Eight black and white flags, a pair of black and white platforms.
Divine light mixes true spirit, soul illuminates the copper lamp.
The cave space was not large. Altogether four black and four white flags framed a space of about one zhang, enveloping the four directions and eight extremes.
In the middle of the flags stood two circular stone platforms facing each other, coloured black and white. On the white stone platform sat a stunning woman in a white silk skirt with cloud patterns, cross-legged.
Her black hair was coiled into a hibiscus cloud-return chignon. A jade hairpin in her hair made her skin look like snow. Though her eyes were tightly closed, her willow eyebrows were spirited, her nose delicate, her red lips dainty, like a heavenly being.
On the other stone platform sat Du Yueyao.
Compared to the expressionless face of the other woman, Du Yueyao had her fine eyebrows furrowed, teeth lightly clenched, face twisted in pain, as if trapped in a nightmare, enduring some torment in her dream.
Between the two stone platforms stood a copper lamp five feet tall, topped with a twenty-seven-petalled lotus. On the copper lamp burned a flame coloured black and white.
A fragrance with a ghostly scent filled the cave space. It seemed to come from the special lamp oil in the copper lamp.
Lu Zheng’s eyes flashed. He raised his hand and waved, sending a Taiyi Five Thunder strike towards the woman in the white skirt.
But the surfaces of the eight black and white flags shimmered with light. They united to form a protective shield in that area. So the Taiyi Five Thunder vanished into thin air midway.
Lu Zheng’s eyes narrowed. What a powerful guardian formation. This was stronger than the barrier at the entrance just now. This Xueyi Saintess was so cautious. She had even set up double insurance.
At that moment, Zhao Wuji also rushed into the mountain belly space from behind. Another person followed him in. Streams of spell seals shot out, tangling with him endlessly. It was Fan Boyu.
As soon as he entered and saw the scene, Fan Boyu shouted immediately. “Right now their true spirits are entangled together. Harming one harms both. The divine descent ritual has just reached the second step. You can use thunder spells to attack west, south, southwest, east, northeast, southeast, north, northwest in sequence. That will break the Eight Directions Guardian Altar. Then use soul methods to attack the copper lamp. That will sever the divine descent ritual!”
Zhao Wuji shouted harshly. “Fan Boyu! You dare reveal the sacred sect’s secrets to an outsider. Do you want to betray the sect?”
Fan Boyu spat back in anger. “Using the divine descent technique on the backup saintess, that is your disloyalty first!”
Lu Zheng’s eyes lit up. He acted at once.
“Qingwei Jade Vault, pivot mechanism divine transport, strike!”
The pivot mechanism divine transport thunder was mysterious and unpredictable, twisting through the void, certain to hit its mark.
“Crack!”
Though the eight black and white flags tried to resist, Fan Boyu had already told Lu Zheng the strategy to pass. If Lu Zheng still could not break this so-called Eight Directions Guardian Array in one go, then all that luck light he had consumed would be wasted.
Just as the black and white flags began to move, Lu Zheng unleashed seven more pivot mechanism divine transport thunders in a row, striking the other seven array flags one after another.
Once the pattern of mana flow was found, the eight flags paused in the void. In an instant, they could no longer form a unified array.
Lu Zheng’s eyes brightened. He waved his hand again.
“Qingwei Jade Vault, Taiyi Five Thunder, strike!”
“Crack! Crack!”
The Eight Directions Guardian Array was broken. The eight flags trembled in the thunder, unable to hold steady any longer.
“Golden Vault Heart Sword, sever!”
Lu Zheng’s eyes opened wide. A flash of golden light gleamed in his true spirit. An intangible, formless divine sword of brilliant gold, reflected in everyone’s sea of consciousness, descended from the sky in an instant.
“Buzz!”
The eight black and white flags shook violently. The flame on the copper lamp flickered like a candle in the wind, swaying and dimming.
“Stop!”
Zhao Wuji shouted sharply. He finally caught a breath from Fan Boyu’s entanglement. Then he flipped his right hand. A half-foot-long black wooden peg appeared in his grasp. It instantly turned into a black shadow, stabbing straight at Lu Zheng.
“Come well!”
Lu Zheng patted his gourd. Six red jade swords flew out in sequence, three in front and three behind, forming an array to meet the wooden peg.
“Ding ding ding”
The red jade swords were of lower quality than the wooden peg, but they formed a sword net, chopping at the wooden peg densely without gaps. In the end, they blocked it.
Meanwhile, Lu Zheng’s Golden Vault Heart Sword had already reached above the oil lamp.
The flame flickered, like a lone candle in the wind, on the verge of extinguishing.
“Break!”
A clear, crisp rebuke rang in Lu Zheng’s mind. In the next moment, the Golden Vault Heart Sword cracked inch by inch from the tip. In a breath, it shattered into thousands of pieces and vanished without a trace.
Lu Zheng grunted dully and retreated two steps. The white-skirted woman suddenly opened her eyes.
“Puff!”
Then the white-skirted woman spat out a small mouthful of blood. Clearly, forcing herself awake from the divine descent ritual and hastily breaking Lu Zheng’s sword had injured her too.
“Saintess!” Zhao Wuji’s face was full of worry.
“Xueyi Saintess!” Fan Boyu could not help but shrink his pupils, his heart uneasy.
“Zhao Wuji! How do you handle things?” Xueyi Saintess’s first glance went to Zhao Wuji.
Zhao Wuji hurried to say. “Saintess, calm your anger. It was former sect member Fan Boyu who entangled me endlessly and even reminded this little thief how to break the array.”
Lu Zheng’s eyes narrowed. Though this Xueyi Saintess had opened her eyes, he saw clearly. The copper lamp was still lit. A strand of her true spirit still invaded Du Yueyao’s soul through the copper lamp, performing the possession spell.
Though the progress had slowed almost to a halt, as long as Xueyi Saintess slept and continued, she could resume at any time.
As expected, the divine descent ritual was not yet broken.
“Who are you? Why do you know Qingwei Palace’s thunder spells and Jinhua Sect’s secret arts?” Xueyi Saintess said coldly.
“This young master is a disciple of Baiyun Temple!”
Lu Zheng reached out and grasped. A White Cloud Great Hand Seal formed in the air and pressed down directly.
“What nerve!”
Xueyi Saintess’s eyes narrowed. Her fair hand lifted lightly. A spell seal imprinted into the White Cloud Great Hand Seal.
With a “puff”, both vanished together.
Lu Zheng’s eyes brightened, but Xueyi Saintess’s face turned ugly.
If not for her recent injury and forcing the divine descent ritual to continue unbroken, how could she end up in a draw with Lu Zheng’s move?
“Supreme edict, flowing clouds demon-slaying, break!”
“Qingwei Jade Vault, Taiyi Five Thunder, strike!”
“Golden Vault Heart Sword, sever!”
Cloud arts, thunder arts, spirit secret arts. Lu Zheng waved his hand and unleashed them all.
At the same time, he summoned clouds and gathered qi, calling wisps of white clouds that filled the cave.
Xueyi Saintess’s eyes narrowed. She reached behind and took out a jade pearl. Three-coloured lights flashed and protected her within, invulnerable to all arts.
At the same time, she locked onto Lu Zheng’s faintly visible figure in the clouds with her soul. Her hand formed a mudra. A soul-erasing curse silently imprinted over.
“Puff!”
The seal entered the body and erupted suddenly, instantly shredding the opponent’s soul.
“Hm?”
Xueyi Saintess’s face changed abruptly. That was not Lu Zheng’s true body.
In the next moment, Lu Zheng’s figure burrowed out from the ground beside Du Yueyao’s stone platform. He grabbed Du Yueyao with one hand. At the same time, his eyes glared. Two Golden Vault Heart Swords shot from his eyes, stabbing straight at the flame on the copper lamp.
“Earth travel art? What nerve!”
Xueyi Saintess’s face twisted. She also glared with her eyes, shattering the two Golden Vault Heart Swords. But she could not stop Lu Zheng from pulling Du Yueyao away.
“Come back to me!”
Xueyi Saintess raised her hand. A vortex like a black hole formed in the air, drawing Lu Zheng and Du Yueyao together.
Then, Lu Zheng smirked at the corner of his mouth. He went with the flow and was pulled in along with Du Yueyao.
“Eh?”
Xueyi Saintess was startled. Lu Zheng’s reaction was completely beyond her expectation.
A scheme!
No good! He was close to the oil lamp!
“Sizzle”
A close-range Golden Vault Heart Sword made the flame on the oil lamp vanish in an instant.
“Puff!”
This time, the divine descent ritual was thoroughly broken. Xueyi Saintess spat out another mouthful of blood. She also withdrew the strand of true spirit from Du Yueyao’s soul.
