All the steel cylinders were a size smaller than the original model. Their speeds and flight paths varied—some flew as swift as lightning, while others drifted and fluttered like falling leaves. Every single cylinder was guided by the divine sense of a cultivator.
Now that Shaman City was enveloped within the domain, these Dao Foundation cultivators could control the cylinders while safely ensconced dozens of li away.
Though taken aback by the sudden onslaught, the Shamans in the city did not panic. They cast all manner of spells into the air, and over a dozen long-range magical artifacts soared up to intercept.
Yet the moment the steel cylinders met an attack, they burst open, each spewing forth a dozen smaller cylinders. Only two feet long and as thick as a bowl, these sub-canisters tumbled downward toward Shaman City on erratic, drifting trajectories.
There were simply too many of them. Aside from Great Shaman Shui, Shaman City had only assigned a dozen or so adept Shaman Scholars to the interception. Seeing hundreds of canisters raining down, Great Shaman Shui had no choice but to act. Sheets of milky-white light from the city defense array transformed into spinning, whistling blades that shot into the sky, slicing every cylinder in two in an instant.
That single interception depleted a full third of the milky-white light powering the city-guarding array.
Yet the severed cylinders were entirely empty inside, not a single one packed with explosives. This batch of shells had been deployed purely as decoys.
Before the wreckage of the first wave could even hit the ground, the second wave was already looming above Shaman City.
By then, three rail launching arrays within the domain were aimed at Shaman City. Each launch bundled five large steel cylinders together, firing them in unison. As they traversed designated zones, pre-positioned cultivators lying in wait took over control with their divine senses.
This time, Great Shaman Shui did not intercept them all, targeting only seventy percent.
However, several cylinders that breached the interception abruptly exploded. The violent blasts instantly sent tremors running through the defensive array, which absorbed the full brunt of the explosions. For any formation designed to protect an entire region, wide-area saturation attacks were precisely what it feared most.
The second wave of canisters already contained explosive-laden sub-canisters, forcing the Shamans to keep intercepting. Then came the third, fourth, and fifth waves. By the time the sixth barrage arrived, the milky-white radiance within the city-guarding array was utterly depleted, and all the magic power Great Shaman Shui had stored in advance was completely drained. Further interceptions would require tapping into priceless sacrificial power or the Great Shaman's own magic reserves.
Only thirty percent of the sub-canisters in the sixth barrage contained gunpowder, but once word was sent back, the rear ranks switched to shells marked with a red stripe—seventy percent of whose sub-canisters were packed with explosives.
Steel was cheap in the domain now, but gunpowder production was still limited, so it had to be used sparingly.
When this barrage came crashing down, explosions erupted one after another. Many of the fiery blasts merged into a single sea of flames, shaking the Shamans' defensive array violently. That single salvo shaved off a full thirty percent of the formation's magic power, leaving it at less than half of its original strength.
The Great Shamans in the city were both terrified and furious. The humans' steel cylinders had grown smaller, yet their power had actually increased! In the previous battle, the humans had only thrown a few dozen canisters, but the fighting had barely begun this time and they had already hurled thousands, running Great Shaman Shui's magic power completely dry! Did the humans' steel fall straight from the heavens?
In the blink of an eye, the tenth bombardment arrived. The city-guarding array had only ten percent of its power left and had to be shut down. Numerous Shaman Scholars and nobles took up magical artifacts and mounted the high perches of the city to intercept the incoming fire.
As the next wave of small canisters rained from above, a dazzling array of lights rose from Shaman City, hovering in the air like a massive, shimmering carpet of vibrant color, breathtakingly magnificent.
Above Shaman City, spell light, fire, and acrid smoke instantly tangled into one. The concussive blasts jarred their divine senses, leaving many Shamans with pounding headaches and making it difficult to lock onto targets.
Wei Yuan watched this scene from afar and realized the number of core Shaman fighters in the city exceeded his estimates. He immediately issued an order to continue the shelling for another five rounds!
The stockpile of munitions within the domain far exceeded the Shamans' expectations as well.
Moreover, compared to the prices in the Shaman lands or Western Jin, the cost of steel within the domain was essentially free.
At last, steel cylinders slammed into the city and detonated, flattening everything within a radius of three zhang. Even mid-Dao Foundation Shaman Scholars and nobles were wounded by the blasts, while ordinary Shamans beneath the Dao Foundation suffered catastrophic casualties.
Once shells began hitting the ground, the gaps in their defense grew wider and wider. By the time the five rounds of bombardment concluded, half of the shells were detonating inside the city, inflicting devastating losses on the Shamans. The spells and magical artifacts rising to intercept were less than half of what they had been, forcing the Great Shamans to step in despite the drain on their magic power.
With that, the first phase of Wei Yuan's plan—destroying Shaman City's defensive array—was complete.
The bombardment had been extraordinarily effective. Before Wei Yuan had even used his Golden Light Water Blade Art, shelling alone had dismantled Shaman City's defensive array. Well over a thousand shells had successfully exploded inside the city, wounding at least several hundred Shaman Scholars and nobles, while the casualties beneath the Dao Foundation were beyond counting.
Wei Yuan took to the air, making no attempt to conceal his presence. Like a shooting star, he plunged toward Shaman City, descending upon it like a tiger into a flock of sheep!
Several Great Shamans took flight simultaneously, closing in with savage fury. But the moment they drew near, they scattered like startled birds and beasts, each fleeing faster than the last as if their tails were on fire!
Every Great Shaman had spotted the faint, wavering amber glow at the tip of Wei Yuan's spear, and they had no choice but to flee!
Even Yanxin had been unable to endure Dusk of the Immortal Path; if any of them were struck, there would be only one outcome—their lifespans would instantly expire, and they would perish on the spot.
Even Shui was forced to wrench its body from the altar, ruthlessly severing a portion of itself that could not be pulled free in time, before fleeing in utter panic. After all, Wei Yuan was gunning straight for it!
None of the Great Shamans had anticipated this outcome—once the clear domain engulfed Shaman City, Wei Yuan was free to wield Dusk of the Immortal Path inside it.
Because of the angle of Wei Yuan's charge, the Great Shamans had fled purely on instinct, scattering in three different directions. Except for Shui, who escaped beyond the domain's borders, the other four Great Shamans remained trapped within it.
Perfected Chuhe took to the skies, finally revealing the true bearing of a Perfected Person. With one person, one cat, and one snake, he engaged three Great Shamans individually, taking on three peers of equal standing entirely on his own.
Currently, the Great Shamans were trapped inside the human clear domain, with Wei Yuan rampaging across the battlefield brandishing that terrifying implement of slaughter, Dusk of the Immortal Path. Who would dare linger? None had any will left to fight; their only thought was to break out and flee.
As a result, both the cat and the snake had the upper hand. Only Perfected Chuhe's true body had it rough, sustaining wounds almost as soon as blows were exchanged. Fortunately, the Perfected Person possessed abundant vitality and a regenerative capability that ranked among the best even for a True Person of the Dharma Idol realm, allowing him to cling tenaciously to the Great Shaman.
Meanwhile, four immortal swords fell from the sky, encircling the final Great Shaman.
That Great Shaman's aura plummeted again and again, half of its vitality severed in one stroke—and that was only because Zhang Sheng had stayed his hand. Immediately afterward, it was hit by a mouthful of reddish-black alchemical fire spat by Sun Yu, igniting a faint black toxic flame upon its nascent divinity. Dazed and disoriented, its movements stiffened.
To the side, Yu Zhizhuo cast an ochre beam of light from afar, bathing the Great Shaman in its radiance. The Great Shaman instantly felt as though mired in deep mud, its movements grinding to a painful crawl.
Knowing it was on the brink of life and death, the Great Shaman struggled desperately. Yet against the combined assault of three top cultivators from the Palace of Grand Beginning, and hemmed inside the clear domain, how could it possibly stir up any waves?
Below, figures flickered as dozens of cultivators arrived on the wind, hurling a dazzling barrage of gaudy Daoist arts toward it! Struck by dozens of spells at once, the Great Shaman suffered yet another wave of minor injuries.
Hardly had that volley landed when a second wave arrived, this time laced with several exceedingly fierce Dao arts! Instantly grievously wounded, the Great Shaman let out a wretched scream, struggling with all its might.
Sun Yu cautiously added another breath of pure black toxic fire, sending the Great Shaman back into a daze—luckily avoiding spitting it to death on the spot.
Among the crowd below, the young members of the Cui family were flushed red with a mixture of excitement and terror.
They had never encountered a Great Shaman at such close range. It felt like an ordinary person stumbling across a lion in the wilderness with no cover in sight. With racing hearts and trembling hands, they threw cluster after cluster of things that could barely be called Dao arts at the Great Shaman, resembling a pack of unruly children hurling pebbles at a mighty lion.
Disciples from Sky Azure Hall and Water Moon Hall were also in the ranks. They had waited for the Cui family to take the first turn before striking together in the second wave. Their mastery of Dao arts was roughly on par with Cui Yu's, so their concerted strike dealt heavy damage to the defenseless Great Shaman.
Cui Yu stood watching from the side. Though tempted to strike, and despite Wei Yuan having urged him beforehand to do so, he ultimately let his pride get the better of him. He stood with hands clasped behind his back, remaining completely motionless.
A third barrage of spell light engulfed the Great Shaman, and it finally fell—dying a bewildered, humiliated death.
A gaudily dressed, slicked-up, useless scion of a Cui collateral branch—whose face practically screamed ignorance and idle loafing—suddenly let out a howling cheer: "Five points of heavenly merit! I actually scored five points of heavenly merit! Hahahaha, I have heavenly merits now!"
Cui Yu's expression remained completely blank, but he could scarcely suppress the chagrin boiling in his chest. Vanity truly was the death of men!
A few points of heavenly merit meant little to Cui Yu, but what he could not stomach was that, for some time to come, he would be ranked alongside trash like that!
Chapter 329