Chapter 99: Sacrifice to Mountains and Rivers |
Three days later, a great battle broke out.
The refugee army led by Huang Qi launched a fierce attack on Fenggu City.
The number of the refugee army exceeded one hundred and fifty thousand.
The soldiers defending Fenggu City were only thirty thousand.
The original defending general, hearing that the refugee army had attacked, directly abandoned the city and fled.
However, although the number of people differed by five times, it was absolutely not an easy task to conquer this city.
In the blink of an eye, it was the end of the year again.
In the courtyard, Chu Xun faced west and chanted the incantation of the Flying Mystery and Eight Convergences.
White Qi of Metal Essence appeared before his eyes and was continuously inhaled into his mouth and nose.
Metal essence was spat out from his mouth and integrated into the meteoric iron.
Up to now, the metal essence integrated into the extraterrestrial meteoric iron had already accumulated to three wisps.
Calculating it, it took almost four months to gather one wisp of metal essence.
Fortunately, the quality of this extraterrestrial meteoric iron was high enough to actually accommodate three wisps of Qi of Metal Essence.
If such divine iron was truly forged into a long sword, it was estimated that even the City God of Zhangnan County would be cleaved open with a single strike.
Unfortunately, the meteoric iron had only completed two temperings so far, still ninety-eight times away from the goal Chu Xun had set.
Holding the meteoric iron with iron tongs in one hand and a hammer in the other.
Clinking sounds continuously rang out in the courtyard.
Metallurgy 1037/30000: Can slightly change the shape of metal.
The spell that had advanced once didn't have much effect on the meteoric iron, but it could be used to repair the deformed hammer.
This way, it could also save some time and silver.
After smashing a full three hundred times, the temperature of the meteoric iron dropped, and Chu Xun stuffed it back into the furnace.
He then took out an ordinary iron billet from the furnace and tempered it with a large hammer.
Soon, the outline of this iron billet was smashed out.
Returned to the furnace to heat up, and then used a small hammer to level it.
When the shape was almost complete, he used iron shears to cut off the excess scraps.
After working for most of the day like this, the billet of a long sword was considered ready.
However, it hadn't been quenched or sharpened yet, so it couldn't be considered a proper weapon.
The extraterrestrial meteoric iron was used to forge a magical artifact to protect the path of the flood dragon transformation and resist the wind tribulation.
But the one hour of divine office exposure every year could not be ignored either.
In the previous confrontation with the Underworld, Chu Xun killed the Martial Judge and the Night Wandering God.
The City God Temple in the county had repaired the two god statues and placed them back up.
Chu Xun had secretly gone to observe. After more than half a year, the Martial Judge and the Night Wandering God had "come alive" again, but they had forgotten about the previous events.
This gave Chu Xun a clearer understanding of incense gods.
As long as the incense remained, they would not truly be killed; they would only lose their memories as immortal gods and be reborn again.
Only when the incense ceased to exist would they completely disappear.
Fortunately, the forms of the Martial Judge and the Night Wandering God were very blurry. Presumably, because there wasn't enough incense, their strength hadn't recovered to its peak.
Currently, in a year's time, they could only barely maintain their existence and wouldn't be much stronger than Underworld Emissaries.
Just in case, during this period, Chu Xun forged many long swords.
Each one integrated a wisp of Qi of Metal Essence. When the time came, it would definitely give the Underworld a little shock.
After working for so long, Chu Xun finally had time to rest for a moment.
The Foundation Establishment stage brought a huge leap in physical strength, so this little work didn't tire him.
However, while the physical body wasn't tired, the spirit would be exhausted.
A few weasels ran over. Some beat the back of Chu Xun, who was sitting on a stool, some massaged his legs, and one ran to fetch a cup of tea and brought it over.
They were so attentive, and Chu Xun wasn't stingy either.
Flicking his finger lightly, he rewarded each with a water droplet containing spiritual energy.
The weasels were so happy their eyes narrowed, and they served him even more attentively.
Caw—
Caw—
The crows on the eaves cawed a few times. Chu Xun looked up and scolded with a smile: "If you could beat my back, I'd reward you too."
The crows flapped their wings and stretched their claws on the eaves.
They were good at scratching people, but they really couldn't beat backs.
Being served comfortably by the weasels, Chu Xun half-closed his eyes, and a deep blue water droplet appeared before his eyes.
Condensing one wisp of Essence of Ren Water every three days, this water droplet contained a full twelve wisps.
After the concentration increased, the Essence of Ren Water also underwent some kind of change.
The most obvious one was that the weight increased a lot.
Just this single water droplet could reach at least ten jin in weight.
It made Chu Xun couldn't help but think that if it could accommodate a hundred times or a thousand times more Essence of Ren Water, just the weight alone would have extraordinary power.
Ren is the essence of water. The number of heaven is one, and the number of earth is six, hence it is called Six Ren.
He called this kind of water droplet, which accommodated more Essence of Ren Water and underwent a qualitative change, Heavenly One Divine Water.
However, the Essence of Ren Water in his hand was condensed from river water, not the best.
If condensed from a great river or seawater, the quality would be higher.
Conversely, if condensed from well water, the quality would be lower.
"The rivers, mountains, and streams of this world also have higher and lower grades. What is this considered?"
"Fate?"
A few weasels seemed to know what he wanted, ran quickly into the house, and then scrambled to bring a book.
The weasel that handed the book to Chu Xun first hadn't even had time to squeak happily before it was pinned to the ground and beaten by the other three.
Chu Xun smiled and shook his head, ignoring them, and opened the ancient book in his hand.
Over the past few months, he had asked Huan'er to find many ancient books, wanting to obtain information from them about resisting the lightning tribulation and helping the green and white python transform into a flood dragon.
But throughout history, the pythons that could transform into flood dragons were extremely few.
Even if there were, it was mostly during thunderstorms and in rivers, making it difficult for ordinary people to observe.
The ancient book brought by the weasels was called "Sacrifice to Mountains and Rivers", compiled by the Ministry of Rites of the previous dynasty.
The "Erya - Explaining Water" section in it wrote that the Jiang, He, Huai, and Ji were the Four Great Rivers.
The eight-hundred-zhang-wide Wu River that Wei Ting mentioned was the Ancestor of Rivers, the head of the Four Great Rivers.
"Sacrifice to Mountains and Rivers" recorded that the Jiang, He, Huai, and Ji all had orthodox gods.
The Ji among them was a tributary like the Songliu River.
"The Mandate of Heaven is upon the Earl of Ji, to govern the Ji River."
Chu Xun had read this sentence many times, pondering whether after transforming into a flood dragon, it would have to compete with this so-called Earl of Ji for control over the Ji River.
Judging from the incense gods suppressing loose gods to compete for the ownership of incense.
If mountains, rivers, and streams really had higher and lower fates, presumably there were also things worth competing for.
At this time, the sound of footsteps came from outside the door.
Chu Xun waved his hand to disperse the Heavenly One Divine Water, and then saw Qi Ermao walk in.
The fifty-year-old Qi Ermao, with graying hair, started shouting as soon as he entered the courtyard: "This group of refugee army is too outrageous!"
"They can't conquer Fenggu City, so they want to conscript locally. If you ask me, they really should be caught and beheaded!"
Chu Xun raised his eyebrows. Huang Qi had been leading the army to attack the city for several months, but couldn't conquer it.
Fenggu City defended desperately. It was heard that they even tore down civilian houses and moved stones to use as weapons.
There was also news from the Capital City. It was heard that Commander Hong launched a surprise attack with a strange army and burned the refugee army's granary.
He also used a city to set a trap to invite the enemy into the urn.
The Minister of Revenue, Zhang Jingheng, sent people to spread news in the rear occupied by the refugee army.
Promoting the national policy that was being implemented everywhere.
The refugee army suffered heavy losses and lacked supplies.
The military morale at the front was unstable, and the popular sentiment at the rear was turbulent. They had already fallen into a dilemma of riding a tiger and finding it hard to get off.
According to this news, the two routes of the refugee army had to merge into one, otherwise they would both be tied down and eventually finished.
Whether to abandon the world's granary of Mingxiu Prefecture or abandon the temptation of attacking the Capital City was still unknown.
But now that the refugee army wanted to conscript locally, it had already touched Chu Xun's bottom line.
He knew that with his own strength alone, he couldn't stop such a large-scale war.
But within a small scope, some things could still be done.
"Qiaohua is extremely anxious and wants to go to Fenggu City. I don't even dare let Chunni leave her side for half a step," Qi Ermao said.
Her husband was in a place "within reach," but she could never see him.
How could Qiaohua not be anxious.
Qi Ermao came here just to complain a few words and relieve the unhappiness in his heart.
However, a squad of the refugee army came directly to Pinecone Village, riding tall horses, arrogantly demanding that Pinecone Village provide thirty male adults to join the refugee army to attack the city.
This was completely a suicidal job.
The villagers shivered, not wanting to go, but not daring to resist.
The refugee army directly put knives to their necks, forcing them to enlist.
Liao Licheng was one of them.
He practiced sword techniques all year round, his family didn't lack food and drink, and he grew very sturdy.
Qiaohua was already anxious because she couldn't see Shitou, and now her son was going to be press-ganged. She jumped up and down, crying and shouting anxiously.
Liao Licheng clenched his fists, glaring at the refugee army, but was punched in the face by the other party.
"What are you looking at! Believe it or not, I'll chop you down!"
Unable to conquer Fenggu City for a long time, the refugee army from top to bottom was holding in their anger. When doing things, they had long lost the intention of fighting for the people of the world.
Seeing the other party really raise the knife, Liao Licheng gritted his teeth, planning to snatch it and fight them to the death.
Just as he was about to make a move, he saw the refugee army in front of him stiffen all over, their eyes full of horror.
For some unknown reason, their bodies suddenly couldn't move.
It was as if an iron rod had been inserted into all four limbs; no matter how hard they tried, it was of no use.
A flock of crows flew over, two grabbing one person, lifting this squad of the refugee army and throwing them outside the village.
The villagers watched dumbfounded. It wasn't too surprising that crows could lift people, after all, their size was astonishingly large.
The oldest crow was already nearly five feet tall.
But why didn't the refugee army resist?
Could it be they were scared by the crows?
The refugee army thrown outside the village had now recovered their movement.
Only then did they realize that a seventeen or eighteen-year-old young man had appeared in front of them at some unknown time.
"Go back and tell Huang Qi, he has lost the hearts of the people, do not be muddled anymore!"
The refugee army looked at the flock of crows landing beside the young man. Over a dozen weasels hopped over, picked up stones from the ground, and threw them at them.
How could the refugee army not understand that this seemingly inconspicuous village hid such an expert.
They panicked, turned around, and ran, not daring to stay any longer.
Watching the backs of the refugee army fleeing wretchedly, Chu Xun shook his head: "This Ah Qiao..."
At this time, he suddenly sensed something in his heart.
[Divine Office 8354/10000: Unconferred loose god, remaining hours that can be hidden per year: 1079 (After conferment, can obtain orthodox god divine abilities, can lodge soul to substitute death)]
Chu Xun clearly remembered that when he took away the incense accumulated in the Songliu Water God Temple last year, this number was 8334.
It hadn't changed much for over half a year, but today it inexplicably increased by 20 points.
Chu Xun raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at the refugee army that had already run far away.
Related to stopping the refugee army from press-ganging in Pinecone Village?
After a slight thought, Chu Xun took a step.
One step was a hundred meters away. In the blink of an eye, he bypassed that group of refugee army and arrived at Sanshi Village over ten miles away.
Since the two villages fought over water when he was young, Chu Xun had almost never been here again.
Now the older generation had all passed away, and even Song Jingmin, the chief culprit, had been executed.
The past grievances could be considered written off.
Sanshi Village also had people coming to press-gang. Chu Xun didn't waste words.
The Water Element Spell controlled the bodies of these refugee army soldiers, and they directly flew out.
In Pinecone Village, he needed the help of crows simply because Chu Xun didn't want to expose too much.
But in Sanshi Village, he didn't even need to show his face.
Separated by a hundred zhang, he could easily accomplish this.
The refugee army was thrown outside the village, and a voice came to their ears: "Scram!"
They were scared pale and ran away dejectedly.
The villagers of Sanshi Village looked at each other in dismay, still not knowing what had happened.
When they reacted, they hurriedly knelt on the ground, shedding tears of gratitude: "Thank you, expert, for your help! Thank you, expert, for your help!"
Chu Xun glanced at the information. Sure enough, as he guessed, the number behind the divine office increased by more than twenty points again.
Staring at the number that was only a little over a thousand away from matching an orthodox god, Chu Xun's eyes flickered.
He had always thought that only the worship of the believers of the Songliu Water God Temple could accumulate incense points.
But looking at it now, that was not the case.
As long as it could affect the fate of others, it seemed to work.
Just like these villagers, if they were really press-ganged, without strict training, coupled with the cruel siege warfare.
What awaited them was only death.
Chu Xun's intervention was equivalent to fishing them back from the gates of hell.
Thinking about those ribbon-like believers' beliefs in his mind, wasn't it the same?
Their wishes were also to change their own or others' fates.
"So this is the path of an incense god, or rather, merit."
Chu Xun silently left Sanshi Village and didn't go to other villages.
Instead, after thinking for a while, he headed towards Zhangnan County City.
Since changing the fate of others could earn incense points, searching village by village was not as good as directly doing a big one.
He really wanted to know what would happen when he reached a realm matching an orthodox god but had not been conferred.
Intuition told him this was a good thing.
Not long after, Chu Xun entered the territory of Zhangnan County City.
Compared to before, the county city was now cold and cheerless.
Hardly any commoners could be seen on the streets, and almost all the shops were closed.
It wasn't that they didn't want to do business. Firstly, there were no customers, and secondly, supplies were requisitioned by the refugee army.
Saying that after conquering Fenggu City, they would return double.
But looking at the current situation, they probably wouldn't be able to return it.
In the County Yamen, a group of people were bustling about.
Various news from the front lines continuously came back.
"Still can't conquer it. In just ten days, we have already lost thousands of people!"
"Grain and forage are in emergency. The commoners in the rear are disturbed by the news, and some are unwilling to provide grain and labor anymore."
"Kill! Anyone who dares to spread the imperial court's news again, kill them all!"
The rising and falling roars made people feel restless.
Huang Qi stood in front of the sand table but didn't look at the enemy and friendly situation on it.
There was no need to look anymore. Scouts reported that the other route of the army was defeated by Hong Zexu, and the pressure in the direction of the Capital City sharply decreased.
The Ministry of War had gathered twenty thousand reinforcements and was rushing towards Fenggu City.
If they couldn't take down Fenggu City before these twenty thousand reinforcements arrived, what they would face was not just an unfavorable siege, but very likely a counterattack by the opponent taking advantage of the situation.
[End of Chapter]
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