As Wei Yuan ran, he sorted through what he needed to do next.
Running unexpectedly into a terrifying opponent like Shengxin had disrupted many of Wei Yuan's plans. Right now, his first priority was to find a way to throw Shengxin off his trail, or heavily wound him once more to keep him from meddling.
Although Shengxin had claimed he would love nothing more than to see Hongye come to grief, Wei Yuan did not believe a single word out of his mouth now.
Another crucial matter was finding a safe place to quietly plant a realm beacon so he could return to the Nether Cold Realm next time. The last thing Wei Yuan wanted upon stepping into the Nether Cold Realm was to be greeted by Shengxin's massive face—Huixin's would be acceptable, though.
After running for a while, Wei Yuan adjusted his direction and headed toward the realm of Shu Li for a short while longer. Then, he casually killed a minor demon along the path, leaving only a few hairs stuck to the trunk of a large tree.
With that done, Wei Yuan ducked to the side, set up a hiding place, and stationed a Dao Foundation warrior inside to keep watch on the surroundings.
Then he sank into the earth, digging continuously downward. After reaching ten zhang, he tunneled horizontally. Wei Yuan employed three Dao Foundation warriors side by side to dig. In the time it took an incense stick to burn, they had excavated a hundred zhang away, after which he dug toward the surface, placing the exit right beneath a massive boulder.
Wei Yuan waited there, fixing his divine sense upon the watching Dao Foundation warrior as he waited for pursuers to take the bait.
By this time, Shengxin and Huixin had reappeared on the previous battlefield, the injuries on both having vanished into thin air. Huixin's face was full of hatred, her bright eyes scanning the surroundings.
Just as she was about to move forward, Shengxin suddenly pulled her back. Pointing at the ground, Shengxin said, "There is a trap here. Don't step on it."
Huixin started, then sensed carefully, only then detecting a trace of anomaly. She reached out, drawing a peculiar square box from the ground, packed with miniature flying swords.
Shengxin took it and gave it a casual wipe. All the Dao power within the square box vanished, and the entire box along with the little flying swords inside dissolved into nothingness.
Shengxin blinked in mild surprise, then praised, "Quite a fine idea. To think a Dao Foundation could be used like this. If it's made from his Dao Foundation, that makes things easy."
With a casual wave of his hand, his magic power swept aside the loose soil, exposing another flying-sword landmine beneath. Then Shengxin stomped right down on it.
The flying-sword landmine triggered instantly, sending dozens of miniature flying swords shooting into Shengxin's body!
Yet all the flying swords failed to pierce even his clothes, unable to breach Shengxin's defense in the slightest.
Shengxin deliberately lowered his defense in one spot, finally allowing a flying sword to pierce his flesh, drawing a drop of blood. Shengxin pinched the blood between his fingers and smiled. "Doesn't this establish karma? Let me think... what kind of tribulation should I let him experience this time..."
After pondering a moment, Shengxin's eyes lit up. "Got it! When in Rome, do as the locals do—let him experience the Demon Bee Tribulation unique to the Nether Cold Realm."
Seeing Shengxin's incomparably hideous smile, Huixin shivered involuntarily. Shengxin turned to her, smiling to reveal a mouthful of blue teeth. "What, you're afraid of me too?"
Huixin hastily lowered her head. "No, I would never dare!"
Shengxin laughed heartily. "I believe you! I won't make you swear an oath, then—it would be bad if it actually came true."
Huixin did not dare say more. In truth, whether an oath came to pass had nothing to do with what the person who swore it did; it depended entirely on Shengxin's mood.
The drop of blood in Shengxin's hand transformed into a palm-sized giant bee with a dusky-blue stinger. It buzzed its wings, soared into the sky, and vanished in an instant.
At this very moment, Wei Yuan suddenly shuddered as a strange foreboding welled up. He had felt his arrangements were foolproof—why would he have such a sudden premonition?
Yet Shengxin's methods were bizarre and unpredictable; he likely possessed trump cards Wei Yuan knew nothing about. Not daring to be careless, Wei Yuan thought it over carefully and decided to elevate his karmic luck as a countermeasure.
Manipulating karmic luck was an ancestral tradecraft of the Palace of Grand Beginning's disciples. Out in the world, whenever disciples from other sects teamed up with Grand Beginning disciples for experiential trials, misfortune almost invariably befell the others when competing for treasures or opportunities.
This was even more pronounced for those hostile to Grand Beginning disciples. In magical duels, accidents frequently occurred—mechanism beasts malfunctioning, puppets suddenly disobeying, magic treasures failing to operate, or someone suddenly sneezing in the middle of incanting a spell, and so on.
Wei Yuan swept his gaze across the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, preparing to select an aura for his karmic luck.
He first ruled out the Maiden Yin-Yang. Yin-Yang bore tremendous karma in the Nether Cold Realm. Although an influential figure among the Shamans had claimed to have erased that karma, Wei Yuan did not even know who that person was; how could he trust their word blindly?
Even though that figure had instructed the Desolate Ancestor Tribe to deliver two million jin of thunder sand as a show of good faith, if that could serve as bait to fish out the Maiden Yin-Yang, then let alone two million jin, even two hundred million jin of thunder sand would be well worth the price.
Scanning the immortal flora one by one, Wei Yuan felt a sudden stir in his heart. He selected a wisp of aura from the sea grass and bestowed it onto his karmic luck.
This sea grass had a bizarre origin. Judging from the reactions of the two Great Shamans earlier, this thing might very well be the natural nemesis of the Shamans. Using its aura to bolster his karmic luck might yield unexpected results.
Just as Wei Yuan finished his preparations, voices came from the other side of the hill: "Everyone, pick up the pace! Once we finish patrolling this area, let's head back early. Don't dawdle! I keep having this ominous feeling."
A squad of Shamans ascended the hill, led by a Great Shaman accompanied by four or five Dao Foundation-level Shaman Scholars—a standard elite patrol squad.
The strength of this Shaman patrol squad was decent. Just as Wei Yuan was considering whether to swallow them in one gulp, his scalp suddenly tingled with an intense premonition of danger!
Wei Yuan reined in his aura and sank downward. He then poured Nether Soil from the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, completely sealing off the tunnel above him and the horizontal passage he had excavated. He hid ten zhang underground, entering a hibernation-like state. All his perception of the outside world was conducted through the Dao Foundation warrior stationed above ground.
Through the eyes of the Dao Foundation warrior, Wei Yuan saw the squad of Shamans atop the hill turn pale with shock, screaming one after another: "A demon bee swarm! How can there be a demon bee swarm here?!"
They dashed madly down the hill toward the Dao Foundation warrior, but a black cloud immediately rose from behind the hill. Moving with incredible speed, it caught up to several Dao Foundation Shaman Scholars in the blink of an eye. Sweeping over them, it devoured the Scholars down to nothing, leaving not even a scrap behind.
The Great Shaman managed to run only a few dozen zhang farther before the swarm caught him. His cultivation was far higher than that of the Shaman Scholars after all, allowing him to scream three times in agony before being devoured completely.
The demon bee swarm then swept across everything in the vicinity. Nothing endowed with spirit could escape their mouthparts. In the blink of an eye, not a single living creature remained in the entire valley, and even the vegetation was stripped bare!
Wei Yuan saw an extraordinarily hideous demon bee land right on the warrior's face. Its abdomen actually split open, revealing a gaping maw dense with tiny, serrated teeth as it bit down!
Wei Yuan instantly severed his connection with the Dao Foundation warrior, and the warrior vanished from his perception. Fortunately, it was a Dao Foundation warrior that had not awakened wisdom, so losing it was not particularly painful.
Yet the demon bee swarm had appeared without rhyme or reason, and the reaction of the Shaman squad seemed to indicate that such a swarm was never supposed to occur in this area. During his last visit to the Nether Cold Realm, Wei Yuan did not recall there being so many terrifying natural disasters.
If the Nether Cold Realm was like this everywhere, Wei Yuan seriously doubted how many Great Shamans could survive—Dao Foundation Shaman Scholars certainly wouldn't stand a chance.
As Wei Yuan waited for the swarm to move on, he pondered his countermeasures.
At the very least, elevating his karmic luck had proved effective. Thus, Wei Yuan opened the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World to seek a solution through karmic luck.
On a distant mountain peak, the smile on Shengxin's face suddenly vanished. Standing with hands clasped behind his back, he gazed into the distance and murmured, "Another substitute... Just how many people did he bring in? Looks like petty tricks won't do anymore. I'll have to prepare a grand feast for him!"
Chapter 536