By now, the broader situation within the State of Ji had surfaced. Spring plowing was fast approaching, yet beneath the relentless fires of war lay thousands of li of barren waste, with no one left to till the fields. In the county seats razed by the rebel forces, even the boundary stones had been uprooted, destroying centuries of patient nurturing in a single stroke.
Wei Yuan felt an ache in his chest at the sight, yet he had no good recourse. The rebels were clearly pursuing a calculated objective: to reduce the land to an expanse of scorched earth thousands of li wide. Once a boundary stone was wrenched from the earth, the regional environment would slowly revert toward the wild domain of the hillfolk. Land cultivated for years would lose all fertility and earth qi within a mere two to three years. Erecting another boundary stone would mean starting the entire nurturing process from scratch.
From this fact alone, Wei Yuan felt that the so-called rebels acted no differently from foreign barbarians—if anything, they were far more detestable.
Leaving twenty Dao Foundation cultivators behind to assist Liu Muzhi in governing the county seat, Wei Yuan dispatched orders to the rear fortress, commanding that several cartloads of grain—amounting to ten thousand jin in total—be transported over first. Fortunately, the fortress was only eleven thousand li from Liu Muzhi's Guantun County, and the shipments would arrive in a matter of days.
The impoverished commoners possessed a stubborn tenacity for life. Although the town was practically devoid of provisions, Liu Muzhi assured Wei Yuan that as long as the people were certain that food would arrive in a few days, they could endure six or seven days on water alone.
Afterward, Wei Yuan inspected the town's fortifications and said to Liu Muzhi, "I will leave you a blueprint. For now, lay out the defenses according to these plans and muster whatever yamen runners and able-bodied men still have their strength to begin construction ahead of time. When the grain arrives in a few days, five hundred soldiers will escort it to help you hold the town. What you must do in the meantime is dispatch a few articulate and daring men to deliver a gift to Liu Heihu."
"Deliver what, my lord?"
Wei Yuan pondered for a moment, then replied, "Send him a set of women's garments, and tell him that I am waiting for him here!"
The renowned classic *Romance of the Three Men* had long since seeped into the hearts of the populace, and Liu Muzhi had naturally read it. Recognizing the allusion behind the women's garments at once, he was taken aback. "T-this... wouldn't this be striking a rock with an egg?"
Wei Yuan replied, "If we can force Liu Heihu's hundreds of thousands of rebel troops to march back and forth, grinding down their combat strength, he will swiftly be routed. Who knows how many ordinary people might be saved as a result? That would be immense merit. Even if some sacrifice is required for this, it is entirely worth it."
Liu Muzhi ground his teeth and said, "Forget hundreds of thousands—if we can draw even a hundred thousand rebels into running themselves ragged, their defeat will accelerate tremendously. Even if it means wagering every life in this county, it would be well worth it!"
Wei Yuan was surprised once more. "Magistrate Liu, you truly do not walk the beaten path. If what you and I said today were to leak out, I fear it would draw no small amount of condemnation."
Liu Muzhi answered candidly, "I am hardly one of those useless pedants who do nothing but rigidly parrot the sage's precepts. To make sacrifices for the greater good is an inescapable duty—so long as that greater good is not merely the benefit of a privileged few."
For reasons he could not explain, Wei Yuan caught a glimpse of Fang Hetong's shadow in Liu Muzhi. Both were men of genuine talent; they merely directed their convictions toward different ends, while their devotion to righteousness remained identical.
Wei Yuan nodded, took his leave of Guantun County, and set off back toward the fortress. The remaining eighty Dao Foundation cultivators advanced slowly behind him, re-surveying the terrain along the way.
Upon returning to the fortress, Wei Yuan recalculated the transport capacities for supplies and personnel. The teleportation array could transfer several hundred individuals or around ten thousand jin of materiel per day. Under normal circumstances, that sounded like a considerable amount. However, Qingming was no longer an ordinary faction; the bulk of its military logistics lay not only in provisions and fodder, but even more so in weaponry, munitions, war chariots, and artillery.
With the meager throughput of a teleportation gate, it would take Wei Yuan an entire year to transfer a fully equipped, ten-thousand-strong heavy division, and even then, supplies would run desperately thin.
Fortunately, from the moment construction on the fortress began, the All Living Beings Are Equal War Rig Research Institute had initiated preliminary studies into this bottleneck. Now, beneath Wei Yuan's ceaseless day-and-night badgering, they had finally cobbled together a rough solution.
In truth, the immortal flora and the institute's researchers were thoroughly exasperated with the Creation Immortal Venerable. Originally, everyone had wished that the Creation Immortal Venerable would be a bit more diligent. Now that he was diligent, his diligence was poured entirely into cracking the whip as an overseer and hounding them over deadlines.
The solution presented by the War Rig Research Institute was a bizarre hodgepodge that left Wei Yuan somewhat speechless as well.
The contraption featured an upper gasbag inspired by the airships of the outer world, beneath which hung an underslung flying boat. The structure of the flying boat was stripped down as far as possible, shedding weight to the point of absurdity; every non-essential piece of equipment had been dismantled. Wings were mounted on either side of the hull, and two jet thruster tubes were attached to the rear. Each thruster tube required eight Dao Foundation cultivators to power it, earning them the title of 'blowers.'
Such a craft carried a standard operational crew of thirty Dao Foundation cultivators. It could cover ten thousand li a day, flying continuously day and night for fifty days straight. When fully loaded, it could transport five thousand dan of cargo.
Its sole flaw was an extreme fragility: any random Dao Foundation cultivator unleashing a volley of flying swords could poke it out of the sky. Wei Yuan's countermeasure was straightforward: fly as high as possible, maintaining an altitude above three thousand zhang—a height that ordinary dharma idols could not easily reach.
Moreover, Zhang Sheng would personally escort the first two voyages. If anyone along the route dared launch an attack against the vessel, it would be treated as a declaration of war against Qingming. Not only would the culprit be pursued to the death, but their entire tribe would be utterly eradicated. It was an arrangement of ruthless domineering.
With the sheer destructive might Zhang Sheng could unleash at present, an ordinary peak dharma idol who failed to muster the stance of someone facing a Scenery Command master would have their soul extinguished and their cultivation shattered in an instant. Qingming would then mark their faction and follow up with retribution. If there was the slightest evasion, troops would march immediately—a doctrine founded on never entertaining explanations.
Zhang Sheng would escort the first two runs, followed by Ji Liuli and Feng Chutang for two more, and then Feng Tingyu and Wang Hu. Once these walking harbingers of calamity had traversed the path, it was safe to assume that any restless dharma idols along the route would be practically extinct.
Wei Yuan was thoroughly pleased with the proposal and gave his immediate approval, ordering construction to commence at once in Qingming. Due to the extreme corner-cutting, the fabrication process proved remarkably swift, and a batch could likely be finished in two months. Most of the process simply involved taking existing flying boats and gutting everything that could be pulled out.
For the initial batch, Wei Yuan ordered four vessels laid down, capable of hauling twenty thousand dan of cargo in a single run.
Just then, an odd proposal abruptly surfaced within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. It suggested that this type of flying boat could be fitted with an autocannon capable of firing exceptionally potent flying swords. However, such flying swords would require the power of Taiyin Lunar Essence, serving essentially as an upgraded variant of the Lunar Mist Dao Foundation. Consequently, it specifically requested that Xiaoyu come to the fortress to assist in gathering test data within the hillfolk domain.
Such a weapon actually existed? Wei Yuan immediately transmitted a message to Xiaoyu through the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, instructing him to make his way to the hillfolk fortress as soon as possible.
The mounted heavy cannon outlined in the proposal was exceedingly fragile and unstable, yet its destructive power was immense. A single blast could grievously wound a dharma idol, inflict harm upon someone who had just stepped into Scenery Command, and even inflict damage upon a mindscape world. If every flying boat could be equipped with several such pieces, the transport routes would become vastly safer.
Suspecting nothing amiss, Xiaoyu set off for the fortress the moment he received the message, stepping out through the teleportation gate two days later.
After extending a warm welcome, Wei Yuan escorted Xiaoyu to a node of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World and left him to examine the designs at his leisure. Wei Yuan himself plunged straight into the deductions for the fourth grotto-heaven.
Xiaoyu lay down comfortably at the node and closed his eyes. In an instant, the scenery before him shifted, and he found himself inside the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World. This was a dedicated passage that could only be established when Wei Yuan was personally present, limited to just three conduits, allowing access to the distant Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World back in Qingming. After all, the rate at which an outpost node could draw upon the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World was limited, making usage somewhat cramped.
The moment Xiaoyu entered the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, he appeared in a vast, desolate expanse. A barren wasteland stretched out around him beneath an endless, pitch-black firmament, while the ground faintly gleamed with an indeterminate light.
As Xiaoyu looked on in confusion, Star Lord Shaoyang abruptly materialized, urging in a panicked rush, "Run, hurry!"
Grabbing Xiaoyu by the collar, he bolted straight for the portal through which they had arrived!
Yet just above the entrance portal, a crimson sword qi suddenly flashed, cleaving the passage cleanly in two! The gateway dissolved into countless fine motes of radiant light, vanishing into nothingness.
Seeing his retreat severed, Star Lord Shaoyang's face turned the color of dirt. Xiaoyu, entirely bewildered, blinked at his surroundings with an innocent and dazed look, resembling Feng Tingyu just after waking from sleep.
From the void stepped a young maiden with crimson eyebrows and pale golden irises. Her waist-length hair was platinum, each strand resembling a silk ribbon woven from condensed moonlight. Her porcelain skin was translucent, as though bathed in the outpouring of ninefold lunar essence, and her entire figure was enveloped in a misty aura of light. She wore an outer robe of matching platinum, and wherever her toes touched the ground, ripples fanned out, giving rise to groves of lunar osmanthus trees that wafted a faint, somber fragrance.
Forcing an air of composure, Star Lord Shaoyang offered a polite salute and said, "I truly never imagined I would encounter Sister Taiyin here. Not having seen you for so long, this is an unexpected delight!"
The girl sneered. "A delight? You mean a fright!"
Star Lord Shaoyang offered a strained smile. "Whatever does Sister mean by that? I haven't seen Sister in the Star Palace for such a long time, and I have missed you dearly..."
The girl's crimson brows bristled, and she barked, "And your way of missing me is to steal my karmic luck?! Marvelous! Today, I'll let you see what real brutality looks like!"
To hear such a delicate young maiden speak with such crude ferocity left Xiaoyu thoroughly dumbfounded. In the next breath, sword light danced wildly before his eyes as an endless torrent of crimson sword qi surged forward, crashing down savagely upon Star Lord Shaoyang!
Furious and alarmed, Star Lord Shaoyang produced a Great Sun immortal sword in his grasp and fought desperately to parry. Yet the crimson sword light was far too torrential and overwhelming, shredding his protective immortal radiance to tatters in the blink of an eye!
Star Lord Shaoyang cried out in alarm, "How have you become so powerful? This makes no scientific sense!"
"Scientific? What is science?" The maiden paused, and her sword qi ground to a halt.
Star Lord Shaoyang let out a breath of relief. "Science is..." Halfway through his sentence, his vision was swallowed entirely by sword qi!
She had taken advantage of the distraction to launch a sneak attack!
Unable to even cry out, Star Lord Shaoyang turned and fled for his life! The maiden gave chase furiously from behind, yet Star Lord Shaoyang moved like lightning, proving just a fraction faster than the sword qi. In the blink of an eye, the two circled the expanse dozens of times—one unable to escape, the other unable to close the distance, locked in a stalemate.
Star Lord Shaoyang shouted, "Originally, you were the fastest among the astral officials! Now your combat prowess has surged, but your speed has dropped a step—you're no longer my match in that regard! How about we call it quits? I promise that Lunar Mist is the last Taiyin Lunar Essence Dao Foundation! There will never be another!"
"Keep dreaming your fond dreams!" Unable to catch him, the maiden only grew more incensed, burying her head as she pursued him relentlessly. Xiaoyu stood in the center, at a total loss for what to do.
Just then, a strand of yin-yang twin qi emerged from nowhere, looping itself cleanly and deftly around Star Lord Shaoyang's legs. With a sudden downward drag, it instantly cut Star Lord Shaoyang's speed by half!
The crimson-browed maiden caught up in an instant, seized Star Lord Shaoyang, and shook him violently, nearly scrambling the yolk right out of him.
Still unsatisfied, she gripped Star Lord Shaoyang by the collar and began dragging him off into the void.
Struggling furiously, Star Lord Shaoyang cried out in indignation, "Who dared ambush this Lord? If you have the guts, step out! If I don't show you what this Lord is made of, I'm not Shaoyang... Ow! Ow, gently, Sister...!"
From the void walked an ordinary-looking young woman. Serene and unhurried, she passed before Xiaoyu and Star Lord Shaoyang like a ghost.
Xiaoyu had no idea where she had come from, while Star Lord Shaoyang remained entirely oblivious to her presence.
Xiaoyu suddenly understood: she had revealed herself solely for him to see. Her meaning was clear—even if she stood right before Star Lord Shaoyang's eyes, he still wouldn't be able to perceive her.
Far away, immersed in deducing the design for the fourth grotto-heaven within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, Wei Yuan abruptly raised his head. He faintly sensed that some monumental incident seemed to have erupted within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, and that he urgently needed to rush over to watch the spectacle.
Chapter 968