Chapter 440: The War Begins (4000 words)

Since Wang Mu began investing, his attainments have been constantly growing, not just in cultivation.

His skills in Artifact Refining, Alchemy, Formation Arrays, and other areas also increased every moment.

Inside the Heavenly Ruins this time,

many similar ancient Legacies have emerged.

For example, Lin Yan obtained the Legacy methods of ancient Alchemy Dao, and so on.

These also brought sufficient feedback to Wang Mu.

As of today,

Wang Mu's attainments in these areas have quietly surpassed those of the Heavenly Craft Elder and others by a significant margin.

As for these blueprints before him,

they were not entirely original creations by Wang Mu. Many were improvements based on ancient recipes.

After all, the era is different, and many Materials can no longer be found, requiring substitutes.

Additionally, some were already present in the Cultivation World but were not excellent or had obvious flaws, which Wang Mu strengthened.

It sounds simple,

but if Wang Mu hadn't intervened and let the Cultivation World develop on its own,

these blueprints

would likely have taken at least another thousand years to appear.

Perhaps even longer.

Seeing everyone focused on the blueprints and recipes, Wang Mu didn't stop. He explained, "I intend to establish a Military Craft Pavilion, specifically responsible for researching and producing all resources needed during wartime. You all will oversee it. What do you think?"

Upon hearing this, several people were startled, "So urgent?"

Wang Mu said, "It's better to do such things sooner rather than later!"

Luo Xuanshuang also said, "Mu'er is right. Since we already know that the Saint Advent Society could act at any time, we must prepare early. We can't wait for them to come knocking on our door and then passively defend!"

Heavenly Craft Elder nodded solemnly, "If that's the case, what more is there to say? From today onwards, we old bones will follow the Saint's orders!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Mu bowed in thanks.

Elder Tianyuan frowned, "However, from the current situation, the Saint Advent Society has deep roots. With the strength of our Northern Dark Holy Land alone, even with the addition of the Wang family, I'm afraid…"

Wang Mu understood his meaning and slowly said, "Leave this matter to me!"

…Half a month later.

Star-Plucking Pavilion.

Nie Tingting hurried in, "Young Lord, the latest news! Within the Northern Region, 372 feudal lords have successively raised rebellions, burning, killing, and looting. Our Langya Merchant Guild's various branches have also been affected!"

Wang Mu's expression was indifferent, "What's the reason?"

Nie Tingting said, "Destroy the traitors, protect the King!"

Wang Mu chuckled and shook his head, "Are the losses significant?"

Nie Tingting shook her head, "You previously instructed us to strengthen the defenses in all branches, and all defensive Formation Arrays were replaced with the top-tier ones, so… there weren't too many losses!"

Wang Mu nodded, "Make a few more preparations. How is the research on the Five Thunder Seven Fire Lotus at the Military Craft Pavilion progressing?"

Nie Tingting said, "A message just came this morning, saying that the smallest model already possesses the power generated by a Golden Core Stage Cultivator's self-detonation, and the largest can even instantly severely injure Nascent Soul Cultivators… However, it cannot yet harm Cultivators above Soul Transformation.

If we insist on doing so, the cost would be too high, making mass production impossible!"

Wang Mu said, "That's enough! Have them rush a batch out and send them to the various branches to test their firepower first!"

The Five Thunder Six Fire Lotus

is a single-use Magic Treasure simulated by Wang Mu, who comprehended the Five Elements Divine Thunder, combined with the Innate runes of the five types of spiritual fires and one immortal flame currently mastered by Lin Yan.

Its power is extremely formidable.

Moreover, it's simple to use; just input a trace of Spiritual Qi to activate the internal miniature Formation Array.

If Wang Mu personally drew the core runes inside the Magic Treasure, it could at least simulate over ninety percent of the power of the Five Elements Divine Thunder, plus those spiritual fires and immortal flames.

This would be enough to easily severely injure Soul Transformation Stage Cultivators.

Even Undergoing Tribulation Cultivators wouldn't dare to directly resist it.

After all, he is the true owner of these divine thunders and immortal flames.

He also possesses terrifying Comprehension Ability and an unprecedented Foundation.

However, the Cultivators in the Military Craft Pavilion clearly don't have Wang Mu's level of comprehension for runes.

They can only imitate.

Achieving two or three tenths of the original standard would be quite good, and to a greater extent, they still rely on the effects of the Materials themselves.

This is also the most important reason why Wang Mu prioritized teaching the 'Myriad Forging Profound Comprehension' secret art to Heavenly Craft Elder and the others.

If the technology is insufficient,

Materials will make up for it.

With this secret art, they wouldn't have to worry about Material issues when manufacturing many things.

"Yes," Nie Tingting respectfully responded, preparing to leave.

Wang Mu spoke again, "Remember, no matter what, spare no expense to defend as many branches as possible!"

The branches of the Langya Merchant Guild are not just sources of profit.

They are also signal stations for the Tianwen Communication Talisman.

They are crucial for transmitting information and intelligence in the shortest possible time, making them very important.

If too many stations are lost,

the signal transmission speed will inevitably slow down.

Therefore, when Wang Mu returned from the Northern Dark Holy Land, he issued an order to raise the defense level of all major branches to the highest, precisely to guard against the unexpected.

After Nie Tingting left,

Wang Mu lowered his head, looked at his Communication Talisman, and said, "Bailian, where were we just now?"

From the Communication Talisman came the voice of the Yao Race Young Emperor, Di Bailian, "You were talking about… cooperation between the two races! I can't make decisions about this!"

Wang Mu smiled slightly and said, "Your fathers and brothers will agree."

"Where do you get that confidence? My brothers are constantly clamoring to kill you!" Di Bailian pouted.

Wang Mu said, "What if I told you that there are also many hidden Saint Advent Society agents within the Emperor Yao Palace?"

Di Bailian frowned, "How is that possible?"

Wang Mu said, "I heard that your father has been in seclusion for many years to Breakthrough to the Quasi-Emperor Realm! Currently, there isn't a single Quasi-Emperor openly in the Northern Region of the Cangyuan Realm. With the Saint Advent Society's style, how could they not have any ideas about your father?"

Di Bailian's expression was grave, "You mean they want to attack my father? That's impossible, my father is invincible!"

Wang Mu shook his head and said, "You underestimate the Saint Advent Society too much. Don't even mention that your father hasn't broken through to Quasi-Emperor yet. Even if he really did, if the Saint Advent Society truly made a move, with their careful planning against an unsuspecting target, your father would most likely suffer a calamity!"

Listening to Wang Mu's serious words,

even if Di Bailian was confident in her father, she couldn't help but waver.

She knew that Wang Mu wouldn't say such things without absolute certainty.

"Then… what should I do?" Di Bailian felt a little panicked, "Can you tell where those people are hiding?"

"That, I don't know for now!" Wang Mu shook his head.

Di Bailian immediately showed a look of disappointment.

"However, I have a friend. If he takes action, it shouldn't be a problem!"

"Really?" Di Bailian's face lit up with joy.

"It's worth a try!"

…A moment later.

"What? You want me to go to the Emperor Yao Palace in the Eastern Region to help them find Saint Advent Society spies?" Lin Yan looked at Wang Mu, quite puzzled, "Why?"

Wang Mu said, "The Saint Advent Society has already made their move. With our current strength alone, we don't have absolute certainty of victory. If we can bring the Yao Race into our camp, it would give us much more leeway, whether in terms of time or other aspects."

Lin Yan scratched the back of his head, "But I don't know how to expose the Saint Advent Society members!"

Wang Mu chuckled, "Just go. It's just a test. If it doesn't work, we'll discuss it again."

He was indeed testing.

Testing if Lin Yan's Protagonist Halo was strong enough.

Normally, once these villains get close to the protagonist, no matter how flawless they were originally, they should reveal flaws, right?

Of course, if it doesn't work, it's fine.

Wang Mu had a backup plan.

At worst, he would personally go to the Emperor Yao Palace.

No matter how deeply those Saint Advent Society members were hidden, as long as they showed their faces in front of him, the System panel would expose all of them.

After all, even existences like the Undying Demon God

couldn't escape the System's detection. Let alone mere Saint Advent Society lackeys… Another half a month passed.

In various parts of the Northern Region, the flames of war spread even wider.

In the past,

feudal lords also rebelled, but they were quickly suppressed.

They couldn't form a significant threat.

But this time was different. A group of monsters appeared in the armies of the various feudal lords.

They were fearless in death.

Severed limbs could regenerate.

They possessed immense strength.

Their methods were incredibly bizarre.

Even if their Physical Body was completely destroyed, their soul form could still erupt with extremely strong combat power.

Others, once their Physical Body was destroyed, would release an extremely terrifying highly toxic poison that could contaminate a Cultivator's Divine Sense and magic power. Once contaminated, they would essentially become cripples.

Still others could breed countless insect eggs within their bodies. The moment their Physical Body died, countless insects would crawl out, break through magic power defenses, and burrow into the opponent's body, causing excruciating pain and leading to death as their essence was devoured… To call them Human Race

was no longer appropriate.

All of this caused the unprepared World-Suppressing Army to suffer greatly and retreat steadily.

The feudal lords grew even more arrogant.

They claimed they would march into Diqiu.

Raze the Prince Wei Mansion to the ground and rescue the young emperor… Tianjue Island.

In the courtyard.

On the ground lay several corpses sealed by curse runes.

Everyone else had withdrawn.

Only Wang Mu remained.

Wang Mu approached and removed the seal from one of the corpses. The next moment, a dense wave of poison assaulted him, instantly causing the surrounding vegetation to wither, and even the Void Realm was contaminated, seemingly about to transform into a poisonous domain.

"What terrifying toxicity!"

Wang Mu did not dodge. A tiny vortex appeared at his fingertip, swallowing the poisonous Qi.

Then, he closed his eyes.

Feeling the composition of the power within the poisonous Qi.

"Gu Race…" After a long while, Wang Mu opened his eyes, his expression complex.

That was also a powerful ancient race, from the same era as the God Race.

They entered the Dao through Gu.

Claiming to be able to refine all things into Gu.

This Gu poison before him was merely a very crude method of using Gu, yet its power was already astonishing.

He walked towards another corpse.

The moment the seal was lifted,

a ghostly spirit lunged at him, filled with chilling killing intent.

Wang Mu flicked his finger, and the ghostly spirit vanished into ashes.

"Soul Race…"

The third corpse had already truly died, with no remnant soul or consciousness, but its Physical Body was still alive, able to fight and kill.

"God Race…"

The fourth… "Insect Race…"

The fifth… After examining them all, Wang Mu immediately understood.

These people were indeed no longer Human Race.

They had been transformed by special methods, or rather, refined into Puppets.

They possessed the inherent abilities of many ancient races.

However, the methods of the transformer were very crude, resulting in these inherent abilities being only of the lowest Rank.

In fact, some were like defective products.

But even so,

this group of monsters, once they formed a scale, was still incredibly terrifying.

One must know,

the World-Suppressing Army was truly the most powerful army of the Northern Region Human Race.

They were well-trained and had ample experience even when facing powerful Cultivators.

Yet, when facing these monsters,

they still retreated steadily.

If a lone Cultivator encountered such things, their fate would likely be even worse.

Wang Mu sat in place for three days and three nights.

His Dao-Comprehension Immortal Heart furiously operated.

Three days later,

he sent a stack of documents to his grandfather.

These were the methods he had devised over the past few days to deal with the rebellious army.

Combining countless methods of Alchemy, Talismans, Artifacts, and Formations.

Striving for precision and effectiveness.

"Dealing with this current level should not be a problem, but when the true powerhouses of various races enter the fray, it will be a test of raw strength!"

Wang Mu muttered to himself thoughtfully.

Suddenly, he took a step and disappeared into space… Lüzhou City.

Langya Academy Branch.

Back mountain.

Under a massive willow tree by the lake, Shi Huang sat quietly.

"It seems you've recovered well."

The young man's voice sounded.

Faint ripples spread across the lake.

Shi Huang opened his eyes and looked at the smiling Wang Mu before him, a hint of surprise in his eyes, "Why are you here?"

Wang Mu said, "You're my patient, so I naturally have to check on your recovery."

A patient?

Shi Huang's eyes were complex as he recalled his previous state, which indeed fit the description.

Wang Mu observed Shi Huang and nodded in satisfaction, "It seems I was right; you truly found your own Dao again."

A glint appeared in Shi Huang's eyes, and he nodded, "Your academy's Heavenly Book has helped me greatly! I never imagined that the power of the mind could be so strong… Which Senior created this Cultivation Technique?"

Wang Mu smiled, "I wrote it."

Shi Huang's pupils contracted, "What did you say? You wrote it?"

"What, doesn't it seem like it?"

"…" Shi Huang remained silent, his gaze incredibly complex.

Wang Mu said, "At that time, the academy had just been established. Everyone said that their Innate talent was ordinary, and without famous teachers, they would struggle to achieve greatness! I refused to believe it!

If they couldn't walk the ordinary path, then I, Wang Mu, would forge a new path for them!"

His tone was very light.

But to Shi Huang's ears, it was full of confidence and dominance.

If the traditional cultivation methods didn't work, then create an entirely new cultivation System?

Could these truly be words spoken by a young man of similar age to himself?

Moreover, he had already done it!

He found it hard to believe, but recalling his battle with Wang Mu, the feeling of being completely overwhelmed by Wang Mu from beginning to end, yet unable to even gauge his depth, that sense of despair and powerlessness, was still incredibly vivid.

He gazed at the young man before him.

Still as unfathomable as an abyss, impossible to see clearly or comprehend.

"You are stronger than me!" After a long while, Shi Huang uttered these four words.

Wang Mu waved his hand indifferently, then said, "Since you've recovered almost completely, do you want to go back?"

"Go back where?"

"To the battlefield, of course!" Wang Mu said, "You were born for that place!"

Shi Huang's expression was a bit strange, "Go help whom?"

He clearly already knew the current situation.

"It's not about helping anyone, but about fighting someone!" Wang Mu corrected, "Your destiny throughout this life was bestowed upon you by the Saint Advent Society. Don't you want to get even?"