Longzang

Chapter 498 The First Batch of Offerings

Whether the Dao Domain is truly unparalleled in the world is unknown to Wei Yuan, because this mysterious name was given by the Immortal Lord who refined the Azure Netherworld.

After the Peerless Dao Domain is activated, all the fortune and feng shui within the domain will benefit humans but not non-humans, and the speed of transformation of heaven and earth will accelerate.

The second function is that if the power of the Azure Nether is consumed, it can clear all spells and magic cast by enemies within the realm, including natural disaster spells.

According to this immortal, the Azure Nether Power consumed in dispelling curses only requires a quarter of the power of the curse, as long as the opponent is not using immortal magic, since Azure Nether is in harmony with the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth.

If the spell was not cast by Yujing, then the cost will drop drastically to one-tenth of the enemy's mana.

Thirdly, when clearing enemy spells, depending on factors such as the current feng shui of heaven and earth, and the fortune of both spellcasters, the power of the Dao domain can randomly inflict additional damage on the enemy spellcaster, with the method of attack being similar to curse killing.

Wei Yuan was both surprised and delighted to learn about the new wonders.

The name "Peerless Dao Domain" sounds incredibly grand, but its functions are indeed formidable. After activating this wondrous feature, it becomes somewhat plausible that Qingming is the number one boundary stone in the world.

At this moment, Qingming trembled continuously, and the entire realm was changing, with a mysterious and profound feeling filling the world.

The blood-red clouds in the sky were noticeably lighter in color, and the killing power of the falling blood rain had been reduced by at least 30%. There were far fewer red leaves drifting in the air, only about 20-30% of what they used to be.

This was only the effect of the Peerless Dao Domain automatically activating, yet it already significantly reduced the Witch Clan's curse. Wei Yuan attempted to activate the power of the Dao Domain, and a bell immediately rang in his ears, instantly resounding throughout the entire realm.

An invisible gale seemed to rise from the azure sky, sweeping away all the red leaves and scattering the blood-red clouds in the sky. In that instant, Wei Yuan's mind connected with the azure sky, and he vaguely sensed a hostile entity in the distance.

Wei Yuan then followed the method recorded in the Divine Mystery, mixing the chaotic resentment, evil thoughts, and misfortune generated by the witchcraft together and attaching it to the divine lightning. Then, he struck the guy with a bolt of lightning!
Nine hundred miles away, Hongye, her face pale, said, "My witchcraft has been broken!"

The Holy Witch was greatly surprised and said, "The world is withering? Isn't that your innate witchcraft? Even we Holy Witches can hardly dispel it and can only withstand it. Who could break your innate witchcraft? Could it be that a Celestial Lord of the human race has secretly intervened?"

Hongye's expression shifted between light and dark as she frowned and said, "That feeling is very strange, like an immortal, but not entirely, it's ambiguous... What kind of person is that!"

A shadow suddenly appeared in the void above him, and then a bolt of dark lightning, bluish-yellow in color and emitting a foul stench, struck down.

The lightning struck without warning, arriving in an instant. Caught off guard, Hongye was hit squarely, his head spinning, his stomach churning violently, and an indescribable stench erupting from within, causing him to instantly kneel on the ground and violently vomit up all the food he had eaten over the past few days!
The holy shaman beside him stared in disbelief, exclaiming, "This, this lightning..."

The power of this dark lightning itself wasn't great, but the chaotic and nonsensical true meanings attached to it were deadly. They were the sum of things that all sentient beings abhor, such as stench, rot, decay, stickiness, disease, and so on.

What a living being hates most can be found here, in its mouth and stomach, and even in its primordial spirit and sea of ​​consciousness. Therefore, isolating one's consciousness here is useless.

Even with Hongye's cultivation level, she would have to spit it out on the spot without any preparation.

In the azure sky, Wei Yuan unleashed a bolt of lightning using the power of his Dao Domain, only to find its power unexpectedly weak. However, the chaotic and varied true meanings that amplified it made the hostile figure even clearer in his perception. It was as if, in the vast darkness, a distant candle, which had initially been just a faint flickering light, had now transformed into a gigantic torch.

Wei Yuan immediately understood the function of this Taoist technique: it was a mark. It could make the person who cast the spell on Qingming nowhere to hide.

In fact, there was no need to mark it. Based on the direction and distance of the hostile person, Wei Yuan was able to determine that it must be Hongye.

However, now that the power of the Dao Domain has been activated, Wei Yuan's perception has become extremely peculiar. He feels as if there is no distance between him and Hongye, and any Dao technique can directly lock onto and land on Hongye. The vast world hundreds of miles between the two of them seems to be illusory and non-existent.

Wei Yuan's heart stirred, and he suddenly noticed that the Red Lotus Bodhi was shrouded in black mist, as if enveloped in thick smoke. Its trunk and branches had turned blood red, so red that it seemed to be dripping blood. This was because the karmic burden had become so overwhelming that even a rare treasure like the Red Lotus Bodhi could not digest it.

Wei Yuan suddenly remembered that the Arhat had also passed down a Red Lotus Salvation Mantra, but there had never been an occasion to use it before. Now, as if struck by a flash of inspiration, he recalled the mantra again.

Wei Yuan immediately connected with the Red Lotus Bodhi with his divine sense, drawing upon its overflowing karmic power, and then began chanting the Red Lotus Universal Salvation Mantra: "...All worldly teachings should be viewed in this way..."

In the blink of an eye, the mantra was finished. Wei Yuan made a finger gesture and pointed it towards the red leaf, and the mantra was instantly completed. Most of the karma of the Red Lotus Bodhi disappeared instantly, and the eerie blood-red light on the tree also dimmed.

The red leaves in the Dao Domain seemed to have been struck on the head, their aura suddenly dropped, and then disappeared like bubbles, leaving only a vast Dao Domain, nothing else.

A sudden flash of insight struck Wei Yuan, and he exclaimed, "This is the Dao of Cause and Effect!"

It turns out that the vast天地 (heaven and earth) within the Dao Domain is indeed an illusion; only cause and effect exist. That bolt of Yin Lightning was a Dao technique used to mark the opponent and strengthen cause and effect, allowing for the subsequent application of more powerful techniques. Truly the work of an immortal!
Wei Yuan felt a pang of regret. If he had known this would happen, he would have been better off giving Hongye a Celestial Twilight spell and sending the old man to his death.

However, the Red Lotus Salvation Mantra doesn't seem to be a benevolent entity either.

Since the start of the great war, at least tens of thousands of Wu tribe members have died directly or indirectly at Wei Yuan's hands, and more than ten thousand civilians have died in battle under Wei Yuan's orders. There are also all sorts of other inexplicable causes and effects, the karmic burden so heavy that even the Bodhi tree before the Buddha could not bear it. In the end, Wei Yuan used a mantra of universal salvation to send away half of the karmic burden.

Therefore, judging by his methods alone, that wise and virtuous Arhat who saved all beings was probably quite ruthless back then.

Without thinking too much, Wei Yuan seized the opportunity of giving Hongye a hard blow and immediately led his army straight ahead, driving the routed soldiers out of Qingming. Then, he suddenly turned left and attacked the flank of the central legion of the Wu army.

At this moment, a series of desolate horn calls echoed across the battlefield, and the witch army retreated like a tide.

Seeing that the Wu tribe had retreated a little, Wei Yuan realized that the battle had already been won.

At this moment, on the altar in the middle of the lake, Hongye's eyes were bleeding, and a thick black aura lingered between his brows. His body exuded an aura of decay and decay, making him appear hundreds of years older. He felt sticky all over, as if he hadn't bathed for several days.

He suddenly wiped his nose and found his hand covered in blood!

The blood was dark purple and had a foul, putrid stench.

Hongye reached out and grabbed the Holy Witch, saying hoarsely, "Quick! Take me to the Great Altar, you will preside over the purification ritual! Damn humans, they have polluted my cultivation foundation with karma!"

The Holy Wizard asked in surprise, "How did they do that? I didn't notice anything at all."

Hongye gritted her teeth and said, "It's the Dao of Cause and Effect! They have immortals among them!"

The holy shaman became serious, picked up the red leaf, and flew away into the distance. Before leaving, he instructed a ghost shaman, "Withdraw your troops first. We will return in seven days."

As soon as Hongye left, the Wu Clan army immediately went their own way and retreated in complete chaos. Wei Yuan pursued them with all his might and killed tens of thousands of heads, but he only chased them out of the boundary for thirty miles before stopping and returning to Qingming.

The great battle has come to an end.

But Wei Yuan knew this was only the first battle. The Witch Clan clearly held the advantage on the battlefield, so he didn't know why they suddenly withdrew. Perhaps it was because he had given Hongye a "Salvation Mantra"?

Another possibility is that the Wu tribe's military might not be as invincible as it seems. Their use of secret methods to suppress the soldiers' fear and will to survive may come at a high cost and not last long.

Wei Yuan immediately brought out the elite troops he had been keeping hidden and stationed them at the edge of the territory. Then he ordered the civilians who were waiting to be mobilized to clean up the battlefield.

Roughly estimated, nearly 150,000 Qingming soldiers died in this battle, 90% of whom were civilians. The 20,000 Dragon Wing Dragon Soaring Army remained intact and did not participate in the battle. Of the 150,000 regular troops of the Five Armies, more than 20,000 were killed or wounded, but their strength was basically preserved.

Of the 80,000 civilians who bravely faced death, 20,000 perished in battle, and the remainder would be sent to the battlefield in batches. Once the newly recruited refugees were reorganized, they would be taken to the battlefield.

Each of the 80,000 men wore a metal tag around their neck, engraved with their name and brief identification information. This was also learned from Xu Wenwu's records. This way, even if someone died in battle and their face was disfigured, their identity could still be known.

Surprisingly, Wei Yuan actually gained a lot of luck when the small steel tokens were distributed. It seems that no one has ever cared about these mortals. In the eyes of the rulers of the nine kingdoms, a mortal who dies is dead. There is no need to waste time knowing their names, and there is no need to bury or cremate them. There are special pits for piling up corpses, so they can just be thrown in.

The Wu tribe suffered at least 350,000 corpses and hundreds of thousands more wounded. The vast majority of the Wu tribe died from artillery fire and missile attacks; gunshot wounds were relatively rare.

But people couldn't cheer; almost everyone knew someone who had died in the war. Everyone was busy working, and only the busyness could make them forget their grief for a moment.

At this moment, the ground floor of the Lingxiao Hall of Heroes had just been completed, and people were already setting up rows of shelves inside. Desks were lined up at the entrance of the hall, and Cai Shizhi's students sat behind them. They received an identity card and wrote the information on it onto a memorial tablet. Then, people would carry the tablets one by one to the shelves for worship.

A boy, clearly not yet an adult, carried several memorial tablets to the empty wooden shelf. He placed the tablets one by one, softly reciting as he did so. His still-childish voice echoed in a corner of the hall:

"...Hu Laosan, Liao Yong... no, no, it's Pei, Pei Yi..."

(End of this chapter)