"Bai Shijun, your life is mine!"
The thunderous shout sent Young Marquis Bai scurrying like a rat, his hands over his head!
"Protect me! Protect me!"
Amid his hoarse, desperate cries, rank upon rank of soldiers surged forward. In an instant, Bai Shijun, so conspicuous moments before, vanished into the crowd. Although Zhang Xingyan had just exposed their commander and his son as traitors, the situation remained unclear. These elite soldiers of the Tiger Guard Army still followed their military instincts, carrying out their orders to the letter.
By then, Zhang Xingyan had soared from Susuang's back like a great roc. His sleeves billowed in the wind as he drifted down onto the Military Drill Ground like a white cloud.
"Swift!"
With that sharp cry preceding a Daoist spell, a brilliant blaze of swordlight shot into the sky, then scattered down to encircle him. In a heartbeat, the single ultimate divided into the Two Modes, the Two Modes became the Four Images, and the Four Images divided into the Eight Trigrams. The snow-bright God-Sealing Ancient Sword abruptly became eight. Earth, Heaven, Water, Fire, Thunder, Lake, Wind, and Mountain; lunar yin, solar yang, lesser yin, and lesser yang-the Four Images and Eight Trigrams flowed together, giving birth to a thousand forms and ten thousand manifestations. Metal and earth subdued water and wood; Wind, Fire, Shock, Lightning, and Thunder arose. Seven-colored rays filled the air around him, and eight blades of differently colored swordlight spun overhead, phantom images dimly visible within them. As Xing Yan advanced westward, the Vermilion Bird flew on his left, the Black Tortoise lurked on his right, the Azure Dragon guarded his rear, and the White Tiger led the way. The Four Images and four sacred beasts changed endlessly, beyond all comparison!
"Whoever stands against me dies!"
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