All those books had not been read in vain; next, Wei Yuan was going to start constructing his own advanced Dao art.
Wei Yuan had already learned the original Water Blade Storm, but that was a standard version of another type, suitable for any dharma idol and high-grade Dao Foundation, yet not for Wei Yuan.
Although Wei Yuan barely understood the Immortal Monarch's Dao of Water, after gritting his teeth and reading through it once, he discovered that the texts still contained plenty of parts ready to be lifted and used as-is.
For example, regarding the shape of the water blade at the art's pinnacle, the Immortal Monarch had laid out the underlying principles. To actually calculate it was unimaginably difficult—without the divine sense of a True Monarch, one shouldn't even dream of it—and if one truly wanted to research and derive anything from it, it was best done after ascending to immortality. An immortal's divine sense could form hundreds of millions of thoughts in an instant; only such a divine sense could solve the relevant calculations.
Wei Yuan, however, had no need to calculate, because the Immortal Monarch had directly provided the water blade form best suited for flying through the winds of the Native Realm, along with the corresponding Dao art structure. As for how the water blade traveled through steel, through flesh and blood, or even through an opponent's defensive Dao arts, that was either an unrevealed secret or something the Immortal Monarch had never bothered researching.
On second thought, Wei Yuan agreed. Who would still use the Water Blade Art once they became an immortal? Did they have any face left to lose?
Only after reading the books did Wei Yuan realize the flaw with the original Water Blade Storm: its Dao art structure was not large enough to hold his bottomless Dao power, which capped the spell's upper limit of destructive force.
This was the benefit of reading. Had he not redeemed all of the Immortal Monarch's works and read through them, all Wei Yuan would have thought to do was switch to a more powerful Dao art down the line.
Now, Wei Yuan felt that the massive Dao art structure of the Rushing Water Blade Art suited him perfectly. Furthermore, after tens of thousands of years of evolution, this structure had become thoroughly refined and remarkably stable.
Wei Yuan started with this Dao art structure, first stripping away all decorative components and elements unnecessary to him. Which parts could be dismantled without compromising the overall structure was also mentioned in the Immortal Monarch's books; all he had to do was strip them away.
This was an ancient Dao art that shot out a thin, rapid jet of water. Once Wei Yuan fitted water blade configurations onto the Dao art structure, several genuine water blades appeared within the stream. After some thought, Wei Yuan tried adding even more water blade configurations, causing the number of blades within the stream to multiply accordingly and its power to surge.
Seeing that the experiment worked, Wei Yuan kept stacking water blade configurations on top, installing eighteen of them in one go. By then, when a stream of water shot out, it was densely packed with water blades.
Wei Yuan continued refining it, shrinking the water blade configurations until every blade fired was only the size of a fingernail. Then he loaded on a hundred and eight of them in a single breath.
With this, most of the work on the Rushing Water Blade Art was complete. What remained was adding components to make the stream thicker and faster, extend its range, and even allow it to steer slightly at will. In any case, the Dao art's core structure was massive and sturdy enough; he could just keep piling on.
In the blink of an eye, a day and a night passed. Without sleep or rest, Wei Yuan finally completed his very first advanced Dao art. Next was testing its power.
The domain was vast and sparsely populated, with a designated range set up for testing Dao arts. Wei Yuan specifically chose to arrive two hours before dawn, and sure enough, there was not a soul in sight.
Wei Yuan hauled over a human-shaped stone target roughly a zhang tall, buried half of it into the ground, and placed three full layers of Dharma artifact armor plates over its chest, totaling two palms in thickness. Behind the stone target, he erected five wooden planks studded with steel plates for additional protection. Normally, the testing range required arrays behind the targets to neutralize residual Dao power, but Wei Yuan was broke.
Once everything was set up, Wei Yuan estimated that the target's defense was roughly equivalent to five Xiaoyus, a little under half an Eldest Senior Sister, or half of that Xu family Dharma Idol elder from back then.
Once prepared, Wei Yuan cautiously mobilized his Dao power. A faint glow appeared before him, then went out. Wei Yuan tried again; the light grew slightly brighter, then went out once more.
This was the standard procedure for testing a new Dao art: gradually increase the Dao power bit by bit, moving to the next step only after confirming each stage was sound.
After repeating this three to five times, Wei Yuan finally gained confidence. A sudden wind swept through Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, and the gravel on the ground trembled faintly. For this single Dao art, Wei Yuan finally unleashed the entirety of his Dao power!
A speck of intense light flared before Wei Yuan, instantly expanding into a massive ring of light several zhang across. From the center of the ring shot a jet of water as thick as a barrel, dazzling inside like a river of stars, packed with countless tiny water blades.
The water column blasted into the human-shaped stone target. The three layers of Dharma artifact armor offered only a fleeting resistance before disintegrating into ash, leaving a gaping void through the center of the stone figure. The water column punched straight ahead, piercing the five steel-plated wooden planks as if they didn't even exist.
In an instant, this radiant torrent bridged a thousand zhang, illuminating the entire domain before slowly dissipating.
Wei Yuan held his breath for a moment. The stone target he had personally set up possessed Dharma Idol-level defense, and it had been annihilated just like that?
In an instant, several divine senses swept across the range. Some were familiar, some less familiar, and others completely foreign to Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan counted them: apart from Eldest Senior Sister and Master, there were actually three other divine senses. It seemed quite a few people were concealed within Qingming. The latter three had been hiding seamlessly, but the shock of Wei Yuan's Dao art had flushed them all out at once.
Wei Yuan did not need to act himself; Eldest Senior Sister and Master were already on the move.
Soon after, a powerful divine sense arrived late. With dark circles under his eyes and eight immortal swords swirling in defensive orbit, Perfected Chuhe flew over, shouting as he flew, "What happened? Why did this old Daoist's heart skip a beat just now, feeling as if mortal peril were upon me?"
When the old Daoist landed at the testing range, all he saw was a human-shaped stone target with a gaping hole through its torso and a long gouge stretching across the ground, the grass bordering the furrow flattened entirely.
The old Daoist followed the gouge with his eyes, looking further and further into the distance until his complexion changed.
"What Dao art is this?" the old Daoist asked.
In the spirit of respecting teachers and honoring the Dao, Wei Yuan did not lie: "Rushing Water Blade Art."
Perfected Chuhe stroked his sparse whiskers and searched his memories. Relying on the formidable divine sense of a perfected person, he retrieved the corresponding Dao art from his vast ocean of recollection in the blink of an eye.
"Oh, so it's an ancient Dao art. The power of this art is indeed immense, but it suffers from being too rigid..." Fortunately, Perfected Chuhe had no compulsive need to lecture others, so he dropped the subject after a single sentence.
In ancient times, every human capable of cultivation was a born talent for the Dao. Observing heaven and earth and watching the mighty figures of alien races, they had pieced together Dao arts of staggering power, yet clumsy and unrefined—utterly unusable unless one was a true genius. Unlike modern Dao arts, which were exquisite and delicate, capable of being cast by virtually any cultivator.
Just then, three successive ripples of dharmic power pulsed in the distance like three popping bubbles. Zhang Sheng and Ji Liuli flew over holding three small animals, which they tossed onto the ground.
Zhang Sheng said, "Caught three Shaman scouts. This trick of yours to beat the grass and startle the snakes worked well enough, but next time remember to give us a heads-up."
Ji Liuli looked at the furrow on the ground, deep in thought. "You're researching ancient Dao arts? That's normally something studied only after reaching the Dharma Idol realm. Did you succeed? What art is it?"
"I succeeded. It's the Rushing Water Blade Art. But why can ancient Dao arts only be studied after the Dharma Idol realm?"
Ji Liuli, having been a teacher for several years, explained, "Many ancient Dao arts directly imitate heaven, earth, and nature. Their might is immense, but their structures are unstable; the vast majority of ancient Dao arts must be modified before they can be used normally. Many people study ancient Dao arts to observe the workings of the Great Dao from another angle, and only the divine sense of the Dharma Idol realm is powerful enough to analyze their structures. Oh, though your divine sense is just about there, too."
Ji Liuli added, "After breakfast, everyone gather. Today we need to discuss the siege cannons."
"Siege... can... nons?" Perfected Chuhe felt as if he hadn't quite understood.
"An apparatus for attacking enemy cities," Ji Liuli said.
"I see! No wonder this old Daoist has never heard of it. May this old Daoist take part as well?"
"If the perfected wishes to participate, nothing could be better."
After the others dispersed, Wei Yuan's heart, which he had forced into stillness, began pounding violently again.
The newly forged Dao art had drained Dao power equivalent to a hundred ordinary Dao Foundations from Wei Yuan in a single cast, requiring continuous power to sustain, but its might far exceeded expectations. If he encountered that Xu family Dharma Idol again and the man dared to take it head-on, his defenses would shatter within three breaths, and within ten, he would be gravely injured.
If the Dao power of a hundred ordinary Dao Foundation cultivators were hurled at a Dharma Idol one by one, it would merely scratch the surface; but fused into a single blow, it became salvation for the dead.
Never mind the Xu family Dharma Idol elder—even if Eldest Senior Sister herself stood in its way, she wouldn't be able to withstand it...
Wei Yuan hurriedly banished this terrifying thought. Ever since he devised this new Dao art, he faintly felt that "respecting teachers and honoring the Dao" was drifting further away, while "betraying the master and destroying the ancestors" was drawing closer. Those four words seemed to lie squarely within the spell's effective range.
A new Dao art capable of slaying a Dharma Idol was already worthy of Earth Tier classification and deserved its own name. But Wei Yuan had no talent for naming, so he casually settled on "Water Dragon Cannon" for now, leaving finer details to ponder once it advanced further in the future.
The Water Dragon Cannon possessed terrifying might, but it was indeed somewhat unwieldy. If a Dharma Idol cast aside their pride and insisted on dodging, they could still evade it. Yet inspiration struck Wei Yuan: people could dodge, but a city couldn't!
Wei Yuan looked into the far distance. At the very edge of his vision in that direction lay the magnificent city newly erected by the Shamans.
Originally, everyone had been deeply worried. After combing through Xu Wenwu's notes, they had prepared to put siege cannons on the agenda. But now Wei Yuan felt it might not even be necessary. What city wall could be harder than a Dharma Idol True Person's body, or withstand the shearing torrent of a water dragon?
Wei Yuan had previously worried day and night; now, he hoped the Shamans would build their city bigger and higher, wasting as much manpower and resources as possible.
A short while later, dawn broke, and the members of the Palace of Grand Beginning gathered to discuss siege cannons.
Wei Yuan did not oppose the siege cannons just because he had his Water Dragon Art; on the contrary, he actively pushed for them. To him now, he wanted both the Water Dragon Cannon and the siege cannons.
Meanwhile, in deep mountains ten thousand li to the southeast, several cultivators had built a few wooden huts. They were currently excavating the adjacent cliffside, examining the distribution of ore veins within.
A dark-skinned cultivator glanced at the sky and frowned. "Another day has passed. Why is there still no news?"
A young cultivator beside him spoke up: "Eldest Senior Brother, I'm not one to badmouth people behind their backs. But is that matter you entrusted to Perfected Chuhe truly reliable? Those fellows from the Hall of Jianmu love playing old farmers the most. They look honest and simple, but each is craftier than the last."
The eldest senior brother's face darkened. "Who told you that? How could you slander an elder of our sect like this?"
"Mistress said so."
The eldest senior brother went silent immediately.
The young cultivator continued, "Eldest Senior Brother, counting the time, there should have been enough time for messages to go back and forth several times over. Could that old Daoist have found something good and decided to hog it all behind our backs?"
Chapter 227