Starlit River Phantom Dance

"What rank of immortal artifact is that little thief holding? Could it be an Earth Immortal's personal weapon?!" Fanatical greed filled the high-crowned Daoist's eyes as he struck down with one palm! The riverbed exploded, yet the river water surged together instead!

"What is this?! Could it be..." The high-crowned Daoist stared at the center of the river. Liu Yunshen's treasured sword, Benevolent Heart Ripples, was gathering the Water Profound Qi within ten li and wrapping him within it.

Water nourished all things; the Great One gave birth to water. From within the mother's womb, a person's kidneys began to develop. The vigorous vitality of Water Profound Qi rapidly repaired his bodily wounds, and within a few breaths, he was fully healed!

"First I'll seize the sword, then avenge my son! I'll skin you alive and pull out your tendons!" The high-crowned Daoist sneered, gathering his palm into a sword. With one blow, two hundred zhang of Sword Qi swept across the sky!

Liu Yunshen was astonished. The sword seal in his chest flashed, and seven stars rose around him once more. Restored to peak condition, he gathered all the power of his life. A massive one-hundred-and-fifty-zhang Sword Qi evaded Chang Yi's assault and came crashing down from above with the force of Mount Tai pressing down on his head!

"That little thief's sword move is truly vicious!" The high-crowned Daoist dodged in shock and fury, diverting half his strength to raise a palm for defense. As he shattered the Sword Qi above his head, his body involuntarily sank. Pain tore through his chest, and blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. "Monster! Monster!"

Liu Yunshen narrowly dodged Daoist Chang Yi's Sword Qi that cleaved through the air, but the aftermath still struck his chest and abdomen. After regulating his breath for a long while, he exhaled a mouthful of turbid air. The damage from that strike was far less severe than the nearly fatal wound from before. Water Profound Qi gathered around him and healed him again, but the Five Qi stored in his dantian dwindled at an alarming rate.

My strength can support at most three more strikes, but this Daoist clearly still has plenty of true qi!

"Big Brother Liu!!"

"Brother Liu!"

The other seven rushed over again. Liu Yunshen leaped into the forest, and a flash of inspiration struck his mind. The insight he had nearly attained while pondering earlier had been interrupted by the Daoist. Now, as he looked upon the faces before him, everything suddenly became clear!

"Brothers, are you willing to trust me?" Liu Yunshen stared nervously at the faces of his dear friends!

Everyone looked toward the sky and extended their palms.

Wei Gui and Cai Yuelin roared, "Fuck it!"

Huang Zongyue and Gong Liefeng shouted, "Fuck his mother!"

The strange Daoist in the sky had suffered a hidden injury to his chest. After a brief adjustment of his breathing, he recovered fully. When he turned his head, Liu Yunshen was already gone. "That old thief runs pretty fast!"

He recalled what had just happened and secretly calculated on his fingers. "Just as expected, those seven stars were indeed the sign of the Heavenly Pivot Sword Formation's activation! The ancient immortal sword formation is truly unfathomable! That boy is mine today. First, I'll capture him, then break his limbs, search his soul and seize his spirit, take his inherited memories, and finally chop him into ten thousand pieces to honor my son's spirit in heaven!"

The more the high-crowned Daoist thought about it, the more vicious he became. The immortal qi around him gradually turned black, and his cultivation instantly dropped by twenty percent!

"What is happening?!"

Chang Yi was terrified beyond measure! A phantom figure appeared in the sky.

The man wore a plain white round-collared robe, the soft cloth of his headscarf dancing in the wind. Six Harmonies boots stepped among the stars, and a wine gourd hung from his waist. Frost and snow from the Shu roads stained his clothes; misty waves from Dongting soaked into his long robe. An ink pot and poetry pouch hung upon his back. His steps staggered like a drunkard's, yet his phoenix eyes opened slightly to shoot forth divine light; beneath swordlike brows flashed lightning, and his starry eyes cleaved like thunderbolts. He threw back his head in laughter, wine spraying everywhere; he looked over mountains and rivers and swept his sword's radiance. Drifting freely over snow, three parts of his spirit shattered the mortal world!

The high-crowned strange Daoist knelt in midair. "I did not know an exalted immortal had arrived. This humble Daoist failed to welcome you from afar!"

"It would have been one thing if you had merely harbored killing intent, but you even gave rise to delusion and wicked thoughts! By imperial decree, I have come to take away your Alchemical Method. What defense do you have?" The man tipped back his head and took a great gulp of air, yet his body remained as elusive as mist!

The high-crowned Daoist was terrified and repeatedly kowtowed. "Exalted Immortal, this humble Daoist failed to recognize Mount Tai! I shall go down at once and apologize to the young hero!"

Disappointment filled the scarfed man's face. "What you fear is not the Dao of Heaven, but power. Since that is so, there is no need for you to continue cultivating immortality!"

"Ah!!!"

The man pointed a finger. The immortal qi throughout the high-crowned Daoist's body reversed and clashed chaotically, transforming on its own into surging demonic qi in an instant!

A horned figure appeared in the void. The scarfed man handed him the gourd and said with a grin, "Devil, want a drink?"

The horned Devil Lord seemed quite wary of that phantom. He took a step back, putting more distance between them, while silently chanting an incantation! The high-crowned Daoist's hair fell loose, and the demonic qi around him was wrapped in eerie golden light. His demonic cultivation was completed in an instant!!

The scarfed man sighed, and his phantom vanished between heaven and earth!

The horned Devil Lord nodded in satisfaction, and his phantom likewise disappeared into thin air.

Demonic Chang Yi laughed viciously. "I've lived for so many years—why cultivate immortality? Why accumulate merit? Why seek the righteous path? The Devil Lord is the one who truly loves all living beings!"

"Evil thief! You have betrayed the Dao of Heaven and thrown yourself into the Demon Sect! One day, my Four Swords Sect shall surely cut you down beneath our swords!"

Countless voices merged into one.

Demonic Chang Yi laughed hideously and raised his palm. A gigantic palm blade, as large as a small mountain, smashed down from the sky! The path of its blade force also covered that tiny village ahead!

"Brothers! Raise your swords!" Liu Yunshen roared. Seven swords joined as one behind him. Zhao Dingjiang and Hu Lieshan pressed both palms against Liu Yunshen's back, assisting him with all their strength. Greedy Wolf's blood qi, the Meteoric Iron Sword Seal, and even Liu Yunshen's Seven Stars Sword Art and Four Swords Formation fused together perfectly!

Nine enormous stars rose between heaven and earth!!

The Left Assistant Star and Right Aide Star appeared before Hu Lieshan and Zhao Dingjiang. Gong Liefeng, Cao Langao, Ouyang Qingcang, Lei Zhaoye, Cai Yuelin, Wei Gui, and Huang Zongyue transformed into seven stars guarding the center. Liu Yunshen stood like the Purple Tenuity Celestial Star. A three-hundred-zhang sword peak, like Mount Hua of the Western March, rose in towering majesty with vast righteous qi and stabbed straight into the heavens!

"This isn't the Heavenly Pivot Sword Art! This is the anciently recorded 'Star-Pole Eight Desolations Sword Domain'!!!" Chang Yi's heart and gall shattered. The golden blade formed from demonic qi broke apart inch by inch beneath that majestic Sword Qi, turning into black snow that drifted down upon the mortal world!

Demonic Chang Yi was blasted nine heavens upward by the Sword Qi, one arm pulverized into dust!

"My arm!!! I'll make you repay this debt of blood with blood!" Demonic Chang Yi's thoughts raced. He leaped swiftly behind the formation and shouted, unleashing countless hundred-zhang demonic blades in a surging torrent!

"Dipper Handle Points South, Reddening the Realm!" Liu Yunshen shouted!

The stars seemed to transform into nine suns. At the utmost concentration of endless flames, not even an inch beyond the Sword Qi felt hot, yet within it, gold could melt and iron could liquefy! Wherever the Sword Qi passed, demonic qi crumbled like dead branches before a gale!

Unexpectedly, Demonic Chang Yi gave a sinister chuckle. He had already reached Liu Yunshen's front, only three zhang outside the formation!

"Big Brother, watch out!" Zhao Dingjiang and Hu Lieshan erupted in fury. Liu Yunshen sneered, and the Left Assistant Star and Right Aide Star unleashed fierce Sword Qi, blasting Chang Yi hundreds of zhang away!

Demonic Chang Yi spat blood, then rose in a rage. Gathering a colossal three-hundred-zhang demonic blade, he hacked down from above. "I refuse to believe it! This cursed sword formation can't possibly have no weakness!"

"Third sword!" Liu Yunshen shouted again. Cao Langao's face had turned the color of gold paper, while blood flowed from Wei Gui's mouth. Their medicinal power had already been drained dry! Liu Yunshen was horrified. With his left hand, he pushed the two out of the sword formation, then stirred up his remaining strength and forcibly drove the sword. Two hundred zhang of Sword Qi collided thunderously with the demonic blade!

Demonic Chang Yi flew backward more than ten zhang, dissolving the Sword Qi as he laughed viciously. "Little thief! I've changed my mind! I'll turn you into this venerable one's personal plaything. I'll make you neither man nor woman, expose your ugly state to the whole world, and leave you begging to live while unable to die!"

The sword formation remained, but among the nine people within it, aside from Liu Yunshen, Lei Zhaoye, Gong Liefeng, and Huang Zongyue, everyone else had faces as pale as death and could no longer hold on!

"Everyone, we've done our best! You should leave quickly!" Liu Yunshen sighed deeply!

"Big Brother Liu! Then we'll die together!"

"Brother Liu!"

The nine refused to leave and clung tightly to one another.

Countless flames lit up in the distance. The villagers all came running with torches in hand. "Benefactor!"

"Benefactor! We've come too!"

"Benefactor! We've come to repay your kindness!"

More than a hundred villagers gathered outside the sword formation!

Tears fell like rain from Liu Yunshen's eyes. "Fellow villagers, dying in vain serves no purpose! Why must you..."

"Benefactor! You saved our lives. We'll return them to you now!"

The villagers' blood boiled as they surrounded the sword formation, unwilling to leave!

"Fellow villagers, I, Liu Yunshen, have no way to repay you!" Liu Yunshen's eyes brimmed with tears as he fell to his knees in salute!

The villagers also knelt and returned the salute!

"Brothers! Let us perish for the Dao together!" Lei Zhaoye, Gong Liefeng, Huang Zongyue, and Ouyang Qingcang shouted loudly.

The nine formed the formation once again.

The villagers transformed into stars filling the sky and merged into the North Star Formation. The formation's momentum ascended once more!

A Sword Qi more powerful than anything before slowly gathered!

Demonic Chang Yi cried out in alarm, his heart and gall splitting apart. Yet a demonic voice arose within his mind. "Idiot, you are in the Fourth Realm of Qi Refining. Other than forcibly attacking the formation, do you have no other way to break it?"

"Thank you for the Devil Lord's guidance!" Chang Yi suddenly understood. His body transformed into a wisp of mist. With a strange smile, he employed a secret demonic art and abruptly appeared within the formation!

Liu Yunshen stared in terror at the demon before him.

Demonic Chang Yi raised his palm and slowly chopped down!