Arresting Execution Qi

"Buzz--"

Suddenly, Jiang Qu heard a buzzing sound, seemingly right next to his ear, yet also seemingly very far away.

But after being distracted by the voice, he discovered that the black hole deep in the distance that had summoned him earlier was gone.

All that remained before my eyes was a hazy, pitch-black darkness.

Just as he was wondering, he suddenly heard a somewhat familiar voice.

"Jiang Qu, Jiang Qu?"

Jiang Qu felt a moment of disorientation, as if he had caught a glimpse of Fellow Daoist Lin.

In a flash, the darkness before his eyes dissipated, and he once again saw the city shrouded in black mist.

What's wrong with him?

Jiang Qu weakly shook his head, feeling that he was becoming more lucid.

Who was calling him just now?

He barely managed to lift his eyes and look around, but he didn't see anyone who might have called him.

However, whether it was his imagination or not, the surrounding black aura seemed to have thinned out a bit...

Unbeknownst to Jiang Qu, in a corner outside the city, Lin Xiao was sweating profusely as he frantically circulated his inner energy cultivation technique, absorbing Spiritual Qi and converting Origin Qi into Origin Qi, continuously pouring it into the array points of the Execution Cultivator formation.

Previously, he had tried to infuse his Origin Qi into this array point to see if he could influence the array by using the vital Origin Qi's ability to suppress the Execution Qi.

It turned out to be effective, but the formation was too large, and the Execution Qi it released was enormous, which was far from enough to counteract the effects of his own internal Origin Qi.

But there's no other way right now. He can't do anything else until the city's protective formation is activated. If he can neutralize more of the Execution Qi, he can lighten the burden on the people in the city.

He did do that at first.

Simply keeping his vital Origin Qi flowing into the array points wouldn't have made him sweat so profusely.

However, after inputting his Origin Qi for a while, a thought suddenly struck him. He wondered if, while pouring in his Origin Qi, he could try to use Origin Qi to block the release of the Execution Qi, or perhaps he could directly absorb the killing Origin Qi with his Execution Qi?

He thought so, and that's what he did.

He manipulated the injected Origin Qi to locate several release points of the Execution Qi Execution Qi, following the direction of its release. He then attempted to shrink the area of these release points with the Origin Qi. Initially, it was somewhat effective; the release points of the Execution Qi were enclosed and restricted by the Origin Qi, preventing them from expanding further, and the amount of Execution Qi released also did not continue to increase.

But this situation only lasted for a short while. As if it could grow, the formation expanded Lin Xiao's Origin Qi circle in a short period of time, and the amount of Execution Qi released began to increase continuously again.

Lin Xiao channeled even more Origin Qi into the release points, intending to seal them off again. However, this time the amount of Execution Qi was much greater, and with his control, he could no longer seal off all the release points.

Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.

"Master, my private vault can store anything that isn't a living creature, right?" Lin Xiao asked.

System: [Return to host, any non-living objects collected through the host's Spiritual Power can be stored in the private treasury.]

Lin Xiao nodded in satisfaction. "Very good."

Having received the system's response, he stopped trying to limit the expansion of the release points of the Execution Qi. Instead, he rolled up his sleeves and began to manipulate his Origin Qi through the array points of the Execution Cultivator formation to enter the city and capture the Execution Qi at various release points.

That's right, he's going to arrest Execution Qi!

Pack all this Execution Qi up and throw it into his private vault!

The advantage of doing this is that he no longer needs to use his Origin Qi to consume Execution Qi in a one-for-one exchange as before. Instead, he can use a small amount of Origin Qi to capture a large amount of Execution Qi Execution Qi, and throw all of it into his private treasury the moment he captures it. In this way, although he still has the same amount of Origin Qi, the utilization rate is greatly improved.

Theoretically, he could have easily absorbed all the Execution Qi within the city at once, but in reality, due to the high concentration of Execution Qi within the city, and the fact that his Origin Qi was weakened by the array points as it entered through the Execution Cultivator, it was impossible for him to achieve that level of absorption.

If he becomes too greedy and tries to contain too much Execution Qi, the Execution Qi will break through his Origin Qi containment before his Origin Qi completely forms a protective barrier, thus scattering his Origin Qi.

Therefore, although Lin Xiao was anxious, he did not dare to act rashly. He steadily controlled the amount of the package and obediently stuffed the Execution Qi into his private treasury.

However, in pursuit of speed, he circulated his internal energy cultivation technique at an astonishing pace.

In an instant, the release and disappearance of the Execution Qi reached a balance, and the rate at which the Execution Qi concentration in the city increased stopped rapidly.

Lin Xiao was able to do this because the system's private treasury wouldn't be corroded by the Execution Qi. If it were a normal Spirit Artifact or treasure used to store the Execution Qi, it would probably have been corroded and leaked long ago.

After mastering the art of capturing Execution Qi, Lin Xiao's speed increased significantly. The Execution Qi within the city stopped its rampant growth, but because its total amount was still enormous, it continued to affect the cultivators inside.

Knowing that the Execution Qi could interfere with or even invade consciousness, Lin Xiao would occasionally use the power of the Execution Cultivator Formation to try to awaken the cultivators in the city.

However, his Origin Qi is limited after all. Most of it is used to suppress the Execution Qi, and very little of it can be used to awaken people's Origin Qi. It's like sprinkling a layer of mist out; how much effect it has depends entirely on how severely they are affected.

In this way, Lin Xiao continuously converted Spiritual Qi into Origin Qi, then poured the Origin Qi into the array points one by one, and instantly wrapped each portion of primordial Origin Qi around a large amount of Execution Qi and immediately stored it in his private treasury. At the same time, he rapidly circulated the mental cultivation technique within his body, and continued to repeat this process continuously.

When something becomes a mechanical, repetitive task, it's easy to become numb. To avoid falling into this state of boredom and numbness, Lin Xiao began to think outside the box.

All of this seemed too coincidental: the Execution Cultivator appeared in Cloud Gathering City, the Execution Cultivator Formation was activated, and the Cloud Burst arrived ahead of schedule.

Then, the Cloud Gathering City's protective array seemed to be an accomplice of the Execution Cultivator, as it conveniently activated its closed defensive mode, trapping everyone inside so that the Execution Cultivator's array could absorb the Execution Qi released by the Ji Xiu.

It just so happens that the city lord of Cloud Gathering City was in seclusion fifty years ago and was not in the city.

Could it be that the city lord is an accomplice of Execution Cultivator?

If that's the case, then there's no need to specifically choose a time when he's in seclusion. However, it's also possible that this was done intentionally to clear his name, but Lin Xiao thinks it's unlikely. After all, as long as the incident happened in Cloud Gathering City, he, as the city lord, would inevitably be a suspect.

In this matter, the question that Lin Xiao was most concerned about was why the Cloud Burst happened so precisely at this time.

Could it be that Execution Cultivator already possesses the ability to control natural disasters affecting the entire Chongxiao Domain?

If that's the case, then Execution Cultivator's abilities are terrifyingly strong.