At the border of Qingming, a floating vessel was loaded with cargo and moored at the departure yard at the start of the floating road. Cultivators in uniform inspected the vessel's documentation and cargo manifest one item after another, following every standard procedure. Only after confirming that all functions were in working order did they sign off on clearance, logging the departure simultaneously into the Splendor of the Many Realms before issuing the activation code.
Only with this code could the vessel embark upon the floating road and head toward its destination.
The code was exceptionally long and encrypted through complex mathematics, completely beyond the ability of ordinary cultivators to enter manually. Under normal circumstances, once the code was obtained, one needed only to link the floating vessel to the Splendor of the Many Realms, and the code would take effect automatically, granting the vessel transit authority. If a system failure occurred and the vessel could not connect to the Splendor of the Many Realms, the code could still be activated if three Golden Cores input it simultaneously.
With the activation sequence complete, the floating vessel slowly glided onto the floating road, automatically slotting into the road's formation arrays. Hovering one zhang above the surface, it gradually accelerated and sped off into the distance.
This floating vessel was a standard model designed specifically by Qingming for the floating road, capable of carrying two million jin—or one thousand tons under Qingming's new system—of cargo. It could haul freight or deploy ten thousand heavily armored warriors in a single trip.
The vessel's standard cruising speed was four thousand li per shichen. It could travel continuously, needing to stop only once every hundred thousand li to replenish its energy cultivators.
From Qingming to eastern Eastern Jin was a journey of hundreds of thousands of li, yet it took a mere seven days to arrive. This speed surpassed that of ordinary dharma idols. Furthermore, a dharma idol could not fly continuously for seven days, and their carrying capacity did not exceed ten-odd thousand jin.
Shortly after this floating vessel departed, a second one followed, then a third, fourth, and fifth—each separated by a standard interval. In this first transport wave, Wei Yuan intended to deliver hundreds of thousands of tons of military supplies and five hundred thousand Qingming elites to the front lines.
The supplies included thousands of missiles and several thousand large-caliber artillery pieces, while the hundreds of thousands of elites could generate a military qi that even immortals would be forced to avoid.
In addition, there was a batch of domain suppression systems newly developed by Qingming. Shaped like massive iron crates, each system housed four template Dao Foundations inside. Once activated, they functioned similarly to boundary stones, forcibly bending the environment within several li into whatever Qingming desired.
Once operational, this system pressed down like a heavy ballast upon the enemy's domain, causing their domain's consumption to skyrocket. This was a war of raw attrition, a contest of pure dao power. And as it happened, Qingming might lack other things, but template Dao Foundations were what it had in abundance.
Wei Yuan deployed five thousand sets of domain conversion nodes all at once, totaling twenty thousand template Dao Foundations.
Counting from the departure of the first floating vessel, in just ten days, Wei Yuan delivered five hundred thousand elites along with their full equipment, several thousand heavy cannons, thousands of heavy missiles, five thousand sets of domain conversion nodes, and one million logistics, support, medical, and other personnel to the end of the floating road. It was equivalent to airdropping an entire great city directly onto the front line.
Gazing at the towering, mountain-like military qi in the distance, the young monk in the Buddhist land lost his calm composure for the first time.
The moment the army arrived, Wei Yuan did not stop to rest and reorganize as onlookers had expected; instead, he launched an immediate offensive. Before the general assault, hundreds of heavy missiles screeched through the sky, slamming into various parts of the Buddhist land. Warheads packed with thousands of jin of explosive charge detonated, instantly obliterating everything within a hundred-zhang radius. The converted beasts and birds had no time to flee before being wiped out in swaths.
After the missiles came the heavy artillery. The shells were inexpensive and nearing their expiration date, so the bombardment was exceptionally fierce. The rolling barrage crept forward just ahead of the steadily advancing army, clearing a path through the terrain.
In the blink of an eye, the Buddhist land turned into a sea of fire. Trees burned and snapped, spirit beasts whimpered and died, clear streams were severed, green hills caught fire, and thick smoke drifted for a thousand li, forcefully transforming this land of ultimate bliss into a living purgatory on earth.
The young monk had been seated in a small temple atop the mountain, but now he could not resist stepping out of the temple gates to watch the points of fire raining down from the sky.
His eyes flashed, and numerous points of fire detonated midair. Yet far too many missiles and artillery shells rained down; the dozens or hundreds he intercepted were a drop in the ocean. The heavy artillery shells in particular fell like a relentless tempest!
Anger appeared in the young monk's eyes. Each time a high-yield missile exploded, a ripple stirred through his robes. And when the heavy artillery shells accumulated into the hundreds or thousands, his robes surged as well.
Though every corner of the Buddhist land was a wondrous sanctuary and there were no strategic choke points to speak of, it was precisely because every scene was pristine and entirely distinct from the mortal world that destroying these sights meant destroying the Buddhist land itself, requiring active restoration. Thus, Wei Yuan's wanton carpet-bombing placed an immense burden on the flesh-body Buddha.
Deep within the small temple sat an emaciated old monk. The old monk kept his eyes lowered, his skin resembling iron. A mortal looking upon him would immediately grasp an opportunity for sudden enlightenment. This was none other than that flesh-body Buddha.
Between the flesh-body Buddha's brows, an eye suddenly opened. Ripples of golden light cascaded forth, washing across the entire Buddhist land. Wherever the golden light passed, the fires were extinguished, the dead were restored to life, the wondrous scenery reemerged, and the missiles and shells still falling through the air were completely swept away.
Yet when Wei Yuan saw this, far from being angered, he was delighted. He immediately ordered the artillery barrage's duration doubled, and doubled the number of missiles slated to saturate the ground. In the rear, stockpiles of shells and missiles were rushed to the front line on emergency transports. In short order, the inventory of soon-to-expire munitions dropped by more than half.
Wei Yuan made no attempt to conceal this battle, nor could it be hidden. Consequently, nearly every gaze from atop the Immortal Heaven turned in this direction. Furthermore, multiple Scenery Command cultivators lurked in the shadows around the battlefield, quietly observing.
Seeing that Wei Yuan's bombardment had raged for half a day without any sign of abating, a divine thought rippled across the heavens: "Under such firepower, what defensive line could hold? How many soldiers could survive such shelling?"
Another immortal sighed. "Such a method of warfare is unheard of! If Li Zhi of Zhenshan had even half of these shells, he would have swept through the State of Ji long ago."
The immortals burst into discussion. "Are Qingming's artillery shells free of cost?"
"Half their shells are still stacked on their firing positions—is that an illusion? How many artisans, polishing for how many years, would it take to amass so many shells?"
"And what are those large iron crates being hauled to the front line?"
Soon enough, the immortals discovered the purpose of the iron crates. Countless heavy transport carts hauled them to designated positions and unloaded them, whereupon four template Dao Foundations crawled into each crate and began channeling techniques.
Scenery Command cultivators might not have understood what was happening, but the immortals possessed far superior vision and recognized the function of these iron crates at a glance. For a time, the Immortal Heaven fell dead silent.
As crate after crate was delivered to its assigned position and began operating, the pristine scenery of the Buddhist land began to warp and tremble.
From the flesh-body Buddha, another layer of golden light surged outward. But when the light reached within dozens of zhang of the iron crates, it encountered resistance and could not advance an inch further. The two sides entered a relentless tug-of-war, grinding down each other's strength.
The golden light was as vast as an ocean, yet the iron crates were extraordinarily numerous. Each side held an advantage, locked in a stalemate.
The immortals possessed sharp, piercing eyes; with a single sweep, they knew the precise count of those iron crates, and silence descended once more.
After a long while, an immortal finally remarked, "If it can shake a Buddhist land, it can naturally shake the Immortal Heaven. Does this method of war not force us immortals to compete in dharmic power against a mob of Dao Foundations?"
Another immortal said slowly, "Quantity breeds change. A few hundred or a few thousand Dao Foundations might still be called a mob, but down there are twenty thousand Dao Foundations! Such a multitude is virtually overwhelming."
"Do not forget that within Qingming, there are still a million Dao Foundations."
"A million might not even be the limit."
"Speak not of a million; even if there were only one or two hundred thousand, who among us could withstand it?"
"Fortunately, the Buddhist land manifests in the mortal realm below, whereas our grottos all reside atop the Immortal Heaven. This method of warfare cannot yet be brought to bear upon our heads," an immortal remarked with relief.
Directing the battle on the front line, Wei Yuan took in everything occurring across the battlefield. The effect of these domain nodes was extraordinarily good. The collective power of ten thousand templates equaled a Scenery Command cultivator going all out. Right now, it was equivalent to two Scenery Command cultivators striking with full might, pounding the Buddhist land without ceasing for a single instant.
Combined with the heavy artillery, the missiles, and the steady advance of more than a hundred thousand troops, the Buddhist land was gradually failing to maintain its perfection.
Seeing such remarkable results, Wei Yuan immediately issued an initiative titled the Anchoring Plan. The scope of this plan was how to project the power of the domain nodes onto the Immortal Heaven, so as to drag down those aloof, high-and-mighty immortals and make them compete in dharmic power against Qingming's million Dao Foundations.
Chapter 1361