Chapter 226 Life and Death Without Blame (The End)

Through the bone eye, the Dharma images in the formation all turned into large clusters of light. Xiao Dan's Dharma image was murky gray, while Jiang Yinzhong and Jing Cang's Dharma images were much cleaner. The Dharma images changed at an extremely fast speed. Among the huge Dharma images, Jiang Gu accurately captured a pale golden primordial spirit - that was Wei Feng, who was wrapped in his spiritual power.

Wei Feng seemed to be running around wildly inside, but the moment Jiang Gu entered, he almost immediately flew to Jiang Gu's side. It was more like a pounce than a flight, because he was so fast. Jiang Gu took the opportunity to put his arm around Wei Feng's waist to help him lose momentum, and Wei Feng readily jumped into his arms.

Jiang Xiangyun, who was standing nearby, saw 'Jiang Gu' being held weakly in the arms of his monstrous disciple. He felt his eyes were hurt and his anger towards Xiao Dan intensified. He became even more ruthless in his attack.

"The formation is all set up, Master," Wei Feng whispered, then slipped the jade bracelet onto Jiang Gu's wrist. Jiang Gu frowned, but Wei Feng gripped his hand tightly. "Xiao Dan will definitely target you. His methods are specifically designed for Jade Rank cultivators. I'm just using your body; my primordial spirit will be fine. You're in greater danger now that only your primordial spirit is in the formation..."

Jiang Gu was surprised that he had actually realized it.

Wei Feng curled the corners of his mouth with a reserved smile, and Jiang Gu felt for the first time that his face could make such an infuriating expression.

The two separated as soon as they touched the magic array, moving around it. Jiang Xiangyun, Lu Liyu, Song Ping, Jiang Zhuan and others did the same. Their cultivation was not as good as Jiang Yinzhong and Jing Cang, so they could not get involved in the battle and could only provide assistance from the outside. As for Xiao Qingyan and the statue, thanks to Bai Yi and Hou Wenxin, Lin Huan and Zhou Lin'an were finally able to come to their aid.

The scene depicted Jiang Yinzhong, Jing Cang, Zhou Lin'an, and Lin Huan as the main attackers, while the rest provided support and formed a defensive formation.

"Yin Zhong, why bother?" Xiao Dan was only distracted, but he was still able to handle one against many with ease. The Dharma image behind him loomed over everyone's heads like a colossal beast. He said unhurriedly, "Even if you kill me, all you will get are some dilapidated temples without divine power and the useless Wangyue Continent. What are you asking for?"

Jiang Yin gripped his sword tightly and said in a deep voice, "Why are you building a road to heaven that may or may not even succeed?"

Xiao Dan remained silent for a moment.

“No one wants to live under someone else’s control. The Spirit Realm Princess ten thousand years ago was like that, the rebellious Eight Pavilions cultivators were like that, the Pingze cultivators were like that, and so are you,” Jiang Yin said solemnly. “If we perish here today, it will be for the freedom of our clan members, and we will do so willingly!”

After saying that, he joined forces with Jing Cang and the others to fuse all the divine artifacts together, forming a huge God-Devouring Formation, which pressed down on Xiao Dan's Dharma Image, with a vast and surging spiritual power mixed with divine power continuously flowing into it.

Xiao Dan's Dharma form finally took a step back, and he finally took out the hand that had been behind his back. He formed a hand seal to resist and sneered, "You're so self-righteous."

"Song Ping, Jiang Zhuan!" Jing Cang's Dharma image suddenly split in two, and he shouted sharply, "Take his heart gate!"

Upon receiving the order, Song Ping and Jiang Zhuan charged straight towards Xiao Dan's heart gate, one after the other. However, the moment they merged into it, their own primordial spirits began to dissipate rapidly. Neither of them retreated. They inserted the dozens of feet long seal nail into the heart of Xiao Dan's dharma image. Xiao Dan's dharma image swayed. He tried to pull it out, but his limbs were firmly restrained in place by Jiang Yinzhong and the others.

"Xiang Yun, Jiang Gu! Lead your men to form the Soul-Scattering Array in the eight directions and eight positions!" Jiang Yin shouted.

Upon hearing the sound, Jiang Xiangyun reacted immediately. Jiang Gu flew to Wei Feng's side and helped him form an array. In the midst of the chaos, no one paid any attention to their positions. After all, each of the eight directions had three to four cultivators standing on it, most of whom were the best of the new generation in their families. Lu Liyu and two other Jiang family cultivators were helping Jiang Xiangyun hold the line, while Hu Jingchen and Zhou Tingran stood behind Lin Feibai to hold the line for him. Jiang Gu stood behind Wei Feng to hold the line for him, which was slightly weaker. Just then, Qu Fengyu and Wu Tuo flew over and stood behind Wei Feng.

Jiang Gu was slightly surprised.

Qu Fengyu said with a smile, "Anyway, we're just idling around. If we don't come, Xiao Xuanzi will be worried to death."

"Yes, it's not because of Jiang Gu." Wu Tuo's words were clearly a blatant attempt to cover up his lie.

Wei Feng stared at Jiang Gu's face and smiled at him.

Utuo was so frightened that he almost revealed his true form.

Jiang Gu grabbed Wei Feng by the back of the neck and turned his head around, whispering, "Focus on forming the array."

Wei Feng then calmed down and looked at Xiao Dan, who was trapped in the great formation.

Even with the protection of the divine artifact, Jiang Zhuan and Song Ping's primordial spirits were too close to Xiao Dan, and as the formation was completed, their primordial spirits began to dissipate rapidly.

"Grandfather!" Jiang Xiangyun had just settled down when he saw the scene of Jiang Zhuan's primordial spirit annihilating, his pupils reflecting a dazzling silver-white light.

He took a step forward, but Lu Liyu grabbed his wrist from behind and stopped him in place.

Lin Huan and Zhou Lin'an exchanged a glance and followed closely behind, replacing Jiang Zhuan and Song Ping. Jiang Yinzhong and Jing Cang's Dharma images stood on the left and right, respectively, and the divine weapons in their hands suddenly condensed into lines, piercing through Xiao Dan's Dharma image's solar plexus. Jiang Yinzhong shouted, "Activate the formation!"

Jiang Xiangyun, Jiang Gu, Lin Feibai, and the others quickly set up an array, which covered the area in layers, turning into countless tiny grids in the air, attempting to divide Xiao Dan's primordial spirit. However, when the array landed on Xiao Dan's primordial spirit, it was like cotton hitting hard iron, causing him no harm whatsoever.

"Set off the formation!" Jing Cang shouted again.

From outside the formation, thousands of surviving Pingze cultivators leaped up from around the formation, the sounds of their Yuan Dan exploding one after another rang out. Before Jiang Xiangyun and the others could even be surprised, they were blinded by the blood mist, and the formation in their hands suddenly felt incredibly heavy. Even Wei Feng, who was already at the Taiyi Realm, almost couldn't hold on. Jiang Gu gathered his spiritual energy in his palm and pressed it against Wei Feng's chest, while Qu Fengyu and Wu Tuo also quickly helped him stabilize his mind. Wei Feng finally understood why someone was needed to suppress the formation—the pressure of so many people's Yuan Dan exploding was overwhelming.

The magic circle, stained with blood, pressed down heavily. Spots of blood seeped out from within Xiao Dan's Dharma image. He was forced to kneel on the ground, and the ground beneath his knees exploded, causing the entire temple to shake.

The veins on the back of Xiao Dan's hand, which was pressed against the ground, bulged. He slowly raised his head and met Jiang Yinzhong's gaze: "I really underestimated you."

Jiang Yinzhong dared not relax for a moment. He twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "You sealed off the passage from Pingze to Wangyue, severing the spiritual veins of the Pingze continent and transferring them all to Wangyue, leaving us no chance to ascend. Xiao Dan, you should have thought of this day when you went too far."

Xiao Dan shook his head and laughed, "Even if I don't sever the spiritual veins, do you think you can ascend? You know nothing at all. I am doing this for the sake of the entire cultivation world."

"Stop listening to his nonsense!" Lin Huan roared. "Let's join forces to kill him and reclaim the spiritual veins and temple of Pingze!"

The four of them worked together, risking their lives to finally imprint the formation into Xiao Dan's divided spirit. The enormous Dharma image finally began to dissipate, while Jiang Xiangyun, Jiang Gu, and the others who were holding the line were already exhausted of spiritual energy, and blood began to flow from their eyes and ears, but they dared not relax in the slightest.

Xiao Dan sneered, ignoring the collapse of his Dharma body and the fragmentation of his primordial spirit, and stood up abruptly, shouting, "Bring the spear!"

A red-tasseled spear pierced through the layers of magic arrays and landed steadily in his hand. Lin Huan, who was blocking his way, was pierced by the spear, coughing up blood and falling heavily to the ground. He turned around and with a thrust of his spear, sent Zhou Lin'an flying behind him. Zhou Lin'an summoned his natal magic weapon to defend, but it was still no match for his attack. His dantian exploded instantly, but even so, he refused to give up. He actually leaped forward to meet the spear, and in his soul-shattering state, he forcefully nailed the detached array core into his heart.

Xiao Dan finally lost his temper. He crushed Zhou Lin'an's primordial spirit and looked coldly at Jiang Yinzhong and Jing Cang. Without saying a word, the two drew their swords and charged. The three fought fiercely, while Jiang Xiangyun, Jiang Gu, and others on the outside constantly changed formations to assist them. Xiao Dan finally became somewhat exhausted. He retreated to the edge of the formation and looked at the heavily injured Jiang Yinzhong and Jing Cang: "You actually sealed off the passage between Wangyue and Chenyao. How did you do that?"

The passage is closed, which means that Xiao Dan's main body cannot return to Wangyue from Chenyao. As long as they can exhaust the spiritual power of the divided spirits, Xiao Dan will not be able to bring these spiritual veins and temples to Chenyao.

Jiang Yinzhong, whose body was half-shattered, leaving only a jagged skeleton, laughed upon hearing this, "Water vein."

Xiao Dan suddenly realized: "It's the water vein of the Floating Spring Temple."

"You've outsmarted yourself, Xiao Dan." Jiang Yinzhong's smile deepened. "You wanted to use the two water veins of Pingze and Chenyao to seal others, but you didn't expect that one of them would be used by us to enter Wangyue, and the other would block your escape route. Today, you should stay here!"

Jiang Yinzhong and Jing Cang rushed towards him simultaneously, with thunderclouds rolling behind them, striking Xiao Dan at the center of the formation.

In an instant, the earth shook and the wind and clouds changed color.

After the massive spiritual energy impact, the Eight Directions Formation was completely shattered, and Wei Feng and Jiang Gu were also knocked away. Fortunately, the black jade bracelet held their primordial spirits, preventing them from being seriously injured and unconscious.

A strong stench of blood filled the air. Jiang Gu pulled Wei Feng up from the ground, and Qu Fengyu and Wu Tuo also stood up behind them. They looked at the War God Temple, which had been razed to the ground. Dust slowly settled, and the people guarding the formation looked nervously into the formation.

Jing Cang was the first to stand up.

"We won!" Hu Jingchen's eyes widened.

Everyone around them beamed with joy: "We won!!"

Lu Liyu frowned, and Jiang Xiangyun, who was standing next to him, also looked serious.

Wei Feng turned to look at Jiang Gu, only to find that his expression was very unpleasant.

A muffled thud sounded behind him. Wei Feng whirled around and saw that as the dust settled, a spear pierced Jing Cang's heart, and his body slowly fell to the ground. Xiao Dan, supporting himself with his spear, slowly rose. He crushed Jiang Yinzhong's head and looked at the crowd, whose faces were still beaming with joy. Half of his eyebrow was splattered with bright red blood, and his robes were tattered. Despite his numerous wounds, he sighed as if with regret, "Why did you all do this?"

The ruins were utterly silent.

His gaze swept over the people around him, finally landing on Xiao Qingyan in the distance, and he smiled and said, "Azhuo, come here."

Xiao Qingyan nodded, with countless temples forming a line behind him. His divine power surged, breaking through Hou Wenxin and Bai Yi who were trying to stop him, and he walked step by step toward Xiao Dan.

Lu Liyu reacted the fastest, grabbing Jiang Xiangyun and trying to run away, but Jiang Xiangyun didn't budge.

The next instant, Jiang Gu leaped into the air and charged straight at Xiao Dan. Although Wei Feng did not know what Jiang Gu was planning, he followed without hesitation, with Wu Tuo and Qu Fengyu close behind.

Jiang Xiangyun and Jiang Gu responded in unison, and began to form a new formation. Other cultivators who had been in despair followed suit, but a small number of them turned and ran away. In their eyes, without Jiang Yinzhong and Jing Cang, Jiang Xiangyun and Jiang Gu had no chance of winning at all—even though Xiao Dan seemed to be at his limit.

Lu Liyu wanted to curse the two brothers to death. He remembered the ominous divination he had just performed, and with a determined heart, he flew up as well.

He was still alive and well even though the divination showed he was doomed last time!

Xiao Dan was genuinely surprised this time. Unfortunately, they were too weak. Even with his avatar severely injured, killing them would have been more than enough, especially since the temple had already been almost completely cleaned up.

He reached out his hand to Xiao Qingyan: "Azhuo, Mirror Flower Scroll."

Xiao Qingyan's eyes were empty. He took out the Mirror Flower Scroll and struggled for a moment as he was about to let go. Unfortunately, he was now just a puppet controlled by Xiao Dan, and his fingers were still trying to let go uncontrollably. Just then, a figure suddenly jumped out from the side, pounced on him, and snatched the Mirror Flower Scroll from his hand.

"Zhiyan?!" Wei Feng exclaimed in astonishment.

Xuan Zhiyan grabbed the Mirror Flower Scroll and threw it violently towards Qingdu behind him. Qingdu flicked its tail and tossed it to Bai Yi, while Xiao Dan's almost depleted divine power was always a half-step too slow.

Bai Yi gripped the Mirror Flower Scroll tightly, one bone eye covering his face, the bone sword in his hand gleaming coldly. Using the Mirror Flower Scroll as a catalyst, he restarted the Scattering God Array. The divine power threads that were originally attached to Xiao Qingyan's back suddenly changed direction and headed straight for Jiang Gu. Wei Feng finally understood the purpose of the Gathering God Array that Jiang Gu had asked him to set up all around him, and was immediately shocked: "No!"

Even if Jiang Gu is a Jade Rank cultivator, his primordial spirit is still just that of an ordinary cultivator and cannot withstand so much divine power!

However, it was too late. A continuous stream of divine power converged on Jiang Gu's primordial spirit. His body was engulfed by Wei Feng's ghostly markings. Despite being in a puppet-like form, Xiao Dan, severely injured, actually mistook him for Wei Feng and laughed, "Since Fuquan cannot seal you, then I will do it myself!"

He gathered his divine power, and the ruins and rubble of the surrounding temple were condensed into an array, which crashed down on Jiang Gu.

However, to his surprise, 'Wei Feng' was not suppressed. Instead, he used the power of his suppression array to disperse into the Eight Directions Array. Jiang Xiangyun and Lin Feibai saw this and quickly restarted the array. As Xiao Dan was seriously injured, the array outside that was devouring souls gradually disappeared. Many of the surviving cultivators came to help suppress the array, and for a time they actually imprisoned Xiao Dan.

"You're not Wei Feng!" Xiao Dan immediately realized, turning sharply to look at 'Jiang Gu', his eyes narrowing. "No wonder the jade-refining formation hasn't activated yet!"

This one momentary lapse in judgment gave everyone a chance to survive. The Eight Directions Formation was formed, and the Scattered God Formation was activated. Bai Yi threw the bone sword, which was imbued with the Buddhist chants of the Bodhi Clan, to Jiang Gu in mid-air. Jiang Gu felt the increasingly surging divine power in his dantian, and with both hands he held the sword and slashed at Xiao Dan and the God of War statue behind him.

The power unleashed by the collision of divine forces was terrifying. Countless bottomless cracks appeared in the ground where they stood, and spiritual energy surged around them. The people who were originally guarding the formation were completely scattered. The explosive divine power had the power to destroy the world, and the world turned into a dense blackness. The sound of tribulation lightning was deafening.

The Bodhi clan, rooted in the earth, was uprooted and hastily seized the cultivators and children under the tree, disappearing into the storm. Meanwhile, many more cultivators were indiscriminately slaughtered by divine power.

Qingdu, along with the vengeful spirits and merfolk, and some cultivators from the Yanghua Sect, hid in the newly opened underwater chasm and swam swiftly away from the area. Wutuo swept up Xuan Zhiyan and Qu Fengyu, while Xuan Zhiyan grabbed the unconscious Xiao Qingyan. However, Wutuo was exhausted, and just as they were about to fall into the abyss, Wu Hezhi suddenly appeared, condensing his spiritual power to desperately send them out of the range of the divine power explosion. He gave Qu Fengyu a deep look before disappearing into the blinding white light.

Lin Feibai protected Zhou Tingran and Hu Jingchen, took off his protective artifact and sent them far away, but he didn't have time to dodge. At the critical moment, Jiang Xiangyun pulled him back, and they were quickly separated again.

A crimson net enveloped Jiang Xiangyun, their protective artifacts had cracked. Jiang Xiangyun pulled Lu Liyu into his arms, but was still pierced through the chest by divine power, his body began to turn to ashes. However, in the next instant, his primordial spirit was forcibly gathered and stuffed into a strange yet familiar body. Jiang Xiangyun was stunned: "Lu Liyu!"

“My primordial spirit is long gone,” Lu Liyu said with a grin. “I died once before I went to Pingze. My current primordial spirit is a split spirit within the Golden Spirit Pagoda. The life-and-death contract of the Eight Pavilions has not yet been broken. Although you helped me before, divine artifacts are useless to us cultivators of the Eight Pavilions… At most, my cultivation is high, so my primordial spirit dissipates a little slower. I was just kidding you.”

"You—" Jiang Xiangyun glared at him angrily, but the rest of her words were cut off by someone's hand.

“No, kissing my own face is too disgusting, I can’t bring myself to do it. But this place is quite fitting, I was right about the timing.” Lu Liyu laughed, “Ayun, actually I…”

Before he could finish speaking, his primordial spirit scattered into dust that filled the sky.

Jiang Xiangyun's primordial spirit, hiding inside his body, fell heavily to the center of the ruins of the Floating Spring Temple, his eyes obscured by the falling dust.

Click.

The tortoise shell used for divination fell from Lu Liyu's storage bag, exactly as predicted: a hexagram of death and extinction.

"Master—" Amidst the chaos, Wei Feng tried his best to get closer to Jiang Gu. In the blinding white light and the vast divine power, he couldn't tell where Jiang Gu was at all. He summoned his Dharma form and urgently tried to connect with Jiang Gu's sea of ​​consciousness, but there was no response.

A dull, heavy explosion resounded across the sky. Wei Feng's pupils contracted sharply, and he was immediately blasted thousands of feet away by the spiritual energy storm, completely losing consciousness.

The vast and boundless divine power transformed into countless streams of light, which flowed back to the various temples. However, due to its overwhelming power, the entire Wangyue Continent was shattered into countless fragments. As the divine power returned to its place, the severed spiritual veins of the Pingze Continent were reconnected, and a vast and boundless spiritual power continuously poured into Pingze.

The surviving cultivators all looked towards the center of the continent, only to see the statue of the God of War standing in the middle of the ruins, slowly collapsing amidst the crimson sky, and gradually sinking into the sea along with the cracked ground, stirring up towering waves.

A baby's cry rang out under the Bodhi tree.

The border town, stretching for thousands of miles, collapsed with a deafening roar, and moonlight poured down, finally illuminating the mainland and sea beyond the border town.

Volume 5: The Sun Shines Cold