Chapter 104 Meeting Yun Chao (Part Two)

A sudden sandstorm arose, abruptly encircling Chujian Mountain in the middle.

The sand and gravel clattered against my robes, and my vision was fragmented by the yellowish dust, making it impossible to find any openings for a moment.

Chu Jianshan stood still, carefully sensing the faint breath amidst the howling wind.

Suddenly, a dark figure appeared behind him. Zhao Yi then thrust out his sword, creating a gust of wind. The sword's momentum carried sand grains, so sharp it seemed to tear the air apart.

But Chu Jianshan was faster. He lightly touched the ground with his toes, then spun around and shifted to the side, his right hand precisely grabbing Zhao Yi's wrist holding the sword.

Chu Jianshan's eyes flickered slightly. He had never seen Zhao Yi use this sword before. It seemed that now, it was truly time to make a decision with him.

If he had gone any closer, Chu Jianshan would have severed his hand bones, but Zhao Yi seemed oblivious to the pain, spinning his sword and thrusting it toward Chu Jianshan's face.

Chu Jianshan neither dodged nor evaded, but blocked with his left arm, taking the sword strike head-on. The two internal forces collided, causing the surrounding sandstorm to become even more violent.

"Your swordsmanship is inferior to mine," Chu Jianshan said truthfully.

Zhao Yi chuckled: "That's right, there is one area where I am inferior to you."

Zhao Yi gritted his teeth and endured the pain, twisting his body to dissipate the force, and directly relied on a powerful burst of spiritual energy to blast Chu Jianshan back three zhang.

"Unfortunately, in the face of spiritual power, no sword technique matters."

Chu Jianshan's gaze swept over the longsword on the ground—it was pure white, with a blue tassel tied to the end, something that young people might like.

Before he could fully stand up, Zhao Yi struck him again with a palm strike. The speed was too fast, and Chu Jianshan did not have time to defend with all his might. He was hit in the chest by the palm strike and rolled away.

Chu Jianshan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, propped himself up on his knees, and asked, "Was this sword a gift from Qiao Azhao?"

"You are not worthy to mention her!" Zhao Yi's expression finally wavered, and he thrust his sword forward again.

Chu Jianshan stood still, the sword getting closer and closer to him.

When she was less than three inches from his neck, Liu Yin flew over at an even faster speed, intending to destroy everything in the process, and directly knocked the sword out of Zhao Yi's hand.

Great opportunity!

Before Zhao Yi could get his sword back, Chu Jianshan rushed forward first, and Mo Yang automatically split into dozens of swords, all of which stabbed towards Zhao Yi at the same time.

Zhao Yi had no weapon and could only use most of his spiritual power to defend himself. All the "Mo Yang" instantly lost their direction when they got close to him, and then melted away in the air.

But Chu Jianshan still didn't stop his approach to Zhao Yi—the real Mo Yang was still in his hands.

With a thrust of his sword, Zhao Yi had no way to dodge.

The sound of flesh tearing open filled the air, and blood slid down Mo Yang's sword blade.

He's hit him!

Chu Jianshan was overjoyed, but Zhao Yi remained expressionless and showed no emotion, only glancing back at the man.

Although there was no way to avoid it, one could at least block it with their hands or forearms.

...if someone hadn't tied his body with a whip.

Jiang Rusheng's hands, still trembling slightly beneath the fox mask, put away the whip. He knew that these blows would be useless against Zhao Yi.

Sure enough, the moment Mo Yang pulled it out, Zhao Yi's wound began to heal rapidly and the bleeding stopped.

Zhao Yi slowly turned around and looked at Jiang Rusheng. His tall figure appeared somewhat lonely in the yellow sand.

"Are you going to kill me too?" The tone was so calm it didn't sound like a question.

"Yes." Jiang Rusheng replied without hesitation.

“Alright,” Zhao Yi nodded, “then I can die with them.”

He gripped the sword again, and the bursts of spiritual energy emanating from the blade attracted many puppets.

"Ah Sheng! Come here!" Chu Jianshan called out.

Jiang Rusheng ran towards Chu Jianshan, saying as she ran, "Uncle! I can't take this mask off!"

Chu Jianshan raised his sword and killed a puppet, then held Jiang Rusheng protectively in his arms with one hand: "No rush, go find Bai Qianfan first."

Bai Qianfan understood and protected Jiang Rusheng, clearing away the puppets around her.

But these things seemed endless; one wave died and another came. They couldn't even imagine how many puppets were still underground.

The space between Chu Jianshan and Zhao Yi was now filled with puppets, making it impossible for them to see each other clearly.

Bai Qianfan wished he could take out all the talismans and stick them on the puppet's face one by one: "Burning Talisman! Thousand-Jin Talisman! Spirit-Controlling Talisman!"

"What the heck! Why isn't it working!?"

He took a few steps back to avoid the attack, then was choked by a cloud of powder and coughed violently.

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey... What the hell is this? Li Xi! Watch your drink!"

Over there, Li Xi was examining his pile of bottles and jars, seemingly trying to figure out what was useful to these puppets.

Having inhaled some powder, Bai Qianfan felt a little dizzy and called out to Li Xi, "What did you just sprinkle?"

Li Xi said calmly, "Poison."

Bai Qianfan "..."

This guy must be an undercover agent!

"Don't worry," Li Xi added, "the poison won't kill anyone."

Bai Qianfan asked, "Would these puppets be useful?"

"No."

His head spun even more.

Chu Jianshan cleared away some of the surrounding puppets, reached into Bai Qianfan's bundle and grabbed a teleportation talisman, saying to Cheng Yuan, "Clear a path for me."

Cheng Yuan said in a deep voice, "Understood."

Liu Yin's spiritual power gathered at the tip of the sword, then plunged it into the ground, heading towards Zhao Yi. The ground cracked continuously, shaking off the puppets on the road.

Chu Jianshan picked up Mo Yang and headed towards Zhao Yi. There was no obstruction, and he became faster and faster.

Liu Yin also flew over, circling around him as he moved, cutting off the puppets that kept getting closer, but was knocked away by Zhao Yi's spiritual power.

Zhao Yi's sword thrust forward first, but Chu Jianshan did not dodge. When he was three inches away from the sword, he activated the teleportation talisman and directly stepped over the sword to appear in front of Zhao Yi.

His sword reacted and tried to give chase, but it was entangled by Jiang Rusheng's whip and could not move.

Mo Yang gathered her spiritual power and aimed it at Zhao Yi's snow-white neck.

But Mo Yang stopped after only piercing a thin layer of his skin.

Zhao Yi grabbed the sword with his bare hands, blood dripping down his face, but his expression remained calm and even somewhat mocking.

Chu Jianshan sensed something was wrong. He kept pouring spiritual energy into Mo Yang. There was too much spiritual energy, and Mo Yang began to tremble. Then, unable to bear it any longer, it suddenly exploded.

For a moment, Chu Jianshan felt dizzy and was slammed to the ground.

"Master—!" He heard Cheng Yuan rushing over here.

But Zhao Yi had no intention of letting him go this time. The sword wind, carrying spiritual power, rushed towards him. If he couldn't dodge this attack, he would surely die.

Chu Jianshan's sleeve suddenly trembled violently, and the thing inside flew out uncontrollably, even faster than Cheng Yuan, and clashed with Zhao Yi's sword first.

The instant their spiritual energies clashed, sandstorms arose, and the explosions were deafening.

Before a moment had passed, the thing could no longer withstand the overload of spiritual energy, and it broke apart and fell in mid-air.

Chu Jianshan paused for a moment, looking at the slowly falling fragments.

It's Xiao Jin.

This thing was badly damaged after it came back from the spirit world. I've carried it with me ever since, but I've never used it again.

And now, he could actually sense a few traces of Ji Shi's spiritual power from these fragments... Did Ji Shi repair it?

Before he could think it through, Zhao Yi's remaining spiritual power was still formidable, and it scattered in all directions after the little gold was shattered.

Everyone was prepared to defend themselves with all their might, but they did not feel the burning pain of spiritual energy.

Looking up, they saw Meng Yufeng standing in front of them.

His back swayed slightly, and after he staggered a couple of times, everyone noticed the blood dripping continuously from his wrist.

"Meng Yufeng!"

Dong Qi ran over first, trying to help him up, but Meng Yufeng pushed her away abruptly, and a sword passed between the two of them.

He slit the puppet's neck before shakily standing up, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, his voice trembling uncontrollably: "...It's really not easy to make a name for yourself."

The puppets grew larger and larger, preventing reinforcements from breaking through. Chu Jianshan pulled Meng Yufeng behind him and shouted back to Bai Qianfan, "Try to see if you can control the puppets through that mask!!"

Strangely enough, the mask couldn't be removed no matter what, and even after Bai Qianfan poured in a lot of spiritual energy, there was no reaction.

As they were surrounded and the circle grew smaller and smaller, Bai Qianfan lost his patience.

"There's no other way, let's take a gamble!"

He concentrated all his spiritual power into the Fanglan Sword and slashed down at the mask.

At first, there were one or two cracks, then the mask slowly cracked open and slid off, and at the same time, all the puppets around it stopped moving.

"This...it's a success?"

But the next second, these puppets suddenly raised their heads, as if they had been provoked. Their eyes were bloodshot, and their spiritual power was more than twice as strong. The injured Meng Yufeng couldn't even withstand a single blow from them.

"What's going on?!" Meng Yufeng shouted, "How did he suddenly become so strong?!"

Zhao Yi chuckled and looked helplessly at Chu Jianshan: "You guessed right, this mask is related to puppets, but it's not for controlling them, it's for suppressing them. Now that the suppression is gone, there's nothing I can do."

He shrugged, started walking back, then suddenly turned back and said, "Oh right! The puppets... are not just what you see in front of you."

Chu Jianshan was breathing heavily. Looking into the distance, he could already see sparks of fire burning in the towns where the people lived.

“Five hundred years…” Zhao Yi sighed softly, “Chu Jianshan, do you know how much I can do for you?”

"Since we're going to die anyway, I might as well make them all die with me."

Chu Jianshan's voice trembled slightly, as if he had only just regained his composure: "Pass down the order! All those in the sects who are on standby, go to the towns under your jurisdiction and protect the people at all costs!"

The signal went up again, but Zhao Yi shook his head and said, "It's too late, it's useless."

"Shut up!" Cheng Yuan grabbed Liu Yin and rushed towards him, but there were too many puppets, and he couldn't get in front of him at all.

After such a fierce battle, the group was exhausted, while the puppets seemed to have gone mad, tireless and impervious to pain.

Their chances of winning... are slim.

Bai Qianfan kicked away a puppet, completely exhausted, and the talismans were almost used up. Fang Lan supported him to keep him from falling to the ground.

He tilted his head slightly and looked at the Bagua formation they had come from.

"Chu Jianshan!" Bai Qianfan called out to him, "How much longer can you hold out?!"

Chu Jianshan prepared for the worst: "Before an incense stick can burn."

Bai Qianfan said, "You still have the communication talisman with you, right?"

Chu Jianshan sensed something was wrong: "What are you going to do!"

"Don't worry, we're just going to try activating the formation. You guessed it, this formation might be effective against them."

Chu Jianshan had no other choice, so he said to the crowd, "Make way for Bai Qianfan!"

Under the cover of the crowd, Bai Qianfan re-entered the formation, where all the sounds of fighting outside seemed to be shut out.

He turned his head and looked at the Death Gate to the side, and said to Chu Jianshan through the sound transmission talisman: "Activate the formation!"

Mo Yang, positioned at the core of the formation, exerted spiritual power that surpassed the combined strength of the others, successfully restarting the formation.

Bai Qianfan watched as the gate to death slowly closed, waiting for it to open again.

Xie Yin involuntarily came to mind... It's strange, it's been so long since I've thought of him.

When they were children, Bai Qianfan asked him, "Do you know all the formations in the world?"

Xie Yin shook his head: "Nothing in this world is absolute. There may be formations that I cannot control."

Bai Qianfan pressed further, "What if one day I need to save someone, but I also encounter such a formation?"

Xie Yin was silent for a moment, then looked at him and said, "Fight with your life."

"To risk my life for it..." Bai Qianfan repeated these words.

He sighed, making no move: "That sounds nice, why don't you try it yourself?"

Outside the formation, Meng Yufeng, who was already injured, could no longer hold on. At first, Chu Jianshan could help him share the burden, but later, as more and more puppets appeared, they were too busy to take care of themselves.

Meng Yufeng fell to the ground, leaning against a boulder. Dong Qi tried to help him up, since lying down made him an easy target.

“It’s no use…” Meng Yufeng neither took his hand nor got up.

"What do you mean..." Dong Qi paused, looked over and asked him, "What do you mean by 'useless'?"

Meng Yufeng kept his head down and didn't speak. Only then did Dong Qi notice that he had several deep wounds on his body, which must have been pierced by a sword.

Dong Qi's outstretched hand began to tremble.

He stayed by Meng Yufeng's side the whole time, not understanding why he could keep quiet from the beginning and the end, and why he endured his injuries so as not to arouse his suspicion.

"Don't be like this," Dong Qi choked back tears as she squatted down, trying to pick him up: "I'll take you away."

“This is the path I chose,” Meng Yufeng’s voice whispered in his ear, “I don’t regret it.”

"Well... there's something I need to ask you."

Dong Qi didn't dare look at him: "What?"

Meng Yufeng mustered all his strength to force a smile: "Help me collect the corpse."

While Bai Qianfan was still hesitating, he heard Dong Qi's desperate screams through the transmission talisman. He froze, as if his blood had stopped flowing.

He knew that someone had already sacrificed their life.

I'll risk my life... so be it.

As he walked toward the Death Gate, he spoke to Chu Jianshan: "Chu Jianshan, once the puppet is suppressed, don't hesitate, head straight down the mountain and save the people in the city first."

Chu Jianshan sensed something was wrong with his words and quickly shouted, "Bai Qianfan! What are you doing!"

"I'm not doing anything, just doing what I want to do."

The Gate of Death had slowly opened, and the sound reached Chu Jianshan's side.

"Bai Qianfan..." Chu Jianshan pleaded, "Please don't do this, there must be another way!"

"This is the solution." Bai Qianfan stood at the door, using his spiritual power to ignite the communication talisman. Just before the talisman burned out, Bai Qianfan's last words were transmitted.

"I went to find Ji Shi; he's all alone."

"Bai Qianfan——!!"

The stone door slowly closed, and everything outside was no longer relevant to him.

Bai Qianfan closed his eyes tightly, bracing himself for the impending clash of swords and being torn to pieces. But when he opened them, what he saw almost made him forget to breathe.