A giant hand that rightfully should have appeared in the previous chapter arrived late, yet arrived nonetheless, seizing the blade-light in a single grasp.
Xiaoyu had narrowly escaped death, but his heart was filled with conflicting emotions.
True to a strike from an immortal, the blade-light leapt and thrashed relentlessly, trying to break free from the giant hand. The hand was slashed until dripping with blood, yet it continually regenerated without delay, locking both sides in a stalemate.
Wei Yuan stepped out from high in the sky, loosely clenching one hand in the exact posture of the thousand-zhang-tall giant hand above.
With effortless composure, Wei Yuan said, "In a clash between two nations, the main forces haven't even taken the field, yet immortal methods are already being brought out? In such a rush, aren't you afraid of showing your hand?"
The commanders of both sides, whether Tuli or Xiaoyu, stared at Wei Yuan in equal measures of shock and fury.
From this exchange of arts, one could see that Wei Yuan's Dao power still fell slightly short of immortal power. Yet the immortal saber was deteriorating rapidly, covered in fractures in the blink of an eye. In terms of overall reserves, it was clearly no match for Wei Yuan at all.
Wei Yuan exerted his strength, and with a squeeze of the giant hand, the blade-light burst into nothingness, neutralizing the strike.
Morale among the Liao cavalry plummeted instantly. Compounded by heavy casualties under the firepower barrage, they began retreating in droves without awaiting orders. The turn of events had come too swiftly; Xiaoyu had originally planned to defend first, keeping all high-mobility units in the rear, making pursuit rather difficult now.
Wei Yuan casually issued a few commands. The battle formation shifted in an instant—the left wing moved left and the right wing moved right, clearing a corridor straight through the center. Then, numerous new-model land-traversing flying boats engaged full power, howling forth in a direct charge toward the routed Liao army.
Only after deploying the troops in pursuit did Wei Yuan look toward Tuli and say, "The Great Khan surely didn't leave only this single contingency. Whatever else you have, bring it all out. If you truly have nothing left, then don't think of leaving."
Tuli roared in shock and fury, "Then let me show you the might of a hero of the snow realm!"
In an instant, the world within a hundred li changed color as the temperature plummeted. Every snowflake swelled tenfold, turning into deadly snowblades. Tuli had already unleashed his true spirit authority, manipulating the surrounding chill and lacing it with the sharp bite of metal. Every snowflake was as keen as a blade's edge, rivaling the sabers of Liao cavalry!
Yet when the snowblades struck the Qingming military qi, most of their power was neutralized. Tuli was startled, fear taking root in his heart. The ability of military qi to dispel the true spirit spells of late-stage Scenery Command was something he had only ever seen in the God-Slaying Warriors of the Golden Tent.
"So it is Bitter Frost and Keen Edge. To awaken two true spirits makes you a prodigy, and you once had hopes of reaching immortality. What a pity," Wei Yuan sighed, gently tapping a finger.
A colossal Dharma God suddenly materialized in midair, crowned with flaming red hair that surged like fire. By Liao Clan standards, its visage was downright hideous and terrifying. Tuli paled on the spot. "Hongmo! You... you didn't return to the Realm of Dharma Gods?!"
Hongmo gave a savage grin. "This old lady is living quite well right now! For a little runt like you to recognize me—well, then you can't be left alive!"
"I... I—" All of Tuli's momentum evaporated; he didn't even have the courage to flee.
Hongmo abruptly turned into a beam of light that shot through Tuli's body, tearing his divine soul right out with her teeth!
With a flick of her head, Hongmo tossed Tuli's divine soul and true spirit straight into the Splendor of the Many Realms, then turned and vanished.
Deprived of its soul, Tuli's physical form spontaneously grew its own crude spirit and turned to flee. But Wei Yuan merely stirred his authority over time, reducing the body's movement to a mere hundred zhang over the span of a breath. By the time its flow of time returned to normal, it had already fallen into Wei Yuan's palm.
Wei Yuan gestured, and a flying boat descended. He tossed Tuli's physical remains aboard, where labor cultivators would seal, clean, process, slice, study, convert to medicine, auction, and secretly auction the corpse.
Having finished this, Wei Yuan lightly brushed his hands, dusting off nonexistent specks of dirt, and turned to Xiaoyu. "The enemy chieftain is slain and the obstacles cleared. Why haven't you advanced?"
Xiaoyu glanced toward the ground. The army had already split into dozens of detachments, each executing different maneuvers. After a dizzying sequence of movements, they automatically assembled into an offensive formation. Ten thousand of the fastest template heavy infantry set out first, closely trailing the land-traversing flying boats ahead, followed by light chariots, heavy chariots, artillery carriages, and the rearguard.
The only thing left for Xiaoyu to do was summon the logistical forces three hundred li away to establish another supply depot along the shores of the Blue Sea.
Just as Xiaoyu prepared to fly over and give the order, word arrived that the forces there were already breaking camp. Needless to say, this too was Wei Yuan's doing.
Seeing Xiaoyu still standing in place, Wei Yuan said, "An army cannot go without its head. You had better catch up with the vanguard. So long as you remain within the military qi, not even a strike from Silver Moon can kill you."
Xiaoyu nodded silently and flew off in pursuit of the army.
Halfway there, Star Lord Shaoyang finally spoke up. "Why didn't you say earlier that as a realm lord, he shouldn't risk himself, and tell him to go back where he came from?"
Xiaoyu snapped crossly, "Could you have blocked that blade-strike just now?"
Star Lord Shaoyang felt somewhat embarrassed and cursed, "That was a strike from Silver Moon, a future Immortal Lord! Who could block that?"
"That barbarian did."
"He's different—" Star Lord Shaoyang got out only half a sentence before falling silent.
Xiaoyu had already caught up with the pursuing force and traveled alongside the ranks. Seeing his grim expression, Star Lord Shaoyang couldn't resist asking, "Don't you feel like we're basically live bait?"
Xiaoyu flared up in rare fury. "So what if we're bait? There's nothing wrong with that! Our foremost priority right now is finding an opportunity to break into Scenery Command! If we don't reach Scenery Command, we won't even qualify to be bait in the future! At such a critical juncture, you're still babbling about nonsense—no wonder a Star Lord like you ended up in such a sorry state!"
Star Lord Shaoyang grew angry as well. "What sorry state? I'm still doing better than Taiyin!"
Xiaoyu drew out his words mockingly. "You can't beat Taiyin."
"I—"
"You just can't beat Taiyin!"
Star Lord Shaoyang fell silent. For now, Taiyin was clearly not yet awakened, operating purely on bodily instinct. Yet even so, he was no match for her. Once Taiyin fully awakened, she might very well beat him into the sun.
The Qingming soldiers below were oblivious to the inner friction of their commander. All they saw was Xiaoyu flying steadily above the battle lines, personally sharing the frontline danger. Morale soared, and their pursuit grew remarkably fierce.
As the fleeing Liao cavalry ran for their lives ahead, a colossal behemoth suddenly roared past them with a deafening whoosh!
These massive machines bypassed the ordinary Liao cavalry, pursuing the Dao foundation centurions directly. Once close, they unleashed salvos of high-powered flying swords, systematically harvesting the Dao foundation officers.
Many Dao foundation centurions and chiliarchs had originally hesitated to abandon their warriors, but now they had no choice. Many fled at full speed, even abandoning their mounts.
Yet the land-traversing flying boats accelerated in tandem, easily running down the Liao Dao foundation cultivators before reaping their lives.
The Liao riders were scared out of their wits. Never before had they seen war machines so massive and bulky move as swift as the wind, outpacing even the finest Liao horses.
These land-traversing flying boats roared back and forth across the plains; they weren't simply running fast—they were practically flying low to the ground.
The four hundred thousand Liao iron cavalry crumbled at the first touch. Wei Yuan, however, felt a wave of doubt. He had probed with extreme caution and rejected hundreds of plans before painstakingly assembling this vanguard legion, yet it felt as if his punch had landed on soft cotton.
Was that it?
Wei Yuan firmly believed that Silver Moon could not possess so few tricks—or perhaps, in this lifetime, this was all he had. At this thought, a rather sinister idea crossed his mind: if he forced Silver Moon to expose his strength ahead of time, even if it meant tapping into just one territory reserved for his reincarnations, the Immortal Lords were no fools and would surely dig up all similar hidden cards.
When that happened, what would the Golden Tent's Heavenly Khan think? What would the Grand National Preceptor think? What would the khans of the various Liao Clan khanates think?
Acting decisively, Wei Yuan cast down a boundary stone and planted it at the snow mountain pass, bisecting the Three Rivers Khanate on the spot. At the same time, the interior of Qingming sprang into motion. Vast fleets of flying boats set out, laden with construction materials and hundreds of thousands of troops specialized in reclamation and building, all heading for the snow mountain pass.
Wei Yuan intended to use this site as an advance base, mobilizing the army northward at a speed Silver Moon could never anticipate, striking directly into Silver Moon's lair to force out his hidden contingencies.
Chapter 1377