Faced with the overwhelming joint attack, Yellow Dragon remained standing where he was, without even a flutter of his robes. His gaze was calm as he treated the barrage of divine abilities and spells as though they were nothing.
He blocked every attack with his body alone. After enduring the Interception Sect disciples' three attacks, Yellow Dragon felt the slight warmth of his skin and the faint dimming of the spirit light on his robes. Ignoring the disciples' abruptly changing expressions, he smiled. "Your three moves are over. Now it's my turn!"
"Don't blame your senior brother for picking on his juniors!"
Hum!
A five-colored radiance shot skyward from the crown of Yellow Dragon's head, instantly expanding into an immense, ancient-looking tower. The tower had three tiers, with the light of the five elements flowing ceaselessly through it, manifesting their power to suppress all things!
It was the low-grade acquired Spirit Treasure Yellow Dragon had refined himself—the Five Elements Tower!
With a slight shift of his will, the Five Elements Tower above his head suddenly blazed with light!
The five-element spiritual restrictions within the tower spun furiously, drawing upon the five-element primordial qi throughout the heavens and enveloping every Interception Sect disciple led by Qiu Shouxian!
The disciples instantly felt their bodies grow heavy, as though a divine mountain towering ten thousand zhang high had pressed down upon them. Their magic power became sluggish, and even their primordial spirits were suppressed!
Fear began to show in their eyes. They tried to circulate their magic power, activate their treasures, and flee, but all their efforts were futile. Everything around them had been completely sealed by the power of the five elements, leaving them unable to move!
"Suppress!"
Yellow Dragon softly uttered a single word.
The hundred-zhang tower crashed down, bearing an irresistible suppressive force as it slammed toward Qiu Shouxian and the other Interception Sect disciples!
"No—!" Qiu Shouxian barely managed half a scream before the enormous tower swallowed him completely.
Boom!!!
The earth shook violently, as though a subterranean dragon had turned over. After the deafening roar, silence fell over heaven and earth.
Dust billowed everywhere, and spiritual qi churned in disorder.
Yellow Dragon waved his hand gently, sending out a breeze that swept away all the lingering dust. Taiyi, standing nearby, looked closely and saw that the tower had already vanished. All that remained was an enormous pit hundreds of zhang across, its bottom lost from sight, with a terrifying aura of the five elements lingering within.
Yellow Dragon walked slowly to the edge of the pit and glanced into its pitch-black depths. "If you don't come out now, you can stay down there forever!"
At once, more than a dozen panicked figures flashed out of the pit and landed not far from Yellow Dragon. Apart from their deathly pale faces, they showed no sign of injury. Qiu Shouxian cupped his hands and bowed to Yellow Dragon. "Thank you for showing mercy, Senior Brother Yellow Dragon." Traces of fear threaded his trembling voice.
The other Interception Sect disciples were ashen-faced and shaking uncontrollably. They looked at the enormous pit, then at their utterly unruffled Senior Brother Yellow Dragon, their eyes filled with boundless terror.
"I preferred that arrogant, defiant look you had earlier!"
Yellow Dragon shook his head at Qiu Shouxian and the other disciples, who were now exceedingly obedient. "Since you're fine, stop being an eyesore. You bullies who prey on the weak and fear the strong—get lost."
Hearing Yellow Dragon's words, the dozen or so disciples who had narrowly escaped disaster feared he might change his mind. They transformed into streaks of variously colored light and fled in every direction. In moments, every last one was gone, leaving only devastation behind.
Only then did Taiyi snap out of his daze. He hurried forward and bowed respectfully to Yellow Dragon. Shock still lingered on his face, but his voice was filled with gratitude. "Thank you for coming to my aid, Senior Brother Yellow Dragon! Otherwise, I fear I could not have escaped damage to my foundation and the loss of my cultivation today."
Yellow Dragon waved a hand. Looking at the still-shaken Taiyi, he said gently, "We are fellow disciples. There's no need for thanks. But you should also learn something from what happened today."
His gaze swept across the devastated peaks around them as he continued slowly, "When an opportunity on the Great Dao aligns with your own path and concerns your life, you must fight for it. Otherwise, damaging your own Great Dao Source over external possessions is simply not worth it."
"Kunlun has no shortage of spiritual mountains. If your own Great Dao is not at stake, what harm is there in letting them have a few? If you worry about insufficient spiritual qi or weak Dao resonance, you can set up formations to gather qi, regulate the earth veins, and cultivate spiritual plants. Given enough time, you will naturally create a blessed land rich in spiritual qi."
He looked at Taiyi, his tone turning stern. "Blindly fighting to prove yourself and win a momentary advantage—if your source had been damaged this time, who knows how much time and effort recovery would have taken? It isn't worth it!"
Taiyi looked ashamed at these words, yet he also seemed to gain an insight. After the fierce battle and his narrow escape from death, Yellow Dragon's guidance greatly diminished his competitive pride and gave him a deeper understanding of cultivation on the Great Dao.
"Thank you for your guidance, Senior Brother. I have learned my lesson and will keep it firmly in mind." Taiyi bowed once more.
Yellow Dragon nodded slightly. "Good. Since the Interception Sect disciples have left, you can establish your cultivation grounds here!"
Yellow Dragon's figure flashed, transforming into a streak of light as he returned directly to his own cultivation grounds, where spiritual qi abounded.
Beneath the Enlightenment Tea Tree in the Five Elements Courtyard.
Yellow Dragon sat cross-legged and brewed a pot of tea, reflecting on the battle. Though it had ended in an instant, it had given him a little more insight into using the Five Elements Tower.
Yet the reckless conduct of Qiu Shouxian and the other Interception Sect disciples left Yellow Dragon faintly uneasy. The protective formation surrounding his cultivation grounds was merely one he had set up back when he was a Mystic Immortal. If someone raided his home while he was away, his spiritual roots and medicinal plants would suffer. Given how these disciples behaved, that was hardly impossible. By then, it would be too late for tears.
My current mastery of formations is far from sufficient to raise the formation's grade.
He had to improve his mastery of formations first. Draining the tea in his cup, Yellow Dragon immersed his mind in the formation legacy left by Saint Tongtian!
Time passed unnoticed in the mountains!
One day, within the Five Elements Courtyard, Yellow Dragon opened his eyes upon his meditation cushion. Countless formation runes flowed through his eyes, arising and vanishing as they unfolded heaven and earth, before finally falling still. An aura of profound mystery slowly withdrew.
He slowly exhaled a breath of turbid qi. Upon leaving his body, it actually evolved on its own into a miniature killing formation, arising and vanishing in an instant.
"Martial Uncle Tongtian's formation legacy is truly vast and profound, pointing straight to the source of the Dao of formations... What a pity."
Sensing that the very last drop of creation origin had been utterly consumed, Yellow Dragon gave a faint, bitter smile.
To bring his understanding of formations to the stage of minor accomplishment, he had been forced to spend his final drop of creation origin on comprehending the formation legacy. With his current mastery, even a formation casually laid down could trap and kill a Golden Immortal expert. If he had time to prepare and sufficient formation materials, trapping and killing Taiyi would be no difficult feat either!
Yellow Dragon rose to his feet and flew above his cultivation grounds. His gaze swept over the thin curtain of five-element light surrounding them. Viewed through his current understanding of formations, it seemed riddled with flaws, unbearably crude, like a child's scribbles.
"It's practically unfit to look at." Yellow Dragon shook his head, but his voice was utterly resolute. "The immediate priority is to refine formation anchors!"
With a wave of Yellow Dragon's hand, countless innate spiritual materials flew out and hovered in the air. Though they glowed brilliantly and overflowed with treasured radiance, they were in fact only red copper, celestial silver, five-element spirit jade, void stones, wind-lightning stones... all commonplace materials in the Primordial World. The finest among them were three grains of zhou tian stars sand. For the rest, quantity would have to make up for quality.
Yellow Dragon brought out a supreme-grade spiritual artifact refining cauldron. A wisp of true fire condensed in his palm, and he placed it beneath the cauldron, stoking it with the Jade Purity Immortal Method. Countless innate spiritual materials were tossed into the cauldron and painstakingly refined.
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