The Emperor is Above

Chapter 424 I can’t bear this blame alone

Qing Yi’s rune foundation is extremely solid.

With access to the Imperial College's collection of books and Pan Qing's constant guidance, his attainments in runes improved further.

The rebel giant ape brought 36 huge rocks weighing tens of thousands of pounds in one breath and evenly arranged them around the tiankeng. Each rock was engraved with mysterious and repetitive inscriptions.

"The clouds attached to the ground, at first they were formless, then they turned into flying birds, and their shapes took shape. The birds could stand out, the clouds could be obscure, and they could change in a thousand ways, like the sound of golden swords."

Qing Yi concentrated all his energy and spirit, concentrating on performing magic. A large golden handprint flew out from between his hands, hovering above the tiankeng, and he shouted,

"The sky and the earth are boundless, the five elements are forming a maze, condensing——"

A cloud of mist appeared silently, translucent and seemingly there and not there. Sometimes it looked like clouds, and sometimes it turned into birds and beasts. It did not affect people's activities in the valley, but it would subconsciously shield this sinkhole.

"Meow-"

The tabby cat couldn't resist its curiosity and stretched out its paw to explore, but found that no matter how it moved forward, it would automatically bypass the sinkhole.

The mountain cat Dabao's eyes rolled around, and he tried to use his magical power of space travel, but was blocked by the formation. When he wanted to force his way out, the cloud turned into countless sword formations, and the sound of golden swords could be heard faintly.

"Meow--"

Seeing this horrifying scene, the mountain cat Dabao gave up decisively, but dared not cause trouble again. He was also afraid of the surging evil spirit.

"Hey, it's done!"

Qing Yi chuckled and retracted his hands, "Even Dabao, a second-grade exotic beast, can't do anything to me. At least for the next year, we don't have to worry about anyone breaking in."

"You are only treating the symptoms, not the root cause. Even if you can stop people and beasts from approaching for a year, you still have to completely get rid of the evil hands and soldiers here in the future."

In response to Pan Qing's worry, Qing Yi smiled and said, "When you reach the mountain, there will always be a way out. Besides, Mu Ling, Duan Hun, Qing Luo, and Mr. Wu Liu are all well-informed.

There is also the mysterious Mr. Qingyu and the Linggu behind him. There will be a better way to solve it eventually. Anyway, I can't bear this blame alone."

Based on the idea that everyone should take the blame, Qing Yi temporarily put aside his anxiety. He should be able to find a solution within a year, right?

After exploring several mineral deposits, there was nothing worth lingering in the cold winter mountains. Qing Yi was concerned about the construction of the Longcheng Fortress and hurried back to the Longcheng Fortress.

Fortunately, Gongsun Wu, Tun Shigu, San Yisheng, Nan Guoshi, and Beigong Yu have all been trained along the way and are no strangers to large-scale projects.

More than 20,000 young and strong men and women worked together to clear all the weeds and bushes outside the Dragon City Fortress in just one day.

However, at Jiang Ji's request, many ancient trees with a diameter of ten feet were preserved, which will become a good place for shade and leisure in the future.

Of course, the most important factor that allowed these trees to be preserved is that the defense focus of Longcheng is on the north, and whether there are trees in the south does not affect the defense.

As a master craftsman, Tu Shigu naturally served as the chief engineer for the restoration of Longcheng Fortress. He divided the more than 20,000 male and female citizens into different project teams and promoted all the progress in an orderly manner.

After cleaning up the garbage, dead branches and leaves outside the fortress, they began to clean up the filth, dust and debris inside the Dragon City Fortress layer by layer.

Fortunately, the giant ape is clean and does not have the habit of urinating and defecating everywhere in the fortress. However, many birds and beasts have lived here over the centuries, leaving behind countless relics.

From some dark secret rooms or rooms that the giant ape seldom enters, large swarms of bats fly out screaming. There are also many giant bats with a wingspan of two or three meters, which is frightening.

"Good, good, good, five bats are coming! Five blessings are coming!" The old man had no fear of these bats, and his white beard was twitching with laughter. Old people always like to see bats, snakes and swallows. He thinks so many bats are a good sign of blessing.

Dao Weng entered these rooms even more carefully, collecting several large baskets of bat droppings that had accumulated for hundreds of years, and chattered excitedly: "So many high-quality night-shining sands are all good medicinal materials."

Qing Yi's face couldn't help but darken when he saw this scene. Traditional Chinese medicine does use many animal and insect feces as medicine, but there are so many miraculous medicines in this world, is it possible that he can't escape the need to eat feces when he is sick?

While I was thinking about this, Tu Shigu came over with Mu Yi, Daniu, and dozens of private soldiers. He had a round, fat face and was smiling so hard that his eyes were almost invisible:

"My goodness, brothers, we are so lucky. We just captured more than 30 giant bats in one go, all shot down by rune arrows.

Don’t be fooled by its ugly appearance. Its thin fur is incomparably tough. It can be tanned into a light and warm inner armor. I will bring the craftsmen to tan it and send you a set later—"

Before Qing Yi could say anything, the furious old man rushed over with his walking stick in hand: "Little Fatty from the Tu family, look at what you have done, you bastard, you have killed the Five Blessings!"

"Hey, hey, hey, old man, calm down, calm down!"

Tushi Gu's round body did not affect his flexibility. He ran wildly while holding his head, and kept explaining,
"The five blessings are ordinary bats. We are fighting these giant forest bats. They are exotic beasts that suck blood and eat flesh. How can they be blessed?"

"I don't care whether you are a giant bat or an ordinary bat!" The old man was still furious, holding his cane and strode after me, "It's a blessing anyway. It's not fair to be beaten to death by you!"

"Hey, hey, hey, old man, please talk nicely. Daniu, Mu Yi and many other private soldiers have already started fighting. Why are you only chasing after me?"

Tun Shigu's voice was full of grievance, but his round body did not slow down his escape at all.

The old man got even angrier after hearing this: "Da Niu and Mu Yi are both good and obedient children. If it weren't for you, a little fat boy, who wanted to tan armor, why would they shoot and kill them?"

The old man and the fat man chased each other into the distance, leaving laughter all over the ground. Qing Yi couldn't help but laugh and shook his head. The old man, who was in his seventies, didn't have such a good physique when he was in Huaiqiu.

Daniu also scratched the back of his head and laughed, "If it weren't for Master Tunshi Gu, I would have thought that the old man couldn't get rid of the cane. I didn't expect him to run so fast now!"

Qing Yi smiled and patted Daniu's shoulder: "Everyone, don't turn your heads away. Let the women clean up the dirt and debris on the lower floors. Let's go to the top few floors. Many of the stone beams there have collapsed."

When building the Dragon City Fortress, even the smallest stones weighed hundreds of pounds, and standard stones generally weighed two to three thousand pounds. The stone slabs and stone beams on the top floor could weigh hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds.

The top floor is the most difficult part of the repair work, and ordinary citizens are simply unable to intervene. Qing Yi simply takes charge of the task himself. After all, labor is the most glorious!
So the Wangmang Fish King brought with him twelve Wangmang clan giants, as well as a group of high-level totem warriors including Fu Shou, Niu Wu, Ma Huan, Xiong Zhong and Hu Ya.

There were also groups of giant kong apes and a private army composed of high-level totem warriors recruited by Qing Yi, who all followed to the top floor of the fortress.

Compared to the lazy group of giant apes, the rebel giant apes who followed Qing Yi on an outing showed unprecedented diligence.

Without any instructions, he cooperated with everyone very well, taking on the function of a crane, placing the collapsed stone slabs in their proper places according to the instructions.

"I'll award this rebel a model worker title later!" Qing Yi said with a smile. Amid the shock of Daniu and others, he easily lifted a stone beam weighing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Not to mention that Da Niu and others had their eyes wide open, even the giant gorillas were frightened. They were working together but they knew the weight of the stone beam, and it would take at least four giant apes working together to lift it.

But seeing Qing Yi's relaxed look, Daniu couldn't help but exclaimed: "Master, how strong are you now?"

"In fact, I also want to know how powerful I am now!" Qing Yi chuckled and looked at the group of stunned giant apes. He thought to himself, "Why don't we have a tug-of-war competition tonight?"

(End of this chapter)