Chapter 957: Chapter Nine Hundred and Sixty-Five: Playing Dead

Squeak squeak!

A skyful of fire birds poured down, each one radiating an astonishing energy fluctuation, and what made everyone most wary was still the flames flowing across the fire birds' wings.

This reminded them of the "phase force burning" effect those disciples of the Faceless Holy Sect had displayed earlier.

Clearly, as elite disciples, the eight before them were even more adept at this power.

To avoid harming the somewhat weaker companions behind them—Qin Yi, Li Luo, Chen Ping and the rest—the high-star Xing Tian Zhu Jing experts like Qin Ying and Li Li Lingjing dared not be careless, and all erupted with surging phase force; resplendent Tian Zhu spun at high speed behind them, inhaling and exhaling the energies of heaven and earth.

Layer upon layer of energy barriers rose up, blocking the incoming tide of flames.

But the instant they made contact, those energy barriers began to melt away rapidly. The expressions of quite a few high-star Xing Tian Zhu Jing experts couldn't help but change, because just as they had expected, those fire birds likewise possessed the power to burn phase force—in the moment of contact, their phase force was vanishing at speed.

Soon, cracks appeared in those energy barriers, and then fire birds nimbly slipped through, charging toward Qin Yi, Li Luo and the others positioned a little further back.

Seeing this, Li Luo unhesitatingly activated the energy dragon wings on his back; the wings flapped, and his figure shot toward another direction like a bolt of lightning to evade.

These attacks were extremely violent—even Li Li Lingjing, Qin Ying and the others had failed to fully defend against them, let alone people like Li Luo.

While Li Luo was dodging, Qin Yi's reaction was in no way inferior to his. One saw what seemed like a stream welling up beneath her feet, while at the same time a small fountain of water rose from the ground not far away; the flowing water-light transformed into an exquisite water lotus, and Qin Yi's graceful figure, as if by teleportation, appeared directly atop that water lotus dozens of zhang away.

Such Su Du Shen Fa, drifting and ethereal as an immortal.

Everyone used their own means to protect themselves, but there were still some unlucky fellows who were struck directly by the fire birds and immediately let out screams. One saw flames burning fiercely outside their bodies—these flames were extremely wondrous, not harming the body itself, yet the phase force fluctuations emanating from those struck were rapidly weakening.

In a mere dozen or so breaths, those who had been struck collapsed powerlessly. Though they still had some breath left, the phase force within their bodies had been burned clean, leaving them utterly without the slightest shred of power to resist.

This sight made everyone's hearts shudder—without one's own phase force, no technique could be performed at all; one would simply be at the mercy of others.

Li Luo kept dodging, his figure weaving through the many fire birds that darted in, and occasionally a fire bird swept past within half an inch of his body, startling a cold sweat out of Li Luo.

His gaze swept over this area, then his figure drew near Qin Yi's side, and he called out: "Fairy Qin, how long do we have to keep dodging?"

Qin Yi glanced at him and replied: "This is the first wave of attacks from those elite disciples. The stone platforms they sit on should actually be a kind of strange formation—it amplifies their power while also serving as the path to that 'Golden Hall' deep within. We can only wait for an opportunity now, and launch a combined strike the instant their attack pauses. As long as we knock one elite disciple off his stone platform, we can seize the chance to break in."

Li Luo nodded silently. Although those elite disciples were indeed troublesome under the strange formation's amplification, they ultimately lacked true spiritual intelligence, so as long as an opportunity was found, a flaw should be discoverable.

Only, before any flaw appeared, the attacks from the elite disciples grew fiercer and fiercer.

As the eight elite disciples formed hand seals, the fire birds darting across the sky actually began fusing together rapidly at this moment, and in just a few breaths transformed into a single hundred-zhang fire bird.

The fire bird spread its wings, and in the next instant, countless flame feathers poured down like a rainstorm.

Facing such a tremendous attack, even experts like Li Li Lingjing and Qin Ying, whose strength rivaled the eight-star Xing Tian Zhu Jing, could only do their best to draw fire, sharing some of the pressure for those behind.

After all, with the enemy borrowing the strange formation's power and their attack yet unabated, this was not the moment for a counterattack.

But with things like this, Li Luo and the others were in even greater peril. The flame feathers raining down from all over the sky were indeed somewhat weaker in power than the earlier fire birds, but with such numbers blanketing the area, being hit by too many would surely leave one in an utterly wretched state.

Li Luo dodged with all his might, but he then discovered that the faster he dodged, the faster his speed, the more "flame feathers" seemed to be drawn his way.

These flame feathers seemed to carry some kind of mobile tracking device.

So in just a short moment, Li Luo was horrified to discover a long string of flame feathers trailing behind him—if they caught up, they would likely burn his internal phase force dry in an instant.

With phase force exhausted in such circumstances, things would truly be more ill-fated than fortunate; even Qin Yi, who was still in a cooperative state for the time being, probably wouldn't mind conveniently putting a knife in him.

Thinking of Qin Yi, Li Luo hurriedly glanced her way, only to find that Qin Yi had actually not used any Divine Phase Force to dodge the flame feathers, but instead remained still—even the phase force around her body was completely withdrawn at this moment, making her look like an exquisite, resplendent jade sculpture.

However, this turtle-breathing state of hers actually allowed her to avoid the flame feathers entirely; even when some flame feathers passed through the area around her, they did not attack her.

Seeing this, Li Luo immediately understood that Qin Yi clearly had information on dodging the attacks, but had not informed him in detail.

"Scheming!"

Li Luo gritted his teeth inwardly. This woman truly couldn't be trusted, but there was no time to think about that now—after all, the flame feathers behind him were about to arrive. So Li Luo decisively withdrew his phase force, his figure lunging forward, rolling on the ground a few times, and then going completely still, like a corpse that had lost its vitality.

While Li Luo was playing corpse, a large wave of flame feathers came surging in, then—under his terrified gaze—stopped a mere inch from his body, made a turn, and shot off toward the other fleeing people present.

Li Luo breathed a sigh of relief. As expected, these flame feathers had an effect of tracking living things—as long as one cast off fear and remained still in a turtle-breathing state, one could easily evade them.

All that was left was to play dead for a while, wait for an opportunity to break through the eight elite disciples' strange formation, and then they could break into the Golden Hall.

Remaining perfectly still, Li Luo's gaze swept over the ground around him. By now the place was littered with corpses—too many scattered cultivators had tried to break in here during this period, and most of them had fallen here.

A tragic, bloody scene, shocking to behold.

Li Luo offered them a moment of silent mourning, but the corner of his eye caught a wisp of flame feathers suddenly shooting toward his side—clearly this was one that had slipped through the net.

Li Luo frowned, then noticed a dead mountain of fat flesh to his right, so he shifted his body slightly, using this mountain of flesh as cover.

Hiss!

The flame feathers swept in and plunged directly into that mountain of flesh; a large chunk of flesh and blood was blasted open, blood streaming out, while faint flames began to burn.

"How tragic, not even an intact corpse remains. My condolences, brother." Li Luo sighed silently.

But then, he noticed again that from time to time some flame feathers would shoot toward this direction—these flame feathers were all of the slip-through-the-net variety, having lost control for the moment and darting about wildly.

But Li Luo discovered that these uncontrolled flame feathers really liked shooting toward his side; the feeling was as if there were a faint attractive force here for them.

Li Luo was a bit dumbfounded—does even lying here playing dead not work?

What was it that was drawing these flame feathers over?

He thought for a moment, then suddenly twitched the corner of his mouth—could it be because he had also cultivated "Minor Faceless Fire"? And then these uncontrolled flame feathers felt a sense of familiarity here, so they chased after him.

Li Luo gave a bitter smile. Fortunately, the mountain of flesh in front of him was quite useful, having blocked several flame feathers for him, though as a result, several bloody holes had appeared on its body.

"Brother, once this is over I'll find you a place with good feng shui to bury you," Li Luo sighed and said.

However, the moment Li Luo's words fell, he was astonished to see the mountain of flesh before him suddenly open its eyes. It stared at Li Luo, and its voice trembled—whether from anger or pain, it was impossible to tell.

"Brother, can you get the hell away from me? I'm about to be killed by you."