Chapter 78 The Pomegranate Blossoms Are About to Ignite "Please forgive our sins."...

The full moon remained, and in the night sky, besides its bright moonlight, only the faint glow of the list of names shone through.

Just as the group stopped Lin Feiran and said these words with a hint of malice, a flash of light appeared on the list, and the name "Wenran" had already reached the fifteenth position.

It had already been like this in three hours.

Ding Ming suppressed his smile and turned his gaze coldly to Lin Feiran's face. His expression was not good, but the people behind him were completely different. They all pressed their swords down, ready for battle, and were quite nervous.

After leaving the inn, they didn't actually go far. Instead, they hid in the shadows, using the Summer Lotus Flower Token as cover, intending to follow Lin Feiran from a distance and seize the Danruo Flower Token when the opportunity arose.

But the more they followed, the more terrified they became. Lin Feiran won the Flower Order on his own, and his ranking on the list rose steadily like a bamboo shoot breaking through the soil, unstoppable. For a moment, the group dared not make a move, until Ding Ming returned and they dared to show themselves.

Although Wen Ran is formidable, Ding Ming is by no means inferior to her, and their willingness to follow his lead is not without reason.

Although Ding Ming was not a disciple of the four major sects, he came from a collateral branch of the Murong clan in Nanping Continent. Even though he had not received the true teachings of the Dao of Talismans, he was still considered one of the best of his generation. Coupled with the Peach Blossom Token, which encompassed all the talisman techniques in the world, he was like a fish in water, unparalleled in his abilities.

Everyone looked at Lin Feiran, but they didn't see any panic on her face. She didn't reply at all, but simply read "open the book," and a lotus flower appeared in her hand.

Everyone knows that the lotus in summer can change its shape and be tracked from afar.

"Don't even think about escaping!"

Ding Ming sneered and fell from the roof ridge. At the same time, the lotus in Lin Feiran's hand turned into light, and a lotus pattern appeared under his feet. One person landed, and the other rose.

In a flash, he stomped his right foot, and the peach charms that had been avoided separated instantly, falling in the four directions of Qian, Kun, Gen, and Xun. In an instant, it seemed as if a spring breeze blew by, the air was crisp and cold, and a snow-covered peach petal suddenly appeared and closed, holding back the fleeing person.

The lotus pattern beneath her feet shattered, and Lin Feiran hurriedly retreated a few steps after landing. Each step she took created ice, freezing her in place and rendering her unable to move. However, she did not draw her sword. Instead, she calmly examined the talisman array, immediately opened the scroll, took out a peach branch, and used the talisman against the talisman.

To be fair, although she had read many books on talismans, the talisman techniques she had learned were not actually top-notch. If she hadn't received guidance from Ping An before entering the city, she would probably be completely lost right now.

She exhaled softly and said slowly, "Winter goes and spring comes, the cold wind is gone and the warm sun comes out."

With a light tap of her fingertips, peach petals fluttered down from the branches, carpeting the ground in a beautiful display, like spring buds about to sprout and blossoms breaking through the ice. The ice patterns beneath her feet shattered and were no longer formed.

The same spring breeze, but hers brings endless vitality; hers is full of vibrant spring.

As soon as she was freed, Lin Feiran immediately spun around and retreated. The ripples of air stirred up peach blossoms all over the ground. As soon as she stood still, the twelve drifting peach petals fell in front of her, growing larger and larger, forming the image of the hexagram "Six Lines" (a Chinese divination symbol), covering her behind.

Ding Ming squinted at it, then sneered, "Yin-Yang Transformation? You dare to show off such a trivial skill? Today I'll teach you what talismanic arts are!"

He also took out a peach branch, but instead of knocking off the petals, he tore off a piece. The pink peach petal gradually stretched and deformed, turning into a rustling yellow talisman.

He did not form any hand seals, nor did he need to form any hand seals for talismanic arts. He simply drew intricate runes on the blank yellow paper with his fingers together at an extremely fast speed, and completed a sheet in a short while.

Heavenly Talisman - Firebird

He pointed his fingers out, and the yellow talisman struck straight at him. It then burned fiercely in mid-air, transforming into a vermilion firebird that rushed over with a scorching force. Wherever it passed, flames fell, and even before it got close, people were scorched and drenched in sweat.

The peach petals flipped and took shape, and the Qian trigram transformed into the Tun hexagram. In an instant, the lake water rose up, blocking the oncoming heat. Several bolts of purple lightning and blue thunder broke in out of thin air and struck down mercilessly, and the Xuanhuo bird's right wing was hit.

With a loud cry, the Blackfire Bird pounced without human intervention. Its beak was filled with a dense array of teeth that sent chills down one's spine. Lin Feiran was forced to run east and west, struggling to defend himself, and his robes were burned with several holes.

Seeing this, Ding Ming sneered. He did not intend to give Lin Feiran a chance to catch her breath. Taking advantage of her moment of distraction, he raised the peach petals in his hand again, and twelve more fell in front of him. These were the Yin-Yang Transformation Technique that Lin Feiran had just used.

"I'll show you what the perfect balance of Yin and Yang really means."

Just as he was about to make a move, he heard a soft laugh. He looked up and found that the laughter came from Lin Feiran.

This...this is actually the rune pattern he just drew!

Not only the crowds in the streets staring in disbelief, but even Ding Ming himself was intently watching, his eyes filled with seven parts astonishment and three parts curiosity, a thin...

*Snap*

The talisman burned, but it only burned; no cinnabar firebird emerged from it.

The breath that had been stuck in my throat was finally exhaled!

If it were so easy to learn, how could the art of talismans have ever been lost!

However, while everyone was watching with astonishment, the released firebird had already been worn down by Lin Feiran using the Six Lines Symbolic Method, leaving only a few scattered wisps of fire.

"You, Wenran, you're using a feint, aren't you? You're putting on quite the act, trying to fool me!"

Ding Ming felt a surge of anger. Looking at Lin Feiran again, he saw only a few smiles on her face, and a calm and focused expression. Her expression seemed like a silent provocation, making one's teeth itch. The feeling of mockery intensified.

One of the cultivators felt uneasy, so he jumped onto the roof and said to Ding Ming, "Senior Brother Ding, let's finish this quickly. If we make such a high profile and attract the attention of the sacrificial officials, things will get complicated."

Ding Ming glanced at her coldly, his anger rising uncontrollably: "Easy for you to say. You think you can defeat her quickly? Do you think you can dodge the Xuanhuo Bird?"

If you're not mistaken, she currently possesses two Danruo stalks and a peony, both of which I don't own. If we were to seize them all, we might just leap into the top three. We absolutely cannot let her go!

The reason why this female cultivator was able to rise to fifteenth place in such a short time was not because she had many flower orders, but because she had a wide variety of categories. She had obviously studied the ranking list, which is why she was able to target her efforts and rise so quickly.

However, she was only clever in a small way and could not hide her stupidity. Holding Danruo in her hand, she did not try to steal his peach token. He had to get the flower token before she could react!

Ding Ming was secretly delighted. He had already killed several people to seize the chart, so what did one more female cultivator matter?

He grabbed a handful of peach petals and scattered them into the formation with the wind. Each petal transformed into a yellow talisman, forming a hexagonal shape with the light of lightning, trapping Lin Feiran within it. Taking advantage of her unpreparedness, he secretly took a brightly colored camellia from the Book of Flowers and quietly threw it into the formation.

Lin Feiran was flipping the six-line peach blossom in front of her, blocking the thunder talisman's attack as the yin and yang shifted. Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw several camellias growing around her, their tender yellow stamens slowly emerging, tough as refined iron, cutting towards her as if they were cutting.

The memory of the severed head flooded her mind, and she immediately turned to the side to avoid it.

With the enhancement of the rune array, her dodging range became even narrower, and Xi Rui brushed past her, making onlookers' hearts skip a beat!

The people in the alley watched for a few moments and sensed that the person was about to die: "She's not going to make it. Don't just stand here. Go and keep watch so that the priests don't get close."

They were like a pack of hyenas, ambushing and killing many cultivators.

The reason why the sacrificial officials did not notice was twofold: firstly, the city was in great chaos, and the four sacrificial officials were short-handed and unable to attend to both arrests and trials; secondly, it was thanks to Ding Ming's talisman array.

It appears to be a very large formation, but in reality, it is completely silent, appearing as a hazy blur from afar, like a spring rain.

Everyone thought Lin Feiran was doomed, but when they looked over calmly, they saw her drawing talismans again, using the same brushstrokes as Ding Ming had used earlier.

Ding Ming scoffed, "So you're going to make another tinderbox? That's just a last-ditch effort."

Lin Feiran smiled silently, a slight glint in her usually calm eyes. She said, "I was just teasing you."

Everyone's expression hardened, and then they heard her say, "Thank you for your guidance, fellow Daoist. If you have any other moves, please use them all. I will definitely learn them all without missing a single one."

As soon as he finished speaking, the yellow talisman he offered up shot out like a whirlwind, its edges gradually turning yellow and sparks flying. Suddenly, a loud cry rang out, and a vermilion firebird of excellent quality emerged from the talisman, raising its neck and flapping its wings!

Ding Ming looked up, his eyes filled with disbelief. Looking down, he saw the girl standing beneath the firebird, her expression serene. The firelight shone brightly on her dark hair and fair face.

Just moments ago, it was impossible to cut or extinguish it, like the tough core of refined iron. But in an instant, it melted down like beeswax meeting fire, becoming soft and rotten. Before long, the camellias blooming fiercely at the edge of the formation were also swallowed up by the flames.

Ding Ming's eyes were filled with resentment and venom. He suddenly thought of the outstanding members of his clan and a surge of jealousy welled up in his heart.

Normally, he would have waited until the very end, until he could kill the flower farmer, before taking advantage of the chaos to make his move. But at this moment, his emotions were churning, and he was unwilling to care about anything else, nor did he want her to underestimate him!

So the yellow talisman reappeared in his hand. This time he was careful and did not draw the previous talisman. Instead, he turned slightly to the side to cover himself and drew another kind of more complicated and obscure talisman on the talisman paper. Then, faint light appeared behind him.

Seeing this strange occurrence, the cultivators in the alley knew that Ding Ming was about to make a killing move, so they all kept their distance and dared not approach.

A yellow light suddenly appeared, shining against the night sky like a dense array of stars. The next moment, peach petals rose up from the ground, like flying flowers in the night, falling into the points of light and merging into yellow talismans.

One, ten, a hundred—in the blink of an eye, a dense array of talismans covered Ding Ming's back, all aimed at the person on the opposite side!

Lin Feiran frowned in response, controlling the Six Peach Blossoms with one hand and pressing the Book of Flowers with the other, her thoughts were more active than ever before.

With so many talismans, it's impossible for Ding Ming to use high-level spells on them all. The talismans would only contain ordinary spells, and if you count carefully, there would only be a hundred or so. He could withstand them and wouldn't die.

Having made up her mind, she became even more focused, her muscles slightly tense, ready to unleash her power.

Just as tensions were running high and a fight was about to break out, a soft sound came from somewhere. Ding Ming suddenly moved, and in an instant, a hundred yellow talismans fell down, some like thunder, some like lightning, some like fire, all rushing towards one person!

The six-line peach blossom in front of Lin Feiran flipped, sometimes forming the Qian hexagram, sometimes the Kun hexagram, sometimes the Heaven and Earth Opposition, sometimes the Water and Heaven Need, intercepting the spells for her. As she leaped away, a sword light flashed, cleaving through several golden thunderbolts and yellow talismans!

There was another soft sound, and this time the sound was much closer.

The remaining cultivators looked around in surprise, but found nothing. Apart from the night wind, there seemed to be nothing else in the alley, but they remained on guard.

With a sharp sound, a melody flowed out, like the opening of a melody of flowing water in the mountains. Although not melodious, it was inexplicably smooth. Within a few beats, the falling yellow talismans froze in mid-air, unable to advance an inch.

When the second line was played, the cultivator who had turned to flee stopped in his tracks, his whole body stiff and unable to move. His breathing seemed to become stagnant and sticky, becoming increasingly heavy and difficult.

As he plucked the third note, Ding Ming stood on the eaves, his pupils trembling with the fluctuations of the music. Everything in his eyes seemed to rise and fall, and the cultivators in the alley were not having an easy time either. They felt as if the spiritual veins under their skin had also turned into strings, and the lingering sound continued to vibrate after the last note had faded.

In the trembling vision, a white-robed cultivator emerged from the alleyway. He had a handsome face but no expression, holding only a pipa, tilting his head and lowering his eyes to tune the strings.

"Spring City is not your slaughterhouse."

The strings were ready, and the fourth note was played. In an instant, everyone's blood vessels burst, and flesh was scattered everywhere, but they did not die and still had a few breaths left.

Ding Ming's knees buckled and he fell to his knees, tumbling from the eaves, tears of blood streaming down his face.

Xie Kanhua didn't even look at them. He simply raised his hand, and the jade plaques hanging on the list of beauties fell off by themselves and floated leisurely into his palm.

At this point, the small plaque with the name engraved on it was no longer pure jade; there were red marks on it.

Lin Feiran's eyes flickered slightly as she leaped down from the mostly destroyed roof. Looking at Xie Kanhua now, she felt a sense of unfamiliarity, but her demeanor was closer to the "ghost pipa" that others had described.

Xie Kanhua opened her eyes and looked at her, her expression not softening: "If I were you, I would have run away after sending the message, and I would never have lingered here, carrying hundreds of yellow talismans, but I still want to reward you."

He took a golden peony from his sleeve and gave it to her.

Lin Feiran asked doubtfully, "I only sent a message, does that count as breaking through the barrier?"

Xie Kanhua shook his head: "I can't stand by and watch them kill the flower farmers, but I can't do anything about it. However, it's our duty to intercept and kill innocent cultivators, so we naturally won't stand idly by. It's just that things are too chaotic right now, and we're too busy to handle everything..."

We have instructed the sage that anyone who exposes wrongdoing will be rewarded with a peony; this is what you deserve.”

Since it was her due, she didn't refuse and accepted it without hesitation.

Xie Kanhua had only glanced at a few people when he flicked his fingertips, and a few arpeggios escaped. The cultivators who had been slumped on the ground actually got up on their own and walked behind Xie Kanhua like puppets, but judging from their expressions, they were not willing.

Lin Feiran looked at Ding Ming and, thinking about what he had just done, walked up to him. Under Ding Ming's angry glare, he unfolded the chart and took out the Danruo flower that Ding Ming had been longing for.

Her intentions were obvious, so the anger in her eyes turned into fear. She wanted to say something, but only a few sobs escaped from her throat.

Lin Feiran looked at him, raising an eyebrow slightly: "It's just an eye for an eye. When you killed someone to steal the map, you should have thought that you would have this moment too."

The cinnabar in my hand is fresh and beautiful, glistening with dew. Holding a cluster of vibrant long branches in my hand is like holding a bright flame, dazzling and eye-catching.

She sighed softly, "The light rain has passed, the lotus leaves are turning, and the pomegranate blossoms are about to burst into bloom."

As raindrops fell from the flowers, Ding Ming's "Compendium of Flowers" appeared out of nowhere. The long scroll, originally drawn with ink, was now ablaze with vibrant colors in his hands. A few streaks of fire fell from the cinnabar flowers, their flames engulfing the "Compendium of Flowers" with a bright, resounding sound.

A moment later, the firelight dimmed. The Book of Flowers was undamaged, but it had returned to a dark black color, with no trace of the Flower Orders.

Ding Ming's eyes widened in horror as he hurriedly looked up at the sky, only to find that his name was no longer listed on the honor roll.

Xie Kanhua, having witnessed the entire event, remarked, "What an overbearing flower order! No wonder it's guarded by Lord Hanshan. Isn't the existence of this flower unfair?"

Lin Feiran shook his head: "Where there is offense, there is defense. If someone tries to take the Danruo, they can defend it with the Peony Flower Token. Moreover, neither of the two flower tokens is easy to obtain... If there were no method of growing flowers from flesh and blood, this Flying Flower Gathering would be quite interesting."

Xie Kanhua withdrew his gaze and said calmly, "Don't forget, everything in the city was decided by the Sage. I don't believe they didn't foresee this situation. Besides, we can't figure out why the flower farmer was resurrected, no matter how hard we try."

Having said this, he stopped talking and simply played the pipa, guiding the group toward the central pagoda.

Lin Feiran was also puzzled. She looked at the clock tower not far away, jumped up, and looked into the distance. She easily saw the wandering Holy Spirits in the city.

Where is my grandmaster?

She looked carefully, but did not see that familiar figure, and couldn't help but sigh.

Just then, the yin-yang symbol in her eyes stirred slightly, and a sound like hailstones rang in her mind, cool as thin jade, instantly refreshing her mind.

"How did I get into the top ten? Do I still need the flower order I asked for?"

Lin Feiran looked back and saw that her name had jumped to tenth place, which was very eye-catching.

She replied, "Yes, thank you, Your Majesty."

"Hmm," Ru Xian responded, "You haven't contacted me at all. Did something happen just now?"

Lin Feiran looked around and replied, "Nothing, I just learned some talisman techniques."

Ru Xian fell silent for a moment, then spoke again: "It will be almost four hours. Those cultivators who killed the flower farmers will definitely come out in full force. There may still be many people looking for you, trying to seize the flower token. Find a place to hide and wait for me."

Lin Feiran initially wanted to refuse, saying it wasn't necessary, but as her gaze swept around, she saw something, paused, and then said, "I'll wait for you near the clock tower."

After speaking, she quietly went downstairs and crept into the shadows to the corner of a residential building, peering inside through a crack.

There were more than twenty people in the courtyard, all wearing cloud-patterned Taoist robes, kneeling on both knees, looking at the person in front with guilt and pain, and speaking in a hoarse voice.

"Please forgive our sins."

Three people stood at the very front. The two in the middle and on the right wore cloud-patterned cloaks and had silver masks on their faces, their identities unknown. The person on the left looked all too familiar; it was the Taoist boy who wanted to kill her.

Among the three men and the other cultivators, there was a woman who was seriously injured and bound to the ground, but her expression was calm and showed no fear.

Lin Feiran recognized her at a glance; this was the Holy Maiden of the Goddess Sect whom he had met in the dense forest earlier.

What is this being done?

Just as she was pondering, everything suddenly went dark. Someone covered her eyes and took her away from the place.

"Who?" she asked in a low voice.

Author's note: I've been updating very late and with fewer words lately. There's no particular reason; I've just been working eight days in a row and I'm feeling completely drained by work (I've already behaved myself).