Seeing the monk, Wei Yuan was thoroughly startled. "Weren't you over there fighting someone?"
The Peacock Monk said faintly, "It seems that while this poor monk does not recognize Benefactor, Benefactor recognizes me. This is karmic affinity."
"Master is overthinking it!" Wei Yuan replied resolutely.
The monk invoked the Buddha's name and said, "Whether Benefactor acknowledges it or not, karma is right there—neither arising nor perishing, neither increasing nor decreasing. Such is karmic affinity."
Wei Yuan pressed his palms together as well and said, "A sharp Zen retort, Master. Had you spoken thus two months ago, I would certainly have been overjoyed."
Two months ago, the Shamans' Karma Great Curse had not yet descended, and Wei Yuan had been actively forging all manner of ill-fated ties.
At this moment, the storm of dharmic power was still roaring in the distance. Wei Yuan looked at the monk suspiciously and asked, "Since Master is here, who is fighting over there?"
The Peacock Monk replied, "This poor monk converted a few people bound to me by affinity, and had them stir up some commotion over there while I took a stroll around to look about. When the Sea Li see how lively things are here, they will mostly head over to assist against Benefactor Zhao. Benefactor Zhao is peerlessly valiant; he would hardly put a mere handful of sea tribesmen in his eyes."
Wei Yuan was shocked once more. *So this monk is just as cunning! A worthy rival!*
The Peacock Monk smiled faintly. "Meeting Benefactor brings joy to my heart. And coming across the very object sought on this journey is truly a double blessing."
As he spoke, he leaned down and scooped up the flying marten. The reach seemed slow yet was extraordinarily swift; the marten had no room to dodge and was seized up in his hand in a flash.
Who could have guessed that right at this moment, the cavern wall suddenly blasted apart! Bathed in blood and brimming with murderous aura, the Sea Maiden pursuing Wei Yuan charged out. Surging behind her came a large horde of Sea Li experts, their various grotesque dharma idols crowding together. Their military qi coalesced into an ocean, leaving Wei Yuan's mouth and nose filled with a briny, fishy tang with every breath.
In the sudden upheaval, the monk's fingers inexplicably slipped, failing to hold onto the marten.
Unburdened by the pearl, the marten sprang into the air and vanished in an instant, fleeing who knew where. The monk stood dumbfounded, unable to comprehend why this had happened.
The Sea Maiden looked at the monk, then at Wei Yuan. Suddenly, she sniffed twice, her eyes bursting with furious radiance as she barked, "So it was the two of you who stole our tribe's supreme treasure!"
The monk was dumbfounded again, only now noticing a faint trace of watery moisture on his hand—the exact same aura lingering on Wei Yuan's hands.
Wei Yuan cried out in shock, spun around, and bolted.
Yet how could one escape so easily? The Sea Maiden casually pointed at a subordinate to capture Wei Yuan, while she led the bulk of the forces to surround and attack the monk instead.
That Wei Yuan was merely Dao Foundation; dispatching a sea tribe warrior after him was already flattering him. The monk, however, was exceptionally formidable, so the Sea Maiden threw her full might into besieging him without hesitation. At the same time, her throat emitted continuous sounds inaudible to human ears, summoning nearby kin to converge on the spot.
Composed as the Peacock Monk was, he could no longer keep his cool. The Peacock dharma idol materialized above his head as he was forced to fight with everything he had.
Wei Yuan fled into a cavern tunnel, racing forward to leave the battlefield far behind. His speed was neither too fast nor too slow—just right so that the sea tribe dharma idol warrior behind could neither catch up nor lose track of him.
Wei Yuan had not expected the sea tribe to all gang up on the monk and send only a single warrior after him. Seeing that he had fled far enough, Wei Yuan abruptly spun around and released Longying, dispatching the sea tribe warrior in a few swift strokes. With both his civil and military dragon guards nursing injuries, Wei Yuan had no choice but to deploy Longying ahead of time.
After slaying the sea tribe warrior, Wei Yuan did not receive its soul, perhaps because he was outside his own domain. At this time, another wave of clamor arose within the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains. Sweeping his divine sense across it, Wei Yuan found several dozen mortals who wanted to study the texture and flavor of the sea tribe praying fervently, pleading with him to butcher the creature and take a few bites from each cut to distinguish the flavors and mouthfeel.
Their reasoning was sound: without raw data, how could they conduct research?
Wei Yuan's face darkened slightly. He whipped up a downpour within the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, drenching those dozens of fellows into drowned rats.
Then Wei Yuan noticed yet another group of people packing their bags, preparing for a long journey.
*Bags? These people have luggage now?*
Wei Yuan swept his divine sense to see what they were packing. Inside their packs were stone bricks, stone stoves, various tools, and even what were clearly dolls, decorative trinkets, and art ornaments. Beyond that, pots, bowls, ladles, and basins were all present in full measure.
This group was quite large, numbering over a thousand. Wei Yuan listened in on their thoughts and discovered that they were actually heading toward the newly acquired giant orb to establish a new religion. That giant orb was to be their god.
When Wei Yuan placed the sea pearl into the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, to prevent accidents, he had situated it quite far away, over a hundred li from where the mortals congregated. Hence why this crowd was packing up for a long journey.
Wei Yuan was caught between laughter and tears, but he could not spare attention for such trivialities right now. He swiftly searched the sea tribe warrior, taking everything useful while turning a blind eye to a severed snake torso still writhing on the ground.
Making a wide detour, Wei Yuan crept toward Zhao Fusheng's battlefield.
By now, the area within a hundred zhang around Zhao Fusheng had turned into a fiery purgatory, ablaze with burning pure-white flames. There was nothing particularly mystical about this fire; its temperature was simply high enough to melt stone with ease.
Several sea tribe experts and two Sea Maidens were besieging Zhao Fusheng. Their dharma idols were all marine or amphibious beasts, while Zhao Fusheng's scroll spun rapidly, continuously showering pure-white flames. That strange beast with four legs and six arms prowled around Zhao Fusheng, clashing fiercely with several sea beasts.
Gripping a giant battleaxe, Zhao Fusheng hacked out swathes of blazing flame. With every fiery axe scar that slashed forward, the sea tribe experts were forced to evade. Meanwhile, of the two Sea Maidens, one continuously buffed their warriors with various spells, while the other steadily fired jets of water to create a tidal environment, snuffing out Zhao Fusheng's pure-white flames.
Though Zhao Fusheng was entirely at a disadvantage, no sign of imminent defeat showed yet. Fighting a double-digit number of sea tribe foes all by himself was truly ferocious.
On the other battlefield, the commotion from the Peacock Monk's fight grew louder and louder. Clearly unable to disengage, he was already bringing his true abilities to bear.
At this juncture, a large host of sea tribe Dao Foundation cultivators began appearing around the perimeter of the battle. Surging military qi swept across the battlefield like a tidal wave, pressing down on all the flames until they dimmed, some even beginning to tinge blue.
No one had anticipated that the sea tribe's military qi would be so overbearing, suppressing Zhao Fusheng's dharmic power by a full twenty percent. Zhao Fusheng's situation instantly grew perilous, yet he remained fearless, roaring as he fought tooth and nail.
Having witnessed Zhao Fusheng's freakish physical body—one capable of rivaling his own—Wei Yuan knew the man was still nowhere near his limit. Thus, he decided to break the stalemate and dial up the pressure for him.
A stone appeared in Wei Yuan's hand. He hurled it hard at one of the Sea Maidens, then ducked into a cave, completely concealing his figure.
Debris flew in all directions across the battlefield. Ripples of water surged around that Sea Maiden, repelling everything hurtling toward her. Upon being stimulated by dharmic power, the stone projected once more the scene of Zhao Fusheng first meeting the Peacock Monk. Only this time, the image was exceptionally colossal and crystal-clear: the phantom Zhao Fusheng was a full thirty zhang tall, towering between heaven and earth, with every detail vivid and laid bare for all to see.
In the center of the battlefield, Zhao Fusheng's face flushed crimson in an instant. Roaring flames erupted from the crown of his head, setting his hair ablaze. With a frenzied roar, paying no heed to his own safety, he brought his axe down with everything he had toward that stone!
The raging flames coalesced into a fire dragon, swallowing everything in its path, including a sea tribe dharma idol warrior.
The two Sea Maidens made no move to rescue their companion; instead, seizing the opportunity, they launched a furious assault on Zhao Fusheng. Countless spells battered him relentlessly, riddling him with wounds in the blink of an eye.
Amid the chaos, Wei Yuan quietly propped up a large gun, taking aim at one of the Sea Maidens. Longying appeared at another position, also pulling out an eccentric gun—over a zhang long, with a muzzle as thick as a rice bowl.
Wei Yuan tossed over a storage treasure. Longying popped open the rear of the massive gun, stuffed small powder charges inside one by one—shoving dozens in at once until it was packed full—before closing the rear bolt. He then hoisted the gun onto his shoulder and aimed at the target.
Wei Yuan fired first. His shot struck the Sea Maiden's serpentine torso, tearing open a massive hole and blasting her tumbling away. Writhing in agony, the Sea Maiden shrieked. Just as she struggled to get up, a muffled crack of thunder suddenly rang out! The entire cavern shuddered along with the thunderous roar. Immediately after, the Sea Maiden saw an object hurtling toward her at mind-boggling speed!
The projectile was as thick as a rice bowl and over a chi long—the bullet fired by Longying.
The Sea Maiden's upper body abruptly detonated into pieces, leaving only half a snake torso crashing to the ground, thrashing about by pure instinct. Wei Yuan caught a faint glimpse of a transparent Sea Maiden appearing in midair, but before he could make a move, that phantom maiden had already vanished.
From the extreme depths of the distant sea, an enraged roar suddenly thundered. The roar came from so vast a distance that Wei Yuan almost doubted his own ears. Yet immediately after, he sensed an instinctive terror, as though an immense catastrophe were rapidly closing in. Wei Yuan soon realized this feeling was no illusion—for inside the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, the mortals, having indirectly heard the roar, had collapsed to the ground in terror as well.
This feeling of imminent doom was remarkably similar to when he had been pursued over a million li by the Northern Liao True Monarch back in the day. Paying no mind to collecting spoils of war, Wei Yuan turned on his heels and fled.
This time it was not merely Wei Yuan acting decisively; Zhao Fusheng had also seized the moment of chaos among the sea tribe to weather their attacks, break through the encirclement, and run for his life immediately.
In the distance, the battle on the Peacock Monk's side abruptly ceased. Needless to say, that bald monk had likewise chosen flight as the best policy.
All three chose to flee without prior consultation. Longying casually buried the unused powder charges into the ground, then returned to the Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains.
The surviving Sea Maiden spotted Wei Yuan, but only dispatched a squad of Dao Foundation cultivators to pursue him—not even led by a warrior. She herself led the main host of the sea tribe to pursue Zhao Fusheng relentlessly.
On one hand was a Dao Foundation ant, and on the other, a pinnacle dharma idol expert. The Sea Maiden, accustomed to thinking with her whole body, naturally concluded that the murderer just now had to be Zhao Fusheng; she simply hadn't yet figured out how he had committed the deed.
Chapter 402