106: The "assembly line" miracle on the battlefield and the dismembered beast tide

Zhenhai City, Third Defense Zone, Logistics Camp.

The afternoon sun still carried the characteristic salty and fishy smell of the sea breeze, but for the guards who had just experienced a great battle, it was a rare moment of tranquility.

However, amidst this tranquility, there was one place that was bustling with activity, as noisy as a marketplace.

That was the giant temporary workshop built under the stone tower where Han Supervisor (Zhou Wannian) was located.

"Quick, quick, quick! Move this pile of Iron-backed Crab shells to the pool on the left! Soak them in Solvent No. 1!"

"Hey, you! Don't just stand there! This Swordfish's bone spurs need to be roasted dry first, otherwise, the runes won't take!"

Li Feiyu, stripped to the waist and drenched in sweat, was directing over twenty brothers from Tingfeng Tower (now called 'Maintenance Apprentices'), busy to the point of not having a moment's rest.

In the very center of the workshop stood a huge long table.

Zhou Wannian (Old Man Han) was still in his dusty gray robes, but he wasn't idle this time. Holding the turtle spirit brush in his hand, his expression was focused, as if he were carving a peerless work of art.

A long queue stretched out in front of him.

The queue was filled with Cultivators who had just rotated off the front lines. Each held a damaged Magical Artifact or dragged the corpse of a recently hunted Yao Beast, their eyes full of anticipation.

"Old Man Han! Please take a look, can my 'water splitting thorn' still be saved? A notch was chipped when I was hacking at that Thunder Whale just now!"

A bearded Early Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator squeezed forward, handing over a halved Magical Artifact with a look of heartache.

This man was a squad leader of the Third Defense Zone named Zhang Meng. He usually had a fiery temper, but at this moment, he was as submissive as a sheep in front of Zhou Wannian.

Zhou Wannian raised his eyelids and glanced at the water splitting thorn.

With a sweep of his Divine Sense, he knew what was what.

"The main material is Deep Sea Cold Iron. Although it's broken, the spirituality remains. However, your usage is wrong—too aggressive, damaging the core of the artifact's patterns."

He spoke slowly, his tone carrying an unquestionable authority, "It can be repaired, but some extra Materials need to be added. I happen to have a batch of 'Thunder Whale Bone Powder' just taken off. Mixing it in for a re-forge will not only fix it but also add a hint of lightning-attribute paralysis. What do you think?"

"With lightning attribute?!"

Zhang Meng's eyes widened instantly. "That's great! How much? As long as it can be fixed, deduct my merit points as you wish!"

"We're all brothers here, talking about money hurts feelings."

Zhou Wannian waved his hand with a smile and pointed to the half-corpse of the Yao Beast Zhang Meng was dragging behind him. "I see the shell of this 'Iron-armored Turtle' is not bad. I just happen to need a pot for boiling glue. This turtle shell goes to me, and the repair fee is waived. How about it?"

"Huh? Just that?"

Zhang Meng was stunned. Although that Iron-armored Turtle was First-Tier High Grade, the meat had mostly been stripped away, leaving only an empty shell that wasn't of much use. Exchanging a broken shell for a precision repair of a second-tier Magical Artifact was simply a windfall from the heavens!

"Deal! Absolutely! Old Man Han, you truly are a living bodhisattva!"

Fearing Zhou Wannian would change his mind, Zhang Meng quickly kicked the turtle shell over, overflowing with gratitude.

Zhou Wannian smiled slightly, put away the turtle shell, and casually stuck a "Special Smelting Talisman" onto the water splitting thorn.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—

A dazzling flash of spiritual light passed by.

In less than half a cup of tea's time, a brand-new water splitting thorn, faintly glowing with purple lightning, was handed to Zhang Meng.

"Incredible! This works even better than when I first bought it!"

Zhang Meng swung it a couple of times, feeling the smooth conduction of spiritual power, so excited he almost knelt to Zhou Wannian.

Seeing this, the surrounding Cultivators in line erupted into a commotion.

In truth, this so-called "turning waste into treasure" was all a ruse.

That Iron-armored Turtle shell, though it looked broken, was a top-grade base material for refining "Black Tortoise Shield Talismans"! In Zhou Wannian's hands, this thing could be cut into at least ten standard shield-sized talisman plates. Each one, after a bit of processing, could be sold for five hundred Spirit Stones.

As for the "Thunder Whale Bone Powder" used to repair Zhang Meng's Magical Artifact, the cost was outrageously low—it was just powder ground from a pile of leftovers from the Thunder Whale he had killed without injury yesterday.

Using a pile of worthless scraps, he exchanged for a top-grade raw material worth thousands of Spirit Stones, while also gaining the other party's profound gratitude and a huge favor.

This business was simply more profitable than robbery.

More importantly, through this "bartering" method, Zhou Wannian not only avoided the Star Palace's supervision of Spirit Stone circulation but also frantically hoarded a massive amount of rare Materials.

This afternoon alone, various Yao Beast skins, bones, tendons, and blood filled exactly five Storage Pouches.

"This isn't fighting a war; this is clearly stocking up on inventory."

Busy until the sun set behind the mountains, Zhou Wannian finally hung up the "Closed for Today" sign... Late at night.

"Buzz—!!!"

Suddenly, a shrill and piercing alarm sounded over the entire Zhenhai City.

The sound was extremely penetrating. Even through layers of Formations, it still made people's hearts tremble.

"Enemy attack?!"

Zhou Wannian snapped his eyes open. His Cultivate was interrupted, but he didn't panic at all. Instead, he immediately put away all his treasures and even slapped a "Spirit Hiding Talisman" on himself.

With a flicker of his body, he appeared at the window of the stone tower.

It was now the hour of the Rat in the middle of the night.

The originally pitch-black sea surface was now as bright as day.

On the sea directly in front of Zhenhai City, countless green demonic fires soared into the sky, densely packed and covering everything.

"Beast Tide..."

Zhou Wannian's brow furrowed.

"This scale is even larger than I imagined."

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

The war drums thundered.

Zhenhai City's defensive Great Formation was activated at full power.

Zhou Wannian straightened his robes, regained his calm and detached expert demeanor, and led Li Feiyu and the others slowly toward the walls of the Third Defense Zone... On the walls, the atmosphere was so heavy it could almost drip water.

Young Master Ling, in silver armor and holding a longsword, stared down with a grim expression. Seeing Zhou Wannian arrive, he clearly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Old Man Han! You're here!"

"Young City Lord, what is the situation?"

"Very bad."

Young Master Ling pointed down. "This time, it's not just low-level Yao Beasts, there are also... Commanders."

Looking in the direction of his finger.

In the rear of the Beast Tide, where the Demonic Qi was thickest, three humanoid figures stood prominently.

Although they looked like humans, they retained obvious Yao Race characteristics.

"Three Semi-Transformed Great Yao! That's the False Core Realm!"

Zhou Wannian's pupils constricted.

Moreover, those three Great Yao were surrounding a huge altar built from countless white bones, chanting incantations. With their chanting, the surrounding seawater began to boil, and streams of black Death Qi surged from the seabed, gathering above the altar.

"This is... Undead Tsunami!"

Zhou Wannian's face changed. "They want to use Death Qi to crush the Formation!"

"What?!" Young Master Ling turned pale with fright. "Then what should we do? Charging out to break the Formation is just seeking death!"

"Don't panic."

Zhou Wannian's eyes flickered, seemingly weighing the pros and cons.

If the Formation wasn't broken, the defense line would surely fall, and he would have to flee. But if he acted to break the Formation himself, he would be exposed.

"Young City Lord, a word in private."

He pulled Young Master Ling aside and took out the big fellow he had just repaired from his Storage Pouch—

[Ancient spirit gathering cannon - Modified].

It was a bronze disc the size of a millstone, covered in complex Formation patterns, with a dark, hollow barrel in the center. But this thing had no casing; countless bare spiritual power conduits were exposed, even crackling and popping, looking extremely dangerous, as if it could explode at any moment.

"This is..." Young Master Ling was taken aback.

"This is a 'semi-finished product' this old man found in a ruin."

Zhou Wannian lowered his voice, his tone solemn. "It's immensely powerful, named 'Heaven's Punishment'. One shot is enough to shatter that altar. However..."

"However what?"

"However, it is extremely unstable and has a massive recoil. With my meager cultivation, I simply cannot suppress it."

Zhou Wannian had an expression of "I really want to help but I'm powerless." "To control it, one must have an extremely profound foundation of spiritual power, and... a token capable of mobilizing the world's momentum to suppress the Formation eye."

He looked intently at the "Young City Lord Command" (which was also the Supervisor Token) at Young Master Ling's waist.

"Young City Lord, this is a monumental contribution."

"As long as you personally control this cannon and shatter the altar, the fame of saving the day will be yours!"

Young Master Ling's heart pounded with excitement, but looking at that sparking piece of junk, his heart also hammered with nervousness.

"This... won't blow me up, will it?"

"Rest assured!"

Zhou Wannian patted his chest in guarantee. "I'll be beside you to assist with aiming and stabilization. You only need to inject spiritual power and then press that switch!"

"Let's do it!"

Young Master Ling gritted his teeth. Wealth and honor are found in danger; for his Family status and this life-saving merit, he would do it!

"Wangcai, lock on!"

"Squeak, squeak!"

The Treasure-seeking Mouse jumped onto the cannon's mouth, its nose twitching, and quickly locked onto the core node of the white bone altar (which was the most valuable part).

"Young City Lord, inject spiritual power! Suppress the Formation eye!"

Zhou Wannian shouted.

Young Master Ling no longer hesitated, his entire body's spiritual power surged in frantically, while he also sacrificed his token to press down firmly on the Formation Plate.

Buzz—!!!

A terrifying suction force that made one's heart skip a beat erupted.

The Spiritual Qi within a hundred-zhang radius was forcibly plundered.

At the mouth of the cannon, a ball of blinding white light began to condense.

"Fire!"

Zhou Wannian saw the right moment and gave a low shout.

Young Master Ling slammed the switch.

Boom—!!!

A straight pillar of white light, like a sword of God, instantly pierced the darkness and struck the operating white bone altar with unerring precision.

Crack.

Under the impact of the light pillar, the incredibly sturdy altar instantly melted and disintegrated.

Immediately following, the out-of-control Death Qi backlashed. The three Great Yao who were casting the spell were blown away.

The Undead Tsunami collapsed.

On the battlefield, there was an instant of dead silence.

Everyone stared blankly at the scene.

"The Young City Lord is mighty!!!"

Someone shouted, and immediately after, the entire defense zone erupted in earth-shattering cheers.

Young Master Ling stood on the wall. Although he was pale and his spiritual power was exhausted, hearing those tsunami-like cheers and seeing the retreating Beast Tide in the distance, his back straightened, and a proud smile appeared on his face.

This pretense was worth it!

In the shadows behind him.

Zhou Wannian was squatting on the ground, distressedly touching the somewhat overheated spirit gathering cannon, while silently recording the bill for the three thousand Spirit Stones consumed just now in Young Master Ling's little notebook.

"This shot was really expensive."

He looked up at the Golden Core supervising Elder hidden in the sky.

The Elder's gaze was fixed on the high-spirited Young Master Ling, his eyes full of appreciation.

"This lad has the air of a great general."

The corners of Zhou Wannian's mouth curled up slightly.

That's right.

You take the spotlight, you take the credit, you take the blame.

I only want the benefits and safety.

"Fei Yu, stop staring."

Zhou Wannian patted the still-dazed Li Feiyu.

"The Beast Tide has retreated. Although those three Great Yao escaped, the fragments from that exploded altar are good things."

"Before anyone else reacts, hurry and... clean up the battlefield."

"Remember, we are 'Technical Consultants', charging a bit for technical service fees is perfectly reasonable."