Missiles rained down in exceptionally tricky flight paths, but the vast majority were sliced and detonated by Heavenly Bone before reaching its body. A few struck home, but after the explosions cleared, Heavenly Bone remained unscathed, its aura barely diminished.
The steel golem hovered in midair. Four missile pods were mounted across its shoulders and back, firing alternately in pairs. As one volley launched, the other constantly absorbed wandering motes of spiritual energy from the surroundings, gradually generating new missiles within its pods.
With every round of attack, the steel golem unleashed hundreds of missiles, switching salvos every ten breaths.
His attacks appeared trifling, like mosquito bites, yet this was precisely the cost-effective offensive Wei Yuan desired.
Each missile was essentially a Dao method at the pinnacle of the Dharma Idol stage. Even if Heavenly Bone intercepted them successfully, it still had to expend a corresponding amount of magic power, not to mention a portion of divine sense.
As the battle progressed, numeric data proliferated across Wei Yuan's vision. Numbers did not lie: the four great formations composed of low-tier cultivators were immensely powerful, but their consumption of realm-heaven power was equally enormous. If the same amount of realm-heaven power were instead entirely channeled into the steel golem firing missiles, the damage dealt would double.
Yet there was only one steel golem. There was a limit to how much realm-heaven power it could convert, and its current output had already hit the ceiling.
Even so, the steel golem's deployment was like the final weight placed onto the scales, slowly tilting the battle in Wei Yuan's favor.
Though this slight tilt was minuscule, both sides could sense the shifting tide.
If the fight continued like this, in eleven days and three double-hours, Heavenly Bone's magic power would decline to the point where it could no longer maintain its Immortal Tier status. Wei Yuan would decisively secure full victory, and Heavenly Bone wouldn't even be able to flee.
In duels within an immortal's grotto-heaven, dragging on for months, years, or even decades was commonplace; taking only ten-odd days was already an overwhelming advantage. With victory in his grasp, Wei Yuan naturally sat securely, calmly waiting for Heavenly Bone's next move. Moreover, Wei Yuan still held killing moves in reserve, though the right moment had not arrived to deliver the final, decisive blow.
Wei Yuan glanced at the steel golem and sighed inwardly. If only he had a thousand of these, he could send Heavenly Bone straight back to the smelter right here and now. Unfortunately, not only was there just one before him, it was also one of a kind.
That gigantic steel golem was Xu Wenwu's dharma idol, fighting with imposing majesty. To be honest, Xu Wenwu's ability to participate in a decisive battle of this caliber had exceeded everyone's expectations, including Wei Yuan's.
Back then, his ability to achieve the Dharma Idol stage had already astonished many. Afterward, his dharma idol giving birth to a spirit had gone with unbelievable smoothness. What was more, Xu Wenwu followed a path where the dharma idol and its spirit were separated, with the spirit manifesting independently.
Inside that giant mecha, the main operator was not Xu Wenwu, but a short-haired girl in a tight uniform who usually remained utterly expressionless. This distinctive girl in uniform was the spiritual essence of Xu Wenwu's dharma idol.
This method of letting the spirit operate the dharma idol in one's stead was viewed as an unorthodox heresy by the orthodox immortal realm, yet it neatly bypassed the fatal flaw of Xu Wenwu's mediocre aptitude.
Furthermore, Xu Wenwu was extraordinarily obsessed with his idol's spirit, firmly convinced that she was bound to be formidable in combat. Wei Yuan had no idea where this confidence stemmed from, but Xu Wenwu was able to expend Wei Yuan's karmic luck. Empowered by that luck, his blind faith unexpectedly generated terrifying power of vows, allowing the spirit to be born smoothly. Even Wei Yuan could only concede that this guy's luck was beyond ordinary.
There was only one flaw: the spirit girl's figure under that skin-tight suit really wasn't to Wei Yuan's taste.
Wei Yuan felt that if this spirit girl were an actual person thrown into the Hall of the Bright King, she wouldn't have the slightest hope of becoming a regular disciple. A fellow who barely weighed a few pounds all over and was flat enough for aircraft to take off and land when lying down—what did she even think with, her head?
Yet achieving a dharma idol was merely the beginning of Xu Wenwu's underdog ascent. After advancing to Dharma Idol, he had smoothly constructed a mindscape world, bringing it to perfection at a speed that exceeded even the prodigies of the Palace of Grand Beginning.
The first time Wei Yuan inspected Xu Wenwu's mindscape world and saw that colossal floating immortal heaven base, he honestly couldn't comprehend how this fellow had constructed such a place.
The base could traverse the void and draw origin qi from the void as power. It could carry multiple steel golems and fighter planes, and could even be expanded.
It completely defied the common sense of the cultivation world, yet it had been constructed nonetheless—and it actually worked. Its only drawback was being too massive and complex; Xu Wenwu himself didn't understand many of its sections and functions. This happened to expose Xu Wenwu's deficient aptitude: he couldn't even master his own mindscape world.
Wei Yuan let his thoughts wander for only a moment before reeling them back in. Yet an idea surfaced unconsciously: if even someone of Xu Wenwu's aptitude could reach the pinnacle of Dharma Idol with such a grand and complete mindscape world, he might truly be able to break through to Scenery Command. Could this cultivation path actually be popularized?
If it could truly be replicated, it would be a gospel for the vast multitudes of mediocre aptitude.
At this moment, as the battle turned, Hongmo finally made her move.
She instantly withdrew her share of magic power, plunging Heavenly Bone into a desperate situation. Meanwhile, her pupils unfolded layer by layer like flower petals, suffused with hazy, kaleidoscopic light.
Hongmo shifted her gaze—looking toward Xu Wenwu!
In a mere instant, Xu Wenwu felt as though he had reincarnated countless times, enduring endless brutal wars and repeatedly teetering between life and death! Upon the hull of the giant steel golem, black-and-red flames ignited. All of its missiles abruptly reversed direction, wheeling around to blast toward Wei Yuan!
This was Hongmo's natal divine ability: the Ten Thousand Eons Samsara Calamity Extinction Art. It could drag an opponent into samsara, making them feel as if they had lived through multiple lifetimes of reincarnation in the blink of an eye, enduring calamity and extinction.
Even if one possessed cultivation equal to Hongmo's, any slight flaw in one's Dao heart could lead to being pulled into samsara by her, having one's willpower crushed and sinking into oblivion.
In that fleeting instant, the world before Xu Wenwu's eyes had completely changed. Before him now lay a world remarkably similar to his past life, and he stood inside a dim command post receiving orders.
Standing before him was a voluptuous, bewitching beauty clad in a black-and-red military uniform. In a cold voice that brooked no argument, she assigned the mission: "Lead your unit and take that town seventy kilometers away, no matter the cost! Even if only one man is left, he must die charging forward! Do you understand?!"
Xu Wenwu fell silent for a moment. Instinctively, he did not want to accept the order, but he knew the consequences of disobedience: not only would he die, but his family would also be dragged down.
The beautiful officer slammed a photograph onto the desk and said, "This is the enemy leader hiding in that town. Kill him, and a vacation at the Black Sea with bikini-clad beauties will be waiting for you in the rear!"
Xu Wenwu glanced at the photo. It was Wei Yuan's face.
Xu Wenwu hesitated a moment before saying, "Wait for my good news."
The cold-blooded officer finally let slip a faint smile.
Leaving the command post, Xu Wenwu looked at his unit—a mere sparse scattering of a few dozen men. His face darkened, and he cursed on the spot. Assaulting a heavily fortified town with so few men—what was that if not suicide? Xu Wenwu didn't consider himself afraid to die, but he refused to die like this.
Just as he seethed with anger, the roar of engines resounded nearby. A long convoy of military trucks rolled up, led by armored troopers. The trucks were packed with fully armed soldiers.
These were all Xu Wenwu's subordinates. He had no idea how he had suddenly gained so many troops, but in his muddled state of mind, he accepted it, setting out with his unit to assault the enemy lines.
Inside the realm-heaven, Wei Yuan waved his broad sleeve. Flecks of jade light drifted forth, destroying every last missile without a single one slipping through. This was the power of the immortal orchid—not particularly strong, but superior in sheer quantity and effortless manipulation, making it ideal for intercepting masses of missiles.
Xu Wenwu's sudden defection instantly made the battlefield exceptionally perilous.
However, for Xu Wenwu to join this battlefield, he was naturally Wei Yuan's believer and had a reserved fruition. This layer of grand karma, combined with the Buddhist power Wei Yuan had blessed him with, immediately informed Wei Yuan of what had transpired.
Hongmo had used an art akin to Conversion Light to forcibly control Xu Wenwu. This divine ability was exceedingly tyrannical, far more savage than the Pure Land's conversion, instantly converting even Xu Wenwu at the peak of Dharma Idol.
Of course, the primary reason he was converted in an instant was that Xu Wenwu's Dao heart was full of holes like a sieve.
Wei Yuan was now practically a master in the art of conversion himself. With a shift of divine sense, he saw what Xu Wenwu was experiencing.
In Xu Wenwu's present consciousness, he had been forced onto the battlefield and had no choice but to fight. The marching and battling in his mind were in truth frenzied attacks against the realm-heaven.
As long as Xu Wenwu remained immersed in that world and obeyed Hongmo's commands, he would never wake, reduced to Hongmo's puppet.
Naturally, controlling Xu Wenwu came at a price for Hongmo; the drain on her magic power was immense. The subordinates Xu Wenwu led were also manifestations of her magic power. When he felt his forces were insufficient moments ago, the additional troops and armored vehicles that appeared had all come from Hongmo.
Naturally, the more troops he had, the fiercer Xu Wenwu's attacks became. Missiles trailing black-and-red flames packed tremendous destructive power, blasting the immortal orchids past their limits; one orchid gave out in the blink of an eye, and a second and third stepped up in succession before they could barely hold the line.
Wei Yuan was now a master of conversion, understood Xu Wenwu intimately, and had personally experienced otherworldly realms more than once.
Without hesitation, he immediately cast down several thousand strands of divine sense. Carrying the mighty power of the Sea of Bitterness, he entered the fray directly to contest for Xu Wenwu's soul.
The world before Xu Wenwu's eyes suddenly changed. No, the world hadn't changed; the tide of battle had.
The enemy was no longer foolishly holding fixed positions, and their fire points were no longer blindly blazing away only to become artillery targets. Now, the enemy had suddenly turned elusive and ghostly; not a soul was seen along the entire march route. And the moment Xu Wenwu poked his head out of the armored car to survey the surroundings, he was blanketed in artillery fire.
After dying in battle each time, Xu Wenwu would revive inside that dim command post, receiving his orders anew and reviewing his troops. He remembered nothing of his previous battles, yet bodily instinct left him feeling increasingly insecure, prompting him to demand more and more troops.
Yet even though his troops multiplied several times or even tenfold, it was useless. The enemy's tactics were dazzlingly varied—night raids, special warfare, ambushes, snipers, squad infiltrations—taking turns on stage. Eight times out of ten, they captured Xu Wenwu alive.
And then, the story took an offbeat turn.
Severe torture? Xu Wenwu surrendered.
Promises of rank and riches? Xu Wenwu surrendered.
A honey trap? Xu Wenwu surrendered without fail.
An enemy female agent had merely slapped him across the face, not even having asked a question yet, and Xu Wenwu surrendered.
After each surrender, Xu Wenwu would return to that command post, forgetting everything, to receive the mission all over again.
Chapter 1286