Demonic banners orbited his body; demonic fire surged like a dragon.
With his cultivation greatly advanced, Qin Sang could command an even greater volume of demonic fire.
Its present momentum was so terrifying that the moment it appeared, Old Wu turned pale with fright. He hastily ground to a halt, maintaining his distance from Qin Sang as if confronting a mortal enemy.
Demonic flames billowed.
Compared to the demonic fire, even the violent ice storm appeared docile, swept aside to clear a vast expanse of open space.
Old Wu's pupils contracted. The danger he sensed from this demonic fire actually surpassed that of the sword array from earlier! He hurriedly raised the Blood-Drinking Demonic Dagger-Axe before him.
"What spiritual fire is this? So bizarre! When did such an expert appear in Zhongzhou? Neither his sword array nor his spiritual fire belongs to the righteous path, yet none of the demonic sects possess an inheritance of such strange demonic fire... It's said that the Fire Branch of the Wuxiang Immortal Sect passed down an extreme yang flame method, but this doesn't quite resemble it either..."
Although Luye did not involve itself with the mortal realm, its members could roam near the Northern Wilderness at will, so their information was far from cut off. Old Wu had heard of nearly every renowned expert of the contemporary great sects.
Yet Qin Sang was completely foreign to him; he had never heard of such a figure.
Although this differed from the legacy of the Fire Branch, this person was now appearing near the suspected cenotaph of the Water Branch Lord alongside someone who seemed to be a Water Branch inheritor. It was difficult not to draw connections.
Old Wu thought to himself that he had assumed the Wuxiang Immortal Sect had long fallen into decline, but now it seemed their legacy was far from extinguished, with many top experts still remaining.
A mighty force had always lurked in the cultivation world; they simply were no match for Eight Views Abbey and Sweet Dew Chan Monastery, leaving them no choice but to hide in the shadows.
Now that the Deity Transformation cultivators had disappeared, they dared to emerge and stir up trouble.
Old Wu lumped Qin Sang together with the Wuxiang Immortal Sect, completely unaware that he was off by a hundred and eight thousand li.
These thoughts flashed past in an instant. Looking ahead, Old Wu saw black flames engulfing the sky as waves of Nine Nether Demonic Fire swept forward, tearing through the ice storm like dead weeds.
Old Wu instinctively swung his dagger-axe forward, slashing out a blood-colored axe shadow.
Tempered and refined by Old Wu for many years, the Blood-Drinking Demonic Dagger-Axe had long surpassed the tier of ordinary magic treasures. Even a casual strike would throw anyone else into disarray.
Moreover, this was by no means an ordinary axe shadow.
Having witnessed the Seven Po Killing Array, Old Wu harbored no contempt for Qin Sang. Even when probing the demonic fire's might, he held nothing back.
The axe shadow materialized into a blood-colored dagger-axe.
Blood light flared brilliantly.
Even the surrounding ice storm was dyed crimson, transforming into a blood tempest that clashed head-on against the black spiritual fire, its sinister aura rivaling or even exceeding that of the Nine Nether Demonic Fire.
*Whoosh!*
The momentum of the axe shadow shook the heavens, leaving a long crimson scar between Qin Sang and Old Wu as though slicing space itself open.
Facing such an astonishing offensive, Qin Sang remained unmoved.
Driven by his will, the Nine Nether Demonic Fire showed not the slightest sign of hesitation. Forming a flaming dragon, it slammed headlong into the axe shadow as if courting death.
Seeing Qin Sang act so conceited, Old Wu was overjoyed, but his delight was short-lived.
The axe shadow plunged into the fire. To the naked eye, a blood-colored dagger-axe could be seen inside the demonic fire dragon, advancing with unstoppable momentum and disintegrating demonic fire wherever it passed. But the good fortune did not last. As it charged, the axe shadow shrank at incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, the bloody light and axe shadow vanished completely, swallowed and annihilated within the demonic fire.
This axe shadow held another hidden mechanism, but unable to break through the demonic fire or approach Qin Sang, it dispersed before it could unleash its effect.
Qin Sang had absolute confidence in the demonic fire. He remained suspended in place without moving an inch, concentrating wholly on driving the flames.
*Whoosh!*
Engulfing the axe shadow, the demonic fire dragon swooped down!
Old Wu glanced toward the depths of the ice storm.
From here, he could already faintly sense that a battle was raging inside. Lady Yue was not dead yet, and she might even have the upper hand; there was still a chance to seize the treasure. Unfortunately, within the ice storm, he could not send a transmission to the young master.
His expression darkened, and he repeated his earlier trick.
The Blood-Drinking Demonic Dagger-Axe hummed and sprang up—Heaven-Fixing Divine Dagger-Axe appeared once more!
Myriads of axe shadows!
Qin Sang already knew the might of the Heaven-Fixing Divine Dagger-Axe. Seeing this, his hand seal abruptly changed. The demonic fire rapidly converged toward the fire lotus at its center, and the demonic fire dragon's speed surged rather than decreased, violently crashing into it!
A thunderous roar echoed.
Both Qin Sang and Old Wu were visibly shaken.
The Heaven-Fixing Divine Dagger-Axe possessed the power of confinement. Yet under the impact of the demonic fire, the entire space locked by the axe shadows trembled violently, and the myriad axe shadows even began to crack!
*Boom! Boom!*
The demonic fire battered relentlessly, attempting to forcibly tear through this form of the Heaven-Fixing Divine Dagger-Axe with brutal force!
Falling into a disadvantage, Old Wu bore the brunt of the assault. Hit by the demonic fire's aura, his breathing turned labored and his soul sluggish; he felt a terrible pressure bearing down upon him.
In sheer horror, Old Wu hurriedly raised his right hand.
Snapping and popping sounds erupted from the knuckles of his right arm, and his sleeve burst apart.
As his arm was exposed, it looked nothing like a human hand.
Its skin was covered in bizarre black runes that gleamed with dark light, spreading all the way to his fingers and turning his fingernails pitch-black. Claws formed as he swung violently, unleashing the dark silhouette of a demonic claw.
*Riiip!*
A sound resembling tearing silk faintly echoed in the void.
The demonic claw flashed into being amidst the myriad axe shadows. Though it appeared tiny, under its grasp and in synergy with the Heaven-Fixing Divine Dagger-Axe, the demonic fire actually showed signs of stalling, as if slamming into a solid wall.
Qin Sang's eyes narrowed slightly, and he snorted inwardly. Just as he was about to exert more power, his senses suddenly stirred, and his face darkened.
At the same time, Old Wu noticed something and looked toward the depths of the ice storm.
First, they saw a pillar of deep blue light shoot out from deep within the storm, illuminating both of their faces with a blue sheen. Only then did they feel the accompanying shockwave and a deafening roar!
*Boom!*
Both of their figures shuddered violently.
In the next instant, the earth shook and mountains crumbled!
***
Inside the ice cavern.
The hand of Qin Sang's incarnation reaching for the cold crystal froze in place.
Never had he imagined there was an array within an array!
The one who laid the formation had been exceptionally meticulous; the secondary spirit formation was concealed so thoroughly that it gave intruders no time to react, erupting the moment the primary formation broke.
Had Luye not intervened, Qin Sang might have had a chance to detect the trickery here and proceed step by step, fully prepared. Now, it was too late for regrets.
He only had time to shout a warning to Old Man Yanshan.
This was clearly a killing array, one that might even be designed to destroy the cold crystal in a mutually destructive explosion.
Qin Sang shattered the ice pillar with a palm strike, grabbed the cold crystal, and retreated rapidly.
The Snow-Treading Divine Saber guarded his body.
The Ruyi Pearl spun rapidly within him, enfolding him in a spherical astral barrier.
Knowing he stood at the very center of the killing array, Qin Sang still felt it was not safe enough. He brushed his hand above his head, and mystic qi surged upward, forming a giant hand of mystic qi.
Dense swarms of blue points of light emerged throughout the ice cavern. These lights condensed directly inside the ice layers, turning into little blue crystal arrows.
There were no arrows in the ice below, but the blue points of light bloomed outward and converged toward three locations as if guided by an intellect—precisely where Qin Sang and the other two stood.
From the appearance of the blue light on the ice pillar to the eruption of the killing array took only a split second.
*Crack!*
The ice shattered, and piercing whooshes immediately flooded their ears from all directions.
In an instant, the ice cavern was dyed an ethereal blue.
Just as the whooshes sounded, a tremendous force slammed into the astral barrier.
The barrier shattered the incoming blue crystal arrows. A blue ice flower blossomed before Qin Sang's eyes, and then he was submerged in a sea of such ice flowers.
As the one who broke the formation, Qin Sang stood at the center of the spirit array. The blue crystal arrows attacking him were noticeably more numerous, making up nearly half of the barrage, turning the surface of his barrier into something resembling a porcupine.
*Bang, bang, bang...*
Countless blue crystal arrows fell like a torrential storm.
The astral barrier shook violently, and Qin Sang's true essence drained away like water bursting through a dam.
However, after enduring an attack of this magnitude, Qin Sang actually breathed a sigh of relief. As he had expected, the power of these blue crystal arrows was limited.
For an array within an array to be so well hidden, some power inevitably had to be sacrificed; otherwise, had the spirit formation been too complex and its qi dynamic too obvious, it could never have escaped the eyes of someone breaking the array.
This array relied on surprise. If the person unraveling it had lacked caution and been unprepared, they would have been pierced by ten thousand arrows on the spot, riddled like a sieve.
Unexpectedly, no sooner had this thought crossed his mind than the Heavenly Eye Butterfly sounded an alarm. Qin Sang immediately felt a violent surge of power rushing up from below, startling him.
His reaction was lightning-fast; he soared upward and slashed fiercely with his saber.
The Snow-Treading Divine Saber pointed straight down, its blade light flashing like lightning.
The ice layer abruptly exploded into dazzling blue light as a pillar of blue light several zhang in diameter burst forth. Containing energy that had accumulated for who knew how long, it surged with tremendous fury—another lethal strike following the blue crystal arrows!
Fortunately, Qin Sang had not let his guard down in the slightest and blocked in time with his saber.
*Slash!*
Accompanied by a resonant hum of the saber, the erupting blue light pillar ground to a halt. At the apex of the pillar, a divine saber hung suspended upside down in the void, its blade tilted slightly like a descended deity as saber qi poured down like a waterfall.
Immediately after, the giant mystic qi hand seized the opening, following close behind to spread its five fingers and clutch the light pillar.
Without sparing a glance beneath him, Qin Sang flickered repeatedly in evasion, finally reaching the edge of the light pillar just before the Snow-Treading Divine Saber and the mystic qi hand crumbled.
While Qin Sang was evading with all his might, Lady Yue and Old Man Yanshan on the other side were also struck.
Positioned at the perimeter of the ice cavern, both the number of blue crystal arrows and the power of the final light pillar they faced were somewhat weaker than what Qin Sang had encountered.
However, experiencing such a sudden catastrophe in the midst of a fierce battle, their peril was even greater than Qin Sang's.
Lady Yue had maintained the offensive all along.
As the blue crystal arrows shot toward her, silver light flashed across her body. Beneath her garments lay an inner vest that clung tightly to her skin, thin as cicada wings and doing nothing to conceal the curves of her figure.
The inner vest conjured the phantom of armor, wrapping Lady Yue securely and proving just as sturdy as the Ruyi Pearl's astral barrier, deflecting all the blue crystal arrows.
Yet facing the blue light pillar that followed immediately, Lady Yue could not handle it as calmly as Qin Sang.
In the critical moment, she actually cast off the inner vest, using the physical armor itself to withstand the blue light pillar. At the cost of destroying this treasure, she stalled the pillar for an instant.
Old Man Yanshan was a step too slow.
To make matters worse, the two defensive treasures he relied on most were not by his side.
His Dragon Head Shield was entangled by the silver bracelets.
His One-Origin Heavy Water had been used to hold back Lady Yue, and there was no time to recall it.
In his haste, Old Man Yanshan only managed to yank back his thin cord and complete an incantation. The thin cord wrapped around him, forming a ring of water to shield his body.
*Puff, puff, puff...*
This item was not a defensive treasure after all. Water splashed wildly within the ring, growing increasingly tenuous.
Gritting his teeth, Old Man Yanshan persevered, pouring everything into recalling the Dragon Head Shield.
Fortunately, Lady Yue was also in no position to spare attention to control the silver bracelets.
With a bang, the blood rings on the Dragon Head Shield were shattered, reverting into two halves of the silver bracelet. The Dragon Head Shield shot back to him. Old Man Yanshan had barely raised the shield to block the blue crystal arrows, with no time to adjust, before being swallowed by the blue light pillar!
*Boom!*
The light pillar grazed the astral barrier.
Qin Sang only saw a burst of bright blue light before being hurled away by a tremendous force. The astral barrier creaked, but thanks to his timely evasion, it had only been grazed rather than shattered, leaving him uninjured.
The world spun around him.
With a crash, Qin Sang slammed into the stone wall.
By this time, the killing array was at the end of its strength; the blue crystal arrows were exhausted, but the chaos inside the ice cavern had only just begun.
Three blue light pillars stood out conspicuously. The power within them leaked outward, creating surging blue waves that battered everything in the cavern.
A chill emanated from his palm.
After obtaining the cold crystal, Qin Sang had had no time to examine it closely. He hastily looked toward the direction where Old Man Yanshan had been.
At the final moment, he had seen Old Man Yanshan swallowed by the light pillar. The energy of the light pillar was still erupting, the blue light forming a massive tide within which the qi dynamic was chaotic to the extreme.
Having agreed to retrieve the treasure together with Old Man Yanshan, he naturally could not stand by and watch him die.
Qin Sang hurriedly put away the cold crystal and dashed toward the light pillar.
Unexpectedly, halfway there, a graceful figure blocked his path—none other than Lady Yue.
Without a word, Lady Yue commanded her thunder beads to form a lightning web that swept forward, blocking all of Qin Sang's paths of advance.
"Get lost!"
Qin Sang roared in fury and slashed with his saber.
The saber qi carved out a snowy path.
Cold blue light still raged all around; this place was entirely a world of ice and snow.
Both of them cultivated the Dao of Cold Ice; in such an environment, they were evenly matched in elemental affinity.
Having already experienced the sharpness of the Snow-Treading Divine Saber, Lady Yue gave a soft snort and threw out two items. They were the two halves of the silver bracelet, which she had retrieved at some point.
A familiar scene repeated itself.
The silver bracelet transformed into blood worms, clamping down on the Snow-Treading Divine Saber from left and right while its saber qi was hindered by the lightning web.
Qin Sang paid no heed to the divine saber.
White mist rose above his head. The new mystic qi hand was dozens of times smaller than the one that had gripped the light pillar, but its power was not diminished in the slightest. With fingers curved into claws, it shot out in a flash toward Lady Yue's throat.
Lady Yue was formidable indeed, still possessing untapped tricks. Parting her cherry lips slightly, she exhaled a breath that condensed into a jade folding screen.
Unexpectedly, before the screen could fully form, it was struck by a lightning thread shooting out from Qin Sang's dantian and vanished without a trace on the spot.
With her divine ability broken, Lady Yue still refused to yield. Twisting her body and tilting her fragrant shoulder, a butterfly tattoo appeared on her fair, rounded shoulder, executed with exquisite needlework and lifelike detail.
Flapping its wings, the butterfly actually took flight. Its wings spread wide like a shield, protecting Lady Yue's vitals in the nick of time.
Although intercepted, the force behind the mystic qi hand was not so easily thwarted.
The butterfly tattoo was a single-use talismanic measure.
Lady Yue gave a muffled groan. As the butterfly disintegrated, she was sent flying backward, the clothing on her right shoulder shredded and dripping with blood.
A trickle of blood also seeped from the corner of her mouth, staining her red lips, yet her smile grew only more bewitching. Ignoring her wounds, she twisted around and charged once more.
"This enchantress is insane!"
Qin Sang had never imagined that Lady Yue would risk her life just to stop him.
Doing so had left her severely injured, making it impossible for her to be his match. Even if she dragged Old Man Yanshan down with her, what was the point?
Qin Sang could not understand it, and immediately summoned his spirit treasure!
Chapter 1574