7. Soul Sealing Formation

Before the creature could completely take over He Jin's body, Jian Hong directed one of his hands at the gust of wind. Instantly, a blue light emanated from Jian Hong's hand.

However, without any warning, the tail of the wind moved and knocked Jian Hong down, causing him to fall back to the ground. As he struggled against the crushing sensation, He Jin saw Jian Hong rise again to help him. "Senior, go! Save yourself and find the ancient book!"

With his own eyes, Jian Hong watched as the girl felt her body was about to be crushed and shattered without being able to see anything. Seeing this, Jian Hong clenched his fists tighter. "I won't give up."

The young man stood up again, moving his hands with focused intent. The wind almost succeeded in throwing him back, but Jian Hong quickly spun his body. With agile steps, he ran through the wind, climbing onto the swirling earth surrounding He Jin, forming a tornado.

At that moment, Jian Hong stepped back. With his feet planted in the wind, he jumped into the air. Then, he moved his hands to form a formation. Soon, a zigzagging blue light began to form directly above the wind.

For a moment, He Jin looked up at it. She then swallowed hard upon seeing it. "Energy sealing formation?" The girl fell silent for a moment as she felt her body becoming more and more shattered. "If Senior does this, the energy inside him will be destroyed again. Even though he absorbed the Jade energy, it's still borrowed power, not originally Senior Hong's."

"Release He Jin or I will seal all your energy in my formation!" Jian Hong shouted, his veins clearly visible on his neck. His face was perfectly red, sweat pouring down his body.

Jian Hong's raised hands struggled to lower the formation carefully, clearly showing his difficulty. He Jin could even imagine how painful it must be for someone at the Qi Condensation stage to exert such a high-level energy-sealing formation.

"Damn it! I need to think of something," He Jin said to herself. After a moment, her eyes widened as she remembered something. "This creature uses wind power to attack enemies. But the enemy of wind is water. If only I could introduce water to this creature, there might be a chance to escape."

For a moment, He Jin felt a new hope for her life. But she forgot that her body was being increasingly constricted every second, making even breathing extremely difficult.

As the girl was preoccupied with her thoughts, she felt her body drifting further away from Jian Hong. Not only that, but she also felt herself spinning in abstract motions. The wind carried her away from Jian Hong.

At that moment, Jian Hong still had his eyes closed, feeling the intensity of the formation he had placed above. He also felt his energy being forcibly extracted from his body. And just as he opened his eyes, he saw the wind had already moved away, carrying He Jin with it.

"I've worked hard to create this formation. Even if I have to be injured, I won't let you escape," Jian Hong murmured. A moment later, he closed his eyes again. He released his hands that were holding the formation, causing it to start fading.

But the next moment, Jian Hong floated right in front of the formation. With all his might, he spun his body and kicked the formation with both feet, causing his blue light to clash with the blue energy of the formation.

Not stopping there, Jian Hong's long, large fingers moved skillfully, emitting white light from between his fingers. Once it seemed perfect, Jian Hong entered the formation and traced every edge of the formation to strengthen it.

Jian Hong continued to spin inside the formation, his feet never leaving it, making him look like he was skiing. The young man expended a lot of energy, causing blood to flow from his mouth.

After a brief pause, Jian Hong continued to watch the wind growing more distant. "I won't stop here."

Slowly, Jian Hong raised both hands as his head tilted back to the sky. "Soul protective energy," he murmured with his eyes closed for a moment. He then resumed tracing every detail of the complex formation.

"Life light," Jian Hong murmured again. This time, his eyes focused sharply on the formation path ahead. He jumped and moved his body with great skill.

"Phoenix spirit power." Jian Hong now jumped as high as he could, his body's shadow nearing the sun, clearly visible to He Jin. Jian Hong's arms spread wide, and faintly, blue Phoenix wings appeared behind him.

"Soul sealing formation!" Jian Hong's shout echoed across the vast, desolate land. Blue and white light surrounded Jian Hong's entire body. He then directed both hands at the formation below him. "Destroy it!"

Jian Hong's body was pushed back a few paces due to the immense force erupting from him. The Phoenix wings on his back gradually disappeared as they entered the formation.

As the formation sped up to maximum velocity, Jian Hong's body began to collapse and fall to the ground slowly, as if his body were cotton drifting calmly from a height.

Before Jian Hong could close his eyes, he vaguely saw a red light glowing across his body. Soon after, from above, he saw light slowly entering his chest and forehead. After that, Jian Hong remembered nothing more.

***

Slowly, Jian Hong's eyes began to blink. The man tried to adjust to the light entering his eyes. But remembering what had happened last, Jian Hong moved to a sitting position, feeling panicked. "What happened?"

Jian Hong's voice echoed and bounced back. Then, his eyes scanned the reddish-hued room beside him. Upon closer inspection, Jian Hong concluded that this was a cave.

After a while, a girl in simple clothing approached. He Jin widened her eyes in surprise at seeing Jian Hong, who had recovered. She quickly moved closer and climbed onto a large stone where Jian Hong had been unconscious.

"Senior, you're awake?" He Jin asked anxiously. However, a look of relief was also evident when she saw Jian Hong was okay.

The young man nodded and then scanned his surroundings in this unfamiliar place. "Where... where are we? What happened? And where is the wind monster?"

"Senior, you really don't remember anything?" He Jin asked, confused. Jian Hong shook his head slowly in response to the girl's question.

Seeing Jian Hong's reaction, He Jin sighed before continuing. "I will tell you everything."

When Jian Hong's body fell, the formation he had made arrived just in time to confront the wind that was tightly wrapping around He Jin. The white light in the shape of a rope bound the invisible wind.

As the wind stopped moving, He Jin finally dared to open her eyes. She was shocked to see a round formation with many detailed patterns right above their heads. Even the light ropes began to encircle He Jin's body, which was a few handbreadths away.

He Jin began to understand that the shape of the wind trapping her resembled a tornado. "Soul sealing formation," He Jin murmured.

Shortly after, He Jin's body fell to the ground. But with well-trained balance, the girl landed, though not perfectly. She still stood there, watching the large wind and the formation seemingly clashing with each other.

The formation tried to bind the entire wind created, while the wind continued to spin and spiral higher. With its tail, the wind tried to reach and destroy the formation.

Seeing this, He Jin widened her eyes. "Senior has worked hard to create it. I must not let Senior's effort be in vain."

So the girl quickly opened her small bag that she always carried. She then began to remove everything inside with force, making the items float in the air. Carefully, she started reading each item one by one until her eyes stopped at a brown pouch in front of her.

With a gentle movement, she returned all the items into the small bag. Then, she hurriedly took the pouch into her palm and let it float. With her other hand, she opened the pouch, revealing a pink lotus flower still in its bud. "Heavenly Lotus? This lotus usually lives in water, so if purified, it might also bring water to the place where it is purified."