The colossal whirlpool quickly enveloped most of the dugouts and skiffs, its expanse continually widening as it dragged enemies on the outer fringes into the vortex.
At this sight of cataclysmic proportion, even Han Li and Jun Weizhi on their own side were deeply shaken.
Within the vortex, the maned, fanged warriors struggled desperately. The exceedingly crude dugouts they rode were inherently incapable of navigating such deep seas, but patches of golden light suddenly appeared beneath the small craft.
Carrying inherent buoyancy, this golden radiance buoyed the boats, keeping them from capsizing even amid the raging billows.
"As expected, it wouldn't be that easy..." Wei Yuan mused inwardly, then ordered the speedboats on the perimeter to wheel around and open fire from a distance with heavy crossbows, picking off the maned warriors who had not yet been caught in the maelstrom one by one.
The heavy crossbows they wielded vastly outranged their opponents, and with Wei Yuan's infusion of the power of heaven and earth, the bolts could correct their own trajectories to track the enemy. In an instant, over a hundred maned warriors fell dead.
Some of the maned warriors closest to the center of the whirlpool tried to take to the air, only to find their bodies feeling hundreds or thousands of times heavier than usual. Even exhausting all the Dharmic power they could muster, they rose only a few zhang, and before ten breaths had passed, their power ran dry. They plummeted into the sea and were promptly swallowed by the whirlpool.
By now, a massive void several dozen zhang across had formed at the eye of the vortex, plunging straight to the seafloor!
Around the eye, hundreds of dugouts whirled faster and faster, tumbling ceaselessly into the abyss.
Suddenly, the tall warrior with the dark red mane drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and shot toward the firmament!
A hundred zhang above his head, the arrow slammed into an invisible barrier and violently detonated. A massive light curtain manifested in midair, only to be forcefully blasted open with a breach, easing the pressure weighing on all the maned warriors.
Yet the firmament soon knit back together, and the vortex in the ocean remained vast and deadly.
"As I thought..." The dark-red-maned warrior had realized that Wei Yuan was mobilizing the power of the entire Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World to suppress this area.
Judging purely by a comparison of the two worlds, the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World held a distinct upper hand, far beyond what the maned tribe's heaven and earth could contend with.
The dark-red-maned warrior inhaled deeply, his voice booming like thunder. "The enemy has already deployed the power of heaven and earth, but there is nothing to fear! Aside from this monster beneath the waves, they are weak. Now, I, the Arrow of Raging Thunder, shall deal with that beast!
"Once it is slain, the enemy world will lose its greatest pillar! The foes on the ground I leave to you. From this day forward, this fertile realm will be the new home of our Thunder Wolf tribe!"
The host of maned warriors instantly fell into a frenzy. Some howled, some tore at their manes, and others broke into war dances. Soon, the warriors took up a battle chant that drowned out even the roar of the ocean waves.
The dark-red-maned warrior looked up toward the sky. From his vantage point, he could just barely make out the coastline of his own world. Standing there was a warrior with a pale golden mane.
The dark-red-maned warrior suddenly called out, "Lei Ling, no one will compete with you from now on!"
The pale-gold-maned warrior was startled and cried out, "Come back! We fight a fair duel—this is my honor as a warrior! We fight first, then speak of the throne!"
The dark-red-maned warrior shook his head, murmuring in a voice only he could hear, "You are wrong, and so is Silver Blade. The Immortal Venerable will never give us a second throne..."
He drew his bow and nocked an arrow. When the great bow was drawn to a full moon, he soared like a falling star, plunging of his own accord straight into the vortex!
Wei Yuan had been listening to their exchange. Though they spoke different tongues, thanks to the potent Daofa of the Palace of Grand Beginning—the Universal Comprehension of All Realms—he caught almost all of it.
Seeing what seemed like yet another melodramatic tragedy involving three powerhouses, Wei Yuan was just beginning to sort out the dynamics among them when he saw the dark-red-maned warrior cast himself into the eye of the sea. He was instantly appalled!
If your love was unrequited, couldn't you find someone else to die with?! Besides, if you're ready to throw your life away, why not go slay your romantic rival first?!
Cursing internally, Wei Yuan swiftly adjusted the power of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, releasing the suppression over this patch of sea and focusing all of it onto the seaweed instead.
This dark-red-maned warrior was in the late dharma idol stage, and the bow and arrows he carried were no ordinary items. Their power was tremendous—even Wei Yuan himself would not want to take a shot from them. The seaweed was merely colossal in size and had yet to advance; its strength was inferior to the warrior's.
Empowered by the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, the seaweed knew it was in grave danger and immediately erected a wall of water before itself, simultaneously firing hundreds of water arrows.
The dark-red-maned warrior did not dodge at all, letting the water arrows strike him and rip open mangled, bloody wounds across his flesh! In the blink of an eye, he was covered in lacerations, with one leg and his long tail severed clean off.
Yet his bow remained fully drawn, and the arrows blazed with brilliance!
His figure vanished from where he stood, only to reappear within the water barrier, planted directly upon the seaweed's body!
This displacement technique was of an exceptionally high tier, carrying traces of the Dao itself. Unless countered by a mighty Scenery Command cultivator, it was impossible to intercept. Wei Yuan was equally helpless, able only to watch as the dark-red-maned warrior breached through layers of defense to descend straight onto the seaweed's true form!
At this moment, the seaweed's true form was a massive tangle spanning a thousand zhang, with an untold number of fronds. Many of the tendrils bore glowing orange-red fruits; one could neither tell where its roots lay nor where its vitals were.
The dark-red-maned warrior barked, "You and I shall both become the first foundation stones of our new homeland!"
The bowstring thrummed. Three long arrows transformed into three beams of light, instantly sinking into the seaweed's body. Then the radiance of the great bow faded, turning to stone before crumbling away.
The warrior's dark red mane began to lose its color as well. A serene smile appeared on his face, frozen in place.
An excruciating wave of agony pulsed from the seaweed. All its tendrils began to wither, the rot spreading in an instant to every corner of its thousand-zhang dharma body!
Its life force rapidly dissolved, and deathly qi began to permeate the entire sea. An unstoppable veil of gray swept across its true spirit, turning it entirely gray in the blink of an eye.
Huge swaths of giant fish in the sea suddenly perished. These giant fish were the seaweed's devotees and servants, much like the mortal believers of other immortal flora. At this moment, they were offering their own lives to absorb a fraction of the killing intent.
Yet a late dharma idol cultivator had used a supreme secret art to incinerate everything he was for this single blow; the resulting killing intent was like a boundless ocean! What little killing intent the giant fish traded their lives to draw off was less than a drop in the bucket.
Within breaths, Wei Yuan realized that the seaweed was beyond saving.
The seaweed also understood its fate. Suddenly, as if sensing something or recalling long-lost memories, its aura abruptly turned vast and primordial, tinged with the flavor of ancient antiquity.
Its voice echoed in Wei Yuan's mind: "So that is how it is! My clan has always been taboo to heaven and earth, beset by killing tribulations on our path to the Dao. It seems I have failed to pass this tribulation once more. The grace of the Domain Lord in granting me rebirth remains unpaid; today, I can only leave behind my Dao seed here. I beseech the Domain Lord to grant it shelter and care.
"My clan's true name is: the Immortal-Devouring Vine..."
In an instant, the seaweed's remaining life withered entirely away, using this to break free from the entanglement of the killing intent. A final wisp of life merged with a trace of its true spirit, condensing into a single point, bursting through the surface of the sea, and flying into Wei Yuan's hand.
It was a stone orb the size of a tabletop. By all appearances it was nothing more than an ordinary boulder, devoid of the slightest hint of life. Had the seaweed not used the last of its strength to send it into Wei Yuan's hand, Wei Yuan would have thought it a common stone even if he had walked right past it.
By now, the sea was gradually calming. Vast carpets of dead fish floated to the surface, their white bellies glistening among the waves.
Silence fell between heaven and earth, leaving only the sound of the wind and the waves.
Chapter 730