Sun Chao'en had come to Wei Yuan's side without him noticing. After reading through the entire letter, Sun Chao'en murmured as if to his departed junior brother, "Able to let loose yet unable to draw back, wild and heedless of convention—if Master were to see this handwriting of yours, you would surely get another scolding!"
"Indeed," Wei Yuan agreed, nodding. Suddenly, two tears fell, shattering upon the armor over his chest.
Wei Yuan raised a hand to wipe his face, feeling only warmth upon his palm. When he turned to look at Sun Chao'en, the magistrate's lapels had long been soaked with tears as well.
Wei Yuan wiped his face once more and suddenly noticed an arrow resting in the corner of the wall. It was the signal arrow he had left with Fang Hetong. Had it been shot, Wei Yuan would have known that powerful enemies were attacking and rushed back immediately.
Yet this arrow had sat right within arm's reach, and Fang Hetong had never used it from start to finish.
Wei Yuan pondered for a moment before understanding dawned. The Liao barbarians had swept south in full force, and beacon fires had long since flared everywhere. Anyone with the spare strength to send relief had already deployed. Wei Yuan himself had no deep background or standing; no one would turn around just to save him. Fang Hetong possessed a keen insight into worldly affairs; he had discerned this long ago from the contrast between Wei Yuan and Li Zhi.
If the signal arrow were fired, the first to rush over would be Wei Yuan, and only Wei Yuan.
Wei Yuan wiped his face once more and set down the signal arrow. Then, sweeping his divine sense through the pyramid of heads, he suddenly froze. "Where is his head?"
Fang Hetong had formed a Dao Foundation; even in death, a lingering wisp of spirituality would remain within his sea of consciousness and would not dissipate right away. Yet as Wei Yuan's divine sense swept past, none of the several hundred heads in the pyramid showed any sign of having been forged by a soul. Fang Hetong's head was not among them.
Sun Chao'en also swept his divine sense through, his expression abruptly changing. "It is a Liao barbarian custom to craft drinking cups from the skulls of formidable enemies! Junior Brother Fang's head..."
Wei Yuan felt something surge violently from below, rushing straight to the crown of his head and detonating at his fontanel!
At that moment, Wang Delu was still banging his head against the ground in front of Fang Hetong's corpse. Infuriated beyond measure, Sun Chao'en strode over, drew his longsword with a sharp snap, and prepared to strike downward!
Scared out of his wits, Wang Delu collapsed onto the floor, kicking his legs as he scrambled backward, shrieking, "Magistrate Sun, you and I are both court officials! You... you cannot kill me! By law, an order from the commandery governor must be issued and reported to the provincial governor, and only after autumn can an execution be carried out! If you kill me, it is the unauthorized slaughter of a court official!!"
Sun Chao'en's blade hung suspended in midair. His rank was only half a grade above Wang Delu's. Under the laws of Jin, under the laws of Tang, he had no authority to put Wang Delu to death; otherwise, it would be deemed unlawful execution, punishable by death and clan extermination.
Just as Sun Chao'en's fury and the court's laws fought a bitter war within him, his hand suddenly lightened. The longsword had already passed into Wei Yuan's grip.
"Immortal Master, spare—" Wang Delu's shriek cut off abruptly. Wei Yuan's hand rose and the blade fell. The head flew far into the distance, and the blood geysering from the neck showered down before Fang Hetong's feet!
Having decapitated Wang Delu, Wei Yuan spoke not a word. He strode outward; in a single stride he had left the ancestral hall, and in a second stride he reached the gates of the fortress.
Amidst a long whinny, the war horse galloped over of its own accord. Wei Yuan sprang into the air, landing lightly upon its back. Lightning flashed, and a twelve-foot spear tore through the sky, dropping straight into his hand.
The horse was a mortal horse; the spear, an iron spear.
As Sun Chao'en rushed out of the ancestral hall, he saw the long spear suddenly thicken and lengthen. Its aura turned boundless and ancient, and intricate, mysterious patterns surfaced upon the shaft. Strands of black Qi plunged into the war horse's body. The beast neighed in agony, stamping its hooves repeatedly in torment. Yet with every strike of its hooves against the earth, its frame expanded by several inches, swelling in the blink of an eye into a giant steed fifteen feet tall, peerlessly fierce and domineering!
The war horse's four hooves were now as wide as water vats, suddenly igniting with faint pale-blue flames. When it stamped the ground again, the entire village trembled with it, leaving scorched, blackened hoofprints in the dirt.
With a neigh that shook heaven and earth, Wei Yuan urged the horse northward, charging straight into the Liao domain!
Sun Chao'en snapped awake as if from a dream. Grabbing the assistant magistrate, he shouted repeatedly, "Quickly send someone to inform General Li Zhi, and alert Liao Jingwu to deploy his troops at once! They must provide support..."
Exerting his strength, fresh sheets of blood burst through the bandages across his chest and back. His vision went black, and he pitched toward the ground.
In the blink of an eye, Wei Yuan cleaved through the billowing yellow Qi and charged into the Liao domain. The moment he crossed into the territory, an invisible net enveloped him from above. His body was once again plagued by that greasy, viscous sensation, filled everywhere with foreign particles; his field of vision was immediately cut in half, and the circulation of his Dao power slowed by a fraction.
Yet in Wei Yuan's eyes, a faint speck of white light flickered ahead, like a candle in a tempest, threatening to snuff out at any moment. This was a lingering wisp of spirituality shed by Fang Hetong's yet undissipated soul. Even a True Person of the Dharma Idol realm would find it difficult to detect, but Wei Yuan, born with senses vastly different from ordinary mortals and possessing a divine ability akin to Diting, could see it clearly.
Far in the distance ahead, another speck of faint light flickered, and still farther away lay yet another. Speck after speck of faint light traced a path guiding his advance north.
In the midst of his wild gallop, a stray thought surfaced in Wei Yuan's blank mind: *If Brother Fang had known I could see his dispersing spiritual light, perhaps he would have self-detonated his soul...*
The thought was swiftly consumed by the emptiness of his consciousness.
The flames upon the horse's four hooves grew increasingly distinct, and the point where the hooves fell gradually detached from the ground, until it was treading on empty air. The spear tip was razor-sharp and twisted, no longer resembling any conventional weapon. Wherever it swept past, it left behind a black ribbon, like a lingering stroke of thick ink across paper that refused to fade.
The Liao domain was boundless, resembling a churning, turbid sea. A solitary man and horse cleaved through the waves as they rode north, leaving a long wake behind them.
By now, the wind ahead had become so dense it felt solid—no longer a gale blowing across the flesh, but more like a giant wave crashing head-on. Wei Yuan felt as though countless spiderwebs were clinging to him, each movement requiring several times more strength than before. The yellow Qi that had been split open and cast behind was unwilling to let him pass, churning and giving chase relentlessly in his wake.
Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness boiled. Strands of black Qi accumulated over the years dissolved one by one, neutralizing the malice directed at him by this world.
Yes, malice.
It was as though the entire Liao domain was beginning to awaken, fixing an eye of hatred upon this bug that did not know its own limits, deploying ever-greater power to obstruct him, strike him down, and obliterate him.
Wei Yuan did not know how long he had been galloping, but the faint lights along the path ahead were gone! The yellow Qi of the Liao domain had whipped into a storm, thoroughly extinguishing the last spark of Fang Hetong's spirit fire.
Within his sea of consciousness, the Jade Toad surfaced, its eyes turning into a pure, absolute black. No, that was not black—it was a void, a void capable of devouring everything, including darkness itself.
Specks of faint light reappeared along the path ahead.
An inexplicable realization arose within Wei Yuan: the specks of light he saw did not exist in the present, but were the faint glows that had yet to be snuffed out in the preceding moment.
Wei Yuan lowered his posture, man and steed merging into one. His speed surged once more as he chased the light northward!
In the distance, a colossal yellow storm came into view. Billowing yellow Qi swirled sluggishly, forming a tempestuous tornado whose core spanned dozens of li, connecting heaven and earth. Within the storm, faint light flickered dimly. Without a second thought, Wei Yuan spurred his horse straight into the tempest!
At the center of the storm lay an arc of a small lake, crystal clear like a mirror. Its water was blue and transparent, allowing one to gaze straight to the bottom. Resting on the lakebed was not yellow sand, but countless multicolored pebbles, resembling sweeps of rainbows beneath the rippling waves.
Beside the lake stood groves of trees, beyond which stretched a meadow carpeted in soft green grass, dotted with countless unknown wildflowers.
This was a sanctuary blessed by heaven and earth, teeming with life, serene and beautiful. Snowy white tents were pitched across the grass, and not far off grazed herds of snow-white war horses. Each stood two feet taller than ordinary Liao horses, their forms extraordinarily magnificent. These mounts were not grazing upon the green grass, but feeding obediently on fodder from troughs. Whenever a hoof lifted, it landed gently, as if fearful of harming this heaven-bestowed treasure.
Men who would be considered robust even among the Liao Clan came and went from the tents, fetching water or tending to the horses. Every single one walked barefoot without boots, likewise terrified of trampling the turf.
Inside the largest tent, the young Liao man who had kicked over the cartwheel sat in the center. He stood a full head taller than the other men in the tent, nine feet in height, his robes draped wide open to reveal a frame dense with chest hair and coiled with knotted muscle. His face was remarkably youthful, appearing barely twenty years of age, his bronze skin entirely unblemished.
He reclined in a beast-hide chair, holding a rhinoceros horn cup in his left hand. Lost in thought, he wore an expression of mild dejection and helplessness. Arranged upon the low table before him were only fruits and vegetables, devoid of any meat; only the milk tea and mare's milk wine counted as animal products. In this sacred lake, the presence of meat was deemed an act of desecration.
Beside the young Liao man sat a tray, upon which rested a severed head.
"Young Master, it was only a southern sheep. Killing him was no different from butchering any other; why dwell on it?"
The young Liao man stared at the wine in his cup and said, "You do not understand. He was a hero. Even among the southern sheep, there are heroes."
The men in the tent looked at one another, uncomprehending. One spoke up, "Did he not still perish at your hands, Young Master?"
The young Liao man shook his head. "Some heroes cannot be measured by strength alone. Though he was defeated, from beginning to end I saw no fear in his eyes, nor the hypocritical fury born of fear. He was calm—calm as he unleashed his greatest strength, calm as he killed the greatest number of men, and calm as he embraced his death. It is a pity he rejected my goodwill. Had such a man submitted to me, he would have made my finest, most intelligent hound. A good dog is worth far more than a few dozen cavalrymen."
The others did not know what to say. Suddenly, the ground beneath the tent trembled. Every dish upon the low table leaped into the air, followed by several agonizing screams from outside.
"An enemy!" The warriors inside the tent swarmed out in a rush. Unhurried, the young Liao man picked up a long-handled battleaxe. Before stepping out, he glanced toward the severed head upon the tray and asked, "A friend of yours, I take it?"
The severed head, naturally, gave no answer.
The young Liao man lifted the tent flap and walked outside.
At the edge of the meadow, Wei Yuan flicked his long spear, hurling a rider impaled upon it to the ground. Seven or eight corpses were already strewn around him.
The war horse snorted, spewing two bursts of flame, and stepped forward. When its blazing iron hooves struck the grass, they scorched a wide swath of blackened earth.
A hulking Liao warrior stepping from a tent caught sight of this. Instantly enraged, he leaped into the air, swinging his blade down at Wei Yuan! The weapon had a five-foot blade and a three-foot haft, appearing exceptionally vicious. This Liao man's strength surpassed even that of an ordinary centurion, and as Wei Yuan swept his gaze across the area, there were at least seven or eight others like him!
Seeing the blade cleaving down toward his head, Wei Yuan neither dodged nor parried. His spear shot forth like a dragon, arriving first despite striking second, and punched straight through the warrior's chest!
The heavy blade still carried its momentum downward, slashing into Wei Yuan's shoulder. Armor, battle robe, and flesh were torn open by the strike, finally caught and halted by the bone.
More and more Liao warriors emerged from the tents, howling as they pounced upon Wei Yuan. The weakest among these cavalrymen were equivalent to an ordinary Liao captain, matching the strength of a human at the great completion of body refinement.
Wei Yuan spurred his mount forward without dodging. For every strike a Liao warrior landed, he answered with a spear thrust. In the blink of an eye, Wei Yuan took dozens of blade cuts, leaving a scorched, blackened trail across the grass flanked by heaps of dead.
In Wei Yuan's eyes, this picturesque, sunlit paradise by the lake was suffused with thick yellow Qi, dense as surging ripples. Every raise of his hand or lift of his foot burned through Dao power at a terrifying rate. Had it not been for the otherworldly fortune he had accumulated over the years to counteract the pressure, his Dao power would have long been exhausted, leaving him to collapse to the ground. Thus, Wei Yuan had chosen without hesitation to trade wounds for lives, slaying the greatest number of enemies at the fastest speed.
Before long, only the young Liao man and two subordinates of centurion rank remained before him. The young Liao man had been observing Wei Yuan without taking action. Now, he nodded in satisfaction and said, "You are strong, but too young—still a fledgling eagle. You cannot defeat me. Why not follow me? I will petition the Imperial Preceptor to grant you the body of a Liao warrior, and henceforth you shall be my finest hunting eagle! I will lead you on the hunt across this endless sky! With you by my side, my hunting grounds will extend far beyond Agula!"
Wei Yuan spoke not a word. Leaping from his horse, he strode forward. The spear tip dragged along the grass before vaulting upward, thrusting straight toward the young Liao man's heart!
The young Liao man's pupils contracted violently. Wei Yuan's strike had no fancy flourishes; it was simply fast and heavy—so fast and heavy it defied belief!
Never had the young Liao man expected that Wei Yuan's very first strike would be an attempt at mutual destruction! By now it was too late to evade. Letting out a world-shaking roar, he clamped one hand tightly around the spear shaft while swinging his battleaxe viciously down at Wei Yuan's head.
The young Liao man's strength was peerlessly savage, yet it could not overpower Wei Yuan, whose raw physical might matched that of several Heaven Tier Dao Foundations from the Hall of the Bright King combined. The spear shaft ground against the Liao youth's palm, driving forward with a screech of shearing metal. When the spear tip struck the bronze skin, the very point buckled against flesh as hard as iron; yet it still breached skin, bit into flesh, and lodged between the ribs.
Facing the descending axe, Wei Yuan raised a bent arm to block it. The massive golden axe nearly sheared through his forearm and bore down on him. Wei Yuan tilted his head aside; the blade bit into his left shoulder, splitting half the bone before finally grinding to a halt.
The young Liao man had already cultivated to the Dao Foundation God-Nurturing realm and begun incubating his dharma idol. Never had he imagined that their very first clash would end in mutual mutilation. Wei Yuan's physical body was far sturdier than even his own, a young master whose physique had stunned the entire Agula tribe since childhood.
*This should be his limit,* the young Liao man thought, preparing to persuade him once more. Southern sheep who did not fear death were many; killing them was no loss. But for a fledgling eagle to die was a tremendous waste. A single fine hunting eagle could be traded for an entire small, battle-hardened tribe.
Yet before he could open his mouth, he caught sight of Wei Yuan's eyes. They were bottomless, like conduits opening into another world.
Within Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness, dozens of strands of black Qi vanished at once. The Outlaw of Heaven and Earth activated, and an icy, savage killing intent surged upward. Intricate, mysterious runes surfaced upon the lodged spear. Driven by an irresistible force, it sheared through the ribs in its path, pulverized all the organs along its way, and burst straight out of his back!
The two subordinates were horrified and rushed forward to the rescue. Wei Yuan snatched the Liao young master's golden axe and impaled both men with the butt of the haft.
The spear driven through the young master's body was now as heavy as a mountain. His knees cracked with the sound of splintering bone, crashing heavily to the ground. For the first time, panic crept into his voice as he cried out, "Do not kill me! If you kill me, my father will know immediately, and you will never escape our domain! As long as you spare me, I can bestow upon you the status of a Liao warrior, lifting you from your wretched breed to join my tribe..."
Wei Yuan withdrew the long spear. With a sweep of the tip, the young master's head flew into the air.
Wei Yuan caught the head and walked into the largest tent. Within his vision, a faint speck of light still flickered continuously inside. Wei Yuan's gaze fell upon the severed head on the tray. He paused for a moment before stepping forward and slowly lifting it.
Blood trickled down Wei Yuan's arm to his hand, then flowed onto the severed head, washing over Fang Hetong's face and merging with his blood.
Wei Yuan turned and exited the tent. The paradise beside the lake suddenly shattered like a bubble. The meadow and the trees remained, but the small lake had vanished into thin air. In its place, a jade bowl sat before Wei Yuan, filled with clear water, its bottom lined with multicolored sand.
Wei Yuan picked up the jade bowl and quietly calculated the distance back. On his way here, his only thought had been to reclaim Fang Hetong's head, but his soul had recorded every detail of the route. Recalling it now, Wei Yuan realized this place was a full eleven hundred li from the border of the Liao domain. Without realizing it, he had penetrated over a thousand li into the Liao territory!
Wei Yuan stowed Fang Hetong's head and the jade bowl into his travel pack, hung it upon the war horse, and prepared to return.
Right at that moment, yellow Qi soared into the heavens in the distance. From the mountainous expanse of yellow mist, a snow-white giant eagle emerged, its wings blotting out the sky and sun!
"To dare take my child's life—I shall make you beg for death, your soul suffering eternal torment!" The voice in the sky was deafening, amplified many times over by heaven and earth. Billowing yellow Qi surged like ocean waves, turning into layers of shackles aimed at locking down Wei Yuan's movements. With a piercing cry from the giant eagle, an enormous talon appeared in midair, its talons spanning over a hundred feet, descending toward Wei Yuan's head!
Wei Yuan still remembered the eagle's aura; it was the Northern Liao Dharma Idol expert who had clashed from afar with the human Perfected Person above Baoyun Fort. At that time, across a distance of ten thousand zhang, he had fired four consecutive arrows, bringing down a flying vessel and leaving both himself and the human Perfected Person severely wounded.
The giant talon descended like a mountain, carrying an irresistible momentum!
Though legends of the immortal path were many, there had never been a precedent of someone who had yet to form a Dao Foundation contending against a dharma idol. Having entered the strike range of a dharma idol, Wei Yuan had no hope of survival.
Dense yellow Qi wound around the tips of the talon, as if the very heaven and earth were lending strength to this blow.
Wei Yuan smiled bitterly in his heart. Was this heaven and earth not holding him in far too high a regard?
Just as he was about to close his eyes and await death, an azure sword Qi suddenly shot out from between his brows, dissolving into countless fine threads of rain that wrapped around the giant talon. Thin though the rain threads were, the giant talon was actually halted, caught in a deadlock!
The rain threads spread swiftly, creeping up the eagle's talon until they enveloped the creature's entire form.
Wherever the pervasive threads of rain fell, the yellow Qi dissolved. Within the mist of rain, Zhang Sheng's figure manifested. Standing with hands clasped behind his back, he looked up at the Snow Mountain giant eagle blotting out the sky, utterly devoid of fear. In that moment, Wei Yuan suddenly understood what it meant to possess an invincible heart.
The talon entangled by the threads of rain drew back into the sky, but the giant eagle extended its other talon, clawing down with vicious fury! This time, the talon shredded the curtain of rain, its sharp tips raking across Zhang Sheng's silhouette and tearing it to pieces. As Zhang Sheng's figure shattered, another figure seemed to briefly emerge, only to be shredded by the talon all the same.
Wei Yuan had long forgotten that Zhang Sheng had sealed a strand of sword Qi inside him. He had never expected that after so many years, it would still remain. When Zhang Sheng's figure appeared, Wei Yuan had nearly believed his teacher had arrived in person. Yet within that sword Qi was a wisp of Zhang Sheng's soul; as the sword Qi was shredded, that wisp of soul was destroyed along with it!
Wei Yuan felt as though his heart had been ruthlessly wrenched, followed by an explosion of sheer fury!
Within Wei Yuan's sea of consciousness, black Qi vanished in massive swaths. Above his head, an immense shadow faintly emerged, as if slithering forth from ancient antiquity! Wei Yuan took a stride forward and leveled his spear toward the sky, driving a full-strength thrust into the tip of the descending talon. When spear and talon collided, they locked into an impossible stalemate!
The talon tips alone spanned over a hundred feet, and the giant eagle in the sky spread wings that occluded the heavens. Wei Yuan, man and spear combined, barely reached twenty feet; before the giant eagle, he was lesser than an ant. Yet this single spear thrust held back the massive talon, defying the disparity in realms, undaunted by the obstruction of heaven and earth or the suppression of great fortune.
Even if the heavens were to collapse, there would still be a spear to hold them up!
Wei Yuan had never used defined stances with his spear, relying solely on two words: speed and ruthlessness. This was the first spear technique he had comprehended from despair and fury: Counter-Slay.
A shroud of shadow stained the giant talon black, and countless fractures spread upward along the hooked talons. A shriek of agony broke from the giant eagle in the sky, and countless feathers on its wings turned black as well. The Snow Mountain giant eagle had no choice but to retract this claw as well, pulling its wings inward as handfuls of blackened feathers molted and fell. With a wretched cry, its body shrank in an instant and retreated into the distance, hovering motionless against the far horizon. Billowing yellow Qi from the surrounding heaven and earth surged toward the giant eagle, gathering around it as fresh feathers faintly began to sprout where the old ones had broken off.
The Snow Mountain giant eagle had already suffered injuries on the battlefield; having now been battered by consecutive heavy blows, it had no strength left to fight. It had no choice but to rely on the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to heal, temporarily immobilized.
Wei Yuan tilted his head toward the sky, taking a deep look at the yellow Qi converging frantically toward the giant eagle, before turning to leave. Yet with every step he took, he left a bloody print behind. The giant eagle's blow had detonated all of Wei Yuan's injuries; formidable as his physical body was, he could not even stem the bleeding.
It was time to flee.
Yet Wei Yuan had no intention of fleeing meekly.
He raised a hand and beckoned. In the distance, a tall, jet-black Liao horse suddenly neighed in fury, leaping repeatedly as though mad. Within Wei Yuan's divine sense, this horse's spirit was ten times stronger than that of ordinary Liao mounts, already a demonic beast on par with a Dao Foundation cultivator. It was exceptionally ferocious and wild, repeatedly shattering the black Qi attempting to control it. Yet Wei Yuan remained unmoved. Strand after strand of black Qi plunged into the beast's body, ruthlessly crushing its spirit!
The Liao horse quieted down and ran up to stand before Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan moved his pack onto this mount, then picked up the Liao young master's head and golden axe, strapping them behind the saddle.
Wei Yuan swung onto the horse. With a long neigh, flames ignited on its four hooves, and it bounded into the wind.
The Snow Eagle Cavalry held the color white in supreme honor; in the entire camp, there had been only a single black horse—the mount of the Liao young master, kept to signify his uniqueness. Now Wei Yuan rode his horse, carried his head, and bore his personal weapon. It was an open provocation.
A provocation to the million bow-drawing warriors of the Liao Clan, a provocation to the dharma idol of the Snow Mountain giant eagle spanning the heavens, a provocation to the omnipresent yellow Qi, and a provocation to this entire world of the Liao domain!
When Wei Yuan came, his mind had been set solely on advancing north; yet in his escape, he fled with wild, unrestrained defiance.
A solitary rider like lightning, treading the wind southward.
Chapter 87