Chapter 111: The Demon Eagle Attacks—A Crisis Unfolds! (Please Vote)

The gathered warriors responded with excited chaos; though their voices were disordered, the gratitude on each of their faces was unmistakable. They had braved countless hardships, crossing the vast sea to reach the Ao Lai Archipelago for one purpose: to become true cultivators of immortality. And here, in the Ye Clan Immortal Village, such an opportunity awaited.

“Brother Ye, come with me to the arrow towers—I’ve got something good to show you!” Wang Hu eagerly led Ye Mo toward the arrow towers.

The spirit-wood city walls and the gates of the Immortal Village had all been constructed according to the village’s blueprints, nothing extraordinary. Yet the arrow towers were a different matter—far from matching the designs.

Climbing the wooden ladder, Ye Mo reached the top of an arrow tower.

“Huh? Is this a heavy crossbow? Why does this differ from the blueprint? Where did this thing come from?” Ye Mo’s attention was immediately captured by a massive, fixed crossbow machine inside the tower. Even without firing a test shot, he could tell at a glance that its power was formidable.

“You don’t know, Brother Ye,” Wang Hu chuckled broadly. “My friend You Di and I once apprenticed at a blacksmith’s shop years ago. We made heavy crossbows for the army.”

He grinned and continued, “I modified the materials, using spirit wood and dark iron for key parts, greatly enhancing its performance. The power of this crossbow has increased severalfold, delivering between nine hundred to a thousand jin in destructive force. It can shoot massive bolts as thick as an arm, up to ten feet long. Within a hundred zhang, even low-rank beasts suffer grievous injuries.

“For sea creatures with weaker defenses, a single shot can easily kill. The only drawback is that the heavy crossbow is a bit slow to operate—it takes three high-level warriors to handle it, firing one bolt every twenty breaths. But with such a weapon, even a sea beast tide is nothing to fear.”

“A thousand jin of force? That can pierce the defenses of low-level beasts,” Ye Mo said with deep satisfaction.

The cultivators of the Immortal Village were not strong; including Lin Zhi, there were only about twenty cultivators at the Qi Refining stage on the entire Ye Clan Spirit Island—the rest were merely warriors. When a sea beast tide surged, these warriors were almost helpless; defense relied entirely on the cultivators.

This had always been a source of worry for Ye Mo.

But with the heavy crossbow, every trio of high-level warriors manning an arrow tower could roughly match the output of a beginner Qi Refining stage cultivator—effectively adding the strength of dozens more such cultivators. Even ordinary warriors, armed with these crossbows, could inflict damage on the weakest first-rank beasts, instantly boosting the Ye Clan Immortal Village’s defenses.

“The valley entrance is narrow; six arrow towers are the maximum we can build here. The terrain of the canyon is tight, which favors defense, but six arrow towers alone won’t provide enough firepower.” Ye Mo surveyed the canyon’s geography from the arrow tower.

The village’s city buildings could hold many Qi Refining cultivators, who could cast various spells, but their range was short—nowhere near the distance covered by the six arrow towers.

Glancing toward the few cannon emplacements already dug into the rocky sides of the valley, Ye Mo said, “Looks like we have to quickly produce bronze cannons and gunpowder. If we can install four bronze cannons, even the appearance of one or two third-rank sea beasts won’t threaten the Ye Clan Immortal Village.”

“The bronze cannon barrels and dark iron cannonballs are easy enough to make. It’s the gunpowder that’s difficult—we don’t have the formula,” Wang Hu rubbed his hands anxiously.

“You two focus on making the four bronze cannons and installing them at the canyon’s batteries. I’ll figure out the gunpowder. If the cannons are ready within a month, I’ll give you both a merit award,” Ye Mo said, patting Wang Hu and Yang You on the shoulder.

“Thank you, Brother Ye!” Wang Hu beamed.

Yang You’s cheeks flushed with a shy smile.

Merit awards were the Ye Clan Immortal Village’s newly implemented system of rewards and punishments. Accomplishments earned prized rewards—vital energy pills to boost cultivation, spirit stones, and more. No cultivator or warrior would refuse such incentives.

Previously, Ye Mo had assigned Wang Hu and Yang You the two crucial tasks of constructing the village’s defenses and planning its buildings—among the most important tasks, already earning them many vital energy pills. Now, with the added responsibility of producing bronze cannons, their rewards would increase further, accelerating their cultivation.

Aside from the unfinished bronze cannons, the village’s defenses were nearly complete. The city walls and arrow tower guards were under the command of Gao Jian and the Immortal Guards. Wang Hu’s numerous warriors had been reassigned by Yang You to building projects within the village. The plans were finalized, awaiting construction.

Workshops within the village also took shape—artificing, pill refining, poison making, spirit plant cultivation, roads, and street shops, among others. However, the Ye Clan Immortal Village lacked spirit ores, herbs, and poisonous plants; the island’s forests yielded only small amounts of herbs, so these workshops couldn’t immediately make significant contributions.

The artificing workshop’s main task was crafting giant spirit-wood bolts suitable for the heavy crossbows. Such simple work no longer required the personal attention of Wang Hu and Yang You, self-proclaimed artificer apprentices. They selected several strong warriors as laborers—so-called “odd jobs,” a common term since these men were not cultivators and could not be called artificer apprentices.

Yang You continued overseeing the construction of village streets. Wang Hu returned to the workshop to replicate the bronze cannon—there was one aboard a pirate ship, complete with bronze cannon and iron cannonballs, which they could model exactly.

Additionally, Wang Hu was to supply dark iron hoes and plowing tools for Mo Ling’s spirit plant workshop.

Two days later, Ye Mo visited the artificing workshop to check on the bronze cannon progress.

Wang Hu was complaining bitterly.

“Brother Ye, of the several hundred jin of dark iron you gave me last time, less than a hundred jin remain. Soon it’ll be used up. The workshop is short-staffed, and many laborers are busy making giant spirit bolts. I’m the only one working on the bronze cannons; there’s not even a helper to assist. So many tasks that ordinary warriors could do fall to me, wasting a lot of time.”

He looked up at Ye Mo with a pitiful expression.

Ye Mo was at a loss and smiled wryly. “The village is short of manpower everywhere. Just yesterday Mo Ling complained to me that the spirit plant workshop lacks hands to cultivate the wild land; most people are busy logging and building roads and houses. There’s no one to spare.”

“Brother Ye, why not open the teleportation array and attract some wandering cultivators from Qingyun Main Immortal City?” Wang Hu asked dejectedly after a pause.

“How can we attract people when the village is still under construction, without even houses or roads built?” Ye Mo shook his head. “More importantly, the village is too new; it hasn’t even endured a single sea beast tide. Whether it can withstand such an assault is still unknown.

“Until it’s safe, which merchant would want to open a shop here? No shops mean no sufficient supply of pills or equipment, so wandering cultivators won’t risk coming.”

“Few people means shops can’t open. Shops don’t open, so no one comes. Isn’t this a deadlock?” Wang Hu scratched his head, finally understanding.

“The key is the lack of spirit stones; without them, we can’t break the stalemate,” Ye Mo said after a moment’s silence.

The simplest way to obtain large quantities of spirit stones was to sell various spirit ore resources to Qingyun Main Immortal City. But the problem was, Ye Mo currently had no raw materials or resources whatsoever—not a single resource to sell.

They were relying solely on the ancient paintings and scrolls—the one mu of spirit field growing spirit grain, which generated about 180 spirit stones monthly, sustaining the entire village.

Several days later, Ye Mo’s city lord mansion was completed, constructed with the simplest wood materials. Yang You had originally planned to quarry giant stones from the island’s peaks to build rock gardens and design a refined, luxurious mansion with pavilions and courtyards like the city lord’s mansion in Donglai Immortal Village.

But Ye Mo rejected the idea.

“The village is just starting out; there’s no need for luxury. Simple, grand, and practical is enough,” he said. Many areas of the mansion remained empty, to be filled gradually when funds allowed.

One day, while Ye Mo was in the study of the city lord mansion, pondering how to quickly gain wealth to help the village grow, a sudden rapid pounding of footsteps outside startled him.

“City Lord, a major incident! Please come quickly!” A high-level warrior rushed over, shouting before even reaching the study door.

“What happened? Speak calmly,” Ye Mo said as he hurried out, a bad feeling rising in his chest. Since founding the village, he had rarely seen the warriors so panicked.

“Some brothers were harvesting spirit wood in the mountains and were transporting it back to the village when they were suddenly attacked by a terrifying demon eagle. One died on the spot, two were severely injured, and several others were lightly wounded,” the warrior reported, half-kneeling with grief and anger. The warriors here had become as close as brothers after building the village together.

“What? Attacked by a demon eagle? Where is Gao Jian? Where’s he now?” Ye Mo’s face changed dramatically, and he sprinted toward the village gates.

Though occasional low-level beasts had appeared in the deep forest, the village had always been cautious, and no casualties had occurred—this was the first time they faced a beast attack. And it was a fearsome demon eagle.

“Lord Gao assigned several Immortal Guards to protect the spirit wood harvesting site. But this demon eagle didn’t attack the wood site; it ambushed the warriors on the road from the sky, catching them off guard.

“The attack happened just outside the valley, near the village gate. Gao was patrolling at the time and immediately ordered me to report the incident. The wounded are being treated at the gate, and he has led men in pursuit of the demon eagle.”

The warrior spoke as he struggled to keep pace with Ye Mo, who pulled him onward.

Soon they reached the attack site two or three li outside the village gate. Blood stained the ground, and a chaotic crowd of Qi Refining cultivators and warriors gathered there, panic etched on their faces.

If it had been an ordinary low-rank beast, the Qi Refining cultivators wouldn’t fear it; they would overwhelm it with numbers. Even a strong low-rank beast couldn’t withstand their combined might, and killing it would bring rewards.

But demon birds were far more dreadful than ordinary beasts.

Flying and swooping through the sky, demon birds could strike from above at any moment. The Qi Refining cultivators could only stare helplessly; they lacked the ability of Foundation Establishment cultivators to fly on swords, and their spells reached only a few dozen zhang at most.

Even the six arrow towers guarding the village gate were designed to fend off crawling sea beasts and ordinary beasts, utterly ineffective against airborne demon birds.

If a single low-rank demon eagle could reduce a weak Qi Refining cultivator to tears, it was entirely unsurprising.

Mo Ling, Lin Zhi, and others hurried to the scene upon hearing the news.

“One dead, two severely injured with wounds to the heart and lungs. Our village has no healing spirit medicines to save them. TheI'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.