Chapter 280 - 154: Piercing Heaven and Dividing Earth, Opening the Veins and Seizing the Treasure

Chapter 280: Chapter 154: Piercing Heaven and Dividing Earth, Opening the Veins and Seizing the Treasure

The moment Chi Ming unleashed the Forbidden Heaven Sect, Shao Ying’s expression changed. He knew the duel with Xuzhuang had reached a fever pitch.

During the struggle between Xuzhuang and the Yin Mountain Venerable, he had clearly felt Xuzhuang’s Magical Power deplete, only to regenerate in an instant. Though he didn’t know what Secret Technique or treasure was responsible, he suspected that for Xuzhuang to act so recklessly, he must be confident there would be no repercussions. He was probably not at full strength, but he still had to have seventy or eighty percent of his Magical Power left.

But Shao Ying had no time to explain the details to Chi Ming. He was already severely injured from the Yin Mountain Venerable’s backlash, and he had to focus on both maintaining the creature to restrain the earth’s energy and sending a message to Shishi.

"This is bad!" Shao Ying’s fingertips twitched. He stared intently at the Forbidden Heaven Sect, as if trying to peer through the curtain of light. ’Chi Ming... Don’t you dare get into a contest of Divine Techniques with that monster of boundless Magical Power. You’ll suffer a terrible, pointless loss.’

But before he could even finish the thought, under his very gaze, the Forbidden Heaven Sect suddenly trembled. In the next instant, it shattered with a deafening BOOM. A brilliant radiance, a torrent of golden flames forged from countless colors, billowed outward, threatening to engulf the entire sky.

’What is this?’ His heart sank. He quickly channeled a thread of Magical Power into his eyes and strained to see. Before he could get a clear look, a flash of cold light shot across a thousand zhang. The glint was so sharp it forced his eyes shut.

Though he hadn’t seen what happened, alarm bells screamed in his mind. He couldn’t afford to relax. Forcing his eyes back open, he looked to the sky. He saw the roiling sea of fire slowly parting as if by some immense force. A young Daoist in flowing white robes emerged alone from the flames. His gaze fell, meeting Shao Ying’s.

A chill shot through Shao Ying’s heart. He and Chi Ming were true disciples of the same generation, having cultivated for roughly the same amount of time; he knew Chi Ming’s abilities well. Even after witnessing Xuzhuang tear the Yin Mountain Venerable apart with his bare hands, he had never imagined that Chi Ming would die so easily at Xuzhuang’s hands.

’What do I do now?’ Shao Ying raised a finger, only to let it fall again. He stared, transfixed, at the sky. Suddenly, he saw Xuzhuang point a finger downward. The sky-filling sea of fire swirled into a fiery hurricane, hurtling straight for Yin Mountain!

Shao Ying’s face twitched. In that brief instant, his complexion shifted through shades of deathly pale and sickly green. The image of Xuzhuang tearing the Yin Mountain Venerable apart flashed through his mind. Finally, he gritted his teeth!

ROAR!

As the Yin Mountain Venerable let out a pained shriek, the very ground began to convulse. In the next moment, innumerable demons struggled to pull themselves free from the earth, all roaring at the sky. A cacophony of shrill cries and howls erupted from the Yin Mountain Venerable, echoing for hundreds of miles in an instant. Any living creature that heard the sound was seized by terror, haunted by nightmares.

As Yin Mountain changed, Shao Ying’s body shook violently, clearly suffering from another backlash. Immediately after, however, a hint of color returned to his cheeks.

Cowed by Xuzhuang’s power, Shao Ying had severed his connection to the Yin Mountain Venerable—the very being he had spent a century of painstaking effort to subjugate. Without Shao Ying’s Magical Power to sustain it, the Yin Mountain Venerable finally began to crumble completely!

Abandoning the Yin Mountain Venerable had clearly worsened his injuries, but free from the continuous drain of its collapse, his own cultivation technique began to circulate, and his condition immediately started to improve.

Even so, Shao Ying was still severely wounded. He likely wouldn’t have the strength to fight anyone... Fortunately, he had no intention of doing so.

Shao Ying took one last look at the sky, and his heart suddenly felt lighter.

’No matter how important the sect’s grand plan is, can it be more important than my own life? So what if I lose the sect’s trust for failing my mission? As long as there is life, there is hope. There will always be a chance to rise again in the future.’

Shao Ying wasted no more time. He activated a talisman, transforming into a brilliant streak of light that shot toward the heavens. In a mere instant, he had vanished without a trace.

The next instant, the Fire Divine Light swept down like a blaze engulfing a pan of oil. Wherever it passed, every last demon was put to the torch. Before long, the entire mountain was aflame, turning Yin Mountain into a raging inferno.

Seeing Shao Ying abandon the Yin Mountain Venerable and escape, Xuzhuang merely frowned. Judging by the power of that brilliant light, it wasn’t something he could have intercepted. Besides, letting the man escape was of no great consequence to him.

Xuzhuang swept his spiritual gaze across the ground below. He knew that the Yin Mountain Venerable’s destruction hadn’t truly thwarted the Demon Sect’s plot. The flow of the earth’s energy in this area was still being restrained.

Two Demon Sect Saint Children, both of whom were well-advanced in the Nascent Soul Realm, had faced him. One was dead, the other had fled. Yet they still hadn’t given up on their plan. Xuzhuang was now curious to see what strange scheme they were concocting.

He could use his Earth Escape Skill to sneak underground, but he couldn’t be sure the enemy hadn’t laid traps deep within the earth. He was unwilling to take that risk. Fortunately, with his repertoire of abilities, he had no shortage of other ways to handle the situation.

Xuzhuang took a deep breath and circulated his Magical Power. The Gangyun above his head erupted with a brilliant light, faintly revealing five colors. As they swirled, they whipped the spiritual energy into a frenzy. Xuzhuang formed a hand seal for a Magic Formula and pointed down!

「Deep within the earth.」

Shishi looked down. The white carp had been dragged up to just below the surface of the earth and rock. It was on the verge of being pulled out of the ground and captured in her mirror, but the closer it got, the more violently it struggled.

She was struggling to close the final few feet. Just then, she heard a heaven-shaking shriek that pierced through the earth’s surface and made the subterranean chamber tremble.

Following the cry, the white carp was suddenly re-energized. With a single flick of its tail, it dove deeper into the earth.

’The earth’s energy is flowing again?’ Shishi’s expression shifted slightly. She shook the bronze mirror, and using some unknown method, sent a beam of light from it chasing doggedly after the white carp. Yet she couldn’t stop its descent, only slow it down.

’It hasn’t even been a single breath’s time... Could Shao Ying and Chi Ming have both been killed by Xuzhuang in an instant?’