Wei Yuan, Zhang Sheng, and Perfected Chuhe flew toward Shaman City with brazen openness. Naturally, they were spotted by the Shamans, and three Great Shamans ascended into the air to meet them.
Wei Yuan halted several dozen li from Shaman City, watching the three Great Shamans slowly approach.
A cold sneer rose to his face. "What, afraid? Did your last thrashing hurt too much?"
One Great Shaman roared in fury, "Have you come seeking death?"
Wei Yuan said dismissively, "Do things like you that merely look like humans even deserve to speak in front of me? Where is that fellow who had only a head left? Tell him to come out and face me!"
The Great Shamans flared with rage, yet miraculously held back. Their gazes swept past Wei Yuan, rested on Perfected Chuhe for a breath to show some begrudging respect, and then fixed squarely on Zhang Sheng.
Zhang Sheng was still clad in scholar's robes, one hand behind his back and the other holding a volume of history, resembling a scholar on his way to the imperial examinations. Yet when the Great Shamans looked upon him, their eyes felt a faint, stinging ache, and their bodies shuddered on pure instinct.
The three Great Shamans were filled with shock and doubt. This man was clearly not at the dharma idol stage, so how did he exert a pressure far heavier than the old Daoist beside him?
Naturally, Wei Yuan noticed their expressions and quietly praised in his heart, *Master's acting is really getting better and better.*
Sensing that the atmosphere had been stoked enough, Wei Yuan spoke up. "Fighting here, I fear you'll turn tail and flee back to your old nest the moment things go south. How about we head two hundred li southwest before we trade blows?"
There was no way three Great Shamans would back down from a fight. Naturally, they agreed, and both sides flew toward the southwest. That location was equidistant from both the territory and Shaman City; whoever wished to flee would have to put in some effort.
Wei Yuan flew at an unhurried pace when Perfected Chuhe's voice suddenly echoed in his mind: *"Brat, don't forget that this old Daoist can't really bring out his immortal sword."*
Wei Yuan replied through divine sense: *"Don't worry, my master can't really bring out his either."*
Perfected Chuhe started, feeling that something was more and more amiss the more he pondered it.
Just as they were nearing the battle site, a black speck suddenly pierced the horizon in the distance, streaking toward Shaman City!
Horns blared immediately within Shaman City, but the object was simply too fast. The horns had barely sounded when it had already arrived above the city!
Strangely enough, Shaman City's defensive grand formation failed to react. The Shaman Scholars and warriors on city defense duty could not possibly allow that thing to crash down, and several magical treasures instantly flew up to intercept it.
Yet at that moment, the faint outline of a towering pagoda flickered in the sky. All the magical treasures lagged by a beat, brushing past the object.
Atop the wall, a Shaman noble roared. Revealing his true form—over ten feet tall and pitch-black from head to toe—he leaped like lightning, astonishingly wrapping his arms around the object in midair!
With a booming shout, he clamped down hard with both arms. Then, he saw a sun blossom in his embrace, followed by utter blackness before his eyes as all awareness vanished.
Above Shaman City, a miniature sun materialized out of nowhere. A terrifying gale swept across everything on the wall, and flying steel shrapnel sheared several unlucky Shaman Scholars in two. Shamans within a thousand feet felt as though a heavy hammer had struck their heads, and all sound abruptly left their ears.
A few ordinary Shamans a thousand feet away scrambled up from the ground, disoriented and confused about what had just happened, when a charred black object suddenly plummeted from the sky and slammed down before their feet.
Focusing their eyes, they saw that it was a severed black arm, its fingers still twitching.
Terror struck into their very souls, and the Shamans fled in all directions. Just then, another object pierced the horizon and crashed into Shaman City. This time, the Shaman Scholars and warriors had not yet recovered from the previous blast and could only watch helplessly as it smashed into the heart of the city!
With a tremendous roar, an enormous fireball rose into the sky. The blast wave leveled every building within several dozen yards! The flying steel shrapnel served as lethal reapers; whether Shaman Scholar or warrior noble, anyone struck was sent straight to the Yellow Springs.
Within the territory, Wang Yu beat time stroke by stroke, using his dao power to guide and correct the cultivators' movements. Dozens of cultivators at peak Body Casting chanted work songs as they hoisted steel pipes known as cannon barrels to the front of the array and loaded shells inside.
Xu Yi and several Dao Foundation cultivators were responsible for activating the formation, propelling the shells onto the track and driving them forward.
The shell glided along the formation track, urged on by pairs of Dao Foundation cultivators stationed along the path, its speed increasing with every node it passed. A thousand yards later, at the track's end, it was already faster than lightning. It pitched upward sharply, launched into the sky, and howled toward Shaman City.
Under Wang Yu's command, before the previous shell had completely left the track, the next shell was already being mounted into the array. In the current phrasing of Qingming, this was called ensuring firepower.
Meanwhile, blaze after blaze surged within Shaman City as colossal black clouds billowed upward. Countless Shamans were continually blasted into the air amid the fiery glare. In the beginning, there was still some resistance within the city, but the appearance of the colossal Nine-Layer Pagoda in the sky stripped all magical treasures of their efficacy.
As for the city-protecting grand formation, failing to activate in time, it had been heavily damaged when the first shell landed, and the subsequent shells blew it apart entirely. With the grand formation—the only defense in all of Shaman City capable of countering the Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda—rendered useless, and with the Shaman Scholars and nobles suffering catastrophic casualties under continuous bombardment, they could no longer mount an effective resistance.
Even now, they had no idea what these flying objects were. They only knew that their power was terrifying beyond measure, yet devoid of almost any magical fluctuation. Without using the naked eye, it was nearly impossible to track their trajectories with divine sense.
Had they not witnessed them hurtling from the horizon with their own eyes, they would have assumed some human dharma idol was lurking in the sky, hurling dao arts downward with reckless abandon.
The only ones capable of stepping forward to intercept under the Nine-Layer Demon-Suppressing Pagoda were the three Great Shamans, but they were currently over a hundred li away.
Seeing the relentless explosions and soaring flames engulfing Shaman City, how could the three Great Shamans not realize they had fallen for a ploy to lure the tigers from the mountain?
Fires of wrath burned in their eyes. Just as they prepared to turn back and save their city, they saw Wei Yuan point his spear at the sky. A speck of dim yellow light ignited upon the spearhead, and in a cadence rich with modulation, he intoned, "Immortal path... dusk..."
*Was this the spear strike that had nearly slain Yanxin?!*
The three Great Shamans treated it as a mortal peril, fully on their guard; none dared take that strike to their backs. They did not possess Yanxin's innate powerhouse bloodline and vast vitality, which had allowed him to survive having three thousand years of lifespan severed. It was doubtful whether the three of them combined even possessed three thousand years of lifespan.
Who would have guessed that Wei Yuan simply could not finish the final word? The dim yellow light on the spearhead flickered and then snuffed out!
The three Great Shamans stared in stunned disbelief. Just as they were about to head back, Wei Yuan gave an embarrassed chuckle and spoke again. "Immortal path... dusk..."
The dim yellow light flared again at the spear tip. This time, the glow held a touch of pale red, exuding an immortal aura that seeped straight into the heart and soul.
The Great Shamans exchanged glances, forced to stay on guard. For the moment, they could neither leave nor stay. They wanted to swarm him all at once, but with Zhang Sheng looking on coldly from the side, they clearly held no advantage.
As for the old Daoist, the Great Shamans felt that dealing with him was merely a matter of a casual slap. This was outside Qingming, the Shamans' home turf; the old Daoist could kick up no waves.
Sure enough, the dim yellow light on Wei Yuan's spear tip vanished once more.
Now, no matter how foolish the Great Shamans were, they understood they had been duped by Wei Yuan. A spear strike capable of severing lifespan surely came with heavy restrictions—perhaps it was even a magical treasure with limited uses—and Wei Yuan clearly could not unleash it now. Grinding their teeth in bitter hatred yet unable to do anything to him, the Great Shamans had no choice but to head back to save the city.
From behind, Wei Yuan shouted once more: "Immor—"
Before the Great Shamans could burst into curses, a torrent of radiant golden light burst forth and slammed into the slowest, physically toughest Great Shaman!
Enraged, that Great Shaman was about to strike back when he suddenly discovered his protective magical power collapsed on contact beneath the golden stream! His high-grade armor held out for only a few breaths before being punched through by the current!
His proud physical body fared even worse; in an instant, his skin was abraded away completely as the attack began carving into his flesh and blood.
One Great Shaman reacted with swift hands, hauling him aside, while the other condensed a blade light several yards long to slash fiercely into the current. The blade light stalemated with the Golden Light Water Blade Art for a single breath before shattering, while the Golden Light Water Blade Art continued streaking forward, dispersing only after traversing several hundred yards.
A strange look came over that Great Shaman's face. From that clash alone, he discovered that his magical power was actually inferior to Wei Yuan's—not only in quality, but in sheer quantity as well!
Both shocked and furious, a single thought consumed him: *What kind of monster is this guy?!*
The Great Shaman ambushed by Wei Yuan now bore a basin-sized wound on his waist, deep enough to expose bone. A moment of carelessness and a surge of competitive pride had left him severely injured.
Shocked and infuriated, the three Great Shamans dared not linger and flew back to Shaman City at top speed.
Wei Yuan secretly thought it a pity. Had there been one more senior from his sect present, they might have been able to keep one Great Shaman behind for good. Unfortunately, his master's immortal swords were suppressed; outside the territory, he was merely an empty facade.
His own Golden Light Water Blade Art just now had also consumed half his dao power, leaving him enough for at most one more cast. Once stepped beyond Qingming, Wei Yuan was not much more than an empty facade himself.
Wei Yuan did not give chase. He had been counting the number of shells launched; by the time the three Great Shamans hurried back, the bombardment had already ceased.
When the three Great Shamans returned, half of Shaman City lay in ruins, with casualties beyond count. Looking at the corpses strewn across the ground, black spots danced before their eyes.
The explosive attacks covered an immense area; while their power was not concentrated enough, ordinary Shamans caught within the blast radius had no hope of escaping death.
Shaman City had been erected in haste, with all efforts poured into the city walls and the defensive grand formation. The vast majority of structures inside were rapidly built wooden houses, with only the sacrificial altar made of stone. Whenever a shell landed among the cluster of wooden dwellings, it decimated everything within several dozen yards.
The central altar had also taken two shells, a corner blown away. The priceless formation upon the altar was thoroughly ruined and would need to be rebuilt.
Looking at the wrecked devastation of Shaman City, the Great Shamans could scarcely believe their eyes. What sort of attack was so ferocious, yet left behind barely any aura of dao power at the scene?
In such a short time, the Shaman City built with the gathered might of an entire tribal force had been laid waste. Rebuilding it would cost at least half of the original expenditure.
The three Great Shamans naturally did not know that Wei Yuan had launched all thirty-odd shells produced over the past few days in a single breath. What the gunpowder lacked in potency, he made up for in sheer volume, packing three thousand jin of gunpowder into every single shell.
In other words, Wei Yuan had just hurled a hundred thousand jin of gunpowder upon Shaman City.
Chapter 250