You Still Want to Fight?

When Wei Yuan swept his divine sense downward, he immediately discovered a Great Shaman and at least five Dao Foundation Shaman warriors, all disguised as ordinary Shamans living in the village. Yet try as they might to conceal themselves, their cultivation could not escape his notice. How could a Great Shaman possibly live in seclusion inside such a dilapidated village? Wei Yuan's arrival had clearly drawn their attention. Without making a sound or giving any outward sign, they slowly closed in from all sides. Just as the encirclement was about to tighten, Wei Yuan abruptly spun around and bolted, his speed so blinding that only an afterimage remained where he had stood. The Shamans who had tried to surround him were left stunned, then returned to their spots to resume their masquerade. Wei Yuan sprinted dozens of li in a single breath, disappointed that not a single Shaman gave chase. Since his quarry refused to take the bait, Wei Yuan didn't waste any time lingering and proceeded to the next location. The disguise in that village was far too crude. Had they been willing to pay the price and recruit a Great Shaman at Dharma Idol perfection to hold down the fort, Wei Yuan might have bought it. But relying on these few mediocre sorts to protect the woman and child he treasured most? Wei Yuan felt Hongye would only do that if his head had been kicked by a Strength Shaman. Thus, nine times out of ten, this was a decoy. Under normal logic, if a decoy was stationed here, the real target would have been moved far away long ago and certainly wouldn't be anywhere nearby. However, the intel provided by that mysterious Shaman had been crystal clear: Hongye's child was hidden within this town, only the exact location remained unknown. Given the vast divine abilities of that Shaman and his master, Wei Yuan believed their information would not be mistaken. Wei Yuan sped through the wilderness, altering his bodily structure as he ran. Ever since he had first learned how to change physical form under the crushing weight of Mount Nether, he had picked up the Art of Smooth Adaptability as a supplementary technique. Altering merely his outward form was now accomplished in the span of a single thought. As he ran, his figure shrank smaller and smaller until he looked no larger than a kitten. Then wings sprouted from his back, and he took to the sky with a flap of his wings. Transformed into the most common type of small bird in the Wu domain, Wei Yuan flew leisurely through the air, skimming over village after village and sweeping each one with his divine sense. In the blink of an eye, Wei Yuan had flown over six villages and actually discovered four suspected targets, each secretly guarded. In such a tiny region, where could so many people needing protection possibly come from? Even if someone truly needed seclusion for some reason, there was no need to huddle together in one area. Wei Yuan easily deduced that most of these were decoys meant to divert the attention of pursuers; the real target might be among them, or might not. At this point, anyone else would likely assume that with so many decoys gathered together, the real target wasn't here at all. But Wei Yuan had the backing of the mysterious Shaman's intel and knew for certain that the real target had to be in this region. As the saying went, make the empty seem full and the full seem empty. Hongye had made things so blatantly obvious precisely in the hope that others would draw that very conclusion. Wei Yuan felt that if he were Hongye, the best approach would be to find a secluded mountain village nobody knew about, dispatch one or two loyal old servants to guard them, and then sever all contact and karma, watching over them in silence until the child grew up. He could even send the child to live among the humans in hiding; only that would truly be secure. Yet Hongye insisted on keeping them here. Wei Yuan guessed there had to be a reason compelling Hongye to place his bastard child in this spot. Wei Yuan had already combed through all available records on Hongye. All he knew was that Hongye had been a formidable figure who rose abruptly several centuries ago, taking the daughter of the previous ruler of the Land of Rain as his wife. Originally, Hongye's cultivation progressed at astonishing speed, reaching the peak of Nether Shaman in under a century. He hadn't cared in the slightest about the throne of the Land of Rain. An Ancestral Shaman had already taken note of him, and he was soon to take up residence in the City of Heaven, standing as a promising contender for a Heavenly Shaman seat. Right at that critical juncture, Hongye somehow ran afoul of Heavenly Shaman Long Zhe. The two fought a tremendous war in the Nether Cold Realm. What everyone expected to be a completely one-sided massacre ended with Hongye suffering only a narrow defeat, stunning all who watched. Afterward, opinions among the Shamans varied wildly: some claimed Long Zhe was too weak, while others believed Hongye was just too strong. Regardless, following his defeat, Hongye's realm in the Nether Cold Realm vanished completely, and he was battered down from the Nether Shaman realm, falling back into a Great Shaman. After that battle, Hongye's temperament changed drastically. Within a century, the old ruler of the Land of Rain suddenly died of illness. Hongye, whose strength was still comparable to a top-tier Nether Shaman and who retained a band of loyal followers, naturally assumed the throne. From then on, Hongye cast the old ruler's daughter aside. Every year, he replaced hundreds of beautiful Shaman consorts attending him. Over centuries, his direct descendants alone numbered in the tens of thousands, big and small, with one even becoming a Nether Shaman. There were countless riddles in the records concerning Hongye. For instance, when he clearly possessed so many descendants—some of whom had achieved great success—why would he care so deeply about a human woman, and only in recent years at that? Recalling what Langxiong had said, it seemed Hongye had abruptly begun waging nonstop wars right around the time this child was born. Still, Wei Yuan had ventured deep into the Wu domain not to solve mysteries, but to seize someone. He had no interest in Hongye's life story; all he cared about was figuring out how to stuff a Yang Bullet into Hongye's body to retrieve the ancestral master's relic. As Wei Yuan flew toward the next village, a foul gust suddenly surged from behind, accompanied by a burst of wild laughter: "You stupid bird, flying for so long without landing—you're clearly a spy sent by some other tribe!" Amidst the raucous laughter, an iron talon ripped through the clouds, clawing straight down at Wei Yuan's back! Wei Yuan's speed suddenly multiplied several times over as he dodged to the side and shifted his form. The ambusher was a giant bird with a human face, its wingspan stretching several dozen zhang. Despite such a colossal body, its flight through the air was completely noiseless; Wei Yuan had only detected its presence when it let out that boisterous laugh. Seeing that Wei Yuan had actually evaded the talon, surprise showed on the hawk Shaman's massive face, which was a full zhang across. "Oho! The stupid bird is pretty good at running!" For some reason, after being called a "stupid bird" twice, Wei Yuan's temper flared straight up, nearly impossible to suppress. Fortunately, after years of arduous cultivation, his Dao heart was steadfast. Barely maintaining an outward calm, he said, "We have no grievance. I am merely passing through, not some spy. I altered my form only to avoid trouble on the road. I am a Spirit Shaman." "So what if you're a Spirit Shaman? Others fear Spirit Shamans, but Spirit Shamans fear me! Especially a fledgling like you—you ought to steer clear of me." Patience wearing thin, Wei Yuan asked, "Might I inquire as to your respected name?" The hawk Shaman declared brazenly, "I am Leiying of the Leize Tribe! Let me tell you, I'm born to hate the sight of other birds! And I hate phonies pretending to be birds even more!" Taking into account that this old bastard was a Nether Shaman, Wei Yuan continued to suppress his wrath and said, "Lord Leiying, it is not as though I lack methods of my own. Even if I cannot best you, there are elders in my clan. If you insist on fighting, why not take a look at this?" A wisp of aura surfaced in Wei Yuan's palm. It came from the Yang Bullet, carrying an unmistakable true intent of shaving away lifespan. Wei Yuan believed the old monster would understand what it meant. Leiying was indeed taken aback for an instant, then burst into uproarious laughter: "Your tribe was actually willing to give a treasure like this to you? You really do have quite the backing! But this is useless against me. I have less than a hundred years of lifespan left. Are you sure you want to waste this thing on me?" Wei Yuan froze on the spot. The Yang Bullet had cost him a hundred years of longevity; naturally, there was no way he would squander it on a Nether Shaman who had less than a hundred years left to live. Seeing Wei Yuan's expression, Leiying laughed mockingly, "Haha, a stupid bird is a stupid bird after all!" Having been called a stupid bird three times in a row, Wei Yuan could no longer contain his fury. His pupils turned profoundly deep, as though harboring a primeval behemoth of antiquity within their depths. In a voice as cold as ice, he said, "Senior Leiying, since you have less than a hundred years to live, I presume your domain has already been returned to the Nether Cold Realm?" Leiying vaguely sensed that something was amiss in the atmosphere, yet he scoffed anyway: "So what if it has? Are you thinking of fighting me?"