Demon Sword Sect's Undercover-Chapter 772 - 771: The End-of-Year Kill 02

The judgment was made in an instant.

As a master accustomed to stealth attacks, any choice would do, but indecision was not an option.

The flying sword was dominant, stirring through the stone formation while his body fell downward...

He then felt he landed in the center of a Five Elements Formation, where the surrounding Five Elements Power was chaotic and bound him tightly.

He knew something was amiss, but his heart was not in turmoil, for although he had touched upon the very fringes of the Great Dao in the Golden Core Realm, he was far from mastering it; his calm stemmed from the knowledge that even if he had not mastered the Five Elements, Hou Niao, being merely in the Tongtian Natural Realm, certainly could not either. If they both had a superficial understanding of the true essence of the Five Elements, then it ultimately came down to a contest of Realm Magic Power, where he would not be at a disadvantage.

He had calculated every possibility, yet still fell into Hou Niao’s trap. The fellow was clever, lacking a flying sword, he dragged him into this very bizarre Five Elements Formation. The key was that he hadn’t noticed it before jumping in, due to the overwhelmingly powerful Wood Element Power concealed within the stone formation.

Did he think that without a sword, he wouldn’t be able to kill? What a joke!

Zhang Han Cheng steadied his mind, and with a slight discernment, pinpointed Hou Niao’s location. However, within the eye of the Five Elements Formation, the flying sword struggled to emerge, so he chose to directly crush his way through with the power of his realm and cultivation.

Hou Niao had trapped him in this manner, akin to Magic Cultivation, which certainly was unexpected, but every gain comes with a loss. By trapping him, it meant he also trapped himself, and in this eye of the Five Elements Formation, neither could escape the constraints of the Five Elements.

The only thing that puzzled him was when had Hou Niao learned such a powerful Five Elements Formation? It definitely wasn’t from the Quanzhen Sect, and it seemed that the Daoist Sect on the continent didn’t possess such powerful arrays either. The key aspect was, he had not detected any Array Plate or artifacts—how could it be possible to achieve this with just an individual cultivator’s power?

There was no time for further thought; he decided to adopt the most foolish, simplest, yet most effective and certain method... to push through with the force of his mana.

... Hou Niao was not as at ease as he thought; in fact, he was quite distressed.

While cultivating the mystical orchid stone, he also set about cultivating the sword seed in the Purple Mansion. The idea was wonderful and filled with spiritual ingenuity, but the execution proved extremely difficult. Over the past decade, he wavered back and forth in this way, making some gains but falling far short of the results he had hoped for.

At the very least, he had come to the realization that he was almost certain to miss the fall of the Spiritual Green from outer space.

He had a preliminary framework of the theory, but it remained just that—a theory. His biggest problem now was how to make the mystical orchid stone sprout from the rock? How to allow the Purple Mansion Sword Seed to begin taking shape?

Everything is difficult at the beginning, a saying that reached its extreme in his case. For nearly a decade, he hadn’t managed to get past the beginning, as if he was always missing something crucial, leaving him utterly baffled.

Immersed in his own sword cultivation world, his perception of the outside environment grew less sensitive. Indeed, in terms of the assassination plan, Zhang Han Cheng’s execution was perfect, all within his control.

He just didn’t anticipate that Hou Niao was struggling to escape the huge pit he had dug for himself, the more desperately he tried, the deeper he fell, reaching a point where he could not stop even if he wanted to.

If nothing changed, Hou Niao would have to keep struggling, digging deeper and deeper until he could no longer control the Five Elements Power here and ended up burying himself—an ironic twist of fate.

He also didn’t expect that this courtyard would turn out to be such a peculiar place. In the city, amidst the splendor and bustle, such a strangely potent site of the Five Elements lay concealed.

What astounded him the most was that such strong Five Elements Power did not ripple beyond the courtyard, as if a cover had been placed over it, containing all changes within and allowing the outside to remain calm and peaceful, while inside, the Five Elements were dangerously active.

The decisive supporting force here was the Wood Element Power; as for whether there were other factors, aside from a vague sense of limitations imposed by Reincarnation, the rest was beyond his current understanding.

It was the blind man who had given up the courtyard to him, and only the blind man truly knew the ins and outs of this place. But after they parted ways, they never saw each other again. He was now reduced to such a state that he truly wanted to cry but had no tears, to ask for help but had no one to turn to. He had trapped himself here and dared not beckon a woman, fearing she too would be led astray.

This was his current predicament, thinking he was planting the miraculous Peilan, thinking he was cultivating a Sword Seed, but in reality, he had planted himself in the Stone Formation. This agony had tormented him for three years—unable to stop even if he wanted to.

Someone coming to kill him? That couldn’t be better! Except for a slight worry about the woman, he felt no pressure regarding his own safety because the variables had changed.

For the miraculous Peilan to survive, it needed fertilizer, but not ordinary fertilizer. It involved many mysterious realms, some inexplicable and indescribable things.

For instance, the Life Power of a Cultivator.

He had turned the cultivation of Peilan’s sword into a sacrificial altar of a demonic, Outer Path!

It was somewhat insane, but he couldn’t survive without being insane.

He was very aware that his current state was somewhat suspect. If he had been sharpening his sword somewhere else, he might not have had so many crazy thoughts. But in this place, which seemed peaceful and charming on the surface, there was a very insane power driving him.

He didn’t know why, but he was deeply mired and unable to extricate himself.

The Cultivator coming to kill him was a stranger, but the distinct aura of the Shan Sect’s Sword Cultivator was obvious. This Golden Core Cultivator was very confident, but what was coming next would probably be a surprise.

In this Stone Formation, what was being compared wasn’t the methods of the Tongtian Realm, the Golden Core Realm, or even the Nascent Transformation Realm. What was being compared was the Great Dao, which no one had mastered.

It was like several children driving a speeding carriage, neither possessing the strength to hold back the horses nor the experience and skill to steer the carriage. Where they would end up, no one knew. Whether they would overturn into a ditch, no one dared to guarantee!

Here, it wasn’t Hou Niao dealing with the assassin, or the assassin dealing with Hou Niao, but some mysterious power dealing with them both at the same time!

This power was triggered by Hou Niao, then trapped the first unwitting person, Zhang Han Cheng. Would there be others coming?

Hou Niao knew the formidable nature of his surroundings, so he moved the Five Elements with utmost caution, continuing to cultivate his miraculous Peilan—the only hope for his success.

But Zhang Han Cheng was unaware of these intricacies. With sweeping motions, he propelled his Magic Power towards his opponent, only to find himself sinking deeper into the quagmire.

By the time he realized something was wrong and tried to withdraw, it was already too late.

What kind of cursed place was this? This was certainly not an Array set by Hou Niao! Could there be such a bizarre place even within a densely populated city?

Everything that happened exceeded Zhang Han Cheng’s understanding, and he found himself in a situation that assassins dread most—losing control of the situation!

All his preparations had gone to waste, because the danger here did not stem from Hou Niao, but from the courtyard itself!