Longzang

Chapter 84 Settling Military Merits
Suddenly, a series of booming sounds came from the south, and two flying ships appeared one after another, flying towards the battlefield. These two immortal ships were about thirty feet long, and their design was different from the immortal ships that Wei Yuan had seen before. Their entire bodies were covered in a faint blue light, and they were short and thick, exuding a murderous aura.

The flying boats, one after the other, headed straight for the fortified village. Such obvious targets were not to be allowed near the battlefield by the Liao cavalry, so they unleashed a volley of arrows—countless swift arrows and magical armor-piercing arrows, trailing a dazzling light—aiming at the lead flying boat. However, the arrows fell to the ground the moment they touched the azure light emanating from the flying boat's surface, and many arrows were also fired from within, felling swathes of the approaching Liao cavalry.

Seeing that the Liao cavalry's arrow rain could not stop the flying boat, a yellow cloud suddenly shot into the sky from the north, and the rolling yellow dust was like a sandstorm that would destroy everything in the end times, instantly rising hundreds of feet into the sky!

Someone let out a heavy snort, laced with anger, which sent shivers down the spine of the entire battlefield. Then, a desolate, chilling cry of an eagle rang out, and a gigantic white eagle burst forth from the yellow dust, instantly traversing tens of thousands of feet before slamming violently into the airship!

With Wei Yuan's keen eyesight, he could see that the giant eagle was actually carrying a giant arrow over ten feet long. The arrow tore through the blue light of the flying boat and almost completely disappeared into it! The flying boat immediately swayed and crashed as if it were drunk, finally falling outside the fortified village and killing more than a dozen Liao cavalrymen who couldn't get out of the way in time.

"How dare you!" A furious shout rang out from the south, and then a hundred-foot-long bolt of lightning appeared out of nowhere in the sky, striking the yellow mist in the north.

The hundreds of feet of yellow mist were instantly dissipated by the lightning. However, three eagles flew out of the yellow mist one after another, each causing the mist to drop by a hundred feet. The three eagles almost formed a line, and in a flash, they stretched across the vast sky, disappearing into the previously empty southern sky.

Suddenly, an extremely sharp sword light appeared in the void, drawing a winding path hundreds of feet long like lightning, slicing the two eagles into nothingness! But the third eagle passed through the sword light, entered the void, and disappeared.

The yellow aura that had been rising like mountains in the north had vanished, and the south seemed completely still, but Wei Yuan could clearly sense that the pure aura of the human domain on the battlefield had weakened somewhat.

Those few strikes just now seemed to possess the power of heaven and earth; is this what a true battle is like?

The Northern Liao Dharma Image fired four arrows in total. One arrow shot down a flying boat, and another seemed to hit the human Dharma Image. He himself was struck by lightning, and the other three arrows also seemed to have affected his vital energy. Judging from the outcome of the battle, both sides seemed to have suffered heavy losses, but Wei Yuan's vision was insufficient to know the full story.

But the second airship, now unimpeded, flew directly over the fortified village and landed close to its rear gate. As soon as it landed, the hatch swung open, and squads of heavily armored soldiers with crossbows rushed out. They immediately formed neat ranks and took turns advancing. After the front rank fired, the next rank would immediately move in, and so on. Row after row, they rolled forward, and within a hundred paces ahead, Liao cavalry fell in droves, no one able to get close.

The encirclement of the fortified village was thus broken, and the Liao cavalry could no longer circle around. They were momentarily at a loss and suffered heavy casualties under the crossbow rain from the fortified village and the flying boat soldiers.

Two more flying boats appeared in the south, this time bypassing the fortified village and arriving directly between the Liao cavalry's vanguard and their arrow formation. First, a volley of arrows disrupted the arrow formation, then they landed forcefully between the Liao cavalry and the arrow formation, severing the two forces. Heavy crossbowmen continuously poured out of the flying boats, quickly creating a death line with their arrow barrage.

The Liao cavalry, who had been surrounding the fortified village, were unable to break through the blockade. Under the barrage of arrows, their casualties increased sharply, and they had no choice but to bypass the two flying boats and retreat from both sides. The scouts who were intercepting the reinforcements also lost their will to fight and fled north.

Although defeated, the Liao cavalry remained composed. While the large contingent appeared scattered, they maintained a steady pace, continuously firing arrows backward and to the sides as they retreated. Smaller squads fled at full speed, avoiding engagement with the humans. The reinforcements arriving from the airships were heavily armored crossbowmen, virtually invincible in defense but lacking mobility. After reaping the final wave, they could only watch as the Liao cavalry retreated back to Liao territory.

Wei Yuan threw his short spear, securing his final victory, and was now unmatched.

His warhorse suddenly let out a long neigh, collapsed to the ground, and fell silent. This warhorse had accompanied Wei Yuan throughout the entire campaign and was already exhausted; now that his luck was being drawn back, it was immediately unable to continue.

After the battle ended, Wei Yuan felt a slight soreness and numbness all over his body, and several places started to hurt at the same time. It turned out that he had been hit by an arrow at some point.

The battlefield was littered with the corpses of men and horses, pools of blood like scars on the earth, and a pungent stench permeated the air, inescapable. Many wounded Northern Liao knights struggled to crawl north, only to be killed one by one by those patrolling the battlefield. These men clearly harbored deep hatred for the Liao people, their finishing blows exceptionally brutal; often they were unwilling to kill with a single blow, instead severing limbs first before finally decapitating the rider. The wounded humans were carried onto horses and rushed to the fortified village for treatment.

At this moment, the four gates of the fortress opened wide, and a powerful voice rang out: "The Liao barbarians have retreated. Please invite the reinforcements and fellow Daoists to the fortress to rest and regroup, and to settle military merits!" Settle military merits?

Wei Yuan had assumed that all military merits would be settled after the major examination, but he hadn't expected that this great battle would allow for the immediate settlement of military merits. Although there shouldn't be much difference between settling them early or late, Wei Yuan soon saw several troops in the distance quickening their pace and hurrying towards the fortified village.

After a moment's thought, Wei Yuan understood. Normally, disciples from each sect would return to their own sect to settle their military merits and receive rewards. However, since the settlement was being done on the spot, the merits would be counted towards the Taichu Palace, and the rewards would be from the Taichu Palace. This was very attractive to disciples from the other three major immortal sects, and disciples from the second-tier sects naturally flocked to it.

Wei Yuan found a stray warhorse, spurred it towards the fortified village, and entered the village a moment later.

Upon entering the gate, one is greeted by a flat avenue wide enough for two carriages to pass side by side. Although the road surface is dirt, it has been treated with Taoist magic to allow warhorses to gallop freely. The avenue leads directly to the center of the fortified village, where a four-story building stands. From its highest point, one can see over the city walls and observe the activities outside the city.

The interior of the fortified village had been completely transformed. All the original houses had disappeared, replaced by temporary pavilions. At this moment, many arrows were still stuck in the rooftops, and some cultivators were pulling them out one by one to repair the roofs.

Upon entering the gate, Wei Yuan felt as if he had passed through an invisible boundary, and the concentration of spiritual energy around him increased dramatically. At the same time, a layer of Dao power faintly swept over his entire body.

Several cultivators stood inside the gate. One of them, a Taoist, held up a book in his hand and pointed it at Wei Yuan, saying, "So you are Junior Nephew Wei from the Azure Sky Palace. You can go to the clinic for treatment of your injuries based on your identity. To settle your military merits, go to the Hall of Merit. The left hall inside is reserved for cultivators of my Primordial Beginning Palace. Other sects should go to the right hall. The clinic is on this road, and the temporary Hall of Merit is located outside, next to the flying boat."

Wei Yuan wanted to ask a few more questions, but a long queue had already formed behind him, so he entered the fortified village and went to the clinic first. The clinic was already packed with people, and Wei Yuan sat for quite a while before it was his turn. However, Wei Yuan didn't feel there was anything to complain about, since everyone else looked more seriously injured than him, and several people who were barely alive were carried in along the way, so it was difficult to stop people from cutting in line.

When it was finally Wei Yuan's turn, the person in charge of treating him was a middle-aged Taoist priest. His Taoist robe was covered in patches of blood. When he stood in front of Wei Yuan, without saying a word, Wei Yuan took off his outer armor and unbuttoned his robe with just a glance, revealing his wounds.

Upon seeing the wounds, the Taoist priest was immediately startled: "Four, no, five arrows! Why didn't you say so sooner! Quickly bring me the Life-Sustaining Pill! And the Blue Stone Detoxification Powder! Bring several bottles!"

The young Taoist priest beside him darted away and returned in a flash, carrying back several medicine bottles. Only then did the other Taoist priest regain his composure and carefully examine the wound, exclaiming in surprise, "Nephew, your physical body..."

A moment later, the five arrows were thrown into the trash can. The life-saving pills and antidote powder were returned exactly as they were taken. The white cloth used to seal the wounds and absorb blood only had a few pale pink stains on it, which did not look like bloodstains at all.

After putting on his armor and stretching his body, Wei Yuan felt that his injuries had almost healed.

The Taoist priest looked at him strangely and said, “Nephew, if this injury were on someone else, it would be a matter of life and death, but on you it should be considered a minor injury… right? But we can’t disregard your merits in charging into battle just because you have a strong physique. How about this, I will still report it as a serious injury and critical condition. Does nephew have any objections?”

Fearing that Wei Yuan would feel embarrassed, the Taoist added, "That's how the disciples of the Mingwang Palace calculate things; otherwise, they would cause trouble."

In the Tai Chu Palace, meritorious service is calculated not only through traditional methods of killing enemies and expanding territory, but also through acts of hardship such as injuries. However, disciples of the Ming Wang Palace possess exceptionally strong physical bodies, capable of sustaining injuries from several others. Consequently, they are frequently dispatched to the most dangerous front lines. Therefore, a special method for calculating merit has been developed: the standard for evaluation is how the injury would have affected an ordinary cultivator. A serious injury to an ordinary person is counted as a serious injury, and an ordinary cultivator who could die three times is counted as three deaths.

Hearing that there was a precedent to follow, Wei Yuan had no objections. So the Taoist priest recorded eighty merits for Wei Yuan.

(End of this chapter)