Chapter 142: Peacock Dao Soldiers, Summoning Wind and Clouds
Whoosh!
Lu Qian's Yin spirit transformed into a flood dragon.
The flood dragon spanned ten zhang, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.
Boom!
A deafening roar echoed through the sky.
A five-zhang cyan cloud swept down, brimming with monstrous killing intent.
The soldiers of the Longfeng Hall were frozen in place instantly.
"Well struck!"
The Master of Longfeng Hall shouted loudly.
His innate marrow-piercing astral qi materialized into a flock of white peacocks.
The peacocks formed a 'person' shape, arranging themselves into a peculiar formation.
Puff! Puff!
The peacocks spat out gales of astral wind, which converged into a massive tornado.
These were the Yin Wind Peacock Dao-soldiers, forged by the Master of Longfeng Hall through the combination of astral qi and malicious energy.
Capable of wielding his astral qi abilities, their might was formidable.
The tornado stood twenty zhang tall, carving deep ravines into the earth wherever it passed.
Sturdy steel walls were sliced directly into dust-like powder.
"Well struck!"
The flood dragon roared wildly, unleashing the Demonic Energy of the Nine Nethers.
The wails of evil spirits assailed everyone's minds.
Amidst the pitch-black demonic energy, ten flood dragon dao-soldiers emerged. Their mottled dragon bodies moved like agile fish, soaring through the dark miasma.
"Hmph!"
The flood dragon dao-soldiers opened their bloody maws, exhaling a torrent of pitch-black yin wind.
The yin wind merged with the Demonic Energy of the Nine Nethers, transforming into a giant flood dragon.
At that moment, the tornado swept into the Nine Nethers Demonic Formation.
A bone-chilling cold permeated the air.
"Incredible power." Lu Qian felt a stinging sensation between his brows.
The force of the astral wind was indeed mighty.
Even the flood dragon Yin spirit, wrapped in Profound Frost Yin Qi, could feel the prickling pain.
The yin wind flood dragon collided head-on with the tornado.
Crack, crunch...
The scales on the flood dragon's body were instantly stripped away by the wind.
Yet, sheltered within the demonic formation, they immediately regenerated, barely managing to contain the tornado.
Meanwhile, the flood dragon dao-soldiers roared once more, their bodies covered in demonic energy as they transformed into armored giants.
Red runes flared on the soles of their feet as they soared through the air.
Grappling hooks and sabers flashed simultaneously, exchanging blows evenly with the peacock dao-soldiers.
As dao-soldiers condensed by a late-stage Soul-Nurturing practitioner, the peacocks possessed slightly superior strength.
However, the flood dragon dao-soldiers triumphed through their versatile abilities, keeping the two sides at a standstill.
"Oh? Such fierce dao-soldiers," the Master of Longfeng Hall remarked in surprise.
Yet so what? Lacking true cultivation realm, no matter how formidable the abilities, one was ultimately nothing more than an ant.
With that thought, the Master of Longfeng Hall pulled out a crystal-clear bead emitting a white glow, hurling it toward Lu Qian.
This bead was known as the Wind-Calling Cloud-Qi Bead.
It contained the power of astral qi and the might of third-tier dharma power.
Whoosh!
The bead flew through the air.
Simultaneously, white mist billowed from the bead, instantly enveloping the entire space.
The flood dragon twisted within the clouds, its Lunar Golden Eyes radiating brilliant divine light to pierce through the mysteries of the shifting cloud qi.
Successfully locating the weakness, it broke through the encirclement.
Boom!
At the same time, thunder radiance burst forth.
Ozymandias Divine Thunder, carrying peerless destructive power, plunged headlong from the sky.
Boom!
The lightning was too fast.
Sound followed after the form had already arrived.
It smashed directly into the protective astral qi of the Master of Longfeng Hall.
A massive hole was blasted into the innate marrow-piercing astral wind.
"Such powerful lightning sorcery!" the Great Elder exclaimed in astonishment.
He had previously assumed this person was in the same realm as himself, with combat prowess likely nothing special.
He never expected a master who had perfected his astral qi.
The Demonic Energy of the Nine Nethers inflicted no harm upon the members of the Xu family, likely due to Lu Qian's deliberate restraint.
Conversely, the men of Longfeng Hall were left thoroughly disoriented and dazed.
Seizing this critical opportunity sharply, the Great Elder shouted to the clansmen behind him, "Attack together and kill them!"
If not now, when?
Even the heavily injured Second Elder nearby gritted his teeth, pulling back his bowstring to release a barrage of chilling arrows.
The divine projectile techniques of the Xu family varied in nature depending on the type of baleful qi and astral qi refined.
For instance, the Second Elder's divine projectiles excelled in stealth and concealment.
The battle gradually balanced out.
Naturally, those fighting below were not the focal point.
The crux was whether Lu Qian could hold his ground.
Whoosh!
Boom!
Crimson arrows exploded, engulfing several more members of Longfeng Hall in flames.
The more the Great Elder fought, the more alarmed he became.
The master of Black Mountain revealed far too many trump cards.
Aside from the flood dragon dao-soldiers, there were twenty towering ox-headed and horse-faced entities.
One hammered bones while the other reaped souls; nearby, a dog-headed Daoist spat flames and cast curses to anchor the formation.
Slaughtering the rabble of Longfeng Hall was as effortless as slicing melons and vegetables.
While dealing with Soul-Nurturing cultivators might still prove strenuous, he was certainly no pushover to be slaughtered at will.
"If these dao-soldiers were to attack the Xu family..." the Great Elder pondered. With the ancestor dead, the Xu family truly lacked the confidence to face Black Mountain.
Fortunately, he stood on their side.
High above, Lu Qian's Yin-spirit flood dragon was locked in combat with the Master of Longfeng Hall.
Whoosh!
Another blast of marrow-piercing astral wind swept past.
It cleanly and decisively severed the flood dragon's four limbs.
The very next second, the flood dragon's limbs regenerated once more.
"What kind of avatar is this?" the Master of Longfeng Hall wondered inwardly, shock gripping his heart.
Screech!
A three-inch Soul-Slaughtering Spike stabbed directly toward the space between his brows.
Clang!
His protective astral qi deflected it away.
The two fought for another half-hour.
Lu Qian's stamina was visibly beginning to wane.
"Haha! It's useless; your true qi cannot outlast mine!" The Master of Longfeng Hall laughed heartily.
Boom!
At that moment, the peacock dao-soldiers shattered the flood dragon dao-soldiers, causing the might of the Nine Nethers Demonic Formation to plummet drastically.
The innate marrow-piercing astral wind formed a hundred-zhang ribbon of light, seemingly splitting the sky in two.
Closing in on Lu Qian's vicinity, the Master of Longfeng Hall hurled another vital-qi bead once more.
Two white ribbons of astral qi struck down with lightning speed.
The onlookers could not help but halt their movements.
"This..." The Great Elder's pupils constricted. He imagined himself in that position and realized he would likely not survive.
He wondered if the Mountain Master possessed the strength to withstand it.
The rest of the Xu family gazed at the ribbon of light resembling the Milky Way suspended in the sky.
Despair crept into their hearts.
In the air, Lu Qian's Yin spirit resided within the corporeal flesh.
Before the strike even landed, wisps of astral qi tore across the corpse-refining iron body, leaving behind tiny lacerations.
No wonder some claimed the strength of the late Soul-Nurturing stage was tenfold that of the mid-stage.
Witnessing it today, it truly lived up to its formidable reputation.
Splash!
Dark clouds gathered thickly overhead, and a torrential downpour of pitch-black raindrops began to fall.
"Hmm?"
Initially, the Master of Longfeng Hall paid it no heed, but realizing something was amiss, he snapped back to attention.
Interspersed among the black raindrops were yellowish droplets that fell upon the astral qi, actually corroding tiny holes into it.
"Not good!"
At that moment, the vital-qi bead fell into the rain formation. Snapping to his senses, the Master of Longfeng Hall attempted to retrieve his dharma artifact.
Alas, it was already too late. A single drop of pure Oblivion True Water landed squarely upon the vital-qi bead.
The spiritual will attached to it was instantly washed away, resulting in a fierce backlash that left the Master of Longfeng Hall dizzy.
In that brief moment of distraction, the battle instantly reversed.
Lu Qian smiled and spat out a sword pouch.
Whoosh!
Golden qi surged like a rainbow, spanning across the sky.
Splat!
The golden qi effortlessly pierced through the rain-corroded protective astral qi, plunging directly into Longfeng's body.
With the momentum of a bamboo splitting, the golden qi decimated Longfeng's Yin spirit.
"Ah... ugh..."
Longfeng managed only a single miserable scream before his soul shattered completely.
The reversal happened so swiftly that the onlookers failed to react in time. It wasn't until the Xu family members saw the ox-headed and horse-faced entities moving that they remembered to clear out the remaining enemies.
The corporeal flesh writhed, transforming back into Lu Qian's appearance, a vital-qi bead still grasped in his hand.
"The power of the Yellow Springs Oblivion Water is indeed extraordinary," Lu Qian murmured with great interest as he gazed at the bead in his palm.
A moment ago, this bead had been Longfeng's lethal weapon.
Now, scrubbed by the Oblivion Water, it had become an unowned item, dealing Longfeng a fatal blow through his own treasure.
With a casual sweep, he summoned Longfeng's storage pouch into his hand.
"Is this my first time killing a Qi-Refining cultivator head-on in a direct clash?" Lu Qian mused internally.
He remembered the first late-stage Soul-Nurturing cultivator he ever faced was Liu Ruyi.
Back then, he had felt like a mere ant before her.
Yet, in just a few short years, he possessed might comparable to the eight chief executives.
Lu Qian's figure descended, flanked by several dao-soldiers.
Most of the men from Longfeng Hall were already dead.
One mid-stage Soul-Nurturing survivor attempted to flee, only to be blocked by the two elders before Lu Qian decapitated him with a single sword strike.
With the adversaries eliminated, Lu Qian noticed the gazes of those around him had shifted.
Even the two elders looked at him with a trace of lingering reverence.
Understandably so, given how swiftly Lu Qian had dispatched the Master of Longfeng Hall.
In the eyes of outsiders, it was practically a one-hit kill.
Yet, only Lu Qian knew the truth.
Lidu had once critiqued his combat style:
Observing like a viper for a prolonged period, then delivering a fatal strike in an instant.
In truth, Lu Qian had made extensive preparations.
He had relied on two major trump cards: the sixth-tier sword pouch and the Oblivion Water.
His own cultivation realm was lower than his opponent's.
Had that single strike failed to take effect and alerted the enemy, it would have devolved into another grueling battle.
Still, the outcome of this fight was quite satisfactory.
Lu Qian walked slowly toward the crowd.
Clad in black robes, flanked by the ox-headed and horse-faced guards, and a sinister dog-headed Daoist,
he walked amidst billowing black miasma, his figure akin to a ghost.
To the onlookers, he appeared profoundly mysterious.
Arriving before the Great Elder, Lu Qian remained silent, fixing a meaningful gaze upon him.
The Great Elder contemplated for a moment before sudden realization dawned on him.
"Such a profound grace of saving lives is impossible to repay. This humble one is willing to lead his clan and pledge allegiance to Black Mountain."