Chapter 111

How could Jiang Yu let him escape again? Several lightning balls swooshed out, precisely covering 360 degrees with no blind spots, exploding around Jiang Du, effectively blocking his escape.

The lightning balls are not lightning, but explosive pellets crafted by cultivators using special ore, aided by inscribing lightning patterns.

Although its destructive power is inferior to the Heavenly Thunderbolt refined from heavenly thunder and earthly lightning, a volley of a dozen or so still packs considerable power.

Jiang Du was blown to the ground, his escape talisman broken and useless, but he quickly snatched two Heavenly Thunderbolts, warning, "Come any closer, and we'll both perish."

This caused the approaching Jiang Tu to halt abruptly; then, after receiving a mental transmission from Jiang Yu, he swiftly flew to trade.

"Who exactly are you?" Jiang Du threw away the shattered explosive talisman and leapt back, his spiritual power surging into his hand-held magic sword as he stared intently at her.

Unfortunately, Jiang Yu did not answer; instead, she unfurled a large net again to try to entangle him.

Jiang Du quickly flung a Heavenly Thunderbolt at her; having not yet gotten up to counterattack immediately, he was waiting for her to let her guard down before unleashing his big move.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yu reacted extremely fast, her body shooting off diagonally like lightning over a distance of one li; amidst the blinding white explosion of the Heavenly Thunderbolt, she could no longer see the direction in which Jiang Du fled.

As she was desperately extending her spiritual sense to search, Jiang Tu, who had hidden himself a step earlier, intercepted Jiang Du's path and sent her a mental urging to hurry over.

But the closer she got to Jiang Tu's position, the more severely her spiritual sense was suppressed, and soon she could only extend it to a range of three feet around herself.

Moreover, when Jiang Yu, emerging from the thick mist, faintly saw Jiang Tu stepping on Jiang Du, the latter again resorted to his old trick, flinging a Heavenly Thunderbolt.

Its lethal radius reaches as far as one li; anyone too slow is instantly reduced to dust, leaving not a trace in the mortal world.

In the past, Jiang Yu also liked to use this to subdue enemies.

"Watch out." Jiang Yu's warning had barely left her lips when Jiang Tu struck the Heavenly Thunderbolt far away; by sheer coincidence it flew toward the fruit tree exit and, just before hitting a tree, exploded with a boom.

Normally, as long as one's movement is swift, flying out of a one-li range would keep a person unharmed; but the instant this one detonated, it triggered the fruit grove's prohibition.

The three were instantly caught in a tremendous gust, each person like a lone boat on the sea, tossed about until their heads swam and they could not free themselves.

Moreover, their protective light shields were torn apart by the wind, their robes slit in multiple places, and inevitably, gashes appeared on their hands and faces.

Jiang Yu, wearing inner armor, fared somewhat better; Jiang Du, however, had his robes torn open, his shoulders and back fully exposed to the wind's blade-like force.

At this moment, Jiang Tu tried to grab Jiang Yu and flee into the dragon pearl for refuge, but couldn't, because it only then discovered that its own dragon pearl space was inaccessible.

Fortunately, after a while the wind finally subsided, but the three had been flung halfway up the mountain.

The myriad people had not even leapt up when a sky-covering, earth-enveloping mass of vines came pressing down.

Jiang Yu threw out a high-grade fire talisman hoping to burn them off, but to her dismay, the spiritual power she poured into the talisman sank like a stone in the sea, failing to ignite the fire talisman.

She then tried to slash with her flying sword, but it was already too late; the vines wound her up like a twisted rope and dragged her down underground.

Of course, not far away, Jiang Du had fallen after initially trying to chop with his sword; unfortunately, the vines not only refused to be cut, they also entangled and shattered his sword.

As Jiang Tu was being dragged deeper underground, its spiritual sense could no longer locate Jiang Yu; feeling anxious, upon hearing Jiang Yu's call, it immediately opened its mouth to reply.

However, its two words "I am here" turned to mush when it fell from a height to the ground.

Moreover, it had hoped to float midway and land safely, but it did not expect that this place prohibited spiritual sense even more strictly than the outside; its dantian was sealed, leaving it with not a trace of spiritual power.

Furthermore, Jiang Du ambushed it, intending to step on it to cushion his fall.

But it bit back, first half-stepping to twist its body and strike Jiang Du; seeing that they were about to be slammed hard to the ground, Jiang Yu flipped freely in midair, landed steadily with her lightness skill, and immediately leapt up to catch Jiang Tu.

"Phew, that scared me to death, Jiang Yu; your spiritual power is also sealed." Even though its flesh was mighty, it did not want to fall and hurt itself.

Jiang Du, however, was not so fortunate; he already bore many prior wounds, and now the vines had pierced into his flesh, causing excruciating pain, and he had never trained in martial arts.

Relying solely on his flesh, which had been cleansed countless times by spiritual power, he tried to use Jiang Tu's body as a shield, only to have the damned black turtle strike him first.

Bang, bang-bang

His body first smashed into a large stone platform several dozen zhang below, then the platform kicked him away, and he battered several small stone platforms before finally landing.

Accompanying the impact sounds were the crackling noises of bones breaking in multiple places.

Jiang Tu stared wide-eyed, while Jiang Yu placed it on a small stone platform beneath her feet, leapt into the air, and came to where Jiang Du lay.

She didn't even glance at the spot a few times, and without a word she reached out and sealed several of his major acupoints, saying, "If you willingly leave this body, I'll let you go."

"Hah, why would I need to leave my own body..." Jiang Du hadn't finished speaking when he saw her press her hand to his forehead, and he snapped, "Are you trying to search my soul?"

A mere early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator dares to search the soul of a mid-stage one, unafraid of backlash damaging the soul.

What's more, here spiritual sense is suppressed and spiritual power sealed.

Jiang Yu, however, bared her teeth in a smile, and before he could react, she struck his head with a powerful palm blow, instantly knocking him unconscious.

Then she laid him flat and extended him, asking, "Jiang Tu, can you tell whether he has been possessed?"

"With spiritual power sealed, I can only try; I make no guarantees." Jiang Tu leapt onto Jiang Du's body, placed a claw on his brow, and murmured an incantation.

"Never mind, it doesn't matter if I can't tell." Jiang Yu stood beside it, looked around, and realized this place resembled an altar.

Its top lies over a hundred zhang above the actual ground, and the whole space is so vast that its size cannot be determined at a glance.

All around—front, back, left, right—stand stone platforms more than ten meters above the ground, and a careful count reveals there are twelve of them.

"Could this be the legendary Wu clan's Twelve Heavenly Gods Slaughter Formation, capable of sealing off a realm of heaven and earth?" Jiang Yu took herself as the pivot, mentally calculating the distances and positions of the twelve stone platforms.

"Then can you calculate where the Gate of Life is?" A vague, ethereal voice sounded all around, instantly interrupting Jiang Tu's attempt to forcibly search the sea of consciousness.

It was furious and wanted to curse that person twice, but Jiang Yu promptly stopped it and, moreover, clasped her hands in a salute, saying, "Junior cannot figure it out within a day."

But if the senior would graciously impart instruction, I would certainly be deeply grateful.

"I don't want gratitude; I only need to borrow this person's body for a moment." The instant the voice faded, the person drifted to the stone platform beside Jiang Yu.

Furthermore, forming intricate hand seals with both hands, she lightly sent them forth, striking Jiang Du's body to prevent him.

On his heavenly crown, a grayish ball flew out after just a few breaths, then, while looking left and right, rushed back into the heavenly crown.

Unfortunately, Jiang Yu acted swiftly; though she had no spiritual power, she used pure force to seize him, saying, "You're not Jiang Du? You're the chief disciple of Nan Su."

"Nonsense, I am Jiang Du—who are you?" The gray ball struggled in her hand to break free, but could not muster even a fraction of strength.

"Is that so? Then what about me?" Jiang Yu placed her hand on her face, pinched a minor spell, and a disguise talisman as thin as a cicada's wing landed in her palm.

The gray ball: "You? It's you."

"That's right." Jiang Yu's spiritual sense suddenly condensed into a needle, which she viciously stabbed toward the gray ball.

"Ah!" He cried out in pain, not yet knocked unconscious; Jiang Yu condensed another needle, but she could not use it, as the person beside her struck again.