The severed left leg of Wei Yuan had already been reduced to ash by the dark flames, representing a permanent loss to that portion of his origin soul cultivation. The nether fire was of unknown origin and fiercely overbearing; in just a few breaths, it had consumed his entire left leg before he could even attempt to salvage it. Still, the short blade now rested safely inside his Dao Foundation, leaving him plenty of time to study it once he returned.
At this moment, a tender sprout the size of a palm flickered continuously above Wei Yuan's head, pouring rich vitality into his left leg. At its center, a shadowy leaf turned slowly, as though observing this foreign world.
Although the One-Wondrous Treasure Tree was still just a seedling, it was born from the Life Fruit of the Seven Marvels Treasure Tree, possessing immense Revival power. Wei Yuan's new left leg was already growing. Rather than expanding from small to large, it manifested the complete contour of a leg first, gradually filling in from within.
To Wei Yuan's senses, the leg could barely twitch at present, completely devoid of strength.
This small hill looked decent enough. Wei Yuan had just planned to rest in place until his leg finished regrowing when a sudden premonition struck him. On the crest of an adjacent hill, several silhouettes materialized. The moment the shamaness appeared, she fixed him with a freezing glare, murder practically spilling from her eyes.
Wei Yuan felt a chill. This shamaness truly clung to him like a vengeful ghost—how did she always manage to find him? Glancing down, he noticed a tiny ember of nether fire lingering at the base of his thigh, locked in a bitter tug-of-war with his Dao power.
Even with a trace of the immortal tree's aura infused into his Dao power, Wei Yuan could not easily suppress the nether fire; in fact, he was slightly disadvantaged and could only wear it down through sheer volume. The shamaness had undoubtedly sensed this lingering trace of fire to track him across vast distances.
Confronted by formidable foes, Wei Yuan showed no fear. Balancing on one leg, he summoned the Immortal Sword Melancholy into his hand.
This immortal sword was thoroughly mediocre in strength, only slightly better than the Fine Rain immortal sword, which was widely seen as an embarrassment among its kind. Yet if the shamaness grew arrogant enough to press an attack, Wei Yuan would not mind treating her to a taste of true Parting Sorrow sword qi.
However, the shamaness remained still, neither approaching nor retreating.
Wei Yuan's heart sank slightly; he knew she was waiting for reinforcements. This shamaness possessed countless tricky arts and was exceedingly difficult to handle. Fortunately, he had used a scheme to seize the pair of butterfly short blades beforehand—tantamount to tearing off one of her claws. Otherwise, who knew whose hand the deer would die by?
After a standoff lasting only the time to drink a cup of tea, a mass of shadow abruptly formed beside the shamaness. The shadow elongated and stretched, revealing an imposing Shaman Scholar.
His features bore a seventy- to eighty-percent resemblance to humankind, making him exceptionally handsome even by mortal standards. Furthermore, he possessed an arrogant majesty that looked down upon the world, noticeably surpassing Cui Yu. Xiaoyu's beauty might exceed his by half a point, but fell short by three points when it came to sheer domineering presence.
Looking at him, Wei Yuan felt as though he were gazing upon an entire mountain range!
His Dao Foundation emanated no bright radiance, yet everything in his vicinity was subtly warped across a span of several thousand zhang! Looking at him, Wei Yuan was reminded of the great celestial stars his Theory of Heaven and Earth teacher had once described—bodies capable of exerting a gravitational pull across hundreds of millions of li.
Wei Yuan realized at once: this was a Great Shaman, and no ordinary one at that!
He immediately prepared to flee. Dealing with the shamaness alone was troublesome enough, and now a Great Shaman had joined the fray. Had they been separated, Wei Yuan might have considered engaging them in single combat, but certainly not while he possessed only one and a half legs.
The Shaman looked toward Wei Yuan with an expression that was surprisingly gentle, devoid of hostility or killing intent, carrying mostly curiosity instead.
Wei Yuan was not about to be fooled. He was already weighing whether to return to the Native Realm at once. This place was quite far from where he had buried his mark. Returning to the Native Realm and descending underground on his next arrival meant an exceptionally low chance of being discovered.
Just as Wei Yuan was pondering his retreat, an object darted toward his face like lightning!
Wei Yuan casually slashed it down with his sword, producing a sharp, metallic clang. After tumbling to the ground, the creature struggled desperately, buzzing incessantly.
What he had struck down was a monstrous insect the size of a washbasin, resembling a hornet magnified dozens of times. Its entire body was covered in scales gleaming with a metallic sheen, while two rows of tiny green eyes shifted constantly across its back.
Where the immortal sword had struck, white-gold flames ignited, sending the insect spinning in agony. Wei Yuan's strike had cleaved open its back and severed a wing, leaving behind a deep wound.
Even an insect of the Nether Cold Realm was this troublesome? Though Melancholy was unremarkable, it was still forged on the foundation of an immortal sword, equivalent to a Mortal Tier Dao Foundation. Yet such a strike had failed to kill a mere bug?
Wei Yuan initially assumed this was a technique deployed by his opponents. But glancing over in a spare moment, he saw the shamaness's face pale drastically as she swung her blade repeatedly, knocking down one giant fly after another. The swarm on their side was noticeably denser.
The Great Shaman maintained his calm demeanor, yet he did not stand idly by. Joining hands with the shamaness and the Shaman Scholars, he immediately began erecting a protective shelter on the spot.
Witnessing their actions, a thought struck Wei Yuan. Pushing his vision to its limit, he gazed toward the direction the flies had come from. Far off along the horizon, a black tide surged into view as countless flying insects swept across the sky and covered the earth.
This was Fly Weather, one of the natural disasters of the Nether Cold Realm!
Wei Yuan cursed Dream Eater inwardly with the foulest words he could muster. Before coming this time, he had explicitly used a weather divination art, which had predicted neither wind nor rain—so how had Fly Weather arrived instead? Moreover, when discussing natural disasters, Dream Eater had never mentioned that these flies were two chi long each!
The habits of Nether Cold flies were peculiar. They generally did not attack structures, targeting only living beings to devour their origin souls. Furthermore, they traveled like the wind, never lingering in one place. As a result, the Shamans had developed a standard procedure for dealing with them: the very first step was to construct fortifications.
The fortification did not need to be extraordinarily sturdy, but it had to withstand the battering and crawling of the swarm. If it collapsed amid the swarm, even a Great Shaman would meet certain death.
On the opposite peak, the shamaness and Shaman Scholars retrieved pre-crafted components and began assembly.
Every component was a refined magical artifact that could be brought out at a moment's notice. However, refining magical artifacts into one's origin soul imposed hard limits determined by soul strength and Dao Foundation. Each of these Shamans was able to produce three large components, which spoke well of their cultivation.
Yet refining such components into the origin soul crowded out slots for true magical artifacts, significantly impacting combat prowess. Among the cultivators of the Palace of Grand Beginning, talents like Xiaoyu and Bao Yun had not refined even top-grade magical artifacts into their origin souls, strictly preserving capacity for future magic treasures.
The Shamans were well-practiced, and the components were logically designed. In the blink of an eye, they had assembled a shelter one zhang square and half a zhang tall. Once the shelter was ready, the Shamans filed inside one after another, including the Great Shaman of mountain-like presence, before sealing the door tight.
However, the shelter was simply too small, leaving the interior packed to bursting.
Watching the bulky Shamans vanish one by one into the tiny shelter, Wei Yuan was inexplicably reminded of something Xu Wenwu had once mentioned: canned food.
Inside the shelter, the shamaness glared at Wei Yuan, who was still standing dazed outside, and hissed venomously, "Letting the cold flies bite him to death is far too easy on him!"
The Great Shaman leaned against a corner. Though the Shamans squeezed together to avoid brushing against his dharma body, he still had no room to turn around. Watching Wei Yuan standing motionless, Shengxin remarked with a hint of regret, "Cold flies are this realm's way of purging outsiders. He clearly does not understand how to protect himself and is likely doomed. Alas, the Native Realm will have one less interesting opponent in the future."
"Lord Shengxin, we have enough enemies already!" the shamaness grumbled, slightly displeased.
Shengxin was exceptionally even-tempered. Unbothered by her slight offense, he chuckled. "True enough."
Another Shaman Scholar laughed. "He is alone. No matter what, he cannot build a fortification in time, and it is too late to run. He is dead for sure! Lady Huixin can finally vent her grievance."
The shamaness gritted her teeth. "It is still too lenient."
At this moment, Wei Yuan faced two choices: either return immediately to the Native Realm, or attempt to survive, witnessing firsthand just how terrifying Fly Weather was while observing how the Shamans coped.
Seeing the Shamans secure inside their shelter, looking as steady as Mount Tai, Wei Yuan's expression suddenly shifted. The surrounding world felt thick and viscous; he felt glued to the Nether Cold Realm, entirely unable to return to the Native Realm!
Wherever the Nether Cold flies passed, did they carry the effect of sealing off heaven and earth? Wei Yuan's brief hesitation had cost him his retreat.
His thoughts moved like lightning, reaching a decision in an instant. Wasn't it just a protective shelter? Having built several cities and studied Xu Wenwu's insights, Wei Yuan had developed his own understanding of architecture, blending the strengths of both worlds.
With a flash of light in his hand, a broad, square, flat cauldron appeared. Thrusting it into the earth, it formed a low wall half a zhang tall. Wei Yuan planted two more flat cauldrons, connecting them into a full wall.
Next, a flat cauldron with a square rim and three legs appeared in his grasp. He slotted it directly onto the cauldrons already laid. The three legs, lined in a row, slotted perfectly into the cauldron mouth beneath. With a soft click, they locked together seamlessly. Adding this flat cauldron brought the wall to a standard height of roughly a zhang.
Light flashed continuously in Wei Yuan's hands as flat cauldron after flat cauldron appeared. In the blink of an eye, he had raised four walls, followed by horizontal cauldrons laid flat to form the roof. Four of the cauldrons forming the walls had complementary notches; when fitted together, they formed two small windows less than a chi wide, permitting only a single fly to squeeze through at a time. One window faced the swarm, while the other faced the Shamans, allowing Wei Yuan to keep an eye on what they were doing.
Each window opening was fitted with another flat cauldron: open, it served as a shutter; closed, it formed a solid wall. Naturally, moving joints were required as well. These were slightly crude, fashioned from several miniature Fine Rain immortal swords twisted together. The shutters were secured with latches made from Five-Tier Pagodas, and an Immortal Sword · False Sun was set into the ceiling to dispel dampness and provide illumination.
The entire house rose from the ground within a few breaths, a radiant sheen sweeping across it until it fused into a single seamless whole. Since every piece was part of Wei Yuan's Dao Foundation, he could shape it however he pleased.
Thus, before the eyes of the Shamans, a stone house one and a half zhang square and a zhang tall stood complete. It looked immensely thick and sturdy, with warm light glowing from its windows. And such an expansive house was meant for just one person!
A pair of eyes peered out from behind the small window, observing the Shamans.
Beyond their sheer dumbfounded shock, the Shamans felt a deep, agonizing resentment.
They had fought tooth and nail among themselves over who would carry an extra component and who would refine one fewer, sometimes requiring a Nether Shaman to step in and settle the disputes. Aside from prodigies like Huixin, other Shamans had to travel in groups of two or more just to leave the kingdom, precisely because assembling even the smallest shelter required six components, which demanded two Shamans just to refine into their origin souls.
Had any of them been in Wei Yuan's position, they would have wished only to build a tiny box three chi square and two chi high, just large enough to squeeze themselves inside.
One shamaness looked ready to pounce and tear into Wei Yuan with her teeth, hissing maliciously, "That dog definitely didn't build a floor!"
Every Shaman Scholar and shamaness, Huixin included, nodded in unison.
At that moment, the Shamans' entire building process flashed through Wei Yuan's mind, and he felt as though he had overlooked something. His divine sense sparked, instantly recalling that the very first component the Shamans had laid was placed on the ground.
Looking down at the dirt underfoot, Wei Yuan realized he was indeed missing a floor; the fortification had not been completely enclosed. That was easily remedied. With a mere thought and a brief flicker of light, a thick stone floor appeared beneath Wei Yuan's feet, topped with a spread carpet.
Wei Yuan surveyed the room, feeling it looked a bit bare. He then summoned stone tables and chairs from his Dao Foundation, arranging them neatly. He even set out a tea service on the table, though the stone tea ware looked rather crude.
Everything was in place, lacking only fresh melon and fruit. He wondered when the immortal laurel branch might bear a few.
By now, the Shamans had watched everything Wei Yuan had done through the window. Even Shengxin was no longer smiling.
Chapter 207