The instant Xuanwei Six sank into the ground, Wei Yuan's consciousness went momentarily blank. The minds of the four Great Shamans also went blank at that very moment.
Two of the Great Shamans charged out at once. The third was a beat slower and was intercepted by Yanxin.
"I haven't given the order! What do you think you're doing?" Yanxin roared.
The Great Shaman looked coldly at Yanxin and said, "If Lord Shu Li doesn't die, Lord Shengxin will be fine, but think about what will become of you!"
While Yanxin was caught off guard, that Great Shaman also dashed out.
Only one Great Shaman remained in place, offering a flattering smile. "What should we do now?"
Looking at him, Yanxin was suddenly gripped by an inexplicable annoyance and snapped coldly, "Shut up. You talk too much!"
Within the domain, Perfected Chuhe rose tall, eight immortal swords blazing with dazzling brilliance as he intercepted two of the Great Shamans. Yu Zhizhuo, holding a golden spiked mace, took on the third Great Shaman.
Sun Yu held an alchemy furnace in his hands, glancing around, but no one came after him.
Seeing that extraordinarily massive Great Shaman still lingering in place, Wei Yuan frowned. His thoughts raced, running through everything that had transpired in the past.
His aura suddenly surged upward, level after level. The surrounding Shamans instantly felt an unspeakable palpitation and instinctively recoiled.
Standing where he was, Wei Yuan looked into the distance at Yanxin. His calm, tranquil voice echoed across the entire domain, ringing clear for every human and Shaman to hear: "I remember now. One of your leaders looks quite a bit like a human. He must have been born of a human, and in the future, he'll be carrying a human's child as well."
Crack! Beyond the void of heaven, something seemed to shatter.
Blood-red and black threads spread across Yanxin's six eyes until his pupils vanished entirely. Two plumes of white fire snorted from his nostrils as he roared in apoplectic fury, "You court death!!"
A wide stone path manifested out of thin air in the sky. Yanxin strode forward like a walking mountain range, charging into the domain.
With two heavy thuds, a cat and a snake darted out from concealment, only to be sent flying by Yanxin's impact. Next, eight immortal swords appeared from thin air, stabbing toward Yanxin!
An ethereal silhouette of a green mountain suddenly emerged around Yanxin. The eight immortal swords struck the green mountain in unison, merely dimming its light by a fraction.
Old Daoist Chuhe gave an awkward laugh. "Slip of the hand, slip of the hand!"
He hurriedly recalled his immortal swords and sprinted away into the distance, drawing the two Great Shamans with him. If he hadn't recalled his swords, his dharmic body would likely have been battered to pieces by those two Great Shamans.
Yanxin paid no heed to the old Daoist and continued toward Wei Yuan.
Sun Yu opened the furnace in his hands and flicked his finger three times toward Yanxin. Three black spots instantly formed on Yanxin's body, oozing pus and blood; the protective green mountain proved utterly useless against them. However, Yanxin's physique was massive, and the three black spots were like mosquito bites on him, completely unable to spread.
Sun Yu did not attack him further; instead, he tipped the furnace downward. Downwind, hundreds of Shaman soldiers suddenly turned green in the face, convulsed, and collapsed.
Several Shaman Scholars were furious. They waved green mist to shield the remaining soldiers and hurled cluster after cluster of blood curses at Sun Yu. Above Sun Yu's head gathered a blood cloud, and his body was wrapped in blood mist, yet he was utterly fearless. He kept pointing his fingers at the Shaman Scholars, causing black spots to break out over their bodies. They were not Yanxin; the black spots were not only enormous on them, but also continuously spreading. In the blink of an eye, two Shaman Scholars collapsed to the ground, their bodies turned black and blue.
Ahead of Yanxin's path, an azure immortal sword suddenly descended!
For the first time, Yanxin showed a grave expression. The green mountain around him shifted from illusory to real, turning into several exceptionally thick rock shields that orbited him. Another immortal sword descended, and one rock shield shattered abruptly. Yanxin's face paled slightly.
In the blink of an eye, a third immortal sword fell to Yanxin's right. This time, three stone shields blew apart at once, and a crack appeared on the tip of one of Yanxin's fangs!
The fourth immortal sword was ethereal and faint, descending slowly.
Shock and rage appeared on Yanxin's face, yet full of ferocity, his body suddenly swelled once more, turning in the blink of an eye into a monster over a hundred feet tall!
The vitality within him was immensely concentrated, like a burning celestial sun; such robust life force was truly something Wei Yuan had never witnessed before! In terms of raw vitality alone, he barely lagged behind True Monarch Xuanyue.
With a soft crunch, the four immortal swords fell, and the sword formation was formed!
The four immortal swords shattered one by one. With each broken sword, Yanxin let out a roar of agony, and a vast ocean of vitality vanished into nothingness. As the fourth immortal sword dissipated, nearly a quarter of Yanxin's vitality was wiped out—equal to the sum of the previous three.
Zhang Sheng's face was pale, an unnatural flush flitting across his cheeks. His four full-power swords had descended, yet they had only sliced away half of Yanxin's vitality! The sheer vastness and dread of Yanxin's vitality already carried a trace of the ancient Kunpeng or the Azure-Sky Xuan Whale.
Wei Yuan was naturally sharp in his perception; where others saw nothing, he clearly perceived the changes in Yanxin's vitality. An odd thought suddenly popped into his mind: Has Master become this powerful? With four swords, he could hack away half of Patriarch Xuanyue's old life?
Of course, the Patriarch's Dao arts were unfathomably profound; he certainly wouldn't just stand there and let Zhang Sheng strike him. With just a fraction of his skill, he could ensure Zhang Sheng never landed a single blow.
The Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda finally appeared, pressing down toward the crown of Yanxin's head. Yanxin grabbed casually, and the fourth Great Shaman appeared in his grip, only to be hurled straight into the Nine-Layer Pagoda.
The Nine-Layer Pagoda froze immediately as Ji Liuli and the Great Shaman trapped within began a mortal combat.
Yanxin shook his neck, scattering countless sparks from his mane, and gave Wei Yuan a ferocious sneer. "Brat, who else can protect you now?"
Wei Yuan took a deep breath.
A sudden gust of wild wind rose within Qingming, as though the entire domain had taken a deep breath along with him!
Wei Yuan pressed a single hand forward toward Yanxin. A halo several yards wide suddenly erupted before him, and from its center shot a dazzling torrent of water carrying what looked like an entire galaxy of stars, arriving right in front of Yanxin in an instant!
All of Yanxin's mane flew upward, his six eyes widening. Three stone shields appeared instantly before him, layered one over the other.
The water jet slammed into the rock shields. In every finger-snap, countless water blades slashed and sliced; microscopic stone chips and water mist exploded simultaneously, turning into a vast, swirling haze of clouds. Under the illumination of Daoist light, rainbows even shimmered across the mist.
Yanxin felt his dharmic power pouring out as if a massive breach had been blown open. The first two stone shields were pierced in the blink of an eye, as though they hadn't existed at all!
Yanxin propped both hands against the third stone shield, roaring wildly as layer upon layer of stone shields formed, yet nearly every shield was pulverized the moment it appeared.
Yanxin felt as though hundreds of millions of tiny blades were endlessly carving him up, yet he had no choice but to block—once the stone shields were whittled away, his dharmic body would be next!
What defensive incantations, what dharmic power structures, what indestructible dharmic bodies? Before this jet of water containing hundreds of millions of microscopic water blades, they were all like jokes, collapsing on contact. Yanxin could only spit out dharmic power with all his might to continuously generate stone shields, barely holding back the scouring erosion of the torrent.
Yanxin's ferocity was thoroughly aroused. He roared, "I'd like to see how long you can keep this up!!"
Such a terrifying Dao art had to consume an astonishing amount of power. An ordinary Heaven Tier Dao Foundation wouldn't even be able to cast it, and an immortal foundation could likely only activate it with difficulty. If sustained for just a little while, this Dao art could drain even a dharma idol into a dried husk. Wei Yuan was merely at the early stage of the Dao Foundation; how long could he possibly endure?
Yanxin steeled his resolve, refusing to believe that his dharmic body, blessed with ancient bloodlines, could fail to outlast a mere Dao Foundation like Wei Yuan.
Yet the stream of blades in Wei Yuan's hands seemed endless, never ceasing. In truth, Wei Yuan was currently in a peculiar state: his Dao Foundation was merged with Qingming and continuously materialized. Qingming took in and transformed the origin qi of heaven and earth, while Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains also breathed in spiritual energy. Aside from his own Dao power, Wei Yuan effectively had vast stores of Dao power banked within Qingming.
Strictly speaking, the Dao power within Qingming did not belong to Wei Yuan; once outside the domain, he could not draw upon it, and it would constantly dissipate. But standing within the domain, he was not just one Wei Yuan—he was several Wei Yuans combined.
The look in Yanxin's eyes shifted from fury to suspicion, and then from suspicion to terror.
His dharmic power was scraping the bottom, yet Wei Yuan's Dao art showed no sign of stopping. If this went on, he would have to endure it with his physical dharmic body. But even if he were mad, he would never want to use his dharmic body to withstand a stream of blades capable of carving through everything.
At this point, Yanxin was forced to set aside any thought of overwhelming the junior before him through his own strength alone. He took out the small box Shengxin had given him and crushed it forcefully. A drop of dark azure blood immediately flew into the sky. Then, thunder rumbled across the void of heaven, and a dark azure bolt of heavenly thunder spiraled downward.
In the air, the four immortal swords reappeared to intercept it together, but the azure thunder ignored them completely, striking straight down upon Wei Yuan!
This was the Azure Wood Dutian Divine Thunder, capable of shattering falsehood and obliterating barriers while still leaving a thread of vitality; it was an immortal thunder of life among the heavens.
With a crisp crack, all barriers on Wei Yuan—both tangible and intangible—shattered completely. Like a raw egg stripped of its shell, everything within him was laid bare for examination, with only his karmic luck still able to function.
Finally, this moment has arrived... Wei Yuan's thoughts raced, reaching a speed never seen before.
Beyond the void of heaven, several indescribably terrifying wills cast their gazes downward, scrutinizing the contents of Wei Yuan's being.
In the split second before those gazes could land, the young woman who had remained motionless all along suddenly opened her eyes, revealing starkly contrasting pupils of black and white. Wei Yuan was scared half out of his wits.
The full moon turned to its other face, and the shadow within the moon was spreading outward, as if preparing to walk into this realm.
It seemed leisurely and unhurried, like a noblewoman who had just awakened from an afternoon nap and was about to touch up her makeup. Yet even though Wei Yuan perceived it as moving very slowly, those descending gazes were somehow even slower than it.
I can never let it out... The thought flashed instinctively through Wei Yuan's mind.
In his desperation, Wei Yuan yanked out the immortal laurel branch and hurled it skyward, colliding with those descending gazes.
Qingming suddenly turned dead silent. A colossal full moon appeared in the sky without anyone realizing when, showering moonlight over the mortal realm and coating everything in a layer of cool, clear silver.
Above Wei Yuan's head rose a celestial laurel tree several hundred feet tall. Its entire body was white-gold, and the tree was in full bloom, its white-gold petals carrying a subtle tinge of faint red.
Swaying gently without any wind, the celestial laurel tree shook down petals like falling showers of stars.
The stream of blades in Wei Yuan's hands suddenly transformed: the water blades turned into petals, instantly piercing through the stone shield, Yanxin's arms, and his body.
In that frozen instant when all living beings were awed by the aura of the celestial tree and their minds went blank, a spear appeared in Wei Yuan's hands. Countless specks of light converged from every corner of Qingming onto the spear tip, coalescing into a faint, dusk-yellow glow.
Wei Yuan appeared before Yanxin and thrust the spear through his throat!
Yanxin let out an earth-shattering shriek of agony. His neck blew apart; abandoning his mangled dharmic body, he fled into the sky with only his head remaining, vanishing in an instant!
Yet as he fled, his ostentatious mane had turned completely snow-white.
Dusk of the Immortal Path!
Wei Yuan did not pursue him. That single thrust had extinguished at least three thousand years of Yanxin's lifespan; even if he made it back, he would not have many years left to live.
The void of heaven returned to tranquility. All the gazes withdrew, and the inexplicable, oppressive heaviness that had hung over the entire domain vanished. It was as though dust accumulated over many years had been washed clean from everyone.
With Yanxin grievously injured and fleeing, the Shaman army lost all will to fight. Horns sounded continuously from their rear as the army maintained formation and began a slow retreat. Two Great Shamans moved like lightning, escaping the domain, but the third was encircled by four immortal swords and reduced to a cloud of blood mist in the blink of an eye.
The fourth Great Shaman was still struggling inside the Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, entirely unaware that the heavens outside had already changed. Driven by desperation, he fought with savage bravery, inflicting a minor injury on Ji Liuli. But Sun Yu was already rushing over, clutching medicine bottles and an alchemy cauldron.
Wei Yuan relaxed his spirit. Drained of strength, his hand could no longer grip the weapon, and the spear slipped from his fingers to clatter against the ground.
It's finally over... For now, the gazes of the mighty Shaman experts would likely turn elsewhere, no longer focusing on Wei Yuan.
Yet Wei Yuan's situation had not improved; it might even have become worse. After all, the whole world now knew he possessed a celestial tree.
Chapter 238