Chapter 303
Chapter 303: Altering the Formation Array; He Zhang’s Despondence
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The blood-red worms that were squirming about were spirit beasts known as the Spirit Devouring Worms, and they were spirit beasts reared by He Zhang within the pool of blood for the purposes of feeding his demonic beasts .
The Spirit Devouring Worms were creatures that are particularly drawn to the spiritual energy emanating from a spiritual cultivator’s body . As long as they could sense the existence of a spiritual cultivator, the Spirit Devouring Worms would immediately charge towards the source of spirit energy in a massive swarm, overwhelming and consuming the spiritual cultivator with their sheer numbers and penetrating his body through every crevice or orifice possible .
Even though the Spirit Devouring Worms were one of the greatest nightmares of any spiritual cultivator or spirit beast, it was one of the best sources of nutrients to demonic beasts . To the demonic beasts, the Spirit Devouring Worms were incredibly juicy and tender – an existence that was almost a delicacy . Thus, He Zhang had constantly fed any trespassers of the Sect’s forbidden grounds directly to the Spirit Devouring Worms, nurturing and encouraging their growth, before feeding the fattened Spirit Devouring Worms to his demonic beasts within the forbidden grounds . It was a circle of life .
If Ye Xiuwen was aware of what He Zhang was doing with these creatures, his hatred for the pretentiously upstanding and sanctimonious man would most certainly burgeon to unprecedented heights . If he could, he would have tossed He Zhang into the pool of blood so that he could experience the taste of having his innards devoured by these Spirit Devouring Worms .
At the same time, the Spirit Devouring Worms were not creatures that possessed a high cultivation level . Faced with an opponent in the advanced-tier Nascent Soul stage of cultivation, its only fate was to be killed – there was no chance of the disgusting, nauseating creatures getting close to Ye Xiuwen at all .
However, killing Spirit Devouring Worm was a process that left behind a thick, nauseating scent of blood . As the scent wafted out, the blood in the pool of blood began to undulate once more .
This time, Ye Xiuwen could feel the oppressive pressure from a high-grade demonic beast which continued to spew from the depths of the pool of blood .
Seems like a bloody battle is on the horizon…
Ye Xiuwen thought coldly to himself as his fingers tightened around the spirit sword in his hands .
Having been though the baptism of blood from the countless battles he has been through within the Death’s Gorge, Ye Xiuwen was hardly concerned that the demonic beast that was approaching would be too difficult to deal with . Rather, his only concern was that there would be too many of them to deal with . In such cases when it became a pure battle of attrition, he knew that there was always a risk that he might simply perish under the relentless attacks of innumerable demonic beasts .
His only hope right now was that the recovery pills within his Interspatial Ring was sufficient to tide him through such an ordeal…
Meanwhile, Jun Xiaomo continued to fumble her way through the heart of the formation array for some time before she finally came across what she was looking for . The heart of the formation array was set within a circular indentation in the ground, surrounded by long, cylindrical pillars around it . The cylindrical pillars were covered by complex patterns etched all around it, and it formed part of the master formation array that connected all of the formation arrays within the forbidden grounds .
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The indentation on the ground, together with the six pillars that stood around it, formed the heart of the formation array altogether . This was unmistakably how He Zhang had managed to control every single part of the forbidden grounds .
Jun Xiaomo had now drawn incredibly close to uncovering one of He Zhang’s greatest secrets that he had been doing so much to keep under wraps .
The indented portion in the ground was also covered with complex inscriptions that formed part of the master formation array . Jun Xiaomo examined everything closely . After some time, she could vaguely tell just what kind of a formation array this was .
“Hah . I’d never thought that He Zhang possessed the ability to create such a massive and complex cluster formation array . ” Jun Xiaomo snorted coldly, yet she continued to face the formation array without a single shred of fear in her eyes .
She had already seen something like this in the Proving Grounds . In fact, she had seen far worse than such a meagre cluster formation array within the Proving Grounds .
Immediately, she retrieved several talismans from her Interspatial Ring and applied them to her own body, before motioning to enter the area of indentation where the heart of the master formation array was located .
As soon as the master formation array detected a foreign body close by, the entire formation array began to emit beams of red light . If Jun Xiaomo had not applied the talismans on her body earlier, the beams of red light would have severed her body into several parts by now .
However, with the aid of the talismans that she had applied earlier, it was as though the beams of red light were unable to determine her location at all . Thus, they could only glow and shine threateningly as they remained in a constant state of vigilance without launching even a single attack at the surroundings .
Just like that, Jun Xiaomo made her way into the indentation that was the heart of the formation array . There, she retrieved an ink-black stone and tossed it into the indentation . Instantly, the beams of red light within the indentation began to shine more intensely with far greater ferocity .
Jun Xiaomo smiled lackadaisically at the beams of red light . Then, she began to walk to the pillars that were situated around the indented areas, where she began to paint over certain parts of the complex inscriptions on each of these pillars using her talisman brush that was dipped in vermillion paint, thereby altering entire constitution of the inscriptions .
After doing all that, Jun Xiaomo returned to the center of this master formation array . Then, she began to muster all of her true energy towards her palms, where she would transform them into a massive amount of demonic energy .
As soon as the demonic energy began to burst from within Xiaomo’s body, the intense aura accompanying such a massive swathe of energy immediately attracted the attention of the formation array’s defensive mechanisms . Within an instant, innumerable red beams of light shot straight towards Jun Xiaomo, attempting to cleave her into two .
At practically the same time, Jun Xiaomo slapped several more talismans onto her body and diverted a part of her demonic energy to form a barrier that shielded her body from the assault of the red beams of light .
Under the combined protection of her talismans and her demonic energy, Jun Xiaomo remained unharmed under the formation array’s attacks . Thus, seeing that everything was going according to plan, Jun Xiaomo began to launch her own counterattack and offensive against the formation array –
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She was going to thoroughly transform the master formation array within the forbidden grounds!
Just like that, as Jun Xiaomo continued to suffuse her demonic energy into the heart of the forbidden ground’s master formation array, the number of beams of red light that were attempting to attack Jun Xiaomo gradually decreased . Then, beams of black light began to appear and hover about the surroundings of the formation array . As time went on, these black beams of light motioned to protect Jun Xiaomo, and they even began to swallow and consume the red beams of light that were now feebly attempting to attack Jun Xiaomo .
Just then, the indentation in the ground suddenly trembled ferociously, and the surrounding pillars echoed with the aftershocks of the intense tremor, as though it was shuddering in its last moments of struggle .
Profuse sweat had already formed on Jun Xiaomo’s forehead by now . With the current condition of her body, it was quite a strain to her mustering so much demonic energy at one go . However, she knew that she had to persist and persevere – given what she had been trying to achieve, she knew full well that if she were to give up right now, the backlash from the formation array would be incredible .
Thus, she not only maintained the rate of output of demonic energy from her body – she even increased the amount of demonic energy she was suffusing into the formation array at this moment .
Meanwhile, just as Jun Xiaomo was attempting to alter the master formation array, He Zhang had finally found his way into the prison where the Heavenly Peak disciples had all been held . With Jun Xiaomo’s Invisibility Talismans applied on each one of their bodies, He Zhang was unable to detect the presence of any of the Heavenly Peak disciples . Instead, he very quickly walked past where Chen Feiyu and the rest were hidden and hurriedly made his way into the depths of the prison with an incredibly ashen expression .
Chen Feiyu and the rest watched He Zhang brush past their hiding place with bated breaths as they furiously suppressed the urge to launch a surprise attack on him . Their eyes gleamed with a frigid gaze – One day . One day, we will most definitely make you pay for this blood debt!
Finally, He Zhang arrived at where Chen Feiyu and the rest had earlier been held . When he saw how the Heavenly Peak disciples appeared to still be shackled to the walls, he couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief .
“Hah, I’d said it once, and I’ll say it again – no matter how formidable Jun Ziwen is, he cannot possibly have already made it through the innumerable formation arrays sequestering this place from the rest of the Dawn Sect’s grounds . Perhaps he might already have perished along the way . It seems like I might have been worried over nothing . ”
As He Zhang muttered to himself under his breath, a bright, vicious gleam flickered in the depths of his ashen, wicked eyes .
However, his delight was premature and short-lived . In the very next moment, He Zhang suddenly experienced an excruciating, splitting pain that surged from deep within his chest . This pain was incredibly foreign to him, yet He Zhang could practically tell in an instant just what had occurred .
The master formation array in the heart of the forbidden grounds is being tampered by someone?!
In fact, he could tell that the perpetrator was even attempting to wrestle away from him and seize control of the entire forbidden grounds!
He Zhang could no longer care to examine the condition of Chen Feiyu and the other Heavenly Peak disciples . With one wave of his hands, a quicksand-like whirlpool appeared on the ground before him, akin to the one that had consumed Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen earlier .
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He Zhang stepped into the whirlpool . In the blink of an eye, his entire being vanished from the prison cell without a single trace .
All this while, He Zhang remained completely oblivious to the fact that there were over ten pairs of eyes that were trained on his very actions, all of which were from none other than Chen Feiyu and the other Heavenly Peak disciples .
“Did you guys get the feeling that He Zhang has left in a huff, almost as though he were in an incredibly bad mood?” Chen Feiyu commented thoughtfully .
“Isn’t that good? Seeing him angry makes me happy . ” Another Heavenly Peak disciple stared vacantly in the direction where He Zhang had vanished as he remarked wickedly with some measure of pleasure on his face .
“I’m just worried that martial sister has done something…I only hope that she won’t be caught or captured by that hypocrite He Zhang . ” Chen Feiyu sighed to himself as he began to berate himself for being useless – how could they, as older martial brothers, be imposing such heavy burdens on their little martial sister like that?
But, in light of the present circumstances, it seems like our only ray of hope remains with martial sister Xiaomo and martial brother Ye .
As soon as He Zhang arrived at the heart of the master formation array, Jun Xiaomo was already in the final step of seizing control of it – she had just cut her palm and pressed her bloodied palm onto the heart of the formation array . In turn, the formation array that had been altered and transformed by Jun Xiaomo vermillion inscriptions and her demonic energy began to furiously absorb Jun Xiaomo’s blood . At this very moment, the traces of He Zhang’s control over the heart of the formation array was weakening more and more .
“No!!!” He Zhang bellowed with all his might . Ignoring and fighting through the pain coming from his Dantian, he charged straight towards Jun Xiaomo .
This was something that he had nurtured and groomed for decades by now . How could he just stand idly by and watch the fruits of decades of his own painstaking labour be destroyed and seized by someone else right now?!
He was going to kill this usurper!!!
Yet Jun Xiaomo simply smiled coldly back at He Zhang . With the flick of a wrist, she tossed out a powerful explosive talisman at He Zhang . Hong! He Zhang was sent flying with the impact of the explosion – his skin burst open, his flesh rent, and his clothing was burnt to a crisp .
The final step of the process was completed at approximately the same time that the exploding talisman blew up . Thus, as the smoke settled, Jun Xiaomo stood up from her earlier half-knelt position and began to make her way towards He Zhang one step at a time .
He Zhang had not realized who the person half-knelt on the floor earlier was . All this time, he had wholeheartedly been under the impression that the person who had trespassed the Sect’s forbidden grounds and tampered with his formation array was none other than Jun Ziwen .
Then, as the perpetrator walked closer, He Zhang noticed a pair of elegant legs standing directly in front of him . The red skirt ensemble told He Zhang that the person that had entered the heart of the formation array was evidently a girl, and it could not possibly be Jun Ziwen .
When Jun Xiaomo forcibly wrested control of the master formation array away from He Zhang earlier, the ensuing backlash from his loss of control over the powerful formation array had already dealt He Zhang a grievous wound . To make matters worse, Jun Xiaomo’s high-grade explosive talisman had struck He Zhang squarely, mounting several more grievous wounds on his body and aggravating his condition .
Thus, as He Zhang recoiled from the sudden debilitating impact of these wounds and spat out mouthful after mouthful of blood, He Zhang struggle hard to fight against the excruciating pain in his body . Finally, he managed to open his eyes once more to identify the perpetrator standing before him .
His eyes were vacillating between moments of blurriness and moments of focus, and his head staggered from side to side as he attempted to maintain his balance .
“You are…martial sister Qingmei?” He Zhang coughed as he feebly asked .
It was not unforeseeable that He Zhang was unable to immediately recognize Jun Xiaomo . After all, Jun Xiaomo looked rather similar to Liu Qingmei to begin with . Now that He Zhang was groggy and discombobulated as a result of his injuries, it was naturally very possible that he would mistake Jun Xiaomo for Liu Qingmei .
“Ah? Martial sister Qingmei? Sect Leader He, should I be moved that you haven’t forgotten my mother? To think that you’d still have your heart set on her on your deathbed . ” Jun Xiaomo chuckled sardonically .
“No…that can’t be!” He Zhang’s eyes instantly widened, “Jun Xiaomo?! You’re Jun Xiaomo?!!!”
It might well have been due to the sudden shock from this bombshell that he had just heard, but He Zhang’s practically aroused from his stupor in that very instant and carefully examined the appearances of the person standing in front of him – it was undoubtedly Jun Xiaomo!
“How could this be?! Aren’t you already dead?!” He Zhang’s eyes were bloodshot, as though he were a completely crazed and frenzied spirit beast .
“Oh . That’s right . The entire world has been spreading rumours that I’m dead . ” Jun Xiaomo chuckled placidly, “Unfortunately for you, I’m not dead, and I’ve come back for revenge on behalf of my parents . How about it, martial uncle He, do you think this is a ‘pleasant surprise’ to you?”
It had to be said that Jun Xiaomo truly looked similar to Liu Qingmei when she smiled . However, her aura and disposition were completely different .
Dressed in striking red, Jun Xiaomo looked like she was a demoness who had crept out from the depths of hell – she was incredibly beautiful and mesmerizing, yet she was filled with a sharp and incisive air about her as she radiated a vicious aura .
It was as though she were prepared to snap her enemy’s neck in the very next moment without a single shred of hesitation!