Dragon Canon

Having been inexplicably spat on, Wei Yuan was naturally far from pleased. However, since he couldn’t find any trace of the monster, he could only vent his frustrations by slaying the sand wolves.

Another stream of black liquid fell from the sky, plunging directly into the Great Realm and leaving behind another hundred-li stretch of scorched earth. At the moment, the area around the jade hill was teeming with vitality, and the ground had largely turned into fertile soil. However, the affected area was no more than a dozen li in radius; a tiny speck compared to the entire Great Realm. Hitting it would require quite a bit of luck, and clearly, luck was on Wei Yuan’s side at the moment.

Despite being struck by two consecutive bursts of poison, Wei Yuan remained unfazed. He merely felt a brief, sharp pain in his head.

The poison, which struck directly at one’s Dao Foundation or Avatar, seemed to cost the monster a significant amount of energy. It fell silent after spewing just two bursts. This should have been good news, but Wei Yuan’s heart sank instead—if the monster wasn’t targeting him, did that mean it was heading for someone else?

Apart from Ji Liuli and Yu Zhizhuo, it was likely that no one else could withstand the monster’s poison. If his Dao Foundation stage cultivators were scattered, they might even struggle to protect themselves. And if the monster targeted them, they would likely end up in its stomach as nourishment!

He had to break the array as soon as possible!

Fortunately, the array had been abandoned for a long time, and the monster did not seem capable of controlling it. Many of the array’s built-in lethal methods had not been activated. Wei Yuan spent a moment recalling the knowledge he had learned when he first studied arrays. To break this one, he would have to rely on attrition. Other options required one to possess True Lord-level methods, or to be an array genius like Ji Liuli—and only one who possessed Avatar-level cultivation had a chance of succeeding.

It seemed he had no choice but to fight a war of attrition. Fortunately, with the grotto-heaven shattered, the great array’s spirit qi wasn’t constantly being replenished. Over the past few years, much of its spirit qi reserves had already been depleted as well, so there was still hope.

A dazzling right of light burst forth before Wei Yuan, and a water jet streaked with golden light shot out. Two sand wolves that had failed to dodge the spell in time were instantly reduced to a mist of blood. The water jet then struck the cliff face, sending rocks flying in all directions and carving a massive hole in the rock at a visible pace.

The water jet moved rather clumsily, while the sand wolves were agile and nimble. Most of them were able to dodge it. But while the sand wolves could evade the attack, the cliff face could not. Destroying the space itself was tantamount to destroying the array. As his teacher had once explained in class, a True Lord striking with full force could shatter a dozen miniature worlds at once. Thus, a dozen such strikes would be enough to break the entire array. It was the fastest method to break an array like this.

Although Wei Yuan’s Golden Light Water Blade spell lacked agility, its power was overwhelming—equivalent to a single strike from an Avatar. It made it perfectly suited for shattering spaces within an array.

The sand wolves were numerous and possessed sentience. They were also entities condensed from vast amounts of spirit qi by the array, so they could not be spared. Wei Yuan pointed a finger, and a faceless warrior wielding a saber and a spiked shield appeared before him. A single shield strike from the warrior was enough to send several sand wolves flying, not to mention there were spikes on the shield’s face that inflicted horrific wounds on them. The wounds were fatal, and they turned to light the moment they hit the ground.

Seeing that the tactic was working, Wei Yuan waved his hand and summoned dozens more faceless warriors. They were all using a square cauldron as shield and the Immortal Sword White Drizzle as a weapon. They all possessed the combat prowess of a Dao Foundation stage cultivator.

The dozens of faceless warriors immediately got to slaughtering the sand wolves. Immune to fear and pain, it wasn’t long before they left many corpses strewn across the ground. Though the sand wolves outnumbered them, the faceless warriors were by no means a small force. At first, they fought independently, but as the battle progressed, Wei Yuan’s control grew more refined, and they gradually began to coordinate their efforts. As a result, the slaughter accelerated.

Meanwhile, the Golden Light Water Blade spell was still firing at full power, now sweeping sideways. It carved a gully into the cliff face that was several zhang deep and ten zhang wide. Finally, the cliff could no longer bear its own weight and began to collapse in droves.

Ever since Yu Zhizhuo showed up, Wei Yuan had spent nearly every day digging the earth as per his senior uncle’s whims. Thanks to it, he had gained considerable knowledge regarding the properties of matter. For example, he could tell at first glance that the cliff face was weathered and ancient, loose and brittle. It was a prime target for destruction.

The miniature worlds within the array had not arisen from nothing. It fundamentally had to adhere to the existing laws of nature to function smoothly. Since this cliff followed the laws of nature, it was Wei Yuan’s to manipulate as he pleased.

Having made a good start, Wei Yuan’s spirit lifted. He turned his attention to destroying another cliff.

After one cliff collapsed, Wei Yuan sensed the spirit qi within the miniature world plummeting by a whopping thirty percent. In comparison, the faceless warriors had slain over a hundred sand wolves and depleted just five percent of spirit qi.

Moments later, the other cliff collapsed, and the miniature world teetered on the brink of collapse. After Wei Yuan carefully examined the geological patterns of the exposed rock veins, he cast the Golden Light Water Blade spell once more and struck a deep hole at several key points.

The miniature world immediately began to shake violently as the cliff face collapsed with a commotion that was easily several times greater than before. In fact, the entire face slid down like it had been struck by a force of nature!

With that the miniature world shattered completely. Throughout this time, Wei Yuan hadn’t even located the eye of the array. He reckoned it had been hidden somewhere within the cliff face and collapsed along with it.

Wei Yuan entered the next miniature world. As it turned out, it had a solitary peak standing at the center!

While directing the faceless warriors to slaughter the guardians, Wei Yuan circled the peak halfway. Moments later, the peak crashed down with a thunderous roar and shattered the miniature world with it—once more, Wei Yuan had not seen the eye of the array.

The third miniature world turned out to be a poisonous swamp. It would seem that Wei Yuan’s luck had finally run out.

The area was mired in mud and water everywhere, with a thin mist hovering over the ground. It was clearly toxic. Soon, countless figures emerged from the surrounding mist—some were swamp alligators, while others were heavily armored warriors. Also, deep within the distant swamp, a powerful presence lingered.

Clearly, the monster had cast Wei Yuan into this miniature world specifically to prevent him from destroying it again.

But Wei Yuan sneered internally. Who said that a swamp couldn’t be dug through? In Yu Zhizhuo’s eyes, any piece of land could be dug—even lava or quicksand. The method was quite simple as well: just reverse the process used to reinforce mine shafts. Since swamps often had underground currents, it would actually save Wei Yuan a great deal of effort.

Moments later, the swamp trembled. The ground suddenly began to sink continuously, and the accumulated water drained into the earth, leaving behind a muddy expanse where countless fish and shrimp writhed in the sludge.

Once again, the miniature world had shattered. The formidable presence in the distance might have been the eye of the array, but Wei Yuan didn’t look.

......

In another miniature world, there was once a lush and verdant forest. However, the trees lay toppled, as if they’d weathered a violent storm. Above the trees, a nine-level treasure pagoda was shining brightly and encompassing everything below it in a barrier that subdued devils and vanquished evils.

Countless half-humanoid, half-beast monstrosities were surrounding Ji Liuli, all of them moving at a snail’s pace as if they were carrying a mountain on their shoulders. The woman fired a continuous burst of golden light and slew them one by one.

Only after hundreds of the monstrosities were killed did the miniature world finally shatter.

......

In another miniature world, the forest was exceptionally dense and filled with ancient trees towering dozens of zhang high.

Suddenly, a clearing appeared in the thicket. Not only had the ancient trees vanished, but a massive pit over ten zhang deep had opened in the ground.

Zhang Sheng stood in the air and beckoned with his hand. His immortal sword automatically flew into his brow.

Zhang Sheng stood motionless. Sure enough, the earth started trembling, and this miniature world began to collapse.

Suddenly, the swordsman let out a few violent coughs, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

Zhang Sheng furrowed his brow slightly. This was only the second miniature world; who knew how many more lay ahead? But if he took this slowly, the others might be in grave danger. This was doubly true for Wei Yuan—for whatever reason, it seemed that the monster had set its sights on him.

In the blink of an eye, the world shifted, and Zhang Sheng appeared in a new miniature world. Without even glancing at his surroundings, four immortal swords materialized around him and descended slowly. Below him, countless guardians trembled in fear, yet unable to move a muscle. They could only watch helplessly as the swords struck the ground. They lost consciousness after that.

In the instant the miniature world collapsed, and a flash of crimson seemed to flicker by.

......

When the next world entered Wei Yuan’s eyes, he found himself standing on a vast, rocky expanse. He was surrounded by countless warriors. The miniature world contained no other features; it was clearly designed to be a pure battlefield of slaughter.

But to Wei Yuan, the sight of this rocky expanse felt more familiar than anything else. Most people were ignorant, believing all rocks to be alike. In truth, rocks came in many varieties, each with distinct properties and unique geological patterns. With the right technique, carving through them required little effort.

On the other hand, creating a miniature world that was pure rock and nothing else consumed far more spirit qi than a normal one. After calculating the cost, Wei Yuan started hoping that the monster would throw a couple more miniature worlds like this at him. After all, one miniature world like this equaled three ordinary miniature worlds.

As usual, Wei Yuan waved his hand and deployed his faceless warriors to defend the perimeter. Then, a ring of light flared his hand as he began to dig into the earth. This time, he infused the water jet with a trace of the Red Lotus Bodhi’s aura, instantly turning the rock as soft as tofu and mud. A slanted tunnel appeared, and it was growing rapidly by the second.

The monster could no longer bear to watch and spat another mouthful of saliva at Wei Yuan.