When Wei Yuan finally turned past the last page of Chapter Seven of An Initial Exploration of the Desolate Realm and opened Chapter Eight, he glanced at the time, only to discover that more than a month had passed while he and Ronglong spent day and night researching armor, the Desolate Realm, and mathematics. To him, it felt as though only a single afternoon had gone by.
That month had borne abundant fruit. Even Wei Yuan had written two books of his own. Though they were titled things like An Initial Exploration of Principles and A Brief Analysis of Theory, and unlike Ronglong's work, Wei Yuan's "initial exploration" was genuinely preliminary and not profound in the slightest, they were still books nonetheless.
Ronglong, for his part, had revised An Initial Exploration of the Desolate Realm twice more, uncovering many oversights and errors in the earlier sections, and then taught them to Wei Yuan all over again.
There were still mistakes and omissions earlier on?! Having just trudged through Chapter Seven, Wei Yuan felt his eyes turn glassy at the news.
Studying it a second time was even more agonizing than the first. These were concepts Wei Yuan had already seen and felt he understood. But the moment he put pen to paper to calculate, he realized he actually understood none of it. And this time, Ronglong was far stricter, not only explaining everything repeatedly but also designing custom problems specifically to test Wei Yuan's grasp.
After drowning in a sea of problems for several days, Wei Yuan suddenly looked up and asked, "You seem to be in a rush?"
Ronglong replied, "The Flame Storm is about to end."
Every time a Flame Storm drew to a close was when the pressure peaked. The flame demons would unleash all their remaining forces at once, surging forth in their greatest offensive wave and striking targets at random. Other fortresses might be spared, but Fengmang Fortress—closest to the Heavenly Pillars—was guaranteed to be attacked. This had already been proven in the previous two Flame Storms.
"We'll get through it safely..." Wei Yuan started to say, hoping to offer a few auspicious words, when a speck of dust suddenly landed on the tip of his nose.
Then, more and more dust began to fall. Wei Yuan first looked upward, but then his heart stirred. Sweeping out his divine sense, he discovered that the entire ground was trembling faintly.
This vibration was unlike the tremors caused by an advancing flame demon army, nor did it resemble the shockwaves unleashed when Scenery Command flame demons launched massive spells. To Wei Yuan, it felt as though the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth itself in the Desolate Realm was lamenting.
Ronglong's face instantly shifted. In all seriousness, he said, "Pack your things. Prepare to flee."
"I don't have anything to pack. But is it really that bad?"
Ronglong wore an inscrutable expression and said, "It might be worse than you imagine."
Wei Yuan followed Ronglong out of the room. Only then did he realize that the sky above had, at some unknown point, turned from a bright, pale red into a deep, murky crimson, looking as if vast sheets of blood were writhing continuously across the firmament.
With a solemn look, Ronglong told Wei Yuan, "The coming battle is no longer for you to fight. You must hide well. Many Heavenly Shamans will arrive shortly—do not let them discover you."
Wei Yuan stared at the dark red sky as well, the sense of foreboding growing stronger by the moment. "What happened?"
"...I have already sensed the aura of a sixth Heavenly Shaman-level flame demon, yet the Heavenly Pillars are still birthing more."
Wei Yuan was stunned. In the past, at most a single Heavenly Shaman-level flame demon would appear, and Jiumu would handle it each time. If there were another, Ronglong's true strength would allow him to take it on as well. But now, six Heavenly Shaman-level entities had emerged all at once, and it wasn't over yet?
Wei Yuan understood immediately that this battle was not for him. With so many Heavenly Shamans arriving on the scene, he would inevitably be exposed. Who knew which Heavenly Shaman might possess a Heavenly Eye like Jiumu's? Moreover, Heavenly Shamans of other lineages had no personal ties to him like the Power Shamans did; most would simply strike him down. Though Wei Yuan possessed karmic luck, if two or three Heavenly Shamans acted in concert and shared the backlash among themselves, he would still surely die.
Ronglong then soared into the sky, while Wei Yuan donned the specially crafted heavy armor and blended in among the ordinary Power Shamans. The lining of this suit of armor was forged from Great Desolate Divine Iron; hidden inside it, even Jiumu would be unable to detect his true human identity.
No sooner had Ronglong taken to the sky above the fortress than Jiumu's flustered, furious voice rang in his ears: "Don't fly so high! Are you trying to make yourself a target?! Hold the line here for now; I'm heading to the City of Heaven right away to fetch reinforcements! Don't do anything rash—this is far too big for us to shoulder alone!"
Before the echo of his words had even faded, Jiumu's aura had already vanished from the Desolate Realm.
Gazing at the distant sky, Ronglong quietly made his deductions, a strange look creeping onto his face. He muttered to himself, "Strange. Why did it happen so far ahead of time? Shouldn't this be something for seven hundred years from now?"
***
In the City of Heaven, Jiumu arrived like lightning. With a sweep of his hand, he knocked aside the guards outside the Ancestral Shaman Great Hall who demanded identification, and charged inside.
The hall was deep and dim. A colossal statue of the Ancestral Shaman hundreds of zhang tall stood in its depths, looking down upon all living beings like ants. Jiumu looked up and saw that the statue was dark and lifeless, devoid of any luster. His heart jumped. "The Ancestral Shaman is still asleep?"
Minglei stepped out from the side and said, "He entered slumber just three days ago. This time, he will likely sleep for another year. What has made you so frantic?"
Jiumu said urgently, "The flame demons have gone mad again! Six Heavenly Shaman-level flame demons have already appeared, and more are still forming. Another active Heavenly Pillar has awakened. This isn't something we Power Shamans can weather on our own!"
Minglei turned, his expression turning solemn. "Has the Desolate Realm reached this stage as well?"
Jiumu was taken aback, then said, "I don't know. I'm still young; you'd probably have to ask Yanmo or Gangzu about that."
Minglei said, "If it has reached that stage... I understand. However, the Spirit Shamans have their own crisis right now. Go seek aid from the Nether Shamans. Huiye and Long Zhe are quite free at the moment."
"But..."
"Go," Minglei said, unmoved.
Helpless, Jiumu cast another glance at the statue of the deep-sleeping Ancestral Shaman and departed the hall with great reluctance.
In a corner of the City of Heaven, a noisy little tavern was packed with grotesque, bizarrely shaped shamans. The clamor was loud enough to blow the tavern's roof off.
A shaman bundled entirely in a black leather cloak walked over to a table in the corner and squeezed into a seat. Sitting opposite was an ugly, dark-red shaman, who eyed the cloaked figure up and down. "Can't shrink any smaller? Your strength is still lacking."
The shaman inside the black cloak looked around and asked, "Is it safe here?"
"Completely safe. Even Minglei can't see clearly into this place."
Only then did the cloaked shaman pull back his hood, revealing a face covered in eyes of various sizes. "Yanmo, Minglei told me to seek aid from the Nether Shamans."
The dark-red shaman's eyes instantly sharpened. "Does Minglei not know what's happening in the Desolate Realm?"
"He knows."
Yanmo's eyes turned deep and profound. "He knows, yet he still told you to go to the Nether Shamans? Isn't that handing them a blade? Now that... is very interesting."
Jiumu asked, "What crisis did the Spirit Shamans run into? Why can't they come?"
Yanmo said, "The Desolate Realm counters Nether Shamans severely, but the things behind the flame demons counter Spirit Shamans even more. In the great war back then, four out of five Heavenly Shamans of the Spirit clan fell! So whether they truly have their hands full or not, they would never dare set foot in the Desolate Realm. Minor skirmishes are one thing, but now the beings behind the flame demons are about to show their heads. If the Spirit Shamans show up, they'd just be an extra meal."
"Then what should we do? Abandon the Desolate Realm?"
Yanmo pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Do you think that thing could still be in the Desolate Realm?"
Jiumu grew cautious as well, slowly nodding.
Yanmo thought for a long while before saying, "This variable is bound to be useful, but how? I can't figure it out at all. Why don't you think about it?"
Jiumu waved his hands hastily. "You're the wise one here. How could I possibly figure it out?"
Yanmo fell back into contemplation, then shook his head a moment later. "The waters run too deep in this game; I can't see through it. Go find the Nether Shamans first and see how they react."
Jiumu nodded. "Let me remind you once more: Ronglong is the hope of our Power Shaman race. He must not be abandoned."
Seeing Yanmo nod, Jiumu finally departed.
Yanmo toyed with the battered wine cup in his hand. After a moment, he smiled faintly, revealing the tip of a fang, and muttered to himself, "Hope? I fear that this time, they want to serve the entire Power Shaman race onto the dinner platter!"
***
In an indescribable, secret space, Long Zhe and Huiye sat facing each other in silence.
Just then, endless darkness surged. A shaman draped entirely in black flames, bearing the head of a black bird, stepped out slowly. A long train trailed behind her, and wherever she passed, ghostly flames ignited in the void.
Long Zhe and Huiye rose together and bowed in respectful greeting.
The shamaness's voice carried a strange, metallic clatter and echoed with layered resonance. "You had best have good reason for disturbing my slumber."
Huiye shot a glance at Long Zhe, who said, "Lady Youfeng, upheaval has struck the Desolate Realm. It appears the Creator of the flame demon realm has awakened."
"The War of the Two Realms is beginning again?!"
"It cannot be confirmed yet, but the signs of the Creator awakening are already obvious. On Minglei's orders, the Power Shamans have come to us for aid."
Youfeng pondered. "With the Creator waking, the Spirit Shamans indeed wouldn't dare go. The Sacred Shamans are terrified of incurring karma and will hide if they can. That leaves only us. What do you two think?"
Huiye and Long Zhe exchanged another glance. Huiye said, "You're prettier. You speak."
Long Zhe nodded and said, "In my view, the Power Shamans were the foremost clan for over a million years, utterly unshakable, until the War of the Two Realms erupted against the flame demons and dragged them down from their throne as the primary shaman lineage.
"Yet while that war snapped their backbone, their roots were never severed!"
Chapter 929