There was no shortage of experts in military strategy among the high cultivators of the Palace of Absolute Beginning. Bao Yun was one such example. With her present, Wei Yuan, a master of military strategy, need not step forward for the time being.

How should they characterize the mortal army? That was the primary issue. Bao Yun had been pondering this question since Qingming activated Life is a Flash, and now, she had a clearer direction in mind. “Assuming that Life is a Flash will last thirty minutes, the mortals’ task is to deal with the ordinary Shaman soldiers. Their numbers are great, but their combat prowess is lacking. If the empowered mortals can achieve a one-for-one exchange against them, that would be a major victory for us.”

Shaman fighters might be mere cannon fodder, but they were still fighters, not commoners. Only about one in ten commoners would turn out to be a fighter. Most of the humans currently living within the realm of Qingming were mere mortals. Without Life is a Flash, a single fighter could have taken on a dozen of them with ease. To be able to trade one mortal for one fighter was such an unbelievably good trade that any great general of the human race would wake up laughing in their sleep.

The physical strength of an ordinary Shaman fighter was only equal to that of a human who had just attained the blood tempering stage, falling short of the Northern Liao. That was why Bao Yun had a solution for this: firearms.

Xiao Yu disagreed. “I think bows and arrows are better. When the boon is in effect, these mortals would be on par with blood tempering stage cultivators. Drawing a bow is very easy. They’re only going to fight for thirty minutes anyway, so even burst shooting[1] should not be a problem to them. Besides, bows and arrows are more powerful than firearms.”

Bao Yun shook her head. “Bows are too expensive, and making them from scratch takes time. Plus, shooting a bow requires training, whereas firing a gun does not. One simply needs to steady it before firing.”

Xiao Yu nudged Cui Yu gently and asked in a low voice, “How long does it take to make a bow?”

Cui Yu had several years of military experience at this point and was well-versed in military affairs. He replied, “A high quality bow takes over a decade[2] to make, whereas an ordinary one takes three to five years. And I’m talking about mundane bows, not mystic artifacts.”

Xiao Yu fell silent.

Ji Liuli asked, “So, what kind of firearms should we make?”

Wei Yuan considered when the Shamans might launch their next attack and reflected on their recent combat experiences. “Time is of the essence,” he said. “Tens of thousands mortals will be arriving shortly, and the Shamans could strike back at any moment. We do not have the leeway to make anything too intricate. Thus, the simpler and faster they are to produce, the better. I have a rough idea. It goes something like this.”

Wei Yuan proceeded to sketch two diagrams: a big iron tube and a small iron tube. The big iron tube was one-and-a-half chi long and as wide as a human fist. The small iron tube was a chi long and roughly the width of an apricot. The rear end of the small tube had a small hole, from which a fuse extended.

The big tube was intended for cultivators who, after receiving the blessing of Life is a Flash, reached the pinnacle of the Body-tempering stage. They could directly ignite the gunpowder with their Dao energy. The small iron tube was meant for true mortals. They still lacked Dao energy even after receiving the blessing of Life is a Flash, and thus needed to use mundane fire to ignite the gunpowder.

The two types of firearms also differed in power. The former could hold up to half a sheng[3] of gunpowder, whereas the latter could only hold two teacups[4].

The bullets had also been improved. Wei Yuan had designed them to be iron pellets wrapped in oiled paper.

The reason he used iron pellets instead of refined iron bullets was because he had drawn inspiration from the shotgun described by Xu Wenwu. The gun required little aiming; simply pointing it roughly in the right direction and firing was all it took to hit a target, making it ideal for mortals who couldn’t even read.

Furthermore, iron pellets were quite easy to produce—it was the very first step of Ji Liuli’s demonstration last night. First, the ore was crushed. Then, the iron powder was extracted and turned into numerous small pellets. Finally, they were fused together over a fire. The subsequent steps of the process such as melting, removing the impurities, and balancing the physical properties were completely unnecessary.

An enormous amount of iron pellets was required to equip the mortals, so being able to skip even one or two steps significantly boosted production. It also consumed less than one-tenth of the Dao energy necessary to create refined iron bullets.

As for the firearms themselves, Wei Yuan felt that two plain iron tubes were sufficient. There was no need for any fancy equipment. At most, he would let the mortals wrap some cloth around the tubes to prevent slipping. He was the realm lord, and even he was using only two steel tubes that were fitted with a muzzle. Naturally, there was no need for the mortals’ firearms to be so particular.

Wei Yuan planned to equip every mortal with two iron tubes. They would open fire once the battle began, and the two sides closed in on each other. If they managed to wound even one Shaman, it would be a win. If they managed to kill one, it would be a major win. By the time both shots were fired, the two sides would likely have already engaged in close combat, at which point they should switch to sabers.

The vast majority of mortals were untrained peasants. Even with Life is a Flash, they would be lucky to fire off two shots without encountering any issues.

In truth, Wei Yuan placed his greatest hopes not on the true mortals, but the cultivators who had just completed the blood tempering stage. When empowered by Life is a Flash, they would become full Body-tempering stage cultivators. All cultivators who reached the blood tempering stage had also received some basic combat training in their life, which was why their equipment would be the big iron tubes. He expected them to take on core units such as the venom lizard riders and armored warriors.

Finally, nothing had changed for battles at the Dao Foundation stage or above. It was simply better for them to fight according to their preferred style.

The biggest problem with firearms was their lack of firepower. Wei Yuan himself had packed the barrels of his two steel spears to the brim with gunpowder, yet the resulting attack was barely strong enough to inflict minor injuries against an Avatar. While it had a somewhat noticeable effect against Dao Foundation stage cultivators, it still required Wei Yuan to first pierce their armor with his spear before the gunpowder could have any real impact on their physical bodies.

This was why the many flashy weapons proposed by Xu Wenwu—such as machine guns—were met with complete indifference by the high cultivators of the Palace of Absolute Beginning. No matter how high the rate of fire was, it did not matter if it amounted to nothing more than a massage to someone with a body as tough as Wei Yuan.

That said, gunpowder did indeed solve the key problem of arming mortals. The only problem was that a significant amount of gunpowder was needed.

Ji Liuli had originally been the sole expert in gunpowder preparation, but now Sun Yu had joined her. When it came to manufacturing mixtures, Sun Yu might be no match for Mother Nature Monastery, but he was certainly far superior to a member of the Heavenly Mysteries Hall who also dabbled in the craft.

Sun Yu had also finished reading Xu Wenwu’s writings over the past two days. After listening to everyone discuss gunpowder for some time, he said, “In my view, the principle of gunpowder boils down to this: once ignited, it expands rapidly and propels a projectile to generate lethal force. The greater the expansion of a given volume of gunpowder, the faster it ignites, and the greater its destructive power. If ignited by a fuse, the gunpowder would burn from the fuse outward, causing the expansion to lag slightly[5]. However, Dao energy allows us to ignite all parts of the gunpowder at once, resulting in faster expansion and greater destructive power.”

Apart from Ji Liuli, the one who had actually created the gunpowder, no one else had thought too deeply into the subject. Their focus on improvements had been limited to adjusting the formula, ensuring uniform particle size, and balancing the physical properties only.

Sun Yu continued, “There are essentially two ways to increase its power: make it expand more, or make it burn faster. With that in mind, I came up with a formula and tweaked it slightly.”

Sun Yu took a small amount of gunpowder and added a spoonful of white powder to it. Then, he ignited it using Dao energy. There was a loud boom, and a tremendous amount of flames shot toward the roof—the explosive force was at least fifty percent greater than before!

Wei Yuan’s eyes lit up, but they dimmed again after he asked what the formula was. The spoonful of powder Sun Yu had used contained two particularly valuable ingredients and was more expensive than several stones of gunpowder.

The amount of gunpowder needed to arm tens of thousands of mortals was measured in tens of thousands of catties. Even a slight increase in cost would result in a massive outflow of silver.

That said, Sun Yu hadn’t researched this formula for the sake of the mortals. He was purely looking to enhance its potency so that it would be effective even at the Dao Foundation stage. He readjusted the proportions, this time using a one-to-one ratio of white powder to gunpowder, and the result was a direct doubling of the explosive power.

This immediately piqued everyone’s interest. Assuming that Xiao Yu’s hollow mystic sword was packed to the brim with this new formulation, the explosive power alone would be enough to pierce through a low-grade mystic artifact armor. If it were Wei Yuan’s spear, then it could even pierce through a middle-grade armor. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Sun Yu continued, “Ultimately, the two core principles of gunpowder are faster ignition, and greater expansion. In that case, why must we use gunpowder specifically? Can’t Dao energy expand? Can’t mystic artifacts expand? There are countless things in this world that can expand instantaneously. In a sense, they can all be regarded as gunpowder. As the saying goes, ‘The Great Dao is simple.’”

It was as if a veil had been lifted from Wei Yuan’s head. The floodgates of inspiration opened, and he immediately began simulating various things inside his Dao Foundation. Moments later, he produced a golden cauldron with a spire protruding from its opening. Long and slender, the cauldron looked somewhat peculiar in appearance.

Wei Yuan turned the cauldron around so that its opening was pointed toward the roof. There was a loud bang, and a small four-level pagoda shot out of it, blasting a huge hole in the roof.

Everyone’s minds were flooded with ingenious ideas when they witnessed this. Thus, they went their separate ways to study the phenomenon by their lonesome.

Wei Yuan surmised that the small lake at the foot of the peak had to have grown considerably by now, so he descended to take a look. The spot where he had placed the jade bowl had transformed into a body of water several zhang in width and about two chi deep. Over a hundred colorful stones were lying at the bottom of the lake. A faint glow shimmered just beneath the surface as the water rippled. When viewed from afar, it resembled a luminous lake—truly an immortal paradise on earth.

Wei Yuan proceeded to cast a Dao spell to split the earth and transform the stones, constructing a water channel that led to the herb garden. When the small lake was filled with water, it would flow naturally into the garden.

The herb garden also contained two Star Dragon Trees. They were considered upper-grade Dao Foundation spirit plants. Back then, Wei Yuan had planted one of them naturally, while imbuing the other one with fortune and entrusted it to Xu Wenwu’s care.

After so many days, Wei Yuan could clearly sense how the plants were doing. The naturally growing plant was brimming with vitality and activity. It would probably sprout within the next few days. On the other hand, the plant Xu Wenwu was tending to sported a deep, unfathomable aura. Its vitality was less than half of that of the naturally growing Star Dragon Tree as well. Clearly, it had undergone some sort of unknown change.

As of now, Wei Yuan did not know if the change was for the better or worse. However, even if it were a positive development, he was close to running out of otherworldly fortunes.

As he was worrying, Wei Yuan suddenly remembered something important: where was the worldly reward for slaying Blood Eye? Why had there been no sign of it, even after all this time?

Although Qingming had never failed to intercept the worldly reward for itself so far, Qingming was him, and he was Qingming. It made no difference who received it. Furthermore, as Qingming continued to nurture and develop itself, Wei Yuan’s range of activity had correspondingly increased significantly.

At the moment, Qingming’s domain spanned 115 li, allowing Wei Yuan to travel as far as 11,000 li at his limit. His strength would only begin to wane beyond 5,000 li. In other words, there was nowhere throughout the entire Shattered Realm where he wouldn’t experience an increase in strength. He might not be able to venture into distant lands, but he could certainly walk around his own doorsteps with impunity.

The workings of the world were mysterious and unfathomable, Wei Yuan knew there was no point in feeling anxious. He could only wait.

Several days passed in a flash, and the human sacrifices he had bought from the Xu Clan had finally been transported to the realm.

The sacrifices were carried in specially designed carriages—over fifty in total. The cargo compartments were sealed airtight, with ventilation holes cut only at the bottom of the compartment.

By the time Wei Yuan arrived, Cui Yu and his men had already gathered the horse carriages and parked them in a clearing at the edge of the forest. It was far from the towns where the mortals lived and saw no traffic from cultivators, making it quite peaceful.

Three of the carriages bore a blue-painted mark on the sides. It marked the passengers as superior sacrifices.

Wei Yuan approached one carriage and cut open the door with his sword. The carriage was divided into several square compartments measuring two chi on each side and lining one side of the wall. Each compartment held a single person, with their head facing outward and their feet inward. This arrangement allowed one single horse carriage to hold exactly forty people.

Everyone was lying quietly inside their carriages, their breathing faint. Wei Yuan scanned them with his perception and found that their sea of consciousness were virtually unguarded. He could enter and exit them at will. However, a faint glow was also shining within everyone’s sea of consciousness. Through it, he could vaguely make various floating Dao Foundations. The light was incredibly dim, though. It was just barely enough to maintain their cultivation.

Everyone in this carriage was a Dao Foundation stage cultivator; Human-tier to be exact.

Wei Yuan ordered his men to carve open the carriages and carry out the passengers one by one. They were temporarily left on the nearby grass. Their hair and beard had all been shaved, and they were only wearing a single hemp tunic. They wore no undergarments, though their bodies were relatively clean.

According to Xu Jingfeng, these people had been drugged before they were transported. They would remain unconscious for ten whole days before waking up. This way, they wouldn’t cause any trouble along the way, nor was there a need to provide them with food or water. Each carriage was also equipped with two spare horses so that the carriages could move continuously even as the men and the horses escorting them rested. This allowed them to travel several thousand li without pause.

The conditions for the ordinary sacrifices were far less favorable. The compartments were so much smaller that the burly ones obviously had to be forced into the tight space. Over sixty people were crammed into a single carriage. Just like the super sacrifices, these people also had their hair and beards shaved off. They were also thoroughly washed and slathered in fragrant oils. This prevented foul odor from growing inside the carriages.

From the very first day he arrived in the western regions, Wei Yuan had heard countless tales of human trafficking. But it was only now, looking at these people—cleansed and stacked in neat rows like goods—and witnessing the sheer efficiency of transporting thousands of humans across thousands of li, that Wei Yuan truly grasped the reality of the trade.

Just how many humans had they sold off to be able to establish such a streamlined and efficient system?

1. I wanted to use rapid-fire shooting, but that’s a term exclusive to firearms. ☜

2. Any experts out there wanna chime in their two-cents? I had no idea. At this point throwing rocks and bodies seems like a cheaper solution. ☜

3. The exact value of sheng varies wildly depending on the time. In the olden days, it’s roughly around 200 ml. But in modern times, it’s 1000 ml. It’s probably safe to assume that this is based on the old measurement, so half a sheng is 100 ml. I’ve also purposely checked the comments on Qidian, and the readers generalize it as the difference between “one big cup” and “one small cup”. For further details, please refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheng_(volume). ☜

4. A reminder that Chinese teacups can also vary wildly in size. In this case, it’s almost certainly the kind that’s small enough where you can wrap your thumb and index finger around it. ☜

5. Imagine one of those old school hand-thrown bombs that are shaped like a stick with a fuse sticking out of it. You burn the fuse and throw it at the opponent. The gunpowder would not burn all at once; it would spread from the fuse. This is what he means. ☜