Poisoning
Translator: CinderTL
Between heaven and earth, ten majestic phantoms suddenly materialized.
These phantoms, each towering a hundred zhang high, sat cross-legged in mid-air, their faces stern and eyes sharp as lightning.
The ten phantoms formed a circle, enclosing an area of a hundred li in radius.
Countless Buddhist symbols condensed on the bodies of these phantoms.
These symbols intertwined in the air, forming a barrier composed of Buddhist scriptures.
"Boom!"
With a deafening roar, the barrier began to tremble violently, seemingly on the verge of collapse.
Two figures abruptly appeared, as if thrown out from the void.
These two were none other than Tai He and Hao Kong, who had earlier activated the Minor Teleportation Talisman in an attempt to escape.
"Netherking Demon-Locking Formation!"
They immediately recognized the formation before them, their expressions turning grim.
They glanced down and saw that beneath each Netherking phantom stood a Golden Core monk from the Mixed Yuan Temple, ten in total.
Each monk held a formation disk, exerting their utmost to control the formation.
After the Spirit Offering Formation was breached, these ten monks had not fled but instead retreated to the outskirts of the battlefield, secretly setting up the Netherking Demon-Locking Formation.
The two instantly realized that the Mixed Yuan Temple had been prepared all along.
From the very beginning, Xiao Chan had intended to use Fayan's Nirvana Sacrifice Ceremony to scheme against them, or rather, against the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Nine Palaces Sect.
After all, no matter who the Nine Palaces Sect sent, they would fall into the Mixed Yuan Temple's trap.
Fortunately, the Netherking Demon-Locking Formation hastily set up by the ten Golden Core cultivators was not particularly strong.
Tai He, holding the Plaguefall Banner, summoned a cloud of poison and directed it towards the barrier of the Netherking Demon-Locking Formation, preparing to forcefully break the formation.
At the same time, he secretly held a Minor Teleportation Talisman, ready to escape with Hao Kong once the formation was broken.
The only drawback was that the Minor Teleportation Talisman could not control the direction of the escape.
Otherwise, they could have directly fled to Jie Mountain.
Jie Mountain was equipped with a Mountain Protection Array, capable of blocking Xiao Chan and Fayan.
The poison cloud, like a giant beast, was about to collide with the barrier when a massive kasaka suddenly unfurled, blocking the barrier and absorbing the impact of the poison cloud.
"Tai He, Hao Kong, you cannot escape. Prepare to die!"
Xiao Chan roared, wielding a staff and smashing it towards the two.
At the same time, Fayan controlled the Horned Dragon Root, charging at them.
...
Over two hundred li away from the Jie Mountain Market, in an underground cavern, Song Wen observed all this, his brow slightly furrowed.
From his and the Asura Sect's perspective, he did not wish for Tai He and Hao Kong to die here.
The Nine Palaces Sect had four Nascent Soul cultivators: two at the early stage, one at the mid-stage, and one at the late stage.
The Mixed Yuan Temple originally had two Nascent Soul cultivators: Xiao Chan at the mid-stage and Mi Hai at the late stage. Now, they also had Fayan, who was on the verge of advancing to the late stage.
If Tai He and Hao Kong died here, the balance of power between the two sides would be instantly disrupted.
By then, the Asura Sect might no longer have a foothold in the Yishi Ridge.
Song Wen wanted to help Tai He and Hao Kong escape, but he was worried that Mi Hai might be lurking nearby.
Mi Hai's absence did not mean he wasn't here.
Who knew if Mi Hai, like himself, was hiding nearby?
If he ended up sacrificing himself to help Tai He and Hao Kong, it would be a great loss.
After a moment of contemplation, a Shadow Gu hidden in the dense forest fluttered its wings and slowly flew towards a thin monk from the Mixed Yuan Temple.
This person was at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, one of the weakest among the ten individuals setting up the formation.
Facing the formation, he focused entirely on controlling the formation disk in front of him, completely unaware of the Shadow Gu silently approaching from behind.
By the time he noticed, the Shadow Gu was only a few meters away.
Startled, he hastily summoned a shield and positioned it behind him.
The moment the shield appeared, the Shadow Gu collided with it.
"Thud!"
After a muffled sound, the Shadow Gu was sent flying back, landing on a rock.
It quickly fluttered its wings and, following a crack in the rock, burrowed underground.
The thin monk, with a grim expression, was about to seize the opportunity to eliminate the pesky Gu worm that had appeared out of nowhere when a monk from the Mixed Yuan Temple nearest to him shouted.
"Hui Zhen, focus on controlling the formation disk, the formation is about to lose control!"
The monk named 'Hui Zhen' snapped back to attention, his hands swiftly forming seals as he channeled the spell into the formation disk.
Tai He and Hao Kong, being slightly weaker in strength and with Hao Kong injured, were barely holding their ground against the fierce attacks from Xiao Chan and Fayan.
As a result, Tai He and Hao Kong had no time to attack the barrier of the Netherking Demon-Locking Formation.
However, the residual power from the battle between the four Nascent Soul cultivators was still formidable.
The ten Golden Core cultivators from the Mixed Yuan Temple had to exert their full strength to control the formation, ensuring it wouldn't collapse under the battle's residual force.
Just as Hui Zhen turned back to focus on controlling the formation, he heard a whistling sound approaching from behind.
Instinctively, he thought it was the Gu worm again and, activating the shield behind him, he slammed it towards the direction of the sound.
"Bang!"
This time, the attacker wasn't sent flying but instead exploded.
Immediately, a cloud of black mist spread out.
Only then did Hui Zhen realize that the sneak attack wasn't from a Gu worm but from a small pill.
The black mist from the exploding pill, like a living creature, surged towards Hui Zhen.
Hui Zhen hurriedly raised a protective barrier of spiritual energy to block the mist. However, his reaction was a bit slow, and before the barrier could fully form, a wisp of the black mist had already landed on his face.
His face began to visibly corrode and decay at a rapid pace.
To prevent the poison from spreading, Hui Zhen didn't hesitate. He clawed at his own face with his hand, tearing off a large chunk of flesh, revealing the blood-stained skull beneath.
Hui Zhen, now faceless, looked horrifying.
However, the poison from the pill was even more potent than he had imagined.
Parts of the exposed skull had already started to turn black.
Hui Zhen quickly swallowed two antidote pills and then channeled his spiritual energy, desperately trying to contain the spread of the poison.
At that moment, Hui Zhen was shocked to find that the protective barrier he had raised was gradually being corroded by the black mist, with several small holes appearing in it.
Then, the barrier shattered.
His body was instantly engulfed by the black mist.
In this life-or-death situation, Hui Zhen couldn't afford to hesitate. He quickly formed another protective barrier and charged out of the black mist.
Hui Zhen managed to escape the mist, but the formation disk he had been controlling was now unattended.
The Netherking Demon-Locking Formation was on the verge of collapse, and as luck would have it, a residual force from the battle within the formation struck the barrier at that very moment.
The barrier of the formation instantly shattered, and the nine Golden Core cultivators controlling the formation seemed to suffer an invisible heavy blow, each spitting blood and collapsing weakly to the ground.
Hui Zhen watched this scene unfold before his eyes, his face instantly turning pale, filled with guilt and terror.
The guilt stemmed from the fact that the formation had been broken because of him.
The terror came from the realization that he had caused a great disaster and feared the severe punishment that Master Xiao Chan might inflict.
"Wait, where is the person who ambushed me? If I can catch the culprit, perhaps I can appease Master Xiao Chan's wrath!"
Hui Zhen looked around, but there was no one in sight.
Even the Gu insect had long since disappeared without a trace.
(End of the Chapter)
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