a bitter victory
As Team A was moving forward, one of the team members suddenly felt something and looked up at the sky.
All areas in Quanzhou where the battle flags had been removed had completely returned to normal, except for the last quarter of the territory, which was once again covered with dark clouds and strong winds.
"What's going on?" The team members saw the old thing happening again and their voices were filled with panic.
"That evil cultivator has reduced the formation to the point where the last flag covers it," Xiao Wan'er assured the team after sensing it. "Don't worry, he's already at the end of his rope."
As soon as she finished speaking, everyone heard a cold laugh, and that laugh was like a cold wind that chilled them deep into their bones.
"A spent force? You may not be very old, but you're quite arrogant."
"Isn't that so?" Xiao Wan'er retorted sarcastically, "Even at your age, you could only watch helplessly as we pulled down three flags and were ultimately forced to reduce the range of the formation. Clearly, you've lived all these years for nothing."
Who doesn’t know how to have a verbal fight?
But Xiao Wan'er wasn't complacent. The fact that he could narrow the formation's range showed he had some control over it, and the fact that he could send a voice through the air to shock everyone showed he was still powerful. While she tried to appease him, she knew there would be a tough battle ahead.
After being pushed back, the evil cultivator did not disturb them anymore. Everyone continued on their journey in silence. However, after walking for a long time, they still could not see the shadow of the last formation flag.
"No!" the Taoist who made the puppet suddenly shouted, "We've been here before!"
He pointed to a symbol on the ground. "This is the mark I made with my spiritual energy earlier. We've been going around in circles!"
Xiao Wan'er wasn't surprised to hear this news. She closed her eyes, concentrating her attention, sensing every change in the world around her. Finally, in the silence, broken only by the breathing of her teammates, she opened her eyes.
"Break!" She poured out all her mental strength, and the scene in front of everyone gradually distorted, and finally changed completely.
"You make a mark on the ground every half a quarter." After giving orders to the team member who had discovered the anomaly earlier, she led the entire team to continue moving forward.
Beside the last formation flag, the evil cultivator's already pale face suddenly turned even paler. He didn't look human to begin with, and now he looked even more like a ghost. He furiously fired a spiritual energy arrow to his side, causing a flurry of ghostly howls.
After another long, rapid march, Team A1 finally sighted the last battle flag. It was still in the distance, a tiny fragment visible now, but everyone could already feel a gust of fishy wind blowing in their faces. As they continued to charge forward, the fishy air became increasingly distinct. Suddenly, Xiao Wan'er drew her sword and swung it fiercely to the left.
"Enemy attack, prepare for battle!" A group of evil spirits dissipated under her sword, and then more evil spirits pounced on them.
Yuan Hui and the other team members also drew their weapons and joined the battle. Xiao Wan'er observed the ghosts while fighting them. After a few breaths, she ordered, "Yuan Hui, come with me. The others will stay and exorcise the ghosts. If you can save them, try not to let their souls fly away."
With that, she and Yuan Hui broke free from the encirclement of evil spirits and continued running towards the final formation flag. They encountered no more obstacles during the final stretch, until they were only a mile away from the formation flag. The evil cultivator who had been hiding in the background finally stepped forward and stopped them.
"It's hard to imagine that someone like you with thick eyebrows and big eyes could actually become an evil cultivator." Xiao Wan'er sighed when she saw the evil cultivator.
Evil cultivators often suffer damage due to their strange cultivation methods, and their appearance is generally different from that of ordinary people. However, this evil cultivator's face is not terrifying, but rather quite handsome. If it weren't for his pale face, he would be no different from a young master from an aristocratic family.
"I can't imagine that the Queen's right-hand man is just a little girl." As soon as the evil cultivator opened his mouth, his old voice was like a wooden door with unpainted seams, losing all its beauty.
He looked at Xiao Wan'er and Yuan Hui coldly, "Since you are here, don't leave again."
"That's not up to you!" Xiao Wan'er began to gather spiritual energy, and Yuan Hui's monk's staff also flashed with Buddha's light.
The evil cultivator sneered, and another group of evil spirits rushed out. Unlike the previous evil spirits, each of these evil spirits had strength close to the Entry-level Realm, and had obviously been strengthened by the formation.
"You evil cultivator!" Yuan Hui was furious. "Not only did you harm ordinary people, you also turned them into evil spirits. Your crimes are truly heinous!"
"Little monk, your eyesight isn't very good," the evil cultivator said, his voice old and decayed, with obvious mockery in it. "Take a closer look. Were these evil spirits killed by me? If you can't tell, you can ask your captain."
Xiao Wan'er ignored them and used magic to summon thunder and yang fire, which struck and burned the evil spirits to ashes.
"Captain Xiao is determined. He just let these starving people die with their souls scattered."
Xiao Wan'er did not respond, but cast her spell again. Countless swords fell from the sky and slashed towards the evil cultivator.
"Don't just stand there, I'll leave these evil spirits to you!" Seeing that Yuan Hui hadn't recovered yet, she channeled her spiritual energy into her voice, waking him up. Yuan Hui snapped back to his senses at her reminder, and with a Buddha's light radiating from his body, he charged into the group of evil spirits, weakening them while simultaneously liberating them.
Seeing that Yuan Hui had stabilized the situation, Xiao Wan'er breathed a sigh of relief and focused on fighting the evil cultivator. Unfortunately, the evil cultivator was not an easy opponent. While fighting with Xiao Wan'er, he was able to distract himself by talking and provoking Yuan Hui's mind.
"Little monk, don't you want to know why these people starved to death? They died because of your good Majesty. In order to elevate the status of Buddhism, your Majesty forbade his subjects from eating meat and cut off the fishing and hunting routes of the people of Quanzhou. Unfortunately, the land here is barren and unsuitable for farming, so of course these people starved to death. Ultimately, they were killed by you, the so-called reputable and upright Buddhist disciples."
"Yuan Hui!" Seeing Yuan Hui's eyes begin to turn red, Xiao Wan'er hurriedly shouted loudly, finally calming his mind, "Don't be influenced by him!"
Before she could finish her words, Xiao Wan'er was hit by a spell, and her left arm felt like it was being bitten by insects.
"Little girl, being distracted during a battle is not a good habit."
The old voice was cold and eerie. Xiao Wan'er gritted her teeth and turned all her attention back to the evil cultivator.
In the midst of this intense tension, the team members in the distance finally managed to eliminate the group of evil spirits and rushed towards the battle. The evil cultivator narrowed his eyes, taking Xiao Wan'er's blow head-on, and then concentrated most of his strength to launch a spell at the group of team members.
Seeing this, Xiao Wan'er moved to the front of the team members as quickly as possible. She had no time to cast powerful spells, so she could only hurriedly cast a few small spells to delay time. Then, the spells that had only been weakened partially hit her directly.
"team leader!"
The medical practitioner in the team who always carried medicine ran over to help Xiao Wan'er up. She helped him struggle to his feet and ordered the other team members, "Don't worry about me. Go and take down the formation flag."
Seeing the evil cultivator about to attack the uninitiated members again, Xiao Wan'er took out all the remaining talismans in her personal space and threw them at the evil cultivator. The medical cultivator, knowing the urgency of the situation, gritted his teeth and actually transferred his life force directly to Xiao Wan'er.
Xiao Wan'er's injuries healed quickly and she was able to continue fighting the evil cultivator, but the medical cultivator started bleeding from the mouth and nose and then fainted on the ground.
The last formation flag was also the most difficult to remove. The death energy and resentment condensed on it far surpassed the previous three, and the sight of it filled the members of the team who had not yet reached the Dao Entry Realm with fear.
But no one retreated. The monks sat cross-legged in formation and began to chant. The deathly aura flowed over them, corroding them, but they seemed oblivious, their chanting summoning the Buddha's light. The clash of deathly aura and Buddha's light was like fire and water meeting, and blood began to seep from the monks' pores as they battled. But the chanting continued, and finally, the battlefield between the Buddha's light and deathly aura was no longer their bodies. The deathly aura and resentment began to dissolve.
The two remaining Taoists, armed, stood guard over the monks. The deathly aura, no match for the Buddha's light, transformed into a heavy sword, slashing down upon the chanting monks. Both Taoists simultaneously blocked the sword's blow. Feeling overwhelmed, they spat blood onto their weapons, barely able to block the sword's full force with their fortified weapons. After the sword's force dissipated, they collapsed to the ground, no longer able to rise.
The battle between the evil cultivator and Xiao Wan'er continued. Unlike the previous time when Xiao Wan'er attacked with all her might, the situation now changed to Xiao Wan'er doing her utmost to entangle the evil cultivator, leaving him no time to focus on other things.
The monks who had not yet entered the Taoist realm gathered together, and the Buddha's light they summoned slowly dissolved the death energy and resentment. The Taoists slumped on the ground still held their weapons tightly in their hands, ready to continue fighting if there was any movement. Yuan Hui also purified most of the evil spirits, and used the Buddha's light to attract all the newly condensed death energy soldiers from the formation flags to his side.
"Ridiculous," the evil cultivator was already furious. "You think you can defeat me like this? You have no idea how powerful this formation is!"
The evil spirits and soldiers battling Yuan Hui suddenly exploded, sending a powerful shockwave that caused Yuan Hui to spit out blood mixed with fragments of internal organs. Soul fragments and deathly aura from the explosion returned to the formation flags, and some of the chanting monks began bleeding from their mouths and noses. Meanwhile, the evil cultivator's strength soared, barely crossing the threshold of transcendence.
The healer crawled to Yuan Hui's side, watching the situation reversed in an instant. His hesitant eyes suddenly became firm. He placed his hand on Yuan Hui's chest. Yuan Hui's injuries improved rapidly, and he also aged rapidly. His hair turned completely white, and his skin was covered with wrinkles and age spots. The moment Yuan Hui stood up again, he fell to the ground and was no longer breathing.
"Madman! Idiot!" The evil cultivator cursed angrily and attacked more and more ruthlessly, but soon a monk's staff separated him and the already wounded Xiao Wan'er.
"Captain, let's attack together." Yuan Hui said, and a faint shadow of Arhat appeared behind him. Xiao Wan'er took a deep breath and attacked the evil cultivator together with him.
Near the formation flag, the exorcism of death and resentment proceeded with great difficulty. Sensing the difficult battle on the other side, the monks, even at the cost of burning their own vital energy and blood, accelerated the purification process. Several monks of lower cultivation, sensing their own burning to the limit, allowed themselves to be consumed. Their bodies ignited in flames, and the resulting relics, controlled by their last remaining mental energy, smashed directly into the formation flag, like sharp knives, completely tearing through the death and resentment.
The evil cultivator's cultivation level plummeted, regressing to the Dao Entry Stage. He was initially suppressing Xiao Wan'er and Yuan Hui, but was now being suppressed. Another monk burned himself, his deathly aura and resentment completely exorcised, his shattered soul dissipating into thin air. The monks lay on the ground, all nearing death. Two Taoists stumbled over to the formation flag and pulled it up.
The huge recoil knocked the two men to the ground. Fortunately, the formation flag was also pulled out, turned into powder in the sunlight, and completely dissipated.
"If that's the case, then die with me!" The evil cultivator, knowing he was at the end of his rope, unleashed all his spiritual energy, determined to take all the enemies with him. Xiao Wan'er poured out all her mental energy, mixing it with spiritual energy, barely holding him in place.
"You lunatic..."
Xiao Wan'er ignored the evil cultivator's curses and ordered Yuan Hui: "Do it!"
"You are crazy, you will die like this..."
"Don't worry about me!" Xiao Wan'er said coldly, "Yuan Hui, kill him!"
The monk's staff pierced the evil cultivator's heart from behind. Buddha's light enveloped his body, and the powerful spiritual power shattered his heart, rupturing his meridians. As soon as his soul emerged from his body, it was captured by the concentrated Buddha's light, and screamed, it was reduced to ashes. With this, the evil cultivator who had harmed so many people was finally dead.
Xiao Wan'er felt a sharp pain in her head from the inside out. She suddenly lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
