"Ancestral Shaman... just you wait!"
After writhing on the ground for days, Wei Yuan's true body finally managed to stand. Yet that single, simple movement caused another shower of rotted flesh to slough off him, exposing his vast, pale skeletal frame. Even the bizarre internal organs within could no longer be held in place, and several chunks plopped out with wet splatters.
Wei Yuan took two steps, pitched forward, struggled back to his feet, took two more steps, and collapsed again. Only with immense difficulty did he crawl back to the Tree of the Great Dao, barely managing to sit propped against its trunk.
A few scorched yellow leaves drifted down, floating past Wei Yuan's skull-like face.
Wei Yuan looked up, his divine sense sweeping across the Tree of the Great Dao with great difficulty, only to discover that the vast majority of its foliage had withered away. Now, bare branches stretched out everywhere; only a meager scattering of leaves still clung to life.
Wei Yuan panted for a while before catching his breath slightly. The foul fluid oozing from his body gradually diminished. He gazed out into the void, seeing dense swarms of flying boats shuttling to and fro around this Land of Vitality. Thousands of massive battleforts alone had been erected, alongside tens of thousands of void bases of every kind. Millions of dharma body puppets and engineering cultivators bustled about, while worker drones numbered in the tens of millions.
Naturally, they had not seen a trace of Wei Yuan's agonizing struggle over the past several days. Had they been able to see him, Wei Yuan would have sat stock-still beneath the Dao Tree until his dying breath without uttering a peep.
Beholding this scene brimming with vitality, Wei Yuan felt genuinely gratified. In this tribulation, although the Ancestral Shaman had used the Heavenly Dao to screw him over—shifting the portion of the tribulation originally meant for Houtu onto Wei Yuan's head—he had finally pulled through.
Houtu was an Innate Earth Saint Body, far beyond an ordinary Immortal Lord. The tribulation triggered by her descent was essentially enough to kill an Immortal Lord. Now that Wei Yuan's true body and the Tree of the Great Dao had borne the brunt of it together and endured, it meant that the overall strength of the Land of Vitality combined with Wei Yuan was already equivalent to an Immortal Lord.
Converting that, Wei Yuan felt he was currently roughly equal to half an Immortal Lord. But if even a little more tribulation were to strike, he wouldn't be able to bear it. The instant that thought crossed his mind, Wei Yuan was suddenly startled, realizing disaster was upon him.
In the Mountain domain, Fifth High Mountain tilted his ear, listening. A moment later, he said, "Second High Mountain has handed down an order commanding us to relocate mountains in several regions, moving them directly into the human grand formation."
The mountains to be moved and their target locations surfaced directly within the consciousness of the Immortal Monarchs.
Di Ran's expression shifted drastically. "Crushing those mountains down onto that massive subterranean fire vein? That will trigger a fire eruption spanning tens of thousands of li! What on earth is he thinking? Half the populace will suffer catastrophe—who knows how many will die!"
Fifth High Mountain said calmly, "The very point is for them to suffer catastrophe. Then every shred of that disaster will be pinned on Wei Yuan."
Di Ran blurted out instinctively, "How is that even possible?!"
"Second High Mountain has already obtained a promise from the Ancestral Shaman. The sacrifice of our people is well worth it."
"Those people don't even belong to your Bloodline faction! Neither you nor Second High Mountain has the right to decide their fate!"
Fifth High Mountain said, "Do you intend to defy Second High Mountain's order, or do you simply want to defect to the human race? So long as we can destroy Wei Yuan, even if every living soul across the hundred thousand li of the Mountain domain dies, it will be worth it."
Di Ran's face shifted through several expressions. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "I cannot do this! Do it yourselves!"
With that, he turned on his heel and strode away, leaving the front lines altogether.
Among the Mountain Folk, the first three High Mountains were all Immortal Lords, possessing a status far above the rest. Though Di Ran was ranked fourth, in essence he was no different from Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, or Ninth. From Five to Nine, all belonged to the Bloodline faction, banding together tightly, leaving Di Ran isolated and helpless.
Once Di Ran departed, the Immortal Monarchs hesitated no longer. Each went to their designated location to shift the mountains. Half a day later, five peaks ten thousand fathoms tall descended from the sky, crashing into the hundred-thousand-li Mountain domain!
As the towering mountains came down, the earth split open. Subterranean magma and fire surged into the sky, in some places geysering thousands of fathoms into the heavens!
Endless dense smoke blotted out the celestial vault, while the earth shook and tore apart relentlessly. Peaks collapsed one after another; the Mountain Folk living within the mountain hollows did not even have a chance to flee before sinking into the molten magma alongside their entire mountain cities!
The common folk among the hundreds of millions of Mountain Folk had no idea what was happening. They could only fall to their knees in swathes, prostrating themselves in prayer. Yet the cracking earth swallowed them whole, the spreading fire turned entire cities into seas of flame, or colossal magma meteors rained from the heavens, slamming precisely into the midst of the Mountain Folk and wiping out every life in a single stroke.
Only a tiny handful of Mountain Folk elders showed despair on their faces. They finally understood: this was no natural disaster, but divine punishment!
Vengeful spirits surfaced by the hundreds of thousands. Black qi danced wildly, all of it guided by an invisible hand and channeled toward Qingming.
Above the Mountain domain, Zhang Sheng stepped forward, holding a small banner swirled with somber, murky qi. With a gentle wave, he immediately intercepted a vast swath of black karmic qi from the air, drawing it directly into the banner.
To snatch karmic debt from the hands of the Heavenly Dao under the Ancestral Shaman's control proved that the power of this small Human Sovereign Banner was truly extraordinary.
Yet even though the Human Sovereign Banner in Zhang Sheng's hand had turned glossy black, the black karmic qi it intercepted and extracted remained a drop in the ocean. The scope of this catastrophe spanned more than forty thousand li, thoroughly triggering the largest underground fault zone. The karmic debt of vengeful spirits generated as a result was simply beyond Zhang Sheng's ability to hold back.
Still, Zhang Sheng gritted his teeth and brandished the Human Sovereign Banner, willing to let this supreme treasure be ruined if only to lighten Wei Yuan's burden by a fraction.
In the distance, Fifth High Mountain stood with the Mountain Folk Immortal Monarchs, watching from afar. Sneering, he said, "Lifting a boulder only to drop it on his own foot—Wei Yuan never expected we had this move, did he? With over a hundred million vengeful spirits, let's see how he swallows this!"
Seventh High Mountain said with venom, "Throwing himself away for Houtu's sake—serves him right!"
In the center of the grand formation, Houtu, who had been standing quietly with her eyes closed, now opened them. Looking at the karmic debt of vengeful spirits that filled the sky, she gave a light sigh and said, "Have the little pebbles nowadays really lost all decency? Turning on their own kind like this! But then again, you aren't the only ones who know how to play with karmic debt."
She parted her lips and exhaled softly, and a gentle aura instantly swept across the hundred thousand li of the Mountain domain. In that instant, a message surfaced in the minds of all the Qingming soldiers who had received her blessing that day, letting them know what had happened and the current situation.
Without a second thought, countless Qingming soldiers took a step forward, thumped their chests with their fists, and roared, "We are willing to share the Realm Lord's burden!"
"Willing to share the Realm Lord's burden!"
"Willing to share the Realm Lord's burden!"
Their battle cries shook heaven and earth. More and more Qingming soldiers joined in, their military qi soaring into the sky, slamming against the Immortal Heaven until it trembled!
Qingming had deployed over four million troops in the Mountain domain, and those were merely the frontline combat units. With the rear support and technical branches numbering even more, the grand total approached ten million soldiers.
These nearly ten million warriors—with their robust bodies and blazing vitality—accepted the vengeful spirits, karmic debt, and karmic ties arising from the Mountain domain's devastation right where they stood.
Mingled among the ten million soldiers, Wei Yuan was inadvertently averaged in, taking on the terrifying karmic debt of a whole thirty-some vengeful spirits.
Chapter 1499