Chapter 97: 92 Sword Technique Offense and Defense

92 Sword Technique Offense and Defense

After a good while, several bailiffs walked out from the bushes to clean up the corpses on the ground.

The corpses of these people were not a pretty sight; there were quite a few that needed a shovel to scrape up.

As they cleaned, the bailiffs complained, saying, "Where did these nobodies come from? They don't even have an Art Tool on them, just ordinary weapons. It looks like, let alone Aura, whether they even practiced Internal Energy is up for debate. How is this any different from the thugs on the street? How does any random person dare to break into the Demon Cave?"

Another bailiff said, "Ignorance, that's why. There are too few Demon Caves in Yuxia Jun. They haven't seen a Demon Cave in years and thought it was some treasure land. Actually, never mind that they aren't allowed in; even if they were, the place is crawling with Phantoms. You wouldn't survive if you bumped into just one. Coming here is just looking for death."

The bailiffs nodded one after another, saying, "I wouldn't go to that ghost place even if you asked me to. Never mind that there's no money inside; even if there were, where would it be more important than your life? Hurry, hurry, let's finish cleaning up and get far away. If a few Phantoms run out of the Demon Cave, we're done for."

The first bailiff said, "Don't worry. Do you think this Great Array is just for show? Whether something comes out from inside or goes in from outside, as long as something touches it—be it a person or a Phantom—that big tiger will appear and eat the intruder."

A bailiff behind him laughed, "So that's how it is. If it's that powerful, then I actually hope a Phantom comes out so I can see it—I've never seen a Phantom before."

The rest of the group shouted in unison, "Don't talk nonsense—"

Suddenly, an orange light flashed in the distance. Across a distance of several miles, the figure of a golden-red divine beast could be vaguely seen leaping.

Someone touched Yumen Guan again!

The few bailiffs suddenly went quiet, with only one or two people muttering, "It really isn't peaceful."

Sword Technique—

Exterminate Evil Completely!

Tang Zhao's body and soul merged with his sword in an instant, turning into a rainbow light as he charged forward.

Sword Rainbow!

This was not a Sword Rainbow formed by Sword Control Art, but a powerful Sword Technique, a Sword Rainbow naturally formed by the unity of the Sword Guest, sword, body, and mind, truly as fast as a rainbow in the sky.

It was a rainbow light of intertwined black and white, yet distinct and clear!

Everyone only saw the Sword Light flash once; the black divine beast disappeared instantly, and when it reappeared, it was already before the flood dragon.

The snow-white sword blade, trailing a black tail of light, stabbed straight into the flood dragon's... scales!

And then—it stopped.

This sword strike had the momentum of Like Splitting Bamboo, seemingly indestructible, as if it could even cleave a mountain, yet in the blink of an eye, it felt as if it had struck a wall.

It couldn't pierce through!

Setting aside the sharpness of the blade, just speaking of such great impact force, even hitting a wall should have caused the wall to collapse, and Tang Zhao would have suffered from the recoil or even been injured. Who would have known that Tang Zhao's sword strike, which arrived with such great momentum, would stop without a sound.

He hovered in the air, neither killing the enemy in one blow, nor suffering a counterattack, nor even mutually destroying each other; he simply stopped in the air as if he had stopped himself.

The people at his feet were silent, everyone staring wide-eyed at Tang Zhao and the flood dragon, a short sword connecting them like a bridge.

At this moment, many people were still thinking: Is this Sword Technique really this plain and unadorned? Does it have the strength to strike through a mountain, where it looks like it didn't pierce through on the outside, but inside, a burst of force has already destroyed the Heavenly Demon's body and even its soul?

As time passed, no strange phenomena occurred. The flood dragon remained in the air, completely unharmed, and a silent atmosphere began to spread among the crowd.

The people of the Land Inspection Division looked at Tang Zhao and then at the sword, then looked at the sword and back at Tang Zhao.

In their eyes were two words:

That's it?!

Xing Ji, who had been preparing a major move and was a fraction of a second slower than Tang Zhao, was also stunned. His sword technique remained unreleased, leaving him only with a face full of solemn contemplation.

Tang Zhao himself was also stunned, looking at the scales pressed by the tip of his sword, thoughts flashing through his mind:

Was it blocked?

This is the strongest Sword Technique, Exterminate Evil Completely, with the added blessing of righteous awe; it should be able to completely eliminate any evil existence, it should be called 'Turn to Ashes and Annihilation'!

Is the flood dragon too strong?

No, just a moment ago when throwing swords, more than half the people could have pierced the flood dragon's scales with their swords, and those were just ordinary Art Tools.

Could it be the reverse scale? Did he stab that particularly hard scale?

That wasn't it either; he had stabbed this sword in from the side, and the reverse scale definitely wouldn't grow in this position.

That's it!

This feeling of being completely unharmed was somewhat familiar. He flipped through his memories, tracing back to the day he first held this sword...

Could it be?!

At this moment, the flood dragon had already recovered from the explosion; that sword strike hadn't interrupted its recovery at all, and it might not have even felt it. It opened its mouth, and a cyan-blue vortex appeared in the air.

A cold, damp mist rushed toward them.

Besides the mist, there was a premonition of extreme danger.

Not good, retreat!

Although the attack had returned without success, the Xie Zhi was still there. Tang Zhao's body and mind were connected to it, and with a thought, he flew backward, shouting, "The big move is coming, I'll block it!"

Xing Ji saw it too, and with almost no hesitation, he shouted, "Goose formation, retreat behind us."

Although everyone questioned Tang Zhao's sword move, Xing Ji's orders were absolutely obeyed. Everyone retreated behind Tang Zhao and Xing Ji with a speed second only to Sword Control Art.

At this moment, the giant mouth opened!

Water, come—

A sky-covering flood surged out from the flood dragon's mouth.

That wasn't some water gun or water cannon; it was a flood!

A great river bursting its banks, the ocean surging; a massive flood covering the sky and earth came rushing in, as if it wanted to drown the world.

Compared to this destructive flood disaster, the torrential rain that had poured down at the beginning seemed like a gentle breeze, almost leisurely.

Where the flood passed, all things were submerged, until it hit a great embankment.

Tang Zhao was on the front line. After retreating the first time, he never retreated again. Holding his sword forward, he faced the surging flood peak. Behind him were the people of the Land Inspection Division, the grass and trees, the mountains and rivers—his world.

And in front of him was a cyan barrier, extending far to both sides, like the Great Wall resisting the invasion of danger. The water flow crashed against the barrier, unable to cross the line by even a step.

Sword Technique—Guard Peace!

—

The golden-red beast leaped up and slammed fiercely into the ground!

Boom—!

A large crater was smashed into the ground, and several screams came from beneath it. Several people wearing Sacred Moon Sect attire crawled out of the crater, scrambling and tumbling as they ran back. The Bi'an flashed a few times, locking the throats of those who hadn't run far enough, one by one; as for the rest who ran fast and were far from the position marked by the stone gate, the Bi'an did not pursue them further.

Seeing the Bi'an patrol the surroundings and finally disappear, these cultists breathed a sigh of relief.

"The Moon God descends from heaven; whose idea was this tunnel-digging plan?" one of the cultists, whose attire indicated a higher rank than the others, said angrily. "Saying that going underground wouldn't attract attention—look at the result, we've lost so many brothers in such a muddled way."

Everyone lowered their heads, and finally, someone said, "Flag Master, it was the idea of the Left Flag. They said they had investigated this group of land-inspecting dogs in Yuxia Jun, and the dog-head Xing Ji among them has cruel methods and the ability to guard the gate, making it inconvenient to force our way in head-on, so it was best to take a detour. A detour is nothing more than by air or by ground; flying through the air is too conspicuous, so underground is more convenient."

The Flag Master was in the middle of a fit of rage, so that person naturally dared not say that this lousy idea was actually cooked up by the two of you Flag Masters together.

That Flag Master sneered, "I knew it was those idiots from the Left Flag. Where are they? Did they dig the tunnel from the other direction, and did they break through?"

A person at the back said, "They might be gone."

Everyone went silent, and the Flag Master stared at him and said, "What happened?"

The person at the back stammered, "When I was on my way here, I saw people from the Land Inspection Department dragging a few people past; they looked like brothers from the Left Flag."

The Flag Master was silent for a moment, then said, "When you came? Does that mean their cover was blown very early?"

That person said with a fawning smile, "At least earlier than us. Their Flag Master is not as wise as you; in this situation, only you can lead us to retreat safely."

The Flag Master said angrily, "Wise my ass! We haven't even broken into the Demon Cave, and half our men are dead; how are we supposed to report to the General Altar?"

Everyone was silent, and then someone else said, "This isn't our fault; blame the Moon Orbit Hall for getting the time of the Moon God's descent wrong by two days. Just because of these two days of anticipation, the new Incense Master couldn't meet up with us in time, causing us to lose our leader. Without a Sword Guest to back us up, relying on a local branch flag like ours to contend with the Land Inspection Department—no matter how you think about it, we can't win."

The Flag Master said, "That is indeed a reason. Do you think the General Altar will be understanding? In my opinion, we still have to charge up there; never mind heaven or earth, even if there is a mountain of blades and a sea of fire ahead, we must sacrifice our lives to repay the Moon God, otherwise the General Altar's methods..."

Then they heard someone behind them say, "The Moon God descends from heaven, Amitabha. Flag Master Hu is truly a hero; it is the good fortune of our Sacred Moon Sect."

The cultists turned around in horror, only to see a monk standing in the moonlight, wearing snow-white monk robes, with a string of Buddhist beads hanging around his neck, his appearance solemn and dignified, like a holy monk. He seemed like a statue placed in a Buddha hall, exceptionally grave and solemn; anyone who saw him would immediately focus their attention and be unable to look away.

Everyone looked at his shoulder and saw a circle of laurel leaves hanging diagonally, inlaid with a pure white disk.

Sacred Moon Sect.

The Sacred Moon Sect itself is a religion, and it is a bit strange that its followers can also be monks, but it is not rare within the Sacred Moon Sect.

Flag Master Hu stammered, "You are the Yunxi Incense Master..."

The monk put his palms together and said, "Amitabha, this poor monk's dharma name is Ku Yi."

Flag Master Hu suddenly lunged over, throwing himself at the monk's feet, nearly grabbing his thighs, and said with snot and tears, "Incense Master, we have finally waited for you. You don't know how we've been bullied in Yunzhou; we're like children without a mother, worse than wild grass. Now it's fine, you've come, it's like being bathed in moonlight, the Moon God descending, the moonlight..."

Monk Ku Yi smiled slightly, revealing a mouthful of white, gleaming teeth, and said, "Very good, very good, so you were looking forward to me like this; this truly shows that suffering leads to enlightenment. Get up, let us go to welcome the Moon God."

Flag Master Hu stood up quickly, changed to a smiling face, and said, "Yes, the Moon God's dojo is right ahead. But there is a small pass in front of us. It is nothing to you, but to us, it is the Yumen Guan." As he spoke, he explained how strict the Yumen Guan was.

Ku Yi smiled and said, "So that is how it is. Seeing is believing. You—" he pointed casually at a cultist, "demonstrate it for me to see."