Fang Xing spent some time inside the Sword Doctrine cave, but he still wasn't able to find a skill that was suitable for him. There were some that would be able to improve upon his comprehensions somewhat, but he felt using a Black Ice Order to get one would've been a waste and it might've been better for him to just exchange the order for Spirit Stones. He didn't have many tools and pellets to improve his cultivation level right now, so he was going to be relying on Spirit Stones to increase his tier. He had a purple foundation and was simply a bottomless black hole, after all; every inch of improvement would require many times more resources than others would need.
Once he'd made his decision, Fang Xing felt it was about time and so peeked his head out from the cave. He was relieved to see Chu Ci wasn't outside waiting for him, and he pulled out his spirit vessel to make his return.
Before he managed to get too far away, however, Fang Xing faintly sensed a cloud that had begun to quietly follow up behind him. "Heh, just as I'd hoped…." Fang Xing quietly snickered to himself before stirring the Peng King in the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits awake. "Old Peng, your blood sacrifice is ready!"
Servant Qiao followed cautiously behind Fang Xing, his mind filled with murder. "Hmph, little brat, let's see where you're trying to run away to…." The spirit vessel Fang Xing was using wasn't very fast and wasn't able to shake him off, and after following along for some time, Servant Qiao received a message talisman from Servant An letting him know everything ahead had been prepared. Even more certain of the situation, Servant Qian utilized his Qi to increase the speed of his cloud and cause his malicious aura to press on towards Fang Xing like the arrival of a demon lord.
Fang Xing turned around and pretended to flinch at this. "Oh? Damned eunuch, what are you following your little grandpa for?" he yelled back before fleeing.
"Hahahahaha," Servant Qiao loudly laughed when he saw this, "a little mutt like you knows the meaning of fear? Let me grind you down into ashes…." The clouds began to coalesce towards Fang Xing, working to force him in a single direction.
"Stop chasing me! I know I've done wrong!" Fang Xing yelled back while pretending to flee, giving off the impression of someone in panic. It was enough that within the Flag of Ten Thousand Spirits, the Peng King couldn't help but to sigh out, "Enough is enough. Don't overdo the acting…."
One chasing, another fleeing. Within the blink of an eye, both Fang Xing and Servant Qiao had flown more than ten miles, and—thanks to the pressure exerted on him—Fang Xing had already flown off-course from the path back to Wanluo Court and onto a new path the Yin Servant pair had prepared for him. Servant Qiao was in no hurry to catch up; he purposefully wanted to force Fang Xing quite a distance away from both the Scripture Caves and the Wanluo Court before doing anything. It'd be easier to sort out any hassles afterwards this way.
Fang Xing did as the two Yin Servants wished. Wherever they tried to force him to go, that was precisely where he went. He was secretly discussing matters with the Peng King the entire time, and after reaching a hundred or so miles away from his original course, he saw another cloud appear in front of him. Half-hidden within the cloud was none other than Servant An wearing a cold smile, who'd left earlier before. Next to him were eight armored imperial guards all standing above the clouds, their murderous intentions on clear display.
Servant An sneered and waved his palm, causing a cloud to disperse in Fang Xing's direction. "Little bastard, I have laid an inescapable trap for you. Are you still going to try to escape?"
"Help!" Fang Xing yelled while turning his head. When he saw a snow-filled valley nearby, he immediately changed his direction and headed down there instead.
"Heh, this little brat must
have been seriously panicked to flee right into a dead end…." Both Servant Qiao and Servant An met up and exchanged joyous glances with each other before leading the eight imperial guards towards the valley below.
After arriving in the valley, however, Fang Xing immediately stored his spirit vessel away and began to flourish his arms. A pair of golden wings appeared on his back—causing his speed to increase threefold—and he drew out a set of formation flags to continuously wave before tossing them out in different directions. Afterwards, he instantaneously returned back to his original spot with the last formation flag in hand and leapt into the thick snow at the valley's entrance to hide himself away completely.
"Oh? Where'd that little bastard go?" Servant Qiao and Servant An both asked in surprise after arriving in the valley and seeing Fang Xing was nowhere to be found.
"Haha…." It was then that Fang Xing jumped out from the thick snow and threw the last flag of the formation into the precise center of the valley entrance. A shine began to rise up from the flag, and it took mere seconds before it connected to the other seven flags already placed in other locations. It formed a giant web of Qi that engulfed the entire valley, and even though the shine disappeared a few breaths later, the power of the formation had already been activated.
"Nn?" Both Servant Qiao and Servant An were incredibly surprised and believed Fang Xing was trying to use some skill as a last resort, but they soon began to relax after carefully probing the area with their senses. "Little brat, you've really run out of methods now. Do you really think you can trap us in here using a formation like this?" Servant Qiao laughed. "Such a pity; you're still too young. A formation of this level is something I can resolve with just a wave of my hand. How do you think you're going to trap me?"
Fang Xing laughed and drew the one-legged-man lance into his hands while slowly walking forward. "Who said i wanted to trap you? I'm just concerned the Qi we give off during the fight might cause others to come here to investigate!"
Servant An's face darkened and the malicious intent around him began to condense as he reached out to grab Fang Xing. "Little brat, let me give you a taste of my Soul Search…." However, Servant Qiao stopped him and sternly said, "Why in such a rush? Letting the imperial guards take him down would be enough!"
Although Servant An was surprised at first, he soon understood Servant Qiao's meaning. The two of them were Yin Servants, and both of them had gone through a series of elaborate and complicated schemes in order to reach their positions. Neither of them were stupid; although they wanted to kill Fang Xing as soon as possible, they'd realized soon after entering the valley that he was nothing like an ordinary Spirit Stage cultivator. He seemed to be taking this incredibly casually—implying he had some form of fatal trick up his sleeves—and so neither of them dared to go out and test for it themselves.
"Go! Take the head of this little mutt for me and you will be handsomely rewarded!" Servant Qiao commanded with a sneer while gesturing outwards with his fingers extended.
"As you command." All eight of the imperial guards were powerful soldiers who'd been nurtured by the royal family. All of them were in the ninth tier of Spirit Stage, and if they showed extraordinary performance, they'd be given the chance to obtain a Foundation Pellet and break through into the Foundation Stage—they would do anything they could to accumulate merit for themselves for this very reason. They'd also been moved after hearing this boy had caused problems for Princess Chu Ci; they all knew how affectionate Prince Chu Huang was towards his little sister, which meant they'd most assuredly receive a large reward if they were to kill this boy.
"Sword form! Kill him!" the imperial guard at the front yelled out. All eight of them activated their Flying Swords, and the densely-packed sword lights began to weave forward in a net to try to slice at Fang Xing. The number eight was the base number for most formations, and eight Flying Swords were just enough to form a sword formation. Controlled by eight imperial guards in Spirit Stage tier nine, it was strong enough to fight an early Foundation Stage cultivator.
Fang Xing showed a smirk with bits of murderous intent flickering within his eyes. "Heh, you want to fight against me with just this level of sword formation?"
Swoosh….
Fang Xing raised the one-legged-man lance towards the eight imperial guards who'd activated the sword formation, only to suddenly smash down against the sword net with his full force. At the tip of the lance was a frightening black light, making it look similar to a giant stick of incense burning with black flame. The malice of his Foundation Stage power had seeped into the attack as he instilled it with Qi, causing the one-legged-man lance to be engulfed in a very evil sensation….
Servant Qiao and Servant An had originally been rather laid back when the guards began fighting, but their faces immediately changed when they saw Fang Xing waving around the one-legged-man lance. They weren't idiots and had already started to notice Fang Xing's strange movements. "Something's wrong. How did that brat's aura suddenly change?"
BANG….
Fang Xing's one-legged-man lance collided with the eight swords formation. A gigantic force suddenly surged from all around, kicking up a large amount of snow from the bottom of the valley into a blizzard that covered both him and the eight imperial guards. Within the curtain of snow, only the sound of clanging metal could be heard alongside the pained cries of the guards, one after the other.
"No, there's something strange about this brat! Xiao An'zi, it's our turn now!" Servant Qiao yelled out. The aura of malice around him turned frenzied before forming into a giant hand and clawing at the blizzard. Servant An also began to form a hand seal, and two peculiar ribbons flew out from his sleeves to try to make their way into the blizzard as well.
Bang bang bang bang bang…..
Just as the malice-formed giant hand and the black ribbons tried to push their way into the snowy blizzard, a terrifying force suddenly unfurled aimed straight to the sky above. The giant hand formed by Servant Qiao's malicious aura was immediately dissipated, and Servant An's black ribbons were shredded and returned back to his sleeves in a mess. The pair looked on with overt surprise while watching that blizzard in panic.
When the snowflakes fell and the wind calmed, it was possible to see a lean figure with a copper statue in his right hand and a giant flag in his left.
This was the Myriad Beasts servant they'd thought would have taken no effort to capture. In his right hand was the one-legged-man lance dripping with blood and shrouded in black, flame-like malice. In his left hand was a giant black flag furling with the wind, causing black smoke to appear from time to time along with images of spirit beasts flickering in and out of view.
Eight corpses belonging to the imperial guards were strewn out all along the ground, as were the shards of their Flying Swords, broken until there wasn't a piece more than ten inches long. The most terrifying part of all was that the eight corpses were thoroughly dried, leaving behind black and seemingly burnt skeleton-like frames. A red puddle of blood could be seen in the center of the carnage, slowly drawing up into the black flag in that person's left hand.
Where was the servant that could be easily pushed around? This was clearly a little devil that was terrifying to the core! After the blizzard calmed enough for Servant Qiao and Servant An to see the silhouette in the blizzard, they felt as though someone was tightly gripping their hearts.
"Sh*t, something is definitely abnormal with this brat. Xiao An'zi, you keep him at bay. I'll go send a message to His Highness immediately!" Servant Qiao suddenly yelled before flying up into the sky like a dragon trying to flee.
These Yin Servants weren't very courageous to begin with. Their path of cultivation was focused around underhanded methods and alternate means, so why would they even consider fighting someone like this head-on? They'd originally believed Fang Xing was in Spirit Stage and just had a few secret methods up his sleeves, so they hadn't been afraid to try to kill him. After seeing him kill all eight of the imperial guards in a single attack, however—all while holding that strange and terrifying flag—how could they possibly draw up enough courage to continue fighting?
Even if the pair thought they might have had a chance if they joined forces, they still wouldn't dare to fight on—their first thoughts were on escaping. At the very least, they had to let everyone know that this little brat was in fact in Foundation Stage. The only known Foundation Stage elites within the Snowy Mountain were Prince Chu Huang and Xiao Xue, after all; for there to be another unknown Foundation Stage cultivator like this meant there had to be some kind of dark scheme, and letting people know would earn them great merit.