Dawn was breaking. Wei Yuan, who had not slept all night, used the light filtering down from the roof of the cave to modify the craft's wings. A hair thicker or thinner, straighter or more swept, slightly longer or shorter—every variation had a distinct impact on speed and Dao power consumption.
Wei Yuan tested them repeatedly, but the results fluctuated wildly without any clear pattern.
He rubbed his face, wiping away the fatigue, and continued his research. There had to be an underlying principle to the wing shapes; Wei Yuan knew that his failure to find it was simply due to his lack of mastery. Xu Wenwu had once said that an optimal design could be calculated mathematically. Of course, when it came to how those calculations were actually done, let alone Xu Wenwu, even his teachers from the otherworldly realm might not know.
Immortal Monarch Tinghai's research bore some resemblance to this, but he had noted in his writings that his method required divine sense at the level of an Immortal Monarch; not even a True Monarch would do. After making adjustments, Wei Yuan entered Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, summoned a gale to blast directly against the wing, and observed its dynamics, recording all manner of data.
Repeating the cycle again and again, by the time broad daylight arrived and the morning sun climbed into the sky, the wings saved an extra ten percent of Dao power compared to the original design. One could not underestimate that ten percent; over a full day's flight, it meant traveling over ten thousand li farther.
Wei Yuan woke Zhang Sheng. Once the two were seated, they took off again, this time heading southeast toward the Liao domain.
Two hours later, the silver-adorned Liao woman arrived at Wei Yuan's former hiding place. She stepped into the cave, looked around, and flew into a towering rage, striking the earth with a palm strike that caused the ground for a hundred fathoms around to sink by over ten feet! "To dare pull such a stunt while being hunted by this venerable one—you truly have a death wish!"
Discerning the direction, she vanished in an instant. A moment later, she stared at the Liao domain ahead, hesitated for a second, then turned and flew toward the Wu domain. Wei Yuan had escaped to the Wu domain with great difficulty; returning to the Liao domain now would be nothing short of suicide, wouldn't it?
Meanwhile, Wei Yuan had already flown deep into the Liao domain, turning to head due south. Passing by a city, he concealed his aura and seized several Liao cavalrymen, interrogating them to confirm his exact location. Once verified, he continued flying south, eventually discarding their corpses into a mountain pool in a deserted valley.
They were still nearly a million li from the human domain. Along the way, they would need to cross through several Golden Horde Khanates, traverse over a dozen grand mountain ranges, and cross nine mighty rivers before finally returning to human lands.
Wei Yuan continued south, gradually veering toward the Wu domain as he flew. Passing over a small valley, he suddenly descended, slew a demon beast that nested there, dug up an entire patch of verdant grass in the valley's center, and then resumed his journey.
In this manner, over the entire day, Wei Yuan killed two demon beasts and harvested several varieties of spirit plants, one of which was wild spirit rice. When night fell, he continued optimizing the shape of the wings and the wind-breaking water blade. By the time they set out again, Dao power consumption had dropped by another five percent, while speed had increased by five percent.
Though the prickling sensation of hot pursuit behind him did not grow stronger, it never truly dispersed either. Wei Yuan dared not be careless, dedicating his full effort to improving his flight assembly.
Two days later, Wei Yuan finally flew out of that perilous region, no longer needing to hide underground every night. The moment they cleared the snowy mountains, he accelerated immediately. After days of piecemeal adjustments, his speed had reached six hundred and fifty li per quarter-hour, allowing him to cover fifty-two hundred li in a single two-hour period.
Wei Yuan maintained his concealment throughout, flying in winding, unpredictable arcs and descending to rest for only two hours each day in deserted wilderness. Another ten-odd days passed like this, until they finally drew near the human domain.
Wei Yuan's sense of impending danger grew ever sharper. For this final stretch, rather than rushing blindly ahead, he chose to land. Spending a precious quarter-hour on the ground, he fine-tuned the wings and thrusters, then refreshed his karmic luck. This time, he finally tapped into the aura of Maiden Yin-Yang.
With Yin-Yang augmenting his karmic luck, it provided an all-around elevation.
As Wei Yuan took off once more, a glint of silver light flashed on the distant horizon, and a terrifying sliver of will reached out to him: "Halt now, and I will spare your life!"
Wei Yuan graciously took her advice to heart—by firing all four thrusters at once, instantly accelerating to a blistering extreme speed of fifteen hundred li per quarter-hour as he shot away into the distance.
Flickering between light and shadow, a figure wrapped in lightning pursued in hot pursuit, steadily closing the distance between them. Seeing the gap shrink to less than a hundred li, the figure unleashed a bolt of lightning, only for it to fall short of its target by ten li.
Wei Yuan was entirely unruffled. He retrieved two additional thrusters and mounted them onto the fuselage. As the extra thrusters roared to life, his speed climbed once more, and the distance between them began to widen again.
The figure let out a heavy snort and pointed toward the sky. In the blink of an eye, dark clouds blanketed the heavens, rain poured in torrents, and bolts of lightning rained down. Her silhouette flickered repeatedly as she leaped through the thunderbolts, unexpectedly closing the distance with Wei Yuan once more!
Wei Yuan took out two more thrusters and attached them.
This time, eight thrusters fired simultaneously, the wings sweeping back even further. His speed surged to twenty-five hundred li per quarter-hour!
One pursued while the other fled, flashing across the earth, across cities, and across settlements large and small. From time to time, figures rose into the air hoping to investigate, but before they could even gain sufficient height, the two streaks had already flashed past.
At this speed, Dao power consumption skyrocketed. Wei Yuan took out a bottle of tonic medicine obtained from Longying, gulped down half of it in one breath, and finally checked the downward spiral of his Dao power.
A moment later, the four extra thrusters suddenly lost power, and Wei Yuan's speed plummeted. A booming laugh echoed across the heavens and earth from afar!
Yet Wei Yuan did not panic in the least. He recalled the four spent thrusters directly, replaced them with four fresh ones, and his speed was instantly restored to its maximum.
At that moment, within Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, two dragon guards—one scholar, one warrior—were each holding a cylinder, continuously infusing it with Dao power. Beside them stood dozens of cylinders that had already been charged.
These thrusters were disposable units pre-charged with Dao power. Wei Yuan did not need to feed them additional energy; once activated, they could be used immediately.
In theory, he could have installed even more thrusters, but Wei Yuan knew that his Water Blade Art had reached its limit. Any faster, and the oncoming astral winds would crush the water blade outright. The resulting impact on Wei Yuan would be no different from crashing straight into a mountain.
The pursuer was already exerting her full strength, thunder following wherever she went. Even for an expert of the Scenery Command realm, altering the surrounding environment with such profound Dao arts incurred massive consumption that could not be sustained for long. Neither side could keep this up indefinitely; it all came down to who could hold out a little longer.
In a flash, Wei Yuan swapped in another four fresh thrusters. By now, sprawling military encampments and battlefields had appeared below. Liao Clan experts continuously took to the sky to intercept them, but Wei Yuan's speed was simply too great; the sheer turbulent wake he left behind was enough to leave several dharma idol cultivators struggling to maintain their balance in the air.
Several chiliarchs stared at each other in utter shock.
"Out of my way!" a furious roar bellowed from the heavens, and several bolts of lightning struck the chiliarchs directly, hurling them to the ground and leaving them gravely wounded.
In the main camp, a myriarch emerged with a darkened face. Casting a glance at the sky, he merely said, "Carry those unlucky fellows away to tend to their wounds."
"My lord..."
"They were just out of luck, running into that lunatic having a fit. Leave it at that."
Ahead of Wei Yuan, the clear qi of the human domain was now faintly in sight. The land below was everywhere a battlefield, thick with surging military qi, the front lines interlocking like jagged teeth. Wei Yuan no longer paid any mind to interceptions, darting straight toward the human domain, while the pursuer behind him gathered an increasingly ferocious aura, nearly transforming into a mass of blazing blue lightning!
The pair streaked across the war-torn earth in a flash, prompting countless warriors below to look up in astonishment. The lightning wreathing the pursuing figure swelled frantically, clearly preparing an earth-shattering blow!
Right at that moment, a beam of sword light, a streak of purple lightning, and a spark of searing True Fire of the Sun arrived from three directions, dispersing the thunderclouds in the sky. A thunderous voice resounded: "The path ahead is barred. Fellow Daoist, please turn back!"
Wei Yuan did not pause for an instant, charging through the northern mountain gate of the Palace of Grand Beginning and disappearing into the sea of palaces and peaks.
The lightning-wrapped figure halted in midair. After a long silence, she spoke in a chilling voice: "Your mountain gate had better pray that it never falls!"
The northern mountain gate was anchored by a central ten-thousand-fathom sheer peak, flanked by two slightly lower peaks that stood in a mutual horn-like formation, together stabilizing the earth veins and feng shui of the entire gate.
No palaces were built atop the three sheer peaks; all halls and pavilions were constructed around them. In the central clearing enclosed by the peaks stood the grand hall of the mountain gate.
Led by two fellow disciples, Wei Yuan walked into a side hall beside the main hall, stepping into a room swirling with the fragrance of medicinal pills.
Chapter 373