In another corner out of Wusuo's sight, space had turned completely into an intertwining weave of black and white, distinct yet sharply separated. Within this black-and-white world, everything was constantly disintegrating into ever-smaller particles. Even immortal power could not withstand the grinding attrition of the twin powers of yin and yang, gradually disassembled, crushed, and broken down to become part of yin and yang.
Inside the array stood a young woman, her face filled with terror as she watched countless minute fissures fracture the immortal array beneath her feet. Tiny cubes, either black or white, drifted up into the sky as the immortal array slowly crumbled away. Even as she exerted every effort to stop it, she suddenly saw black and white particles continuously shedding from the back of her own hand, and let out a shrill scream.
She attempted to flee at once, yet every time a void-escape array was close to forming, it was eroded and dispersed by the yin-yang twin qi. Left with no other choice, she could only resort to the crudest method: flying away.
At that moment, the properties of the yin-yang twin qi suddenly shifted, slowing her flight speed by a hundredfold. Fortunately, the limits of the yin-yang twin qi finally showed—when its spatial stagnation was pushed to the extreme, the rate of erosion slowed considerably.
Wusuo could not see what was happening here, but seeing two companions plunge into desperate straits one after the other was more than enough. Rings of colored light erupted from him one after another, frantically obliterating the avatars swarming in. As more and more avatar puppets closed in, Wusuo gritted his teeth and resolutely detonated both of his legs!
With the propelling force of the storm of immortal light, Wusuo accelerated sharply and finally broke free of the tractor zone!
Yet just then, an enormous, all-encompassing world abruptly materialized in the distant void—one virtually indistinguishable from a true, great world!
Wei Yuan manifested Splendor of the Many Realms, swallowing whole the expanse of void containing Star Sand. The scattered specks of star sand had nowhere to run and were entirely devoured by Splendor of the Many Realms.
Wusuo was horrified. He swallowed Star Sand alive!
A considerable portion of Star Sand's true body was still alive. Swallowing him alive like this, wasn't he afraid Star Sand would wreak havoc and revolt within his mindscape world?
Before Wusuo could recover from his shock, he saw Wei Yuan standing right before him. Sizing Wei Yuan up, Wusuo did not even flee immediately, his face instead etched with bewilderment. He wondered why Star Sand hadn't blown up this fellow's mindscape world yet and burst out of his skull.
Wei Yuan chuckled. "Still waiting for that fellow to break out? You don't need to wait."
Before Wusuo could speak, his body suddenly felt tens of thousands of times heavier. Worse still, every single particle of his body had become laden with karma, unimaginably heavy. Below him, an infinite force dragged him downward into an endless descent.
Looking down, Wusuo saw an ethereal domain unfold below. Directly underneath lay a boundless, vast sea, where specks of blue light flickered across the waters. Yet every speck of blue was fleeing desperately, with no intention whatsoever of coalescing.
Wusuo was utterly shocked. Was that Star Sand? Inside the mindscape world of a mere Scenery Command cultivator, what on earth was he afraid of? What was he fleeing from?
The pressure surged to infinity in an instant. Suffering a splitting headache, Wusuo screamed, and a halo of five-colored light exploded around him, barely fending off the crushing pressure. His body was reduced to nothing but a severed head.
The head immediately fled, rocketing far away from Wei Yuan into the depths of the void.
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the distant sword light finally catch up to his other companion. With a gentle slice, the companion popped like a bubble, vanishing into nothingness!
Wusuo shuddered violently. What kind of sword was that? How could it be so vicious, so ferocious, to obliterate an immortal body in a single strike? But before the thought could finish, the sword light curved around and came speeding straight toward him!
Scared out of his wits, Wusuo then came to his senses and gave a self-mocking smile. "We're so far apart, what am I afraid of? Can it really catch up to me?"
That was the final thought of his life.
Wei Yuan brushed past Zhang Sheng, appearing above the domain of black and white. As his mindscape world expanded, the power of yin and yang surged dramatically, quickly disassembling the woman until she was in tatters.
Reaching out, Wei Yuan caught the woman's only remaining part—her head—and demanded, "Who are you, and where do you come from? Answer honestly, and I can spare your life!"
The woman suddenly gave an eerie smile. "Stupid lowborn scum, threatening me with life and death? Do you still not know that life and death are meaningless?"
Her head detonated violently. Under the scour of five-colored immortal light, a layer of Wei Yuan's flesh was instantly scorched away, leaving only his face untouched.
Wei Yuan's body recovered in the blink of an eye, but the scorched and eroded parts would take time to temper, so the injury from this strike was not light.
Still, he exhaled a long breath. At last, all four enemies had been brought down here. Without the four immortals directing them, every summoned giant that fell was one fewer to face, and the exceptionally formidable sin-beasts were steadily slain. Their morale soaring, the cultivators fought with grim determination. After another full day of bitter battle, they finally slaughtered every last sin-beast.
With the great battle concluded, the time came to tally the spoils and losses. Wei Yuan felt reluctant, dreading the staggering casualty figures, but ultimately gritted his teeth and began the count.
In this campaign, nineteen thousand Engineering Laymen had taken the field, with fewer than a thousand held back for various reasons—virtually all forces deployed.
In the end, seventeen thousand five hundred were lost. Over ninety percent of the avatars were destroyed, and among them nearly three thousand true spirits were destroyed, equivalent to perishing completely.
Of the one thousand three hundred Earth Tier and Heaven Tier avatar puppets, more than nine hundred were destroyed, and two hundred and seventy-five true spirits were wiped out.
It was an unprecedentedly grievous loss, but the harvest was equally unprecedented. Calculated purely in units of immortal power, either Wusuo or Star Sand alone was enough to cover all the losses. While the other two's immortal power and cultivation were slightly inferior to Wusuo and Star Sand, they were not far behind. As for the sin-beasts and summoned giants, by now they were merely bonuses.
The harvest from this battle was enough to forge ten thousand Heaven Tier avatars!
However, the most pressing task was to steady morale and hearts. Wei Yuan pondered for a moment, setting aside the idea of giving an inspiring speech. Instead, he immediately unveiled the battle's kill leaderboard: the top one hundred Heaven and Earth Tier avatars and the top one hundred Engineering Laymen would receive bonus rewards—an upgrade of one tier to their cultivation aptitudes!
This was an unprecedented reward. The moment the leaderboard was posted, the entire Expedition Hall fell dead silent. People could scarcely believe their eyes, yet the board conveyed true intent rather than mere words.
The aptitude boost ranged from elevating a Mortal Tier dharma idol to an Earth Tier dharma idol; if one already possessed an Earth Tier dharma idol, it could advance another half-step, potentially leaping straight into the Heaven Tier.
As for the Engineering Laymen, the aptitude increase would elevate an Earth Tier Dao Foundation to a Heaven Tier Dao Foundation, effectively throwing wide the door to the dharma idol realm.
This was an advancement of one's Dao path, and there were two hundred spots in total! The Expedition Hall erupted in excitement in an instant; the dead were immediately forgotten.
Furthermore, the notice explained that this operated on a cumulative system: merit points redeemed were wiped clean, while unspent points rolled over to the next period. This meant that even without top-notch talent, as long as one was diligent, had a bit of luck, and did not perish prematurely, sooner or later one could redeem an aptitude upgrade.
A prompt already chimed throughout Expedition Hall: "Cultivators on the leaderboard, please report immediately to the nearest Qingming Castellan's Estate. You will receive special protection and undergo preparations before aptitude enhancement. For the five cultivators who have perished, one direct blood relative from their family may be designated to inherit the reward."
At the same time, Wei Yuan issued a notice to all beings within Splendor of the Many Realms: dig for sand. Anyone who found or captured grains of Star Sand's avatar sand—dead or alive—could turn in three grains to receive cultivation feedback equivalent to the value of one grain.
Those sand grains were exceptionally solid, each equivalent to an avatar of Star Sand, and none below the realm of an immortal could refine them. Wei Yuan planned to offer most of them to his mother; when she could take no more, he would hand the remainder to Immortal Monarch Yanshi for refinement.
Finally, he would keep three to five grains sealed away, neither refined nor released. Star Sand's kind of avatar possessed a thousand virtues, but it also had one fatal flaw: so long as even a single grain remained, he could not achieve release to reincarnate.
By holding onto those final few grains, Wei Yuan could negotiate terms at his leisure. Having fallen into Wei Yuan's hands, even dying was not so easy.
Chapter 1436