Chapter 190 Misty Rain Pavilion (18)
The atmosphere in the ancient temple was heavy. As the severely injured cultivators were being refined by the sacrificial array one by one, despair gradually spread to everyone's hearts. Some cultivators could not bear the torment of slowly waiting to die and tried to forcefully break through the array to escape, but they only accelerated the process of being refined. They turned into wisps of black smoke in front of everyone and merged with the mist. The atmosphere in the entire hall became increasingly bleak.
Jiang Gu walked up to the shattered mermaid statue. In the huge crack in the ground, the double mirror array was still operating without stopping. The figures in the mirrors were vivid and lifelike, as if they could walk out of the mirrors at any moment.
What does this person want to do?
"A cultivator from Pingze? His cultivation is mediocre. Even if we joined forces, we couldn't break this formation. For him to do it alone is wishful thinking."
"Are you scared out of your wits? Forcing your way through the formation will only make you get refined even faster."
"Hey kid, don't go looking for your own death!" Wu Ren couldn't help but shout when he saw it was Jiang Gu.
Jiang Gu ignored the clamor and discussion. He could clearly feel Wei Feng's heart beating in his chest, and he could also vaguely sense a connection between his heart and the two mirrors in the formation. It was as if an invisible force was urging him to jump down and merge with the two mirrors, becoming one with them.
Jiang Xiangyun and his two companions, who were not far away, had already spread out silently. Each of them was wrapped with an extremely thin fire rope. Taking advantage of the fact that everyone's attention was currently drawn to Jiang Gu, the group approached the cultivators who were holding fire-type artifacts.
Jiang Gu made a hand seal, dispelling the formation that concealed the heart's aura. The entire suppression formation sensed that the heart had entered the body and its speed gradually increased. The stone walls pressed in from all directions, and the flowers in the twin mirrors of the formation began to bloom silently. The mist in the air rushed towards Jiang Gu, and the other cultivators present became vigilant.
"What are you doing! Stop it! Are you trying to kill us all?!"
"Oh no! The refining array has shrunk to the edge of the main hall!"
"Stop him!"
The group of bewildered cultivators rushed towards Jiang Gu, but Jiang Gu was faster than them. After his hand seals emitted a blinding white light, he jumped straight into the magic array. In an instant, he was swallowed up by the suddenly expanding flowers and leaves, and the surroundings fell into a deathly silence.
"He...jumped in?"
"what happened?"
"Has he gone mad? He actually offered himself up as a sacrifice to the formation!"
"But the array's core isn't reacting either—"
Before the words were finished, the sound of flowing water in the entire Floating Spring Ancient Temple suddenly roared, the walls and stones began to shake, and the water-based divine power that had been hidden in the great formation surged out, crushing the hard stones into powder inch by inch. The suppressing formation, like an invisible mountain, crashed down on everyone.
Outside the temple, Elder Nie looked at the ancient temple collapsing continuously, a satisfied smile on his face. "The Tribulation Jade has entered the formation."
"What about the jade steps?" Xiao Qingyan asked with some concern.
“The Jade Steps are for immortals, so naturally they won’t be affected by this kind of formation,” Elder Nie said confidently.
Xiao Qingyan felt a little calmer, staring intently at the dilapidated ancient temple, his hands clenched into fists in his sleeves.
Inside the Fuquan Ancient Temple.
The formation contracted faster and faster, leaving crushed stone dust everywhere. The crowd was forced to move closer and closer to the central double-mirror formation. The magic weapons and formations they used only accelerated their being devoured. Jiang Xiangyun and the other two, who were mixed in with the crowd, made their move decisively after approaching the area Jiang Gu had mentioned. In the chaos, such things as divine artifacts only brought them closer to death, and they didn't even expend much effort to snatch them.
Controlling the artifacts required a lot of spiritual power. The three of them could only stand still the moment they obtained their artifacts. As the edge of the shrinking array drew closer and closer to them, half of Jiang Xiangyun's body began to be swallowed up and turned into mist. Lu Liyu's Heavenly Net was also melted down. Yao Li had his back to them, and his white bones were already faintly visible on his back.
Jiang Xiangyun turned to look at the still silent double-mirror array eye in the center, and shouted in a loud voice: "Jiang Gu!"
Inside the dual-mirror array, Jiang Gu, whose body was entwined with flowers and leaves, suddenly opened his eyes. The mist that Wei Feng had transformed into was desperately protecting his primordial spirit from being torn apart. Seeing that he had woken up, he breathed a sigh of relief, "Master!"
If Jiang Gu hadn't instructed him not to act rashly, he would have loved to swallow these strange flowers whole. What kind of filthy thing dared to touch his master!
The fiery rope wrapped around Jiang Gu's fingertips faintly emitted divine power. Jiang Gu formed a complex hand seal, and a brilliant golden Vermilion Bird divine mark appeared at the corner of his eye. As his disciple, Wei Feng felt Jiang Gu's Dao heart reflected almost at the same time. It was a calmness and power he had never experienced before, as firm as a rock and unbreakable. All the chaotic thoughts in his heart were instantly swept away. A Vermilion Bird divine mark also faintly appeared between his eyebrows, spreading out like a drop of blood, like a blooming crimson petal under his forehead pendant.
It was a tacit understanding and trust he had never experienced before. Without Jiang Gu saying a word, he knew what Jiang Gu wanted him to do.
The impenetrable black mist clinging to Jiang Gu suddenly dispersed among the flowers. Sensing the existence of the suppressed being's body, the array hummed excitedly, and the flower branches stretched out towards Wei Feng as if they were alive. The mist he had transformed into seemed to have met its nemesis and was forced to gather into a human form.
He and Jiang Gu stood back to back, suspended amidst a dense profusion of flowers. Countless figures and spells surrounded them. Two powerful water-based spiritual veins, like two giant blue dragons, coiled and entwined above their heads. All that remained was darkness and the ceaseless sound of flowing water.
“Master…” Wei Feng felt an unprecedented sense of suppression. He felt that all the spiritual power in his body had been extinguished by the water, and his spiritual power was stagnant, so he could not exert any strength.
"Today I will teach you the Severing Spell and the Shadow Shifting Array. Watch carefully." Jiang Gu's voice was particularly clear amidst the sound of flowing water.
Wei Feng's mind suddenly cleared. He was back to back with Jiang Gu, but a long string of incantations clearly appeared in his mind. The golden incantations floated above the black mist. Jiang Gu's cold and steady voice rang out. The complicated and obscure incantations flashed quickly before Wei Feng's eyes. He should not have been able to understand them, but Jiang Gu's voice seemed to be under a strange spell, and Wei Feng heard it clearly.
This should be an incantation passed down from ancient times to sever all seals and fusions in the world. However, because its power is too great, it usually requires a huge price to pay. Yet, it contains profound mysteries, which captivated Wei Feng.
"...With essence and blood as the guide, and the Heavenly Dao as the witness, this disciple, with three thousand years of lifespan, respectfully requests the breaking of the seal and kowtows!" Jiang Gu condensed essence and blood between his two fingers and quickly drew an extremely complex talisman on his chest, even sacrificing his primordial spirit from his chest. He shouted sharply, "Break!"
The vast water-based divine power gathered within the dual-mirror formation to suppress Wei Feng surged forth, all flowing into Jiang Gu's heart. Countless complex and domineering curse marks slowly appeared on Wei Feng's heart, but these curse marks obviously couldn't hold out for long under the blessing of divine power and gradually began to dissipate. However, Jiang Gu's body and primordial spirit also dissipated along with them.
Lost in the profound incantation, Wei Feng suddenly snapped out of it and turned around, frantically trying to stop Jiang Gu. "Master! What are you doing!?"
Jiang Gu ignored him and calmly said, "Next is the Shadow Shift Formation."
He calmly began his practice, and hundreds of basic small formations were combined and refined under his hands. Because of the Vermilion Bird Divine Master's mark between his eyebrows, Wei Feng was forced to carefully observe how to operate those formations. In his anxiety, he was surprised to find that he had learned all of these formations. Those days at Lianyun Peak of Yanghua Sect seemed to have happened in a previous life, but he still remembered the basic formations he had painstakingly memorized day and night, as well as the figure that quietly accompanied him beside him.
"The Shadow-Shifting Array is used to break the suppression array. It requires a primordial spirit and body similar to the object being suppressed, supplemented by 362 teleportation spells. If the suppression array uses the key of the suppressed object as the array eye, the object should be temporarily moved into the substitute's body, and then removed and replaced with a similar object the moment it leaves the array."
After Jiang Gu finished speaking, he completed the final stroke of the Shadow Shift Formation, turned around and glanced at Wei Feng indifferently, "When you leave the formation, you must be quick, and decisive when necessary."
Before he finished speaking, he raised his hand and placed it on Wei Feng's waist. Wei Feng felt a strong force rise from his waist and push him violently. His primordial spirit and the puppet-like body flew uncontrollably into the gap between the water dragons entwined above his head. He twisted his body with all his might, trying to rush back.
However, the lineage mark between his eyebrows prevented him from using his spiritual power. The two water dragons roared angrily, carrying a raging flood that rushed towards Jiang Gu amidst the blooming flowers. With a deafening roar, fragments of his annihilated soul exploded in the water.
"Master—" Wei Feng's eyes nearly burst with rage.
The suppressing formation seemed to realize it had targeted the wrong person and suddenly flew into a rage. Countless flower branches and newly formed water dragons were about to rush towards Wei Feng at the edge of the formation when, unexpectedly, the pendant on his forehead suddenly burst out with a burst of brilliant golden light, completely enveloping Wei Feng's primordial spirit. Using the aftershocks of the annihilation of his primordial spirit, he broke out of the Twin Mirror Formation.
The people in the main hall were also scattered by the sudden explosion of the magic array.
Wei Feng struggled to go back, but suddenly heard a sharp shout: "Behave yourself!"
Wei Feng turned his head abruptly, and exclaimed in astonishment, "Master!?"
Jiang Gu's figure appeared behind him. He was embracing Wei Feng from behind in an overly intimate manner, with traces of water still remaining between his eyebrows and eyes. He explained in a cold voice, "The one in the Shadow Array just now was a primordial spirit and a puppet body that I created when I was in the tenth realm. If you howl again, I will throw you back."
Wei Feng's mood suddenly fluctuated wildly. He wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. With nowhere to vent his intense and surging emotions, he suddenly turned around and hugged Jiang Gu tightly.
Jiang Gu was nearly strangled to death by him.
"Seventh Brother—I'm going to die—" Jiang Xiangyun's angry roar suddenly exploded in their ears.
Jiang Gu pressed hard on Wei Feng's waist, "Transform into mist."
Without the slightest delay, Wei Feng transformed into mist and clung tightly to Jiang Gu's body. Jiang Gu suddenly tightened the Fire Rope in his hand, flipped his hand to summon the Crimson Snow Sword, and charged straight at Wu Yi, the only one present who still held a divine weapon.
Unexpectedly, Wu Yi did not resist and directly handed the artifact to him, saying, "If you have a way, I'll give it to you!"
Jiang Gu glanced at him coldly, and the Fire Rope wrapped around the divine artifact in his hand, activating it simultaneously. The four fire-type divine artifacts present were activated at the same time, and the great formation suddenly contracted violently. The mist that devoured people's souls suddenly thickened. Jiang Gu tightened his grip on the Fire Rope, and the flesh on his hands peeled away rapidly under the erosion of divine power, revealing gleaming white bones. He grabbed the four divine artifacts and used all his spiritual power to fling them towards the eye of the twin mirror formation from which the two water dragons had emerged. "Wei Feng!"
Wei Feng immediately understood his intention and used all his fire-type spiritual power to activate those fire-attribute artifacts. The two water dragons collided with the fire-type artifacts instantly, while Jiang Gu's hand seals were already blurring out of existence. The fragments of the primordial spirit he had gathered together from the explosion were mixed in with the water dragons and exploded again!
Boom—
A huge, muffled explosion seemed to come from underground. The water dragon formed by the two water-elemental spiritual veins and the four fire-attribute artifacts exploded at the same time. The terrifying impact instantly destroyed the entire formation, and the already crumbling Floating Spring Ancient Temple collapsed with a bang.
Elder Nie's face was extremely grim. "The suppression formation... has actually been broken."
"What do we do now?" Xiao Qingyan asked anxiously.
"We must keep that monster here and prevent him from finding a safe haven. Heaven will never tolerate him!" he shouted, and the eight pavilion cultivators waiting around him began to form a well-trained array.
However, the reality was completely unexpected for all of them.
The number of people who emerged from the ruins of the ancient temple far exceeded their calculations, and instead of the hideous monsters that they had imagined, there were nearly twenty figures frantically fleeing from within, with the aura of the Jade and the Jade Steps completely disappearing.
Old Master Nie was only stunned for a moment, "Quick! Stop them all! Don't let a single one escape!"
The cultivators who escaped were already filled with rage. Before they could even revel in their survival, they were betrayed by their own people. They were affected by the divine artifacts that exploded in the hall, and their spiritual power instantly increased several times over. After a sharp drop in cultivation, they experienced a brief surge, and their eyes turned bloodthirsty. The great formation organized by Elder Nie even showed signs of collapsing.
"Split up and run!" Jiang Gu transmitted his voice to Jiang Xiangyun.
"Seventh Brother, take care!" Jiang Xiangyun led Yao Li and Lu Liyu in another direction.
Wei Feng was restrained by Jiang Gu, who conjured ghost patterns and mist. He could only maintain his human form, wielding a long sword and working with Jiang Gu to fight his way through the crowd.
Just as they were about to escape, Xiao Qingyan, who had been watching from the sidelines, spotted Jiang Gu's figure with sharp eyes and immediately chased after him, shouting, "The jade steps are here!"
Jiang Gu's eyes were bloodshot. He turned around and gave Xiao Qingyan a cold look before throwing out the Crimson Snow Sword and disappearing in a flash.
Even though his spiritual power had increased several times over, Elder Nie and the cultivators from the Eight Pavilions present were no ordinary people. Soon, several enormous Dharma images surrounded him and Wei Feng, and another fierce battle was inevitable.
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