Chapter 678

Wei Yuan was still savoring the feeling of that sword strike against the Body Forging Realm freak, but it was a pity that at the time, Feng Feng Tingyu's black energy had blocked all spiritual sense, and Wei Yuan had not expected this freak's Dharma body to be so hard, practically comparable to an ordinary spirit treasure.

If he had known this earlier, he would have slashed at the legs instead of the waist; he could have at least cut off a lower leg to keep as a souvenir.

The best option would naturally have been to slash the neck, but Feng Feng Tingyu's Dharma Form blocked perception, and Wei Yuan was afraid of missing, so he chose a waist slash, but he hadn't expected that he wouldn't be able to cut through.

Now Wei Yuan could only look at the newly added one thousand-plus Heavenly Merits and sigh helplessly.

"I found a treasure; I picked it up from that freak just now," Feng Feng Tingyu said, handing something wrapped in oil paper to Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan did not doubt it and took it casually, only to feel that the paper was greasy, getting oil stains all over his hand.

Wei Yuan wiped his hand on his lapel and opened the oil paper, seeing a round egg wrapped inside, emitting a somewhat eerie aura; just smelling it made him feel like vomiting.

Wei Yuan had a vague, ominous feeling in his heart and asked, "Where did this thing come from?"

"When I slashed that freak, it fell out, and then I also fished a piece of paper off him, so I just wrapped it in the paper."

Wei Yuan suddenly thought of what the Demon Blade July had said earlier, and a sense of foreboding arose in his heart. He looked at Feng Feng Tingyu's crystal-clear, white hands, which were without a single stain, while his own hands were covered in yellowish-brown, oily filth from the oil paper.

Wei Yuan gritted his teeth, first storing the egg of questionable origin into his storage magic treasure, and then discovered that there seemed to be writing on the oil paper.

He suppressed his nausea, wrapped his hands in Dao power, and unfolded it to see a design diagram drawn on the oil paper, followed by dense annotations. The words "Life-Transformation Pool" were written in large characters on the design.

Wei Yuan swept his spiritual sense over it and suddenly discovered that the oily filth on the oil paper was an indispensable material for building the Life-Transformation Pool. Thus, he remained calm, wiped his hands clean with his lapel, took off his outer robe and put it into his storage bag, and then changed into a new set of clothes.

After doing all this, Wei Yuan still couldn't help but ask Feng Feng Tingyu, "Why aren't your hands dirty?"

Feng Feng Tingyu said, "My hands are very resistant to these things, so I kept them supported with Dao power the whole time and didn't let them touch it. Oh, the hand means that it doesn't want to shake hands with you for the next seven days."

Wei Yuan was speechless and asked one more question: "Was this thing cut out or did it fall out?"

"Aren't they the same thing? It seemed to be growing on his body, and then I cut it off with one slash. But the blade didn't seem very happy either."

Wei Yuan finally gave up hope.

At this moment, he was in a terrible mood, so he turned his gaze toward the two surviving leaders of the men in black. Wei Yuan had his own principles for killing: he usually killed those with strong cultivation but weak magic treasures, and spared the lives of those with weak cultivation but strong magic treasures.

As for the rest, he decided based on his mood for those with strong cultivation and strong magic treasures; he would casually slap to death those with weak cultivation and weak magic treasures, perhaps not even remembering them.

At this time, the masks of the two leaders of the men in black had naturally been removed, revealing their true faces, and their commonly used magic treasures and personal collections were all laid out on the ground nearby for identification.

Wei Yuan actually had some impression of one of them, so he searched his memory and remembered seeing this person at the Prince of Wei's night banquet; at the time, he was a powerful and fierce general under the Prince of Wei.

Was this batch of assassins sent by the Prince of Wei? But Wei Yuan didn't think the Prince of Wei could have such grand resources.

"Who are you people?"

That general stared at Wei Yuan and sneered, "You dare to meddle in the grand affairs of the Left Prime Minister and the Crown Prince; you are dead!"

Wei Yuan laughed, "So you also threw your lot in with the Crown Prince; it seems the Prince of Wei is indeed finished. Which eye of yours saw me meddling in the affairs of the Left Prime Minister and the Crown Prince?"

The general said, "I saw it with my own eyes just now!"

"Oh, saw it with your own eyes? Then dig out both his eyes."

Two soldiers immediately took action, and the general let out a miserable scream as his eyes turned into two bloody holes.

Wei Yuan asked again, "Which eye of yours saw me meddling in the affairs of the Left Prime Minister and the Crown Prince?"

The general trembled all over and cursed loudly, actually refusing to beg for mercy.

Wei Yuan then said, "Uncle Sun, destroy his Dharma Form, but keep him alive."

Sun Yu remained silent as the Poison Scorpion of the Cauldron appeared, spraying a cloud of toxic mist containing elixir fire onto the general, instantly eroding his Dharma Form until it was riddled with holes. The general fainted from the pain, only to wake up again in the blink of an eye, suddenly feeling that the whole world had changed; his spiritual sense had already vanished.

He was both shocked and furious, saying, "You, you are so vicious!"

Wei Yuan said calmly, "This is the price for opposing me. Your master might be fine, but you dogs will not only die, you will die very miserably. I will spare your life; remember to tell your master well about what happened here, and don't leave anything out."

The other leader saw Wei Yuan looking over and gave a bitter smile before saying, "I am the younger brother of the Left Prime Minister. If Lord Wei can show mercy, I will certainly do my best to speak well of you before my elder brother and the Crown Prince when I return."

Wei Yuan said calmly, "Speak well of me? Is speaking well of any use? Great Jin is beset by internal and external troubles, and the Crown Prince has the throne within his grasp, yet he doesn't think about how to resist foreign enemies, spending all day long on these useless things.

I will spare your life; you take a message for me: I have sent both the Prince of Chu and Consort Yuan back; if you have the ability, try moving against one of them. In addition, tell the Crown Prince to quickly send the seal of the Great Tang Qingyang Military Governor. If he refuses to grant it, then I will seek it from Zhao Guo."

The younger brother of the Left Prime Minister remained silent for a moment before saying, "I will certainly deliver it."

"Say it exactly as I said it; don't change a single word."

The younger brother of the Left Prime Minister said, "... This is a challenge to the dignity of the sovereign; the Crown Prince absolutely cannot agree."

Wei Yuan laughed, "That is why you still need more experience. He will definitely agree."

The man stopped speaking.

Wei Yuan pointed to the corpses all over the ground and said, "Three thousand elite troops, wouldn't it be better to use them to fight Northern Liao? Used against me, they didn't even make a splash. Even if you send another thirty thousand, it would be the same; do you agree?"

Whether the man believed it or not, he had to nod.

Wei Yuan was very satisfied and ordered his men to strip the general whose Dharma Form had been destroyed and tie him to a tree.

As for the younger brother of the Left Prime Minister, Sun Yu sprayed him with a cloud of toxic mist, which would cause him to fall gravely ill upon returning, unable to use magic power for three years, after which Wei Yuan let him go.

At this time, another troop arrived from the rear, consisting of over two hundred imperial guards. Seeing the corpses of the men in black all over the battlefield, they were already scared out of their wits. Wei Yuan had them change back into their uniforms and escort Consort Yuan back to the capital along the way.

The men in black who intercepted Consort Yuan were arranged by the Crown Prince, while the freak who suddenly appeared was related to the world of the Luo Han. Wei Yuan didn't know if there was any connection between the two now, but he thought there likely was, otherwise they wouldn't have cooperated so tacitly.

But that freak had been hit by a strike from the Space-Extinguishing Dagger, and his Mind-Reflection World had shattered by at least ten percent. With such heavy wounds, it was unknown how long it would take for him to recover, and his realm might even drop.

No matter how powerful an organization was, a peak Body Forging Realm expert wasn't a cabbage; Wei Yuan estimated that those people wouldn't be able to send a second one for a while.

At this time, the carriage convoy was reorganized, and Wei Yuan's men all withdrew, with the guns and cannons also unloaded, leaving the imperial guards to take over.

Subsequently, the convoy set off, heading east. Consort Yuan poked her head out of the carriage window and waved at Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan nodded slightly, signaling a farewell.

The convoy gradually moved further and further away.

The Qingming troops had already finished cleaning up the battlefield, and the Human World Renjian Yanhuo had calculated the results: a total of three thousand black-clad dead soldiers were killed, along with one hundred Dao Foundation Realm and four Dharma Form Realm experts. The spoils of war collected were worth nine hundred thousand taels of immortal silver.

Wei Yuan sighed; these dead soldiers and the like really didn't have much wealth. With so many people, the wealth on their bodies combined couldn't even reach one million taels. But thinking about it, if they had money, who would be willing to do this kind of work?

The army set off, returning to Qingming.

The Little Prince of Chu also returned to the capital with Consort Yuan this time. He was the karma of the Luo Han; he wasn't so easy to kill, nor was he so easy to manipulate.

As they were about to reach Qingming, all the cultivators suddenly had a change in expression, sensing a distinct aura of a heavenly tribulation.

This heavenly tribulation seemed both far and near, as if it were in Qingming, yet also as if it were not.

Wei Yuan soared into the air and flew toward Qingming, with the other cultivators following one after another. This heavenly tribulation was extraordinary, giving people an exceptionally eerie feeling.

Just as he was about to enter Qingming, Wei Yuan suddenly remembered something and hurriedly took out a silk scarf to tie it on before flying into Qingming to search for the source of the tribulation. However, he flew several circles within Qingming and was actually unable to determine where the heavenly tribulation was!

The cultivators of the Grand Void Palace were the same, all returning empty-handed.

Wei Yuan then took stock of the cultivators within Qingming who might be undergoing a tribulation, and finally discovered that Bao Yun was nowhere to be found. However, these cultivators of the Grand Void Palace had always come and gone as they pleased, and no one else knew where Bao Yun had gone.

Just like that, the aura of the heavenly tribulation persisted for nearly half a day before dissipating.

A normal heavenly tribulation mostly lasted about the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn, ending after a few bolts of lightning struck down.

Wei Yuan's heavenly tribulations were more complex, coming both more frequently and fiercely, and were extremely targeted; basically, none of the preparations Wei Yuan made in advance were ever useful. Some people were favored by heaven and earth, while others were targeted by heaven and earth; Wei Yuan clearly belonged to the latter.

Zhang Sheng's heavenly tribulation was another kind of extreme, with over five hundred layers of tribulation; by the time she finished, especially with the three hundred-plus human-rank flying swords, she was left feeling restless, treating it entirely as polishing her Dao heart.

This heavenly tribulation that occurred in Qingming lasted for a considerable amount of time, yet it had no obvious fluctuations; it was related to this realm, yet not in this realm, and was abnormally eerie. He didn't know what kind of heavenly tribulation it was. Wei Yuan went to the Merit Hall to flip through books in an emergency, but there were no results.

As dusk approached, a soft, ethereal voice suddenly sounded in Wei Yuan's ear: "Come to Ding'an City to see me."

Wei Yuan was both shocked and delighted; this was Bao Yun's voice!

He took off immediately, arriving at Ding'an City in a moment, and walked into Bao Yun's mansion.

In the newly built Ding'an City, the area of Bao Yun's City Lord's Mansion was several times larger than the original, with a five-story main building, plus a back garden and several side gardens. The main building was very magnificent and elegant, with vermilion pillars supporting lotus-like brackets, glazed roofs, and flying eaves with quite exquisite curves.

As for the garden, it was also laid out with great care. Blue bricks and white tiles enclosed the back garden, with tender gardenias peeking over the wall, April peach blossoms spreading in the wind, immortal trees wreathed in mist, and scattered moss dotted among the stones. Inside the garden hung Xiangfei bamboo curtains, with several pebble paths behind them, flanked by waist-high bamboo, winding toward a side garden. In the side garden, corridors twisted and turned, with bronze incense burners shaped like wind chimes hanging under the eaves, rising with curling blue smoke to nourish the spiritual sense. There were also several spirit lanterns embedded with fluorite, which would emit a hazy blue light like living things when people walked by.

Bao Yun was different from the other cultivators of the Grand Void Palace; she came from the Bao family and had been accustomed to a luxurious life since she was young. Forcing her to live a frugal life in a small, dilapidated room would instead affect her Dao heart.

The cultivators of the Grand Void Palace were not people who insisted on suffering unnecessarily; they just mostly felt it was troublesome and unnecessary. In situations where they didn't need to worry, they naturally lived as comfortably as possible.

Just like Xu Xu Henshui, the courtyard he arranged was almost comparable to the Yaochi Immortal Realm. Originally, he intended to plant nine more immortal orchids, but upon discovering that Wei Yuan didn't have enough orchids, he immediately stuffed them all to Wei Yuan, his ambition clearly revealed.

Or like Master Chuhe, the materials for his small courtyard were changed again and again. The house he built looked simple and plain, with the elegant interest of a quiet mountain wilderness, but in reality, many of the stones on the walls were precious, strange stones dug from deep underground.

Sitting in this room, the cultivation speed directly doubled, and the luck increased by fifty percent.

The old Daoist also loved eating hot pot. Fortunately, the guinea pigs were particularly prolific, and with one old Daoist plus three foster fathers working hard to eat, there were more and more of them, and it looked like they were about to become a disaster.

The old Daoist was still fine; relying on his cultivation, his physique didn't change, but Xu Xu Wenwu had grown fat by a full circle, adding meat to his Dharma body at a rate of one catty per day.

Seeing the examples of Xu Xu Henshui and the old Daoist Master Chuhe, Wei Yuan was lost in thought. Plus, with Consort Yuan arriving and having nowhere to stay, he embarked on a major construction project, building a new immortal city under the main peak.

When the immortal city was first built, all the cultivators said it was unnecessary and a waste of effort. But once the immortal city was built, everyone silently moved in. Even Sun Yu, Xu Xu Henshui, and Master Chuhe, who had their own residences, each occupied a set of quarters in the immortal city; no one refused.

Therefore, when Wei Yuan rebuilt Ding'an City, he specifically referred to the scenes he saw at the Bao family's estate to rebuild the residence for Bao Yun.

However, now, this large mansion was quiet. As soon as he stepped through the courtyard gate, Wei Yuan immediately felt that the surroundings had darkened. It was originally approaching dusk, but at this moment, it had turned into the beginning of nightfall.

Inside and outside the courtyard, it was as if they were two different worlds.

The lights in every room were on, and it was brightly lit everywhere, yet it was deathly silent, without the slightest sound of people, or even the sound of wind or trees. He didn't know who had lit the lamps in the rooms.

Wei Yuan frowned slightly and used his spiritual sense to look around, but he didn't discover any abnormalities. The only abnormality was that a wisp of the heavenly tribulation's aura permeated the courtyard, causing any living creature to tremble instinctively.

Wei Yuan walked toward the main building, where the aura of the heavenly tribulation was most intense. As soon as he stepped through the building's entrance, the lights in the room suddenly turned a deep red!

This red was not blazing or bright, but thick and damp, as if dripping from the ceiling and seeping from the walls, as if composed of countless tiny, wriggling particles, and every piece of red was watching Wei Yuan.

He ignored the red around him and quickly climbed the stairs, floor by floor. The higher he went, the thicker the red became, and the more violently it wriggled.

Entering the top floor and stepping into Bao Yun's bedroom, Wei Yuan saw a woman draped in a bright red wedding dress sitting quietly by the bed. The bridal veil covered her face, but judging by her figure, it seemed to be Bao Yun.

Wei Yuan felt a chill in his heart and attempted to mobilize the power of the domain, but immediately discovered that the entire mansion was shrouded in a strange power; the power of the Peerless Dao Domain could not be mobilized. Wei Yuan wanted to manifest the Human World Renjian Yanhuo, but it was also blocked by this strange power from beyond the heavens.

Wei Yuan's heart sank; had something happened to Bao Yun?

At this moment, the woman sitting on the bed said, "It's getting late; it's time to rest."

This was Bao Yun's voice, but it was calm, mechanical, without fluctuations, and permeated with coldness from the inside out, not like a living creature.

Wei Yuan's expression darkened, and he prepared to step forward and directly lift the woman's veil.

But just as he was about to move, a cold will suddenly appeared, filling the entire room. Extreme chill seeped into his skin, instantly covering Wei Yuan's body with a layer of ice, making it difficult for him to move.

Wei Yuan exerted force throughout his body, his internal Dao power burning like a furnace, instantly dispelling the extreme cold. He took a large step forward and tore off the woman's veil!

Under the veil was Bao Yun's face.

Only at this moment, her small face was pale, and her eyes were filled with despair and panic.

She said to Wei Yuan, "Please, husband, undress and rest early."

The voice was still mechanical and cold, like a lifeless object.

But the movement of her lips was not like this; from her lip-reading, Wei Yuan read: "I am already dead; run away quickly!"

Wei Yuan suddenly felt a surge of hot blood rush to his crown!

(End of chapter)