"It will hurt a little in a moment. Bear with it and it will pass. If you really can't bear it, it's fine to cry out." Axe in hand, Wei Yuan spoke softly to the pretty shaman before him, his demeanor gentle.
The Little Pretty Shaman looked resolute. "I won't cry out!"
"Good, then bear it." Wei Yuan swung the great axe, severing a slender, soft arm from the center of the Little Pretty Shaman's back!
The Little Pretty Shaman's face turned white as snow in an instant, but she merely let out a muffled grunt.
Tianyu, who had been waiting nearby for quite some time, immediately poured water infused with sacrificial power over the wound, while three other Strength Shamans unleashed Desolate Roars at the injury. The wound began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Holding up the slender arm, Wei Yuan addressed the gathered Strength Shamans: "Too much is as bad as too little. Before your strength reaches the requisite level, do not keep too many flashy, superfluous limbs. They only siphon away nutrients from your body, cost immense time and energy to temper, and remain hard-to-defend weaknesses before they mature.
"Therefore, useless branches and leaves must be pruned away so the main trunk can grow sturdier! Useless organs and arms are mere ornaments that only drag down your combat prowess.
"What is beauty? Immense strength is beauty! The ability to fight is beauty!"
Wei Yuan raised the axe and brought it down, lopping off a cluster of ribbon-like tendrils behind another Little Pretty Shaman's shoulder.
Among the four thousand-odd Strength Shamans in Fengmang Fortress, there were indeed a few Little Pretty Shamans, and even more middle-aged and elderly pretty shamans.
Among the three hundred Strength Shamans under Wei Yuan's command alone, there were several Little Pretty Shamans. Fortunately, these Little Pretty Shamans had been sent over later by Ronglong and were the particularly passionate, easily moved sort. Thus, once Wei Yuan reshaped their concept of shamanic aesthetics, they agreed to let him take his blade to their bodies.
With several Little Pretty Shamans taking the lead, Wei Yuan's pruning of the other Strength Shamans went far more smoothly. If even the Little Pretty Shamans didn't cry out, the others certainly couldn't. Thus, in the span of a single morning, a bizarre heap of severed limbs piled up in a corner of the courtyard.
Strength Shamans belonged to a breed exceptionally prone to physical growth. Whatever deficiencies they had—such as brains, implements, or arms—would be compensated for by flesh and bone. However, because their physical bodies did not bear the function of thinking, a Strength Shaman's body of the same size was somewhat sturdier and more powerful than that of the Hall of the Bright King.
Wei Yuan chopped off all the strange, bizarre body parts among his Strength Shamans. Once he pruned this batch neat and uniform, the newly forged armor could finally fit them. Otherwise, with one Strength Shaman having an extra arm on his back and another having clusters of fleshy tendrils beneath his ribs, how could they possibly put on armor?
On a deeper level, without pruning the Strength Shamans into standard shapes, armor could not be mass-produced at all.
By now, more than half of the three hundred Strength Shamans had undergone rough pruning, and they lay sprawled across the ground, half-dead. Seeing this, Wei Yuan resorted to his unrivaled morale-boosting method: opening the altar!
Moments later, the Strength Shamans had forgotten the pain racking their bodies, howling clamorously about fighting the flame demons to the bitter end.
Yet their injuries were not light. After carrying on for a while, many Strength Shamans sank into deep slumber.
By noon the following day, all three hundred Strength Shamans had assembled. Every one of them was alive and kicking, their wounds mostly healed, barely showing any signs of injury.
The Strength Shamans of Fengmang Fortress possessed exceptionally tenacious vitality, like spring chives that sprout again once cut—truly, the scythe could not cut them down completely, for the spring breeze would blow them back to life.
At this moment, the Strength Shamans felt light on their feet. They had become balder, and they had become stronger.
Just as Wei Yuan was preparing to begin the day's work, his heart suddenly stirred. He sensed an utterly terrifying aura surging from the far distance!
That place was originally far beyond the limits of divine sense, but that aura was so colossal and horrifying that it formed a storm thousands of li across, barging violently into Wei Yuan's perception.
From another direction, a massive aura surged forth as well. Jiumu's voice rumbled over, tinged with flustered fury: "Damn it! It's only been thirty-odd years—how can there be another Flame Storm already? Look to your own survival!"
Jiumu unfurled his true form, resembling a colossal storm cloud, and charged toward the distant storm.
Ronglong appeared beside Wei Yuan at some unknown moment, his expression unusually grave. "Jiumu has his own opponent," he said. "Unless another Heavenly Shaman arrives in this battle, his fight will likely drag on until the storm ends, leaving him unable to aid us. We never expected the once-every-two-centuries Flame Storm to strike so abruptly; many preparations were never made. This battle will be brutal, and many shamans will die. It so happens I still have a flashing wind eel. If the battle turns sour, ride it and flee. You are not like us; you have no duty to defend this place to the death."
Wei Yuan said, "You have no duty to defend this place to the death either."
A rare smile appeared on Ronglong's face. Pointing toward the numerous Strength Shamans in the fortress, he said, "I have a duty to them."
Wei Yuan nodded and accepted a thumb-sized silver bug from Ronglong's hand. "If the situation becomes critical, I will flee."
Ronglong said, "You must flee! Facts have proven that over the past hundreds of thousands of years, we have failed to find an effective way to fend off the flame demons. Instead, their tactics have grown increasingly targeted against us. Strength Shamans must change, and you are that hope for change. Even if the entire fortress fights to the death, as long as you escape, hope remains for us."
Wei Yuan had not expected Ronglong to say such things. With a quiet sigh in his heart, he said, "I'll fight first before deciding. Running without a fight is not my style."
"Fair enough." Ronglong turned and departed, his figure vanishing in an instant.
War drums thundered across the fortress, yet they were almost drowned out by the terrifying howl of the storm. Every Strength Shaman was rushing toward the walls, some even clutching large sacks of dry rations. Over a hundred Strength Shamans threw open the armory and hauled the stockpiled armaments onto the ramparts with all their might.
Inside Wei Yuan's courtyard, however, all was dead silence. The three hundred Strength Shamans stood in place, waiting for Wei Yuan's orders.
Wei Yuan looked at the three hundred Strength Shamans, whose auras were noticeably weakened, and sighed. "Why today? Why couldn't it be a few days later?"
There was no answer.
The three hundred Strength Shamans had just been pruned by Wei Yuan yesterday. Today, their wounds had not fully knit; their bodies were still weak, and they had not yet adapted to fighting after the pruning. Right now was the nadir of their combat effectiveness. Although outfitting them with brand-new steel armor and giant shields brought a clear increase in battle power, a Flame Storm was a battle of attrition, and these weakened Strength Shamans lacked the stamina for it.
Wei Yuan cursed bitterly under his breath, "Why of all days did it have to be today?!"
If the Flame Storm had broken out just three days later, Wei Yuan could have run off with a clear conscience, at most taking Tianyu along with him. But now...
The three hundred Strength Shamans waited silently for their orders, their eyes clear and bright. They had long given up on thinking, surrendering their entire fate into Wei Yuan's hands. Aside from Hamster, not a single shaman hesitated or showed fear—even those few former clever scoundrels were the same.
"#￥%!!" Wei Yuan spat out a vicious string of curses, then began donning his armor. "Hamster, take two servant soldiers to our defensive sector on the wall. When the flame demons appear, come back and report! The rest of you shamans, lie down right where you are and sleep! I will wake you in a quarter of an hour!"
The shamans did not understand, but they still obeyed and lay down. Yet with a massive battle looming, how could anyone sleep?
Immediately afterward, a Desolate Roar resonated in their ears. Their heads spun, and they fell into deep slumber. Wei Yuan stepped into their ranks and bestowed karmic luck upon them one by one. This karmic luck had been obtained from them in the first place, and now, bestowed back through the Taichu secret arts, it should significantly bolster their chances of survival.
At that moment, Wei Yuan's vision blurred. The courtyard and the Strength Shamans vanished before him. His viewpoint rose a thousand zhang into the sky, extending ten thousand li into the distance!
Within Wei Yuan's sight appeared three colossal Heavenly Pillars, each a thousand li thick and separated from one another by ten thousand li. At this moment, one of them had visibly swelled, undulating continuously. One side of the Heavenly Pillar suddenly ruptured, and vast swathes of its outer shell sloughed off, each fragment dozens of li across!
Like a collapsing dam, black-and-red surges erupted violently from the breach where the shell had fallen away. Spouting high into the sky, they scattered across the land as countless black specks.
Wei Yuan drew in a sharp breath. Those black specks were all flame demons and desolate worms! This sheer number...
Looking at the spouting columns hundreds of zhang in diameter, Wei Yuan hardly dared to calculate!
Ronglong's voice echoed in Wei Yuan's consciousness: "This is my sight. What you see now is the true nature of a Flame Storm."
Shock stirred in Wei Yuan's heart. Ronglong's methods at this moment were in no way inferior to an Immortal's; he did not even know how Ronglong had grafted his vision onto him. Everything before his eyes felt profoundly real—Wei Yuan could even sense the violent tremors in heaven and earth triggered by the Flame Storm, down to the aura of the Great Dao laid bare by it!
At this point, Wei Yuan had no spare mind to marvel at Ronglong's abilities; his heart had already plummeted to the very bottom. The flame demons within his sight likely exceeded a hundred million. How could such a battle even be fought?
The newly erupted flame demons were still very weak; many hurled high into the air fell to the ground and plunged to their deaths. Yet Wei Yuan could not muster the slightest joy. The flame demons that landed safely began slaughtering one another and devouring the corpses of the dead. The aura of flame demons that had devoured their kin increased noticeably, and they pounced upon their weaker brethren once more.
Across that vast expanse, countless flame demons continued devouring each other, and very soon a batch of them reached the Dharma Idol realm.
The desolate worms took no part in the feast, dispersing in all directions. The fighting flame demons instinctively avoided these desolate worms, while those that reached the Dharma Idol realm leaped onto the worms' backs, gradually massing into immense armies.
One of these armies was marching toward Fengmang.
Wei Yuan's vision shifted again, returning him to the fortress. But he now understood why Ronglong had always viewed the flame demons as the greatest threat. This Flame Storm had already far exceeded Wei Yuan's imagination, yet that Heavenly Pillar had only shed a dozen-odd sections of its outer shell, and clear patterns had emerged on its surface due to the storm. Judging by those patterns, there were at least several thousand such sections on that single Heavenly Pillar.
The grand battle had arrived.
Wei Yuan mounted the ramparts. A black-and-red tide line had already appeared on the horizon, while in the sky, qinlong moved in like storm clouds. Behind Wei Yuan, the three hundred Strength Shamans were lined up in a single rank.
The tide of flame demons surged beneath the fortress. The leading demons pressed right against the wall, while those behind clambered over the bodies of their kin, piling higher layer upon layer until they were level with the ramparts in the blink of an eye.
The spiritual power in Wei Yuan's spear had long reached maximum fullness. Holding nothing back now, he let loose. Amid a thunderous roar, the spearhead shot out, tearing through the flame demon ranks and punching clean through fifty zhang of demons in one breath before detonating violently. The blast radius was not large, but its power was terrifying, obliterating every flame demon within ten zhang in an instant!
Yet there were simply too many flame demons; the breach was filled in the blink of an eye.
Several figures flew out from the fortress—the Desolate Shamans led by Ronglong. They would fight amidst the ranks of the flame demons, and the aftershocks of their combat alone could wipe out many of the monsters.
Right at that moment, one of the newly dispatched Desolate Shamans abruptly wheeled around, fleeing into the distance at full speed, vanishing beyond the horizon in the blink of an eye.
Chapter 913