Chapter 135: Surround and Kill
The thirty cultivators in formation retreated a hundred zhang back into the domain and came to a stop at the boundary zone, mounting a desperate defense. While this was going on, the cultivators who escaped back to the domain earlier armed themselves with the necessary equipment and rejoined the battle one after another. Together, they just barely kept the Shamans at bay.
Wei Yuan and Xiao Yu had also withdrawn back to the domain, relying on its suppressive effects to barely hold back a dozen or so middle to late-stage Dao Foundation enemies. The fighters aside, many Warlocks were hiding among the troops and launching sneak attacks using curses as well. Both Wei Yuan and Xiao were covered in curses of all colors right now, and not even Qingming was able to purify it all. Despite fighting within its domain, they were slowing down with every passing minute.
The amount of casualties gradually increased over time, but not a single person backed down from the frontlines. They just kept fighting with everything they got. It was because the realm stone was behind their backs. They had already withdrawn as far as they could have withdrawn.
The longer Xiao Yu fought, the angrier he became. Suddenly, he let out a battle cry and overcharged The Sun with an impressive amount of power. Then, he swung his sword and ignited a middle-stage Dao Foundation warrior from the inside out!
However, the one-way attack also left Xiao Yu vulnerable and allowed two curses to strike him in an instant. His face turned white, and a mouthful of black blood burst out of his mouth!
A late-stage Dao Foundation warrior sensed weakness and tossed a javelin straight at Xiao Yu’s chest!
Realizing that he wouldn’t be able to dodge in time, Xiao Yu only grew braver. He launched a counterattack with every intent to take his would-be killer to the grave with him.
The Warlock was a fierce one himself. He raised his spear to block the attack while maintaining his perceptual connection to the javelin.
The Sun cut the spear in two and kept pressing forward, cleaving through most of the warrior’s shoulder and chest. However, the warrior’s javelin had also reached Xiao Yu, and the spearhead had rows of dark green barbs. It was clearly highly poisonous.
Xiao Yu was prepared to endure the attack when suddenly, his vision blurred. Wei Yuan was blocking in front of him while carrying a massive cauldron with both arms.
The javelin boasted immeasurable strength, piercing through the square cauldron and into Wei Yuan’s lower abdomen. It was a good thing he decided to use the cauldron as a shield, or the javelin most likely would have pierced through his body completely.
Wei Yuan pulled out the javelin directly, ripping out a chunk of flesh in the process! After sealing the wound with a wisp of Dao energy, he threw himself right back into battle.
Xiao Yu blanked out for a second or two before recalling his immortal sword. However, right before The Sun would return to his hand, a dot of white light suddenly appeared in the distance. It moved like lightning, and it was aimed straight at Xiao Yu!
The sudden shadow of death caused every hair on Xiao Yu’s head to stand on end. He just barely managed to cross his immortal sword in front of him.
However, the object was traveling far too quickly and exuding too much power. It was so tiny, yet its pressure was such that no one in the vicinity could move.
The Great Warlock had made a move!
Suddenly, a large hand appeared behind Xiao Yu and grabbed him by the neck, pulling him aside. The object immediately locked onto its new target, Wei Yuan. The young man summoned a large cauldron in his hand, a middle-sized cauldron within the large cauldron, and a small cauldron within the middle-sized cauldron. He then centered them in front of his solar plexus.
The object pierced through all three cauldrons with a soft pop and penetrated Wei Yuan’s solar plexus. Then, his back exploded in a shower of blood, flesh, and bits and pieces of organs! The object had ripped right out of his back and left behind a bowl-sized wound in his body!
There was no time to treat the wound. Wei Yuan simply summoned a small flaming cauldron and used it to seal the horrific hole on his back instantly. Bluish smoke sizzled from the wound as raging flames seared his flesh!
Xiao Yu, having witnessed this sight right after he dodged death by the skin of his teeth, could not say a word.
“Fly!” Wei Yuan said exactly one word before flying toward Qingming at top speed. From the looks of it, he was planning to uproot the realm stone and escape.
“It’s far too late for you!” A loud voice boomed throughout the battlefield and halted everyone’s movements for a moment. At the same time, an indistinct green shadow emerged out of seemingly nowhere, flew right over Wei Yuan’s head, and charged straight toward Qingming. It was so fast that it reached the main chamber at nearly the same time Wei Yuan had sensed its presence!
It was at this moment yingluo and silken ribbons suddenly appeared around Qingming and shielded the entire main chamber. Despite repeated collisions, the unbelievably fast shadow was unable to pierce through the obstacles and enter the main chamber.
Suddenly, the green shadow flew into an uncontrollable rage and collided with the yingluo at least a dozen times like they were his sworn enemies. But despite shattering into pieces, they refused to give way. From the looks of it, the only way the green shadow might make it into the main chamber was to shatter all of them.
It was at this moment the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda sneakily appeared and descended right on top of the green shadow’s head!
A cry of surprise broke out, and the green shadow’s true form was revealed. It was a green lizard that was over one chi long!
Sensing danger, the small lizard turned tail and tried to run away. However, the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda had cut its speed down to just ten percent; a speed that Wei Yuan was more than capable of keeping up with. Not a moment too soon, he summoned the Great Realm and channeled the full might of the domain to suppress the small lizard, simultaneously burning it and halving its current speed.
The repeated setbacks infuriated the small lizard. A terrific aura abruptly erupted from its body, knocking back the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda for an instant. Not only that, it swept across the entire realm and nearly shattered Qingming’s domain then and there!
It was at this moment four immortal swords appeared at the four corners of the realm and descended to the ground one by one.
When the first sword made contact with the earth, the small lizard suddenly let out a bloodcurdling scream. A penetrating wound had suddenly appeared on its body and spilled green blood everywhere! It spat out a puff of green qi to seal the wound, but it adamantly refused to heal no matter what.
The second immortal sword descended, and a new wound magically appeared on the lizard’s body. This one nearly cut its whole body in two.
The third immortal sword descended, and the lizard’s neck was cleaved apart slightly!
The lizard let out another bloodcurdling scream before shaking its body mightily. The next moment, it split into three parts and attempted to escape in three different directions!
It was at this moment a jade hill appeared in the sky and landed on all three body parts, crushing them!
While the lizard was temporarily suppressed, the fourth immortal sword slowly shifted into place.
A terrifying aura suddenly erupted from underneath the jade hill and blew it away. At the same time, the lizard’s head flew straight toward the west, seemingly ignoring the combined suppression of Qingming’s domain and the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda.
The lizard’s head had nearly been cleaved apart from top to bottom. Its mouth was the only thing barely keeping it together at the moment.
Zhang Sheng’s four immortal swords had nearly ended the life of a mostly unharmed Great Warlock in one go!
Alas, his fourth immortal sword was ultimately incomplete. That was why the Great Warlock’s head was able to survive the fatal attack and escape.
At the moment, a lump of eerie, grayish green aura was wrapped around the lizard’s entire head. Outside the aura, a small tree and a wisp of black qi were attempting to push their way through and make contact with the head. However, they could not.
The small tree was the trap Bao Yun had planted, and the black qi was the fishing line Ji Liuli had weaved using Wei Yuan’s fortune. The grayish green aura had repelled both of them. Clearly, it was an extremely high level existence that an ordinary Great Warlock could not possibly possess. It was probably the lizard’s life-saving method.
Having regained his clarity of mind, the Great Warlock immediately recognized that he had fallen into a trap. That was why he was doing everything in his power to escape. While the green qi was still protecting him, both the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda and the domain suppression of Qingming were much less effective than normal. It moved faster and faster and was seconds away from leaving the domain entirely.
Suddenly, Wei Yuan appeared right in front of the lizard head’s path. Then, he reached out and grabbed the lizard’s head with his left hand!
The green qi immediately spread across Wei Yuan’s hand and corroded an entire layer of skin and flesh. In some places, light gold bones of his hand were even exposed! The rest of the green qi continued to spread along his wrist and reached his elbow in the blink of an eye.
The green qi had corroded his hand down to the bones. Naturally, pain flickered across his face. However, he never let go and kept a firm grip on the lizard’s head, the direct contact neutralizing much of the green qi’s shielding effects. Thanks to his sacrifice, the domain and the fortune were able to exert their effects once more.
Suddenly, a dead branch appeared in Wei Yuan’s right hand. He stabbed it into the lizard’s mouth and out of its skull, skewering it.
The lizard bit down on the dead branch with everything it got, but forget breaking it, it couldn’t even bite through its bark. Light flashed across the branch’s surface once, and the light in the lizard’s eyes started fading all of a sudden. At the same time, an ancient crocodile that was over ten zhang long appeared in the sky, writhing. Try as it might, the Avatar slowly but surely crumbled into nothing.
The dead branch disappeared, and the lizard’s head fell to the ground. It rolled a few times before coming to a complete standstill.
Great Warlocks really are a pain to kill, Wei Yuan thought. Now that the lizard was dead, he was starting to become aware of the piercing pain affecting various parts of his body. He was even feeling a little dizzy in the head.
Outside the domain, the Shaman army saw the shattered Avatar and knew that their Great Warlock had died. The rearguard fled without a moment’s hesitation, living up to the Shamans’ long-standing tradition. It was only after the rearguard had fled did the rest of the forces begin to retreat. A dozen or so Dao Foundation stage warriors stayed behind to lead the troops in a fighting retreat.
Too bad for them, a massive pagoda over tens of zhang tall suddenly appeared in the sky, descending!
Where the massive pagoda was descending, over one thousand soldiers, eight Dao Foundation stage warriors[1], and three Warlocks suddenly slowed down dramatically. It looked like they were wading through a swamp little by little.
The many bells hanging on the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda rang melodiously in the wind, but the suppressed Shamans only felt pain from the sound. In fact, the weaker ones could not even stay on their feet and collapsed on the ground, rolling. As the bell chimes grew more and more rapid, the pagoda was slowly pulling out the Shamans’ souls and absorbing them all. Moments later, everyone underneath the pagoda dropped dead just like that.
This was the first time Wei Yuan witnessed the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda in murderous action. It truly was the perfect weapon to use against a large group of fodders.
While the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda was keeping most of the Shamans’ vanguard and riders suppressed, the Seven Wonders Exquisite Treasure Tree slowly stretched its branches above the survivors and the middleguard.
At the moment, one of its branches was swaying on its own accord and creating a powerful sandstorm. Not only did the sand whip the Shaman troops hard enough to riddle their bodies with holes, the wounds were rapidly turning into sand and growing larger by the second. Some weaker fighters just stood there as sand spewed generously out of dozens of holes. They quickly collapsed into a pile of fine sand.
In the western regions, Wood and Water were dominant, and Earth was suppressed. However, Earth-type Dao arts would actually be the most devastating against the Shamans if the element wasn’t suppressed.
Not even the Dao Foundation stage elites were immune to the sandstorm. They could only endure the erosion and run away as quickly as they could.
The sandstorm’s explosive power was limited, but its reach was even wider than the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda. Moreover, the tiny wounds severely hampered one’s movements. A Dao Foundation stage elite could still flee despite their injuries, but ordinary fighters could not run more than one hundred zhang before collapsing on the ground and dissolving into piles of sand in despair.
Without exaggeration, Bao Yun’s sandstorm had single-handedly killed over two thousand Shaman soldiers. Alas, its explosive power was pretty limited, so the Dao Foundation stage warriors and Warlocks were all able to escape in time. Meanwhile, the almost one thousand strong riders underneath the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda had all been annihilated. Although those in the Dao Foundation stage were still clinging to life, it was only a matter of time.
By now, the human force had also lost over half of their numbers. Naturally, they did not have the ability to pursue. Zhang Sheng’s immortal swords were greatly weakened outside of Qingming’s domain, and he had just spent all of his Dao energy to slay the Great Warlock. That was why he did not participate in the pursuit either.
Ji Liuli and Bao Yun would continue to pursue the enemy and hunt down another one thousand fighters or so before finally returning.
At the central peak’s summit, Wei Yuan was sitting on a rock and coating his left hand—now more bone than flesh—in a layer of black ointment. Behind him, Xiao Yu removed his robe before grabbing the small cauldron Wei Yuan had used to seal his gaping wound, hands trembling slightly.
1. I read ahead to refresh my memory and found out that the Shaman’s equivalent of Dao Foundation stage warriors... are called Warlocks. So why are they separated in this sentence? They can’t be humans either because there is this line in chapter 134, “Several noble warriors in the late-stage of Dao Foundation stage....” I’m guessing it’s because the author didn’t know what the f he wanted to do at the time and just left it ambiguous until like forty chapters later. There is actually a lot more shit like this that forces me to backtrack and fix things repeatedly. My sincerest apologies if it had affected your reading experience. ☜
