Rest and Recuperation

Over Hekou Town, Heifeng and Daoist Mu, who were rushing over, received the news one after another.

"Hmm? Daoist Xiangyang contacted me. Did he handle it himself?" Daoist Heifeng stopped in his tracks and took out a crystal token, crystal clear and luminous, from his embrace.

"Buzz~" A hazy radiance formed a small image area in front of him.

The image shifted at an extremely fast pace, from Daoist Xiangyang returning to the manor and activating the killing array, all the way to his death, unfolding rapidly in just ten breaths.

With Heifeng's Spiritual Sense, no matter how fast the scene changed, it couldn't escape his eyes. He saw the entire process.

"What? Daoist Xiangyang, with the Wind Fire Vitality Locking Array to assist him, died so quickly?!" Heifeng was greatly shocked!

This array was divided into five major levels.

A simple Vitality Locking Array was nothing special.

But if a specialized Five Elements Array Base was refined and integrated into it… the power increased exponentially with each additional attribute!

If it were the Five Elements Lock Origin Grand Formation, then below the Spirit Bridge Realm, it would be extremely difficult for any Martial Artist or Qi Cultivation True Person to escape!

Of course, the materials were expensive and required in large quantities. Even the Li Family couldn't provide the materials for a complete Five Elements Lock Origin Grand Formation.

Just the two attributes of wind and fire made it extremely rare.

With the array's support, Daoist Xiangyang's strength was comparable to Mid-stage Xiantian, and he even had two Ghostly Imps comparable to Early-stage Xiantian to assist him. Yet, he was killed by five Ninth Stage of Acquired Realm cultivators?!

"Truly useless!" Daoist Heifeng sneered.

A Qi Cultivation True Person, after years of immersing himself in the study of the forces of heaven and earth, would have many means to escape if he wished.

In his opinion, five Ninth Stage of Acquired Realm Martial Artists couldn't fly. Even if they summoned deities together and borrowed Divine Power, they would definitely be inferior to Daoist Xiangyang in terms of escape.

Daoist Xiangyang possessed numerous methods, coupled with the array's assistance, yet he died so quickly!

Clearly, Daoist Xiangyang himself was careless and had no intention of escaping, which led to his downfall.

"Buzz~"

Another token transmission came from his embrace. It was from the Li Family Head, Li Mingtai.

"Family Head, we are on our way and received news from Daoist Xiangyang. He is already dead," Heifeng quickly reported.

"I am aware," Li Mingtai said with a dark expression. "You all should quickly return to the branch shrine to guard it. Under no circumstances should you leave easily!"

"Yes!" Heifeng obediently complied.

The token turned gray and flew back into his embrace.

"It seems I don't need to go there anymore," Heifeng shook his head and flew back.

"Dead?" On the other side, Daoist Mu also received the news, and a chill ran down his spine.

"The Family Head told us to return and guard, not to go out, and didn't mention sending reinforcements… This situation is not good…" Daoist Mu flew back with great worry.

"Brother Shen, Brother Hu, how are you?" Yan You and the others landed on the ground. The Ghostly Imp's self-destruction just now was comparable to a full-power attack from an Early-stage Xiantian.

Yan You was fine; he was at Peak Houtian and had performed the Second Summon of Deity, making him comparable to Mid-stage Xiantian. However, Zhao Hu was a bit worse off. He was already injured, and this self-destruction was aimed at him. He was now spitting blood, clearly severely wounded.

"I'm fine," Zhao Hu waved his hand.

Seeing that he was unharmed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's leave here quickly and hide for a while!"

"Go."

Shen Zhui and the others quickly searched Daoist Xiangyang's body, stuffing everything into their embraces without taking the time to examine it closely.

Then, they left the manor without stopping, running all the way to the outskirts of Hekou Town before finding a dilapidated temple to rest.

"These Li Family scumbags are indeed colluding with Outer Sects!" Rong Zimo gritted his teeth, clearly having seen the appearance of the two blood infants at the end.

"I see the infants are filled with deep resentment. I wonder how many innocent people died to refine such evil techniques," Shen Zhui sighed. His Spiritual Sense had been honed to be extremely sharp, and he had sensed many tiny infant vengeful spirits crying on the Ghostly Imp at that time.

Outer Sects had always been synonymous with evil.

Because they would resort to any means, abandon all kinship, and disregard human life for the sake of cultivation!

Why were they called Outer Sects?

Because within the Zhou Dynasty, sects were absolutely forbidden! They were all driven out to the remote mountains and great marshes outside the territory.

And for the continuation of their sects, these demonic and crooked paths would always sneak into border towns, abduct large numbers of children, bring them to their mountain gates, and forcibly recruit them as disciples, instilling them with inhuman ideologies.

The orthodox deities enfeoffed by the Son of Heaven merely absorbed the incense and wish power of the populace.

These Outer Sects, however, believed in evil Yin Gods and mostly used blood sacrifices of living people, absorbing souls to strengthen themselves!

Shen Zhui had seen relevant case files. To enhance their cultivation, those Outer Sects would kill pregnant women, take the fetal placenta, and extract a trace of Xiantian power from it, a truly outrageous act!

The Slay Evil Spirits in the Third Summon of Deity specifically referred to these sects and demonic individuals who practiced evil techniques!

"I, Rong Zimo, will definitely tear this Li Family to pieces," Rong Zimo clenched his fists, then looked at Shen Zhui.

"Fortunately, it was thanks to Shen Zhui this time that we could escape from this array… By the way, Shen Zhui, you clearly didn't borrow Divine Power, so how could you mobilize the forces of heaven and earth?"

At once, Yan You, Han Mao, and the others all looked at Shen Zhui.

They could all sense that Shen Zhui was still at the Ninth Stage of Acquired Realm and wasn't borrowing any Divine Power.

Seeing this, Shen Zhui knew that his achievement of the Unity of Heaven and Man realm couldn't be hidden any longer.

"Everyone knows that my Ruler Technique reached the Great Accomplishment Realm a few months ago," Shen Zhui said.

"That's right," Zhao Hu nodded. Shen Zhui's Great Accomplishment Realm Ruler Technique had long been known.

"Could it be that Brother Shen..." Han Mao vaguely understood something.

"Brother Han guessed correctly. Not long ago... I changed my ruler to a saber, switched to practicing saber techniques, and reached the Perfection Realm of Unity of Heaven and Man," Shen Zhui said with a smile. "And I even created a set of saber techniques myself, which is why I can also control the power of heaven and earth."

"My City God!" Rong Zimo exclaimed, "You actually reached the Perfection Realm of Unity of Heaven and Man?"

"And created your own saber techniques?" Yan You's eyes widened as well.

"Haha, as expected of my brother, Zhao Hu," Zhao Hu grinned. "I knew Brother Shen was extraordinary."

"I originally thought that with this operation, I had finally gotten my chance to show off..." Rong Zimo said sourly. "I didn't expect you, this guy, to have already mastered your techniques to perfection."

"No wonder you could so quickly slay that black-clothed Martial Artist in the branch shrine," Yan You also realized.

The power of heaven and earth was essentially the control of heavenly spiritual energy, enhancing the attack power of a Martial Artist.

According to the ranking, at the same realm, a Qi Cultivation True Person who could mobilize the power of heaven and earth was stronger than a Xiantian Martial Artist.

This was because Qi Cultivation True Persons had innate Xiantian Power within them from the start, and their Spiritual Sense was also more powerful.

As for Unity of Heaven and Man, it represented the perfection and flawlessness of a technique, secretly aligning with the Heavenly Dao!

In terms of the subtlety of control, it was even stronger than a Qi Cultivation True Person!

Of course, Xiantian Martial Artists and Qi Cultivation True Persons both possessed Xiantian Spiritual Energy within them, which acted like a mutual attraction, allowing them to mobilize a larger amount of the power of heaven and earth, making it simpler and more stable to use.

Unity of Heaven and Man... guiding heavenly spiritual energy with saber techniques to form an attack, while more subtle, was slower and had certain limitations.

For example, in the formation they were just in, there was very little spiritual energy, and Shen Zhui could only protect a space of a few meters around him, unlike before in the prison where he could cause such widespread tremors.

"Although Unity of Heaven and Man is powerful, it's still a bit lacking against Xiantian Martial Artists and Qi Cultivation True Persons. Without Brother Yan and Brother Hu summoning deities, I would only be able to run," Shen Zhui said with a smile.

If nothing else, even if the formation was broken, if the Qi Cultivation True Person flew higher, he would have no way to deal with them.

"Brother Shen, don't be modest," Han Mao waved his hand. "Your saber techniques, this is a great trump card for you. Who would have thought that someone at the Ninth Stage of Acquired Realm could train their techniques to Unity of Heaven and Man?"

"An ordinary Qi Cultivation True Person, with their Daoist Magic broken, would be like meat on a chopping block if you got close, at your mercy."

Han Mao also sighed, Unity of Heaven and Man could easily be disrupted if it encountered weaker Daoist Magic.

After all, Daoist Magic was also a special attack method formed by spiritual energy.

Of course, the more complex the Daoist Magic, the greater its power and the more stable its structure, making it not so easy to break.

"Brother Han flatters me," Shen Zhui said. "I had no choice but to conceal my strength before, and I ask for everyone's understanding."

"Don't mention it!" Zhao Hu exclaimed. "If it weren't for you, we would probably have had to borrow Divine Power just to escape this battle."

"Yes, Brother Shen, you don't need to blame yourself," Han Mao also comforted him.

He certainly knew about the incident at Red Leaf Manor, where He Tong's betrayal nearly killed Shen Zhui.

During such critical times, concealing one's trump cards and being cautious was perfectly normal.

Shen Zhui cupped his hands and didn't dwell on the topic any further.

He Tong's betrayal had indeed dealt a heavy blow to the Martial Arts Department. Many people had been trained by He Tong, and there was a sense of master-disciple affection.

"Alright," Han Mao said with a smile, taking out a few items from his embrace. "I just found a few good things on that scoundrel. Come take a look and see if any of them are useful."

Seeking votes~