Longzang

Chapter 1132 The Doors Are Wide Open
Faced with Zhang Sheng's questioning, Wei Yuan could only patiently explain: "Those charges were deliberately fabricated by me to show my contempt. It was also to let everyone know that so-called immortals, once stripped of their skin, are nothing more than this."

Zhang Sheng frowned slightly and said, "Your idea is good, but it lacks any subtlety. It doesn't employ any sophisticated techniques such as using the false to satirize the true or using the past to illustrate the present. It's no different from a villager cursing in the street. Is this kind of crude work something that my Heavenly Azure Palace would do?"

Wei Yuan then understood and said, "This is elegant, but not many people can understand it. How many cultivators are there in the world, and how many mortals are there? I want all mortals to understand it and be able to curse it. If more people curse it, Lü Changhe will be filled with resentment, and it won't be so easy for him to escape."

Zhang Sheng nodded and said, "That makes some sense. I recently mastered a sword technique, and I'll demonstrate it to you in a moment. This sword can wound even an immortal, though at most it can only cause superficial damage, but it can still inflict karmic consequences."

Upon hearing this, Wei Yuan's eyes immediately lit up. If Zhang Sheng could wound the immortal with a single sword strike and establish a karmic connection, then Wei Yuan's chances of success in his rebellion, fueled by the fate of millions, would greatly increase, thanks to his bond with Zhang Sheng.

Wei Yuan immediately said, "We'll have to wait and see to see how this sword strike is effective."

Zhang Sheng rolled his eyes at him irritably, and then they went to their residence to practice swordsmanship.

……

Practicing swordsmanship is very arduous.

……

When they flew out of their dwelling, the sky was still bright, the sun was high in the sky, and its position had hardly changed.

The sun's position remained the same, but the date changed.

Wei Yuan was very satisfied with this. Although he had paid the price of a slight regression in the Howl of Desolation, wasn't the purpose of cultivation to make progress even if it meant regressing?
Zhang Sheng's appearance underwent a dramatic change. The land surrounding the sword tomb expanded continuously, and the ground was filled with all sorts of broken and discarded swords. In the center, a series of tomb chambers appeared, with one large tomb in the center being particularly magnificent and far surpassing the other sword tombs.

Zhang Sheng speculated that a brand new immortal sword was being conceived in the central tomb chamber. However, Zhang Sheng himself couldn't enter, so he had no way of knowing what was being conceived.

What shocked Wei Yuan the most was a magnificent palace suspended in the sky above, with three Daoist priests of different ages seated inside. Even with Wei Yuan's current cultivation level and eyesight, he still couldn't sense the three Daoist priests' status, which greatly surprised him. What kind of Dharma form had Zhang Sheng cultivated?
At this time, the vanguard of the Qingming army had already crossed Hanyang Pass and would reach the border of Ganzhou in ten days. Wei Yuan then took command of the Qingming army.

Qingming's actions shocked the world, and the Western Jin court was abuzz with discussion. However, the ministers overwhelmingly sided with Wei Yuan, completely ignoring the fact that Lü Changhe was actually the immortal ancestor of the Jin royal family.

However, making a public statement is one thing, and their private attitude is another. Many people are not very optimistic about Qingming's chances in this battle, mainly because Qingming has not prohibited the sale of armor before, and it has been confirmed by various parties that the armor sold by Qingming is almost identical to the armor used by the troops themselves.

Furthermore, firearms had been widely copied, and the Lü family's troops were equipped with a large number of firearms and artillery. However, firearms and artillery had limited power and were generally only used by second- or third-rate troops. The elite front-line troops, with their higher skill levels, preferred to use traditional weaponry.

An artillery position with hundreds of artillerymen could be wiped out and destroyed by a single Daoji leading a dozen or so elite troops. The same principle applied to muskets; after firing, they required manual reloading, and generally could only fire two or three rounds before elite troops reached them. Once they got close, the musket troops were easy prey.

At this time, 500,000 troops had been deployed on the border of Ganzhou, and more troops were continuously arriving. In addition, hundreds of thousands of new recruits were undergoing intensive training in the rear.

Although Lü Changhe disdained Qingming, he dared not be careless in his preparations for war. He had already begun a full mobilization, bringing all available troops to the front lines and continuously transferring hundreds of thousands of elite Northern Army soldiers southward.

The Qingming army, following the established route and schedule, split into several groups and headed towards Ganzhou. In the blink of an eye, the vanguard was less than a day's journey from the border of Ganzhou.

At this moment on the front lines in Ganzhou, several generals in the Lü family army camp gathered around a sand table, looking at the advancing army on the map. Some looked troubled, while others were disdainful. A general with a bushy beard said, "We have all the weapons that Qingming has. Our army is well-rested and ready, and our city walls are high and thick. We will surely make Qingming suffer a crushing defeat!"

An elderly general with white hair next to him shook his head and said, "We must not be careless! I've heard that the Qingming Army's artillery fire is formidable, and many fortified cities are no match for it. I've also heard that they've conquered a large territory in the Ji Kingdom."

The bearded general sneered, "We've also acquired a few of the cannons Qingming uses, but they're nothing special. We've been manufacturing cannons extensively these past few years, producing hundreds. Moreover, the frontline fortresses are now specially reinforced; Qingming's cannons can't even scratch our cities, while our cannons can be placed inside and fired at will! How can Qingming possibly win?"

All the generals agreed, and the old general remained silent. At this moment, a captain rushed into the tent and said, "The Azure Sky Vanguard has arrived and is now setting up camp below the city."

"Let's go take a look," the commander, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.

The generals changed into their ordinary officer uniforms, quietly climbed the city wall, and were then all taken aback. Were these the Azure Nether Army? How could they be so different from what they remembered?

Ten miles outside the city, dust billowed as square steel blocks slowly crawled along, leaving deep trenches in their wake. Right before the eyes of the Lü family generals, the earth was gradually plowed into a spiderweb pattern. And within the intricate network of trenches behind them, large numbers of Qingming warriors began constructing strange facilities.

Although the generals of the Lü family at the front were all seasoned veterans, some even fierce generals transferred back from the northern frontier, such as the bearded general, they were all completely bewildered at this moment, not understanding what the Qingming troops were up to. They didn't recognize a single one of those strange devices.

The cannons in the city were all on standby, but not a single shot had been fired. The cannons that the Lü family had deployed at the front were of excellent quality, and could typically fire to a range of seven or eight li.

When the Qingming vanguard arrived, the on-duty commander immediately ordered the artillery to fire. Several Qingming warriors were unable to dodge in time and were killed instantly. However, this also revealed the maximum range of the city's artillery. So the Qingming vanguard retreated to camp ten miles away, leaving the city with over a hundred cannons, but they could only watch helplessly.

Behind the Azure Nether Army formation, concrete was being poured to build positions that would become fortified strongholds in a day.

In just one day, a massive and complex military camp appeared outside the city. Then, several giant floating airships appeared, unloading heavy cannons and beginning to assemble them on the spot.

The generals of the Lü family on the city wall were highly skilled and could see clearly. When they saw the giant cannons that shone with a bluish-black light and were far larger than they had imagined, their faces turned extremely ugly.

Heavy cannons were positioned on the newly hardened battlefield and then assembled by specialized craftsmen.

Then, shells were unloaded one by one from the airship. An officer in charge of logistics was checking the size and type of the shells with a manual in hand.

He carefully examined the markings and instructions on the shell magazines that had been moved to his side, then nodded and said, "1.5 feet caliber, inspection passed. Send these shells to gun positions one through fifty. Send the 1-foot caliber shells to gun positions fifty through three hundred."

Four soldiers, whose bodies had been fully forged, worked together to lift the ammunition box, weighing nearly 10,000 jin (approximately 5,000 kg), and deliver it to the designated artillery position.

And so, one cannonball after another slowly moved and were delivered to their respective positions.

The next morning, a deep rumble of thunder suddenly rang out, a ball of fire appeared from the Qingming artillery position, and then a terrifying shell roared up, traversing fifty miles, and crashed towards the pass!
The generals on the city wall were ashen-faced, and none of the many Dharma Generals dared to stop them!

An hour later, the fortress was engulfed in flames, and the gates of Ganzhou were wide open.

(End of this chapter)