Almost at the same instant the Hook-Tailed Serpent launched its sneak attack, Peng Junqing abandoned his zither.
His hands danced swiftly like butterflies threading through flowers, instantly flinging three purple talisman scripts from his sleeves-the talismans turned into streaks of light, shooting into the space around Li Lingyue and Li Dan in a triangular formation. They activated at once, forming a spell formation that warped the light and slowed the circulation of true qi!
-[Spirit-Binding Formation]!
Everything in the world, whether plants, mountains, rivers, birds, or beasts, possessed spirituality.
A spirit-binding formation used qi to break qi, and spirit to bind spirit!
The moment the talisman formation took shape, Li Lingyue felt the flow of qi around her falter. Her connection to Heaven-and-Earth Spiritual Qi grew hazy, and both her movements and attacks slowed noticeably.
"Talisman scripts... with power like this, they couldn't have been made by the Grandmaster before me..."
As thoughts flashed through Li Lingyue's mind, Peng Junqing's next move followed close behind-he held two fingers together like a sword, and a streak of Sword Qi, condensed almost into solid substance, tore through the air toward the throat of Li Dan, whom Li Lingyue shielded behind her, forcing her to divide her attention.
Yet this, too, was merely a feint!
The true killing blow came from beneath the water!
In the instant Li Lingyue was hindered by the talisman formation and distracted by the Sword Qi, the Hook-Tailed Serpent silently burst through the water on the other side of the hull. Its target was not Li Dan, but Lu Changfeng-who had only just steadied himself after the sonic waves of "Broken Strings" and was about to act!
This treacherous strike was precisely calculated and ruthlessly timed!
"Sir!" Qing Dai cried out.
Lu Changfeng had been prepared. He immediately