The young woman finally came to her senses. Just as a shriek began to escape her lips, she clapped a hand over her mouth. Then, remembering something, she hastily switched to covering her face instead.
She dropped into a swift crouch, completely unconcerned about whether her vitals were exposed. Sweeping one hand across the floor, she scooped up all her clothes and then retrieved every dropped trinket one by one, making sure not to leave behind a single item that might betray her identity before vaulting out the window to flee.
Wei Yuan had watched in silence the entire time. Only now did he call out toward her retreating figure, "Could you leave a name? That way I can let Brother Li know when he returns."
"Go die!" the maiden's voice drifted back from the darkness.
Wei Yuan grew pensive. It seemed Li Zhi had hardly remained idle in his daily life; with so many elaborate roleplays, it was no wonder the fellow had taken so long to form a dharma idol.
Shaking his head, Wei Yuan resumed reading official dispatches, while the cat, snake, and sable each went about their own business.
As for Monk Peacock, Wei Yuan currently had no way of dealing with him. The fellow came and went like a phantom, eluding even Wei Yuan's perception. Had they been in Qingming, Wei Yuan could have dragged the monk out with the immense amplification of his domain, but here in Zhenshan, he had no such recourse.
At dawn the following morning, Wei Yuan assembled all the commanders of Zhenshan Domain, including two generals holding miscellaneous titles who had reached the Spirit Nurturing Realm of the dharma idol stage.
Wei Yuan had a map spread out and pointed to the largest Mountain Folk settlement near the domain. "These Mountain Folk have been entrenched here for a long time. Since we have nothing better to do, we might as well march over and smash them to pieces. The deployment is as follows..."
He proceeded to issue a sequence of commands.
As the orders came down, the expressions of the generals under Li Zhi shifted from astonishment to shock, and then to sheer disbelief.
Every order was meticulously detailed. Even the marching routes for small detachments of three thousand men were mapped out—where to advance, and what time to reach each location—leaving nothing to chance.
In the end, tens of thousands of troops were to arrive simultaneously at an open river valley thirty li outside the Mountain Folk encampment, which would serve as the battlefield for the final decisive engagement.
Wei Yuan issued a map to every general commanding troops independently, marking their designated assembly areas upon arrival as well as the formations they were required to assume.
Once the orders were given, Wei Yuan concluded, "Before Brother Li departed, he granted me authority over life and death. Anyone who dares disobey commands may be executed on the spot. I hope I will not need to exercise that authority in the battle ahead."
One of the titled generals offered a quiet reminder. "Lord Wei, there are one hundred and twenty thousand Mountain Folk out there."
"I know."
The general held his tongue.
As sunlight broke across the land, Zhenshan Domain surged with military qi, and the army marched beyond the borders, rolling forward in force. Dozens of scout cavalry squads set out in advance to reconnoiter the surrounding terrain.
Wei Yuan had already visited Zhenshan Domain several times, enriching the map's details with each trip. With dozens of scout detachments advancing ahead, a detailed topographic survey of the vast area was fully transcribed into Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains.
The army set out in the early morning and reached the designated battlefield by the afternoon.
The Qingming detachments were the first to arrive, occupying the high ground on both sides of the river valley. The foot soldiers and Dao soldiers immediately began digging defensive positions, while the cavalry stood on the elevated slopes to monitor enemy movements.
Moments later, the Zhenshan forces began trickling in. Between the first unit to arrive and the last, there was a gap of a full half-hour.
The appearance of the human army naturally caught the Mountain Folk's attention. Swarming out in droves, they began arraying their battle lines across the valley.
Wei Yuan sat atop his steed on the heights, surrounded by the generals under Li Zhi who had arrived in succession. Once they were all assembled, Wei Yuan pointed toward the opposing Mountain Folk and said calmly, "Had all of you arrived at the designated time, we would have already beaten them back to their homes by now."
The last two generals who had arrived looked away with guilty expressions, hanging their heads in silence. Wei Yuan said no more, directly calling the two by name. "Your two divisions will spearhead the assault and atone through merit."
Gritting their teeth, the two generals led their ten thousand troops into a frontal charge against the Mountain Folk army. Just as they assumed they were marching to certain death, a hundred-zhang Jade Mountain suddenly descended from the heavens ahead!
The Jade Mountain struck with vicious ferocity. Of the six dharma idols in the Mountain Folk center army, three fled immediately, while the remaining three were forced to take the blow head-on. They were severely wounded in an instant, throwing the center army into turmoil. Against Wei Yuan's full-strength strike, how could a mere two or three dharma idols hope to hold the line?
Moments later, the Jade Mountain manifested once more, blasting a gaping breach into the Mountain Folk lines. Dragon Wing charged into the gap, drilling clean through the enemy formation and then carving its way right back. The infantry surged forward behind them, followed by the Dao soldiers, and everything fell into a familiar, mindless rhythm.
Mounted atop a savage warhorse, Xu Wenwu snapped an oversized magazine into his firearm with a crisp click. Raising the gun one-handed, he fired several successive blasts, sending the Mountain Folk ahead tumbling to the ground.
Slamming in a fresh magazine, Xu Wenwu felt thoroughly imposing and brimming with murderous vigor. His weapon was custom-built; though its caliber was far smaller than the flying-sword guns dedicated to Dao Foundation cultivators, it was on par with the anti-materiel sniper rifles from his previous world.
He threw back his head and laughed heartily, shouting, "Daddy is a man who can fire a Barrett one-handed now!"
Just as he was looking for his next target, a sharp whistle pierced the air. A continuous roar of gunfire erupted as all the Dao soldiers unleashed a synchronized volley.
And just like that, no enemies remained in front of Xu Wenwu.
The overall battle lines were distinct. The Zhenshan forces held the left flank, locked in a brutal melee with the Mountain Folk, shouting fiercely as the two sides clashed back and forth.
The Qingming forces held the right flank, mowing down the opposing Mountain Folk like weeds. In the blink of an eye, the Mountain Folk right collapsed. The Qingming troops wheeled around to outflank the left wing, shattering the Mountain Folk left moments later.
The very Mountain Folk tribe that had recently dealt Li Zhi a crushing defeat fled over the mountains and ridges, leaving behind tens of thousands of corpses.
Watching the retreating Mountain Folk, Wei Yuan felt a touch of regret. Had Li Zhi's forces arrived on time to deliver a frontal blow while the Mountain Folk were still deploying, Dragon Gallop and the Dao soldiers would have had time to circle behind, cutting off the escape route and swallowing all hundred-plus thousand of them whole.
Still, after marching several hundred li, an arrival discrepancy of only half an hour was the mark of a truly elite army; Wei Yuan could hardly ask for more.
In truth, the Qingming forces moved with such seamless coordination primarily because enlightened Dao Foundation warriors served as squad leaders, allowing Wei Yuan to monitor each unit's progress in real time and relay orders without delay.
Wei Yuan had no intention of assigning enlightened Dao Foundation warriors to Li Zhi's units. That was his greatest secret for the time being, and he was not keen on leaking it to outsiders.
The half-hour gap in the Zhenshan forces' arrival might seem negligible, but had they been fighting Wei Yuan, that half-hour would have given him all the time he needed to destroy Li Zhi's army piece by piece. The vanguard would have been wiped out just as the reinforcements reached the field.
Following the resounding victory, Wei Yuan pressed on without pause, leveling two more major Mountain Folk strongholds before returning to Zhenshan to rest and regroup. After just two days of rest, boredom got the better of him, and he led the army out on the offensive again.
He simply brought over another twenty thousand mounted infantry from Qingming and launched rotational assaults, scouring the area within five hundred li clean of Mountain Folk.
A month later, when Li Zhi rushed back, he was startled to find that Zhenshan Domain had expanded to a span of one hundred and fifty li. Spoils of war were piled mountain-high throughout the domain, far too numerous to process or transport.
Returning to the lord's manor, Li Zhi found two towering stacks of battle reports on the desk, making his scalp tingle.
When he unrolled the map submitted by his generals, every known Mountain Folk stronghold had been crossed out, and numerous previously unknown settlements had been marked and similarly struck through.
Within three hundred li of the domain, not a single Mountain Folk stronghold remained. It had been cleaned out as thoroughly as a plate licked by a hound.
At that moment, Wei Yuan was leading a small detachment on a reconnaissance patrol outside the domain and had yet to return. Seizing the opportunity, Li Zhi summoned his generals to ask how many battles had been fought and how they had been conducted.
From the generals' accounts, the battles were absurdly simple: the army took up positions, the Jade Mountain dropped, the cavalry drilled through and drilled back, the entire force charged, and then they gathered the loot.
Li Zhi finally understood the difference between himself and Wei Yuan: he lacked a Jade Mountain.
It didn't necessarily have to be a Jade Mountain; any large-scale dao art of comparable power would do, or even a supreme treasure. Once an irresistible artifact crashed down, even the sturdiest enemy battle line would fall into disarray.
Fortunately, Four Sages Academy possessed deep foundations, and the Southern Qi Li family held countless treasures. Finding an artifact of comparable power would not be difficult.
Just then, Wei Yuan returned to the domain and met Li Zhi in the study.
Li Zhi said, "I have fulfilled my mission on this trip and persuaded three of the elders, on the condition that you are given another three years. There is another elder who is wavering, but that might require the Xiao family to sweeten the pot. Still, my friend, for this trip to the Bao family, I believe the crux lies in what identity you assume when negotiating with them. Relying solely on benefits, interests, and exchanges will likely not suffice."
With that, Wei Yuan understood.
Li Zhi had indeed done him an enormous favor. Counting Bao Manshan, Wei Yuan now had the backing of four Grand Elders and needed to win over only two more. The key remained what Li Zhi had said, which was the very question Bao Yun had asked before: with what identity and stance would Wei Yuan approach the Bao family?
Wei Yuan handed back his domain authority. The Qingming forces had already returned earlier, so he lingered no longer and headed back to Qingming.
Having seen Wei Yuan off, Li Zhi habitually spread open the map to plan his next military maneuver, searching for a target to attack.
Only when his eyes fell upon the vast expanse of crosses did he realize that there were no enemies left to fight. All that remained was to wait for the domain to slowly expand and claim the territory.
Even as night fell, the diligent Li Zhi could not quite adjust.
A night with nothing to do felt so utterly hollow.
Li Zhi picked up his brush and penned a letter to the daughter of a General of Agile Cavalry back in Zhao. Dispatching a confidant to deliver it, he sat down to meditate and cultivate.
Based on past experience, she would arrive around the hour before dawn. Then would come the female assassin mounting a nighttime raid on the enemy commander, only to fail, be captured, and subjected to a hundred humiliations.
Or perhaps a noble lady sneaking out at midnight to meet her lover, only to fall into the hands of bandits and be subjected to a hundred humiliations.
Or maybe a fragile maiden selling herself to bury her father, forced to submit to a local tyrant and subjected to a hundred humiliations.
Which script was chosen depended entirely on his mood that night.
Yet he waited until daybreak, and the general's daughter never came.
Chapter 429