The whistling cry of a sword rang through the grand hall.
With a flick of his finger, Wu Yuesheng sent a thumb-sized spirit sword shooting into the air. The spirit sword expanded against the wind, while a fierce, crimson sword qi abruptly erupted from its blade.
This blade was named the Crimson Flame Sword. Shrouded in sword qi, its true form remained hidden, yet with such overwhelming momentum, it was at the very least a meticulously crafted high-grade magic tool, if not a top-grade one.
Baiyun Shanren harbored deep hatred for the baleful corpse. The moment he steadied himself, he poured his spiritual power frantically into his wooden staff and hurled it forward with all his might. The staff swelled dozens of times over in midair, resembling an immense slab of verdant dragon-subduing wood that blotted out the sky, crashing down toward the baleful corpse with terrifying force.
Qin Sang naturally continued to wield the Five Elements Dharma-Breaking Sword. The Ten Directions Yanluo Banner was unsuitable for public display, and he kept his ebony sword in reserve to guard against Wu Yuesheng.
Moreover, the three had already spread out to form a mutually supportive pincers formation. If any of them fell into peril, the others could swiftly lend a hand. With the baleful corpse pinned in the center, they only needed to gradually grind away the earth fiend qi cloaking its body and watch for a chance to strike it dead. There was no need to rush; the Five Elements Dharma-Breaking Sword was more than enough.
The fiery red sword qi, the massive wooden staff, and the Five Elements Dharma-Breaking Sword struck out simultaneously from three directions, sealing every avenue of escape. No matter how fast the baleful corpse was, it had nowhere to flee.
"Heh... heh..."
The baleful corpse flickered repeatedly, darting through the confined space, but each time it was driven back by the ferocious assault, unable to break the encirclement. It seemed to sense danger; the expression on its face and the rasps from its throat began to show a distinctly human agitation, rendering it all the more eerie.
*Roar!*
Cornered with nowhere to run, the baleful corpse snarled malevolently at the three men, only to be instantly submerged beneath the barrage of magic tools.
*Boom!*
A deafening roar echoed through the hall, setting the entire structure trembling.
Yet as the chaotic spiritual power dissipated and the scene in the center of the battlefield came into view, the ease on their faces vanished without a trace, replaced by sheer shock.
After weathering the combined strike, the baleful corpse looked somewhat disheveled, but it was not injured in the slightest.
At some point, the earth fiend qi around it had transformed into square slabs of black stone. These black stones hovered and spun incessantly about its body. Though the three men's joint attack had shattered most of them, the force of the assault had also been completely neutralized by the stones.
Furthermore, upon breaking, the black stones merely reverted into earth fiend qi, which swiftly re-coalesced into new slabs to wrap the corpse tightly once more.
Relying on these black stones, the baleful corpse had taken all three attacks head-on. Even the wounds where sword qi had pierced its flesh were rapidly mended by the earth fiend qi, leaving it ultimately unharmed.
Even though Qin Sang and Wu Yuesheng had both been testing the waters and had held back their full strength, the strike was still not to be underestimated—especially as a three-way combined assault. Faced with such a spectacle, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator of the same realm, armed with various magic tools and incantations, would have had to respond with everything they had, not daring to show the slightest carelessness.
All three men fixed their gazes on the bizarre black stones, their expressions varied.
"Could this be... the Black-Yellow Armor?" Wu Yuesheng murmured in disbelief, staring at the black stones swirling around the baleful corpse.
Hearing his words, Qin Sang suddenly recalled that very incantation. When choosing his cultivation methods at Pagoda Peak, he had browsed through many of the famous spells that Foundation Establishment cultivators could master.
He had lacked the money to purchase them and the energy to practice them, so he had committed their characteristics, weaknesses, and especially their counters to memory, aiming to know his enemies and ensure survival whenever he met a powerful foe.
Among those incantations, the Black-Yellow Armor was impossible to overlook and enjoyed great renown.
It was an earth-element incantation that only Foundation Establishment cultivators could practice, and its difficulty was exceedingly high. Once mastered, a single cast transformed spiritual power into armor protecting the entire body. Furthermore, the cultivator could freely reconfigure the armor plates with a thought according to the flow of battle, instantly shielding vital points across their body. It was renowned for its impenetrable, flawless defense.
Among the floating black stones around the corpse, faint traces of yellow flickered, accompanied by shimmering runes. Rotating around the corpse like small shields, they moved with extraordinary agility.
Aside from being black instead of earthy yellow, it was virtually identical to the Black-Yellow Armor.
The Black-Yellow Armor was exceptionally practical, and no small number of cultivators practiced it. Yet for a baleful corpse to deploy it was utterly bizarre—and chilling.
A baleful corpse's strength typically relied on nothing more than corpse poison, fiend qi, and a formidable body devoid of pain. Its methods were singular, which was why the three men had not truly feared it despite its apparent might.
Yet whoever heard of a baleful corpse capable of casting spells?
Just then, Baiyun Shanren seemed to recall something. His expression shifted, and he spoke in a low voice, "Fellow Daoists, don't you think the movement technique this baleful corpse used earlier looked like some kind of evasion art?"
Qin Sang and Wu Yuesheng froze. Thinking back to the earlier scene, they realized Baiyun Shanren's conjecture was very likely correct.
The baleful corpse's strength was not overwhelming enough to crush them. No matter how fast it was, it should not have been able to bypass the senses of three Foundation Establishment cultivators entirely, moving so quickly they could not even catch a glimpse.
If it were an evasion art, however, it made perfect sense. There were countless evasion incantations in the immortal cultivation world, including many obscure yet extraordinarily stealthy techniques. Concealing its movements from their spiritual senses was entirely within reason.
"The Black-Yellow Armor, and now a bizarre evasion art..." Wu Yuesheng's voice turned somewhat dry. "What other spells does it know? It won't be using magic tools next, will it? Are we going to have to address it as 'Fellow Daoist'?"
With that, Wu Yuesheng let out a dry, self-deprecating chuckle.
None of them dared treat the corpse as a mindless dead thing anymore. If it truly possessed various uncanny spells on top of its formidable body and terrifying corpse poison, it would be far more troublesome to deal with than an ordinary cultivator of the same realm.
The three exchanged glances, their expressions growing considerably graver.
Just as they were caught in suspicion and unease, the baleful corpse suddenly moved. Using that unfathomable movement technique once again, it vanished from their sight in an instant.
Wu Yuesheng's expression changed drastically. He rapidly formed a hand seal, sending the Crimson Flame Sword shooting straight into the air.
Immediately following came a sharp *clang*. The baleful corpse materialized directly beneath the Crimson Flame Sword, its ghostly claws slapping viciously against the blade and knocking the spirit sword into a violent tilt.
They had kept their magic tools deployed all along, remaining quietly on guard. Wu Yuesheng had never expected the corpse to target the Crimson Flame Sword itself. Despite his swift reaction, the Crimson Flame Sword was still scraped by the corpse's nails.
Upon the crimson blade, several clearly visible dark-green fingerprints appeared. The corpse poison and fiend qi lingering on those prints seemed alive, writhing as they clung to the blade, rapidly gnawing away at its spiritual light and trying to burrow inside to corrode the core of the spirit sword.
The corpse poison could not only harm people, but actually corrode magic tools as well!
Witnessing this, Wu Yuesheng was stricken with horror. He frantically urged the spirit sword with all his might, instantly triggering a raging inferno that flared out to engulf the corpse poison.
The corpse poison was soon burned away by the blaze. Fortunately, the Crimson Flame Sword remained undamaged, but Wu Yuesheng was left shaken to the core.
Chapter 165