Within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, Wei Yuan followed Maiden Yin-Yang to the great blast furnace array. When the maiden activated the array, two greatswords rose respectively from the Yin and Yang furnace eyes.
The two greatswords shared similar forms, but the one emerging from the Yang eye was substantially larger, its hilt thick and hard, its blade rugged, broad, and heavy. The greatsword from the Yin eye was more slender and exquisite, its blade engraved with intricate, dark-silver patterns resembling entangling thorns.
Wei Yuan first lifted the greatsword from the Yin furnace and swung it a few times. It was exceedingly heavy, weighing well over three thousand jin. Though Wei Yuan's primordial spirit was formidable, wielding such a weapon without the support of a physical body remained an arduous task.
Yet Wei Yuan was immensely satisfied with this sword's shape, weight, and quality. It could naturally draw in the origin qi of heaven and earth to form a thin shroud over the blade, and when primed and unleashed with Dao power during combat, its might would be truly formidable.
The greatsword produced by the Yang furnace was markedly heavier. When Wei Yuan attempted to wield it, it felt unwieldy, his movements halting and awkward. He returned the Yang sword to the furnace for further refinement.
Both greatswords had been forged by Wei Yuan using nether iron as the base material, supplemented with the immortal spiritual qi of celestial flora, and tempered within the Yin-Yang Blast Furnace Array—specifically designed to deal with Shu Li.
Wei Yuan slung the greatsword onto his back and stepped into the Nether Cold Realm. At this moment, several dozen cultivators were hard at work within the Nether Cold Realm. Zhang Sheng had ceased excavating forward; instead, under Yu Zhizhuo's guidance, he was carving holes of various shapes into the cavern walls. Once they were hollowed out, Yu Zhizhuo installed freshly crafted components, gradually setting up one mechanism after another.
The outermost section of the nether iron space was now a straight passage that then gave way to winding turns. Zhang Sheng had dug it this way intentionally for defensive purposes.
Having obtained the defensive layout of Shu Li's realm, Wei Yuan conferred thoroughly with the cultivators from the Palace of Grand Beginning. They agreed that once all the mechanical traps were laid, they would burrow straight through to the outside.
Before long, the contraptions in every section were fully installed, and Zhang Sheng set about excavating the final stretch of the passage.
The cultivators had already taken their respective positions. Wei Yuan stood beside Zhang Sheng, watching eight immortal swords whirl ahead, slicing off slab after slab of nether iron as the passage steadily stretched forward.
Finally, the resistance on one of the immortal swords abruptly vanished—it had punched a small hole through the far end of the tunnel!
Wei Yuan could not help sighing with emotion. They had finally dug through Nether Mountain, and in the process he had driven the price of a Scenery Command grade material down to dirt cheap. All told, they had been digging underground for the better part of a year. Only someone with Zhang Sheng's inner fortitude could persevere in mining day after day without wavering. Had it been Wei Yuan, he likely would have gone mad from the sheer tedium of life beneath the earth.
Having pierced the barrier, Zhang Sheng shifted tactics to rotary cutting, quickly slicing out a slab of nether iron the size of a tabletop. He recalled his immortal swords. Wei Yuan conducted a final check of the defenses, told Zhang Sheng to fall back, and stepped up to the mouth of the tunnel. Pressing his palm against the nether iron slab, he channeled his Dao power and shoved with all his might!
With a resounding boom, the slab of nether iron—weighing well over a hundred thousand jin—shot out violently, crashing straight into the legion beasts and crushing several to death on the spot.
Not far off, an avatar of Shu Li sneered coldly. "What reckless gall! So you've finally shown your head?"
With a flick of his hand, several Great Shamans advanced toward the opening, flanked by more than a dozen mutated legion beasts. The cavern mouth was pitch-black and misted with chill air, veiled by Dao arts that made it impossible to see how deep it ran.
A Great Shaman patted a beast resembling an enormous wolf beside him and pointed toward the cave entrance. The creature crept cautiously into the cavern, and then all fell silent.
After waiting a moment, the Great Shaman patted two more mutated beasts. One after the other, they slunk into the cavern.
Likewise, not a sound emerged.
The Great Shamans outside all wore darkened expressions. Two of them stepped directly up to the mouth of the cave, preparing to bombard the interior with shamanic arts.
Inside the tunnel, Wei Yuan saw the two Great Shamans draw close to the entrance. He thrust the greatsword forward, drawing the blade into a sweeping circle. A terrifying suction instantly erupted from the circle of sword light. Caught midway through casting their shamanic arts, both Great Shamans were pulled helplessly into the cavern. What greeted them was a broad blade lunging forth like a venomous dragon bursting from its lair, slashing straight at them!
Bursts of flame and smoke erupted around the two Great Shamans as their protective treasures detonated. Their supposed indestructible talismans were paper-thin before the greatsword, shattered completely in a single strike!
The greatsword pressed on, cleaving both Great Shamans into four pieces. Before their forms could dissipate, Wei Yuan seized them and hurled them down the passage behind him.
Waiting further down the passage were Xu Henshui and Sun Yu. Sun Yu exhaled two plumes of toxic smoke, knocking the two shamans unconscious. Xu Henshui then gathered their primordial spirits together using alchemical qi, melted two treasure pills, and sprinkled the essence over their remains. Incredibly, the severed torsos knit back together in a miraculous display of healing.
The two men tossed the Great Shamans further back. Han Li and Long Wushuang each caught one and shoved them into cages forged of nether iron. Several Dao Base cultivators hoisted the cages and ferried both Great Shamans into the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World.
Yet as Han Li and Long Wushuang looked at Sun Yu and Xu Henshui, the depths of their eyes were brimming with wariness and dread. One of these two senior cultivators claimed to be an alchemist whose immortal pills could raise the dead and flesh out white bones; the other styled himself a physician who lived to rescue the dying and heal the wounded.
Their rhetoric sounded grand and benevolent, but their handling of those two Great Shamans was as smooth as flowing water, no different from an old butcher slaughtering chickens at the market.
Evidently, neither was the doctor a good doctor, nor was the pill a benevolent pill.
Wei Yuan had claimed two Great Shamans with a single stance of the Sword of Ten Thousand Generations and Autumns, throwing the forces outside into an uproar. The remaining shamans exchanged dismayed glances, none daring to venture near the cave entrance again. Scattering into a wide perimeter, they began pouring a tempest of shamanic arts into the cavern from afar.
Sensing the shift, Wei Yuan had already retreated in advance, ducking through a doorway around the corner. He threw his weight against a heavy door forged of nether iron, sealing the entrance tight.
Countless shamanic arts surged down the passage, compressing the energy to an absolute extreme until it erupted violently. A terrifying torrent of power blasted out of the cavern mouth, toppling several strange beasts standing dozens of paces away and instantly reducing them to ash!
The shamans collectively breathed a sigh of relief. With destructive power of that scale, even a Nether Shaman caught inside would likely have been blasted straight into the cycle of reincarnation.
Only after great effort did the energy storm within the cavern finally subside. The darkness inside had been driven away, at last revealing the interior.
The walls were remarkably smooth, and one could see the end of the passage at a glance. The shamanic arts of the Great Shamans were incapable of dealing significant damage to a mountain of nether iron; at most, they had merely given the rock face a fresh polish.
The cave appeared shallow, bending sharply to one side after only several paces, concealing whatever lay deeper within.
A Great Shaman commanded several mutated beasts to enter and investigate once more. The creatures displayed clear reluctance, yet had no choice but to obey. They filed in single file. The first rounded the bend into the cavern's depths and vanished from sight, followed by the second and the third. In the blink of an eye, five strange beasts disappeared into the cave. Soon after, black mist conjured by Dao arts began to drift through the passage once more, shrouding the interior from view.
The Great Shamans were incensed. The wretches inside were blatantly toying with them—how could this be tolerated? Another round of even more ferocious and relentless shamanic storms was funneled into the cavern, the bombardment continuing for the span of an entire incense stick before they finally ceased.
Within the mountain, parallel to the passage leading outside and separated by a single pace of rock, lay another tunnel. The two passages were linked by several narrow perforations. At this moment, Xu Henshui and Sun Yu stood inside this parallel corridor, using plugs forged from refined nether iron to stop up the holes and bracing them with Dao power.
Xu Henshui held a small white jade vial from which wisps of black smoke steadily rose, coiling stubbornly around the mouth as though endowed with a mind of their own.
Xu Henshui remarked, "This vial holds the fumes produced when Patriarch Danming failed an immortal pill refinement and blew up his furnace. This smoke has endured the tempering of the Patriarch's alchemical fire; ordinary shamanic arts cannot disperse it. When they step inside, I'll spread this smoke, and then you spray your dharma idol's toxic mist. Those shamans will never notice a thing."
Sun Yu nodded. "Though this trick will only work once."
Yu Zhizhuo stepped up behind them and said, "No matter! Once you poison the first batch, they'll inevitably bombard the tunnel with shamanic arts again. Amidst the chaos, I'll pack nether iron sand into these little holes, prime them with thunder powder, and seal the back. The moment we detonate it, whoever stands near that entrance will end up dead or crippled!"
Hearing this, Sun Yu also produced a small vial. "Inside is some Spirit Refinement salve, possessing miraculous effects on the primordial spirit. I originally intended to save it for when I explored some secret realm or grotto-heaven in the future, but using it here works just as well. Spread it onto that nether iron sand."
Just as Yu Zhizhuo reached out to take it, Wei Yuan handed over a magazine of flying swords and said, "Smearing it on these will yield even better results."
Chapter 631