Chapter 729: The Tai Xuan Eight Trigrams

The bald-browed giant and others below showed no sign of worry; they knew that if the Ma cultivator had drawn out that scroll to fight, it could not be mere showmanship with no effect whatsoever. WM website

Indeed, at the center of the sea of fire, the Ma elder clasped his hands in a seal, and the scroll before him flipped horizontally upward; white light flashed, a roaring wind surged, and a column of misty white wind shot straight up from the Eight Trigrams diagram, instantly spreading out to cover more than ten zhang around.

The flames surrounding it were swept into the wind column like a bamboo shoot splitting through rock, and in an instant, half the vast sea of fire had vanished.

At the Ma elder's furious roar, a silver rainbow shot out from within the wind column, striking directly toward Ku Yao, ignoring the fire dragon above his head entirely.

Clearly, the Ma elder understood that if he injured Ku Yao, the fire dragon, bound by soul-link to him, would naturally lose much of its power.

Ku Yao's face remained expressionless; after a slight twitch of his lips, he raised one hand.

A red flying knife shot from his palm, transforming into a streak of crimson light to meet the silver rainbow.

The flying knife was crystal-clear and crimson, dazzling in brilliance, instantly blocking the silver rainbow, and the two clashed midair, entangling fiercely.

Crimson light and silver radiance intertwined, indistinguishable, neither gaining the upper hand.

Seeing this, Ku Yao's eyes flashed coldly; he flipped his hands, and a burst of light appeared in his palms—two tiny red misty banners, no more than an inch long.

He flung the banners into the air; with a "zzzz" sound, they unfurled in the wind, growing to over ten zhang tall.

A low, obscure chant issued from Ku Yao's lips; the banners blazed with crimson light, and two thick columns of fire shot from their surfaces, converging precisely above the fire dragon's head.

A vast cloud of fire began to coalesce, flickering in and out of visibility.

"Go!"

Ku Yao stopped chanting and spat out a cluster of crimson essence, striking the fire dragon above his head.

The fire dragon revived instantly, let out a dragon's roar as it shook its head and tail, then plunged headfirst into the fire cloud.

The blazing cloud churned violently, then rapidly shrank.

Han Li, watching below, narrowed his eyes; blue light flickered in his pupils.

Through the Divine Eye of Clarity, he was astonished to discover that the fire dragon was hiding within the cloud, greedily swallowing the surrounding fire.

In an instant, the entire cloud was devoured; the dragon's body swelled violently, expanding to over ten zhang in length as if inflated by breath—its head now as large as a room, fangs bared, grotesque and terrifying.

At this moment, the misty hurricane and the surrounding sea of fire vanished entirely, revealing the Daoist elder with a bone-deep, celestial aura.

The Ma elder gripped the Eight Trigrams diagram, glanced coldly at the enormous fire dragon, and without a word, tossed the scroll upward.

It transformed into a streak of aurora, shooting straight into the high clouds and vanishing—as if it had flown beyond the heavens.

Ku Yao stared, momentarily stunned.

But in that brief hesitation, an unusual surge of spiritual energy appeared above his head; threads of five-colored light descended from the sky, and a colossal Eight Trigrams diagram suddenly materialized within the aurora, covering an area of dozens of zhang, then descended without mercy.

Ku Yao's face turned pale; without hesitation, he pointed at the fire dragon atop his head.

The giant dragon immediately raised its thick neck and blasted a crimson light column from its mouth, striking the bottom of the diagram.

The massive array trembled slightly, then continued descending as if unaffected.

Ku Yao's face turned ashen; he rubbed his hands together and thrust them upward—countless fireballs, each the size of a fist, surged from his palms like a swarm, shooting wildly into the sky.

Seeing this, Han Li's mind stirred.

This was not a barrage of talismans triggering Fireball Spells—it was the spontaneous, simultaneous release of fireballs through sheer cultivation. Clearly, the Artificer's magical arts were truly different, far more practical in combat than ordinary Five Element Daoist techniques.

As Han Li pondered silently, the fireballs struck like meteors beneath the massive array—but to no avail; the giant Eight Trigrams diagram did not budge, instead plummeting with astonishing speed, like a small town descending, engulfing the unprepared Ku Yao and the fire dragon beneath it.

Instantly, all watching cultivators and artificers could see nothing but the giant diagram slowly rotating in the sky—Ku Yao's movements were completely obscured.

The Ma elder, though victorious in attack, showed no sign of joy; instead, he sat cross-legged with a grim expression, hands forming seals. A soft white radiance flowed over his body like liquid jade, shining brilliantly.

Simultaneously, the giant diagram responded with a surge of aurora, and within it, thunderous explosions echoed continuously.

The Eight Trigrams diagram flickered between dim and bright, spiritual light flashing.

"Master Master Tianku, is Master Ku safe inside? If he's in danger, we need not abide by one-on-one rules—we can simply swarm in and rescue him! Who would have thought this Nascent Soul cultivator possessed such a strange ancient treasure?" The tall, thin artificer, seeing this, showed a flicker of concern and turned respectfully to the black-robed man beside him.

"Heh heh! Don't worry. This 'Tai Xuan Eight Trigrams Diagram' is indeed a powerful ancient treasure, forged in ancient times—but the user hasn't truly mastered its use. He's merely forcing it to trap the enemy with its raw spiritual power. Even so, it won't hold Master Ku for long. This crude, brute-force method drains immense magic power. This man is utterly foolish! But then again, in such a remote place, who would know the true method of activating such a rare ancient treasure?" The black-robed man chuckled softly, his tone brimming with disdain for the Tiannan cultivators.

Hearing this, the tall, thin artificer relaxed; his earlier plan to order his followers to swarm in was temporarily abandoned.

Meanwhile, the bald-browed giant and others below wore mixed expressions of hope and worry.

At first, when they saw the Eight Trigrams diagram trap the opposing artificer, they had been genuinely excited. But now, hearing strange sounds emanating from within the diagram and seeing the Ma elder sit solemnly, channeling power with a heavy expression, they realized the battle was far from over—and felt a tinge of disappointment.

And the elder himself was silently cursing his luck.

He had only just acquired this treasure, and previously used it only against Core Formation cultivators. Once trapped inside, they had no resistance—he could activate the diagram's seals and eliminate them one by one.

But this Ku Yao, trapped within the diagram, was somehow using his own abilities to temporarily resist the thunder and fire attacks, while continuously summoning the giant fire dragon to blast the diagram's seals.

This forced him to continuously replenish spiritual energy into the diagram just to maintain its stability.

The aerial battle fell into silence; apart from the faint rumbling echoing from within the aurora, the battlefield was utterly still.

The bald-browed giant and others grew increasingly anxious.

Han Li stood alone to one side, gazing upward with an impassive face, yet silently conversing with Yin Yue.

"This Master Ma is truly wasting a priceless treasure! He's using the Tai Xuan Eight Trigrams Diagram like this? This is an ancient treasure whose power rivals the Zi Mo Dao!" Yin Yue clicked her tongue in dismay, as if lamenting a pearl cast into darkness.

"Tai Xuan Eight Trigrams Diagram? You know this ancient treasure?" Han Li's face remained blank, but he asked inwardly.

"Of course. This diagram was a famous ancient treasure from ancient times—but this one seems to be a crude, inferior copy. Otherwise, even if the true powers couldn't be fully unleashed, it would have suffocated the opponent to death. A true high-grade Eight Trigrams Diagram wouldn't drain so much magic power." Yin Yue replied swiftly.

"If even a crude copy has such terrifying power, what must a true high-grade diagram be like? But you said the Zi Mo Dao's power rivals this treasure—does it also have special activation techniques?" Han Li hesitated, pressing further.

"The Zi Mo Dao isn't this complicated! Just infuse it with spiritual energy to use it. And the seal of Yangyang True Fire on it—you only need to study it a few times to master it." Yin Yue replied with a light laugh.

Hearing this, Han Li fell silent, said nothing more, his eyes flickered briefly, then returned to watching the sky.

But after only two glances, he frowned inwardly—"Trouble."

A deafening, earth-shattering explosion erupted from within the diagram.

The diagram in the sky twisted violently, then countless crimson light columns blasted outward in all directions; the entire diagram instantly became riddled with holes, torn and ruined.

As the onlookers stared in shock, another thunderous boom erupted from one corner of the diagram.

A burst of flame shot out, flying straight to over ten zhang in height before the fire vanished—revealing Ku Yao, face flushed crimson, standing atop a fire dragon now shrunk back to its original ten-zhang length, looking listless and drained.

On the other side, the Ma elder was no better off—his face ashen, eyes dull and lifeless.

But the elder gritted his teeth, reached out, and summoned the now-ruined diagram; the broken Eight Trigrams diagram flashed with aurora and shot skyward.

Moments later, it reformed into a scroll and fell back down into his hands.

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