Dharma Breaking

Things having reached this point, even half a word more was unnecessary. A mass of raging flames manifested above Wei Yuan's head, showering down continuously. Every droplet of fire rain that landed on Wei Yuan's body sizzled against his flesh. The searing agony struck directly at his nascent soul within his sea of consciousness. Wei Yuan's dharma body could mitigate the physical damage, but it could do nothing to ease the torment. With a casual wave of his hand, Wei Yuan cast several defensive Dao arts. Then, the Scarlet Night Immortal-Slaying Sword appeared in his grasp, its blade instantly blazing with radiant light. He backhanded a slash, unleashing a hundred-zhang sword qi hurtling toward Mo Fentian! Ling Canglan let out a long cry. "Since swords have been drawn, how could you bypass me, Ling?" He drew his Hanyuan Sword and parried the sword qi of the Scarlet Night Immortal-Slaying Sword away. As the two arcs of sword qi clashed, countless sparks of light burst out like rain. Ling Canglan shuddered slightly, actually taking a step backward. Never had he imagined that Wei Yuan's sword attainment was so profound, or that the grade of the Scarlet Night Immortal-Slaying Sword would surpass that of his Hanyuan Sword by a notch. Meanwhile, Su Wuwang hurled out puppet mechanisms one after another. The moment each mechanism puppet hit the ground, a glyph lit up beneath its feet. It then rooted itself firmly in place, continuously firing destructive beams of light at Wei Yuan. A single beam possessed modest might, but as more and more puppets appeared, Wei Yuan felt his body growing noticeably heavier, and the drain on his protective Dao arts increased accordingly. As the destructive beams multiplied, Wei Yuan's protective arts visibly began to waver. Once their numbers surged, Wei Yuan immediately realized that these mechanism puppets, carrying their own formations, were the greatest threat. Flashing in an instant, Wei Yuan appeared beside one of the mechanism puppets. He swung a slender thread of crimson sword qi, slicing it cleanly in two. Yet the puppet abruptly detonated, sending tremors through the grand array that had begun taking shape. This shockwave instantly rebounded onto Wei Yuan. It felt as though hundreds or thousands of hands were tugging at him all at once, causing his movements to slow for a fraction of an instant. Ling Canglan and Mo Fentian were both extraordinarily seasoned in Dao combat and seized the opportunity without hesitation. A blaze of raging fire flared instantly around Wei Yuan, while a slash of Hanyuan sword qi tore directly into the flames. Wei Yuan grunted and charged out of the inferno. Looking down at himself, his dharma robe had long lost its luster and was utterly ruined. A gash had been cleaved across the back of his shoulder by the sword qi, constantly seeping pale-pink blood. Behind Wei Yuan, the flames parted as Ling Canglan charged out from the fire, sending a sword slash sweeping toward Wei Yuan from afar! Yet Wei Yuan had already anticipated the strike, abruptly whirling around to charge right into it! The two crossed paths, their blade edges dragging across one another's bodies. Another wound appeared on Wei Yuan, while a massive laceration opened across Ling Canglan's ribs—the bones severed, exposing his internal organs. Ling Canglan was both shocked and furious; never had he imagined his own dharma body was actually inferior to Wei Yuan's! Wei Yuan, however, also let out a muffled grunt as a haze of grey qi billowed from his wound, another curse inflicted upon him by the mechanism puppets. Yet he did not pause in the slightest. As if feeling no pain, he immediately wheeled around and locked his glare onto Su Wuwang. Two propulsion tubes suddenly appeared on Wei Yuan's body. Spurred by their thrust, he arrived beside Su Wuwang in an instant and slashed down. Only by dodging at the absolute limit of his reflexes did Su Wuwang manage to let the blade barely graze past his body. Su Wuwang was terrified out of his wits and retreated frantically. Mo Fentian immediately moved in to block Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan let out a thunderous shout, gripping his sword with both hands. Carrying the force of grotto-heavens behind every swing, he pursued Mo Fentian in a frenzied flurry of wild chops and hacks! Mo Fentian was thrown into utter disarray. Only when Ling Canglan arrived to relieve him did he manage to escape the danger. Mo Fentian's face burned with embarrassment; never had he imagined he would be driven into such wretched dishevelment by a mere dharma idol junior. By this point, both sides had worked up genuine fury and held nothing back. Wei Yuan moved like a phantom. Guided by trajectories calculated through the Flourishing of the Many Realms and boosted at intervals by the propulsion tubes, he rebounded and deflected at blinding speed like an erratically bouncing marble, consistently defying the expectations of the three Scenery Command masters. Sword gripped in both hands, he relied on the tenacity of his dharma body to trade wounds with his opponents time and again. The Scarlet Night Immortal-Slaying Sword possessed an exceedingly high grade and continuously shifted between the powers of different grotto-heavens, so each time he traded injury for injury, his opponent came away far worse off. Yet there were three opponents, while Wei Yuan stood alone. In the blink of an eye, the intense battle had raged for several hours, moving from the ground all the way beyond the sky. Wei Yuan was covered in wounds and bleeding profusely, yet his eyes remained as clear and bright as ever, brimming with killing intent. Both Mo Fentian and Su Wuwang bore several wounds, while Ling Canglan was in even worse shape—half of his foot had been severed by Wei Yuan. However, more than three hundred mechanism puppets now drifted through the surrounding space. The grand array was nearing completion, and its suppression over Wei Yuan grew increasingly pronounced. The three Scenery Command masters were both stunned and incensed. To struggle for so long against a mere dharma idol without subduing him, and to suffer considerable injuries in the process, was a sheer, humiliating disgrace! They had long abandoned any intention of persuading him to surrender, wanting nothing more than to wipe Wei Yuan out completely. By this stage, a faint grey qi shrouded Wei Yuan, and raging fires burned persistently in several spots across his body. Yet he could not pause for even a breath, much less tend to his wounds. Without mortal karmic luck at hand, he could not even employ Dusk of the Immortal Path—and even if he did, it would fail to land. Wei Yuan was not a dogmatic pedant; he considered retreating to Guantun County. But the three Scenery Command cultivators had surrounded him tightly, granting him no opening to escape as they unleashed lethal moves one after another. At that moment, the three hundred and sixtieth puppet fell into place, and Su Wuwang's grand array was complete! All the puppets abruptly vanished, merging into a single colossal mechanism hundred zhang tall. The giant rose to its full height, encircled by whirling tempests, the broad saber in its grasp glowing brighter and brighter as it gathered power for a thunderous strike! Wei Yuan had been locked onto by the array's aura. Even if he fled beyond the highest heavens, he would not be able to evade this strike, so he held his sword across his chest and waited. Seeing the saber intent turn increasingly piercing and chill, Wei Yuan's long hair fluttered in the gale, several strands severed by unseen edges and drifting away. Just then, Wei Yuan suddenly heard a shout ring out from somewhere far away: "Let me do it!" Immediately following it came a powerful summon. Without time to think, Wei Yuan reached out, and Demon Blade Qiyue leapt out from beyond the heavens, dropping right into his grasp! By now, the hundred-zhang puppet had finished gathering its power. A swath of saber light surged like a raging torrent, plunging downward over ten thousand zhang! Wei Yuan instinctively swung Demon Blade Qiyue, delivering a retaliatory slash! Demon Blade Qiyue had been boiling with hot-blooded fervor, but the moment it opened its eyes, it was met with saber light cascading like an inverted Heavenly River. It only managed to squawk, "Holy mother of—!" before being engulfed by the glare! Wei Yuan was hurled backward amidst the flood of saber light, sent flying ten thousand zhang. His skin was relentlessly sliced and abraded away, while his flesh and blood vaporized within the glare. By the time he fell free of the saber light, he had been reduced to a man of blood. At that moment, Su Wuwang spat a mouthful of blood onto the puppet. The puppet's form expanded wildly once more, surpassing five hundred zhang! Striding between heaven and earth as though rending the sky and cleaving the ground, it unleashed staggering power. Amidst howling squalls, the saber in its grasp condensed radiant light yet again! Mo Fentian transformed into an earth dragon of fire a thousand zhang long. He opened his massive maw toward Wei Yuan, a point of blazing crimson light glowing ever brighter deep within his throat. This blast of Heaven-Burning Wild Dragon Fire was his signature Dao art, reputed to burn all things in existence and rival the True Fire of the Great Sun. Ling Canglan naturally would not let the chance slip by. His immortal sword soared into the air, unfolding like an enormous, thousand-zhang ink-wash landscape across the sky. From within the painted mountains and rivers, wisps and threads of sword qi seeped forth, shooting toward Wei Yuan. All three Scenery Command cultivators recognized the opening and unleashed their ultimate lethal techniques simultaneously! Yet Wei Yuan still possessed a final trump card he had yet to employ: Pupils of the Six Realms! Wei Yuan had held back this divine ability until this very moment, intending to use it to see through his opponents' lethal moves and divine abilities, thereby turning defeat into victory. Above Wei Yuan's head, the effigy of a human head with three faces materialized. Each face was indistinct and blurred, save for a pair of eyes that shone with dazzling light of differing hues! The three-faced effigy spun rapidly, casting six beams of gaze across all directions. Wherever the gaze passed, the earth dragon's body stiffened and froze, its Heaven-Burning Dragon Flames dimming abruptly and degrading into mortal fire; across the sky, the landscape sword scroll suddenly developed several fissures, fracturing into fragments before fading away; and the colossal puppet unraveled directly, collapsing back into three hundred and sixty small mechanism figures. Suffering the backlash, all three Scenery Command cultivators spat blood simultaneously. They looked at Wei Yuan, their eyes filled with shock and terror—genuine terror this time! Beneath the moon, Cangwu had been quietly sitting and sipping tea, but now he sprang to his feet in alarm. With a sharp snap, the teacup in his hand shattered into fragments. Immortal tea worth a million immortal silver a cup trickled down through his fingers, yet he was completely oblivious, his fingertips trembling uncontrollably. Only after using it did Wei Yuan learn the name of this divine ability of the Pupils of the Six Realms: Dharma Breaking.