Setting aside the myriad mysteries, the Bingli Divine Wood's advancement brought Wei Yuan tangible benefits. Now, whenever he cast offensive Dao arts, he could attach a wisp of the Bingli Divine Wood's breath. This was a chill that carried vitality of its own, its grade far superior to ordinary cold.
Before the Bingli Divine Wood advanced, this chill had already affected cultivators of the Dharma Idol realm and had a remarkable effect on those of the Dao Foundation realm. Now, it could even influence cultivators of the Scenery Command realm and packed potent might against Dharma Idol cultivators. As for Dao Foundation cultivators, a mere wave of his hand under this chill could freeze swaths of them to death.
Dying to the Bingli Divine Wood's chill of life was a terrifying fate.
Creatures corroded by this cold were not merely frozen to death; under the effect of the extreme chill, their flesh transformed into a peculiar kind of living flesh possessing its own consciousness. Consequently, any creature that died from the Bingli chill would ultimately turn into an ice beast, persisting in this world in an extraordinary new way.
After testing it, Wei Yuan was thoroughly satisfied with the Bingli chill's efficacy. His sole regret was that the tree spirit had not shown herself again ever since the Bingli Divine Wood advanced.
Wei Yuan then went to Maiden Yin-Yang to ask why the celestial laurel tree had yet to advance, given that it was the originator of sneaking bites of heaven and earth's bestowal.
Without a wasted motion, Maiden Yin-Yang simply projected two slender beams of light from her eyes. The beams intertwined in the air, forming a scene. It displayed the moment the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World was struck by the Nether Shaman blood curse, when Maiden Yin-Yang rose in fury, preparing to retaliate.
Next, various celestial flora came into her field of view. Seaweed surged ceaselessly amid waves, radiating a thick bloodlust; the Red Lotus Bodhi wore a leisurely air, looking entirely unwilling to taint itself with the karma of killing as it focused intently on digesting Wei Yuan's karmic debt; several immortal orchids were single-mindedly fighting for territory in the Nether Cold Realm.
The Langya Divine Wood and the Jianmu were not yet fully grown, their spirituality insufficient, so they showed almost no reaction.
Then, a pale red moon slowly rose in Maiden Yin-Yang's vision, with countless crimson sword qi swirling freely around the orb. Whether in appearance or imposing aura, it was peerless, commanding awe.
Maiden Yin-Yang casually plucked a streak of crimson sword qi and hurled it at the enemy. In terms of slaughterous might, truly no celestial plant could compare to the celestial laurel tree. Perhaps the Langya Divine Wood might contend with it in the future, but certainly not now.
Yet as Wei Yuan watched this, he froze slightly. He knew full well that the Bingli Divine Wood's killing power was not one bit inferior to the celestial laurel tree's. But where was the Bingli Divine Wood? Wei Yuan looked closely and realized that the Bingli Divine Wood was nowhere to be seen in the scene.
Maiden Yin-Yang shifted the projection, and the Bingli Divine Wood finally appeared. Taking Yin-Yang as the center, its position happened to be directly opposite the other celestial plants. If Maiden Yin-Yang did not use divine sense to perceive and looked only with her naked eyes, the Bingli Divine Wood sat precisely in her blind spot.
In the projection, the Bingli Divine Wood appeared exceedingly frail, attentively caring for dozens of believers stricken by the blood curse and exhausting every effort to save their lives. Seeing this, Wei Yuan could not help feeling a pang of tenderness, hardly having the heart to press her about it.
Now Wei Yuan finally understood why the Bingli Divine Wood was the first to advance. The celestial laurel tree was usually far too conspicuous; in a critical moment like that, it would have been inexcusable not to use its sword qi. The Bingli Divine Wood, on the other hand, never lagged behind when partaking in the bestowal of heaven and earth, but the moment it was time to pull its weight, it tucked itself away in a corner—eating without lifting a finger. Naturally, its advancement was lightning-fast.
Wei Yuan marveled inwardly. These celestial plants were all practically turning into spirits. Then he immediately recalled the Bingli Divine Wood's tree spirit—hadn't it already become a spirit?
Regardless, with Hongye's impending arrival, the Bingli Divine Wood's advancement added a powerful tool to Wei Yuan's repertoire, granting him a bit more confidence against the approaching crisis.
Wei Yuan possessed Dao force as vast and deep as the sea, yet he had always lacked a slaughterous technique of immense power. The Dusk of the Immortal Path could not venture too far from Qingming; the Yin and Yang bullets not only incurred a colossal cost, but were also single-use; the Golden Light Water Blade Art was unmatched when it came to excavation, but far too rigid in combat. Now, with the Bingli chill, the lethality of all his Dao arts received a tangible boost. While it did not fully remedy his shortcomings, it significantly broadened his reach.
Wei Yuan cast a final glance at the Flame God Flower, which was planted along the southern shoreline. At this moment, the Flame God Flower had yet to sprout, but one could clearly feel it constantly absorbing the origin qi of heaven and earth while also drinking heavily of Qingming's Jianmu vital profound qi. In addition, it resonated faintly with the young Jianmu tree far overseas, quickening its growth even further.
Wei Yuan estimated that in barely over a month, this seed might sprout. In the outside world, given the unsuitable environment, it would likely take over a century to even have a chance.
Finally, Wei Yuan went to the Yin-Yang Grand Furnace and took out over a dozen feathers, handing them to Maiden Yin-Yang. Each of these feathers was palm-sized, pitch-black throughout, with a rich spiritual glow that seemed almost tangible.
These were Leiying's natal thunder feathers. When a thunder eagle neared death, its life's essence would gradually shift into these feathers. Had Leiying died of old age, a Thunder God feather would have formed among them—a precious material nearing the perfection of the Scenery Command realm. But right now, all these thunder feathers were merely ordinary Scenery Command materials, because Leiying had suffered a violent death; most of his vital essence had remained in his dharma idol and was devoured by the three-eyed bird's head.
Even so, these thunder feathers were more than enough for Wei Yuan. Maiden Yin-Yang then added nether crystals, along with several top-tier magic treasures used by Leiying and the blood shamans that Wei Yuan had collected, tossing them all into the Yin-Yang Grand Furnace. Next, Wei Yuan dripped a drop of his own blood into each of the furnace's yin and yang vents.
As the grand furnace began to rotate slowly, power approaching the origin of the Great Dao pulverized all the materials, extracted their source energy, and melted them into one through miraculous means nearing creation itself. At this moment, Wei Yuan once again sensed the furnace's demand: a sacrifice.
This time, Wei Yuan still chose to sacrifice his lifespan, but unlike when he refined the two Yin and Yang bullets and nearly gave his all, he now acted like a stingy squire, offering only a tiny sliver of lifespan—a total of two years.
The refining did not take long this time. A moment later, the vents of the Yin-Yang furnace spewed forth treasure light, producing six Yang bullets and three Yin bullets.
Each Yang bullet cost Wei Yuan two months of longevity and could shave off three years of lifespan from a Scenery Command opponent; each Yin bullet cost him four months of longevity and could cut ten years off an opponent's lifespan, though those ten years would be whittled away gradually over the span of a decade.
The Yang bullets could barely be called somewhat useful, while the Yin bullets were utterly tasteless—a chicken rib. But because Wei Yuan had sacrificed his lifespan, the lifespan-shaving aura on this batch of Yin-Yang bullets was exceptionally conspicuous. And precisely because their power was not overwhelmingly strong, their aura was actually thicker and more overt than that of the full-fledged Yin-Yang bullets.
When the Dao reaches its peak, it returns to simplicity. The original Yin and Yang bullets had reached the pinnacle of Dharma Idol Dao arts, so their aura had become restrained and obscure instead. But the bullets in Wei Yuan's hands were like Xu Wenwu from his past life: not possessing much actual capability, yet insisting on letting everyone know he seemed to know everything.
With this batch of Yin-Yang bullets, Wei Yuan felt much more secure. From now on, no one would know whether the bullet he pulled out could shave off three thousand years or three years of life.
Whatever came out of the Yin-Yang Grand Furnace was an immortal object, capable of shifting between form and formlessness. This newly refined batch of counterfeit Yin-Yang bullets was forged with Wei Yuan's lifespan and contained heavenly power; though shoddy in quality, they were fundamentally immortal objects as well.
However, if the real Yin and Yang bullets were genuine immortal treasures, this counterfeit batch could only be called immortal dross.
Wei Yuan realized that he seemed to be walking down the bizarre path of redefining immortal objects yet again.
Having prepared this trump card of immortal dross, Wei Yuan left the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World and continued preparing the grand gift to welcome Hongye.
Wei Yuan had just stepped out of the main peak when he saw Sun Yu hurrying over. The moment they met, Sun Yu said, "One of the children is rather strange."
Wei Yuan immediately followed Sun Yu to the dungeon. At this moment, the dungeon was a bustling scene. All the women were held together in one cell, while the children were gathered in another. Several disciples from the Hall of Heavenly Craft were leading a dozen cultivators in urgently reinforcing the rest of the cells.
The moment Sun Yu and Wei Yuan entered the children's cell, the dark-red-skinned child gasped, crying in dismay, "The old demon is back! What... what are you going to do to me?!"
Sun Yu pointed at the child and said, "His eyes possess a miraculous innate divine ability that seems able to see through both the Yin and Yang realms. It is extraordinarily rare. If he isn't the target you're looking for, hand him over to me. I have great use for those eyes."
The dark-red-skinned child trembled in terror upon hearing this, frantically shouting, "No! Don't! I won't give my eyes to anyone!"
A chill gripped Wei Yuan's heart. How had he forgotten about this child again? He remembered that when capturing them, he had noticed something off about this child, and had even specially backed up the relevant data in the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World and set a reminder.
When Wei Yuan checked now, he discovered that all the records had indeed vanished without explanation, and the set reminder was gone without a trace.
Wei Yuan traced it back to the source and found that the reminder had been assigned across nine different mortals. These nine people had different jobs and schedules, ensuring that at any given moment, three of them were working within the system, and reminding Wei Yuan at scheduled intervals was one of their duties.
Yet in the memories of these nine mortals, as well as in the system of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, every task concerning this reminder had completely vanished without a trace.
Had Wei Yuan not possessed complete confidence in his own memory, he might have believed he had never set a reminder in the first place.
Wei Yuan finally understood: this was the work of an immortal, operating at a level near the Great Dao to make people consciously or subconsciously forget everything about them.
Wei Yuan carefully observed the child's eyes. Deep within the pupils of those strange eyes, there was only terror and panic.
No matter how Wei Yuan looked at him, he did not seem like a human child. He then studied the child's mother for a long time, ultimately concluding that she was an authentic Shaman through and through.
Sun Yu also sensed that something was amiss by now and cast an inquiring glance at Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan transmitted with Dao force, "I can be almost certain that this mother and child are human. But I can't find any flaw in their disguise."
Sun Yu pondered and said, "I remember Master once mentioned an immortal method of disguise called Entering the Minute. It is the pinnacle of physical disguise. Whether human body or Shaman form, it is fundamentally an agglomeration of countless minuscule living beings. The immortal method of Entering the Minute performs the disguise at this very level, altering every minuscule organism into that of another race. That is why almost all mortal means of detection fail against it."
"Can you inspect those minuscule beings?" Wei Yuan asked.
Sun Yu replied, "I already tried. The results still showed them to be Shamans. If, as you say, they truly are humans, then the one who cast this immortal disguise technique is probably no ordinary immortal. The true human core is likely hidden deep within the cores of those minuscule beings. Unless I reach the Scenery Command realm, it would be impossible for me to unravel a disguise of this caliber."
Wei Yuan said, "Understood. In short, it can't be cracked for now. Well, that works too—we'll just use another method."
Wei Yuan promptly ordered people to knock through three adjoining cells, separating them in the middle with nether iron bars. He then placed the women in the left cell and the children in the right, while packing the middle cell full of explosives and stationing a Dao Foundation warrior to stand guard.
The moment Hongye attempted to breach the dungeon and rescue them, Wei Yuan would immediately detonate the explosives, blowing all the hostages to bits.
Wei Yuan had no intention of bothering to distinguish which ones were actually Hongye's woman and child. In any case, they were most likely among these Shamans; as long as Hongye dared to come and snatch them, they would all be blown up together.
Chapter 589