Mr. Bai was genuinely stunned.

Just like Thirty-Two during his first visit to the village, he hadn’t believed in the “Dao Xuan Deity” originally, thinking it was just the same as other figures like “Eternal Ancient Mother.” But now he was beginning to believe.

After all, no one in ancient times was truly an atheist.

Showing just a little bit of divine miracle was enough to shake the faith of a person.

At this moment, people like Gao Chuwu, Zheng Daniu and others, gathered around the catapult, discussing the one with its arm raised high.

Gao Chuwu said foolishly, “This thing flung once, and its big spoon stood up. Seems it’s useless now?”

Li Da, as the official craftsman and having seen the most machines, immediately spotted the key: “We gotta pull that big spoon down, latch it into this mechanism, then it can be used again.”

“Okay. How do we get it down?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Gao Chuwu, you’re good at climbing trees. You climb up first, tie the divine rope around the neck of that spoon. Then a few of us pull together to haul it down, so it latches onto the mechanism.”

“Good idea!”

Gao Chuwu, like a monkey, scaled the arm of the catapult.

The arm stood almost two zhang tall; to him it was just like climbing a big tree. He scrambled up to the spoon like a squirrel and tied the leftover divine rope (from building the gate) onto it, then slid back down.

Several villagers grabbed the rope like it was a tug-of-war. “Heave-ho! Heave-ho! One, two, three!” They sang out the rhythm, pulling together on the rope, and actually managed to drag the arm down. Li Da and Gao Yiyi, the two blacksmiths, worked in unison. With a mighty swing of their hammers, clang! The arm snapped back into place on the mechanism.

“Success!”

The villagers cheered: “We learned how to use the magical weapons!”

Mr. Bai snapped out of his astonishment. Now, neither out loud nor in his heart, did he mutter anything about it being a cult or no cult. Waving at the villagers, he said: “Get more people! Let’s push this catapult together to the open ground behind the main gate, aim it outside the walls. When the bandits charge, we fling rocks and kill by hitting them.”

The villagers cheered: “Aye!”

A large group ran over to push. Li Daoxuan was worried they couldn’t budge it. Then he saw the villagers fetch tree branches as thick as a child’s arm. Laying these on the ground in rows, they made rollers. They eased the catapult onto these wooden rollers, allowing them to push it away with surprising ease.

Okay. These villagers might be uneducated and inexperienced, but they were absolute experts when it came to brute-force labor. They didn’t need Li Daoxuan’s help; they were even more professional than he was.

Watching the villagers push the catapult, Mr. Bai thought: The immortal’s catapult is useful, but with just one… it doesn’t feel like enough.

As soon as the thought surfaced…

Gao Yiye called out loudly: “The Deity says, now that everyone has learned how to use it, he will bestow a few more upon us. Those people behind the wall, step aside!”

Mr. Bai jolted, whipping his head around to look.

The villagers behind the wall scattered in all directions.

Another catapult descended from the sky, landing directly in a prepared spot, kicking up a cloud of dust. Then another followed… and another… and yet another…

In the blink of an eye, twenty catapults stood in a neat row behind the wall, each a different color.

Green ones, blue ones, gray ones, even red ones…

A riot of colors, as gaudy and strangely out of place as the garish city wall itself.

Mr. Bai: “!!!”

The spectacle before him truly broadened his horizons.

Seeing these vividly colored catapults, he immediately understood: the bizarrely huge wall of Gaojia Village was undoubtedly also a gift from the deity. Hence the matching, inexplicable materials and multi-colored oddity.

The villagers instinctively knelt again. A whole swathe of Gaojia Village’s inhabitants dropped to their knees, kowtowing towards the sky: “We thank the Deity!”

Mr. Bai looked around and saw that his own tenant farmers had also dropped to their knees en masse. Following the Gaojia villagers, they shouted towards the heavens: “We thank the Deity!”

Even his dozen or so retainers were trembling at the knees, on the verge of kneeling themselves.

As Mr. Bai stood dumbfounded, Thirty-Two tugged his sleeve: “Mr. Bai, with 20 extra catapults now, we need people to operate them. You need to re-organize.”

“Huh?” Mr. Bai snapped out of his daze, stuffing the exclamation marks spinning in his head back into his thoughts. Pulling himself together, he commanded loudly: “You two blacksmiths! When the fighting first begins, don’t go up onto the wall yet. Stay back here by these catapults. When I give the order to shoot, take your hammers and strike the mechanisms hard!”

Li Da and Gao Yiyi quickly acknowledged the order.

Mr. Bai frowned in thought for a moment. He pointed towards a group of elderly villagers and women: “You folks, join this blacksmith group. You’re in charge of reloading rocks into the spoons of the catapults.”

The elderly and women looked bewildered. They were old, frail, women, and children; where would they find the strength for such work?

Mr. Bai pointed at the divine rope still tied to the catapult that had been lowered: “You might not be strong individually, but if enough of you pull this rope together, you should be able to pull it down. Then just put a smaller rock into the spoon.” Li Daoxuan had made them a little trapezoid pit earlier for stones?

The group of elderly and women tried it. With enough hands on the rope, it actually worked.

Li Da and Gao Yiyi glanced at their new positions, then looked up at Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu—both now standing on the front line atop the wall. The two blacksmiths promptly stripped off their two-panel armor. “Chuwu! Daniu! Come here! Take these suits of armor!” they shouted.

The two young men didn’t hesitate. Happily, they draped on the two-panel armor.

They were young, strong, and tall to begin with. Now clad in armor, they looked genuinely imposing.

Mr. Bai watched them out of the corner of his eye, muttering internally. Privately possessing metal armor was a capital crime. However… he reconsidered the bandit army assaulting the Bai Family Fortress. What crime was that?! It was completely ignored! The Provincial Governor said in person: “Let them plunder until next spring settles things.” Even if the Governor knew about the two suits of armor in Gaojia Village, he’d probably just say: “The villagers forged armor to fight the bandits. Wait till spring, when the bandits are naturally dealt with, then we’ll deal with the armor matter too.”

Time ticked inexorably away…

Evening arrived. The setting sun dipped westward, wobbling across the sky like a drunkard with faltering steps, threatening to tumble below the horizon at any moment.

Li Daoxuan’s takeout arrived: rice topped with shredded pork (Common Trade). Best of all, it came with a bonus 300ml bottle of cola. He took a sip of cola, then a bite of rice, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Suddenly, a clamor rose from the little people inside the model village. A noisy commotion drifted out of the box.

Li Daoxuan peered inside. Whoa. The main force of the bandit army had arrived!