By now, the surface battlefield was drawing to a close. The Shaman main force was retreating, and the detached western column had been completely annihilated.
Over the course of the battle, the Shamans had abandoned more than two hundred thousand corpses, with wounded beyond count. Qingming had suffered thirty thousand casualties, the vast majority falling to blood curses, alongside several thousand who had perished to the black water in the earthen redoubt zones.
All five earthen redoubt zones were contaminated by the toxic black water. Nothing could grow upon the surface, all vitality beneath the ground was snuffed out, and it could only be purified little by little through domain power.
The Great Shamans lost by the Shaman forces had fallen primarily at Wei Yuan's hands. As for the two sniped by the colossal ballistas, the world largely attributed the cause of their deaths to the domain as well. Consequently, almost all the bestowal of heaven and earth flowed into Qingming and the immortal flora, causing intermittent showers of spiritual rain to manifest across the sky, replenishing Qingming's nurturing reserves.
When the Shamans retreated this time, they still possessed considerable strength; they had only been forced to withdraw because their Scenery Command experts were defeated. As such, they carried off a large number of their wounded and even hauled away some of the dead.
Nearly two years since its founding, Qingming had weathered countless major battles. It possessed at least two hundred thousand battle-hardened veterans, and its commanders were all deeply experienced; even Old Daoist Chuhe could hold forth eloquently on troop movements and battle arrays. Wei Yuan therefore had little need to worry. The officers took it upon themselves to sweep the battlefield and tend to the wounded.
Wei Yuan, meanwhile, was facing Huangyun, Xuanyue, Zhu Yuanjin, Grand Scholar Ouyang Ming of the Four Sages Academy, the Bao family's Seventh Elder, Mister Chenzhou, and Monk Qiuyue. The qi of these seven figures intertwined, none able to overpower the others. Each was a mighty Bodhisattva whom Wei Yuan's modest temple had to treat with utter gravity.
Sensing their qi, Wei Yuan felt as though seven colossal mountains stood before him all at once.
Ouyang Ming of the Four Sages Academy gave Wei Yuan a curt nod before heading over to Li Zhi's side to offer a few pointers to the academy's prized disciple.
The three True Monarchs of the Palace of Grand Beginning offered Wei Yuan some words of encouragement. True Monarch Huangyun, unable to linger, gave a few instructions to Bao Yun and departed for the northern front. Zhu Yuanjin merely patted Wei Yuan on the shoulder and vanished into thin air. She had always come and gone like a phantom, and Wei Yuan was well accustomed to it.
True Monarch Xuanyue was naturally exceedingly pleased with Wei Yuan, yet at the moment, he was as thoroughly disheveled as one could be. His robes, inside and out, had been reduced to tatters, forcing him to shroud his true form in clouds and mist to save face.
Seeing this, Wei Yuan hurriedly and covertly retrieved a treasure-grade outer robe he had recently exchanged from the Palace of Grand Beginning. Imbuing it with a concealing intention, he secretly floated it toward True Monarch Xuanyue.
The robe had barely left his hands when it vanished into thin air. A moment later, True Monarch Xuanyue revealed himself clad in the fresh attire, looking sharp and spirited as he made a deliberate point of flicking his broad sleeves. It was only a pity that Wei Yuan was not a daoist and had not exchanged any daoist vestments, leaving him unable to refresh his patriarch from head to toe and only able to offer this modest gesture. Wei Yuan briefly considered fashioning a daoist crown out of stone, but True Monarchs filled the surroundings, and nothing could possibly escape their senses.
Wei Yuan exchanged a few words with Patriarch Xuanyue and learned the general course of the battle.
Xuanyue had still disdained joining a gang assault. In the end, after conferring with the other human True Monarchs, he had held off three Nether Shamans all on his own, while Ouyang Ming pinned down one. The remaining True Monarchs joined forces to heavily batter another Nether Shaman in just a few exchanges, yet that Nether Shaman's desperate burst of power had drawn the attention of the otherworldly monster.
Seeing how poorly things boded, the Nether Shamans had no choice but to flee under the gaze of the otherworldly monster, leaving every one of them with damaged foundations. The Nether Shaman who had been besieged and grievously wounded was practically on the verge of falling; his injuries would take at least a century or two to mend.
True Monarch Xuanyue was as formidable as ever, but as always, he had slightly overestimated himself. Fighting one against three had been immensely strenuous. Fortunately, his combat experience was vast, so the wounds on his dharmic body were concentrated entirely on his torso, leaving his face completely unscathed.
After speaking with his patriarch, Wei Yuan offered his thanks to the Seventh Elder and the other two True Monarchs.
The sudden appearance of these three True Monarchs had caught Wei Yuan completely off guard. Had it not been for them, the human side would have been short one combatant.
Even with True Monarch Xuanyue fighting two opponents, their overall strength would still have been at a disadvantage, requiring them to hold out until elders from Li Zhi's family arrived to turn the tide.
Yet after Wei Yuan expressed his gratitude, the three True Monarchs showed no sign of leaving. Moreover, the Seventh Elder's expression was distinctly sour.
One had to remember that this was the Shattered Lands. The will of the otherworldly monster had only just descended; even dharma idols like Wei Yuan felt occasional twinges of trepidation, to say nothing of these Scenery Command powerhouses.
They had to keep their minds as still as calm water at all times, preventing even the slightest fluctuation or leakage of daoli, lest they be detected by the otherworldly monster.
A True Monarch's mindscape world was vast and difficult to restrain, making a prolonged stay here grueling. For that reason, True Monarch Huangyun and Grand Scholar Ouyang Ming had left after brief pleasantries, and Zhu Yuanjin had departed cleanly without delay.
Yet the Seventh Elder and the two unfamiliar Scenery Command cultivators showed no intention of leaving. Since they stayed put, True Monarch Xuanyue refused to budge as well, curious to see what these three dared try against his own great-granddisciple.
Looking at Wei Yuan, the Seventh Elder could not help recalling that crisp, utter defeat on the Go board. His face darkened further and further, finding Wei Yuan an eyesore no matter which way he looked at him.
The feeling was much like teaching a disciple a sword form, only for the disciple to ignore every proper sequence, yet remaining entirely unbeatable—leaving the master with a bellyful of grand principles and not a single chance to preach them, an indescribably awkward frustration.
The Seventh Elder let out a heavy grunt. "I believe your Go play runs too far toward wild, unorthodox tricks, having already strayed from the Grand Dao. If you continue down this path, it will ruin you sooner or later! Naturally, I expect you remain unconvinced. However, after Master Qiuyue and Mister Chenzhou looked over the record of that match, they took an appreciation to your talent and came along to offer you some guidance, lest your path in Go go astray."
Wei Yuan could only voice his thanks, all the while mobilizing the mortals within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World.
With the battle just concluded, the main troops had been pulled back and were resting after a hearty meal. Several tens of thousands more souls had thus joined the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, drastically accelerating its deduction speed.
Master Qiuyue and Mister Chenzhou had clearly come prepared and would not be easy opponents. Fortunately, Wei Yuan was not particularly obsessed with winning; taking a win or a loss was no great matter to him. Yet on deeper reflection, since he had defeated the Seventh Elder, if he were to lose too easily to Monk Qiuyue and Mister Chenzhou, would that not imply the Seventh Elder's Go skills were thoroughly abysmal?
Having just received the Seventh Elder's support, Wei Yuan could hardly shatter his dignity at such a moment. He had to put up a fierce fight against the two grandmasters before taking a loss.
Hearing of this, True Monarch Xuanyue was likewise taken aback, then left entirely at a loss. Though he considered his own Go skills decent, he possessed enough self-awareness to know he was nowhere near grandmaster caliber—at least a tier below. Without the skill to back it up, he had no right to speak, so True Monarch Xuanyue wisely kept his mouth shut.
The group descended into Qingming and took their seats at Wei Yuan's residence. Wei Yuan ordered attendants to bring a Go set, laid out the board, and began a game against Qiuyue first.
Watching from the side, Xuanyue noticed trouble after only a few moves. Wei Yuan's placements were nowhere to be found in any manual, and the board formations were as unsightly as could be; several stones were lined up like a literal wall, the shape unimaginably rigid and clumsy.
True Monarch Xuanyue could only sigh inwardly. Sky Azure Hall had never placed much stock in the polite arts of zither, Go, calligraphy, or painting, devoting itself wholeheartedly to the craft of raw fists. Wei Yuan's board shape unmistakably bore Sky Azure Hall's hallmark.
Monk Qiuyue, by contrast, placed his stones with nimble elegance and broad vision, carrying both the subtle resonance of Zen and the sweeping majesty of mountains and rivers. It held a magnificent presence, quietly bearing the potential to become an immortal masterpiece. It was just that Wei Yuan's play was so hideously ugly that it dragged Monk Qiuyue down relentlessly.
Finding the sight terribly dull, Xuanyue glared at Mister Chenzhou and said, "Come, let us have a round as well."
Though Mister Chenzhou was aloof by nature, he had witnessed True Monarch Xuanyue's terrifying combat prowess in the recent battle and knew he was nowhere near a match in a fight. He therefore acted as though he had not noticed Xuanyue's gruffness, waving a hand to conjure an ethereal jade table, jade chairs, and a jade Go board.
True Monarch Xuanyue did not stand on ceremony, immediately placing a stone on a star point. This was standard play, and taking the first move was his acknowledgment that his skill was inferior to his opponent's. Both players set stones in rapid succession, and within moments, a murderous glint crept into True Monarch Xuanyue's eyes.
Mister Chenzhou suddenly brushed his sleeve across the board, sweeping the game away. "This match does not count. Let us restart."
He placed a white stone on each of the diagonal star points, then played a black stone himself. Brief though that opening had been, Mister Chenzhou had already seen that True Monarch Xuanyue's skill was woefully lacking, so he wiped the board before the man could fly into an embarrassed rage and switched to a two-stone handicap.
True Monarch Xuanyue tacitly accepted. After all, he was merely short-tempered, not a shameless scoundrel. If one's art was inferior, one took the handicap.
A short while later, Mister Chenzhou wiped the board again, changing it to a four-stone handicap.
Then five stones, six stones, seven stones, all the way to eight.
An eight-stone handicap was generally the absolute limit. Reaching a nine-stone handicap meant the gap between the players was wide enough that the master could send his disciple's disciple to play instead.
True Monarch Xuanyue finally grew serious. After a dozen moves or so, his play slowed down drastically, often taking the time it took an incense stick to burn before placing a single stone. Xuanyue was not truly in deep contemplation; with his Go skill and the speed of his divine sense, a single breath was more than enough, and no amount of further thought would produce a better move. This was not a matter of overlooking calculations, but an intrinsic ceiling of skill.
Thus, True Monarch Xuanyue made up his mind: at worst, he would place only one stone a day. Staying in the Shattered Lands was exceedingly uncomfortable for Scenery Command experts right now, draining daoli continuously without replenishment while demanding an unperturbed state of mind. Xuanyue was certain that the other man's cultivation was beneath his own. So long as he dragged this out for seven or eight days, Mister Chenzhou would no longer be able to hold out, handing him an effortless win.
Pinching a stone between his fingers, True Monarch Xuanyue sat motionless like a statue, his divine sense having long drifted over to Wei Yuan's match.
Steam was rising from the top of Wei Yuan's head as he exerted himself to the utmost. Eighty thousand mortals were already mobilized within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, and the number was still climbing.
The more games the mortals deduced, the faster they worked, yielding sharper and more effective moves, even if they occasionally appeared utterly bizarre.
Wei Yuan's board shape remained as hideous as ever, and it had successfully dragged Monk Qiuyue into the mud. Under Wei Yuan's relentless pressure, Monk Qiuyue had begun playing clumsy clusters of dead weight as well.
Qiuyue's board had originally resembled an exquisite landscape painting, but now it looked as though several thick blobs of black ink had been smeared across it, fast becoming just as ugly as Wei Yuan's.
By this point, Monk Qiuyue's face was ashen, his shaved scalp flushed red, and his Zen heart looked on the verge of complete collapse.
Chapter 440