Dragon Canon

In the desolate mountains, several cultivators paused their work to stare at their increasingly agitated senior cultivator. The man was pacing in circles like a lost ant, his expression shifting between anger and frustration. Finally, the youngest cultivator could stand it no longer and said, “Please make a decision soon, Big Senior Brother.”

The senior cultivator stopped in his tracks and said slowly with a face as dark as storm clouds, “Could I have been deceived again?”

“It wouldn't be the first or even the second time, Big Senior Brother,” the youngest cultivator replied. “Everyone knows about your penchant for falling for schemes at this point. After so many years, the only ones who haven’t deceived you are the Skyblue Hall.”

The senior cultivator let out a long sigh. Glancing at the desolate mountains and wilderness around them—surrounded by poisonous plants and venomous insects with no one in sight—he said sorrowfully, “I’m afraid I’ve truly let you all down....”

His senior and junior brothers immediately waved their hands. “It’s no big deal. As long as you pay us our wages for these past few days, we’re good.”

The senior cultivator gritted his teeth. “Come then! We’re going to Qingming!”

“Wait, we don’t have a mission to go there. According to the founder’s rules, we cannot make a fruitless trip—there must be a payment of some sort.”

The senior cultivator slapped his forehead. “Thank goodness you reminded me! Also, that’s easy to fix!”

He turned to the youngest cultivator and asked, “You have an older brother in the Skyblue Hall, haven’t you?”

“Yep.”

“Tell him to post a bounty mission inviting artificers to the realm of Qingming to forge mystic artifacts. He may set the reward however he likes. You’ll then accept the mission, and he will pay you the merits in private.”

The youngest cultivator fell silent for a moment. “Big Senior Brother, the processing fee is very expensive.”

The senior cultivator gritted his teeth again. “I’ll cover it!”

A day later, the small team of cultivators finally packed their belongings and left this barren mountain range of absolute nothing.

Meanwhile, in the realm of Qingming, discussions about the siege cannon had long since strayed from their original intent, striding rapidly down the path of “Dao merging.”

Xu Wenwu’s recollection of siege cannons was blurry to put it mildly, but its principles were clear enough: it had to be powerful enough to blast through sturdy defensive structures—city walls included.

In this world, whether for humans or other races, all city walls were reinforced with spells. Their material properties had also been altered to become as sturdy as the reinforced concrete Xu Wenwu had described. To breach the Shamans’ walls, the firepower had to be immense—enough to require hundreds of catties of gunpowder.

The siege cannons in Xu Wenwu’s memory obviously would not suffice—their shells were too small and lacked sufficient power.

Every Palace disciple currently gathered at the realm of Qingming were top-tier prodigies in their own right. Both immortal foundations and heaven foundations possessed formidable primordial spirits and lightning-fast perceptions. Their intelligence far outstripped the common understanding of intelligence. Thus, after some discussion, the group had abstracted the problem into how to deliver the projectiles straight onto the heads of the Shamans’ city.

This problem had plenty more solutions. Cui Yu suggested directly refining the shells into mystic artifacts so they could be manipulated like flying swords. A powerful cultivator could even control multiple shells at once, solving the firepower issue in one fell swoop.

Wei Yuan had rejected the suggestion immediately, for no other reason than the young master of the Cui Clan had no idea how expensive mystic artifacts were, or how much it cost to hire a single artificer. In Young Master Cui’s mind, such a basic mystic artifact wasn’t even worth picking up if it fell to the ground.

Even without refining it into mystic artifacts, there were still many ways to transport the shells. Trueman Chu He suggested planting several Tree Demon Vines at the edge of the realm. A demonic plant that resembled a spirit plant, it could grow up to ten zhang and possessed multiple vine arms. Immensely strong, they could tie the shells to its arms, have it swing them around until they reached a certain speed, then fling them out at the enemy, easily sending them a hundred li away.

However, the demonic plant took thirty years to grow after being planted. Even if it was transplanted, it would still take three years before it could be used. Consequently, this proposal was rejected as well.

The final plan was proposed by Ji Liuli. The plan involved setting up an array within the realm to suspend the shells, after which cultivators would use their Dao energy to propel them forward, passing them along one by one. In theory, as long as the array was long enough and there were enough cultivators, the shells would eventually move fast enough to fly even a hundred li.

Furthermore, a sufficiently long array would drastically lower the cultivation requirements for the cultivators involved—any Dao Foundation stage cultivator would be able to partake in the effort. As long as enough people lined up, and each of them gave the shell a push along the way, the shell could be accelerated to the impressive speed of a hundred zhang per instant.

This was the proposal that was ultimately accepted by everyone. The group proceeded to brainstorm and discuss the plan over the next two days, gradually refining it.

Wei Yuan was seriously short on funds, so he had to rely more on cultivators and less on materials. That was why he decided to construct an array stretching a thousand zhang in length and staffed by three hundred Dao Foundation stage cultivators. They would be pushing the shells in pairs. Currently, Qingming was in dire need of reconstruction and had basically nothing worth speaking about. What they did have was a ton of cultivators seeking to solidify their Dao Foundation. All they asked in return for their contribution was a meal.

With the platform for the siege cannons in place, the only remaining issue was the strength of the shells. At this point, Sun Yu alone could no longer keep up with the demand for gunpowder. Some of the raw materials were originally used as medicinal herbs, so stockpiles were inevitably limited. Thus, mining once again became a priority for Wei Yuan.

Mining didn’t necessarily require experts; a basic understanding of the earthly veins would suffice. In fact, the main task was relying on a large number of cultivators using their perception to scan the underground.

An ordinary Dao Foundation stage cultivator could generally survey the distribution of earthly veins within a radius of about three zhang around a mine shaft. With the aid of Qingming, Wei Yuan himself could survey an area of roughly three hundred zhang. Therefore, in theory, a few hundred cultivators was all that was needed to roughly equal the capabilities of an Avatar. High cultivators were always welcomed, but not strictly necessary in this regard.

Coincidentally, prospecting and tunneling were also excellent ways to solidify one’s Dao Foundation.

Wei Yuan had plenty of newly promoted Dao Foundation stage cultivators, but he had even more tasks that required their presence. Naturally, he was short-handed.

He was still worrying about this when suddenly, he sensed a flying vessel sneaking its way into the realm. Its spirit energy fluctuations were unnaturally weak; so much so that Wei Yuan detected it only after it had flown dozens of li into Qingming’s domain.

Fortunately for the flying vessel, it managed to display the Cui Clan’s emblem right before an immortal sword would fall on top of its audacious hull.

Wei Yuan immediately appeared before the flying vessel and guided it to a landing spot outside Yong’an City. An old man stepped out of the airship, followed by what seemed like an endless stream of young people. Eventually, over a hundred people stood before Wei Yuan.

Just then, Cui Yu arrived in a hurry and looked visibly taken aback when he saw the old man. He bowed and said in greeting, “Fifth Great Uncle, what brings you here?”

The old man exuded an air of dignified composure that could not be shaken by any disturbance. He observed Cui Yu from head to toe, then slowly allowed a small smile to appear on his face. “Because there are a lot of clansmen on this ship. Although they may be of little worth, they still carry the blood of the Cui Clan, and the journey here is hardly easy. Thus, the elders asked me to escort them over without disturbing the others.”

By “the others”, he naturally meant the Xu Clan.

The old man possessed a depth of aura that seemed boundless; he was clearly an Avatar, and not an ordinary one at that.

Cui Yu performed the introductions. “This is my fifth great uncle, Cui Xingjiang. This is Wei Yuan, the realm lord of Qingming I’ve spoken about.”

The old man appraised Wei Yuan and nodded. “Truly a dragon among men. It is Cui Yu’s good fortune to be able to work alongside you.”

Wei Yuan bowed and replied, “Brother Cui is also a man of great capabilities. It is my blessing to have his assistance.”

The old man produced a small box and handed it to him, saying, “This is a token of our gratitude for this mission. The Old Lady states that, as long as three people from this batch can establish their Dao Foundations, that will suffice. If more succeed, there will be an additional reward.”

Wei Yuan took the box, tucked it away without opening it, and said, “I will do my best.”

The old man nodded and said to Cui Yu, “There are quite a few people in the clan who are keeping an eye on this matter right now. Those who truly need to establish their Dao Foundations haven’t arrived yet. You’ve already caught the attention of the clan elders; if you handle this well, you might just be able to advance another step.”

Cui Yu replied in a solemn tone, “I will do my best. However, I’m aware that my natural talent is limited. I do not harbor any grand ambitions for a position within the clan.”

The old man sighed, his expression betraying a hint of regret as he replied slowly, “While high cultivation isn’t everything, the Cui Clan is vast and powerful, with countless eyes resting upon it. Never mind an Avatar, not even a World Ruler True Lord could support the entire Cui Clan. Without sufficient cultivation, even if you were to take that seat, those beneath you would never respect you.”

Cui Yu replied, “It has been this way for thousands of years. I understand.”

The old man nodded and said no more. He then boarded the flying vessel and flew away.

Watching the departing vessel, Cui Yu suddenly gave a wry smile and said to Wei Yuan, “Logically, I know he’s right. But deep down, I can’t help but feel a bit resentful!”