Dragon Canon

The trio briefly discussed their attack strategy before waiting for a bit. When it was almost time for Zhang Sheng to show up, they rose into the sky one after another.

Wei Yuan took the lead and flew all the way over to Shaman encampment. His appearance instantly caused a commotion, and several Dao Foundation stage warriors flew up to meet him.

Wei Yuan did not even look at them. The Great Realm manifested, tender shoots appeared above his head. The One Wonder Treasure Tree instantly increased the size of the manifestation to five hundred zhang, or just over half of the Shaman encampment. The warriors immediately let out bloodcurdling screams as their bodies burned; two of them plummeting toward the ground. At the same time, the commotion escalated into total uproar as countless fighters rushed out of their tents while scratching themselves.

It was at this moment the Seven Wonders Exquisite Treasure Tree appeared above Wei Yuan’s head and became one with the tender shoots. The Great Realm’s range instantly swelled to two thousand zhang, and everything within five hundred zhang of Wei Yuan transformed into the Pure Realm of Humanity!

Cries of pain and shock erupted from everywhere inside the encampment. Many fighters ran out of their tents only to collapse on the ground and roll back and forth in pain. Bluish smoke could be seen rising from their bodies.

Layers of green qi rose from the encampment while wisps of clear qi descended from the Pure Realm of Humanity. Every time a wisp of clear qi descended, it would ignite an entire clump of green qi. If a Shaman in this area wasn’t strong enough, they would die with smoke billowing from their body and their flesh completely charred!

This was just the prelude to Wei Yuan’s offense. He pointed a finger toward the sky, and a jade hill appeared. Then, he dropped it right on top of the sacrificial altar at the center of the encampment!

A cacophony of shouts and curses erupted from the camp as dozens of Dao Foundation stage warriors soared into the sky and launched a coordinated attack against the jade hill. Wei Yuan did not so much as bat an eyelid despite being confronted by a group of frantic Shaman elites. He simply channeled his Dao energy and slammed the jade hill down with all his might!

Dozens of colorful lights clashed furiously against the jade hill before exploding into a massive shockwave of light, spreading at least one thousand zhang away.

The shockwave pushed back most of the Shaman elites, with only a handful of them shaking slightly in place. Five warriors weren’t moving at all, however. A few seconds later, countless jets of blood spurted from their bodies as they plummeted to the ground. As it turned out, the shockwave had killed them instantly!

The jade hill rolled back into the sky and grew dimmer. Wei Yuan himself grunted softly as a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Clashing head on against dozens of opponents at the same cultivation level was tough even for him.

He did not seem to notice his injuries, however. After dispelling the dimmed jade hill from existence, he pointed up and summoned a new, pristine jade hill. Then, he brought it down just as viciously as before!

The follow-up attack was far too swift for the warriors to take evasive action. Some of them cried in shock, while others roared in anger. Either way, they had no choice but to muster their strength and protect the altar once more.

Once again the jade hill clashed against the confluence of light, smashing half of them into nothing and creating an even bigger, farther shockwave than the first one!

The jade hill bounced into the air again, but this time it disappeared before Wei Yuan could dispel it. At the same time, he grew white in the face, and the trickle of blood flowing down his lips grew even more visible.

The Shamans didn’t fare much better. The two weakest Dao Foundation-stage warriors exploded into a shower of gore, while five others were killed upon impact, plummeting.

Wei Yuan sucked in a deep breath, and Dao energy far surpassing his peers gushed out like a flood. The next moment, a third jade hill appeared in the air!

An old Shaman—also the one with the strongest cultivation—shouted something indistinct. The next moment, a dozen or so Warlocks emerged from every direction and charged toward the altar.

Their status was much higher than that of an ordinary warrior. That was why they launched sneak attacks amidst the fighters and called it the main assault and left all the hard work such as frontal charge, direct combat and more to the warriors. But the altar was in danger, and it contained the blood ritual energy a Great Warlock was planning to use at a later date. Thus, they could no longer afford to hide in the backlines.

Ideally, the Shamans would like to attack Wei Yuan while simultaneously defending against the jade hill. In reality, defending was all they could do. The altar would certainly be destroyed if the jade hill made contact with it.

The jade hill fell for the third time, and five Warlocks died while spurting blood from all over their bodies.

Wei Yuan’s Dao energy kept gushing as the jade hill manifested for the fourth and fifth time.

When the jade hill descended from the sky for the sixth time, the surviving Warlocks finally broke under pressure and escaped in terror, screaming. Many warriors took the cue and ran away as well. In the end, only three ordinary warriors were still defending the altar!

The jade hill crashed against the defenders and turned them into showers of gore. This time, their sacrifice failed to slow down the jade hill even a little.

The ground shook violently, and the entire encampment seemed to jump in place from the impact. The soil surrounding the altar soared at least a dozen zhang into the air as a terrible shockwave spread out in a circle.

Moments later when the dust settled, a giant pit appeared at the center of the encampment. The altar was nowhere to be found, and blood was constantly leaking from the bottom of the pit.

Unable to withstand the backlash any longer, Wei Yuan finally threw up a mouthful of blood. However, he had accomplished his mission. He immediately backed off.

Not far away, Ji Liuli gave Wei Yuan a complicated glance. The little fellow had become a man before she knew it.

The jade hill was as massive as it was deadly. It was easily the ultimate weapon for breaking formations and storming fortifications. Not even she was keen on taking repeated blows from that thing.

While chaos still reigned among the Shamans, a colossal pagoda materialized in the sky and cast a terrible shadow over the entire encampment!

Every bell hanging on the eaves of the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda rang in unison. The next second, soulfire started rising from every corner of the camp. Soul after soul was forcibly extracted from their physical body and pulled into the pagoda.

The Seven Wonders Exquisite Treasure Tree made another appearance above the pagoda, lowering countless ribbons and enveloping the entire camp in it. The camp was too big for the Dao Foundation to cut it off completely from the outside world, but only a small amount of blood qi, resentment, and soul energy were leaking through its boundaries. At the same time, a deadly gale started blowing inside the camp and turned countless Shamans into sand.

Before, many Shamans were able to resist the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda’s soul extracting ability to an extent. However, there was simply no way they could resist the pagoda and the sandstorm at the same time. Thus, they lost control and collapsed one after another.

Meanwhile, Wei Yuan had gotten enough rest and shifted his jade hill to its original position. He returned to the battlefield once more.

Charging into the enemy camp alone, he swiped a spear from somewhere and started killing everyone in his way. Wherever there were clusters of enemies, he could charge in and scatter them. Whenever he spotted a Dao Foundation stage Warlock, he would cut them down no matter how many enemies stood in his way.

Several charges later, the warriors and the Warlocks were cowed to the point where they didn’t even dare to show their faces anymore. However, they quickly realized that this was a mistake: even with a Dao Foundation, they were unable to resist the combined influence of the pagoda and the sandstorm for long. Alas, it was too late for them.

In the sky, the pagoda and the treasure tree were slowly but surely whittling down their numbers. On the ground, the jade hill crushed anyone who tried to group up and mount an organized resistance. Not even fifteen minutes later, all was silent within the encampment.

It was at this moment Zhang Sheng showed up. Only he knew when he had arrived at the battlefield. He cast a quiet glance across the ruined camp before saying, “We’re done here. Let’s go.”

Ji Liuli and Bao Yun put away their Dao Foundations and took off, not bothering to loot the battlefield. The destruction of the altar was sure to alert any Great Warlock within the vicinity. They might not be able to get here in time, but their revenge was a different story.

For some reason, the atmosphere felt a little heavy on their way back.

Suddenly, Ji Liuli halted in her tracks and asked, “There are still a couple tribes in the vicinity. What should we do?”

Hovering in the sky, Zhang Sheng looked wordlessly at the horizon. Bao Yun wasn’t speaking either. She simply looked at Wei Yuan.

Right here and now, Wei Yuan suddenly grasped why Immortal Lord Tianhai had asked him those three questions.

Sometimes, right or wrong doesn’t matter, nor does good or evil. What matters is that someone must step forward to do it and bear the consequences.

Wei Yuan pushed down his emotions and declared, “Let’s raid them. Kill as many as you can within half an incense stick. Ideally, leave a mark so deep that they will never dare to enter this region ever again.”

Bao Yun suggested, “Half an incense stick is a little too long. Let’s wrap this up in two minutes. That’ll give us some time to seek out other tribes. There are quite a few small ones in the vicinity.”

Bao Yun had become quite fond of the measurement of time in Xu Wenwu’s world recently. It was both more precise and accurate.

“Very well.” Wei Yuan nodded and took the initiative to fly toward the nearest Shaman tribe.

Moments later, Wei Yuan arrived at a stockaded village.

There was a large village standing at the intersection point between two rivers. It was home to roughly ten thousand people. Scattered around it were a dozen or so smaller villages of varying sizes.

Suddenly, Wei Yuan felt a tingling itch in his nose and mouth. The air had become somewhat choking as well. When he activated the Qi Viewing spell, he noticed that green qi was constantly rising from the villages. The bigger the village, the denser the green qi. It was constantly spreading into the surroundings and gradually altering the environment.

On a distant hill lay bands of varying shades of green. They were terraced fields built by the human race, now abandoned and overgrown with shrubs, vines, and weeds. From afar, they looked like alternating bands of color.

The large majority of the Shamans’ food were grown or raised in water. Hills and mountains were essentially useless to them.

Conversely, the marshes and wetlands of the Shaman realm were useless to humans. Nothing could grow in these toxic waters. That was why humans initially built their fields on the hillsides and waited for the realm stone to alter the environment, and the surface water to recede. Only then did they start cultivating fields on the flatlands.

This was just the beginning. In the early days of cultivation, the fields would be filled with nothing but mud. Occasionally, toxic water would gush up from the underground as well. It would take more than a decade of repeated tilling before the former marshlands were finally transformed into usable farmlands. It would take decades more for these farmless to turn into fertile fields.

In fact, the terraced fields on the hillsides were documented in the local annals. Wei Yuan had specifically reviewed them before setting out on his journey to the west.

That area once belonged to Jiao County. It was established two hundred years ago near the border of Ningxi Commandery. By the time Xu Zhijie took office as the commandery administrator, the county’s population had grown to 111,000. The terraced fields on those fields had likely been cultivated for over two hundred years, long since transformed into fertile land capable of sustaining a county of one hundred thousand people. Yet, after lying fallow for merely two or three years, centuries of effort had been ruined just like that.

“Get ready to act. I’ll go first!” Wei Yuan declared before flying toward the largest village at the center.

When he got closer, he could see rows and rows Shamans kneeling on an empty clearing and praying to a statue at the center. There had to be at least a thousand of them.

This was a custom of the Shamans. Every early morning, they would pray to their deities, heaven and earth. Then, most of them would head home and rest until it was almost evening. It was only then they got up and prepared for the night’s work.

Wei Yuan hesitated for an instant. Then, he pointed at the sky directly above the village and manifested his jade hill. Not a single one of these praying Shamans would survive when it fell on top of them.

Suddenly, a bluish drizzle flew past Wei Yuan and struck the praying Shamans on the square. Most of them only managed a scream before falling dead just like that.

When Wei Yuan looked behind him, he saw Zhang Sheng shooting wisps of bluish sword qi from his forehead. They transformed into rain midway and landed inside the village.

Sensing Wei Yuan’s gaze, Zhang Sheng said indifferently, “I’ve done this many times already, so leave it to me this time.”

Since time immemorial, there was a natural law that dictated that whoever makes the first move must bear the biggest amount of karma.

Wei Yuan stopped hesitating and brought down his jade hill.