Moving Mountains

Wei Yuan looked around, then looked up at the moon in the sky, lost in thought. Like water, moonlight poured steadily from above, pooling across the ground and gradually illuminating the pitch-black space bit by bit. When the flowing moonlight reached Wei Yuan, it slowly climbed onto his body. Wei Yuan found that this moonlight was slightly cool and somewhat moist, resembling real water, yet heavier and more viscous. He sat quietly, watching the moonlight slowly crawl over him before extending behind him. Behind him, the moonlight gathered into a lake. From the lake rose a young girl. She appeared barely into her teens, yet possessed breathtaking beauty, both ethereal and enchanting. But on that exquisite face, her eyes were as deep as wells, exuding a chilling cold that gripped the soul, while an upturned corner of her lips was slowly splitting open, oozing a trickle of fresh blood. She gazed intently at Wei Yuan with an uncanny smile, her slender figure hovering above the lunar lake, her cascading black hair melding with the water. The clothes she wore were tattered and ruined, shredded as if torn apart by something, dangling in frayed threads like external blood vessels dipping into the lunar lake and rooting into the deep water. "You certainly know how to stay calm," the young girl said. Wei Yuan smiled casually and said, "Senior possesses such grand divine abilities; your time is far more valuable than that of this junior. If Senior is in no hurry, why should I be?" "Perhaps I have other designs and am merely playing for time—" "If Senior intends to stall, could I possibly stop you?" "Indeed, you could not." Wei Yuan smiled. "So I am in no rush." "I came here to tell you something and invite you to a certain place. A matter neither big nor small, a place you could go or not—" Wei Yuan's mind suddenly wandered. Instead of replying to the girl, he looked up at the sky, closely studying the full moon hanging overhead. The young girl grew somewhat vexed and said coldly, "This master is speaking to you!" Only then did Wei Yuan snap back to reality and smile. "My apologies, my mind wandered just now. What were you saying?" The girl abruptly lost the mood to play around. "I said, I am taking you to a place!" Wei Yuan said, "Then I fear you will have to wait a moment. This junior still has a lot of luggage to pack—" "I'm afraid that is not for you to decide." Wei Yuan pondered for a moment, looked again at the full moon above, and said, "Senior's Dao Foundation is truly beyond comprehension. Can someone in this world actually take the sun, moon, and stars as their Dao Foundation?" "The fact that I can use it proves that someone once did. Chattering like this, are you trying to stall for time?" Wei Yuan said, "Though Senior's methods reach the heavens, my physical body seems to be present here right now. If Senior relies solely on a Dao Foundation, I'm afraid you won't be able to carry me away." "Is that so?" The young girl sneered, and fresh blood began trickling from the corner of her mouth once more. For some reason, the moment he saw the blood, Wei Yuan felt a sudden dizziness, as if a fog had crept into his mind, leaving his thoughts not quite clear. At the Dao Soldier Hall, two Dao soldiers on guard suddenly saw someone hurrying over. They immediately blocked his path, only to recognize a cultivator whose Dao Foundation was nearing completion. This man held the rank of deputy general and ranked roughly among the top fifty across the entire Dao Soldier corps. The two Dao soldiers, originally youth from the Xu family, promptly saluted and inquired, "What are the General's orders?" "I have come to pay respects to the First Dao Soldier." The two gatekeepers found this strange and said, "Now is not the time for paying respects. Please return, General." "I have something on my mind that I wish to speak to the First Dao Soldier about." The deputy general clearly had no intention of leaving. Yet the two gatekeeper Dao soldiers refused to let him enter no matter what, simply repeating, "Please return, General." They were originally Xu family youths. Aside from their duties, they rarely spoke, but on the battlefield, their coordination was seamless, as though an unspoken communication channel existed among the Xu family youth. This deputy general, however, had originated as a sacrificial offering. After becoming a Dao soldier, his cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds, making him seem much more like an ordinary person compared to the Xu family youths. Seeing that the youths refused to let him pass under any circumstance, he grew increasingly impatient. Yet whether through threats or inducements, the gatekeepers stood firm. At that very instant, two threads shot from his nostrils like lightning, piercing straight into the foreheads of the two Dao soldiers! The deputy general caught their corpses, carried them into the Dao Soldier Hall, cast them aside, and charged toward the towering statue of the First Dao Soldier. He slit his wrists open and smeared his fresh blood onto the statue. Blood surged outward in all directions, much of it shockingly flowing upward. As if alive, the blood swiftly spread across the massive statue's entire lower body. It was hard to imagine that so much blood could exist inside a single human body. The Dao soldier deputy general felt his body turning into a withered log. Numbness spread rapidly. Watching the blood still spouting from his wounds, he discovered for the first time that being drained like this was agonizing and terrifying beyond measure. Overwhelming dread jolted him back to lucidity. He wanted to cry out, but could make no sound. Only a single thought echoed in his mind: What am I doing? Why am I here? In less than half an incense stick of time, an alarm bell suddenly rang out in the Dao Soldier Hall, and a squad of Dao soldiers rushed into the hall. The general leading them appeared quite young, yet he was already a deputy general. He, too, had been a Xu family youth, but possessed outstanding talent, having attained the late Dao Foundation realm and far surpassing his peers. Through the mystical resonance of blood ties, the moment the two Dao soldiers perished, he knew trouble had struck and immediately mobilized the guard unit to rush over. Yet in the deepest recesses of the hall, that other deputy general had already collapsed at the foot of the statue, shriveled into a desiccated corpse. Raising his torch to look up, the young deputy general gasped. The lower body of the statue was covered in dense, crimson patterns, forming an exquisitely intricate array. He reached out and tried to wipe it, only to find that the bloody markings had penetrated deep into the statue, becoming part of it, utterly indelible. The young deputy general made an immediate decision, turning to shout, "Sound the highest-level alarm! All units deploy outside the barracks! From now on, no suspicious person may approach the hall! Await the Domain Lord's handling!" Moonlight like fine drizzle continued falling into the lunar lake, the glow slowly enveloping Wei Yuan's entire body. Wei Yuan suddenly felt an indescribable, bizarre sensation, as if his lower body had been severed from its connection to the original world. That feeling of division was as though karma had been shielded. Wei Yuan praised from the heart: "What an exquisite technique! How was it done? Might I have a look?" "There is no harm in letting you see. You can no longer do anything anyway." And so Wei Yuan saw the Dao Soldier Hall, saw the deputy general smearing his blood onto the statue of the First Dao Soldier. As the blood covered the statue's entire lower body, a flash of bloody light flared, and all the blood transformed into crimson array patterns, firmly locking the statue's lower body down. The blood array was clearly on the First Dao Soldier, yet it felt as if it had appeared on Wei Yuan himself. Wei Yuan lifted his trouser leg to look; sure enough, fine array markings had materialized out of thin air on his calf. Wei Yuan pondered for a moment before understanding a little, admiring, "Borrowing the false to fish for the real, then reversing cause and effect—truly an immortal's method! Today my eyes have indeed been opened." The young girl said indifferently, "These are nothing more than ordinary tricks." Wei Yuan smiled slightly. "So the wedge was those sacrificial offerings. But they have always lived in New City and rarely made contact with outsiders. Which means this array was buried in his nascent soul from the very beginning. Senior knew years ago that I would be granted the Dao Soldier Hall?" "That was not hard to deduce. Who else could the Dao Soldier Hall be given to if not you? And you were bound to serve as the First Dao Soldier yourself, making it the best anchor for a curse." Wei Yuan mused, "Yet there is still one thing I do not understand. Back when I bought those offerings, I was merely a petty Dao Foundation cultivator, not even having reached the dharma idol realm, let alone possessing the Yellow Springs grotto-heaven. Could it be Senior already knew back then that I would sever samsara and form an independent cycle, and thus laid a hidden piece in advance?" The young girl replied, "You can slowly ponder that question after you reincarnate. Follow me back obediently now, and I can give you an easier death." "That will certainly not happen. Has Senior been very bored lately, always indulging in such idle chatter?" The girl's expression turned cold. "Provoking me only leaves me to use force on you. It is not as if I must bring back a living person; a corpse will fulfill the task just as well." Wei Yuan said, "Then why haven't you made a move? Perhaps Senior should take a closer look—can you actually move me?" By this time, the moonlight had completely enveloped Wei Yuan and continued extending backward. Yet past Wei Yuan, the moonlight suddenly began spreading upward. Only then did the young girl notice that a colossal entity seemed to be crouching behind Wei Yuan. It had remained concealed in the darkness, only revealing its form as the lunar radiance fell upon it. The full moon in the sky abruptly accelerated its rotation, and the lunar radiance spread rapidly. Even after its speed increased dozens of times over, quite a while passed before it faintly outlined the upper half of that colossal being. It was a gigantic toad, currently staring up at the full moon in the sky with piercing, fiery eyes. It was so immense that Wei Yuan looked like a single grain of rice beside its foot, while its entire rear half remained veiled in darkness. Wei Yuan smiled. "If Senior only has a Dao Foundation, I'm afraid you won't be able to move me. If you have any other tricks, Senior, why not show some more?" The young girl was neither angry nor anxious, still smiling eerily as she said, "Your dharma idol is linked to the entirety of Qingming. Calling it a dharma idol is modest; it is practically a fully formed mindscape world. Did you think I would not know this?" The smile on Wei Yuan's face remained, but it was gradually fading. The girl continued, "You merely think you are heavy. But right now, we are actually standing upon my body. You are not much heavier than a speck of dust; a single breath of mine could blow you away. The reason you can sit here motionless is that you are linked to Qingming—Qingming has become your anchor. As long as that anchor is severed, I can carry you away." Wei Yuan steadied himself and said, "Senior is welcome to try." The corners of the young girl's mouth slowly curled upward. "You want to say that the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World is Qingming, and Qingming is the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World—that your mindscape world has long begun to manifest into reality, correct?" Only now did Wei Yuan realize the gravity of the situation. As expected of an immortal, none was easy to deal with. Rather than letting Wei Yuan guess, the young girl revealed the answer directly: "If an anchor is too heavy to lift, one does not necessarily have to lift it. One can also dismantle the anchor and throw it into the sea. Thus, I do not need to separate the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World from Qingming. Separating you from the Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World is enough—and much easier." Wei Yuan's expression changed drastically, and he blurted out, "Transforming Heaven and Earth!" The girl laughed with sheer delight, her mouth tearing all the way to her ears. Yet she had no more blood to spill; the torn flesh simply peeled outward, pale and raw. "Yes! Mindscape Interdiction!" Beyond Qingming, within the Shamans' base camp, eighteen altars simultaneously shot pillars of crimson light, painting the entire sky blood-red! A colossal net of blood descended from the heavens, shrouding the entirety of Qingming! Within the lunar lake, Wei Yuan said slowly, "I'm afraid even this is not enough." "I know."