This was not the first time Wei Yuan had faced an extraterrestrial entity, but it was the first time he had stood so close to the brink of life and death.
Wei Yuan first had everyone fall back and form a defensive formation to protect themselves. Then, he activated the Pupils of the Six Realms. Under the illumination of their pupil light, all surrounding dharmic power and immortal arts collapsed and unraveled one after another. Hidden spaces were unlocked, folded secrets re-emerged, and immortal power capable of warping mortal minds and divine senses dissolved into chaotic spiritual energy that scattered across heaven and earth. In the blink of an eye, the underground palace vanished entirely. The group found themselves standing atop a sheet of water, facing the gaping maw of the extraterrestrial entity. The water flowed from the colossal beast's mouth, coursing across an invisible ground.
The extraterrestrial entity was inconceivably massive; the gaping maw they saw was actually just a single tentacle extending from its body, split open at the tip, waiting for prey to take the bait on its own.
After a short while, the pupil light of the Six Realms had dismantled almost all the surrounding magical arrangements and began reaching into the fabric of the secret realm itself, at which point Wei Yuan stopped. By now, it was clearly visible that a massive tear had been ripped into the edge of the secret realm. The behemoth's mouth was pressed flush against the opening, using the true essence of an ancient immortal's heritage as bait to fish for those coveting immortal treasures.
Including Sun Yu, all the cultivators broke into a cold sweat, secretly counting their blessings.
Most likely, this extraterrestrial entity had not cared about them at all; only when Hule Gao'en unleashed an immortal-grade Dao art in that split second did it think it had caught a satisfying meal and burst forth ahead of time.
Without waiting for Wei Yuan's command, Xu Wenwu and Sun Yu had already pinned down Hule Gao'en. Sun Yu then administered two injections into Hule Gao'en, saying coldly, "These two syringes contain viruses I took great pains to engineer. One targets the Liao Clan dharma body, and the other targets the Mountain Folk soul. If you don't want a miserable death, stay put and behave. Or you can run and gamble on your tribe's Mountain Folk medicine."
Ashen-faced, Hule Gao'en slumped to the ground, uttering not a single word.
Wei Yuan surveyed the surroundings, pondered briefly, and ordered, "First collect the water on the ground—as much as possible."
The Qingming cultivators immediately understood: this was fluid flowing from the mouth of an extraterrestrial entity, something priceless and beyond market measure! A random finger-sized vial of it could be exchanged for thousand-year medicinal herbs!
The cultivators promptly set up large water pumps, each driven by four Dao Foundations, churning with surging power. Behind them, large batches of cargo containers were brought forward, filling container after container to be shipped out.
Under the suction of the pumps, the water level across this vast expanse began to drop rapidly. Because the illusory qi emitted by this saliva was the core of constructing the underground palace, turbid water continuously poured from the monster's mouth to replenish the water level.
Wei Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, exceptionally patient. The extraterrestrial entity, on the other hand, soon felt its mouth going dry.
Seeing the monster's tongue begin to twitch, Wei Yuan knew the moment had arrived—it had run out of saliva. Immediately, he deployed his second exclusive Dao art, one that could only be used outside the Native Realm: the Great Sumeru Fission Yuan Light!
From his belt of items, Wei Yuan took out a box and channeled a vast torrent of Dao power into it. In the blink of an eye, Wei Yuan's overall Dao power noticeably dipped; he had consumed a full thirty percent of it! In sheer volume, this was equivalent to the Dao power of thirty cultivators at the early Scenery Command stage!
As the immense Dao power poured into a space no larger than a square inch, the temperature surged to extreme heights in an instant. All matter broke down into minute particles, and vast amounts of light and heat manifested, only waiting for the karmic ties between the particles to dissipate before bursting forth completely.
Yet right at this moment, the Great Dao of heaven and earth suddenly manifested. It was so colossal that the entire Native Realm seemed like a mere speck of dust before it. Once the Great Dao manifested, the terrifying light and heat generated by particle fission seemed to be drawn by something, on the verge of dispersing deep into heaven and earth and vanishing forever. Only thanks to Wei Yuan's Dao power defending it from the outside was it prevented from being swept away by the Great Dao of heaven and earth.
At this moment, Wei Yuan felt as though he were holding a miniature sun in his hand. Externally, he had to resist the Great Dao of heaven and earth; internally, he had to suppress the light and heat from the fission. Even with Wei Yuan's dharmic power, he could not maintain it for long. He immediately hurled the mass of matter into the extraterrestrial entity's gaping maw, then leapt forward, plunging straight into the rising fireball! The moment he passed beyond the Native Realm, the restraints of the Great Dao of heaven and earth vanished instantly, and the light and heat generated by particle fission erupted entirely. The extraterrestrial entity snapped its jaws shut, but failed to close its mouth; instead, the fireball forced its maw open for a fleeting instant.
In that single instant, Wei Yuan snatched the ancient immortal heritage and fled back.
The extraterrestrial entity froze for a moment before realizing that its bait was gone.
It flared into instant fury, snapping its jaws toward the group. But as the jaws clamped down, a flickering barrier of light suddenly appeared, blocking the massive maw. Unable to bite through the barrier of the Native Realm, the extraterrestrial entity flew into a rage, gnawing bite after bite. The wall of the Native Realm instantly tottered, cracking repeatedly as the hole grew ever wider.
Wei Yuan unleashed another blast of Fission Yuan Light, blasting the giant maw back in a flinch. Seizing the opportunity, Wei Yuan swept his wide sleeves and led everyone away from the vicinity of the underground palace, retreating beyond the original bubble zone.
The moment they stepped out of the original bubble zone, heaven and earth shifted at once, returning them to the original secret realm. Yet when they looked back now, they saw a sphere of black light amidst the swamp and jungle, slowly expanding.
Wei Yuan breathed a long sigh of relief. Fortunately, the extraterrestrial entity was held back by the Native Realm, unable to cross over between realms. It was just like a person scattering steamed bun crumbs on the ground to lure ants, only for the ants to accidentally drag the crumbs back into their nest. The person could fume in fury, but remained helpless, unable to crawl into the anthill to take revenge.
However, this was a secret realm; its defensive resilience was far inferior to the true Native Realm. Furthermore, a cultivator reported at this moment that the extraterrestrial turbid water they had just gathered was evaporating, and even the containers specially prepared to hold dharmic water could hardly contain it. They had to return to Qingming as soon as possible.
Wei Yuan immediately ordered the cultivators to pack up their belongings and transport their various gains to the flying boats first. With the aid of the flying boats' formations, the process of evaporation and dispersal could be significantly slowed.
Only after all the cultivators had left did Wei Yuan exit the secret realm last and board a flying boat. Connected head-to-tail, the three flying boats then flew off at high speed, skimming close to the ground.
These three flying boats were the latest generation built by Qingming at great expense. They could suppress Scenery Command divine senses, drastically shortening the distance at which Scenery Command cultivators could detect them. At the same time, their power was surging; they used the latest generation of eight-drive flying boat engines, each powered by eight Golden Cores, and every flying boat was equipped with three engines.
At present, Qingming did not possess many Golden Cores, and Golden Cores that could be used for power were even fewer. Had it not involved the ancient cultivator heritage, Wei Yuan would never have brought out three of the newest Golden Core flying boats all at once.
Across the lands of the Mountain Folk, atop an isolated peak, a Mountain Folk cultivator was facing the morning sun, inhaling and exhaling solar essence.
He suddenly sensed something amiss, then noticed several small black dots appearing against the morning sun! Yet when his divine sense swept toward them, it found only empty space, discovering nothing at all.
This Mountain Folk cultivator was also a decisive, ruthless figure. Relying on his mid Scenery Command cultivation, he promptly unfolded his mindscape world, transforming everything within ten thousand zhang into towering, majestic mountains to intercept them brazenly.
Yet the black dots moved at unimaginable speeds, and their sheer might was even more baffling. Three colossal objects slammed directly into the mindscape world, effortlessly shattering the surrounding mindscape world to carve out a passage, then burst out from the other side and sped away without looking back.
Suffering a heavy blow, this Mountain Folk Scenery Command cultivator coughed up a wild mouthful of blood on the spot as his mindscape world dissipated.
Shock and horror plastered his face as he stared at the black dots in the distant sky. In that fleeting instant earlier, the space around the three colossal objects had been shrouded in Dao arts that warped divine sense perception, allowing him only a vague glimpse that they seemed to be three flying boats. But what kind of flying boats could fly so fast?
Recalling the heavy blow he had just taken, the Mountain Folk Scenery Command cultivator felt even more bewildered. The destructive power of that collision far exceeded an ordinary Scenery Command cultivator's strike, yet taking the hit with his physical body hadn't felt like a single mighty foe attacking; rather, it felt like being bombarded by thousands of Dao Foundations, followed by a stomp from over a hundred dharma idols.
Just like that, Wei Yuan brought the three boats across the Mountain Folk lands, relying on low detectability, minimal karma, high speed, and sheer brute force stacked together, charging all the way back to Yizhou.
Chapter 1338