The corpse dragon's form was far too immense and its power excessively formidable, making it an entirely ill fit for the shadow dragon.
This was the conclusion Wei Yuan had reached after discussing the matter with the Palace of Grand Beginning cultivators. However, if the corpse dragon was refined down until only a quarter of its original size remained, it would match the shadow dragon perfectly, allowing the shadow dragon to turn from phantom to corporeal and preliminarily gain a fraction of the Scenery Command Realm's might.
When discussing how to refine it, not only were Zhang Sheng, Baoyun, Xu Henshui, and Yu Zhizhuo present, but Sun Yu, far away at the northern mountain gate, also took part indirectly via Wei Yuan's avatar. Spending a full shichen in deliberations, they finally settled on an immaculate plan.
Within the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, the Yin-Yang Great Array could be employed to refine the corpse dragon. As for the remaining three-fourths of its draconic body, refining it through the grand array would produce two broad categories of yield: corporeal and incorporeal.
Among the corporeal materials, the cream of the crop comprised the dragon scales, a portion of the dragon claws, the dragon fangs, and various internal organs such as the liver and gallbladder. The material grade of these prime parts was exceptionally high on its own; they merely required light refinement in the grand array to purge their impurities. The scales, claws, and fangs could be used to craft spirit treasures, while the organs and flesh made first-rate alchemy ingredients suitable for concocting a variety of Scenery Command-grade spirit pills.
The ordinary corporeal materials, such as the bulk of the flesh, would take much more effort to refine, requiring repeated extraction to purge impurities and foul qi before yielding bulk alchemy materials.
Among the incorporeal materials, two were useful. The first was primal chaos qi. The intrinsic quality of the corpse dragon's flesh was actually not all that impressive, but it had concentrated the essence of an entire world and was extraordinarily massive; hence, the total amount of primal chaos qi generated would be considerable, roughly equivalent to thirty or forty Liao Clan dharma idols.
The second was the true intent of corpse stench. Wei Yuan was skilled at utilizing such things, and the stench yielded by this corpse dragon was vastly superior to common corpse stenches. Once refined, the true intent could sustain Wei Yuan in striking at full power roughly a hundred times. Generally, even a Scenery Command cultivator hit by it would likely end up retching.
The useless mixed and foul qi would be collected and given to Old Daoist Chuhe, as many spirit plants thrived on such nutrients. Chuhe was overjoyed, feeling he would not need to scour for fertilizer for the next hundred years.
The same applied to the waste and impurities left behind from refining the physical matter. Though the immortal plants looked down on such scraps, the elevated ceiling of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World meant that a large host of spirit beasts and spirit plants would soon emerge, for which these dregs made prime nourishment. Whatever remained could be ground into powder and cast into the sea to feed the fish. After all, it was scrap left behind from refining a Scenery Command demonic creature; if the fish ate enough of it, a few monster fish might just emerge.
Thus, every bit of material refined from the corpse dragon was put to good use—thoroughly drained and cleanly devoured, leaving not a single blind spot behind.
Such an exhaustive refining plan could not have succeeded without the pooled wisdom of the Palace of Grand Beginning cultivators, nor without the palace's wealth of records—no matter which refining method was considered, ample empirical documentation could be found for comparison and proof. In the end, this very plan was born.
With the plan set, Maiden Yin-Yang moved the Yin-Yang Great Array outside the city. Now that two mineral veins had been incorporated, the central city had expanded vastly to over three hundred li across, offering more than enough space to lay out the grand array.
The Yin-Yang Great Furnace served as the formation core, supported along the perimeter by three hundred thousand mortals working together to maintain the array—only then could the corpse dragon be refined. Once Wei Yuan transported the corpse dragon into the array, Maiden Yin-Yang activated it. Wisps of black qi began billowing incessantly from the dragon's body as dust sloughed off its form, accompanied by the occasional shed scale.
Wei Yuan watched for a while and put his mind at ease upon seeing the grand array operate smoothly. A thought struck him, and he asked Maiden Yin-Yang, "How is it that you can still move?"
Maiden Yin-Yang conveyed that with the shackles on the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World broken, she had gained a slight capacity for daily activity. However, she could only walk about and perform simple tasks; combat was still out of the question and remained reliant on karmic luck.
Wei Yuan wanted to probe further, but Yu Zhizhuo dragged him away to study mining plans for the two mineral veins. Yu Zhizhuo could not see Maiden Yin-Yang at all, nor could anyone else. When the immortal plants remained in their original forms, everyone could see them; yet when Bingli advanced and appeared as a young girl, the cultivators could no longer see her either.
Spirit mineral veins of the Scenery Command Realm and above could shift between corporeal and incorporeal states, just like nether iron and nether crystal.
Earth Core Flame Jade was an immortal-grade mineral capable of withstanding the True Fire of the Great Sun. Ordinary Scenery Command cultivators had little use for it, and it held little value for Wei Yuan at present; its chief utility was trading for heavenly merit contributions or exchanging for other resources. In fact, it was even more versatile than immortal silver.
What Yu Zhizhuo fixated on was the ancient spirit charcoal. This charcoal could replace the charcoal burned from spiritual wood when mixing gunpowder. Yu Zhizhuo estimated that by using ancient spirit charcoal, the power of their new gunpowder could at least double. At that point, even ordinary gunpowder firearms would become lethal to Dao Foundation cultivators.
Yu Zhizhuo approached his work with utter dedication, dragging Wei Yuan through a full day of busy labor as they excavated tunnels spanning tens of thousands of zhang. At last, they drew up an exhaustive mining plan and handed it over to the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World to execute.
With that, all their gains had been fully organized, and their involvement in this great immortal battle came to a consummate close.
Factoring in the primal chaos qi the corpse dragon would eventually yield, along with the Star Pivot Stone and those two mouthfuls bitten out of the minor world, Wei Yuan could save at least three hundred years of bitter cultivation. Now he only needed to cultivate and meditate methodically, and after some two hundred and eighty years, he would advance to the late dharma idol Heart Image Realm, catching a glimpse of the Scenery Command threshold before his natural lifespan ran out.
Over a hundred top-grade magic treasures and more than a dozen spirit treasures were also of immense value. Wei Yuan intended to sell a portion and reserve the rest for his own people. As for that ruined immortal weapon, it still required careful study, and Yu Zhizhuo had already taken it back.
Needless to say, the two mined mineral veins instantly propelled Wei Yuan into the ranks of the Palace of Grand Beginning's wealthiest dharma idols—quite possibly making him the richest of all. Yet thinking about it, that was only natural: Wei Yuan had essentially plundered an entire Scenery Command world while merely in the middle dharma idol realm. Furthermore, this was a Scenery Command world held in an immortal's hands, distinct from an ordinary Scenery Command cultivator's mindscape world. This was no ordinary windfall!
What if he had plundered Patriarch Xuanyue's mindscape world instead...? Wei Yuan suddenly shuddered, his instincts having already furnished the answer: his losses would surely be catastrophic, and even if he won, scraping three feet into the ground wouldn't yield a drop of grease.
The Patriarch's world was bound to be extraordinarily poor—and extraordinarily unyielding.
Though he had grown fabulously rich overnight, looking back, the risk had been enormous. The Thunder Wolf tribe had in fact been the sole race in that world, and Yinren, Nulei, and Lei Ling were the strongest beings in that entire realm. No matter how small that world was, such supreme figures could not be described merely as geniuses.
Had that world been as vast as their own, Lei Ling's standing among dharma idols would not merely rival the likes of Su Xuejing, Wei Yuan, and Ji Liuli; one would have to include the dharma idol geniuses of every alien race—Wu, Liao, Guiche, the Sea Clan, the Li tribe, and all the rest—and pick the absolute strongest among them. That was what Lei Ling represented.
Hence, even to surround and slay Lei Ling, a lone dharma idol, they had required the full suppression of the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World, a sneak attack by Zhang Sheng, and a coordinated assault by several immortal plants before finally striking her down.
As for Yinren, an early Scenery Command cultivator, he had weathered the suppression of the world, the curses of over a hundred thousand people, and four grand curses—the red lotus karmic fire, Langya true intent, Jianmu vitality, and the Phoenix Blood True Flame—yet had still managed to kill Wei Yuan once. Only after Maiden Yin-Yang slashed more than ten consecutive sword strikes was he finally hacked to death.
Those capable of standing at the apex of an entire world, even a minor one, were each and every one absurdly formidable. What was more, the Thunder Wolves were a fiercely combative race specially handpicked by the Wise King of the Left for sacrifice; their mightiest champions were naturally all the more extraordinary.
Regrettably, those minor worlds belonged to the Wise King of the Left and could be recalled the moment he detected something amiss. Otherwise, had Wei Yuan been able to devour it completely, his Myriad Transformations Realm might have neared consummation.
Just as regret washed over him, a realization struck Wei Yuan: was there not also a minor world behind the door beside the Jade Mountain, one that was exceedingly perilous? That minor world had been hooked and reeled in by the three-headed bird—surely no one could take that one back, could they?
With his strength having grown by leaps and bounds, Wei Yuan's confidence surged, and he began making preparations to venture into that minor world once more.
Chapter 737