Longzang

Chapter 382 Fighting Alone
Wei Yuan claimed he had come alone, but Xu Chunyuan refused to believe him. He secretly released his divine sense, trying to locate the assassins lying in ambush nearby.

The prefectural governor's mansion was bustling with activity. Maids moved about busily, while guards stood ramrod straight in their positions, dutifully performing their duties. The steward, with his keen eyes, searched the entire mansion for even the most barely visible specks of dust. The whole place was both busy and eerily silent.

No one dared to slack off, because no one could escape the divine sense of the high-ranking cultivator. The first few who dared to slack off were beaten to death and dragged away on the spot, and the survivors lived in constant fear, as if walking on a tightrope.

There was nothing unusual in the mansion, and Xu Chunyuan's divine sense searched the area without finding any assassins. He was suddenly startled; he had actually been distracted! A formidable enemy was right beside him, and he had still been distracted!

Xu Chunyuan stood up abruptly, staring intently at Wei Yuan.

However, Wei Yuan still did not make a move, and said calmly, "There is no need to launch a sneak attack on a mere mid-stage Dharma Aspect cultivator."

"You junior are courting death!" Xu Chunyuan finally couldn't hold back any longer. A huge double-tailed scorpion appeared above his head, and one of its stingers stabbed down at Wei Yuan's head!
The hook fell swiftly, but halfway down, Xu Chunyuan suddenly saw Wei Yuan holding a bright red immortal sword, gently stroking its blade with his finger. Upon seeing that sword, he instantly felt a sense of impending doom!

Xu Chunyuan cried out in alarm. Although the scorpion tail was about to land on Wei Yuan's head, he withdrew his Dharma form and turned to flee.

At this moment, Xu Chunyuan was unaware that everything around him had become granular, and everything, including himself, seemed to be composed of countless extremely tiny particles. In this bizarre world, Xu Chunyuan clearly felt that he had been flying for a long time, but his body had not yet left the room.

Wei Yuan strolled over as if walking, walked up to Xu Chunyuan, and punched him hard in the stomach!
The force of this punch was unbelievable, like a mountain crashing down, shattering Xu Chunyuan's magical power, dispersing his physical energy, and breaking his spine.

Xu Chunyuan's back suddenly exploded, and countless pieces of flesh, internal organs, and bone fragments sprayed out backward. A huge hole appeared in his abdomen, and Wei Yuan's fist was right in front of the hole.

The force of that punch was worth a million!

The eerie particle world disappeared, and everything around returned to normal.

Xu Chunyuan trembled all over and was helped back to his seat by Wei Yuan. Wei Yuan put away the bright red immortal sword and said, "I don't need an immortal sword to deal with you. This sword is just for you to see."

Xu Chunyuan was filled with shame and anger. The twin-tailed scorpion above his head appeared and disappeared, struggling desperately. In truth, although his physical body was severely injured, he was not entirely without the ability to fight back. However, now his wounds were filled with pale red sword energy, constantly cutting and shattering his magical power, almost causing his Dharma form to disintegrate.

Even among Dao power, there are differences in quality. Logically speaking, the Dao power of a Dharma Aspect cultivator is highly refined, and it should be easily crushed when encountering the Dao power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. However, Wei Yuan's punch was initially pure physical strength, directly piercing through Xu Chunyuan's Dharma body. Immediately afterwards, he unleashed a ball of white gold tinged with pale red sword energy. This sword energy was of extremely high quality, and Xu Chunyuan's magical power crumbled upon contact!
The commotion at the garrison headquarters had already alerted the surrounding area. Two enormous Dharma images appeared from both sides of the garrison headquarters, approaching menacingly.

The warm pavilion vanished silently, revealing Wei Yuan and Xu Chunyuan seated side by side at the table. Wei Yuan looked up at the two Xu family elders who had rushed over. They immediately gasped and exclaimed, "Wei Yuan!"

Wei Yuan said, "I came alone because I wanted to test the abilities of the elders and settle some grudges."

The two elders exchanged glances, then looked at the two mysterious cultivators, one a scholar and the other a warrior, who had quietly appeared behind them. Although they did not know their identities, they were genuine Dharma Aspects.

A snake suddenly appeared and coiled itself around Xu Chunyuan's body. Then, several Dao Foundation Establishment warriors appeared in the air, wielding strange weapons, and aimed them at the two elders.

Wei Yuan smiled faintly and said, "You are all Dharma Masters of the Xu family..."

He had only spoken half a sentence when the elder, whose Dharma form was a six-clawed white tiger, suddenly turned and ran! The scholar behind him was caught off guard; the spinning sword and cannon in his hand had just begun to spin when the elder was already a hundred feet away!
This turn of events was completely unexpected for Wei Yuan, and he could only grit his teeth and finish the second half of his sentence: "...They're all trash."

By the time he finished speaking, the Xu family elder had already run far away, and they couldn't catch up. The scholar lost his target and then, together with the tall martial artist, surrounded the remaining Xu family elder.

The Xu family elder was a beat slow to react, only then realizing that the snake was actually a Dharma Aspect spirit beast! Adding Wei Yuan himself, wouldn't that make four Dharma Aspects?

The elder was filled with shock and anger. While defending himself, he shouted, "You even said you came alone! How shameless!"

Wei Yuan pointed at the snake and said calmly, "This one is not human." He added, "These two are my puppet guards. So I was not wrong to say that I came alone. Now we are fighting one-on-one, a fair contest. Be careful, I am about to make my move."

Wei Yuan pointed to the sky, and the dark clouds in the sky suddenly brightened a little. Several rays of sunlight pierced through the clouds and fell down. Then, they merged with Wei Yuan's Dao power in the air and transformed into a blazing stream of fire that fell down on the elder.

This Heavenly Fire Technique, when used in its normal form, would generate a ten-zhang (approximately 33 meters) stream of fire, while Wei Yuan's Heavenly Fire Technique's stream of fire starts at fifty zhang (approximately 33 meters)!

The Xu family elder was terrified, barely managing to block the Heavenly Fire Technique under the fierce attack of the two Dharma Aspects, one civil and one martial. However, more and more sunlight pierced through the sky, and streams of fire fell one after another, resembling a nine-tiered celestial palace from afar!
Just then, a fierce battle erupted throughout the pass, with flames bursting everywhere. Countless people suddenly launched an attack, storming key locations such as the garrison headquarters, patrol posts, armories, and granaries. Although these people were few in number, they were all highly skilled, with more than half of them being Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Their shouts echoed throughout the entire city: "The Zhan Tian Gang is handling this matter. Anyone not involved should go home and lock their doors. Anyone who dares to obstruct us will be killed without mercy!"

Panic erupted within the fortress; chickens flew and dogs barked as people scattered in all directions. The name of the Zhan Tian Gang had long been renowned throughout the Western Regions. While the upper classes knew of the Zhan Tian Gang's origins, how could the common people possibly know? For the first time in nearly a century, bandits had actually breached Hanyang Pass!
Fires raged everywhere within the city walls, spreading fiercely. The Zhan Tian Gang members targeted military camps, government offices, and important government buildings. Even large trees in courtyards would instantly burst into flames if they sprinkled a handful of their powder on them.

The garrison patrolling inside the city rushed to the fire, but upon encountering the bandits, they instantly formed a three-tiered formation of low, medium, and high ranks. Gunfire erupted, and most of the government troops charging ahead fell instantly.

Similar scenes played out everywhere in the city. Bandits charged rampage, invincible, and the government patrols suffered heavy casualties when they encountered them, finding them no match for the enemy.

The main mobile forces within the city were stationed at the city gates and the four gates, with half of them concentrated at the west gate. The commanders guarding the four gates, seeing the unrest within the city but without orders from the garrison headquarters, only dared to send out small contingents to suppress the bandits, but these forces were quickly scattered upon entering the city.

More and more places within the city were on fire, but what was most terrifying were the streaks of fire falling from the sky above the naval base! The naval base was already engulfed in flames, with thick smoke billowing straight into the sky.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that several Dharma Aspect cultivators were engaged in a fierce battle at the Prefectural Governor's residence. No one would go to join the fray at this time, lest they be caught in the aftermath and die without a burial place.

Most of the troops inside the fortress were stationed in three military camps, but without the garrison commander's order, the army could not leave the camps even a step, or face death. Therefore, although the generals were extremely anxious, they were helpless and could only continuously send men to the garrison headquarters to investigate, but all of them never returned. Judging from the flames engulfing the garrison headquarters, it seemed they wouldn't be receiving any orders anytime soon.

Moments later, the streams of fire finally dissipated, the battle at the garrison headquarters came to an end, leaving only the burning mansion and government offices.

The Xu family elder was struck by over thirty Heavenly Fire Techniques from Wei Yuan, his magical power drained, and he was burned to a crisp. His soul and physical form were captured by Wei Yuan and sent across the vast land to be presented before the shadow in the moon.

The bird's head appeared, swallowed the Dharma image in one gulp, then spat out three streams of advanced fortune, leaving behind a thought: "Even if we are even."

Wei Yuan had initially thought he would need to sacrifice at least two more Dharma Aspects to balance things out, but unexpectedly, one low-level Dharma Aspect was enough. It seems the Shadow in the Moon has a particular fondness for human Dharma Aspects and souls.

It didn't actually take much time to kill this elder. Wei Yuan unleashed dozens of Heavenly Fire Techniques almost one after another, all at once, which only required a small fraction of his power.

Having dealt with Elder Faxiang, Wei Yuan had no more rivals within the city. He then gathered some of his rebellious subordinates and marched towards the south gate.

The guards at the South Gate were far fewer than those at the West Gate. Seeing the large band of bandits charging towards them, they panicked and drew their bows and crossbows to fire. However, the gate's defenses were directed outwards, not inwards. The bandits, using houses and dwellings as cover, continued to approach.

Just then, a military aura suddenly soared into the sky from afar, and a cavalry force of ten thousand men rolled in! Although there were only ten thousand cavalrymen, their military aura was in no way inferior to that of a hundred thousand border troops, and even surpassed it.

This cavalry unit was clearly marked, with one large banner bearing the words "Dingxi Jiedushi" and the other bearing the large character "Wei".

The rolling cavalry charged right up to the pass, and the leading officer shouted, "We are under orders from the military governor to pursue and kill the bandit Zhan Tianbang! Open the gate immediately, or you will be beheaded for delaying our military mission!"

(End of this chapter)