Chapter 860: The Grave-Digging Elder

"Indeed, the two black and white envoys didn't deceive me. This place is truly formed by the Five Elements Grand Formation, and the arrangement of all the tombstones follows the principles of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements. It seems I need to locate the formation cores hidden within these tombstones one by one to advance further."

Xu Yang closed his eyes, concentrating, and unleashed his spiritual power to its fullest extent.

In that instant, all the surrounding Five Elements tombstones were enveloped by Xu Yang's spiritual power. Soon, five particularly agitated tombstones reacted.

Xu Yang unhesitatingly positioned himself at the location of the 'Gold' formation core, arriving before the tombstone that gave off the strongest spiritual energy feedback.

He cast a cold glance at the tombstone before him.

With a gentle wave of his hand, Xu Yang carved the character "Kill" onto the surface of the blank tombstone.

This single character infused Xu Yang's immensely powerful spiritual pressure.

Soon, this pressure caused the entire tombstone to violently agitate.

With a thunderous roar, the corresponding tombstone finally shattered, replaced by an overwhelmingly pervasive black light that emanated from within.

Clearly, the inner space corresponding to this "Gold" character tombstone seemed to be an independently existing domain.

Xu Yang flew in without hesitation, and indeed, a relatively independent small world appeared before him.

It was so tiny it could be disregarded, even too small to be described as a "world."

Yet, it undeniably possessed its own independent system of laws.

This independent space resembled a private garden, and at the end of the view, an old man was digging the ground with a shovel.

The old man looked incredibly rustic, seemingly devoid of even the slightest trace of murderous aura.

In reality, however, Xu Yang knew very well that this individual was one of the Five Most Powerful Top Protectors under the Western Emperor.

"Hey, old man, your Grandpa A-Yang is already here. What are you doing playing tricks? Come on, accept your death!"

However, the elder seemed to completely ignore Xu Yang's intimidating words.

With a gentle flick of his right hand, Xu Yang sent a sharp sword beam instantly piercing towards the elder's silhouette.

Xu Yang quickly realized, however, that the silhouette he had pierced was merely a phantom of the elder, not his true body!

Xu Yang roared in fury, and the entire independent space, every corner of it, was shaken by the violent roar, unable to settle.

A terrifying pressure swept across the area, and finally, an extremely chilling sneer slowly emerged from behind Xu Yang.

The elder's true, formidable form finally appeared.

At this moment, the elder no longer presented his previous detached appearance. His eyes were cold, his body exuded a murderous aura, and he wielded an incredibly powerful divine-grade shovel.

All these elements combined to form a powerful entity that surpassed ordinary Heavenly Warriors.

"Welcome to this place. Do you know why you saw that scene when you first entered? It's because I was preparing a tombstone for you. You must have already foreseen your demise, which is why you witnessed that moment."

Xu Yang unhesitatingly spat at the old man in front of him.

"Stop spewing nonsense in front of me! Do you really think your meager strength qualifies you to boast before me?"

"I'll soon show you what true despair means!"

Xu Yang unhesitatingly swung the Jade Bone Divine Sword, sending a powerful sword beam aimed directly at the elder's true body.

However, the opponent was not to be outdone, immediately conjuring a tombstone-shaped barrier in front of himself.

Initially, Xu Yang hadn't expected the barrier to be so resilient. Without hesitation, he further strengthened the sharpness of his sword energy.

In an instant, he shattered the tombstone barrier before him!

However, seizing this opening, the elder's shovel moved again, swiftly carving the character "Kill" into the void.

The moment the "Kill" character's inscription appeared, countless crimson ghostly silhouettes rapidly emerged around the elder.

These ghost figures were all combat puppets formed from the elder's primordial aura, and they surged madly towards Xu Yang's location.

"So that's it. Your core technique must be summoning these spirits, right?"

The elder's sneer deepened. "Precisely. The 'Kill' character you carved when you entered here actually allowed me to comprehend an even more powerful puppet formation. Now, I'll show you."

As the elder spoke, his shovel swiftly conjured various forms of the "Kill" character. Each character's appearance was followed by the manifestation of distinctly different crimson puppets, which launched furious attacks against Xu Yang in various ways.

Unfortunately, Xu Yang easily shattered these spirits without even needing to use his primal power.

"I told you, the power of these spirits isn't enough to shake my true body in the slightest. Don't waste your effort here." In the next instant, to further accelerate the pace of the confrontation, Xu Yang simultaneously activated the four spiritual vortices within him, instantly unleashing an incredibly powerful pressure.

As countless sword beams simultaneously struck from the void, these crimson puppets were annihilated by Xu Yang in a single encounter.

"Hmph, as expected of someone who could find this place. Your strength is truly impressive!"

"However, if this is all you have, it's not enough to harm me!"

The elder spoke with immense confidence. Suddenly, his shovel moved again, and various yellowish-brown soul bodies began to condense around his body.

Unlike the previous crimson offensive soul bodies, these were distinctly for defensive purposes.

Various sword beams flew down from the void, but upon hitting these yellowish-brown soul bodies, their power was completely absorbed in an instant.

"I see. Unlike others' defensive methods, your yellowish-brown soul puppets can absorb my sword energy. This certainly has some ingenuity!"

Xu Yang finally couldn't help but praise his opponent. At the very least, this offensive style was unique.

"What? Are you scared so soon? If so, you'd better kneel and beg for mercy quickly, because I haven't even unleashed my true profound techniques yet."

No sooner had the elder finished speaking than he suddenly flung his shovel horizontally.

Xu Yang summoned the Jade Bone Divine Sword, which collided mid-air with the shovel, unleashing an incredibly powerful sonic wave.

Immediately after, an immensely powerful murderous aura emanated from behind the elder.

Soon, a truly complete crimson ghostly figure reappeared!

This ghost figure was entirely different from the previous lower-tier spirits; it actually possessed the exact same energy fluctuations as Xu Yang.