The bronze awl was extraordinarily nimble. Missing with its first strike, it immediately wheeled around and resumed its pursuit of Qin Sang.
Meanwhile, Wu Youdao had used some unknown secret technique; his speed surged violently, rapidly closing the distance between them.
Right at that moment, the flying boat in the distance noticed the commotion. Changing course, it picked up speed and cut off Qin Sang's path.
Wu Youdao's eyes lit up. He shouted toward the vessel, "Form the Azure Fire Banner Gate Formation!"
At his command, the flying boat came to a sudden halt, positioning itself directly in front of the spot where Qin Sang had buried his treasure.
Nearly twenty figures then flew out from the vessel, all Foundation Establishment cultivators. The weakest were only at the early Foundation Establishment stage, but among them were experts as strong as the cultivator surnamed Li, who had reached the False Core stage.
Hovering in midair after leaving the boat, three of them, including the cultivator surnamed Li, drew a green triangular banner from their mustard seed bags.
These triangular banners were identical to the ones Qin Sang had seen atop Divine Astral Peak!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The three waved their hands in unison, raising the triangular banners.
The three azure banners spiraled upward and hovered in the void, taking positions at the Three Talents coordinates.
Next, the rest of the cultivators simultaneously summoned the Qingyang Demonic Fire from within their bodies, channeling the flames toward the banner array in an unbroken, all-out stream.
As the Qingyang Demonic Fire poured in continuously, the azure banners grew increasingly dazzling. Between them, a ball of azure flame gradually coalesced.
The demonic fire blazed fiercely, radiating a ferocious, tyrannical aura.
Seeing this, Qin Sang felt an ominous premonition rise in his heart.
Only a few among these twenty were true experts. Given his current strength, he did not take any single one of them seriously; even if they swarmed him together, he could deal with them with ease.
Yet those three azure banners were clearly extraordinary. Once they fully deployed this so-called Azure Fire Banner Gate Formation, it would be tremendous trouble!
Pinched from both front and back, he would find himself in an extremely passive and dangerous position.
His only choice was to disrupt the grand formation before it could take shape.
However, Wu Youdao was relentlessly harrying Qin Sang with the bronze awl, leaving him unable to break free. With Wu Youdao already closing in, escaping later would be even harder.
Pressing its advantage relentlessly, the bronze awl lunged once more.
This time Qin Sang did not dodge. With a thought, he guided the ebony sword to meet the awl head-on.
Clang!
The two magic treasures clashed for the first time, both trembling violently.
The Qingyang Demonic Fire enveloping the bronze awl dimmed, and several of the gold rings on its surface cracked, though they rapidly began to mend.
The ebony sword flickered erratically as well.
Right then, an eerie burst of bloody radiance erupted from the core of the ebony sword, transforming it into a blade of blood in a split second.
At this sight, a bad premonition seized Wu Youdao's heart. He reacted with lightning speed, moving to recall the bronze awl, but he was a step too slow.
Whoosh!
With a flick of the ebony sword, the Blood Filth Divine Light struck the bronze awl squarely.
Instantly, the demonic fire receded from the bronze awl. The fractured golden rings ceased mending, dulling completely like patches of mottled rust; the magic treasure's spirituality was severely damaged!
A surprise attack with the Blood Filth Divine Light had never failed.
So long as an opponent was unaware that the ebony sword possessed the divine ability of the Blood Filth Divine Light, it was virtually guaranteed to hit its mark.
The reason Qin Sang had not unleashed the divine light right away was that he had not been certain whether the bronze awl was Wu Youdao's life magic treasure.
Though Wu Youdao had reached Core Formation only recently, the Qingyang Demonic Sect had deep foundations; he likely possessed more than one magic treasure.
Qin Sang had hoped to ruin Wu Youdao's life magic treasure, which would cause his overall power to plummet and grant Qin Sang a better chance of escaping. But current circumstances no longer allowed him to stall.
The bronze awl staggered unsteadily back into Wu Youdao's hand.
"Blood Filth Divine Light!"
Seeing the sorry state of his magic treasure, Wu Youdao was shaken and enraged. Never had he expected to encounter a magic treasure forged from one of the Ten Great Divine Woods.
The bronze awl was clearly unfit for further use and would probably require a long period of nurturing to recover, making Wu Youdao hate Qin Sang all the more.
Glaring coldly at the ebony sword, he knew such a divine ability could not be used a second time in short order. He immediately turned his palm inward and slapped his dantian.
Whoosh!
A verdant gourd flew out from Wu Youdao's dantian. Originally only thumb-sized, it expanded rapidly after leaving his dantian until it could barely be held in one hand.
The gourd flew above Wu Youdao's head, spun, and pointed its mouth toward Qin Sang.
Through its opening, one could see a separate fiery domain within the gourd's belly, burning with Qingyang Demonic Fire of utmost purity, poised to erupt.
"The bronze awl really wasn't his life magic treasure!"
Qin Sang sighed inwardly. Knowing he could not afford to remain entangled with Wu Youdao, he abruptly opened his right hand, revealing what he held in his palm, and made as if to throw it.
A strand of qi flared from it under Qin Sang's stimulation.
"Xutian Thunder!"
Wu Youdao was in the middle of activating his fire gourd when he caught a glimpse of it, and his expression changed dramatically.
Xutian Thunders were exceedingly rare, but Core Formation experts like him, even if they had never seen one in person, knew what they looked like and were keenly aware of their power.
If he took a direct hit from a Xutian Thunder, he would likely never see tomorrow's sun.
Horrified, Wu Youdao halted abruptly and dodged frantically.
Little did he expect that the Xutian Thunder was merely a feint.
Qin Sang knew that the Xutian Thunder's blast radius was limited; hoping to kill an opponent in such an open expanse was nothing short of wishful thinking, so he had never intended to throw it.
Very few had ever witnessed a Xutian Thunder firsthand, and Wu Youdao certainly would not dare gamble on whether Qin Sang had truly primed it.
As it turned out, Qin Sang was right.
The moment Wu Youdao retreated, Qin Sang rode his sword and fled forward at full power. His sword light flashed like lightning, bringing him before the Foundation Establishment cultivators in the blink of an eye.
Only then did Wu Youdao realize he had been duped. Filled with regret, he was completely unable to stop Qin Sang in time.
The cultivator surnamed Li remained calm under pressure and bellowed, "Disperse!"
The others flickered and scattered at once. Yet though their formation appeared disorganized, an underlying connection remained, and the three azure banners stood undisturbed in their original positions.
The fireball within the array suddenly swelled, transforming into a torrent of flame that surged head-on toward Qin Sang.
The Qingyang Demonic Fire unleashed by a group of Foundation Establishment cultivators had undergone a transformation within the azure banners. Though slender in appearance, this fiery stream was exceptionally pure, and Qin Sang dared not underestimate it.
Yet after brief consideration, Qin Sang made a startling move. With no intention of dodging, he did not slow down in the slightest; instead, he circulated his true essence, seeking to clash head-on against the stream of fire.
The true terror of Qingyang Demonic Fire lay in how, once it touched an opponent's spiritual power or true essence, it would cling like maggots on rotting bone, nearly impossible to shake off.
Anyone else aware of the power of the Qingyang Demonic Fire would never have dared to attempt such a thing.
Seeing Qin Sang act with such arrogance, the cultivators of the Qingyang Demonic Sect sneered with contempt.
Yet in the very next instant, their jaws nearly dropped to the ground.
Boom!
Qin Sang forcibly smashed through the stream of fire, his figure merely swaying slightly.
As for the sparks flying outward, upon touching Qin Sang's true essence, they should have clung to it and blazed fiercely, subjecting him to immense torment.
Instead, as if deprived of fuel, they snuffed out one after another.
Chapter 532