Chapter 205

Little Wei Yuan did not disturb Xu Wenwu's creation any further, just urged him not to forget to walk the horses and plant the medicine, then left the stone house.

Ever since the Blood-colored Demon Horse died, Little Wei Yuan had no thoughts of changing to a new mount for the time being; the Azure Colt, however, was growing day by day.

Little Wei Yuan came to the medicinal garden and saw that the area where the two Star Fall Tianxing Longkui were planted was now completely different.

That Star Fall Tianxing Longkui with white-gold patterns had now grown to the height of a palm and had sprouted two more leaves. The concentration of life-force spiritual energy in the medicinal garden was the highest in the Azure Void, and with the addition of the Wood-attribute Life-Mystic power, the growth rate of this Star Fall Tianxing Longkui was twenty times that of the natural environment outside, so its growth was exceptionally pleasing.

But the plot of the other Star Fall Tianxing Longkui, which hadn't sprouted yet, was now filled with black energy; getting close to it would give one a faint feeling of unease. This Star Fall Tianxing Longkui was growing very slowly and hadn't sprouted even now.

Little Wei Yuan had long felt that this Star Fall Tianxing Longkui contained the power of extinction; inspired by Sun Yu, he prepared to sprinkle some Underworld Soil to try it out. Little Wei Yuan had a small handful of Underworld Soil in his hand, about one tael, and sprinkled it on the ground. As the Underworld Soil manifested, the surrounding temperature immediately dropped, as if one were in late autumn.

However, Little Wei Yuan could feel that the Star Fall Tianxing Longkui underground, which hadn't yet successfully gestated, had already begun to absorb the power of Eternal Silence, and its growth rate was slowly beginning to improve.

The next step was to wait. Originally, this Star Fall Tianxing Longkui would have required the consumption of otherworldly Qi luck, but recently Little Wei Yuan had exhausted all his otherworldly Qi luck and didn't know how to replenish it. Looking at the full moon in the sky, Little Wei Yuan sometimes couldn't help but think, should he take out the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon painting and practice it again?

On the side of the medicinal garden near the main peak, a dozen Wood Spirit Ginsengs were growing quite well, with faint green energy already lingering and not dissipating; just smelling it made one feel refreshed. Each of these Wood Spirit Ginsengs was worth several hundred taels of immortal silver, and in the time they had been planted, they had increased by about ten taels. However, these Wood Spirit Ginsengs could provide Little Wei Yuan with a steady stream of cultivation, so Little Wei Yuan had no thoughts of digging them up to exchange for money for the time being.

The Wood Spirit Ginsengs were full of life force and conflicted with the Underworld Soil; Little Wei Yuan estimated that they would definitely die after sprinkling the Underworld Soil, so he didn't experiment recklessly. Testing medicinal materials was better left to Sun Yu.

After inspecting the domain, Little Wei Yuan flew out of the domain from the northwest direction. After flying for dozens of miles, a large Shaman tribe military camp appeared before his eyes.

After the Shaman army retreated, they didn't completely withdraw but built a camp a hundred miles outside the domain, seemingly preparing for a long-term garrison. At this distance of dozens of miles, Little Wei Yuan saw a column of ink-green energy rising straight up, connecting the earth to the sky.

That was the military energy of the Shaman army. Now that Little Wei Yuan's Qi-gazing technique was very proficient, a glance from afar told him that there were at least forty or fifty thousand people in the camp; it seemed they had received reinforcements since their last defeat.

In just one day, the Shaman camp had already been built to a considerable scale, with the camp walls already built to a height of one zhang and still being raised. This large camp looked capable of accommodating over a hundred thousand troops and was still constantly expanding and strengthening; it didn't look like a temporary camp, but rather like a permanent military fortress.

Crossing the camp, one could see a convoy composed of hundreds of large carts slowly driving over, each cart fully loaded. There was also a small river flowing through the camp where the Shaman tribe set up their camp, and cargo ships occasionally sailed into the camp on the river.

It seemed the Shaman tribe had invested heavily in this camp, sending a steady stream of building materials and supplies; was this the rhythm of building a city?

But with the current strength of the Azure Void army, they could still fight within the domain, but going outside the domain was absolutely impossible.

However, just because there was no way now didn't mean there wouldn't be in the future; as long as Little Wei Yuan was given some time, there were plenty of ways to deal with this camp.

Given the current distance between the camp and the domain, the Shaman commander clearly didn't understand the true capabilities of the Azure Void and still treated it as an ordinary boundary stone.

Generally, for a boundary stone to expand a domain by a hundred miles, it would take a hundred years of nourishment, but the Azure Void only needed a few years. If there were a large number of Shaman corpses available for conversion, it could even be shortened to one year.

A year later, when the domain covered it, no matter how magnificent the Shaman city was, it wouldn't last long.

Therefore, seeing the Shaman tribe constantly mobilizing materials from the rear to build camps and cities, Little Wei Yuan felt it wouldn't hurt to let them build first, the larger the scale the better. If the Shaman tribe put most of their energy and resources into building the city, the pressure on the domain would be much less.

Even if the Shaman tribe really built a magnificent city, besides the domain covering it, Little Wei Yuan had other means. For example, in the materials written by Xu Wenwu, he had mentioned the "cannon" more than once, but the cannon Xu Wenwu spoke of seemed somewhat delicate.

Now, with the establishment of the Weapon Forging Workshop, the quality of the newly produced steel tubes had greatly improved, allowing them to withstand more gunpowder power. Therefore, the latest batch of firelocks had changed their standards: the one used by ordinary mortals used one catty of gunpowder and could injure a Shaman captain. The one used by the Blood-merging Realm used two catties of gunpowder, and the bullet was already the size of a fist.

The most powerful gun was for cultivators in the Bone-forging Realm. Under the "Moment of Shacha Shacha Zhongsheng," they possessed strength infinitely close to the Dao Foundation, and the gun they used took three catties of gunpowder, with a bullet like a large apple. According to the standards of Xu Wenwu's world, this counted as an 88-caliber pistol.

Now Little Wei Yuan had to first equip the weapons after opening the "Moment of Shacha Shacha Zhongsheng," and then consider weapons for daily combat. However, looking at the Shaman camp in the distance, Little Wei Yuan felt that something like a siege cannon should also be put on the agenda.

Returning to the main peak, Little Wei Yuan stood before the map and, after careful deliberation, decided to build another fortress city opposite the Shaman camp. This city and the original three cities in the northwest and southwest formed an arc-shaped defensive line, and the interior was still primarily underground works.

If the Shaman tribe attacked again, they would have to bypass this city, and their marching route would become significantly longer. Needless to say, the longer they walked in the domain, the greater the consumption of military energy. At that time, Little Wei Yuan would set up a formation in the center of the domain; if the Shaman tribe couldn't break through, there were still three fortress cities on their retreat path, and wanting to leave without paying a price would be impossible.

After selecting the location, Little Wei Yuan was just about to notify Cui Yu to organize manpower to build the city and immigrate, when Yun Feifei came in excitedly and said, "One of my craftsmen has improved the bullets, and I think the effect is very good. Do you want to go take a look?"

Little Wei Yuan was naturally interested, so he followed Yun Feifei to the Weapon Forging Workshop.

At this moment, several wooden human targets had been set up on the open ground outside the Weapon Forging Workshop. The texture and hardness of the entire target were about the same as a Human-race Bone-forging Realm cultivator, and equivalent to Shaman tribe elites.

Yun Feifei brought up a somewhat shy youth. Little Wei Yuan swept him with his spiritual sense and knew that his bone structure was mediocre and his cultivation was shallow, only at the Blood-merging Realm. However, the Qi-gazing technique showed that faint white energy was radiating from him, and it seemed he also had some Qi luck on him.

Little Wei Yuan possessed otherworldly Qi luck and was particularly sensitive to Qi luck, so he wouldn't be mistaken. He was now even more curious and said to the youth who was imbued with Qi luck, "You have new ideas about bullets? Have you made them? Fire a couple of shots and let me see."

"Reporting to the Domain Master, the physical objects have already been made."

The youth brought up two trays; on one was a round ball. The round ball was sealed with oil wax, and inside were several small iron balls connected by fine chains. On the other tray was a cylindrical bullet head, flat at one end and pointed at the other; this thing was already quite similar to the bullet head in Xu Wenwu's words. Little Wei Yuan was surprised in his heart but remained calm on the surface, saying, "Fire a couple of shots and let me see."

The youth took several steel-tube guns loaded with gunpowder, loaded two of each type of bullet head, and then began to set up the wooden targets.

After two roars, the two wooden targets ten zhang away were suddenly covered in countless deep marks, and one chain-ball had simply sunk deep into the wooden target!

Little Wei Yuan, who had been through many battles, was immediately moved. The killing range of this kind of bullet head ten zhang away was actually five feet in diameter; for cultivators, there was no need to aim at all, just use spiritual sense to aim in the general direction and fire a shot. As long as one was grazed by the chain-ball, it would be a deep and long blood groove; even if a captain was hit, they couldn't take it and would find it hard to continue fighting.

This kind of bullet head was simply a close-combat killing weapon. In underground tunnels, it was even more unavoidable; one shot could clear the entire tunnel.

Little Wei Yuan remained calm and continued to look at the second type.

This time, the wooden target was covered in Shaman heavy armor, and a slightly tilted landing shield was set up. When Shaman elites held shields and crouched on the ground to defend against bows and crossbows, they would tilt their shields.

The youth placed two wooden targets at once, then loaded two guns and handed them to Yun Feifei. The new guns had greatly increased gunpowder, and without the blessing of the "Moment of Shacha Shacha Zhongsheng," the youth's cultivation couldn't use them, so only Yun Feifei could do it for him.

Yun Feifei stood before the target, her posture graceful, and her stance holding the gun was also very moving; she had clearly practiced specifically.

The gun roared, and the round iron bullet slammed into the heavy shield, leaving a dent in it, while the iron bullet slid upward and flew past the top of the wooden target, leaving the wooden target itself unscathed.

This was the iron bullet currently in use, which couldn't deal with the Shaman's heavy shield.

In fact, the power of the firelocks made by the domain was not as good as the armor-piercing heavy arrows of Northern Liao, and was far inferior to magic tools, so it was normal that they couldn't pierce the heavy shield. Little Wei Yuan thought that since everyone had a firelock, and in the future maybe even many firelocks, if one shot couldn't pierce it, just fire a few more; even if it couldn't pierce the shield, the vibration alone could injure the opponent.

!.

Being able to trade mortals for Shaman heavy-armored elites, even if it was fifty for one, was a huge profit.

Yun Feifei switched to the second gun and fired a shot; the center of the heavy shield suddenly appeared with a large hole, and then the heavy armor of the wooden target was also pierced, with a large hole appearing in the abdomen of the wooden target.

Little Wei Yuan stood up abruptly; the power of this shot far exceeded his expectations!

"Fire another shot and let me see."

Yun Feifei ordered people to reset the wooden target and heavy shield, and then another shot was fired. This time the heavy shield was still pierced, but the heavy armor only tore a small opening, and the bullet head was embedded in it.

This time Little Wei Yuan saw clearly: this bullet head was crafted exquisitely, with a soft metal cap on the front, a hard wall on the back, and a fine steel core buried inside. The steel core was engraved with a tiny formation and contained a bit of Dao power, which could continue to push the steel core forward.

When it hit the tilted shield, the soft cap deformed and automatically turned in a direction, effectively aiming straight at the shield, and then the steel core inside pierced through the heavy shield in one go. After piercing the shield, it still had some residual power to injure the shield-bearer.

Such a simple change could have such an obvious effect? It was simply inconceivable!

Although the cost of this bullet head was clearly dozens of times that of an ordinary iron ball, it was completely worth it.

Seeing the youth standing timidly to the side, his eyes full of expectation, Little Wei Yuan's heart stirred, and he immediately bestowed one hundred taels of immortal silver, several pills to assist cultivation, and promised the youth that he could re-select a body-forging technique suitable for himself.

The youth's immortal path, which had already been severed, was thus continued.

The youth was overjoyed and bowed his head! Little Wei Yuan gained another strand of advanced green energy.

The craftsmen watching from the side were immediately filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred, and Little Wei Yuan gained a few more strands of ordinary green energy.

After rewarding the youth, Little Wei Yuan said to Yun Feifei, "You also have merit; what do you want?"

Little Wei Yuan was already prepared to use up one exchange from the Merit Hall; no matter if Yun Feifei wanted pills, techniques, or magic tools, he would try his best to satisfy her. After all, Yun Feifei had been through life and death during this period and had great merit to the domain. Little Wei Yuan had never given her a reward, and this time was just right to give it all at once.

Yun Feifei asked, "Can I have anything I want?"

Little Wei Yuan nodded: "As long as it's not the secret Dao techniques of the Grand Beginning Palace, anything is fine."

Yun Feifei then said, "I was seriously injured in the last battle; I trouble the Domain Master to help me heal."

Little Wei Yuan swept her with his spiritual sense; she was perfectly fine from head to toe, where was the injury? With the healing pills exchanged from the Merit Hall plus the Wood-attribute Life-Mystic power, no matter how serious the injury, it could be healed.

Yun Feifei bit her lower lip, her eyes bright, and said, "The hidden injuries haven't healed, the injury is deep, it really can't be delayed any longer! How about tonight?"

In Little Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness, a drop of cyan great fortune appeared; it both existed and did not exist. Whether it could truly exist depended entirely on Little Wei Yuan's single thought.

(End of chapter)