Chapter 560

A thunderous voice echoed among the mountains: "Hey! You hairy mongrels of the Taichu Palace, listen up! Our Master says that if you don't hand over that lecherous monk Wei Yuan today, we will definitely level your mountain gate and leave not a single blade of grass behind! Wahahaha!!"

Wei Yuan in the guest room was startled, knowing that the aggrieved party had come to his door and he could no longer stay here. While hurriedly packing his clothes, he muttered to himself: "Little monk Master Wu Yuan is not the Wei Yuan you speak of; all the things that ruined people's reputations were done by that Wei Yuan, don't come looking for me..."

His hand movements suddenly stopped, and he muttered: "Wei Yuan? Isn't that my secular name?"

There was a bronze mirror on the table in the room, and he looked into it, instantly seeing a little monk with red lips and white teeth, whose appearance was second to none.

Just looking at that bald head, Wei Yuan suddenly let out a loud cry and woke up from the nightmare, already covered in cold sweat.

"You're awake?" What he heard in his ears was Zhang Sheng's voice.

Wei Yuan was breathing heavily at this moment, staring at the top of the bed, unable to recover for a while. That dream was truly too terrifying; it felt as if he had been hunted for who knows how long, and even the Taichu Palace could not protect him.

The Master was young and beautiful, but her magic power was truly profound, and a group of patriarchs had been killed so miserably that they dared not show their faces.

After calming down slightly, Wei Yuan suddenly discovered a problem: he had borne so much, been hunted so miserably, and even acted as a monk so naturally, but what was the cause and origin?

The reasons for being hunted, those appalling beastly acts—why didn't he dream of any of them?

Just as Wei Yuan was still calming his state of mind, he heard Zhang Sheng ask from the side: "Master Wu Yuan, if you're awake, don't linger in bed."

Everything went black before Wei Yuan's eyes!

Could it be that he had talked in his sleep!?

Wei Yuan's spiritual sense swept across the surroundings, considering whether to break through the window, escape first, and find a place to be quiet for a while.

But as his spiritual sense moved, he immediately swept across many familiar auras. Besides Zhang Sheng, there were Bao Yun, Feng Tingyu, Xu Henshui, Cui Yu, Sun Yu, Li Zhi... all the cultivators of the Taichu Palace were present.

Wei Yuan's expression was blank, his heart a void. He slowly turned his head and confirmed that he was indeed in his own bedroom. Zhang Sheng was sitting by the bed, and everyone else was standing in front of the bed with very complex expressions. At least Wei Yuan felt their expressions were complex—especially complex.

After steadying himself, Wei Yuan began to try hard to recall what had just happened, but his memory stopped at the moment the karmic fire burned the Shaman tribe to ashes, and he knew nothing of what followed.

Zhang Sheng waved a piece of sword energy, which turned into a scene. Inside was the scene of Wei Yuan unleashing the red lotus karmic fire on the battlefield that day. Then, a gap suddenly split open in the sky, and a thousand-zhang finger faintly appeared, about to point down at Wei Yuan.

As soon as the finger appeared, Wei Yuan fainted and fell from the sky. But at this moment, a sword chime rang out from beyond the nine heavens, and the finger instantly faded, becoming faint and falling extremely slowly.

At this time, a Luo Han golden body appeared on Wei Yuan's body. He lowered his head and eyes, chanting in a low voice, and what he was chanting was actually the Red Lotus Salvation Mantra. A point of red-black karmic fire suddenly ignited on the finger falling from beyond the heavens, and then it spread to the entire finger.

An angry roar seemed to come from beyond the heavens, and then the gap closed, and the giant hand disappeared.

The Luo Han golden body also dissipated along with it. At the final moment, two of the prayer beads on his wrist suddenly exploded into countless golden light feathers, dissipating between heaven and earth.

Wei Yuan recognized this Luo Han; it was the Guangzhi Supreme Salvation Luo Han, from whom the Red Lotus Bodhi was originally obtained. Back then, Wei Yuan had coveted that string of prayer beads for a long time. Now it seemed the prayer beads were indeed a supreme treasure, and very likely a treasure for substituting a tribulation.

Two of the prayer beads shattered, and the giant finger from beyond the heavens was ignited by the karmic fire; it was unclear who won and who lost.

Wei Yuan had initially only laid a secret move, with Feng Chutang quietly setting up a great formation to release karmic power, in order to inflict as much damage as possible on the Shaman army.

Wei Yuan just wanted to cause some casualties to the Shaman tribe, but judging from the footage, the extent of this matter and the depth of the inside story had far exceeded Wei Yuan's imagination; the immortals had personally entered the fray, exchanging blows from afar.

Furthermore, he didn't know when Guangzhi Luo Han had laid the secret move; not only had Wei Yuan himself never discovered it, but even True Lords like Xuanyue, Huang Yun, Bao Manshan, and even the Azure Dragon Knight and Xuanjizi had not seen a single clue.

Zhang Sheng said: "What is certain now is that what wanted to destroy you from beyond the heavens was the ancestral Shaman will of the Shaman tribe. The Ancestral Shaman was actually not the first Heavenly Shaman, but he was definitely the strongest Heavenly Shaman in the history of the Shaman tribe. He later entered the Dao with his body, transforming himself into a part of the Shaman Domain's Heavenly Dao. Since then, the Shaman Domain's heaven and earth have changed, and the living environment has clearly tilted toward the Shaman tribe, and the Shaman tribe has since reversed its million-year decline against the Liao tribe, becoming slightly dominant.

Entering the Dao with one's body naturally comes with a heavy price; it is said that the Ancestral Shaman no longer has self-awareness and acts according to the instincts of the Heavenly Dao. Your Master Uncle Feng knows more about this; let him say it."

Feng Chutang coughed lightly. At this moment, he was wrapped in thick leather clothing, as if he were in the Northern Frontier. But this was the Shaman Domain, where it was so hot one could only wear a short shirt.

His voice was clearly lacking in strength as he said: "Under normal circumstances, the Ancestral Shaman would not have self-awareness, unless something major affecting the Shaman Domain's heaven and earth occurred. Furthermore, at certain critical moments, the Shaman tribe can briefly borrow a small portion of its power through secret methods left behind by the Ancestral Shaman. But doing so comes with a heavy price; historically, it has only been activated in wars against the Liao tribe and the mountain people; our human race is not yet worthy."

So, although the Ancestral Shaman's will has already struck, there is no need to worry for the time being. We just need to find out the reason why it struck."

Wei Yuan's mood immediately lightened significantly; otherwise, being constantly targeted by an immortal who could merge with the Dao would be an unpleasant feeling. It was clear from the footage, combined with his own memory, that Wei Yuan knew his fainting at the time was actually because he could not withstand the counterattack of the Shaman Domain's heaven and earth—in other words, the Ancestral Shaman had already struck at that time.

Although it was only an unconscious counterattack, it was enough to send Wei Yuan into reincarnation. If it weren't for the secret move left by Guangzhi Luo Han and the intervention of the Sword Palace Immortal Lord, Wei Yuan would have been doomed.

But after understanding the course of events, Wei Yuan felt something unusual instead and said: "It was just hundreds of thousands of Shaman commoners and small soldiers; how could it alarm the Ancestral Shaman into striking?" Feng Chutang said: "Other immortals might be influenced by mortal hearts, but this one is actually the Heavenly Dao; there must be a reason for striking. So the water behind this matter is much deeper than you imagine; perhaps someone used your hand to place a piece, forcing the Ancestral Shaman to respond."

Wei Yuan felt a deep headache, but the timing had arrived, so how could he retreat?

Wei Yuan didn't even know if he was in the game, let alone participating in such a game of immortal pieces, and he felt a bit lonely.

Zhang Sheng seemed to know what he was thinking and said lightly: "Every immortal, before ascending, was once a chess piece and also once something fished by others. No need to think so much; soldiers come, block with generals; water comes, cover with earth. Just do what you should do. Even if this matter is an immortal's move, as long as it is the right thing to do, just do it."

Hearing this, Wei Yuan's spirit lifted, and the trace of decadence vanished. Just as Zhang Sheng said, even if he knew someone was pushing behind the scenes, Wei Yuan would inevitably have detonated the karmic fire at that time.

Otherwise, with eight hundred thousand Shaman troops charging into the position, Qingming's elite forces would have already suffered heavy losses, and the front line would likely have collapsed, at which point the civilian casualties alone would likely have been hundreds of thousands.

Putting aside his worries, Wei Yuan asked: "How long have I been unconscious, and how is the battle situation now?"

"You were unconscious for a day. When the karmic fire was still burning, the Shaman tribe retreated."

Wei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief; this matter was actually within his expectations. The Shaman tribe lost a million troops in one battle; although seven or eight hundred thousand remained, they were all commoners, slaves, and noble troops with no combat power. Such a rabble, which would collapse at a single charge, could only be used to guard territory and as tools to change heaven and earth, and could not be used in battle formations.

He remembered another matter and asked urgently: "Have the Shaman corpses been collected?"

"Collected."

(A line of garbled text)

Wei Yuan asked again: "What about their armor and weapons?"

"All cleaned up, ready to be returned to the furnace."

Wei Yuan asked again: "What about the mounts and such—has the meat been processed?"

This time, the old Daoist Chuhe answered on his behalf: "It has already been stored, and the toxins are being cleaned out."

Wei Yuan continued to ask: "What about the supplies in their military camps?"

Zhang Sheng really couldn't listen anymore and scolded: "You are, after all, a Domain Lord, with hundreds of thousands of troops and a million civilians under your command. Being so obsessed with money—what does that look like!"

Wei Yuan said sincerely: "I am this Domain Lord, and I have to support over a million people; naturally, I have to be a bit frugal. With so much spent on fighting, how can I not find a way to recoup some costs?"

Feng Chutang laughed and said: "My nephew is indeed a man of true character."

Wei Yuan felt this should be a compliment, but for some reason, he always felt it was a bit grating.

Seeing that Wei Yuan had woken up, the crowd stopped disturbing him and left one after another, leaving only Zhang Sheng in the room.

Wei Yuan moved his body, feeling empty all over, without a trace of strength, as all his Dao power had been consumed completely. Fortunately, there was nothing unusual in "Humanity's Fireworks," and it had already begun to absorb the heaven and earth's primordial energy and convert it into Dao power.

But there was still one major matter at hand, and Wei Yuan asked in a low voice: "When did they all come?"

Zhang Sheng said lightly: "Not long after you fell unconscious, the Shaman tribe retreated again. Everyone was worried about you, so they came over one after another. As a result, they heard legendary stories one after another. The stories were truly wonderful, so we have been listening until now."

Everything went black before Wei Yuan's eyes again, and he almost fainted again. He steadied himself and recalled the dream, in which it seemed there was nothing else besides being hunted, and he felt slightly relieved.

But Zhang Sheng suddenly leaned forward, and that incomparably beautiful hand reached into the quilt, grabbed Wei Yuan's vital point, and said with a half-smile:

"Master Master Wu Yuan, good methods, playing quite fancy! Tell me, who is Ruhua, who is Qing Si Yu, and who is Jingjing? Why did that little Master hunt you down for ten thousand miles?

The Master can also 'monk knocks on the door under the moon'; truly elegant. But after you finished, you 'the incense curls in the quiet Zen room, seeing no high monk but the moon's trace'; it's not very good to just pat your butt and leave like that, is it? If the Master can treat others like this, are you planning to treat us the same way in the future?"

Wei Yuan was truly about to faint this time, and he spoke without thinking, saying urgently: "Those were all the evil deeds of the lecherous monk Master Wu Yuan; it has nothing to do with me!"

Zhang Sheng increased the strength in his hand and said: "Good, then tell me properly what Master Wu Yuan did."

(End of chapter)