Dusk fell once again.
Xu Wenwu stepped out of the stone hut to continue walking the horse, while the immortals of the Palace of Grand Beginning returned and began processing today's thirty thousand words.
Having learned from yesterday's experience, Xiaoyu had acquired the trick of screening and filtering before committing anything to memory, and so was spared the fate of having to purge his divine soul again.
As he read, Xiaoyu grumbled incessantly, "Useless, rambling, nothing but drivel! What is all this gibberish? After reading for half the day, there's hardly a useful word in here!"
Wei Yuan felt the same. Out of the thirty thousand characters today, only nine hundred were of any use, while the rest was sealed away as garbage. Afterward, the group briefly compared what they had learned during the day.
Wei Yuan had scouted three hundred li in the direction of Quliu Town, mapping out the basic terrain as well as the small bands of humans or Shamans scattered across the region.
This expedition once more confirmed the constraints placed on his Dao Foundation. Now that Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains was fused with Qingming, its efficacy gradually waned once he stepped beyond the domain's borders.
Wei Yuan had repeatedly tested the degree of weakening during this scouting trip and calculated that once he moved roughly fifteen hundred li from Qingming, Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains would fall below its normal potency. At three thousand li, it would be almost impossible to manifest, leaving him with only his physical and dharma body while unable to employ his Dao Foundation.
This range would continually expand as the domain grew. The Qingming domain was currently thirty li, meaning Wei Yuan could operate up to a hundred times the domain's reach at maximum. Any farther, and his Dao Foundation could not manifest, reducing his combat power to a mere twenty or thirty percent.
Fifty times the domain served as another dividing line. Within that boundary, Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains was bolstered by Qingming and grew stronger than usual; beyond it, it was somewhat weaker than normal.
This discovery brought Wei Yuan mixed feelings. The good news was that he had a fair bit of room to maneuver and was not trapped within the domain. The bad news was that he could not travel elsewhere for the time being. If he wished to venture farther, his only option was to diligently build up the territory before him. For every li the domain grew, he would gain a hundred li of new land to explore.
There was little of note to scout in Wei Yuan's direction; his trip had primarily been to measure the decay of his Dao Foundation. Bao Yun and Ji Liuli, however, had ranged much farther ahead.
Ji Liuli had pushed out nine hundred li in one breath, essentially mapping the Shamans' strongholds along that route. That direction was not a primary focus for the Shamans, so she had identified eight strongholds of varying sizes and two small tribes along the way. The strongholds housed a total garrison of five thousand, while each tribe numbered more than four thousand.
Bao Yun's efficiency was astonishing—she had swept out fifteen hundred li in a single stretch. Around a thousand li from the Qingming domain, she found a tribe of fifty thousand and four smaller tribes of several thousand each.
This entire region had originally been part of Ningxi Commandery. Following the human collapse, the Shamans had gradually begun to infiltrate it again, seemingly preparing to reclaim their lost territory.
At the edge of the area Bao Yun scouted, she also discovered a Shaman military camp garrisoned by ten thousand warriors. Near the camp, she detected traces of Great Shaman activity. With night falling, she had chosen not to take further risks and hurried back before dark.
Many Shaman abilities grew substantially more potent at night, and daylight in the Wu domain was much shorter than elsewhere, losing at least two hours each day. Though Bao Yun's concealment skills rivaled those of a True Person of the Dharma Idol realm, there was no need to run reckless risks. She planned to scout deeper the following day.
Fifteen hundred li happened to be the dividing line for Wei Yuan's Dao Foundation. However, by tomorrow, as the domain expanded to forty li, that threshold would be pushed forward to two thousand li. If they waited one more day, Wei Yuan's strength would increase even further.
Yet time was of the essence. Slaying the Great Shaman had created a temporary window of vulnerability among the Shamans. Such an opportunity was fleeting, and they could hardly afford to wait for Wei Yuan's abilities to slowly climb.
After conferring, the group decided that Bao Yun would resume scouting early tomorrow morning, followed by Wei Yuan and Ji Liuli. Once they confirmed that no Great Shaman presided over the grand camp, they would launch an immediate raid to crush it in one blow.
Xiaoyu would stay behind to guard the domain, while Zhang Sheng would accompany the trio westward. He would not need to take action, coming along merely as a precaution. Although Zhang Sheng's immortal sword was sealed and its power halved, an all-out strike from it could still wound a dharma idol.
Once night fell, all human cultivators outside the domain withdrew inside. Should any Shamans enter the domain, Wei Yuan would sense them at once, whereas staying outside left them vulnerable to Shaman ambushes.
With the next day's operation settled, they parted to attend to their own tasks.
Wei Yuan needed to patrol the entire domain, checking the growth of the two Celestial Star Nightshades and the progress of the horse's conditioning. He also had to inspect the severely wounded, since he could use the power of the domain to pull anyone back from the brink if their condition worsened.
When he reached the stone hut, he was surprised to see light still shining from within. Xu Wenwu was bent over the desk, writing furiously.
Puzzled, Wei Yuan wondered why this fellow was still writing when he had already finished today's quota. He stepped inside to ask. Xu Wenwu explained that producing thirty thousand words a day was truly grueling, so while he was in good form tonight, he might as well stay up and write extra. That way, tomorrow would be more relaxed and less nerve-racking.
Wei Yuan found this quite reasonable. He had never intended to push Xu Wenwu to such extremes, but since Bao Yun was now in charge of the matter, it was awkward for him to intervene. As for whether the results were good or bad, he would observe for a few days before deciding.
Leaving the stone hut, Wei Yuan considered the situation, went to the cultivators' camp to fetch a bowl of meat congee cooked with Liang rice, and carried it back to Xu Wenwu. The man's Body Casting foundation was limited, and burning the midnight oil like this would surely leave him hungry.
Xu Wenwu froze at the sight of Wei Yuan, the brush nearly slipping from his fingers.
Wei Yuan said little, merely placing the congee on the desk and infusing it with a trace of dao power so it would remain pleasantly warm through the night without growing cold.
After Wei Yuan left, Xu Wenwu rubbed at his eyes, then raised the bowl and gulped down the contents in several large mouthfuls. As the scalding meat congee entered his stomach, his spirits instantly surged, and his cultivation advanced slightly.
Xu Wenwu set the bowl down heavily, trimmed the lamp, and threw himself back into his nocturnal battle, resolved not to rest until he was completely spent.
Returning to the main peak, Wei Yuan hauled over a boulder and used the Immortal Sword · False Sun to slice it into neat stone bricks. He then refined each brick with dao power, causing it to shrink slightly and become exceptionally sturdy. With no need to cultivate at present, he decided to build something with his own hands. The others could hardly spend all their time sitting cross-legged amid ruins.
In less than an hour, Wei Yuan had cut and refined more than a thousand bricks, though building an entire house remained far off. Just then, Ji Liuli's voice sounded in his ear, summoning everyone to the area north of the main peak.
Thirty li north of the peak, beyond the domain's borders, lay a rocky valley about a dozen li in length. In a clearing within the valley sat pestles, mortars, and other utensils. Arranged atop a freshly shaped stone table were a dozen heaps of black powder.
Once Wei Yuan and the others arrived, Ji Liuli pointed to the black powder on the stone table and said, "Gunpowder."
Wei Yuan started. She had actually made it?
Everyone perked up, eager to see just how formidable this legendary gunpowder truly was. Ji Liuli flicked a spark from her fingertip, igniting a small pinch of the black powder. With a sharp pop, a sizable burst of flame flared up, only to dissolve into black smoke.
"I tested different ratios. The potency varies somewhat; you can't just mix them at random."
Ji Liuli ignited several more piles behind it. Sure enough, the flames rose to different heights and sizes, the largest being more than twice the size of the smallest.
Having tested the front row, Ji Liuli pointed to the row behind it and said, "These are all mixed to the optimal ratio. Care to test their power?"
Wei Yuan gingerly gathered a mound of powder into his hand, feeling thoroughly intrigued, and rubbed it between his palms. Suddenly, a burst of searing heat erupted. The force nudged his fingers slightly apart, and smoke and flame sputtered out through the gaps.
Wei Yuan opened his hand, looking somewhat sheepish. How was this stuff so fragile against friction? Wasn't it supposed to require a spark to ignite? He brushed away the black ash, his palm still as lustrous as jade, without a single scorch mark.
Seeing this, Xiaoyu also tried rubbing some in his palm. The powder exploded just the same, numbing his hand and leaving several faint yellow marks on his skin. Keeping his expression neutral, Xiaoyu discreetly scraped away the scorched skin while pretending to brush off the ash.
Only then did Xiaoyu remember that Wei Yuan's physical body was an anomaly. Just because he could hold exploding gunpowder unharmed didn't mean others could; a thin layer of his own skin had still ended up scorched.
Zhang Sheng and Bao Yun were naturally above such foolishness. Wrapping a clump of powder in dao power, each ignited it to gauge its force.
Ji Liuli then retrieved three raw ingredients, tossed them into a mortar, and ground them with a pestle until they broke down into fine dust. Guided by her dao power, the powder rose into the air and mixed uniformly. Ji Liuli blew lightly, and the fine dust consolidated into grains the size of sand.
This time, she prepared enough gunpowder to fill a soup tureen, finally shaping it into a sphere that rested in the palm of her hand.
She ignited the sphere with dao power. With a thunderous boom, the ball of powder detonated violently, its flames instantly reined in by Ji Liuli to a span of barely a foot. The sphere of dao power expanded once, then settled, filled with billowing black smoke. When she released her dao power, the smoke surged upward, sending a wave of warm air washing over the group.
"That's about all the power it has," Ji Liuli said.
Reflecting on what he had just felt, Wei Yuan asked, "The tighter the confinement, the greater the force, right?"
"Indeed."
Zhang Sheng remarked, "If that's all it amounts to, there are plenty of substitutes. For instance, dropping dark water into an earthfire flame core causes water and fire to clash, yielding a hundred times this power—enough to shatter even the crust of an astral meteorite."
Ji Liuli gave him a surprised look. "You know artifact crafting?"
Zhang Sheng's face flushed slightly, and he murmured vaguely, "I dabble a bit."
Bao Yun said thoughtfully, "This is merely our initial test, so the recipe surely has room for optimization. If we introduce certain additives, the potency might multiply several times over. As for what to add, we can test them batch by batch."
Zhang Sheng nodded. "This can be handed over to the Hall of Heavenly Craft. They have many cultivators dedicated solely to refining formulas and could easily test over ten thousand variations a month."
"Its power is thoroughly mediocre. Why go through all that trouble?" Xiaoyu asked, unconvinced.
Wei Yuan countered, "It has one great advantage: it's cheap. A single drop of dark water and a drop of earthfire flame core are enough to make over a thousand dan of gunpowder. Detonating that much powder would release far more power than two mere drops of elemental essence."
"No matter how much you have, it's useless," Xiaoyu said. "Can mortal fire kill a dharma idol, however much there is? It can't even burn me to death." He possessed the Immortal Sword Great Sun; while his physique was not exceptionally strong, he was remarkably resistant to fire, second only to Wei Yuan in that regard.
At that moment, Bao Yun spoke up: "Now that we have gunpowder, why don't we try making guns and cannons?"
Chapter 140