Wei Yuan appeared once more deep underground in the Nether Cold Realm. There was nothing unusual around him; evidently, the shamaness was no longer suspicious of this spot. Still cautious, Wei Yuan dug forward while backfilling the tunnel behind himself as he went, erasing all traces of his passage.
When he finally drilled out of the ground, he could not help but be rather covered in dirt and grime.
Even after returning to the Nether Cold Realm, the nether flies inside Wei Yuan's Dao Foundation showed no signs of coming back to life. It seemed they were truly dead.
There were too many nether flies in the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, and they had scattered too far and wide. Wei Yuan could not be bothered to pick them up one by one, so he simply left them be. Within the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, the power of eternal silence within their bodies would slowly dissipate and transform, ultimately becoming part of the Dao Foundation.
Wei Yuan had a clear objective in entering the Nether Cold Realm this time: to explore, and at the same time see if he could capture a few Shamans. He had already realized that solitary Shamans in the Nether Cold Realm possessed formidable combat prowess, but whenever they moved in groups, their fighting strength suffered a discount.
The Nether Cold Realm was the same as always. Its vault of heaven stretched beyond the horizon with no end in sight, faintly illuminated by an unknown light from beyond the world. Many objects within this realm were also luminous, providing additional sources of light.
His previous expedition had proved that the Dao art Shadow Concealment possessed a major flaw: it could not truly sever his aura completely. Wei Yuan had nearly been done in by that shamaness because of it. Therefore, he altered his approach this time. Concealing his aura to a certain degree was enough; he did not insist on absolute suppression, which allowed him to move without sacrificing speed.
Before setting out, Wei Yuan routinely forecasted the weather: light breeze, no rain, no flies.
Hm? Has this art evolved?
Wei Yuan put the details out of mind for now and dashed toward Shu Li's realm. According to Dream Eater's unreliable map, flying at full speed would take Wei Yuan at least a month to arrive. In terms of geographical scale, the Nether Cold Realm and the Native Realm seemed not to correspond to each other at all.
On a hillside, four Shaman Scholars were locked in battle with a bizarre, monstrous beast.
The beast was exceptionally massive, standing like a small mountain when upright, a full hundred feet tall. It was pitch-black all over, yet mottled with patches, with many parts of its body appearing translucent and constantly venting wisps of black vapor outward.
The four Shaman Scholars had clear roles. The largest and burliest of them, whose lower half resembled a horse with four thick legs, stood at the very front holding a colossal shield nearly as tall as himself.
Whenever the beast brought a claw down, he raised the shield to meet it head-on. Every impact shook the earth, knocking the shield-bearing Shaman back dozens of paces. Yet the immense recoil also jarred the beast's claw upward, preventing any follow-up strike. At that moment, a Shaman armed with a saber and shield would step up to engage the giant beast, keeping it at bay until his comrade with the greatshield returned to position.
Farther back, a slender shamaness drew a magnificent longbow. The arrows she loosed trailed eerie blue flames, igniting upon striking the beast and steadily burning the affected areas translucent.
Finally, there was a diminutive Shaman swathed entirely in a black robe, pointing and gesturing toward the giant beast with small, pale fingers from a distance. With each gesture, a spark of blood-light flashed at the fingertip, causing the beast to roar in agony. Several times, the beast tried to shove past the shield-bearing Shaman to charge at this smallest one in the rear, but each attempt was intercepted with precision by the greatshield Shaman.
It was a well-coordinated team, thoroughly familiar with the beast's habits. They fought with calm composure, wearing down the beast's vitality bit by bit.
Multiple translucent wounds had already appeared on the beast, black vapor spurting like fountains. It was growing visibly weak, its roars losing their ferocity and turning timid.
Yet the Shaman squad did not let down their guard, remaining fully focused on the fight. Suddenly, the beast reared up on its hind legs and spat a black sphere from its maw, shooting it straight at the spellcasting Shaman!
The black sphere carried terrifying destructive energy, but the Shamans had anticipated this move. The archer shamaness loosed three consecutive arrows, all hitting the sphere; though they failed to destroy it, each arrow siphoned away a portion of its energy. The small Shaman flicked out several droplets of blood in succession, wreathing the black sphere in a layer of blood-light. The dark energy and crimson light mutually annihilated each other until the sphere dissolved halfway through its flight.
The beast finally grew terrified and attempted to flee. However, the greatshield Shaman barred its escape route. No matter how frantically the beast struck at him, he refused to yield an inch, sustaining serious injuries in the blink of an eye.
The other three Shamans pressed their attack with full force, beating the beast half to death within moments.
Right then, a dark shadow approached silently and landed on the greatshield Shaman's back. The Shaman instantly stiffened, his movements turning sluggish. Seizing the opening, the dying beast swung a desperate, full-power claw, actually sending his massive shield flying!
The Shaman's arms buckled out of shape and his chest caved in, driving him to the brink of death in an instant.
The sudden shock left the other three Shamans momentarily stunned. Fortunately, the saber-shield Shaman reacted swiftly, blocking the beast in time to prevent a finishing blow.
Yet an even more horrifying sight unfolded before their eyes. The dark shadow that had ambushed the greatshield Shaman finally revealed itself—it was a nether fly!
The archer shamaness cried out, "Not good! The components are all on Stone Wall! We don't have enough on us!"
"It might just be a stray. Let's see first—Stone Wall can't move right now!" the saber-shield Shaman said, clearly unwilling to abandon his companion.
Suddenly, the shamaness shrieked in horror, losing her composure. "The nether flies are coming! Over there—there are so many!"
The saber-shield Shaman looked in the direction she pointed, only to see over a hundred nether flies rising from behind a hill, flying toward them!
Having survived Fly Weather more than once, they knew this was merely the vanguard scout swarm. A sky-blotting tide of nether flies would appear immediately behind them. Nether flies moved with extreme speed; even a Shaman specializing in speed-based flight might not outrun the swarm. Without enough shelter components on them, waiting until they actually saw the main swarm would be too late.
Moreover, the monstrous beast was not dead yet and would never stand by and watch them assemble a shelter.
Weighing the odds, the saber-shield Shaman let out an agonized shout and rammed past the beast's foreclaws. By then, the archer shamaness had already fled into the distance. Not daring to linger, he turned and ran as well.
The small Shaman did not panic. Glancing back at the greatshield Shaman and seeing him clamped in the beast's jaws, it merely sighed, turned, and took flight.
Yet before it had flown far, a hand suddenly shot out of the ground and grabbed its foot!
With a shrill shriek of alarm, the small Shaman's body abruptly exploded into a massive plume of black mist, diving straight underground instead!
Underground, Wei Yuan felt his grip slip as the foot wrenched free, leaving only a petite boot in his grasp. Thick black mist permeated the ground now, heavily obscuring perception. Wei Yuan's divine sense could barely extend three feet.
Wei Yuan's Dao power poured out continuously, using Dao arts to liquefy the surrounding soil and rock into dense quicksand. With the aid of Earth Escape art, he could move freely underground.
Yet this small Shaman, rather than fleeing, was spreading black mist to turn around and hunt Wei Yuan?
Wei Yuan suddenly thrust his hand into the dark mist, instantly grabbing hold of the Shaman—though he could not tell which part of its body he had seized.
In the darkness, the Shaman twisted like a giant fish. With a powerful whip and snap of its body, it tore free from Wei Yuan's grasp, leaving behind only a black robe in his hand.
Wei Yuan stood motionless. Suddenly, a sharp pain flared across his back—something pointed had stabbed into him!
Ignoring the wound on his back, Wei Yuan swung his hand back, his fingers closing around the Shaman's body once more. This time, the flesh felt slick and greasy; he could not tell what body part he had grabbed. But it was remarkably supple, possessing both strength and resilience. With another twist, it slipped out of his grasp. This time, no clothing was left behind.
For this fellow to dare stay and hunt him, it really did have some tricks.
Wei Yuan waited quietly for the next attack, but this time a jolt of sharp pain came from his heel!
The strike caught him entirely off guard, instantly spoiling every countermeasure he had envisioned. Instinctively spinning around, he stomped his foot down, only to feel excruciating pain as his sole came down directly on a pre-positioned blade.
The surrounding black mist grew denser and denser, plunging Wei Yuan's perception into pitch darkness. Then, sharp pains flared one after another across his body, every wound landing below his knees. This small Shaman clearly knew the structural weaknesses of the human body intimately. Moreover, it was not greedy for decisive blows, merely carving a tiny nick each time to bleed a sliver of Dao power from Wei Yuan's Origin Soul, aiming to wear him down drop by drop.
Worse, the cuts were gradually creeping higher. Several times, Wei Yuan felt a chilling draft between his legs. The opponent had clearly locked onto this area through some unknown means, forcing Wei Yuan to keep moving.
As the two maneuvered in the dark, Wei Yuan instinctively moved a hand to guard his vitals. A sticky glob slapped against his hand, burning with searing pain. It was not a physical substance, but a hurled curse. From the sensation alone, Wei Yuan instantly identified its nature: Perpetual Wither!
A surge of genuine fury ignited within him!
A small two-pronged fork appeared in his hand. Flicking it gently with a finger, a faint, subtle chime resonated into the distance. His silhouette flickered, his arm shot out, and through the darkness, he snatched hold of the Shaman!
Chapter 210