As his frame steadily swelled, the armor on Tianyu Wuye shattered piece by piece until he was left virtually naked. His physique resembled that of a human, yet it was far taller and more robust. His muscle contours were as chiseled and unyielding as a sculpture, every curve brimmed with immense strength.
This physique made several of the young ladies flush. They spat in mock disdain while drinking in every detail.
His facial features also bore some resemblance to a human's, except that his eyes were disproportionately large. A long tail whipped out behind him as well, covered in sword-sharp scales that sent a chill down the spine.
He strode toward Wei Yuan, then vanished in a flash. Lunging forward, he appeared right before Wei Yuan and brought a fist smashing straight down at his head!
The blow was simply too swift. Wei Yuan had no choice but to instinctively raise his spear horizontally to parry the downward strike. In that instant, Wei Yuan felt as if he had been struck by an entire mountain. The earth beneath his feet turned unimaginably hard at that very moment, offering no give at all; unable to divert any of the force into the ground, he had to take the full brunt of the punch!
Wei Yuan's muscles surged throughout his body as he unleashed the full power of his physical form, only barely managing to withstand the mountain-heavy fist.
Tianyu stumbled back several paces, his muscles rippling like waves across his body. Steaming blasts of white heat continuously vented from his nose, mouth, and flanks, while his beard and hair fluttered without any wind. Clearly, the recoil from that punch was no easy matter to endure either.
"Good! Good, good! To think someone of the Human race possesses such strength—actually rivaling my Taiyue Vajra! This trip wasn't in vain!" Tianyu roared with excitement. Above his head, the faint apparition of a colossal ape took shape, bearing a mountain peak upon its back.
This dharma idol was halfway between formed and unformed. Though Wei Yuan did not recognize it, it clearly belonged to a divine beast; by human standards, such a Dao Foundation would also count as an immortal foundation.
Wei Yuan exhaled heavily, a faint taste of blood rising in the back of his throat. By human standards, his physique was absurdly powerful, yet compared to Tianyu, they were merely neck and neck.
Right now, Tianyu stood fifteen feet tall. While Wei Yuan was considered fairly tall among humans, he did not even reach half of Tianyu's height. Standing together, they looked like a colossal beast beside a cub.
In that strike just now, Tianyu had also employed a divine ability similar to Turning Earth to Steel when his foot struck the ground, completely denying Wei Yuan the chance to diffuse the impact or evade via earth escape. After blocking that punch, even his spear—a mid-grade dharma artifact—had bent out of shape, essentially ruined.
His surging blood and qi swiftly calmed, and Tianyu burst into hearty laughter. "Your weapon's ruined now, isn't it? Breaking your weapon was my goal all along! Hahaha, don't think we Power Shamans don't have brains!"
Pah! Wei Yuan spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and cursed bitterly, "You Shamans really are crafty bastards—not a decent one among you!"
Tianyu looked a little embarrassed instead and scratched his head. "All is fair in war, isn't it? No big deal! But you truly deserve respect. How about this: once you lose in a moment, I'll treat you like a brother. Whatever I eat and use, you'll eat and use, until your clan ransoms you back. What do you say?"
"Not interested!"
Wei Yuan strode forward, his momentum undergoing a spontaneous transformation—no longer vast and aloof, but ferocious, wild, and unstoppable!
Every step fell heavier than the last; every step moved faster than the last. The lingering Turning Earth to Steel beneath his feet was nearly shattered under Wei Yuan's tread, yet it also provided him the greatest leverage.
A spear like a dragon, rising from below, thrusting straight toward the vault of heaven!
Counter-Slay!
Tianyu's hairs stood on end and his eyes went wide. In that fraction of a second, he tasted death on the tip of his tongue! With a furious roar, the scales on his tail flared open, a pale yellow glow gleaming beneath every single one, and he whipped his tail savagely against the spear!
Tianyu felt as if he had lashed against an unyielding mountain. The scales on his tail shattered and blood splattered everywhere, yet the spear remained unshakable, driving onward!
He let out another mad roar as the incomplete Taiyue Great Ape merged into his body, causing his frame to expand by another notch, and seized the shaft of the spear with both hands!
The spear continued forward through his flesh-and-blood palms, tearing away strips of flesh, before finally stabbing into Tianyu's chest and wedging between his ribs.
*I finally stopped it...* Just as Tianyu was reeling with lingering terror, he suddenly saw a negligible flicker of Dao power ripple across Wei Yuan's hands. Immediately after came a resounding bang as immense force propelled the spear tip forward again, sinking directly into his chest!
Shocked and bewildered, Tianyu had no idea how the spearhead had managed to shoot inward. Just with that tiny wisp of Dao power Wei Yuan had channeled? That wouldn't even snap a strand of his hair!
All that remained in Wei Yuan's hands was a bent steel tube. Looking at the hollow shaft, Tianyu seemed to understand something, yet also understood nothing at all.
He laughed several times and said, "I lost that exchange, but a scratch like this means nothing! Come again!"
Tianyu rotated his throbbing wrists and shook his stinging tail, grinning ferociously. "That spear thrust of yours was strong—truly strong! But your spear is ruined. What will you fight me with now?"
That was indeed a problem. Wei Yuan had originally prepared three spearheads, but he hadn't anticipated that the mid-grade artifact spear shaft would be ruined. What backup options did he have left now?
Wei Yuan surveyed his Dao Foundation, taking in the withered branch planted in the earth, the unshakable Jade Mountain, several hundred stone cauldrons, over a hundred stone bells, and several hundred four-tiered pagodas. After observing the Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda multiple times, Wei Yuan had added another tier to his pagodas, drastically multiplying their power and vaulting them past the golden cauldrons and the False Sun to become the foremost among his minor Dao Foundations.
Wei Yuan looked around again. If he truly couldn't handle this, there were still Master, Eldest Senior Sister, and Bao Yun.
Still, Wei Yuan felt he should be able to manage.
Tianyu's hearty laughter suddenly turned raspy. His aura plummeted like a burst dam, and he could no longer sustain his colossal frame. His body shrank rapidly until he could barely stand. Clamping both hands over his chest, he pointed a trembling finger at Wei Yuan and gasped with difficulty, "The spear... was poisoned! You despicable... shameless..."
At that moment, he could no longer suppress the Counter-Slay spear force and collapsed headfirst.
Wei Yuan let out a breath of relief. The poison Sun Yu had concocted was truly formidable, countless times more potent than anything he could brew himself. Every craft indeed had its master; the top disciple of the Hall of Xuanming lived up to his reputation.
By now, the Shaman army had routed in all directions. Wei Yuan issued continuous orders to pursue the fleeing troops and cut down their warriors and Shaman Scholars.
Tianyu was initially a tricky problem. His physique was too strong; once the poison wore off, he would likely break free of any restraint. At this point, several young ladies volunteered to handle him. With the thought of giving it a shot, Wei Yuan released his control over their bodies.
The young ladies promptly surrounded Tianyu, eight dainty hands descending on him at once, pinching and prodding all over his body. Then some pulled out hair ribbons, some plucked several strands of hair, and one even unfastened her sash.
Only when dharma power was channeled into these items did Wei Yuan realize they were all high-grade dharma artifacts. The young ladies proceeded to bind Tianyu in all sorts of bizarre patterns, their methods so strange that Wei Yuan's scalp tingled.
That was not all. Finally, the young ladies produced hairpins, earrings, embroidery needles, dharma swords, and other implements, feeling around Tianyu's body as they drove them in one by one.
After this dizzying sequence of procedures was complete, the dharma power throughout Tianyu's body had been severed into dozens of isolated segments, and his physical strength had been stripped away by ninety-nine percent. Now he was truly reduced to an ordinary soldier, completely incapable of breaking free from the bindings that made even Wei Yuan's head ache.
The young ladies actually possessed such skills? Wei Yuan could only marvel that the great aristocratic clans truly lived up to their reputation—their hidden heritage was unfathomably deep.
The battle settled. Half of the eight thousand Shamans had been slain, while the rest scattered and fled. However, out of over a hundred Dao Foundation experts, fewer than thirty managed to escape in the end. Wei Yuan conducted a swift inspection of the supplies aboard the boats: most consisted of building materials, followed by armaments, grain, and large quantities of raw materials.
Wei Yuan ordered all the building materials dumped to free up most of the cargo capacity, loaded on as many Shaman corpses as possible, and returned to the domain.
Upon returning to the domain, Wei Yuan sensed that the other two Shaman columns had temporarily halted their advance. Apparently, they had received word of the southern column's destruction.
This battle was a resounding triumph. At the cost of merely a dozen or so casualties among the human cultivators and guards, they had wiped out thousands of Shaman warriors, more than seventy Dao Foundations, and captured Tianyu alive.
Tianyu was clearly no ordinary figure, though just how much he was worth remained to be seen. Wei Yuan intended to interrogate him thoroughly later.
Returning to the domain brought even more tasks: arranging the Shaman corpses in designated areas, taking inventory of the supplies, treating the wounded, and hurrying to fortify their defenses. A thousand strands clamored for attention, but fortunately Wei Yuan already had experience; he was busy without being flustered, delegating tasks methodically. Even Xiaoyu came out to help carry corpses.
A high cultivator like Xiaoyu was an expert at hauling corpses as well. A sweep of sword qi gathered dozens at once, allowing her to travel dozens of li back and forth in the span of a cup of tea.
Currently, the only ones in the entire domain not working were the young masters and mistresses. Having charged enemy formations twice in succession, they were still shaken with lingering dread, their Dao power and physical energy entirely depleted. Several young masters in particular had literally rolled out of their saddles when dismounting.
Wei Yuan did not assign them extra work either. After all, this was their first time participating in a major battle; some discomfort was entirely normal, and they needed time to recover.
Just then, a sudden cry of astonishment rang out: "How did my merit points increase by so much?!"
The young masters and mistresses immediately gathered around, and everyone was instantly stunned. That young master was beside himself with excitement: "A whole two hundred! Did I inadvertently kill a Dao Foundation?"
"Your rank jumped fifty places in one go? If your old man found out, wouldn't he be thrilled to death!"
"Wang Yu, you're a Heaven Foundation! Hurry, check how many merit points you got!"
The young man named Wang Yu remained relatively composed. Pulling out his Merit Booklet, he took a look and said, "Only two hundred and sixty, basically the same as Brother Yan."
He looked composed, but his hands were trembling faintly. Over two hundred merit points was equivalent to slaying a mid-stage Dao Foundation; earning so many points in a single battle was unprecedented for him as well.
The other young masters and mistresses pulled out their Merit Booklets, searching for their rankings as gasped exclamations rose and fell. After comparing notes, the lowest score among them was still over two hundred, while the highest belonged to that sweet-looking girl, who had actually gained three hundred and thirty. Because her original rank was quite low, her standing leaped up by one hundred and seventy places in a single bound.
"Xu Yi, how are you so incredible?"
"Just how many did you kill?!"
"When did you learn to use a spear?"
The crowd crowded around the sweet girl, chattering incessantly. Blushing, she merely said, "I was so frightened back then, so I just swung wildly... I don't know what happened either. Perhaps there was a mistake?"
Everyone shook their heads. When had the Merit Board ever been wrong? Xu Yi was also a Heaven Tier Dao Foundation; they all simply assumed she had finally unlocked her latent potential.
Amid the flurry of congratulations, the sweet girl ultimately did not speak the truth—that her arm and spear had slain enemies on their own. Several young masters and mistresses looked pensive, clearly having experienced the same as Xu Yi, but none of them spoke up, silently accepting the glory as their own achievement.
At that moment, Cui Yu walked over, clapping a few of his drinking buddies firmly on the shoulder, and said in a low voice, "Well fought! Watching you made my blood boil! A few more battles like this, once our merit points shoot up, who will dare say we're just fooling around? Who will dare touch our cultivation resources, status, or official ranks?!"
A surge of fiery passion welled up in everyone, and they chimed in, "Rest assured, Brother Cui, not one of us fears death! We'll definitely make those old fogies back home drop their jaws!"
With so many stirring words spoken, no one felt shameless enough to mention that the charges had actually been entirely beyond their control; they could only resolve to perform properly in the next battle to make up for this debt. By now, Wei Yuan's status in their minds had risen infinitely, and to Xu Yi and those few, he was like a god.
To these young masters and mistresses, these merit points were concrete stepping stones for advancement. Internal competition within the aristocratic clans was fiercely cutthroat—inheritance, resources, territories, official posts, everything had to be fought for. The Merit Boards of the major immortal sects served as the most direct benchmark: whether one was exceptional was determined by merit points.
Moreover, merit points could be exchanged for many rare resources that, under normal circumstances, they could never obtain from their families.
With a few more battles like this, the standing of these scions within their clans would skyrocket, and things they had previously never dared imagine might now be within reach.
Wei Yuan handed the warhorse to Xu Wenwu, then looked at the scant karmic luck remaining in his Dao Foundation, deeply troubled.
Unfortunately, he still had no idea how to obtain new karmic luck. Originally, cultivating the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon Chart would reliably yield a wisp of karmic luck, but that ceased once he switched to the Myriad Aspects of Great Yin Moon Splendor.
In this battle, to guarantee the safety of these young masters and mistresses, Wei Yuan had still drawn upon his scarce karmic luck to bless them, which was how he had brought them back without a scratch. After one battle, he was down two strands of black qi. Although it was merely the most basic karmic luck, it still pained Wei Yuan to the core.
Just as he was fretting, a wisp of pale azure qi suddenly rose from the earth. Several more ascended right after, until five strands of pale azure qi bobbed gently within his sea of consciousness.
Chapter 153