The battle against the Mountain Folk was different from fighting the Ji army. Wei Yuan strictly forbade the Palace of Grand Beginning's Dharma Idol cultivators from leaving the protective range of the army qi, while also distributing every shred of karmic luck on him that could be handed down.
As for Ling Canglan's top-grade karmic luck, it had already been infused into the broken Hanyuan Sword and entrusted to Yu Zhizhuo. Yu Zhizhuo had personally fired up the Secret Heavenly Craft Furnace, preparing to forge a new spiritual weapon from the broken sword and the karmic luck to replace Compassion for Wei Yuan.
It would still be some time before the spiritual weapon emerged from the furnace, and one final sacrifice was still needed. According to Yu Zhizhuo, the attributes of the sacrifice would determine the attributes of the newly born weapon. And for the sacrifice right now, it would naturally come from among the Mountain Folk.
The Mountain Folk army had been split in two by the Dao soldier pass, and one of those halves was currently held up by the fortress. What Wei Yuan now faced was half of the Mountain Folk army.
By this point, the Qingming Army's vanguard had already engaged the Mountain Folk. Numerous chariots slowed their pace, continuously shelling the Mountain Folk as their mounted rotary cannons roared without pause.
To the rear, a portion of the heavy artillery had been set up once more and began pounding the Mountain Folk furiously, while the rest continued advancing to seize positions for extended-range fire.
Tens of thousands of Qingming vanguard heavy-armored elites, holding heavy shields in one hand and hand cannons in the other, advanced slowly behind the chariots.
Numerous template Dao Foundation cultivators flew straight toward the mountaintops on both flanks to secure the high ground first. Once secured, they immediately erected prefabricated fortifications on the spot. Then, in teams of four Dao Foundation cultivators, they hauled infantry guns to the summits, setting up the cannons to lay down fierce barrages.
On some of the peaks, Mountain Folk rushed up as well, and the two sides descended into melee, contesting the positions.
The Dharma Idol cultivators remained concealed within the squared, metallic sheen of the army qi, primarily acting to intercept the boulders and high-power spells hurled by the Mountain Folk.
Across from them, multiple mountain ridge giants stepped onto the peaks. Reaching down to claw at the earth, a massive rock would spontaneously form in their hands, which they then hurled with ferocious force. When leaving their hands, the rocks were of ordinary size, but as they hurtled through the air, they grew larger and larger until they turned into small hills!
A casual toss from a giant covered over a dozen li.
With dozens of giants hurling stones continuously, the Qingming Army was pressed so hard that every step forward became a struggle. The Dharma Idol cultivators went all out, doing their utmost to destroy and block the incoming rocks; otherwise, if struck by boulders weighing hundreds of thousands or even millions of jin, not even the chariots could withstand the blow.
Even though the Palace of Grand Beginning cultivators were doing everything they could to intercept them, the mountain ridge giants were numerous, and boulders broke through the defense from time to time to crash into the Qingming ranks, instantly crushing about a hundred soldiers near the impact point into minced meat.
Meanwhile, the Qingming troops constantly bombarded and swept the Mountain Folk with chariot cannons and rotary cannons. Both sides suffered casualties, but the Mountain Folk were visibly bearing the heavier losses.
Right then, countless artillery shells rained down on the foremost peak, engulfing it in a sea of fire in an instant. Four mountain ridge giants were completely blanketed by the shelling. Only one survived, and even he was covered in flames, howling as he charged down the mountain, thrashing and smashing wildly, crushing quite a few Mountain Folk in the process.
A visibly taller mountain ridge giant rushed over, slammed him to the ground, and slit the critically wounded giant's throat with an axe to end his agony.
Yet before he could even stand back up, dense artillery fire blanketed him as well. Once the smoke cleared, only a massive, charred corpse remained.
Wei Yuan and the cultivators stood within the army qi, constantly using their divine sense to guide the heavy shells fired from the rear, concentrating fire zone by zone to bombard the mountain ridge giants one after another.
Hundreds of heavy cannons firing at once was a spectacle not only unprecedented for the Mountain Folk, but something many Qingming veterans had never witnessed before.
Having lost over a dozen giants in rapid succession, and with the ordinary Mountain Folk unable to break through Qingming's net of firepower, the battle fell into a brief stalemate, with throngs of Mountain Folk collapsing every passing moment.
Dozens of mountain ridge giants gathered in one place. As the heavy shells rained down, some giants threw stones to detonate the shells in midair, while others channeled Earth-phase divine powers to raise walls and slabs of rock to block the incoming fire.
The giants bunching together suited Wei Yuan's plans perfectly. He immediately ordered the heavy artillery that had maneuvered into their designated positions at the rear to deploy. Moments later, hundreds more heavy cannons roared, bringing the total to a thousand guns relentlessly pounding the giants' gathering point. The uninterrupted explosions battered them so fiercely that they couldn't even raise their heads!
This bombardment lasted an entire quarter-hour, the barrage showing not the slightest sign of slackening. Every one of the bombarded giants was wounded now; no sooner were their protective layers of rock summoned than the shells blew them to pieces.
For the first time, dozens of Dharma Idol-level mountain ridge giants were completely suppressed by nearly a thousand heavy cannons, their dharmic powers and physical strength bleeding away at an alarming rate.
Wei Yuan watched it all with cold composure, quietly calculating the giants' remaining stamina. Then his aura suddenly surged, his figure flickered, and he lunged toward them!
Suddenly, a mass of red rock appeared from the flank, flying soundlessly toward him. Though the rock was not large, the surrounding scenery warped distinctly around it.
It flew with speed beyond imagination, reaching Wei Yuan's side in an instant!
Only then did an ordinary-looking, diminutive Mountain Folk figure appear in the distance. Yet around him rose a rocky peak gleaming with a metallic luster—clearly indicating the cultivation of the Scenery Command realm.
The rock flashed through Wei Yuan's body, and Wei Yuan instantly burst like a bubble, dissolving into nothingness. It had merely been an illusion.
As the illusion shattered, Bao Yun's figure emerged where Wei Yuan had stood, her face somewhat pale. The Mountain Folk Scenery Command expert suddenly felt an indescribable, stifling heat around him. Beneath the gloomy canopy of the sky, sunlight had miraculously appeared—sunlight originating from who knew where!
The Mountain Folk Scenery Command cultivator shrieked and spun to flee, but a crimson longsword had already swept silently past his waist, cleaving him in two!
With the backdrop of the great sun, this sword strike channeled the Dao of Taiyin—a contradiction so harmonious that the Mountain Folk Scenery Command expert hadn't felt the slightest forewarning before taking the direct hit.
Yet the Mountain Folk Scenery Command expert's lower half suddenly accelerated and zipped away into the distance, while his upper torso flopped limp onto the ground, squirming aimlessly.
Crimson Night Immortal-Slaying Sword in hand, Wei Yuan materialized beside the upper torso and sliced it open, only to find spongy lumps of flesh inside. There were no internal organs or vital parts whatsoever—just a cluster of decorative flesh.
Only then did Wei Yuan realize this Mountain Folk Scenery Command cultivator's vitals were located either in his left leg or his right leg. With such a bizarre anatomy, even a Strength Shaman would have conceded defeat.
Fortunately, even if he hadn't managed to kill the enemy, he had dealt him a grievous blow. That Scenery Command expert would not be seen again for months.
Wei Yuan thought with a touch of regret that it would have been better if the Crimson Night Immortal-Slaying Sword were more powerful. Although in essence an immortal weapon, it was currently incomplete and lacked spirituality; its actual power was only on par with a high-grade Scenery Command spiritual treasure.
Inside Flourishing of the Many Realms, the celestial laurel tree stirred slightly. Several branches bent down to look at its thick trunk and bark stretched taut to the point of splitting again, feeling a bit hesitant.
Star Lord Taiyin was aloof and proud by nature, but with her trunk grown as thick as a water bucket, she was in no state to be seen. Something had to be done.
His mind stretched taut, Wei Yuan had long since utilized all eleven thousand task capacities. The entire Qingming Army surged into motion.
The war chariots charged forward, clambering up the steep slopes. The heavy artillery battery fired without ceasing, suppressing the mountain ridge giants with all its might. Organized in squads of several dozen men, the infantry launched their assaults on the Mountain Folk, while the infantry cannons gradually extended their barrage, their shells frequently landing less than twenty zhang ahead of the Qingming infantrymen.
Following the retreat of the Mountain Folk Scenery Command expert, Qingming's army of hundreds of thousands abruptly shifted to a full-scale offensive. Unable to react in time, the Mountain Folk suffered devastating casualties in the blink of an eye.
Right at that moment, a several-hundred-zhang section of a mountain peak suddenly collapsed, slowly crashing down toward the main Qingming force marching below!
A Scenery Command-level mountain giant emerged from the peak. He had been lurking inside the mountain all along, striking without warning only after the main Qingming army passed by.
Yet he suddenly roared in agony, swinging a fist a zhang wide to smash savagely at the empty air beside him!
A red figure rebounded off the mountain giant and fled into the distance. Though the mountain giant's heavy blow struck empty air, the invisible shockwave it unleashed caught up with the red figure in an instant.
The red figure sank abruptly, but bounced back up immediately and darted away, vanishing into the distance.
Beside himself with fury and with no outlet for his rage, the mountain giant threw his entire body against the mountain peak, accelerating its collapse.
A punchable voice that drove anyone who heard it mad suddenly sounded in his ear: "Come, come, come! Off to the realm beyond the heavens with me! Today, this Daoist master will teach you the meaning of rules!"
True Monarch Xuanyue appeared, resting a hand on the mountain giant and sweeping him away toward the sky beyond the heavens. Believing the peak's collapse was already inevitable, the mountain giant accepted the challenge.
Yet before flying beyond the heavens, he suddenly sensed something amiss. Glancing back, he saw the Qingming troops beneath the peak suddenly accelerate—half surging forward, half reversing direction, while the units blocking their path dispersed in perfect synchrony.
The massive army moved in flawless coordination, pulling every unit clear of the mountain's collapse zone in just moments.
The mountain peak crashed down with a deafening roar; in the end, only about a hundred Qingming soldiers failed to escape in time.
Wei Yuan, meanwhile, issued another order: the entire army was to attack with full fury.
Chapter 1064