pointing toward Xu Wenwu, the general bellowed, "He's at the end of his rope! Brothers, charge! Great merit is right before our eyes!" Surging forward first was a sea of ash-gray Dao soldiers. Another less severely wounded Dharma Idol master lurked amidst the ranks of Dao soldiers, creeping forward step by step, alongside numerous Dao Foundation officers who eyed their prey like blood-crazed wolves. Beside Xu Wenwu stood only a handful of remaining soldiers. They exchanged a look and called out to him, "General, go quickly! We'll buy you some time!" Suddenly grabbing whatever munitions and explosives they could find at hand, they charged into the enemy ranks in separate directions and detonated them with earth-shattering blasts, dragging dozens of nearby enemies into the cycle of reincarnation with them. The last soldier, unable to find enough explosives, simply seized a barrel of fire-oil and plunged into the enemy formation. Grabbing a Dao Foundation enemy captain in a death grip, he ignited the oil, and roaring flames surged skyward! Within the pillar of fire, two silhouettes tangled together, never separating, before collapsing into the dirt as one. With a sharp snap, Xu Wenwu felt something shatter in his mind—and simultaneously, something awaken. Unbeknownst to him, tears were streaming down his face. In that instant, Xu Wenwu suddenly remembered something: a supply base established a hundred li away still stockpiled high-yield missiles, and Xu Wenwu possessed the clearance to authorize their launch. He immediately activated a single-use emergency communication disc. "This is Xu Wenwu. Calling Base One." A voice promptly responded from the disc: "...Base One here. Go ahead." Xu Wenwu said in a deep voice, "A massive concentration of enemy forces is gathered here. Launch all missiles at this location immediately! The coordinates are as follows..." "Acknowledged! Missiles away. Estimated time of arrival: three minutes..." A puff of blue smoke suddenly hissed from the communication disc as it burned itself out. Yet Xu Wenwu was remarkably calm. Casting aside his gunlance that had long run out of ammunition, he drew a shield and axe. His steel puppet dharma idol likewise switched to melee weapons, plunging forward to butcher through the endless swarms of enemy soldiers! Xu Wenwu knew that with his unique, peerless dharma idol in all the world, so long as he did not retreat, the enemy would never pass up such a golden opportunity—they would be pinned firmly to this very spot. Qingming missiles were no longer what they used to be; packed with immense explosive payloads, their destructive power was staggering. Once the barrage arrived, taking several direct hits would leave even a Dharma Idol master with no hope of survival, and Xu Wenwu was no exception. Countless enemies swarmed over him like ants. Xu Wenwu cut down one, only for more to take their place, wounds steadily multiplying across his flesh. Then, the color of the horizon suddenly shifted. A massive missile roared down from above, slamming into the earth a hundred zhang away! A colossal fireball rose in billowing grandeur, hurling thousands of bodies into the air while countless more were instantly pulverized into scraps of flesh. The fireball rose a hundred zhang into the sky before darkening into billowing black smoke. Within thirty zhang of the impact point, the ground had been reduced to a scorched wasteland; Dao Foundation cultivators and Body Casting soldiers alike stood zero chance of resistance. Reflected in Xu Wenwu's eyes were even more flickering points of light, hurtling toward him at blinding speed. In the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the corpses of several Qingming soldiers. Having lived and fought shoulder-to-shoulder with this unit day and night, Xu Wenwu had long regarded them as his brothers. He had never imagined they would all perish here today. Watching the massive swarm of incoming missiles, Xu Wenwu felt exceptionally calm. The land beneath his feet: when his brothers were here, it was a position. When his brothers were gone, it was coordinates.