Bajiguan

Swish! Swish! The group flew out from the small island to intercept the beast ahead. Coming to a wide, open stretch of the sea, they hovered in midair and busied themselves. The purple-robed elder swept a hand across his waist and produced a palm-sized jade plaque. The plaque was milky-white, smooth on the surface, and flawless within. It bore neither patterns nor writing, appearing quite ordinary. Without a sound, the jade plaque floated up from the elder's palm and hovered before him. Then, the purple robe on his body billowed slightly, enveloped in a violet haze as densely packed, enigmatic lightning runes surfaced upon it—as though the robe had been woven entirely from threads of lightning. A faint rumbling of thunder echoed. All at once, purple lightning surged madly toward the elder's right arm. With two fingers pressed together, the elder stabbed toward the jade plaque. The purple lightning condensed between his fingertips into an intensely concentrated point of light. Using his hand as a brush and the purple lightning as ink, he traced like dragons and serpents, completing the stroke in a single breath. It was a tiny rune, yet within it, clouds and thunder resonated with one another, stars and constellations arranged themselves, and myriad transformations unfolded. Whoosh! The rune sank into the jade plaque. In an instant, dazzling purple light burst from the plaque, shedding its prior ordinariness. Like a piece of thunder jade birthed by heaven and earth, it drank in boundless purple lightning, harboring terrifying power poised to strike. At the same time, the others spread out around the elder, each taking a position and producing an identical golden sword. The golden swords were only a palm's length, forged of profound gold. They clearly belonged to the same sect. Their opening sword incantations were identical, and they wielded the exact same sword art. "Swords rise!" As the sword incantations formed, the group shouted in unison. Infused with sword qi, the golden swords chimed crisply. Suddenly flipping around, their tips pointed toward the purple lightning jade plaque in the center, their blades vibrating faintly with a peculiar rhythm. By then, the purple-robed elder had somehow appeared above the jade plaque, sitting cross-legged in midair with incantations on his lips. For a time, the sword qi and purple lightning answered each other. Two completely different forces combined in extraordinary harmony, coalescing into a spirit formation that commanded the four quarters. This was precisely one of the most renowned grand formations of the Zhongzhou Daoist sects—the Sword Jade Thunder Sound Formation! At this moment, the spirit formation was held in reserve, its power concealed. Without a trace, the golden swords faded into the void. The others vanished along with them, using the formation to hide and lie in wait for an opportunity to strike. In the void, only the purple-robed elder and the purple lightning jade plaque beneath him remained. Violet light flowed across it, now condensing into a ball of thunder, now shifting back into the shape of a plaque, its fluctuations suppressed to the absolute minimum. Yet now, the elder's attention was not on the purple lightning jade plaque. With purple lightning gathered in his right arm, he laid his left hand flat on his knee with the palm turned toward the sky. At some point, a golden bead engraved with the figure of a Buddhist Vajra had appeared within it. Having prepared everything, the purple-robed elder heard a thunderous roar carry from deep within the storm. The sound was faint, coming from far away. They also knew very little about ferocious beasts. Even with the sect's experts gathered together, commanding two top-tier grand formations, and having arranged a path of retreat, they dared not slacken in the slightest. This was the first time the purple-robed elder had heard such a strange roar, which meant it was a new ferocious beast they had never encountered before, making them even less willing to let down their guard. The roar drew steadily nearer as the beast followed the lure. Yet before long, the purple-robed elder sensed something amiss. The beast seemed to have altered its course halfway, its roars growing increasingly muffled. The others noticed the anomaly as well. The long-bearded Daoist emerged from the void and gazed into the distance. A thought struck him, and he said, "Though we racked our brains to procure this bait, its allure to the beast is limited after all. It certainly cannot compare to fresh, living blood food, or a Nascent Soul... There might be a Nascent Soul cultivator nearby! We waited so long for a ferocious beast to appear. If that person lures it too close to the barrier and scares it away, wouldn't all our efforts be in vain? The higher one's realm, the stronger the attraction to the beast. One of us should split off and lure it back." "A passing Fellow Daoist?" The purple-robed elder's expression shifted, and he moved to rise. The long-bearded Daoist flashed forward, intercepting him. "Let me go. The formation's core requires Senior Brother to hold the ground. Though my cultivation cannot match Senior Brother's, I have studied a few more escape arts." The purple-robed elder pondered briefly. "Very well. Be careful, Junior Brother. This is no great secret; scaring that person off will suffice. Slaying the beast is what matters." The long-bearded Daoist gave a slight nod and turned into a streak of azure light, streaking through the void. The golden sword he held was taken up by someone beside him. *** Meanwhile. Qin Sang was fleeing toward Zhongzhou with all his might. The ferocious beast sensed something it loathed up ahead. Instinct made it unwilling to approach, yet hunger left it reluctant to part with the fresh blood food before it. The beast's nature was rabid. It did not weigh gains and losses, driven entirely by instinct. The closer it got to Zhongzhou, the more restless and hesitant the beast became. From its roars, Qin Sang could discern the signs, growing even more certain of his earlier inference. The barrier of the cultivation realm possessed the effect of repelling ferocious beasts! No wonder he had never heard of ferocious beasts attacking the North Sea. Without the barrier's protection, even if the human race could adapt to the storm belt, they likely would have ended up in the bellies of beasts long ago. He did not have to take reckless risks to escape. Even with the Moon-Gazing Rhinoceros horn in hand, being swept into a tempest remained exceedingly dangerous. From the looks of it, simply nearing the barrier would scare the beast away. Qin Sang felt slightly reassured, though he did not truly let his guard down, keeping a close eye on the beast's movements at all times. Just as Qin Sang had expected, as he drew nearer to Zhongzhou, not only did the beast's roars turn fraught with agitation, but its movements grew bizarre as well. Its speed fluctuated between fast and slow as two instincts clashed within its body. Ignoring the beast, Qin Sang buried his head and surged forward. Right at that moment. A thunderclap suddenly rocked the heavens behind him. The beast unleashed a shrill howl unlike any before. The howl drowned out the storm, crashing down upon Qin Sang's head like a bolt of heavenly lightning. Immediately after, Qin Sang felt a formidable power appear behind him, brewing from nothing at astonishing speed. In an instant, the thoroughly chaotic World Yuan Qi was actually set in motion! At this moment, the beast was still some distance from him, yet Qin Sang could feel it with absolute clarity: the beast was truly mobilizing the World Yuan Qi! This was a divine ability possessed only by Deity Transformation cultivators. Once a cultivator broke through to the Deity Transformation stage, they could begin to mobilize the World Yuan Qi. This was a true metamorphosis, drawing a step closer to the Heavenly Dao. With a mere thought, they could summon wind and rain, rivaling the gods. The worldly legends of terrestrial immortals referred precisely to Deity Transformation cultivators. Even if Nascent Soul cultivators possessed formidable abilities, they were still far from reaching that level. "A Deity Transformation stage ferocious beast!" Though Qin Sang had guessed as much earlier, facing this shift in the natural order still shook him to the core. It turned out that mobilizing World Yuan Qi was far more than a mere hallmark of Deity Transformation cultivators. When the beast struck, the upheaval it caused in the World Yuan Qi seemed to draw upon a sliver of heavenly might. Even across such a distance, Qin Sang felt a sense of impending doom, as though there were nowhere for him to stand in this world. This sensation was not overwhelmingly pronounced, far from the point where the world outright rejected and suppressed him, but that inexplicable pressure was undeniably real. A Deity Transformation cultivator had not yet mastered the craft; they could only mobilize World Yuan Qi, unable to control it, grasping merely the surface. Of course, compared to a Nascent Soul cultivator, it was like night and day. Even a late Nascent Soul great cultivator wielding top-tier divine abilities and magic treasures would naturally feel dwarfed before a Deity Transformation cultivator if they lacked the means to resist that pressure. Falling under the illusion of fighting heaven and earth itself, they would cower before the battle even began. Such was the disparity in cultivation realm! This beast could be called the greatest foe Qin Sang had ever faced in his life! The Devil Lord of the Hall of Seven Kills had certainly once stood at a higher realm than this beast, but Qin Sang had never possessed the qualifications to face the Devil Lord directly. Though the Devil Lord's divided soul was powerful enough to suppress all the cultivators, he was only narrowly defeated when Qingzhu traded life for life. Yet when the divided soul struck, Qin Sang had never felt what he felt now, showing that the power had not exceeded the scope of the Nascent Soul stage. Qin Sang had overestimated the beast as much as possible before, but it seemed he had still been too optimistic. Had the barrier of the cultivation realm not thrown the beast into indecision, he would have had no choice by now but to leap blindly into whatever perilous shelter might offer him escape. Crash! Thick, gory blood qi surged from the depths of the storm. The threat Qin Sang sensed originated from that very place. The surrounding world was dyed blood-red by the gory vapor, and the sea below turned into an ocean of blood where waves rose in succession. The ferocious beast, crimson all over, bobbed within the blood sea. Its full form could not be seen. On the exposed parts of its body were four blood-filled cavities—actually four giant eyes arranged completely without order, every single one fixed on the direction of Qin Sang's flight, filled with madness and greed. Its skin was remarkably smooth, devoid of scales, with thick, fresh blood constantly seeping from the slimy surface, smelling utterly foul and brimming with an eerie aura. The clash of two conflicting instincts drove the beast into desperate action. Amidst an enraged roar, the beast's speed skyrocketed, carving out a bottomless trench in the sea. Then, its four giant eyes shot beams of blood-red light simultaneously, merging in front into a single pillar of light that blasted forward! In a flash, a crimson corridor formed across the storm belt, piercing through the void to connect the beast and Qin Sang. Yet as the blood light stretched to its end, it thinned considerably. The threat closed in. Sensing danger, Qin Sang whipped his head around, met with a sea of crimson. A rancid stench washed over him, turning his stomach. Even across such an immense distance, the momentum of the blood light remained astonishing. Qin Sang stole a hurried glance and pushed his escape art to its limit. Yet the blood light seemed sentient, pursuing him relentlessly like maggots clinging to bone, and its speed was even faster than his. In a breath's time. The blood light surged like a tidal bore, rolling like roaring thunder. Fast as Qin Sang was as a streak of lightning, after passing through storm after storm, he could not avoid the fate of being swallowed by the blood light. Swish! A figure suddenly appeared before Qin Sang. The external incarnation manifested just in time, releasing a secret technique that had long been prepared. Frigid chill blasted into the void behind Qin Sang, freezing into a mass that formed a thick ice mirror in the blink of an eye. With a booming crash, blood light and frigid light intertwined. The sound of explosions erupted, and Qin Sang and the incarnation both shuddered, yet delight appeared on their faces immediately after. The power of the blood light was not as terrifying as it looked. Weakened by the storm, it had evidently reached the end of its strength. Of course, the residual force of a Deity Transformation beast's strike was no small matter, and the ice mirror ultimately shattered. Qin Sang had already activated the Ruyi Orb, wrapping himself in an astral qi barrier. A tremendous roar rang out as the barrier blazed with golden light, colliding with the ferocious radiance and bursting into a great sun of gold and blood. Qin Sang's body was knocked toward the sea by a colossal force, flying like an arrow loosed from a bow. Though he appeared disheveled, Qin Sang was actually unharmed, having not even resorted to his demonic fire or the Sun God Tree. The blood light had turned out to be an empty display of strength. Yet before Qin Sang could rejoice, a sudden change occurred. The blood light that had seemed on the verge of dispersing suddenly formed a vortex out of nowhere, with Qin Sang right at its center. Qin Sang's expression froze. The beast had another trick up its sleeve, knowing how to feign one move to conceal its true killing blow. Little did he know that while the beast was rabid by nature, instinct would drive it to make the right choice. Perhaps it had once used this ambush by accident and successfully killed its prey, etching the tactic into its instincts. Whoosh! The crimson vortex formed at blinding speed, the surrounding space slightly distorting as it sought to grind Qin Sang to mincemeat within. The change came too abruptly. Trapped by the vortex, Qin Sang dared not use the Sun God Tree to blast a way out, lest he be caught in the blast as well. Yet he kept his head in the face of peril. His earlier judgment had not been mistaken: with the storm's natural order in chaos and the beast launching its attack from so far away, things had not yet reached the point where he could only sit and wait for death. The fire lotus spun out from Qin Sang's glabella, merging with the demonic fire from the demonic banner. After years of refinement, his Fire Seed Golden Lotus had advanced greatly, allowing him to command even more demonic fire through the fire lotus. At the same time, the incarnation took over the main body's Jinchen Sword and slashed out a hundred-zhang beam of sword qi. The demonic fire flame dragon plunged headlong into the vortex. Its body of flame immediately warped, seeming on the verge of being torn apart by the crimson swirl. Fortunately, demonic fire was formless to begin with. Even if shredded, it could reassemble, battering against the vortex without the slightest hesitation. The incarnation deliberately delayed its strike by half a beat, sending the sword qi immediately after the demonic fire to slice into the breach torn open by the flames. With main body and incarnation joining forces, Qin Sang gave his all, unleashing divine abilities in succession as he fought against the vortex's suction and charged outward. Sensing that its blood food was about to slip from its grasp, the beast roared repeatedly in fury. At this time. The long-bearded Daoist was following the roars, rushing in this direction. "Eh? That person was caught by the beast?" Hearing the change in the beast's roar, the long-bearded Daoist's expression shifted slightly. He picked up his pace, though his aura remained suppressed to the minimum. Approaching the battlefield swiftly. The long-bearded Daoist finally caught sight of the beam of blood light spanning the storm. Though he still could not see either side clearly, he could sense the blood light's might, clucking his tongue in admiration. "Sure enough, another Deity Transformation ferocious beast. That Fellow Daoist's cultivation has not yet reached the late stage; I fear it bodes ill for him..." Stopping in the distance, the long-bearded Daoist waited leisurely for a moment. Then, hearing the beast's frantic and exasperated roars, he let out a soft exclamation and chuckled, "It seems he escaped. Quite capable! Still, we cannot let the beast get any closer to the cultivation realm, lest it be frightened away. Otherwise, I would have let you tangle with it a bit longer to test its abilities." Stroking his long beard, the Daoist raised a hand and drew a talisman in midair. With a point of his finger, the spiritual talisman transformed into a sword, shooting toward the end of the blood light. At the same time, the long-bearded Daoist deliberately drew near the beast and released his own aura. The beast's roar was filled with pleasant surprise. It sensed new blood food, far more enticing than the previous one, and even farther from the aura it loathed and feared. Without hesitation, the beast immediately abandoned Qin Sang and turned to pounce toward the long-bearded Daoist. The long-bearded Daoist dared not get too close to the beast either, turning on his heel and fleeing. Qin Sang led his incarnation out of the vortex. Just as he prepared to flee further, he discovered the beast had actually turned around and left. He felt secretly perplexed, not expecting the beast to give up so easily. Right at that moment. A streak of azure light suddenly flew over. "A sword talisman! There's someone nearby!" Qin Sang's pupils constricted. Shocked, he immediately recalled his demonic fire. The sword talisman hovered in midair, gleaming with azure light. From within came a voice brooking no argument: "This is the Bajiguan sanctuary! Uninvolved parties, disperse at once! Let none say they were not forewarned!"