Dragon Canon

Apart from Trueman Chu He, Zhang Sheng, Ji Liuli, Yu Zhizhuo, and Sun Yu were just all one step away from the Avatar stage. It was a decision they had made voluntarily. Thus, they could see the micro-insects on the dishes with just the naked eye.

Although Wei Yuan’s cultivation was inferior, his primordial spirit and perception were so formidable they were on par with an Avatar. After adjusting his perception, he too was able to detect the micro-insects.

Cui Yu was the only one who couldn’t do it. Although he was in the middle stage of the Dao Foundation stage and on the verge of entering the late stage, as of now, he could neither see the micro-insects with his naked eye or detect them with his perception. Seeing everyone’s composed and thoughtful expression, he felt an urge to flee.

Back in the Cui Clan when he was striving to improve himself and his rowdy friends, he was the only heaven foundation in the group. Now, here in Qingming, fighting against the foreigners, he was still the only heaven foundation in the group.

“Why is that?” the others asked.

Sun Yu had been pondering this for a long time. “From what I’ve observed,” he said, “all the dead micro-insects had had their outer shells destroyed. This is what’s extraordinary about the medicine: it possesses no Dao energy whatsoever, yet it had single-handedly annihilated countless micro-insects on its own—it is truly baffling. I don’t even know how the humans of that world discovered this object in the first place.”

“By sheer luck, maybe?” Ji Liuli suggested.

Everyone nodded, finding her suggestion to be highly plausible. In the Homeworld, the study of the technique of fortune had already reached considerable depth. There were even those who had attained immortality through the Dao of fortune. True Lord Yan Shi, for instance, was one such man vying to achieve the same feat.

According to True Lord Yan Shi, so-called “fortune-tweaking” boiled down to nothing more than amplifying the probability of a certain event or person developing in a specific direction. Moreover, fortune-tweaking only affected only one or two individuals. If tens of thousands of people were to strive toward the same direction together, then their probability of success would be far greater than that of a single person.

Sun Yu placed a white pill on the table and said, “Even more extraordinary than the pill itself is their ability to refine it. At the very least, it is greater than the so-called ‘top-quality golden pills’ that the Mother Nature Monastery often boasts about.”

Trueman Chu He cleared his throat and advised, “Be careful what you say, Junior Nephew. There is nothing more the old fools at the Mother Nature Monastery hate than being spoken ill of.”

“I’m just saying it here; they won’t find out.”

Trueman Chu He replied, “Where there are people, there is gossip. If you keep this up, it’s only a matter of time before they hear the rumors. Besides, once you get into the habit of speaking this way, you’re bound to let slip a few extra words even without meaning to.”

Sun Yu replied, “Fine, let’s get back to this immortal medicine. I believe the people in that world must have already established a comprehensive set of theories and refinement techniques to be able to refine an Avatar-grade medicine like this with their mortal bodies.”

“This medicine is Avatar-grade?” Trueman Chu He exclaimed in surprise.

“It can eliminate Dao Foundation stage micro-insects, and is effective against Avatar-stage micro-insects. Given sufficient quantities, it can even eliminate certain types of Avatar-stage micro-insects,” said Sun Yu.

According to the consensus of the cultivation world, this qualified the medicine as Avatar-grade. The system for classifying and naming medicine was established by the Mother Nature Monastery itself. An Avatar-grade medicine was called a spirit elixir, a World Ruler-grade medicine was called a treasure elixir, and an Ultimate Unity-grade medicine was, naturally, called an immortal elixir[1].

Following this line of reasoning, everyone was, to a certain extent, astonished. What a pity that Xu Wenwu was so uneducated. Despite clearly having studied physics and chemistry, he had retained none of the knowledge, save for half a poem or two.

Never mind that most of these verses had already been written by other otherworldly visitors, even if they were original, what good would they serve if he only remembered a few lines? Assuming the guy tried to show off at a literary gathering, all it would take was someone asking him to compose a poem on the spot for his true colors to be exposed.

“Let’s just sacrifice Xu Wenwu. The chances that we would get another person as useless as him is pretty low, right?” Ji Liuli suggested once more.

Seeing that everyone was tempted by the idea, Wei Yuan hurriedly vetoed it.

Meanwhile, Yu Zhizhuo was poring over the documents Xu Wenwu had written, page by page. His perception was as powerful as that of a typical late-stage Avatar and far stronger than even Wei Yuan at his current level.

He flipped through the records at lightning speed, memorizing each page with a single glance while using his primordial spirit—capable of processing hundreds of thoughts in an instant—to analyze, organize, and archive the information at the same time.

In the blink of an eye, he had finished reviewing all the materials. Yu Zhizhuo sighed and said, “It’s a shame that the people of that world don’t understand cultivation. They can process several thoughts at most in a single breath, yet they’ve considered even the smallest details so perfectly. I can only imagine how much time and effort the people in that world have put in to achieve this feat. In my opinion, before we try to achieve anything, the first thing we must do is fully adopt that world’s standards of measurement. Only then will we have a common foundation for discussion.”

His words made perfect sense, but they offered no immediate help to Qingming’s current predicament.

Wei Yuan gently reminded him, “Senior Uncle, the Shamans are still out there....”

Yu Zhizhuo chuckled and said, “I know, don’t worry. I already have an idea, and I’ll get to work on it as soon as I return. You should see the results by tonight.”

Ecstatic, Wei Yuan said quickly, “Thank you, Senior Uncle!”

Yu Zhizhuo then turned to Zhang Sheng and said earnestly, “Junior Brother Zhang, your senior brother has recently acquired a few valuable items. I would need your help with them.”

Zhang Sheng replied expressionlessly, “One good turn deserves another.”

..................

In a palace far north of the Shaman realm, Sacred Heart and another Great Warlock sat at the head of the hall. A row of Great Warlocks were standing below them.

The atmosphere in the hall was extremely tense. The Great Warlock seated beside Sacred Heart was nothing more than a swirling red mist. Its core was indistinguishable, though layers of red leaves were drifting around its body.

Looking down from his elevated position, Sacred Heart’s usual gentleness was nowhere to be found. He asked slowly and authoritatively, “How many troops have you mustered? Why haven’t you launched an attack yet?”

One of the Great Warlocks replied, “We have already made a probing attack, but the defenses of the enemy realm far exceeded our expectations, and our losses were severe. We have now assembled a force of one hundred thousand, but it is still insufficient. We also require the intervention of more Great Warlocks.”

“One hundred thousand isn’t enough? What use are you then?” Sacred Heart’s voice turned harsh.

Again, the Great Warlock replied, “We could win the battle, but we would likely lose more than half our numbers. I believe there is no need to fight at this time. Moreover, if Western Jin were to take advantage of the situation and launch a pincer attack, then we may find ourselves in dire straits.”

Sacred Heart’s expression darkened. He seemed taken aback that the other Great Warlock would refuse him so bluntly. At that moment, the Great Warlock beside him spoke calmly, “Lord Sacred Heart, you have devoted your whole life to cultivation and little to military affairs. It would be best to heed the advice of my frontline generals on this matter.”

Sacred Heart replied coldly, “Lord Redleaf, the frontline generals are merely your mouthpieces. You might as well just tell me to obey you.”

Redleaf sighed and said, “We each serve our own masters. Why must we be like this?”

A vertical yellow pattern slowly lit up between Sacred Heart’s eyebrows. “The spirit embryo is the foremost matter of our entire race, yet you only care about the casualties of your own tribe. Very well then. You’re afraid that your subordinates will suffer casualties, aren’t you? Watch this carefully!”

A beam of yellow light suddenly shot from between his eyebrows, striking the Great Warlock below! The Great Warlock’s face was frozen in utter shock as his body rapidly turned yellow from head to toe. In the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a sand sculpture. He then crumbled into a pile of sand right there in the hall.

“What are you doing?” Redleaf was too late to stop him, his voice filled with outrage.

The vertical pattern between Sacred Heart’s eyebrows faded, and he spoke calmly. “I want to see what the human has been hiding. All you need to do is to shatter that shell for me. Once I’ve seen what’s inside, I’ll leave you be. Now, you have two choices: You can die on the battlefield, or die by my hands.”

Redleaf snapped, “Are you looking for a war?”

“I’m ready any time you are.” With that, Sacred Heart rose to his feet and strode out of the hall.

1. Did the author follow his own goddamn rules before this, or at least mention it sooner so I would be mentally prepared when I do my translations? Fuck no he didn’t. By the way I have to identify on the fly whether something is a medicine/herb/pill as well since they share the same Chinese character, though usually only the herb one REALLY matters while the rest are whatever they more or less mean the same thing. Anyway I’ve most likely made some mistakes along the way and though I try to fix as many of them as possible, it’s entirely possible that I had missed some. Preemptive apologies here. ☜