The group immediately entered a battle formation. They launched all sorts of long-range mystic artifacts at the enemy from one thousand zhang away, and waves of Dao spells when they were five hundred zhang away. They moved with urgency but without panic, displaying remarkable discipline.

Unfortunately, this particular Shaman force proved exceptionally strong. They moved rapidly while a blood red shield protected their front. The long-range assault only managed to bring down dozens of ordinary fighters.

The Shaman force came to a sudden stop when they were about a hundred zhang away. Then, five Warlocks[1] chanted a curse at the same time. The youngsters’ skin immediately started turning dark red in color, and those with weak cultivation threw up blood on the spot. The sweet girl especially was throwing up countless rice-sized worms!

Her stomach churned painfully as the blood drained from her face. She could not stop throwing up on the ground.

Gritting his teeth, Cui Yu barked out an order, “Half the guards will cover our retreat! Everyone else, withdraw!”

At the moment, there were still over seventy guards in the group. Most of them immediately stepped forward to bring up the rear. Cui Yu had to pull back the youngest, weakest, and most hopeful before readying himself to give the retreat order.

The thirty guards responsible for bringing the rear stepped forward in unison. They were prepared to fight to the bitter end.

It was at this moment a huge, flaming cauldron appeared in the sky and descended straight toward the Shaman’s formation! It looked almost as big as a small hill and horrifyingly powerful. Without hesitation, the Warlocks immediately broke rank and ran away. Since the Warlocks broke rank, the battle formation could not be maintained, and the fighters scattered in every direction as well.

There was a terrible boom when the flaming cauldron finally made contact with the ground. The flames looked big and bright enough to scorch the sky as well. In reality, the cauldron only managed to leave a small dent on the ground. It was remarkably weak despite being several zhang tall and deadly-looking. Even the one Warlock who was struck squarely by the cauldron only took a small amount of damage.

It was at this moment the scattering Shamans suddenly noticed that a dozen more flaming cauldrons had appeared above their heads. They had no idea when they had appeared. In fact, the cauldrons were already in the middle of descending while the Shamans were scattering. By the time they noticed it, the cauldrons were already right above their heads!

This time, the cauldrons hit as hard as they looked. The Shaman force immediately took massive casualties.

At the same time, a neigh that sounded like a dragon’s roar erupted from somewhere. Then, a blood red warhorse around one zhang and two chi tall appeared before everyone’s eyes. It looked like it was galloping on clouds as smoke was rising from its hooves. It was carrying a man wielding a spear. The rider and his horse charged in and out the Shaman formation in just the blink of an eye, leaving behind a dozen bodies in their wake! When he turned around, the group could see a Warlock hanging from the rider’s spearhead, struggling futilely to break free!

Wei Yuan? The name flashed through Cui Yu’s mind when he saw the rider’s face. However, he couldn’t be completely sure. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Wei Yuan charged the Shaman formation again after turning his horse around. When he broke through, a new Warlock was struggling from his spearhead. This Shaman was only stabbed through his stomach and would not be dying any time soon. He just kept screaming in pain.

Unable to endure the pressure any longer, the remaining two Warlocks turned tail and ran away. As they escaped, they ordered their warriors and fighters to fight to the last breath.

Wei Yuan squeezed his legs, and the blood red warhorse immediately leaped into the air. It soared right over the Shaman force and caught up to one of the escaping Warlocks. He thrust his spear forward, and voila! He had caught another one.

It was only now Cui Yu finally snapped out of his shock. He raised his sword and yelled, “Attack!”

For obvious reasons, the humans’ morale was sky high. They threw everything they had into the counterattack and scattered the Shamans in no time.

Meanwhile, Wei Yuan had returned with two Warlocks still hanging from his spear. He called out long before he reached his sect fellow, “Is that you, Brother Cui Yu?”

Cui Yu responded, “It is I! It has been many years since we last saw each other, and I can tell that you have finally mastered your Dao! You truly are a dragon among humans, Junior Brother Wei!”

Wei Yuan dismounted and handed his spear to a nearby young woman. He then went over to Cui Yu with a wide grin on his face, saying, “And you have not changed one bit, Brother Cui! If not for your kindness, I could never have gotten to where I am today.”

Cui Yu actually felt embarrassed when he heard the compliment. Back then, Bao Yun was the one who had proposed the public account. She was also the one who supported Wei Yuan the most. Cui Yu had definitely lent a hand, but it paled in comparison to Bao Yun and Xiao Yu’s contributions. But the way Wei Yuan put it, any outsider would think that Cui Yu was the one who had truly lifted him up.

Unfortunately, he was in the presence of his companions and subordinates right now. He could not correct Wei Yuan even if he wanted to. So, Cui Yu guiltily accepted the compliment.

The young woman Wei Yuan had handed his spear to wasn’t strong, not to mention that there were two flailing Warlocks on the spearhead. She cried again and again as she desperately tried to hold the spear in place. Two young male cultivators had to rush over to help her, each one pinning down a Warlock. It was only then they finally managed to stabilize the spear.

After hugging it out with Cui Yu, Wei Yuan asked, “I thought you weren’t coming.”

The remark caught Cui Yu by surprise. He responded, “You found out? Well, you wrote a letter to me. Of course I have to respond to it. Who cares what the old men in the clan thinks? If they won’t send reinforcements, then so be it. My brothers and sisters are all I need!”

Cui Yu proceeded to introduce the young scions one by one.

Every single of these youngsters hailed from a distinguished family. They were all Cui Yu’s friends. Originally, Cui Yu had gathered a group of eighteen, accompanied by a total of eight hundred guards. However, they were repeatedly attacked by the Shamans as soon as they reached the western border. They had fought several bloody battles along the way and lost most of their guards. Now, less than one hundred guards remained. Two unlucky youngsters had perished on the battlefield as well, leaving no remains behind.

Two of the youngsters were Heaven-tier, while the rest were Earth-tier. However, they just barely lived up to their Dao Foundation and could not hope to compare to a powerful Heaven-tier cultivator like Cui Yu.

These scions were all stuck between a rock and a hard place. Besides a lack of talent, the direct descendants were also outmatched by a genius brother or sister of their family. As for the two Heaven-tier youngsters, they were born from a concubine and so could not compete against the direct descendants. Not only was their position in their respective family awkward, they could never improve it no matter how hard they worked. Thus, there was a high chance they would fall into decadence.

This was why Cui Yu took them everywhere with him; to help them gain experience and to prevent them from slipping into depravity.

This was no place to linger, so Wei Yuan requested the guards to carry the Shamans’ corpses before guiding them back to the realm of Qingming.

After going through many life-or-death battles, every surviving scion was exuding a faint aura of death. Most of the aura of decadence that once clung to their bodies had dissipated.

Cui Yu said nothing, but Wei Yuan could sense the terrible weight residing in his chest. The death of his two friends had brought him an immense amount of pressure and even more guilt.

Wei Yuan knew very well that this was not something that simple words of consolation could resolve. Only time could erase the pain naturally.

The group did not encounter any more resistance until they crossed Qingming’s border. At the moment, most parts of the realm were empty and undeveloped. So, Wei Yuan ordered his men to take the guards away for treatment, and to construct a few houses for the scions as soon as possible.

Although these young masters and ladies had shed much of their spoiled demeanor, they were, at heart, still accustomed to a life of luxury and comfort. It would be unreasonable to expect them to sleep out in the open without complaints.

Next, Wei Yuan ordered some men to carry the fresh corpses to the designated area. Speaking of which, a couple thousand Shaman corpses were still lying in the corpse field. Although their toxin and mystic energy had been fully purified, the realm was desperately short-handed at the moment. They had not yet found the time to process these corpses accordingly.

The young scions thought they had become desensitized to death, but they still couldn’t help from turning white when they saw the orderly rows of dead bodies.

Moments later, Cui Yu met up with Xiao Yu and Bao Yun and expressed his surprise. He wasn’t expecting them considering the circumstances. After a brief catch-up, they went straight to business.

The sixteen scions Cui Yu had brought with him were, all in all, fairly talented. Unfortunately, their cultivation progress was a bit slow because they hadn’t endured much hardship in the past. A few of them were still in the early-stage of the Dao Foundation stage.

Wei Yuan was hoping that Cui Yu would be the one to deliver the supplies he had been dreaming about, but alas, his sect fellow had to abandon most of the baggage after fighting multiple bloody battles and losing most of his guards.

After listening to Cui Yu’s story until the end, Wei Yuan came to believe that the guards would prove useful in the upcoming battles. The scions were a very different story, however.

When Wei Yuan had first written the letters, he hadn’t known that the aristocratic families would adopt the stances they had. He had imagined Cui Yu coming to his rescue with several dozen friends and several thousand guards. They would fight a few battles, earn some face, make a bunch of merits, and generally keep the realm safe. Then, they could return to where they came from.

Unfortunately, the situation was not developing in a way he had anticipated.

After pondering for a moment, Wei Yuan said, “Do you think we should send them home?”

Cui Yu echoed in agreement, “I agree. They’re not all that useful, and we have to spare the energy to protect them. It’ll be a pain if they get injured or die in battle as well.”

Cui Yu did not give them an answer. Instead, he said, “I’ll call them over and see what they think.”

Wei Yuan nodded, and Cui Yu temporarily took his leave. Moments later, he returned to the central peak with the young masters and ladies.

Cui Yu made the introductions. “Wei Yuan, Xiao Yu, Bao Yun. They were all my classmates.”

The young scions were clearly excited, but they were wise enough to rein in their reactions and remain disciplined. Forget causing trouble, they didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly.

Wei Yuan was one thing, but Bao Yun and Xiao Yu were exceedingly famous among their circles. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were the final evolution all noble sons and daughters aspired to become. Not only did the duo possess everything the scions had, they were several tiers higher than what they were enjoying as well.

Cui Yu spoke up, “They think this place is too dangerous for the likes of you, and that it is best if you return whence you came. What do you all think?”

A girl mustered her courage and declared in a loud voice, “If we leave now, then Brother Wang and Brother Li would have died for nothing, wouldn’t they?”

Another youngster spoke up, “We can’t avoid the battlefield forever, and everyone has to die someday. What does it matter if we die sooner or later? We’ve already seen blood and lost people. With all that said, I’m not leaving.”

Cui Yu had expected this reaction. They had followed him through fire and flames all the way to this place. Of course they wouldn’t just leave without achieving something. If they were the type to do so, he would not have brought them over in the first place.

Seeing their reactions, Bao Yun and Xiao Yu chose to stay silent. They would learn what a true war was once they had fought a couple battles.

Cui Yu asked Wei Yuan, “We only have one question—Are there many opportunities to earn merit here?”

Wei Yuan responded, “Forget merits, there are plenty of Heaven Merits to be made. With luck, you might just be able to get some of it.”

He really meant it as a warning, but the young masters and ladies completely missed the point and became even more excited instead. At their age, even a few points of Heaven Merits would be an unbelievable honor!

Earning Heaven Merits was anything but easy. Back then, Wei Yuan had earned only ordinary merits despite injuring the Sky Snow Hawk Hulehachi with a Reversal. At the minimum, one had to repel an Avatar like Zhang Sheng had when he repelled the Sky Snow Hawk in one strike to earn Heaven Merits.

If the scions weren’t going to leave before, now they were positively desperate to stay.

But of course, Wei Yuan knew various ways to deal with them. He said, “You’re welcome to stay if you wish, but let me make one thing clear: on the battlefield, military orders are absolute. You must follow my instructions to the letter! If anyone acts on their own initiative or disobeys orders, then I won’t even bother with talk of military discipline—you will head home on your own!”

The provocation hit its mark perfectly. The outraged scions immediately agreed to his request without thinking.

Mentally, Xiao Yu shook his head. These young masters and ladies were not nearly seasoned enough to know about the treachery of the world, much less the treachery of Wei Yuan. He did not even need to see the guy’s face to know exactly what he had planned for these scions.

1. Yes, there were only four in the previous chapter, and now there are five. I’ve purposely bought the chapter just to check the comments and I’m not the only one who noticed it. It’s probably a mistake by the author. ☜