Contention

At that moment, dozens of different perspectives unfolded simultaneously within Wei Yuan's consciousness, all provided by enlightened Dao Foundation warriors, monitoring every facet of the battlefield. The Shaman army was currently deploying and flanking, probing for weak spots across the defensive line. Wei Yuan took in the entire battlefield at a glance. Capitalizing on the advantage of his interior lines to maneuver troops, he launched repeated short, localized sorties, picking off small detachments of Shaman forces one by one. At times, Wei Yuan would deliberately allow Shaman forces to penetrate deep into his lines, only to concentrate superior numbers, activate Ephemeral Multitude, and encircle and annihilate them, inflicting massive casualties on the Shamans in short order. Despite every tactical maneuver, the battlefield inevitably bogged down into a stalemate. The frontline, stretching over a hundred li, turned into an immense meat grinder. The deployment of the two Nether Shamans naturally could not escape the notice of the human powerhouses. Prince Cheng's voice boomed: "Last time, you managed to ambush me, and we have yet to settle that score! Meeting again today is just as well—come beyond the heavens, and let us have a proper contest!" Unwilling to show any weakness, the Nether Shaman sneered and headed straight beyond the heavens for a decisive duel. Seeing one Nether Shaman drawn away, Wei Yuan called out, "Mr. Cai, please strike!" Though Cai Shizhi looked thoroughly displeased, he waved his sleeve and released a calligraphy scroll. It expanded on the wind, transforming into a massive sheet of characters dozens of zhang across that came slamming down toward the remaining Nether Shaman. The Nether Shaman was enraged. "Arrogant fool! How dare you underestimate me like this! Soon enough, I will rip your soul straight from your flesh and refine it into a top-grade human sacrifice!" He plunged headlong into the calligraphy scroll, which snapped shut, forming its own self-contained realm. But Cai Shizhi's face suddenly went pale, drained of all color; clearly, he had taken a vicious blow from within the scroll. Cracks suddenly fractured the scroll in all directions. Indescribably brilliant light burst through the fissures, and a terrifying storm of energy instantly tore the scroll to shreds! The Nether Shaman's aura within the scroll suddenly spiked to its absolute peak, leaving him completely unable to mind the monster beyond the heavens. Sure enough, the gaze of the monster from beyond the heavens shifted toward him in an instant. Yet at that very moment, three auras not a whit weaker than his rose around the Nether Shaman, each domineering and peerlessly fierce! In the distance, Hongye leapt to his feet, and three Nether Shamans vanished from their spots in an instant, rushing to the rescue. Midway, however, a luminous curtain of moonlight draped down from the sky. Deceptively slow yet lightning-fast, it instantly forced the three Shamans out of concealment. Then, the true body of True Monarch Xuanyue appeared. Pressing his massive hand forward into empty air, he clashed head-on against all three Nether Shamans in a single blow. A terrifying storm erupted where they collided. Thousands of Shaman warriors below were caught in the tempest, obliterated in an instant without leaving behind a single trace of bone or ash. The Daoist robes on True Monarch Xuanyue suddenly burst into a flurry of butterflies. Mutated by the convergence of shamanic arts and Daoist force, many scraps of fabric were actually animated, transforming into countless brightly colored birds that scattered in flight. Though battered, True Monarch Xuanyue had successfully intercepted all three Nether Shamans with that single strike, preventing them from coming to the rescue. High above Qingming, that lone Nether Shaman clashed violently with his three opponents. His aura suddenly drained away like rushing water. The sky above the Shamans dimmed abruptly, and across several hundred li, a deep green rain of blood began to fall. In the skies of Qingming, three vortexes formed, pouring down origin qi of heaven and earth of the utmost purity and rectitude. The origin qi cascaded like waterfalls; the bestowal of heaven and earth yielded by a Nether Shaman was astonishingly bountiful. The three human presences, however, paid no heed to the bestowal of heaven and earth, fleeing in three different directions in an instant. Their auras plummeted sharply, and in the blink of an eye, they had all retreated far away and concealed themselves. The giant vortex in the sky suddenly spun twice as fast. A furious will radiated from within as three bolts of emerald heavenly thunder snaked across the sky, instantly blasting the three concentrations of heaven and earth's bestowal apart! All of this occurred in less than a single breath, yet a Nether Shaman had already fallen. The three human Scenery Command masters participating in the ambush were Bao Manshan, Zhu Yuanjin, and Wei Boyang—all masters adept at ambushes and surprise attacks, each possessing devastating single-strike power. Wei Yuan had sent Cai Shizhi first to breed complacency in the Nether Shaman. The Nether Shaman had initially been wary of the monster beyond the heavens, not daring to unleash his full might, never anticipating that Wei Yuan would arrange three Scenery Command masters in ambush. Struck by three fatal blows in rapid succession, he had fallen abruptly. This had been Wei Yuan's plan all along: to go all out from the start, laying bare his hidden trump cards. Sure enough, holding an overwhelming advantage across the board, the Shamans had grown careless and suffered a catastrophic loss. Bao Manshan, Zhu Yuanjin, and Wei Boyang had all been grazed by the gaze of the monster beyond the heavens and sustained minor injuries, paying a small price for the victory. Cai Shizhi, however, looked rather disgruntled and remarked, "All is fair in war, but next time, do not involve me in such schemes. It disturbs my Dao heart." This exchange had also drawn the intense focus of the monster beyond the heavens. Its gaze practically permeated every corner of the battlefield. True Monarch Xuanyue and the three Nether Shamans disengaged and retreated beyond the heavens to evade it. Wei Yuan also withdrew his golden water blade, not daring to slaughter indiscriminately any longer. The monster beyond the heavens held immense interest in him, and Wei Yuan had no wish to draw its fixed attention. Just then, Wei Yuan suddenly heard a crisp crack. The sound arrived without rhyme or reason, seeming to emanate from within his own heart yet also from the outside world. It was omnipresent and unstoppable, yet impossible to pinpoint. Wei Yuan looked up at the sky and finally sensed that the reach of the monster's gaze seemed to have expanded slightly. Could that have been the sound of heaven and earth fracturing? Had the all-out clash between the Shamans and Scenery Command masters caused the Shattered Lands to expand? Yet even with the monster from beyond the heavens looking down, Maiden Yin-Yang did not halt her movements, continuing to vie with the Shamans' magnificent will for the fallen Nether Shaman's soul. Casting all else aside, she concentrated solely on contesting this single prize, paying no mind whatsoever to the celestial monster. The magnificent will of the Shamans was equally unwilling to let go under any circumstance. The gaze of the monster beyond the heavens lingered between the two for a moment before turning toward that magnificent will beyond the heavens. The millions of ordinary beings locked in slaughter across the battlefield felt nothing, but Wei Yuan and the others were struck by sudden vertigo, faintly hearing a piercing, shrill howl. The sound felt like a red-hot steel needle ruthlessly churning within his consciousness. Wei Yuan swayed, nearly toppling over, while numerous Great Shamans hovering aloft plummeted from the sky. Some fell from heights of several hundred zhang, suffering severe injuries. The soul of the Nether Shaman was suddenly stretched taut and split in two. The larger portion was drawn away beyond the heavens, while the smaller portion was dragged back by Maiden Yin-Yang. The gaze of the monster beyond the heavens withdrew entirely, and the gigantic vortex in the sky slowed considerably. Had the monster from beyond the heavens just clashed with the Shamans' magnificent will, resulting in mutual injury? Wei Yuan had no way of fathoming combat at such a level. Instead, seizing the window while nearly all the Great Shamans were incapacitated, he issued a summons, and dozens of missiles howled into the air, flying completely unimpeded. Half of this missile salvo slammed into the ground before Yong'an, instantly tearing a vacant swath through the main Shaman assault force. The other half struck behemoths, sharpshooters, and the central command units of various legions. The Shamans suffered staggering losses in an instant. In the blink of an eye, Wei Yuan summoned a second salvo of missiles, directing them entirely toward the Shaman rearguard. In the distance, Hongye finally could no longer hold back. With a wave of his hand, countless autumn leaves drifted through the air between heaven and earth; the missiles detonated in midair the moment they brushed against the falling leaves. Not a single missile from this salvo reached its mark, yet they still caused turmoil among the Shaman rearguard, prompting some Shamans to retreat. Wei Yuan grew thoughtful. Was there some important figure in the Shaman rearguard that was worth Hongye stepping in personally to intercept the strike? Even as he pondered, Wei Yuan kept up the offensive without pause, calling down a third salvo of missiles. This salvo hammered the frontline positions, clearly aimed at cutting down ordinary Shamans. By now, the Shamans' magnificent will had ground almost to a halt. The pillar of light draped from the heavens hung motionless, and countless wandering Shaman souls drifted around it, unable to enter. Maiden Yin-Yang claimed every single one, feeding the vast sea of souls into the Gate of the Many Realms. And Wei Yuan's goal was precisely to seize this opportunity to harvest as many Shaman souls as possible.