Ming Gu had originally thought that on his home turf, he could easily deal with Lu Baiming. Now, it seemed that things were not so simple.
“Dragon-Tiger Domination.”
Ming Gu let out a low growl, fully manipulating the Four Symbols Sky-Locking Formation.
“Roar.”
The Azure Dragon and White Tiger soared out simultaneously, emitting earth-shaking roars and dragon chants.
As the saying goes, the wind follows the tiger, and the clouds follow the dragon.
With the movement of the dragon and tiger, the winds and clouds changed colour, forming an immense vortex that descended from the sky, intent on sweeping away all the sacred swords.
The vortex was formed from the condensation of wind and clouds, connected to the heavens. The Azure Dragon and White Tiger were hidden within it, their presence felt only through sound, not sight.
“Buzz.”
All fifty-four sacred swords trembled, emitting bursts of sword hums.
The vortex’s suction was simply too terrifying. If not for the tight connection between the fifty-four sacred swords, they might have been sucked in instantly.
The Azure Dragon and White Tiger extended their sharp claws from the vortex, striking at two of the sacred swords.
“Clang.”
The two sacred swords suffered heavy blows, clear cracks appearing on their blades, nearly breaking apart.
Before Lu Baiming could shift the positions of the two sacred swords, the Azure Dragon and White Tiger reappeared, launching a fearsome attack.
Both the Azure Dragon and White Tiger possessed terrifying power, comparable to experts at the Near-Path Realm. On the Heavenly Court’s side, few could likely withstand their attacks head-on.
“Crack.”
The two sacred swords could not endure the second strike and shattered immediately.
Seeing this, a smile spread across Ming Gu’s face. He truly didn’t believe he couldn’t handle Lu Baiming.
As long as a flaw appeared in the sword formation, breaking it wouldn’t be too difficult. He aimed to seize all one hundred and eight formation flags.
With Ming Gu’s keen eye, he could naturally tell that the material of the one hundred and eight formation flags was extraordinary, each one priceless.
If he could seize them and refine them anew, they could serve him, significantly boosting his strength.
Atop the head of the Primordial Demon蛟, Lu Baiming remained calm, as if merely an observer.
The two shattered sacred swords completely disintegrated, transforming into two balls of sacred light that merged into the adjacent sacred swords.
At the same time, the other sacred swords began merging with one another.
In the blink of an eye, the number of sacred swords in the formation halved again, leaving only twenty-seven.
The twenty-seven sacred swords shrank dramatically, each now only a hundred zhang long.
Correspondingly, the swords became increasingly solid, countless rules of heaven and earth embedded within their blades.
Seeing this, Ming Gu’s expression shifted slightly, “They can still merge? Could it be that these swords will ultimately combine into one?”
He could sense that with each merger, though the number of sacred swords decreased significantly, the formation’s power grew stronger, now capable of shaking the Four Symbols Sky-Locking Formation.
Most terrifyingly, the sword formation seemed to be peeling away the Four Symbols Sky-Locking Formation, severing all sources of power, causing it to collapse on its own.
“This cannot continue.”
Ming Gu’s gaze sharpened, and he reached out to gently press the altar beneath him.
The altar released a vast amount of deathly evil qi, mixed with numerous undead spirits.
These spirits had no fixed form, merely black shadows emitting eerie, terrifying auras.
The next moment, the spirits converged, forming a ferocious Grim Reaper hundreds of zhang tall.
This Grim Reaper was formed through the power of the formation, distinct from the Shadow of Death condensed from deathly thoughts.
To create this altar and refine the formation, Ming Gu had slaughtered countless Heavenly Court cultivators on the Merit Battlefield, extracting their sacred souls and refining them into special undead spirits, which were then stored in the altar.
Originally, the altar contained hundreds of thousands of undead spirits. After mutual devouring, exactly nine hundred and ninety-nine remained, each one extremely powerful, comparable to Nine-Step Saint Kings.
Under the formation’s influence, the nine hundred and ninety-nine spirits coalesced into a single Grim Reaper, its power multiplied, surpassing even the Four Symbols divine beasts conjured by the Four Symbols Sky-Locking Formation.
Under Ming Gu’s control, the Grim Reaper flew out from the Four Symbols Sky-Locking Formation.
“Swish.”
The Grim Reaper’s scythe swung, forcibly tearing through the sword formation constructed by the twenty-seven sacred swords.
This was largely because the Four Symbols Sky-Locking Formation was restraining the sword formation, leaving it without enough power to confront the Grim Reaper.
The Grim Reaper soared into the sky, swinging its scythe and rapidly attacking Lu Baiming.
Lu Baiming’s expression remained calm. He calmly extended a hand and pointed forward.
One after another, formation seals appeared, twenty-four in total, layered upon each other.
Each seal represented a high-tier formation, and the twenty-four seals together formed twenty-four interconnected formations.
“Boom, boom.”
The Grim Reaper’s scythe shattered the seals one by one, unstoppable.
However, it ultimately failed to destroy all the seals. When its strength was exhausted, seven seals remained, landing on the Grim Reaper’s body.
The Grim Reaper staggered back, the deathly evil qi around it trembling, nearly breaking its form.
Lu Baiming pointed forward again, and a massive formation seal appeared. From it charged a Primordial Barbaric Bull, crashing straight into the Grim Reaper.
The Primordial Barbaric Bull unleashed terrifying brute force, as if capable of smashing an ancient divine mountain.
“Boom.”
Half of the Grim Reaper’s body shattered, reverting to hundreds of undead spirits.
As these spirits attempted to recombine, Lu Baiming waved his hand, unleashing an ancient formation diagram.
A surge of mental energy poured from Lu Baiming’s brow into the diagram.
Instantly, the diagram awakened, intricate formation patterns emerging, condensing into bolts of lightning that struck the Grim Reaper.
The lightning bolts from the diagram varied in colour, encompassing all five elements, forming Five Elements Sacred Lightning.
The five elements, which generate and counter each other, produced Five Elements Sacred Lightning with a mysterious connection, their power astonishing.
“Crackle.”
Dozens of bolts struck the Grim Reaper, causing its body to explode completely.
Moreover, the undead spirits composing the Grim Reaper were countered by the Five Elements Sacred Lightning, and in an instant, dozens of spirits were annihilated.
“Return.”
Ming Gu, frantic, desperately activated the altar, trying to recall the remaining spirits.
Cultivating these spirits had cost him immense effort, and losing even one caused him heartache.
Lu Baiming naturally wouldn’t let Ming Gu recall the spirits easily. He fully activated the formation diagram, unleashing more Five Elements Sacred Lightning, obliterating spirit after spirit.
In the end, Ming Gu only managed to recall half the spirits, many of which were injured by the Five Elements Sacred Lightning.
“Lu Baiming.”
Ming Gu’s eyes blazed with ferocity, seething with hatred for Lu Baiming.
Had he known Lu Baiming possessed such a terrifying formation diagram, perfectly suited to counter the undead spirits, he would never have used the Grim Reaper formation.
He could only blame Lu Baiming for concealing his abilities too well—no one had ever seen him use this Five Elements formation diagram before.
“Senior Brother Lu’s mastery of formations is truly fearsome,” Zhang Ruochen remarked, a hint of astonishment in his eyes.
He had once faced Master Shenya and witnessed his formation techniques, which he had already found impressive. But compared to Lu Baiming, Master Shenya was clearly far inferior.
Now, he somewhat believed Ji Fanchen’s words—perhaps Lu Baiming truly had a chance to become a Heavenly Formation Master before achieving Great Saint status in mental power.
At this moment, the formation covering Xianji Mountain had transformed again, from twenty-seven swords to fourteen, then from fourteen to seven, its power multiplying.
By now, the seven sacred swords ceased merging, seemingly having reached their limit.
Anyone could see that the seven sacred swords were brimming with power. Further merging risked losing control and self-destruction.
Lu Baiming did not force further merging. Using his mental power, he manipulated the seven sacred swords, arranging them into a peculiar formation, and struck with a world-shaking blow.
The seven sword beams merged into one, stretching thousands of zhang. From a distance, it resembled a beautiful rainbow hanging in the sky.
“Boom.”
The Four Symbols Sky-Locking Formation was shattered in an instant, the Four Symbols divine beasts disintegrated, and the countless formation patterns etched into the mountain were erased in a single moment.
The entirety of Xianji Mountain quaked violently, with numerous peaks collapsing and a long trench, a hundred zhang deep, appearing in the ground.
“Damn it.”
Ming Gu’s heart burned with rage, his eyes practically spitting fire.
Everything happened too quickly, leaving him no time to intervene and stop Lu Baiming from breaking the Four Symbols Sky-Locking Formation.
Now, with the formation’s foundation damaged, repairing it in the short term was simply impossible.
“The Four Symbols Sky-Locking Formation is broken. Now it’s your turn to act.”
Lu Baiming turned to the dozens of Heavenly Court cultivators on the battlefield.
“Kill.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, the dozens of warships immediately charged into Xianji Mountain.
Which camps to attack had already been decided.
Upon entering Xianji Mountain, the dozens of warships split up, grouping into eight teams of four, each targeting a different camp.
This was the second line of defence set up by the Death Clan in Xianji Mountain. Only by breaking it could they approach the Death Altar.
Due to the eight camps, the earlier sword beam had only caused significant damage to Xianji Mountain’s outskirts, leaving the central area untouched.
“Those who dare set foot in Xianji Mountain will all die,” Ming Gu roared.
Releasing powerful mental energy, he activated the numerous formation patterns pre-etched into the ground, intending to destroy all the warships.
Lu Baiming unleashed the Five Elements formation diagram, activating its intricate patterns, which forcibly suppressed Ming Gu’s formation patterns, rendering them ineffective.
“Ming Gu, your opponent is me,” Lu Baiming said calmly.
Ming Gu’s eyes gleamed with cold light, “Lu Baiming, don’t think I’m afraid of you. Breaking the Four Symbols Sky-Locking Formation doesn’t mean you’ve defeated me. Next, I’ll fight you properly and see who the strongest Earth Formation Master is.”
Previously, he had relied on Xianji Sect’s Four Symbols Sky-Locking Formation to save effort.
Since the formation was unreliable, he would rely on his true skills, refusing to believe he couldn’t outmatch Lu Baiming.
Since his debut, he had never been defeated in the art of formations.
Not in the past, and not now.
Lu Baiming gave a faint smile, “Then show me everything you’ve got. Don’t disappoint me.”
“You won’t be disappointed,” Ming Gu replied, exuding intense killing intent.
Now, he no longer cared about anything else—whether Xianji Mountain could hold, he didn’t concern himself with. All he wanted was one thing: to defeat Lu Baiming with formations and prove to everyone that he was the strongest Earth Formation Master below Great Saint level.
This battle allowed only victory, not defeat. Otherwise, Lu Baiming would become his inner demon, forever inescapable.
