One of Us?

Wei Yuan hovered in midair, watching powerful auras continuously surge in the distance. One avatar was leading a multitude of subordinates rushing toward him, while the other avatar's whereabouts were unknown. Wei Yuan was pale at the moment. He had only just managed to suppress the tearing agony within his primordial spirit, yet he still stood poised in the sky as though nothing had happened. The one who had delivered the glazed sword-orb earlier was Wei Yuan's dharma idol warrior, who had already been completely annihilated in the orb's self-destruction. Wei Yuan had not expected that the death of an unawakened dharma idol warrior would actually hurt this much. Still, the pain was not an issue. Compared to the immense scale of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, the loss of a single dharma idol warrior was negligible; no matter how agonizing, Wei Yuan could endure it. At the cost of one dharma idol warrior, Wei Yuan had wiped out one of Shu Li's avatars in one fell swoop, along with several dozen Shaman Scholars and two Great Shamans around it—equivalent to trading avatar for avatar. But Shu Li's was a Scenery Command avatar, each equivalent to a perfected dharma idol, so Wei Yuan had made a massive profit. The avatar possessed a special nature and had been obliterated on the spot, but the two Great Shamans had retained a breath of life, only to be sent into reincarnation after Zhang Sheng blanketed the ground with a barrage of flying swords. Zhang Sheng had earned over a thousand heavenly merits as a result, which was a pleasant surprise. Although that dharma idol warrior's realm had not been particularly high, his aura had been quite youthful, clearly showing great promise. That was why Shu Li's avatar had not suspected anything at the time, never imagining that a cultivator so young and with such a bright future would launch a suicide attack. By now, Shu Li's other avatar had arrived. Outside Nether Mountain lay total devastation. Plenty of legion beasts remained, but Shaman Scholars and Great Shamans lay dead and wounded in heaps, infuriating him to no end. What was worse, the other companion who had been stationed on guard here was nowhere to be seen, giving him a decidedly ominous foreboding. "Who are you, and why have you come here?" Shu Li's avatar barked. Wei Yuan sneered. "You don't recognize me, but surely you recognize my weapon?" Shu Li's avatar looked and saw Wei Yuan holding a saber in his left hand, its blade shrouded in shadow. His heart chilled. "The Demon Blade July! You've colluded with the Leize Tribe!" Wei Yuan said, "Since you know where I come from, why haven't you obediently handed over the treasure?" "Treasure? What treasure?" Wei Yuan sneered again. "Since you insist on playing dumb, there is nothing more to say." Shu Li's avatar's face shifted. "You came for that thing?! Have you lost your mind?" Wei Yuan merely sneered. Aside from sneering, he had no other option—how could he possibly know what "that thing" was? Shu Li's avatar's expression darkened. "So you, Leize, and Shengxin were in league all along. No wonder Shengxin could capture you so easily! When my master recovers, not a single one of you will find a place for burial!" Without another word, Shu Li's avatar pointed straight at Wei Yuan. In an instant, Wei Yuan felt as though the entire Nether Cold Realm had flipped upside down, and the ground was crashing down directly onto his head! With a deafening crash, even with Wei Yuan's formidable primordial spirit, the fall left him dizzy and seeing stars. Only then did he realize that he had suddenly lost the ability to fly and had plunged headfirst from the sky. Immediately after, an invisible pressure bore down from above. Wei Yuan's primordial spirit abruptly grew several times heavier, followed by layer upon layer of unseen chains wrapping around him, compressing his Dao power to a mere third of its original level. With a wave of Shu Li's avatar's hand, over a dozen ferocious beasts charged from below, pouncing toward Wei Yuan! Swathed in black light, these beasts were a whole size larger than the ones Wei Yuan had seen earlier, possessing immense strength and moving like the wind. This was the power of a kingdom, vastly more exaggerated than the power of the Qingming Domain. Under its focused suppression, Wei Yuan's strength was directly reduced to less than half of what it was, and his ability to fly had been stripped away completely. The moment Wei Yuan hit the ground, he bolted toward Nether Mountain. The closer he got to Nether Mountain, the lighter the bindings became. Once within a hundred zhang of Nether Mountain, more than half of the restraints on him dispersed. It seemed that around Nether Mountain, the effects of the kingdom's power diminished drastically. Immediately afterward, Wei Yuan felt a refreshing coolness wash over him, dispelling all remaining restraints and restoring his power of flight. This came from the immortal orchid Wei Yuan had planted. Supplanting the kingdom with its own domain, it began conferring its blessings upon Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan sprinted into the cave in a single breath. The beasts lingered outside the entrance, hesitating and refusing to enter. Inside the cave was a certain aura that made them deeply uncomfortable. By then, Wei Yuan had already mounted the rotary sword-cannon inside the cave. With a wild spray of fire, he tore every beast to shreds. Startled and furious, Shu Li's avatar bombarded the cave entrance from afar with shamanic arts, which naturally yielded no result. Nether Mountain was itself a natural fortress; even the power of the kingdom could not be maintained here, and shamanic curses of all kinds were unable to penetrate it. Yet Wei Yuan did not simply hunker down in an isolated holdout. Instead, he stepped out of the cave to confront Shu Li's avatar. Behind him, over a dozen cultivators surged forth and began driving steel stakes of nether iron into the ground to form a foundation, then mounted thick steel plates onto it. In the blink of an eye, they had erected a steel fortress, making Shu Li's avatar's eyelids twitch. Just as the avatar was sneering inwardly at Wei Yuan's folly—wondering what good building mere walls would do—he saw the cultivators haul out more steel plates and install them over the top, capping the fortress in a flash. Then Wei Yuan dropped down onto the roof of the fortress, sitting cross-legged to guard the space above it. The cultivators then began adding a second story, meant primarily for anti-air defense. Seeing the dark gray color of the steel plates, Shu Li's avatar knew they were blended with nether iron; ordinary shamanic curses could not penetrate them at all. Firing slits lined the perimeter of the fortress, where Dao Foundation warriors took their posts one by one. Shu Li's avatar attempted to rally a group of Shaman Scholars and legion beasts for a probing assault, only to leave behind dozens of corpses under a maniacal barrage of flying swords. His face livid, Shu Li's avatar pulled his forces back and formed a defensive line in the distance. Wei Yuan flew straight to the summit of Nether Mountain. Gazing out in all directions, he saw qi surging incessantly across a thousand li; Shu Li was clearly mobilizing the forces of his kingdom in preparation to wipe him out. At this point, Shu Li's avatar was reluctant to waste legion beasts and his trusted followers, not daring to attack Nether Mountain. Having experienced the terrifying might of a kingdom firsthand, Wei Yuan also dared not let the cultivators stray too far from Nether Mountain's protection. Apart from himself, any other dharma idol caught under the suppression of the kingdom's power would surely be struck down in an instant. Those weaker, like Perfected Chuhe, might even be crushed to death directly by the kingdom's power. For the time being, neither side could do anything to the other, and the situation settled into a stalemate. Standing atop Nether Mountain, Wei Yuan suddenly realized that Nether Mountain's ability to neutralize the kingdom's power was probably no secret. Then Shengxin had displaced him to this exact spot—precisely the most suitable location to gain a foothold within Shu Li's kingdom. Could Shengxin have done this on purpose? Was he actually on our side? Just as the thought crossed his mind, a tribulation thunderbolt suddenly manifested in the sky. Arriving without warning, it struck instantly right atop Wei Yuan's head, making him shudder with a jolt. Wei Yuan looked up at the sky, furious. But after searching for a long time, he couldn't find who had ambushed him and had no choice but to let it drop. Wei Yuan then slipped into the fortress and vanished from sight. Shu Li's avatar sat staring at the fortress for several days. He tried countless methods, but none could do anything against the fortress; the best approach seemed to be sending a Shaman of colossal size and terrifying strength to physically tear it apart. Yet Shu Li was a Nether Shaman, specializing in blood curses, and his physical body was rather fragile. Furthermore, nether iron happened to be the bane of shamanic curses. Over the next dozen or so days, Wei Yuan made no moves, simply holding the fortress tight. Shu Li's avatar took advantage of this time to erect a perimeter wall around the area as defense. Just as he thought the stalemate would drag on, he suddenly saw a section atop Nether Mountain flip open. Wei Yuan emerged from within, looked around, flashed an uncanny grin at Shu Li's avatar, and then hoisted a cannon out of the opening!