txolops Chapter 48 Catching a turtle in a jar, paper transforms the world
Chapter 48 Catching a turtle in a jar, paper transforms the world
Having left the blood-stained, withered forest, Gu Yan did not wander aimlessly like a headless fly, but instead found a shady, rocky outcrop.
The terrain here is complex, with numerous crevices in the rocks, making it ideal for hiding.
He made a hand seal, and several beams of earthy yellow spiritual light flowed from his fingertips. He cast a basic fossilization spell, hiding his body under a huge blue stone, leaving only a small opening for breathing.
He then set up three layers of warning rune arrays and one layer of aura-concealing array to isolate his aura.
After doing all this, Gu Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After confirming that his main body was absolutely safe, he then began to tally up the spoils of the double-cross.
The heavy black iron box was opened, and a rich aura of spiritual energy and bloodlust rushed out.
"Good heavens, has the Blood River Sect brought its entire fortune?"
The bottom of the box was filled with neatly arranged mid-grade spirit stones, roughly counting more than two thousand of them.
This is undoubtedly a windfall for a Qi Refining stage cultivator.
On the spirit stone were dozens of jade bottles and several brocade boxes with sealing talismans.
Gu Yan casually picked up a jade bottle, sniffed it, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.
"Bloodlust Pill, Grade 2, High-grade. After consumption, it can temporarily unleash double the combat power, but will leave the user weak for three months afterward. It's a great item for those who are desperate."
"Ten Blood Thunder Beads. Tsk tsk, one of these can blow up a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator. Li Tianxing is really rich and powerful."
However, what Gu Yan cared about most was the cold, ghostly bone in his arms.
At this moment, the bone fragment was trembling constantly, emitting a low humming sound, as if it was yearning for some kind of call.
With a thought, Gu Yan switched his perspective to his clone, "Blood Swordsman".
……
At the edge of the Netherworld Pool, the battle situation has undergone a dramatic change.
The ghostly hand that attempted to cross boundaries ultimately failed to break free from the shackles of the boundary under the combined furious attacks of both the righteous and evil factions.
But this does not mean the crisis is over; on the contrary, it makes the situation even more unpredictable.
Although the ghostly hand retreated, the spatial rift that had been torn open did not heal, and a torrent of yin energy poured in like a river bursting its banks.
The originally crimson blood mist was stained a pale grayish-white.
The temperature dropped sharply, and frost formed on the ground.
Something's not right.
The Blood Swordsman, hiding in the shadows at the edge of the battlefield, keenly sensed the stagnation of spiritual energy in the surroundings.
He looked up at the sky and saw that a semi-transparent blood-red light curtain had risen above the Yunmeng Marsh, which covered an area of ten miles in radius, like an inverted bowl, completely sealing off the area.
"Trapped in a formation?"
Gu Yan controlled the Blood Swordsman, silently reaching the edge of the light screen and gently touching it with his finger.
"Sizzle!"
A sharp pain shot through my fingertips; if I hadn't pulled my hand back quickly, my entire arm would have been crippled by the terrifying recoil.
"Only things are going in, not out; this is to refine the people inside."
Gu Yan's heart sank.
It seems that the Blood River Sect has a backup plan in the outer area. The elders who did not show up, seeing that Li Tianxing could not handle the Ghost Hand, simply activated the backup plan to refine this area and the elites of the Flowing Cloud Sect into pills.
This is the ruthlessness of major sects; when they get ruthless, they even betray their own people.
At this moment, in the center of the battlefield.
Li Tianxing clearly noticed the strange thing above his head, and his face turned ashen.
He abruptly turned to look at Shen Youwei, and roared sharply:
"Shen Youwei! Stop fighting! Those old geezers outside are going to sacrifice us too! If we don't join forces to break the formation, we'll all die!"
Shen Youwei hovered in mid-air, surrounded by moonlight. Although her clothes were stained with blood, her expression remained as cold as ice.
She glanced at the large formation above her head, a resolute glint in her eyes.
"To vanquish demons and uphold justice, even death and the annihilation of one's path are without regret. Li Tianxing, you will die today."
Before she finished speaking, the longsword in her hand once again shone with dazzling light, burning its primordial essence blood in preparation for a fatal blow.
"Crazy women! They're all crazy!"
Li Tianxing completely broke down.
He didn't want to die; he was the pride of the Blood River Sect, with limitless potential.
"Since you've forced me into this, don't blame me for flipping the table!"
A glint of madness flashed in Li Tianxing's eyes. He suddenly pulled out a blood-red jade slip from his pocket and crushed it violently.
"With my blood, I summon the netherworld! Ghost bones return to their rightful place, ten thousand souls devour my heart!"
He was trying to forcibly control the gate to hell that was not yet fully closed.
According to the original formation, he needed that Netherworld Bone as the core array eye to stabilize the energy, but he just discovered that the bone was missing!
But he couldn't care less about that. Even without the core, he was determined to forcefully detonate the Yin energy of the Netherworld Pool and blast open the trapping formation.
"Boom!"
As Li Tianxing chanted his incantation, the pool water boiled again, and countless wronged souls and vengeful ghosts rushed out from the bottom of the pool, letting out mournful shrieks.
However, due to the absence of the core Netherworld Bone, this massive energy instantly went out of control, turning into an indiscriminate spiritual storm that frantically tore apart everything around it.
"not good!"
Shen Youwei's expression changed drastically, and she hurriedly erected a sword light shield.
Gu Yan, who was hiding in the distance, suddenly brightened up.
The moment Li Tianxing activated the formation, the Netherworld Bone in his bosom erupted with unprecedented heat, even burning through his clothes.
A strange connection was established between the ghost bones and the raging energy storm.
"So that's how it is. This ghostly bone is the core of the formation?"
A greedy smile curled at the corner of Gu Yan's lips.
The energy storm that Li Tianxing had painstakingly created was now like a wild horse that had broken free of its reins, and Gu Yan was holding the only rein in his hand.
"Since you can't control it, let me help you share the burden."
Gu Yan sat cross-legged, his hands tightly gripping the Ghost Bone. His divine sense, amplified by the Ghost Bone, instantly descended upon his clone, the Blood Swordsman.
At the edge of the battlefield, the Blood Swordsman's originally indifferent eyes suddenly became incredibly deep.
He quickly formed hand seals and activated a secret technique recorded in "The True Explanation of Paper Making": Paper Contains the Universe!
"call!"
The Blood Swordsman suddenly opened his mouth, but it wasn't a human swallowing or exhaling; instead, it was like a black hole.
In the center of the battlefield, the Yin Sha storm that was raging and about to tear Li Tianxing and Shen Youwei apart suddenly paused for a moment in a strange way.
Immediately afterwards, a visible gray stream of air, like a whale sucking in water, was forcibly separated and surged toward the Blood Swordsman.
"What's going on?!"
Li Tianxing, who was struggling to hold on, was horrified to discover that the energy he had summoned was being intercepted!
"Who is it?! Show yourself!"
But he had no time to spare and could only watch helplessly as the purest Netherworld Yin energy, enough to help him break through his bottleneck, continuously disappeared into the shadows.
In the shadows, the Blood Swordsman's body is undergoing an astonishing transformation.
Originally just a thin paper replica, after being infused with this yin energy, its skin began to show a jade-like texture, and its internal meridians and bones were rapidly reshaped.
The fragility inherent in paper has disappeared, replaced by an indestructible resilience.
In just ten breaths, the Blood Swordsman's cultivation level continued to rise, and he quickly crossed the half-step distance between Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment, becoming a member of the Foundation Establishment cultivators!
Although as an avatar, the Blood Swordsman's Foundation Establishment realm was entirely built up from a massive accumulation of spiritual power, with a large element of luck involved, and could not accumulate experience for Gu Yan's main body when he was establishing his foundation.
However, in terms of combat strength, the Blood Swordsman at this time is absolutely comparable to a typical Foundation Establishment stage cultivator at the Great Perfection stage!
Before long, the Blood Swordsman was surrounded by a dense aura of malevolence, making him even more like a member of the Blood River Sect than the Blood River Sect members themselves.
Gu Yan immediately cut off the devouring to prevent the clone from being burst.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Young Master Li."
The Blood Swordsman slowly emerged from the shadows, his appearance now completely changed.
His original black clothes had turned into dark red armor, and he no longer held a sword, because his hands had transformed into the sharpest blades.
He neither attacked Li Tianxing nor paid any attention to Shen Youwei.
His gaze fell upon the crumbling light barrier of the trapping array above his head.
Now that we're full, it's time to break a hole and get out.
"A thousand paper dragons, break!"
The Blood Swordsman thrust his hands upwards with a sudden burst of strength.
Countless tiny, blood-red paper fragments surged from his body, rapidly piecing together and folding in mid-air, transforming in the blink of an eye into a ferocious bone dragon ten feet long.
The bone dragon roared, carrying the massive Yin energy it had just devoured, and slammed into the weak point of the light barrier in the sky.
"Snap!!!"
A crisp cracking sound echoed through the sky.
The trap that had baffled the two prodigies was actually breached by this unexpected obstacle, who forcefully smashed a large hole in it.
Sunlight streamed through the hole, illuminating the blank expressions on Li Tianxing and Shen Youwei's faces.
"Walk!"
Without pausing, the Blood Swordsman transformed into a streak of blood, shooting skyward through the hole and disappearing into the horizon in an instant.
All that remained was a scene of devastation on the battlefield and two mortal enemies staring at each other in bewilderment.