A Sect from a Spirit Vein-Chapter 33 - 32: Array to Annihilate the Enemy
In front of me, beyond the swirling fog, there was nothing. This fog, mixed with spiritual power, held profound mysteries; Chen Xingshan tried walking a few steps but suddenly couldn’t tell north from south.
A faint fear suddenly arose from the depths of her heart and was impossible to dispel. She cursed, "Little bastard! Dead bitch! Come out if you have the guts and face your death!"
What answered her was the buzzing sound of breaking the sky coming from the fog!
From within the dense fog, suddenly a platinum giant blade, about a zhang high, shot out, resembling an axe or halberd, heavy yet inescapably sharp, splitting apart the massive rocks in its path with a touch.
Great Gold Qi Blade!
The heavy fog concealed everything, and by the time Chen Xingshan saw clearly, the giant blade was less than ten steps away. A sharp energy rushed straight at her face, making her hair stand on end; the lantern at her waist lifted high, flashing a bright yellow light to slow the giant blade, while she swung the Treasure Pearl in her hand towards it.
With a crisp "crack," the Treasure Pearl was knocked flying by the giant blade, leaving a conspicuous crack across its body.
No time to feel pain for it; taking advantage of this obstruction, Chen Xingshan rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the strike in an utterly pathetic manner.
She gritted her teeth, realizing her spiritual power was already running low.
"Bastard! Low-life!" The fear within her grew ever deeper, and before she could utter a few more harsh words, she suddenly felt a softness beneath her feet. Terrifyingly glancing down, she saw amidst the pile of rocks, four or five vine tendrils, as thick as a child’s arm, suddenly erupting forth, intertwining heavily, resembling a serpentine creature, and firmly binding her legs.
Spirit Wood Snake Vine!
The tendrils tightened and climbed swiftly upwards. But upon reaching her waist, they were halted by the lantern’s glowing light.
The tendrils crazily twisted and squeezed, her spiritual power diminishing further, and the lantern light dwindled, akin to a candle flickering in the wind, ready to extinguish at any moment.
She summoned back the cracked Treasure Pearl, mindlessly smashing it against the tendrils beneath her; though sap scattered, the vines were too resilient to be broken.
Lu Qian felt her struggle, his palm clenched abruptly. A sharp "crack" sounded; Chen Xingshan screamed mournfully as her leg bones were snapped by the vines!
At that moment, she finally tasted the flavor of terror fully,
Chen Xingshan shrieked, pulling out a talisman and desperately striking it towards the tendrils.
Flames exploded suddenly; she happened to have grabbed a Fire Element Talisman, and flames are indeed the nemesis of the tendrils. The vines abruptly shrank back, trembling as they retreated from her legs.
But those flames also severely burned her. Screaming in agony, Chen Xingshan rolled around the rocky ground, finally summoning what little spiritual power was left to call forth a stream of water to extinguish the fire.
Now her entire body was charred black, painfully lying among the rocks, as the white fog in front remained unchanged, seemingly nurturing the next attack.
Is this an Array Cultivator? Or merely an amateur learning and selling the knowledge instantly?
She suddenly remembered that long ago, her master seemed to have said never to provoke array cultivators lightly. No wonder Master Xuan Ji could befriend her master... Previously, she thought relying on her abilities, she could rival Master Xuan Ji!
The terror of death consumed her, and she began to plead loudly, "Fellow Daoist Qi! Fellow Daoist Qi! Spare my life, spare my life!"
"I failed to see the mountain, blinded by lard on my heart, impulsively opposing you. In truth, there is no deep-rooted enmity between us, why has it come to this!"
"Master Xuan Ji! Master Xuan Ji! I dare not anymore, I beg you, please, for the sake of my master, grant me a way out!"
Her cries were heart-wrenching, and Lu Qian, hidden far away with others, heard them clearly.
Jiang Qingfeng’s face showed a glimmer of reluctance; Master Xuan Ji also seemed torn, his throat moving as if to speak.
But Lu Qian had already completed the final transformation; the Gold-Water Two-Sided Command Banner fluttered high as his palm forcefully clenched together, turning abruptly pale.
A droplet of water landed on Chen Xingshan’s face, and she dumbfoundedly lifted her head; was it raining?
Yet above her head, countless droplets suddenly appeared, layer upon layer, heavy yet suspended precariously.
Then those water droplets suddenly elongated and transformed into thousands of shining silver needles.
Chen Xingshan’s pupils enlarged rapidly, "No—"
In the next instant, accompanied by sharp whistling, a waterfall of silver needles descended swiftly, crashing down!
In a mere moment, her body was punctured with thousands of holes, stones within three zhang shattered into fragments, debris flying about.
Her vitality was suddenly extinguished.
The end wasn’t yet reached. As the waterfall of needles halted, the hundreds of silver needles within her corpse suddenly enlarged and exploded with a "pop, " tearing apart the muscle tissues around their puncture points. Blood mist scattered, flesh sprayed.
From Metal Generates Water, Gold-Water combined to condense water into needles, exploding the needles back to water, thus named "Golden Waterfall Needle"!
This was the transformation most suitable for Lu Qian’s Gold-Water Dual Spiritual Roots attribute.
The last spirit stone in the storage pouch was exhausted, and the array map could no longer be sustained; the five-colored light withdrew, and the array base returned to Lu Qian’s hand.
The thick fog quietly dispersed, revealing Chen Xingshan’s lifeless corpse, now unrecognizable in form.
"Since she intended to kill Senior Sister to silence her, we’ve been mortal enemies," Lu Qian collected the array map and base, stating seriously, "To pardon a deadly enemy is to harm oneself. Besides, this person has a malicious nature and who knows how many innocents have died by her hand—eliminating a scourge is acting according to heaven, doing a good deed."
Jiang Qingfeng nodded; she noted Lu Qian’s pale face, worriedly asking, "Junior Brother, are you alright?"
Lu Qian waved his hand, indicating it was nothing. No matter what, this was his first time leading an array, unleashing his full effort, with divine sense consuming far more than usual. Master Xuan Ji hadn’t withheld knowledge, teaching him four transformations—all of which were double transformations of two array bases, typically only exhibited by cultivators at the Late-Stage Qi Cultivation and placing quite a burden on his divine sense.
If not for the aid of innate spiritual qi helping him break through, allowing him to return to a perfect state, these transformations couldn’t be performed so smoothly otherwise.
"Don’t worry, it’s just the consumption is intense; some meditation and nurturing will solve it." In reality, it wasn’t just divine sense completely expended; the storage pouch should have contained over eight hundred spirit stones, all used up in this battle, causing significant heartache. Now he experienced the feeling Master Xuan Ji had earlier.
As he spoke, Lu Qian handed the array map and base back to Master Xuan Ji, whose expression was complex.
Master Xuan Ji couldn’t help but marvel again at Lu Qian’s formidable consciousness collection, his divine sense far surpassing ordinary people, possessing extraordinary talent in array formations. During his first time leading an array, entirely relying on newly taught mantras, he was able to perform combination transformations with impeccable precision, bringing forth numerous pleasant surprises for him.
Why on earth does this troublesome boy refuse to accept a master?
He felt a headache coming on, and impulsively shouted, "You brat are ruthless and unscrupulous; you’ve truly killed someone this time; how am I supposed to face her master now?"
Saying this, the more he thought about it, the angrier he got, "Now it’s all screwed up; the Shengyi Sect knows I went with their four disciples to slay the snake demon, and now only I’m alive—they’ll definitely blame this disaster on me. Lu Qian, oh Lu Qian, tell me this: how will you compensate me? If you don’t kowtow a few times and become my disciple, I won’t forgive you!"
