As Titanspirit’s voice followed, Xu Yangyi had already reached the border of Nanzhou! Now though, his storage ring suddenly exploded with towering golden light! Of its own will, his command plate flew into the air and made a piercing screech! With a boundless tail of light, the medal rushed straight to the horizon!

Swoosh! Swooooooooosh!

Meanwhile, four other command plates repeated the same action in four different directions! Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth! Yellow, green, blue, red, and brown! The light of the Five Phases shrouded the four command plates and loudly flew out from the hands of their original wielders! They shimmered in the air!

“This…” The Crimson Rakshasa waveringly looked at her hand. Moments ago, her command plate had flown away, totally disobeying her control.

“This… was already planned earlier?”

“The so-called heavenly paradise… was just to hide all of this?”

In front of Xu Yangyi, unlimited golden light slowly solidified, laid bare to his naked eye. His heart was an icy-cold. He had figured out what it was.

A wall… 

A wall formed out of qi! It isolated everything in a radius of ten thousand meters! Inside and out!

Without the slightest hesitation, his speed blurred to the peak, his form becoming a shadow! He ran like the wind!

Boom… 

However, a heavy thud rang out. His figure snapped back like a ball. In no more than a second, the golden wall had almost instantly formed! An endless symphony of Buddhist notes came from the wall and echoed through the sky! Numerous Buddhist symbols were circling above. With a mere look, they were enough to make the Qi Condensation Xu Yangyi feel that his spiritual sense was scattering apart!

“Fuck me!!!” he yelled angrily and violently bit down on the tip of his tongue. He changed directions and rushed somewhere else.

This… was an arena!

An arena of Dao Masters!

And placed in the middle of it—even if he was only brushed by the fallout—he would absolutely die! Even the command plates were one part of Dao Masters’ plan… and in acting against a Core Formation master… it was no wonder. No wonder that Ancientpine would kill all who discovered a clue! Kill everyone who might ruin the plan!

Xu Yangyi studied the command plates intently, yet his feet didn’t stop moving one bit. So that’s how it was… then he was on a chessboard since the beginning?

As he ran, a deep longing bubbled up in his heart. And that, was the desire to become strong.

Only Core Formation, the Dao Masters above the heavens, had the qualifications to know about all of this. Unless one was Core Formation—even half-step—there was still no choice but to bend the knee.

For this grand drama, too many people had died. Nonetheless, no one had notified them at all! His own senior brother had likewise passed away in the mist! Xu Yangyi deeply eyed the three figures above. He gritted his teeth and hurried elsewhere with all his strength.

Just wait… I’ll definitely become a chess player one day!

Boom!

BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

Just as Xu Yangyi lifted up foot, four noises all happened to loudly ring out and sever the thoughts of everyone present. 

Green, blue, red, and brown… Four spiritual lights soared into the sky and shone at the borders of Nanzhou City! Five prismatic walls of qi, the Five Phases manifest, became a pentagram and encircled Nanzhou like an iron pail!

Each side was ten thousand feet high, and tens of thousands of feet wide. Golden talismans roiled like the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, and mysterious Buddhist sounds echoed across heaven and earth. On each of the five walls of qi, a respective jade kalasha, sarira, vajra scepter, rosary beads, and a khakkara formed. Each of the five treasures radiated boundless light and illuminated space with various displays of color.

“Receive order.” In the sky, Ancientpine and Titanspirit drew out their hands at the same time. Titanspirit took a step forward and caged Hiddenscent between him and Ancientpine. His voice was like an imperial bell or a great pipe, echoing in each person’s ear.

“Daomaster Hiddenscent. Effectively immediately, eliminate her ancestral lands.”

“WHAT?!” The first sentence caused a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Zhao Clan to almost jump.

Zhao Zhiqiu pushed his hands down on him, his face ashen. “Shut up!”

The pale faces of the Crimson Rakshasa and the Five Honored Stars watched the three figures in the sky. The next sentence completely drained their faces of blood!

“Daomaster Hiddenscent is guilty of the terrible crime of a demon cultivator’s Form Transformation. By concealing it from China, her intent is errant. The Chinese government’s order: execution. The Cultivation Court’s order: execution. The nine great Dao Masters’ order: execution. All juniors, on this day, slay demons to defend the Dao!

All of Nanzhou was silent. A silence akin to death. Only the whistling of the night wind echoed, coldness entering the bottom of each person’s heart.

Hiddenscent seemed not to have heard, yet not one thread of blood spilled out from the two large holes over her dantian and stomach. Instead, her gaze swept through the battlefield like lightning as if she was searching for something.

“You were one of high morals and integrity, how could you be a traitor?” Ancientpine made a long sigh, and a longsword formed out of shadow materialized in the air. He slowly drew the sword out from a sheath of shadows. In an instant, a flash of pure white illuminated the world!

Transient and fleeting, a white steed flits past a crack. The moment passed in the blink of an eye.

[1]

“We’ve been Fellow Daoists for many years, what else is there to say?” Titanspirit said callously and looked coldly at Hiddenscent.

It was at this instant did Hiddenscent’s gaze finally halt.

“Found you…” A joyful smile rose up at the corner of her mouth. Her gaze was locked dead on Xu Yangyi. “You… have that bitch’s scent… yes, it’s you… it was you who took it out…”

Just as her voice fell… her neck surprisingly began to freely stretch out! 

Crash… 

Hiddenscent’s neck was delicate, without bones. In the blink of an eye, it extended dozens of meters!

“Gasp…” From behind, all the maids exhaled sharply, watching the scene before their eyes in disbelief!

“Heavens… the… the Madam didn’t even refute it… She’s actually… actually…” The Crimson Rakshasa herself was a demon cultivator, but she no longer understood the situation facing her. She said in a shaky voice, “In front of everyone… she actually began to demonize?”

“Darkfiend Sword…” Ancientpine inhaled deeply, and a light breeze blew past. Without warning, his figure suddenly vanished where he stood! 

No… it wasn’t a sudden disappearance, but rather speed. Extreme speed! Far beyond any airplane! Even an airplane would leave behind traces, but he hadn’t!

In the next second, he was already behind Hiddenscent. Aiming at her neck, a sword chopped down!

Crack crack crack… 

At the same time, Hiddenscent’s backbones stretched out to boundless length! In the air, she turned in several incredible curves! Fragile and boneless, she was just like a red-banded snake. Cutting a graceful arc, she madly rushed through the sky!

Crash!

 As her neck grew longer and longer, her clothes slowly fell away layer after layer. They flapped in the wind and fell to the ground, yet her body truly seemed just to be this neck! Here and now, it was surprisingly like silk spun from a cocoon!

BOOM!

 In the sky, a black domain even deeper than night exploded with a rumble! Ancientpine’s sword hacked into her body exploded with an ocean of black tides! The black sea forcibly dyed an azure patch of the sky with the color of ink.

However, this sword did nothing.

Hiddenscent’s clothes crumbled apart and drifted away in the breeze. Ancientpine pursed his lips. There was no longer anything in front of him. His gaze quickly snapped over to the sky.

“Hehehe… hahaha…” In the air, bell-like laughter was heard. Hiddenscent’s head was crowned at the top of a several-hundred-meter-long neck, giggling delicately in the air like a fish obtaining water. All of a sudden, this strange creature soared up and rushed straight into the thick and dense clouds above!

“

Kekeke

…”In the clouds, bone-chilling laughter caused the hair of each person down below to stand on edge. Ancientpine and Titanspirit’s faces were heavy like water, and their Core Formation spiritual senses loudly spread and instantly enveloped a thousand meters all around.

At this moment… following Hiddenscent’s demon form bolting into the sky, the originally serene clouds began to whirl.

Rustle rustle rustle… 

From the four reaches to the eight bounds, black clouds seemed to be drawn in by something, all of them gathering here. In the middle of the cloudbank, a cave of clouds no less than a hundred meters in size took shape little by little. Spirals of black clouds formed a terrible misty sea, one loop fastened to another and one ring connected to another. Stratum after stratum revolved around the cloud cave at the center.

The night wind softly kissed each person’s body. The world was silent, so quiet that even the cries of insects and birds were audible. Yet besides Titanspirit and Ancientpine… everyone else felt a chill crawl over their skin.

RUMBLE! 

All of a sudden, a roar of thunder echoed from the clouds. The night, still just tranquil moments ago, now boomed with thunder and the howl of wind, white light flashing.

“H-Has a fiend come into the world…?” Lord Zhao dispiritedly crouched down under a curtain of light and cradled his head in suffering. Presently, all sound ceased to be, yet he felt as if his heart was being pushed down by a boulder. He couldn’t even breath.

He was not alone, though, everyone felt this stifling terror. The Crimson Rakshasa, the Five Honored Stars, and Zhao Zhiqiu; the three clan rulers clenched their teeth as they stared into the sky. Their hearts beat like drums. At their sides, all of their clansman and senior clansmen stood with terrible solemness. Everyone’s complexions was ashen, and their hands were wet with cold sweat.

BOOM!!!

 Another thunderclap boomed! A layer of clouds were illuminated by the thunder’s brightness. The Crimson Rakshasa inhaled sharply and fell back a good few steps!

“

Hiss… Hiiisss…

” a hissing sound came from the sky. In the black clouds, a giant, slender silhouette was lit up by lightning. In an instant, it leaped into the mountain chain of clouds.

“Is that… that…” The old woman-spider’s lips quivered, and she continued to move away by several steps. She said shakily, “Is that… a dragon?”

On the shadow’s back, she had clearly seen a fin… She couldn’t believe this at all!

RUMBLE!!!

 Just as her voice fell, another shock of thunder rang out! This one was ever greater than the previous one, directly shining on the surrounding several thousand meters of sky!

The cloud maelstrom around the cloud cave reflected layer upon layer of azure-white lightning, dispersing outward in rings. In the wake of this lightning, akin to heaven’s punishment, everyone saw a massive silhouette that was hundreds of meters long. It passed through clouds, shone upon by the clap of thunder, and willfully roamed the sky, like a dragon entering the ocean.

“

Found you… found you…

” In the clouds, the partially visible figure of a tremendous serpent was wandering. From time to time, a strange and chanting voice, carrying occasional laughter, floated down from the cloudbank. 

“

I found you, ahahahaha!!!

” Not before long, an enormous shadow followed a howling shriek, as if it was a giant dragon rising out from the ocean! Hiddenscent forcibly cleaved through dark clouds on both sides of the sky. She resembled a coiling dragon, and descended with a rumble!

Hiddenscent… was a colossal human-headed serpent, with two horns growing from her head, and a fin on her back. She was an azure snake, as if she would seemingly evolve into a dragon in the next second. From the sky, her head stretched forward. The object of her target was right in front of her!

Swoosh!

 Her momentum was akin to racing thunder. As fast as lightning!

Her goal was the site of the Zhao Clan, the Kindling Mulberry Wall!

“No good!!!” Zhao Zhiqiu roared with a frantic shout, his voice hoarse! He made no consideration, immediately crushing the talisman in his hand into pieces. In an instant, the Kindling Mulberry Wall’s defensive formation stirred completely to life! A tide of white light exploded!

Crack… Crack crack!

 The eyes of Daomaster Hiddenscent’s ten-plus-meter-sized head were already slits. Scales emerged on her face, and her mouth quickly split open to her ears. Her face as well swiftly became flat and triangular. Her bloody maw was stretched wide open, aimed right at the Zhao Clan’s fortress tower!

1. “Transient and fleeting, a white steed flits past a crack.” This is something from a famous Chinese philosopher known as Zhuangzi (370-287 BCE). Used to denote a moment of time that passes extremely quickly.

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