Dragon Canon

Chapter 153: Blue Qi

As he grew bigger, Tianyu Blackleaf’s armor and clothes fell apart piece by piece. In the end, he was almost wholly naked. He had a body similar to a human’s, but far more towering and muscular. His muscles were as hard as stone, and every curve radiated raw power.

It was such a body that the young ladies could not help but blush at the sight of it. On one hand, they spat on the ground to express their hatred toward the Shaman. On the other hand, they stared at him like they wanted to sear his impressive body permanently into their minds.

His features bore a passing resemblance to those of a human as well. The only thing that stood out of place was his disproportionately large eyes. A long, blade-like tail was also trailing behind his back. The mere sight of it was enough to send chills down one’s spine.

Tianyu strode toward Wei Yuan for a few seconds before darting forward suddenly, closing the distance in an instant. He then brought his fist crashing down on the young man’s head!

The attack was far too fast; Wei Yuan could only instinctively raise his spear to block the descending blow. In that instant, Wei Yuan felt as though he had been struck by a mountain. At the same time, the ground beneath his feet became incredibly hard—so hard that it was impossible to step into it and absorb the force. He had no choice but to brace himself and take the full brunt of the punch!

Wei Yuan’s muscles bulged as he unleashed his full physical strength, barely managing to withstand the mountain-like blow.

Tianyu himself stumbled back several steps, muscles rippling like water. Plumes of scorching white vapor poured out of his nostrils and ribs, and his hair and beard fluttered in the windless air. Clearly, the recoil from the punch wasn’t easy to endure either.

“Incredible! I never expected a human to possess strength on par with my King Kong of Mount Tai! This trip was well worth the trouble!” Tianyu roared excitedly as the faint image of a giant ape, with a mountain rising from its back, materialized above his head.

The Avatar was not yet fully formed, and Wei Yuan did not recognize it. However, the ape was clearly a divine beast. By human standards, Tianyu’s Dao Foundation would be an immortal foundation for sure.

Wei Yuan exhaled heavily, a faint taste of blood rising in his throat. By human standards, his physical body was absurdly powerful, yet he was only on par with Tianyu.

At the moment, Tianyu measured one zhang and five chi in height. Wei Yuan was pretty tall among humans, but he wasn’t even half as tall as Tianyu. Standing together, they looked like a giant beast and its cub.

Moreover, Tianyu had employed a mystic ability akin to Stomping Ground into Steel as his foot struck the earth, leaving Wei Yuan unable to absorb the force or dodge the attack via Earth Escape. After taking the punch, even his middle-grade mystic artifact spear was bent out of shape, rendering it virtually useless.

Tianyu rapidly calmed down his agitated vigor and let out an uproarious laugh, saying, “You’ve lost your weapon, haven’t you? I was aiming for that, hahaha! It would be a mistake if you think that all Strength Warlocks are brainless!”

Wei Yuan coughed out a bloody spittle before yelling angrily, “I should’ve known that you Shamans are all treacherous bastards!”

Tianyu actually grew embarrassed and scratched his head. “All is fair in war, right? That said, you are a worthy opponent. Very well. When you lose, I will still treat you like a brother. You may eat whatever I eat; use whatever I use until your people ransom you. What do you think?”

“I think not!”

As Wei Yuan strode toward Tianyu, his aura shifted into something else. It was no longer vast and serene, but fierce, untamed, and unstoppable!

Each step was heavier and faster than the last. The effects of Stomping Ground into Steel had yet to dissipate, but Wei Yuan’s footsteps were so heavy that they nearly shattered it completely. Not only that, the mystic ability inadvertently provided him with immense momentum.

His spear shot upward like a dragon, piercing straight toward the heavens—Reversal!

Tianyu’s hair stood on end, and his eyes widened into saucers. At that moment, he tasted the flavor of death on his tongue! He let out a frenzied roar as he unfurled every scale on his long tail. A faint yellow glow flickered beneath every scale as he lashed out at the spear with all his might!

When his tail connected with the spear, Tianyu felt as if he was lashing against a mountain. His scales on his long tail shattered, and blood spurted everywhere. Yet, the spear remained steadfast and continued to advance!

He let out another frenzied roar and absorbed the incomplete shadow of the King Kong of Mount Tai into his body, growing even bigger. Then, he grabbed the spear with both hands!

The spear relentlessly pushed against his palms and peeled off chunks of flesh. In the end, it pierced through his chest and became stuck between his ribs.

I stopped it... Tianyu was mentally sighing in relief when suddenly, a glimmer of Dao energy surged out of Wei Yuan’s hands. The next moment, a loud bang erupted from the spear, and the spearhead sank straight into his chest!

Tianyu was both stunned and confused. He had no idea how the spearhead had gained a second wind. Was it that spurt of Dao energy? But it was so weak that it couldn’t break even a strand of his hair into two!

Right now, all that was left of Wei Yuan’s spear was a bent piece of steel pipe. Understanding seemed to dawn upon Tianyu as he looked into its hollow shaft, yet at the same time, he seemed to have understood nothing at all.

The Strength Warlock let out a few laughs before declaring, “I lost this exchange, but a small wound like this is nothing! Again!”

Tianyu worked his painful wrists a little and swung his burning tail. A sinister grin stretched across his face as he said, “I will admit that your spear strike was strong. Very strong! But you have also lost your weapon. What else do you have left to fight me?”

This was a problem. Wei Yuan had prepared three spearheads in total, but the middle-grade spear shaft was already destroyed. What else did he have left to fight against Tianyu?

Wei Yuan took a moment to inspect his Dao Foundation. He looked at the dead branch planted on the ground, the solid jade hill, the several hundred stone cauldrons, the one hundred or so stone bells, and the several hundred four-level pagodas. Having seen the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda many times at this point, Wei Yuan had added another level to his pagodas and greatly increased their power. As a result, they had surpassed his golden cauldrons and Fake Suns to become the greatest mini Dao Foundation of them all!

Wei Yuan then checked his surroundings. If he ultimately could not defeat Tianyu, he still had shifu, Big Senior Sister, and Bao Yun to back him up.

Wei Yuan was pretty sure he could win the fight without their help, though.

Suddenly, Tianyu’s laughter grew hoarse, and his aura nosedived like there was a giant leak somewhere. He could no longer maintain his massive size and started shrinking rapidly. In the end, he could not even stand properly and clutched his hands with both hands. Pointing at Wei Yuan with a finger, he accused between labored breaths, “Poison... you poisoned the spearhead?! You despicable... treacherous....”

Tianyu finally could not suppress the force of Reversal any longer and collapsed on the ground.

Wei Yuan let out a sigh of relief. As expected of Sun Yu, the poison he created was untold times more toxic than his own. No wonder it was said that everyone has their own area of expertise. The man definitely lived up to his reputation as a top disciple of the Xuanming Hall.

Meanwhile, the Shaman army was routing earnestly. Wei Yuan did not hesitate to give the order to pursue and cut down as many warriors and Warlocks as possible.

Tianyu was no ordinary foe, and his physical body was too powerful. It was very likely that he would break free as soon as the poison had run its course. It was at this moment a few young ladies volunteered to handle the situation. Thinking that he might as well give it a try, Wei Yuan released his hold on them.

The four young ladies immediately surrounded Tianyu and ran their little paws all over his body, groping and touching. Then, they began removing their hair ties, their hair, even their belts.

It wasn’t until mystic energy was injected into the items that Wei Yuan realized they were all upper-grade mystic artifacts. The next moment, the young ladies started binding Tianyu in all sorts of ways using all kinds of bizarre techniques. Wei Yuan’s scalp could not help but tingle at the sight of it[1].

It wasn’t over, though. They proceeded to produce hairpins, earrings, sewing needles, and other mystic artifacts, searching and stabbing Tianyu in all sorts of places. By the time they were finally done, Tianyu’s mystic energy had been broken into dozens of pieces, and ninety-nine percent of his physical strength had been robbed from him. Well and truly a small fry, there was zero chance he would be able to break free from the bindings that gave even Wei Yuan a headache just looking at them.

I had no idea that the young ladies possessed such skills. Now more than ever, Wei Yuan felt that the aristocratic families deserved their reputation, and their breadth of wealth and knowledge were out of the world.

By the time the dust had settled, half of the eight thousand Shamans had been slain. The rest had escaped, though, out of the one hundred or so Dao Foundation stage Shamans who showed up, less than thirty of them were able to escape in the end. Wei Yuan quickly checked the supplies on the boats and confirmed that the large majority of them were construction materials. There were military equipment, food supplies, and a large amount of raw materials as well.

Wei Yuan ordered the men to discard all of the construction materials. It was to free up space and carry as many Shaman corpses as possible back to the realm.

After returning to the realm of Qingming, Wei Yuan sensed that the other two Shaman forces had temporarily halted their advance. They had probably received word that the southern column was annihilated.

This battle definitely counted as a resounding victory. They had lost only a dozen or so cultivators and guards and eliminated thousands of fighters and seven or so Dao Foundation stage warriors. They had even captured Tianyu.

It was obvious at first glance that Tianyu was no ordinary Shaman. The only question was how much. Wei Yuan was going to find out very soon.

There were only more things to do after they returned to the realm. They had to leave the Shaman corpses in the designated zone and tally the supplies. They had to treat the wounded and hasten the repairs and construction work as well. For a time, the realm was positively drowning in work. Fortunately, Wei Yuan was fairly experienced at this point and was able to organize everything accordingly. Even Xiao Yu was dragged out to help move the bodies.

As a high cultivator, Xiao Yu was a natural at moving bodies. His sword qi could move dozens of corpses in a go and cross tens of li in just the span of a teatime.

At the moment, the only ones who weren’t working in the entire realm were the scions. They had charged the enemy twice, and the terror had yet to leave their bodies completely. They had also expended all of their Dao energy and stamina. Some young masters had literally rolled off their horses when they tried to dismount.

Wei Yuan did not give them additional work because they had just taken part in their first major battle. It was normal that they would experience some discomfort and need some time to adjust.

It was at this moment someone exclaimed in shock, “How did my merits grow so much!?”

The young masters and young ladies immediately swarmed the guy checking out his merit booklet. They fell into a hushed silence when they saw the number beside his name. The young master himself was yelling excitedly, “Two hundred! I earned two hundred merits in one fight! Did I kill a Dao Foundation by accident?”

“Your rank jumped fifty spots at once! Your old man is going to be over the moon when he finds out!”

“Wang Yu, you’re a heaven foundation. Show us how many merits you’ve gained right now!”

The young man named Wang Yu managed to stay composed as he pulled out his merit booklet. A quick look later, he declared, “It’s only two hundred and sixty—pretty much the same as Brother Yan.”

He looked calm on the outside, but his slightly shaking hands betrayed his true feelings. Earning over two hundred merits was like killing a middle-stage Dao Foundation stage cultivator. He had never earned so many merits in one battle in his life.

The rest of the scions pulled out their merit booklets and searched for their own names. For a time, the cries of joy and shock sounded like it would never end. After comparing their merits with each other, they concluded that everyone had earned a minimum of two hundred merits.

Surprisingly, the one who earned the most merits—three hundred and thirty to be exact—was the sweet-looking girl. Her original ranking was pretty low, but she had jumped a hundred and seventy spots after the battle.

“Hsu Yi! How are you so strong?”

“How many enemies did you kill?”

“Where on earth did you learn to use the spear?”

The group kept talking until the sweet-looking girl replied with a blush, “I was really scared, so I just kept swinging my spear and killing everything that got close. I... I’m not sure what happened either. Maybe there was a mistake?”

Multiple people shook their heads in unison. Since when had the merit ranking ever gone wrong? As Xu Yu possessed a Heaven-tier Dao Foundation, most people assumed that she had finally unearthed her true potential.

Showered by congratulations, the sweet-looking girl ultimately did not confess that her arms and spear were moving on their own and killing the enemies of their own accord. A couple of young masters and young ladies were wearing thoughtful expressions that suggested that they had had the exact same experience as Hsu Yi. Just the same, none of them confessed the truth and tacitly claimed the feat as their own.

It was at this moment Cui Yu walked up to them and gave them a few strong pats on the shoulder. He said seriously, “Well fought, everyone! My blood was boiling at the end of it! A couple more battles like this, and our merits will soar. Who’ll dare say we’re not doing our jobs then? Who’ll dare mess with our cultivation resources, status, or ranks after that?!”

Blood boiling, everyone exclaimed in unison, “Worry not, Brother Cui! None of us are afraid of death! We’ll definitely make those old fools back home drop their jaws in shock!”

After so many impassioned declarations, no one dared admit that the charge had been totally beyond their control. They could only resolve to perform better in the next battle and make up for their shortcomings.

At the same time, Wei Yuan’s standing in everyone’s eyes had soared to unprecedented heights. This was especially true in the minds of Hsu Yi and others he had controlled during the fight—he was practically a god to them.

For these young masters and ladies, these merits were concrete stepping stones to advancement. Competition within noble clans had always been ruthless—inheritance, resources, territories, official posts, everything was up for grabs, and the merit ranking of major Immortal Sects was the most direct benchmark of whether someone was deserving of the things they were aiming for.

A couple more battles like this, and there was no question that their status and influence within their respective families would skyrocket. The objects of desire that used to exist only in their dreams might actually come within their reach as well.

After handing his warhorse to Xu Wenwu, Wei Yuan checked out his Dao Foundation while feeling deeply troubled.

He was almost completely out of fortune at this point. However, he still had no idea how to obtain one. Originally, cultivating the Jade Toad Full Moon Painting would grant him a wisp of fortune periodically. However, cultivating the Supreme Yin Lunar Essence Myriad Manifestations Chapter brought nothing for him.

To ensure the scions’ safety, he had scraped the bottom of his reserves of fortune. That was the only reason he managed to bring them home without a scratch. Unfortunately, he had inevitably used up two wisps of black qi. Although it was the most basic form of fortune, his heart still ached at the loss.

He was still groaning internally when a wisp of blue qi suddenly rose from the earth, followed by a couple more. In the end, a total of five blue qi were floating in his sea of consciousness.

1. Never doubt a lady’s bondage skill, even when they’re alien. XDDD ☜