The titanic hawk instantly withdrew its overreaching foot like it had touched lightning. Feathers started falling off its body in large numbers. A mournful cry later, it turned toward the north and disappeared into the horizon, not looking back even once.

Zhang Sheng lowered his sword and planted it against the floor. Its bright, sharp edge was less than half an inch away from Wei Yuan.

“What happened?” The scholar asked in an intimidating tone.

Wei Yuan barely mustered the strength to lift the backpack he had been clutching tightly all this time and replied, “My brother’s head was stolen by the Liao barbarians. I went to take it back.”

The disciple thought that his master would rebuke him, but instead he said, “Send me a message the next time you do something like this! I’ll come with you!”

Wei Yuan hesitated as he examined Zhang Sheng’s deathly pale complexion and bloodless lips. If he was alone, he could run away as soon as the situation looked disadvantageous. His master was different, though. No matter who his enemy was, he would most likely want to engage them in a fight first.

Zhang Sheng knew exactly what his disciple was thinking. He said indifferently, “With me around, you would’ve been safe even from an Avatar. This so-called Snow Hawk of Northern Liao is supposedly quite powerful, but I still repelled him in one strike, didn’t I?”

It took some effort, but Wei Yuan nodded in agreement. “He is pretty useless. He hit me a total of three times on the way here, and he still failed to kill me.”

Expressionless, Zhang Sheng grabbed an arrowhead with his left fingers and ripped it out in one motion. He then used his sword qi to seal the wound. The way he removed the arrowhead was brutal to say the least, not to mention the sensation of sword qi sealing a wound shut. Wei Yuan immediately let out a cry of pain!

It was only then the scholar said gently, “You can shut up if you don’t feel like talking, disciple.”

Wei Yuan was gasping from sheer pain right now. He averted his eyes away from Zhang Sheng’s frighteningly bright eyes and settled his gaze on his right hand instead. Suddenly, he found himself unable to look away.

Zhang Sheng had been clutching the hilt of his sword this whole time. He thought that his master was just putting on a cool pose as he was liable to do, but he was really supporting his weight with it. Blood was pouring profusely from between his slender fingers and trickling down the blade’s edge.

Noticing Wei Yuan’s gaze, Zhang Sheng hurriedly tried to distract him, “This sword of mine has quite the incredible origin—”

Before he could finish, the blade of the sword let out an audible crack. Then, it fell apart piece by piece as web-like cracks spread across its whole surface, leaving Zhang Sheng with only the hilt in the end. Both master and disciple nearly fell after their support was gone.

Staring at the empty hilt in his hand, Zhang Sheng found himself momentarily at a loss for words. In fact, his injuries would not be this severe if the sword qi he had attached to Wei Yuan’s sea of consciousness had not activated to protect him and resulted in the destruction of a wisp of his primordial spirit. In fact, one might say that it was the reason behind two-thirds of his current injuries. Normally, he could leave it to Wei Yuan to draw his own conclusions. However, it was much, much harder to explain away his empty sword hilt.

In any case, the unexpected tumble caused Wei Yuan to launch into a series of violent coughs. As he coughed, blood gushed out of his mouth and nostrils, and his eyes slowly but surely began to lose their light.

Aghast, Zhang Sheng threw all thoughts about maintaining his decorum out of the wind and hurriedly inspected Wei Yuan’s injuries. What he found caused his heart to sink all the way to the bottom. To say Wei Yuan's internal injuries and hidden damage were innumerable would be an understatement. After all, withstanding three strikes from an Avatar was hardly an easy task. As he was not adept in the way of healing, the scholar found himself at a loss for a time.

Just then, a hand entered his vision. It held a round yellow translucent fruit that looked real and unreal at the same time. Zhang Sheng looked up and saw that it belonged to Bao Yun.

“This is the first fruit borne by my tree—it can preserve a life,” Bao Yun explained.

Zhang Sheng immediately pried open Wei Yuan’s mouth, and Bao Yun stuffed the fruit inside.

The fruit melted as soon as it entered Wei Yuan’s mouth. Suddenly, tender shoots sprouted from Wei Yuan’s forehead and bloomed into a sapling in the blink of an eye. It then disappeared into his sea of consciousness. A vast amount of vitality erupted inside Wei Yuan’s body and rapidly healed countless internal injuries. His breathing eventually steadied, and his face finally regained some color.

Zhang Sheng let out a sigh of relief. His forehead was completely covered in cold sweat, and he felt as if heaven and earth had fought a war inside his heart. He turned to look at Bao Yun and, after a brief internal struggle, said, “Thank you. I will definitely repay you for this favor in the future. Also... erm... well... I was the one who pushed you back then. Sorry.”

Bao Yun did not understand what Zhang Sheng was saying at first, but when she did, she was beyond stunned. Her mouth grew wider and wider until it could fit a pigeon’s egg.

“You... you....”

Bao Yun had witnessed a fair amount of human treachery in her life, but even she was speechless at that moment. Back then, she had suspected anyone and everyone except Zhang Sheng. Not only that, the scholar had teamed up with Ji Liuli to beat up Hsu Henshui. Looking back now, it was truly something to ponder about.

It was at this moment Wei Yuan slowly opened his eyes and jolted Bao Yun out of her shock. His consciousness was a little blurry as he had just awakened. The faces around him were familiar, but he was unable to put a name to them immediately.

“Brother Wei! Thank goodness you’re okay!”

Wei Yuan turned sideways and stared at a handsome youngster’s face for a breath before recalling that his name was Lee Zhi. As his consciousness cleared, he gradually remembered everyone’s name as well. It felt a little surreal, though. Not long ago, he was making his thousand-li-long great escape. Then, he had collapsed in his master’s arms. Now, he was surrounded by countless fellow humans.

Wei Yuan was overflowing with vitality right now. Like a spirit spring, it kept pouring out vitality and spirit energy and restoring his strength. As he struggled to his feet, he abruptly came to the realization that all these people had come to save him.

Wei Yuan was just about to offer Lee Zhi his thanks when suddenly, his gaze was attracted to a familiar face hiding behind the youngster’s back—Liao Jingwu!

Wei Yuan had deduced the whole truth a long time ago. It was impossible for five hundred Liao iron cavalry to conceal their movements, not to mention that a hundred of them were the incredibly conspicuous Snow Hawk Cavalry. To attack Quyang, they must pass through the military fort first. Yet, the Liao cavalry had caught the county completely unawares, forcing Fang Hetong to intercept them and eventually losing his life. In other words, the fort had not intercepted the Liao cavalry, dispatched reinforcements, or even lit a smoke signal in warning!

Wei Yuan abruptly shot to his feet and started striding toward Liao Jingwu without a word.

The staff general blanched and backed away frantically, yelling, “What are you doing? I’m a court-appointed official; a seventh rank staff general! Aren’t you afraid of the nine familial exterminations? General Lee, Lord Lee! You said you would keep me safe! Save—”

Lee Zhi hadn’t anticipated this outcome either. He tried to stop Wei Yuan, but before he could take a single step, Bao Yun suddenly appeared next to him and said sweetly, “You are too impatient, Brother Lee. Why don’t we wait and see?”

An invisible barrier blocked Lee Zhi’s path the moment Bao Yun showed up. It prevented him from taking a single inch forward.

Wei Yuan caught up to Liao Jingwu in just a few steps. When he stretched his arm, his spear automatically flew away from his dead mount and entered his grip like a dragon!

Liao Jingwu was so panicked that he could barely keep his wits. He subconsciously crossed his sword defensively in front of himself!

Unable to move, Lee Zhi could only cry out, “General Liao has renounced the darkness and returned to the light! Give—”

He was going to say, “Give me face this once, Brother Wei!” Unfortunately, he was far too late.

Wei Yuan swung his spear horizontally, and Liao Jingwu stiffened in place. A thin line appeared on his blade, his arm, and his neck before they all split in two. As his head flew into the air, blood gushed profusely out of his severed neck like a fountain.

Liao Jingwu’s commandants subconsciously backed away from Wei Yuan after their general was dead. It was only natural. After all, a man with any spine would have left this band of misfits a long time ago. Lee Zhi’s elite soldiers were gripping their swords and getting ready for a fight as well. They knew they were no match, but still they readied themselves. All they needed was an order.

For a time, Wei Yuan simply gripped his spear and stood quietly in place. Blood slowly dripped off the spearhead before transforming into beads on the ground. Countless thoughts churned inside his head as everything he had seen and experienced in his life surfaced to his mind. Suddenly, he looked up at the sky where countless yellow clouds were hovering. He felt as if countless pairs of eyes were looking at him from the clouds, all of them brimming with killing intent.

Suddenly, Wei Yuan turned around and asked his master, “Didn’t you say that there exists great love between heaven and earth, Master? Why does this part of the world only want us dead?”

“If the world wants us dead, then we’ll change the world!” Zhang Sheng declared without hesitation.

“As is only right...” Wei Yuan slowly closed his eyes.

Right here and now, three years of education, a decade of arduous cultivation, countless Dao Foundations crystalizing into a river of stars, the old patriarch of the Wei estate and hardworking peasants, the refugees, the blood, the fire, Fang Hetong’s head, the ebbs and flows of human history chronicled across hundreds of thousands of years in the annals, the young Liao chieftain who sought to make him his hawk and hound, the colossal claw descending from the skies, the first spear that defied the very world, dying for a good cause, Wang Delu and Liao Jingwu’s heads, the foot soldiers whose fates were completely in the hands of those who commanded them, Lee Zhi’s shock, the scions’ astonishment, the Pure Realm of Humanity, the yellow clouds of the Liao realm, otherworldly fortune, Outlawed by Heaven and Earth, Bao Yun’s first fruit, Zhang Sheng kneeling in the Skyblue Hall... anything and everything was slowly merging into one.

Suddenly, the world fell still and silent. The everpresent yellow clouds receded frantically as if fleeing something, causing the world within a hundred li to become bright and clear over time. At the same time, wisps of worldly origin qi appeared out of seemingly nowhere and flooded into Wei Yuan’s body. As more and more origin qi appeared from the void, a colossal origin qi storm gradually formed around the young man. Standing in the eye of the storm, Wei Yuan kept absorbing it all like a bottomless abyss!

Inside his sea of consciousness, the jade toad suddenly leaped into the air and consumed the moon in one gulp. Upon landing, it fell motionless as its body gradually transformed into earth and stone. The land kept expanding as if it was endless.

Golden light suddenly flashed above Lee Zhi’s head, and the ancient Four Symbols Tripod Cauldron flickered into existence. It was trembling and emitting several shuddering vibrations. The cauldron was an ancient artifact used by the Human Emperor to Sacrifice to Heaven, and yet it was visibly shaken by the aura Wei Yuan was emanating and recoiling in fear. It caused Lee Zhi to stumble away from the young man a few paces, his face as pale as paper.

The Myriad Manifestations Hall, the Palace of Absolute Beginning. A sudden tremor had suddenly affected the starry blue hall and alarmed the whole sect. Many rays of light streaked across the sky to find out what was going on, many of them Truemen and True Lords.

As they watched, the Myriad Manifestations Hall suddenly grew twice as tall and several times as big. It had never looked more majestic and awe-inspiring than it was now.

The True Lords pointed a finger at the hall in tandem, causing it to turn transparent instantly and revealing its interior.

The river of stars created from countless Dao Foundations were still present. However, a massive continent had appeared beneath it, seemingly supporting the entire starry river. Right now, the river of stars spanned the entire heavens, beginning from one end of the continent and ending at the other.

The same night, Emperor Tang Su suffered multiple startles and passed away at dawn. Emperor Xuan ascended the throne at the age of eleven and changed the era name to Tianqi.

In the first year of the Tianqi era, Wei Yuan forged the Dao Foundation known as “The Great Realm”. It was peerless.

Above, Dao Foundations no bigger than specks of light. Below, the Great Realm that bears it all.