Book 7: Chapter 55: Fusion |
That wind was really faster than flying daggers. With enormous surging force, it separated the entangled people. Bao Da Tong had evaded in time and didn’t suffer much harm. The other three weren’t so lucky. Zhang Hong Yu’s corpse breath was forced back into her body. Although it wouldn’t poison her, it was water being forced down one’s throat. The strength of the backlash caused her to stagger, and having already lost a leg earlier she collapsed on the spot. Due to the formation, she couldn’t sink into the earth and she ended up scattered over the ground like a pile of black dirt.
Zhang Xiao Hua and Ruan Zhan’s flames extinguished at the same time. They had been using all their strength and couldn’t withdraw. Therefore, both were caught up in the wind’s shockwave. Zhang Xiao Hua’s shadow faded while Ruan Zhan stumbled a few steps and spat out a mouthful of blood! However, despite Ruan Zhan’s serious injuries, Zhang Xiao Hua’s internal damage was greater.
He had used hellfire so he could take advantage of the wind. Although Ruan Zhan’s Yang flames would also get strengthened, the difference in spirit power would get amplified as the flames get amplified. Normally, the minor difference between him and Ruan Zhan wasn’t sufficient to determine a victor. However, once the difference grew wider, his advantage would become apparent.
He hadn’t expected the Wind Screen Formation’s wind to be so powerful. They appeared ordinary, but they made his hellfire look like a candle in a hurricane. Forget about using the wind, it was immediately extinguished! What formation was so powerful? Why didn’t the damn old Daoist have any knowledge on it?
Zhang Xiao Hua was incredibly confused. Bao Da Tong swiftly retrieved the strange talisman and stuck it to Ruan Zhan’s injured leg. Then, he swiftly cast a spell, forcefully pulling and squeezing as he tore the talisman away along with the black aura inside Ruan Zhan’s body.
That corpse poison was too powerful, completely different from what Xiao Xia had been afflicted with. Therefore, he couldn’t worry about whether Ruan Zhan could take it, forcibly extracting it. Ruan Zhan almost passed out from the pain as he let out a muffled groan. He bit his lips until they bled before managing to avoid making a sound.
When the final black strand fell to the floor, Ruan Zhan cried out silently in relief! He had already used a wind blade to shave off a large patch of skin on his leg. He had also used his spirit power to force the poison outwards, but a trace had still burrowed into his body. Zhang Xiao Hua’s power was extremely tyrannical. The moment the poison burrowed into his body, it wouldn’t be as simple as losing the leg. If he didn’t die, the corpse poison wouldn’t leave his body!
The pain stimulated Ruan Zhan’s fierce desire to win. He endured the pain as he stood steadily, the usual sharp and cold expression appearing on his face. He pointed towards the siblings. “Today is when you die. If you’ve got any tricks left, don’t hold anything back!”
Bao Da Tong stood back up after extracting the corpse poison from Ruan Zhan. He pulled out the bloodwood sword and also pointed it towards the siblings. However, he didn’t speak, his face turning serious.
With Zhang Xiao Hua’s confidence in his own abilities, how could he endure Ruan Zhan’s prideful provocation? Ruan Zhan glowed white as he stood in the darkness. His entire left leg was soaked in blood, and there were also traces of blood around his lips. It seemed like a red lotus blossoming by his mouth. Along with his disdainful and uncaring attitude, it infuriated Zhang Xiao Hua. That red lotus reminded him of the centuries spent cultivating in isolation. Yet that man actually gave him the urge to occupy his body!
What a fool he had been. Why did he want to experience the feeling of growing up? He was already three hundred years old. He should hide in a body like Ruan Zhan’s and roam the world. Yet since that wasn’t something he could obtain, he would wipe him out!
With that thought, Zhang Xiao Hua’s figure expanded, instantly becoming a giant cloud of black miasma. It was wrapped around a core in the shape of a child. The miasma was like a balloon that continued to swell. Once it reached a certain size, it suddenly exploded with a pop. The miasma immediately became countless black arrows that shot towards Ruan Zhan and Bao Da Tong!
The force of those black arrows were too great and the weak barrier wouldn’t be able to block them. Bao Da Tong positioned the sword across his body and it immediately glowed red. As he flourished the blade, a red aura radiated outwards. When the black miasma encountered the red aura, it immediately dissolved into foul liquid, splattering outwards in an area around him.
Zhang Hong Yu sneered and leapt over. She didn’t dare approach the bloodwood sword, and merely attacked the areas where the sword’s aura was weaker. While Bao Da Tong was focused on blocking the black arrows she would attack him from behind with hellfire. Her hellfire’s was far from Zhang Xiao Hua’s, but she wasn’t intending to defeat Bao Da Tong with it. She just needed to keep him busy and prevent him from helping Ruan Zhan.
Ruan Zhan wasn’t flustered as he drew glyphs in the air. An invisible shield formed in his left hand while a transparent spellblade appeared in his right. He immediately slashed at the incoming arrows.
A large explosion resounded. The sudden and vicious clash caused the wind aura in the formation to start roiling. It was as if space inside the formation was sealed, with countless bouncing balls inside. The stronger the forces inside, the faster the balls moved and the harder they struck and rebounded off the walls in an endless loop. Soon, the four combatants could only hear the swishing of the wind that was gradually forming into blades. Whenever the wind blades passed, they would definitely leave a mark.
Furthermore, those blades didn’t only damage human flesh. Spiritual bodies also suffered the same damage. The previously injured and weakest Hong Yu wailed in pain!
Seeing this, Ruan Zhan revealed a smile. Despite his own body being cut by the wind blades a few times, the effects were as he intended. This was the reason that he had immediately moved to a head-on confrontation despite his aversion to them.
He knew the Grand Radiance Formation couldn’t keep the fiends contained. Although Zhang Hong Yu had been injured and Zhang Xiao Hua’s spirit power had been wasted in activating the formation, it hadn’t even been able to keep Duan Jin’s son contained back then. They had relied on the daylight to catch that fiend infant. Faced with two fiends with centuries of cultivation, he had spent the whole night researching this Wind Screen Formation.
Master Long had left several valuable things for him. One was a trigram made up of eight ancient jade plaques. Even those of Zhang Xiao Hua’s caliber failed to see through their natural aura. The other was that ancient tome. Many formations were recorded within. Formations that prevented even someone as strong as Si Ma Nan to find the person he was looking for. They also caused Wan Li to roam about the mountain for half the night. With just a few minor props along with regular spells, they were able to fool the eyes of powerful beings. They were truly miraculous. What divine creations!
Although the second half of the tome was blank, the pages were even more useful.
To deal with the fiend children, he had chosen to use the Wind Screen Formation. It was most suitable for dealing with strong spirits who could use the cloning spell. The fiends’ miscalculation lay in Zhang Hong Yu’s arrogance and impetuousness. She had used clones during their first encounter at the hospital. Then, she also used her spells on Bao Da Tong right in front of them, allowing him to probe their capabilities. Furthermore, the greatest spell his father had left him was the wind blade. When the Wind Screen Formation was activated, a wind spell was needed. Therefore, this type of formation that amplified the weaker side’s power was the best choice!
However, it was quite challenging based on his power. Therefore, he had no choice but to come up with a scheme, using both Zhang Xiao Hua’s power to activate the formation while adding his and Bao Da Tong’s as well.
If Zhang Xiao Hua hadn’t broken Xiao Xia’s barrier, the Grand Radiance Formation wouldn’t have been activated. If the Grand Radiance Formation hadn’t been broken, the Wind Screen Formation wouldn’t have been activated. The scheme within a scheme seemed simple, but the arrangements of the formations and the luring of the enemies had exhausted all his cunning.
The Wind Screen Formation didn’t require anyone to guard positions. One only needed to stand on something wet that acted as the air vent. Once the formation was activated, it could be driven by using wind spells from the outside. The things inside would end up slowly shredded by the natural wind aura. It was very cruel, but wasn’t excessive for two fiends who had devoured countless infant souls over the five years.
The children Zhang Hong Yu had kidnapped this time hadn’t been harmed yet. Their bodies hadn’t decayed, proving their souls were still intact. However, he had sent Bao Da Tong to investigate, and they had discovered many children across the nation had died mysterious deaths within these five years. From Zhang Hong Yu’s corpse breath, it was clear those children’s souls had been devoured by them. They were very smart and hadn’t focused their actions on a single place. China was so large that their scattered prey didn’t arouse any suspicions.
Ruan Zhan had initially pitied the fiends. However, harming so many children meant they had cut off any options for retreat. No matter how tragic their past, victims who became aggressors deserved punishment. Their crimes could only be atoned by eradication. He didn’t wish to do so, but he had no choice.
He had to harden his heart, even if only for the sake of those children who still lingered between life and death. Souls couldn’t leave the body for too long. Those children’s souls were still waiting to return to their bodies!
However, his and Bao Da Tong’s powers combined weren’t enough to drive the Wind Screen Formation. Therefore, they had to enter and use their clashing powers to stimulate the wind aura and cause the formation to take effect. This was a death formation that was closed off to the outside. The two of them would also suffer damage from the wind’s power. However, he had thought of a way to resolve that.
Come!
He thought as he forcefully sent a wind blade towards Zhang Xiao Hua. Bao Da Tong understood his intent and increased the scope of his spells, trying to quickly drive the wind aura to reach its maximum. Otherwise, at this rate it would also be hard for him to endure. He already had five cuts on his body. Having to dodge wind blades while fighting really didn’t feel good!
The sound of the wind in the formation grew louder and louder, gradually making them feel they couldn’t even stand steadily. It had also gotten even darker as large wind blades covered the area. There were also countless smaller wind blades mixed within as if they were leaves. They left tiny cuts that were unbearably painful. Several giant, tornado like gusts had also formed. They moved in slowly yet terrifyingly from the corners of the formation.
“Bao Da Tong!” Ruan Zhan cried out.
As if having been pardoned, Bao Da Tong hurriedly waved the bloodwood sword defensively in front of him, putting his back to Ruan Zhan’s side. Meanwhile, Ruan Zhan continued sending out fierce wind blades with one hand while his other reached behind his waist, taking out a small, square object which he threw into the air. Then, he started chanting.
Immediately, that small seal halted in midair. Although it swayed in the wind, it glowed white like the moon, enveloping Bao Da Tong and Ruan Zhan in the light. The bitingly cold wind could no longer reach them, and merely brushed past the wall of light.
“Maidenhair tree wood?” Now that he was safe, Bao Da Tong looked up at the small seal.
“You know?” Seeing the formation revolving properly and the Zhang siblings in dire straits, Ruan Zhan relaxed slightly and responded.
“Of course.” Bao Da Tong said. “The maidenhair tree blooms in the night, unseen. Legend says it possesses Yin spirituality. Therefore, any decent talismanic seal would be made of maidenhair tree wood, let alone that annihilation seal of yours.”
Ruan Zhan didn’t speak. This was the countermeasure he had come up with. The “annihilation” part of the name meant it could destroy any formation. They were within the Wind Screen Formation. If they destroyed it, all their efforts would have been wasted. Therefore, he only used half of the seal’s power, preventing it from harming the formation. Then, he set up a barrier before deploying the seal.
This seemed like it would result in the destruction of his barrier, which was essentially a foolish act. Yet in reality, the annihilation seal had another characteristic. Whenever it encountered a force that was also aimed at breaking barriers and formations, it would first neutralize that force before working to break the formation itself. It was like a competitive child. It was the only one allowed to smash things. If anyone else tried to interfere, it would fight it out first.
Now, the strongest forces inside the formation were the wind blades that constantly struck their barrier. Their own powers were insufficient to block those attacks. Yet now they had the annihilation seal at half its power to help, so their barrier was completely fine. This required careful timing and control. They couldn’t allow the wind blades to hurt them, and they had to withdraw the annihilation seal the moment the wind withdrew!
Now that they were temporarily safe, they just had to endure the exhaustion and pain until the fiend children were torn apart by the formation.
“Hong Yu, come here!” Seeing things turn for the worse, Zhang Xiao Hua called his sister over and smiled coldly at Ruan Zhan who was covered by the annihilation seal.
Did he think he was just going to wait for death? He still had one final move!
His and Hong Yu’s spirits started resonating and the two suddenly embraced. Although it was an embrace, their backs were to each other as their arms bent and twisted, pulling at each others in a rather weird display. After they embraced, their lower halves slowly melded into one, leaving only their heads separate like a two-headed bird. As Ruan Zhan and Bao Da Tong watched, they started twisting along with the wind.
They spun faster and faster, almost too fast for the eye to follow, also forming a small black tornado. The large centripetal force caused the other tornados to get deflected away from them instead of chewing them up. The flying wind blades were also unable to attack them anymore. Even worse, with the tornadoes having lost their target, they started roaming around randomly, threatening Ruan Zhan’s barrier.
Increasing the annihilation seal’s power would cause the entire formation to get broken. Yet if they didn’t increase its power, the tornados could reach them at any time, which would cause them to get spun like a cocoon.
“Woah, as impressive as expected. They can actually fuse!” Bao Da Tong didn’t seem worried at all, as if he had expected this and had a counter ready. “However, they didn’t think our Grandmaster Ruan here to have planned for everything!”
Ruan Zhan smiled coldly.
His only advantage was that he never underestimated his opponents. He also never counted on having a complete picture of his enemies’ strength. Therefore, he always had a backup plan. He had long since told Wan Li that despite holding the advantage the entire time, the two fiends had revealed too many usable weaknesses.
“Wan Li.” He called his friend telepathically. “It’s your turn to shine!”
The Wind Screen Formation was still an iron cage. The ones inside couldn’t get out and those outside couldn’t get in. However, they could communicate with each other telepathically. That way, Wan Li could provide some therapy from the outside.
