Chapter 232

After the drill was completed, all the cultivators put down their weapons and turned to pick up tools to build the city.

The newly built Xuanwei Six was on the only path for the Shaman city to attack the domain; how critical this position was could be seen just by looking at how the main general directly split his troops to try to take it during the last Shaman attack.

It was just that the Shaman main general clearly miscalculated Wei Yuan's military strength, not expecting that more than a hundred Dao Foundation cultivators would be added in a short time, and as a result, the ten thousand troops left on the ground were quickly defeated by Wei Yuan with the same force. If it hadn't been for the timely arrival of Shaman reinforcements, the twenty thousand troops would have been wiped out.

Having tasted the sweetness of underground fortifications once again, Wei Yuan naturally seized every moment to build underground fortresses. These cultivators were just at the time when they needed exercise, so in addition to training, they were all dragged to Xuanwei Six to dig holes, euphemistically called "solidifying the foundation in advance."

In fact, all the cultivators knew that Azure Void was not only the territory of the human race but also their only home, so everyone trained, fought, and worked with all their might.

Even if Wei Yuan gave an order for ordinary people to hold a musket and charge toward the Shaman to fire a shot, no one had any objections. In the previous few great battles, there were even several instances where troops fought to the death without retreating even after suffering more than half casualties.

It was just that the Cui family members were new here and hadn't figured out the situation, so they confusedly followed everyone to change into tools and then dug tunnels for a whole night. At first, they thought this was also part of the training, until the sky was about to brighten and they returned to the team after work, they realized that this was just work.

Among the five people who paid money to buy their lives, except for the one from the eldest branch of the direct line, the other four also dug soil all night. Cui Yu believed that what they bought was only the right not to go to the battlefield, not saying they could not work.

However, in any place where dandies gathered, there was no shortage of big mouths, so before half an hour had passed, everyone knew that five people had already spent money to buy their lives.

When they first arrived on the first day, these dandies still felt that the war was very far away, but after digging soil for a whole night, some people figured out that something was wrong; wasn't this just digging fortifications?

In the process of digging holes, they also saw corpses and broken hands and feet that hadn't been cleaned up in time from time to time. Only then did they realize that the war was right in front of them. After asking the accompanying cultivators about the past war situation, many dandies panicked.

Those who still had some family assets decided immediately to find Cui Yu to buy a life-exemption quota after work.

With the bell ringing for the end of work, one cultivator after another climbed out of the ground, and the Cui family members also had to return to the camp for a short rest to prepare for the second day of training.

A young girl was pulling another Cui family descendant, anxiously saying something. The man sneered: "Borrow money to buy a life-exemption quota for your brother? What will you use to pay it back?"

The girl's tears were already swirling in her eyes. She looked back at her brother behind her, who seemed a bit timid but had hope in his eyes, gritted her teeth and said: "I will... pay it back myself!"

The man was just a little moved when he was pulled away by someone beside him, who was still saying: "Let's go, let's go! A quota costs two hundred immortal silver! Two hundred! How many of her kind can you buy!"

The man immediately felt it made sense and left without looking back. The girl eagerly wanted to pull him, but was shaken off.

The girl cheered herself up and went to find others. But whether it was borrowing money or selling herself, she didn't succeed.

The sky was bright, and Wei Yuan came to the drill ground again, preparing to activate the "Instant of Shacha Shacha Zhongsheng." At this time, Cui Yu hurried over and gave Wei Yuan a new list. Wei Yuan was a bit surprised: "So many people bought life-exemption?"

"Hmm, seventeen more, and we have another three thousand four hundred taels of immortal silver in our account. Those without cash can use magic tools or other things to offset it, but we don't accept credit."

"Some people are probably going to lose their family fortunes! After spending so much money, the chance of forming a Dao Foundation has instead been halved. Isn't it just going to the battlefield? Is it that scary?"

Cui Yu said: "It is that scary. I just roughly mentioned the casualty rate of the past few battles to them, and even I was a little scared."

Wei Yuan didn't speak. With this casualty rate, he would never let his own relatives go to the battlefield.

"If they don't want to die and the chance of forming a Dao Foundation is slim, why come? Better to go back directly."

Cui Yu sneered: "How can it be so easy to go back? These people were able to come because the clan gave them benefits, which is why the Ancestor said casualties don't matter. If they dare to go back like this, the clan won't spare them; it's even possible they'll be beaten to death directly."

"Then I won't care." Wei Yuan didn't have time to worry about the waste of wealthy families; after training, he still had to accompany Yu Zhizhuo to the Weapon Forging Workshop.

After having hundreds of newly promoted Dao Foundation cultivators, the steel production in the domain increased greatly, but it was still far from enough. Now that they had finally waited for a high-level cultivator from the Heavenly Craft Hall, they naturally had to ask him for guidance.

After the training ended, Wei Yuan went to meet Yu Zhizhuo and flew with him to the Weapon Forging Workshop.

More than ten miles away from the Weapon Forging Workshop, Yu Zhizhuo looked at the smoke column in front and said: "This furnace temperature is a bit low; it can't smelt magic treasure materials."

Wei Yuan immediately admired him; anyone could tell the temperature by looking at the fire, but to know the furnace temperature by looking at the smoke from afar, one had to be a master.

Last night, Zhang Sheng had already privately introduced this Uncle Yu to Wei Yuan in detail. Like Ji Liuli and Zhang Sheng, Yu Zhizhuo had long ago cultivated to the perfection of the Dao Foundation but was reluctant to advance to the Dharma Form, only seeking for his Primordial Spirit and mental state to be perfected together; he was a person with great prospects.

Moreover, Zhang Sheng also mentioned that in his early years, many of Wei Yuan's cultivation resources came from the Heavenly Craft Hall, through Yu Zhizhuo's hands. It was just that Zhang Sheng glossed over the process and didn't elaborate.

Zhang Sheng also left one thing unmentioned: he had written to Yu Zhizhuo long ago, but there had been no response. Now Zhang Sheng didn't know why he had suddenly come to Azure Void; could it really be for the Sacrifice Mingtu?

Arriving at the Weapon Forging Workshop, Yu Zhizhuo hadn't had time to study the furnace before his gaze was attracted by fifty cultivators forging iron in unison. He watched quietly for a while and asked: "Do they work for half an hour a day forging iron like this?" Wei Yuan replied: "It should be... eight hours."

No matter how knowledgeable Yu Zhizhuo was, he couldn't help but be shocked and asked: "Why is this?"

"They have just formed their Dao Foundation and need to consolidate it," Wei Yuan said.

Yu Zhizhuo snorted and said: "Can forging iron consolidate a ghost of a Dao Foundation? Are you... trying to mass-produce steel plates?"

"Uncle's eyes are like torches! These steel plates are the key to producing muskets. This matter concerns the life and death of the domain, so the more, the better."

"Muskets?"

"I was just about to demonstrate it to you, Uncle; please follow me."

Wei Yuan took Yu Zhizhuo to the shooting range and ordered people to bring over a batch of steel pipe guns of different models. Wei Yuan picked up a two-jin powder-loaded steel pipe gun, aimed at a wooden target ten zhang away, and activated the gunpowder.

With a boom, a fist-sized bullet shot out, blasting a large hole in the wooden target wearing Shaman standard body armor!

Yu Zhizhuo didn't say a word, flashed to the wooden target, looked at it carefully for a long time, and even picked up the bullet to look at it. Afterward, he personally tested the gun, fired dozens of shots in a row, and only then put the gun down, still feeling somewhat unsatisfied.

"How is it?" Wei Yuan asked.

"Inconceivable! Isn't this a strike that can be issued by the Body Forging stage?"

!.

Yu Zhizhuo shot a wisp of thin, pale gold sword energy from his fingertips, directly cutting a musket horizontally, and then cut another one vertically.

This pale gold sword energy was truly as sharp as mud, and the cross-section was as smooth as a mirror. Wei Yuan felt that this sword energy seemed somewhat similar to Zhang Sheng's immortal sword, "Slash Void."

Yu Zhizhuo looked carefully at the cross-section of the steel plate, then cut off a piece and held it in his hand. The steel piece rapidly rose in temperature, turning bright red in the blink of an eye, and turned into a pool of scorching molten steel. He looked at the color of the molten steel, then squeezed it casually; the temperature of the molten steel dropped sharply, turning into a steel ball.

Yu Zhizhuo picked up a two-jin powder-loaded musket again, the kind Wei Yuan had just tested, and then covered the barrel with his hand, directly activating the gunpowder!

Wei Yuan was shocked, but the gunpowder exploded, and not a single wisp of smoke leaked from Yu Zhizhuo's fingers; it exploded while muffled in the barrel, causing the entire gun body to bulge and twist.

Yu Zhizhuo let go, his palm had some scorch marks, which disappeared with a casual wipe. He put down the deformed steel pipe and said: "In terms of the power of this gun, the steel quality is too good; there's no need for it to be this sturdy. The number of forging times can be reduced by half, and then a quenching can be added in the middle; the steel quality will be enough. This way, the number of steel plates produced daily can be increased by half."

Wei Yuan was overjoyed; Yu Zhizhuo was worthy of being a high-level cultivator from the Heavenly Craft Hall, increasing the steel plate production capacity by half in just a few words.

"How did you come up with this musket in the beginning?"

Wei Yuan thought for a while and decided to tell the truth: "I accidentally caught a visitor from beyond the heavens and had him write down everything he saw and heard in that world. That world cannot cultivate and only has mortals. Muskets are weapons used by mortals."

"There is such a world? Where is the information? Bring it for me to see."

"The information is on the main peak; I will have someone copy a version immediately and send it to you."

Yu Zhizhuo picked up a musket again, aimed at the target, then played with it in his hand, and said slowly: "This thing just has a bit less power, but if the quantity is large enough, it's not easy to deal with."

"I want to issue one to everyone in the domain. When the Shaman come, they will know what it means to have a nation in arms."

"If you want to increase the quantity, it's not hard to handle. I already have some ideas, but let's wait until I finish reading the information written by that visitor from beyond the heavens."

Wei Yuan immediately said: "I will accompany you to get the original version now, and the copy will be sent over later. But now is the time for the daily routine discussion; would you like to participate, Uncle?"

Yu Zhizhuo already knew that the people of Tai Chu Palace would meet at a fixed time every day, mainly to exchange ideas and incidentally handle major matters within the domain. After testing the musket, his interest in Azure Void greatly increased, and he also wanted to hear what other people who came earlier had to say, so he returned to the main peak with Wei Yuan.

When everyone arrived, Sun Yu said: "I had a little free time these past two days and studied the immortal medicine 'Amoxicillin' brought by Xu Wenwu. I found this medicine to be quite miraculous; for mortals, it is worthy of the name of immortal medicine."

"Is this medicine really useful?" All the cultivators of Tai Chu Palace were very curious.

Sun Yu took out two small dishes and placed them on the table, both coated with a thin layer of grease, and then said: "I sprinkled some Amoxicillin in one dish, while the other did not. Now that a day and a night have passed, the micro-insects in the dish with the medicine are almost all dead, while the other dish is teeming with life."

(End of chapter)