Above Hekou Town, Daoist Heifeng and Daoist Mu, who had been flying over, received the news one after another.
"Hm? Daoist Xiangyang contacted me. Did he take care of it himself?" Daoist Heifeng halted, pulling a crystal token, clear and glistening, from his robes.
"Buzz~" A hazy radiance formed a small area of imagery before him.
The image shifted at astonishing speed. From Daoist Xiangyang's return to the manor and activation of the killing array, all the way to his final death, everything flashed past in the space of ten breaths.
With Heifeng's spiritual perception, no matter how quickly the scene changed, it naturally could not escape his eyes. He saw the entire process.
"What? Daoist Xiangyang had the Wind Fire Vitality Locking Array supporting him, yet he died this quickly?!" Heifeng was instantly shocked!
This formation was divided into five major levels.
The ordinary Vitality Locking Array was nothing special.
But if specially refined Five Elements array foundations were fused into it...with every additional attribute, its power increased exponentially!
With the Five Elements Lock Origin Grand Formation, anyone below the Spirit Bridge Realm—whether a martial artist or a Qi Cultivation True Person—would find it extremely difficult to escape!
Of course, the materials were expensive, and the quantity required was enormous. Even the Li Family could not possibly provide the materials for a complete Five Elements Lock Origin Grand Formation.
Even one possessing only the wind and fire attributes was exceedingly rare.
With the formation's support, Daoist Xiangyang's strength was comparable to Mid-stage Xiantian. He also had two Ghostly Imps comparable to Early-stage Xiantian assisting him, yet he had actually been killed by five Ninth Stage of Acquired Realm martial artists?!
"Truly useless!" Daoist Heifeng sneered.
A Qi Cultivation True Person, having immersed himself in studying the Power of Heaven and Earth for many years, still had plenty of ways to escape if he wanted to run.
In his view, five Ninth Stage of Acquired Realm martial artists could not fly at all. Even if they Summoned Deity together and borrowed divine power, they were certainly inferior to Daoist Xiangyang when it came to fleeing.
Daoist Xiangyang had numerous methods at his disposal, along with the formation's support, yet he had died so quickly!
Clearly, Daoist Xiangyang had been careless. He had never intended to run, and had thus capsized in a foul ditch.
"Buzz~"
Another transmission from a token came from within his robes. It was the Li Family Head, Li Mingtai.
"Family Head, we received news of Daoist Xiangyang on the way here. He's dead," Daoist Heifeng hurriedly reported.
"I already know." Li Mingtai's face was livid. "Return to the Branch Shrine immediately and stand guard. No matter what, you must not leave lightly!"
"Yes!" Heifeng listened obediently.
The token dimmed and flew back into his robes.
"Looks like there's no need to go over there." Heifeng shook his head and flew back.
"He's dead?" On the other side, Daoist Mu had also received the news, and his heart was filled with dread.
"The Family Head told us to return and stand guard. He didn't say he would send reinforcements... This situation looks bad..." Daoist Mu flew back with a worried frown.
"Brother Shen, Brother Hu, how are you?" Yan You and the others landed on the ground. The Ghostly Imp's self-detonation just now had been comparable to the full-powered strike of an Early-stage Xiantian expert.
Yan You was fine. As a Peak Houtian expert, after the Second Summon of Deity, his strength was comparable to Mid-stage Xiantian. But Zhao Hu was in worse shape. He had already been injured, and the self-detonation had targeted him directly. He was now spitting blood, clearly suffering severe injuries.
"I'm fine." Zhao Hu waved his hand.
Seeing that he was unharmed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Leave this place quickly. Hide somewhere first!"
"Go."
Shen Zhui and the others quickly searched Daoist Xiangyang's body, stuffing whatever they found into their robes without even having time to inspect it carefully.
They then left the manor without stopping, running all the way to the outskirts of Hekou Town before finding a ruined temple where they could stop and rest.
"That bastard from the Li Family really is connected to the Outer Sects!" Rong Zimo gritted his teeth. Clearly, he had also seen the final appearance of the two Blood Infants.
"I saw that the resentment surrounding those infants was incredibly heavy. Who knows how many innocent people had to die before this evil technique was refined?" Shen Zhui sighed. His spiritual perception had been honed to an extremely sharp degree, and he had sensed at the time that countless tiny infant ghosts were wailing within those Ghostly Imps.
The Outer Sects had always been synonymous with evil.
For the sake of cultivation, they stopped at nothing, recognized neither kin nor kith, and treated human lives like weeds!
Why were they called the Outer Sects?
Because within the borders of the Zhou Dynasty, sects were absolutely forbidden from being established! They had all been driven beyond the borders, into remote mountains and vast marshes.
For the sake of their sects' continuation, these evil heretics would always sneak into border towns, abduct large numbers of children, bring them into their mountain gates, forcibly take them as disciples, and indoctrinate them with inhuman ideas.
The orthodox deities enfeoffed by the Son of Heaven merely absorbed the incense and fire prayer power of the people.
But these Outer Sects worshiped evil Yin Gods. Most of them conducted blood sacrifices of living people, absorbing their souls to grow stronger!
Shen Zhui had once read the relevant records. To increase their cultivation, those Outer Sects would kill pregnant women, take the fetal placentas, and extract the trace of Xiantian power within them. Their actions were simply outrageous!
The Slay Evil Spirits within the Third Summon of Deity specifically referred to these demonic figures from sects that cultivated evil techniques!
"This Li Family—I, Rong Zimo, will surely hack them into a thousand pieces." Rong Zimo clenched his fists, then looked toward Shen Zhui.
"Fortunately, we had Shen Zhui this time, or we never would have escaped that formation... Right, Shen Zhui, you clearly didn't borrow divine power, so how were you able to draw upon the Power of Heaven and Earth?"
Yan You, Han Mao, and the others immediately turned to look at Shen Zhui.
They could all sense that Shen Zhui was still at the Ninth Stage of Acquired Realm and had not borrowed divine power.
Seeing this, Shen Zhui knew that he could no longer hide the fact that he had reached Unity of Heaven and Man.
"Everyone knows that my Ruler Technique reached Great Accomplishment Realm several months ago," Shen Zhui said.
"Indeed." Zhao Hu nodded. Shen Zhui's Ruler Technique at the Great Accomplishment Realm had long since become common knowledge.
"Could it be that, Brother Shen, you..." Han Mao vaguely understood something.
"Big Brother Han guessed correctly. Not long ago... I changed from a ruler to a saber and switched to saber techniques, reaching the Perfection Realm of Unity of Heaven and Man." Shen Zhui smiled. "I also created a saber technique of my own, so I'm able to control the Power of Heaven and Earth."
"My City God!" Rong Zimo exclaimed in shock. "You actually reached the Perfection Realm of Unity of Heaven and Man?"
"And even created your own saber technique?" Yan You also widened his eyes.
"Haha, as expected of my brother, Shen Zhui." Zhao Hu grinned. "I knew you were extraordinary."
"I originally thought that after finally making it through this operation, I could really show what I was capable of..." Rong Zimo said sourly. "Who would have thought that you'd already perfected your technique?"
"No wonder you cut down that black-clad martial artist so quickly in the Branch Shrine." Yan You also suddenly understood.
The Power of Heaven and Earth was actually the control of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, strengthening a martial artist's attack power.
In terms of ranking, at the same realm, when it came to drawing upon the Power of Heaven and Earth, Qi Cultivation True Persons were stronger than Xiantian Martial Artists.
That was because Qi Cultivation True Persons possessed Xiantian power within their bodies from the very beginning, and their spiritual perception was also stronger.
As for Unity of Heaven and Man, it meant that one's skills had reached flawless perfection and subtly conformed to the Heavenly Dao!
In terms of the precision of control alone, it was even stronger than that of a Qi Cultivation True Person!
Of course, Xiantian Martial Artists and Qi Cultivation True Persons both possessed Xiantian Spiritual Energy within their bodies. Through the attraction between things of the same origin, they could draw upon a greater amount of the Power of Heaven and Earth, while their techniques were simpler to use and more stable.
Unity of Heaven and Man... To use saber techniques to guide Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy into an attack was more exquisite, but slower and subject to certain limitations.
For example, within the formation just now, there had been very little spiritual energy. Shen Zhui could only protect the space within several meters around himself. Unlike in the prison before, he had been unable to trigger a tremor over such a vast area.
"Although Unity of Heaven and Man is powerful, it's still a little lacking against Xiantian Martial Artists and Qi Cultivation True Persons. Without Brother Yan and Brother Hu Summoning Deity, I would have had no choice but to run as well." Shen Zhui smiled.
For nothing else, even if he broke the formation, if that Qi Cultivation True Person had simply flown higher, Shen Zhui would have been helpless against him.
"Brother Shen, don't be so modest." Han Mao waved his hand. "Your saber technique is a major killing move. Who could have imagined that a Ninth Stage of Acquired Realm martial artist could train his technique to Unity of Heaven and Man?"
"If an ordinary Qi Cultivation True Person had his Dao technique broken and allowed you to get close, he'd be nothing more than meat on a chopping board, entirely at your mercy."
Han Mao sighed as well. Unity of Heaven and Man could easily dissolve weaker Dao techniques.
After all, Dao techniques were also special attack methods formed from spiritual energy.
Of course, the more complex a Dao technique was, the greater its power and the more stable its structure, making it less easy to break.
"Big Brother Han, you flatter me." Shen Zhui said, "I had no choice but to conceal my strength before. Please forgive me."
"What are you talking about?" Zhao Hu shouted. "If not for you, we probably would have had to borrow divine power one by one just to escape this battle."
"That's right, Brother Shen. You don't need to blame yourself." Han Mao also consoled him.
He naturally knew about the incident at Red Leaf Manor. He Tong's betrayal had nearly gotten Shen Zhui killed.
At such an extraordinary time, concealing one's trump cards and being cautious was perfectly normal.
Shen Zhui cupped his hands and said no more about the matter.
He Tong's betrayal had indeed dealt the Martial Arts Department a heavy blow. Many people had been personally brought up by He Tong, and could be said to share a bond between master and disciple.
"All right." Han Mao smiled as he took several items from within his robes. "I managed to feel around that thief's body and pull out several good things. Come over and see if any of them are useful."
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