Chapter 73: Black Flame

Sensing the chaos in the ranks, Zhu Lianfeng shouted sharply: "Don't panic! This is merely an illusionary array, designed only to block sight and sound—there's no actual harm!"

"Boom!" Before he finished speaking, earthfire erupted and thunder rolled in waves.

It's the old friend again—the array that slaughtered the Lingyun Sect during the grand ceremony: the Xuanjin Thunderfire Tongyou Array!

Who said there's no harm! In an instant, screams erupted one after another; many scrambled outward in panic, and the situation collapsed into utter disorder.

Actually, the damage isn't truly severe—it mainly relies on the earthfire here, but the earthfire on Danxia Mountain is nowhere near as potent as that in secret realms. It might have worked to trap five people from Lingyun Sect, but here there are hundreds, all highly cultivated; if they remained calm enough, they could jointly suppress the array as if it were scratching their skin.

Unfortunately, no one heard Zhu Lianfeng no matter how loudly he shouted; within the Ghost Prison Illusion Array, effective cooperation was impossible, and the thunder and earthfire only plunged the situation into greater chaos, causing the team to disintegrate in an instant.

Just as he urgently sought a solution, a frigid swordlight pierced through darkness and oblivion, slicing through the Ghost Prison and striking straight for the spiritual platform.

Behind the swordlight, the blue eyes and white hair appeared in the Ghost Prison like soul-snatching reapers.

Zhu Lianfeng, a third-grade Dao cultivator, swiftly summoned his treasure—a small golden dipper—that descended toward Du Gu Qingli's head: "Break!"

This golden dipper could disrupt the opponent's spiritual energy; sudden exposure usually scattered their energy, collapsing their attacks entirely—it was extremely effective.

But Zhu Lianfeng was horrified to find the dipper's glow didn't even shake the opponent an inch—as if it were an ice glacier unchanged since ancient times.

"Clang!" The ice sword deflected the golden dipper; ultimately, Du Gu Qingli was still a third-grade powerhouse—her body trembled slightly, her breath exhausted, and she landed on the ground.

But at the very moment the ice sword clashed with the golden dipper, Zhu Lianfeng had just been thrown back by the recoil—when suddenly, purple light flared violently. A furious sword qi roared past like a dragon forged from the spirit of mountains and rivers, roaring through the nine heavens, brutally and irrationally slamming into his flank.

Zhu Lianfeng hastily formed a qi shield to block it—the shield shattered, and he was blasted backward over ten zhang; meanwhile, the ice sword was already at his throat, surrounded entirely by ice crystals.

Ice Prison Cold Gale!

Fortunately, the most typical trait of an upper third-grade cultivator is that he doesn't merely hover—he can truly fly!

Zhu Lianfeng rose on clouds, evading this entire sequence of attacks, his heart heavy with dread—these two fourth-grade sword cultivators are incredibly strong…

Individually, perhaps neither was his match, but together they were extremely difficult to handle—not the easy domination he'd imagined. And this was their home ground; who knew what other surprises or ambushes awaited? If he wasn't careful, he might actually be defeated by these two women!

If only someone would lend a hand…

Zhu Lianfeng fought off the blue and purple swords on both sides, and amid the chaos, he glanced downward.

The people from Fensheng Tower had scattered and fled in all directions, only to be caught one by one in the pre-arranged formations of the Tianxing Sword Sect disciples—like fishing for fish.

After all, within the Cycle of Judgment Array, no one could see anything… the only person who could see clearly was the third-grade alchemist leading the group, Chang Qing.

But what was Chang Qing doing? A third-grade alchemist, and he wasn't contributing a single bit?

Zhu Lianfeng scanned back and forth, finally locating Chang Qing amid the chaos—and nearly spat blood in rage.

Chang Qing sat cross-legged on the ground, muttering incantations, apparently attempting to dismantle the array.

Truly a lifetime spent before an alchemical furnace—his combat instincts were utterly beyond words. On the surface, trying to break the array wasn't wrong—but the situation had changed! The sect master himself had stepped in to fight, and you, the only one who could see the battlefield and offer aid, are still sitting there trying to break the array?!

Zhu Lianfeng, furious: "Grand Elder, the situation is already in total chaos! Even if you break the array now, you won't reverse the disaster! The only way to turn it around is to assist me—capture Shen Tang, and everything will be settled!"

This momentary distraction nearly cost him a direct strike from Shen Tang; luckily, Shen Tang was still seated in her wheelchair, making pursuit inconvenient—otherwise, he might have already been wounded.

Chang Qing finally snapped out of his daze and quickly ignited a talisman—a furious fire dragon surged toward Shen Tang.

Although choosing such a wide-area spell at this moment wasn't ideal, Zhu Lianfeng still breathed a slight sigh of relief—at least someone was helping!

"Whoosh!" A figure flashed past—the fire dragon struck the figure squarely, burning him into a scream, then crashing to the ground, writhing and howling.

Chang Qing gasped in shock: "Cao Qiang, how could it be you?!"

A third-grade fire dragon talisman had been fully absorbed by his own bodyguard.

Cao Qiang, scorched by the third-grade fire dragon, rolled in agony on the ground, too injured to respond. In the darkness, the sound of a wheelchair approached—a little Daoist boy pushed Lu Xingzhou into view before Chang Qing: "No wonder you're the Grand Elder of Fensheng Tower—third-grade talismans like they're free…"

"Lu Xingzhou!" Chang Qing flew into a rage: "How dare you, a cripple and a child, challenge me?!"

Even if an alchemist can't fight, you can't insult me across so many grades like this!

Even Zhu Lianfeng, struggling against Shen Tang and Du Gu Qingli's combined assault, thought Lu Xingzhou's appearance was absurdly overconfident—this guy's asking to die…

Without hesitation, Chang Qing pulled out another third-grade talisman; as soon as he ignited it, it suddenly flickered—as if about to go out, yet stubbornly continued burning.

It was Lu Xingzhou who had activated a jade pendant.

The Huo Family's Forbidden Law Jade—disrupting the spiritual energy in the area, nullifying all lower-third-grade Dao techniques, interfering with and weakening middle-third-grade ones, while upper-third-grade ones were unaffected, merely pausing for a heartbeat.

Chang Qing's heart stirred: "The Huo Family's Forbidden Law Jade… you really are from the Huo Family…"

Before he finished speaking, the little Daoist boy moved like a ghost, suddenly appearing before Chang Qing and punching straight into him.

For an experienced fighter, a momentary spell interruption meant nothing—but Chang Qing lost his instinctive judgment, unsure whether to keep channeling the talisman or switch to a defensive one.

Ultimately, self-preservation won out—he swiftly replaced it with a Mirror Light Talisman held before him.

Lu Xingzhou waved his Bai Fan—ten thousand ghosts surged forth, harassing Chang Qing. The Mirror Light Talisman he'd just summoned proved useless as a thousand vengeful spirits bypassed the mirror and wrapped around his limbs.

But An Nuo didn't strike him—she stomped the ground, rebounding off it; her large pancake suddenly transformed into a manhole cover, spinning like a flying disc straight toward Zhu Lianfeng's back.

Lu Xingzhou's Bai Fan split into two paths—one strand of black flame, bearing a snarling ghostly face, silently burned toward Zhu Lianfeng's feet.

Zhu Lianfeng: "???"

He realized that with a third-grade alchemist aiding him, he'd somehow become surrounded by four enemies.

There was no time to think—he puffed out his Dao robe, "Bang!"—the iron pancake disc bounced off his back; a bronze mirror bloomed in the wind, barely blocking Shen Tang's flying sword.

Du Gu Qingli's sword pierced down from above—this one was the most annoying; Shen Tang's sword was merely powerful, but this white-haired bitch's every strike wasn't just deadly—it carried freezing winds and icy pressure that slowed movements and disrupted blood circulation. Zhu Lianfeng decided to break this white-haired bitch first—he suddenly launched his last-resort treasure: a jade ruyi scepter, slamming hard into Du Gu Qingli's swordtip.

As for the black flame rising from below—he felt no heat at all. Lu Xingzhou was just a low-grade Dao cultivator—what power could he possibly wield?

He outright ignored it—a third-grade Dao cultivator could shake off such useless black flame with a mere ripple of magic power.

"Bang!" Du Gu Qingli grunted, flung backward by the powerful treasure; simultaneously, An Nuo and Shen Tang were also thrown back.

Zhu Lianfeng, who had seemed to be holding off four opponents with majestic authority, had no time to savor even a second of triumph—when he suddenly let out a deafening, earth-shattering scream.

That black flame he'd dismissed hadn't been dispelled by his casual shake—it had silently pierced through his magic power shield and instantly turned both his shoes and feet into ash.

He didn't even have time to wonder what kind of demonic thing it was—his mind held only one thought: Run!

If you don't run now, you'll never get another chance!

"Whoosh!" A streak of light shot through the air; Zhu Lianfeng twisted mid-flight, stumbling as he fled away.

Shen Tang, Du Gu Qingli, and An Nuo seemed to have anticipated this outcome—they didn't even glance at Zhu Lianfeng; the next instant, all their attacks shifted instantly toward Chang Qing.

From the moment Lu Xingzhou released the resentful souls to entangle Chang Qing while simultaneously diverting black flames to burn Zhu Lianfeng, to Zhu Lianfeng's desperate scream and flight after fighting four opponents alone, the entire process took only a blink of an eye.

If this were a cultivator with rich combat experience, many reactions could be made in that blink, but unfortunately Chang Qing was not one. He had just dealt with the entangling resentful souls when the situation in the field had already drastically changed; the four people's attacks had already landed on him...

Shen Qi, who was guarding Zhang Shaoyou and others in the courtyard, smiled slightly: "Do you want me to let you out now?"

Zhang Shaoyou remained silent.

Shen Qi said indifferently: "Hesitating and playing both sides is meaningless... you can only be a marginal person from now on. If you truly want a position in the new sect, a token of loyalty is still required."

Zhang Shaoyou took a deep breath: "I understand."

There was no need for Shen Qi to release the sword formation. Zhang Shaoyou struck his sword scabbard, and a sword light like a meteor chasing the moon vanished in an instant toward the direction of Zhu Lianfeng's flight.

Almost at the same time, the effect of the Luntai Judgment Array disappeared, and the people of the Incense Burning Pavilion found they could see again. Sword light exploded in the sky; including Chang Qing, everyone looked up in shock, watching the Second Guardian Zhang Shaoyou's familiar Wandering Dragon Sword pierce straight through a hundred li, penetrating the back of the First Guardian Zhu Lianfeng fleeing in the distance.

The lingering echo of a scream came from the sky, and a footless corpse pierced through by sword qi crashed down with a thud in the center of Xiazhoucheng.

Sheng Yuanyao, who had been restless in the Demon Suppression Bureau, heard the sound of a heavy object falling, rushed out to look, and was stunned.

Wasn't this the First Guardian of the Incense Burning Pavilion, the dignified third-grade Daoist cultivator Zhu Lianfeng?

How did he die here?

Where are his feet?

On Danxia Mountain, Chang Qing screamed hoarsely: "Zhang Shaoyou! I knew you people were ungrateful white-eyed wolves!"

Zhang Shaoyou jumped out from the courtyard wall and punched Chang Qing in the face: "Go to hell! I've figured it out now. If you hadn't forced us to enter the sword formation, if we had all gone together, the Tianxing Sword Sect originally wouldn't have been our match at all! What Luntai Judgment, what Earth Fire Thunder Array—if we had all been inside the array, they wouldn't have worked at all, breakable in a blink! You bear this outcome yourself; even if the Incense Burning Pavilion is exterminated tomorrow, it will be exterminated by fools like you. I'm done serving!"

Chang Qing was already struggling under the siege of the dog man and the women; how could he withstand Zhang Shaoyou's sudden punch? He was directly knocked flying, spewing blood wildly.

(End of this chapter)