Chapter 106: Duel of Formations

This plan was not conceived by Daoist Wine, but it did involve Zhu Fei. When Daoist Wine proposed three difficult problems, the only thing the third-generation disciple of the Tianyi Sect wanted to do was—

"Then let's run! If we don't run, our lives will be forfeit!" Zhu Fei stammered, his words deeply demoralizing.

"When one can escape, even a drunkard wouldn't be foolish enough to throw his life away!" Daoist Wine rolled his eyes. "But do you have a plan for escape? In the current situation, if we don't flee, we die!"

"I know the Earth Escape Technique; I could take you all with me," the fat immortal muttered.

"You actually know the Five Innate Escape Techniques?" Xie Yudie was startled. This was an incredibly profound art of evasion, no less capable than sword flight, and far more covert—truly a rare talent.

"My own master couldn't master this technique; only I could grasp its mysteries!" Seeing the surprise on the Emei Sect senior sister's face, Zhu Fei couldn't help but puff out his chest in boastful pride.

"The Chiyin Sail is a supreme treasure of the Demon Sect. It is exceptionally fast, capable of traveling ten thousand miles in a day. Can you compare to that?" Daoist Wine poured cold water on him before taking a swig of wine. "If you want to save your own skin, then go. The four of us will stay here to stall; perhaps we might survive."

"Now that's a good idea!" Zhu Fei's eyes lit up. Seeing everyone staring at him, he said sheepishly, "I was only joking. I am a disciple of a righteous sect; it is my duty to slay demons and eliminate evil, even if it costs me my life!"

"Luo Xu is currently resisting the Heavenly Tribulation. Is it possible he hasn't noticed us?" Zhou Qian suddenly asked.

"That is true, but there is no time," Daoist Wine said, assuming Zhou Qian was still thinking of escape.

Zhou Qian and Zhou Xun exchanged a look and smiled. Zhou Xun said calmly, "When it comes to roaming the heavens or the earth, we mortals dare not compare ourselves to immortals. But when it comes to schemes and trickery, those of the pugilistic world are a step ahead."

It was not that the sword immortals lacked cunning, but compared to the treacherous and trap-filled world of the martial arts, they were clearly lacking in that regard.

"Do you really have a way?" Xie Yudie asked, unconvinced.

"Nothing more than a sleight of hand to manipulate the human heart—"

It was these eight words that led Luo Xu to dive headlong into the deadly formation. The formation connected heaven and earth, instantly severing the connection between his primordial spirit and his physical body. Insect clouds swarmed; Daoist Wine fled like a rat. Even immortals valued their lives.

Once Luo Xu entered the formation, the world transformed. Heaven was no longer heaven, and earth was no longer earth. All around was a void, yet empty of all things. Luo Xu realized this was the formation's killing intent, latent but poised to destroy heaven and earth. He mused to himself, 'The Heavenly Dao is unobstructed, yet I have fallen for a petty trick. This formation must be the killing move of that old goat Daoist Wine. However, with my Chiyin Divine Sail refined, who can stop me! It is only a nuisance that my physical body is outside, preventing me from using certain spells!'

The Chiyin Sail twisted in the void, shooting out streams of bloody energy. It was the Nine-Nether Chiyin Blood Qi, a vicious substance capable of defiling primordial spirits and magical treasures.

Suddenly, the Taiyi Sword Diagram shuddered as if unable to withstand the force. Cracks appeared in the void, through which the landscape of Luodu could be faintly glimpsed. Luo Xu rejoiced, and the Chiyin Demon-Gathering Sail surged with fierce power, filling the space with red mist.

A yellow-skinned gourd flashed in the air. With a slight rotation, earth, fire, wind, and water surged forth, standing toe-to-toe with the Nine-Nether Chiyin Blood Qi. The situation in the formation began to improve.

Luo Xu sneered, "The main players have arrived?"

With a shake of the sail, countless demon souls and ghosts manifested. These were not ordinary manifestations of yin energy, but the Blood Gods of the Chiyin Sail. Their forms flickered between reality and illusion; even flying swords could not harm them. Whether dealing with righteous or evil sword immortals, they needed only to pass through their bodies to drain their essence and destroy their physical forms. Had they not been in the formation, allowing the four to hide using its momentum, they would have been dead beyond a doubt.

These Blood Gods clawed and snarled, pouncing toward the yellow gourd to corrupt its spiritual energy. The gourd turned again, spewing hundreds of Divine Firmament Thunder Orbs—their natural nemesis. Thunderous claps erupted, shattering them to pieces. Luo Xu frowned, waving his primordial hand to summon a torrent of Chiyin Blood Qi, thick as a water vat and dozens of feet long, to block the path. It exploded into countless bloody mists, yet they perpetually reformed, endlessly cycling.

Far outside the formation, Daoist Wine frowned. These thunder orbs were things he had refined with immortal arts during his idle time in the mountains, absorbing the thunderous energy of heaven and earth. Few Heavenly Gang artifacts could withstand them, yet he had not expected this newly refined Chiyin Demon-Gathering Sail to be so troublesome.

He had gambled everything on this battle. His Divine Firmament Dharma Image was already destroyed; if his natal artifact were also lost, five hundred years of arduous cultivation would vanish in an instant, turning him from a master of the primordial spirit into a mere mortal.

Fortunately, two flying swords appeared in the void—one trailing sword energy, the other a burst of fire. The four people presiding over the sword formation began to exert their power.

The two sword lights were two yards long and as thick as a bowl, one gold and one red, brimming with immortal energy. They struck from the left and right. Luo Xu recognized them as orthodox techniques and clasped his hands together. Four or five strands of Nine-Nether Chiyin Blood Qi surrounded them. The blood energy ignited ghostly demonic fire, searing the sword bodies. Amidst their trembling cries, their spiritual light faded. Luo Xu smiled with satisfaction and flicked his fingers; immediately, Yellow Spring Demon Fire rose, transforming into countless fire serpents that enveloped the two immortal swords. Within moments, the flying swords turned into common scrap metal and fell. Two muffled groans echoed from the void.

However, the unassuming sword energy and fire light taught Luo Xu a lesson. The fire was a rare treasure of Li Fire, the bane of all yin-evil things; it burned a path through the blood mist. The sword energy shifted from solid to void, so swift that before Luo Xu could react, it was already upon him. He had to block with the Chiyin Sail, but the sword energy gouged a small hole in the sail, narrowly missing Luo Xu's primordial spirit.

"Formless Sword Energy!" A look of caution appeared on Luo Xu's face.

It was Zhou Xun and his disciple. The two had been infused with the spiritual energy of the Taiyi Sword Formation, temporarily boosting their cultivation to match that of ordinary sword immortals. This surprise attack had caught him off guard.

Luo Xu drove the blood energy and demonic light repeatedly, surrounding his primordial spirit. His spirit transformed into a black cloud, unleashing the vicious spells of the Demon Sect. Yin demons, ghosts, and skeletal monsters emerged, each possessing boundless power. Meanwhile, the four guarding the formation also unleashed their might. For a time, Li Fire raged, formless sword energy fell like rain, Emei immortal arts surged with grandeur, and Tianyi talisman arts displayed wonders, stirring the formation into a chaotic tempest. Xie Yudie and Zhu Fei, in particular, felt their power reach the threshold of the "Primordial Qi Embryo" state. Spells they usually struggled to cast now flowed continuously. As the most talented of the younger generation, they were proving difficult to handle.

Luo Xu groaned inwardly. His magical treasures and immortal talismans were on his physical body, which was isolated outside the formation. He could only fight with his primordial spirit and the Chiyin Sail, able to use only fifty or sixty percent of his true capability. He felt constrained, but as a master of the primordial spirit, even with the formation's assistance, he held his own against the four. He calculated secretly, seeking the eye of the formation. Battles between immortals were not just tests of strength, but of strategy.

Daoist Wine had spent a century refining the Taiyi Sword Formation; it was far more than this. As the gourd rotated three times, the formation hummed, manifesting four stone gates, each dozens of feet tall and covered in dense inscriptions. The four gates bore the characters: "Birth," "Departure," "Death," and "Union."

When the Gate of Birth opened, Divine Firmament sword energy surged like wind and rain. Flowers bloomed in the void, and golden lotuses sprouted from the earth. Following the principles of the I Ching regarding the harmony of heaven and earth and the thunder that gives life to all things, the spiritual energy of the world reversed. Luo Xu found his spells unusable. Fortunately, his primordial spirit's transformations remained unaffected. He drove the Chiyin Sail, pulling the blood energy back like a waterfall flowing in reverse. The formation's operation faltered for a moment. When it resumed, a blood sphere a hundred feet wide hung in the center, its surface bubbling and churning. Hundreds of heaven-thunder sword strikes slammed into it, yet there was no response.

The Gate of Departure opened. Spiritual energy swirled violently, crushing heaven and earth, causing the massive blood sphere to creak. Before further changes could occur, Luo Xu's feminine voice echoed from within: "Little lady of Emei, look who this is?"

A figure emerged from the blood sphere, stripped naked and bound by iron chains, screaming in agony. It was the soul of Zhao Zhuo, scarred by blood fire, his eyes bulging—

"Junior Sister! Junior Sister, save me! Junior Sister!!!"

The formation trembled, nearly collapsing. Xie Yudie’s heart was in turmoil, and she blurted out—

"Senior Brother!"

Outside the formation, Daoist Wine opened his eyes wide. "No!"

"Haha! Little lady, I have caught you!" Luo Xu’s roar echoed through the formation. The blood sphere collapsed inward, spawning a ghost claw dozens of feet long. With hideous nails, it clawed at a spot in the void. With a deafening sound, the space shattered like willow fluff. Outside the formation, a figure was clearly visible, coughing up blood and flying backward as the Gate of Departure collapsed.

"Twenty-five, First Nine, Upper and Lower Yang, Six Yi... so that's it! Hahahaha!" The ghost claw whipped around toward the southwest and struck again. Zhu Fei’s limbs were broken, and he screamed as he was knocked out of the formation. Clearly, Luo Xu’s restraint had been a ruse to calculate the eye of the formation. The Gate of Death shattered, and the formation teetered on the brink of destruction.

"Is my formation so easily broken?" Daoist Wine growled. He joined his fingers like a sword and slashed downward. "Shatter the Diagram! Taiyi Swords, emerge!"

The world spun; the void vanished, leaving only four bronze giant swords, each five hundred feet long, piercing the four corners of the world, surrounding Luo Xu. They were inscribed with the four great characters: Birth, Departure, Death, and Union.

"Open!"

With a sound like tearing silk, Daoist Wine’s eyelid twitched. He had destroyed the formation diagram, forcing out its infinite sword energy for a final, desperate strike.

"Shatter!"

The four giant swords exploded, transforming into infinite sword energy that swarmed the sky, connecting heaven to earth and covering all of Luodu. They formed a sword map a hundred miles wide. Within it, sword lights flickered—Azure Cloud sword energy from the Qingcheng heart method, Five Metal sword energy sharp enough to pierce bone, Divine Firmament sword energy righteous and majestic, Formless sword energy born from Zhou Xun, and Five Yang sword energy manifested from the primordial spirit. There were hundreds of thousands of each, cold and森, their tips pointing directly at Luo Xu, intending to pierce his heart with ten thousand blades.

Luo Xu was terrified, never expecting Daoist Wine to be so fierce and unrelenting. He had no time to summon his physical body. The black mist of his primordial spirit surged into the Chiyin Demon-Gathering Sail. All the forbidden arts of the sail were unleashed, and countless phantom monsters appeared in the sky—birds, beasts, insects, and scaled creatures. It was a pity the sail was newly forged and had not yet captured their souls and bodies; otherwise, they would have aided him with infinite power—which was its most terrifying aspect.

The phantoms of countless beasts roared and shrieked, coalescing into a thousand-foot-tall monster, a creature with a hundred heads, a thousand arms, and ten thousand feet, straddling the city of Luodu.

"Heaven’s killing intent, shifting stars and moving constellations! Earth’s killing intent, dragons and snakes rising from the land! Immortal’s killing intent, heaven and earth turn upside down!!!"

Daoist Wine curled his fingers slightly, forming a seal. The infinite sword light in the sky rotated, gradually forming a Taiji pattern. Like a surging river, like a rainbow piercing the sun, it descended directly. The sun faded, the moon scattered, and the stars hid. This move was enough to destroy heaven and earth!

The thousand-foot monster let out a low roar. The Yellow Spring Demon Fire on its body flared to a height of thousands of feet. Amidst the swirling black mist, it leaped upward to meet the strike...