Chapter 562: The Anomaly of Metal Among the Five Elements

More than three hundred Jin Dan cultivators walked while rehearsing.

After adding three quasi-Nascent Soul cultivators, the difficulty of controlling the formation dropped further; with continuous rehearsal, the formation gradually became refined and skilled.

The Eight Trigrams rotated with flawless smoothness; even without another force controlling it, it could still be put to use—at the very least, it would not be defeated in a single move by a Nascent Soul cultivator.

More than ten days later,

The grand and majestic Ancestral Master Hall of Luoxu Sect appeared before everyone's eyes.

Jiang Ding gazed at the great hall before him.

Weathered, solemn, austere.

Incense and cloud-like qi swirled around the hall's roof, just as it had countless years ago over ten thousand years past, receiving the worship of successive generations of Luoxu Sect cultivators without ever ceasing.

Until ten thousand years ago, when all these rites came to a halt.

The incense still lingered, yet the cultivators of Luoxu from those days were already gone.

"Preserved so perfectly—back then, Master Canghai Canghai Tianjun must have been extremely reluctant to part with this place, and even specially reinforced it… leaving open the possibility of Soul Transformation-level attacks being preserved?"

Jiang Ding asked himself inwardly.

"Extremely slim."

"This fragment of the Nine Heavens has thin spiritual qi; it absolutely cannot preserve a Soul Transformation-level attack for ten thousand years."

"If there truly is one, then I'll die—I'm specifically here for this. I just need to mark it down, and come back to explore in the future to obtain clues about immortal arts."

Everything had been prepared; scanning the formation with divine sense revealed no other anomalies.

Jiang Ding revealed his figure, landing precisely at the center of the brand-new Eight Trigrams Formation-Breaking Array.

Streams of Eight Trigrams formation patterns surged toward this spot, were sorted through, then flowed back, harmonizing the chaotic auras of the more than three hundred Jin Dan cultivators and smoothing them flat.

A torrent-like flow of Jin Dan Fa magic power coursed through the formation patterns—precise and exact, as responsive as an arm directing its fingers, no different from the magic power that had accompanied these cultivators within their bodies for several hundred years.

"Such mastery of formations is nearly the Dao itself…"

The many Jin Dan cultivators held their breath in concentration, watching the formation patterns before them arise and vanish, the flow of heaven and earth's spiritual qi, and the wondrous self-generated phenomena, unable to help revealing intoxicated expressions.

Even cultivators who understood formations not at all could sense the Dao aura within, and vaguely gain something in their hearts.

"A fourth-tier formation master! And not merely fourth-tier low-grade!"

"This is formations—the hardest of the hundred arts of cultivation, hailed as the very foundation of the immortal Dao!"

"Even with peerless talent, without several hundred, even close to a thousand years of time, how could one ever achieve it?"

The Liu Dao Sect Holy Son was shocked, and could not help sending a voice transmission to Lieyang Dayan Jianzi of the Departure Division: "Such a figure—have you people of the Great Sun Sword Sect ever heard of him? It's as if he sprang out from a rock."

Among these cultivators, he believed only Lieyang Dayan Jianzi could communicate with him as an equal; Dong Xue Dong Xue Liuyun fell short by quite a margin.

"No."

"A Jin Dan cultivator—how could that possibly be?"

Lieyang Dayan Jianzi shook his head slightly.

"Indeed."

The Liu Dao Sect Holy Son also vaguely agreed with the meaning implied in his words, and immediately felt somewhat indignant: "Such a fine senior, sending in an external incarnation—just say so outright, and we would naturally obey in awe. Why hide your head and show only your tail…"

His heart inexplicably relaxed.

If it were a Nascent Soul cultivator, then he should possess considerable strategic vision—certainly he would not lightly kill him; there was no benefit to it, and it would also greatly earn the enmity of Liu Dao Sect and even the entire Zhengmo Alliance.

Hiding his head, showing only his tail—hiding his head, showing only his tail. That's just fine.

From beginning to end, the two of them never knew who this person was, so naturally there was no need to harbor killing intent.

Everyone stepped into the Ancestral Master Hall of Luoxu Sect.

The surrounding space fluctuated violently; hazy and indistinct, heaven and earth shifted, and wisps of golden light pierced the air, illuminating everything above and below, falling upon every cultivator and causing their magic treasures to hum and quiver.

An involuntary chill ran through everyone's hearts, as if stripped of their clothes and placed in a bustling marketplace, with countless passersby's gazes gathered upon them.

After a moment, this eerie gaze vanished, and the pressure instantly dissipated.

Everyone looked around and found themselves deep within a boundless golden desert, where spiritual qi was cut off, as if spurned by the immortal Dao, making it impossible to mobilize any spiritual qi.

"The formation of the Scripture Pavilion…"

Many cultivators felt a relief in their hearts, just about to speak, when another change occurred.

Rumble rumble rumble!

Accompanied by the roar of collapsing mountains and rocks, dust rose in all directions; yellow sand flew for ten thousand li, blotting out the sky.

At its center, a giant of blazing gold slowly rose from the yellow sand; with every inch it ascended, the surrounding yellow-sand ground churned as if heaven and earth had been overturned.

After a moment,

Amidst streaks of golden light patterns, a hundred-zhang-tall statue of blazing gold stood tall, radiating a terrifying pressure outward.

It took the form of a Daoist in a Daoist robe—handsome in bearing, with wide sleeves fluttering, as if a celestial being.

At this moment, the eyes of the golden-robed statue burst forth with resplendent golden light, shooting out two streaks of light that swept across everyone one by one, lingering for a moment on each person—especially on that ordinary-looking young man at the center.

"Interesting… a body of metal-element puppetry…"

The lips of the blazing-gold statue parted, and a voice as warm and smooth as jade rang out—not at all the fiercely aggressive tone one might have imagined.

'Alive?'

The many Jin Dan cultivators trembled violently, their faces turning pale, their confidence utterly shattered.

Ten thousand years had passed, yet still alive—what manner of Tiangui Tiangui Laoguai was this!

And how would it treat them, these tribulation cultivators who had ransacked its sect?

"Ancestor!"

"Paying respects to the Ancestor!"

The Liu Dao Sect Holy Son, however, was overjoyed, unable to help crying out.

This once again drew many gazes.

Only now did many cultivators realize with a start that this Six Paths Holy Son's appearance bore a seven- or eight-tenths resemblance to the statue enshrined in the Ancestral Master Hall of the Falling Luo Xu Zong — it could hardly be coincidence.

Blazing Sun Sword Son's expression, however, lingered for a long while on the phrase "metal puppet body," and a look of "just as I suspected" crossed his face.

The Yao Jin statue did not respond to the Six Paths Holy Son's call.

Perhaps, with his blood descendants spread all over the Northern Plain, he had long grown accustomed to the appearance of offspring — they were everywhere — and felt nothing for them.

"Junior, you have broken into my sect."

"Will you take your own life, or shall I act personally?"

The Yao Jin statue stood with hands clasped behind its back, gazing at Jiang Ding, and said coolly.

"I must ask the senior to act."

Jiang Ding nodded.

In his heart, he too was shaken.

This body of his carried a sixth-tier talisman — the Cause-Cleansing Fruit-Destroying Talisman — whose concealment was extremely powerful; yet a mere Nascent Soul-tier array and body had seen through the disguise in a single glance. It was truly inconceivable.

This was an anomaly,

possibly one wrought by an immortal art.

"Very well."

The Yao Jin statue raised a finger.

Boom!

The Ancestral Master Hall's array rumbled into operation, boundless Jin Chong Guang converging, the array's golden script flickering in and out of sight, then forming a divine spear piercing the heavens — which in an instant tore through layer upon layer of space and stabbed forth to kill.

At this moment, he seemed to become the sovereign of the Metal element; at his command, all the metal beneath heaven followed, and even the dharma domains of Nascent Soul cultivators could not affect him in the slightest.

"Li Fire Trigram!"

Jiang Ding shouted low.

In a voice brimming with icy killing intent, the many Jin Dan cultivators all shivered at once; even the Six Paths Holy Son was roused from his reverent, yearning emotions, and upon sensing the heavy pressure of the revolving Eight Trigrams array, instantly yielded, efficiently cooperating with the array's patterns as the Eight Trigrams' phenomena flowed on without cease.

Senior Qian, Kun, Kan, Dui, Zhen, Xun, Gen!

The Eight Trigrams' phenomena shifted and rotated unceasingly, finally fixing upon the Li trigram; the phenomena swelled mightily, and boundless Li Fire sprang up within dozens of kilometers, burning heaven and destroying earth, gathering into a single palm where it condensed into a twisted Li Fire sword-form.

Fire overcomes metal!

"Cut!"

Jiang Ding poured the entirety of his Annihilation Sword Intent into it; the Li Fire Trigram Sword, amid a skyful of firelight, melted open space and vanished.

Boom!

Between the two of them, in a stretch of utterly unremarkable space, a thunderous roar suddenly erupted; countless pitch-black spatial rifts appeared, and then the entire space collapsed and shattered apart.

The violent spatial storm sprayed out in all directions, plowing the earth into bottomless canyons one after another.

A divine spear that commanded the Metal of the Five Elements, and a Li Fire Trigram Sword wreathed and twisted in Li Fire flames.

The two tangled for a moment, then vanished together.

"He… he blocked it!"

Bai Mei True Person and the other Jin Dan cultivators had held their breath and focused intently on the battle, and now their morale soared.

This statue was not some old monster who had lived for ten thousand years!

"Martial Uncle Tushan!"

At the same moment, a terrified shout rang out.

Following his gaze, the crowd's hearts trembled, and they plunged into an endless dread of death.

At the center of the Eight Trigrams Formation-Breaking Array, a youth of ordinary appearance wore a stunned, bewildered expression, as though something utterly strange had befallen him and he could not make sense of it.

In his chest,

a golden spear the thickness of a baby's arm had arrived at some unknown moment and plunged deeply into his heart.

(End of this chapter)