Chapter 238: Grand Vision
The Lame Man asked, puzzled, "What is it?"
Qin Mu stroked his chin, plucking a robustly growing whisker, and said, "I think the technique in this book might be a method to connect the Divine Bridge."
The Lame Man didn't catch it: "What bridge?"
"The Divine Bridge."
Qin Mu continued measuring, head down, and said, "Because the divine treasures aren't like the body's meridians and channels. Those are right there; you can try to activate a technique just by looking at a circulation diagram once. A divine treasure is an empty space. Primordial energy moves through this empty space, and every fraction of its movement occupies a different spatial dimension. So, you need to measure the specific spatial dimensions. It's hard to establish coordinates in space, and any oversight could lead to mistakes."
The Lame Man's expression went blank, his mind somewhat dazed, as he stared blankly at Qin Mu changing scales and continuing to measure the patterns on the golden book.
Qin Mu took out paper and a brush to record his measurements, not lifting his head, and said, "If you make a mistake in spatial dimensions, even a tiny error can lead to a huge discrepancy. I need to measure accurately, calculating down to the digits beyond the fuzzy point. Also, the size of the human figure in the painting is different from a real person's body. The size of the figure's divine treasures is also different from a real person's. I'll first calculate the base values. Everyone's Divine Bridge divine treasure is a different size, but with the base values, you can cultivate according to spatial proportions. That way, you can master the Magpie Bridge Technique..."
The Lame Man was taken aback: "What bridge?"
Qin Mu was puzzled and chuckled, "The Magpie Bridge. Grandpa Lame, you seem a bit distracted. I won't talk to you anymore. Measuring this is very troublesome, and the calculations are difficult. It'll take a long time..."
Suddenly, the Village Chief's head poked out from the carriage, and he asked excitedly, "What bridge?"
Qin Mu was even more puzzled: "You're distracted too, Village Chief? The Magpie Bridge!"
"No!"
The Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor twisted his head around to face backward and said rapidly, "No! Before the Magpie Bridge, you clearly said the Divine Bridge!"
"That's right!"
The Lame Man quickly added, "I heard the Divine Bridge too!"
The Village Chief nodded repeatedly: "It was the Divine Bridge!"
Qin Mu suddenly understood and chuckled, "The Divine Bridge of the figure in the painting is broken. The technique in the painting is called the Magpie Bridge Technique, which is for repairing the Divine Bridge. I was just calculating the mathematical principles needed for the Magpie Bridge Technique. This technique is very hard to cultivate; there's too much to measure..."
"A technique to repair the Divine Bridge!"
The auras of the three people in the carriage suddenly surged. The flying treasure carriage shattered into pieces in an instant from the force of their momentum, then was crushed into powder by their terrifying presence!
Qin Mu quickly leaped into the air, clutching the golden book scroll and his calculated data to his chest, his clothes getting stained with ink.
The Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor, the Village Chief, and the Lame Man all reached for the golden book scroll at almost the same time. Seeing Qin Mu holding it in his arms, they quickly stopped and withdrew their hands, their excitement beyond words.
Qin Mu complained, "Good thing this is a golden book, not afraid of being ruined by ink, or your sins would be great."
The Village Chief quickly said, "Let's land first!"
The four of them descended. All around were corpses, with fires still burning in some places and thick smoke rolling—traces of fire-based techniques. Ahead of them, the chaotic army of the Man Di Kingdom was fleeing and charging at He Lan Pass. The defending general of He Lan Pass was stubbornly holding the city gates shut, refusing to let them in, lest the Yan Kang army take the opportunity to break through.
These routed troops were actually madly attacking He Lan Pass. The tall city walls were constantly collapsing under the bombardment of many powerful cultivators, with rubble flying everywhere. Fortunately, the walls were thick enough; they only broke through the outer wall, while the inner wall remained unbreached. The defending soldiers, unable to distinguish friend from foe, activated techniques and spirit weapons, blasting at the area outside and below the city, killing their former comrades. The cursing below the city walls was crude and harsh, and the scene became even more unbearable, with corpses piling up like a mountain.
In front of He Lan Pass, the Sword Hall Master and Yu Yuan Chu Yun's fleet stopped sixty miles away, not attacking. The beams from the true essence cannons continuously shot out, smashing the watchtowers and city gates to pieces.
Instantly, countless fleeing soldiers surged into the city like a tide.
In the city, Ban Gong Cuo's hands and feet turned ice-cold.
With the city gates breached and the defeated army flooding in, He Lan Pass could no longer resist the enemy's advance. The routed troops clashed with the defending garrison, who also couldn't form a proper formation and joined the rout. The enemy would then swarm in, slaughtering methodically. The grasslands would be utterly defeated!
"Take me away immediately!"
Ban Gong Cuo made a ruthless decision and ordered the Witch King beside him, shouting, "Abandon the city! Retreat from He Lan Pass!"
That Witch King quickly took him and flew out of He Lan Pass. Ban Gong Cuo roared, "Order all my Golden Palace disciples to withdraw from the battlefield!"
The Witch King's heart trembled, and he said in a shaky voice, "Great Venerable, if our Golden Palace disciples withdraw, the armies of the grassland tribes will have no chance of survival!"
"But the Golden Palace will still have a chance."
Ban Gong Cuo was extremely calm and said, "Forcing a fight will only get my Golden Palace disciples killed in this city. We must preserve the Golden Palace's strength. The real battlefield is on the grasslands. The Golden Palace's prestige isn't built on the tribes' offerings or flattery. If the Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor wants to occupy the grasslands, he will have to pay a sufficient price!"
That Witch King quickly channeled his primordial energy, turning it into a heaven-shaking shout that spread across the battlefield, ordering the Golden Palace disciples to retreat.
As soon as he gave the order, the chaos intensified. Military morale completely collapsed. Everyone wanted to flee for their lives, madly surging toward the city gates at the rear. People were trampling each other. Some cultivators who had mastered flying techniques took to the air, only to be shot down by the true essence cannons.
Yu Yuan Chu Yun controlled the sky, preventing Man Di cultivators from escaping by air, while the Sword Hall Master controlled the ground. He didn't block their escape from the rear of the pass but instead first cleared the enemy forces on the ground ahead, forcing them into a frantic stampede.
Below the towering ships, the Yan Kang army surged forward, cleaning up the remnants of the battlefield.
Ban Gong Cuo looked back. He Lan Pass had begun to collapse. Flames raged in the city, and thick smoke billowed into the sky. The Man Di soldiers who had escaped the city were fleeing in terror in all directions. Some couldn't get out of the city and tried to climb the He Lan Mountains, but countless numbers fell and were crushed into pulp.
Many great witches and witch kings flew over and gathered around Ban Gong Cuo. Their faces showed fear and despair, but Ban Gong Cuo grew even calmer. He instructed, "You are to scatter immediately and poison all the water sources on the grasslands. Let plagues run rampant. If the Yan Kang army dares to invade the grasslands, they will die without a place to be buried!"
"Great Venerable!"
The great witches and witch kings were deeply shaken. One witch king said with a sob, "The grassland tribesmen will also be poisoned!"
Ban Gong Cuo said indifferently, "The grasslands are vast. As long as we don't poison the major cities, we can preserve some of the tribesmen."
"But there are more nomadic small tribes on the grasslands..."
Ban Gong Cuo said expressionlessly, "Those are all lowly people. It's worth it for them to be buried with the Yan Kang cultivators. You are to scatter immediately and administer the poison. There's no time to waste, or once the Yan Kang army charges in, their first target will be the Golden Palace!"
The many great witches and witch kings, their minds in a daze, scattered in all directions.
Ban Gong Cuo gazed into the distance at He Lan Pass. War and smoke shrouded the collapsing fortress. He turned and walked toward the Golden Palace, muttering to himself, "It's been many years. Probably seven or eight thousand years? My heart has been like a still well, without a single ripple. This is probably the first time I've felt that fighting spirit from my first life again... Yan Kang, Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor, Heavenly Demon Sect Leader, you have rekindled my will to fight!"
On the battlefield, Qin Mu moved a few corpses aside, opened the golden book scroll, and let the Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor, the Village Chief, and the Lame Man look at the pages.
The three of them pressed their heads together, nervously examining the few words and patterns in the golden book scroll, frantically calculating and memorizing the images and text.
"Ingenious, truly ingenious! How did the people of Carefree Village come up with such a clever method, actually able to connect the Divine Bridge like this?"
"How much massive computation was needed to calculate such precise trajectories and then turn them into a technique?"
The three marveled endlessly. The Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor said, "Gentlemen, may I turn the page? This Magpie Bridge probably can't fully connect the Divine Bridge yet. The next page must have another technique! But the computation will be even greater, requiring calculations based on the Magpie Bridge results to derive the subsequent technique."
The golden book was turned to the next page, and another round of exclamations followed.
"Indeed, it's the next technique calculated based on the Magpie Bridge. The Profound Attraction Technique is incredible, almost like building a tower in the air! To be able to calculate to this level, this is truly divine calculation!"
"This couldn't have been calculated by one person. It must have taken the collective wisdom of everyone in Carefree Village to figure out the second step!"
"Hurry, hurry, turn to the next page... What are you looking at me for? I don't have hands!"
...
The three of them watched for a while, when suddenly a loud crash and cheers came from the distance. Qin Mu looked up, coughed, and said, "Three gentlemen, He Lan Pass has already fallen."
The three didn't respond and continued looking at the golden book scroll. Qin Mu shook his head and continued watching the distance, saying, "Shouldn't we go over there? It's getting late. If we stay in the Duck Tongue region, the darkness will bring danger when night falls. This is, after all, the Great Ruin."
The three still didn't respond.
Qin Mu was bored and waited a moment before he couldn't help saying, "No matter how carefully you look, it's useless. If you don't calculate the mathematical principles hidden in the techniques and rashly try to cultivate, you'll likely fail."
Only then did the three look up, reluctantly withdrawing their gazes from the golden book scroll. Qin Mu quickly asked, "Village Chief, do you have any confidence in repairing the Divine Bridge?"
The Village Chief shook his head and said, "I don't have much lifespan left. Whether I can repair the Divine Bridge before I die of old age depends on my fate. From the three techniques in this book, it's clear that repairing the Divine Bridge is no easy task."
The Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor nodded and said, "Before that, we need to calculate the mathematical principles contained in these three techniques. This is extremely important. We must establish the mathematical models for the three techniques as soon as possible, so they can be disseminated."
The Lame Man sneered, "Imperial Preceptor, you want to spread this technique that can allow one to become a god or demon, making it accessible to everyone. But have you asked the Qin family of Carefree Village? After all, these three techniques aren't yours!"
The Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor was slightly startled and said apologetically, "I never considered whether this technique could be spread, so I forgot to ask the owner. Sect Leader Qin..."
Qin Mu chuckled and said, "I never thought about keeping it secret either. I was just thinking that it should be passed on. There's no need to hoard it."
The Yan Kang Imperial Preceptor stared into his eyes, as if trying to see his true thoughts, but only saw Qin Mu's clear and bright gaze. He suddenly sighed, "Old Human Emperor, I finally understand why you chose him as your successor. He truly has the qualifications and the breadth of mind to be the Human Emperor. Though he is young, his vision is grand enough!"
The Village Chief said calmly, "Mu'er was taught by us. Naturally, his vision is grand enough!"