Chapter 89: Re-slash Five Sea Realm

Li Wei's figure blurred, like a gust of wind, catching up to two Seven-Spring martial artists who were about to leave. With a flash of his sword, he sliced them both in half at the waist, blood splattering on the spot.

The two Seven-Spring martial artists couldn't even see Li Wei's figure, let alone retaliate. With such power, who would believe he had only opened Eight Springs?

"No one is leaving this estate today." Li Wei stood proudly before the three-zhang wide bronze gate, holding his blood-stained sword. His eyes swept disdainfully across the dozens of martial arts masters in the courtyard, exuding an aura of a lone warrior holding off an army.

Two martial arts masters from the Stone Gang attempted to climb over the wall to send a message.

"Bang!""Bang!"

As they leaped onto the two-zhang high courtyard wall, two bright, intricate array patterns suddenly appeared in the air above, striking them. With screams, they fell back down, covered in blood. Their deaths were gruesome.

"How formidable, they actually activated our formation." Shi Chuan-yu remained calm.

Yin Twenty-Four said, "I merely added a seal inside the formation tower. The formation covering the entire hundred-mu estate is now completely out of control; anyone who attempts to breach it will be attacked."

All the gang members in the courtyard exchanged glances, their hearts instantly filled with trepidation. Were these two ruthless individuals really planning to kill them all?

Shi Chuan-yu exchanged a subtle look with Xu Chang-lin, then shouted, "The main gate is a weak point in the formation; Seven-Spring martial artists can break through! Anyone who can fight their way out of the Stone Gang's estate and seek help from the Yang Clan will be rewarded with a Five Seas Pill!"

"Kill!"

Xu Chang-lin's entire body exuded spiritual energy from every pore, as if turning into a cloud. Full of momentum, he hefted his thousand-jin heavy blade and charged towards Li Wei, who was guarding the main gate. More than a dozen Seven-Spring martial artists, each armed with weapons, followed closely, their battle cries shaking the heavens.

Meanwhile, Shi Chuan-yu pulled out a mirror-shaped magical artifact and intercepted Yin Twenty-Four, who was descending from the rooftop, buying time for Xu Chang-lin.

Knowing the immense pressure Li Wei was under, Yin Twenty-Four completely ignored Shi Chuan-yu. Carried by the wind, she floated over his head, arriving first despite starting later, and gracefully landed in the open space between Xu Chang-lin and Li Wei.

The thousand-jin heavy blade swept down. A ten-zhang long spiritual energy light erupted from the blade.

Yin Twenty-Four unleashed the Heaven-Wind Palm Technique. With a single strike, the entire world within several tens of zhang seemed to spin. A hurricane roared as her palm met the blade.

"Boom!"

The thousand-jin heavy blade, as if made of wood, flew out of Xu Chang-lin's grasp and over his head. Xu Chang-lin, a renowned Five Seas realm expert for decades, was sent flying backward like a broken kite, spitting blood from the impact of the palm strike. The heavy blade then crashed to the ground, shaking it.

Yin Twenty-Four pressed her advantage, intending to finish him quickly. However, Xu Chang-lin displayed seasoned combat experience, quickly regaining his balance by tapping his toes. In a breath, his Qi Sea roared, and he unleashed a powerful punch.

Shi Chuan-yu arrived with his mirror. After infusing it with spiritual energy, the mirror's surface shot out a scorching beam of light as thick as a bowl.

Yin Twenty-Four met them with both palms, fighting one against two, directly clashing with two Five Seas realm experts.

"Bang!"

Xu Chang-lin spat blood again, his face deathly pale, and fell to the ground like a rolling gourd. Shi Chuan-yu fared slightly better; protected by the mirror artifact, his internal spiritual energy was in disarray, and his chest felt a dull ache, but he managed to remain standing, not as disheveled as Xu Chang-lin.

After successively slaying three Seven-Spring martial artists and deterring the other Stone Gang experts, Li Wei watched Yin Twenty-Four unleash such a formidable palm technique. After his initial astonishment, an interesting question arose in his mind.

The Heaven-Wind Palm Technique was the fundamental martial art of the Medicine King, one of the Nine Kings. For her to have cultivated this palm technique to the level of Heavenly Dao Harmony at the age of sixteen, and possibly even to have comprehended the concept of battle intent through it, meant she must have been practicing it since childhood, not just starting after joining the Hidden Gate.

Here's where it gets interesting: Yao Yin also practiced the Heaven-Wind Palm Technique to the level of Heavenly Dao Harmony. It was highly probable that both of them came from the Yao Li tribe. Given their similar ages and Yin Twenty-Four's excessive talkativeness around Yao Yin, Li Wei had reason to suspect they had known each other for a long time, perhaps even sharing a very close relationship, and were merely pretending to be strangers due to their identities. After all, Hidden Ones were required to sever ties with their past.

This thought flashed through Li Wei's mind, but there was no time to ponder it. The situation in the courtyard had taken a new turn.

The group of eunuchs in green robes, who had been guarding the convoy's cargo, stood in a corner of the front courtyard, like bystanders, completely uninvolved in the battle. Most of them were calm, with some showing disdain and mockery in their eyes.

"This Evergreen Forest Gang is truly a disorganized rabble; they can't even handle two youngsters who just entered the Five Seas realm," a Seven-Spring martial artist in his fifties remarked with a sinister laugh.

The strongest among them, a middle-aged man who had opened Eight Springs, spoke in a reedy voice, "That girl is formidable. She seems like a Nine-Spring Zenith breaking through to the Five Seas realm, unrivaled in her own realm."

"What's the point of being invincible in one-on-one combat? On the battlefield, who fights you one-on-one? A single charge will grind everyone into bloody mud," another green-robed eunuch stated.

"Let's move. Suppress these two; we cannot have any accidents with our cargo."

The middle-aged man who had opened Eight Springs, among the green-robed eunuchs, nodded. He took out a white Yin Banner over two meters long from the cart and roared, "All soldiers, heed my command!"

"Draw your blades, form ranks!"

"Whoosh!"

The thirty-three green-robed eunuchs' vital energy instantly sharpened. They drew their identical combat blades from their waists and formed a battle formation, three columns by eleven rows. With their blades pointed skyward, they displayed a beauty that only comes from absolute uniformity; the tip of every blade was on the exact same line. When one blade turned, all turned together. The thirty-three individuals seemed to become one.

Driven by their internal spiritual energy, a formation pattern appeared on the green robes of all thirty-three individuals. From the battle formation formed by these thirty-three patterns, a deafening roar erupted. Above the formation, a humanoid shadow, wielding a Phoenix Beak Blade, materialized. Standing six to seven meters tall, it radiated a chilling aura.

All the martial artists in the courtyard felt as if they were on a battlefield with a thousand soldiers and ten thousand horses, too terrified to even breathe. Even Shi Chuan-yu and Xu Chang-lin paused, looking at the battle formation in the corner and feeling the pressure.

Yin Twenty-Four retreated to Li Wei's side, her expression grave: "So you are military personnel. It seems what's in those crates is truly extraordinary."

The Eight-Spring middle-aged man holding the white Yin Banner said, "Surrender now. Before this battle formation, your cultivation is utterly insufficient."

Yin Twenty-Four scoffed, "The Thirty-Three Character Spirit-Slaying Battle Formation, combined with the Ghost General Yin Banner artifact, is indeed very troublesome, but it's not enough to make me surrender."

The middle-aged man with the banner replied, "A typical Thirty-Three Character Spirit-Slaying Battle Formation is formed by three Seven-Spring martial artists, ten Six-Spring, ten Five-Spring, and ten Four-Spring martial artists, arranged in a ladder formation. But look at us; do you see a single Four-Spring martial artist among us?"

"Since she's looking for death, we'll send her on her way first," a booming voice echoed from within the formation.

The middle-aged man with the banner swung the Yin Banner.

"Whoosh!"

A cold wind suddenly rose, and fierce ghosts roared. The gigantic Ghost General above the battle formation charged forward, its Phoenix Beak Blade crashing down.

Yin Twenty-Four's expression shifted slightly. Without holding back, she formed a palm seal. Immediately, winds rushed in from all directions in the courtyard, and the palm print she unleashed transformed into a dazzling cloud of palm force.

The Phoenix Beak Blade, with overwhelming force, cleaved through the cloud of palm force, descending directly towards her head. Sensing danger, Li Wei suddenly rushed forward, colliding with Yin Twenty-Four, and they tumbled several zhang away.

"Boom!"

The Phoenix Beak Blade struck the ground, creating a deep crater, its blade sinking completely into it.

The two swiftly fled, dodging the Ghost General's pursuit. Li Wei asked, "What's going on? How can a group of seemingly mediocre Spring-Rising realm martial artists become so powerful after forming a battle formation? The entire Evergreen Forest Gang combined probably couldn't match them."

In Li Wei's estimation, the Evergreen Forest Gang's strength was several times that of the green-robed eunuchs. The current situation completely overturned his understanding.

"The Evergreen Forest Gang is just a disorganized rabble; how can they compare to a military?"

"At the same cultivation level, the Evergreen Forest Gang only bullies the weak and spends their days feasting, drinking, gambling, and whoring. But military personnel train diligently every day, fighting life-or-death battles on the battlefield."

Yin Twenty-Four continued, "Battle formation soldiers train only one type of blade technique every day, and they must achieve absolute uniformity, including vital energy, spirit, and battle intent. Didn't you notice that when the Ghost General swung its blade, all thirty-three green-robed eunuchs also swung a blade simultaneously?"

"This absolute uniform combat style is also known as Heavenly Dao Harmony. It requires years, even decades, of rigorous training to achieve."

"With the aid of the Thirty-Three Character formation patterns, they became as one."

"This is merely a Thirty-Three Character Spirit-Slaying Battle Formation. If you were to encounter a Thousand-Character or Ten-Thousand-Character level battle formation, their battle intent could even manifest as cities, rivers and seas, fire plains, mountain ranges, giants, dragons and phoenixes, or even the starry sky... In short, the military is invincible, not something an individual can contend with."

Li Wei reflected, "I shouldn't have underestimated them. I should have killed a few of them before they could form their battle formation."

"I'll break the formation; the rest are up to you!"

Yin Twenty-Four charged towards the battle formation formed by the thirty-three green-robed eunuchs. She cut her wrist and used her own blood to activate the Three-Headed Serpent Bracelet, preparing to test the power of the blood spirit within this high-grade artifact.

"All of them to me?"

Li Wei looked towards the bronze gate of the distant estate and saw several Seven-Spring martial artists attempting to break through the formation. Left with no choice, he slapped his insect tube, unleashing his true trump card.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Seven Phoenix-Wing Moth Emperors fluttered out together, transforming into seven vibrant, multi-colored halos. With incredible speed, they killed all the Seven-Spring martial artists who were trying to break through the gate and escape. Corpses lay scattered across the ground.

In the past twenty-odd days, after consuming the five-hundred-year-old Cistanche, they had grown larger. Li Wei had repeatedly measured their body lengths; they were still just shy of two inches.

"They're vicious insects; he's actually a formidable Insect Master!"

Shi Chuan-yu saw that the seven Phoenix-Wing Moth Emperors possessed extraordinary combat power. Their wings were as swift as magical battle swords, making it as easy as eating and drinking for them to kill Seven-Spring martial artists. Moreover, their speed was terrifying, no less than that of Five Seas realm martial artists. How could Shi Chuan-yu not be astonished, knowing that legendary Insect Masters could single-handedly counter an army or defend an entire city?

"Whoosh!"

He attacked Li Wei with his mirror. The best way to deal with a swarm of vicious insects was to kill the Insect Master.

"Swish! Swish..."

Five Phoenix-Wing Moth Emperors flew in from five directions, tracing winding arcs, and collectively assaulted Shi Chuan-yu. The remaining two stayed by the main gate, killing all gang members who tried to rush past.

Shi Chuan-yu was undeniably strong; he swung his mirror-shaped artifact, sending the first Phoenix-Wing Moth Emperor flying, making it crash heavily into a pillar of a distant building. The pillar snapped. But the Phoenix-Wing Moth Emperor seemed unharmed, instantly flapping its wings and taking off from the ground. Its body appeared forged from metal, with a defensive power so strong that even ordinary magical artifacts couldn't injure it.

"Whiz!"

The membranous wing of a Phoenix-Wing Moth Emperor sliced across Shi Chuan-yu's arm, instantly opening an inch-deep gash. Immediately after, came a second gash, then a third... Under the siege of five Phoenix-Wing Moth Emperors, Shi Chuan-yu was utterly defenseless. He gradually became flustered, and more and more wounds appeared on his body. The more he fought, the more horrified he became, realizing the formidable nature of Li Wei, an Insect Master, and the thought of immediate escape began to form in his mind.

Meanwhile, Li Wei and Xu Chang-lin had already exchanged more than ten blows. Xu Chang-lin had already sustained internal injuries from Yin Twenty-Four earlier, and under Li Wei's full-force assault, he gradually began to lose ground.

"Boom!"

After their blades and swords clashed with full force, both men retreated.

Seizing the opportunity, Li Wei formed a hand seal, channeled spiritual energy from his Wind Abode, and unleashed his strongest strike, thrusting a finger forward.

Mercy Voyage Consecration!

Xu Chang-lin's battle blade was too cumbersome to swing in time, so he could only form a palm seal. Spiritual energy erupted wildly from his palm, colliding with Li Wei's finger.

"Pfft!"

Xu Chang-lin's palm was pierced. A beam-like finger strike, after penetrating the back of his hand, struck his chest, creating a transparent, goblet-sized bloody hole.

Xu Chang-lin screamed, staggering backward. He first looked at his shattered palm, then down at his pierced chest, his pupils filled with despair, before falling straight down.

Li Wei, having clashed directly with a Five Seas realm expert, naturally didn't fare well. He was struck by Xu Chang-lin's palm force, which sent him crashing through a wall, and it took him a while to painfully get back to his feet.

With a trail of blood at the corner of his mouth, he walked over to Xu Chang-lin's corpse. Only after confirming he was truly dead did Li Wei let out a long sigh of relief. Engaging in successive battles against two Five Seas realm experts was incredibly perilous and came at no small cost.