Heavenly Lantern, Heavenly Lake, the Killing Sword of Tianshan

The snow clouds in the sky split into hundreds of cloud clusters, each of which was rapidly turning black.

The members of the Demonic Sect sect above the dark clouds were no ordinary disciples; each of them possessed more than one magical artifact.

They stood on black cloud-like hems, holding either black jade hairpins or crystal balls in their hands, casting spells through hand gestures.

"Sitting high on Spirit Mountain, all four elements are illusions; Spirit Mountain turns upside down, and illusions become reality!"

The disciples of the Spirit Mountain Hall chanted the incantation together, men and women alike, their voices resounding through the sky.

All the jade hairpins and flying swords flew through the air, creating phantom images that seemed to be doubling in number.

Like a swarm of black bees tearing through the wind and snow!!

With a high-pitched, whistling sound, it rushed towards the flower-covered shore of Heavenly Lake.

The disciples of the Ten Thousand Poisons Grotto who held crystal balls were also casting spells. They were generally dressed in white, and the center of their transparent crystal balls was sealed with green or yellow mold.

As they cast their spell, the mold pierced directly through the crystal ball, fell to the ground, and multiplied rapidly.

In an instant, the mold transformed into a fungal carpet covering an area of about ten feet in diameter. The carpet then arched upwards, mimicking the shapes of tigers, leopards, jackals, bears, wild boars, and tusked elephants.

These poisonous fungi, after transforming into beast-like forms, possess the strength of ferocious beasts, but lack their vital weaknesses.

Even if it is beheaded and dismembered, it will not die immediately. The mold can merge with other molds and transform back into a poisonous beast.

Where mold goes, it takes away all the nutrients and vitality from the original plants and soil, leaving behind an imbalanced soil pH, barren land, and soil composition that can even be harmful to many organisms.

The venomous beast roared and pounced, charging forward at breakneck speed.

Like a vast yellow-green tide, it turned the land gray and withered wherever it passed.

Flying swords roam the sky in droves, and poisonous beasts surge like a tide on the ground!

Even for a master like Yue Chunfeng, if he wanted to leave, he could come and go as he pleased, but if he wanted to confront such a formation head-on, it would be extremely difficult.

Moreover, the Hall Master of Spirit Mountain Hall sat high above the black clouds, cross-legged and motionless, his hands empty; no one knew where his sword would appear from.

Just being stared at by him made Yue Chunfeng feel uneasy and slightly chilled.

But at that moment, streaks of purple light also flew up between the sixteen peaks of Heavenly Lake.

"Demonic Sect cultists, don't be so arrogant! Controlling a sword purely by willpower is nowhere near as easy as drawing a bow and releasing an arrow!"

Elders and disciples of the Heavenly Wolf Sect emerged from various parts of the mountains, releasing their magical artifacts.

They were mostly armed with bows and arrows. The arrows they shot had an extremely high initial velocity. After colliding with the flying swords in mid-air, they could still turn freely and then rub against another flying sword, creating sparks.

Other disciples opened the cloth bags on their shoulders and released various colored medicinal mists from them, which rolled and surged towards the poisonous beasts.

The group from the Heavenly Wolf Sect was only pretending to be treasure hunting, so their numbers weren't very large.

However, these people were all carefully selected elites, and they showed no fear in the face of a much larger number of members of the Demonic Sect sect.

The attacks of the flying swords and the poisonous beasts were slightly slowed down by this blockade.

Chu Tianshu stood behind Yue Chunfeng, but his gaze was fixed on his feet.

There was also the aura of a group of the Demonic Sect cultists underground, their arrival even faster and smoother than that of the poisonous beasts.

The geological structure of the Heavenly Lake Mountains is subtle.

The surface layer is soil and rock, but there are also many underground water veins in the cracks, and below that is magma.

The members of the Heavenly Lantern Pavilion, each enveloped in a shimmering white aura that obscured their figures, swam swiftly through the waterways toward the Heavenly Lake.

In the short time that Chu Tianshu lowered his head, they were already close to entering the Heavenly Lake.

When viewed from outside Heavenly Lake, Heavenly Lake waters appear as a vast expanse of azure blue.

If you're underwater, the water around you is clear and transparent, and you can see the aquatic plants and strange rocks.

Yue Gude stood among the water plants, holding a wooden staff, the medicinal stone on the top of the staff glowing faintly, with several elders beside him.

Fang Wuchen stood quietly to the side, his hand already gripping the hilt of his sword inside his sleeve.

Yue Gude's voice was steady as he suddenly said, "They've arrived!"

Boom!!!

In the distance, the lakebed roared, churning up turbid waves and turbulent rapids amidst the rocks.

Dozens of white figures danced in the turbid waves.

The water and the shimmering white light collided, revealing their true forms.

What they were were dozens of bloated human heads with ferocious smiles.

Each head was as large as a bucket, with disheveled hair, a flat nose, and a large mouth, followed by a long snake body.

Those sallow-looking faces all had a fleshy growth on their foreheads, the growths shining like jewels or lanterns.

"Hee ha ha ha ha!"

Their laughter could travel wildly even underwater.

Fang Wuchen had seen many demons and monsters, and his courage had been honed through his experiences in the martial world, so he rarely felt fear.

However, the strange and arrogant aura of these Heavenly Lantern Pavilion disciples still gave her goosebumps.

The Heavenly Lantern Pavilion is an anomaly among the various branches of the Demonic Sect.

Within the Demonic Sect, some cultivate themselves in human form, practicing various demonic arts, while others are demons who join the sect, transforming into human form to cultivate all sorts of strange techniques.

The Heavenly Lantern Pavilion is the only branch that cannot be considered either human or demon.

The disciples of this sect were originally all human, but upon entering the sect, they had to begin learning the skills of skinning and dismembering.

After achieving mastery of his cultivation, the first thing he did was peel off his skin, flesh, and bones, leaving only his head attached to a bluish-black membrane containing his internal organs.

They would also use their magical powers to dissolve the flesh and bones of their tamed pythons, infusing their essence into a python skin, and then wrap their internal organs in the python skin to reshape them.

The founder of the Heavenly Lantern Pavilion believed that cold-blooded animals like snakes have their blood and qi changing with the qi of heaven and earth, which is more in line with the way of heaven.

Humans, being constant-temperature creatures, are the ones who defy nature and go against the natural order.

The serpentine form is the epitome of yin, and the demonic arts created based on this concept are complex, profound, sinister, and slippery.

Once mastered, they are especially adept at escape techniques, appearing and disappearing unpredictably in all kinds of environments, biting and eating people with unparalleled ease.

However, there are too many ordinary snakes in the world, and relying solely on snake forms is not conducive to seeking the Tao.

Therefore, it has the appearance of a human head and a snake body, and a precious pearl magical artifact is gathered on its forehead. It can control objects in the air and capture people's souls. When it is traveling, it can also use the pearl to light the way.

Those who follow the righteous path call this technique "Heavenly Lantern Snake Demon Transformation." Although it is called a demonic technique, it retains the words "Heavenly Lantern," which shows their fear and admiration for this mysterious demonic technique.

"This monster loves ugliness and wants to scare people; it's intolerable!!"

Seeing the strange figure and its mocking laughter, the elders of the Heavenly Wolf Sect could no longer restrain themselves and took action.

They drew their bows and shot arrows underwater, the arrows bearing unique patterns sculpted by primordial energy. Their shooting technique was incredibly mysterious, completely different from when they were on land.

Many archery techniques that can achieve high speeds on land are actually less effective underwater.

The Heavenly Wolf Sect possesses a unique underwater archery technique, which is being used at the bottom of the Heavenly Lake.

The purple arrow flew out, as swift as a fleeting shadow.

However, the Heavenly Lantern Pavilion lived up to its reputation for its extraordinary escape techniques; its agility underwater exceeded all expectations.

It had a human head and a snake's body, and it twisted and turned.

Some arrows, even after passing through the circular opening formed by the snake's body, didn't even graz the snake's skin.

Amidst the turbid current, a gigantic head rises again.

The head, which was originally only the size of a bucket, changed size as it rose, growing larger and larger until it resembled a thatched hut.

This head and face looked like an old woman, with white hair styled in a bun and colorful stone earrings hanging from her ears.

However, his complexion was also sallow, and his eyes bulged outwards, with the height of his eyeballs comparable to the pearls on his forehead.

"Ha ha ha, Boss Yue, you won't be as fast as me in the water veins."

"If you wish to emerge from the water, you must meet the Spirit Mountain Sword at the moment of emergence, at the subtle difference between the water's surface and the surrounding environment's primordial energy."

When the Master of Heavenly Lantern Pavilion opened his mouth, air gushed out, forming huge bubbles at the bottom of the water.

"If you can't protect the divine stone today, you might as well throw Shitou out of the water to distract Spirit Mountain. That way, you might be able to escape unscathed!"

She seemed to be giving Yue Gude advice, but her strange voice only made him more agitated.

The enlarged, sallow human face, combined with the other disciples of the Heavenly Lantern Pavilion, and their snake-bodied dance, clearly possessed a strange magical power.

It has a more pronounced psychological impact on people and is difficult to ignore.

But as soon as he finished speaking, the Master of Heavenly Lantern Pavilion's two bulging eyes suddenly shrank back into their sockets, and his expression changed slightly.

"Poisonous!"

At that very moment, Yue Gude, who had been holding back for so long, opened his eyes wide in anger, his hair and beard stood on end, and his wooden staff trembled in his hand.

The Purple-Gold Medicinal Stone at the tip of the staff burst forth with a large expanse of purple light, enveloping everyone in the Heavenly Lantern Pavilion within its range.

The sect leader! The sect's most precious treasure! They've been preparing for half a day!!

The disciples of the Heavenly Lantern Pavilion were horrified to find that they had all stiffened, and their prized snake-skin escape techniques were no longer as slippery as usual.

If you look at it from a microscopic perspective, you'll find that their snakeskin is currently covered with pits and holes.

The purple medicinal properties are seeping inwards from the bottom of every pore.

Yue Gude and his group had already made arrangements at the bottom of Heavenly Lake.

The furnace explosion did indeed destroy a large batch of "Nutrient and Defensive Hundred Refinements Poison".

However, the Heavenly Wolf Sect has been gathering Rogue Cultivator for a long time and supplying them with ferocious beast meat for quite some time now.

They had already successfully refined several batches of "Ying-Wei Poison," which Yue Gude stored inside Purple-Gold Medicinal Stone and brought into the Heavenly Lake, spreading it throughout the bottom of the water.

For humans, this poison only causes a racing heart, a voracious appetite, and a feeling of intense heat.

However, it is extremely corrosive to demons and those who practice demonic arts.

The medicinal properties seeped in silently, then exploded in one fell swoop.

Even the Master of Heavenly Lantern Pavilion was greatly affected by such a method, as his escape technique was severely compromised.

However, her cultivation was profound, no less than that of Yue Gude himself. Even though she couldn't escape immediately, her body shrank hundreds of times in an instant.

From a head that was originally as big as a thatched hut, it instantly shrank to a size smaller than that of an ordinary disciple.

The rate at which the water filled the gap was far slower than the rate at which she shrank.

A vacuum resembling a giant python's head briefly appeared underwater.

At the very center of this vacuum environment lies the true form of the Master of Heavenly Lantern Pavilion.

Chu Tianshu made his move at that very moment.

With lightning speed, he drew his sword and cleaved the ground in two.

The tip of the sword grazed almost past his feet, slicing across the ground beside him and behind him.

Behind him lies Heavenly Lake.

In the fleeting moment, in the blink of an eye, before the world can even turn its head, all is lost.

An extremely sharp jade Sword Radiance, thin and long, extended at incredible speed, splitting the earth and cleaving through the lake water!

Everyone at the bottom of Heavenly Lake felt as if a green lightning bolt had suddenly and blatantly flashed across the lakebed.

It came as fast as lightning, and it disappeared as fast as lightning.

"Void within water, yin within yin, the Heavenly Lantern Serpent King, wielding yin to conceal its form!"

The Master of Heavenly Lantern Pavilion's mind was still racing, intending to use this brief vacuum environment underwater to unleash his top-tier escape technique.

But suddenly, her forehead cracked.

All traces of her magical power had been severed, the breaks being bizarrely clean.

"No, no, no! I'm already dead?!"

The Master of Heavenly Lantern Pavilion was shocked. Before his expression could change, he was cleaved in two from tail to head.

His soul was also torn in two.

That green lightning bolt, shining underground and underwater, was virtually invisible to anyone on the surface.

However, the expressions of the Hall Master of Spirit Mountain Hall, the Poison God, and others all changed.

They clearly sensed that the aura of the Master of Heavenly Lantern Pavilion split in two, so hastily, so abruptly, so decisively.

It was as if a crystal serpent carving in their own hearts had suddenly shattered.

Who is it?

What a fast sword!!