Since Xu Wenwu was still alive, the first priority was to dig him out as soon as possible. With a surge of Dao energy, Wei Yuan thrust his arms underneath a few large rocks and lifted them all into the air, setting them aside. After learning that Xu Wenwu was trapped in the underground, Yun Feifei and Xu Wan’er also joined in on the digging as well. None of them were ordinary Dao Foundation stage cultivators, not to mention that Qingming’s blessing kept replenishing their Dao energy. Just moments later, they were about to remove most of the rubble and rescue the trapped man.

The reason the underground chamber wasn’t destroyed was because a ceiling beam just happened to stand in the way of the rubble. As a result, everything in the room was intact including Xu Wenwu.

Yun Feifei’s gaze rested on Qingming for a full breath before shifting away. She then pretended that she hadn’t seen anything.

It was at this moment she felt a strange tingling sensation. She immediately knew that someone was watching her foot. She shifted her gaze downward and saw that her legs were covered in a bit of dust, though, it only magnified the fairness of skin. She casually lifted her neck and followed the gaze to find... Xu Wenwu’s bedazzled face.

Bemused, Yun Feifei turned her skirt and covered up her leg. Looking in Wei Yuan’s direction, she saw him walking circles around Qingming and scanning it up and down, unwilling to miss even the tiniest spot. If he could pay her legs even one-hundredth of the attention he was currently giving the realm stone, she would not be questioning her femininity.

After confirming that Qingming was in perfect working order and showing no signs of contamination whatsoever, Wei Yuan finally let out a sigh of relief. He then grabbed the dumbstruck Xu Wenwu and gave him a few shakes. When he was sure that nothing was going to fall off, he relaxed.

“Come. Let’s head to the hidden vault now.”

Yun Feifei and Xu Wan’er flew into the sky while Wei Yuan ran on foot. It was because he had to carry Xu Wenwu under his arm. Despite this, he wasn’t slower than the women in the slightest.

On the way, Xu Wenwu kept squirming in Wei Yuan’s grip as if he was desperate to say something. Sensing how determined he was, Wei Yuan relinquished his Dao energy and waited. For once, Xu Wenwu lowered his voice before saying swiftly, “What the hell are you doing, man? Look up! Don’t forget to tell me what color they are.”

I knew I should have released the gag, Wei Yuan thought to himself.

The hidden vault of the Swelling Water God Palace was built behind a rock formation surrounded by barren mountains devoid of human habitation. Only traces of birds and beasts could be found. Like the secret vault, this one was also concealed with the power of incense prayers. That was why the enemy had subconsciously overlooked this area while destroying the mountain gate. Fortunately, Yun Feifei knew the location of most of the sect’s hidden vaults and was able to locate this one.

The entrance of the hidden vault had a simplistic design. It was a hole covered up by a large boulder. After the boulder was removed, it was revealed that there were three storerooms inside. One room contained roughly seven or eight types of raw ores. Some ores weighed over ten thousand catties, while others weighed as little as a few hundred. There were no rare treasures. Otherwise, an Avatar Trueman would have uncovered them long ago.

The second room contained various mystic artifacts and forgings[1]. In fact, the forgings were complete weapons—they were simply missing an injection of Dao energy that would transform them into mystic artifacts. Mystic artifact forgings were pretty worthless, which was why over a hundred flying swords, dozens of cutting sabers, and several hundred other weapons were just gathering dust in the room. As for armor, there were only ten sets in total.

Unless they were setting foot in the battlefield, most cultivators were unwilling to don battle armor. It was because it negatively impacted their image.

The forgings themselves were of middling quality as well. If refined, they would become average mystic artifacts at best. At least there were a lot of them.

The third storeroom contained processed grain and meat similar to the military rations provided by the Palace of Absolute Beginning. While slightly inferior in terms of quality, the quantity was a different story. There were a whopping ten thousand catties of food supplies in the storeroom. One catty was enough to sustain a cultivator who had mastered the Body-tempering stage for a full day. There was enough to feed even a thousand-strong elite unit for ten days.

The three of them proceeded to move the supplies out of the storerooms and carry them to a spot near the main chamber.

After the task was complete, Wei Yuan suddenly noticed that one of the prisoners’ aura was off. Specifically, Third Senior Sister was much weaker than when she had been locked up. He rushed to the prison cell, and the first thing he saw upon opening the door was everyone hanging upside down from the ceiling. In particular, Third Senior Sister[2] had a new sword wound in her abdomen that pierced through to the back. Despite doing her utmost to staunch the bleeding, blood was still seeping out slowly.

Wei Yuan did not remember the woman bearing such a wound earlier. He looked at Xu Wan’er and waited patiently for an explanation.

Looking a little anxious, Xu Wan’er lowered her head and explained softly, “You ordered me to watch them and prevent them from escaping, and for the most part, I wasn’t worried. However, Third Sister boasts an immense amount of Dao energy and a deep bag of tricks. She’s been trying the whole time to break free as well. I really did not think I could stop her if she succeeds, and what if you need me for something else, and my absence directly contributed to her escape? So... I stabbed her. To make sure that she would not have the strength to escape.”

Third Senior Sister yelled furiously, “Don’t call me Third Sister! I do not have a vicious little sister like you!”

Wei Yuan pulled away Third Senior Sister’s clothes temporarily to inspect her wound. Then, he scanned her whole body with his perception. That was how he knew that Xu Wan’er didn’t just stab her Third Senior Sister to drain her of her strength, she made sure to achieve the maximum results with minimal effort. The stab had brushed against her sea of qi just enough to damage it. If Third Senior Sister did not want to lose her Dao Foundation, she would have to muster all of her Dao energy to seal it.

Besides that, she had to muster her physical strength to seal off her physical wound. Otherwise, it was only a matter of time before she bled to death. Finally, the stab had cut through her intestines. If she exerted herself too much, her intestines would immediately break into several pieces.

Wei Yuan could not have done it better himself. Xu Wan’er might look gentle and innocent, but she hadn’t held back in the slightest when push came to shove. The western region truly was a land of fierce and ruthless people. Not one of them could be considered a pushover.

That said, he could not afford to have his authority undermined at this juncture. He needed to put on a display and show he was slightly superior to Xu Wan’er. Thankfully, ten years in the Palace of Absolute Learning had taught him a galore of real life examples. For instance, he had learned a lot of free-style fighting techniques under his Big Senior Sister’s tutelage....

Wei Yuan centered his focus and banished all irrelevant thoughts from his mind. Then, he sifted through the memories and found one that was to his liking. He lifted a finger and unleashed two jets of scorching hot sword qi at Third Senior Sister’s penetrating wound, sealing it completely. At the same time, the woman let out a bloodcurdling scream and shook all over. Wei Yuan had tasted more or less the same sensation not long ago, so he knew exactly how painful it was. That was also the experience that taught him the importance of respecting his betters. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

On top of that, the sword qi was imbued with a burning effect that tormented Third Senior Sister greatly. It prevented her from gathering her focus and unleashing even the simplest Dao spell.

Having dealt with the potential threat posed by the captives and sent Yun Feifei and Xu Wenwu a veiled warning at the same time, Wei Yuan went back to Qingming.

It wasn’t long before Xu Wenwu pieced together that a great battle was soon upon them. Not only that, it was an existential battle where they would be waging war against a most formidable foe. Excitement immediately filled him from head to toe.

This is the King of Humans’ first step; his first battle toward conquering the world! He’s going to win no matter how strong his enemies are! And the greater the disparity in strength between the enemy and our forces, the more glorious this battle will be! Everyone who stood by his side during this battle will go down in history as heroes!

That said, Xu Wenwu understood that he only had one life. For once, he grew serious and scoured his brain for something productive to say. Finally, he remembered something. “There was a man called Sun Tzu in my world. He was called the ultimate master of war...”

Wei Yuan was seriously puzzled. Was it just him, or was the Dao spell lasting shorter and shorter with each cast? Still, it sounded like Xu Wenwu was going to say something useful this time, so he paid him his full attention.

As expected, Xu Wenwu continued, “... He had written a book called The Art of War with thirty-six stratagems in it. It’s very impressive! Our ancestors relied on them to fight wars for thousands of years, winning at every turn!”

This piqued Wei Yuan’s interest, not to mention that The Art of War seemed perfect for the situation. He asked, “What are these thirty-six stratagems?”

Xu Wenwu’s speech abruptly came to a screeching halt. The only thing his paltry brain could recall was the line, “Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing is best.” If push came to shove, he could also contribute the line, “The highest form of generalship is to conquer the enemy by strategy.” As for the rest, forget remembering them, he hadn’t even heard or read about them.

Seeing Xu Wenwu’s reaction, Wei Yuan immediately understood that the only thing he remembered was the fact that The Art of War existed.

“Wait! I have more to offer! If we’re going to fight a war, then we’re going to need guns!”

“What is a gun?”

“Er, it’s a weapon that shoots projectiles!”

Wei Yuan reached out, and a bow appeared in his hand.

Xu Wenwu shook his head. “Not this! A bow is totally outdated; practically primitive if you think about it! I’m talking about modern guns; ones that can shoot bullets at supersonic speeds!”

[3]

Wei Yuan asked for the definition of “supersonic”, and for once, Xu Wenwu could explain it clearly. Sonic meant the speed of sound, and super meant super. After mulling over it for a bit, Wei Yuan gave Yun Feifei an order, “Move a hundred zhang away from me and stab me from there.”

Yun Feifei flickered and appeared a hundred zhang away in the blink of an eye. From Xu Wenwu’s perspective, she was almost as small as a dot in the distance. The young woman pointed a finger, and light flashed. The next second, a flying sword appeared right in front of Wei Yuan’s face!

Wei Yuan casually caught the flying sword with his bare hand. After that, a whistling noise ensued. In fact, the only reason there was any noise at all was because Yun Feifei had allowed it to occur. Otherwise, the large majority of such weapons traveled without a sound.

Xu Wenwu was just starting to feel stunned when his vision blurred, and Yun Feifei returned to her original spot. She wasn’t really much slower than the speed of sound.

“What in the....” Xu Wenwu’s head was completely blank for a few moments. The flying swords of this world travel at supersonic speeds as well? I guess conquering the world might be a little more difficult than I expected!

Fortunately, he was a fairly quick thinker. He hurriedly added, “There’s one more method that I know of. We can dig trenches!”

Again, Wei Yuan prodded him for details and received little of note. All the guy remembered about trenches was digging deep, long holes and placing barbed wires in front of them. The only reason he remembered that there were barbed wires was because he had watched a lot of war TV shows and movies.

Wei Yuan was about to gag him again when Qingming’s transformation of heaven and earth finally extended beyond a li, and its first special property was revealed: Jia Wood Nurtures Life.

Jia Wood Nurtures Life granted vibrant vitality and flourishing growth. Capable of causing all trees to sprout anew, it was particularly beneficial for Wood-type Dao arts. In Qingming’s domain, all trees experienced a significant increase in growth rate. Many spirit plants that were withering or on the verge of death could be rejuvenated as well. Besides that, a cultivator would recover Dao energy much faster than normal, and their injuries would heal quicker as well. At this time, Wei Yuan could also concentrate the Life Nurturing energy on a specific person or spirit plant to further enhance their growth or recovery rate.

The Life Nurturing Stone Wei Yuan had seen in the Palace of Absolute Beginning possessed Life Nurturing energy as well. However, it was a function, not a special property. In other words, Jia Wood Nurtures Life was more potent. Not only did it accelerate growth and recovery, but it also caused all trees to grow rapidly. Most importantly, it had the potential to rejuvenate a withering spirit tree.

Wei Yuan had new ideas for the trenches after confirming Qingming’s first special property. He swiftly drew a topographic map of the Swelling Water God Palace and drew several curved lines along the Shamans’ planned attack routes. He said, “If we build the trenches here, we can pin the Shamans’ army at the narrowest chokepoint!”

Xu Wenwu was delighted by this turn of events. He felt that Wei Yuan was a rare Bo Le[4] who understood him; that he was worth traveling between two worlds to serve under.

But Yun Feifei had a different opinion. “What if a Great Warlock casts a blood curse? Hiding in the trenches won’t change a thing. It would also be suicide to remain in the trenches.”

Wei Yuan furrowed his brow in thought, and Xu Wenwu’s heart immediately rose higher inside his chest. To his understanding, a trench was just a big ditch with a bit of a curve. He had never considered this problem before.

Xu Wan’er also chimed in, “Say an enemy gets inside a trench and shoots a couple flying swords. Wouldn’t everyone in the vicinity just die?”

The longer Wei Yuan took to think, the closer Xu Wenwu’s heart moved toward his throat.

Finally, Wei Yuan erased the curvy lines and replaced them with a series of wavy lines. He then repeated the same pattern but vertically, eventually forming a large net.

1. Meaning a piece of forged work. ☜

2. The reason Third “Junior” Sister turned into Third “Senior” Sister btw is because Xu Wan’er is younger than the woman. Yun Feifei is older in terms of seniority, hence she addresses the woman as Third Junior Sister. Look, the author never gave her a name just like Big Senior Brother and Little Junior Brother. I’m not satisfied with this state of things either, but just bear with me. ☜

3. I should clarify here that the above few paragraphs starting from, “What is a gun?” until “You mean a bow?” is completely made up by me. In Chinese, the word “gun” and “spear” share the same character, which is why Wei Yuan summoned a spear instead of a bow in the raw. Of course, this doesn’t apply in English, so I changed it to a bow instead and added a few things to make the conversation sound more natural. Thank you for understanding. ☜

4. Bo Le is a talented horse scout. He’s basically calling himself a horse. A fine one, but still, a horse. ☜