Chapter 252: The Heavenly Sword

In fact, no reminder from Lu Fang was needed—when they first arrived, the Confucian Liu Yan had already instructed them to focus on attacking Lu, then seize the chance to strike Huan, who controlled the black mist tunnel.

Thus, when facing other Guardian Spirits, their battle plan was to stall.

Indeed, after successfully landing effective attacks on Lu, they grew slightly careless upon seeing only Jue and Li charging forward, assuming that two Fog-Evil Clan guardians of the same realm should easily give them the upper hand.

So they abandoned the stalling plan—and paid the price.

Only when Jue and Li unleashed their transcendent power did they remember again: their sole objective was to hold, not attack, and merely delay these two Fog-Evil Clan guardians.

Yet none had anticipated Jue and Li’s strength would be so formidable; even with fifteen of them attacking without defense, not a single one could spare an opening to strike Huan.

This directly contradicted their original intent.

As the strongest combatant and commander on the field, the Confucian Liu Yan, while holding off the berserk Jue, sent a mental message to a fellow Confucian he trusted, urging him to find an opportunity to bypass Jue and attack Huan.

Of course, he would provide some support to ensure success.

That Confucian was Bai Jiang, a man with audacity beyond measure; had it been anyone else, even if Liu Yan had spoken, they likely would have ignored him.

But Bai Jiang was different: first, his bond with Liu Yan was genuine; second, his cultivation was among the strongest; third, he was naturally fearless—so upon receiving the message, he instantly broke from battle and shot forward like a streak of light, leaping past Jue.

As Jue furrowed her brow and moved to intercept Bai Jiang, Liu Yan roared, unleashing a torrent of righteous qi that formed colossal characters, forcibly restraining her for a moment.

At that instant, Bai Jiang drew close to Huan. Though bold, he knew that even if this Fog-Evil Clan guardian indeed controlled the black mist tunnel, he must still possess combat capability.

He also knew he might have only one chance to strike—and he must seize this moment.

“Heavenly Sword!”

Bai Jiang shouted, launching himself skyward, as dense streams of righteous qi transformed into countless great swords that rained down upon Huan and Lu below.

“I’ll handle it!” Lu sneered, his body streaked with blood and grievously wounded; suddenly rising from his seated position, he thrust out a fist, summoning a barrier that shielded himself, Huan, and the black mist tunnel.

The seemingly devastating Heavenly Sword struck the barrier and exploded in a massive shockwave.

It was clear the Heavenly Sword possessed immense power—but it failed to break the barrier.

Even a wounded guardian like Lu, casually activating his barrier, effortlessly blocked the Confucian Bai Jiang’s strongest attack.

When the final sword struck the barrier and shattered without breaking it, the sword dissolved back into Bai Jiang, his expression hollow as he let out a quiet sigh.

He had acted—yet he had been defeated by his own weakness.

This defeat might cost him his life.

“Huan, I can’t move—can you kill him?” Lu sneered.

Huan’s wings glowed as his pitch-black eyes, nearly touching Bai Jiang’s face, murmured unintelligible syllables; a violent surge of energy erupted.

Just as he was about to deliver the killing blow—

Huan’s consciousness flickered, his violent energy vanishing instantly; when he snapped back to awareness, he whirled around, furious, toward Lu Fang’s position: “Foolish human!”

In that instant, he had been momentarily stunned by Lu Fang’s Heaven-and-Earth Momentum technique.

This caused him to lose control of the black mist tunnel for a fleeting moment—triggering an unimaginable accident.

Bai Jiang, who had fled as a streak of light, gasped heavily, heart still pounding; though he didn’t know what had happened, seeing Huan’s rage directed at Lu Fang, he guessed the young Marquis of Literary Crown had done something—something that saved him.

“Jue! The plan has failed!”

Huan glared fiercely at Lu Fang, but shouted toward Jue.

Jue had been watching behind her all along; she had sensed it coming. Hearing Huan’s cry, she instantly retreated and slapped him across the face: “Worthless fool! You can’t even handle this!”

Li also retreated, hesitating: “Could it be we’re unable to contain those four Half-Sages? What of the King? Has he regained his strength?”

“No—he hasn’t. Those four Half-Sages are even more stubborn than we imagined,” Huan replied, not showing resentment after being slapped, only shame.

Jue opened her mouth to speak, then stopped. After a pause, she glared fiercely at Huan and leapt first into the black mist tunnel.

The other three guardians followed without hesitation.

Watching all this, the Confucian Liu Yan was baffled, uncertain: “Did we… succeed?”

Almost as soon as the words left his lips—

The vanished black mist tunnel reappeared, but differently now—its form faint, almost translucent.

In an instant, countless spiritual lights burst forth from within.

The four Half-Sages, led by Tai Feng, emerged one after another from the tunnel; due to Huan’s momentary lapse, they had not been fully trapped.

“Damn it! We didn’t notice—never expected the Fog-Evil Clan’s tricks to be this treacherous. We nearly died in there.”

Luo Sha, the Half-Sage, cursed bitterly.

Tai Feng, the Half-Sage, stroked his beard and looked around: “We owe you all a great debt. Had it not been for you, the consequences would have been dire.”

As they recounted the events, it became clear—just as Lu Fang had said—the four Half-Sages, once trapped in the black mist tunnel, had indeed been having their cultivation roots slowly drained by some presence; yet due to their fierce resistance, the enemy gained little.

But this situation wouldn’t last.

Within the tunnel, the four Half-Sages sensed a restraining force gradually expanding, steadily weakening their ability to resist.

Had Liu Yan and the others ignored Lu Fang’s advice and failed to harass Huan, had they merely stalled, the Fog-Evil King would have eventually absorbed the four Half-Sages’ cultivation roots and fully restored his strength.

At that point, he would have had nothing to fear from them.

Thanks to Liu Yan’s persistence and Bai Jiang’s fearless sacrifice, Lu Fang had been able to use his Heaven-and-Earth Momentum technique to briefly disrupt a ninth-rank transcendent Huan.

After understanding the full sequence of events, Tai Feng, the Half-Sage, smiled lightly: “Thank you all—and especially you, Marquis of Literary Crown. When we’ve eradicated the Fog-Evil Clan, I shall report this to His Majesty and ensure each of you is granted great merit.”