Chapter 206: A Missed Opportunity
It was late at night, and all was quiet.
Wei Yuan had entered the Realm of Coldbelow. In the end, he ultimately missed his chance to obtain a drop of great fortune.
It wasn’t that Wei Yuan dared not seize the opportunity. He simply had no choice. Just after dinner, Ji Liuli had suddenly paid him a visit. After a thorough examination, she determined that Wei Yuan’s Dao Foundation was unstable because it was cluttered with all sorts of extraneous elements. It had reached a point where it was actually hindering his cultivation progress. Thus, Ji Liuli solemnly warned Wei Yuan to stop dabbling in further trivialities, or else she would have to purify his foundation once again.
What else could he do except agree wholeheartedly? Seeing that he was taking her advice, Ji Liuli gave him a small five-level pagoda. It was none other than the very pagoda she had taken from his sea of consciousness. Previously, it was nothing more than a crude three-story structure. But now, it had gained another two levels, complete with a roof, eaves, and even windows. It was now a mini pagoda boasting a basic level of power of suppression. By the standards of the Palace of Absolute Beginning, the pagoda alone could be classified as an Earth-tier Dao Foundation[1].
With this new model in hand, all the pagodas Wei Yuan constructed thereafter would become Five-Level Mortal-Suppressing Pagodas. It was a massive boost in power to say the least.
Prior to leaving, Ji Liuli produced the butterfly dagger and declared that the arrays were inscribed as per Wei Yuan’s order. However, due to the dagger’s exceptionally high grade, the arrays could not be sustained for long—they would last only two hours at most.
There was nothing to be done about it. Upon receiving the dagger, Wei Yuan wasted no time and immediately entered the Coldbelow.
Though a drop of great fortune was great, the value of two mystic artifact-grade butterfly daggers were clearly greater. There was no room for hesitation, especially when his Big Senior Sister was standing right beside him, her gaze fixed intently on him.
That said, having to choose between two options inevitably left a sense of regret in him. The moment he entered the Coldbelow, Wei Yuan sighed inwardly and thought to himself: Perhaps one day, when I’m truly grown up, I’ll be able to have it all?
When Wei Yuan opened his eyes, he was surrounded by darkness—complete and utter darkness.
He had expected this—after all, he was a hundred zhang deep underground. Before leaving last time, he had dug nearly a hundred zhang straight into the underground in one go. Only then did he carve out a small space and place his mark. Finally, he traced his steps—filling in the earth as he went—and eventually returned to the surface, where he had set up a series of traps.
If the female Warlock had followed him down here, she would likely have triggered the traps and activated an explosion that would destroy all traces. As the mark was hidden deep underground, it was incredibly difficult to detect via any means.
The “mark” the female Warlock had detected was really a wisp of aura he had placed inside the array. It was also less than two zhang away from the surface.
Sure enough, Wei Yuan’s return this time went unhindered. He made sure not to reappear in the same location, first digging horizontally before making his ascent. An hour later, he finally returned to the surface. Again, he filled in the tunnel behind him as he dug, sealing off the passage to the surface completely.
Once above ground, Wei Yuan looked left and right. The surroundings were completely silent, not a sound to be heard anywhere. Not far away from him lay a forest filled with twisted, withered trees, all of which were devoid of leaves. However, he could clearly sense glimmers of vitality from them, meaning that they were alive. He had no idea they had managed to survive in this world.
Wei Yuan entered the forest and tossed the butterfly dagger onto the ground. He then cast the Shadow-Hiding and Form-Concealing Spell to hide himself.
The butterfly dagger twitched once, twice, then fell silent. When it still sensed no movement around it, it suddenly leaped into the air and looked around. Just as it was about to fly away, it suddenly veered off course and crashed directly into a large tree, impaling itself.
The big tree extended a long branch and wrapped it around the dagger. After pulling it out, the tree hurled the dagger forcefully out of the forest.
The dagger let out what sounded like a whimper, rolling on the ground a few times. It flew up again, only to suddenly plunge headfirst into the earth. The patch of earth suddenly swelled, and an armored beast burst out into the open. It turned its head and bit down on the dagger that was embedded in its back, then spit it out forcefully with a mouthful of saliva.
The dagger leaped to its feet, but it dared not fly any longer. After shaking off the saliva clinging to its body, it started calling out to its master.
Ji Liuli had sealed off its ability to traverse the nether and tampered with its flight mechanism as well. Specifically, it would randomly change direction whenever its speed had exceeded a certain limit.
At the moment, the dagger was in a state of deep panic. An instinctual, primal fear was gripping its spirit and causing it to cry out non-stop.
Moments later, the female Warlock reappeared and stopped at a distance, scanning the surroundings warily. She clearly knew this was a trap of some sort.
She remained where she was for a few moments before suddenly turning around and walking away. She covered dozens of zhang in the blink of an eye and showed no intention of looking back. No matter how hard the dagger hopped and cried, it was in vain.
Just then, a hand suddenly reached out from the void and snatched the dagger. The female Warlock in the distance was still walking, yet another female Warlock had appeared out of thin air! The one in the distance was actually an illusion!
The female Warlock instantly tucked the dagger into her bosom and leaped into the air, throwing herself toward a fissure that had appeared in the sky. However, even though her head had already slipped into the fissure, her body suddenly froze in place, unable to move!
The pair of daggers suddenly felt as heavy as mountains. The dagger she had just retrieved especially was thrashing wildly, instantly slashing several deep gashes across the female Warlock’ body.
Before she could react, an immortal sword ablaze with white-gold flames emerged from the short dagger and stabbed her right in the abdomen!
The female Warlock let out a blood-curdling scream as her clothes on her chest and abdomen exploded, flinging everything outward—including the pair of restless daggers.
Wei Yuan, clutching the immortal sword, emerged from the dagger’s hilt and swung at the wings on the female Warlock’ back. By now, he had realized that those wings were the key to her ability to traverse the void.
The female Warlock instantly weighed her options before fixing Wei Yuan with a piercing stare. Then, she flapped all six of her wings at once and vanished into thin air, moving so fast it was as if her very existence was erased. As a result, Wei Yuan’s sword only hit thin air.
Wei Yuan didn’t expect her to survive even though his ambush was so successful. She was virtually invincible because her shamanic arts were bizarre and unpredictable. Killing her would truly be an arduous task.
It was fine, though. He had still accomplished his primary objective.
Wei Yuan walked over to the pair of butterfly daggers and picked them up. Just as he was about to stow them away in the Great Realm, a sudden turn of events occurred: one of the bound daggers had suddenly fired a beam of light! Despite doing his utmost to dodge the attack, he just barely avoided being hit in a vital spot. His left leg was nearly severed at the hip!
Losing a limb as a primordial spirit was many, many, many times greater than that of the physical body. Even Wei Yuan’s vision had gone black from the sheer agony. His will was unyielding, though. Relying on pure instinct, he summoned a large bell and trapped the daggers inside. Then, he stored it all in his Dao Foundation.
Wei Yuan clutched his left leg and tried to reattach it. However, black flames kept seeping out of the wound and prevented him from succeeding.
At the same time, far, far away from the small yet harrowing battlefield, the female Warlock materialized out of thin air before crashing to the ground. There was a camp not far away from where she had fallen. Several nearby Warlocks rushed out to see what the commotion was, only to widen their eyes at the sight of the fallen female Warlock. They hurriedly rushed to her side and supported her.
At the moment, the female Warlock was trembling all over and clutching her abdomen tightly. White-gold flames were constantly spilling out from between her fingers, the pain so intense that she could barely stand.
“Quick, take me to the altar!”
The Warlocks immediately carried her into the camp and laid her upon the altar. In an instant, a dark red cloud of blood appeared above the altar and showered a fragrant rain of blood. It was only then the white-gold flames slowly died out.
The female Warlock lay on her back on the altar, panting heavily. A long time later, she finally dared to touch her abdomen. It was smooth and flat, with not a single blemish to be found anywhere. Only then did she finally step down from the altar. A female Warlock then brought her fresh clothes and helped her change.
Gritting her teeth, the female Warlock ordered, “Tell Lord Sacred Heart that I have found the one who injured his younger brother. Also, you’re all coming with me. We cannot allow him to leave the Coldbelow alive this time!”
The Warlocks argued, “Lady Painted Heart, you’ve just recovered from your injuries. Why don’t we wait until Lord Sacred Heart arrives?”
“Because it’ll be too late by then!”
The female Warlock soared into the air and leaped into a fissure. The rest of the Shamans hurriedly gave chase.
Meanwhile, Wei Yuan was hopping on one leg and clutching a long cauldron under his arm. Every time he jumped, a long stream of flame would shoot out of the cauldron’s mouth, propelling him forward at least a hundred zhang with each bound. He kept leaping forward in this manner until he was far from his starting point. He eventually landed on top of a small hill where he prepared to survey the surrounding terrain.
1. Note that she said, “Don’t you dare!” and then immediately proceeded to shove an upgraded rod into his Dao Foundation. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Women! ☜
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