Natural Law Demon Array

After connecting the various methods and arts, Liu Dongqing had concealed the Azure Flame Fire Crow's true spirit form by projecting it into his four layers of Sky Light, where it appeared as four Azure Flame Flying Bird Spirit Aspects.

He had then used them against the enemy, almost instantly killing the uninvited Zhao family's Dao Slave.

But that had been last night's Liu Dongqing.

Just as Senior Brother Zhao's methods against Liu Dongqing had changed, both hard and soft.

So too had Liu Dongqing's true cultivation, strength, and foundation changed with the passage of time.

In merely a single day and night.

Liu Dongqing had not only succeeded in feeding Angry into the flame.

Thanks to the Fire Crow birds the steward had delivered, of greater variety and purer bloodlines.

He had circulated the Crimson Crow Spirit Incantation and very smoothly condensed a second Fire Crow Dao Sigil!

And because of that.

Within Liu Dongqing's perfectly rounded Lifebound Candle Flame, two complete Fire Crow Spirit Forms were nimbly soaring through that inch-square world. Even the phantom of a third Fire Crow Spirit Form, along with the incomplete sigil within it, had already appeared.

It was precisely these two complete Fire Crow Spirit Forms that projected eight Azure Flame Flying Birds amid the four layers of Sky Light.

Compared to yesterday.

This was absolutely not merely an increase in numbers.

Liu Dongqing had severed Angry and cast it into his Lifebound Candle Flame, stirring the savage demonic nature within the Fire Crow Spirit Forms' bloodline origins. The quality of their fusion had begun bringing entirely new changes to the Azure Flame Flying Birds.

At this moment, Liu Dongqing was no longer rigidly controlling these eight Azure Flame Flying Birds with the full force of his own thoughts.

They no longer resembled lifeless objects, but living creatures whose flesh and shells were formed from azure flame.

By blending in anger-flame as lamp oil, Liu Dongqing had granted them true liveliness.

And likewise, the savage demonic nature of their bloodlines stirred by the anger-flame—the awakened primal beastly instincts—caused these eight Azure Flame Flying Birds to begin "awakening" a portion of the Crimson Fire Divine Crow's old hunting instincts.

And eight was a subtle number. It wasn't many, but neither was it overly few.

Thus.

When the Azure Flame Fire Crows used a small portion of the Crimson Fire Divine Crow's primal hunting instinct to drive their nimble flight, coordinating with one another as they attacked and hunted their prey.

A certain spirit of a "crow flock" began resonating amid the interweaving Spirit Aspects of the eight Azure Flame Flying Birds. Then it fully emerged, linking the eight Azure Flame Flying Birds into a single whole beneath the spirit of the "crow flock"!

When he had suppressed and killed that Dao Slave last night, Liu Dongqing had hastily linked two cultivation arts together and condensed the Azure Flame Flying Bird Aspects.

Although the killing had gone very smoothly.

The dazzling arcs of light traced by the Azure Flame Flying Birds through midair had merely been chaotic scribbles, forcibly driven by Liu Dongqing's thoughts.

Aside from the mind-bewildering sensation brought by the Sky Light's brilliance itself, the Azure Flame Flying Birds' flight and trajectories had truly possessed no order at all.

But now, things were different.

When the spirit of the crow flock linked the flight of the eight birds into one, when the primal instincts of the Crimson Fire Divine Crow's ancient hunts were partially replicated within that flock.

This is no longer something as simple as technique and order.

This is a formation!

The ancient forebears took nature as their teacher, and only then were the Daoist Mystic Sect's lofty and wondrous arts created, one after another. Yin and yang, the five elements—every art came from nature.

And the myriad beings of all creation are nature's spirits!

It may be called a primal hunting instinct, but the Crimson Fire Divine Crow is no ordinary beast of the mortal world. Through countless ages of breeding and survival, the power of its bloodline origins is likewise present in the crow-flock spirit passed down through their attacking, killing, and hunting.

The deeper I cultivate, the more I feel that the Demon Refining Mystic Sect's supreme mystic arts are far more than simply using Dao Sigils to command the bloodline-origin power of a certain demon species.

In the same process, they transform every natural power connected to that demon species' bloodline origins and inherited through countless ages into Daoist cultivation arts, incantations, seals, and formations!

They turn the entire foundation of a Demon Race into the foundation of human Daoist arts!

What I see today is merely the exceedingly shallow crow-flock spirit carried by eight Azure Flame Flying Birds.

When the Azure Flame Flying Birds I can project become more and more numerous, when the Angry thoughts I sever can stir still more of the savage beastly instincts within the Fire Crows' origins...

By repeatedly experiencing such natural scenes of crow flocks hunting their prey, I will understand, categorize, and summarize a complete supreme Flame-Dividing Spirit-Aspect Encirclement Killing Formation of the Yang Fire Path!

And once this formation is complete, it won't even need to be cultivators of the Mystic Sect's Crimson Crow Lineage. Any Yang Fire Path cultivator commanding multiple flame Spirit Aspects will be able to perform this Killing Formation!

Born from Demon Race bloodlines, yet within the Daoist path free of bloodline shackles.

The Demon Refining Mystic Sect was razed and its temples felled by the Demon Race, its dharma lineage severed... they didn't suffer that injustice for nothing...

At this moment.

In this duel that divided life from death, Liu Dongqing strolled as if through a leisurely courtyard. He even had enough spare attention to divide his mind in two, pondering all manner of stray thoughts concerning this crow-flock formation.

That was because, from the very beginning, once Liu Dongqing used his divine sense to designate a direction for the eight Azure Flame Flying Birds and point out their "prey."

What followed was the eight Azure Flame Flying Birds, using their own liveliness and the spirit of the crow flock, to enact the "performance" of a rudimentary supreme Killing Formation.

Patches of light were torn apart by bird beaks, while layers of ocean waves were severed by flying feathers.

And when the birds assumed the posture of a crow flock, recreating the spirit and bearing of Crimson Fire Divine Crows from ancient times charging in groups toward their prey.

The anger-flame clinging to the birds likewise enacted the Heavenly Light Bewildering Spirit art, driving that savage aura straight into the woman's mind.

Liu Dongqing's anger brought her the fear of facing death.

At this moment.

Liu Dongqing frantically absorbed the many changes to the supreme Killing Formation brought by the eight Azure Flame Flying Birds.

At the same time, he looked toward his cheap senior sister, whose vast ocean was drying up and whose great momentum had already vanished beneath the crow flock's hunt.

Even within Heavenly Light Bewildering Spirit, stimulated by the reality of her impending defeat, her mind had already visibly begun to scatter.

Yet Liu Dongqing still did not lower his guard.

"The Yang Fire Path's Seven-Light Incantation Method has changed beyond recognition in your hands and lost its original meaning.

Sky Light may indeed be vast and boundless, but it should never take the image of an endless ocean. Where is the Candle Flame you hold within yourself? Where is the reflected Sky Light? Where is the illumination of all things?

An ocean of rolling waves may look like a novel change, but in truth, it's merely this fool's self-important cleverness.

Your power is clearly still robust, even possessing a fair degree of purity.

But the intent of your cultivation art has gone astray. The harder you strive from now on, the farther you will drift from your original goal. Heaven knows how much of the bottleneck you struggle against today was 'worked up' by your own efforts over the years?

If you had honestly cultivated formations, Senior Sister, why would you have to risk your life here with Liu over a robust bottleneck that never existed?"

As his words fell.

The mind with which she had maintained the final azure wave of Heavenly Light Power suddenly scattered completely.

Amid a shrill tearing of air, the Azure Flame Flying Birds ripped through the last barrier formed from azure Sky Light waves and struck at the instant her body and soul were exposed.

The stimulation of mortal danger made her forget all prospects of the Great Dao in that moment, leaving only panic and struggle.

"You and I are both outer sect disciples. You can't kill—"

Before she could finish, Liu Dongqing calmly shook his head.

"That isn't something Senior Sister needs to worry about anymore.

If you must blame someone, blame Senior Brother Zhao's open scheme for truly having no solution. I thought over it for a long time, and the only answer was for Liu to kill you completely without holding back. Only then could I break free from the rut of mutual suspicion.

As for outer sect disciples...

When inner sect members fight over positions, does the death of one or two people even count as a matter?

There was something Senior Sister said wrongly during the day. The life-and-death struggles of those above us aren't actually so far away. When you came looking for me, we were already standing within the storm."

As his words fell.

Liu Dongqing's sleeve suddenly swept out.

Swish—swish—swish—

Boom—

In the blink of an eye, the eight Azure Flame Flying Birds crashed down with savage force, utterly drowning her pale and powerless figure.