Southern Qi.

Inside an opulent estate, the sound of drums and music filled the air. A dance performance was underway in the main hall.

A dozen dancers, draped in sheer veils that barely concealed their bodies, danced with a rhythm that shifted between fast and slow without warning. At times, their movements were vigorous and powerful. At others, it was as supple as if they had no bones. Even their dance steps were alternating between dignified, alluring, bizarre, and utterly bewildering.

The tables on both sides of the hall were filled with guests. Some were so bewitched that it was all they could not not to salivate like a pig. It was clear that they were inexperienced with the ways of the world.

Seated at the seat of honor was a middle-aged man dressed in fine brocade robes. He was handsome, but his energy seemed weak. His cheeks were slightly puffy, and he looked somewhat sapped of strength.

A pair of beauties were flanking him. One of them was responsible for putting food in his mouth, and the other was responsible for serving wine. He did not need to move a finger. Alas, he still had to chew the food, and watch the dancers himself. He could not make someone else do it for him.

The middle-aged man had just taken a bite of food when the wine-serving beauty beside him delivered a cup of wine to his lips. It was at this moment the liquid suddenly turned dark red like congealed blood, smelly and bizarre!

The beauty let out a cry of shock, but she didn’t panic. She tried to throw it away, but the middle-aged man caught her wrist and took the cup from her. He consoled her saying, “It’s not your fault.”

No one had anticipated this. The guests were stunned, and the dancers were frozen in place, afraid to move a muscle. It was a wise decision. Anyone who moved without permission at such a time would earn themselves a swift execution.

Staring at the blood wine, the middle-aged man suddenly cracked a smile and said, “Someone wants to end my line, I see. Haha!”

Suddenly, he raised the cup to his lips and drained it in one gulp!

Shocked and aghast, the guests cried out, “Duke Hui’en! You mustn’t!”

“What should we do?”

“Help!”

Countless armor-wearing iron guards flooded into the hall and surrounded the middle-aged man protectively. He calmly set down the wine cup before whispering to himself, “In that case, why don’t I give you a pair of eyeballs as well?”

Without warning, he stabbed his fingers into his eye sockets and ripped out his own eyeballs!

Panicked screams instantly filled the hall. Some people jumped to their feet and ran like their lives depended on it. However, anyone who got a little too close to the middle-aged man were cut down by the iron guards no matter who they were.

The middle-aged man remained seated as he ordered gravely, “Head to the palace and request the royal physician’s presence.”

Moments later, squadrons of fighters in cyan armor rushed into the hall, driving out all bystanders and placing them under guard. Immediately afterward, a man wearing a yellow robe and bearing a stern countenance strode into the main hall. He was none other than the ruler of Southern Qi.

Duke Hui’en remained seated, blood still flowing from his empty eye sockets and soaking through the front of his robe long ago.

The King of Qi’s gaze swept across Duke Hui’en’s face like lightning. “What’s going on?”

Duke Hui’en replied indifferently, “I don’t want my line to end, so I removed my eyes of my own accord.”

“You think I’m the one who did this? Ridiculous!”

Duke Hui’en lifted his head slightly and asked, “Is that not your intention, Your Majesty?”

The King of Qi let out a heavy harrumph before turning his head. “The audacity to put a curse in the capital! Do they think so little of Southern Qi? Preceptor, do you know who did this?”

A Daoist had been standing behind the King of Qi with his head bowed respectfully this whole time. It was only now he cast a glance at the empty cup on the table and said, “It’s a blood curse of the Shamans. Duke Hui’en had just launched a counterattack and severed the karmic connection. It would take some time and effort to uncover the culprit behind it.”

Wearing a grim expression, the King of Qi instructed, “Conduct a thorough investigation! I want an answer in seven days! Someone, go to the Dragon Glass Tree in the palace and pick two fruits to serve as eyes for Duke Hui’en.”

Some of the guards received the orders and took their leave.

The King of Qi bent down and personally wiped away the blood on Duke Hui’en’s face. He said, “If I want you dead, I would issue a clear and explicit decree. I would not have resorted to such underhanded tactics. You’ve gone too far with your charade.”

Duke Hui’en smiled faintly. “This highlights your wisdom, Big Brother.”

The King of Qi snorted and rose to leave.

The western regions.

On the altar, Blood Eye suddenly let out a terrible scream. The next moment, one of his eyes exploded and covered the old man and Phantom in gore!

Blood Eye was still covering his face and screaming while Phantom moved away from the old man.

The old man blanched when he noticed their reaction, “You think I planned this?”

“What do you think?”

The old man did not respond indignantly. He said, “Something isn’t right about this. Let me first offer a prayer to Heaven before making some calculations....”

He trailed off when he noticed Blood Eye and Phantom’s growing bloodthirst. After hesitating for a moment, he cracked a bitter smile and said, “Never mind. I’ll perform the calculation right now.”

A vast amount of blood qi spilled out of the old man’s sleeves and formed an extremely complex array diagram. He then activated it with the point of a finger. The next moment, a weak presence suddenly appeared in the middle of the array diagram. Yet, like mice who just spotted a cat, the three Great Warlocks shivered all over and nearly screamed in terror.

The presence only appeared for an instant. Everything in the array diagram was chaotic and indecipherable after that.

The old man wore an ugly expression. “An immortal trump card. To think there is still an immortal trump card in these lands! If I hadn’t calculated it, I would have charged headlong into their hands!”

By now, Blood Eye had recovered from the backlash. He asked in a cold voice, “Are you sure you know nothing about this?”

The old man pointed a hand toward the sky and swore an oath, “If I knew of this beforehand, may I be struck by the thunder of Heaven and have my soul destroyed. May I never set foot in the Land of God!”

It was the gravest oath a Shaman could swear. While it was no big deal for an ordinary Shaman to break the oath, the same could not be said for a Great Warlock. The consequences were severe to put it mildly. It was only after witnessing it did Blood Eye finally believe that the old man was innocent.

Phantom said nothing at all.

For a time, all three Great Warlocks were absorbed in their own thoughts as they came up with countermeasures. The presence was no trick. Not only was it an immortal trump card, it was one that had bathed in the blood of Great Warlocks. They would not have been this terrified otherwise.

The tense silence lasted for a moment before the old man said, “The Xu Clan has many Avatars. I’ll find a way to push one with waning fortune to that place and test the waters. However, as this matter involves an Avatar, the cost of the spell will not be cheap. The two of you will need to provide me with some offerings. Phantom must also provide me with a curse that drains a person’s fortune and inflicts misfortune upon them. Only by stripping that person of as much excess fortune as possible do we have a real chance at success.”

They did not mind coughing up some sacrifices and blood qi as long as they did not have to put their own lives at risk. Phantom and Blood Eye agreed immediately.

Inside the realm of Qingming, Yun Feifei was teaching the young masters and ladies the basics of fighting on horseback. She was mainly teaching the young masters, though. Two male cultivators with outstanding appearances and honeyed tongues were teaching the young ladies.

Unfortunately, despite Wei Yuan’s repeated warnings, some of the cultivators of the western regions found it difficult to break free from their old habits, not to mention that they had been wild and unruly for most of their lives. Thus, one man failed to keep their hands to themselves and groped a young lady’s thigh.

The young lady had flown into a rage immediately, deeply confusing the young male cultivator. He could not understand why the situation had changed so suddenly when all the signs were positive until that point.

The young lady had immediately called over a guard to apprehend the young cultivator. She even wanted to cut off his hand on the spot. The western region cultivators hurriedly rushed to their fellow’s rescue, and a temporary stand-off ensued.

The situation was on the verge of escalating into bloody violence when Wei Yuan heard about it and hurried over immediately. Feeling a throbbing headache, he ultimately ordered the young cultivator to be dragged away and whipped a hundred times as punishment. The young lady also stopped pressing the issue because Wei Yuan had intervened. It was only then he managed to put an end to the incident.

Later, Yun Feifei hurried over and asked him in a hushed tone, “I don’t understand. They were having a great time earlier. I thought for sure there’s something between them. How did it turn out like this?”

Wei Yuan frowned deeply when he heard this. “Who told you there’s something going on between them? Did you tell them that?!”

Flinching a little at his harsh tone, Yun Feifei hurriedly denied the accusation, “I did not!”

“You better not!” Wei Yuan growled.

Sensing that Wei Yuan was truly angry, Yun Feifei finally felt afraid and asked timidly, “Why are you so angry? It’s not that big of a deal, is it?”

Wei Yuan tried to maintain a calm voice as he replied, “If something happened to these scions, any one of their elders could wipe out the Swelling Water God Palace several times over! I’m the reason they came all the way here. If they died on the battlefield, no one could say anything about it. But if they had fallen victim to your fellows’ dirty tricks, do you really think their families will just let it go without repercussions?”

Wei Yuan gave Yun Feifei an angry glare before continuing, “If they are truly in love with each other, then so be it. But if I find out that it is the outcome of some sort of underhanded tactics, then trust me when I say that I won’t be merciful! I will kill everyone who is involved! One last thing. If something like this happens again, then I will hold you as accountable as the parties involved!”

Yun Feifei exclaimed in horror, “That’s not fair!”

“Deal with it.” Wei Yuan had already gone far when he said this.

When Wei Yuan returned to his residence, he saw that Bao Yun, Xiao Yu, and Cui Yu were waiting for him.

When he stepped into the room, Cui Yu said, “I’ve already spoken to Brother Xiao Yu. These western region cultivators had bled and fought alongside you, so I don’t intend to make a big deal out of this incident. However, there cannot be a next time. If something were to actually happen, I wouldn’t know how to explain it to their elders.”

Wei Yuan asked, “What if it’s mutual attraction?”

“That is still unacceptable!” Cui Yu declared without hesitation.

Wei Yuan frowned and remained silent.

Cui Yu relaxed his tone slightly. “I’m well aware of my friends’ vices. I can tell you right now that the girls are simply chasing novelties. Yes, they are the ones who specifically asked for those particular western region cultivators, but it’s like coming across a few puppies on the street—you want to feed them a bite and pet them a couple of times because they look cute. However, if those puppies want to come inside your house and climb into your bed, that is simply out of the question, isn’t it? That is also why there is little to no chance that mutual attraction could exist here.”

Xiao Yu interrupted, “What did she think was going to happen, petting a stray dog? She deserves every bite she gets!”

Cui Yu let out a chuckle of amusement. “No wonder you don’t have friends.”

Xiao Yu replied without thinking, “You are all the friends I need. Everyone else is just a good-for-nothing.”

He then looked at Wei Yuan and added, “Wei Yuan doesn’t count!”

Wei Yuan could only smile awkwardly.

It was at this moment Bao Yun said in a calm voice, “She’s really just a scheming little girl who’s used to having her way. She’s secretly inciting others to test us because she’s afraid we’ll take her place. She probably thinks that the young masters and ladies of aristocratic families are no different from the ones she used to trick and deceive.”

Cui Yu exclaimed in realization, “I see! She’s trying to compete with us for power.”

Xiao Yu scoffed, “What is there to compete over? Any one of us could break through to the Avatar stage at any moment. How is she going to compete against us then?”

Cui Yu agreed with him.

The talent and cultivation resources enjoyed by a disciple of the Palace of Absolute Beginning was incomparable to that of a small faction. Only a select few scions of a distinguished family had a chance to become an Avatar. As for those residing in the western regions, Yun Feifei and Xu Wan’er were the only two cultivators who had a sliver of a chance of becoming Avatars, and only if Wei Yuan supplied them with the necessary cultivation resources. Otherwise, they would never succeed.

Bao Yun then threw Wei Yuan a look and added, “It’s not just power she can compete for. There are also men.”

This time, Cui Yu truly understood everything. He immediately looked Wei Yuan up and down with a somewhat wicked grin on his face.

As for Xiao Yu, his expression was one of disgust.

Wei Yuan wasn’t expecting the fire to burn his backside so suddenly. He immediately tried to look for an out. Fortunately, the realm started to tremble at that exact moment. The sky grew clearer, the plants grew more vibrant, and the spirit qi and the vitality in the air grew richer.

Everyone sensed the realm-wide changes as a matter of course. They immediately looked at Wei Yuan and waited for an answer.

Wei Yuan spent a few moments communicating with Qingming before declaring smilingly, “Qingming has fully expanded its domain. It is now one hundred and ten li wide. It’s gathering its strength to evolve to the third tier.”

“One hundred and ten? I thought it was a hundred?” Xiao Yu asked.

Wei Yuan answered, “Remember all those Shaman corpses we converted? The extra nourishment Qingming had received from them is what allowed it to expand its domain further.”

Cui Yu looked taken aback. “Is that so? Why have I never heard about this?”

“Maybe it’s a quality unique to immortal objects,” Bao Yun suggested.

Cui Yu thought it made sense. Despite being an outstanding descendant of the Cui Clan, there were only a handful of immortal-grade realm stones in all of humanity. Naturally, he never had a chance to come into contact with one.

Now that the domain was complete, Qingming had officially taken root in this land. Every boon Wei Yuan was already enjoying increased slightly including his range of perception beyond the domain’s boundaries.

Suddenly, Wei Yuan looked toward the west. His senses were telling him that a green fog was rolling in from that direction—the Shamans’ army had arrived!