"Those Mountain Folk really are ruthless! Even against their own people, they could strike with such cruelty."
Inside Qingming Immortal City, the red-eyed Wei Yuan sighed with feeling, then returned to that unassuming hall, stepping into the darkness beyond the doorway.
Immediately after, another Wei Yuan walked out of the hall. One of his eyes was gray and the other black; his aura was weathered and ancient, carrying an inkling of primordial chaos. As they brushed past each other, the red-eyed Wei Yuan seemed somewhat surprised, casting an extra glance at his back.
Within the dark hall, several Wei Yuans bowed in unison and murmured, "Thank you for your hard work."
Once the red-eyed Wei Yuan took his seat, the Hongmo incarnation, dressed in black robes with a red lining, remarked, "Now that the dust has settled out there, letting you continue to wander outside might stir up trouble, so recalling you is something everyone can understand. But none of us could see why the situation outside was truly so dire as to warrant releasing that one just now."
The red-eyed Wei Yuan replied, "My divine abilities stem from the Evil Sun Heavenly Pillar; it's only natural that outsiders would be wary of me—"
Hongmo cut in bluntly, "Natural, my foot! You weren't called back because of your divine abilities—it was because of that mouth of yours! If we had let you stay out there any longer, what little pitiful reputation Sky Azure Hall has left would be completely ruined."
"Tch!" Evil Sun scoffed dismissively. "Sky Azure Hall still has a reputation?"
Several Wei Yuans simultaneously wore expressions that said, *We truly couldn't let you stay outside.*
Hongmo said, "The few of us are all essentially the original body; strictly speaking, we merely differ in temperament and innate divine abilities. But that one is different. She is truly capable of existing independently. Once released, she might never return."
At that, Evil Sun fell silent as well. Only after a moment did he say, "I'm merely a petty demon from beyond the heavens. For major matters like this, go ask the true body."
The other Wei Yuans rolled their eyes in unison. Hongmo said unsparingly, "We've lost contact with the true body right now, and you're still spouting this nonsense? Once the true body recovers, we ought to just dissolve you altogether!"
Evil Sun gave a snort, then turned solemn. "Before losing contact, the true body abruptly decided to let that one out. It was very likely related to this: Houtu might have spun out of control."
***
The dust had settled in the Mountain domain, but for the human race, the great upheaval was only just beginning.
And the greatest transformation was that the pillar of the human immortal realm had shifted.
Once the Martial Ancestor's restrictions were lifted, the Venerable Master had briefly become the only overt Immortal Lord, naturally seen by many as their anchoring pillar.
The surrounding alien races all possessed Immortal Lords. It was only because an abrupt calamity had descended upon the Liao domain, embroiling the Shamans, the Liao, and the Sea Clan in all-out war, while the Mountain Folk were consumed by internal strife, that the Immortal Lords of those great races could not spare their attention. Yet calamities would eventually come to an end, and when that day arrived, a human race without an Immortal Lord would likely once again become meat on the chopping block.
Now, the Venerable Master had been severely wounded by Wei Yuan's grand curse of karmic luck and his whereabouts were unknown, while Houtu had completed her descent. However, this method of summoning was unprecedented, conceived out of thin air by the prodigies among Qingming's template Golden Dan cultivators; thus, the assembly of immortals had little clarity regarding Houtu's current condition.
Yet one thing was certain: Houtu truly possessed the status of an Immortal Lord, and she had manifested it unmistakably.
Once the subterranean fire disaster stirred up by the Mountain Folk gradually subsided, the gaze with which the human immortals viewed Qingming quietly shifted. After all, the human race's pillar was now in Wei Yuan's hands.
Thus, throughout heaven and earth, most of the malice Wei Yuan had once felt dissipated, replaced everywhere by sincere warmth and smiling faces.
*There really are more good people in this world after all...* Wei Yuan murmured wistfully, before puncturing the illusion himself. How many good people existed in the world simply depended on where one stood. Looking down from above, everyone was a good person.
In the Mountain domain, the summoning grand formation formed by six grand cities had already lost its function, yet the cities still stood. Furthermore, because their innate spiritual essence had been plundered and the worldly power across a hundred thousand li was drastically weakened, the corresponding reach of the human boundary stones expanded noticeably.
This phenomenon had already drawn the attention of Qingming's researchers, who began using it to analyze the foreign realm's Heavenly Dao.
Among the six grand cities, the one situated centrally to the rear had already been designated by Wei Yuan as the core of the Mountain domain. When conditions matured in the future, it would become the administrative seat of an all-new Mountain Prefecture.
The city's initial plan spanned fifty li across. Under the Dao arts of numerous Golden Dan architects, a grandly scaled lord's manor had been completed in no time at all. At this moment, in a pavilion within the rear garden, Wei Yuan, Houtu, and Zhang Sheng sat around a round table, sipping tea and enjoying the scenery in harmonious accord.
Holding her teacup, Houtu glanced at the archaic, weathered Wei Yuan, then at the ethereal, aloof Zhang Sheng, and asked playfully, "Aren't you two going to fight?"
Zhang Sheng kept silent, while Wei Yuan raised his eyebrows and said, "Why would we fight?"
Houtu smiled faintly. "Spiritual communion alone was one thing. But bringing it out into the open can't be good, can it? You can actually stomach this?"
Zhang Sheng finally broke her silence and said, "She is formed from the yin and yang of the Great Dao's origin; she is well qualified to hold a seat."
Houtu chuckled softly. "That doesn't quite sound right! Could it be that just having a fierce origin and exalted status is enough to claim a seat? If you put it that way, there's another stunning beauty of a sword cultivator in that boy's mind-manifested world! And next, could I take a seat as well?"
Zhang Sheng had never expected Houtu to be so brazen, and not being adept at verbal sparring herself, she could only remain silent for the moment.
Though Zhang Sheng could not win the argument, there was another formidable figure present. Wei Yuan chimed in, "It isn't out of the question for Elder Sister to come in as well. It's just that I wonder whether, after sleeping for so long, Elder Sister can still adapt to the world today. How about this: once that boy wakes up, Elder Sister can have spiritual communion with him first to test the waters and see how it suits you?"
Zhang Sheng choked mid-breath.
Houtu laughed. "Talking like that, you probably have no idea how long a single spiritual communion can last... Still, you'd better change your face. Looking at this face feels rather odd."
Half of Wei Yuan's body shifted, transforming into Maiden Yin-Yang, and said, "How about this?"
"This is nice!" Houtu giggled behind her hand.
Zhang Sheng frowned slightly. "Change the rest!"
Yin-Yang was surprisingly obedient, switching out the remaining half of Wei Yuan's face as well.
Houtu looked at Yin-Yang, then back at Zhang Sheng, and said, "I get it now. That boy would rather make his own future unbearable just to bring the two of you together to meet me, all to show off your standing so I wouldn't think I can run wild just because I'm an old big sister from the Yuangu era, right?"
Zhang Sheng and Yin-Yang said nothing, giving tacit consent.
Houtu's eyes darted with amusement as she said softly, "Then would it satisfy you if I just gave in?"
Zhang Sheng's lucid sword heart had already shattered several times in this short span. Were it not that the woman before her truly possessed the status of an Immortal Lord, Zhang Sheng would have thought Wei Yuan had summoned a Heavenly Demon—and a bottomless, shameless one at that.
Seeing Zhang Sheng's expression, Houtu laughed heartily. "How do you think we lived through the Yuangu era? Back then, every one of us grew wild and untamed. If you want to compete with this old lady in thick skin, you're both still far too green."
Yin-Yang asked tentatively, "Was it really like that in the Yuangu era?"
Houtu nodded. "Of course! Back in my day, I was known far and wide as a lady!"
Chapter 1500