Daoist Competition

Just now, while Gao Ruowang was launching a fierce assault, Zhang Yan had already taken advantage of the cover of that surging water light and great waves to secretly split off more than twenty strands of sword light, which hid far away behind the countless Flying Peaks drifting all around, waiting for the moment to strike.

This method was something he had created by referring to the Forbidden Locking Heaven and Earth Skill of a Nascent Soul Third Realm Cultivator; its severity lay in making use of the swiftness of sword light in flight.

If a Cultivator rashly tried to break through and escape, as long as he was blocked for the briefest instant by a single sword light on the way, all the split sword lights would then pounce in from all directions at once, leaving you with nowhere to hide.

However, this art, after all, relied on sword light to seal and block, and still had quite a few deficiencies; it did not truly lock heaven and earth. If the other party had a Supreme Treasure protecting his body, then by paying some price, there was no telling he might not be able to force his way out.

Just now, Zhang Yan had seen that the way Gao Ruowang evaded his own sword light with that one slash was exceedingly subtle, which clearly showed that his protective arts were quite extraordinary. Thus, after pondering it over in his heart, he felt that only by first finding a way to break this art could he again launch an offensive.

And Gao Ruowang had, several times in a row, acted as if he wished to break Zhang Yan’s Water Element True Light. After careful consideration, Zhang Yan decided simply to play along with the scheme, no longer using this Gate Dao Skill, so as to find a way to lure him onto the hook.

Gao Ruowang saw that the water light had already grown sluggish, but he still harbored suspicion and did not rush forward. He merely shook his body, sending out several dozen Blood Essences ahead as probes.

With a single turn of Zhang Yan’s mind, the sword ball responded and flew in. Horizontal light flashed swiftly; with one sweep it shredded more than half of the oncoming Blood Essences, while the remainder all crashed into the golden light curtain of the Qiankun Leaf and shattered one after another, unable to shake it in the slightest.

These Blood Essences were only of the ordinary kind; if they had been like those earlier ones capable of defiling Dharma Treasures, he would not have used the Qiankun Leaf to meet them head-on, but would most likely have driven the Purple Cloud Divine Thunder into agitation.

The two fought for the time of at least half an incense stick. Zhang Yan saw that Gao Ruowang was still circling and roaming about outside, patiently refraining from unleashing his trump card, and could not help but secretly nod. This man was indeed worthy of being a high disciple of the Demon Sect; to be able, up to this moment, to still restrain himself from striking—this was truly not simple.

His thoughts turned: he himself could not adopt a purely defensive stance; this would very easily arouse the other party’s suspicion. He had to find a way to force this man a step.

Once this thought turned, he circulated his Mysterious Skill, and from within the Gang Cloud above his head surged forth a shaft of yellow light, which in a flash transformed into a Xuanhuang Great Hand, rumbling as it rose upward. After it went a thousand zhang, its five fingers suddenly clenched shut with a snap, seizing a mass of peak rock and hurling it downward.

This peak was a full hundred zhang from top to bottom, likewise a colossal object. Several dozen Blood Essences struck against it, only causing the grass and trees to wither and the flowers and plants to shrivel, yet were useless against that solid cliff and hard rock, and had no choice but to scatter to either side.

Gao Ruowang was taken aback, then let out a cold laugh and likewise transported a spell. A great blood-red hand rose from above his head and slapped this peak back with a single strike.

Zhang Yan flicked his sleeve, and several bolts of Thunder Light burst forth at once. How could this Flying Peak withstand such Daoist Skills? It immediately exploded into countless fragments of stone and dust, drifting in all directions. The Xuanhuang Great Hand above his head did not pause either; with a slap in mid-air, it drew over yet another Flying Peak.

The Flying Peaks here, the great ones were hundreds and thousands of ren high, the small ones only a few dozen zhang, and their number was unknowable. With a casual push, one would fly out; in the space of but a moment, more than ten of them were already crashing toward the opposite side.

As for needing Many Stone Peak, although Gao Ruowang did not fear it, sweeping them aside was troublesome all the same. He was unwilling to needlessly consume Mana, so he raised an Escape Skill and flickered away to dodge.

Taking advantage of this opening, Zhang Yan, in an utterly unconcerned manner, drew out a porcelain bottle from his sleeve, pulled out the stopper, and tossed it into the water light beneath his feet, who knew what he had put into it.

As Gao Ruowang sped along, he happened to see this series of actions, and could not help but be startled. He immediately guessed that Zhang Yan was trying to find a way to undo his thousands of Blood Essences so that the water light could be deployed once more.

He had originally thought that even if Zhang Yan had some method to neutralize the Blood Essences, as long as he himself maintained the offensive, the other would have no leisure to free a hand. Yet now, it seemed Zhang Yan had another secret treasure on him. Inwardly he mused, "I had wanted to probe him a few more times, but now there is no time. Very well, having come to this step, if I do not act, all that has been done before will be for nothing."

With this thought, he no longer hesitated. Turning his palm over, he secretly palmed a long nail whose entire body was condensed from gray smoke.

This treasure was called the ’Seven Absolute Heart Piercing Nails’. He had abandoned his own Protective Treasure Light, transformed his spiritual mechanism, then taken a Mystical Artifact as its basis, and combined it with Yin Evil Demon Poison to refine it through sacrifice.

This object had form but no substance, incomparably sharp; ordinary Dharma Treasures could scarcely resist it. Any Cultivator struck by it would die without the slightest chance of survival.

His earlier misgivings about the Water Element True Light were not unfounded. Although this treasure’s power was immense, it had one flaw: it had to be deployed by borrowing the hand of Blood Essences, and the nail’s speed in flight was relatively slow. If the distance were too great, it would be extremely easy to be dodged; only by closing to within some twenty-odd zhang could he be confident of piercing his opponent.