Dragon Canon

As dawn approached, Wei Yuan—who hadn’t slept all night—was using the light streaming in from the cave ceiling to modify the wings. Whether the wings were slightly thicker or thinner, straighter or more angled, or even longer or shorter, each variation had a noticeable impact on speed and Dao energy consumption.

Wei Yuan tested them repeatedly, but the results fluctuated wildly with no discernible pattern.

Wei Yuan rubbed his face to shake off his fatigue before continuing his research. There had to be a pattern to the wing’s shape; he knew he couldn’t find it simply because his experience and knowledge weren’t yet sufficient.

Xu Wenwu had once said that the optimal solution to everything could be calculated. Of course, how one should go about performing such a calculation was a different story. Forget Xu Wenwu, not even Xu Wenwu’s teacher would know.

Immortal Lord Tinghai’s research did bear some resemblance to this, but the man had also mentioned in his writings that his research methods required the perception of an Immortal Lord—not even a True Lord could manage it.

After making the necessary adjustments, Wei Yuan entered the Great Realm, summoned a gale to blow fiercely against the wings, then observed their behavior and recorded various data.

He repeated this process time and again. By the time dawn broke and the morning sun rose, this set of wings was already conserving 10% more Dao energy than the original design. If someone thought that 10% was a small amount, they couldn’t be more wrong—over the course of a full day, it would allow him and Zhang Sheng to fly an additional 10,000 li.

Wei Yuan woke Zhang Sheng up. After they settled into the contraption, they took off again, this time heading southeast toward the Liao realm.

Two hours later, the Liao woman wearing silver ornaments arrived at Wei Yuan’s hiding place. She walked around the cave, flew into a rage, and struck the ground with a single palm strike so powerful it caused 100 zhang of earth to sink by over a zhang!

“How dare you do such a thing while I’m hunting you down—you’re asking for death!”

She determined her direction and vanished in an instant. But moments later, she gazed at the Liao realm ahead of her, hesitated for a brief moment, then turned and flew back toward the Shaman realm.

Her quarry had just barely managed to escape to the shaman realm. Returning to the Liao realm now would be nothing short of suicide.

Meanwhile, Wei Yuan had already penetrated deep into Liao territory and was currently heading south. When he passed by a city, he concealed his presence, casually snatched several Liao cavalrymen, and interrogated them to determine the location. After confirming it was correct, he continued flying south and discarded the bodies into a pond in a deserted valley.

Wei Yuan continued southward, but as he flew, he changed course toward the Shaman realm. Passing through a small valley, he suddenly landed, slew a demon beast that had been lurking there, then dug up all the emerald-green grass in the center of the valley before continuing on his way.

In this way, over the course of the day, Wei Yuan slew two demon beasts and harvested several types of spirit plants, one of which was wild spirit rice. After nightfall, Wei Yuan continued refining the shape of his wings and his wind-breaking Water Blade. By the time he set out again, his Dao energy consumption had decreased by another 5%, while his speed had increased by just as much.

Although the sensation of being pursued hadn’t grown stronger, it had never faded either. That was why Wei Yuan dared not let his guard down and worked at full force to improve his flight gear.

Two days later, Wei Yuan finally flew out of this region of hidden dangers and no longer needed to hide underground every night. As soon as he emerged from the snow-capped mountains, he immediately increased his speed. Thanks to the incremental adjustments he had made over the past few days, his speed had now reached 650 li per ke, allowing him to cover 2,600 li per hour.

This way, Wei Yuan remained hidden at all times and occasionally flew in winding patterns. Each day, he would descend in a deserted, uninhabited wilderness to rest for only two hours. More than ten days passed in this manner, and he finally approached the human realm.

Wei Yuan’s sense of danger was growing stronger and stronger. For this final stretch, instead of rushing forward, he chose to descend on the ground and linger for a precious ke. He used this time to fine-tune the wings and the jets and renew his fortune. This time, he finally used Yin Yang’s aura.

When Wei Yuan took flight again, a flash of silver light appeared on the distant horizon, and a terrifying will echoed to him. “Stop now, and I’ll spare your life!”

Wei Yuan immediately activated all four jets simultaneously, instantly accelerating to a top speed of 1,500 per ke, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.

The silver light flickered erratically, revealing a figure shrouded in thunder. She chased after Wei Yuan at breakneck speed and gradually closed the gap.

Just as the distance between them narrowed to less than 100 li, the figure unleashed a thunderbolt at Wei Yuan. Alas, it was 10 li shy of hitting him.

Wei Yuan remained unflustered and attached another two jets to the machine. As the jets roared to life, his speed surged up once more, and the gap between them and their pursuer began to widen.

The figure let out a heavy grunt and pointed a finger to the sky. In an instant, dark clouds gathered overhead, pouring down a torrential rain and unleashing several streaks of lightning. She began flickering constantly, using the lightning bolts to leap forward. This way, she actually managed to close the distance once again!

Wei Yuan’s response was to install another two jets.

This time, with all eight jets firing simultaneously, the wings were pushed back even further. They were now flying at a speed of 2,500 li per ke!

As the cat-and-mouse chase continued, they swept across the land, the cities, and countless tribes large or small. From time to time, people would rise into the air to investigate, but the two would have already vanished in a flash before they could reach sufficient altitude.

At this speed, Wei Yuan’s Dao energy was being depleted at an alarming rate. Wei Yuan took out a bottle of restorative medicine he had obtained from Dragonhawk and downed half of it in one gulp. Only then did he manage to stem the decline of his Dao energy slightly.

Moments later, four of the jets suddenly lost power, and Wei Yuan’s speed plummeted. A thunderous roar of laughter echoed from the distance, reverberating throughout the heavens and the earth!

However, Wei Yuan did not panic. He immediately withdrew the four jets and replaced them with four new ones, instantly returning to maximum speed.

Meanwhile, deep within the Great Realm, the two Dragon Guards—one a scholar, and the other a warrior—were each holding a jet and continuously infusing it with Dao energy. Beside them lay dozens of already-charged jets.

These were disposable jets that had been pre-charged with Dao energy. Once activated, they required no additional input of Dao energy from Wei Yuan.

Theoretically, he could attach even more jets and boost his speed further. However, Wei Yuan knew that his Water Blade spell had already reached its limit. If he went any faster, the astral gales would crush the Water Blade outright, and the impact he would suffer would be comparable to crashing directly into a mountain.

The pursuer was already giving it her all; thunder accompanied her wherever she went. However, even a World Ruler like her had to spend a tremendous amount of energy to alter the environment in such a way. She could not possibly sustain it for long.

Neither side could hold out indefinitely; it all came down to who could last just a little longer.

In the blink of an eye, Wei Yuan had switched out another four new jets. By now, vast military encampments and battlefields had come into view below. Liao experts kept rising into the air to intercept him, but Wei Yuan was simply too fast. Just the turbulent wake left behind was enough to knock several Avatars off their feet.

In the air, several chiliarchs all exchanging shocked glances with each other. Then, a furious roar erupted from above: “Get out of my way!”

Several thunderbolts descended from the sky and struck the chiliarchs into the earth, injuring them so much that they were unable to rise.

Inside the main camp, a myriarch stepped out of his tent with a grim expression. He took one look at the sky, then simply said, “Carry those unlucky fellows away to be treated.”

“My lord....”

“They were unlucky to run into that woman when she’s going berserk. That’s all there is to it.”

Meanwhile, ahead of Wei Yuan, the clear qi of the human realm was already faintly visible in the horizon. The land was a sea of battlefields, with army auras surging everywhere and the frontlines intertwining like jagged teeth. No longer caring about interceptors, Wei Yuan flew toward the human realm in a straight line. All the while, the pursuer’s presence grew increasingly potent behind him, nearly transforming into a ball of blazing blue lightning!

In an instant, both parties swept through the battle-ravaged landscape, causing countless soldiers below to look up in awe. The lightning surrounding that figure grew wildly, clearly building up to a strike that would shake heaven and earth!

Just then, a streak of sword light, a bolt of purple lightning, and a speck of The Sun’s true fire flew in from three different directions, instantly dispersing the thunderclouds in the sky. A booming voice declared, “The path ahead is blocked. Please return, Dao Friend!”

Wei Yuan didn’t pause even though reinforcements had finally arrived. He charged through the northern mountain gate of the Palace of Absolute Beginning and vanished into the palace complexes and mountain ranges.

The figure, still shrouded in lightning, hovered in midair. After a long silence, she said coldly, “You’d best pray that this mountain gate never falls!”

The northern mountain gate of the Palace of Absolute Beginning was centered around a central, ten-thousand-zhang-high sheer peak, flanked on either side by two slightly shorter peaks to form a triangular formation that collectively anchored the earthly veins and feng shui of the entire mountain gate.

No palaces were built atop any of the three peaks; all palace structures were constructed around them instead. The central open space encircled by the peaks was where the main hall of the mountain gate stood.

At the moment, guided by two fellow disciples, Wei Yuan walked into a side hall adjacent to the main hall and entered a room filled with the lingering scent of pills.