Me, Afraid?

Having tricked the Nether Shaman, Wei Yuan quit while he was ahead and did not pursue any further. In this battle, the heavy-armored legions led by Wei Yuan's Longxiang Legion had shattered the Shaman army's morale. Yet while Qingming's military might appeared formidable, it was in truth somewhat hollow inside. Fewer than several hundred soldiers in the Longxiang Legion had actually been equipped with the nether-crystal-infused heavy armor, and they had all been placed along the outermost perimeter, spaced with an ordinary soldier between every two. The Great Shamans, however, had only noticed the warriors glowing with faint blue radiance, overlooking the ones silently enduring beside them. Of the ten heavy-armored legions, only two were genuinely heavy-armored. The armor worn by the rest looked similar in style, but was in truth medium armor weighing less than thirty jin. Wei Yuan had simply had the craftsmen polish and oil it so that it looked like brand-new heavy armor. Sure enough, the Shamans were bluffed by Wei Yuan, assuming every legion was just as ferocious as the Longxiang Legion holding the vanguard, and their morale collapsed. In truth, Wei Yuan had employed another trick: the bombardment of missiles and artillery fire had been far fiercer than in previous encounters. The Shaman field forces had all taken multiple missiles before they even closed the distance, arriving in utter disarray and collapsing immediately upon making contact. Despite these recurring deceptions, the Longxiang Legion, partially outfitted with nether-crystal armor, had thoroughly showcased the terrifying combat effectiveness of a heavy-armored legion. Unafraid of the Great Shamans' curses and able to focus entirely on fighting, ten thousand Longxiang soldiers held firm against the encirclement of nearly ten times their number, slaying over thirty thousand Shamans while losing only a thousand of their own. Without outside interference, Wei Yuan was confident he could have routed this Shaman army of over a hundred thousand head-on in just one more hour. That was the real reason the Shamans had retreated. Tallying the results, over thirty thousand Qingming soldiers had fallen, most of them bunker defenders, while heavy-armored warriors suffered only nine thousand fallen in total. The Shaman army had lost a hundred and fifty thousand, pushing the casualty ratio to one to five for the first time. After the battle, Wei Yuan gathered the cultivators of the Palace of Grand Beginning once more to discuss their next operational plan based on the data from this fight. Yu Zhizhuo spoke first. "From my observations in this battle, armor infused with nether crystal reduces the power of Shaman curses by eighty percent. Combined with the enhancement of military qi, even without Fleeting Sentience and with ordinary militiamen at the first tier of Body Casting, a Great Shaman expending all their mana could only kill a thousand men at best—and that is under ideal conditions. "In reality, this unit only needs ten Dao Foundation captains to make a Great Shaman give them a wide berth. These Dao Foundation cultivators don't even need exceptional talent—Mortal Tier is plenty." "How much nether crystal does such armor require?" Bao Yun asked. Yu Zhizhuo replied, "One liang of nether crystal is enough for a hundred suits. The only problem is the shortage of craftsmen. Forging such heavy armor requires Dao Foundation cultivators, and a single craftsman takes at least five days to craft one suit." Wei Yuan immediately said, "I will assign you another five hundred Dao Foundation cultivators as craftsmen, dedicated solely to forging nether-crystal heavy armor." Sun Yu frowned and said, "I need people too. We are severely short on physicians. If I had more disciples, to say nothing of the long run, we could have saved two to three thousand more wounded in this battle alone." Xu Henshui chimed in, "Are physicians alone enough? What about pills? Martial Nephew Wei, you need to give me a few more assistants. My requirements aren't high—a Fire-attribute Heaven Foundation will do." Sun Yu snorted. "Heaven Foundation isn't a high requirement? If you want assistants, train them yourself! We have plenty of Mortal Tier Dao Foundations. Do you want them or not?" Irritated, Xu Henshui was about to retort when Zhang Sheng spoke up. "Qingming is different from the Palace of Grand Beginning; it truly needs Mortal Tier Dao Foundations more. If you have the time, you'd better develop a specialized Dao Foundation for your own use, something like Innate Lifegiving Water. Then you won't lack assistants." Xu Henshui huffed and snapped, "A Dao Foundation like Innate Lifegiving Water isn't something my Monastery of Creation can produce." "Hmm?" Zhang Sheng's gaze turned sharp as he fixed his eyes on Xu Henshui. Xu Henshui stared right back without backing down, but after a moment, his nerve faltered, and he looked toward the outside of the hall. Wei Yuan had a headache of his own. Manpower was needed everywhere: Old Daoist Chuhe's Medicine Garden needed disciples, the spiritual fields and farmland needed hands, and building cities, laying roads, running commerce, and running horse bandit operations all demanded people. Although Qingming currently had over five thousand Dao Foundation cultivators, it was still far from enough. Successive battles against the Shamans had cost Qingming over five hundred Dao Foundation cultivators. Had it not been for two training courses adding eight hundred more, Qingming's personnel shortage would be even more severe. After weighing his options, Wei Yuan gritted his teeth and said to Yu Zhizhuo, "I'll give you another three hundred Dao Foundation cultivators, dedicated solely to manufacturing weapons!" With Yu Zhizhuo suddenly receiving eight hundred Dao Foundation cultivators, Wei Yuan had poured in every single new Dao Foundation gained over the past two months. Everyone present immediately understood: Wei Yuan was pouring everything into armament because he was preparing for a counteroffensive. Once the meeting concluded, Yu Zhizhuo retrieved the computational results from the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, spending another half a day compiling them before finally finishing the modified dao art for nether iron. The revised dao art template was exceptionally complex, on par with Wei Yuan's Golden Light Water Blade Art. Yu Zhizhuo named it the Gold-Melting Dao Scripture. As soon as Wei Yuan tested it and proved its efficacy in the Nether Cold Realm, it would be submitted to the Hall of Merits. The Gold-Melting Dao Scripture specifically targeted all nether-attribute and cold water-attribute metals, drastically reducing their melting points. Nether iron originally had a melting point twice as high as steel, requiring the formidable true fire of a Scenery Command master to melt. With the scripture, nether iron's melting point would be only thirty percent higher than steel's. If one possessed certain fire-attribute divine arts, such as True Fire of the Sun, even a dharma idol cultivator could melt nether iron. Having received the scripture, Wei Yuan entered the Nether Cold Realm once more. As soon as Wei Yuan left, Xu Henshui, who had been about to return to the Creation Pill Chamber, suddenly paused and slowly turned around to find Zhang Sheng standing right behind him. With his hands behind his back, Zhang Sheng said indifferently, "You seemed rather arrogant today. Seeing that I've restarted my cultivation, do you think you can rise up again?" Xu Henshui chuckled heartily. "Between you and Ji Liuli, one is starting over from scratch, and the other can't even leave seclusion because of a damaged dao heart. Meanwhile, I've taken the lead! What, does it bother you? No matter. Wei Yuan is your disciple anyway—you could always have him beat me up." Zhang Sheng said, "I waited until he left this realm before coming for you, specifically so he wouldn't interfere." Xu Henshui was startled. "What do you mean?" "I mean we should find a quiet, secluded place so I can see just how formidable your Lily-of-the-Valley Celestial really is." Xu Henshui could hardly believe his ears. "In your new cultivation, you've only just established your Dao Foundation, haven't you? You haven't even completed Foundation Solidification! And you think you can fight me?" "Fighting across realms is precisely what I need to temper my Dao Foundation. Why? Are you scared?" "Hahaha, me? Scared?" A moment later, the two stood atop a deserted peak in the southeastern part of the domain. Now it was Xu Henshui's turn to stand with his hands clasped behind his back. In no hurry to manifest his dharma idol, he adopted the haughty tone of an elder and said, "Junior, go ahead and reveal your Dao Foundation for me to see." Zhang Sheng reached out and grasped the empty air, and in his grip appeared the Great Bright Demon-Subduing Sword. Xu Henshui stared dumbfounded. "Th-this immortal sword..."