Chapter 90: Slaying the Five Seas Realm Again

Li Youyi's figure became blurred, like a gust of clear wind, as he caught up to the two Seven Springs Wu Xiu who were attempting to flee.

Amidst the flickering of sword light, he severed both men at the waist, blood splattering on the spot.

Forget about having the strength to fight back; the two Seven Springs Wu Xiu hadn't even been able to see Li Youyi's figure clearly. With such strength, who would dare believe he had only opened eight springs?

"No one is walking out of this residence today."

Li Youyi stood tall and imposing before the three-zhang-wide bronze gate, his sword dripping with blood. His gaze was disdainful as he swept it across the dozens of martial arts experts in the courtyard, exuding the aura of a single man holding the pass against ten thousand.

Two martial arts experts from the Stone Gang attempted to scale the wall to escape and report the news.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

Just as they leaped over the courtyard wall, which was over two zhang high, two bright and complex array patterns manifested out of thin air in the space above the wall, striking the pair.

Amidst their screams, the two fell back down, their entire bodies drenched in blood.

They died in a miserable state.

"How formidable, to actually trigger our array." Shi Chuanyu remained calm.

Yin Twenty-Four said, "I merely added a talisman seal inside the array tower. Now, the array covering this entire hundred-mu residence has completely spiraled out of control; anyone who tries to break through will be attacked."

All the gang members in the courtyard looked at one another, their hearts suddenly filled with panic.

Were these two ruthless individuals actually planning to kill them all?

Shi Chuanyu gave a secret look to Xu Changlin, then shouted aloud, "The main gate is the weak point of the array; a Seven Springs Wu Xiu can break through. Whoever can fight their way out of the Stone Gang residence and go to the Yang clan for help will be rewarded with one Five Seas Elixir."

"Kill!"

Magic power overflowed from every pore on Xu Changlin's skin, as if he were turning into a cloud. His momentum was at its peak; he gripped a thousand-jin heavy blade and charged toward Li Youyi, who was guarding the main gate.

A dozen or so Seven Springs Wu Xiu, each wielding blades and weapons, followed closely behind, their war cries shaking the heavens and earth.

Shi Chuanyu took out a mirror-shaped magic tool and intercepted Yin Twenty-Four, who was flying down from the roof, to buy time for Xu Changlin.

Yin Twenty-Four knew that Li Youyi was under immense pressure, so she ignored Shi Chuanyu entirely. She drifted over his head on the wind, arriving unexpectedly early, and landed gracefully in the open space between Xu Changlin and Li Youyi.

The thousand-jin heavy blade swung down.

A zhang-long ray of magic power erupted from the blade.

Yin Twenty-Four unleashed the Heavenly Wind Palm technique. With a single strike, the entire world within dozens of zhang seemed to spin and turn.

Meeting the blade with her palm, a hurricane roared.

"Boom!"

The thousand-jin heavy blade felt as if it were made of wood; it was knocked from Xu Changlin's grip and flew out over his head.

Xu Changlin, a dignified Five Seas Realm powerhouse famous for decades, was struck by the palm, vomiting fresh blood as he was sent flying backward like a kite with a broken string. The thousand-jin heavy blade followed, crashing into the ground and causing the earth to tremble.

Yin Twenty-Four pursued the victory, intending to kill him quickly.

However, she saw Xu Changlin display his seasoned combat experience, tapping his toes on the ground to quickly stabilize his figure. In the space of a breath, his Qi Sea roared "whoosh-whoosh," and he unleashed a punch with fierce intensity.

Shi Chuanyu arrived holding the mirror. After fueling it with magic power, a scorching beam of light as thick as a bowl shot from the mirror's surface.

Yin Twenty-Four struck out with both palms, facing two opponents at once, and took a hard hit from the two Five Seas Realm cultivators.

"Boom!"

Xu Changlin vomited blood again, his face as pale as death, and he tumbled onto the ground like a rolling gourd.

Shi Chuanyu fared slightly better; protected by the mirror-shaped magic tool, although his internal magic power was shaken into chaos and his chest ached, he managed to remain standing, not as disheveled as Xu Changlin.

After Li Youyi had slain three Seven Springs Wu Xiu in a row and intimidated the Stone Gang experts, he saw Yin Twenty-Four unleash such a powerful palm technique. After marveling at it, an interesting question crossed his mind.

The Heavenly Wind Palm technique was the fundamental martial art of the Medicine King, one of the Nine Kings.

At her age of sixteen, to have cultivated this palm technique to the Realm of Law Convergence, and perhaps even to have comprehended the intent of battle tactics through it—she must have been cultivating it since childhood, not just starting when she joined the Hidden Sect.

Here was the interesting part: the Heavenly Wind Palm was also the martial art that Seeing Yao Yin had cultivated to the Realm of Law Convergence.

It was highly likely that both of them came from the Medicine Li tribe. Given their similar ages, plus the fact that Yin Twenty-Four talked far too much when she was with Seeing Yao Yin, Li Youyi had reason to suspect they had known each other for a long time, perhaps even being very close, only acting like strangers due to their identities.

After all, a Hidden Person must sever their past.

This thought flashed through Li Youyi's mind and vanished; there was no time to ponder it, as the situation in the courtyard had taken a new turn.

That group of eunuchs in green, who had been guarding the cargo, stood in a corner of the front courtyard, acting like mere bystanders and not participating in the slaughter at all.

Most of them had calm expressions, and some even carried disdain and mockery in their eyes.

"This Long Lin Bang is truly a bunch of rabble, unable to even take down two children who have just entered the Five Seas Realm," a Seven Springs Wu Xiu in his fifties said with a sinister laugh.

The strongest among this group was a middle-aged man who had opened eight springs. He said in a voice like a duck's quack, "That girl is not simple. She looks like a Five Seas cultivator who broke through from the Nine Springs Supreme Realm; invincible at the same realm."

"What is the point of being invincible one-on-one? On the battlefield, who fights you one-on-one? A single charge, and everyone is ground into blood and mud," another eunuch in green said.

"Let's move. Kill these two; we cannot afford any accidents with the cargo we are escorting."

Among the eunuchs in green, the middle-aged man who had opened eight springs nodded. He took a white spirit banner over two meters long from the cart and roared, "All soldiers, listen to the order!"

"Draw blades, form the array."

"Whoosh!"

The thirty-three eunuchs in green instantly became sharp and fierce. They drew the standard-issue war blades from their waists and formed a war array of three columns and eleven rows.

They held their blades pointing toward the sky, filled with a beauty that only comes from absolute uniformity; the tip of every blade was on the same straight line.

As the blades turned, they all turned in unison.

The thirty-three people seemed to have become one.

Driven by the magic power within their bodies, an array pattern manifested on the green robes of all thirty-three men. Within the war array formed by the thirty-three patterns, a deafening roar erupted.

A humanoid shadow holding a phoenix-beak blade manifested above the war array, six or seven meters tall, releasing an aura that chilled the soul.

All the Wu Xiu in the courtyard felt as if they were on a battlefield of thousands of troops, and they were all too terrified to breathe. Even Shi Chuanyu and Xu Changlin were stunned, looking toward the war array in the corner and feeling the pressure.

Yin Twenty-Four retreated to Li Youyi's side, her expression grave. "So you are people from the army. It seems the things packed in those boxes are truly not simple."

The eight-spring middle-aged man holding the white spirit banner said, "Surrender now. In front of the war array, your cultivation is not worth looking at."

Yin Twenty-Four sneered, "The Thirty-Three Character Spirit-Passing War Array, combined with the Ghost General spirit banner magic tool, is indeed very troublesome, but not enough to make me surrender."

The banner-holding middle-aged man said, "An ordinary Thirty-Three Character Spirit-Passing War Array is formed by three Seven Springs Wu Xiu, ten Six Springs, ten Five Springs, and ten Four Springs in a ladder-like configuration. But look at us—is there a single Four Springs Wu Xiu here?"

"Since she is seeking death, let's send her on her way first," a loud voice echoed from within the war array.

The banner-holding middle-aged man waved the spirit banner.

"Whoosh!"

Yin winds suddenly rose, and fierce ghosts roared.

The giant ghost general above the war array charged out, its phoenix-beak blade slashing down fiercely.

Yin Twenty-Four's expression changed slightly. Without holding anything back, she formed palm seals. Suddenly, winds blew from all eight directions in the courtyard, and the palm seals she struck out transformed into a brilliant cloud of palm power.

The phoenix-beak blade slashed through the palm power cloud like a hot knife through butter, falling straight toward her head.

Li Youyi sensed the danger in advance. He lunged out, colliding with Yin Twenty-Four, and the two tumbled several zhang away.

"Boom!"

The phoenix-beak blade slashed into the ground, creating a deep pit, the blade sinking completely into it.

The two fled rapidly, avoiding the ghost general's pursuit.

Li Youyi asked, "What is going on? A group of Gushing Spring Realm Wu Xiu who don't look like much—how can they be this strong after forming a war array? The entire Long Lin Bang combined is probably no match for them."

In Li Youyi's view, the strength of the Long Lin Bang was several times that of the eunuchs in green.

The situation before him overturned his understanding.

"The Long Lin Bang is just a bunch of rabble; how can they compare to the army?"

"At the same cultivation realm, the Long Lin Bang can only bully the weak, spending their days eating, drinking, and gambling. But people in the army train bitterly every day, fighting for life and death on the battlefield."

Yin Twenty-Four continued, "War array soldiers train only in the same blade technique every day, and they must achieve absolute uniformity—which, of course, includes the uniformity of their spirit, energy, and battle intent. Didn't you notice? When the ghost general swung that blade, the thirty-three eunuchs in green also swung their blades at the same time."

"This kind of absolute uniformity in battle tactics is also known as the Realm of Law Convergence. It requires years, even over a decade, of rigorous and bitter training to achieve."

"With the assistance of the thirty-three character array patterns, they are as if they have merged into one."

"And this is only the Thirty-Three Character Spirit-Passing War Array. If you encounter a thousand-character or ten-thousand-character level war array, their battle intent can even manifest as cities, rivers and seas, fire plains, mountain ranges, giants, dragons and phoenixes, or the starry sky... In short, the army is invincible and cannot be countered by individual strength."

Li Youyi reflected, "I should have known better than to underestimate the enemy. I should have killed a few of them before they could form the war array."

"I will break the array; leave the others to you!"

Yin Twenty-Four charged toward the war array formed by the thirty-three eunuchs in green. She cut her wrist, using her own blood to fuel the three-headed snake bracelet, preparing to test the power of the blood soul inside this high-grade magic tool.

"Leave it all to me?"

Li Youyi looked toward the bronze gate of the residence in the distance and saw several Seven Springs Wu Xiu attempting to break the array. With no other choice, he slapped his insect tube, using his true trump card.

"Woo-woo!"

Seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors flapped their wings and flew out in unison, transforming into seven colorful halos. With incredible speed, they killed all the Seven Springs Wu Xiu who were attempting to break through the gate and escape.

Dead bodies fell in heaps.

Over these twenty-plus days, after finishing the five-hundred-year-old cistanche, they had grown a bit larger.

Li Youyi had repeatedly measured their body length; they were still a tiny bit short of two inches.

"It's a fierce insect; he is actually a powerful insect master."

Shi Chuanyu saw that the combat power of the seven Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors was extraordinary; their wings were as fast as magic swords, killing Seven Springs Wu Xiu as easily as eating and drinking. Moreover, their speed was terrifying, not losing to Five Seas Realm Wu Xiu.

A legendary insect master could fight an entire army alone and guard a city alone—how could Shi Chuanyu not be shocked?

"Whoosh!"

He held the mirror and attacked Li Youyi.

The best way to deal with a swarm of fierce insects was to kill the insect master.

"Swish! Swish..."

Five Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors flew in from five directions, tracing winding arcs, and besieged Shi Chuanyu in unison.

The remaining two stayed to guard the main gate, killing all the gang members who tried to rush past.

Shi Chuanyu was certainly not weak. He waved the mirror-shaped magic tool, batting the first Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperor away and sending it crashing heavily into a pillar of a building in the distance.

The pillar was snapped in two.

But that Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperor acted as if nothing had happened, flapping its wings and flying up from the ground in an instant. Its body was like forged metal, and its defensive power was so strong that even ordinary magic tools could not injure them.

"Chirp!"

A membrane wing of a Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperor grazed Shi Chuanyu's arm, instantly cutting a blood wound an inch deep.

Immediately following was a second blood wound, then a third...

Under the siege of the five Phoenix-Winged Moth Emperors, Shi Chuanyu could not defend himself at all, gradually becoming flustered, with more and more wounds appearing on his body. The more he fought, the more terrified he became. Feeling the horror of Li Youyi, who was an insect master, he began to harbor thoughts of fleeing immediately.

On the other side, Li Youyi and Xu Changlin had already fought over a dozen rounds.

Xu Changlin had been internally injured by Yin Twenty-Four earlier, and under Li Youyi's all-out assault, he gradually fell into a disadvantage.

"Boom!"

After a full-force collision between blade and sword, both retreated.

Li Youyi seized this opportunity, formed finger seals, mobilized the magic power in his wind mansion, and unleashed his strongest strike, pointing a finger at him.

Compassionate Opening of the Aperture!

The war blade in Xu Changlin's hand was too cumbersome; he had no time to swing it and could only form palm seals. The magic power in his body sprayed out wildly from his palms, colliding with Li Youyi's finger.

"Pfft!"

Xu Changlin's palm was pierced through.

A beam-like finger force pierced through the back of his hand and landed on his chest, punching a transparent blood hole the size of a wine cup.

Xu Changlin screamed and staggered backward.

He first looked at his shattered palm, then looked down at the hole in his chest. His pupils were filled with despair, and he fell straight down.

Li Youyi did not have an easy time clashing with a Five Seas Realm cultivator; he was struck by the force of Xu Changlin's palm and sent crashing through a wall. After a long while, he managed to crawl up with difficulty.

With bloodstains at the corner of his mouth, he walked to Xu Changlin's corpse. Only after confirming he was truly dead did he let out a long sigh of relief.

Fighting two Five Seas Realm cultivators in succession could be described as extremely perilous, and he had paid a significant price.

(End of chapter)