Chapter 41: Fierce Battle

"Demonic fiend, do you truly believe that relying on a single Seventh Grade great array grants you the confidence to fear nothing?"

Ouyang Feng, standing beyond the array's luminous curtain, sneered coldly at Lu Yang: "An array is ultimately a lifeless object; for us cultivators, cultivation base and realm are paramount!"

"In the end, it all comes down to proving oneself through actual combat."

Alarm bells rang loudly in Lu Yang's heart, yet his expression remained unchanged: "If Fellow Daoist possesses such confidence, by all means enter the array to fight; otherwise, simply retreat obediently."

"Seeking death!"

Ouyang Feng offered a grim smile, then actually took a step forward, exhaling sharply to unleash his voice; a sound like thunder cracked, and suddenly a mighty roar erupted from his throat.

This was a superior divine ability of the Shenwu Sect named "Thousand Li Sky-Shattering Divine Sound," achieved by employing a secret technique to inhale and exhale heaven and earth spiritual energy, amplifying it with the Shenwu Sect's unique Third Grade true qi, "Shenwu True Essence," before roaring it out in one breath; wherever the sound waves passed, within a thousand li, friend and foe alike would be shaken into powder.

In an instant, this intensely fierce divine sound rushed into the array.

Array lines shattered one after another, revealing skeleton soldiers of various appearances; the massive array had actually been blasted open, creating a gaping breach!

Immediately following this, Ouyang Feng produced a round mirror.

"I invite Lord Taixiao to act."

He formed a hand seal and pointed, offering the round mirror into the air; a magnificent beam of mirror light shot down, freezing the void and actually holding the breach in the array firmly in place!

In an instant, the market town shook violently!

Numerous cultivators scrambled backward, daring not approach the array's edge again, their faces filled with panic.

Fairy Feixia's face turned deathly pale, but the next second she whipped her head to look at Lu Yuanchun, whose expression was strange, and shouted sternly: "Stay here; you are not allowed to go anywhere!"

Having previously been tricked, Fairy Feixia naturally no longer trusted Lu Yuanchun; at this moment, even her beautiful face displayed a hint of ferocity: "If not for Junior Brother Lu, you would already be dead outside the market town; if you dare try to flee amidst this chaos again, I will kill you first regardless of everything!"

"Junior Sister Feixia has misunderstood."

Lu Yuanchun smiled awkwardly; seeing the man-eating ferocity in Fairy Feixia's eyes, he felt some dread and was forced to suppress the many sinister thoughts that had just arisen in his mind.

With two cultivators at the Late Stage of Qi Condensation maintaining order, the chaos within the market town quickly subsided.

Of course, everyone knew this was only temporary.

The outcome of the battle between Lu Yang and Ouyang Feng was the final straw that would break the camel's back, so at this moment, Fairy Feixia could only place her trust in Lu Yang.

She trusted him to create a miracle.

"Is this... a magic treasure?"

Lu Yang looked at the round mirror in the air, his expression changing drastically: "And it suppresses Earth Fiend Yin Qi, a supreme yang magic treasure specifically crafted to counter the 'Hundred Skeletons Return to Truth Great Array'!?"

Ouyang Feng threw his head back and laughed loudly, brimming with pride and satisfaction:

"The Hundred Skeletons Return to Truth Great Array has stood atop Skeleton Mountain for many years; since my Shenwu Sect dared to make moves against it, how could we not have prepared methods to break the array in advance?"

"With the 'Taixiao Mirror' here, you are certain to die today!"

This magic treasure did not belong to him personally but had been specially refined by a Foundation Establishment True Person of the Shenwu Sect to deal with the Hundred Skeletons Return to Truth Great Array, so its power went without saying.

Above the market town, Lu Yang's expression turned ugly, and without another word, he turned and fled.

"Hmph! Thinking of escaping?"

Ouyang Feng did not hesitate, leaping forward directly while unleashing his divine sound once more, instantly shattering the skeleton soldiers surrounding him before chasing after Lu Yang.

However, just at that moment, an unexpected change occurred!

The moment Ouyang Feng stepped into the array with his front foot, his expression changed with his back foot still outside; he subconsciously wanted to retreat, but upon turning his head, he saw only a expanse of scarlet array lines.

"I didn't expect you would actually dare to enter..."

Lu Yang halted his flight, turned to look at Ouyang Feng, and the panicked demeanor from moments before seemed to have never existed as he revealed a grim smile.

"This is impossible!"

Ouyang Feng's eye twitched, filled with shock and suspicion: "The Hundred Skeletons Return to Truth Great Array was clearly fixed in place by my Taixiao Mirror, so why is another array appearing? Is there a second set of arrays within the market town? Where did it come from? Why did I detect not a single trace of array placement beforehand?"

"Because I never needed to set up an array in the first place."

Lu Yang sneered inwardly; his Blood-Washing Heavenly River Sword Array Diagram relied entirely on the Blood Sun Sword Pellet as its array treasure, forming the array the moment the thought arose, so naturally, there would be no traces!

The next second, a fluttering banner appeared in Lu Yang's hand.

The Innate One Qi Myriad Souls Banner!

The banner waved, and instantly, figures of banner spirits flew out, landing on each array eye of the Blood-Washing Heavenly River Sword Array Diagram, moving involuntarily into position.

When designing this array, Lu Yang had already accounted for the Innate One Qi Myriad Souls Banner; now, over ten thousand souls from within the banner arranged themselves, occupying the array eyes and manifesting profound mysteries; in an instant, the heavens and earth turned crimson, and a surging river of blood flowed from south to north, crashing down from the sky straight toward Ouyang Feng!

Ouyang Feng immediately let out a muffled groan, his figure staggering.

Heavenly Demon Blood-Transforming Divine Light!

Trapped within the array, Ouyang Feng could not dodge the might of the divine light; he felt his originally surging vital essence leaking out of his body as rapidly as floodwaters breaching a dam.

The next second, he hurriedly shouted: "Lord Tianguang, save me!"

Armor light faced the sun, golden scales opened; layer upon layer of treasure light enveloped Ouyang Feng, and for a time, it actually halted the devouring power of the Heavenly Demon Blood-Transforming Divine Light.

Magic treasure, Tianguang Helmet!

This treasure was refined using "Subduing Demon Heavenly Light," which conflicted in nature with the Heavenly Demon Blood-Transforming Divine Light; the result of their collision was a mutual stalemate.

Only now did Ouyang Feng barely breathe a sigh of relief.

After all, even he had not expected that with his cultivation base, combined with the two magic treasures Taixiao Mirror and Tianguang Helmet, and with such thorough preparations, he would still nearly come to grief.

"At this point, fleeing is not an option..."

Ouyang Feng's eyes turned bloodshot; far from intending to escape, he instead looked toward Lu Yang deep within the array, his eyes filling with suffocating killing intent.

"... he only way is to counterattack!"

As a true disciple of a sect, his willpower was certainly not weak; he understood the principle that "when narrow paths meet, the brave win," knowing that if he focused solely on escaping now, Lu Yang would simply play with him until he died; to break the array, he must seek life within death, find a way to kill Lu Yang, for once Lu Yang died, the array would dissolve on its own!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The next second, under the protection of the Tianguang Helmet, Ouyang Feng charged toward Lu Yang, his unparalleled spear tip pointing directly at the Innate One Qi Myriad Souls Banner in Lu Yang's hand!

"That banner flag seems to be the core of this array; if I cannot kill Lu Yang, perhaps destroying it will also offer a path to survival..."

"Come on!"

Lu Yang raised the banner flag, and a figure materialized; it was none other than Liu Xin, whose face was filled with bewilderment, as if he had not yet fully awakened.

The next second—

"Explode!"

With a loud boom! Liu Xin involuntarily opened his mouth and shouted the character 'Kill'; it was actually the Life-Taking Curse, specifically designed for mutual destruction!

In Lu Yang's view, Liu Xin's usage of the Innate One Qi Myriad Souls Banner was far too superficial; after all, banner spirits were immortal, and even if destroyed temporarily, they could be re-summoned by consuming magic power as long as their true spirits remained scattered; given this, why have them fight by the book?

They should be taught moves for mutual destruction!

Since they could be revived anyway, having them unleash divine abilities that killed a thousand enemies while damaging themselves eight hundred, self-detonating to slay foes, was the correct way to use them!

In an instant, a tidal wave of spiritual energy swept over everything.

When the dust settled, Liu Xin had vanished without a trace, while Ouyang Feng was forcibly halted mid-air, his expression gloomy to the extreme.

Up until now, he had employed many methods.

Divine abilities, magic treasures, and suppression by cultivation base; dealing with a cultivator at the Late Stage of Qi Condensation should have been effortless, yet who could have expected that none of his efforts would succeed.

Instead, his magic power consumption was enormous.

"If this continues, I fear I will truly die here..."

Thinking of this, a ruthless glint flashed across Ouyang Feng's face; he formed a hand seal, and immediately, the Tianguang Helmet on his body suddenly emitted a mournful cry.

"This is... not good!"

Seeing this, Lu Yang's expression changed abruptly; his figure flashed, instantly shifting behind the Blood Sun Sword Pellet, then summoning the blood shadow of the sword pellet to shield himself in front.

Boom!!!

The magic treasure Tianguang Helmet had self-detonated!

The exploding spiritual light, much like the scene Xiao Shiye had created in the past, swept in all directions, instantly shattering Lu Yang's sword array diagram and revealing the clear blue sky.

Although Lu Yang reacted extremely quickly, swiftly closing the array, Ouyang Feng was faster, breaking out of the sword array diagram's encirclement at the critical moment; Lu Yang only had time to unleash the Heavenly Demon Blood-Transforming Divine Light, brushing away another thirty percent of his vital essence, leaving him looking like nothing more than skin and bones.

"You destroyed my magic treasure; unless I tear your corpse into ten thousand pieces, this hatred cannot be quelled!"

Standing outside the market town, Ouyang Feng looked ferocious; he actually injected his remaining magic power into the other magic treasure, the Taixiao Mirror, causing it to emit a mournful cry as well.

"At worst, I will sacrifice all my magic treasures today; let's see if you can still produce a third great array!"

(End of Chapter)