Wei Yuan, clad in dark robes, stood high above the mountain domain, looking down upon the land below. Directly beneath him, the rudimentary outline of a city had already taken shape. Every functional district across the earth had been mapped out, waiting only for the boundary stone to be planted before vast numbers of people could be relocated at once.
At this moment, Wei Yuan was still dressed in dark robes. The rank and file of officers and soldiers all assumed he was their original realm lord, completely unaware that the person had in fact been swapped.
Wei Yuan cradled the boundary stone in his palm, gazing toward the six isolated peaks a thousand li away. "Once this boundary stone is planted, the grand formation will be established immediately and resonate with the other formation eyes. No matter how dim-witted those stone men are, they will realize what's happening. They're bound to launch an all-out assault to destroy our formation. No matter what, we must hold the line against their first wave of attacks."
Beside Wei Yuan, Bai Kaishui—looking like a wealthy squire—wore a troubled expression. He said slowly, "If the Mountain Folk truly mount an all-out assault while Fellow Daoist Yanshi is unable to exert his full strength, holding them off might prove rather difficult for us. In a fight of one against two, this old man can manage to scrape by, but stopping two of them from getting past is another matter entirely."
These Mountain Folk Immortal Monarchs were formidable in strength, generally a cut above human immortals, their advantage lying in the innate toughness of their dharma bodies.
Yanshi was currently unable to engage in combat, which effectively left the human side with only three immortals. Three against six would inevitably leave openings. The Mountain Folk immortals could easily send three of their number to tie down the human immortals while the remaining three broke through the blockade to destroy the formation.
So long as they destroyed the boundary stone, the grand formation could not be established; moreover, once alerted, the Mountain Folk would ensure that all prior investment went down the drain.
Wei Yuan suddenly looked toward the north and said, "With the catastrophe striking the Liao Clan, the Mountain Folk dispatched at least a dozen Immortal Monarchs over there. While most are miscellaneous immortals who couldn't rank among the Ten Absolute Peaks, together they still make up a force of significant weight. Once our grand formation is raised and upheaval shakes the Mountain Folk's heartland, those old immortals of the Liao Clan will certainly never allow those Mountain Folk immortals to return. After all, so long as they drag things out a bit, the mountain domain will suffer catastrophic damage.
"That would perfectly avenge the Mountain Folk's looting while their house was on fire.
"Looking at it this way, this catastrophe in the Liao domain truly came at the perfect time!"
The cultivators pondered this and agreed. Still, they could only chalk it up to Wei Yuan's good fortune—after all, he was a child of karmic destiny, so good luck was only to be expected.
To claim that the catastrophe in the Liao domain had been born specifically for Wei Yuan's sake would be far too extravagant.
At that moment, Yanshi appeared and said, "From the moment the boundary stone is set until the formation is fully complete will take at least three months. The Liao Clan can at most hold off the Mountain Folk immortals for two months.
"Our current battle formations are still far from adequately prepared, the front line is too close to this spot, and no defensive lines have been laid along the way. If the Mountain Folk break through, they will drive straight in unchecked. How about postponing the establishment of the formation for a few months? Once we've crippled the main force of the Mountain Folk and pushed the front line several thousand li further forward, raising the formation then would be the safest course."
Wei Yuan shook his head. "Out of the question! We may not be fully prepared, but neither are the Mountain Folk. Besides, who says we need three months?"
Wei Yuan spoke quite bluntly, lacking even the bare minimum of respect toward Yanshi. Both Bai Kaishui and Xuanyue frowned slightly, but after glancing at Wei Yuan, neither said anything.
Although Yanshi was the acting Palace Master of the Palace of Grand Beginning, he had no intention of demanding Wei Yuan's unconditional obedience with a single word, choosing instead to persuade him patiently.
Meanwhile, the cultivators seized the moment to discuss tactical divisions to avoid being caught off guard when the time came. Right in the middle of their discussion, they suddenly saw Wei Yuan flick his wrist, and that boundary stone plummeted straight down!
As the boundary stone sank into the earth, the entire city resonated at once. A wave of ripples rapidly expanded outward, reaching hundreds of thousands of li away in the span of a few breaths!
Then, within the Domain of the Mountain Folk, beams of light rose one after another, ultimately coalescing into six colossal pillars of light that pierced the sky, clearly visible even from a thousand li away!
The entire northeastern corner of the mountain domain began to tremble as a terrifying grand formation spanning tens of thousands of li slowly manifested.
Wei Yuan's abrupt move caught even the human immortals off guard, to say nothing of the Mountain Folk. When the Mountain Folk Immortal Monarchs realized that this terrifying grand formation was actually meant to plunder the spiritual essence of a hundred thousand li of the mountain domain, shock and fury consumed them. Massive figures rose from the ground one after another, taking great strides as they charged toward Wei Yuan at full speed.
Leading the charge was the Ninth High Mountain, whose dharma body was exceptionally massive and tough. Each step taken by this stone giant hundreds of zhang tall caused the earth to quake.
Behind it followed the Seventh High Mountain, which was comparatively far more slender and petite, not even a hundred zhang tall; viewed from a distance, it did not even reach the knees of the giant ahead. As it sprinted forward soundlessly, two immortal artifacts gleaming with an eerie red light suddenly appeared right before it!
It cried out and moved to defend itself, but it was already too late. The two immortal artifacts struck it squarely and detonated with a thunderous roar!
Blinding brilliance turned everything within a thousand li into a world of pure white. Even an immortal's divine sense began to burn, suffering piercing agony. Ordinary Scenery Command cultivators all cried out in agony as their souls were damaged, while numerous dharma idols fell directly to the ground, unable to rise.
Fortunately, the several thousand Golden Cores in the Qingming Army, possessing weak divine senses, were spared the lethality of the white light.
Once the intense light faded, less than half of the mountain domain's Seventh High Mountain remained. Its left arm and shoulder were gone without a trace, and a massive gaping hole had opened at its waist and hips, its dharma body having been vaporized outright!
This Seventh High Mountain didn't even have time to scream before it spun around and fled!
The self-detonation of two genuine immortal artifacts had left it gravely wounded; if it did not flee immediately, the damage would reach its foundation or even cost its life. When the Mountain Folk immortals first caught sight of the formation, they had reacted in sheer shock and rage, intervening immediately. Leading the charge was the Ninth High Mountain, the most resilient among them, while the strongest, the Fifth High Mountain, trailed behind the Seventh, shielding the Seventh in the middle—for its dharma body was the weakest, even though its combat prowess was formidable.
This was their fundamental tactical understanding. Yet because everything happened so abruptly, the Mountain Folk immortals in their fury failed to scout their surroundings carefully, falling straight into Zhu Yan's ambush.
Zhu Yan truly lived up to his reputation as an assassin who had ascended to immortality. One moment he was beside Wei Yuan, and the next he had already lain in wait along the path the Mountain Folk Immortal Monarchs had to take. He let the Ninth High Mountain ahead pass by, sparing no expense to detonate two genuine immortal artifacts to severely wound the Seventh, knocking it straight out of the battle.
Everything happened too fast. In the blink of an eye, the Mountain Folk had lost an Immortal Monarch. Yet on the battlefield, five against three still gave them the upper hand.
The Fifth High Mountain made a split-second decision and called out, "I'll take Xuanyue! Ninth and Tenth, stall the other two at all costs! The rest of you, go smash the formation!"
The five Mountain Folk Immortal Monarchs scattered, each lunging toward their target. At the same time, along the sprawling battle lines, artillery roared anew as the Mountain Folk army launched a full-scale counteroffensive.
The two unengaged Mountain Folk Immortal Monarchs ignored everything else, trampling directly over the Qingming defensive line as they pounced toward the newly planted boundary stone. Beneath their feet, hundreds of rays of karmic luck flared up and countless souls were scattered to the wind, but at this point, they could not care less about this bit of karmic debt.
Watching the giants rushing toward him, Wei Yuan revealed that somewhat sinister smile once more. With a flick of his finger, all five floating vessels hovering in the sky opened their ventral bays, and numerous gigantic skeletons dropped from the holds.
Densely packed runes were carved across every bone. They flew and interlocked on their own, and in the blink of an eye, two skeletal giants hundreds of zhang tall at the immortal rank assembled before them!
The two Mountain Folk Immortal Monarchs were utterly shocked. The two sets of remains before them were unmistakably immortal remains—where had these come from?
However, they soon noticed that one of the skeletons was powerful but ancient, having suffered severe loss of immortal power. The other was youthful and fresh, seemingly from someone who had died not long ago, but its immortal power was not particularly strong to begin with.
Even if those two had come back to life, they would be no match for the two Mountain Folk Immortal Monarchs, let alone after being refined into puppets post-mortem. Even with these two puppets added, they could not stop two of the Mountain Folk's High Mountains.
Yet Wei Yuan gave another cold sneer. Two crimson beams shot from his eyes, landing on each of the puppets. A layer of eerie bright red washed over the skeletal giants—fire devoid of heat, yet thrumming with terrifying vitality. And at that moment, from the unfathomable depths beyond the heavens, some bizarre, inexplicably powerful entities seemed to cast their gaze across the void, fixing upon the two immortal puppets.
As if echoing that gaze, the red light upon the puppets truly came alive. As though possessed of its own will, it began sizing up the two Mountain Folk Immortal Monarchs. It felt as if a famished beast had finally laid eyes upon living, moving prey.
The gaze came from the red light; the immortal bone puppets had their own eyes, which remained dull and rigid.
In an instant, even though the strength of the two immortal bone puppets had not changed in the slightest, the two Mountain Folk Immortal Monarchs felt their hair stand on end, seized by the sole urge to turn and flee!
This red was the light of catastrophe.
Chapter 1490