Bizarre

This location was over a thousand li away from Qingming, and the pursuers had never dreamed they would encounter a sudden ambush here. Many among the Flying Hawk Cavalry did not even recognize what was flying toward them, attempting to intercept with shamanic arts. Yet Qingming had already developed a new generation of missiles. Their casings were all laced with trace amounts of nether crystal, drastically enhancing their resistance against shamanic interception. Previously, these missiles had gone up against the magic of Great Shamans; pitted against Dao Foundation shamanic arts, dealing with them was naturally effortless. Missile after missile tore straight through layers of shamanic wards, bursting amid the flock of flying hawks. Within several dozen zhang of each missile's blast, the hawk cavalry were either killed or wounded. Most of the Dao Foundation riders were shaken to death on the spot, while many of the black-feathered flying hawks—their strength grazing the threshold of dharma idol—could not hold themselves aloft after being wounded by the blasts and plummeted from the sky. Several blood shamans at perfected dharma idol among the hawk cavalry suddenly felt a sense of impending doom. They saw the quarry's form shift once more, his wings folding away as he fully took on human shape—it was Wei Yuan! Although the Flying Hawk Cavalry fought on a different front and had not taken part in the Land of Rain's war against the human race, as vassals of the Land of Rain, they had long known of Wei Yuan, and his terrifying reputation only grew with each passing day. The moment several blood shamans realized their prey was Wei Yuan himself, all fighting spirit drained out of them, and they urgently summoned the surviving hawks to regroup their formation. The only Nether Shaman still capable of striking had grown far more cautious as well. The attacks hurled across the distance were swift but weak, and the connection was severed right after each strike—clearly guarding against Maiden Yin-Yang retaliating along the karmic thread. The previous Nether Shaman who had suffered a backlash after casting a blood curse had made no sound since, seemingly suffering grave injuries. Having revealed his true form, Wei Yuan radiated dazzling beams of immortal light as the aura of one immortal plant after another was channeled. Countless Daoist arts merged into a world-blanketing deluge, crashing down upon the hawk cavalry thrown into chaos by the missiles. Vast swaths of ice clouds also shot forth from Wei Yuan's hands, most descending toward the ground to envelop the wounded, fallen hawks. Some heavily injured hawks were frozen solid into blocks of ice, while those lightly wounded grew sluggish. The hawks in the air evaded most of the ice clouds, unaware they were being cleverly herded into clusters. A barrage of sonic booms and flashing Daoist arts then detonated right in the center of the flocks, sending several dozen more hawks tumbling to the earth. In a single breath, Wei Yuan unleashed Daoist arts equivalent to the full magic power of seven or eight dharma idol cultivators, battering the Flying Hawk Cavalry into complete disarray before he turned his gaze upon the blood shamans. Bloodshot eyes blazing, one of the blood shamans roared, "What is there to fear?! If we swarm him together, how could we not overpower him?!" The other blood shamans hesitated. They wanted to rescue the wounded hawks, yet shrank from recklessly engaging Wei Yuan in a fight to the death. Just then, military qi soared into the sky in the distance as a cavalry force charged forward at full speed. Beholding that mountain-like military qi, the commanders of the Flying Hawk Cavalry finally knew the day was lost and called for a general retreat. Yet Wei Yuan had no intention of letting them withdraw so easily. He charged straight into their ranks, igniting another fierce melee. Enduring several ranged strikes from the Nether Shaman, Wei Yuan pursued them for a hundred li, cutting down nearly a hundred more hawks one after another even under the combined assault of the blood shaman commanders. While the blood shamans were locked in battle with Wei Yuan, a faint, ethereal shadow silently appeared and sank its teeth viciously into the back of one blood shaman! That single bite punched clean through the blood shaman's protective magic, armor, and toughened hide, ripping away a huge chunk of flesh! The blood shaman screamed in agony and swung back to swat it, only to take another bite to his arm, nearly having the limb severed completely! The little shadow moved like lightning, darting around the blood shaman and tearing away large bites of flesh at every turn. Though wingless, it moved through the air with complete freedom, flicking in and out of sight as it shuttled continuously through the void. The flying sable had arrived! This blood shaman was, after all, a perfected dharma idol who had always prided himself on his formidable defense and sturdy dharma body. Never had he imagined the flying sable would gnaw on him like a pinecone, punching through all his defenses in a single bite. Screaming incessantly, the blood shaman fled desperately into the distance, with the flying sable in hot pursuit. Wei Yuan continued to pour out Daoist arts like a torrent, suppressing all the Great Shamans on his own while picking off several more hawks along the way. Seeing that defeat was inevitable, the remaining blood shamans scattered and fled. Unable to chase down hawk riders scattering across the sky, Wei Yuan let them go. By now, the cavalry on the ground arrived and began cleaning up the battlefield, capturing the surviving hawks. These black-feathered flying hawks were massive in size and capable of wielding lightning, but unable to fly, barely ten to twenty percent of their strength remained. Once seized, they struggled for only a moment before being bound tightly like chickens and tossed into the supply wagons that had accompanied the army. Both the missiles and the cavalry had been arranged by Wei Yuan in advance, pushed forward nearly a thousand li to lie in wait to receive him. Otherwise, Qingming's missiles could never have reached this far. Even so, seeing over a dozen missiles wipe out hundreds of hawks in this battle set Wei Yuan to pondering. He felt the current missile range was indeed somewhat short and that increasing their range needed to be put on the agenda. Wei Yuan was not infallible either—so many living black-feathered flying hawks were an unexpected bounty. Thus, he issued an urgent order to dump all baggage and supplies, freeing up enough wagons to load the hawks. Leading the cavalry was Cui Yu. Wei Yuan instructed him to go receive the dharma idol warrior who had yet to arrive by air. Then, tossing down Leiying's corpse, Wei Yuan spread his wings and flew back toward the Wu domain. Earlier, Wei Yuan had left in haste without conducting a thorough search of the small town; there might well be fish that slipped through the net. Now, having slain Leiying and fled ten thousand li, enduring the remote strikes of Nether Shamans and battling the Flying Hawk Cavalry across thousands of li from the heart of the Wu domain all the way to the vicinity of Qingming, he had surely alerted the entire Leize Tribe and the surrounding tribes of the Land of Rain. If the true target was still in that small town, they would surely believe themselves safe by now. Never would they suspect Wei Yuan turning back for a surprise strike, and they were bound to reveal some slip-up. By this time, the heaven-and-earth power of the Wu domain suppressing Wei Yuan had largely dispersed under the charge of the military qi from Cui Yu's several thousand iron cavalry. The chain dropped across the void had likewise faded away after losing its supply of sacrificial power. Wei Yuan was left with few restraints. The heavily wounded blood shaman had fled over a hundred li, yet in the end failed to escape the flying sable's lethal claws and fangs. When carried back in its mouth, his body was riddled with holes, yet miraculously clung to a single breath. This, too, had been Wei Yuan's instruction: capture them alive whenever possible so they could be brought back for research. Research was a fine tradition of the Palace of Grand Beginning, which had long developed many supplementary uses. For instance, researchers had found that most sentient beings confessed far more readily in a laboratory than in a torture chamber. Venturing deep into the Wu domain a second time, Wei Yuan kept his concealment active the entire way, flying straight toward Bear Town. Empowered by Ju Ling's wings, the journey of ten thousand li took Wei Yuan a mere two shichen. Returning to Bear Town, he found many more Shaman Scholars present, examining the traces left by the battle between Wei Yuan and Leiying one by one. Squads of Shaman soldiers arriving from nearby had occupied the town, dragging out residents one after another for questioning. Wei Yuan had returned so quickly that only two Great Shamans were currently stationed on-site. Concealing his aura, Wei Yuan closed in like a ghost on an unsuspecting Great Shaman. The Crimson Night Immortal-Slaying Sword pierced effortlessly through all of the shaman's defenses, stabbing into his back and emerging from his chest, his innards already mangled to mush by sword qi. This Great Shaman was thoroughly mediocre, clearly someone unable to take the battlefield who hid in the rear enjoying comfort and privilege. Having succeeded with one strike, Wei Yuan crept toward the second Great Shaman. Just as he closed to striking distance, a shout suddenly rang out from below: "Careful! The old devil is back!" Without time to think, Wei Yuan cut down the Great Shaman before him with a single stroke, then looked downward. The village below remained relatively intact, largely untouched. In a small courtyard near the village edge stood a red-skinned Shaman child with enormous eyes, pointing at Wei Yuan and yelling excitedly into the house. Wei Yuan swept his divine sense across the room and found a single Shaman woman inside. Strangely, though he had clearly visited this village before, he had never noticed that this courtyard also housed a single woman with a child. Wei Yuan already sensed something was amiss. With the sharpness of his divine sense and the loftiness of his karmic luck, for him to be deceived meant this little village was definitely bizarre! Wei Yuan swooped down directly and hoisted the Shaman child by the scruff of the neck. Expanding his divine sense to blanket the entire village, he instantly flagged dozens of suspicious targets! Every Shaman in the village stopped what they were doing and looked toward Wei Yuan in unison. A house in the center of the village collapsed, revealing a miniature altar inside. Its surface twinkled with pinpricks of light—it was already brimming with sacrificial power. The center of the altar suddenly split open, spewing forth a spring of blood! The blood spring twisted and coiled in the sky before dispersing into wreaths of bloody mist that sank into the villagers' bodies. In an instant, the eyes of the villagers—once numb, agonized, weary, and bewildered—completely transformed. Sharp and perilous, their gazes carried faint traces of mockery as they stared at Wei Yuan. Like the most seasoned hunters, they had finally seen the prey walk into their trap. In the blink of an eye, the Shaman villagers swelled in size, their auras surging frantically. Baring their vicious nature, they assumed battle stances. Standing before Wei Yuan were no fewer than seven Great Shamans, while all the rest were Dao Foundation Shaman Scholars! If a force fighting purely with shamanic magic focused their fire on a single point in an instant, even a perfected dharma idol could have their mindscape world gravely wounded. Then, on the west side of the village, an old shaman tossing and turning on a sickbed sat upright—as if a mountain had manifested where he lay.