Chapter 82

Li Xian was overjoyed, "Good things come in pairs!"

However, before Li Xian could fully savor his joy, Ling Zhifeng rushed in, winded and dusty: "Young Master, something terrible has happened! I had a sudden urge to cast a divination on the way here, and the divination showed that the Young Master's prosperity will soon decline, with hidden dangers.⊙There will surely be a disaster in the near future!"

What?!

Li Xian was taken aback, "Really?"

Xu Ren also looked at Ling Zhifeng, "Can you cast another divination?"

"It's possible. I was planning to recast it anyway. Please provide a strand of hair, Young Master."

"Here!"

Ling Zhifeng took the hair, held it in his palm, and muttered incantations. Then he wrapped the hair around a scorched tortoise shell, performed a spell, and a flame appeared.

The flame roasted the tortoise shell, but the hair curled without breaking. After about a minute, the tortoise shell cracked, but the hair remained unbroken.

Ling Zhifeng visibly relaxed, but still looked puzzled: "Young Master, a disaster will surely come within three days, but there is no risk of total collapse. The divination shows that the disaster will come from the north, like dark clouds over the city. But the divination also suggests that the danger may not be as severe as it seems."

"Dark clouds over the city?" Li Xian was puzzled.

"An army is approaching!" Xu Ren's face changed, "Young Master, the worst has happened."

Li Xian looked at Ling Zhifeng, "Is there a risk of the city being breached?"

Ling Zhifeng shook his head: "The situation is unclear, Young Master. We need to make efforts. The divination can only serve as a reference."

Li Xian took a deep breath, "Call a meeting of everyone. Song Xing, go to Qingyun Valley and inform everyone to temporarily stop all work and prepare the motorcycles, guns, and explosives.

Also, tell Tang Rong to bring all the war artifacts, repaired or not, without worrying about the spirit stones.

Inform the mechanical factory to forge the strongest crossbows with steel and cast more crossbow bolts with pig iron, to be mounted on the war artifacts."

"Yes." Song Xing accepted the order and left.

"Chen Jinbing, go to Kaiping County and inform my elder brother to assist in the defense."

"Yes." Chen Jinbing also rode off.

Soon, Wang Jian, Chang Lin, Cheng Jiming, and Liu Leigang arrived one after another.

"Everyone, the situation has changed. We may face a full-scale counterattack from Cai State. Everyone, prepare accordingly. Cheng Jiming, select the best archers for emergency gun training. Choose the most skilled and brave to operate the war artifacts and the giant crossbows.

You have only two days.

Also, send scouts to gather intelligence."

Xu Ren was more meticulous, "Pay attention to the weapons used by Cai State. They dared to launch a counterattack despite our snipers and their previous defeat; they must have a way to counter us."

"Yes." The four accepted their orders and left.

Anyang immediately entered a state of high alert, even more tense than the last time! Everyone knew that if Cai State dared to counterattack, they must be well-prepared.

Li Xian regretted for the first time, "We should have negotiated directly at the beginning."

"No, you did the right thing," Xu Ren gave Li Xian the strongest and most resolute 'affirmation'. "Even if you hadn't done that, Cai State would still have counterattacked. After all, they suffered consecutive defeats and needed to regain their face."

"Really?"

"Really!"

"Haha, I knew I wouldn't be wrong!" Li Xian's arrogance returned.

Xu Ren: ...

So far, Li Xian had not asked—was Ling Zhifeng's divination accurate? To be honest, Li Xian still had some doubts, but he chose to believe it. It's better to be safe than sorry. Even if it was wrong, it could be treated as a drill.

In the evening, 27 war artifacts flew in from the sky, along with a large amount of supplies.

The 27 war artifacts, the smallest being about 20 feet in diameter and the largest over 30 feet, looked like floating millstones. They landed in front of the city lord's residence like a 'stone cloud'.

Li Xian looked up and saw that the war artifacts were now equipped with steel crossbows and bundles of seven-foot-long, arm-thick, black crossbow bolts.

The crossbow bolts were cast from pig iron, hard but brittle, and would break easily upon impact, making them unusable by the enemy. Although Foundation Establishment experts could melt ordinary metals with true essence, it would consume a large amount of true essence, which is impractical in battle.

Tang Rong jumped down, "Young Master, we have repaired 27 war artifacts so far, and we expect to repair 10 to 15 more by tomorrow. The rest are too damaged to be repaired."

"Tell me about the war artifacts."

"There are several points to consider.

First, the number of spirit stones. The minimum is one spirit stone to activate it, which can last for 1.5 to 2.5 hours. The maximum is 10 spirit stones.

With one spirit stone, the maximum speed is only 10 kilometers per hour, similar to walking speed.

With 10 spirit stones, the maximum speed can reach over 50 kilometers per hour.

For height, one spirit stone can only float up to 30 meters, while 10 spirit stones can float up to 200 meters.

There is also a true essence shield that can defend against late-stage Foundation Establishment attacks, but it consumes 2 to 3 spirit stones per hour.

Third, the load capacity. According to our calculations, with 10 spirit stones, it can carry 10 tons, and with one spirit stone, it can carry 2 tons.

I calculated that if the true essence shield and full speed are activated, 10 spirit stones can only last for two hours."

"Indeed, they are war artifacts! So, Cai State is only using one or two spirit stones." Li Xian also drew a sharp breath, burning spirit stones is really not something ordinary people can afford.

"Yes," Tang Rong nodded.

Li Xian hesitated for a while, then finally bit his lip, "Equip all the war artifacts with 10 spirit stones and let the warriors adjust them."

This preparation was rushed and busy. A large number of pig iron crossbow bolts were sent from the rear, and 100,000 such bolts were cast, along with 500 steel crossbows.

In addition, the number of motorcycles increased to 60 in just two days, a considerable number that could barely support a small-scale war.

There was no time to research machine guns, but the best sniper rifles were produced in large quantities, 200 in total, with 100,000 bullets. To meet the deadline, the explosives and munitions factory workers did not rest, working hard for two days; they were about to continue working.

In the end, Tang Rong repaired 40 war artifacts, and Li Xian allocated 400 spirit stones.

The busiest people over these two days were Beichen Yuxing and Fang Shijing. Beichen Yuxing handled military affairs, while Fang Shijing worked tirelessly to manage various operations.

After completing the divination, Ling Zhifeng went to examine the feng shui, specifically to check which sections of the city wall had poor feng shui. Sections with poor feng shui needed special attention, such as strengthening defenses and adding more crossbows.

On the morning of the third day, news came from the front lines: the Cai State army was finally in sight!

Xu Ren was the most relaxed, but only relatively so. Information from the front and domestically kept coming in, all of which needed to be analyzed.

Finally, Xu Ren, while looking at a picture sent from the front, was puzzled, "A spitting iron tube? What is this?"

Li Xian took the jade slip and his face changed dramatically, "Damn, cannons!"