Chapter 372: Gradually Returning South

As he flew across the land, Wei Yuan suddenly felt something hidden deep within the earth. The sensation was extremely peculiar, like a call from within his own bloodline.

He looked down and seemed to faintly perceive a behemoth hidden deep underground. At a glance, it might have spanned hundreds or even over a thousand miles!

Yet, this feeling flashed and vanished. Wei Yuan knew that the opportunity had not yet arrived; he was still too weak. Only after raising his cultivation realm would he have the chance to return and investigate in the future.

As the True Dragon bloodline surfaced, Wei Yuan felt the entire world becoming increasingly eerie.

But for now, it was better to leave this place first and return when he had the capability. Wei Yuan increased his input of Dao power, but immediately discovered that the speed increase was limited. The head-on gale grew more violent, and at this point, every slight increase in speed consumed a significant amount of extra Dao power.

Wei Yuan slowed down slightly to conserve Dao power. Suddenly, several figures shot up into the sky from the snowy mountains below! Had Wei Yuan's reaction not been fast enough to turn in time, he would have been intercepted!

Wei Yuan's thoughts raced. He made a wide detour and continued to fly rapidly toward the southwest. By now, those figures could be seen clearly; they were all Dharma Form high-level cultivators of the Liao tribe.

The two sides were now less than a thousand zhang apart. Wei Yuan did not immediately accelerate to full speed; instead, he took out two materialized wings and installed them on both sides of the frame. With these two wings, the litter suddenly felt lighter and rose directly by over a hundred zhang. Wei Yuan quickly reduced the Dao power maintaining the flight, only then managing to maintain balance.

In the world beyond the heavens, everyone understood the basic principles of wings for flight, and Xu Wenwu had naturally written them down. However, flight magic treasures were endless in this world, and short-distance cultivators could fly on their own, so the cultivators of the Grand Void Palace had originally shown no interest in this.

Now that Wei Yuan was carrying Zhang Sheng, who had become a mortal, and was being pursued by multiple Dharma Form cultivators, every bit of Dao power had to be saved. Thus, at this moment, he finally remembered the existence of wings. After installing them, he indeed saved a significant amount of Dao power used for maintaining buoyancy.

Then, there was the gale ahead.

Among Daoist arts, there was the Wind-Repelling Technique, which generally formed a circular shield to divert the gale to both sides. Wei Yuan had naturally learned this technique. A high-level Wind-Repelling Incantation could treat the gale as if it were nothing. However, its principle was actually to use Dao power to break the gale and send it to both sides, so the consumption of Dao power was not low at all.

At this moment, Wei Yuan suddenly recalled the articles by Immortal Lord Tinghai explaining the Water Blade Technique. Recalling them now, wasn't the piece on optimizing the shape of the water blade exactly what he needed here?

Wei Yuan immediately used Dao power to construct a massive water blade, wrapping both himself and Zhang Sheng inside, leaving only two nozzles exposed. This strange combination caused the Dao power consumption to plummet. Wei Yuan suddenly felt much more relaxed, so he maintained his original speed, keeping a distance from the Dharma Form cultivators behind him, just outside the range of their Daoist arts and magic treasures.

The group of Dharma Form cultivators pursued relentlessly. In the blink of an eye, half an hour passed. Wei Yuan's speed did not slow down in the slightest, while several of the Dharma Form cultivators were experiencing racing heartbeats and boiling blood, already finding it hard to endure.

While pursuing, they discussed among themselves. Suddenly, one of the Dharma Form cultivators burned his essence blood, his speed surging as he circled to Wei Yuan's front, preparing to intercept.

Wei Yuan was startled and instantly increased his speed, a cloud of blood rising directly from his body! He suddenly streaked across the sky like a meteor, flying side-by-side with the Dharma Form cultivator who had burned his essence blood. In the blink of an eye, the two left the other Dharma Form cultivators far behind.

That Dharma Form cultivator gritted his teeth and persisted. He did not believe that a mere Dao Foundation cultivator could outmatch him in a contest of magic power and essence blood.

The blood Qi radiating from Wei Yuan's body was so thick it seemed as if he were about to explode and die. He looked as though he could pass away at any moment. Yet, he swayed and tottered, refusing to die.

Seeing Wei Yuan in such a miserable state, although he himself was not doing well, the Dharma Form cultivator persisted desperately. Another cup of tea's time passed, and Wei Yuan still had not collapsed, but he could no longer endure it.

The Dharma Form cultivator stopped burning his essence blood and was just about to utter some harsh words when he suddenly saw Wei Yuan stop and instantly appear before him! At the same time, a Dragon Guard appeared on each of his left and right sides.

Wei Yuan opened his mouth and blew out a wisp of cold air. The biting aura of the immortal tree instantly stiffened the Dharma Form cultivator's magic power. Immediately, the three attacked with chaotic swords, and the Dharma Form cultivator fell on the spot. Wei Yuan then snatched his waist pouch and turned to leave.

When the several Dharma Form cultivators rushed over, they only saw the Dharma Form cultivator's corpse stained with blood, falling toward the earth.

Everyone gasped in cold air. This time, they dared not act alone and pursued together relentlessly.

In fact, Wei Yuan had just released a bit of the unused blood Qi to show that Dharma Form cultivator. The blood Qi of a Dragon Eagle was so vast that leaking a trace made Wei Yuan look as if he were about to explode and die.

Seeing the Dharma Form cultivators pursuing relentlessly, Wei Yuan was unhurried and took out two more cylinders, installing them on the seat frame.

Subsequently, all four nozzles exerted force simultaneously. Wei Yuan's speed surged to eight hundred miles per quarter-hour, and he sped away. In the blink of an eye, he left the several Dharma Form cultivators far behind, and after a short while, he disappeared beyond their range of perception.

After flying several hundred miles, Wei Yuan stopped the two extra nozzles, and his speed dropped back to five hundred miles per quarter-hour. This speed approached the limit of the Dharma Form, and even a Dragon Eagle could not maintain it for too long; those Dharma Form cultivators could not possibly catch up again.

However, after installing the wings and using the water blade shape, Wei Yuan's Dao power consumption was halved. At this speed, his Dao power only slowly declined, allowing him to fly for a long time.

Zhang Sheng's spiritual sense remained, and he guided Wei Yuan to add several small arrays, making the airframe even more integrated.

Having flown for another hour like this, Wei Yuan activated concealment, suddenly turned, and flew straight west toward the Shaman Realm.

Half an hour later, the Liao tribe woman with silver ornaments descended from the sky and appeared at the spot where Wei Yuan had turned. Complex patterns appeared in her eyes. After observing for a moment, she looked toward the west and sneered, "Still wanting to escape to the Shaman Realm? No matter where you escape to, you are doomed to die!"

She suddenly increased her speed, streaking across the firmament like a meteor, and pursued toward the west. Not long after she left, a figure with a lizard head and several zhang in height appeared here, filled with murderous intent, and subsequently pursued in the direction she had left. The border between the Shaman Realm and the Liao Realm was filled with magnificent sights everywhere.

The green Qi of the Shaman Realm and the yellow Qi of the Liao Realm intertwined, yet remained clearly distinct. Below, villages could occasionally be seen, all living in the core of their respective regions.

In some places, the green and yellow Qi could not be distinguished and were all mixed together. However, the vegetation and living beings in these mixed regions were all twisted, and there was no lack of terrifying fierce beasts. Inside, fierce beasts could be seen fighting at every moment, and everywhere was filled with madness and blood.

Wei Yuan flew very low, only a few dozen zhang from the ground. As he passed, fierce beasts would suddenly rise into the sky from time to time, wanting to take a vicious bite. However, Wei Yuan's speed was too fast, and these fierce beasts all missed, only able to watch helplessly as he went far away.

In this borderland, there were also cities. Most were not large, but they had high walls and deep moats, with strict defenses. Around each city, it was pure Shaman Realm or Liao Realm, and it only began to weaken hundreds of miles away.

Looking at the scene below, Zhang Sheng said, "Whether it is the Shaman tribe or the Liao tribe, including the Ghost Chariot, Li tribe, and Mountain Folk you haven't seen yet, when many of them gather to live, they will slowly change the surrounding heaven and earth environment. These cities are actually equivalent to our boundary stones."

Wei Yuan asked, "Why must our human race use boundary stones? Does gathering together not have this effect?"

Zhang Sheng said, "This question, I also pondered for a long time back then and once asked many teachers, but they couldn't explain it clearly, only saying that heaven and earth were originally like this."

"If boundary stones weren't needed, it would be much better." Wei Yuan sighed.

The expansion of the human race was stuck on boundary stones. As many boundary stones as there were, that was how much territory could be expanded, and the population growth rate far exceeded the territory. Therefore, every once in a while, the human realm always had to consume a batch of people. Whether it was famine or war, most of the roots lay here.

!.

Hearing Wei Yuan's words, Zhang Sheng said, "Our human race is in a land of four battles. If there were no boundary stones, expanding too fast might instead lead to being targeted by the joint efforts of alien races. At that time, it would not be far from the extinction of our race. The grasp of the degree here is quite subtle; even a saint would find it difficult to achieve perfection. Moreover, human hearts are different; everyone wants to expand a little more, and who is willing to expand less territory? So using boundary stones to grasp this degree is also a good thing."

Wei Yuan pondered, thinking deeper and deeper.

The two bypassed the Shaman tribe's city and began to penetrate deep into the Shaman Realm. Then, Wei Yuan turned toward the southeast, flying a winding trajectory, heading all the way toward the human realm.

Behind him, there was always a faint feeling of danger. It seemed the Liao tribe's pursuers had not given up. Thus, Wei Yuan kept concealment activated throughout the journey, which also allowed him to stably maintain a speed of five hundred miles per quarter-hour. Although the flight trajectory was complex, he could still approach the human realm by one or two thousand miles every hour.

If not for the second fruit gifted by Bao Yun, Wei Yuan certainly could not have escaped so smoothly. This fruit allowed Wei Yuan to exert his full Dao power while only leaving insignificant traces between heaven and earth. Even high-level cultivators with innate tracking abilities had to stop and search carefully every once in a while to track Wei Yuan's whereabouts.

If not for that Yin-Yang Reversal Pendant, Wei Yuan and Zhang Sheng would have definitely died one after the other, and the final result would have been that neither of them could survive.

So without the life-saving items sent by Bao Yun and the Bao family, the master and disciple would have long since turned to dust. And because their cultivation was too low, they wouldn't even count as dust in history.

As a genius disciple of the Heavenly Azure Palace of this generation, Zhang Sheng was among the very top in the entire palace, yet he didn't even have a life-saving item on him and had to rely on the Bao family's gift. And if Wei Yuan hadn't been thick-skinned enough to accept it, given Zhang Sheng's temperament, he definitely wouldn't have wanted this jade pendant.

Thinking of this, Wei Yuan really couldn't help but say, "How exactly did our Heavenly Azure Palace become so poor?"

Zhang Sheng said unhappily, "Don't you have any idea in your heart how it happened?"

Wei Yuan said, "That's not the real reason. Most of the resources I consumed were borrowed from outside or newly earned in the past ten years. So before me, the palace was already very poor! Look at you, you've never even had a decent magic treasure."

"This has to start from your Grandmaster Fenhai..."

Wei Yuan now had different insights and was no longer easy to fool, immediately saying, "How could Grandmaster have this ability?"

True Lord Fenhai was only at the Dharma Form stage, and his Dharma Form didn't consume that many resources. No matter what, it couldn't reach the point of eating the entire Heavenly Azure Palace into poverty.

"Oh, then that has to start from your Ancestor Xuan Yue..."

As they gradually traveled south, the pursuers behind them ultimately failed to keep up. The two talked about some secret palace matters along the way, and in the blink of an eye, night fell. Wei Yuan found a natural cave, hid well, carefully arranged the interior of the cave, and then took out a cloth strip to cover his eyes...

"The sky is already late, let's rest early!" Wei Yuan's voice was filled with anticipation.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 373 =====