vstars Chapter 114 Battle to build foundation 1
Chapter 114 Battle to build foundation 1
Li Xiao clasped his hands together, holding the Myriad Bone Pearl in his palms, and poured all the remaining true essence in his body into it.
Countless fine cracks appeared on the surface of the Myriad Bone Pearl, and a viscous black mist surged from the pearl, enveloping his entire body.
The black mist condensed and deformed, transforming into a sixteen-foot-tall skeletal demon god, with eight skeletal arms each wielding a skeletal weapon—a knife, sword, spear, shield, hammer, halberd, fork, and axe.
Zhou Huaili narrowed his eyes. "At the end of its rope."
He gave a low shout, and his cyan longsword slashed down from mid-air.
The Bone Demon God raised all eight arms, with a bone shield in front and seven bone soldiers on either side, clashing head-on with the blue longsword.
When the blades clashed, the world fell silent.
Immediately, an invisible shockwave spread outwards, sweeping across the entire town of Baishi with the town hall as its center.
The wooden buildings surrounding the town hall had all had their upper halves sheared off, leaving smooth, mirror-like cuts.
Zhang Lin lay prone on the attic floor, feeling an invisible pressure crushing over him. His Tianlan Daoist Robe activated on its own, and a layer of water-like light appeared on the robe, which, along with the inner Qinglin Armor, absorbed most of the impact.
The wooden floor beneath him creaked as if it might collapse at any moment.
He gritted his teeth and held on, looking out the window.
The blue longsword shattered.
However, four of the eight skeletal arms of the white bone demon were shattered by a single strike.
Li Xiao coughed up blood, and the Thousand Bone Pearl shattered into pieces in his palm.
The White Bone Demon God, having lost the support of the Myriad Bone Pearl, scattered into a sky full of black mist.
He himself was struck in the chest by the remaining blade energy, and his whole body flew out like a broken puppet, plowing a shallow trench about ten feet long in the ground.
Zhou Huaili was also suffering.
Forcibly drawing upon the power of heaven and earth to condense a second-grade superior technique, the Heavenly Wind Spirit-Slaying Blade, consumes a great deal of energy for someone in the early stages of Foundation Establishment.
More than half of the true energy in my dantian has been depleted, and my meridians are aching slightly.
But Li Xiao had completely lost his fighting ability, and he won this battle.
He stood there for a moment to catch his breath, and only after confirming that Li Xiao was powerless to fight back did he slowly step forward.
When he was about three zhang away from Li Xiao, he suddenly stopped. As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, his intuition for danger was far more acute than that of a Qi Refining cultivator. He sensed something was wrong.
Ding~
A sharp chime suddenly rang out from the east pavilion without warning.
Sound waves are invisible, yet they have substance.
Wherever the bell tolled, the air suddenly froze, the dust remained suspended, and the tumbling of gravel was frozen in mid-air.
Everything within a radius of sixty feet seemed to be forcefully grasped by an invisible hand.
The Soul-Suppressing Bell.
Zhou Huaili's pupils suddenly contracted.
A spiritual artifact, and one that specifically targets the soul!
His spiritual sense instantly converged, and his true essence automatically protected him, forming a light blue barrier in front of him.
However, the power of the Soul-Suppressing Bell is not a physical attack, but a suppression at the level of the soul.
That pale blue barrier of true essence could block the flying sword, but it couldn't stop the impact on the soul.
Zhou Huaili felt a buzzing sound in his mind, the scenery before his eyes blurred slightly, and his consciousness went blank for a moment.
The soul of a Foundation Establishment cultivator is far more stable than that of Qi Refining, so the Soul Suppressing Bell cannot truly immobilize him; he can recover in three breaths at most.
But at that very moment, another force quietly arrived.
A dark red flag flew out from the direction of the pavilion, its surface swelling in the wind, reaching a length of three feet and a width of two feet.
Blood-red light surged on the flag, and the blood-red character "摄" in the center shone brightly. A faint blood-red thread shot out from the flag and attacked him again.
Mid-grade spiritual artifact, Blood Fiend Banner, Profound Yin Soul-Capturing.
Zhou Huaili's consciousness was being eroded by the Soul-Suppressing Bell, leaving him in a semi-conscious state.
The Blood Fiend Banner's Profound Yin Soul-Seizing Power seized the opportunity to enter, causing him to tremble instantly and roll his eyes back.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhang Lin patted his storage bag, and the Azure Gang Sword was drawn. The sword moved silently, transforming into a streak of azure light, its speed pushed to the limit.
"Sizzle..."
A piercing sound rang out, and the Azure Gang Sword was blocked by a faint shield of true essence, preventing it from being fully extended.
The true essence protecting the body of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Even though Zhou Huaili had lost consciousness, this layer of true essence shield remained as tough as iron.
The Azure Sword struck the shield, leaving only a shallow white mark.
Zhang Lin did not linger in the fight.
Unable to break through the defense with a single sword strike, he recalled the Azure Gang Sword, spread his five fingers, and a dark blue flame ignited in his palm.
Tier 3: Heaven-Burning Flame.
The True Essence Shield can block flying swords, but I wonder if it can block the Heavenly Flame that burns True Qi.
The dark blue flames landed on the shield, like a raging fire meeting dry wood, spreading upwards along the surface of the true essence, like a giant fireball.
But true essence is still true essence, and its quality is incomparable to true qi. Although the Heavenly Flame can break through the shield, it will not be done in a short time.
When Zhou Huaili regained consciousness, he saw that the true essence shield on his body was burning fiercely, and the true essence in his body was rapidly decreasing.
His true essence surged, and after the shield expanded several feet, it severed the connection of true essence. Without true essence as fuel, the Heavenly Flames were extinguished.
At this moment, he finally saw who had made the move.
A young man stepped out of the attic, and the wind-riding technique carried him to the ground.
He wore a blue Taoist robe, the water shimmering on it, and a token hung at his waist. He looked no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, but his eyes were calmer than someone his age could imagine.
The Great Perfection of Qi Refining.
Zhou Huaili's spiritual sense swept over Zhang Lin and recognized him. Zhang Lin was a direct disciple of Cuiping Peak of the Danxia Sect and his target on this trip.
He activated two spiritual artifacts simultaneously during the Qi Refining stage, both of which were of medium grade.
Greed flashed in Zhou Huaili's eyes.
That bronze bell can stabilize the soul of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and it's also a mid-grade spiritual artifact. If it were in his hands, combined with his Spirit Communication Mirror, he could even fight a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator.
The Blood Fiend Banner was even more bizarre, as it could stun him for several breaths. This kind of mid-grade spiritual weapon was something that not only Zhou Huaili had in his possession, but no one among the Foundation Establishment cultivators of the entire Zhou family's collateral branches could use.
It would be a complete waste for a junior in the Qi Refining stage to possess these two spiritual artifacts.
Zhou Huaili suppressed the stinging pain in his meridians and raised his hand to make a loose fist.
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged once more, transforming into a semi-transparent giant hand that grabbed down at Zhang Lin's head.
He wants to capture him alive.
Even if a Qi Refining cultivator wields a spiritual weapon, they are still ultimately at the Qi Refining stage.
Compared to his ability to manipulate the power of heaven and earth during his Foundation Establishment stage, they are nothing but ants.
But the moment the giant hand fell, Zhang Lin's figure suddenly disappeared.
It doesn't disappear, it shatters, and then instantly reforms.
It's a clone.
The giant hand grasped at empty air, its five fingers digging deep into the ground, creating a three-foot-deep pit.
Zhou Huaili frowned slightly, looking at Zhang Lin who was still standing in the same spot.
He closed his eyes and scanned his surroundings with his spiritual sense.
There's no one there. No matter how fast a junior in the Qi Refining stage can run, where can he go in such a short time?
Also missing were the demonic cultivator's storage bag and the spiritual artifact ring on his hand.
Zhou Huaili instantly understood Zhang Lin's intention.
A mere Qi Refining cultivator dares to fish in troubled waters right under the nose of a Foundation Establishment cultivator like him.
A murderous glint flashed in Zhou Huaili's eyes.
He raised his hand and summoned countless pale blue wind blades from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which rained down on the surrounding area within a radius of two hundred feet.
Let's go back a few breaths.
Zhang Lin squatted in the shadows under the side wall of the town government office, his back against the blue brick wall, his gaze calm, silently counting.
Just three zhang in front of him, another Zhang Lin was standing with his hands behind his back, slowly descending from the air to confront Zhou Huaili.
Those were phantom images conjured by the battle flags.
A top-grade magic artifact-level illusion array, with its base set up in advance, is enough to create an illusion that even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would find difficult to see through at a glance.
The phantom looked exactly like him, and its body even simulated the spiritual energy fluctuations of a Qi Refining Perfection cultivator. It even conjured up the auras of the Soul Suppressing Bell and the Blood Fiend Flag.
In front of the town hall, Zhou Huaili raised his hand and made a grasping motion. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth transformed into a semi-transparent giant hand, which grabbed down at "Zhang Lin" from above.
The phantom was crushed by the giant hand, turning into countless points of light, which then reformed under the guidance of the array flags.
It was at this moment that he used earth magic to reach the shallow pit where the demonic cultivator who had reached the Foundation Establishment stage was. The man was not dead yet, but his black robe was torn, his chest was caved in, and black blood kept gushing from his mouth.
His true essence had almost completely dissipated, and he could no longer even maintain his protective true essence. His spiritual consciousness was almost destroyed by the impact of the Soul-Suppressing Bell, and he completely lost consciousness.
His lips were still twitching slightly, as if he wanted to say something.