Demon Beasts Slaughter the City

The Array Formation's spiritual light shimmered, yet failed to illuminate the night sky. Instead, it lit up every Demon Beast pressing down upon it with perfect clarity.

The cultivators in the city saw countless hideous Demon Beasts densely covering the entire dome of the Array Formation, piled layer upon layer, their numbers impossible to count.

These Demon Beasts had eagle heads, leopard bodies, and horns growing from the backs of their heads. They relentlessly rammed and tore at the Array Formation's barrier, countless bloodshot eyes rolling against its surface. The sight made people's skin crawl, as though the beasts were already deciding which cultivators and mortals in the city would taste best.

Everyone in the city looked up, their scalps prickling and their legs trembling at the sight. They nearly fled on the spot.

This Array Formation could be crushed at any moment!

Everyone who witnessed the scene had the same thought, but no one dared say it first.

Just then, several screams rang out at the city gate, followed by successive explosions of spiritual light and all manner of spells.

The Array Formation began collapsing at the gate, and the Gu Diao horde instantly surged through the breach into the city like a black flood.

That was not all. Cracks continued spreading through the Array Formation, rapidly extending from the gate across the entire Mountain-Guarding Grand Array Formation.

A tremendous crash rang out below the mountain. The entire Mountain-Guarding Grand Formation shattered, startling both Mo Chen and Jiang Jiuyao up on the mountain.

But Mo Chen reacted first, immediately using the Evasion Technique to flee.

"Take him down first!"

The elderly prince formed a sword seal, and his Flying Sword pointed straight at Mo Chen's heart. Its spiritual light blazed as it pierced through the air toward him.

At the sight, Mo Chen was about to use Earth Escape to flee underground, but he suddenly staggered, dropped to his knees, and began retching.

That very act of falling to his knees allowed Mo Chen to narrowly avoid the old prince's Flying Sword.

What was going on?

Mo Chen's mind reeled. Why could he feel a chill from the old prince's Flying Sword that made him feel as though he were submerged in seawater?

It even acted directly upon his Divine Sense and flesh. Not only did it bring on a suffocating sensation like drowning, it also churned his stomach, despite his having long since attained Longevity and no longer needing food or drink.

What kind of spell was this? It was far too terrifying.

"Junior brother! Your [Gold in the Sea] Spiritual Root has only made a mess of things!"

Jiang Jiuyao shouted angrily at the sight.

"I forgot that my [Gold in the Sea] Spiritual Root could strike the souls of cultivators at the same rank while attacking!"

"Never mind. We'll attack together!"

With that, Jiang Jiuyao unleashed a slender Water Blade Technique, which slashed toward him alongside the old prince's Flying Sword.

Mo Chen tried to dodge again, but once more felt the suffocation of drowning, his stomach churning along with it.

Was this a spell that could be used endlessly without consuming Dharma Power?

Fortunately, the second bout of suffocation lasted only an instant. Mo Chen successfully used his Earth-Escape Technique just before the Water Blade could sever his head.

After using Earth Escape to burrow underground, Mo Chen reappeared seven or eight zhang away.

Jiang Jiuyao and the elderly prince activated the Evasion Technique simultaneously and immediately followed.

"Damn it! The Gold in the Sea effect makes your metal-aspect Spirit Artifacts and spells subject people to a drowning-like environment. It works best in an ambush. Why did you attack with your Flying Sword right away? Now that he's on guard, the Gold in the Sea effect will only get weaker."

Even while flying after him, Jiang Jiuyao did not forget to scold the old prince.

"I chose you because you seemed clever and had the strongest metal Spiritual Root component. If I'd known you were this arrogant and stupid, I would've brought that copyist into the sect instead!"

Though the old prince looked resentful after her rebuke, he still dared not talk back to Jiang Jiuyao and merely agreed.

"You're right to scold me, senior sister. From now on, I'll make sure to memorize all the [Nayin effects] of the Eight Characters in the chart."

"After him!"

Having just taken in Jiang Jiuyao and the other man's conversation, Mo Chen's pupils shook violently.

Metal-aspect Spirit Artifacts and spells could inflict a disorienting sensation of drowning and suffocation when they attacked?

Such an outrageously powerful ability was merely the effect of a Gold in the Sea metal Spiritual Root?

It sounded as though it could be used endlessly, too.

Wasn't this far too unfair?

However, Mo Chen remembered that Jiang Jiuyao had given him the Black Turtle Breathing Method, a cultivation method with both water and wood aspects. That meant he possessed the [Nayin effects] of water and wood Spiritual Roots.

For now, though, Mo Chen had no way of knowing what the [Nayin effects] of water and wood Spiritual Roots were.

Escaping alive came first!

After that, both sides continued fighting as they chased and fled, but Mo Chen dodged every attack with the Evasion Technique.

Still, Jiang Jiuyao and the prince were at the eighth and seventh layers respectively. Though their Evasion Technique was less refined than Mo Chen's, their Spiritual Power was far more abundant, allowing them to steadily close the distance.

When only fifteen zhang remained between them, Jiang Jiuyao and the prince raised their Flying Swords again, secretly channeling Spiritual Power as they prepared to attack Mo Chen from both sides.

Jiang Jiuyao and the prince's flying speed instantly dropped by half. Even their airborne Flying Swords suddenly sank and plunged into the ground.

When they tried to seize an opening to continue the pursuit, they discovered a ring of visible ripples spreading around their bodies.

Their limbs seemed entangled in invisible threads, making every movement extraordinarily difficult.

Wind Binding Restriction!

This was not something that could be laid down easily. Was someone else here?

"It's a restriction! You little bastard, you set me up?" Jiang Jiuyao shouted fiercely, spiritual light blazing around her.

She actually began forcibly breaking free of the restraints.

The old prince reacted as well, his hands repeatedly forming seals as he forced his own Dharma Power against the restriction wrapped around him.

In just a few moments, Jiang Jiuyao broke free.

Mo Chen froze at the sight.

He had used his longevity fate to study Talismans and restrictions for years. Though his skill was still poor, surely a cultivator of the same rank should not have been able to undo them so easily?

No!

Mo Chen noticed that the old prince, likewise caught in a Wind Binding Restriction, was still using his Dharma Power to force his way out.

It had to be the [Nayin effect] of Jiang Jiuyao's Spiritual Root!

Jiang Jiuyao swept her hand, breaking free of several Wind Binding cords around her, then immediately charged toward Mo Chen.

"Stunned, aren't you? My [pine and cypress wood] Nayin effect weakens all support spells and restrictions, including freezing and binding, by more than half!"

"Die!" Jiang Jiuyao shook her sleeve and immediately unleashed a Flying Sword.

Alarmed, Mo Chen pointed three times beside Jiang Jiuyao, activating three more Wind Binding Restrictions.

Jiang Jiuyao's movement abruptly stalled, but that brief instant was enough for Mo Chen to hastily use Earth Escape again and vanish from the spot.

"Fuck!!!"

Cursing furiously, Jiang Jiuyao began breaking the restrictions again.

As Mo Chen fled into the distance once more, he combined this with his earlier experience below the mountain and pieced together most of the truth.

Cultivators used the Eight Characters Chart to determine their Spiritual Root aspects. Once their chart was calculated, they could learn which [Nayin effects] their Eight Characters contained and use those to comprehend spells or special abilities.

For instance, the old prince's Eight Characters contained [gold in the sea], which added a trace of Illusion Technique to all metal-aspect spells and attacks, briefly trapping their target in an illusion of being submerged in seawater.

However, once the target became wary of the Illusion Technique, its effectiveness diminished with each use.

Jiang Jiuyao's [Pine and Cypress Wood], meanwhile, required no deliberate activation. It acted directly upon the cultivator, greatly weakening effects such as freezing, binding, and slowing.

It looked like he would have to spend some time finding cultivators who knew fortune-telling.

At present, he knew very little about Spiritual Root aspects and the Nayin effects of the Eight Characters.

Because Jiang Jiuyao possessed the [pine and cypress wood] Nayin effect in her Eight Characters, all manner of irritating support spells and restrictions had their effectiveness reduced by more than half against her. This always allowed her to break free before the old prince.

But what drove the pair to despair was that every time they finished breaking through one wave of restrictions, that damned old menial had run a little farther away.

However...

Something even more infuriating awaited Jiang Jiuyao and the prince.

After running roughly a hundred zhang, Mo Chen suddenly stopped, turned around, and pulled out a stack of rice paper.

It was a thick stack, each sheet covered in crooked talisman patterns drawn in cinnabar. Even the three hooks at the talisman's head were drawn extremely poorly. One glance showed these were not things drawn on proper Talisman Paper.

But the success or failure of Talismans had never been judged by their beauty.

Besides, even if the [Pine and Cypress Wood] effect reduced the binding force by more than half...

What about... this many Talismans?

Without another word, Mo Chen hurled a handful toward Jiang Jiuyao and the prince.

Over a hundred sheets of Talisman Paper scattered rustling through the night wind, blanketing the sky. Fireballs, water swords, earth spikes—there was everything.

Wait, fellow Daoist?

You were just an old menial at the qi refinement fifth layer. Where had you gotten so many Talismans, and how did you have the ability to lay down restrictions?

The old prince did not know whether it was deliberate, but seeing Mo Chen throw slightly more Talismans his way, he could not help feeling this was revenge for his spitting outside the Wenyuan Pavilion back then.

"You really hold a grudge, brat!"

Battered by fireballs until he was covered in soot and dirt, the old prince was about to unleash a torrent of abuse when another clump of earth smacked him squarely in the face.

How dare you?

"You're a mere clerk! Even if you can cultivate, you're still a menial in the Scripture Pavilion. You dare lay hands on a prince like me?"

He was a proper flying-sword cultivator at the seventh layer of Qi Refinement, yet an old good-for-nothing librarian was pelting him with Talismans drawn on rice paper so badly he could not fight back. If word got out, he could forget showing his face in Flowing Cloud Immortal City for the rest of his life.

Jiang Jiuyao, on the other hand, said nothing. She merely relied on Pine and Cypress Wood to weaken the Wind Binding Art as she forcibly channeled Spiritual Power to break through the restrictions.

As Talisman Paper exploded chaotically throughout the mountain, sparks ignited dry grass. More than a dozen fires spread rapidly in the night wind, making the mountain blaze burn ever fiercer.

Normally, a fire on the sect's rear mountain should long since have drawn the attention of patrolling disciples. But the Twin Crane Sect had already sent wave after wave of cultivators down the mountain to deal with those ten thousand or more Gu Diao. Who had time to check whether smoke was rising from the rear mountain?

Just then, another tremendous crash came from Flowing Cloud City below the mountain.

The entire Mountain-Guarding Grand Formation began disintegrating from the city gate. Lightning-like cracks crawled across its entire dome of light in almost the flick of a finger.

Sharp-eyed cultivators noticed that even the City Guard, skilled in combat, could not hold back these Demon Beasts. Those who had merely come to shop at the market would lose their lives unless they fled immediately.

The City Guard used the Combined Strike Secret Art to resist the Gu Diao, while cultivators in the marketplace scattered in every direction. But the Gu Diao were extremely fast. Several rogue cultivators bringing up the rear had barely flown a few steps before they were pinned to the ground and torn to pieces without even a scream.

Now screams rang out everywhere in the city. Terrified mortals doing odd jobs abandoned their work and fled for their lives.

But if even cultivators who could fly could not escape, what could ordinary mortals do?

They could only perish in the jaws of Demon Beasts.

Those mortals who had entered the city for work would understand, even as they died, why their luck was so terrible.

Of course, things up on the mountain were hardly any better...

As the Array Formation's dome shattered, the black mass of Gu Diao descended directly upon it. Though most flew straight toward the core of the Twin Crane Sect, where spiritual energy flourished, a small portion were drawn toward the rear mountain by the fluctuations of battle.

Mo Chen needed only a brief glance to know he was no match for them.

Though it was only a portion, there were at least a dozen Demon Beasts—absolutely more than he could handle.

Mo Chen hardened his resolve and activated all the restrictions he had secretly hidden over these past decades at once.

Jiang Jiuyao and the prince saw Mo Chen's hands moving rapidly, pointing here and there throughout the forest as though he were mustering troops and appointing generals.

With every light tap of his finger, a rune appeared.

More restrictions!

Only then did Jiang Jiuyao's expression change in alarm.

"Just how many restrictions did you lay down?"

But Mo Chen ignored her. It was already a fight to the death. Why waste words?

After activating every Wind Binding Restriction nearby, he vanished into the thick smoke and firelight.

Mo Chen used Fire Escape amid the mountain blaze to reach the back of a boulder. Only after seeing that Jiang Jiuyao and the prince were still dealing with the Restrictive Wards and could not escape did he stuff his remaining rice-paper Talismans into his Storage Bag, a self-mocking smile tugging at his lips.

Demon Beasts attacking the city?

Heaven was truly helping him!

After hiding, Mo Chen repeatedly used the Breath-Concealing Art and Form-Concealing Art. Finally, he used Earth Escape to merge into the large boulder against which he rested before stopping.

More than a dozen Demon Beasts were pursuing from behind, while Jiang Jiuyao and the prince remained trapped in the Restrictive Wards Mo Chen had laid.

Now they were in for it.

Since they had learned that his lifespan was limitless, their own lifespans would have to fall to zero.

Mo Chen sneered inwardly. Not a single person who knew of his Longevity could be allowed to live!

"I'll watch the Demon Beasts devour every last scrap of you before I leave. Otherwise... I won't feel at ease."