Proofreader & Editor:Peter Pan
It was a flash of sword light!
Finally, Fei Ming Daoist reacted.
But it was too late. Even for a zombie, a decapitation was a fatal blow.
However, before his death, he had one last thing to do.
After Chen Mobai exerted all his strength to slay Fei Ming Daoist, he was about to incinerate the silver-armored corpse with the Qingyang flame seed when he saw a golden bead leap out from the neck wound of the headless corpse, like a dark golden sun, bursting forth with dazzling brilliance.
"Not good!"
Sensing the intense fluctuations of spiritual energy, Chen Mobai's expression changed, knowing this was the opponent's final struggle in the face of death.
He didn't dare to take a risk and immediately deployed all his defensive measures, rapidly retreating.
A red mist enveloped his entire body, like a pale red cloud light wrapping around him as he swiftly ascended.
Then, a series of dark cyan scales flew out from his right sleeve, transforming into a scale-armored shield, blocking outside the mist.
Even with two layers of defense, he still felt uneasy.
Biting the tip of his left finger, using blood as ink, he drew symbols in the void, setting up a "Spirit Leaf Technique."
Although he couldn't activate the Heavenly Wood Divine Light Formation in time and its power was limited, it was still the strongest defensive spell he had mastered at this stage.
Finally, he took out a defensive talisman from his Storage Bag. If the three layers of defense couldn't withstand the terrifying power of the golden bead's explosion, at least he could buy some time to retreat further.
Of course, before Chen Mobai retreated, he didn't forget to retrieve his "Flying Sparrow Hairpin."
This was the most valuable item he possessed.
A second-grade superior attack artifact, worth over a thousand spirit stones just by itself.
Moreover, it was the fire-attributed flying sword most suitable for Chen Mobai to use with his Red Flame Sword Technique.
Since acquiring this artifact, he had used it twice.
Combined with the Qingyang flame seed enhanced by the Rising Sun Technique, a single slash had instantly killed two Foundation Establishment cultivators, one at the third level and the other a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator who became a silver-armored zombie after death, proving to be invincible.
The Flying Sparrow Hairpin, already attuned to his consciousness, burst into pure purple-green flames at the sight of the golden bead emerging from the headless corpse, like a spirited swallow, changing direction.
However, at this moment, Chen Mobai's Hollow Spirit Eyes saw the five-colored lotus lantern held in the hand of the headless corpse.
With a thought, the Flying Sparrow Hairpin, like a nimble swallow flicking its tail, slashed out another purple fire sword light, severing Fei Ming Daoist's right hand.
Then, under the control of his consciousness, the flame at the tail of the hairpin extended, turning into a chain of fire, pulling the five-colored lotus lantern and the severed hand through the explosion towards Chen Mobai, who had already retreated to the cave entrance.
However, Chen Mobai, who had turned to flee, failed to notice that a trace of essence had flown out from the wick of the lotus lantern as he took it from Fei Ming Daoist.
Boom!
In an instant, the terrifying spiritual power unleashed by the golden bead swept through the entire underground cavern like a tidal wave.
Although Chen Mobai had retreated as fast as he could, he still felt the tremendous surge of spiritual energy mixed with the cold and evil qi of the corpse, battering his triple defenses like a violent storm.
The outermost green scale shield shattered first, dispersing into fragments.
Scattered in the air, their spiritual energy was consumed, and then they were reabsorbed by the cold iron bracers on his right hand.
At that moment, a deep purple radiance flew towards him from not far away, and Chen Mobai caught the Flying Sparrow Hairpin and the five-colored lotus lantern with his Storage Bag.
Amidst the dull rumblings like the earth shaking, the cloud light formed by the Red Mist Cloud Robe began to distort and thin out.
But Chen Mobai, piloting the Divine Wood Sword and sparing no spiritual energy to break through the mountain, had already ascended high enough.
Fei Ming Daoist's final blow, after withstanding the initial fierce onslaught and gaining enough distance, could now be easily blocked.
So he stopped his actions, shattering the falling rocks while waiting for the aftermath to subside.
***
About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea later, the terrifying surge of spiritual energy began to dissipate.
The earthquake stopped.
Chen Mobai waited a moment to ensure everything was safe, then took out the Flying Sparrow Hairpin and the five-colored lotus lantern from his Storage Bag.
After inserting the cyan jade-like hairpin back into his hair, he looked at his gains.
A very beautiful five-colored lantern!
It's just that the severed hand was a bit of an eyesore.
Without any hesitation, Chen Mobai used the Qingyang flame seed to burn it to ashes, then reached out to take the lotus lantern, which was clearly not an ordinary artifact.
Chen Mobai didn't dare to recklessly infuse it with spiritual energy, but from his own judgment, he felt that this artifact might be above the second grade.
However, it seemed incomplete, and he didn't know how to light the wick.
It seemed he needed to return to the Immortal Gate and ask his good brothers for help in identifying it.
Thinking this, Chen Mobai put the five-colored lotus lantern back into his Storage Bag and then used his flying sword to directly carve his way out.
He still had nearly a hundred medium-grade spirit stones, enough to support him in piercing through the entire Lonely Soul Ridge.
However, two days later, when Chen Mobai broke through a mountain wall and thought he had reached an uncollapsed tunnel, he found a very familiar scene before him.
Wasn't this the same cavern where he had slain Fei Ming Daoist?
Only the underground lake that was there before had been filled with stalactites and other debris from the explosion, and the white jade altar had been turned to dust along with the headless corpse in the explosion of the golden bead.
Chen Mobai flew around, confirming several signs of battle, his expression solemn.
What was going on?
Could it be that after Fei Ming Daoist died, the Underworld Formation had not been broken?
Was he still within the range of this formation?
Or… could it be that Fei Ming Daoist wasn't dead yet?
Or was it possible that the silver-armored zombie that had been chasing Dan Hongyi and the others could also control the Underworld Formation?
Chen Mobai pondered all the possibilities, then sat cross-legged on the Red Mist Cloud Robe and took out a medium-grade spirit stone to restore his depleted spiritual energy.
In the event of another battle, he needed to maintain his peak condition.
He opened his eyes and activated his Hollow Spirit Eyes.
This technique, known as the most comprehensive in the Immortal Gate, had been diligently cultivated by Chen Mobai using the Clear Vision Bamboo Dew day and night for half a year, and he had already mastered it.
Now fully deployed, he immediately saw the different colors of spiritual energy lingering in the air.
He identified the brightest trail of red light based on his memory.
This was Dan Hongyi's!
Of the five from the Divine Wood Sect, only he was at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, and the spiritual energy traces he left behind were naturally the most obvious without concealment.
Chen Mobai immediately followed the direction in which he disappeared.
However, halfway through, he found that the trail of spiritual energy abruptly vanished.
He immediately remembered the scene where Mrs. Guo, who had already fled, was teleported to Fei Ming Daoist's side by the Underworld Formation. It seemed that the Underworld Formation had teleported Dan Hongyi to another part of Lonely Soul Ridge.
However, such a formation capable of teleporting at any time must have very stringent activation conditions.
Chen Mobai recalled the knowledge of formations he had learned and quickly thought of the key point.
Teleportation formations require powerful spiritual energy.
He had once traveled to Dream Swamp using the teleportation formation of Nanxi Market, which, when activated, not only drew spiritual energy from the market's ley lines but also required spirit stones as a power source.
The formation plate of the Underworld Formation must be in a place where spiritual energy is most abundant.
Either at the core of the ley lines or where many spirit stones are accumulated.
Chen Mobai retracted his Hollow Spirit Eyes and put on his gold-rimmed glasses with the replaced lenses.
Although this artifact was fragile, its functionality was trustworthy.
Expanding the range to the maximum, Chen Mobai flew towards the place with the most intense fluctuations of spiritual energy values.
With a Bang!
He broke through a mountain wall and entered a cave, only to be slightly startled by the scene before him.
He saw Bi Yiyuan with his eyes wide open, a large hole in his chest where his heart had been removed, already dead.
But there was no trace of blood on the ground beneath his corpse.
Chen Mobai knew at a glance that this was because all the blood in his body had been drained.
Was it the work of the silver-armored zombie?!
While speculating in his heart, Chen Mobai closed Bi Yiyuan's eyes. In this dangerous place, he dared not carry a corpse with him.
Moreover, the space in his Storage Bag was limited, so that was all he could do.
After examining the battle traces around, Chen Mobai found a wolf-toothed club with only the iron handle left and a cloven armor.
Touching the smooth cut on the armor, he immediately thought of the golden jade axe.
This artifact should be no worse than his Flying Sparrow Hairpin. It was a pity that Mrs. Guo was unlucky, and her origins unknown, she had perished in this Lonely Soul Ridge.
Chen Mobai searched but didn't find anything like a Storage Bag, so he didn't waste any more time.
He continued to chase towards the place with the most intense spiritual energy fluctuations.
He was getting closer and closer.
He could even faintly hear the roaring sound of flames exploding.
After the Divine Wood Sword slashed open a mountain wall, Chen Mobai rushed into another huge underground cavern.
What caught his eye was Dan Hongyi, who had deployed the Heavenly Wood Divine Light Formation.
He saw this elder of the Divine Wood Sect with half his face green and half red, the spiritual energies of wood and fire circulating within his body, clashing with each other to form the vast and mighty "Heavenly Wood Spirit Light" and "Red Flame Sword Qi."
On his diagonally opposite sides, two Red Sun Spirit Trees rose from the ground, none other than Yan Jinye and Mei Jingjun.
The three of them opened their hands, fully deploying their consciousness and spiritual energy, controlling the three Heavenly Wood Spirit Lights to merge into a huge light sphere, trapping the silver-armored zombie within.
The three Foundation Establishment cultivators of the Divine Wood Sect joined forces to deploy the Heavenly Wood Divine Light Formation, forcibly setting up a formation within the Underworld Formation, suppressing the flow of the Lonely Soul Ridge's ley line spiritual energy, and temporarily blocking the power of the Underworld Formation with this method.
"Junior Brother Chen, your timing is perfect. The four of us together can refine him."
At the center of the three was the silver-armored corpse of Fei Ming Daoist.
He was constantly striking the cage formed by the three Heavenly Wood Spirit Lights with the golden jade axe, but with Dan Hongyi at the forefront using the fire-attributed Red Flame Sword Qi to hold the line, a stalemate was maintained.
Chen Mobai's arrival, undoubtedly, brought a look of surprise to the faces of the three from the Divine Wood Sect.
And the silver-armored zombie, upon seeing Chen Mobai burst in, also had a dramatic change in expression.
Then, as if making a decision, without any hesitation, he spat out a silver bead.
He actually followed Fei Ming Daoist's lead and self-destructed his corpse bead.
The three from the Divine Wood Sect were caught off guard and suffered heavy injuries. The green shield in Dan Hongyi's hand cracked, his face turned pale, seemingly overexerting his spiritual energy, and his originally black hair began to turn half gray and white.
But the worst off was Yan Jinye, the weakest among them. Her Heavenly Wood Spirit Light, connected to her heart and mind, was blown apart the moment the silver-armored zombie spat out the bead, leaving her pale as gold paper, bleeding from the mouth, and collapsing to the ground.
Chen Mobai didn't pay attention to Mei Jingjun, because after the silver-armored zombie self-destructed the corpse bead, it was unharmed and instead used this powerful force to break through the Heavenly Wood Spirit Light's cage.
He wielded the golden jade axe and directly cut into Dan Hongyi's iron shield, then stretched out sharp claws towards the latter's chest.
Dan Hongyi released the shield and the golden jade axe, tossing them into the air, his face suddenly turned red as he was about to use a mutual destruction technique. A green flying sword brushed past his cheek from behind and nailed straight into the silver-armored zombie's forehead.
With a "ding", the silver-armored zombie that had already charged in front of Dan Hongyi was sent flying back, pierced through the forehead by the Divine Wood Sword and pinned to the opposite mountain wall.
"Elder Dan, are you alright?"
Chen Mobai's voice came from behind. Dan Hongyi, who had been barely holding on, couldn't hold on any longer and sat down on a rock in the cavern, taking out a spirit stone to recover while gasping for breath.
"Junior Brother Chen, I'm fine, but it's a pity that Elder Bi didn't practice the Heavenly Wood Divine Light Formation and couldn't block the teleportation power of the Underworld Formation like us. Not long ago, he fell victim to the evil corpse."
Dan Hongyi spoke with a dim expression.
He had led the team out this time, thinking it was a simple mission, but he didn't expect to lose a fellow sect member.
"Alas, it's my fault for not discovering the operation pattern of the Underworld Formation sooner. If I had come earlier, maybe I could have saved Elder Bi."
Chen Mobai sighed, and at this time, Mei Jingjun also came over, supporting the extremely weak Yan Jinye.
"Junior Brother Chen, how did you escape the pursuit of the silver-armored zombie?"
Mei Jingjun asked curiously, knowing that she had also thought of using the Heavenly Wood Divine Light Formation to block the Underworld Formation's power at a critical moment of life and death.
It was also thanks to the silver-armored zombie's desire to slowly kill them one by one to enjoy their blood, first teleporting Bi Yiyuan away from them. While slaying this Divine Wood Sect body cultivator, it inadvertently gave Mei Jingjun time to think and find this slim chance of survival.
Chen Mobai hesitated for a moment, seeing Yan Jinye's gaze, he knew she was aware of his swordsmanship realm.
It would probably be impossible to hide it when they returned to the sect, so he simply told the truth.
"I had a fierce battle with that Fei Ming Daoist and slew him."