Starting from his vigorous old age, he began to conquer Liaozhai.

From the moment they returned to Guobei County after eradicating the plague-ridden corpses, the Baihu Office entered a period of rapid development.

The three newly recruited blacksmiths have basically mastered the forging methods of muskets and short muskets, and are fully capable of completing the forging tasks independently.

The Lu family's blacksmith shop was too small; it could only accommodate two blacksmiths working at the same time.

Therefore, Cao Xiong placed the construction of the forging area as the top priority in the expansion of the Baihu Office.

In just three days, a large forge was erected in the Hundred Households Office, and three blacksmiths began to mass-produce short firearms. Lu Qing would also bring two apprentices to help every day.

On the other side, all the carpenters and bricklayers began building barracks and a musket training ground according to Cao Xiong's plan.

……

Hundred-household barracks.

Apart from Cao Man, all the banner officers of the entire Guobei County Hundred-Household Office were summoned to the barracks by Cao Xiong.

Cao Xiong scanned the crowd below and said, "Gentlemen, there are two main things I wanted to discuss with you all today."

"The first thing is about the appointment of Cui Jue and others."

"Now the First General Banner has three junior officers, the Second General Banner has two junior officers, and the Third General Banner also has two junior officers."

"Furthermore, Li Ping, the First Banner Commander, has already broken through to the Skin Tempering Realm. Therefore, starting today, Li Ping will serve as a Junior Banner Officer of the First Banner Commander."

"Cui Jue and his six men have all been assigned to the Second and Third Banners..."

"The second thing is about the corpse plague. The blood pool in Zhengjia Village shows that someone must be manipulating this matter behind the corpse plague."

"I've made some progress here and will deal with this person as soon as possible."

"In the coming period, each of your banners is required to send out scouts to keep a close watch on the territory of Guobei County and guard against the reappearance of plague corpses."

"Yes, sir!" the flag officers responded in unison.

Cao Xiong and a group of banner officers left the barracks one after the other. Through this extermination of the plague corpses, he discovered the lack of offensive methods among the government troops.

There weren't enough muskets, and it would take time for the barrels to cool before they could be reloaded with lead bullets.

It's manageable against ordinary plague zombies, as they are relatively slow. However, it's ineffective against enemies that are fast-moving.

Therefore, Cao Xiong prepared to make some crossbows to be used in conjunction with firearms.

In addition, the weapons used by the centurions were all willow-leaf daggers.

The willow-leaf dagger has poor slashing performance and strict requirements for attack distance, making it more suitable for cavalry.

Therefore, he planned to forge a number of spears for use in infantry combat.

When Cao Xiong arrived at the forging workshop, he already had a general plan for weapon forging in his mind.

"Greetings, Commander!" The three blacksmiths stopped what they were doing when they saw Cao Xiong arrive.

"No need for formalities." Cao Xiong's gaze passed over the three of them and landed on Lu Qing, who was concentrating on forging a musket.

Not long after, Lu Qing noticed Cao Xiong, and based on his understanding of Cao Xiong, he knew that something must have happened.

He stopped forging and went to Cao Xiong's side, winking at him and asking, "What are your instructions, Lord Cao?"

"Besides muskets, I also need to make a batch of spears and crossbows," Cao Xiong told the four of them, sharing all his thoughts.

After pondering for a moment, Lu Qing said, "The weapons you requested to be made are indeed not very difficult. After all, the shafts of spears, the bows of bows, and the shafts of arrows are all made by carpenters."

"Our job here is simply to forge spearheads, arrowheads, and crossbows."

The other three blacksmiths nodded in agreement.

After confirming that there were no problems, Cao Xiong left the forging workshop and returned to his courtyard to continue his cultivation.

His next task is to find the Burial Dragon, improve his cultivation level, and kill the Yaksha, his greatest threat.

There are still more than ten days until the middle of the month. We can find out about the Burial Dragon next time we see Nie Xiaoqian.

He can't deal with the Yaksha right now; he needs to raise his cultivation level to the early stage of the Refining Realm before he'll be confident.

Name: Cao Xiong

【Age】：60/85

[Cultivation Level]: Tendon Refining Realm (Mid-Stage)

【Entry 1】Old but vigorous (purple): A person with accumulated experience and strong physique. When focusing on martial arts training, one's efforts yield twofold results.

[Entry 2] Swordsmanship Expert (Green): Proficient in all types of swords. Increases damage output by 10% when using swordsmanship. Improves talent by 20% when practicing swordsmanship.

【Entry 3】Exceptional Roots (Green): A natural martial arts prodigy with immense potential.

【Entry 4】Copper Skin and Iron Bones (Blue): Resistant to impacts, drops, and blows, impervious to knives and spears.

[Entry 5] Rock of the Mind (Green): Develops divine consciousness, possesses unwavering will, and is undisturbed by illusions. Reduces the probability of developing inner demons by 10% and increases mental defense by 15%.

[Technique]: Fierce Tiger Stance - Tendon Strengthening Chapter (Minor Success) 65/200

Eighteen Forms of Wind Slash (Transcendent Realm) - Derivative Secret Technique: Sword Drawing Technique

Maha Knife Technique (Perfect) 125/400

Leaf Picking Step (Dacheng) 5/300

[Fragments]: 4.1~6

He looked at the panel to check the progress of each technique.

He had already mastered the "Leaf-Picking Step," and coupled with his profound internal strength far exceeding that of ordinary mid-stage Muscle Refining Realm martial artists, he was truly formidable.

If we encounter the Yaksha again, we should be able to compete in terms of speed.

The fastest progress was in the "Maha Saber Technique," whose power only truly became apparent after reaching mastery.

It's more than one level stronger than the "Eighteen Forms of Wind Slash".

He should be able to push Nie Xiaoqian to the pinnacle before meeting her.

He was also looking forward to whether he could acquire an even more powerful secret technique.

Cao Xiong closed his eyes and regulated his breathing to restore his body to its best condition before beginning his cultivation.

……

The Hundred-Household Office was the barracks for military officers.

After returning from Zhengjia Village, Zhang He, along with Mao Dafu and three others, spent most of their time dissecting the plague corpses.

The barracks floor was covered with a thick layer of lime, and the aroma of burning mugwort at the entrance lingered for twelve hours a day. A ring of sulfur was also sprinkled outside the door to disinfect, neutralize the stench, and ward off evil spirits.

Mao Dafu was using a sharp ox-ear knife to cut along the chest and abdominal muscles of the plague corpse, examining the five internal organs such as the heart, liver, spleen, and lungs in turn.

"The internal organs are slightly swollen and slightly discolored, but not rotten."

"The esophagus and pharynx are unchanged, and the ability to chew and eat has not been lost."

Mao Dafu dictated the results of the autopsy, while a military doctor sat at the table and took notes.

"When we were observing the first plague corpse, we found that their blood was quite thick and had a slightly fishy smell." Mao Dafu straightened up. That was all they could get for now. Next was the last and most important step in the plague corpse testing: breaking open its skull to check for any abnormalities in its brain.

Chen He walked over to Mao Dafu and took over the next steps. He looked at the other two doctors and said, "Put all the internal organs, like the blood, into separate ceramic jars."

"Each organ must be cut into twenty parts for medicinal testing."

After saying this, Zhang He used a bull-ear-shaped knife to separate the plague corpse's skin from its skull, and then picked up an iron hammer.

He slammed the head down hard on the plague corpse.

"Click~"

Cracks instantly appeared all over the skull. Zhang He put down the hammer and carefully cleaned the skull fragments with bamboo tweezers.

Mao Dafu swallowed hard and silently put down the fine saw he was about to hand to Zhang He.