Chapter 1004: Four-Directions Gathering Slaughter Formation

Tang Yaocao now has only one thought in her mind: to devour the inner dan of the Seven Halls Yama, so that ghost cultivators can rise one or several levels and become strong enough.

An existence that has no desire for reincarnation, loathes humanity intensely, and cannot continue on the path of the Righteous Path—negotiation is now meaningless.

Now the only options are to defeat her or to take her in.

Xiao Jiu was about to make a move, but Tang Yaocao had no intention of fighting her; a black shadow instantly rose, black qi spread in all directions, and then quickly gathered along the ground into Lingdie Valley.

Xiao Jiu immediately summoned the Soul-guiding Lamp.

As the Soul-guiding Lamp rushed toward Lingdie Valley, it kept growing larger; Xiao Jiu ran while forming hand seals, controlling the Soul-guiding Lamp to cover the valley's interior.

But when Xiao Jiu reached the edge of Lingdie Valley and looked into its interior, she was surprised to find the valley completely desolate.

Not a trace of the former Yao Tian remained; the vast swarms of spirit butterflies living in the interior had vanished, and even the rolling black qi that had once filled the place was gone.

Tang Yaocao just withdrew like that, cleanly and decisively!

Yao Tian leads toward Hu Shan, so Tang Yaocao should have already headed for Hu Shan by now.

Footsteps sounded from behind.

In the blink of an eye, Liu Junyan was already at Xiao Jiu's side: "The seal inside Yao Tian has disappeared, Xiao Jiu—what's the situation now?"

"Tang Yaocao has gone to Hu Shan."

Xiao Jiu said, pulling Liu Junyan along as they prepared to rush into the interior of Lingdie Valley.

Liu Junyan grabbed Xiao Jiu firmly: "Don't act rashly, wait a moment!"

Liu Junyan warily stared at the interior below: "There's something wrong down there."

Only then did Xiao Jiu notice that, when the Soul-guiding Lamp fell, it should have directly covered the center of Lingdie Valley's interior, but even now the Soul-guiding Lamp remains suspended there, constantly turning, yet unable to land.

Soon Xiao Jiu understood what was going on below.

Earlier, the merit inside the Soul-guiding Lamp had been almost exhausted, but after Xiao Jiu returned, everyone helped refill it to full.

Therefore, the Soul-guiding Lamp's mana is now more than sufficient, yet it cannot enter Lingdie Valley—this shows that a stronger formation had been set up in advance inside the valley.

No matter how powerful a formation is, as long as its eye is precisely found and destroyed, the whole formation is broken.

However, different formations place their eyes in different positions and in different numbers.

A formation capable of stopping the Soul-guiding Lamp is certainly not as simple as having just one or two eyes.

Moreover, skilled formation layers excel at nesting formations; even after breaking the outer formation, there might still be another inside.

After Liu Junyan seized Xiao Jiu, she herself went ahead to scout.

Not long after, he returned and said: "The entire Lingdie Valley is like an iron bucket, sealed tight; the eyes of the outer formation… Xiao Jiu, go take a look yourself—be careful."

Xiao Jiu glanced dubiously at Liu Junyan, then transformed into a phoenix form and flew upward over the interior of Lingdie Valley with beating wings.

She flew a circle above Lingdie Valley, and immediately understood why Liu Junyan had hesitated to speak earlier.

Lingdie Valley had indeed been pre-set with a formation; although the outer formation is large, Xiao Jiu's cultivation level still allows her to see through it at a glance.

This is the Four-Directions Gathering Slaughter Formation.

The four formation eyes are placed respectively at the southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest corners of the formation; the suppressing objects in those eyes continuously absorb killing qi from all directions through the formation, and the more killing qi the suppressing objects absorb, the stronger the formation's mana becomes.

Correspondingly, if the formation is forcibly broken, the first to receive the impact are those four suppressing objects.

And the four suppressing objects that Tang Yaocao used as the formation eyes are none other than the four ghost faces that had disappeared from the Soul-guiding Lamp!

These four ghost faces had originally cultivated nearly to the realm of the Ghost Buddha, but now each is surrounded by swirling black qi, with crimson eyes, sharp fangs, and a restless, eager demeanor.

Seeing this scene, Xiao Jiu felt heartbroken.

These ghost faces have accompanied Xiao Jiu through life and death, saving her many times from danger; if there were any chance of survival, Xiao Jiu could never let them come to harm.

To break the formation, one cannot simply destroy the suppressing objects in its eyes—this is Tang Yaocao's means of controlling Xiao Jiu.

Of course, Xiao Jiu could also harden her heart and simply abandon these ghost faces.

But the problem is, after breaking the upper formation, are there no other formations below?

Impossible.

This is where Tang Yaocao's soul has re-congealed; it is her stronghold!

If Xiao Jiu's speculation is correct, once Tang Yaocao obtains the inner dan of the Seven Halls Yama, she will immediately return to Lingdie Valley to enter seclusion.

Therefore, Lingdie Valley must be seized as soon as possible.

Then what about Hu Shan…

Xiao Jiu turned and flew back to Liu Junyan's side, resumed human form upon landing, and said: "Āyàn, go back to Hu Shan now and do your utmost to protect the Seven Halls Yama; if in the end it truly cannot be saved, then seal the entire Hu Shan completely."

Now we can only act separately.

Liu Junyan said: "Given the current state of the Seven Halls Yama, it's likely impossible to hold, but I will fully blockade Hu Shan and pursue Tang Yaocao from behind to seal her; even if I cannot subdue Tang Yaocao in Hu Shan, I will do my utmost to drive her back to Yao Tian, trap her there, and then meet up with you."

Xiao Jiu nodded; being able to do this much is already quite good.

The two quickly discussed the details, then Liu Junyan left.

Xiao Jiu once again took phoenix form and continued studying the Four-Directions Gathering Slaughter Formation.

Not long after, Xiao Jiu devised a way to break the formation without causing the four ghost faces to suffer backlash that would scatter their souls and spirits.

These four ghost faces have all along been nurtured in the Soul-guiding Lamp, nourished by its merit, and their resonance with the lamp is extremely strong.

Xiao Jiu only needs to cast a spell, infusing the merit from the Soul-guiding Lamp into each formation eye; the four ghost faces will quickly absorb a large amount of merit, return to normal, and then naturally assist in breaking the formation.

The reason Xiao Jiu hasn't acted immediately is that she worries whether breaking the Four-Directions Gathering Slaughter Formation might be the prerequisite for triggering the next formation.

If that is the case, Xiao Jiu still needs to take precautions early to avoid being caught up in it.

What are Tang Yaocao's most important Dharma implements?

Buddhist niches, ancient paintings, Ghost King Butterflies… there should be more, such as her coffin and remains…

Back when Tang Yaocao was buried in Hu Shan, she had a grave and a coffin.

But after Hu Shan became the territory of the Seven Halls Yama, Xiao Jiu never found those.

Tang Yaocao's coffin and remains should originally have been buried together with the Buddhist niche and ancient painting in Lingdie Valley.

Now, any one of these things inside could become killing intent aimed at attacking Xiao Jiu.

However, Tang Yaocao's soul has already gone to Hu Shan; Xiao Jiu only needs to avoid her corpse, and the rest can be directly destroyed with Nirvana fire.

Thinking of this, Xiao Jiu no longer hesitated, activating the Soul-guiding Lamp to pour Merit power into the Zhènyǎn……