txolops Chapter 195 Paper Doll Sword Servant, Burning Blood Protector
Chapter 195 Paper Doll Sword Servant, Burning Blood Protector
Chapter 195 Paper Doll Sword Servant, Burning Blood Protector
Under a gray, hazy sky.
A huge golden Bagua diagram floated in mid-air, casting a dazzling golden light.
This layer of golden light was almost tangible, transforming into countless chains that tightly bound the enormous blood-red lotus platform at the center of the formation.
The Blood Swordsman stood on the lotus platform, letting the chains dig into his dark red robe.
His expression looked pained, his brows furrowed, as if he was struggling with the suppression of the formation.
High above, nine Nascent Soul stage monsters from Dongzhou stood at the eye and center of the Bagua formation.
Their faces were contorted, and they were drenched in sweat.
The spiritual power and nascent soul essence within his body surged into the great formation like a river bursting its banks, flowing wildly along the array patterns beneath his feet.
"Give it your all, this devil is about to give up."
Zhou Chongyue gritted his teeth, his white beard dancing wildly in the wind.
He could feel the overwhelming demonic energy in the center of the formation being suppressed little by little, which gave him a glimmer of hope for victory.
However, none of the nine people at the center of the formation noticed it.
The immense primal power they unleashed did not cause any substantial damage to the Blood Swordsman. Instead, it flowed silently into the ground along the dark patterns of the formation, traversing endless space and heading towards the Evergreen Peak of the Flowing Cloud Sect.
The Blood Swordsman lowered his eyes, concealing the mockery deep within his pupils.
slow.
too slow.
Although these old guys are still desperately outputting their essence, they still retain a sliver of hope deep down, and are still protecting their lifespan and foundation.
Nascent Soul cultivators have a lifespan of up to a thousand years. Their output is at most considered a serious injury, and they can recover after a few years of recuperation.
This doesn't achieve the effect Gu Yan wanted at all.
Gu Yan needed them to burn themselves out regardless of the consequences, to squeeze out all the supreme power hidden deep within their Nascent Souls, representing the millennia-old heritage of various sects in Dongzhou.
"Since you're still unwilling to risk your lives, then I'll lend you a hand."
The Blood Swordsman's hoarse voice suddenly rang out within the formation.
Zhou Chongyue was startled, before he could react.
The Blood Swordsman's pale finger suddenly slashed through the air.
Two thin talismans flew out from his sleeve.
One sheet is pure black, like the approaching eternal night; another sheet is pure white, like the fleeting shadow of the aurora borealis.
The talisman swelled in the wind and transformed into two human figures, each seven feet tall, in the blink of an eye.
The black paper figure holds a black paper sword, and its face, devoid of features, exudes a deathly stillness that cuts through everything.
The white paper figure holds a white paper sword, and the space around its body is violently distorted like ripples in water.
"Go, let's draw some blood from these seniors."
The Blood Swordsman sneered.
The white paper figure flashed and merged directly into the surrounding space.
The next moment, it appeared without warning behind an elder in the early Nascent Soul stage of Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain.
The white paper sword made no sound as it pierced directly into the elder's back.
"careful."
Mo Tianwen roared angrily.
The elder from Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain felt his hair stand on end and instinctively twisted his body to the side.
But with a slight tremor of the tip of the white paper swordsman's sword, the surrounding space instantly folded.
No matter how the elder dodged, the sword tip remained pressed against his back.
"Pfft; a sound."
The paper sword pierced the flesh, and blood splattered.
The elder of Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain let out a piercing scream as his shoulder blade was pierced through.
If it weren't for his years of physical training, which made his body stronger than that of ordinary cultivators, this sword strike could have shattered his heart.
At the same time, the black paper sword servant also moved.
It swung its sword.
A dark void rift spread along the sword's edge.
The crack directly severed the spiritual energy connection between the three Nascent Soul elders and the array's core.
The formation immediately shook violently, and the originally sturdy golden chains began to break inch by inch.
The Blood Swordsman slowly straightened his body on the lotus platform, and the oppressive aura emanating from him erupted once again like a tsunami.
"The formation that Alliance Leader Gu risked his life for is being wasted in the hands of you bunch of good-for-nothings."
The Blood Swordsman's words were like daggers to the heart.
These words ignited the grief, anger, and madness within the Nascent Soul stage monsters of Dongzhou.
Zhou Chongyue looked at the crumbling formation and at his injured comrades.
The words Lu Zheng had brought back echoed in his mind once again.
Gu Changsheng was underground in the Liuyun Sect, vomiting his primordial blood while using his lifespan to maintain the Heaven-Covering Star Plate.
That young holy son was willing to risk his life for Dongzhou, so what are these old bones who have lived for hundreds of years still feeling sorry for?
"Disciples of Cangxuan Sect, heed my command!"
Zhou Chongyue let out a tragic and furious roar.
Below the city wall, thousands of Cangxuan Sect disciples raised their heads in unison, their eyes filled with tears.
"If I die in battle today, Li Qingge will succeed me as the sect leader of Cangxuan Sect. The righteous path of Dongzhou will follow the leader's lead."
After giving his last words, Zhou Chongyue suddenly raised his hands and slammed them hard on the top of his head.
A destructive aura erupted from his body.
Instead of drawing upon his spiritual energy, he directly ignited his nascent soul.
Three hundred years of lifespan, at this moment, transformed into the purest Tai Chi origin.
Zhou Chongyue's once gray hair had turned as white as withered grass, and the wrinkles on her face were as deep as if carved by a knife, her life force was rapidly fading away.
"The Azure Mystery Secret Technique, the Supreme Ascension Bell."
Zhou Chongyue formed hand seals, and the immense power gained from burning his lifespan condensed in mid-air into a phantom image of a bronze ancient bell that was a hundred feet tall.
The bell rang.
It was as if only this one roar remained in the world.
A visible sonic ripple spread outwards, directly knocking the black paper sword servant who was preparing to launch a sneak attack back dozens of feet, and dense cracks appeared on his paper body.
With Zhou Chongyue taking the lead, the other Nascent Soul stage monsters held nothing back.
"Sword cultivators do not seek the next life, but only seize the day."
Mo Tianwen laughed wildly, his laughter revealing boundless freedom and determination.
He threw the ancient sword in his hand into the air.
Then, he clasped his hands together and plunged them into his own chest, forcing out three drops of golden blood from his heart.
He also ignited his own two-hundred-year lifespan.
Mo Tianwen's once rugged face quickly withered, his body became hunched, but his eyes shone as brightly as the stars in the sky.
"The final echo fades into nothingness, a single sword extinguishes all."
The three drops of heart's blood merged into the ancient sword in mid-air.
The ancient sword let out a mournful cry before shattering into pieces.
The shattered sword did not disappear, but transformed into thousands of thin, black sword intents.
This is the highest profound principle left by the founder of the Guixu Sect: nourish the sword with one's life and sacrifice oneself for the Dao with the sword.
Thousands of black sword intents converged into a long black dragon, directly locking onto the white paper sword servant who controlled spatial folding.
The white paper swordsman attempted to merge into the void to evade.
But that sword intent was too pure and too domineering, and it actually sealed off the void.
Thousands of sword intents pierced through his body, and the white paper sword servant didn't even have a chance to struggle before being torn into countless pieces of paper.
The elder from Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain also turned red-eyed.
He pulled the paper sword from his shoulder, letting the blood gush out.
He bit his tongue and pounded his chest with both hands.
"Bloodline of Ten Thousand Beasts, Ignite!"
The faint ancient beast bloodline within him was ignited, causing his body to grow taller, thick fur to sprout, and his bones to crack loudly.
A gigantic, fifty-foot-tall, ethereal beast appeared behind him.
The colossal beast opened its blood-red maw and let out a roar that shattered the heavens. Its immense suction force swallowed up all the surrounding blood rain and demonic energy, clearing away the external interference for the Demon-Slaying Array.
The elders of Medicine King Valley do not possess formidable combat power.
But without hesitation, she crushed her natal medicine cauldron, which she had nurtured for five hundred years.
The moment the medicine cauldron shattered, a peerless medicinal pill radiating seven-colored light floated out.
That is the Resurrection Pill Core passed down through generations in Medicine King Valley. As long as there is still a breath left, it can forcibly keep the body alive.
She crushed the core in mid-air.
The extremely concentrated medicinal energy transformed into a seven-colored spiritual rain, precisely falling into the bodies of the other eight elders who were burning through their lifespans, forcibly providing them with the last bit of strength to sustain them.
On the city wall.
With tears streaming down his face, Judge Lu Zheng drew his long sword and knelt on one knee.
The 100,000 cultivators from Dongzhou behind him, regardless of their sect or cultivation level, all knelt down.
"Respectfully seeing off all the venerable ancestors who protect the Dao."
The earth-shattering cries echoed across the plains.
The group of low-level cultivators looked at the older generation of powerful figures in the sky who were burning their lives like shooting stars.
The passion in their hearts was ignited.
They firmly believed that as long as these fearless predecessors were there, and as long as Alliance Leader Gu, who devoted himself to the cause from the rear, was there, the righteous path of Dongzhou would never perish.
This force, which gathered the faith and fighting spirit of 100,000 cultivators, actually formed an invisible aura of righteousness in mid-air and merged into the ultimate demon-slaying formation.
The power of the formation was pushed to an unprecedented peak.
The burning of the nine Nascent Soul stage monsters, combined with the enhancement of the ultimate killing formation, converged into a world-destroying golden pillar of light, which directly slammed into the Blood Swordsman on the lotus platform.
Behind the Liuyun Sect, beneath the Changqing Peak.
In a dark, secret room.
Gu Yan suddenly opened his eyes.
He sensed it.
That energy that traveled across space along the earth's veins was no longer just spiritual power, but rather the supreme origin containing the lifespan, essence, blood, and inherited foundation of nine Nascent Soul cultivators.
This power was so immense that even his meridians, which had been modified by the Earth Vein Spirit Embryo, were aching slightly.
"Good timing."
Gu Yan opened his arms, and the divine demonic nascent soul within his dantian let out a high-pitched roar.
The golden light on the left side was like the blazing sun in the sky, frantically devouring the inherited essence that those righteous old monsters had traded their lives for.
The profound meaning of Tai Chi in Cangxuan.
The Desolate Sword Heart of Guixu.
The ancient bloodline of Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain.
All of this was shattered and reassembled within Gu Yan's body, transforming into a ladder for him to climb to a higher realm.
The late-stage Nascent Soul barrier within Gu Yan's body shattered instantly in the face of this overwhelming power.
Vast true energy surged within his body, and his divine sense expanded instantly, enabling him to clearly capture the crawling trajectory of every ant within a radius of hundreds of miles.
Moreover, this force continued to elevate his cultivation level until he reached the late stage of Nascent Soul, at which point it gradually subsided.
Gu Yan clenched his fist, feeling the overwhelming power within his body.
He knew it was time to wrap things up at the border.
Outside Tianlang Pass.
Facing that earth-shattering golden beam of light.
The Blood Swordsman narrowed his crimson eyes.
This force was indeed beyond his expectations; if he were to take it head-on, his clone would definitely suffer severe damage.
However, Gu Yan had no intention of letting his clone take the hit.
He had achieved his goal; the nine old men's resources had been completely drained, and if he continued, they would truly die.
Gu Yan didn't want them to die.
If these nine Nascent Soul stage monsters die here, the righteous path of Dongzhou will be leaderless and will surely fall into endless chaos. It may even attract the Nascent Soul stage master of Guixu Sect to come out of seclusion and intervene directly without hesitation.
He needs these nine people to live.
As long as they live, they will become the best buffer zone between the Great Yan Kingdom and the Liuyun Sect.
They will become extremely weak because they have lost their source, and thus become even more dependent on Gu Changsheng, the Holy Son Alliance Leader.
They would willingly become puppets in Gu Yan's control of Dongzhou.
The golden beam of light crashed down.
The Blood Swordsman neither dodged nor evaded; instead, he raised his ungripless blood sword, feigning a desperate resistance.
The crimson sword energy and the golden beam of light collided violently in mid-air.
The deafening explosion caused the entire city wall of Tianlang Pass to shake violently.
The blinding light was too intense to look at directly.
And at the center of that light.
The Blood Swordsman deliberately dissipated most of his protective aura.
The golden beam of light struck his chest hard, tearing a huge hole in his dark red robe.
The Blood Swordsman grunted and spat out a mouthful of thick, black demonic blood, staining the lotus platform beneath his feet red.
He flew backward rapidly, crashing heavily into the frozen ground behind him, creating a deep, bottomless crater.
On the other side...
The only surviving black paper swordsman was also blown to pieces by the aftershocks of the explosion.
midair.
The nine Nascent Soul stage monsters exhausted their last bit of power.
The golden light supporting the formation gradually dissipated.
Deprived of their support, they fell from the sky like dumplings being dropped into a pot.
Zhou Chongyue's skin was so dry it clung to his bones. His lifespan was almost over, and his cultivation had plummeted to the early Nascent Soul stage. His aura was weak and feeble.
Mo Tianwen's ancient sword was completely destroyed, and his sword core was injured. He lay in the mud and water, panting heavily.
The other elders fared even worse, falling unconscious.
But when they looked at the huge crater that had been smashed in front of them, a cruel smile appeared on their lips.
"We won—we drove him back—"
Zhou Chongyue gripped the soil with trembling fingers, his eyes filled with the ecstatic joy of surviving a disaster.
Inside the large pit.
The Blood Swordsman slowly stood up.
He clutched his chest, his hair disheveled, and he looked quite disheveled.
He stared at the remnants of the defeated army below the city wall, his voice tinged with weakness and malice.
"Madmen, a bunch of madmen! They actually risked burning their lifespan to use that Nascent Soul formation to damage my very essence."
The Blood Swordsman wiped the black blood from the corner of his mouth, a hint of apprehension flashing in his eyes.
"Consider yourselves lucky today, but my Blood Fiend Army is endless. Next time, let's see what you can use to stop it."
Having said that, the Blood Swordsman stepped onto the blood-red lotus platform.
The lotus platform rapidly shrank, transforming into a streak of blood-red light that tore through space and burrowed deep into the earth, disappearing without a trace.
As the Blood Swordsman fled.
The oppressive, blood-red gloom that had hung over Tianlang Pass finally dissipated.
A ray of sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone on the devastated plain.
The 100,000 cultivators from Dongzhou erupted in cheers of relief, many throwing away their weapons and kneeling on the ground, embracing their victims and weeping bitterly.
Lu Zheng led a large group of Golden Core stewards down the city wall and carefully helped up those Nascent Soul old monsters who were extremely weak.
"Elder, are you alright?"
Lu Zheng's voice was choked with sobs.
Zhou Chongyue leaned against Lu Zheng's chest, looked at the ray of sunlight in the sky, and shook her head with difficulty.
"It's alright, we old bones won't die."
Mo Tianwen coughed twice, spitting out a mouthful of blood, but his eyes were incredibly bright.
"If it weren't for the deadly array sent by Alliance Leader Gu, even if we self-destructed our Nascent Souls, we wouldn't have been able to harm that demon's core. Now that the demon has been severely injured and retreated, he definitely won't dare to attack again anytime soon."
Mo Tianwen gripped Lu Zheng's arm tightly, his tone more solemn than ever before.
"Immediately send a message to the Flowing Cloud Sect, telling Alliance Leader Gu that we have won, and that he should immediately stop maintaining that Sky-Covering Star Chart and take care of his sacred body. The Eastern Continent cannot do without him."
The other seriously injured elders around them nodded in agreement.
Although they exhausted their resources and shortened their lifespans, they felt it was all worth it.
With their sacrifice, they preserved the territory of Dongzhou and also protected the young leader they regarded as their hope.
They had no idea that the demon they had fought so hard to defeat and the leader they were so grateful to were the same person.
They were completely unaware that their act of burning their lives was merely a grand performance designed by Gu Changsheng to break through his cultivation realm.
From now on, these nine toothless tigers will treat Gu Changsheng like their own father.
Gu Yan, under the protection of their "tragic hero" facade, will be able to steadily reap the enormous benefits brought by this war.
The chessboard of Dongzhou was now in Gu Yan's possession.