Chapter 215 - Zhou Tianhe
The crane robed elder suddenly raised his staff and waved it at the fire cloud with lightning speed.
This caused a huge symbol to fly out from the center of the fire cloud a moment later. After a twirl, it shot up to the sky without leaving a trace behind.
Moments later, the formations set around the periphery of Xuanjing were ignited simultaneously. A crimson light formation appeared over the blue light barrier, vaguely forming an even larger super formation.
With a single turn of this formation, fire clouds started forming in its center. It was dense, filling more than half of the air above Xuanjing. The combination of its red hue with the blue of the light barrier below created a beautiful vision able to move anyone.
Upon seeing what had happened, many commoners and Loose Practitioners in Xuanjing stared in shock, mouths agape.
A thunderclap sounded out of the blue and a silver lightning bolt flashed inside the fire cloud and writhed violently. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a lightning python hundreds of meters long, eyes icy cold and silver lightning covering its body. It moved its colossal mouth towards the large barrier below, shooting out a thick lightning bolt.
Lightning bolts flew out in all directions!
There was a quiver on the surface of the blue light barrier and a blue ripple passed along it.
At the same time, the fire cloud once again turned about; many crimson symbols gushed out and then fell like raindrops.
Each symbol fell on the blue light barrier, none making a sound. However, somehow, they significantly decreased the barrier’s power!
With a nod of its head and a flick of its tail, the python shot down from the sky, viciously driving its head into the light barrier.
There was an earth-shaking boom!
A sudden tremor was felt throughout Xuanjing, even causing many unstable buildings to collapse under the shock and injure an unknown number of civilians.
All of Xuanjing was plunged immediately into chaos. An indiscernible number of cultivators flew from their dwellings into the air, faces flush with shock as they looked upon the strange red and blue phenomenon in the sky.
Meanwhile, Empress Dong sat in a secret room within the palace. A ball of blood shot from her mouth as she screamed out in shock.
“Impossible. A Spirit Master level master is attacking the formation, and is using the calculations of a Formation Master, specifically attacking the formation’s weakest points. This won’t do – if things continue as is, the entire formation will be unable to support itself in no time. The barrier around Xuanjing must be abandoned.
As soon as her words fell, Empress Dong abruptly grabbed the formation plate in front of her, spat a ball of blood at it, and crazily made hand signs.
Meanwhile, the blue light barrier which had covered Xuanjing endured several more attacks from the lightning python. In a violent flash, it suddenly became sparks of spiritual light and then disappeared.
However, the light barrier covering the palace expanded more than four or five times in thickness. A five-colored symbol simultaneously sprung forth strangely from the light barrier’s center, and it flew across every inch of the light barrier.
The barrier around the palace instantly became stranger.
The moment the barrier around Xuanjing had disappeared, the crane robed elder, standing on the platform and exercising techniques, was shocked, and said with a quiet smile:
“I never thought this member of the Sea Race supporting the formation would be so resolute. After realizing that I was able to calculate this formation’s weak points and used the opposite type of formation to counteract that barrier, they willingly took down the outer barrier and put all of their energy into defending the inner barrier.”
“What Junior Deng means is that this formation has not been completely penetrated, but rather that these members of the Sea Race have purposely abandoned the outer barrier. If this is true, won’t the inner barrier be even harder to break?” Brows furrowed, Master Lei wondered aloud as he flicked his hand at the sky, causing the python to turn, with a flash, into a silver blade and fall.
“Unclear; I would need to see the inner barrier for myself to be able to say for sure,” The crane robed elder responded.
“In that case, let’s go over to see it. Junior Wei, please call on Nephew Bai and tell him to come see us. There are some things I would like to go over with him personally,” Master Lei said as something else occurred to him.
“No problem, I will inform Nephew Bai,” The dark man responded nonchalantly.
With that, he took out a round Technique Plate on his person and made several rapid motions in the air with one hand, before then replacing the Technique Plate as if nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, Liu Ming sat in a secret room with his eyes closed. All of a sudden, a “weng weng” sound came from his body.
His eyes shot open. He rolled up his sleeves and a Technique Plate appeared in his hands. As he watched it vibrating gently, several silver symbols appeared on its surface.
With only a couple glances, a look of joy formed on Liu Ming’s face. He immediately stood up, picked up the Technique Plate, pushed open the door and left the secret room.
But as he entered the dwelling, he immediately caught sight of Hu Chunniang coming from the bedroom, the girl’s face also full of delight.
“Junior Bai, the elders of our Heavenly Moon Sect have arrived in Xuanjing. I’m about to go and welcome them,” The girl said unhesitatingly as she saw Liu Ming.
“What a coincidence – I have just received word as well. The support from our Barbarian Ghost Sect have also arrived. If both you and I are able to receive this information, could it be that the Sea Race’s barrier has already been destroyed?” Liu Ming was somewhat surprised, though after some thought, suddenly understood.
“It could only be thus. As it is so, let us go together.”
Hearing these words, Hu Chunniang was somewhat uncertain, though a hint of a smile also showed on her face.
And so, with a few words of urging, Liu Ming left the dwelling with Hu Chunniang, one wearing a light green cloak, the other’s face covered with a scarf.
Outside the palace, in front of the blue light barrier, was a white bone boat with black gas swirling around it and a light bronze flying chariot, facing each other in the distance.
In front of the bone boat, Master Lei and the four others were standing shoulder-to-shoulder.
Opposite it, on the light bronze flying chariot, stood two women and one man. One of the women was 27 years old and the other in her thirties, both with elegant facial features. Each of them carried two swords on their backs, one yellow and one light green. By contrast, the man seemed to be 40-something in age. A white robe over his body, a jade belt around his waist, and a smile on his face, he elicited in others a feeling of comfort not easily described.
“Zhou Tianhe, you arrived on time after all. We’ve tried everything to break through the Sea Race’s formation; you and your Heavenly Moon Sect have arrived just in time.” Master Lei directed his words towards those opposite him.
….
Under the awe-inspiring gazes of those within Xuanjing, the four had moved to the palace’s exterior. As they were planning to break open the inner barrier in one go, three Spirit Masters from the Heavenly Moon Sect flew swiftly over to them in the flying chariot.
Their leader was none other than the most famous Spirit Master level male sword cultivator in the Heavenly Moon Sect – Zhou Tianhe.
This naturally caused Master Lei and the others to proceed with caution.
“I did not think that Senior Lei would get here so quickly. I assumed that the two younger female juniors and I would get here one step ahead of you and your sect. How about this, Senior Lei – since you and your people have already worked hard on the outer barrier, how about us Heavenly Moon Sect break through this barrier we see before us? I have even brought along a Nine Star Child Mother Lightning, which presumably will be more than enough to deal with this barrier,” The white robed man from the Heavenly Moon Sect said with a grin.
“Nine-Star Child Mother Lightning!” Master Lei gasped when he heard this.
Lin Caiyu and the three others were even more shocked.
“Alright – I have heard of the fame of this lightning and it is claimed to be equal to a Crystal Level Spirit Master’s power. I’ll wait and see what happens.” Master Lei’s complexion changed by several shades, and he slowly nodded his head.
“Hehe, then I’ll go ahead” Zhou Tianhe said with a smile. He then pulled from his sleeve a light black jade box with three to four gold Glyphs on its surface.
Just as he was about to open the box, in the distance there was a ripple in the air, and two clouds, one black and one white, flew over.
“It looks like the supervising disciples from our two sects have arrived. How about we hear what they have to say before we proceed?”
Seeing this, the white robed man stopped what he was doing with his hands and spoke, smiling.
“It is entirely up to Fellow Zhou, I have no opinions on the matter.” After similarly scanning the silhouettes standing on the clouds which had flown over, Master Lei spoke noncommittally.
The two people who had arrived were none other than Liu Ming and Hu Chunniang.
Once Liu Ming had positioned his cloud behind the bone boat with a few jerks, he bowed before Master Lei and the others, saying:
“I, Disciple Bai Congtian, salute you four Martial Uncles!”
“Nephew Bai, you have been of great service to the Sect. However, some of the details in the communications you sent were vague. Tell us how you came to find out about these matters of the Sea Race, and be very specific. If what you say is in fact correct, I will bestow you with a great honor on behalf of the Sect.” After glancing at Liu Ming, Master Lei spoke, expressionless.
“Yes. The day I arrived in Xuanjing, I first went to Hundred Spirit House as a Guest, and shortly after…” Liu Ming uttered these words, launching into his narration without hesitation.
“Finally, I beheaded two post-transformation members of the Sea Race, and left behind one of their arms. It was only then that I confirmed with Senior Hu that the palace had already been taken over by the Sea Race, and sent word to the Sect as fast as I could. Regarding that light green scale and that arm, I have kept them by my side the entire time. Here they are!”
After Liu Ming finished speaking, he pulled from his chest a deformed simple Storage Glyph. He held it up between his fingers in the wind and it broke apart. In a flash of white light, a light green scale and a severed arm covered in light green scales and slightly withered where it had been cut fell to the ground.
Master Lei’s gaze instantly diverted, and with a scoop of his hand through the air, picked up the two items. After a moment of careful examination, without a trace of an expression on his face, he took the two items and gave one to Lin Caiyu and the other to the crane robed elder, who were standing beside him.
“Very good – this is in fact a genuine Sea Race arm, and it appears to have been severed about a month ago.”
“Though the aura around this scale is weak, it still carries a trace of Sea Race aura.”
After a moment, Lin Caiyu and the crane robed elder nodded their heads in agreement.
“Wonderful. Take out your Nameplate. As a reward for the service you have rendered, the Sect will bestow upon you 5,000 Contribution Points, as well as a Life-Saving Glyph.” Master Lei pulled from his sleeve a short pale gold staff, speaking calmly.