Chapter 320: Splitting up and the Yin and Yang Heavenly Sword
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Who was Yuan Hai? He was the First Elder of the Mingyi School and one of their biggest bluffs as well. He was a supreme Level Nine expert, one of the Three Grandmasters who was designated to deter the Northern Yuan from Yun Zhou when the Jin was about to devastate it. Such a revered expert fell to a complete defeat after taking a single movement of Zhou Bao!
Just one movement!
In the eyes of those Level Seven experts, losing in one movement was not a big deal. When experts got in a battle, they would usually go all out instead of reserving some strength, unless the two sides had a starking difference in strength. For most contestants who were at similar levels, the fighting result was supposed to be out in just one or two movements, while it was utterly the opposite for those ordinary fighters.
Basically, the so-called “toughly fought 300 rounds” scenario could only happen in battles among Junior Masters at Level Four or Five, or even fighters below Level Three.
However, among those who were at the scene, how many truly knew about this principle?
After all, the number of experts was limited. Right now, most of the on-lookers in Mingyi Lane were Junior Masters below Level Seven. Seeing him kill a Level Nine expert with one single movement, they couldn’t help wondering what kind of formidable extent had Zhou Bao’s strength reached.
Let’s take another look at the consequence arising out of the one movement they had struck out. Was this horrible scene even possible to be created by human beings?
Suddenly, the status of Zhou Bao in their mind soared up to heaven.
“The Level Nine expert is nothing more than this!” Zhou Bao thought in his mind.
Putting the spectators aside, even Zhou Bao himself was surprised at this. It was the first time he had ever fought against a Level Nine expert, but the victory was so easy, much simpler than he had imagined.
“Although this bloke is a supreme Level Nine expert and has enough cultivation, his strong power became too dispersed when he simply pursued the pure powerful effect by exercising the essence of the world. In addition, your Flipping Sky Seal has been enhanced by the Heavenly Jade Technique and the Snake-like Breath Holding Skill, so you could break down his entire defense by hitting the weakest point, which surely helped you take a huge advantage in this battle!”
“Seems that this Flipping Sky Seal is quite good!”
“The attack force of the Flipping Sky Seal is really immense. Additionally, I saw you use it without a hitch, so it may be suitable to regard it as your main attacking means!”
“Really?” Zhou Bao smiled, and then, he dropped out of the spiritual communication with Green Spirit. With a flash, he already darted out of that terrifying pit and stood on its edge with both hands clasped behind his back.
“Today, the reason that I come here is just to require an explanation from the Mingyi School. the Mingyi School secretly dispatched forces to besiege me in an attempt to kill me. Now, you should want to kill me openly in this Mingyi Lane. In this case, I have no more words to say. But I’ll try you out, just to see how much strength this world-renowned school truly has!”
Zhou Bao’s voice resounded through the entire Mingyi Lane once more.
“What an audacious note! However, he has defeated Yuan Hai in such a short time, even without employing his Pure Yang Celestial Device. It seems that he does have the capital for arrogance…”
“What? Looks like that the Mingyi School did send Elders to murder him. Otherwise, he can’t have committed such a huge offense and fought all the way to the front door of the Mingyi School!”
“Haha, now one of the two Level Nine experts that the Mingyi School has is already down. I wonder when the other one will come out!”
“I’ve heard that the Mingyi School has a very impressive formation for protecting the whole school. Is it possible that they will initiate that formation today? If they truly launch this formation merely for defending against this Zhou Bao, and then, the millennia prestige that the Mingyi School has enjoyed will be destroyed in just one day!”
“Only if they let Zhou Bao walk out of here alive will their millennia prestige be destroyed!”
Various discussions were buzzing in the crowd of the representatives who had come here for the ceremony.
“We’ve got really lucky to see this. I thought we could only get some boring rituals, but who knew that we’d b.u.mp into such a brilliant event. It’s brilliant, truly brilliant!”
“Brother Gao Hai, is it true that the Mingyi School did try to kill Zhou Bao? Isn’t he an Outer Core disciple of the Tian Long Taoism? Why didn’t the Tian Long Taoism stick up for him? Or else, do you have some private deals under the table with the Mingyi School?”
In the guest yard of the Mingyi School, someone asked Gao Hai in a low voice, who was a representative of the Tian Long Taoism, watching this ceremony.
Gao Hai was fairly young, just in his 40s, but already had a cultivation at Level Seven. This rendered him a precious talent even in the whole world.
Hearing the surrounding acquaintances asking him this, he could only shake his head with a wry smile. “How can I know this? I’ve never heard of this. However, judging from Zhou Bao’s acts, I think this is true. Humph, now the Mingyi School is getting bold. It even casually kills the disciples of us the Tian Long Taoism. I’ll certainly report the event to our Sect Leader and require the Mingyi School to give us a proper account for this!”
“Brother Gao Hai, I’m afraid it’s too late. Zhou Bao isn’t a patient man. Now, the Mingyi School has already lost one expert at Level Eight and one expert at Level Nine. If they let Zhou Bao leave here alive, they’ll truly have no dignity to face others anymore!”
“Not necessarily. To finish off Zhou Bao is not such an easy task for the Mingyi School, I’m afraid.” Gao Hai’s expression suddenly went sullen, and then, as if coming to think of something, turned mildly relaxed, which looked sort of enigmatic.
“Maybe today’s drama is actually directed by the Tian Long Taoism in the dark to give the Mingyi School a hard time, isn’t it?” The changes on Gao Hai’s expression pushed the crowd to overthink. However, they didn’t know that w.a.n.g She had just secretly pa.s.sed his voice into Gao Hai’s ears.
As a matter of fact, Gao Hai did enjoy some respect in the Tian Long Taoism. He was also part of the system of the Three Chiefs, who was a subordinate directly led by Nian Wushuang.
The Three Chiefs were closely related, each holding a different ambition, so there were almost no conflicts of interest among those three. In addition, they were about the same age and shared a lot of views in conversations, which helped them maintain a great relations.h.i.+p with each other. Thus, they formed their own system in the Tian Long Taoism and possessed extraordinary influence. In their sect, many newly joined masters of martial arts all submitted themselves to their side which grew to be the youthful group of the Tian Long Taoism.
However, precisely for their young age, Gao Hai still didn’t know many top secrets about the sect even though his cultivation had reached Level Seven. Therefore, when he first learned that the Mingyi School should send forces to kill Zhou Bao on the sly, he was a bit nonplussed, which then turned into a fit of indignation. Anyhow, Zhou Bao was a member of the Tian Long Taoism. Moreover, that fact was already publicly verified by the Tian Long Taoism. However, the Mingyi School still did such a nasty move, which obviously showed their contempt for the Tian Long Taoism. Thus, how could Gao Hai not get furious? Nevertheless, just when he was about to interrogate the Mingyi School in rage, w.a.n.g She’s voice floated into his ears and told him to take a wait-and-see approach. That was why he displayed such a confident appearance now.
Let’s set Gao Hai’s wait-and-see approach aside for the moment and talk about Zhou Bao. Now that Zhou Bao’s voice had run through the whole Mingyi Lane and was carried to everyone’s ear, and the Mingyi School would seem to be coward if they still didn’t reply.
Therefore, soon after Zhou Bao’s voice faded away, the front door of the Mingyi School that was originally tightly closed, opened widely before an old man over the age of 60 came out from it, escorted by a big crowd.
“w.a.n.g Daohong! He is w.a.n.g Daohong!”
“The head of the Mingyi School! The Sect Leader! Hehe, I never thought he would come in person! ”
“Of course he would come. Facing such a mess that the Mingyi School had not met over thousands of years, he’s really out of luck!” Someone gloated.
Indeed, throughout the past millennia, the Mingyi School had never run into these kinds of troubles. However, one of those just happened to w.a.n.g Daohong. If he had not been the unlucky guy, no other person could claim to be one!
There were more than 20 people cl.u.s.tering around w.a.n.g Daohong, and each of their cultivation was above Level Seven. In fact, under this circ.u.mstance, if your cultivation had not reached Level Seven, you would be utterly useless.
“Are you the head of the Mingyi School, the Sect Leader?” Zhou Bao asked the unfl.u.s.tered w.a.n.g Daohong with a smile. His eyes swiveled about w.a.n.g Daohong, and in the end, fixed on two figures.
“w.a.n.g Haiming, You Tianjing! You two finally has the guts to see me!”
“Humph, Zhou Bao! You are here behaving aggressively and thinking nothing of our the Mingyi School. You are truly arrogant! Today, we’ll let you have a journey with no returns!” w.a.n.g Haiming’s face went livid. Although fearful of Zhou Bao’s strength, surrounded by so many experts, he naturally became daring.
“Calling me aggressive! Hehe, is this the style of the Mingyi School?” Zhou Bao gave a lukewarm smile. “Don’t people say that the Mingyi School is the leader of the Right Way? Moreover, isn’t this the most righteous place? But how come, as I’ve seen today, this place is more like a home base for bandits? No, no, that’s not right. It’s even worse than that. After all, some bandits are still able to be reasoned with, they’re much more reasonable than you!”
“Zhou Bao, stop pressing your win over the quarrels. Today, you forced your way in and injured a deacon and an Elder of the Mingyi School. This matter shall be settled neatly no matter what happens!”
w.a.n.g Daohong opened his mouth and interrupted the upcoming disputes.
“What a smart guy this w.a.n.g Daohong is!”
“How unabashed he is! Seems like Zhou Bao is telling the truth that the Mingyi School did try to kill him in secret. Otherwise, w.a.n.g Daohong wouldn’t have stopped them talking!”
“What a the Mingyi School! Behaving so shamelessly in broad daylight! Hehe, no matter whether they win or lose, the prestige of the Mingyi School will be considerably diminished after today!”
“Well, that will be better than letting Zhou Bao expose all their dirty moves on the spot. If things don’t develop in this way, the Mingyi School will still be able to retain some dignity after all!”
“But in that case, maybe the Mingyi School will really launch the protective formation. After which, Zhou Bao will certainly be in danger!”
“But that may not happen, either. Look, Gao Hai seems to have a well-prepared plan. Maybe Zhou Bao has the Tian Long Taoism to back him up. The result will remain pending until the final moment!”
…
…
Waves of discussions, whether loudly spoken or furtively muttered, were all carried to w.a.n.g Daohong’s ears attributed to his Level Nine cultivation. But even as the Leader of a whole sect, whose ability to maintain a peaceful mind was already superb, when hearing those discussions, w.a.n.g Daohong still couldn’t fight back his upsurging qi and blood and wished to unleash his wrath by punching those gloating a.s.sholes to death. As for Zhou Bao, he loathed him even more. However, ostensibly, he still had to put on a calm and stern appearance as a Leader.
“Hehe, pressing to win over quarrels? Is the attempt to bring out facts and reasons equate with that? It seems that you the Mingyi School has no plan to reason with me. In that case, there is no need for me to reason with you bunch of hypocrites. w.a.n.g Daohong, send out w.a.n.g Haiming and You Tianjing, those two b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, and leave them to me, then, I’ll let this pa.s.s. If not, I’ll turn the Mingyi School upside down!”
“Hahaha…” w.a.n.g Daohong burst out with loud laughter, “Turn the Mingyi School upside down. Zhou Bao, what a bold tone you’ve taken! Today you’ve destroyed our gate, injured our Elders, and what you did is exactly the same as the acts of evil demonic gangs. Since you’ve committed the most heinous crime, if I don’t punish you today, how can I preserve the dignity of our school? Elders, set the formation!”
As w.a.n.g Daohong thundered, more than 20 experts next to him scattered in all directions to circle round Zhou Bao, and then a formation was unveiled.
“Using formations again! I say, can you get some new plays? Last time, you used a formation, and this time is the same. Do you reckon that you can trap me with just one set of formation?” Zhou Bao sneered, but his hands already started working. A shaft of golden light flashed behind the back of his head, and the Golden Flame Mirror sprang to life, shooting golden light all around. In a second, the paces of those 20 experts who were setting formation all went disorganized.
“d.a.m.n, you’ve just said that one set of formation couldn’t trap you. If so, why are you making so much effort to sabotage the formation?” w.a.n.g Daohong cursed in his mind and pointed at Zhou Bao with his fingertip. A speck of cyan light ejected from his fingertip, and then inflated itself while traveling against the wind and turned into a haze of cyan mist, thrusting at Zhou Bao’s Golden Flame Mirror to envelop it.
“Pure Yang Celestial Device!” Zhou Bao’s eyes contracted. His Golden Flame Mirror was a Pure Yang Celestial Device, therefore, if w.a.n.g Daohong wanted to deal with it, he must use a Pure Yang Celestial Device too. It was just that the celestial device w.a.n.g Daohong had initiated was really peculiar. It had no physical existence but looked like a haze of cyan mist, which was coming right at the Golden Flame Mirror. Carrying an immense amount of righteous Qi, the mist poured down straightforwardly with the momentum of a long surging river. The Golden Flame Mirror didn’t dare to relax a bit. It condensed its golden light into one cl.u.s.ter and abruptly shot the light out in a streak, piercing right into that cyan mist.
“Puff!” A light noise sounded.
The mist dispersed as if it had intelligence, and then began to wind up along the golden light, aiming directly at the body of the Golden Flame Mirror.
“c.r.a.p!” As this Golden Flame Mirror was connected with Zhou Bao’s mind, he was only too clear about its state. This odd cyan mist, though emitting immense righteous power, started sending off a trace of freezing spirit after it entangled the golden light. Zhou Bao had never sensed such a spirit before, while a sort of instinct told him that this thing could do huge harm upon his Golden Flame Mirror.
“Eh, it’s the Divine Dog’s Blood!” Green Spirit seemed to have felt something as well because a psywave rushed into Zhou Bao’s head. “Boy, be careful. This celestial device contains the Divine Dog’s Blood, which can easily contaminate celestial devices. If your Golden Flame Mirror were touched by it, its power would certainly be slashed. Moreover, it’s not easy to get rid of it!”
“Then, what should I do?”
“Don’t panic. Your Golden Flame Mirror has absorbed the Sun Colored Glaze Flame, which is the exact nemesis to the Divine Dog’s Blood!” said Green Spirit.
Hearing this, Zhou Bao was heartened a bit and propelled the Golden Flame Mirror with full strength. A ball of flickering flame in the color of glaze shot out right from the mirror and flung itself at that cyan mist.
“The Sun Colored Glaze Flame?” As the Leader of a sect, w.a.n.g Daohong surely knew about this stuff. At the sight of this fireball, his look suddenly went solemn. Without a second thought, he waved his hands. The cyan mist that was entwining the golden light instantly huddled up, revealing its true form, which turned out to be a light cloth made of half-mist and half-smoke.
This cyan cloth contracted itself a bit and gave off a kind of very soothing spirit. Above the cloth, countless abstruse talismans appeared indistinctly. With one colossal formation setting up after another, the air in the surroundings began rippling. Experts who were watching in the vicinity all felt a sense of unprecedented ease out of this spirit.
“It’s the Soul Cleansing Cloth. This thing should be in his hand!” Green Spirit shrieked in surprise. “He added the Divine Dog’s Blood into the Soul Cleansing Cloth! This guy must have a really dark mentality. Otherwise, he can’t have done such thing!”
“What’s the Soul Cleansing Cloth?” Zhou Bao asked.
“It’s also a Pure Yang Celestial Device. But its attacking power isn’t strong, and its defensive power isn’t satisfying either!”
“That can still be counted as a Pure Yang Celestial Device?” Zhou Bao pouted, sending back a fit of psywave. “It can neither attack nor defend, so why do people need it?”
“You idiot, idiot! This is an auxiliary Pure Yang Celestial Device. Once covered in the Soul Cleansing Cloth, both the recovery speed of the Internal Qi and the physical power will be one or two times faster, while the consumption speed of the two will be one or two times slower. Thus, with help of the Soul Cleansing Cloth, the practice can be achieved with only half efforts. Moreover, there are many other wonderful uses of this item. In general, it isn’t worse than your Golden Flame Mirror!”
“Is it that good? Can it block my Golden Flame Mirror?”
“Maybe not. But when they set up the formation, it is more than enough to block your device. Each of those 20 people has at least one celestial device at the Mysterious Level with them. Once the formation is done, your Golden Flame Mirror will have a slim chance to display its original power!” Green Spirit gave a cold laugh.
Surely as Green Spirit predicted, after cuddled into a cloud, the Soul Cleansing Cloth blocked the Golden Flame Mirror first. Just when the two devices were confronting each other, more than 20 experts already stood in their right position in line with their bearings. With the formation being settled, the surrounding essence of the world also froze a bit. Almost at the same time, those experts all emitted various colored l.u.s.ters, which converged at one spot under the influence of the formation and conjured a multi-colored light column, fiercely charging at the golden light that the Golden Flame Mirror was issuing.
The colorful golden light collided with the golden light of the Golden Flame Mirror, forcefully pressing against the mirror. A dim thud sounded, and s.p.a.ce shuddered along with it.
“What a powerful formation! These celestial devices have merely reached the Mysterious Level at most, even if they level up, they will only be Psychic Celestial Devices. But after being integrated into one by this formation, they are able to withstand my Pure Yang Celestial Device!” Zhou Bao praised to himself. Then, the Soul Cleansing Cloth broke away from the Golden Flame Mirror and turned into a cyan cloud, hovering over the formation. Gusts of spiritual qi fluttered out of the cloud and projected onto those experts, which considerably boosted their energy at once. Almost simultaneously, a stream of enormous and righteous spirit emitted from w.a.n.g Daohong’s body.
This Leader of the Mingyi School was also a Level Nine expert. His strength might not be so strong as Yuan Hai’s, but his awe-inspiring righteousness was something that should not be taken lightly. Moreover, another domineering spirit could be sensed in the Mingyi School, which was the spirit of their another Level Nine expert.
But this Elder hadn’t come forward. He merely hid in the vicinity and watched them fighting, as if waiting for the moment they both suffered great losses and that was when he would stand out and clear up the mess.
For Zhou Bao, this arrangement piled up another layer of his scruples, because no one knew when the hidden Elder would strike, which distracted his focus and influenced his combat ability!
“Alas, this time the Mingyi School truly wants to be shameless! They’ve even employed such a crooked means!” In the Mingyi School, Gao Hai let out those words in a queer tone with a cold smile. That was to say the Mingyi School kept one more Level Nine expert hidden away, otherwise, who knew what kind of things this guy would do! But now, though he wasn’t able to make unusual movements, paying a lip service was something he still had time for.
“I say, Head w.a.n.g, what you’re doing is sort of rude. Without having the basic reasoning, you bluntly go head-to-head against Zhou Bao. Do you really think we the Tian Long Taoism is obedient to bullies?”
“Shut up!”
As those words died down, everyone heard a cold snap, and then Gao Hai’s look suddenly changed, for he had been locked up by an invisible force. Now, he could not even open his mouth.
“Is this the power of a Level Nine expert? d.a.m.n it, how can he pick on me so blatantly! Do they truly aim to stir up a war between the Tian Long Taoism and the Mingyi School?” Gao Hai swore with fury in his mind. But unfortunately, since his skills were inferior, a Level Nine expert was able to subdue and silence him with no difficulty, even at a distance of hundreds of feet.
At this point, the formation was in full swing. With w.a.n.g Daohong being the Formation Eye, a vast and majestic force permeated the formation. For a moment, Zhou Bao felt he was standing in a river that was purely composed of pneuma. The essence of the world that dispersed was once again mobilized by the formation, pouring into the formation along with its bearings.
Splas.h.!.+
Just like rivers running backward, the essence of the world came racing into the formation and gradually filled it up. In a short time, this small formation managed to condense all the essence of the world in a radius of 1,000 miles. For a while, it even produced an effect similar to the Essential Qi Tide in the Azure Secret Area.
Of course, the Essential Qi Tide made within such a small area was incomparable to that in the Azure Secret Area, whether in terms of quant.i.ty or quality.
“Interesting… If I still had one Air-frozen Bead, I wonder what expression w.a.n.g Daohong would make!” Completely ignoring the endlessly mounting pressure brought up by the acc.u.mulated essence of the world in the environment, Zhou Bao’s mind s.h.i.+fted to the Air-frozen Bead.
The essence of the world that entered the formation began to regularly divide into wisp by wisp under the guide of the formation, which then turned into threads of pneuma and hurled at Zhou Bao to wind him up. As the amount of pneuma increased, the tighter its constraining force got. All at once, Zhou Bao felt like a bug being entangled by a spider web, unable to move a single finger.
“That’s typical of the Mingyi School. No matter it’s martial arts or formation, they always launch some immense and compelling technique and leave not a single chance for the opponent to strike back. Although Zhou Bao has gotten great strength, when facing the formation jointly made by so many experts, plus the pressure of two Level Nine experts, he is likely to have no other way but surrender, right?”
A few of the crowd started to take this opinion.
But evidently, Zhou Bao didn’t want them to have their wish fulfilled.
“Even though I don’t have any Air-frozen Bead, it’s impossible to constrain me with this magnitude of the essence of the world!” Zhou Bao looked up, both hands stretched out, and he broke free from the pneuma that was curling up his hands. 10 jets of black and red Sword Qi ejected from his fingertips, which transformed into one streak of black and red Sword Qi, at the size of an arm, and came cras.h.i.+ng at w.a.n.g Daohong.
This sword movement carried little Qi Power at first, but it was peerlessly sharp.
In no time, the essence of the world was split up. In a fleeting second, the power of that black and red Sword Qi burst out to the full. With the red light flas.h.i.+ng and the black light glistening, the world between heaven and earth should be covered in these two colors.
“This is… the Yin and Yang Heavenly Sword!”
…
…