Chapter 413: The Twelve Earthly Branches
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
After dozens of rounds, Minghe stopped pulling his punches. As a powerful momentum suddenly soared into the sky, the wind and clouds instantly changed their colors in the Starry Sky, and the universe was awash with endless Vital Force of Destruction. Minghe totally changed his temperament. At a quick glance, he could only see destruction and killing, as if he were born for this.
This was the Rakshasa. Even if he did not show the Real Body of the Rakshasa, the rampant vital force was enough to display his status. At the moment, he chopped again with a stronger power than before. Hongjun brandished his sword to resist Minghe, but he was repelled. Hongjun was a little surprised at the powerful strength, especially the violent vital force, which was comparable to that of experts at the Late Stage of the Fate Realm.
Hongjun concluded that Minghe had broken through again, thus he became more scared of Minghe, who had broken through so quickly. Normally, it was hard to practice the body, let alone that the body Minghe practiced was the Real Body of the Rakshasa. Logically, the practice of the Real Body of the Rakshasa should be slower. However, Minghe's body strengthened rapidly, which was beyond comprehension.
But now was not the time to consider this. In terms of strength, Hongjun was incomparable with Minghe now. Although his sword was a Half Supreme Treasure of Chaos, its full power could not be unleashed. Moreover, his strength was also limited due to the damage of his Origin. Confronting Minghe's sudden breakout, Hongjun was abruptly at a disadvantage.
Seeing that Minghe kept pressuring him, Hongjun knew that he could not continue like this. If so, it would only get worse, because his Origin had originally been injured. Moreover, Minghe was a Rakshasa, so it was not a good strategy to have close combat with him. Hongjun could only chop at him with his full strength to force Minghe to temporarily retreat.
After pus.h.i.+ng Minghe back, Hongjun suddenly raised his hands and 12 flags appeared there. He lightly shook the flags and they swelled with the wind, eventually turning into 12 banners to cover up Minghe. Then, Hongjun weaved the Taoist Seals to form a formation to siege him thoroughly.
Looking at the formation and his familiar 12 banners, Minghe suddenly frowned and wondered if this was the Twelve Divine Beings Killing Formation. However, Hongjun should know that unless the Twelve Ancestors of Sorcery had set up the formation, no one else could display its powerful strength. If he wanted to deal with Minghe with this formation, he was undoubtedly daydreaming.
In the next moment, Minghe cast aside his ideas thoroughly. This formation was not the Twelve Divine Beings Killing Formation at all. Although they were alike, the formation was different from the Twelve Divine Beings Killing Formation. In this formation, there was not as much Killing Intent of Heaven and Earth, but the vital force of the 12 banners was exactly the same, which was that of the Law of Time.
The Law of Time? Having sensed the vital force of the Law of Time, Minghe suddenly changed his expression. Hongjun had worn down the limit of the Star Tree of the Origin with the Law of Time, but now he set up a Formation of Time. To his surprise, Hongjun really did have many cards.
The Formation of Time was one of the most profound formations. Even in the Mystery Territory of Earth, Minghe could obtain a lot of the Spiritual Inheritance of the formation, but he could not meet a time-related formation. He felt great regret and wondered if there was a Formation of Time in the Mystery Territory of Earth.
The Formation of Time was very precious, so even all the forces in the Central Region perhaps only had a few Formations of Time. Such a formation was generally arcane. It would be expected that even if Priest Earth could use such a formation, he would not leave it in the Mystery Territory of Earth. But now, when he saw such a Formation of Time in Hongjun's hands, Minghe really felt surprised.
As the formation was arranged, Hongjun said coldly, "Minghe, do you recognize the formation? Is it somewhat similar to the Wu Tribe's Twelve Divine Beings Killing Formation? Let me tell you. It is the Twelve Earthly Branches Formation, which was the unique formation owned by the Mazingers of the Twelve Earthly Branches among the 3,000 Mazingers of Chaos. The formation could mobilize Time Power to obliterate everything.
"When Pangu created Heaven and Earth, he killed the Mazingers of the Twelve Earthly Branches and found the formation. Later, he improved it into the Wu Tribe's Twelve Divine Beings Killing Formation, which was really powerful. Today, I'll let you see its power. You force me to do so. Even if my injuries get worse, I'm going to kill you here."
With this, Hongjun started to stimulate the formation. "Power of Time, lock." Each banner ejected out a fluctuating silver chain in the flash of the Law of Time, which rushed over Minghe directly. 12 silver chains intertwined, as if they were weaving an intangible web to capture him.
At the sight of this, Minghe waved his axe at full speed to beat back the silver chains approaching him. No matter how hard he tried, those silver chains seemed to target Minghe and constantly struck him. More surprisingly, those silver chains remained unscathed no matter how the Anti-evil Axe chopped at them, which was so weird.
The longer he defended, the greater the odds of failure became. As he constantly guarded, the silver chains attacked him in ever-changing and unpredictable ways. In an unguarded moment, a chain had entangled Minghe's feet. Seeing this, Minghe chopped with the axe and sparks shot out. He was quite startled that he had not cut the chain off. Those silver chains changed from the Law of Time were really weird.
In just a moment, Minghe had been completely locked by the 12 silver chains. His hands, feet, body, and head all were entangled by two silver chains, so he could not move at all. Under the circ.u.mstances, Minghe frowned and pondered. Although he was locked, Minghe seemed to not be worried and did not struggle with them, which was somewhat strange.
When he saw that Minghe was locked, Hongjun instantly began to mobilize the formation and started another change of the formation. "Time flies. Obliterate!" As soon as he stopped speaking, the strong Power of Time suddenly appeared in the formation to corrode Minghe's body constantly, like the weathering of rock that would eventually be completely worn down.
Despite the Power of Time constantly corroding his body, Minghe did not struggle at all in the formation, and even closed his eyes in the end. However, the rate of corrosion was much slower than a snail's pace. Minghe's Indestructible Demon Body was so powerful that it was hard to corrode it even with the Power of Time, thus, it could only be worn down very slowly.
Seeing that Minghe was not resisting as if he had resigned himself to his destiny, Hongjun was not happy because he thought it was abnormal, but he could not figure out what had gone wrong. He could only maintain the operation of the formation because he would not abandon this favorable situation due to a little weirdness. Although the Power of Time was corroding his body slowly, Minghe would surely wither away one day.
In the formation, Minghe felt his body being constantly corroded by the Power of Time, but he was unmoved. On the contrary, he suddenly quieted down and focused on comprehending the Power of Time. At this moment, Minghe felt as if he was swimming in the River of Time and could not protect himself. He seemed to be seeing very many things.
...
"Enjoy wine and songs while we can, for life is short..." On top of a high building, a young man holding a bottle of beer drank facing the moon. A cold breeze was blowing away the summer heat. The scene was somewhat idyllic, but unfortunately, a streak of purple lightning suddenly dropped from the sky and split the man into flying ashes, leaving several empty bottles as the only indication that someone had been here.
...
In the center of a vast Blood Sea, a vague and illusory figure stood on a huge lotus of 12 petals, looking at the boundless Blood Sea. He suddenly exclaimed into the air, "Ah...!" The loud noise stirred up the Blood Sea to produce turbulent waves. The blood waves ran high and rolled away.
...
In the valley, a young man was chased by two women with swords. In the end, they turned hostility into friends.h.i.+p. They traveled through Untainted Land in a group and enjoyed a life of leisure. As hundreds of years pa.s.sed quickly by, they were distressed at their parting. Before departure, the man gave two blood lotuses to the two women and agreed to see them later. However, he did not know they would never meet again after this separation.
...
Under the thunderclouds, the young man sat cross-legged. Despite the holy thunder striking his body, he did not resist it at all. Around him, powerful enemies were staring at him, hoping to take the opportunity to kill him. He was fearless and just wanted to withstand the Tribulation Thunder, so he was impregnable. When the Tribulation Thunder disappeared, he roared into the sky. The entire world was shocked because he had killed Sages to prove his fame for fighting.
...
These scenes constantly flashed across Minghe's eyes. He was very familiar with all those things, but he also felt a little strange. As if he was dreaming, he was uncertain if that man was himself. The strange feeling puzzled him and a myriad of thoughts crowded into his mind. In the end, the last words left in his mind were: "As time flies, the past events fade like a puff of smoke."
After many years in the formation, Minghe's body had earlier been worn away, leaving only a heart beating slowly. However, that sonorous heartbeat resounded throughout the entire Starry Sky. Despite it being corroded by the Power of Time, it seemed that nothing could touch the heart. No matter how many years pa.s.sed by, it remained the same.