Announcement:
Volume 2, Chapter 36 — Encircled and Fighting Qu Chang, Cursing Fang Zhen
A cultivator at the scene died violently. Due to the incident suddenly happening, hundreds of Azure Ocean Sect"s disciples at the Lesser Waves Mountain were shocked.
Zhang Yan looked up and saw a Demon cultivator hovering midair. His height was 10 feet with a particularly protruding lower jaw, wide cheek tip, pitch black skin, and clad in golden armor. He held a 6-feet-long blade carved with beastly marks, and his appearance was particularly like a malevolent beast.
This demon looked around. A trace of a happy expression surfaced in his bell-like big eyes when he saw the Golden Flood Dragon as he smiled and flushed away in a strange manner toward it.
More than 10 warriors surrounded the Golden Flood Dragon. Upon seeing the rushing Demon cultivator, they shouted repeatedly and quickly encircled the Golden Flood Dragon. But they had never thought that the Demon cultivator ignored the hits and collisions. Each time he moved, several warriors were directly sent flying with every hit he sent out.
A few warriors at the side rushed forward and tried to block him, but the moment he moved, the warriors were just like puppet dolls and were sent flying when he patted them.
Luo Xiao exclaimed in alarm in Zhang Yan"s sleeve, “It"s actually him?!"
Zhang Yan raised his sleeve near his face and whispered, “Fellow Daoist Luo, do you know this demon?”
Luo Xiao"s voice was like a mosquito"s buzz as her voice was transmitted from inside the sleeve, "He"s called Qu Chang. He"s the Old Qu"s son of the Nine Twisted Stream Palace in Deep Ford Gorge. But I don"t know why he came here."
Zhang Yan frowned. The Nine Twisted Stream Palace? Wasn"t this place already captured by Su Yihong? Even if there were some Demon cultivators that slipped away and escaped, they must have been in hiding. So how would he appear in this place? He faintly felt that the emergence of this Golden Flood Dragon and this Demon cultivator seemed to be unlikely to be a mere coincidence.
At the moment, Qu Chang had already arrived in front of the Golden Flood Dragon. He then pulled on the Yang Essence Golden Chain and cracked open the lock. Once the Golden Chain was opened, the Flood Dragon Demon would quickly break away and free.
Xie Zongyuan shouted toward his attendants, “All of you, attack this demon!” This Qu Chang was also a Profound Light Realm cultivator, while he also had 4 Profound Light Realm cultivators. Xie Zongyuan naturally wasn"t afraid, as his strength was enough to deal with the demon.
These Profound Light cultivators had long been itching to act, however, the problems that obstructed them was that they had to protect Xie Zongyuan. They couldn"t act freely without command. Now, when they heard the command to take on the enemy, one of them immediately acted, as his 2 fingers overlapped as he then coldly spoke, "Kill!”
The flying sword in his hands rose as it shot forward to slash at and kill Qu Chang.
The moment Qu Chang"s hands were about to touch the Yang Essence Golden Chain, he suddenly felt that something shot at him from behind. He turned his head as his hand quickly moved to catch it; it turned out to be a flying sword. He looked at the constantly buzzing flying sword as he shouted and exerted his strength. With a crack sound, he pinched it as the sword then broke.
A cultivator who was standing at Xie Zongyuan"s right side grunted and rushed forward. A profound light immediately unfolded as the blue light was shaped into a large fan that then slashed and swept away at Qu Chang.
A fiendish grin surfaced on Qu Chang"s face. He unexpectedly didn"t dodge or evade it, and instead rushed to meet it head on powerfully. When the two of them were about to clash, he suddenly shouted, as the beast-marked broadsword in his hands was lifted up and then slashed down. With a loud slashing sound, his strike not only cleaved the bluish profound light, but also severed that cultivator"s body. Blood was raining down in a split second, as the cultivator"s Primordial Soul instantly vanished.
Everyone was shocked, the leader of the Profound Light Realm cultivators shouted, "It"s bad, this Demon has a Divine Weapon! Quickly get out of the way and prepare to strike at him with magical flying swords!"
The so-called Divine Weapons used by cultivators, were generally ranked into 3 grades —"Human", "Earth", and "Heaven" rank. These weapons were entirely built from heaven and earth precious materials by powerful cultivators. Not only were these weapons able to resist magical treasures, moreover, they were mostly used to destroy and render the protective qi barrier of a cultivator"s body useless.
Upon seeing that Qu Chang was this powerful, the remaining 3 Profound Light Realm cultivators were afraid to rush forward. They quickly formed a secret seal and struck from tens of feet away, as numerous magical treasures and flying swords then rose and flew as bands of dazzling lights then flushed forward at Qu Chang"s body.
Qu Chang brandished his beast-marked broadsword and slashed. However, 2 flying swords at his right and left shifted to the side as they evaded his slash and cut his head. "Clang", the sound of metal colliding was heard as the sword"s strike left a white scar on his neck. He only shook his head and didn"t seem to be injured.
As though he seemed to be angered by this sword, he no longer approached the Golden Flood Dragon and rushed over to kill Xie Zongyuan.
Upon seeing this, Zhang Yan couldn"t help but ask, “Fellow Daoist Luo, this demon should have taken the Strength Path, so he isn"t afraid of the flying sword, right?"
Luo Xiao came out from the sleeve and replied, “Yes, Qu Chang should be at the Profound Light Realm Third Stage. His profound light qi essence has altered his flesh and has already been integrated all over his body. With such a fusion, his body is as hard as tempered steel, and common magical treasures and flying swords are useless against him."
The Profound Light was also called "Inner Body Qi Essence". After one had achieved Radiant Qi, if they were not using Cloud Sand and other external objects to condense their Profound Light Seed, they would be able to alter their bones, blending it into their blood and fusing the qi with their corporeal body. In this way, they would take the Strength Path.
Since most Demon cultivators had no Dao manuals and coupled with their low perception on the Qi Path compared to human cultivators, they usually chose to fully temper and refine their bodies.
But after Zhang Yan had read “The Golden Fruit Life Essence Manual”, he also knew that the Strength Path was by no means simple. It especially could be seen from a superior Strength Path"s cultivation law. Not only must one pay particular attention to the profound cultivation technique, they also needed a large amount of ancient demon blood essence and bones. The resources they would need were a lot more compared to the ones that took the Qi Path. Hence, ordinary Demon cultivators without a background could only helplessly take the Qi Path due to this reason.
Seeing Qu Chang"s threatening rush, Xie Zongyuan was still calm and composed as he took an azure-colored small stele from his sleeve and shouted, "Go!"
The small stele flew to the air as it enlarged to 30-feet in size and crushed down over Qu Chang.
Suddenly, as though being shrouded by a bizarre power, Qu Chang"s lightning fast movements became sluggish under the shade of this huge stele"s power. He fell from the air and was barely able to get up. No matter how much strength he exerted, he could only staggeringly move with great difficulty, as though he was moving in deep mud.
The dark shade suddenly covered his body as the giant stele suddenly crashed down. Qu Chang shouted as he thrust the broadsword upward with both of his hands as a deafening loud sound was heard afterward. He was moving stiffly, but he still survived. However, as though he received a huge pressing force, his body was slowly being pressed down.
Fen Ming, who was observing the battle from above, was aghast, and then asked with amazement, "Senior Brother Fang, what magical treasure is that? How could it be so powerful?"
Fang Zhen grunted and replied, “This treasure is well known as the Suppressing Sea Stele, a Spiritual Device. However, Xie Zongyuan is but only at the Radiant Qi Realm Second Stage, so he can"t display even 10% of its true might. Otherwise, that Demon cultivator would have already been crushed to death, and would have no chance to even struggle."
Upon seeing that Qu Chang was unable to withstand the oppression, a contemptuous smile surfaced on Xie Zongyuan"s face. He silently performed a secret seal as the huge stele gradually shrunk, even though the oppressing force didn"t even weaken. Qu Chang was still unable to move even a foot. When the stele finally resized into one foot in size, Xie Zongyuan then took something from his sleeve. A brilliant light flashed, and even at a glance, it was evident that the blade was very precious. He then handed it over to a Profound Light cultivator at his side and spoke, "You go and finish him."
The cultivator bowed and received it. He then walked toward Qu Chap, who was panting and gasping, unable to break away from the stele"s suppression. He sneered as he stepped forward and lifted the short blade to stab him.
The onlooker disciples on the mountain thought that the blade would be able to kill this powerful Demon cultivator. Who would have thought that, when it was about to happen, Qu Chang looked up with a fiendish grin and caught the cultivator"s arm. His other hand waved as the beast-marked broadsword slashed the man"s head. And "Bang", red and white colored objects splashed everywhere.
Xie Zongyuan was at a loss and shouted, “How could this be?”
Qu Chang stood up again and shook his head. An ominous light flashed in his eyes as he stared fiercely at Xie Zongyuan. It seemed as though the Suppressing Sea Stele didn"t affect him in the slightest bit.
Even though the Suppressing Sea Stele was still hanging in the air, however, it exuded a whining sound. If one were to carefully observe it, it looked like a tiny tablet talisman was holding the stele to hold it down. Not only was the stele not pressing down, but instead seemed to be holding it there.
Upon seeing Qu Chang striding toward them with a fiendish smile, one of the remaining 2 Profound Light Realm cultivators at Xie Zongyuan"s side then shouted, “Fourth Young Master, quickly leave, we"ll be the rearguard!"
Xie Zongyuan"s complexion slightly paled. But he didn"t run away due to this and instead stood firmly at his position. A fierce and resolute expression flashed in his eyes as he then looked up and cupped his hands, "Senior Brother Fang, I know you have a magical treasure, please kill this Demon with me. My Xie Family surely will be very grateful afterward!"
Fang Zhen and Feng Ming, who originally only wanted to see the bustling scene, but after seeing that the Demon cultivator was very powerful and seeing the situation turn for the worst, Fang Zhen was secretly happy seeing Xie Zongyuan and his men in distress. He intended to flee right away. Upon seeing that Xie Zongyuan pleaded for their help, not only was he coldly sneering in his heart, he was also completely ignoring him. He then waved the flying ship"s token seal and then turned around to leave.
Zhang Yan"s eyes flashed. He secretly pondered. Fang Zhen seemed to have a high status in the Apprenticeship Branches, even Feng Ming was very respectful to him. But this person just now intended to scheme against him. Did he believe that he couldn"t hear it? He might as well fraud him now as to make him pay.
He steered his flying ship and quickly blocked Fang Zhen"s path and shouted, "Senior Brother Fang, the enemy is in front of us, where are you going now?"
Fang Zhen was startled and snapped angrily, “Zhang Yan, what are you stopping me for? Xie Zongyuan is an Ancient Family"s disciple, if he dies then just die. What are you minding others" business for, huh?"
Zhang Yan replied in a stern tone, “Senior Brother Fang is mistaken, I"m not stopping you for Xie Zongyuan."
He pointed to everyone below and loudly shouted, “Can"t you see that those following hundred disciples are disciples from our Sect? They have neither a flying ship nor are they able to fly and escape. The moment you leave, once Xie Zongyuan is defeated, this d.a.m.ned Demon will wantonly act crazily. Wouldn"t those disciples be trampled by then? Although this Demon is at the Profound Light Realm, I know you have magical treasures. We are not necessarily unable to deal and kill him if we work together and combine our forces!!"
What Zhang Yan said was true and reasonable. Fang Zhen"s face twitched as he couldn"t retort back and then reluctantly replied, "This Demon is powerful and very difficult to deal with. I will have to go back to report this to the Masters in the sect and then act afterward."
Having finished speaking, he steered his flying ship and shifted to the side, and avoided Zhang Yan"s flying ship as he turned around to leave. Feng Ming looked at Zhang Yan with a complex expression. He heard his words and also agreed to it. But he was also perfectly aware of his own status and was unable to play any roles, so he could only stay silent.
Zhang Yan only faintly smiled and then looked Fang Zhen"s back that was already far away. He then loudly shouted, “Fang Zhen, aren"t you a disciple under Dao Master Yan from the Twilight Fairyland? You are such a coward that backs off from battle. What do you regard about the other disciples" life? Have you no shame? Do you even know what a sense of honor means? How come our sect has such a rotten disciple? I, Zhang Yan, am very much in shame to have such a rotten fellow disciple like you!!!"
His voice rumbled and spread to all directions. Hundreds of disciples underneath could clearly hear it as they also had the same expression.
Fang Zhen"s complexion turned crimson after Zhang Yan scolded him. He couldn"t even lift his head, as he almost vomited blood.
Feng Ming"s face was also red as a guilty feeling also arose in his heart. He then spoke in a scruple tone, "S-Senior Brother, please think about it, we…"
Fang Zhen cursed, “Bah, if this Zhang Yan wishes to die, then just go die by himself. You also want to go? Yes, I know I have magical treasures, but I don"t want to help them, what do you want to do now, huh?"