Chapter 714

Wu Tie, with the Four Spirit warships, pursued and slaughtered all the way down from the demon lair's entrance for thirty thousand li deep.

The Glutton clan's great army, which had usurped command of the three ancestors, was almost completely annihilated by Wu Tie, leaving only a few scattered Glutton clan members, accompanied by less than a thousand bloody half-dragons, who fled in panic relying on the complex terrain.

As for Princess Fenglan and the others who had defected to the Glutton clan from the Great Wu royal family, they were all beheaded.

Hovering in midair, the surroundings were brightly lit.

Below was still a pitch-black, bottomless abyss; who knows how deep the underground world goes. On the surrounding rock walls, countless caverns spewed out fierce winds, carrying the miasmas of poisonous gas, plague gas, and volcanic lava, along with various strange beast odors; the mingled foul air made one suffocate and feel dizzy.

Fierce winds burst from the underground, and occasionally the terrifying roars of huge beasts rode the wind.

Wu Tie is also a native of the underground world, but his knowledge of it is not extensive either. How many years has he lived underground? The time he has spent mingling in the surface world far exceeds his years living below.

Facing the bottomless pit, Wu Tie also felt his scalp go numb.

Unable to find those few fleeing Glutton clan members, when Wu Tie looked down into the pit, a faint sense of warning arose in his heart.

Looking up at the countless Five Elements spirits on the Four Spirit warships, then at the great heavenly martial army troops closely following his pursuit, Wu Tie gave a cold snort, and lightning began to flash between his ten fingertips.

His inner mana surged like a tide into his palm, five-colored lightning danced at his fingertips—the primordial and acquired Five Elements' Heaven-Opening Divine Thunder. This is a fearsome thunder technique Wu Tie has learned, immensely powerful, capable of overturning the five elements of heaven and earth and reducing all things to chaos.

Before reaching the Divine Manifestation realm, no matter how strong Wu Tie's mana cultivation, he could hardly unleash this thunder technique.

Upon entering the Divine Manifestation realm, he constantly maintained a state of unity between heaven and man; only then was this thunder technique considered mastered.

After gathering power for the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, nearly all his inner mana poured into his palm, forming a faintly visible ball of five-colored intertwined lightning a hundred zhang in diameter. The lightning illuminated the pit, which spanned over ten thousand li, and Wu Tie exerted all his strength, slamming the palm-held lightning downward.

With a resonant "ooom" like a massive object high-speed through a narrow underground passage, the hundred-zhang-diameter lightning shot out at near-light speed, reaching the deepest pit in the snap of a finger.

Wu Tie saw, in the extremely deep cavern, an immensely burly humanoid figure.

He raised his right hand and seized Wu Tie's released lightning. Then a tremendous boom sounded; the lightning spread for ten thousand li, enveloping that figure. The Five Elements' thunder, mutually generating and overcoming, shattered all things, destroying at essence and source the very foundation of existence.

The terrifying thunderclap lasted a full quarter of an hour before Wu Tie's released Heaven-Opening Divine Thunder exhausted all its power and vanished completely.

That figure remained suspended in the pit, its eyes flickering with a faint Blood Light, staring fixedly at Wu Tie.

His armor was completely shattered, with several places exposing stark white bone, and blood gushed from his body like a waterfall, spraying far out accompanied by a deep, muffled howl.

"You little dog, dare to come down?" the figure's visage was hidden in a thick blood mist, so Wu Tie could not make out his appearance.

But from his voice, Wu Tie sensed a strong malice.

Moreover, being able to withstand Wu Tie's thunder technique suggests that this figure's cultivation has likely reached the sixth or seventh heaven of the Divine Manifestation realm.

Clearly, Wu Tie's bodily cultivation far surpasses his mastery of mystical arts. After all these years, he has hardly ever used divine abilities, and this Heaven-Opening Divine Thunder is only just begun for him.

Nevertheless, Wu Tie's foundation here is solid; although his cultivation is only the first heaven of the Divine Manifestation realm, his foundation for entering that realm is the Primordial Classic, and he has condensed the most perfect and complete Dao base to step into the Divine Manifestation realm.

The thunder technique he just unleashed could not be withstood by an ordinary cultivator of the fifth heaven of the Divine Manifestation realm.

That figure's strength, placed among the past Three Kingdoms, would also belong to the very top tier.

The wind howled, black mist spread, and who knows what immeasurable dangers lurk tens of thousands of li below?

Wu Tie laughed and shook his head: "If you've got the ability, come up…… A son of a thousand gold does not sit beneath the hall; how exalted is my status, and I am in the prime of life, youthful and vigorous—should I go down to fight to the death with you, an old ghost who knows how many years you've lived? Do you think I'm foolish?"

He waved his hand and said coldly: "Tell your Glutton clan people this: from today onward, I, the king, will hold Wuguo; you Glutton clan shall not dare set foot on the surface…… One comes, one dies…… If many of your clansmen die, do not blame me for not giving warning."

Tens of thousands of warships, large and small, rose slowly into the sky, then gradually accelerated, rushing toward the ground with a deep, muffled howl.

Thirty-six Four Spirit warships circled Wu Tie, accompanying him as he slowly accelerated upward, covering the retreat of the upper fleet back to the ground.

The figure that had directly taken Wu Tie's thunderbolt, after Wu Tie led his great army out of the demon lair, saw the heavy blood qi on his face gradually dissipate, revealing a face covered in scars, rather ferocious-looking old man.

"Great Wu, has heaven been overturned and earth transformed? This is our Glutton clan's chance." The old man muttered: "But the three Glutton usurpers didn't even utter a sound before being trapped up there…… Hmm, they're not weak; to swallow this deal, we'll have to invest heavily."

Wu Tie led his great army out of the demon lair, then continued to strengthen the defenses above, set up new formation restrictions, built new military cities and fortresses, and completely encircled the demon lair.

Once the demon lair's surroundings were roughly arranged, Wu Tie took his great army, casually selected a route, and began to tour the territories of Wuguo.

One prefecture, one county, occasionally he would also stroll through a few distinctive major cities.

How is the work of emancipating slaves proceeding? What are the relations between former commoners and slaves like? Are the slaves' living and working arrangements satisfactory? How about the schools, technical institutes, and the production at various workshops and factories……?

Although Wu Tie delegated all specific affairs of Wuguo to his subordinates, he believed these ministers who had followed him for many years would not cause any trouble.

But not seeing with his own eyes, not walking there himself, he still felt a bit uneasy.

In fact, Huang Lang, Lan Changqing, Ximen You, and others have done very well.

In each prefecture, county, and city, the slaves' productive lives have already entered the proper track; the emancipation work in more prefecture, county, and cities proceeds in an orderly manner. Large amounts of production materials, tools, as well as food, clothing, and other necessities for daily life are being systematically distributed to the freed slaves.

These once stiff and numb slaves, after receiving their own land and houses, burst forth with a productive enthusiasm that startled even Huang Lang and the others.

As a simple example, previously in the smithy workshop, a slave might need three days to forge the rough blank of a longsword…… but when that smithy became their own workshop, the products they made would be purchased by the Wuguo government at a fair price……

Those former slave blacksmiths can now each forge two refined longsword blanks per person per day.

Work efficiency—how could it be merely a tenfold increase?

Not only the smithy workshops, but also embroidery mills, cloth mills, silk factories, oil presses, and so on—all are the same.

Especially many slaves, they have mastered skills and techniques far surpassing what they displayed while still slaves; back when they were slaves, working a day just to pass the day, with no hope of emancipation, they possessed ten parts of skill but could only exhibit two or three.

When they became commoners, holding their own household registrations, and receiving the protection of Wuguo's Civil and Criminal Codes, when their wealth and labor would no longer be taken for free by their former masters…… their ten parts of skill suddenly burst forth as eleven, twelve parts.

Plus the schools set up by Kong Chengxi, Meng Buyan, and others, together with technical colleges, freely imparting knowledge and skills to them.

In just two months, only two months time, in the prefecture and county slave emancipation work, there have actually emerged thousands of master artisans.

Although their skills are not comprehensive, within the small specialty they have mastered, they have indeed reached the level of masters.

This burst of power has caused even the old patriarchs of the numerous great Wei clans to be horrified.

Meng Buyan even, because of this situation, fiercely debated with several old patriarchs who usually just glare at each other in anger, discussing the influence of lineage and status on intelligence, wisdom, learning, and talent.

In the end, nobody convinced anyone; a few incorrigible oldsters swung fists at each other, ending up with black eyes and swollen faces, then went home to scold their grandchildren to vent their anger.

Leaving aside those gossip tidbits, in short, Wu Tie emancipated the slaves of the Great Wu Divine State; these slaves erupted with mad productive capacity and efficiency, erupting with astonishing wisdom and talent that leaves one breathless.

According to the estimates of elders like Li Xuan'gui, Mo Yun, and Ou Yezi, if this situation continues for a year, Wuguo's tax revenue will at least reach three times or more that of the former Great Wu Divine State. Moreover, in the future, Wuguo's overall economic situation will rapidly surge; catching up to past Great Wei may be difficult, but within a few years Wuguo's overall economy will at least be able to match that of the former Qingqiu Divine State.

Wu Tie spent nine months touring, visiting dozens of prefectures and counties surrounding Tianding Mountain City, and then satisfactorily returned to Tianding Mountain City.

Wuguo's territory lies at the southernmost tip of the Three Kingdoms, with a climate much milder than that of the north.

When Wu Tie returned to Tianding Mountain City, it was winter, and the first snow had already fallen. Compared to the goose-feather heavy snow that blankets Qingqiu City, however, the snow in Tianding Mountain City has its own distinctive character.

It wasn't that kind of fluffy, large snowflakes; instead, they were the size of soybeans, with ice pellets formed inside due to dense water vapor, and the outside consisted of sparse small crystal snow particles.

The hard snow pellets clattered down, accumulating on the ground into thin ice sheets, then layer upon layer of ice covered everything.

The entire Iron Cauldron Mountain City was wrapped in an ice shell.

After the accompanying army had settled into the camp, Wu Tie, Wu Jin, Wu Yin, Wu Tong brothers greeted Mo Zhang Wang, Tie Da Jian, Lao Bai and the other old comrades who had followed up from underground together; everyone returned to the former Great Wu Imperial City, now the Wu Prince's Mansion, found a side hall, and happily drank strong liquor and ate the dog meat hot pot personally prepared by Lao Bai.

Pei Feng stood beside him pouring wine for Wu Tie, but she firmly refused the suggestion to eat a piece of meat.

That dog meat hot pot…… to some people it's the ultimate delicacy; but to Pei Feng it's practically heresy…… She sat beside Wu Tie, rolling her eyes hard——how adorable the dogs are, how could these guys bear to eat them?

"Mmm, more garlic paste." Wu Jin ate until he was sweating all over, handing his large bowl to the palace maid beside him; the maid frowned, with an almost-tearful expression, and heaped a large amount of fine garlic paste into his bowl.

"Ha, good wine, good meat." Wu Yin lifted the big sea bowl and gulped down the wine inside, contentedly tapping the bowl with his chopsticks, and loudly sang a crude war song.

Wu Yin started, the Wu Tie brothers and a few others, plus the already half-drunk Mo Zhang Wang and his companions, also staggered and began singing together.

The sound was unpleasant, but everyone was happy.

In the huge red clay furnace, flames roared; in the huge iron pot big enough for three or five people to bathe together, the meat broth boiled, and chunks of dog meat gave off a strange yet captivating rich aroma in the soup.

Strands of cold light fell with the fine snow pellets, and You Ruo, dressed in a white fur robe, revealed her figure in the cold light.

"Yo, Wu Prince, having fun? Hmm, what meat is this…… how does it taste like this? Smells strangely…… strangely…… that scoundrel Linghu Qingqing is so unreasonable; in this world there exists such a wondrous fragrance, why doesn't he give this venerable one some to try?"

Wu Tie glanced at You Ruo, stood up, ushered him into the side hall next door, and had Lao Bai prepare another pot for him.

You Ruo ate meat, drank wine, then gradually became thoroughly delighted, nodding satisfactorily at Wu Tie: "Go back, I'll settle this meat matter with Linghu Qingqing later…… Hmm, I came in person to give you a heads-up…… there will be a great battle, you need to perform better…… gather more of what I need."

Wu Tie stared at You Ruo in astonishment.

He really didn't expect today that You Ruo would come in person.

Moreover, he lowered his pride so much that he actually asked for wine and meat, and so unguardedly, right in front of him, he ate meat in big mouthfuls and drank wine in large bowls—this is completely different from his usual restrained, aloof self who hardly ever touches worldly affairs; they're like two different people!

After a moment of silence, Wu Tie said in a deep voice: "What's going on? Another great war? Who is the enemy?"

You Ruo fell silent for a while, sighed, and glanced sideways at Wu Tie: "Don't you think that in the vast Mu Dalu, only this small patch of land has human activity?"

North of the unified Green Hill Divine Kingdom, across a vast snowy expanse, there is a tribal alliance; its population is slightly less than that of the Green Hill Divine Kingdom, but its individual combat strength is three-tenths greater than that of the former Great Wu.

"You Zu, the one who seized my position as Supreme Leader, they issued a divine edict, helping those snow plain barbarians to open a safe, well-supplied passage through the snowy region…… the tribal alliance has already prepared to move south."

You Ruo said gloomily: "No matter who wins or loses between you, it's nonetheless another harvest feast…… the tribal alliance has a bad habit: they slaughter all the men of the conquered opponents, leaving only young women to bear and raise children."

"Because the snow plains are barren, they can't afford to keep many prisoners; keeping women is enough."

Wu Tie stared at You Ruo with an unpleasant expression.

"What is this for? Peace has only just lasted a short while."

You Ruo let out a heavy sigh: "Why? For the divine soul crystals and blood essence……"

"The balance of the gods has been broken…… at least at the current observation outpost, they can do whatever they want…… the balance has been broken."

Wu Tie remained silent.

You Ruo then picked up a piece of meat: "By the way, what meat is this? Go back, have Linghu Qingqing make me more…… that stingy old fellow, he never even mentioned that there exists such deliciousness in the world!"