Chapter 152: Lotus Fall

Seeing that Zhang Nuo's Flying Swords were not attacking in a straight line this time, Gu Yu's heart instantly turned cold; he had already struggled immensely to dodge just moments ago, and now that the opponent had changed the attack pattern of the Flying Swords, it would be extremely difficult to dodge again.

Gu Yu's Divine Sense stirred, and the Blood Corpse, which had been battling Han Liang, suddenly vanished from the ground; the next moment, the Corpse appeared eerily before him, its Bone Spikes flashing repeatedly as it blocked all the Flying Swords Zhang Nuo had sent attacking!

Seeing this, Zhang Nuo merely shook his head slightly, putting on a helpless expression, then beckoned with one hand to recall all the Flying Swords to his side.

At this moment, Han Liang flashed over to Zhang Nuo's side, and after the two exchanged a look, they both revealed knowing smiles; with their combined strength, dealing with Gu Yu was more than enough.

"You two shameless fellows, two against one—aren't you afraid of being mocked by the cultivators present?"

Gu Yu was so furious his eye corners nearly split, and he hid behind the Corpse, cursing loudly.

"Haha! What a massive joke. You, the Corpse Refining Sect, use the bodies of cultivators to create Corpse Refinings—you can do such filthy things, yet we two joining hands to fight you is shameless?"

Seeing that he had pushed Gu Yu to this point, Han Liang laughed heartily, further using the Corpse Refining Sect's practices to stir up the anger of all the cultivators present!

In an instant, many began pointing at Gu Yu, and some even shouted ugly insults. Glancing at the cultivators present, Gu Yu's expression grew increasingly unsightly; in the blink of an eye, he had become the target of everyone's scorn.

"Fine! Fine! Today, this Gu would rather die than not fight you to the end!"

With the fury in his heart ignited, Gu Yu steeled himself, wanting to fight Zhang Nuo and Han Liang to the death! Although he knew in his heart he had no chance of winning, a warrior would rather be killed than humiliated!

With a soft "Swish," the Blood Corpse charged toward the two without any warning.

"Daoist Zhang! The Corpse is yours! I will deal with Gu Yu!"

Han Liang flashed forward, charging at Gu Yu first, leaving the most troublesome Blood Corpse to Zhang Nuo!

"This Han Liang is too inconsiderate! To actually leave the hardest-to-deal-with Corpse to Junior Brother Zhang!"

Standing on his Flying Magic Tool, Chu Budong felt immediately displeased upon seeing this.

"It is fine to leave it to him! Wouldn't it be more appropriate to let Han Liang kill Gu Yu?"

Zhuge Qing raised her delicate eyebrows slightly, her face full of smiles; if Gu Yu died at Han Liang's hands, at least the Nanxuan Sect could shed half the responsibility. Chu Budong had no idea what the young girl was thinking; he just stared at her blankly for a moment before casting his gaze back toward Zhang Nuo!

Zhang Nuo had nine Flying Swords spinning around him, attacking and defending with ease against the Blood Corpse; it seemed that after his advancement, he had indeed improved quite a bit, much stronger than when he first saw a Blood Corpse at the Trial Ground, though Zhuge Qing had been thinking about one thing the whole time.

When Zhang Nuo went into battle, he wanted to give her a surprise—what exactly was this surprise?

Looking at the battle between Han Liang and Gu Yu, it was practically a one-sided slaughter; Gu Yu only had the power to parry, not to strike back, and kept dodging around the field.

Although Zhang Nuo was fighting the Blood Corpse, his Divine Sense remained locked on Gu Yu's figure; seeing him so pressured by Han Liang that he had no mind to manage the Corpse, his heart instantly filled with joy! It seemed the opportunity had arrived!

"Swish! Swish! Swish!" Three sounds of breaking air rang out as three Flying Swords shot toward the Blood Corpse like meteors. The Corpse moved, easily dodging the attacks. Zhang Nuo remained expressionless, as if he had already calculated that the opponent would dodge; he retreated rapidly, while his hands changed Dharma seals repeatedly, with rays of Spirit Power lingering around the seals he formed.

He let out a soft whistle, and nine Dharma techniques were cast in succession, each merging into one of the nine Flying Swords. By this time, the nine Flying Swords had unknowingly surrounded the Blood Corpse, forming a circle five zhang away!

Just at this moment, the Corpse leaped high, pouncing toward Zhang Nuo. As the Corpse was about to reach Zhang Nuo's head, he flashed eerily to the side, while the nine Flying Swords remained surrounding the Corpse. Just as the Corpse wanted to leap again, a murderous glint flashed in Zhang Nuo's eyes, and a cold, sinister smile appeared at the corner of his mouth!

"Activate!"

Following this word, the nine Flying Swords surrounding the Corpse erupted with dazzling white light simultaneously, carving arcs through mid-air as they shot toward the Corpse!

Sensing something was wrong, the Corpse spun in place, dodging only three of the Flying Swords' attacks, while the remaining six left six wounds on its body—and that was before the Blood Corpse could even make its next move!

Around it, the nine Flying Swords slashed rapidly; because the speed was so fast, the swords left trails of white afterimages in the air, looking from afar like a white lotus slowly blooming.

Within the coverage of the nine Flying Swords, the sound of breaking air became a blur, and finally, one could only hear a "buzzing" sound, like a swarm of bees. Even more terrifying was that the white lotus formed by the nine Flying Swords gathered immense Spiritual Pressure, which even a body like the Blood Corpse could not withstand.

In the blink of an eye, the white lotus grew to seven or eight zhang in size, trapping the Blood Corpse firmly in the center of the petals. Several rays of white light passed through its body, yet no bloodstains could be seen; however, Zhang Nuo understood that this was because the speed of the Flying Swords was so fast that the blood inside the Corpse's body had no time to flow out.

Everyone present was stunned, eyes wide open, not even daring to breathe, fearing their breath would scatter this white lotus made of sword Qi!

Zhuge Qing stood upon her Magic Treasure; although she was at a distance from the white lotus, she could still feel the waves of pressure emanating from it. Only now did she finally understand why Zhang Nuo said he wanted to give her a surprise before the battle—so this surprise was the sword formation before her! A sword formation composed of nine Flying Swords!

For some of the Nanxuan Sect cultivators like Chu Budong, this was the first time they had seen Zhang Nuo take action. They had heard Chu Budong talk about how Zhang Nuo was this or that until their ears were calloused; although they didn't see Zhang Nuo transform his Flying Swords into a giant dragon, this sword formation alone was enough to shock them.

"Zhang Nuo! I will kill you!"

Gu Yu, who was battling Han Liang, felt that things were going poorly the moment he saw the Blood Corpse wrapped inside something like a lotus, especially given the mental connection coming from the Corpse; he felt deeply that the Corpse was being dismembered by countless blades.

With a loud roar, he abandoned Han Liang and tried to pounce toward Zhang Nuo, but Han Liang would never give him that chance. He flicked his Great Halberd, which instantly transformed into countless Blue Electric Arcs, covering Gu Yu from above!

Seeing the Corpse under attack and unable to save it, Gu Yu hated Han Liang to the core; he flashed backward, dodging the countless Blue Electric Arcs transformed from the Square Heaven Painted Halberd.

Seeing his strike land and successfully intercepting Gu Yu, Han Liang surged forward, gripping his palm within the Blue Electric Arcs; in an instant, the countless arcs twisted and deformed, finally transforming back into the shape of the Square Heaven Painted Halberd.

Holding the Great Halberd across his chest, Han Liang sneered at Gu Yu. At this moment, Gu Yu also deeply understood that it was impossible to rush past Han Liang!

He could only watch with his own eyes as the Blood Corpse in the center of the white lotus was slashed countless times by the Flying Swords; a dazzling lotus was gradually blooming!

At this moment, Zhang Nuo's eyes shone with excitement; even he hadn't expected that the "Lotus Fall" sword formation contained in the third layer of the "Shangqing Sword Art" would be so astonishing. I fear that even a Golden Core cultivator, if trapped in this sword formation, would not be able to escape unscathed.

However, the Spirit Power consumed by this sword formation was truly terrifying; this single move had almost drained seven or eight tenths of the Spirit Power in his body. It seemed the requirement in the "Shangqing Sword Art" was not wrong at all—if Zhang Nuo were not a Dual Spirit Sea Cultivator, he would likely be unable to execute the sword formation with his current cultivation.

Under the gaze of everyone, the giant lotus wrapping the Blood Corpse began to wither, and finally, the white light vanished completely, leaving only nine Flying Swords in mid-air.

And the Blood Corpse inside appeared completely unscathed, just standing straight in place.

"Eh? What is going on!"

At this moment, a cultivator in the crowd let out a soft sound of surprise, because he did not see the Corpse destroyed, but standing intact in place.

As a light breeze blew, the Blood Corpse's body suddenly moved, and the thing that happened next made everyone feel like vomiting.

The seemingly unharmed Blood Corpse's body suddenly fell apart as if it were minced meat, and all that remained on the ground was a pile of bloody, mangled mess!

However, what Zhang Nuo found strange was that the metal trousers the Blood Corpse was wearing were completely undamaged, still standing on the ground!

Taking advantage of the moment everyone was stunned, Gu Yu suddenly moved, flashing a few times to reach the Blood Corpse, and without caring about the filth, he grabbed the metal trousers into his arms, then turned and fled far away on his Flying Magic Tool without looking back!

Gu Yu's series of movements were extremely fast, so fast that even Han Liang didn't react; by the time he noticed, it was already too late to give chase!

Han Liang was so furious he stomped heavily on the ground; a golden opportunity to kill Gu Yu had been missed just like that, and it would be hard to find such an opportunity again!

Zhang Nuo beckoned with one hand, collecting all the Flying Swords into his Sword Box, and turned to walk toward Han Liang. At this time, Zhuge Qing and the others from the Nanxuan Sect in mid-air were also flying rapidly toward this side.