Dragon Canon

Wei Yuan ran non-stop through the winding passageways, covering at least a dozen li before finally reaching the exit. He passed countless forks in the path along the way; this place really was a vast underground labyrinth. Assuming this terrain had been formed naturally, it definitely qualified as a masterpiece of nature’s artistry.

The exit lay in a stream valley, shielded by several large natural boulders. It was completely invisible even from a slightly farther distance away. Wei Yuan swept his perception over the area but could only roughly discern the terrain within ten zhang.

It was still the dead of night, and the howling cold wind made even Wei Yuan feel a chill. So, he took off his leather coat, wrapped the woman tightly in it, and then summoned a Dao Foundation stage warrior to carry her on his back.

As for himself, he took out two boxes—each one chi thick and shaped like lunchboxes—and placed one on either side, aiming at the exit of the cave. It was only then turned to follow the Dao Foundation stage warrior ahead.

The Dao Foundation stage warrior led the way, leaping several zhang at a time from time to time using the boulders or tree trunks protruding from the snow as footholds. He was moving at a considerable speed. Following Wei Yuan’s orders, he deliberately chose to traverse rugged and perilous mountains and completely avoid the gentle valleys as well.

Although Liao horses were ferocious, they could not navigate such mountainous terrain.

Not long after Wei Yuan had left, several snow wolves suddenly burst out from the exit of the stream valley!. Behind the snow wolves followed several Liao tribesmen, one of whom fired a signal into the sky.

The snow wolves sniffed the ground, let out a long howl, and set off in pursuit in the direction Wei Yuan had gone.

However, just as they leaped forward, two boxes suddenly sprang up up ahead from either side of the ground. The lids immediately fell off, revealing rows upon rows of flying swords packed tightly inside!

Amid a violent explosion, countless palm-sized flying swords shot out in a fan-shaped pattern. Their crisscrossing fire left no blind spots, so the giant wolves and the two Liao tribesmen were instantly riddled with holes! Only the last Liao tribesman managed to retreat into the passageway in time and narrowly escaped death.

Moments later, several Liao tribesmen arrived at the cave entrance, their faces ashen as they looked at the wolf carcasses strewn across the ground.

The Liao people possessed not only Liao horses but also snow wolves. As large as oxen, these snow wolves were true spirit beasts capable of ripping tigers and leopards apart. Possessing exceptional endurance and tracking skills, they were considered natural hunters in these snow-capped mountains, each worth 1,000 taels of immortal silver at least. But now, three first-rate snow wolves had fallen into the enemy’s trap and been wiped out!

The surviving Liao tribesman had also been struck by a flying sword in the thigh. The blade had nearly pierced right through him.

The leader of the pursuing squad was a Liao chiliarch. He listened to the survivor recounting the events with an icy face, then looked back at the scene. However, the traps Wei Yuan had set were merely manifestations of his own Dao Foundations. The moment his Dao energy was exhausted, they vanished on their own and left not a single trace behind.

The Liao chiliarch turned to a gaunt, dark-skinned, withered old man standing beside him and asked, “Can you track them down?”

The old man replied, “No problem. But a blood sacrifice is required.”

The Liao chiliarch grabbed the wounded Liao survivor and slashed his throat open with a blade!

The old man immediately dipped his hand in the fresh blood and swept it through the air, leaving a thick trail of blood in his wake. His hands moved like lighting, and in the blink of an eye, he drew a complex three-dimensional mystic array that resembled a disembodied eyeball. With a single point of his finger, the eyeball transformed into a beam of bloodlight and shot skyward!

Wei Yuan was running through the mountains when suddenly a surge of blood qi appeared above his head and clung to his body, refusing to fade.

The Liao’s Blood Tracking Mark!” Wei Yuan instantly recognized the origin of the blood qi.

Wei Yuan immediately cast a Dao spell, causing a shadow to split off from his body and carry away a portion of the blood qi. But the moment the shadow moved more than one zhang away, the blood qi returned to Wei Yuan of its own accord.

He did not think that Shadow Doppelganger, a Dao spell created specifically to counter tracking marks, would turn out to be ineffective.

At the exit, the old man released a blood bee about two chi in size and said, “My Blood Tracking Mark locks onto the primordial spirit; it cannot be countered by ordinary means. Oh, I’ve already sensed our quarry. He’s just a Dao Foundation. Not worth mentioning.”

The Liao chiliarch nodded and said to a subordinate standing beside him, “Notify Lord Dragonhawk that we’ve found the person he’s looking for and are currently in pursuit. Ask him to come as soon as possible.”

The old man released the blood bee, and the group of Liao tribesmen followed closely behind it.

Meanwhile, Wei Yuan had just fled 100 li away, but that feeling that he was being locked onto was only growing stronger over time. Clearly, the enemy was closing in rapidly on him. Wei Yuan had already tried several Dao spells to shake off the pursuit, all to no avail. It seemed that this Blood Tracking Mark was directly locking onto his primordial spirit.

Wei Yuan decided that he might as well drop his primordial spirit’s defenses. The Blood Tracking Mark immediately lunged toward his sea of consciousness, but it only clung to the surface without entering.

Wei Yuan couldn’t help but marvel at the ingenuity of the spell. Had the Blood Tracking Mark entered the Great Realm, he would have had plenty of ways to destroy it. But since it didn’t, he was left with few options.

Wei Yuan had no choice but to resort to a crude method: directly enveloping the tracking mark with his Dao energy to sever its connection to the outside world. However, the blood qi immediately started to erode his Dao energy, and the amount of energy he was losing compared to how fast the blood qi was deteriorating was completely disproportionate. It would seem that the tier of the spell far surpassed his own, and it was going to take a considerable amount of time to completely wear it down.

Taking advantage of the brief moment the Blood Tracking Mark was sealed, Wei Yuan changed direction and sped up his escape. But just about an incense stick later, an incredibly sharp attack suddenly erupted from the spell and instantly pierced through Wei Yuan’s Dao energy, reestablishing its connection with Heaven and Earth and leaving a locational mark behind. Not only that, it was mysteriously replenished and restored to its original state.

To say Wei Yuan was caught off guard would be an understatement. The explosive power the Blood Tracking Mark just displayed was so great that even an Avatar would not have been able to block it. The only solution to deal with it was to set up a mystic array to gradually neutralize it. But by the time he finished setting up the array, his pursuers would have already caught up with him.

By this point, Wei Yuan had figured out the Blood Tracking Mark’s pattern: it unleashed an outburst roughly once every quarter-hour, and this offered a glimmer of hope. After covering the tracking mark with his Dao energy once more, he ordered the Dao Foundation stage warrior to stop conserving his energy and sprint at full speed.

Further back, the Liao shamanist tracking Wei Yuan down suddenly let out an exclamation of surprise. His blood bee had suddenly lost its bearings and was currently spinning in circles.

“It seems our quarry has a few tricks up his sleeve. He actually managed to isolate my Blood Tracking Mark. Hmph! If my Blood Tracking Mark were that easy to defeat, how could I possibly hold my head high as a shamanist? Don’t worry. In just one ke, the Blood Tracking Mark will erupt, piercing through his seal and leaving its mark upon Heaven and Earth once more.”

The Liao chiliarch nodded. “Then we shall head first to the spot where he last appeared. He’s just a Dao Foundation. He couldn’t possibly go very far in one ke.”

The old man said grimly, “We’re both Avatars. If we can’t even capture a mere Dao Foundation, we might as well commit suicide in front of the Lord.”

The two leaped into the air and flew at full speed toward the location where the mark had last appeared, leaving their entourage far behind. Moments later, they arrived at the spot where the Blood Tracking Mark had last left its mark.

As they arrived, exactly one ke had passed. The blood bee immediately regained its bearings, flapping its wings and buzzing. The shamanist looked surprised as he exclaimed, “He’s gone even farther! How did he cover one hundred and fifty li in just one ke?”

In these far-northern snow-capped mountains, the bitter cold was not merely a matter of climate—it was a fundamental law of Heaven and Earth itself. If someone were to fly at high speed, they would encounter gale-force winds that were much stronger than anywhere else in the world and lose much more mystic energy than usual. Moreover, one could fly at high altitudes at will, lest they provoke attacks from predators.

To cover one hundred and fifty li in one ke—that was a kind of speed only an Avatar should possess. However, the Liao chiliarch still wasn’t worried. He remarked, “He must have used some secret technique to forcefully draw out his potential. He definitely cannot last long like this. Let’s keep chasing!”

Once again, the two ignored their straggling entourage and gave chase at full speed. At the pace they were going, there was definitely no way their Dao Foundation stage followers would be able to catch up to them.

In the blink of an eye, the two Liao Avatars reached the last known location of the Blood Tracking Mark. They had barely waited a few teatimes when the tracking mark conveyed new information, and they found out that their quarry had changed directions again and covered yet another 150 li.

Astonished, the shamanist remarked, “It would appear he’s not only skilled in flight but also possesses a deep well of Dao energy. I can’t believe he’s actually managed to sustain this for so long.”

By this point, the Liao chiliarch had lost some of his composure and said, “He’s ultimately just a Dao Foundation—how much Dao energy could he possibly have? Keep chasing!”

As the two moved, a faint fluctuation of spirit energy suddenly appeared beside them, like a tiny bubble bursting. The next moment, a speck of spirit light instantly shot into the sky.

The shamanist exclaimed in surprise, “As I thought, our quarry is a cunning fellow. He’s set up his own tracking mark. He’s probably figured out our identities and cultivation levels by now.”

“So what? It’s not like he can do anything about it.”

Once more, the two arrived at the spot where the Blood Tracking Mark had left its mark just before a ke had passed. This time, the moment they landed, the Liao chiliarch immediately searched for the reverse-tracking mark Wei Yuan had left behind. Sure enough, he detected a faint fluctuation of Dao energy beneath a large boulder.

The Liao chiliarch let out a grunt, walked over to the boulder, kicked it aside, and unleashed a saber qi that sliced the mark to pieces. But before the saber qi could fully dissipate, the surface of an unremarkable rock to the side suddenly flaked away, revealing countless densely packed flying sword tips!

With a boom, countless flying swords shot out in a fan-shaped pattern!

Although the Liao chiliarch possessed profound cultivation and immediately retreated, his reaction was ultimately half a beat too slow. A muffled grunt escaped his throat as he was struck by several flying swords.

These flying swords would’ve been lethal against a Dao Foundation, but he was an Avatar. Despite sustaining several cuts on his body, they were all superficial injuries. The same could not be said for the Liao chiliarch’s magnificent battle robes, though. His clothes were absolutely slashed to shreds and left him looking quite disheveled and pitiful.

The Liao chiliarch’s expression was beyond ugly. Without even tending to his wounds, he immediately followed the blood bee and charged toward the last known location of Wei Yuan. This time, the human had fled a bit farther and covered 160 li.

The Liao chiliarch was faster than the shamanist. In the blink of an eye, he had left the shamanist more than ten li behind and arrived at the destination first.

Suddenly, the shamanist let out a loud cry, but the mountain wind was so fierce that the Liao chiliarch couldn’t quite make out what he was shouting. However, the shamanist seemed extremely agitated, so the Liao chiliarch strained his ears to listen. This time, he heard it clearly. The shamanist was shouting:

“He’s right there!”