Master Bai was truly shaken this time.
Like Shan Shi'er when he had first arrived in the village, he hadn't believed in Dao Xuan Tianzun at first. He had assumed it was just another superstition, much like the cult of the Unborn Venerable Mother. But now, he was starting to believe.
After all, in ancient times, hardly anyone was a true atheist. Even the smallest glimpse of a divine miracle could shake a person's convictions.
By now, Gao Chuwu, Zheng Daniu, and the others had gathered around the catapult, chattering as they stared at its throwing arm. It stood upright like a giant spoon pointing accusingly at the heavens.
Gao Chuwu scratched his head. "It only fired once, and now the big spoon is stuck upright. Does that mean we can't use it again?"
Li Da, the village's most experienced craftsman when it came to machinery, immediately spotted the problem. "You need to pull the spoon back down until it locks into the mechanism. Then it'll be ready to fire again."
"But how do we get it down?"
Li Da gave him a look as though the answer ought to have been obvious to anyone with half a brain. "Chuwu, you climb trees better than a monkey. Get up there, tie the divine rope left over from building the city gate around the spoon, then we'll all pull together. With enough people hauling on the rope, we should be able to bring the arm down."
"Good idea!"
Gao Chuwu scrambled up the throwing arm like a monkey. With the arm standing upright, it was nearly two zhang tall. To him, it was little more than a tree to climb. He reached the spoon in no time, tied the leftover rope around it, then climbed back down.
Several villagers grabbed the rope and pulled together, shouting as they heaved.
"Heave! Heave! Hoo!"
"One, two, three!"
With everyone pulling at once, they actually managed to drag the throwing arm back down. Li Da and Gao Yiyi, the two blacksmiths, immediately swung their hammers at the mechanism.
CLANG!
The arm locked back into place.
"Success!"
The villagers cheered. "Haha! We've learned how to use an immortal weapon!"
Master Bai finally snapped out of his daze. He no longer had any desire to complain about cults.
Instead, he waved the villagers over.
"Get more people over here! Everyone, push together. Move the catapult behind the gate and point it outward. When the bandits charge, we'll rain stones down on them!"
"All right!"
A large group rushed over to help. Li Daoxuan had been worried that the villagers wouldn't be able to move the enormous machine, but they quickly found a solution. They gathered branches about as thick as a child's arm and laid them in rows on the ground, using them as rollers. With the catapult resting on top, they pushed it forward, and the machine rolled along easily.
Well, these villagers might be uneducated and inexperienced when it came to warfare, but they certainly knew their way around manual labor. They were so good at it that Li Daoxuan had nothing to teach them.
As he watched the villagers move the catapult, Master Bai couldn't help thinking that, impressive as the divine weapon was, having only one still didn't seem like enough.
The immortal catapult is useful, but if there's only one... it doesn't feel like enough.
The thought had barely crossed his mind when Gao Yiye called out, "Tianzun says that since everyone has learned how to use the catapult, he'll grant us a few more. Everyone behind the wall, stand clear!"
Master Bai jolted and turned to look.
The villagers behind the wall scattered in every direction.
Then another catapult descended from the sky, settling into place with a heavy thud that sent dust billowing into the air.
Then came another.
And another.
And another.
In the blink of an eye, an entire row of catapults stood behind the wall.
Twenty in total, each one a different color.
Green, blue, gray, red...
They were a motley assortment of bright colors, just like the oddly colored wall itself. The whole arrangement looked garish.
Master Bai was speechless.
This truly opened his eyes.
Looking at the colorful catapults, he suddenly understood. That strange, oversized wall in Gaojia Village had probably been bestowed by the gods as well. That would explain why it shared the same bizarre materials and mismatched colors.
By now, the villagers had gotten used to kneeling whenever Tianzun performed a miracle. The people of Gaojia Village knelt in waves, bowing toward the sky.
"Thank you, Tianzun!"
Master Bai turned and saw that his own tenant farmers had knelt too, joining the villagers in shouting their thanks to the heavens.
"Thank you, Tianzun!"
Even the dozen or so household guards were trembling, their knees barely strong enough to keep them standing.
Master Bai was still trying to process what he had witnessed when Shan Shi'er tugged at his sleeve.
"Master Bai, we have twenty catapults now, but we need people to operate them. You'll have to reorganize the defenses."
Master Bai blinked. "Huh? What... twenty more? Twenty more catapults?!"
He finally came back to his senses. He mentally shoved the enormous exclamation mark hanging over his head aside and pulled himself together.
He raised his voice and issued his orders.
"You two blacksmiths! When the battle begins, don't go up onto the wall. Stay behind it and guard the catapults. When I give the signal, strike the mechanisms with your hammers as hard as you can!"
Li Da and Gao Yiyi promptly acknowledged the order.
Master Bai frowned, considering the arrangements for a moment. Then he pointed toward a group of elderly villagers and women.
"You lot, join the blacksmiths. Your job is to help load stones into the catapults."
The elderly villagers and women exchanged bewildered looks. They were the old, the weak, women, and children. Where would they find the strength for this work?
Master Bai pointed to the divine rope tied around the catapult. "You may not have much strength individually, but if enough of you pull together, you should be able to haul the throwing arm down. After that, all you need to do is carry a smaller stone and place it in the spoon."
The group quickly gave it a try. Sure enough, as long as enough people pulled together, they could bring the arm down.
Meanwhile, Li Da and Gao Yiyi glanced at their new assignments, then looked toward Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu, who were standing on the front line atop the wall.
The two blacksmiths took off their Liang Dang Jia, the iron armor they had been wearing, and called out to the young men.
"Chuwu! Daniu! Come here. These two suits of armor are for you."
The two young men accepted without hesitation and happily put on the armor.
Both were already tall, broad-shouldered, and strong. With the armor on, they looked downright imposing.
Master Bai watched from the side, muttering to himself.
Privately keeping iron armor was a capital offense. But then again, what about the bandit army that had attacked Bai Family Fort? Wasn't that a crime too? Yet nobody seemed to care. The governor himself had said, "Let them loot until next spring. They'll settle down on their own."
Even if the governor learned that Gaojia Village had forged two suits of iron armor, he'd probably brush it off with a single remark. "The villagers forged armor to defend themselves against bandits. Once the bandits settle down next spring, the matter of the armor will be settled too."
Evening arrived, and the sun sank toward the western horizon, throwing drunken punches across the sky like a man who had lost a fight with an entire tavern. It staggered along as if it could barely keep its footing, looking ready to tumble below the horizon at any moment.
Just then, Li Daoxuan's food delivery arrived.
He had ordered a bowl of rice topped with Yuxiang shredded pork, along with a complimentary 300-milliliter cola.
He took a mouthful of rice, followed by a sip of cola, thoroughly enjoying his meal.
Inside Gaojia Village, however, the little people suddenly grew restless. A commotion rose from within the diorama box.
Li Daoxuan glanced inside.
Oh.
The main bandit force had finally arrived!
The real show was about to begin.