Bloody winds swept across the Eastern Secret border, where desolation filled the eye.
Deep, pitch-black baleful winds battered the formation's edge, grinding the encroaching evil creatures to dust in an instant. They fell onto the yellow mud and became pools of bloodied filth, their stench enough to turn the stomach.
The evil creatures that came to harass them were hideously twisted, as though pieced together from scraps of human and animal corpses. Even a few extra glances felt like a defilement of the eyes.
The [Little Baleful Wind Formation] could not cover the entire defensive line. Using the low hills on either side of Horse-Tethering Road as boundaries, the outer disciples maintained nine checkpoints, with three people assigned to guard each one.
Liu Xingfang stood at the edge of a checkpoint, looking out over the wilderness, with two fellow disciples beside him.
A short sword woven with azure and violet hung at his waist. It was a mid-grade qi refining artifact, its formation markings flickering across the blade. This was the sword pellet he had commissioned Senior Brother Qiyun to forge, modeled after the abbey master's [Hidden Spring].
He had named this short sword [Gangyin]. Once he broke through to qi refining and opened his consciousness sea, he would be able to control it with spiritual sense, sending the flying sword to take people's heads.
For now, however, he could only hold it in his hand and wield it as a dharma sword.
Though sword pellets were rare, quite a few people used them. Liu Xingfang had also heard his clan elders explain that these were unlike ordinary artifacts: they were controlled primarily through spiritual sense, and a single turn of thought could send them slicing through the air to kill an enemy.
*Master can control three swords at once.