Chapter 240: Chapter 239: One Sword (Please Subscribe)_1
’This woman... she’s somewhat inscrutable to me...’
Fang Xi carefully remembered her tone, her speech, even her figure...
Even with the Nine Nether Profound Wood Array at his disposal, he could only see a hazy illusion, and everything the woman showed was likely just a disguise, revealing nothing of her true self.
But suddenly, he had an epiphany, as if a brainwave had struck him.
"Could it be... Situ Qingqing?"
"This woman seemed to be very familiar with Wood Kingdom, and Situ Qingqing is also in Wood Kingdom!"
"The Situ Family has always been coveting Thousand Island Lake, and it seems that they have made some discoveries within the secret realm of Purple Dark Mountain. Maybe they also have some understanding of the ancient ruins on Jade Island..."
"Taking advantage of the chaos in Thousand Island Lake, where fish and dragons mingle, it would be easy for her to slip in... Still, she wants to pull me, an Array Master, along to explore and seek mysteries, heh heh..."
"But it’s just a guess. Unless I activate the Great Array and capture her right now, it’s hard to be sure... If it’s not Situ Qingqing, then it’s going to be quite the spectacle..."
"Forget it..."
Fang Xi left the closed-door cultivation room and sent Ouyang Zhen, Yuan Feihong, and the others on their way.
After a large number of Foundation Establishment Cultivators had left, only Ruan Xingling and Liu Sanqi remained.
"The two of you, the area outside of Dragon Fish Island must be quite dangerous now. It’s better to stay on Dragon Fish Island for a while..." Fang Xi said to them.
As the manager of the exchange event, he could only manage Dragon Fish Island. Once off the island, he was truly powerless.
"Mhm, I just happened to have exchanged for a bottle of pills that are greatly beneficial for cultivation. I plan to go into closed-door cultivation for a while," said Liu Sanqi agreeably.
"I also want to enter closed-door cultivation to refine a Spiritual Instrument." Ruan Xingling smiled slightly and left one after another with Liu Sanqi.
The previously bustling exchange hall suddenly grew much quieter.
Fang Xi’s expression was unreadable as he sat in the main seat, his eyes slightly unfocused as if his soul had left his body.
After a while, a voice rang out: "Why haven’t you made your move yet?"
Out of the shadows, something mysterious seemed to stir.
Suddenly.
A jet-black beam of light shot out, its speed as fast as lightning, and it swept past Fang Xi’s figure.
Within this beam of black light was a tiny black needle, but just as it was about to touch Fang Xi, it was enveloped in a layer of silver prohibition, instantly disappearing without a trace.
"You could see through this old ancestor’s stealth technique?!"
A rather surprised voice came from the shadows, followed by a figure emerging out of them.
This person was dressed in a jade robe and had a clear voice, the very Falling Night Yaksha seller previously encountered!
His eyes erupted with bloodlight, staring at Fang Xi with astonishment and suspicion: "Just now... how did you avoid my ’Black Blood Needle’?"
This needle was cultivated with the resentment, Blood Qi, and mixed deadly poison of numerous killed cultivators, requiring considerable effort and time to condense. It specialized in breaking through the spiritual shields of cultivators, carried potent poison, and was good at contaminating the flesh.
Even late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators would go to great lengths to dodge it.
Yet his strike had been fruitless.
’I’ve already prepared contingencies for a Core Formation old ancestor’s ambush; what’s a mere full Foundation Establishment to me?’
Indeed, this old demon’s late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation level was also a disguise, his true realm had reached the pinnacle of Foundation Establishment!
Fang Xi sneered inwardly and then made a summoning gesture.
The next moment, the world around him changed.
The sky darkened, and dense black fog wrapped around the surroundings.
"Void Shifting? A third-level array?"
The jade-robed demon let out a shriek: "You Chong deceived me!!!"
"So much nonsense!"
Fang Xi’s hand glowed with a burst of blue light, and a three-foot-long sword, azure like jade adorned with traces of golden patterns, emerged and settled in his hand.
Within his body, the Dantian Qi Ocean roared, dozens of droplets of liquid Magic Power instantly transformed into a vast azure river, all pouring into the ’Green Barley Sword’.
Inside the sword, the ’Xiuxian Treasure Pattern’ flickered wildly, and strands of Zuxian Sword Qi caused the surrounding void to tremble incessantly.
"Late-stage Foundation Establishment?! A third-level magic weapon?!"
The jade-robed demon let out a scream, as beads of blood emerged all over his body, frantically fleeing from Fang Xi.
While running, a small black flag also appeared, entirely pitch-black, from which came the faint wailing of countless souls, and atop the flag were several skull piles arranged in a character pattern.
This was a Demon Artifact— the Thousand Killing Flag!
Initially created as a lower grade Spiritual Instrument, this artifact’s might would continuously increase with the absorption of souls, reaching the pinnacle of Spiritual Instruments without any issue.
This Thousand Killing Flag wielded by the jade-robed demon was clearly one that had feasted on souls, with inky black Demon Qi cloaking it, shooting out a black Mysterious Light tens of feet long, enveloping the demon securely.
However, the next moment...
With one slash of the Green Barley Sword in Fang Xi’s hand, a sky-piercing, earth-shattering streak of blue Sword Qi flashed, illuminating the entire space.
Thump!
The tens of feet of Mysterious Light shattered instantly, the Thousand Killing Flag cried out mournfully and was bisected by a single strike!
The dazzling Zuxian Sword Qi burst forth, piercing through several layers of the demon’s defenses under his horrified gaze, cutting the old demon in half!
Thump!
The divided corpse fell to the ground, but Fang Xi didn’t stop there. Instead, with a frown, he retracted the Green Barley Sword.
’Although this sword is quite powerful, it indeed consumes too much magic power...’
He reached back with his hand and pulled out a pitch-black Array Disk from his Storage Ring, casting a Magic Spell onto it.
’Nine Nether arises, Mysterious Wood emerges...’
The endless black fog churned about, as if driven by an invisible force, sweeping wave after wave across the entirety of space.
In a secluded corner, suddenly, a flash of black light erupted, revealing a man with an oversized head, scant hair, and skin so pale it seemed he hadn’t seen sunlight in a long while.
At that moment, the old man clutched his severed arm, staring at Fang Xi with a face full of despair.
’This must be your true form, right? Let me see...’
Fang Xi looked at the man’s appearance, quickly comparing it to the information he remembered, and concluded, ’The Martial Kingdom’s Old Ling? A Foundation Establishment level Demon of full roundness, to take a hit from my sword and not die, indeed not bad!’
’A third-level Array, is it really a third-level Array?!’
Old Ling studied the surrounding black Qi and the Void, his heart filled with bitterness.
If it were a second-level Array, his previously used Secret Skill of disintegration to substitute for the Deadly Tribulation, sacrificing an arm to survive the Deadly Tribulation, he would have certainly used an escape art to flee.
But now... this third-level Array was entirely different, with a prohibition using Void Force, making it impossible for him to escape the space no matter how he ran, and then he was exposed during the process of his opponent’s thorough search.
’A third-level Array and third-level magic treasures... Damn, even stronger than Ancestor Song of the Song Family!’
’How could there be such a person in Yue Country?’
Old Ling cursed his fellow Cultivation brethren and You Chong eight hundred times in his heart.
If he had known that Dragon Fish Island had a third-level Great Array, he would have been mad to even attempt an assassination on Fang Xi, sending himself into certain death!
’Earlier you called out to You Chong for misleading you, could it be that behind you is You Chong’s instruction? Or perhaps a deliberate framing?’
Fang Xi was enveloped in a layer of Yi Wood Divine Light Shield, looking indifferently at Old Ling.
’Guess?’
Old Ling revealed a mocking color, then his expression turned extremely serious, ’Dragon Fish Island’s Lord Master... I admit defeat, please spare my life. I swear, I will reveal to you the entire truth, and offer up all my years of accumulation to the Island Master... and regarding today’s incident, I will remain tight-lipped, even... serve as a servant or slave!’
’But all of these... I can take them by myself.’
Fang Xi appeared somewhat disinterested.
After all, he had prepared for an attack by a Core Formation elder, but it turned out to be just a fully-rounded Foundation Establishment cultivator.
However, even one at full roundness of Foundation Establishment must not be underestimated.
He was only at the late stage of Foundation Establishment, but fortunately, with the third-level Array’s enhancement, he was standing on invincible ground.
’Go!’
Fang Xi snapped his fingers with a thunderous impact, numerous rays of Yi Wood Divine Light flew out, transforming into nineteen Yi Wood Spirit Swords, surrounding Old Ling from all directions.
’Yi Wood God Thunder Sword Array, activate!’
Against Li Rujian, Fang Xi could afford to be a bit arrogant, only using twelve Flying Swords, but facing a Foundation Establishment old demon one step away from Core Formation, he was going all out.
Boom!
A thick bolt of Blue Thunder descended, blocked by a streak of Demon Light emitted by Old Ling.
However, the Demon Light seemed extremely strained, for Divine Thunder is known to have a restraining effect on Demon Skills.
’This person... even though his Cultivation is only at the late stage of Foundation Establishment, this Sword Array can overpower the fully-rounded...’
Old Ling dared not be negligent, producing a Blood Red spirit treasure from his hand, and poured Magic Power into it frantically.
It wasn’t long before he held a black and red long blade in his hand, shouting fiercely, ’Dragon Fish Island Master, do you really want to be annihilated together?’
’The fish might die, but the net won’t break.’
Fang Xi sneered in response.
Even if it was a Core Formation elder trapped in the third-level Array, it was an exceedingly dangerous affair.
If a spirit treasure only had two or three tenths of the power of a Core Formation magic weapon, what good would it do?
’Ah!’
Old Ling watched the Divine Thunder falling one after another, his Demon Light defense faltering, and couldn’t help but bite the tip of his tongue, spraying out a large amount of Essence Blood that landed on the black and red long blade.
The spirit treasure turned out to be a relic of some Demon Path Golden Core and having devoured Old Ling’s Essence Blood, the black and red light soared, easily tearing apart the thunder.
If previously the black and red long blade in his hand only had two or three tenths of a magic treasure’s power, now it surely had reached around three or four tenths!
’Hmm? That blade looks pretty good, I’ll take it!’
Fang Xi’s eyes brightened, watching Old Ling performing mightily, smashing each of the Yi Wood Spirit Swords to pieces.
But as long as he had an endless supply of Magic Power, there was no end to the Yi Wood Divine Light; he did not care in the slightest.
With Old Ling’s astonishing Magic Power and Divine Skills, he made a perfect test subject for Fang Xi’s own Sword Array.
’With Old Ling’s help, I can try out each of my ideas...’
’Perhaps... the rank of the Yi Wood God Thunder Formation could be raised to the upper level of second rank!’
Fang Xi’s eyes gleamed as he flicked his ten fingers, one after another ray of Yi Wood Divine Light flew out, turning into blue Flying Swords and quickly filled the gaps.
Old Ling looked at this scene, his eyes filled with despair.
Unable to fight, unable to flee...
Even, he found himself completely powerless to even injure Fang Xi.
Fang Xi seemed just in front of him, but in reality, due to the protection of the Prohibition Great Array, they were separated by who knows how much space.
Unless the ’Nine Nether Profound Wood Array’ was destroyed first, no matter what means he used, he could not harm Fang Xi, not even slightly!