The northern expedition, which had begun with fewer than a hundred people, had multiplied over several thousand years to yield tens of thousands of yin souls. A horde of yin soldiers of this scale was enough to annihilate even a dharma idol. At this point, Wei Yuan finally understood that the old woman had harbored ill intentions from the very start.
Surrounded by the numerous yin soldiers, the remnant clan's old ghost felt a bit more at ease. Still, he did not dare linger here, instinctively taking flight in an attempt to escape. He flew toward the full moon, where there should have been a patch of shadow serving as the exit from Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness.
Yet after flying only a short distance, he froze in midair.
There was indeed a shadow within the moon, but its shape was that of a bird's head. At that moment, it opened a cavernous, bloody maw toward him, as if gesturing that this was the way out. The old ghost did not enter; he considered himself not quite that foolish.
The maiden shadow suddenly drew a greatsword planted in the ground, pointed it at the old ghost, and traced a circle with the blade. An endless suction abruptly erupted from the circle's center, dragging the old ghost bodily down from the sky.
Terrified out of his wits, the old ghost shrieked while calling upon the yin soldiers to attack. Yet the Red Lotus Bodhi swayed continuously, suppressing every last yin soldier on the spot, rendering them utterly immobile.
Yin fire suddenly flared across the old ghost's body. By burning his soul body, he actually resisted the pull of the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns, slowly struggling upward. He had already realized that the sky of Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains was merely an illusion; only the earth was real. If he pierced through the vault of heaven, he could escape the sea of consciousness.
As the old ghost fled, he cursed under his breath. The firmament looked completely real, and on top of that, a full moon hung there disguised as an exit, rigged with a trap! Did this brat have nothing better to do? Whose Dao Foundation was this treacherous?!
Yet he had barely uttered two curses when an ultimate yang divine lightning bolt abruptly breached the firmament, striking his soul body dead-on!
Though the lightning bolt lacked immense destructive power, it was the exact nemesis of yin souls. When it struck, the old ghost was not severely injured, but he was completely paralyzed. He could only watch helplessly as he was dragged toward the sword circle. The moment he entered the circle drawn by the greatsword, the maiden thrust her blade forward. The old ghost was punctured like a bubble, vanishing into thin air under this stance, 'Embers of the Former Dynasty'.
With the old ghost's death and the extinguishment of his Dao, the countless yin soldiers lost their controller. They simultaneously sensed the black pool, turned toward Jade Mountain, and stepped one after another into the Gate of Transmigration Across the Myriad Realms.
In an instant, Wei Yuan felt an unimaginably vast wave of karma. This was an entire clan of tens of thousands, and none were weak in cultivation—the lowest were at the Dao Foundation realm, and there were over a hundred dharma idols. The souls of the remnant clan's people across more than seven thousand years were all gathered here.
The dissipation of the old ghost's soul brought forth a torrential rain directly within Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains. Every raindrop contained substantial spiritual power. The spirituality of Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains once again began to climb slowly.
Wei Yuan exhaled a long breath. Unable to sustain it any longer, his consciousness withdrew from his sea of consciousness.
Returning to his physical body, he discovered that the array he had originally set up had been altered beyond recognition by the woman, transformed into a Yang Lightning Array. The yang lightning that had blasted into his sea of consciousness had been unleashed by this formation, accurately striking the old ghost. Were it not for that strike, the old ghost might well have escaped.
"You saved me once again," Wei Yuan said.
The woman snorted and said indifferently, "You are still too quick to trust others. When a remnant clan like this is stranded far overseas, the more tragic their fate, the more twisted their mindset becomes. When encountering them, your first thought must always be caution; only then can you consider whether to lend a hand.
"Whatever they hand you, you dare take onto your person! Sealing that Primordial Blood Bead inside your body to keep it from coming into contact with yin ghosts was the right move. But before sealing it inside you, how could you not place a few restrictive seals on it first? Did your sect elders never teach you this?"
The sudden crisis just now had been handled with peerless subtlety. Adapting Wei Yuan's established array into a Yang Lightning Array required only minor adjustments, yet it displayed an extraordinary mastery of array arts.
The yang lightning unleashed by the formation could break through yin evil. Wei Yuan's Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains contained no place of extreme yin, nor anything to attract lightning, so the moment the yang lightning entered his sea of consciousness, it instantly locked onto the old ghost. Even if that strike had failed, the array still had power to spare, capable of unleashing multiple bolts in succession. By then, with the old ghost unable to move, Wei Yuan would have been able to slay him himself without Maiden Yin-Yang's intervention.
At this moment, Wei Yuan took the woman's hand and said earnestly, "Such immense kindness, I dare not forget. The sages say that gratitude should not linger past the night. Your student will repay your kindness at once!"
The woman was startled, and before she could flee, Wei Yuan pulled her into his embrace.
Wei Yuan's hands were like a spring breeze dissolving into rain, methodically unraveling each layer to free her from her heavy bundle of garments.
Struggling, the woman protested, "No! We've been running all day, I'm filthy! Stop... Presumptuous!"
Wei Yuan subconsciously shuddered all over again. Realizing what was happening, the woman hurriedly pleaded, "Wait until we escape..."
By now, the harvest brought by the old ghost's demise was beginning to manifest. The spirituality within Wei Yuan's Dao Foundation surged and boiled. Flecks of spiritual radiance continually rose from the earth like hundreds of millions of fireflies drifting into the air, magnificent and sublime.
With the old ghost's death, the Primordial Blood Bead within Wei Yuan's body shattered. A lifetime's accumulation of dharma idol blood essence replenished the depletion of his fleshly body, causing his Dao power to surge like an ocean tide. As a True Dragon scion, the rewards from slaying the old ghost were easily tenfold that of an ordinary dharma idol!
At this moment, Wei Yuan gained an epiphany: all obstacles had been swept away. Once his accumulation was sufficient, achieving a dharma idol would merely be a matter of time. And once he attained a dharma idol and stood atop the heights, a whole new world would unfold before his eyes!
Seeing the hope of revenge, Wei Yuan could no longer suppress the surge of emotion in his heart. In a slip of the tongue, he blurted out, "Master."
The woman abruptly stiffened, and Wei Yuan froze as well.
Things had already come to this, so Wei Yuan simply steeled his heart. With a point of his finger, a spiritual rain began to fall inside the cave. This spiritual rain was manifested directly from Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, part of the worldly gift following the old ghost's death.
The threads of rain converged in Wei Yuan's hand, turning in an instant into a large, crystal-clear orb of water. Wei Yuan said, "Will you clean yourself up, or shall I help you clean house?"
Hearing this, the woman instantly felt as though her entire body were on fire, and she kicked Wei Yuan fiercely!
Yet Wei Yuan was currently on the verge of breaking through, his strength soaring at rapid speed. Not only did this kick fail to budge him, but her calf fell straight into his clutches...
In the dark, the woman's breathing finally leveled out a bit. Her voice turned cool and aloof, though lacking breath and coming in disjointed gasps, which severely undermined her authority: "Audacious, rebellious disciple... Your—... I will surely cl—"
At this very moment, with her most vulnerable spots entirely in his hands, she could not bring herself to say 'your Master,' and after the way Wei Yuan had just used the words 'clean house,' she could no longer bear to utter them either. For a moment, she was at a complete loss for words.
Yet that tempestuous storm just now had not been without its benefits. At the very least, it had brought the two closer together, accompanied by the frank resignation of having nothing left to lose. Furthermore, finding it exhausting to even lift a single finger right now, her thoughts sluggish and her mind full of blank spaces, she could no longer overthink things.
Had it not been for this pitch-black cave where one could not see one's own hand before one's face, and had she not just weathered that devastating tempest, having her identity suddenly exposed would likely have driven her to reincarnate on the spot.
Even now, she still could not accept this reality. She wanted nothing more than to hide within her current identity forever and never come out. She would rather endure eternal annihilation or the collapse of heaven and earth than face this present moment. Right now, she truly wished she could bash her head against a rock and die, but she had no strength left.
In the past, no matter what formidable foe she faced or what dire straits she found herself in, even when confronted by the Heavenly Shaman's great curse, she had never flinched or wavered. Even if immortals and buddhas stood before her, she would cut them down with a single sword. When her immortal swords subsequently withered and decayed and her Dao Foundation was ruined, it was merely within expectations, dampening her mood only slightly.
She suddenly recalled a term from Xu Wenwu's profile. At the time, she hadn't understood it and merely found it amusing, but now she abruptly grasped its meaning: of all hardships through the ages, none is harder than dying—and as it turned out, it was referring to social death.
After a moment, summoning immense courage and piecing together a couple of shards from her shattered Dao heart, she asked, "When did you figure it out?"
"I knew the moment I held your hand."
"...Then why didn't you say anything?!"
"You said we were going to have four children. Why would I say anything?"
Gritting her teeth, she said, "How did you suddenly become so reckless and bold?"
"At the time, I thought I was doomed to die. Before facing death, I reflected on my life's regrets and realized my greatest regret was never having held your hand. Since heaven and earth did not claim my life, naturally I could leave no more regrets. Besides, I was afraid that if I woke up, I would never see you again."
She fell silent for a moment, then said, "...Change how you address me. Don't use the polite form."
"Yes."
"Now you're so obedient! Just a moment ago, how could you—"
Cutting herself off mid-sentence, she realized her blunder and quickly pressed down on Wei Yuan's hand. "Rest! We still have to escape back to the human domain. Don't be so impatient right now. Your—... I don't want to die anymore."
"What is your... er, what is your current condition?"
"...My immortal swords are completely shattered, and the furnace response body I used to nurture the swords within myself has been destroyed as well. There are some remnants left of my Dao Foundation, but they're just dregs. Still, that is nothing. When I struck with that sword, I already knew the outcome. To wound a Heavenly Shaman as a mere Dao Foundation cultivator, your—... I can be considered the first in all of history."
Wei Yuan let out a sigh. "Why go to such lengths?"
The woman grew impatient. "As if you didn't know your master would never drag out an ignoble existence! When my disciple was between life and death, why would I overthink things? Even if I were thrown back to that day, I would still strike with that sword!"
"Master is truly domineering!" Wei Yuan praised, his hands shifting slightly. She let out a muffled gasp, twisting her body desperately, her invincible heart instantly shattering all over the ground.
She tried once more to pinch the tender flesh at his waist, but by now Wei Yuan's body was glowing faintly from the inside out. Building upon his supreme physical foundation, his fleshly toughness was still steadily rising; forget pinching with fingers, even a pair of pliers wouldn't leave a dent.
"...Why did you always appear as a man? And how did you end up in that village, disguised as one of the villagers?" This question finally alleviated some of the awkwardness.
"...Back when your master forged my Dao Foundation, I always felt something was lacking. If nothing else, I couldn't suppress Ji Liuli's Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. So I took my body as a furnace, the origin qi of heaven and earth as flame, and dragon qi as a catalyst to forge a fourth immortal sword. The male form was a response body created for this purpose, serving both as the furnace for forging the sword and as an outer shell over my true body.
"It was only to facilitate wielding the sword that the shell wasn't refined over my hands, which I ordinarily concealed with illusions. In any case, unless someone was a True Monarch, ordinary people couldn't see through it."
Only now did Wei Yuan understand.
She continued, "When you and I ended up stranded here, my Dao Foundation was already ruined. So I struck an agreement with the villagers of the remnant clan: they would heal you, and you would follow the route they took back then to return, which would give you a chance of reaching the human domain. As for me, I planned to undergo sword liberation and reincarnate once you left.
"...Back then, I thought that since I was going to die anyway, and you were blind and didn't know who I was, I... I played a few jokes..."
Wei Yuan shuddered violently and immediately held her tighter. "No, you cannot undergo sword liberation!"
She said testily, "Let go! I don't want to die anymore! You've grown quite capable, haven't you—even daring to disrespect your master and betray the sect? Then take me and flee back to the human domain. As for the matter of the Dao path, I'll figure something out in due time."
"There are many ways to mend a severed Dao path and enhance one's natural talent. I heard there are similar treasures in the Nether Cold Realm. Once we're back, I'll go explore it again..."
She jabbed Wei Yuan hard. "You just got hit by the Karma Great Curse, and you want to run to the Nether Cold Realm? If you go there now, you'd be a walking beacon!"
She paused, then said, "This body of mine, reshaped by the White Lotus of the Defiled Earth, isn't actually bad. It's just that my Dao Foundation needs to be recast, and my previous path is no longer viable; that is the biggest trouble. Once we return, I'll consult the ancestral master first and think it through carefully. If all else fails, I'll reincarnate then."
"Then... then will I still be able to find you?"
She snapped, "With the White Lotus of the Defiled Earth as a guide, can I even run away?"
Wei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good then. Mmm... a dozen years or so isn't too long to wait."
Chapter 368