Standing Alone
Yang Xiu stood alone in the center of the Great Void, his golden robes fluttering, and a deep gray-purple Profound Qi surging from his body. The golden bell at his waist jingled without wind, its clear sound rippling through the three people surrounding him. The Profound Qi mark between his brows flickered, and his pupils reflected the approaching red, white, and yellow lights from three directions.
The man in red withdrew the "Recounting the Sight of the Sun" from his palm, looked at Yang Xiu, and his phoenix eyes smiled even more, with a hint of amusement:
"One person fighting the three of us alone? You've got guts."
As he spoke, he raised his hand again to brush away non-existent dust from his robes, his posture as relaxed as ever.
The man in white remained expressionless. He simply rubbed his palms together, and the aura of Dui Metal condensed into two almost transparent white short blades in his palms. The tips of the blades flickered with a cold light, ready to strike at any moment.
The short, plump woman smiled broadly, and a yellow-green aura had already spread out behind her, forming an invisible "Scripture Pavilion" domain, waiting for Yang Xiu to step in so that it could "hide" his spiritual energy within it.
Yang Xiu did not answer.
He raised the golden bell high above his head, and the gray-purple Profound Qi soared into the sky like a gray-purple pillar, piercing straight into the depths of the Great Void. Within the pillar, lightning, fire, and the light of the Wu Earth surged and churned, and countless calamities were drawn by "Calamity Befalls Fate," condensing into a gray-purple calamity shield around him.
Above that protective shield, lightning flashed like snakes, firelight shone like scales, and Wu Earth was layered upon layer, completely enveloping him.
At the same time, he took a step forward, and his figure suddenly became ethereal. Grayish-purple Profound Qi surged out from his body, like countless grayish-purple chains, wrapping around his body and spreading in all directions.
Wherever the chains passed, the power of cause and effect spread out like a spider web, entangling the surrounding Great Void, which stretched for tens, hundreds, and thousands of feet.
The Profound Qi Body Divine Ability are "Karma Enshrouds the Body"!
As soon as this Divine Ability was unleashed, an indescribable sense of oppression immediately filled the Great Void.
The man in red, the man in white, and the short, stout woman all froze. They clearly felt that their attacks, movements, and spells—all their karma—were bound by the gray-purple chains. The afterimages of flames left by the man in red's "Coiling Flame Body" were gripped by an invisible hand, and strands of gray-purple karma climbed onto the flames like moss, making them slower and more sluggish.
The white marks left by the white-robed man's "Resounding White Sound" were also bound by the chains of karma, and the white marks were no longer sharp, but rather softly dissipated like a dulled blade. The short, fat woman's Hidden Scripture Pavilion " was also held back by karma like a thread, and could no longer be completely "hidden".
Like a spider web trapping an insect, the more it struggles, the tighter the web becomes.
"Entangled by cause and effect, bound by karma," Yang Xiu said in a low voice, his tone icy. "You had a good fight just now, now it's time to taste what it's like to be entangled by 'karma'."
With a shake of the golden bell in his left hand, the deep gray-purple Profound Qi surged once more, Bing Fire lightning, firelight, and the light of the Wu Earth simultaneously responded to the call from the depths of the Great Void, transforming into three pillars of calamity lightning as thick as ancient trees, which struck down at the three of them respectively! The three pillars of lightning were gray-purple, dark red, and earth-yellow respectively, each carrying the power of calamity, like three whips of heavenly punishment lashing down at the same time.
The man in red raised an eyebrow, and a hint of seriousness finally appeared in his phoenix eyes.
Suddenly, flames surged around him, and as the crimson flames Li Fire, his figure transformed, elongated, and spread out like a ball of fire. Just before the lightning pillar struck him, he turned into countless crimson lines of fire, "sliding" away along the edge of the pillar.
The fire line split into dozens of strands, scattering like snakes, "giving way" to most of the power of the lightning pillar, leaving only a few strands to be grazed by the lightning and dissipate into sparks.
The Li Fire Body Divine Ability: "Coiling Flame Body"!
When the fire line re-formed, the man in red was already several miles away. His crimson robe was stained with a few gray-purple lightning marks, but it did not cause any serious damage.
He glanced down at the lightning marks on his robe, then looked up at Yang Xiu, the mockery completely gone from his eyes.
"A fine ' Karma Enshrouds the Body ' indeed." He spoke slowly, his tone carrying genuine approval for the first time. "Truly remarkable."
He paused, then suddenly smiled.
"Unfortunately, you're all alone."
As soon as he finished speaking, he flipped his left hand, and a crimson longsword materialized from his palm. The sword was entirely made of crimson gold and engraved with countless fine flame patterns. A point of crimson light at the tip of the sword shone like the sun.
The Li Fire Technique's Divine Ability, "Sweep Away Remaining Ashes!"
With a swing of the longsword, a crimson sword light swept out, like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, severing and burning away the gray-purple karmic chains spreading around Yang Xiu one by one.
Where the sword light swept, the karmic chains crumbled like burned spider silk, inch by inch, the broken ends charred and curled, never to be reassembled.
Where the karmic chain breaks, the power of cause and effect scatters and flies like embers.
At the same time, the man in white finally found an opening. He pushed with both palms, and pure white sound waves rippled out from his palms, like hundreds of sharp blades slashing out at the same time, tearing a gap in the Calamity Shield on Yang Xiu's left flank.
As soon as the crack opened, several white streaks shot straight in, aiming for Yang Xiu's left arm.
The short, stout woman approached from the right flank, unleashing the full power of the "Hidden Scripture Pavilion." The yellow-green energy spread out like a tide, layer by layer "hiding" Yang Xiu's Profound Qi on the right flank into the invisible Scripture Pavilion. The gray-purple spiritual energy on Yang Xiu's right flank dimmed at a visible speed, like lamps being blown out one by one.
Under the attack from three sides, Yang Xiu's face turned slightly pale. He rang his golden bell repeatedly, summoning three calamities, but only managed to force the white-robed man and the short, fat woman back one step each. The red-robed man's "Sweep Away Remaining Ashes" sword light had already struck again, the crimson Sword-Ray like a line of fire burning through the Great Void, aiming straight for Yang Xiu's face.
Yang Xiu gritted his teeth, held the golden bell horizontally in front of his chest, and condensed the gray-purple Profound Qi into a thin barrier of calamity. The sword light struck the barrier, exploding into a sky full of crimson fragments. The barrier shattered inch by inch, and Yang Xiu was knocked back several miles, a line of black blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
Just then, from the depths of the Great Void, two streaks of light sped towards us.
A purple light, like smoke; a five-colored light, like rosy clouds.
A glint of light flashed in Yang Xiu's eyes.
The man in red seemed to sense something, his phoenix eyes narrowing as he gazed at the purple aura and five-colored glow, a sinister smile playing on his lips. He brandished his crimson longsword, the flames surging Li Fire, his voice clear yet icy:
"Well done. As I just said, we'll take as many as come."
The flame patterns on the crimson longsword lit up one by one, like awakening fire serpents, and the crimson light at the tip of the sword surged, like a blazing sun held in his hand.
The Li Fire aura surged forth from his body, turning the surrounding Great Void several miles into a blazing red, as if the entire battlefield had been dragged into a boundless fiery domain.
A poem says:
The Great Void emptiness stretches to the horizon, where two rivers converge, and a raging inferno of inspiration.
Golden bells vibrate, gray and purple threads intertwine, countless strands.
Crimson flames blaze Li Fire rages; white sounds ripple across the earth Dui Metal echoes.
The Bamboo-Bookcase Wood and the Hidden Pavilion conceal a thousand ingenious mechanisms.
Standing alone, without looking back.
With liver and gallbladder intact, what is there to fear?
Behold the five-colored purple clouds, as reinforcements rush forth like ducks.
Yao Qi Proclaiming Earth from the north, and the road to Longyuan is fraught with thorns Dragon Abyss.
In the coming of the Ming Dynasty, I will pierce the clouds with a single sword and open the way to heaven.