A sickening crack echoed as Yierbu’s neck was crushed. In that instant, Yierbu snapped his fingers, transforming the bloody, broken digits into twisted crimson talismans.
These blood-red, contorted symbols enveloped Wei Yuan, seeping through his skin. This wasn’t a physical attack; a warrior’s iron-like body couldn’t defend against it. This was a wizard’s curse-killing technique.
Curse-killing had two forms. The first required obtaining the target’s blood, hair, or personal items as a medium to launch the curse. At the Third Realm, one could curse from a distance without any medium, though at reduced effectiveness.
The second form sacrificed the caster’s flesh and blood to curse the enemy, but only if the enemy had already wounded the caster.
The blood talismans corroded Wei Yuan’s primordial spirit and consumed his vital essence, causing a momentary pause. But in the next second, the warrior’s powerful energy obliterated all negative effects.
However, that single second was enough for Yierbu. He crushed a compass-like magical tool, vanishing instantly and reappearing hundreds of zhang away in mid-air. He summoned a spectral bird that gripped his shoulders with its talons, swiftly fleeing towards Mount Jing.
Pulses of blood-red light emanated from Yierbu’s body, mending injuries that would be fatal to lower-realm cultivators. The Ninth Realm Blood Spirit’s ability to stimulate vital energy underwent a qualitative leap at higher realms, rivaling a warrior’s limb regeneration, though at a higher spiritual energy cost.
Warriors could regrow limbs without much sacrifice, as it was an innate ability of their undying bodies.
Third Realm experts weren’t easy to kill. Regardless of their system, they had transcended mortality.
On the shore and aboard the warships, the spectators from both the Wushen Sect and the Great Feng army watched in astonishment.
Zhang Kaitai and the other Golden Gong officers wept openly. Few knew how formidable Wei Yuan had been in his prime. The secret battles against Yao barbarians, Gu tribes, and Wushen Sect’s top experts were all planned and led by him, alongside Buddhist masters.
On the frontlines, he commanded from behind the scenes, rarely engaging directly.
After the Shanhai Pass campaign, Wei Yuan inexplicably crippled his cultivation, like a fierce tiger willingly clipping its claws. He was content to remain in the imperial court as a mere mortal.
No one remembered the glory days of this peak warrior.
Twenty-one years later, he finally revealed his invincible edge once more.
The soldiers, unaware of the truth, felt their perceptions shattered. Disbelief quickly gave way to wild jubilation that swelled in their chests like the sea beneath their feet.
This was the true military god of Great Feng.
This was their Great Feng’s war deity.
Since they had struck at the Wushen Sect’s headquarters, this couldn’t be a mere bluff.
Compared to the cheering and blood-boiling excitement of the Great Feng soldiers, the Wushen Sect’s ranks – both wizards and wandering martial artists – felt their scalps tingle with fear.
It wasn’t just Elder Yierbu; even the Spirit Wisdom Wizard had been repelled in one move. More terrifyingly, they sensed that this battle would be far worse and more horrifying than they had imagined.
The overall strength of the Wushen Sect headquarters was certainly no less than that of the Great Feng capital. Though Wei Yuan had built a formidable reputation in the Shanhai Pass campaign, no one believed he could truly threaten Mount Jing City.
At most, they thought he might inflict some damage – painful, but not unbearable.
The Great Feng army had arrived with overwhelming force but without any peak experts. How could they threaten the Wushen Sect’s headquarters?
But now, this military god of Great Feng was also a cultivator of unimaginably high rank.
…
The spectral bird carrying Yierbu soared over the sea and forests before landing on a cliff beside Grand Wizard Saren Agu.
At that moment, the State Preceptor of Kang, Wuda Baota, finally arrived, riding a beam of black light and heading straight for the mountaintop.
Except for the Jing State Preceptor, who was locked in battle with Zhu Jiu in the Northern Borders, all of the Wushen Sect’s peak wizards had gathered.
This brought relief to the wizards and defenders who had retreated beyond the artillery’s range, and it also calmed the nerves of the jianghu figures from the Northeast.
On the flagship, Wei Yuan ordered, “Storm Mount Jing City and put it to the sword!”
Still the order to massacre.
War shakes the destiny, slaughter weakens it.
“Massacre!”
“Massacre!”
“Massacre…”
The roars of the Great Feng soldiers echoed across the sea, their morale soaring.
Since the founding of the Wushen Sect, in the thousand years since Mount Jing City’s establishment, no army had ever reached this place, let alone attempted a massacre.
They were about to make history!
To raise the prestige of the Central Plains’ Great Feng.
The warships slowly approached the shore. Heavy gangplanks crashed onto the beach. Infantry wielding sabers, crossbows, or firearms were the first to charge down from the decks, securing the perimeter.
Next came the cavalry, leading their horses as they galloped off the ships.
Finally, the artillery crews pushed their cannons and ballistas down the gangplanks.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
As soon as the Great Feng troops landed, archers hidden in the forest launched their attack.
Most arrows were deflected by the finely-forged iron shields with a series of clinks, but some, shot by experts, pierced through, claiming the lives of one soldier after another.
Golden Gong Zhang Kaitai flicked his thumb, drawing his sword with a metallic ring. He swept out a brilliant arc of sword light, slicing through the rain of arrows.
He then vanished from sight. Screams erupted from the nearby woods.
This Fourth Realm expert, who had once rendered Chu Yuanzhen helpless, tore through the forest like a wolf among sheep, unleashing carnage.
Great Feng’s other experts plunged into the dense forest, buying time for the army’s landing.
The flames of war spread from the coast up Mount Jing, creeping towards the sect’s headquarters, Mount Jing City, in the distance.
…
Saren Agu gazed ahead at the cyan-robed figure hovering in the air. Stroking the lamb in his arms, he smiled and said:
“Twenty years ago, I prophesied that in two decades, Great Feng would produce an invincible warrior. I thought your heroic spirit had waned, never imagining you were biding your time all along. Let’s see if you’re Second Realm or First Realm.”
“Yierbu, Wuda Baota, you two test him.”
The two Third Realm wizards of the Wushen Sect showed no fear or hesitation. Each summoned a heroic spirit. Yierbu called forth the same warrior spirit as before, drawing on its power to transform into a giant.
Above Wuda Baota’s head appeared a fierce-looking monk, a muscular, bald Buddhist Vajra.
Every wizard strove to slay experts from various systems, establishing karmic connections to summon their heroic spirits.
This enriched their arsenal against different enemies, allowing them to summon spirits from various systems to counter their opponents.
But when facing a warrior, wizards would decisively and unhesitatingly summon warrior spirits.
Only warriors could defeat warriors.
And only warriors could withstand a warrior’s blows.
The Third Realm Vajra Wuda Baota summoned was essentially a warrior, with physical defenses that were second to none.
After completing the summons, the two State Preceptors raised their hands, palms aimed at Wei Yuan: “Die!”
Long-distance curse-killing technique!
Wei Yuan’s form briefly froze, as if some force was corroding him from within.
The two high-level wizards seized this opportunity to attack from both sides. At this moment, they were equivalent to two undying warriors.
“Bang! Bang!”
Two thunderous impacts rang out as Yierbu and Wuda Baota were sent flying, the spectral images above their heads dissipating.
Wei Yuan didn’t attempt to pursue and kill them. In front of a First Realm Grand Wizard, he didn’t believe he could swiftly eliminate two Third Realm opponents.
“Warriors progress through each realm step by step. You’ve merely borrowed their power and defense, possessing only the superficial. Before a higher-realm warrior, you’re nothing,” Wei Yuan shook his head.
Saren Agu waved his hand, sending the two wizards to a distance. Looking at Wei Yuan with undisguised admiration, he said:
“You’ve touched the threshold of Unification, but your vital energy is weak – Third Realm peak vital energy with Unification realm境界. If I’m not mistaken, you must have transformed your original vital energy into blood pills for preservation. Over these twenty years, your realm has improved, but your physical body and energy remain at the Third Realm.”
“Give you another two or three years to integrate, and you could naturally step into the Second Realm. How did you conceal this from Yuan Jing?”
Wei Yuan calmly replied, “For the first decade, I behaved myself. In the latter ten years, I grew bored and decided to cultivate the warrior’s path again. So I sought out the Overseer to shield me from Heaven’s will. However, Yuan Jing still noticed eventually.”
“Destruction before reconstruction, not bad,” Saren Agu nodded. “The Overseer must have been furious. If you hadn’t crippled your cultivation back then, you wouldn’t die here today.”
Wei Yuan looked towards the valley, towards that towering altar, and declared calmly, “I’m going to seal the Wizard God now.”
With one step, he crossed a hundred zhang.
The second step would bring him to the altar in the valley.
Wei Yuan took the second step, yet found himself back before Saren Agu, as if time had reset.
The Grand Wizard smiled, “I have merged with this land and sky. You could walk for a lifetime and never reach the altar.”
The Grand Wizard raised his hand and gently pressed down.
In an instant, it seemed as if the power of the entire world bore down on Wei Yuan, making his bones crackle and causing the divine light on his body to falter.
Grand Wizard!
One who could harness the power of heaven and earth, controlling natural forces like the world’s sovereign, unmatched.
This was the First Realm.
Under the terrifying pressure, Wei Yuan threw dozens of punches in an instant, all missing their mark. Yet Saren Agu hadn’t dodged at all – it was Wei Yuan’s fists that avoided him.
“Interesting!” Wei Yuan’s lips curled into a slight smile. He stopped punching and instead clasped his palms together, thrusting forward.
Then, with a forceful tear, as if ripping apart an invisible curtain, the world returned to normal.
Saren Agu’s brow furrowed slightly.
“I forgot to tell you, the intent I grasped at the Fourth Realm is called ‘Breaking Formations,'” Wei Yuan smiled warmly. “After Unification, no method in this world can trap me.”
Before Wei Yuan could savor his triumph over the Grand Wizard’s technique, a not-quite-real phantom descended, condensing above Saren Agu’s head. Then, this First Realm Grand Wizard sent Wei Yuan flying with a single punch.
Boom!
Wei Yuan crashed into the ocean, raising hundred-zhang-high waves, a spectacular sight.
Saren Agu stood at the mountain peak, looking down at Wei Yuan as he burst from the sea. With his hands behind his back, he said dispassionately:
“Over a thousand years ago, a prince of the Great Zhou, a Second Realm warrior like you, swept across hundreds of li to reach the Yan Kingdom’s capital. The Wizard God had already been sealed by the Confucian Sage and couldn’t intervene. The one who truly annihilated him was me. How could you, Wei Yuan, be stronger than that Great Zhou prince of yesteryear?”
The wizard’s ability to summon heroic spirits was a core skill of the Fifth Realm Ritualist, but Fifth Realm Ritualists could only summon ancestral spirits.
At higher realms, this ability evolved. Besides ancestors, one could summon the spirits of those with karmic ties, including but not limited to friends, enemies, and vanquished foes.
Theoretically, Saren Agu could even summon the spirit of the first Overseer, as that was his disciple.
But he had never succeeded; the current Overseer had erased that possibility.
Wei Yuan soared into the sky, then suddenly reversed course, plummeting down from the heights.
Saren Agu’s right hand emerged from his hemp-colored robe, meeting the attack with a punch.
Whoosh!
The soldiers fighting in the distance witnessed an extraordinary sight: from the peak of Mount Jing, a massive ripple seemed to sweep across heaven and earth.
This ripple passed over the mountain, reducing forests to dust; it swept over the ocean, raising waves hundreds of meters high.
The cliff beneath Saren Agu’s feet crackled incessantly, crisscrossed with fissures. Seconds later, the entire cliff face collapsed, boulders tumbling into the sea.
As the ground beneath his feet crumbled away, Saren Agu remained motionless, slowly clenching his left fist.
As this punch was thrown, Wei Yuan felt the entire world turn against him. That majestic, unparalleled force of heaven and earth was condensed into a single fist.
Clang!
The first struck Wei Yuan’s chest. The divine light on his body’s surface shattered like breaking crystal, scattering into minute motes of light.
This punch shattered all the bones in Wei Yuan’s chest, inevitably causing him to cough up blood.
Saren Agu beckoned, drawing a stream of blood to his palm. He aimed at Wei Yuan and activated the curse-killing technique: “Die!”
Nearby, Yierbu and Wuda Baota mirrored his actions, each drawing a small amount of Wei Yuan’s blood and launching their curse-killing techniques: “Die!”
One Grand Wizard and two Spirit Wisdom Wizards simultaneously unleashed curse-killing techniques on Wei Yuan.
Boom, boom, boom… Continuous sounds of destruction emanated from within Wei Yuan’s body, as bursts of blood mist sprayed from his pores.
At this moment, he seemed to be enduring unimaginable pain. So much so that this Great Feng military god, who once dominated battlefields and faced armies without changing expression, let out an agonized, inhuman howl.
Saren Agu appeared above Wei Yuan’s head, slowly clenching his fist. The phantom of the Great Zhou prince mimicked his action.
A muffled explosion sounded between his fingers as if crushing the very air.
Saren Agu pulled back his right arm, gathering power briefly before throwing a punch at Wei Yuan’s head.
In this critical moment, a warrior’s instinctive sense of danger gave Wei Yuan a moment of clarity. He made a crucial life-saving move – he leaned back!
The fist pierced through his chest, erupting from his back, taking with it flesh and half his spine.
“In nearly two thousand years, you’re one of the most talented I’ve seen. The founding emperor of your dynasty, and later the Martial Ancestor, were not your equal. Killing you is truly a pity.”
Saren Agu’s arm swelled several times its normal size, muscles bulging as he prepared to shatter Wei Yuan’s body. But in the next instant, his energy suddenly dissipated like the ebbing tide.
The phantom of the Great Zhou prince flickered several times before vanishing entirely.
Saren Agu, the Grand Wizard of the Wushen Sect and one of the few First Realm experts in the Nine Provinces looked down in disbelief at his chest, where an ancient-looking etching knife was embedded.
“Does it hurt?” Wei Yuan’s smile was gentle.