Soul Devouring Array -5
Yin Jun kicked the corpse of the corpse-sniffing demon at his feet a little further away, then looked up at Ji Wang, who had broken into the formation alone.
"You've finally arrived, Daoist Yun Shen." Yin Jun's soul-summoning banner moved without wind, its surface churning with black energy that intertwined with the red light of the array patterns beneath his feet, making it even more eerie. "Just you alone? Where's your lover? Could he have already left?"
He deliberately dragged out his words, his tone filled with malicious speculation and provocation.
Ji Wang's expression remained unchanged, but his eyes grew even colder. He didn't answer Yin Jun's nonsense, but quickly scanned the shadowy area in the distance—Ling Gu was there, lurking, waiting for the opportunity to strike a fatal blow or to add fuel to the fire.
One against two, the enemy in the shadows while we are in the open, trapped in an evil formation, and also having to consider the hostages. The situation is extremely dire.
"Your nonsense is as disgusting as your formation." Ji Wang was not provoked by Yin Falcon. "And who are you? A subordinate of Ling Gu? Did your master send you here to die?"
"He's unworthy to be my master?" Yin Jun slammed the Soul-Summoning Banner down, and thick, dark ghostly energy surged from its surface, transforming into dozens of chains with barbs that whistled through the air as they wrapped around Ji Wang. "You probably haven't realized your situation yet. Here, I am the master!"
The sword beside Ji Wang charged straight at the chain group without dodging or yielding. The ear-piercing sound of metal rubbing against metal mingled with the ghostly screams, sparks and dissipating yin energy flying everywhere.
He raised his fingers slightly, and the sword's momentum suddenly changed, from a sweeping slash to a meticulous and delicate strangulation. The sword light was like a woven tapestry, skillfully cutting into the weakest point of the chain connection. Each strike precisely caused a section of the chain to break apart.
At the same time, his footwork was swift and agile, seemingly fraught with danger, yet he always managed to narrowly avoid the bone spikes just before they broke through the ground, his clothes never even getting caught on the sharp points.
He wasn't blindly dodging; rather, he was observing the trajectory of the formation as he moved.
Although the core of this evil array is under the feet of the Yin Falcon, its transmission relies on several key nodes, especially... the dark red threads beneath those refugees used to slowly extract their souls.
The Yin Falcon's attack was swift and sudden. The banner spun rapidly, whipping up a bloody wind that carried countless wailing faces of resentful spirits, overwhelming Ji Wang and threatening to engulf him along with the sword light.
Ji Wang's mind raced, and the sword, which was entangled with the chains, flew back. He lightly touched the ground with his toes, grasped the returning hilt with his right hand, and with a quick flick of his wrist, held the sword horizontally in front of him—
"clang--!"
The sword clashed head-on with the stench of blood. Ji Wang's sword-wielding arm sank, and several fine cracks appeared on the stone slab beneath his feet. The chilling, bone-piercing resentment flowed through the sword, attempting to erode his meridians, but was firmly resisted by the spiritual energy flowing within Ji Wang's body.
Ji Wang used the impact to slide back half a step, dissipating the force and stabilizing his body.
He raised his eyes to look at Yin Jun, whose face had become even more sinister, and said in a tone that had once chilled the demons to the bone three hundred years ago, "You just called me 'Yun Shen Dao Zun' too. Do you think I'm only capable of this much?"
Yin Jun's pupils contracted sharply. He instantly understood Ji Wang's intention—his forceful resistance against his attack was not for retaliation, but for positioning!
"Delusion!" Yin Jun shouted, slamming the banner pole heavily on the ground as he chanted a rapid and sinister incantation.
The corpse-sniffing demons, which had been scattered throughout the formation and were eager to move, roared as if they had received a final command.
They stopped lingering and instead pounced on the nearest large array, pressing their filthy demonic claws against the specific points of connection—they were forcibly infusing demonic power to accelerate the soul extraction process!
In an instant, red light surged in several locations within the formation, the pulsating of the fine lines accelerated, and the refugees let out shrill, inhuman screams.
Ji Wang didn't hesitate for a moment longer. He didn't rush towards any of the corpse-sniffing demons with his sword, but instead tossed the sword into the air.
The longsword, though released from its grasp, did not fall but instead hovered in mid-air, emitting a resounding sword cry. Its blade shone brightly, instantly splitting into dozens of sword shadows that, like a cascading galaxy, fell upon the corpse-sniffing demons below who were activating the formation.
Most of the corpse-sniffing demons either had their skulls pierced or their throats nailed through, dying with screams of agony, and their ongoing rituals were forcibly interrupted.
"Run! Head west, down the mountain!"
A group of refugees were awakened by the sudden rain of swords and roars. Their survival instinct overcame their fear, and they cried out as they pushed aside the corpses of the corpse-sniffing demons and scrambled to escape in the direction Ji Wang had indicated.
However, there were still a few refugees who were so terrified that they were paralyzed and unable to move.
"Ughhhhhh—!"
Screams escaped the throats of the refugees who had been unable to escape. Before Ji Wang could stop them, several soul shadows filled with endless terror were forcibly torn from the body and rolled towards the alchemy furnace.
The soul shadow was thrown into the alchemy furnace, the furnace body trembled slightly, the runes on the surface flowed faster, and an even greater suction force began to brew.
The number of souls that could be extracted was too small, and the alchemy furnace was like a thirsty beast that had only been fed a tiny bit. Instead of being satisfied, it became even more restless, and the flow of the formation was momentarily sluggish as a result.
Ji Wang curled his lips into a smile; this was the moment he had been waiting for.
When the old and new forces are switched, the formation will be temporarily unbalanced, which is the best time to break through!
"Damn it!" Yin Jun tried his best to activate the Soul-Summoning Banner to stabilize the formation, but the brief imbalance was difficult to smooth over instantly with external force.
Seeing Ji Wang grasp his sword, about to launch another attack, Yin Jun's eyes flashed with urgency. He turned his head and let out a sharp shriek towards the shadowy direction: "Ling Gu! What are you still standing there for?! If he destroys the array's core, and the Venerable One blames us, neither of us can bear the consequences!"
Before the words were finished, the shadow seemed to be stirred by an invisible hand. Ling Gu's figure was like a ghost without a physical form. There was no sound of air being torn apart, no burst of killing intent, and not even much airflow. He suddenly cut into the space between Ji Wang and the array eye in the air.
Ji Wang did not pause. The sword in his hand emitted a low hum, and the tip of the sword trembled slightly. In the midst of the rapid charge, it instantly split into three sword shadows that were difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion—not to injure the enemy, but only to force open a gap.
Faced with the approaching sword shadows, Ling Gu neither dodged nor avoided them, but simply raised his hand to block them in front of him.
The sword flashed past his arm, instantly tearing his sleeve and revealing three deep, bone-revealing sword wounds on his pale skin. The flesh was torn open, clearly indicating that his bones and muscles had been injured.
Ling Gu's entire right arm visibly spasmed, but the movement did not stop due to the pain. Instead, his five fingers, like hooks, went straight for Ji Wang's chest.
Almost at the same time, the Yin Falcon below also realized that this was the perfect opportunity. He stomped his foot again, urging the remaining power within the evil formation.
The ground beneath Ji Wang's feet suddenly softened and collapsed, and two ghostly hands, made of mud and finger bones, burst forth from the earth, gripping Ji Wang's ankles tightly with a powerful binding force.
The cold, slippery touch instantly tightened, and the powerful pulling force made Ji Xiangqian's body stop, his feet seemingly rooted to the ground, unable to move an inch further.
"Sigh..." Ji Wang had long expected things wouldn't go so smoothly.
At the critical moment, he suddenly exerted force from his waist and abdomen, using the fixed point pulled by the ghostly hand under his feet to dodge his entire upper body to the right.
"Sizzle—!"
A tearing sound rang out, accompanied by the dull thud of flesh being cut open.
Instead of successfully severing Ji Wang's central meridian, Ling Gu grabbed Ji Wang's left shoulder, near his collarbone.
The claw's force instantly tore through the Taoist robe and its lining, embedding itself deeply into the flesh, bringing excruciating pain. Blood quickly soaked through the torn wound, flowing down the forearm, gathering at the fingertips, and dripping onto the ground.
Ji Wang gritted his teeth, swallowing back the muffled groan that almost escaped his throat. Using the momentum from the sidestep, he struggled against the ghost's grip, managing to create a sliver of space.
The sword tip pierced through instantly, and where the blade passed, the hand was cleanly severed.
At this moment, Ling Gu steadied himself, glanced down at Ji Wang's blood-soaked but unusually steady hand holding the sword hilt, and then swept his gaze over the rapidly dissipating remains of the ghost hand on the ground: "Much more powerful than in Wuwang Plain."
“My younger brother…” Ling Gu’s gaze fell on his sword-wielding posture and the rhythm of spiritual energy flowing around him, “What exactly did he teach you?”
The question came out of nowhere, as if the ability to break the deadlock that Ji Wang had shown, which exceeded his expectations, did not originate from Daoist Yun Shen, but from Bu Jiu.
Ji Wang had just taken a half step back when he heard this, so he raised his face and looked into Ling Gu's scrutinizing eyes.
He made no attempt to conceal the disgust and defensiveness in his eyes; he even smirked, responding with a provocation that was equally unfriendly:
“He taught me how to beat up guys I don’t like.” Ji Wang panted, raising the tip of his sword to create a dangerous distance between them. “And—can you stop coveting other people’s sweethearts? It’s annoying.”
These words were both a rebuttal to Ling Gu's use of the term "younger brother," drawing a clear line between Bu Jiu and Ling Gu, and also classifying Bu Jiu as her "beloved," revealing a blatant possessiveness and... intense impatience with Ling Gu.
"My beloved?" Ling Gu repeated, her tone subtle.
He suddenly raised his hand that was hanging by his side, and his whole body was like being shot out by a bowstring. His body trajectory was unpredictable. At the same time, his right hand fingers were together like a knife, and he chopped straight at Ji Wang's neck!
Ji Wang's sword parry was too late, and retreating would completely expose his trump card. He pointed his left finger together, and with blood from his wound, he wrote rapidly in the air in front of him.
"Condense!" With a low shout, the floating crimson light transformed into a barrier with intricate patterns, blocking Ling Gu's powerful attack.
"You've regressed compared to Wuwangyuan." Ji Wang wiped the blood from his hands with his clothes. "I haven't fully recovered yet, and this is all the strength you have?"
Before Ling Gu could respond, he raised his voice and shouted at Yin Jun, who was struggling to catch his breath while leaning on the Soul-Summoning Banner, "And you, you've been lying there for ages, haven't you had enough rest yet?"
Yin Jun was already feeling frustrated and on the verge of madness due to the destruction of the formation and the severe injuries he had suffered. When Ji Wang singled him out and mocked him, it instantly ignited the last vestiges of his rationality.
"You little bastard...you're asking for death!" Yin Jun grabbed the Soul-Summoning Banner, ignoring the churning blood and broken meridians in his body, and staggered towards Ji Wang's direction.
He hated the person who had repeatedly ruined his plans and brought him to this state. Even if it meant dying together, he wanted to drag Ji down with him!
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