Chapter 1009: Optimizing Weapons and Armor

"So this is the gadget you've been tinkering with alongside them all these days."

Su Fan, Zhang Liang, and the others gathered once more outside a mountain valley; this massive valley had already become the gathering place for the craftsmen of Nanjun.

The craftsmen of the Great Qin Empire were not merely ordinary people; even those common craftsmen had all undergone physical training.

After all, even to forge ordinary weapons and armor, one required a strong physique, especially when utilizing Earth Fire to temper weapons; without a powerful Fleshly Body, one could not endure the heat emitted by that Earth Fire.

Many craftsmen possessed cultivation, especially the disciples hailing from the Mohist School, whose cultivation levels were not low, and there were also those from Taoism.

For instance, Nan Sun and a few others were originally disciples of Taoism, but they couldn't quite stand the loneliness and hardship of the mountain forests, so they came down the mountain.

This valley was originally the craftsmen's workshop for Nanjun, and later, after Wang Bi's army arrived in Nanjun to resist the Rebel Army, this workshop naturally expanded.

Nowadays, in the valley, the number of craftsmen alone has reached eight hundred.

And this number might even continue to rise.

The workshop was led by Nan Sun and his group; their own cultivation was essentially the highest, and although they were not from the Mohist School, they were somewhat skilled in artifact refining, so upon arriving here, they naturally became the leaders.

The workshop was very simple, and these craftsmen were even more honest and simple; they obeyed whoever had the most impressive skills.

Nan Sun and his group used their own Pill Fire to refine weapons, making them significantly more powerful; after all, their Pill Fire had a better temperature than Earth Fire and was easier to control, so whether refining weapons or other magical treasures and armor, they belonged to the top tier in this workshop.

No one was unconvinced.

Now that they had received the transmission of Dharma from Su Fan, their rune techniques were even more formidable.

"Are these all things you directed them to build?"

Wang Jian and the others were not familiar with Su Fan, knowing only that Su Fan was well-versed in the ways of the Hundred Schools of Thought and that the agricultural techniques from before had been provided by Su Fan, so they held much respect for him.

After all, the high-ranking officials like Wang Jian were very clear about how immense the improvement for Great Qin was following the appearance of those agricultural techniques.

The high-ranking officials of Great Qin had sent people more than once to find this expert, and even found those in Taoism skilled in divination to deduce the existence of this person, yet they had always come up empty-handed.

They never expected that this person would suddenly arrive in Nanjun.

Wang Jian was naturally happy, but later, knowing that Su Fan did not wish to reveal his identity or become an official of Great Qin, Wang Jian could only feel a secret regret.

Wang Jian was very clear about the importance the Great Qin central government placed on this person; if the other party were truly willing to join the Great Qin Empire, he would likely be promoted directly to the status of one of the Nine Ministers.

Becoming a Marquis in the future would also be an effortless matter.

It could be said that even with Wang Jian's current status, he was extremely envious.

Of course, upon knowing that the other party did not wish to join Great Qin, Wang Jian also expressed understanding; after all, he was even more aware that the other party had already attained the Dao and become an Immortal, and in the future, becoming a carefree Immortal Dao practitioner was indeed much freer than being bound by Great Qin.

As for the resources Great Qin could provide if he joined, that was certainly better than cultivating alone by oneself.

However, the other party had already made such a great contribution to the Human Race that he was already ranked among the Human Sages, not a whit inferior to the masters among the Hundred Schools of Thought.

Such a person was destined to be extraordinary in the Fire Cloud Cave and would never lack resources.

Therefore, Wang Jian did not force the issue, merely reporting the situation regarding Su Fan to Xianyang City, and then left it at that.

If the other party was willing to contribute in Nanjun, he was naturally welcoming; regardless, he was a combatant at the True Immortal Peak.

Even among the millions of troops in Nanjun, there were not many who could possess such combat power.

Wang Bi's cultivation was merely that of a True Immortal.

However, Wang Jian was still very curious that the other party had chosen the workshop; hearing the report from his subordinates, the workshop seemed to have built some new things with decent power.

It just so happened that Zhang Liang was coming, so he followed along.

Clearly, the new things built by this workshop also came from this person's hands, and out of curiosity, he wanted to come and see.

And so, the current situation arose.

Zhang Liang and his party saw this open space filled with all sorts of things; they didn't recognize many of them, though they did recognize the Arrow and Crossbow.

However, the Arrow and Crossbow were both somewhat different from the usual ones in their army, and as for the rest, they completely failed to recognize them or understand the functions of those items.

"Haha! Why don't you try the effects of these Arrow and Crossbow?"

Su Fan said with a smile, not minding Zhang Liang's teasing at all.

These Arrow and Crossbow, both the arrows and the bolts, had been tempered with runes; they were no longer ordinary arrows.

The Great Qin's own crossbows were indeed very formidable.

The materials used were all forged from refined metal.

But the arrows and crossbows used by ordinary soldiers and archers were still just mundane items.

Although these soldiers' bodies had undergone training, and the range and power of their arrows far exceeded the mortal world, they were still, after all, mundane items.

But after being tempered by runes, it was completely different.

Hearing Su Fan's words, Zhang Liang could not help but pick up a bow, weighing it in his hand a few times, and discovered that the weight was indeed a little bit higher than an ordinary bow.

But it had no impact; after all, those soldiers and warriors who had undergone training each had arm strength exceeding a thousand catties, and many soldiers' destructive power was even comparable to Golden Core or Refining Spirit.

One could imagine their strength.

So even if the weight of the bow reached a hundred catties, or even a thousand catties, it did not affect many of the soldiers.

However, he wanted to see what the effect of this bow actually was; if it were just heavier and larger, it wouldn't have much use.

Zhang Liang naturally knew that the larger the bow, the further it could shoot and the stronger its power, but how much power could such a small change actually add?

So he nocked an arrow and drew the bow, and at this moment, a look of surprise appeared on his face.

Because when he was drawing the bow, he actually didn't use much strength; he had tried the Great Qin's previous bows, and for him, an Immortal, drawing them was naturally not a problem.

But the Great Qin's bows required a great deal of strength to be drawn.

Now he felt that only one-tenth of the original strength was enough to draw the bow to its full extent.

Zhang Liang naturally understood what this meant.

The force required to draw the bow had decreased, which meant that if an archer could originally only shoot ten or fifty times, then now, using such a bow, they could shoot a hundred times, or even more.

What affects an archer is always their own stamina; it is impossible for an archer to draw a bow and shoot arrows endlessly.

The power of a bow is stronger than a crossbow; whether it is the range or the power, they are not comparable to a crossbow.

The Great Qin's crossbows are used more for Cavalry, firing repeating crossbows before charging into formation.