Beside the drill ground stood rows of wooden racks. Stripped soldiers hung from them one after another, covered in lash marks and breathing their last.
Suddenly someone in the ranks could hold out no longer, and his fire gun drooped. A patrolling captain rushed over immediately, dragged the soldier out, hung him from a wooden rack, and gave him a savage whipping—a full twenty lashes.
The captain dared not show the slightest leniency. Had he shown even a hint of hesitation, the colonel would step in and string him up on the rack instead. If the colonel hesitated, the dharma idol general would string him up. Thus pressure compounded level by level, all the way until a dharma idol expert was strung up.
The woman's demand was simple: you may faint, but you may not waver.
This drill lasted a full two hours before it ended. Only when the woman vanished from the high platform did the crowd breathe a sigh of relief, collapsing across the ground in heaps.
At the same moment, the woman had already appeared in the workshop. Rows of brand-new fire guns were displayed on the shelves, their barrels gleaming bright.
The instant she appeared, everyone in the workshop sprang to their feet. A clumsy apprentice knocked over a shelf, sending metal parts clattering across the floor.
Yet the woman, infamous for her ferocity, merely cast a cool glance at the errand boy without saying a word. Pale-faced, he could scarcely believe he had escaped with his life.
She walked up to a gun rack and casually picked up a fire gun. Relief flashed across several craftsmen's faces, but she suddenly set it back down and picked up the one on the far end instead.
The craftsmen's faces turned instantly ashen.
With practiced skill, the woman loaded gunpowder and a projectile, aimed at a swaying branch in the distance, and fired.
The branch was untouched; the shot had missed.
The craftsmen turned deathly pale, and one collapsed in a dead faint. Weighing the gun in her hand, the woman swept her eyes across them and remarked coolly, "Though this shot missed, the trajectory was decent. Firearms of this sort are inherently not very accurate; to achieve this level of precision means you did put effort into it. However, remember not to pass off barrels produced in Qingming as your own from now on. Those barrels have seen use. Even if the outside can be polished, the vibration marks and microscopic damage inside cannot be erased. The guns you make are decent as well; there is no need to belittle yourselves."
"Your Ladyship is brilliant."
As if granted an imperial amnesty, several craftsmen hastened to bow and shower her with gratitude.
The woman said coolly, "Seeing as you are skilled craftsmen, I shall give you another chance."
"How many can you produce each day now?" she asked.
Several people following behind her frantically exchanged covert glances, and a craftsman stammered, "T-Two... each day."
Sweating profusely, the craftsman confessed honestly, "Our skills are modest. Each of us needs at least five days to make a single fire gun."
The woman looked around. "Which is to say, this workshop of yours can produce two fire guns a day."
Workshops like this currently numbered twelve throughout the city.
She asked the supervisor in charge of workshop affairs beside her, "When can workshops like this be expanded to a hundred?"
The supervisor looked troubled. "The number of workshops is easy enough to manage, but we lack craftsmen! A craftsman like this spends three years as an apprentice, three years learning the craft, and another three swinging the hammer before he can forge anything independently. Training them takes years."
"Then bring in Dao Foundation cultivators," Xu Lanshan said.
The supervisor offered a bitter smile. "Those Dao Foundation cultivators are each proud and arrogant. How could they agree? If we recruit them with coin, we have no such budget."
"I do not care about that. You have three days to produce a plan. I will secure the resources. In short, monthly production of fire guns must reach ten thousand."
Just outside the workshop gates, over a dozen people were already waiting. In their center was a middle-aged man dressed in opulent robes, his mustache neatly groomed. The moment he saw her, he hurried forward with a smile. "Aunt Lanshan, we have finally wished you back!"
Seeing him, she seemed to search her memory before offering a faint smile. "Ah, Darong. You have grown so mature."
The middle-aged man sighed. "Truth be told, I am already over seventy. My cultivation stalled, so age gradually caught up with me. Seventh Aunt, I know you are busy, so I will speak plainly."
This evidently suited Xu Lanshan's temperament. Her smile broadened slightly. "Speak."
"It is like this: Seventh Elder has two caravans trapped inside Hanyang Pass. He came to me, asking for two travel permits."
The smile on Xu Lanshan's face vanished. After a pause, she said, "Two. Very well."
The middle-aged man quickly added, "What Seventh Elder meant was two permanent permits."
This time, not only was the woman's smile gone, but frost gathered across her face as she uttered a single word: "Scram!"
The middle-aged man froze. Before he could speak, the world spun before his eyes. In a flash, he found himself above a lake hundreds of yards away, tumbling in with a loud splash.
With a wave of her sleeve, the woman sent everyone else flying. Apart from the middle-aged man, every single one suffered heavy injuries. Yet as though nothing had happened at all, she turned away.
At that moment, a figure materialized in the air ahead. None of the others noticed, but Xu Lanshan shifted and appeared right before him, bowing in greeting. "Greetings, True Monarch Qiuniu. How could such a trivial matter disturb True Monarch Qiuniu? Does True Monarch have interests here as well?"
Qiuniu waved a large hand. "No need for pleasantries. I came to ask you: when will you open the pass?"
Xu Lanshan's expression cooled. "True Monarch Qiuniu, if you have something to say, speak plainly."
Qiuniu snorted. "I won't bicker with you. Follow me."
The woman said nothing more, merely replying, "Lead on."
Their figures flickered, and moments later they arrived above Hanyang Pass. In the open grounds within the pass lingered numerous merchant caravans with hundreds of cargo wagons. More unexpected still were the displaced refugees blanketing the hills and plains—at least a hundred thousand or more at a glance.
Qiuniu said, "They are all considered Wei Yuan's people now. Wei Yuan paid the taxes and possesses permits from the King of Jin."
"Wouldn't letting them through be aiding the enemy?"
Qiuniu pointed toward the refugees. "There is not enough surplus grain here to feed them. Hundreds die every day. The cargo does not matter, but these people are all dying because of a single order from you."
Xu Lanshan fell silent for a moment before speaking: "They—"
Qiuniu shrugged. "The final decision rests with you. If you don't want to let them pass, then don't. I merely brought you to see clearly how many die because of your order. A casual sentence uttered in your study means tens of thousands of lives here. And every single one of those lives will be laid at your door."
"I have said my piece: you make the call, you bear the infamy. Do not think you can play the whore while erecting a monument to your virtue. I have already warned the clan historians." With that, Qiuniu turned and flew off, disappearing in an instant.
Xu Lanshan remained motionless in the air, gazing down at the refugees below, lingering for a long time.
***
Qingming.
Wei Yuan unrolled an official dispatch. With just a glance, he froze in surprise, then asked, "Our caravan in Jin hasn't returned yet?"
A young female cultivator attending him replied, "Yes. They reached Hanyang Pass ten days ago and are currently stuck there, unable to get through."
Reading the dispatch closely, Wei Yuan learned that this caravan had made a vast circuit through Jin, covering thirty percent of the realm's territory and establishing several relay stations. They were returning with nearly a hundred thousand refugees and had settled all taxes in full along the way.
Wei Yuan pondered for a moment, then took up his brush and drafted a memorial to the King of Jin. In it, he ruthlessly impeached the garrison commander of Hanyang Pass, accusing him of lawlessness, arbitrarily closing the pass, refusing to recognize the King of Jin's travel permits, and boasting that he was the overlord of this region, such that even if the King of Jin came in person, it would do no good.
The final remark was naturally Wei Yuan's own embellishment, but the actions of the Xu family at Hanyang Pass amounted to essentially that. Wei Yuan was merely adding a little fuel to the fire.
The memorial would certainly yield no results; Wei Yuan was merely planting another thorn between the King of Jin and the Xu family. If he wanted the pass opened, he would have to find another way.
Hanyang Pass now housed a full garrison of two hundred thousand troops; repeating the Heaven-Battling Gang's feat of infiltrating the city to seize the pass was impossible. However, the nine heavy ballistas of Hanyang Pass had been dismantled. Lacking long-range weapons of sufficient power, Wei Yuan felt there was still an opening.
Wei Yuan immediately went to find Xu Wenwu to inquire about the progress on the latest artillery.
Unexpectedly, True Monarch Niu and a little girl who looked about four or five were also in Xu Wenwu's room. At that moment, True Monarch Niu was holding forth expansively, while the little girl and Xu Wenwu listened entranced.
"...RPGs are the ultimate weapon for commoners—simple, practical, and cheap. Originally, once launched, you never know where it's going to fly, but we can guide it with divine consciousness... Artillery is slightly more troublesome, mainly needing trajectory calculations. That's actually very simple; I used to remember it, but on the journey crossing over to this world, I got contaminated by the local soul..."
Seeing Wei Yuan arrive, True Monarch Niu immediately ceased talking with a sheepish look. In True Monarch Niu's eyes, Wei Yuan was different from ordinary natives; he was someone worthy of trading blows with him on the otherworldly forums.
Wei Yuan's gaze fell upon the little girl. Instantly, she threw herself forward, leaping straight into his arms. This little rascal was Xu Shisi, barely a year and some months old in reality. Wei Yuan finally managed to peel Xu Shisi off him and asked, "Can you begin Body Casting yet?"
Xu Shisi nodded. "I cultivate the same thing as Daddy—the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Chart."
For some reason, Wei Yuan felt slightly disgruntled. He hoped the ordinary cultivators practicing the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Chart would be as numerous as possible, and genius cultivators as few as possible. Otherwise, watching their flashy displays made it all too easy for his Dao heart to waver.
Yet with Xu Wenwu and True Monarch Niu right beside him, Wei Yuan had to maintain his bearing. "How are the results? Manifest it for me to see."
Xu Shisi only looked large, but was very young in truth and had only cultivated for a few days. Wei Yuan had merely asked offhandedly, never expecting that she would actually manifest a Jade Toad!
This toad—how to describe it?—was ordinary in itself, but the stone stele resting upon its back made it anything but. The stele was ancient, weathered, and shaped like a giant sword, inscribed with five grand characters: Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns!
In an instant, the eyes of all three were drawn to those characters: Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns. And in Wei Yuan's vision, each stroke seemed to come alive, soaring into the air and coalescing into the silhouette of Xu Shiyi. Smiling, he waved to Wei Yuan and said, "This stance is 'Sweeping Away the Four Barbarians.' Watch closely."
He dragged the blade, took a step, rested the sword upon his shoulder, turned, and swept it out. It paused in midair before cleaving downward with crushing force—instantly, everything around plunged into dead silence, all life extinguished!
This stance differed slightly from what Wei Yuan had witnessed back then; it was more complete, and its power was overwhelmingly domineering. Clearly, this was the true inheritance.
With the sword falling, Xu Shiyi departed with a smile.
When Wei Yuan came back to his senses, the ancient stele atop the Jade Toad's back was gone without a trace, leaving behind only a bare toad back. Xu Shisi's little mouth trembled, and she burst into loud sobs.
Neither Xu Wenwu nor True Monarch Niu knew what had caused this sudden turn of events, and both hurried forward to console her.
Yet looking at that bare-backed toad, Wei Yuan's mood inexplicably improved.
Chapter 563