Chapter 352: Four Symbols Seal, The Invincible Military Aura

May 13th.

Tie Feng Mountain.

Today is already the 72nd day that the Tie Feng Sect has been under lockdown; since the founding of the Tie Feng Sect, this has never happened before.

To everyone in the Tie Feng Sect, this is a supreme humiliation!

On the training ground at the mountain peak, hundreds of Tie Feng Sect disciples are practicing their blade techniques as usual, shouting with every strike:

"Kill—"

Perhaps to vent the pent-up frustration in their hearts, the sounds of killing coming from the training ground grow louder with each passing day, and the killing intent becomes more intense by the day!

Elder Wang stands at the edge of the training ground, watching the disciples whose momentum is as fierce as fire, a look of worry appearing in his eyes.

A moment later, taking advantage of a break in the disciples' training, he walks onto the high platform, his presence like a rainbow:

"Good! Very spirited! Everyone, keep it up!"

After saying a few words to encourage everyone, Elder Wang leaves the training ground with his head held high and chest puffed out, then walks into a great hall with a grave expression to wait.

More than an hour later, Gu Vanguard Commander, dressed in a black robe and possessing a powerful presence, walks out from behind the great hall.

He retreats to cultivate at this time every day; if Elder Wang has something to discuss with him, he waits in this great hall.

"Sect Master, Senior Brother."

Elder Wang bows to Gu Vanguard Commander.

"Something the matter?"

Gu Vanguard Commander asks directly.

Elder Wang looks worried: "Sect Master, Senior Brother, how long is this lockdown going to last? If things continue like this, I fear the disciples below will not be able to hold on."

"If they cannot even endure this bit of hardship, how can they talk about reaching the peak of the martial path?"

Gu Vanguard Commander looks indifferent.

Elder Wang says anxiously: "But if this continues, what will become of our Tie Feng Sect's reputation?"

Gu Vanguard Commander walks to the entrance of the great hall with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky outside:

"My Tie Feng Sect's reputation has always been won by the blade. It is just a lockdown; is it that you, Junior Brother, can no longer fight, or that I can no longer lift my blade? What is lost today, we shall simply take back with our blades in the future."

Elder Wang is silent; a moment later, he calms down and bows to Gu Vanguard Commander:

"Senior Brother is right to teach me."

He then lowers his voice and says: "But will our dealings with that side be discovered?"

Hearing this, Gu Vanguard Commander's expression changes slightly, and he turns to look at Elder Wang: "We have always been very discreet; it should not be discovered."

He pauses for a moment, then adds:

"Even if it were truly discovered, it is merely an exchange of interests. Would Bian Jingru really move against my Tie Feng Sect over such a trivial matter?"

Since the lockdown began, all contact between the Tie Feng Sect and the outside world has been severed, so Gu Vanguard Commander does not yet know of the investigation team's encounter in Datong Prefecture, nor is he aware of the immense pressure the investigation team has brought upon Datong Prefecture during this time.

Elder Wang nods upon hearing this.

The weight of a Martial Arts Master is already significant, and even more so because Gu Vanguard Commander is a Martial Arts Master who possesses the divine ability to ride the clouds. Ever since the war with the Western nations, the Great Lan Dynasty has placed even greater importance on martial artists with flight and anti-air capabilities, so Gu Vanguard Commander's weight is even greater than that of an ordinary Martial Arts Master!

Rationally speaking, Elder Wang feels that Gu Vanguard Commander's confidence is justified, but for some reason, there is always a shadow in his heart.

Suddenly, Elder Wang notices that the sky outside has darkened significantly, as if an invisible lid has been placed over it, giving one a faint sense of oppression.

Before he can examine it closely, Gu Vanguard Commander, who is beside him, has already stepped out of the great hall and vanished from the spot in an instant.

"Sect Master, Senior Brother!"

Elder Wang hurriedly follows him out.

Gu Vanguard Commander arrives at the plaza outside the great hall and looks up at the sky above, his expression gloomy.

At this moment, the sky has become even dimmer, and that invisible sense of oppression is even more obvious; not only can Dao Foundation realm experts like Gu Vanguard Commander and Elder Wang feel it, but even ordinary disciples can clearly sense that something is wrong.

Gu Vanguard Commander takes a step, his entire body leaping toward the sky like a shooting star, and then a large mass of cyan clouds forms out of thin air.

Relying on his cloud-riding divine ability, he arrives at an altitude of several hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

Once in the air, that sense of oppression is a hundred times stronger than it was on the ground!

The higher he goes, the greater the pressure Gu Vanguard Commander bears, as if countless stars from the cosmos are converging and pressing down upon him!

This is the effect caused by sorcery, but it is not just a sense of oppression on the mental level; it is genuinely affecting the surrounding airflow, and invisible forces converging from all directions are crushing down on Gu Vanguard Commander.

Below the Possession realm, sorcery can only affect people on a mental level; once at the Possession realm, one can attach an implant to an object and refine it into a magic treasure, allowing sorcery to bypass the mind and begin to affect matter.

At this moment, what Gu Vanguard Commander is encountering are the methods of a Possession realm Great Mage, and there is more than one Possession realm Great Mage!

He turns his head to look east, where a flying sword is dancing rapidly, its cyan sword light resembling a swimming dragon.

He looks west, where there is a bronze drum; fierce winds howl around it, and the sound of the drum is like the roar of a tiger.

In the south, there is a white jade ruler, surrounded by a sea of fire that burns the sky bright red.

Finally, in the north, there is a mirror hanging high in the sky, surrounded by frost, as if the space itself has been frozen.

"Four Symbols Constellation Seal!"

Gu Vanguard Commander grinds his teeth, saying each word clearly.

He sees that these four items are four magic treasures; the flying sword in the east is the magic treasure of Jiang Jin, the Vice Dean of the General Administration of Orthodox Law, and this flying sword once saved Li Fei.

The remaining bronze drum, white jade ruler, and mirror are the magic treasures of the other three Possession realm Great Mages of the General Administration of Orthodox Law.

These four people have joined forces to set up this formation, and this Four Symbols Constellation Seal is clearly aimed at Gu Vanguard Commander, intended to prevent him from escaping using his cloud-riding divine ability.

Gu Vanguard Commander looks down and sees squads of soldiers in heavy black armor climbing the mountain at an extremely fast speed.

The Imperial Guard Army, which had been at the foot of the mountain, is climbing!

First setting up the Four Symbols Constellation Seal, then having the Imperial Guard Army climb the mountain—this stance is already very clear.

It is just that Gu Vanguard Commander cannot understand why Bian Jingru could truly move against the Tie Feng Sect.

He lets out a roar, draws the blade at his waist, and slashes toward the sky above.

A massive amount of cyan cloud energy surges out, converging into a pillar of clouds that continuously rises and strikes upward.

This cloud pillar is like a pillar supporting the heavens, reaching the firmament above and the Nine Netherworlds below, giving one the feeling that it can extend infinitely and is filled with boundless power!

This is the perfect combination of a martial artist's 'essence', 'Qi', and 'spirit'—the perfect union of one's own blood energy, force, and intent.

Li Fei can only unleash such an attack by relying on supreme arts like the "Diamond Eight Sections." But for a Martial Arts Master like Gu Vanguard Commander, every movement is a case of 'Qi and force in harmony, force and intent in harmony, intent and Qi in harmony'!

Such an attack has a strong restraining effect on sorcery, and the entire Four Symbols Constellation Seal begins to tremble.

Gu Vanguard Commander chooses to break the formation with all his might at the first opportunity, because he knows very well that only if he survives can the Tie Feng Sect have a glimmer of hope!

Just as the great formation trembles, a sword light carrying peerless power comes from the east, pouncing over like a cyan dragon baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.

Then, the bronze drum in the west begins to dance frantically, and countless wind blades converge into a translucent tiger, pouncing toward him.

In the south, the white jade ruler causes the sea of fire to change, and the sea of fire condenses into a giant bird that pounces at Gu Vanguard Commander.

In the north, countless frost melts, turning into a monstrous wave that sweeps over, with a giant turtle looming in the waves.

Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise!

The Four Symbols Constellation Seal triggers its strongest killing moves, just to hold Gu Vanguard Commander back.

Gu Vanguard Commander is surrounded by cyan clouds; ignoring the four symbols' killing moves attacking him, he continues to control that massive cloud pillar to keep rising.

At the foot of Tie Feng Mountain, Jiang Jin, the Vice Dean of the General Administration of Orthodox Law who is in charge of the great formation, sits cross-legged, surrounded by a group of guards.

He keeps his eyes tightly shut, his expression growing increasingly grave.

Using a flying sword as a magic treasure should be a top-tier killing weapon, but because the flying sword is affected by the Martial Arts Master's blade intent, force, and blood energy, the implant attached to it is restless, causing its power to be greatly reduced, unable to break through Gu Vanguard Commander's protective cloud energy.

Before a magic treasure develops a true spirit and becomes a life-bound magic treasure, the path of sorcery is too heavily restrained by the martial path.

If no one else intervenes today, even if Jiang Jin brought three Possession realm Great Mages to set up the formation in advance, he still would not be able to stop Gu Vanguard Commander!

"Gu Vanguard Commander—"

Above the mountain peak, a voice resounds throughout the entire Tie Feng Sect.

"Why are you standing so high?"

A figure has arrived atop the great hall where Gu Vanguard Commander was previously in seclusion, though no one knows when.

"Xu Jing!"

On the plaza below, Elder Wang looks up at the newcomer, his face ashen.

The last time Wu'an University sent someone, it was Xu Jing; the opponent's water-control divine ability happened to restrain Gu Vanguard Commander's cloud-riding divine ability, and after a bout between the two, Xu Jing emerged victorious.

Today, Xu Jing has come again, and with four Possession realm Great Mages as helpers, there will be absolutely no suspense about the outcome!

"Sect Master, Senior Brother, run—"

Elder Wang shouts while leaping into the air, charging toward Xu Jing on top of the great hall with all his might.

He wants to hold Xu Jing back to give Gu Vanguard Commander a chance to escape.

He also knows very well that in today's situation, only if Gu Vanguard Commander escapes can the Tie Feng Sect have a glimmer of hope.

There is no one who does not fear a Martial Arts Master who is hiding outside and possesses the ability to fly!

Elder Wang's entire body is wrapped in dark golden force, crashing toward Xu Jing like a meteor; as he is about to collide, he brings his hands together, and a massive dark golden blade, over ten meters long, condenses and slashes down at Xu Jing from the air.

"I really gave you too much face."

Looking at Elder Wang, who is attacking him, Xu Jing sneers.

He waves his hand casually, and a deep blue force collides with the descending dark golden blade.

The next instant, the dark golden blade is covered in frost, and then it shatters with a boom!

Elder Wang feels as if he has suddenly become an ordinary person, stripped of his clothes and thrown into a world of ice and snow.

Everything before his eyes disappears, leaving only vast white snow.

The bone-chilling cold makes him forget everything, and the blood in his entire body is almost frozen!

When he finally regains his senses, he discovers that his blood has indeed frozen.

"Pfft—"

Elder Wang spat out a mouthful of blood; after leaving his body, this blood instantly congealed into a blood-red ice cube.

The next second, blood-red ice spikes erupted from every part of Elder Wang's body, instantly turning him into a blood-red "hedgehog"!

He widened his eyes as he looked at Xu Jing, who was close at hand, then fell powerlessly from the air, finally crashing to the ground and dying right there.

A Tier 4 Dao Foundation realm expert could not even withstand a single move in front of Xu Jing.

This is the unbridgeable chasm between the Dao Foundation realm and a Martial Arts Master!

After killing Elder Wang with a single move, Xu Jing continued to look up at Gu Vanguard Commander in the air, using his own water-control supernatural ability to influence his opponent, attempting to forcibly drag him down from the sky.

At the same time, the disciples of the Iron Peak Gate also encountered their greatest crisis in history—

Squads of Imperial Guard soldiers wearing heavy armor and holding weapons had already charged to the mountaintop, then shouted in unison:

"The Iron Peak Gate has colluded with Western spies and intends to rebel! Everyone, abandon resistance immediately, or be killed without mercy!"

There were two hundred of these Imperial Guard soldiers in total, and the weakest among them were Body-Breaking realm martial artists.

If one only counted the number of martial artists, the disciples of the Iron Peak Gate combined were not fewer than the number of these Imperial Guard soldiers, but the true strength of the Imperial Guard lay in their military formation:

Hundreds of people gathered together, the heavy armor on their bodies and the weapons in their hands lit up with light, and then these hundreds of people swung their blades forward together.

The next second, a tyrannical and peerless blade intent was generated, instantly crossing a distance of several hundred meters and descending upon dozens of Iron Peak Gate disciples.

These Iron Peak Gate disciples were shaken to their cores, as if they had received a massive shock, each one turning bloodless and losing their fighting spirit.

Some knelt on both knees, while others rolled their eyes back and fainted directly.

This is the sharp weapon that the Great Lan Dynasty relies on to dominate the world—Military Aura!

Hundreds of people use the aura-tools on their bodies to unify and integrate their will and spiritual power in an instant, and then erupt with it.

Military Aura is a power that lies between techniques and martial arts divine intent, or rather, a perfect combination of the two; it can easily manifest externally like a technique to influence matter, and it will not be restrained by a martial artist's "essence," "Qi," or "spirit."

Hundreds of Imperial Guard soldiers formed a military formation, and the Military Aura they unleashed was not much weaker than the blade intent unleashed by Gu Vanguard Commander, a Martial Arts Master, at full power; those below the Qi Transformation realm simply could not withstand it!

Struck by the Military Aura, the Iron Peak Gate disciples had no morale left and basically had no heart to resist.

"Kill—"

The Imperial Guard soldiers began their charge.

In reality, they were all cavalry, each possessing a strange beast, the Green Nightmare Horse, as a mount, but they were not riding them in order to ascend the mountain quickly.

But even without their mounts, the charging speed of these Imperial Guard soldiers was still shockingly fast, like a black tide, instantly sweeping over and drowning everything!

Externally, Military Aura can influence the enemy's spirit, while internally, it can influence one's own physique, allowing soldiers to receive positive stimulation, greatly increasing their speed and strength.

Situated within the military formation and stimulated by the Military Aura, Body-Breaking realm martial artists can exert the strength of a Qi Transformation realm martial master in a short period of time!

Therefore, although the Iron Peak Gate disciples seemed to be similar in number to the Imperial Guard, the gap in strength between the two sides was actually worlds apart!

After the two hundred Imperial Guard soldiers went up the mountain, it took them less than ten minutes to complete the sweep of the Iron Peak Gate.

Not one was an enemy under their blades!

Now, the only person left in the entire Iron Peak Gate still resisting was one man—

The "Blade King," Gu Vanguard Commander.

Seeking monthly votes.

There is more tonight.

(End of chapter)