Chapter 227

Si Han felt a jolt in his heart at Lu Xingzhou's words: "It was taught to me by a wandering high monk named Zhao En. Uh... according to Young Master Lu's previous statement, is this Zen Master Zhao En sent by Gu Zhanting?"

"Sent... I reckon Gu Zhanting couldn't send him." Lu Xingzhou thought for a moment and decided not to state things clearly. If Si Han were to get a brain cramp and want to reap the benefits, it would make things even messier.

So he said: "I originally thought that letting you obtain the bone dragon was a means to lure Gu Shaoli into making a move, but now it seems there is another purpose. Don't worry about other things for now; how many of you have cultivated that technique to control the bone dragon, and can this technique be abolished?"

Si Han said: "Abolishing it might not be possible, but stopping the practice is. Is there a problem with this technique?"

"This is an evil, sinister technique... Under normal circumstances, your Shadow Moon Sect's techniques lean toward the yin attribute, so practicing it wouldn't conflict. The problem is that you are a Royal Court, and your royal spiritual veins conflict with this kind of sinister evil."

Si Han felt a slight shock in his heart.

They were not Buddhist practitioners, and they were completely unversed in things like spiritual veins and luck; many of them didn't even believe in these things.

But since these words came from the Heavenly Jade Sacred Master's... man, the credibility was infinitely higher.

The Heavenly Jade Sacred Master would not lie about this, especially when she had the intention of supporting them to become the second Great Qian; she would certainly value spiritual veins even more.

"Then we will stop practicing this technique immediately. Does the Sacred Master have any other instructions regarding this?"

Lu Xingzhou took out a set of formation flags: "You send four people, spread them to the southeast, west, and north of Shadow Moon City, each holding a flag, and just sink your spiritual sense into them. I will handle the rest."

An Elder of the Shadow Moon Sect asked cautiously: "This is to..."

"To suppress your royal aura!"

The Shadow Moon Sect was as energized as if they had been injected with chicken blood: "We will follow Young Master Lu's instructions completely!"

Everyone took the flags and went to the four corners of Shadow Moon City, while Lu Xingzhou took the main flag and flew quickly to the very center of Shadow Moon City.

It was late at night, and Shadow Moon City was deserted. The center was a large square, and being alone on it felt quite lonely and panic-inducing, much like Lu Xingzhou's inner state at the moment.

He didn't know if the opponent was human or ghost. Judging by the fact that they had cultivation on par with Ye Tinglan, Lu Xingzhou still trusted that Ye Tinglan could defeat those of the same level; the title of "Number One in the World" was earned by stepping on those of the same level, and even the Demon Emperor was a notch below her.

However, if the opponent could borrow the spiritual veins of a country, Ye Tinglan might suffer a loss.

He couldn't do anything else, and he didn't dare to lead Si Han and the others to join the battle to assist. The only thing he could do was to help Ye Tinglan suppress the spiritual veins here, at least so the opponent couldn't borrow them.

But this was very difficult to do... at least not something a fourth-rank cultivator could do.

Things as ethereal as spiritual veins do not correspond to magic power, but to spiritual sense. For a cultivator who had not yet broken through to the third rank and had not yet opened up their soul cultivation, it was too much of a stretch.

Lu Xingzhou closed his eyes, his mind immersed in the formation flags.

He could feel the spiritual veins like a dragon, faintly appearing above Shadow Moon City, covering the hundred-mile firmament. But the dragon aura was drifting, as if little points of starlight were sinking into the west, being stolen and borrowed by someone. The spiritual sense of the Shadow Moon Sect Elders at the four corners and Si Han was concentrated, helping to suppress the four sides, but they didn't know the reason; they were just purely lending their strength, which required Lu Xingzhou's coordination.

Lu Xingzhou silently operated the method of luck he had learned from Ye Tinglan at the Heavenly Travel Sword Sect, mobilizing the power of the four symbols to condense the firmament and stabilize the eight directions.

His sea of consciousness felt like it was being pricked by needles; just a little bit of activation exceeded his load.

Just as Ye Tinglan had said back then, "Changing Feng Shui and spiritual veins is an act of defying Heaven and changing fate," "Are you not risking your life for Shen Tang?"

How did he respond at the time?

"Perhaps one day, it will be for the Master."

A prophecy fulfilled.

The ridiculous thing was, no one knew if Ye Tinglan even needed this desperate help; perhaps it wasn't needed at all.

…………

The battle between Ye Tinglan and the monk Zhao En had also entered a white-hot stage.

At first, Zhao En had a bit of contempt for this woman.

He hadn't been in this world for a short time, and as could be seen from the familiarity in his conversation with Ye Tinglan, he knew the Heavenly Jade Sacred Master, who was counted among the best in this world, quite well. According to various information, this Heavenly Jade Sacred Master was not even a hundred years old.

For Brilliance Sun cultivation, this age could be considered a shocking genius, rare even in ancient times, and extremely remarkable. But this could be a disadvantage in battle, because compared to thousand-year-old monsters like them, her combat experience of less than a hundred years was clearly immature, and her knowledge of some ancient profound scriptures and strange arts was clearly lacking.

The "old woman" in A Nuo's mouth was definitely a young woman to these old monsters. A young woman, who was also in the emotional stage of her Red Phoenix star moving, was clearly a mess in terms of mental state, with plenty of flaws.

As it turned out, the fight was not like that at all.

According to his observations, neither the Great Qian nor the Heavenly Frost countries had much Buddhism, so logically, Ye Tinglan shouldn't be so familiar with Buddhist methods, but in actual combat, he found that she was very familiar with them.

The "ancient strange arts" he thought were profound were like things Ye Tinglan had practiced face-to-face thousands of times; they posed no threat at all.

The flaws he thought could affect her mind, using various types of mental attacks or illusions, still had no effect on Ye Tinglan at all, and instead made his own sea of consciousness ache.

For example, just now, he used the method of self-enacted bliss to guide her into a heavenly illusion, seeing the most tender and affectionate "lover." As a result, the little lover was directly strangled to death by Ye Tinglan, without her even changing her expression.

The illusion shattered like glass, and Ye Tinglan's sword almost poked directly into Zhao En's heart. Fortunately, Zhao En dodged quickly, only resulting in a spray of blood.

"With your firm will, how could your Red Phoenix star be moved?" Zhao En flew back and asked incredulously: "Could it be that you are just playing with your lover?"

Ye Tinglan kept a straight face, her sword Qi frosty.

She had no obligation to answer the monk's questions.

In fact, the way Lu Xingzhou and she got along was different from what most people understood. The so-called lover, he hadn't even agreed to that, okay! Lu Xingzhou was still using "rewards" and "I'm tired," pitifully begging for a little tofu to eat.

The lover in your illusion came up with a mouth full of "I love you," clingy and wanting to seek pleasure... Are you crazy? Let alone an illusion, even if the real Lu Xingzhou played like that, she would strangle him without hesitation. Moreover, this monk's secret technique was ill-intentioned; if she had really felt moved in the illusion, she would likely have been led by the opponent to stir up desire and become a furnace.

She was too familiar with this kind of "Daughter of Joy" union method. She could even teach Lu Xingzhou how to resist the Daughter of Joy Profound Art; how could she not have experience? She was an expert.

There is nothing new under the sun, and the Daughter of Joy Profound Art was not created out of thin air; it was nothing more than an ancient inheritance, and perhaps it really was inherited from the Joyous branch of Buddhism.

But just as the battle was in her favor, the monk in front of her disappeared again, and the scene changed again.

Another illusion attack? Is there no end to it?

Ye Tinglan looked up abruptly.

The location she was in was originally a mountain hollow surrounded by dark mountain peaks, like an abyss. Now it was even more obvious, as if she had fallen into a demonic abyss, and the surrounding mountain peaks had turned into pillars of Buddha light, as if huge fingers were standing tall, suppressing her underneath.

Above, a huge golden Buddha face looked down from a high position.

It was like being an ant in the palm of a god or Buddha, unable to escape no matter what means were used.

Huge pressure weighed on her body and mind, making her unable to move, leaving only desperate screams and struggles.

Ye Tinglan's knees softened, and she almost leaned on her sword.

This was not an illusion... or rather, not just an illusion.

This was the opponent's unique skill, a super-rank forbidden technique like the "Buddha Kingdom in the Palm," combining physical pressure and mental attack. For those with a weak will, just falling into this desperate scene was enough to crush a person.

But this was an imagery that would only be caused by an absolute gap in cultivation; it shouldn't happen when fighting at the same level.

The opponent had borrowed other powers and combined them with his own, which led to the level gap.

Ye Tinglan knew what that was... she didn't expect this monk to have stolen the local spiritual veins to this extent.

In other words, if she could break this move, she could completely cut off the connection between the opponent and the local spiritual veins, and everything would return to the starting point. The opponent would never have dared to use this move easily; once used, there was no way back. Either she died, or the opponent failed completely.

"Is this the level of the old monsters in the Ancient Realm?" Ye Tinglan had sweat on her forehead, but she laughed lightly instead: "So unable to hold on, how long have we been fighting, and you're already revealing your trump card."

Zhao En's face was as heavy as water. He couldn't perform other attacks and could only answer slowly: "The strength of the Heavenly Jade Sacred Master is indeed far beyond my expectations. Number one in the Great Qian, well-deserved; perhaps you really are the number one in the world, not just the Great Qian."

Ye Tinglan said slowly: "You flatter me. The strong in this world are as numerous as ox hair; it's just that you have lived outside the sky for too long and no longer know the heroes of the human world."

"Perhaps, but it doesn't matter." Zhao En chanted a low Buddhist name: "If the Heavenly Jade Sacred Master falls here, then this world is nothing more than this."

Ye Tinglan looked up abruptly, and above was another giant palm, slowly pressing down.

Although the pressing momentum was slow, it brought greater mental pressure.

Ye Tinglan's sea of consciousness was already stinging, but the unyielding fighting spirit in her eyes grew stronger: "Then let's see if you have that ability."

"Whoosh!" A compass flew out of her ring.

The compass spun, shifting stars and changing positions.

The pressing Buddha palm was blocked by the compass and couldn't advance even an inch.

The compass emitted a soft light, sprinkling over the universe, and the evil spirits had nowhere to hide.

It seemed to be able to shine upon the shadows beneath the finger-like Buddha light pillars, which were incongruously connected to the golden Buddha light above.

"Clang!" The divine sword appeared again, slashing toward the boundary between the shadows and the Buddha light.

That was to separate Zhao En from the Heavenly Frost spiritual veins.

"Clang!" The sword light slashed at the base of the finger, and Zhao En, not far away, had blood spilling from the corner of his mouth, his body swaying slightly.

Blood also spilled from the corner of Ye Tinglan's mouth. Distracted, the compass above began to be pressed down by the Buddha palm, barely a yard from her head.

Whether she slashed the finger base first or the Buddha palm pressed on her head first, it was a matter of a single moment.

But she ultimately had to be distracted to deal with different forces, clearly at a disadvantage.

If only someone could help... even if it was just a little bit of distraction.

Just at this moment, it seemed like she was having another hallucination.

Lu Xingzhou's image appeared in the scene inexplicably, like a giant supporting the sky and earth, supporting the Buddha palm with one hand.

No... this was not an illusion.

This was Lu Xingzhou, who didn't know where he was, using the method of spiritual vein suppression to compete with Zhao En for the Heavenly Frost spiritual veins, manifesting here.

This judgment flashed through her mind, and Ye Tinglan had no more hesitation. Her divine sword erupted with brilliant light, slashing straight toward the surrounding finger bases.

In her ears, it seemed like she heard Zhao En's horrified exclamation: "How is this possible!"

In Ye Tinglan's heart, only a conversation from back then flashed.

"Perhaps one day, it will be for the Master."

(End of this chapter)