Chapter 207: Comparison Hurts
Wei Yuan’s severed left leg had already been reduced to ashes, meaning this portion of his cultivation of his primordial spirit was effectively lost. He did not know where the shadowy flame came from, but it was so potent that it had burned off his entire left leg in just the span of breaths, leaving him no time to even save it. However, the daggers were currently resting within his Dao Foundation. He would have plenty of time to study them once he returned.
At the moment, a palm-sized sprout was flashing above Wei Yuan’s head and radiating intense vitality into his left leg. At its center, a leaf resembling a shadowy silhouette was turning slowly, as if observing the world.
Though the One Wonder Treasure Tree was still a sapling, it had been formed from the fruit of the Seven Wonders Exquisite Treasure Tree and thus boasted immense vitality restoring powers. Already, Wei Yuan’s new left leg was regrowing—not by gradually expanding from small to large, but by first outlining the complete shape of the leg before filling it in bit by bit.
In Wei Yuan’s perception, he could only move his left leg slightly at the moment. It also possessed no strength whatsoever.
This hill looked like a suitable spot. Just as Wei Yuan was about to rest there and wait for his left leg to heal, he suddenly sensed something. He looked and saw several figures taking shape atop another hill. The moment the female Warlock appeared, she fixed him with a cold stare, eyes brimming with such intense killing intent it threatened to spill over.
Wei Yuan tensed up a little. Persistent specter—how did she always manage to track him down? He glanced down and saw that a small ember of shadowy flame was still smoldering at the base of his thigh, locked in a tug-of-war with his Dao energy.
Wei Yuan’s Dao energy carried a faint trace of the immortal tree’s essence, yet it wasn’t enough to suppress the shadowy flame. In fact, it was slightly outmatched. He could only rely on sheer volume to gradually wear it down. The lingering flame must be how the female Warlock was able to track him despite the vast distance between them.
His enemy was formidable, but Wei Yuan felt no fear. Standing on one leg, he held the Immortal Sword Worry in his hand.
Worry was truly a mediocre immortal sword, barely better than the disgrace among immortal swords, Drizzle. But if the female Warlock was foolish to overreach herself, he wouldn’t hesitate to give her a taste of the sword qi of its progenitor, Parting Sorrow.
The female Warlock didn’t make a move, though. She simply stood there, neither approaching nor retreating.
Wei Yuan’s heart sank slightly, knowing then that she was waiting for reinforcements. The female Warlock had already proven herself to be a formidable opponent with a vast array of tricks up her sleeve. If he hadn’t ambushed her and successfully robbed her of her butterfly daggers beforehand—effectively neutering one of her deadliest weapons—it would be truly impossible to say who would come out of this encounter alive.
The standoff barely lasted a teatime when a lump of shadow suddenly appeared beside the female Warlock. It rapidly stretched and elongated into a dignified and imposing-looking Warlock.
The Warlock’s face looked incredibly similar to that of a human’s. In fact, one would say he was exceptionally handsome by human standards, and he exuded a domineering, commanding aura that surpassed even Cui Yu’s. Xiao Yu was slightly more handsome than the Warlock, but he fell considerably short in terms of commanding presence.
Looking at him, Wei Yuan felt as though he was gazing upon a mountain range!
The radiance of his Dao Foundation was not overt, yet everything within thousands of zhang of him was slightly distorted. Looking at him, Wei Yuan felt as though he was beholding the Great Celestial Star that his Heaven and Earth Theory instructor had once spoken of—one capable of pulling objects from millions and millions of li away.
Wei Yuan immediately realized that the man was a Great Warlock, and not just any Great Warlock!
He immediately prepared to flee. The female Warlock was already a formidable enough opponent, and now a Great Warlock had popped up. If they were to split up and fight him one-on-one, Wei Yuan might have considered standing his ground. But two-on-one while he was standing on one and a half legs? Absolutely not!
The Great Warlock looked at Wei Yuan with a surprisingly gentle expression, devoid of hostility or killing intent. Not only that, his dominant expression was that of curiosity.
But Wei Yuan wasn’t foolish enough to fall for the facade. He was already considering the option of returning to the Homeworld. His current location was very far away from the place where he had buried his mark, so the next time he entered the Coldbelow, he would be underground once more. The chances he might be discovered were extremely low.
Wei Yuan was pondering his escape route when something suddenly flew toward him like a bolt of lightning, heading straight for his face!
Wei Yuan casually swung his sword to cut it down, but to his surprise, it emitted a metallic clang. Upon hitting the ground, the object struggled frantically while emitting a constant buzzing sound.
As it turned out, the object he had struck down was a massive insect. It was as big as a washbasin and looked like a wasp that was magnified dozens of times over. It was covered from head to toe in scales that shimmered with a metallic sheen. On its back were two rows of small green eyes that kept darting about.
White-gold flames ignited where the insect was struck, causing it to spin round and round in agony. Wei Yuan had sliced open its back with a single stroke, severing one of its wings and leaving a deep gash.
The problem was that it shouldn’t be alive at all. Worry might not be very impressive, but it was still an immortal sword and on the same level as a Human-tier Dao Foundation. How could a mere insect of the Coldbelow be so troublesome?
At first, Wei Yuan assumed that the insect was a tactic his enemies had deployed against him. But when he glanced over to the other hill, he saw the female Warlock turning pale and cutting down one giant fly after another with her blade. The number of flies on their side were clearly greater as well.
The Great Warlock remained composed, but he wasn’t standing idly by. Instead, he worked together with the Warlocks to erect a shelter.
Seeing their actions, Wei Yuan suddenly remembered something. He then strained his eyes and looked toward the direction the flies were coming from. On the distant horizon, what looked like a dark tide was surging in their direction. It consisted entirely of flies!
It was one of the natural disasters of Coldbelow, the Day of Flies!
Inwardly, Wei Yuan was cussing out Dream Eater with all his heart. He clearly remembered casting the weather-forecasting spell before coming here, and the result had clearly stated that the weather would be calm. However, nowhere was it stated that the Day of Flies would appear. Moreover, when Dream Eater had spoken about the natural disasters, she hadn’t said a word about these flies being two chi long each!
The flies of the Coldbelow possessed very unique habits. They generally did not attack structures and only targeted living beings and primordial spirits. They also came and went like the wind, never lingering in one place. As a result, the Shamans had developed a standard method for dealing with them, the foremost being constructing a shelter.
The shelter didn’t need to be particularly sturdy, but it had to be able to withstand the impact and climbing of swarms of flies at the very least. If the shelter were to collapse amidst the swarm, even a Great Warlock would face certain death.
On that hill, the Warlocks were taking out one building component after another and assembling them. Every single component was a pre-forged mystic artifact, ready for immediate use. However, there was a limit to the number of mystic artifacts that could be refined into one’s primordial spirit; the constraints being the strength of the primordial spirit and the individual’s Dao Foundation. The fact that each Warlock was able to produce three large components from their primordial spirit indicated they were quite accomplished in their cultivation.
That said, every building component they refined into their primordial spirit meant one less true mystic artifact they could carry on their person. It significantly impaired one’s combat effectiveness to say the least. This was why cultivators of the Palace of Absolute Beginning such as Xiao Yu and Bao Yun refrained from refining even top-grade mystic artifacts into their primordial spirits. It was so that they could conserve that space for mystic treasures in the future.
The Shamans were highly skilled, and the design of their shelter was well-thought-out. In the blink of an eye, they had erected a shelter measuring one zhang on each side and half a zhang in height. Once done, they filed in one after another, including the Great Warlock whose presence was as imposing as a mountain, and shut the entrance tightly.
The shelter was too small, though. They were packed as tight as sardines.
Seeing how the massive Shamans had vanished into the tiny shelter one after another, Wei Yuan suddenly recalled an item Xu Wenwu had once mentioned in his documents: tin can.
Inside the shelter, the female Warlock glared at Wei Yuan, who was still standing on the opposite hill with a daze, and said bitterly, “Being eaten alive by the Cold Flies is too easy for him!”
The Great Warlock was sitting at a corner. Although the other Shamans were jostling one another, they did their best to avoid touching his mystic body. Even so, the Great Warlock had no room to turn around.
Seeing Wei Yuan still standing there in a daze, Sacred Heart remarked with a hint of regret, “The Cold Flies are the realm’s way of purging outsiders. He clearly doesn’t know how to guard against it, so he’s probably doomed. Sigh. It would seem we have lost yet another interesting opponent in the Homeworld.”
“We have plenty of enemies already, Lord Sacred Heart!” the female Warlock—Painted Heart—protested unhappily.
Sacred Heart was exceptionally even-tempered. He paid no heed to her impertinence and chuckled in agreement. “You’re right.”
Another Warlock said smilingly, “He’s only one person. There’s no way he can erect a shelter in time, and it’s far too late to flee at this point. He’s as good as dead, which means that your revenge is fulfilled, Lady Painted Heart.”
Painted Heart gritted her teeth. “It’s still too easy a death for him.”
Meanwhile, Wei Yuan was facing two choices. He could either return to the Homeworld immediately, or try to survive and see for himself how terrifying the Day of Flies truly was. This would also allow him to observe the Shamans’ response to the natural disaster.
The Shamans looked as composed as a fisherman on a fishing platform after erecting and entering their shelter. Suddenly, Wei Yuan’s expression changed. It was because the world around him had suddenly become viscous and uncomfortable; as if he was stuck in the Coldbelow and unable to return to the Homeworld!
The flies of Coldbelow can seal off the places they were passing through as well? It would appear his indecision had cost him the chance to flee.
Wei Yuan’s thoughts raced like lightning for a solution. Just the blink of an eye later, he had already made up his mind. He just needed to build a shelter, right? Having built several cities in succession and studied Xu Wenwu’s insights, Wei Yuan had developed his own understanding of architecture—one that blended the strength of both worlds.
A flash of light appeared in his hand, revealing a large, square, and flat cauldron. He planted it on the ground, creating a half-zhang-high wall just like that. He then planted another two flat cauldrons next to the first cauldron, connecting them all to form a continuous wall.
A fourth cauldron appeared in his hand; one with a square head and three tripod legs. He thrust it on top of the cauldrons that were already in place. Its three tripod legs lined up perfectly and slid into the openings of the lower cauldrons seamlessly. Once inside, they locked together with a soft click, forming a standard wall a little over one zhang high.
Light continued to flash in Wei Yuan’s hands as more cauldrons appeared. In the blink of an eye, he had erected four walls and placed the last cauldron horizontally to form a roof. Four of the flat cauldrons forming the walls each had a corresponding notch. When joined together, they formed two windows that were less than two chi in size and barely large enough for a fly to pass through. One window was facing the fly swarm, and the other was facing the Shamans so he could observe what they were doing.
In addition, a flat cauldron was attached to each window. When opened, it served as a window; when closed it became a part of the wall. Of course, a mechanism for opening and closing the windows was needed. Given his circumstances, he could only come up with a crude solution: miniature Drizzles that were bunched up together. The window panels also had latches that were five-level pagodas. Finally, a single Fake Sun was placed on the roof to dispel moisture and provide light.
Wei Yuan had constructed the entire house in just a matter of breaths. When a glow swept over the surface, the components all fused into a single entity. After all, they were all part of Wei Yuan’s Dao Foundation. He could shape them however he pleased.
Thus, a stone house had appeared before the gathered Shamans’ eyes. It was one and a half zhang in radius and one zhang high. It looked solid and heavy, with a warm glow emanating from the windows. It was such a big house, yet only a single human was using it!
The next moment, Wei Yuan’s eyes appeared behind a small window, observing the Shamans.
For a few moments, the Shamans could only stare at Wei Yuan in shock and speechlessness, their hearts filled with anguish.
They had fought tooth and nail over who should carry an extra building component, and who could refine one less. Sometimes, the Shadow Warlocks themselves had to intervene to settle their disputes. Aside from prodigies like Painted Heart, no one else could leave the kingdom without bringing at least one partner because even the smallest shelter took six components to build. It took a minimum of two Shamans to refine the necessary amount of components into their primordial spirits.
If they were in Wei Yuan’s shoes, they would have been content with a tiny box that was only three chi on each side and two chi high. As long as it was big enough to hold them, it was fine.
One female Warlock looked furious enough to launch herself at Wei Yuan and bite him a couple times. She snarled, “I bet that dog doesn’t know he needs to build a floor!”
Everyone including Painted Heart nodded in unison.
Meanwhile, Wei Yuan was recalling how the Shamans had erected their shelter from the start until the end because he had this nagging feeling that he had overlooked something. His thoughts racing like lightning, he instantly remembered that the very first component the Shamans had laid was the floor.
Glancing at the earthen ground beneath him, Wei Yuan realized that he was missing a floor. His shelter wasn’t fully enclosed until he fixed this. Fortunately, it was not a difficult problem to solve. One thought and a few flashes of light later, a sturdy floor panel had appeared beneath his feet, complete with a carpet.
After that, Wei Yuan looked around the room and found it a bit bare. So, he summoned a couple stone tables and chairs from his Dao Foundation and arranged them neatly. He even set out some tea sets on the table, though the stoneware was admittedly a bit rough.
Everything was ready—all that was missing were some fruits. He wondered when the Bay Laurel Immortal Tree tree branch would start bearing fruits.
The Shamans saw everything Wei Yuan had done through his window. This time, even Sacred Heart had stopped smiling.
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