Battle of Formations

Shi Feiyang flew swiftly, covering a thousand Thousand Miles in mere moments.

Lady Baoxiang and Zhuge Jingwo pursued him relentlessly, determined to recover the Millennium Purple River Grass.

Zhuge Jingwo knew the Taiqing Xuanmen Formless Sword Escape, so his speed went without saying.

Lady Baoxiang's father, Old Man Xuexue, held a post in the Heavenly Emperor's Langhuan Library in the Lingkong Immortal Realm, overseeing a portion of its heavenly books and secret manuals. He had secretly learned a great deal and passed it down to his daughter, including a spell called the Thousand-Li Courtyard-in-a-Pouch Shrinking Projection. It, too, granted tremendous speed in flight, and with her profound cultivation, she actually pulled ahead of Zhuge Jingwo.

Shi Feiyang no longer concealed himself with white clouds. He directly employed an escape art from the Lesser Book of Heaven and sped north, crossing more than three thousand li in mere moments. Sensing someone closing in behind him, he glanced back and saw Lady Baoxiang appear, wearing only her long pink dress, open at the chest.

She was a fox who had attained sentience. Although she had spent two or three thousand years learning to live as a human, in the end she had merely seduced men indiscriminately rather than cultivated, never offering her true heart or learning to be a wife. Now, in her fury, she cared nothing for shame or decency. With her hair loose and her feet bare, she came charging over, Rainbow Silk in her left hand and Red Cloud Needles in her right, cursing, "You fiend, give me back my treasure!"

Shi Feiyang spat out his inner core to battle her. While they were evenly matched, Zhuge Jingwo caught up as well. He was desperate to recover the Purple River Grass and lessen his guilt, and had rushed out wearing only a pair of shorts and an inner robe open at the chest. His hair was loose and his feet bare too, with the red mandarin-duck dudou still tangled around his ankle. Racing up, he unleashed his formless flying sword to stab at Shi Feiyang.

Shi Feiyang could not withstand their combined assault. After holding out for the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he turned and plunged headfirst into the vast sea.

Lady Baoxiang and Zhuge Jingwo refused to let him escape. They cast their spells and rode their swords into the sea together, pursuing him from behind.

Shi Feiyang lured them into the deep sea and resumed the battle, using his core qi to mobilize vast quantities of seawater into undercurrents that crashed toward them wave after mountainous wave.

Zhuge Jingwo used his sword to cleave through the surging waters and was little affected. Lady Baoxiang's Rainbow Silk was restricted here, so she recalled it to protect herself and furiously drove her Red Cloud Needles instead. She also unleashed the Pure Yang Heart-Transferring Lock, but Shi Feiyang held it off with his inner core.

Another fierce battle ensued. After fighting for the time it took to eat a meal, Shi Feiyang fled again, rising continuously until he broke through the surface. He got his bearings in the air, then flew northeast.

They fought and fled in turns like this until Shi Feiyang passed over a barren Deserted Island covered in bizarre rocks. When his two pursuers caught up, he abruptly turned and cast a spell. A string of bangs immediately rang out across the island, and dozens of plumes of colored smoke rose from the ground, shooting straight into the sky and forming yellow clouds overhead. In an instant, the heavens darkened, sand flew, and stones hurtled through the air.

Lady Baoxiang and Zhuge Jingwo were directly above the island and were immediately caught by the formation's pull. Just as they tried to cast spells to break free, Shi Feiyang returned and spat out two inner cores. His divine fire inner core smashed toward Zhuge Jingwo, while his True Water Inner Core smashed toward Lady Baoxiang, knocking both of them into the formation.

"The Ten Thousand Li Yellow Sand Formation!" Lady Baoxiang, with her vast experience, and Zhuge Jingwo, a direct heir to the orthodox Xuanmen tradition, called out its name in unison.

This was precisely the Ten Thousand Li Yellow Sand Formation Wei Fengniang had used that day, whose formation flags Shi Feiyang had later seized. He had planted its fifteen small flags here beforehand as an ambush, only luring the two here when their pursuit became too relentless, then activating it to trap them inside.

Within the formation, all they could see in every direction was murky yellow, with no trace of any other color. Countless streams of sand and dust also assailed them through the air. Lady Baoxiang enveloped herself and Zhuge Jingwo in her Rainbow Silk. "This formation comes from the Xinjiang Desert. Using it out here at sea takes twice the effort for half the result. But we mustn't force our way through, or the Wutu Earth Qi will surely bury us. Stay calm. I have a way to break it!"

Before Lady Baoxiang had finished speaking, Zhuge Jingwo merged with his sword and flew out of the Rainbow Silk. His formless sword light made several turns through the yellow sand, then vanished.

Zhuge Jingwo's feelings toward Lady Baoxiang were complicated. He hated her for seducing him and ruining his cultivation, yet he also remained intoxicated by the lingering sweetness of their earlier coupling, when the phoenix and luan had tumbled together. As the saying went, once one had tasted the marrow, one knew its savor. He did not particularly hate Lady Baoxiang; rather, he examined himself and felt that the greatest responsibility lay with him. His understanding of the Dao was shallow and his strength weak. Faced with his tribulation, he had been unable to cope, losing control of his heart at the most critical moment and thus committing a grave mistake. Of course, it was not that he felt no hatred at all. Had Lady Baoxiang not taken the initiative to seduce him, none of what followed would have happened.

Regardless, he was unwilling to rely on Lady Baoxiang's strength, so he flew out on his sword, intending to break the formation through his own abilities.

As he flew using his sword escape, Shi Feiyang could not see him. He could only sense an invisible fish darting back and forth through the rolling yellow sand, heading straight for the formation's core.

Zhuge Jingwo was a Xuanmen disciple, with an exceptionally solid grounding in its Dao, methods, and techniques. Although he had never seen the Ten Thousand Li Yellow Sand Formation, it still fell within the numerical principles of yin and yang, the five elements, the Yellow River Map and Luo Writing, the eight trigrams, and the Great Expansion. After a few attempts, he grasped its workings and drove his sword hard in an effort to break it.

Shi Feiyang continuously cast spells from above to shift the formation's gates, ensuring that whenever Zhuge Jingwo charged toward its core, his strike met only emptiness.

Lady Baoxiang was also trying to break the formation. She had seen a great many formations of every kind. Her approach and methods differed from Zhuge Jingwo's, but their different paths led to the same destination: both were searching for the formation's core.

Both sides wielded their spells, one maintaining the formation while the other sought to break it.

Shi Feiyang's past deductions in Numerology had amounted to waging war on paper, but even that required ability. In military terms, it was called wargaming, and one's theoretical understanding had to reach a certain level first.

After transmigrating into this world, he had received Black Dragon's memories and then studied the Fundamental Daoist Texts in succession. Most importantly, he now possessed magical power and had begun putting his knowledge into practice, studying numerical principles and attempting divination. He was still feeling his way through their practical applications.

Previously, he had used the Five Elements Reversal Method to trap Wei Fengniang and the two women from Xiandu. But Wei Fengniang belonged to a heterodox path and could only operate the Ten Thousand Li Yellow Sand Formation by following the recipe her master had taught her. The two women from Xiandu were even less accomplished in this field than Wei Fengniang, so all his attempts had succeeded.

Today, however, Zhuge Jingwo had studied authentic Xuanmen immortal arts, while Lady Baoxiang was a crafty old fox whose family possessed teachings passed down from the immortal realm. Advancing separately and striking in concert, they accurately located the formation's core every time.

Shi Feiyang constantly adjusted the formation, matching wits with them. After they had fought for well over half a double-hour, Zhuge Jingwo suddenly gave an enraged shout and struck in fury. His formless sword caught one of the yellow sand flags used to lay the formation. With a rapid series of sounds like tearing silk, the flag disintegrated into a cloud of dust.

Of the fifteen flags, destroying just one was enough to break the entire formation. Zhuge Jingwo and Lady Baoxiang shot out of the sky-filling yellow dust. Both had bellies full of pent-up anger, and now they roared in unison, attacking simultaneously with needles and sword.

When Shi Feiyang saw the flag shredded, he knew the formation was about to collapse and readied the Crow-Venom Thorn. Before either opponent appeared, he locked onto Lady Baoxiang within the yellow sand, whose Daoist powers were greater, and launched it at her.

Lady Baoxiang had the same idea and fired three White-Brow Needles she had refined herself.