Li Botao took in a deep breath. After that, he took some time to calm his emotions down, "I know that you have always been very decisive, but I also know that you are very cautious when it comes to the safety of the sect."
"You dare to make such a huge gamble? You are so sure that Lin Feng and the Celestial Sect of Wonders are fine?"
Wu Yunliang laughed bitterly, which was a rare sight. "I am not sure. If it"s possible, I hope that this moment never comes."
He looked at Li Botao and wore a weird expression on his face, "Because I know that the Mount Shu Sword Sect has kept us a p.a.w.n in case of any future need. If things happen too suddenly, just like what"s happening now, it would be difficult for me to liaise with the Celestial Sect of Wonders."
"That"s why the Celestial Sect of Wonders and I agreed that if something happens in the Ethereal Mountain Sect one day, and I couldn"t inform in time, the Celestial Sect of Wonders will have to deal with it prudently."
"They won"t fall into the trap blindly. They will try to verify things first before planning out their next move."
Li Botao"s expression turned weird too. He stared at Wu Yunliang, "Verify? How are they going to do so? Wait…Chu Yang?"
His attention turned to Meng Chaoran, who was beside Wu Yunliang. "Chu Yang is the alternative party that the Celestial Sect of Wonders can liaise with?"
Chu Yang was a rising star in the sect. During the Spiritual Conference of the Kunlun Mountains, he performed extremely well. He was on good terms with his Master, Meng Chaoran, and his cultivation was in the Aurous Core Stage. In the Ethereal Mountain Sect, he was no longer just any junior disciple.
Li Botao also observed Chu Yang closely normally. But Chu Yang often left the mountain. Since his cultivation was not low, it was not easy to monitor his actions all the time. Li Botao could not possibly tail him everywhere he went.
This time, Chu Yang left the mountains not long ago. As Li Botao recall this, he realized that Chu Yang did not leave the mountain because he had something to do. That was because Meng Chaoran and Wu Yunliang were expecting something to happen, thus they sent Chu Yang down the mountains first in case of anything.
At this point, Chu Yang might have crept back up to the mountain already. After confirming the situation at the mountain, he then went on to inform the Celestial Sect of Wonders.
Although the Grand Moon Swordmaster"s cultivation was not low, he was still not the controller of the Ethereal Mountain. Since Wu Yunliang and Meng Chaoran had arranged Chu Yang to carry out such a role, it was natural for them to have arranged the necessary stuff earlier. He should be able to enter and exit the Ethereal Mountain secretly.
The Grand Moon Swordmaster and the others were too focused on hiding themselves to ambush the Celestial Sect of Wonders, giving Chu Yang the opportunity to escape their attention.
Wu Yunliang sighed and said, "If you discussed with me, I might have followed your call, albeit hesitantly. But what you"ve just done is equivalent to making the decision for me."
As they saw Xiao Yan and the Virtuous Zen Master appear, those who were on Li Botao"s side felt deflated. Li Botao did not retract the light projection, but he shook his head in disappointment, "Haha, this is ridiculous."
Meng Chaoran looked at the light projection before asking, "Second Senior, is there still a need to maintain the formation?"
Li Botao focused his attention on Wu Yunliang and Meng Chaoran, before answering in a low voice, "If you had follow my way, there"s still room for the sect to maneuver its way out of any failure. If you hand me over, the Celestial Sect of Wonders will probably not pursue the matter anymore."
"But what you are doing now will only cause the Mount Shu Sword Sect to regard the Ethereal Mountain Sect as liars and traitors. They will think that we colluded with the Celestial Sect of Wonders to trap them. If their wrath is incurred and they decide to take revenge against us, we are doomed!"
"Just like I said before, even if the Celestial Sect of Wonders is willing to stand up for us, the comrades of the sect who perishes can never be revived!"
"You have staked everything on the Celestial Sect of Wonders. There"s only one path we can go from now on."
Meng Chaoran sighed and did not speak. Wu Yunliang shook his head too, "Second Junior, if we knew that you will do such a thing today, we would have had a different plan. At least we"ll think of a way to release all of you secretly. But now that the Celestial Sect of Wonders is watching, there"s no way we can do that anymore."
"Just as you said, we can only help the Celestial Sect of Wonders now. Otherwise, we"ll be on the receiving end of both parties."
Li Botao peered into the skies and sighed heavily. He laughed mockingly and gestured for the cultivators outside to remove the formation.
At this point, in the sky outside, a huge battle was already ensuing. The Ethereal Mountain Sect disciples in the other pavilion just realized a huge battle was going on on the outside at this point.
The formation no longer separated s.p.a.ce, but it maintained its protective mechanism. Wu Yunliang, Li Botao and Meng Chaoran watched the battle outside and sighed.
The shockwaves from the battle that was going on even destabilized the formation that was protecting all of them.
The Virtuous Zen Master unleashed the Three Thousand Illumination Spell of the Forever-Bright Tathagata Mantra, engaging in a close battle with the Grand Moon Swordmaster.
The Great Thunderclap Temple and Mount Shu were never harmonious with each other. During the War of Buddha Annihilation, the Mount Shu Sword Sect took part in it. As the Virtuous Zen Master saw the sword cultivators of the Mount Shu Sword Sect, he was naturally unkind towards them.
The expression of the Grand Moon Swordmaster turned ghastly. His Grand Moon Sword was even more lethal than it looked. At the same time, it underwent countless transformations and specialized in using its gentleness to deal with tough attacks, although its offensive powers were inferior to both the Shaoshang and Lixiong Swords.
But his opponent just had to be the Virtuous Zen Master. The Virtuous Zen Master cultivated the Forever-Bright Tathagata Mantra to stabilize his body. He was neither reckless nor impatient. At the same time, his battling style was very stable. As the two of them clashed, neither of them could emerge victorious quickly.
Even if the Grand Moon Swordmaster could overcome the Virtuous Zen Master, it would be a devastating battle that was bound to hurt him too.
Although the Grand Moon Swordmaster had a gentle personality, he was ultimately still a sword cultivator. At other times, he did not mind fighting all the way against the Virtuous Zen Master and see if the Buddhist mantras of the Great Thunderclap Temple were greater or if the art of swordplay of the Mount Shu Sword Sect was superior.
The previous Grand Moon Swordmaster, who was also his Master, perished under the hands of the Great Thunderclap Temple. His impression of Buddhism was also one fraught with distaste and hatred.
But right now, the Grand Moon Swordmaster had no patience to fight it out with the Virtuous Zen Master.
On the other side, even though the Mountain-Breaking Swordmaster and the Chongyan Swordmaster outnumbered Xiao Yan, they were still not as powerful as him.
The brutal Nefarious Spectral Primordial Fire caused the entire sky to be dyed into purplish-blue color.
The Chongyan Swordmaster cultivated the Grand Moon Sword and developed an unbreakable tenacity. As she defended herself, she could barely resist Xiao Yan"s attack.
However, things were different for the Mountain-Breaking Swordmaster. He could only clash head on with Xiao Yan, but he was still on the losing end. If the Chongyan Swordmaster did not lend him a hand, he would have been injured by Xiao Yan.
The Divine Token of the Five Thrones above Xiao Yan"s head unleashed a bright radiance, taking down Ning Lang"s Shaoshang Sword. As his Cosmic Form roared, the Nefarious Spectral Primordial Fire surged again. Xiao Yan extended his hand and the Nefarious Almighty Sword appeared in his hands. A flame that seemed to tear apart the Heavens and Earth slashed down above the head of Ning Lang.
Ning Lang revealed his Immortal Soul Avatar at this moment, which converted into a green bronze sword that was 10 meters long and was thick in its width. While heavy, the sword possessed a sense of dominance. Ning Lang summoned the Shaoshang Sword to its limit, enabling it to extinguish the flame of Xiao Yan.
But Xiao Yan laughed coldly. As he changed his sword stance, the Nefarious Spectral Primordial Fire converted into a ferocious, purplish tiger. On its entire body, countless light patterns appeared. At the same time, a merciless killer aura that could exterminate the entire Heavens and Earth started to spread.
As the Nefarious Spectral Primordial Fire was pushed to its limits, Xiao Yan combined with his sword, resonating his own powers with that of the Nefarious Almighty Sword as well as the purplish tiger. As he roared, he burst towards Ning Lang"s green bronze sword. The tiger clawed and a deafening creaking sound rang. A scar had appeared on the green bronze sword of Ning Lang.
The Chongyan Swordmaster had no choice but to forsake her own defense. A sword aura in the form of a fog expanded out, heading towards the Nefarious Spectral Primordial Fire.
However, the tiger roared and spoke in human words, "I have been waiting for you!"
Black flames surged out from the body of the tiger, entangling with the sword aura of the Chongyan Swordmaster.
These black flames twisted and changed their shape in the sky, adopting a convoluted appearance - cow-like head, deer-like horns, shrimp-like eyes, elephant-like ears, snake-like neck and belly, fish-like scales, phoenix-like claws and tiger-like palms.
On the back of this new form of the black flames, there were 81 scales.
Its breath formed clouds, it sounded like beating gongs, it had a beard under its chin and a pearl under its jaws.
It was not just a convoluted appearance. It was the true form of a Dragon. The black flames had converted into a huge dragon that danced in the sky. The dragon swallowed the sword aura, which was helpless against it. Even when the aura struck the dragon, no harm was done to the dragon.
Heavenly Apocalyptic Blaze, Image of the Jade Green Dragon. The dragon was about to swallow the Heavens and Earth!
The face of the Chongyan Swordmaster was pale. She realized that her sword aura was quickly swallowed by the Heavenly Apocalyptic Blaze, which was in the form of the dragon.
She wanted to retract her aura to focus on defending. But the dragon unleashed a frightening roar suddenly. The Heavenly Apocalyptic Blaze spread out and revealed the figure of Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan said, "It"s too late."
He held the Nefarious Almighty Sword in the reverse manner with his left hand and his right hand grabbed in void s.p.a.ce. The Cosmic Form above him did the same thing too. Suddenly, the Nefarious Spectral Primordial Fire and Heavenly Apocalyptic Blaze gathered to form a purplish-black lotus. This lotus shot towards the Chongyan Swordmaster.
Heaven Fire Lotus!
As Xiao Yan managed to cultivate the Cosmic Form and reach the Advanced Stage of the Nascent Soul Stage, his Twin Fire Lotus move was able to raze the Heavens.
The face of the Chongyan Swordmaster turned pale. Her face turned black under the reflection of the frightening fire. She revealed her Immortal Soul Avatar quickly and a flexible sword appeared, resisting the powers of the Heaven Fire Lotus.
On the other side, the Mountain-Breaking Swordmaster also summoned the Shaoshang Sword decisively, converting it into an extremely cultivated and domineering thousand-foot sword radiance. It shook amidst the distorted void s.p.a.ce before transcending void s.p.a.ce to attack Xiao Yan, resisting Xiao Yan along with the Chongyan Swordmaster.
As the fire exploded, the sword radiance and the fire spread in the air. The Divine Token of the Five Thrones above Xiao Yan"s head flashed, blocking off the ferocious sword radiance.
Although the Divine Token of the Five Thrones was powerful, Xiao Yan was still unable to unleash its full powers as he was not in the Immortal Soul Stage yet. It could not defend the entire attacks of a Mount Shu sword cultivator, but was able to resist at least half of them. As for the other half of the attacks, Xiao Yan was able to resist them on his own.
Although Ning Lang and the Chongyun Swordmaster managed to resist the Fire Lotus, they were shocked as they saw the Nefarious Spectral Primordial Fire and Heavenly Apocalyptic Blaze reforming even before they could catch their breath.
At the same time, a huge amount of golden flames started to gather, as if the Sun was rising.
The golden Sun gathered along with the Nefarious Spectral Primordial Fire and the Heaven Apocalyptic Blaze. As they came together, they formed a small purplish-black lotus seat. On the lotus seat, golden stamens swayed in the wind.