An Unusual Stir

The black devil flames on the blade spread, swiftly seeping into Qin Ying's protective Spirit Garment.

"Oooo..."

She heard a burst of shrill howls and mournful cries beside her ears. Her mind fell into turmoil, and the black flying sword broke through her Spirit Garment.

Blood scattered, only to evaporate without a trace the instant the black devil flames touched it.

Qin Ying gave a muffled grunt and flew backward.

But the black flying sword was simply too fast. She could only retreat again and again beneath its attacks.

Like a cat toying with a mouse, Jiang Xiao struck with only two sword slashes each time he attacked.

Qin Ying could barely block the first strike, but the second invariably wounded her.

Her expression turned cold, and resolve hardened in her heart.

She drew two fingers across her brow. The jade hairpin in her hair shattered, and vast spiritual power gushed from the crown of her head.

The spiritual pressure of the wind and snow filling the sky surged once more, and the scarlet substance on her body froze as well.

There was no escaping it anyway. Better to trade life for life!

Her fingertips lightly traced a spell seal. Three icy-blue sword lights landed around Jiang Xiao, and phantom chains of frost slowly emerged between them...

"Oh? Heh heh..."

Unhurriedly, Jiang Xiao controlled his flying sword, slicing through Qin Ying's Spirit Garment and leaving a wound on her shoulder.

Qin Ying had never intended to dodge, but the black devil flames invaded her mind once again.

"Exalted immortal..."

"Save me..."

Mournful sobbing like that of Vengeful Ghosts from the netherworld circled and echoed in her ears.

An eerie Demonic Sound sounded deep in her heart.

"Why won't you save me..."

"You call yourself an immortal, yet watch the devil path slaughter mortals... while you cling to life in this world!"

"Your lineage was warped because of you, your master severed ties with you, and your younger brother died horribly... because your helpless weakness let it happen!"

The Demonic Sound roared on, growing ever more chaotic and clamorous. Qin Ying's mind fell into complete disarray, her spiritual power dispersed, and the phantom chains snapped with a bang.

Jiang Xiao laughed with abandon. "You will turn into essence blood and become part of my body. When I sweep through the cultivation world one day, you may count yourselves..."

"Honored to share in my glory, won't you?"

"There is no need to struggle! Your fate is sealed!"

Far below, Song Yan and Li Qingfeng were truly sweating on Qin Ying's behalf.

Song Yan's expression, too, shifted from calm to horror.

Senior Sister Qin Ying had actually fallen into a disadvantage.

Both of them understood one thing very clearly: if even Qin Ying fell to the devil cultivator Jiang Xiao, there would be no other outcome for them either-only death.

When the lips were gone, the teeth grew cold.

Song Yan remained silent. He suddenly realized that his fate was once again in someone else's hands...

Hum...

Suddenly, Song Yan felt a chill throughout his body. All his spiritual power and Sword Qi began surging beyond his control, flowing toward a certain place.

At that moment, a profound, unfathomable presence spread in waves from the Two-Pole Bead, like ripples across water.

"Hm?"

Song Yan did not know what this presence was, nor why this strange phenomenon had occurred. He sank his consciousness into the Two-Pole Realm, only to see the surrounding black-and-white runes forming and vanishing much faster than usual.

But up in the sky, Jiang Xiao's gaze suddenly sharpened. "What's going on..."

He seemed to vaguely sense that his connection to the "Immortal Sword" had weakened considerably.

The black flying sword actually seemed on the verge of falling.

Qin Ying noticed this as well. She hurriedly steadied her mind and regained control of her spiritual power to resist the scarlet substance's corrosion.

Jiang Xiao looked toward Song Yan and Li Qingfeng.

"What tricks are you playing!"

He stretched out his palm and grasped through the air toward where Song Yan and Li Qingfeng stood.

Song Yan retreated swiftly with Gu Qingqing and Li Qingfeng, simultaneously gathering sword light in his hand and shooting it toward Jiang Xiao.

But the instant it touched Jiang Xiao's figure, his flesh parted into a ring-shaped opening like a drop of ink in water.

The sword light swept past, raising a fierce wind that tore a blood-red wisp of cloud backward from that body of flesh and blood, thick as fog.

"Hmph, an ant trying to shake a tree!"

Jiang Xiao closed his hand around empty air. Song Yan and Li Qingfeng abruptly felt their bodies tighten, as though a pair of invisible hands had gripped them firmly.

Their hearts pounded. Both felt the blood flowing rapidly through their bodies, and a wave of dizziness washed over them.

Specks of filthy scarlet blood swiftly spread over their bodies...

What terrifying, uncanny Blood Qi!

Had Senior Sister Qin Ying been holding out against him under pressure like this for so long?

The protective talisman activated earlier shattered inch by inch.

A talisman capable of blocking three attacks from a Late Qi Refining Stage cultivator could not withstand a casual grasp from a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh-

Three strands of icy-blue Sword Qi circled beside Jiang Xiao. The chains of frost appeared once again, drawing a prison around him and locking him within.

Qin Ying formed a sword seal with her hands. "Frost-Defying Sword Formation!"

Icy spiritual light abruptly gathered and condensed above the small formation, pouring straight down and striking Jiang Xiao in an instant.

Boom!

An immense, ferocious shock wave spread outward, and a current of extreme cold swept through all of Peach Blossom Hollow.

Song Yan and Li Qingfeng felt their spiritual power behaving strangely, surging with activity, yet their protective Spirit Garments were scattered by the impact.

A faint, bloody sweetness rose in their throats. Their ears were filled with the sound of frost shattering in the shock wave, and they could barely breathe.

Once again facing a battle between Foundation Establishment cultivators directly, Song Yan still found it unbelievable.

"...It hit!"

Li Qingfeng panted heavily. "Is that devil cultivator dead?"

"..."

Song Yan raised his eyes. Several streams of condensed blood gathered in the air, contracted, regrew, and fused into Jiang Xiao's form.

He stared coldly at Qin Ying.

"Heh heh."

"A monkey in a crown, all appearance and no substance."

"You dare call something like this a sword formation..."

While using his spiritual power to resist the scarlet corrosion, Li Qingfeng transmitted his voice. "Senior Brother Song, this devil cultivator's grand formation is so strange..."

Song Yan pondered for a moment before offering his conjecture. "Aside from these strange things that corrode flesh and skin, the real reason Senior Sister Qin is struggling against him is probably that this formation lets the devil cultivator's body shift and drift."

"Although Senior Sister Qin's sword formation can briefly imprison his body, she can't be in two places at once and can't truly damage his core."

"Then what should we do?"

From scavenging at Fireworker Stockade earlier, Song Yan had acquired some of the most basic knowledge of formations.

"With formations, it's simply a matter of finding their Formation Eye and anchor points, then destroying them."

"But where is the Formation Eye?"

Song Yan's voice sank. "That's the trickiest part. This formation is unusual. It uses that black flying sword as its Formation Eye, and the drifting Blood Qi as its anchor points and formation beads."

"That Blood Qi is rather strange, too. Spiritual power can neither disturb nor destroy it..."

Li Qingfeng's eyes flickered thoughtfully.

The tangled thoughts in Song Yan's mind gradually began to clear.

"This formation isn't fixed. It's a dynamic formation that Jiang Xiao controls at will!"

Now, his Two-Pole Bead seemed capable of slightly affecting the black flying sword's movements. Though the effect was small, it was the only help he could offer.

After all, it was the Formation Eye of the Blood Refining Grand Formation. Even a slight disturbance or restraint could give Senior Sister Qin room to breathe.

He took out a pill, tossed it into his mouth, and circulated his spiritual power.

Beneath the Sword Mansion of the Dao-Subduing, the Sword Qi surging like lotus petals around the sword seed gradually gathered, taking the shape of a strand of Sword Dao True Essence.

Sword Dao True Essence remained one of Song Yan's most powerful killing moves.

He did not know whether it could have any effect on a Foundation Establishment Realm expert, but there was nothing else he could do right now.

If there were another chance to bind that devil cultivator...

"Senior Sister Qin! Senior Brother Song!"

Just as Song Yan concentrated, Li Qingfeng suddenly spoke.

Song Yan and Qin Ying glanced aside, only to see Li Qingfeng put away his black wok and cleaver and arrange his body in a strange posture.

His gaze was fierce, his teeth clenched tight.

Hum-

Spiritual power surged around Li Qingfeng, and a tremendous suction came from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

All the spiritual Qi and Blood Qi within the entire grand formation suddenly swept toward Li Qingfeng at once.

"What?"

Jiang Xiao stared at Li Qingfeng in disbelief. The Blood Qi in his hand dispersed abruptly as soon as it gathered.

In that brief instant of distraction, frosty spiritual power had already begun spreading slowly upward from the tips of his toes.

Just as the filthy blood came within inches of touching Li Qingfeng, he forcibly interrupted his circulation.

"Cough, cough..."

His meridians ran in reverse, and the little fatty's complexion was dreadful.

Only now did Jiang Xiao's panicked mind settle again. He was about to seize the initiative and kill that fat cultivator, only to discover that the man had begun chuckling.

"It really works..."

A Qi Refining cultivator suddenly raised his eyes and exchanged a glance with the Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator in the sky.

"What are you looking at?"

A gratified smile appeared on the little fatty's face.

"You're about to die..."

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