Chapter 548: So insidious (Thanks to Alliance Leader Spring Water and Gold Coins)

No matter what kind of immortal sword Zhang Sheng took out, even if the four immortal swords of the founder reappeared, it would not have shocked Xu Henshui so much.

Xu Henshui had seen this Great Brightness Demon-Subduing Sword many times; every time someone from the Cui family came, many chose to cultivate this sword, especially those elders who needed to extend their lives—almost all of them cultivated this flashy but useless immortal sword.

This Dao Foundation was not even as good as a normal human-rank one. Xu Henshui felt it didn't deserve to be called an immortal sword; it could only be called a human sword, and those who cultivated it were all "sword-men."

Seeing the Great Brightness Demon-Subduing Sword in Zhang Sheng's hand, Xu Henshui refused to believe his eyes no matter what.

He was stunned for a moment, as if he understood, and sighed: "Even if there is a problem with your Dao heart, you can slowly repair it; why be so self-abandoning?"

Zhang Sheng smiled but didn't smile and said: "You look down on this sword? Fine, then I'll let you try it."

Zhang Sheng pointed his hand, and the Great Brightness Demon-Subduing Sword shone brightly, flew into the sky, and then fell toward Xu Henshui like a meteor! This magnificent formation was simply more exaggerated than many immortal swords.

Xu Henshui shook his head helplessly, feeling sad that a great enemy who had oppressed him for many years had fallen to this point, when he saw the Great Brightness Demon-Subduing Sword in the air split into two, two into four, four into eight...

In the blink of an eye, five hundred and twelve light swords turned into an extremely dazzling sun, falling on the peak and leveling the mountain peak where Xu Henshui stood!

Xu Henshui rushed out of the huge ball of light in a wretched state, his long hair disheveled, his supreme-rank Dharma robe tattered, revealing patches of skin like white jade. Above his head appeared a huge immortal orchid, with a graceful fairy standing in the heart of the orchid.

Xu Henshui's Dharma Form was very unique. Most of those who used objects or living things as a Dao Foundation would have an extra immortal to govern the Dao Foundation after cultivating the Dharma Form, such as Shangguan Qianmo's sword-wielding immortal.

But Xu Henshui was different; he was an orchid that had attained the Dao and transformed into a Heaven Immortal, and the primary and secondary roles were completely reversed. It was just that at this moment, several Great Brightness Demon-Subduing Swords were stuck in the huge immortal orchid, and even one was stuck in the fairy's thigh, which was truly miserable.

Xu Henshui was both angry and shocked, blurting out: "How can you have so many immortal swords?"

Zhang Sheng smiled but didn't smile and said: "This is the new Dao Foundation I cultivated after self-abandonment."

Xu Henshui asked tentatively: "Is it just this sword?"

"There are five hundred and twelve types in total, but don't worry, the vast majority are human-rank."

Xu Henshui couldn't rest easy and asked: "The vast majority?"

"Hmm, there are a few earth-rank ones, and one heaven-rank one. Don't worry, there are no immortal-rank ones."

Xu Henshui couldn't rest easy even more and continued to pursue: "What is the heaven-rank one? Let me see!"

A cyan immortal sword appeared in Zhang Sheng's hand. As soon as this sword came out, a misty drizzle began to drift around.

Xu Henshui was naturally no stranger to this sword and said: "Green Silk Rain? Why didn't you choose Parting Sorrow, Severing Void? Or even that fourth one that was just cultivated?"

Zhang Sheng smiled but didn't smile and said: "Guess?"

A flash of inspiration suddenly struck Xu Henshui's mind, and he thought of the greatest characteristic of Green Silk Rain, blurting out: "You, you want to sever people's Dao Foundations!"

Zhang Sheng smiled and said: "Exactly so. No wonder they say 'orchid heart and wise quality'; you are indeed smart. Hmm, it's just that your luck is a bit poor. If you weren't of the same generation as me, that would be great."

Xu Henshui felt the same way. In his generation, there was not only Zhang Sheng, but also Ji Liuli and Feng Chutang; no matter what, he couldn't squeeze into the top three. If he had been born a few years later...

Xu Henshui thought about it again and found that being born a few years later wouldn't work either, as there was still a Wei Yuan behind him. If he wanted to stand alone at the top, he could only climb forward.

Looking at Green Silk Rain now, the more Xu Henshui looked at it, the more he felt something was wrong; it was indescribably awkward.

A moment later, he finally understood the source of the unease in his heart: if Green Silk Rain could also have five hundred swords, then who would dare to fight Zhang Sheng?

If one were slashed by several hundred swords in a row, even a top-tier immortal foundation would likely be forcibly severed into a heaven foundation. Even if a heaven foundation didn't die, it would be directly severed into a human foundation.

As for a human foundation, it would definitely die, so there would be no need to sever it further.

Once he understood this point, the look in Xu Henshui's eyes when he looked at Zhang Sheng changed, and he gritted his teeth: "So you are so insidious!"

Zhang Sheng said: "You are overthinking it. I can only manifest five hundred and twelve swords when my Dao Foundation is complete. Before that, you are safe."

Xu Henshui's face turned green and white, and finally, he bowed deeply to Zhang Sheng and said: "It was my recklessness today; please, for the sake of our fellow discipleship, don't take it to heart." "You are a senior; of course, I won't take such a small matter to heart. Just don't make the same mistake next time."

At this time, Wei Yuan returned from the Nether Cold Realm, so Zhang Sheng glared at Xu Henshui, warning him not to speak of today's events. Xu Henshui naturally wouldn't speak of such a shameful matter to the outside world.

Strictly speaking, he hadn't lost; Zhang Sheng only had the power of one strike at this moment. But Xu Henshui was a Dharma Form cultivator, and fighting back and forth with a newly promoted Dao Foundation cultivator, and even having several swords stuck in his Dharma Form—if this got out, he would naturally lose all face.

At this moment, both of them felt a huge spiritual sense sweep over this place; it was Wei Yuan's spiritual sense. The two immediately pretended that nothing had happened, chatted a few words, and then separated.

Wei Yuan didn't know what the two were doing here, and seeing that there was nothing unexpected, he moved his spiritual sense away.

Wei Yuan came to the Weapon Forging Workshop and put down over a hundred jin of Nether Crystal. These Nether Crystals were enough to forge one hundred thousand sets of heavy armor, and the remainder could also be used to forge multiple anti-magic deck plates.

At this time, Cui Yu sent someone to find Wei Yuan, saying that the surviving refugees had gathered and were waiting for Wei Yuan to come over.

The sixth battle was different from all previous battles because the Shaman tribe was defeated quickly, so half of the refugees who filled the front-line positions survived. For these people who had narrowly escaped death, Wei Yuan felt that as mortals, they had already risked their lives for Qingming once, and that was enough.

So Wei Yuan asked Cui Yu to count all these people, and in the end, there were over thirty thousand in total, among whom were a few Qingming residents who held the determination to die.

Wei Yuan decided to incorporate all these people into the normal troops, then prioritize teaching them the Body Forging Art and tilt resources toward them; in the future, they would also get a free chance for Dao Foundation building.

(No errors in the original text!)

As for the gaps in the front-line positions, they would be filled by the newly arrived refugees.

Previously, Wei Yuan really had no choice but to use human lives to block the Shaman tribe's military edge; now the war situation was gradually developing in a favorable direction, and although refugees still had to be used to fill the battle lines, some would survive, and those who survived would also receive the treatment they deserved.

It was just that the more than seven hundred thousand refugees who had died in battle previously had no compensation; there was no help for it, the world was never fair.

Wei Yuan announced these preferential measures in front of the thirty thousand surviving refugees. Hearing that they didn't have to go to the front line, which was almost certain death, and that there were many preferential treatments, many refugees were so excited that they bowed down, which was also unexpected for Wei Yuan.

Looking at the thousands of new strands of green Qi, Wei Yuan's mood was very complex.

The proportion of luck contributed by these refugees was far higher than in the past, and also exceeded any other group; it was equivalent to two out of every ten people worshiping Wei Yuan as a savior immortal. It could only be said that their requirements were really too low; being able to survive a war in which half the people died, and then being able to have some slight preferential treatment, was enough to win their hearts.

Leaving this refugee camp, Wei Yuan was in a very bad mood. He came to Feng Chutang's residence and knocked on the door to request an audience.

Feng Chutang was reading in the room; his aura was much better than before, but he was still very weak, his face was green, and his pupils were somewhat turbid.

Seeing Wei Yuan enter, Feng Chutang put down his book and asked: "What happened?"

Wei Yuan told him what had just happened at the camp and then said: "Actually, these people were all sent to the battlefield by me, and now it's their own good luck that they survived by chance.

They fought a bloody battle and narrowly escaped death; what I promised them was what they deserved. Moreover, there isn't much that really needs to be paid; as far as the present is concerned, it's just distributing more firewood and rice. For just this little bit of stuff, are they really worth entrusting their luck?"

Feng Chutang smiled and said: "So it's this matter. Actually, the question you want to ask already has an answer in history. Let's talk about luck first; you yourself are blessed with luck, as the Realm Lord of Qingming, and you are also in a position that can collect human-path luck. But have you ever thought about why thirty thousand people bowed to you, but you only collected five thousand strands of human-path luck?"

Wei Yuan had really never thought about this question; he had originally thought that some people were good at acting, prostrating themselves on the surface while not knowing what they were thinking inside, but after hearing Feng Chutang say this, it didn't seem to be the case.

Feng Chutang didn't keep him in suspense and said directly: "The reason for this is actually that some people can contribute luck, while others are born unable to contribute luck; no matter how grateful they are to you, it is useless."

Wei Yuan had never heard of such a statement and asked subconsciously: "Is there any basis for this?"

Feng Chutang said: "Of course there is no basis; the matter of luck is ethereal, and I can't see it very clearly either. I can only make some judgments based on historical materials and what I see and hear on a daily basis. For example, if you could get luck from Yu Jing, it would definitely be completely different from that of mortals."

Wei Yuan looked at the few strands of purple Qi in the Human World Fireworks, and it was indeed so.

Feng Chutang continued: "I guess that everyone's fate is different when they are born, so their luck and life encounters are also different. These refugees from Zhao Guo, even if they didn't go to the battlefield, most of them wouldn't live past three years; they would always die for one reason or another.

So the little bit of stuff you just mentioned is from your and my standards. To these refugees, it is something they cannot obtain in their entire lives, so naturally, they will contribute luck."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 549 =====