Defense

Since the fellow wasn't dead, it was time to dig. Wei Yuan pressed his hands down and lifted them, using his Dao power to hoist several massive boulders and toss them aside. Knowing Xu Wenwu was down below, Yun Feifei and Xu Wan'er joined in. None of the three were ordinary Dao Foundation cultivators, and with Qingming's blessing augmenting them, their Dao power was abundant. Before long, they cleared the rubble and pulled Xu Wenwu out. A fallen beam had happened to brace itself right over the subterranean chamber. Everything inside was intact, including Xu Wenwu. Yun Feifei's gaze fell upon Qingming. It lingered for a breath, then shifted away as though she had seen nothing at all. Just then, she felt a slight tickle on top of her foot and instantly knew someone was staring at it. Lowering her gaze, she saw a few flecks of dust clinging to her snow-white foot, only making the pale skin look fairer. Casually tilting her head up, she followed the line of sight and was met with Xu Wenwu's mesmerized face. With a flick of her hem, she covered her foot. Looking back around, she saw Wei Yuan pacing in circles around Qingming, inspecting it up and down without missing the tiniest detail. If he could spare even one percent of that focus to glance at her legs, she might still feel like a woman. Qingming was running smoothly, with no issues and not the slightest sign of contamination. Wei Yuan finally let out a sigh of relief. Grabbing the dazed Xu Wenwu, he shook him a few times. Seeing that all his parts were still attached, Wei Yuan put his mind at ease. "Let's go. To the secret vault." Yun Feifei and Xu Wan'er rose into the air, while Wei Yuan grabbed Xu Wenwu and sprinted along the ground with long strides. Even on foot, he was not a bit slower than the two women. Xu Wenwu squirmed constantly in his grip, desperately trying to say something. Seeing his urgency, Wei Yuan relaxed his Dao power. Xu Wenwu kept his voice uncharacteristically low, hurriedly whispering, "With such a golden opportunity, look up! If you see what color it is, remember to tell me!" *I really shouldn't have relaxed the Dao power,* Wei Yuan thought. Lanshen Palace's secret vault was built behind a boulder, surrounded by barren hills where no people lived—only animal tracks marked the ground. The vault had also been concealed by incense aspiration power, so the enemies had overlooked it when destroying the mountain gate. Fortunately, Yun Feifei knew where most of the sect's hidden stores were and located this one. The entrance was very simple, covered only by a boulder. Once moved aside, three storage rooms were revealed. One contained raw ores of seven or eight varieties, ranging from several hundred jin to over ten thousand jin. There was nothing truly rare; anything of real worth would have long been uncovered by the True Person of the Dharma Idol realm. The second room held artifact vessels—weapons and armor that had been forged but lacked the final step of infusing Dao power to awaken them. These unawakened forms were inexpensive, so the chamber held over a hundred flying swords, dozens of cleavers, and hundreds of other weapons, but only ten suits of armor. When not on the battlefield, many cultivators disliked wearing heavy armor, as it ruined their elegant bearing. The vessels themselves were ordinary in quality; even if refined into magical artifacts, they would at best reach mid-grade. Their sole advantage was quantity. The third room contained processed grain, rice, and meat, similar to the military rations of the Palace of Grand Beginning, though slightly inferior in quality. However, there was plenty—a full ten thousand jin. For a cultivator at the peak of Body Casting, just one jin a day was enough, making this sufficient to feed an elite force of a thousand men for ten days. The three of them brought the supplies out of the vault and moved everything near the main hall. Then Wei Yuan sensed something amiss with the prisoners' auras in the jail. The Third Martial Sister was far weaker than when she had first been locked up. He rushed to the cells and pushed the door open, only to find the prisoners hanging upside down from the beams. The Third Martial Sister had a fresh sword wound through her abdomen, piercing straight out her back. Though she was desperately constricting the wound, blood still seeped slowly from it. Wei Yuan did not remember her having such an injury, so he looked at Xu Wan'er. Xu Wan'er looked uneasy and lowered her head, murmuring softly, "You told me not to let them escape. The others were easy enough to handle, but Third Sister's Dao power is profound and she has many tricks. She kept trying to break free. I wasn't confident I could hold her, and I was afraid you might need me for something. What if she fled while I was gone? So I... I gave her a stab so she wouldn't have the strength to run." Third Martial Sister snarled, "Don't call me Third Sister! I don't have such a vicious little sister!" Wei Yuan pulled aside her clothes to examine the wound, then scanned her insides with his divine sense. He realized at once that the strike was exceptionally vicious. The entry point grazed her dantian sea of qi, already damaging it. If she wanted to preserve her Dao Foundation, she had to exert all her Dao power to seal the qi sea, while simultaneously using her physical strength to clamp the wound, or she would bleed to death. To top it off, the sword had nicked her intestines; any violent movement would cause them to snap apart. Even if Wei Yuan had done it himself, he couldn't have executed it better. Xu Wan'er seemed gentle and pure, but when she acted, she didn't hesitate in the least. The Western Regions truly were a brutal land with ruthless people—none of them were simple. Still, to show he was one step ahead of Xu Wan'er, Wei Yuan had to display his own methods. Fortunately, having spent ten years at the Palace of Grand Beginning, he had seen plenty of examples. For instance, he had learned many tricks from Eldest Martial Sister... Wei Yuan steadied his mind, cleared away thoughts he shouldn't be dwelling on, and fished out an appropriate technique from the rest. With a flick of his finger, two scorching beams of sword qi shot out, sealing the wounds on Third Martial Sister's abdomen and lower back, stopping the bleeding. She shrieked in agony, trembling from head to toe. Wei Yuan had experienced the taste of sword qi sealing a wound not too long ago, which had taught him the importance of respecting one's teacher. The sword qi sealed the wound while adding a burning effect, inflicting intense pain that shattered her concentration, leaving her unable to cast even the simplest Dao art. Having dealt with the risk posed by the prisoners and casually intimidating Yun Feifei and Xu Wenwu in the process, Wei Yuan returned to Qingming. Soon, from bits and pieces of conversation, Xu Wenwu gathered that a major battle was looming, against a formidable foe in a fight to the death. He grew excited at once. This was the Human King's very first step, the opening campaign to conquer the world! No matter how powerful the enemy was, victory was assured! The greater the disparity in numbers, the more glorious the triumph, and all those standing beside the Human King would surely go down in history. Still, a man only had one life. Xu Wenwu turned uncharacteristically serious! Racking his brains, he finally dredged up something and said, "In my world, there was a martial saint named Sunzi..." Wei Yuan found it strange. Why was his mouth-sealing art wearing off so quickly? The duration was getting shorter and shorter. But Xu Wenwu seemed to actually have something to say this time, so Wei Yuan listened attentively. Sure enough, Xu Wenwu continued, "...He wrote a book on strategy called *The Art of War*, containing the Thirty-Six Stratagems. It was incredibly formidable! Our ancestors relied on it to fight wars for thousands of years, victorious wherever they went!" Wei Yuan's interest was finally piqued; this was precisely what they needed right now. He asked, "What are the Thirty-Six Stratagems?" Xu Wenwu suddenly froze. The only one he could remember off the top of his head was 'running away is the best strategy,' and if pressed, 'the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans.' He had never even heard of the rest, let alone memorized them. Seeing him at a loss for words, Wei Yuan understood that this fellow probably only knew the book existed. "Wait! I remember something else! Since we're going to fight, we should definitely use guns!" Wei Yuan reached out, and a twelve-foot spear appeared in his hand. Xu Wenwu shook his head. "Not that kind of spear! Yours is too outdated—it's practically primitive! I'm talking about firearms, modern guns that fire bullets faster than the speed of sound!" Wei Yuan inquired about the definition of the speed of sound, which Xu Wenwu managed to explain clearly enough, given the term 'supersonic.' After pondering for a moment, Wei Yuan turned to Yun Feifei. "Go a hundred zhang away and thrust your sword at me." Yun Feifei flickered and reached a distance of a hundred zhang in an instant. From Xu Wenwu's vantage point, she looked like a tiny speck. She pointed a finger, light flashed, and a flying sword was already right in front of Wei Yuan! Wei Yuan casually caught the sword, and only then did the howling wind catch up to their ears. That sound had been deliberately produced by Yun Feifei; normally, flying swords struck in near-total silence. Before Xu Wenwu could recover from his shock, his vision blurred again, and Yun Feifei was already back where she started. She had barely been slower than the whistling sound. "This..." Xu Wenwu's mind went blank. Flying swords were supersonic too? Trying to conquer this world really was going to be a bit tough! Fortunately, he was quick on his feet and hastily said, "There's another way: dig trenches!" Wei Yuan pressed for details, but Xu Wenwu's understanding of trenches was limited to barbed wire in front and a ditch behind. The only reason he even remembered barbed wire was from watching too many war movies. Wei Yuan was about to seal his mouth again when Qingming's domain of transformation finally surpassed one li, revealing its first trait: Jia Wood Life-Mystic. Jia Wood Life-Mystic represented burgeoning life, flourishing vitality, and the growth of all flora, making it exceptionally advantageous for wood-element Dao arts. Within Qingming's domain, plant growth accelerated dramatically, and many dying spiritual plants could revive. At the same time, the recovery rate of Dao power surged, and wounds healed much faster. Wei Yuan could also focus this Life-Mystic power onto a specific person or spiritual plant to grant an extra boost to their growth or recovery. The Life-Mystic power of the Life-Mystic Stone Wei Yuan had seen at the Palace of Grand Beginning was merely a function, but Jia Wood Life-Mystic was far more potent—it had become an inherent trait. Not only were growth and healing accelerated, but it also commanded the power of all flora, and most importantly, it could revitalize withered spirit trees. Upon seeing Qingming's first trait, Wei Yuan immediately had a new idea regarding trenches. Quickly sketching a map of Lanshen Palace's terrain, he drew several arcs across the Wuyu Clan's advance route. "If we build trenches here, we can bottle up their army at the narrowest pass!" Xu Wenwu was thrilled, feeling that Wei Yuan was truly a rare judge of talent. It hadn't been in vain for a prized steed like himself to brave hardship and cross between two worlds to join his side. However, Yun Feifei chimed in, "If a Great Shaman casts a blood curse over the area, what good will hiding in these trenches do? Wouldn't staying inside be waiting for death?" Wei Yuan frowned in thought, and Xu Wenwu's heart leaped into his throat. In his mind, a trench was just a slightly curved ditch; he had never considered such a problem. Xu Wan'er added, "If the enemy sends several flying swords piercing down the length of the trench, wouldn't anyone inside just be a sitting duck?" With every breath Wei Yuan spent in thought, Xu Wenwu's anxiety mounted. Finally, Wei Yuan wiped away the curved lines and replaced them with several wavy lines, front and back, connecting them with numerous perpendicular channels until the layout formed an intricate web.