Chapter 351: A Toad Descends

The cultivators of the Palace of Absolute Beginning gathered together for the first time after the great battle. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the cultivation plans for their new cohort of Dao Foundation stage cultivators. Given the gravity of the matter, everyone had set aside their current tasks and assembled at the central peak. In addition to the usual group of cultivators, Fei Yutong and Xu Wenwu were also present.

Xu Wenwu’s cultivation had been advancing by leaps and bounds. Ever since the cyan lotus had improved his aptitude, Wei Yuan had noticed that whenever someone near him absorbed a portion of their fortune, Xu Wenwu’s own cultivation would improve.

Seeing that Xu Wenwu was not far from establishing his Dao Foundation, Wei Yuan invited him to attend the meeting so he could familiarize himself with the concept of Dao Foundations.

Wei Yuan first demonstrated the Immortal Sword Fake Sun. This fire-element Immortal Sword functioned both for combat and fire-control purposes, making it the current top choice for the Dao Foundations of Qingming. Next was the Radiant Devil-Subjugating Sword, followed by the Ten Directions Lapis Lazuli Golden Fire, which had only recently been perfected and had not yet been widely promoted as a result.

Once Wei Yuan had finished his demonstration, Trueman Chu He—the most senior among them—spoke up: “These Immortal Swords are quite excellent, and the Ten Directions Lapis Lazuli Golden Fire represents a significant step forward. However, most of them belong to the Fire-element, whereas the Shaman realm is a realm that favors Wood and Water. That is the first point.

“Secondly, this old Daoist’s garden is expanding ever larger, and my spirit fields also require Dao Foundation stage cultivators to tend to them. Otherwise, we’ll have vast tracts of spirit land but no one to cultivate them. Therefore, this old Daoist believes we should delay the next Dao Foundation forging slightly, at least until we’ve researched a Water-element and a Wood-element Dao Foundation.”

Sun Yu added, “Fire can be divided into many types. I’m sure we can subdivide it further. For example, there is Dao Foundation with Wood as the base, and fire as the result. This is called the Fire of Creation. The requirements to attain this fire are slightly higher than those of rootless fires, but it is ultimately still a Human-tier Dao Foundation, so the difficulty isn’t that great. Mastering this fire makes one naturally suited to be a pill maker.”

Yu Zhizhuo, the one most familiar with the properties of objects, immediately picked up a Radiant Devil-Subjugating Sword, waved it casually, and transformed it back into spirit qi. He said, “Truth be told, the process of giving a Dao Foundation the shape of a sword consumes extra Dao energy without adding much in the way of killing power. It’s better to just directly comprehend the origin qi of the Five Phases, which can also serve to reduce the difficulty of cultivation further.”

The group discussed the matter back and forth, and eventually their focus converged on the Ten Directions Lapis Lazuli Golden Fire. The Dao Foundation was essentially a qi of the Five Phases—one of the absolute most basic blocks of the world—requiring no physical form and thus keeping the additional burden to an absolute minimum.

Ever since Yu Zhizhuo replaced ordinary rootless fire with alcohol fire, the difficulty of establishing a Dao Foundation had dropped to a new low. It had also opened up a whole new line of thinking for everyone.

Take the Wood element, for example. Which was easier, extracting energy from grass or a pine tree? Clearly the former. That was why Trueman Chu He had taken a handful of grass and, in under one ke, analyzed the qi of grass and laid the foundation for Wood-element grass qi.

The Palace cultivators then spent another ke refining and supplementing his work. This eventually gave rise to the first ever Wood-element Dao Foundation in Qingming, the Six Paths Jia Yi Divine Wood Qi.

The Metal element was also straightforward. Metals were generally difficult to melt and refine, but there were metals that melted easily. Yu Zhizhuo chose tin, and that was that.

There wasn’t much to say about the Earth element either. It was just a matter of the soil being looser or tighter, which unfortunately meant that there was limited room for improvement.

The most difficult element to handle of them all turned out to be water. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t find a good way to lower its difficulty, so they had to give up.

Wei Yuan proceeded to manifest several types of Dao Foundations that established the lower limits, and the group discussed and refined them. From then on, Qingming gained a couple more Five Phases-type Dao Foundations that would become the cornerstones of the realm.

There was one thing Wei Yuan was concerned about. He anticipated that people like the elderly individuals of the Cui Clan would become increasingly common in the future, and since they were a major source of revenue for the realm, whether or not their new Dao Foundations looked impressive was of considerable importance.

Surprisingly, the main inspiration for the solution came from Fei Yutong. The young woman had suggested redesigning the Radiant Devil-Subjugating Sword into distinct shapes and colors. Although their essence were the same, they would appear as three distinct Immortal Swords for everyone to choose from[1].

This was not a difficult task. Wei Yuan readily accepted her suggestion and quickly developed three new Dao Foundations. They were the Radiant Devil Subjugating Golden Feather Sword, Silver-Winged Sword, and Profound Black[2] Sword.

The second topic of discussion was whether to develop magazine-fed firearms.

In Xu Wenwu’s opinion, it was a moot point. After all, his world had long proven that breech-loading represented a generational leap, while repeating fire represented another. Generally speaking, it was only natural for the new to hang and beat the shit out of the old.

However, after a careful discussion among the cultivators, the conclusion was that using a magazine would require a bolt action mechanism, making mass production difficult. Furthermore, gunpowder production was currently limited: even with the new formula, a single bullet must consume two catties of gunpowder. And if they designed the firearm to be a repeater, then the gunpowder consumption would inevitably skyrocket by dozens of times. They simply did not have the supply to meet the demand at the moment.

Due to Life is a Flash, Wei Yuan’s strategy had always been to ensure that every person possessed at least one gun.

To increase gunpowder production, they would need to supply Yu Zhizhuo and Sun Yu with a large number of Dao Foundation stage cultivators that were specifically tailored to their needs. At the same time, research into the principles of material properties needed to be prioritized.

Ultimately, the most urgent need right now was to promote the Five Phases Dao Foundations as quickly as possible, lower the threshold for Human-tier Dao Foundations, and increase the number of Dao Foundation stage cultivators.

As soon as the meeting ended, Trueman Chu He, Sun Yu, Yu Zhizhuo, and Feng Tingyu flew straight to the new city. Today was the day they were to hold a teaching session for the Xu Clan youngsters. Everyone in the Palace of Absolute Beginning loved to teach and took this task extremely seriously. No one was willing to miss the opportunity to expound on the Dao and reveal its mysteries before an audience of several thousand or even tens of thousands.

Out of all of them, Trueman Chu He was the most enthusiastic. No matter how busy he was, he always found the time to deliver at least one lecture per week, rain or shine. That was why the youngsters were making the fastest progress in the Earth Origin Scripture.

Of course, Wei Yuan had no such luck[3]. He could only comfort himself by asking Xu Wenwu to stay behind privately and offering him some guidance on his cultivation.

Emulating the manner of True Lord Xuan Yue, Wei Yuan slowly took his seat at the head of the hall, his posture dignified and his energies deep and steady. He said, “First, manifest your image for me to see.”

Xu Wenwu sat cross-legged on the praying mat and quickly lost all sense of himself and the external world. A moment later, his image appeared.

Wei Yuan was drinking tea when he suddenly spit out a mouthful!

In the words of Xu Wenwu’s world, this toad was perched atop a bunker, wearing a steel helmet and body armor, with a rocket launcher in its left hand and a gatling gun in its right.

That wasn’t all. The toad was also carrying a pair of massive dragon wings on its back. Though the combination looked a bit incongruous, it certainly made for an incredibly cool sight.

Since attaining the Great Realm, this was the first time Wei Yuan’s Dao Heart had faltered. He silently wiped the tea from his lapel and tried to come up with a comment. Instead, he found himself at a loss for words.

After a long silence, Wei Yuan finally asked, “Where are your bullets?”

Xu Wenwu looked taken aback. He scratched his head and replied, “I’ll think about it when I get back. See if I should add an ammo box or something.”

Amusement overcame Wei Yuan. An image was hardly something that one could just add on on a whim. Besides, Xu Wenwu had a black heart—his gatling gun had a total of nine barrels. It certainly wasn’t something just one or two ammo boxes could handle.

So, Wei Yuan spoke earnestly, preaching to Xu Wenwu about the folly of aiming too high and how haste makes waste.

Wei Yuan was just at the height of his speech when Xu Wenwu suddenly seemed to realize something, and his image shifted accordingly. The bunker where the toad had been crouching slowly changed shape and took the form of a massive ammo crate! Judging by its size, it could likely hold tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition. What’s more, the crate had a viewing window through which one could see it packed to the brim with actual ammunition, and not just an empty shell.

Wei Yuan fell silent again for quite some time.

Finally, Wei Yuan spoke once more: “Your ammo only works for one of your weapons—”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Wei Yuan felt a twinge of shame. This was literally the definition of nitpicking; looking for faults where none existed, and forcing criticisms where there was nothing to be criticized.

But Xu Wenwu had an epiphany, as if a light had been shed on his mind, and exclaimed, “That makes total sense! Let me think about it some more....”

“You can do that in your home at your leisure!” Wei Yuan said firmly before shooing Xu Wenwu out of his door.

After the guy was gone, Wei Yuan thought back to his own toad several years ago. Aside from its humongous size, the only other adjective that could properly describe it was: poor.

“It’s fine. The waves behind drive on those before...” Wei Yuan had intended to console himself, but then he remembered that in the materials Xu Wenwu had written, the next line of that poem was: “The old waves die on the shore.”

It was a pity Ji Liuli wasn’t present. Otherwise, Wei Yuan would have loved to drag her aside to discuss the benefits of sacrificing Xu Wenwu to the heavens.

The night was deepening, so Wei Yuan decided to cultivate for a bit—or at least, he intended to. After his Dao Heart shattered, he found himself unable to calm his mind no matter what. So, he flew to the armament workshop and observed the work for a few moments. He watched as batch after batch of molten steel emerged from the furnaces, solidified into ingots, was repeatedly forged, then hammered into shape in molds. Finally, they were slightly refined by the craftsmen into various tools.

After watching for a while, Wei Yuan’s mind gradually calmed, and he returned to his quarters to continue his cultivation.

With the realm set to open 500,000 mu of new farmland, the demand for farming tools had skyrocketed. During this period, the armament workshop worked at full capacity to produce them and significantly accelerated the land reclamation process.

Seat of Yuyang, the State of Zhao.

Military Commissioner Cui Shutong picked up a set of cuirass, put it on, and tried swinging a sword and drawing a bow in it. Then, he took it off again.

A man standing nearby said, “Milord, this cuirass was hand-forged by our craftsmen using hundred-fold tempered steel. Its quality is undoubtedly superior to that produced in Qingming[4].”

Cui Shutong picked up an armor plate and tried to snap it into the already assembled cuirass. However, there was a noticeable gap between the two panels. In many places, a finger could easily fit inside.

The man explained, “Our cuirass uses more steel and offers better protection. Moreover, they are meticulously crafted by our craftsmen. Since each craftsman has a different working style, some variations are inevitable, but they do not affect performance in the slightest.”

Cui Shutong neither confirmed nor denied this. Instead, he asked, “What is the selling price of the armor produced by your trading house?”

“The quality of our product is superior, so it stands to reason that it should be slightly more expensive. It’s twenty-five taels per set, milord.”

“That’s too expensive.”

The man clenched his teeth and returned, “Twenty-two taels. I can’t go any lower than this!”

“I’ll think it over. You may go.”

The man looked reluctant, but he ultimately withdrew.

Cui Shutong walked to the other side of the drill ground and casually opened a crate bearing the Qingming emblem. Inside were armor plates stacked neatly and fitted so tightly together that it would be difficult to slip even a toothpick between them.

Just then, a young military officer standing by his side advised, “Uncle, we purchase tens of thousands of sets of armor every year. It’s no small sum, is it? Why not let our own people make a little profit from this?”

Cui Shutong picked up a Qingming armor plate and stabbed it with a heavy arrow. The heavy arrow pierced right through it. He examined the steel at the fracture point closely, remaining silent for a long time.

The young military officer also examined the fracture and remarked, “This steel isn’t particularly fine or uniform. It’s still quite inferior to hundred-fold tempered steel. Uncle, twenty-two taels really is a low, low price—it was made using hundred-fold tempered steel after all.”

Cui Shutong opened another crate of armor plates, randomly selected a few, pieced them with an arrowhead in the same manner, and then handed them to the young man. The young military officer examined them for a long time but couldn’t discern anything. He didn’t understand what Cui Shutong was trying to say.

Cui Shutong said slowly, “I picked these armor plates at random. You think that the steel quality isn’t great, but what’s remarkable about these armor is that every single plate is of the exact same quality. It may not compare to hundred-fold tempered steel, but just how long does it take to prepare the materials to make the steel for that alone? The person you found might have no problem forging a hundred or two hundred sets, but what about ten thousand or twenty thousand sets? How many craftsmen does he have? Can he guarantee that every single set will be of the same quality as the ones delivered to me?”

The barrage of questions caused cold sweat to break out on the young military officer’s forehead. He dared not answer.

Cui Shutong let out a cold chuckle before continuing, “The quality of the goods he sent to me is certainly good. The inspector I sent to check the goods must have been paid to see only the goods they have specifically selected for his eyes as well. But the soldiers on the front lines are the ones who have to wear this armor into battle! If the armor were just a little better, it could save hundreds or even thousands of lives in a major battle!”

Cui Shutong patted the young military officer on the shoulder and said, “You’re still young. There will come a day where you’ll be sent out to lead a force on your own. There are plenty of ways to make money, but never make money off military equipment. This is the very foundation of our survival!” ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

1. Who said you need to be a modern guy to understand the appeal of skins? ☜

2. CURSE YOU, 玄青! ☜

3. If you remember, it’s because none of the kids can cultivate the Jade Toad Full Moon Painting. ☜

4. I suddenly realize that this is why doing good work doesn’t help you much in climbing the ladders. It really is all about the numbers, as long as a certain low, low bar of quality is assured. ☜