In the end, Star Lord Shaoyang still joined the Dao Court. Beneath the Combat Bodhisattva, within the only current Arhat seat, he took up the position of Third Deputy Arhat. Put simply, he was made a deputy to Tuoba Hong, who was merely in the early Dharma Idol stage. The first and second deputy positions were currently vacant. Star Lord Shaoyang's sword strike had indeed brought severe consequences, slashing his standing from Deputy Arhat all the way down to Third Deputy Arhat.
At this moment, Star Lord Shaoyang had not yet realized the gravity of the situation, fully believing that only a single tier separated Third Deputy Arhat from Arhat, when in truth there were three.
As for why he still joined the Dao Court, it was naturally for merit, for his dao path, and to smoothly return to his station and reunite with his true body.
In Star Lord Shaoyang's mind, lowering his head for the sake of his dao path was nothing to be ashamed of.
Just as Wei Yuan was preparing to go out and finish off Shuangya, Ji Liuli suddenly sent a voice transmission through divine sense: "What Third Deputy Arhat? Isn't that just a mighty warrior?"
Wei Yuan replied, "In terms of promotional ranks, that's true, but right now there are several mighty warriors who show great promise and should be promoted ahead of Shaoyang."
Ji Liuli gave a cold snort. "Then why didn't you just give him a mighty warrior position directly?"
Wei Yuan chuckled. "Then he most likely wouldn't have come, and wouldn't that make Xiaoyu sad?"
"As if you care whether Xiaoyu is sad or not! If you ask me, you just want to keep Shaoyang under your thumb so you can get even for that sword strike!"
"Am I really such a petty man?" Wei Yuan retorted, sounding righteous and dignified.
Within the snowy, icy domain, another great sun rose. This time, an eerie vitality emanated from within it. For a moment, Shuangya and her companions felt as though they were being watched by a natural predator; a chill seeped into their very bones, and their divine senses lagged for an instant!
Immediately after, an enormous hand ten thousand zhang wide descended from the sky, splitting into three, and slapped Shuangya and the other two straight out of the air!
This palm strike was profoundly wondrous beyond description. As it fell, Shuangya and Yinya plummeted merely a hundred zhang, yet their physical bodies, divine senses, mind-manifested worlds, and true spirits were each torn apart and separated. Only the ugly woman plunged headfirst into the earth; though looking grievously injured, she at least managed to keep her life.
Wei Yuan casually collected the souls and divine senses of the two Liao cultivators, dispersed their mind-manifested worlds, and swept all the dissipated spiritual power into his sleeves. Next, he captured the two ice-and-snow true spirits and threw them into the Ancient Full Moon as an offering to his "Mother." Finally, he gave the two physical corpses a vigorous shake, shaking out all the treasures on them, and froze the bodies using their own frosty true intent, preparing to send them back to Qingming for deep processing.
The series of movements was smooth and fluid like flowing water; in the blink of an eye, two high cultivators of Scenery Command had been turned into raw materials. Only the Liao woman blasted into the earth had escaped death, subdued and captured by Wei Yuan.
Catching Xiaoyu's questioning look, Wei Yuan said, "Leaving a survivor."
Xiaoyu believed him, not considering at all that Wei Yuan's strength had actually fallen short and he couldn't kill all three in a single blow.
Though the three Liao cultivators' mind-manifested worlds had collapsed, the chill lingered and refused to disperse; in the decades to come, this place would likely remain a perilous expanse of biting frost.
Ji Liuli and Xiaoyu flew over to Wei Yuan's side and asked where they were heading next. Wei Yuan smiled faintly. "No rush. Let's wait for Martial Uncle Chuhe first. He will be here shortly."
The three waited for nearly half a day before Chuhe finally arrived, draped in multicolored light and taking his time.
Wei Yuan looked the old Daoist Chuhe up and down, eyeing the multicolored glow of his merit, and said solemnly, "Martial Uncle, this time, I'm afraid most of your merit will be consumed."
Chuhe chuckled. "No matter. I never really cared about gaining merit anyway; I just wanted to get more things done. As for today's matter, I couldn't quite see through it at first, but after thinking it over, I came around."
Xiaoyu grew curious and asked, "What matter could consume so much merit?"
"You will see in a moment."
Chuhe looked out at the prairie around them that resembled a silver lake, and at the spirit beasts and spirit birds seen everywhere across the grasslands, and sighed. "This matter does indeed go against heavenly harmony. But the heavens of this realm have never been a single entity. Since it is the heaven of the Liao Clan, even if it brings harm, harm it we must. If we don't harm it, we harm the heaven of our human race."
Wei Yuan bowed immediately and said, "That Martial Uncle could think through this point truly shows great wisdom."
"No time to waste, let us begin."
Chuhe nodded, then waved his wide sleeve. An invisible breeze immediately swept across the prairie, brushing waves of ripples across the silver grass.
Suddenly, a speck of golden-yellow appeared at the tips of the swaying silver blades, and across the entire silver sea, countless fine flecks of golden starlight blinked into being.
The golden-yellow spread rapidly. Moments later, it dyed the entire plants; by then, the topmost tips of the leaves had withered to yellow and begun to crack.
In less than an hour, as far as the eye could see, the silver sea of grass had turned into a withered, yellow world of death. And the blighting continued to spread rapidly into the distance—a hundred li, a thousand li, and even farther.
Clusters of black qi billowed from the void, falling onto Chuhe, while thunder rumbled out of a clear sky above as a heavenly tribulation began to brew.
The black qi was like ink; wherever it landed, it snuffed out a patch of the multicolored glow of merit. Yet at this moment, boundless multicolored light welled ceaselessly from within Chuhe, bearing the brunt of all the black qi!
Xiaoyu looked on in shock. That black qi was pure karma and calamity qi; tainted by even a trace, one would be targeted by the heavens and earth, spelling ruin for one's dao path. Only Chuhe could withstand it so bluntly through sheer merit—even Wei Yuan could not do so. Karmic luck was karmic luck, and karma was karma; they could not cancel each other out.
Looking closer, Xiaoyu noticed countless microscopic particles emerging within those withered yellow blades of grass. After falling to the earth, they clung to the roots of the frost silver grass, constantly altering the composition of the soil and even beginning to absorb and exhale the earth qi.
Seeing his confusion, Wei Yuan explained, "This is a virus specially engineered to target frost silver grass. Enhanced by Martial Uncle's innate divine ability, its potency was amplified a hundredfold."
Wei Yuan pulled up a stalk of withered frost silver grass and gently snapped it. Within the leaf appeared numerous filaments so fine they were barely visible. Wei Yuan said, "After the frost silver grass withers and dies, it produces these indigestible filaments. If the Liao horses eat them, these filaments will pierce through the stomach wall and enter their bloodstream and bodies. Though it won't kill them, they will be crippled with chronic illness from then on, unable to set foot on a battlefield again."
To be this ruthless... Xiaoyu had no words. He watched as the blight upon the silver grass spread farther and wider; many birds, flying mid-air, suddenly tumbled from the sky, blood pouring from their beaks.
Wei Yuan wore a solemn expression, his smile long gone. Chuhe looked equally grave, yet he continued to stir the gentle breeze, sending it out in every direction.
Several days later, across nearly ten thousand li at the center of the Frost Silver Prairie, a blighted yellow expanse had appeared, engulfing even the Sea of the Moon to the north along with it. Wei Yuan stood guard for Chuhe the entire time, staying to protect him until the very end before departing.
While the prairie was withering, the Qingming army had already departed the Royal Court and marched north toward the mountain range north of the Sea of the Moon. That was the path Yinyue had to take to ride south to the rescue; Wei Yuan intended to seize the mountain pass in advance, forcing the Liao cavalry heading south into a defensive battle of positions against him.
For this battle, Wei Yuan held nothing back, transporting millions of artillery shells from the rear. In this campaign, Wei Yuan was prepared to wipe out Yinyue's core personal forces at all costs.
By then, with the ancestral temple dismantled, the prairie destroyed, his reincarnated body fallen into Wei Yuan's hands, and his meticulously nurtured core troops wiped out, Yinyue's account would be thoroughly ruined.
Chapter 1386