The moment the green vine appeared before Mo Xingdao and he reached out to grasp it, he was doomed to become the target of everyone present.
Every cultivator gathered here was in the Late Nascent Soul stage; even their hurried strikes were anything but ordinary.
Blinding, unearthly light erupted in an instant where Mo Xingdao stood, as if bucketfuls of varied pigments had been smashed open in the void, bursting outward to form a canvas that was utterly chaotic, yet subtly aligned with the laws of heaven and earth.
The brilliance was so intense it completely obscured Mo Xingdao himself.
Facing a siege of this magnitude, anyone present would have felt their scalp prickle with dread.
Having witnessed Master Huaiyin's plight with his own eyes, Su Zinan knew Mo Xingdao had fallen into a trap—and that in the shadows, a demonic enchantress was about to deliver a fatal blow.
Wasn't this the very situation Su Zinan had been waiting for all along?
His Three Corpses God-Perishing Banner lacked one primary soul. If he could only imprison one more Late Nascent Soul cultivator to complete its three souls, the demonic artifact would reach perfection—an achievement of immense significance to him.
In comparison, even the Fire Rhinoceros Pendant was of secondary importance.
Ever since entering the Wuxiang Immortal Sect, he had given up the chance to enter the Celestial Palace right away in order to hunt down Old Man Yanshan, and later sought to ally with Old Demon Fan and others to corner and kill Qin Sang. Everything had served this single goal.
To his eyes, the opportunities in the Celestial Palace and on Dishou Mountain were merely the best catalysts to spark chaos and create openings for him.
Thus, seeing Mo Xingdao in dire straits, he had not hesitated to kick him while he was down rather than warning him or targeting the Daoist nun. Had Master Huaiyin not been a body cultivator unsuitable for the demonic banner, he would have done the exact same back then.
Qin Sang was his prey, and so was Mo Xingdao.
Even against Daoist Zilei or Old Demon Fan, should an opportunity present itself, he would strike without hesitation.
Years ago, Su Zinan had used Old Demon Lu's Deity Transformation insights as bait to entice Mo Xingdao into traveling with him—venturing far into the Northern Wilderness, descending south into the Central Plains, sailing out into the Eastern Sea, and finally arriving in the Southern Barbarian Lands.
Along the way, Mo Xingdao's assistance had helped him accomplish numerous goals. If he could capture other prey with Mo Xingdao's help, that was well and good.
If not, it would at least allow him to probe the depths of Mo Xingdao's strength.
By now, Su Zinan felt he had uncovered most of Mo Xingdao's secrets, subtly guiding circumstances to force Mo Xingdao to reveal many of his methods.
Of course, Su Zinan knew Mo Xingdao undoubtedly still held life-saving trump cards.
Yet what of it?
Just look at Mo Xingdao's adversaries at this moment: the two Daoist masters possessed grand mystical arts of the Daoist sects, while the Poison King's venomous techniques were peerless in the world. Only the Fire Demon seemed focused on the Fire Rhinoceros Pendant and had not exerted much effort against Mo Xingdao.
Even so, those three alone were more than enough to put Mo Xingdao under fire from all sides, caught in an inescapable dilemma.
And how could the demonic enchantress, having custom-tailored this trap for him, possibly let the chance slip? Capable of manipulating the divine restrictions of Dishou Mountain, she was in fact far more dangerous than a true Great Cultivator.
Falling into such a desperate predicament was practically certain death; any trump card had to be laid bare.
Su Zinan had to make his move, or his prey would be snatched by the enchantress. Once he seized Mo Xingdao's Nascent Soul and perfected the three souls, he could do as he pleased so long as no Deity Transformation masters appeared.
Who could have guessed that when Mo Xingdao truly revealed his trump card, it would shatter all expectations and stun every onlooker?
A Late Nascent Soul puppet!
At that moment, the sequence of events on the battlefield replayed in everyone's minds.
Daoist Zilei's lightning seal, the churning torrent gushing from Daoist Hegao's palm, and the toxic sand laced with poisonous miasma unleashed by the Poison King—each of these three attacks possessed astonishing might, and they struck nearly simultaneously against a luminous barrier.
Su Zinan recognized it. Strictly speaking, it was not a barrier, but a veil woven from countless threads of light—a deeply hidden defensive magic treasure of Mo Xingdao's that had been exposed when he forced his way into Wuwang Hall.
Su Zinan had ordered the Dark Moon Guards to investigate in secret, eventually discovering that the treasure was named the Yuanxin Barrier. Capable of shielding its master automatically, it had once belonged to a Northern Wilderness fiend who had fallen from Buddhism into demonic ways two thousand years ago, and through that clue, Su Zinan had traced Mo Xingdao's origins.
Yet powerful as the treasure was, it was not enough to withstand an assault of this caliber.
As the Yuanxin Barrier shattered, the Daoist nun abruptly appeared.
Her timing was exquisite; the Poison King and the others had unwittingly become her accomplices. With a wave of her slender jade hand, a plume of white origin qi descended from above like a waterfall cascading through the murky fiend-winds, gathering entirely into her grasp—she had mobilized the power of the boundary barrier.
Her five fingers curled into claws, resembling the giant talons of a celestial dragon, carrying a world-shaking momentum that tore through every obstacle.
Her almond eyes were wide, brimming with hunger and excitement.
The next instant, a greyish-black barrier thrust upward in defense. The Daoist nun's claws slammed down, and combined with the lingering fury of the lightning seal, the jade mist torrent, and the toxic sand, this barrier was shattered in a split second as well.
Right at that moment, bizarre ripples distorted the void on either side of Mo Xingdao. Two demonic shadows darted forth, rushing alongside the Daoist nun into the scattering fragments to seize the prize.
That ringing metallic clang had sounded precisely then.
As the dazzling phenomena subsided slightly, everyone saw a towering, burly, dark-skinned figure standing where Mo Xingdao had been—or more accurately, shielding him from the front.
The dark-skinned figure stood fully thirty feet tall, powerfully built, its entire form forged of spiritual gold and profound iron. Its skin gave off a heavy, lustrous sheen, looking exceedingly imposing like a Golden-Armored Wrestler of legend.
The sheen on its skin was identical to that of the barrier just now. Crossing its arms over its chest, it not only blocked the Daoist nun's sneak attack, but also bore the demonic blade of Old Wu's demonic soul and the One Primordial Heavy Water of Old Man Yanshan's demonic soul.
In an instant, one side of the dark-skinned figure's body billowed with boundless blood-qi, while the other was coated in thick mystic ice.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Though the dark-skinned figure's body was as hard as iron, several terrifying gashes still tore across it.
Had this been a living cultivator, one could easily imagine their fate.
Yet it was a puppet. Though its body grew somewhat stiff, as long as its central core was not destroyed, no number of wounds would cause it to disintegrate. It stumbled backward to disperse the force, revealing Mo Xingdao's figure—he had hidden behind it all along, completely unscathed.
Her sneak attack having failed once again, the demonic enchantress was even more frustrated than Su Zinan, nearly spitting blood in vexation.
This man was even worse than the monk! At least she had managed to wound the monk earlier, but now she hadn't even touched a hair on Mo Xingdao's head; every strike had landed squarely on the puppet.
*Crack!*
Heavenly thunder struck from above.
At the same time, a strange resonant sound echoed through her mind.
Startled, the enchantress realized it was aimed at her once more.
She was acutely aware of her predicament; having failed again, everything would become much harder from here on.
All of these cultivators were intensely interested in her, and she might well draw a coordinated siege just like before. This place was different from the Five Elements Divine Restriction—she was subject to restrictions here and could by no means afford to be careless.
Before the heavenly thunder could strike down, the Daoist nun's figure turned ethereal, on the verge of vanishing.
In the distance, Qin Sang frowned.
He had once again paired the Soul-Extracting True Word with the Thunder-Wielding Technique. Since his opponent was on guard, it was no surprise that the True Word's power was greatly diminished, yet he had not expected it to have virtually no effect on the Daoist nun at all.
Her strength seemed to be far greater than anticipated.
In a flash of thought, Qin Sang showed no intention of giving up. The cry of his sword rang out alongside thunder, shaking the surroundings. Sword-qi transformed into a rainbow, tearing through the air toward the battlefield as a sword array manifested.
In an instant, the sky and earth darkened, and countless sword threads encircled the Daoist nun.
Yet to his surprise, the Daoist nun was even more decisive than before. Following her strike, she lingered not for a second, connecting with the boundary barrier before the sword array could fully take shape.
Qin Sang's expression darkened slightly. Abandoning any thought of ending it in a single stroke, he changed tactics immediately. The sword array snapped shut, its sword intent coalescing into a single beam, with the spiritual sword concealed within, thrusting toward the Daoist nun's chest.
With the Fire Jade Centipede, he had no fear of losing track of her, but an opportunity to wear her down could not be missed.
The Daoist nun was formidable as well, her reactions remarkably swift. Even with most of her body turned ethereal, she forcibly twisted aside. Just then, however, a majestic shout boomed beside her ears.
"What scoundrel dares!"
The speaker was none other than Daoist Zilei.
This was not a sonic soul-attack divine art like the Soul-Extracting True Word, yet it set off blaring alarm bells in the Daoist nun's mind.
Amid this sudden turn of events, Su Zinan's scheme had failed and left his mind shaken, Mo Xingdao could only look after himself, and Daoist Hegao was astonished by the bizarre appearance of the Daoist nun.
The Poison King had few entanglements with the various factions and reacted somewhat faster. Realizing the celestial fruit was an illusion and that the Daoist nun had appeared, he redirected his toxic sand, yet it was clearly too late to reach her.
Only Daoist Zilei remained completely unmoved by external distractions.
"Kill!"
The shout thundered like lightning and tore the air like sword-qi.
The void around the Daoist nun shattered instantly.
To the eyes of onlookers, space itself seemed to break like a shattered mirror.
In truth, it was not so; those fractures were streaks of lightning interlacing into a net across the void, appearing as if slicing space apart.
These lightning bolts were sharper than true heavenly thunder. Judging by their fierce sharpness, they were unmistakably streaks of sword-qi.
Thunder was their skin; sword intent was their bone!
Daoist Zilei carried no sword, for every snap of his fingers was a blade.
This was a true heritage of Bajing Abbey—both a lightning art and swordplay, a supreme true dharma. Bajing Abbey had obtained only a fragmentary manual and comprehended a single art from it, yet in the way of slaughter and offense, it was already enough to look down upon all peers.
Wielded by Daoist Zilei, its majesty was peerless.
Two Great Cultivators, two supreme sword arts, both aimed at the Daoist nun!
Instantly, sword intent soared to the heavens around her.
*Riiip!*
A series of sounds like tearing silk rang out, mingling the ripping of air with the slicing of flesh and skin by sword-qi.
A burst of blood blossomed in the void.
The Daoist nun vanished.
The sword intent plummeted.
The Jinchen Sword hovered in the void, its tip trembling slightly.
Daoist Zilei clenched his fingers, drawing the lightning back like rivers returning to the sea, coalescing it into his palm, held in check without releasing.
The two of them tacitly reined in their sword intents to avoid a needless clash.
Within that narrow space, their two sword intents had mingled. Fortunately, they had shared the Daoist nun as a common target; otherwise, their wills would have collided directly, unable to coexist.
Qin Sang lowered his gaze. He and Daoist Zilei had achieved an unintended coordination, yet they had still fallen short—only managing to wound the Daoist nun without managing to keep her here.
Even so, Qin Sang felt this outcome was acceptable.
On one hand, he had tested the Daoist nun's limits; on the mountain, she was indeed vastly different from how she had been within the Five Elements Divine Restriction.
On the other hand, had they truly kept her here, it remained uncertain whose hands she would have fallen into. Even if the Daoist sects did not monopolize her, the spoils would have had to be divided among all parties.
*Whoosh!*
The Jinchen Sword shot back to him. Just as Qin Sang was about to withdraw and track the Daoist nun, he heard Mo Xingdao let out a long whistle, laughing coldly again and again. "Someone once warned Mo that allying with Daoist Su was nothing less than asking a tiger for its hide—that I must beware of having my soul drawn and refined into your demonic banner. At the time, Mo thought it was mere alarmism!"
A moment ago, while the Daoist nun was focused only on fleeing for her life, Su Zinan had pressed several fierce attacks, attempting to take down Mo Xingdao in one breath.
With the veneer of civility shredded, there was no room for reconciliation.
Unfortunately, though the puppet had suffered repeated heavy blows, its core remained undamaged and its combat strength intact. Combined with Mo Xingdao, they amounted to the fighting strength of two Great Cultivators.
Su Zinan, even joining forces with his demonic souls, might defeat Mo Xingdao, but that was the extent of what he could achieve.
Hearing Mo Xingdao's words, Su Zinan's facial muscles twitched. Seeming to realize something, his gaze turned chillingly grim. "That wretched wench isn't dead!"
The secret of the Three Corpses God-Perishing Banner was known only to Consort Yue and Old Wu.
And even they did not know everything.
Old Wu knew only that the demonic banner could at most claim the souls of cultivators at the peak of the Mid-Nascent Soul stage.
After all, controlling three Great Cultivators of the same realm with a single demonic banner was simply too shocking.
One had to know that before Old Demon Lu refined it, the original banner could only control Mid-Nascent Soul souls, and even then, its master at the time had been besieged and killed by the Buddhist, Daoist, and demonic factions alike.
Of course, that person had lacked an adoptive father at the Deity Transformation stage.
Yet his Three Corpses God-Perishing Banner was far more heinous.
This banner violated the harmony of heaven; those controlled by it could neither live nor die, subjected to endless torment and agony.
Once exposed, even Old Wu would have guarded against him, and the Great Cultivators of the cultivation world would all feel threatened. They would quickly form an anti-Su alliance, and even with his adoptive father's formidable reputation, he would have had no choice but to cower in Luye, not daring to show his face.
Old Wu had died by his own hand.
Consort Yue, on the other hand, had supposedly died outside. He had only seen her imprint vanish, and taking Old Wu's report into account, had not probed deeper.
If Mo Xingdao's words were true, it could only have been Consort Yue who warned him.
Though Su Zinan had never revealed true core secrets to Consort Yue, he had treated her as a plaything and had not been overly guarded around her. With the banner nearing completion, swept away by smug pride, it was inevitable that a few words might slip in bed.
Later, when Old Wu suddenly vanished, though Su Zinan had dumped the blame onto the Fire Demon, Consort Yue had been a firsthand witness to the battle on the snow plains.
If she had investigated him with intent, she could have deduced the truth.
That wretched wench had somehow managed to shake off the control of the Dark Moon Seal, and had even turned around to play him!
Mo Xingdao sneered without answering.
He had long known Su Zinan harbored ill intent, yet had still traveled with him, naturally confident that he could swallow the sweet bait and still withdraw intact.
In ordinary matters, he would exert his best efforts so Su Zinan would not detect anything amiss.
Yet in things like hunting down the Fire Demon, he had merely gone through the motions without exerting real effort.
In matters of women, Su Zinan had always been the master, with Consort Yue and the other concubines merely caged canaries he kept. Who would have thought he would be pecked so viciously in return? His rage surged to the heavens.
Though his demonic souls had been exposed before the Daoist masters, the demonic banner itself had been hidden inside his sleeve. If Mo Xingdao had not laid it bare, he might still have glossed it over, but now that was completely out of the question.
As expected, Daoist Hegao recovered from the flurry of startling surprises and immediately turned his gaze toward Su Zinan, his tone grim. "Insolent boy! With Old Demon Lu not in this world, how dare you act so rampant!"
Su Zinan recalled the demonic souls and sneered disdainfully. "Given your actions today, what face do you have to berate me?"
Daoist Hegao faltered.
Bajing Abbey's connivance with the remnants of the Wuxiang Immortal Sect to unseal the immortal's abode could hardly be considered upright. If other factions pressed the issue in the future, it would be fine if they had a Deity Transformation cultivator overseeing them, but otherwise they would barely be able to protect themselves, let alone police Su Zinan.
Unable to help himself, he turned to look at his sect master senior brother. The situation was truly becoming difficult to handle.
Daoist Zilei, however, uttered not a single word, seemingly sensing something.
Everyone assumed he was searching for traces of the Daoist nun.
Moments later, flowing light suddenly flew out from the crown of Daoist Zilei's head. Amid the glow, a palace lantern rose slowly, rotating steadily to reveal eight facets.
Beholding this lantern, Su Zinan dropped his sneer, while Mo Xingdao darted onto the puppet's shoulder, both adopting guarded stances.
The Poison King gasped softly, "The Eight Views Palace Lantern!"
Suddenly, the lantern flames blazed brilliantly, rainbow light illuminating heaven and earth. A rainbow bridge spanned across the sky, pointing straight toward a certain location atop Dishou Mountain.
Wherever the rainbow bridge reached, the fiend-winds subsided and the restrictive formations froze.
Daoist Zilei stepped onto the rainbow bridge, appearing just like an immortal.
Chapter 1666