As the blast storm continued to spread in all directions, Wei Yuan had already quietly appeared a li away, arriving just in time to intercept the two shamans who had been blown through the air.
Gripping a pair of long cauldrons, Wei Yuan smashed them viciously toward the shamaness. A pair of butterfly short blades materialized before her, parrying Wei Yuan's twin cauldrons. The magical power residing within the short blades was exceptionally formidable; the head-on clash jolted Wei Yuan straight back, leaving two deep gouges in the cauldrons before the blades flew back on their own to circle around the shamaness.
The rank of this pair of short blades was extraordinarily high—at least two major grades above Wei Yuan's twin cauldrons. Had the cauldrons not been exceptionally thick and solid, they might have been sheared clean in two.
Yet the instant Wei Yuan shifted from advance to retreat, he leveled the twin cauldrons at the shamaness. The blended Dao power within them violently erupted, abruptly blasting two four-tiered miniature pagodas toward her!
This strike came without warning and was packed with immense might. The shamaness had already been hurled into midair; taking another blow like this would likely spell doom.
Right at that moment, the young Shaman Scholar suddenly appeared where the shamaness had been—the two had swapped positions in a flash!
Without pausing, the miniature pagodas pulverized a large portion of the young Shaman Scholar's body, tearing away a shoulder, an arm, and a thigh. Had this been in the Native Realm, Wei Yuan's strike would not have possessed such devastating might, but this was the Nether Cold Realm, where everyone operated in Origin Soul form. In terms of Origin Soul strength alone, Wei Yuan had never met an equal in the same realm.
Though the blow struck the Shaman Scholar, to Wei Yuan it made no difference whom he hit. An extra-long immortal sword materialized in his grip, a streak of platinum flame igniting along its edge as he slashed down directly at the Shaman Scholar's head!
The shamaness darted past like a swallow, scooping up the Shaman Scholar and escaping by a hair's breadth from beneath Wei Yuan's sword.
Another long cauldron appeared in Wei Yuan's hand, tucked under his arm with its mouth facing backward. Fast though the shamaness was, Wei Yuan figured that after strapping on an extra long cauldron as a thruster, he would hardly be slow either.
Yet the two butterfly short blades appeared once more, sweeping silently toward Wei Yuan's lower body.
Taken aback, Wei Yuan was forced to bring the long sword down, deflecting the twin blades. This time, moon fire flared upon the long sword, and Wei Yuan immediately felt the twin blades weaken slightly, becoming much easier to handle.
Having checked Wei Yuan's advance, the twin blades immediately flew off, rapidly turning translucent and on the verge of vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Having survived countless life-and-death battles by now, Wei Yuan reacted with lightning speed, swinging his sword with a backhand strike to viciously slash one of the short blades! With a crisp clang, Wei Yuan's immortal sword snapped in two.
As the sword broke, Wei Yuan's Origin Soul felt a needle-like prick, but such pain was entirely negligible to him. The struck butterfly blade dipped, its edge smeared with a trace of platinum flame, causing it to hesitate for a fraction of a second. That tiny hesitation proved fatal. Before it could fade away, an ancient bell plummeted from the sky, trapping it underneath. Immediately beneath it, a golden cauldron appeared, and the bell, along with the short blade, dropped straight into the cauldron.
The short blade whirled frantically, striking the ancient bell countless times in an instant and slicing it to ribbons within breaths.
Yet what awaited it was not freedom, but seven or eight outer layers of ancient bells and square cauldrons already stacked around it. Wei Yuan reached out and swept them all—bells, cauldrons, and the short blade—straight into his Dao Foundation.
From the distance, a faint, furious cry seemed to carry from the shamaness, but Wei Yuan could not understand her words.
Wei Yuan retrieved the marker he had set up and gave up the chase, flying off in the opposite direction from the shamaness instead. Moments later, he arrived at a valley of jagged rocks. Looking around, he was quite pleased with the terrain and began digging. In the blink of an eye, a bottomless pit opened in the ground.
After a short while, Wei Yuan climbed out of the pit, meticulously restored the opening, and laid down a formation. With that accomplished, Wei Yuan returned to the Native Realm.
A moment later, the shamaness's figure appeared where Wei Yuan had vanished. Her eyes burned with hatred, but she did not break the formation immediately. Instead, she searched the surroundings thoroughly to confirm there were no hidden markers before approaching the formation.
With the aid of that special magical treasure, she confirmed that the marker Wei Yuan had left behind was right here.
The shamaness reached out and triggered the formation, whereupon a passage of text floated before her:
*There is a cage containing a certain number of chickens and rabbits...*
"Utterly devoid of originality!" Gritting her teeth in fury, the shamaness tapped directly on the formation's entrance, punched in a random number, and blinked away, reappearing a hundred rods away.
A blazing white orb of light rose slowly, illuminating several hundred rods around it as bright as day. At the very moment the white light flashed, the shamaness had already shielded her eyes with magical power, watching with a sneer as the orb shone futilely upon its surroundings.
Yet after the white light faded, there was no explosion; only a wisp of green smoke drifted up, and then all went still.
*What is going on?* The shamaness approached cautiously, watching every stir within the formation with utmost care, ready to blink away at the first sign of an eruption of Dao power.
Right when she was fully focused, another orb of white light abruptly rose from within the formation! This came so suddenly that the shamaness let out a shriek of pain, her eyes snapping shut as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Even so, the moment the white light appeared, she had already blinked several hundred rods away, far enough to avoid the ensuing blast.
Yet the formation merely puffed out another wisp of green smoke, and nothing more happened.
Her eyes bloodshot, the shamaness stared at the formation from afar, practically gnashing her silver teeth to powder in hatred. After waiting a little longer with still no reaction, she finally flew over, only to discover that merely a sliver of faint Dao power remained within the formation—not even enough to launch another light orb.
The fury in her heart raged like an inferno, and she prepared to stomp the formation to pieces. But at the critical moment, she calmed herself, took out another short knife, and hurled it into the formation.
Suddenly, a pillar of light shot into the sky from within the formation, followed immediately by a violent explosion! The shockwave sent the shamaness staggering back several steps before she regained her footing.
She was shocked and enraged. That man was truly sinister—the remaining trace of Dao power was actually used to trigger a secondary formation beneath this one. The explosive formation had been laid directly under it. Had she entered the cave incautiously, she would have walked right into the second explosion, which would have gravely wounded her at the very least.
After the blast, the site lay in complete ruin, leaving only a massive crater filled with scorched earth and residual Dao power. The marker was long gone.
The shamaness finally understood: that man must have realized she could locate the markers he left behind, and so he had laid this trap. As for the real marker, it was certainly hidden in some unknown location, likely far from here.
After mulling it over, the shamaness continued flying forward along the original trajectory. Since that man was so cunning, he would most likely have hidden the marker further out in this same direction. That way, when she came searching and found the fake marker first, she would probably switch to another direction, thereby missing the genuine one.
She resolved to search precisely along this direction.
She flew into the distance, disappearing in an instant.
An hour later, she returned to the original spot.
She had flown very far, but found no trace of a marker, and was forced to return to the starting point to try another direction. Yet after several futile attempts, she ultimately had to give up.
Having completed his two-hour exploration and returned to the Native Realm, Wei Yuan now had a mountain-like mound of soil and rock inside his Dao Foundation. All of this had been dug out through his hard labor and relocated into his Dao Foundation.
Beside the mound of soil stood an additional large cauldron with an ancient bell clamped inside upside down, occasionally letting out muffled clang-clang chimes.
With such a massive pile of Nether Soil, the surrounding temperature dropped noticeably, so Wei Yuan had not dared place it near Jade Mountain, positioning it a thousand rods away instead.
This pile of earth and rock weighed roughly several hundred thousand jin. At the Palace of Grand Beginning's rate of one liang of immortal silver per qian, it would be worth tens of millions of liang of immortal silver. Looking at this colossal pile of soil and rock, Wei Yuan instantly felt unimaginably wealthy; to think the debts that had plagued him for years would be solved so effortlessly.
At this moment, Wei Yuan felt that by relying on dirt, he was truly rich—a veritable soil tycoon.
Yet Wei Yuan knew this was merely wishful thinking. Even if Nether Soil could be transported to the Palace of Grand Beginning, such a massive volume would inevitably cause the price to plummet. In the end, it might go for one liang of immortal silver per hundred jin, or perhaps even lower. At that point, digging soil would truly be mere hard labor, earning him only a laborer's meager pay.
The uses of Nether Soil might be limited, but the demand for the power of Everlasting Silence, as a form of world energy, was virtually boundless. If all else failed, simply letting it dissipate slowly inside his Dao Foundation would allow it to be gradually converted into part of Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, translating directly into Wei Yuan's cultivation.
For now, Wei Yuan still had an important matter to attend to. He exited his sea of consciousness, called over Eldest Senior Sister and Master, and then cautiously manifested the butterfly short blade.
As soon as the short blade emerged, it slashed straight toward Wei Yuan's lower body!
Zhang Sheng reached out and caught the blade, putting a stop to this lineage-ending strike. Wei Yuan's expression was grim; just now, he had distinctly felt a chill between his legs—the short blade's target could not have been more obvious.
Gathering his composure, Wei Yuan said, "This blade was seized by your disciple from an opponent in the Nether Cold Realm. It is wild and unruly, yet possesses quite a few miraculous properties. That is why I ask Master and Eldest Senior Sister to examine it—if it can be subdued, we subdue it; if not, it can be melted down."
Sweeping his divine sense across it, Zhang Sheng remarked, "This blade is rich in spirituality, a magical treasure nurtured over many years. However, its spiritual nature feels biased toward one polarity; there should be a corresponding counterpart, shouldn't there?"
Wei Yuan hastily replied, "Master has piercing insight. It is indeed a pair, but the other one got away."
Zhang Sheng nodded. "Separated, the twin blades suffer a steep drop in power and value alike. When you face the other one next time, its threat to you should be minimal. Still, this blade possesses the ability to traverse the nether, which is somewhat troublesome. In a moment, I will pass down a method to you. Executing it with Immortal Sword Lishang will sharply reduce the blade's speed for a short time, allowing you to deal with it at your ease."
At the mention of Immortal Sword Lishang, Zhang Sheng gave Wei Yuan a pointed glare, whether intentionally or not. Feeling guilty, Wei Yuan quickly lowered his head. Fortunately, Zhang Sheng said nothing more.
In truth, Immortal Sword Lishang and Immortal Sword Melancholy differed only in realm; their intrinsic spirit and essence were fundamentally the same. Thus, Wei Yuan merely lacked natural talent, but none could accuse him of slacking in effort.
Having evaluated it, Zhang Sheng handed the short blade to Ji Liuli. She toyed with it for a moment, then asked abruptly, "The original owner of this blade is female, isn't she?"
Wei Yuan blinked in surprise. Why ask about that all of a sudden? He nodded. The shamaness's gender had been quite unmistakable; she was indeed female.
Ji Liuli continued, "Engraved clearly within this blade's spiritual awareness is the final obsession of its owner: to mince a certain part of you into fine paste."
Zhang Sheng looked up and cast a calm glance at Wei Yuan. Cold sweat broke out on Wei Yuan instantly.
Ji Liuli gave a meaningful smile and did not pursue the topic further, continuing instead, "Now, there are three options. First, erase the spiritual memories within this blade and nurture it anew. Doing so will heavily damage its spirituality, effectively throwing away over a decade of painstaking effort. Even so, it gives you early possession of a spiritual magical treasure—and with the quality of this short blade, it is rare even among True Persons of the Dharma Idol realm.
"Second, find a way to tame it and make it acknowledge you as its master. The advantage is that its full power will be preserved; the drawback is that whether it yields depends entirely on destiny.
"Third, use it as bait. I can erase its memories from this recent period and engrave a tracking formation inside it. Once you return to the Nether Cold Realm and release it, it will fly back to its original owner on its own, effectively serving as a guide."
Wei Yuan initially thought the third method was best, but on second thought, this guide would most likely lead straight into some realm of the Nether Shamans—wouldn't that be throwing himself into the net?
After brief consideration, he said, "Eldest Senior Sister, could we do this: erase its memories of this period, then engrave a forceful restraint formation—just enough to give me control over it for a brief moment. When I return to the Nether Cold Realm, I'll release it to wander in place, which should lure the owner and the other blade over. When that happens, I can take control and strike without warning. Even if I can't slay the owner, I can seize the other short blade."
"That's simple enough. In that case, I'll add a binding formation so that as soon as the two blades make contact, they'll be bound together and unable to separate for a short time. That way, with each of you controlling one, the pair won't be able to budge at all."
Zhang Sheng flicked a wisp of faint sword intent into Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness, saying, "I'll give you another strand of Lishang sword intent. Don't use your own; that will ensure complete success."
Listening from the side, the short blade suddenly began thrashing violently, letting out a keen wail as it tried to break through the void and escape!
Yet it was held firmly in Ji Liuli's grasp. With a single slap from her palm, it immediately fell silent.
Chapter 203