Harvest

Xiaoyu gritted his teeth, steeling his nerve several times before giving a forceful yank to pull out the small cauldron. Several scraps of charred flesh still clung to its surface. Wei Yuan grunted softly. The wound on his back was now a deep, scorched pit, the flesh completely cauterized to seal the breach. Looking at the wound, Xiaoyu's eyes grew sore. If Wei Yuan hadn't blocked that blow for him, then with Xiaoyu's constitution, even if he survived, his Dao Foundation would have been crippled, shattering any hope of ascending to immortality in this lifetime. Wei Yuan felt waves of weakness washing over him. Inside, his body burned as if on fire, and a thick, dark-green vapor coiled deep within his chest cavity. Less than half of his heart was shattered, one lung was pulverized completely, and his sternum and spine were snapped right down the middle—his insides were a complete mess. The clump of dark-green vapor continuously corroded everything around it. Fortunately, Wei Yuan's physical body was extraordinarily tough, and with the boost of the Jia Wood Life-Mystic power within the boundary realm, the vitality inside him had reached a terrifying concentration. Innumerable tiny fragments of his internal organs were swimming about on their own, shuttling back and forth in a frantic bustle as they sought fitting positions to reattach and knit back into whole organs. If such vital energy remained unabated, there was no telling what these tiny particles might grow into if they fell into the outside world. The dark-green vapor was exceptionally domineering and insidious, but under the dual suppression of Qingming and Wei Yuan's physical form, it was being ground away, bit by bit. Had Wei Yuan directed more Life-Mystic power toward himself, his wounds would have healed even faster. Yet all the mobilizable Life-Mystic power in the boundary realm was currently focused on more than a dozen critically wounded cultivators. Their injuries were so severe that the moment the Life-Mystic power was withdrawn, they would die instantly. "Bear with it," Xiaoyu said, drawing his sword. He carefully excised the charred flesh around Wei Yuan's wound bit by bit, then crushed a wound-healing pill secretly concocted by the Xiao family into powder and blew it across the wound. The medicinal powder proved miraculous: wherever it settled, flesh and blood could be seen sprouting anew. Then the powder grains themselves began to grow and link together, transforming in the blink of an eye into a milky-white mesh that sealed the entire wound. Only when Wei Yuan's aura stabilized and his vitality steadily climbed did Xiaoyu let out a sigh of relief. The object that had pierced through Wei Yuan's body now lay on the table before them. It was a lizard tooth, almost transparent, inside which a tiny green lizard swam back and forth. This tooth was likely a part of the Great Shaman's true body, refined into a magic treasure. An all-out strike with it possessed boundless might—even Wei Yuan's physical body, armored as it was, could not withstand it. It was only because Wei Yuan's body was so extraordinarily tough; had this strike landed on Xiaoyu, it would have blasted all his internal organs to shreds in an instant, perhaps blowing his dharma body into two halves and devastating both his sea of consciousness and Dao Foundation. Wei Yuan moved his body a little. Feeling that his injuries were under control and the dark-green vapor inside was steadily dwindling, he draped his robe over his shoulders, stood up, and said, "That's enough. There are still people outside who need tending to." Xiaoyu nodded and followed Wei Yuan away from the peak to help treat the gravely wounded cultivators. Xu Wan'er and Yun Feifei were fortunate enough to have avoided severe injury in the battle, so each led several cultivators to inspect the battlefield. So-called inspecting the battlefield mainly meant delivering finishing blows to heavily wounded Shaman warriors. The Shamans possessed an ancient and rigid hierarchy; all shamanic arts, heritages, and history were held in the hands of shamans and nobles. Most common Shaman warriors could not even read, fighting purely on orders from their superiors. Even if captured, no useful intelligence could be pried from them. Moreover, they viewed death with equanimity, believing they would enter the divine kingdom of the Shaman God to enjoy bliss after dying, so virtually none were willing to surrender. As a result, Western Region cultivators were mostly accustomed to killing every critically wounded Shaman when clearing the battlefield. In contrast, nobles and shamans were actually more prone to surrendering, and once defeated and captured, their tribes were willing to pay hefty ransoms to redeem them. The tally of battle results was soon completed. More than sixty human cultivators had perished, leaving only a hundred and twenty alive. On the Shaman side, nearly five thousand ordinary warriors were lost, including a thousand elite venomous lizard riders. Twelve Dao Foundation nobles and shamans had been slain, with four captured. Almost all the Shaman Dao Foundation experts had died at the hands of Eldest Senior Sister, while Yun Feifei and Xu Wan'er had each slain one. This outcome slightly surprised Wei Yuan; gentle and placid as Xu Wan'er seemed, she had actually slain a formidable foe in battle. The greatest harvest of this battle, of course, was slaying a Great Shaman. This Great Shaman was completely different from the one Wei Yuan had previously slain. He was not skilled in curses, nor was his physical body particularly strong, but he possessed extreme speed and immense destructive power. In terms of pure physical toughness, the current Wei Yuan was the foremost among their group, surpassing even Ji Liuli. If even Wei Yuan could not withstand the strike of that lizard tooth, the others would stand even less of a chance. The Great Shaman was minuscule in size and blindingly fast, giving him a distinct advantage against area-of-effect Dao arts, while also making him exceedingly hard to pin down in single combat. Unluckily for him, he had run into the Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda—unmatched in sealing and suppression—which stripped away most of his speed in a single stroke, effectively crippling the bulk of his prowess. Deprived of his speed and drawn by Bao Yun's qi traction, the Great Shaman frenziedly assaulted the Seven Marvels Treasure Tree shielding Qingming for a spell. This granted Zhang Sheng ample time to fully unleash his sword formation, subjecting the shaman to four full sword strikes and bringing him within a hair's breadth of perishing on the spot. Then, when he finally tried to flee, he happened to pick the direction where Wei Yuan stood, blundering straight into his hands. Though Wei Yuan had only recently formed his Dao Foundation, he was entirely immune to the hierarchy suppression of a Heavenly Shaman, rendering the wisp of Heavenly Shaman aura the creature used as a last-ditch lifeline largely useless. Finally, Wei Yuan wielded a branch of the celestial laurel tree—a genuine immortal relic whose status ranked above ordinary Heavenly Shamans—which shattered the dharma idol in a single blow. The Great Shaman could only be called utterly unlucky. Had his fortune been even slightly better, or had he used his life-saving methods earlier, he might have escaped with his life. Regrettably, he chose the west—where Wei Yuan stood—for his final flight; had he fled east, south, or north, though it would have been a detour, none of the others could have stopped him. Such was the effect of Ji Liuli's feng shui formation, with Bao Yun's qi traction sharing no small part of the credit. When this Great Shaman died, one could say he didn't even truly understand what had killed him. A short while later, Bao Yun and Ji Liuli returned from chasing down the remnants of the enemy force, while Xu Wan'er and Yun Feifei led their people to sweep the battlefield. The group from the Palace of Grand Beginning gathered at the mountaintop once more to review the battle. A stone platform had been set up inside the room, upon which lay the lizard, now severed into three segments. Looking at the corpse of the Great Shaman, Xiaoyu suddenly sighed. "He truly was hard to kill." During his previous trials, he had always been protected by senior experts of his family, facing at most late-Dao Foundation foes; he had never clashed head-on with a dharma idol. Only after this battle did Xiaoyu truly realize how perilous fighting foreign tribes could be. If Wei Yuan hadn't twice intercepted lethal blows on his behalf, Xiaoyu might not even be alive right now. Zhang Sheng nodded as well, saying, "Though its cultivation realm wasn't particularly high, it must have been among the hardest Great Shamans to kill. Lizards have always been renowned for their tenacity, and its reputation is well-deserved—it took four strikes of my sword and still didn't die." Ji Liuli remarked, "Your fourth sword is still only half-formed. If it were fully nurtured, you should have been able to slay it outright." Zhang Sheng shook his head nonetheless. "Its speed was too great, and I lack means of suppression. In single combat, I couldn't have kept it from fleeing—unless it sought its own doom and insisted on fighting me to the death." At this point, Wei Yuan knew the topic could not continue. Aside from innate Dao Foundations like the Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, means of suppression relied entirely on magic treasures and formation plates, every one of which cost an astronomical fortune. Master had fallen just shy of complete success in this battle, so his mood was surely far from pleasant. Bringing up anything related to money would easily make him irritable. Thus, Wei Yuan changed the subject: "His suspicion ran so deep. If I hadn't taken that blow directly, I'm afraid he still wouldn't have revealed himself." Ji Liuli glanced at Wei Yuan and said, "Little Wei Yuan's karmic destiny was what did the trick. That fellow was supposed to be exceptionally cautious and prudent, yet he was still reeled right in. Do you have any of that karmic destiny left?" Wei Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said, "None right now. But if there's the essence soul of a Great Shaman, perhaps there will be more." When the lizard's dharma idol shattered earlier, its essence soul had been taken by the Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. Though Wei Yuan also wanted it, he couldn't compete with Eldest Senior Sister for spoils. Moreover, the shadow in the moon didn't seem to show much interest, so Wei Yuan hadn't insisted. Only now that the topic had led here did Wei Yuan seize the opportunity to mention it. Ji Liuli said, "This essence soul of his is severely damaged and of dreadful quality, which shouldn't be the case by ordinary logic! He must have suffered severe injuries in the past. Still, it is the essence soul of a Great Shaman after all, and its status remains intact, so I have great use for it. The Patriarch has taken a keen interest in karmic destiny angling lately and is currently studying the related techniques. Later on, I intend to ask the Patriarch to step in and see if he can refine it into a treasure for karmic destiny angling. Then we can claim it and use it specifically to fish for Great Shamans." This was a venture of immense profit for small capital. Having tasted the benefits of karmic destiny angling many times, Wei Yuan naturally looked forward to it. The formation plate bestowed by the Immortal Monarch had finally exhausted its Dao power after angling out the Seven Stars Reincarnation Body and was now useless. Although Wei Yuan could replenish Dao power into the formation plate, at that point the plate would only have Dao Foundation status—not even sufficient to fish for small fry. The lizard Great Shaman had not a single magical artifact on his entire person. By human standards, he was utterly penniless and impoverished beyond measure. The Shaman standard, however, was different. He had refined his entire mouthful of teeth, every single one of which could be considered a decent natural artifact. The lizard's sole merit was possessing many teeth; pulling them all out would yield seventy or eighty, large and small. The most powerful tooth was the one that had pierced through Wei Yuan's body, which had already birthed spirituality inside. However, that tooth required shamanic power to manipulate; it could only be used in the future after being reforged and converted into high-grade material. Though its quality would drop by a tier, it was still far better than leaving it unusable. After the group finished reviewing the battle, their meeting concluded. At that exact moment, everyone sensed an anomaly. A hazy azure qi appeared in the sky, drizzling down like rain upon Zhang Sheng, Ji Liuli, and Bao Yun. Above Zhang Sheng's head, an ethereal immortal sword manifested; its translucent blade condensed further, now seventy percent complete. The patterns upon Ji Liuli's Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda grew even more vivid, and several more hanging cords appeared beneath the upturned eaves, though they hung empty for now, with nothing tied to them. Just then, the Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda suddenly shook, and faint golden light shone from within, as if something were about to be conceived. But with a sharp rebuke, Ji Liuli suppressed the disturbance once more. As for Bao Yun's Seven Marvels Treasure Tree, several new leaves sprouted upon it, and it grew an inch or so taller. The bestowal of heaven and earth! All three were somewhat surprised. This bestowal of heaven and earth seemed different from the records in ancient texts, being exceptionally bountiful. By volume, it was at least three times what the records described! Among the three, Zhang Sheng received half of the bestowal, as was only fair. After all, nine out of the Great Shaman's ten lives had been severed by Zhang Sheng. Ji Liuli received thirty percent, and Bao Yun received twenty percent. Yet what the three received accounted for only half of all the primordial qi of heaven and earth that descended; the remaining half fell upon the grand hall, vanishing into the boundary realm. Feeling Qingming's nurturing advance step by step, Wei Yuan felt quite helpless—Qingming had intercepted the prize once again. Although Wei Yuan derived some benefits himself, they paled in comparison to directly receiving the bestowal of heaven and earth. Seeing the three receive the bestowal, Xiaoyu was quite envious. But he had played no direct role in surrounding and slaying the Great Shaman, and the bestowal of heaven and earth took no heed of contributions made by baiting the enemy. However, when Xiaoyu noticed that Wei Yuan hadn't received any bestowal of heaven and earth either, he was somewhat astonished and habitually thought: *Has this fellow's retribution finally arrived?* The moment the thought surfaced, Xiaoyu hurriedly suppressed it. Wei Yuan had just saved him, so he couldn't be ungrateful so soon—he ought to wait at least a few days.